The Last Dance

0:00It was just absolutely terrifying. Just thinking of her being scared and hurt made you sick. She was a big, smiling, beautiful part of our group. It was a stunning transformation. A young mom and teacher who went from this to this. She was like, look what I've done. She was so proud. Her girlfriends with her every high energy step of the way. You could see just her spirit just lighting up. But just as her new life began, so did the mystery. Suddenly, she went missing. I told all the girls, y 'all be prepared. No one would be prepared for what came next. I was astonished. It wasn't an accident.

0:52It's not natural. It's not right. And the most chilling part. Do you think that Heather would still be alive if she hadn't gone through this transformation? Yes. The motive behind it all. I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline. Here's Andrea Canning with The Last Dance. There's a place in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. A little hot spot not far from nearby Beale Street.

1:24They don't play the Memphis blues in this club. In the sultry darkness of the Rumba Room, bodies sway to the beat of Latin sounds. In April 2013, a woman named Heather Jones came in with her friend to dance the night away, wearing a brand new dress. How did she look that night? She had her head up so high and her shoulders back and just beaming, and she felt absolutely beautiful. Just two nights later, everything spun out of control. Breaking news about a missing Germantown teacher. Heather Jones suddenly and inexplicably disappeared from her home. Her car is in her driveway. Her purse, keys and cell phone are missing.

2:12Thinking of her being scared and hurt made you sick. What happened? The answer was sickening. You think, oh my God, is that her? The why? More twisted and surprising than anyone could fathom. That's not normal. It's not natural. It's not right. How could all this darkness fall on a woman so sunny? I loved her. I loved her energy. She was, if you can think of like a color that is a person, like she would be like bright yellow. Friends say Heather could always light up a room. Her cousin, Diane Perry, says that upbeat attitude is what drew them together from the time they were young. You two are more like sisters.

2:57Definitely. We're very close. A bond that only grew as teenagers when Heather moved from Florida to Tennessee, closer to Diane. They became an inseparable pair and even went to college together in Memphis. So it was only fitting Diane was there the night Heather fell instantly in love with a guy named Chris Jones. Heather went to a New Year's Eve party on 1999, and she came home. And we sat down and talked and giggled about this new guy that she had met, Chris. Diane recalls that Heather found Chris fascinating. He dazzled her with his knowledge of wine and just his knowledge of the world. Diane was surprised to see how fast the new couple was moving.

3:38Within weeks, Heather and Chris were living together. And not long after, Diane noticed a change in her cousin, a big one. They got very involved in a lot of online gaming and some things like that. And so they had a very, very sedentary lifestyle. And so that's when she gained, I would say, about 250 pounds. 250 pounds over how much time are we talking about? Maybe a year and a half. I mean, it was a very short amount of time. That's life-changing. It was tough. Did she seem depressed about the weight gain? Absolutely, yes. Her cousin recalls Chris said he didn't mind what size Heather was. A few years into their relationship, he asked Heather to marry him.

4:17And it seemed his love didn't waver as the numbers on Heather's scale only continued to rise after the birth of their two children. Did he make her feel good? Yes, she felt beautiful. She felt loved. She felt wanted. She felt taken care of. Chris also took on the role of stay-at-home dad, while Heather worked and attended college part-time. It took her about 10 years to get her degree from college, And it was almost to the day that she graduated from college that everything changed. At one point before graduation, Heather tipped the scales at 400 pounds. But Diane says that hard-won diploma now became a roadmap for Heather, pointing her to a brighter and lighter future.

5:05She had so much more confidence. She saw a different life for herself. She immediately started working on her weight. All right, step up. Here we go. And that's when she found a special group of new friends, women like her who joined this high-power dance exercise class each week to improve their physiques and their lives. Carrie Cooper was Heather's dance instructor. You leave your job, you leave that stress behind, you come here and it's like the happy hour. Everyone in Heather's life noticed that happy hour was doing wonders for her. I say, Heather, turn around. I said, you've gotten smaller.

5:41And she's like, yeah. Were the pounds just melting off of her in front of your very eyes? It was nothing short of a total transformation. In 18 short months, she went from this to this. I remember that she brought a picture of a before and then where she was now and was so proud. She was like, look what I've done. She was so proud of herself. No one was surprised when Heather soon landed her dream job, teaching at an elementary school in Memphis. Fellow teacher Jessica Moxley was in awe of the amount of energy Miss Jones poured into her classroom. Heather loved being a kindergarten teacher. From the moment that they stepped foot into the door to the moment that they left, they were dancing, they were singing, they were playing.

