Dead End

Summary

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Blood and Water – Episode Three: "Dead End"

Podcast: Blood and Water
Host: Stephanie Ramos (ABC News)
Date: May 12, 2026

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Episode Overview

In "Dead End," the third episode of Blood and Water, host Stephanie Ramos dives deeper into the investigation of the 2001 murder of Leslie Preer in the affluent suburbs of Washington, D.C. The episode uncovers the intense early focus on Leslie’s husband, Sandy, as the prime suspect, tracing detectives’ relentless efforts to make their case—until groundbreaking DNA evidence turns the investigation upside down. Drawing from original police tapes, family interviews, and key voices from the prosecution, this episode probes the frustrations, missteps, and emotional fallout of a case left unsolved for decades, and the enduring hope for justice from Leslie’s daughter, Lauren.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Initial Focus: The Husband as Prime Suspect

• Police Interrogations of Sandy Preer
  • Sandy submits to repeated questioning, describing marital issues and Leslie's work conflicts (00:39–03:18).
  • Tries to direct suspicion toward Leslie’s boss, Brett Reedy, to little avail.
  • Detectives remain skeptical, pushing their theory of Sandy's guilt and pressing him for a confession (03:20–08:18).
  • Sandy eventually requests a lawyer and halts cooperation, significantly changing the dynamic (05:47–08:21).

2. Shifting to Forensic Evidence: The Game-Changer

• DNA Analysis at the Crime Scene
  • Investigators collect blood samples throughout the Preer home (11:09).
  • Forensic examination by the renowned Celmark lab (famously involved in the O.J. Simpson case) reveals a second, unknown male’s DNA at the scene and under Leslie’s fingernails (12:01–14:16).
  • This DNA is not a match for Sandy, forcing detectives to widen their investigation (14:16).

3. Expanding the Pool of Suspects

• Suspicions of Brett Reedy and Others
  • Leslie’s boss, Brett Reedy, comes under scrutiny; both he and colleagues supply DNA samples, but none are a match (15:26–16:58).
  • Lauren Preer (Leslie’s daughter) provides detectives with leads about a charismatic neighbor, but he too is eliminated via DNA (17:10–18:34).
  • Detectives even explore links to high-profile cases such as Chandra Levy—only to hit further dead ends (18:53–19:44).

4. Stalemate and Emotional Fallout

• Detectives’ Persistence in their Theory
  • Despite DNA evidence, detectives hypothesize that Sandy orchestrated the murder with help; the “unknown male” was cast as a possible accomplice or casualty of an encounter (23:09–25:48).
  • Lauren disputes these theories but admits to grappling with doubt given the circumstantial mysteries (26:09–26:39).
  • With no arrest and uncertainty lingering, Sandy is cut off by the family, moves away, but maintains a bond with Lauren (27:31–27:55).

5. The Long Wait for Resolution

• Lauren’s Hope and Perseverance
  • Lauren persists, checking in with detectives for new leads, but years pass with no progress (28:14–28:25).
  • Ultimately, after 24 years, a new generation of detectives promises closure with modern methods and a renewed investigative push (28:55–29:21).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“I've been cooperating with you since day one and I think I’ve answered enough questions."
– Sandy Preer, (05:26)

“It's a terrible thing and you have to be able to face it. Laura needs to know... she has to put closure on it.”
– Detective to Sandy, (06:28)

“The blood that was on the scene, that was not the victim’s blood, came from a male, and it was not Mr. Preer.”
– State’s Attorney John McCarthy, (14:01)

“Initially, I did not think that I was going to be a suspect in all of this.”
– Brett Reedy, Leslie’s boss, (14:38)

“My Uncle Frank was even interviewed, which is ridiculous... everyone was on the list.”
– Lauren Preer, (17:10)

“He never hit me. He never hit my mom, ever at her worst. And it takes a really insane person to just take that next step…that part of it just seems…No way.”
– Lauren Prier, (26:39)

“I thought I was going to die without knowing. I really, truly thought that. And... then I got the phone call…He almost got away with it.”
– Lauren Prier, (28:31, 29:21)

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Important Timestamps and Segments

• 00:39–03:18: Sandy’s second police interview—revealing marital tensions and attempts to redirect suspicion.
• 05:26–08:21: Sandy’s breaking point; lawyer enters and the interrogation stalls.
• 11:30–14:16: DNA testing; revelation of the “unknown male” and its dramatic impact on the investigation.
• 14:38–16:58: Brett Reedy and colleagues’ elimination through DNA; focus shifts.
• 17:10–18:34: Attempts to link the case to the neighbor and other peripheral suspects.
• 23:09–25:48: Year-later meeting; detectives explain their ongoing theory, persistent focus on Sandy.
• 26:09–26:39: Lauren’s emotional struggle reconciling her beliefs with the case’s mysteries.
• 28:55–29:21: The 24 year wait ends; new detectives reach out with a breakthrough.

