Erin Moriarty

The Bishes never believed that Stephen was involved.

Within 24 hours, authorities were looking at known sex offenders in the area.

We've looked at 35 to 45 sex offenders in the area.

That's been the scariest part about all this, is realizing how many bad people were within the fabric of our community.

Molly's dad worked tirelessly with police.

He was always going every weekend, trying to work with the police and trying to find different ways to find Molly.

And despite the fact that DNA testing was still in its early stages back in 2000, Detective Richard says they did collect and document many items found in and around the pond area, including discarded cigarettes and trash.

As the days went by, the Bish's despair grew.

It wasn't like Molly was hit by a car or got sick.

She was just suddenly gone.

And we didn't know where she was.

But it would be Maggie Bish who would give detectives their biggest lead.

We pulled into the parking lot here.

The morning before Molly disappeared, as Maggie went to drop Molly off at work at Cummins Pond,

She recalled seeing a man sitting alone in a white car that resembled this one.

And I see this guy and he's just smoking a cigarette and he just gives me like a little look.

And I said, oh, I can't leave her here.

You know, it's like the mama bear comes out.

Maggie says she waited for 20 minutes until they finally left.

When she brought it up with Molly that evening, Molly didn't seem concerned.