6:28By April 2013, it was all coming together for Heather Jones. On a Saturday night, she hit that Rumba Room dance floor to try out some moves she'd picked up at the gym and to show the world what she'd become. It was just so much fun. We were there for probably about a good three hours of just dancing. Three days later on Tuesday morning, teacher Jessica Moxley headed to school, expecting to see her energetic co-worker, Heather, already there. Our school day didn't start until 8 or 8.30 that year, and she was here every morning by 6.30, 6.45. Heather usually couldn't wait for the school day to begin.

7:09So Jessica was surprised by what she didn't see that morning. I pulled into the parking lot and I didn't see her car. I'm like, oh, what is going on? Thinking maybe she caught a ride to school, Jessica made a beeline for Heather's classroom. And I remember her door was closed, her lights were off, and I remember thinking, her lights are off. And then saying again, like, her lights are off, like she's gone. Gone? What could that mean? As the search began to find the missing teacher, investigators would soon uncover a disturbing connection between Heather's dramatic weight loss and her mysterious disappearance.

7:52Coming up. It was terrifying. Something is very much wrong. The very first clues. A disturbing email to Heather's husband. I was concerned. And a closely guarded secret. I didn't even know his name.

8:22When Heather Jones, the newly svelte newbie teacher, didn't show up for her kindergarten class that morning back in April 2013, alarm bells went off among her fellow teachers and friends. Heather would never miss a day of school. She was totally dedicated. Homesick? It didn't seem likely. Best friend Melissa Smith knew Heather wasn't about to be sidelined by a little sniffle. There was no excuse for her not to be there. School officials couldn't reach Heather on the phone. And when her cousin Diane heard she was a no-show, she headed right over to Heather's house in Germantown, where she saw an encouraging sign.

9:00There was relief when I saw the car in the driveway, because I thought she was there. I thought, oh, she's sick. Diane thought Heather was probably just sleeping. Knocking, knocking, knocking, please answer the door. But no answer. Alarmed, she called Heather's mother to bring over a key. Soon, Germantown police arrived, opened the door, and went in first. They say she's not in there. They say nothing looks disturbed. Is that a relief in any way? That she's not in there? No, no. It was terrifying. Something is very much wrong. It was now a missing persons case. Detective Tony Kemp took the lead and did his own walkthrough of the house.

9:41Did you find any signs of something that might have happened in that house? No, I did not see any weapons. I did not see any blood or anything in that house. But Heather's car still in the driveway stuck in Detective Kemp's mind. Obviously, if she left, she had to be on foot or she had made contact with somebody for them to pick her up. The grapevine was now working overtime. Friends from Heather's dance class soon heard that she was missing. One of them was Carrie Cooper, the class instructor. She also went over to the house. Turns out, Carrie knew as much about crime scenes as she did about dance moves.

10:25That's because Carrie was a police officer in nearby Memphis. Well, I kind of took on that police officer role at that moment, and I combed like every inch of her property. You found anything? I found nothing. And I looked through her storage sheds, and I looked all along the railway tracks or behind her house, and there was nothing. As detectives were putting together the pieces of Heather's life and tracking her last movements, Chris Jones, Heather's husband, made an emotional appearance on a local TV station. I want nothing more than for those children to have a mother. And it kills me to think that they may grow up without having both parents.

11:04The afternoon Heather disappeared, Chris came to the police station wanting to help. You've been up all night? Yeah. Okay. I mean, I can't miss an opportunity. I didn't want to miss a call. I didn't want to miss a chance. I didn't know if she was going to come by. I didn't want to miss the knock on the door. Sure. I'm worried. Chris told detectives something that could be vital to the investigation. He said Heather had written him an email the night before. The subject read, I'm sorry. In it, she mentions their little girl, Ava. It read, come get Ava. I cannot face everyone with this. Please forgive me.

11:43It is too much. Please raise them to remember me as their loving mommy. How concerned were you when Chris told you about this email that his wife had sent, that Heather had sent? I was concerned. It did not sound good to me. Kemp thought the email was open to all kinds of interpretations. All bad, it seemed. It basically sounded like I'm throwing in the towel. Throwing in the towel? Detective Kemp asked Chris if Heather might be suicidal. Has she ever talked about wanting to harm herself or anybody else since you've known her? Not to recall. Friends and family police spoke to were adamant. Heather would never take her own life, not after striving so hard to transform it for the better.

12:34But there was another possible explanation for what might have happened to this woman who'd built such a promising future. Police were about to uncover a secret she'd kept hidden from almost everyone. I didn't even know his name. Just as Heather was headed off into that bright new future, her past came calling. Coming up... I've told all the girls, y 'all be prepared. The search heats up and the secret is out. Kind of a bombshell that Heather was possibly seeing another man. This was definitely, you know, a person of interest that we needed to speak with. When Dateline continues.