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Tone and Style

The tone of the episode balances methodical, fact-driven reporting with emotionally resonant storytelling. Tension builds as detectives push their theories and family members confront lingering doubts, frustrations, and overwhelming grief. The voices of Lauren and Sandy offer personal context and an undercurrent of hope amid the relentless uncertainty surrounding Leslie’s unsolved murder.

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Summary

"Dead End" vividly recounts a classic true crime narrative: a husband under suspicion, a family divided, investigators haunted by a lack of resolution, and the incredible power of forensic evidence. The sudden appearance of "unknown male" DNA derails the police’s original theory, and despite exhaustive efforts, years elapse with the case unsolved. For Leslie’s daughter Lauren, the episode chronicles not just a legal battle, but a test of faith, family bonds, and the possibility of closure—even after decades in limbo. The episode ends with a promise: the relentless advances in investigative technology and perseverance may finally deliver justice.

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Transcript

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

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[Detective]

Gotta give Bruce and the guys credit.

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[Detective]

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[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Listen anywhere. You get podcasts foreign. In the days after his wife's murder, Sandy Prayer spoke to detectives several times.

[Sandy Prier]

Yes, please.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Leslie's body was found on May 1, 2001. On May 4, he met with detectives and he told them intimate details about his marriage. He described arguments and told them how much Leslie's drinking bothered him. On May 8, Sandy asked to see detectives again.

[Detective]

Okay.

You said you wanted to talk to us about. You left a message on my voicemail earlier today about Brett.

[Brett Reedy]

Ready?

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Sandy said he remembered detectives telling him, if you think of anything, let us know. Well, now he was back, and he was thinking about Leslie's boss, Brett Brady.

[Sandy Prier]

Leslie said that she. She thinks Brett's a control freak, especially with her.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

According to Sandy, Leslie had told him about arguments she said she'd had with Brett. He said she described one in particular where she said things had gotten heated.

[Sandy Prier]

I'm not sure what the incident was, but afterwards, Leslie turned around and said something along the lines of saying, and you're going to do what, Brett?

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Sandy wondered to police, why was Brett, who wasn't a close friend of theirs, so interested in coming over to the house the day Leslie didn't turn up for work?

[Sandy Prier]

Don't 100% understand that. Why didn't you just let me go to the house?

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

But the detectives didn't seem all that interested in Sandy's questions about Brett Reedy.

[Detective]

Well, what you described really doesn't.

[Sandy Prier]

I know, I understand. Of a homicide. I understand it. It's just that the.

[Detective]

It's maybe letting the air out of your tires.

[Sandy Prier]

Exactly. Like I said, I feel kind of as stupid talking about this, but she.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Sandy told detectives that Leslie said she felt Brett singled her out at work. If Sandy was trying to shift some of the suspicion off of him, it didn't seem to be working. And just by being there, back in the presence of the detectives, Sandy opened himself up to another round of questions about his marriage.

[Detective]

There's no pattern what you like when, you know, she's.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

She starts drinking.

[Sandy Prier]

She can be. She can be. Hope I'm not shooting myself in the foot on this one, but she can be demanding. I would say argumentative, but just Demanding of, of, of my time and where I've been.

[Detective]

Where you've been.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Here's what detectives weren't telling Sandy Prayer. He wasn't just the number one suspect in the case, he was the only suspect. The investigation was leading detectives toward a common true crime trope. The husband did it. That is until the evidence said otherwise. From ABC Audio and 20 20, I'm Stephanie Ramos and this is Blood and Water. Episode three, Dead End. There were three formal sit down interviews between Sandy and the detectives. The first was two days after Leslie's death, which we talked about in our last episode. The second was the one you've just heard a few days later. And the third interview came three weeks after Leslie's death. Oh, stranded by coming out.

[Sandy Prier]

Coming out wasn't bad. Going in and kept going back in. It was pretty backed up.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

In this last interview, Sandy wore a white shirt and black tie. It was a little after 5:30 in the afternoon and he'd come straight from work. In the weeks since that second interview and as the target on his own back grew bigger and bigger, Sandy kept responding to the investigators requests. And there were a lot. The detective's notebook from the Prayer case is littered with calls to Sandy, visits to his work and lists of information the police wanted from him. He'd given them everything they'd asked for. But everyone has their limits. And Sandy Preer was about to reach his detectives had called him in this time to ask about some messages on the prayer's answering machine. They wanted Sandy to bring in the tapes,

[Detective]

erase that or any of the stuff that was on there for the past few weeks. Is it still there?

