When a young woman named Savannah vanishes without a trace, what begins as a routine missing person's case quickly unravels into a twisted web of lies, manipulation, and gut-wrenching betrayal. >> My daughters and changed my core values in a way that isolates me and causes mistrust at every level. >> The man at the center of it all, her coworker and former romantic interest, Lee Rodart. What followed was not just an interrogation, but a seemingly composed man buckling under the weight of truth, surveillance footage, and his own conscience. >> But that's not true because we have proof. We have we have proof. And that's why we're sitting here, Lee, at this point. We need this for her. >> On August 2nd, 2017, in Jacksonville, Florida, 21-year-old Savannah Gold vanished after arriving for her shift at Bonefish Grill. She was last seen getting into a car with her coworker, Lee Rodart, someone she trusted. What followed was a chilling confession. >> She said she's going to keep talk, you know, telling lies and stuff about me and everything like that. And I said, >> "Okay." >> And at that point, uh, she had her phone in her hand. She got out of the car and walked towards the main entrance from San Jose. So like if um >> so this is >> like like um like I know Bonefish is like over here. This is San Jose. This is the bank that's over here in this area. Um where were you guys parked? >> She was parked here. >> Okay. >> Um to the left of the fivestar ATM. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Um and I was parked here. >> Okay. All right. So you're you're like here. >> Yeah. I was uh I was probably >> three spaces >> away. >> Okay. From her car. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> All right. >> Um so, and >> what do you drive? >> I drive a Chevy Malibu. >> Okay. What color is it? >> Silver. >> Gold went missing in August 2017 after she arrived at work but never made it into the building. Her unlocked car was later found in the parking lot. A tire was slashed and her purse was on the front seat. The Jacksonville sheriff watched surveillance video from the parking lot. A few minutes later, the video showed Rodart driving away with gold still in the vehicle. Authorities. The longer he talks, the deeper he finds himself in a web of lies. What Rodart doesn't know is that the surveillance footage already tells a different story. >> How long do you think um it was between the time that she got out and started using her phone till that green truck pulled up? Um maybe 5 minutes. >> Okay. So, wow. So, if she called somebody, they got there in 5 minutes to pick her up. >> Well, I mean, like I said, she she it looked like she was going to call somebody and that's when the green truck came around >> and she got in. >> Okay. So, she's in the truck. What What happened at that point? >> Um they drove back around, kind of looped around a little bit. >> Which way they drive? >> So, she would say like here. Mhm. >> The green truck comes here and then kind of just loops around. >> Mhm. >> And it look I guess they exit that way. And at that point I left. >> Within hours of Gold's disappearance, her family began receiving odd text messages sent from her phone, purportedly from her. Other family members and friends reported getting similar messages, and her relatives became instantly suspicious. >> So tell me your route on the way home that you went. Uh 295 all the way to Beach Boulevard, Beach Boulevard to Grove Park and then Grove Park. >> How long does that usually take you? >> Depending on traffic, obviously. >> The tra I think it usually takes me about 25 minutes or something. >> Okay. What happened to your neck? >> That was self-inflicted actually. >> Why? I just have been having kind of a hard time. Uh >> to your neck? >> I couldn't. Yeah, I did. And >> what did you use? >> A knife. >> When did you do that? >> Um sometime in July. >> You did that in July and it's still >> Yeah. >> bloody. >> The story flows easily at first. Rodart says Savannah came to his car. They talked briefly and then she left with someone in a green pickup truck. The detectives don't flinch, they don't press. It's one thing to fool a detective. It's another to face the truth of what someone who knows you really thinks. And at that moment, Lee Rodart wasn't just trying to protect himself. He was desperately trying to outrun the version of himself he couldn't deny. >> So I when I come up and talk to you yesterday, I'm not threatening. I'm just I'm talking to everybody up there. What? Why? >> I just, you know, I freaked out to be honest with you. I mean >> this girl is missing. >> Yes. >> Okay. But you know she's been missing. I mean you you knew from you know from in essence from day one that she is um that she's missing and you um you you freaked out that I mean you had >> I mean obviously you know I was the last one to see her so I was a little bit scared at that. >> Um and >> how do you know you're you just said you weren't the last one to see her. You just said somebody in a truck. Well, I mean, the last one to see her at Bonefish. That the last one she's heard from, right? >> Had contact with that anybody knows of. >> Sure. >> In police interrogations, there may be a variety of manipulative behaviors and they include lying and trickery. The police are prohibited from using physical or psychological coercion while interrogating suspects. Police deputies must not use torture techniques, threats, or inhumane treatment. Sometimes the suspects decline to cooperate and that is when the police need to engage in manipulative actions such as emotional extortion in giving ultimatums, bluffing, appealing to the suspect's humanity or guilt tripping them. >> She said call the hotline or something like that. >> Did you call the hotline? Um, I told her I did just because I had I wasn't I was scared to call that night. >> So, but did you ever call the hotline? >> No. >> Did she call you later on or text you later on? >> Savannah? No. >> Mhm. >> No other contact with her? >> No. >> So, where is Savannah right now? >> I don't know. >> Where would I find her? >> I don't know. That's my my prime objective is to find her again. >> Definitely. >> I think time's running out on her >> and I think that >> I mean I I I should have said something to you guys when I talked. >> That is the time where the interviewer should move the discussion towards offering alternatives. This is the stage where the suspect might begin to cry due to inner guilt. After that, an alternative question should be asked where a choice is offered with the possible scenarios of what could have happened. One option should be more socially acceptable than the other. >> Is that because you're a liar? >> I mean, to her like in the past, >> that's pretty much what she labels me as. Yeah. >> Do you do you lie? >> Not about every No, I mean obviously I lied to her about >> hanging out with Savannah and stuff. >> Can you lie to me about Savannah? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. So, I mean, I just I'm not trying to say anything else. Here's I'm just laying out a facts here. I want I want to find this girl. I need to find her. Um, and here's a couple reasons I need to find her. One is um I'm hoping that that she's still alive. Um, and and that's really I I really do I'm holding out for that. >> Um, and if she's not alive, then I think she and her family are are are due that knowledge. I think that's I I think they need some closure. >> By framing her as unstable and addicted, Roadart isn't just deflecting. He's testing the waters, seeing if the detectives will bite. If they'll see Savannah not as a victim, but as a liability, it's victim blaming. Dressed as casual conversation, and it's designed to justify what comes next. >> Tell me something. What can I work with? >> I told you the last time we saw her. >> But that's not true because we have proof. We have We have proof. And that's why we're sitting here, Lee, at this point. We need this for her. I mean, I look at that little girl and I think of my little girl. My little girl who's her age. That's who I think of. That was my little girl. I couldn't imagine. I don't care what she said about you or whatever. But my little girl is that age. >> Maybe. Maybe. >> And you're not telling the truth. >> Maybe something gets out of hand in the car. >> I didn't do anything. >> Okay. You didn't do anything, but she was in your car. She never got out of your car. >> She never got out of your car. Lee, >> we we're not saying that you did anything. I'm trying to find her. I didn't say you did anything. I don't know where she is. >> Well, we can prove that you left with her in the car. >> Under Florida's stand your ground law, it is up to the state to prove someone did not act in self-defense once that claim is made. Lee Rodart claims that Gold was high on heroin and attacked him when she got into his car. He claims he heard a pop in her neck when he tried to get her off him. >> And now you're saying that she was sitting in your car, which all lines up with the video. Actually, I'm glad that you said you got in the back seat with her. All that lines up. But you know what doesn't line up? After that passenger door comes open and shuts, comes open and shuts. She never gets out of that car. And you drive off. She never gets out of that car. There is no green truck. And that's not right to her. We're factf finders, Lee. I don't have anything personal against you. >> No, no, not at all. I mean, it's it's >> factinders doing job. >> No, no, no. Where did you go with her? >> Where did you go with her, Lee? >> This way, the detective has shown Rodart that the police know more than the suspect thought, and it is a very subtle way of showing the we know all technique. This is to show that they already know he is guilty and that he should just confess because either way he is going to be punished for his crime. This is the technique at work. Let the suspect build his story. Let him feel in control. Then when the foundation of his version of the story is just unstable enough, drop the evidence like a controlled demolition. >> Where is she? [Music] >> I don't know where she is. >> Okay. Where did you last drop her off at? >> I didn't drop her off. >> Okay. Well, tell me >> what happened. Where did you last go? >> We went to my house. >> Okay. >> We did some drugs. >> Okay. >> Hung out for a little and then she said she was going to catch you and go home. >> Okay. And did she call neighbor? >> She pulled her phone out. Looked like she was using it. I wasn't hovering over her. I was pretty high. I mean, I wasn't She told me she was leaving. She walked out the door. Legally, the detectives meandise him properly, which is key in preserving admissibility. And Lee waves his rights and chooses to speak. Crucial, because his eventual statements end up being damning. What was going on in the back seat for the doors to be kicked open? She kicked open that door three times. Lee, she kicked it. We saw it. And you and you know I'm not making it up because I wouldn't know this cuz I wasn't there. I would never know this unless we had video of it. Correct. Yes. Correct. I'm not trying to trick you. I'm just a factfinder. >> In addition, in the United States, the police do not have to tell the suspect about any evidence they have. And they even have the right to lie to the suspect about their knowledge of the case. At the end of the interrogation, we have unmistakable evidence that the suspect is guilty because according to Reed's technique, if the suspect cries, it is a clear indicator they did it. The man accused of this young woman, his coworker now says it was self-defense. The new claim coming just a month before Lee Rodardi is set to stand trial. In the end, Lee Rodart confessed not in a sudden burst of remorse, but after hours of pressure, contradiction, and unraveling lies. He admitted to Savannah Gold during an argument, her body discarded in a retention pond behind a local business as if her life, her future, and her family's hope could be thrown away like nothing. >> The good news for the family is that this avoids a trial. A trial where witnesses would have to testify, perhaps even some of those family members. And there is always a chance at trial that he could go free. And by entering a plea of guilty, he's pretty much guaranteeing that he's going to be convicted. >> Rarde is just under 6 feet tall and weighs 163 lbs. Savannah Gold was 5t tall and weighed 91 lbs. But despite how much smaller Gold was, he claims that he feared for his safety as she continuously slapped him. and he says that she he accidentally broke her neck in self-defense. >> He was arrested, charged with secondderee, and ultimately sentenced to 40 years in prison. No trial, no dramatic courtroom testimony, just a quiet plea deal, and a grieving family left to imagine what justice really means when nothing brings your daughter home. >> During police interrogation, officials said Rodarte confessed. JSO had surveillance video showing Gold leaving her car and walking to Redarte's car. That video showed a struggle in the car so violent police say the car was visibly shaking. Rodarte's criminal history in Jacksonville doesn't show any violent crimes, leaving many questions about the method and motive in Gold. His sister Amber Lin Rodarte is also awaiting trial for the woman in December. The was said to be over a car and money. The same homicide unit that worked that case is now also working gold. >> Savannah was 21 years old. A bright light extinguished not by fate, but by someone she knew, trusted, and worked alongside. This case wasn't about a criminal mastermind. It was about manipulation, control, and a man who thought silence would protect him. But in the end, it was that very silence that led detectives straight to the truth. If you enjoyed this video, make sure to leave a like, subscribe, and make sure to comment if you think Lee should have had a harsher punishment. [Music] [Music]