13:28Heather Jones had been missing for 24 hours. Her loved ones prayed for the best and launched into action. Carrie, Heather's friend and dance instructor, who also happened to be a cop, organized a search party. And I told all the girls, y 'all be prepared because we might find her, okay? Her best friend, Melissa, struggled with her worst fears. It was just absolutely terrifying. Because just thinking of her being scared and hurt made you sick. To put together the puzzle of what happened to Heather and what she meant by that disturbing goodbye email, Detective Kemp wanted to know more about Heather, starting with her relationship with Chris.

14:21I wanted to know more about their marriage and what's been going on between them the past year. He knew the major event in their marriage in the past year was Heather's dramatic physical change. But friends and family said it was about so much more than just dropping pant sizes. As Heather lost the weight, she gained a whole new outlook on life. She was kind of quiet and reserved back then when I very first met her. And to see that contrast from then until where she decided, I'm going to make some healthy decisions in my life. And the butterfly description with her is a great description. I mean, just her just coming out of her shell and becoming who she was created to be.

15:07You know, and I just, you can see that transformation. In all different aspects of her life. She saw that I'm young, I'm healthier now than I've ever been, I'm prettier now than I've ever been. I'm feeling good, I'm feeling confident, and I'm feeling independent. She didn't have just one choice anymore. The world was hers. Detectives learned that in January 2013, Heather moved out on Chris without telling him. She had a name for it? She did. Ninja style. So it was almost like Operation Ninja style that she was going to move out on her own. It was, it was. Heather moved into this rental house with the help of family and friends.

15:48She was backed by a lot of awesome girls, so she was ready. In his interview with police, Chris said that after nine years of marriage, he and Heather began to have some differences. But he said he had no clue she was going to move out on him and was even more shocked when he found out she had filed for divorce.

16:17Chris told Detective Kemp he'd been trying to patch things up with Heather ever since. I want my wife. I want the family dynamic that we had. I want us to be together. I want to work things out. Kemp questioned what Heather had been up to while Chris was trying to win her back. It's common a lot of times when a couple's going through a divorce that maybe that somebody was seeing somebody and I asked him that. That's when Chris confided in the detective that he feared Heather had in fact moved on. Is she seeing anybody else? Does she have a boyfriend right now? Yeah. And could you tell me about what you know about that?

16:59The only thing I knew is that they were friends from a younger age, and it's been going on for some time. When you're talking to Chris, he brings up kind of a bombshell that Heather was possibly seeing another man. Yes, he did. He did tell me that he believed that she was seeing somebody, and I tried to get information from him about that person. I really don't know anything about the guy other than they've been corresponding heavily. Does she talk about him much? She doesn't talk about him at all. She doesn't want me or anyone else to know about him. Kemp discovered Heather had been talking about this new guy, just not with her husband.

17:40They had started texting, I think, initially and kind of Facebooking and just, hey, how are you? I think slowly those text messages and those Facebook messages became very flirtatious. I didn't even know his name. All I knew was that she was talking to somebody who was making her happy. That was making her happy, and she felt very special and very beautiful. But police did need a name, fast. Chris was able to provide at least part of that crucial detail. Can you tell me about him? Can you start me off with a name? What's his name? Edward Soligot. Edward? Yeah. Did you think that this other man could be a game changer in this investigation?

18:19To me, this was definitely a person of interest that we needed to speak with. Detectives now launched a hunt for a man named Edward. They wanted to know, did Heather the butterfly leave behind her old life to build a new one with another man? Coming up, the other man revealed. You know, I mean, I'm a flirtatious person. He has some intriguing information for police and for us. I would hide her if that's what she wanted.

19:06Time, an investigator's worst enemy in a missing persons case, was ticking away. Days passed and Heather Jones hadn't returned to her rented house, the place where she hoped to start a new life without her husband. Sounds cliche, but she really vanished without a trace. Yes, and that's what was making this so difficult. And she still wasn't answering her cell phone. The one police learned she had used to exchange flirtatious texts with a mystery man. And she is in the process of having an affair, whether local, long distance, I don't know. Chris Jones couldn't tell detectives much else about this other man, who he only knew by the name of Edward.

19:47I've just seen their correspondence in Sweetie and Love You. How do you know they were correspondence? Were you able to see some of the texting yourself on her phone? Yeah. You must have had concerns about this other man. Yes, I did, because he was one of the first names that we had come up with. Detective Kemp knew if Heather had split town, as her goodbye email suggested, she hadn't driven away in her car. It was still parked in her driveway. You know what kind of car Edward drives? I don't know anything about him. I really don't. Does he live here locally, obviously in Germantown? No. Does he live in Memphis?

20:29Do you know? Not that I know of. I don't think he lives in Memphis. Detectives had to find Edward another way, so they accessed Heather's Facebook account and mined it for clues. And there it was, a profile with a last name attached. And what was that name? Edward Rollerson. Police dialed a phone number they found for Ed. He told them he lived 500 miles away in eastern Tennessee and agreed to make the eight-hour drive to Germantown to be interviewed. Detectives wondered, had he made the trip once already that week to take Heather away? And most importantly, could he tell them where she was now?