[Sandy Prier]

Hey guys, I don't mean to show any disrespect, but I've been cooperating with you since day one and I think I've answered enough questions.

[Detective]

Just about the answering machine. I don't understand.

[Sandy Prier]

My. My attorney said not to answer any

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

more questions you can hear in the tape. This isn't what detectives expected. Sandy, their number one suspect, who has been eager to cooperate for weeks, suddenly mentions a lawyer and declines to say anything. The change in Sandy brought a change in the detectives too. They finally spelled out what had gone unsaid in all their other conversations. We think you killed your wife. They asked Sandy to come clean.

[Detective]

It's a terrible thing. It is a terrible thing and you have to be able to face it. Laura needs to know it's gonna hurt her, but she needs to know she has to put closure on it.

[Sandy Prier]

Man, I want closure on it.

[Detective]

You're the Only one that can give it. I repeat what happens.

[Sandy Prier]

No disrespect.

[Detective]

There's no reason I disrespect. Taking standing.

[Sandy Prier]

I'm not answering any questions.

[Detective]

Just be a man and tell us what happened.

[Sandy Prier]

I told you exactly what happened.

[Detective]

But you haven't told us the truth.

[Sandy Prier]

I have told you exactly what happened here.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

The investigators ramp up the pressure, as if they know this might be their last chance to try to get Sandy Preer to confess.

[Detective]

You're the only one that has the key to all this. And why won't you help yourself, Sandy? Why won't you just talk to us? Just tell us what happened?

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Sandy eventually says he'll answer questions if his lawyer can be present. Okay. The detective said, seizing the opportunity. Call him and ask Carmen.

[Sandy Prier]

I'm still here. And did you say you want the lawyer to come down?

[Detective]

Yes.

[Sandy Prier]

They want to know if the lawyer. If Howard can come down. Am I being detained? No. No, I'm not. No. Can the attorney come in at another time?

[Detective]

Sure.

Thing is, though, that, like, I mean.

[Sandy Prier]

Yes.

[Detective]

Sandy, if you want to talk, if you want to tell us what happened.

Okay.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Then have your attorney here.

[Sandy Prier]

Am I free to go?

[Detective]

Yes.

[Sandy Prier]

Yes. Well, Okay. I didn't know that.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

The detectives have no choice but to let Sandy leave. Yes, but not before he made one last bid for connection.

[Sandy Prier]

Well, you said one time, I hope one day that we'd be able to sit down and have a drink yet.

[Detective]

And I honestly, I hope so, but it's not looking good right now.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Sandy walked out the door taking any hope of a confession with him. Now all the attention was on the crime scene evidence. Investigators wondered if that would prove that Sandy Prior killed his wife. But what it proved wasn't what detectives expected at all.

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[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

in previous episodes, there was blood visible throughout the prayer house in the days after the murder. Investigators meticulously combed through the crime scene, collecting samples of that blood to test for DNA. State's Attorney John McCarthy says his county was uniquely equipped to handle it.

[State's Attorney John McCarthy]

We here in Montgomery county were blessed because when DNA first began, there was only one DNA lab in the United States of America. It was Celmark, and it was on Goldenrod Lane and it was in Gaithersburg in the middle of my county.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

DNA was first used in criminal cases in the late 1980s. But many people got a crash course on how it actually worked in the mid-1990s.

[Advertiser/Voiceover]

May 18, 1995.

[Detective]

Tonight, the State versus O.J. simpson. The continuing skirmish over the DNA.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Six years before Leslie Prier's murder, the lab director of Selmark was called to the stand in the so called trial of the century.

[State's Attorney John McCarthy]

Celmark became very famous because they were the ones who performed the DNA in the infamous O.J. simpson case.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

The DNA evidence is the best evidence

[Detective]

the prosecution has to link O.J.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

simpson to the murders. In O.J. simpson's trial, the Salmark Lab in Maryland was asked by the prosecution to verify the DNA results of the LAPD crime lab, which they did, pointing to a 1 in 530 billion chance of error. And despite the fact that O.J. was acquitted by the jury, the case still proved just how compelling DNA evidence could be. In 2001, that same lab, Selmark, analyzed the DNA samples found in the prey home, and they discovered something important. A lot of the blood found at the scene came from Leslie prearranged, but not all of it. Three blood samples came from someone else. One was found on a baseboard in the dining room, one was taken from the door to the kitchen, and one was discovered on the back door leading to the yard. And crucially, these three samples all matched DNA that had been found on Leslie Prier's fingernails. Whoever's DNA this was was likely the person Leslie had struggled with right before her death. And that person could be her killer. On June 18, detectives got a warrant to take samples of Sandy Prayer's blood and hair, which would be analyzed to see if they were a match with the blood found at the crime scene. Investigators waited, and then the results finally came back. In late July, State's Attorney John McCarthy again.

