Lester Holt

It seems like it fed this sense of distrust or at least people reluctant to talk to police along the way.

There was also this kind of situation going on with the two families, the Howicks and the Ballards.

Can you talk about that a bit?

These can be very tricky stories to cover.

Did you feel like you were walking a really narrow line as you navigated this bad blood between these families at the same time you're trying to tell the story?

And how many times have we heard this before?

The relationships seem good.

In this case, a relationship between Brooks and Crystal.

Is there a sense of when things soured?

Because suddenly these stories come out, you know, after the fact.

Yeah.

What a poised young lady.

That's what struck me.

All right.

Now, the Ballard family, as you know, has been struck by tragedy in the past.

Tommy Ballard's sister was murdered way back in 1979.

His family went through a lot of pain.

You have done a lot of reporting on this story, and I know there's some things we didn't get to see, but we're going to remedy that in a moment.

We want to come back and hear part of your interview with Crystal's mom, who was a very emotional and very important figure in this story.

We'll be right back.