Keith Morrison

And then, something else altogether.

I'm Keith Morrison, and this is The Girl in the Blue Mustang, a podcast from Dateline.

Episode 1, Michelle's Last Day.

It was New Year's Eve 1999.

Michelle and her family were about to greet the new millennium at the happiest place on earth.

And she was especially lovely that night with her pale Irish skin and her luxurious head of black hair.

Back home, Michelle had just unwrapped an early high school graduation gift, a brand new blue Mustang.

She loved that car.

Loved downshifting its V6 engine on the winding high desert roads near their home in Palmdale, 70 miles north of L.A.,

And she was galloping ahead like the car's famous logo.

She was going to be a somebody.

She was already on the dean's list at Antelope Valley Community College.

It's like she did everything right.

I think for an 18-year-old, she was pretty well steered in the right direction.

So she was very focused.

That's Michelle's proud dad, Mike O'Keefe.

Mike told me she'd been a cheerleader, and not just in her high school squad either.

Mike figured she'd cheered up the whole world around her.

That's Michelle's mother, Pat, the day I drove up to Palmdale to ask about her daughter.

Pat's face lit up.