21:07Just because you've got somebody living 500 miles away does not mean that they didn't have anything to do with this disappearance. Police recorded Ed Rollerson's interview. During questioning, Ed made a potentially important admission. I love her to death. I would do anything for her. You know, one of the detectives asked me, you know, who would she call if she wanted to disappear? I said, me. I'd be here in how many hours it took me to get here today. But he insisted Heather never made that call. And there was more. Ed told detectives he was surprised by the first question he was asked when initially contacted by the police.

21:47Detective Cook called me. And he said, is your girlfriend there? And I said, yeah, she's in the backyard. He said, good, okay, so Heather's okay. And I said, Heather's not my girlfriend. She's a friend of mine. We've been friends for 20 years. So if Ed and Heather weren't an item and he was dating someone else, what exactly was going on? The detective wanted to hear from you immediately. Once they learned your name. Oh yeah, once they knew who I was. You were an important piece of the puzzle to them. Yeah. Detectives learned from Ed that his relationship with Heather went back decades, long before Heather married Chris.

22:29Ed said he and Heather met in 1993, when they were both teens living in Florida. Ed remembers they fell fast for each other. It was young love. They say you don't know what love is, but I do. Ed said they dated for two years before he moved away. But that puppy love was something he never got over, even after Heather married. Were you still carrying that torch? Yeah, but I didn't really let it show. I respected Heather too much. Around Heather's birthday in the spring of 2013, after she had lost all that weight, Ed told detectives he reached out to wish her well and got more than a thank you. Heather had big news.

23:14She and Chris had separated. At that moment in her life, she needed a friend. And that was what I was there for. I was there right when she needed me the most. But Ed said that shoulder to lean on soon turned into something more. Talking, just, you know, listening to her problems. And then it just, you know, progressed from there. Progressed in what way? Oh, you know, I mean, I'm a flirtatious person. And, you know, it just became flirtatious. Detective Kemp scanned the recent texts between the two from Heather's cell phone. And it appeared that things had heated up even more a few days before she went missing.

23:59There was some sexual content that I had noticed. Ed says it was Heather who first turned the texting into sexting. What did you think? It was partly that, you know, she was in a highly flirtatious mood that day. I wasn't really quite sure. Did you bite? I bit. Detectives wanted to know how much and whether Ed was truly willing to drop everything to help Heather start a new life in secret. No matter what it took, I would protect her. Ed knew it probably didn't look good to police. I guess me admitting that I would hide her if that's what she wanted. You know, I can understand them saying that, you know, maybe he's hidden her.

24:48Did you hide her? I wish. Did you drive to see Heather that night? No. Were you with Heather that night? No. Did you have anything to do with her disappearance? No. Ed told police he was at home, far away in eastern Tennessee, and revealed that despite those steamy texts, he and Heather hadn't actually seen each other in person in years. We had discussed seeing each other, I guess it would have been, well, about another month. Ed insisted to police he had no idea where Heather was, but he did give them a big clue. He told investigators that, in fact, he spoke to Heather on the phone the very night she disappeared.

25:34And he heard something on that call that was alarming then and even more alarming now. I called her, she answered, and immediately I could hear kind of arguing. Ed said he heard a man's voice in the background during that call. But whose voice was it? Coming up. Are you thinking this could potentially be our last chance to solve this? This was our shot. The pieces of the case are about to fall into place. And all those flirtatious texts, turns out they aren't at all what you think. I need to put that out of my mind. when Dateline continues.

26:28As one day slid into the next, and the next was still no sign of Heather Jones, her gym friends got back to exercise class with the hope Heather would dance with them once again. I kept that back door open to the gym, and I said, Heather, if you can hear us, we're dancing, We're looking for you. Okay? If you're out there, you dance with us.

26:52Um, we're going to find you one way or the other. Detective Tony Kemp also vowed to find her. He was convinced Heather did not run off with her old boyfriend, Ed. So he asked her friends what else would cause Heather to leave her husband and children. That's when Kemp began to flush out what really happened when Heather moved out on Chris. It was very scary and it only continued to deteriorate. Friends and family told him how at first Chris tried to woo her with flowers and chocolates, but those loving gestures soon turned ugly. He would text her and call her, but this time they were just like violent.

27:32You know, you're not taking my kids from me. I'm not going to let you leave. you won't get away with this. I will come after you. Then, friends said, Chris started acting more desperate, and Heather started getting really scared. He would show up at her work. He would show up at the gym. He started showing up at the house in the middle of the night. And I just remember thinking, like, this is insane. Like, you're literally stalking her. I got a lot of information on Chris, on what these people thought of him. And it was not good. Detectives decided they'd do more than just keep an eye on Chris.