[State's Attorney John McCarthy]

The blood that was on the scene, that was not the victim's blood, came from a male, and it was not Mr. Prier.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

This information changed everything. Investigators had been laser focused on Sandy Preyer for weeks, but this crime scene DNA belonging to an unknown male was not, in fact, from the number one suspect in the Leslie Pryor case. And if it wasn't Sandy's DNA, whose was it?

[Brett Reedy]

Initially, I did not think that I was going to be a suspect in. In all of this.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

This is Leslie's boss, Brett Reedy. Sandy and some of Leslie's relatives found it odd, even suspicious, that Brett had turned up at the Prius house the day Leslie's body was discovered.

[Brett Reedy]

So they brought up the idea, well, what was Brett doing there? And who is Brett? Well, okay, I'm. I'm just. I'm just somebody who cared.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Remember when Sandy mentioned Brett back in his second police interview in May? Detectives had been skeptical. Now, a few months later, the Brett Reedy theory sounded a lot more interesting to them.

[Brett Reedy]

The police came to us in August telling us there was DNA found in Leslie's fingernails, not Sandy's DNA. So we would like to take swabs of all the males in the office to eliminate you all. All right, well, my first thought was, they probably wouldn't eliminate me only because I was there. And I said, fine. And they took swabs of, you know, our cheeks, and then off they Went.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Soon the DNA would reveal to investigators whether Brett was somebody who cared or somebody who may have killed. And Brett wasn't the only person detectives were taking a closer look at. For the rest of 2001, investigators cast their net wider and wider. They interviewed Leslie Prier's former colleagues and friends. Almost everyone with a connection to the family was now scrutinized. Lauren Preyer had been heartbroken by the investigators focus on her dad as the possible killer. And even when the police expanded their investigation, Sandy wasn't officially let off the hook.

[Lauren Prier]

Once the DNA came back, and it wasn't Sandy, my dad, they never really contacted us.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Sandy wasn't called into the station for any more interviews, but he wasn't cleared either. And Lauren thought some of the people investigators were now speaking to seemed far fetched.

[Lauren Prier]

My Uncle Frank was even interviewed, which is ridiculous. I mean, I understand because he would travel a lot, but he would stay at my parents house when he was coming through. I mean everyone was on the list.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Uncle Frank wasn't their guy. But in order for Sandy's name to be cleared, the police needed another strong suspect to focus on. And Lauren felt she had one. An older neighbor around her mom's age. As Lauren explains it, right before her mom's death, the two of them were walking together in the neighborhood when they bumped into this neighbor.

[Lauren Prier]

He's like, hi Lauren. I was like, this is my mom. And he was like, oh, no wonder where you get your good looks from, that kind of thing. And my mom always loved to be charmed. She was just that kind of woman. But she wasn't arrogant. She was just, she liked to be flattered. That's just how she was. He was very, very handsome. Anyways, so time went on or he was like, maybe we should go walk the dogs together sometime.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Lauren could see that her mom was flattered by this handsome neighbor. And after her mom was murdered, she wondered if something had happened between them.

[Lauren Prier]

The only thing I could thought of was did they have an affair? And then my mom tried to cut it off and like end the affair and he murdered her.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Lauren told police about this neighbor. Law enforcement would later get a sample from him. It didn't match and he was eliminated as a suspect. Meanwhile, investigators were entertaining another idea that this case could be bigger than Chevy Chase.

[State's Attorney John McCarthy]

If you lived in Washington D.C. you knew about Chandra Levy. It was in the news constantly, I guess in any whodunit murder, anybody in homicide would have to see if there were any relationships between what happened there. And in this case, Chandra levy.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Was a 24 year old student at the University of San Francisco who moved to Washington D.C. for a federal internship. She had told her parents she was about to return home, but mysteriously she disappeared and now she's the focus of a nationwide search. When she went missing in 2001, Chandra's parents appeared on national television begging for information about their daughter.

[Lauren Prier]

If anyone has any way of returning her, they get the reward money that is returning her. Please.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Chandra was last seen on May 1, just one day before Leslie Preer's body was discovered. Chandra's apartment was in downtown D.C. but her laptop's browser history showed that she had been researching Rock Creek park along a large wooded area that extended past the neighborhood of Chevy Chase, within a few miles of the Prius home. Detectives and Leslie's family had talked about a possible connection between the two cases. But as the months ticked on, the investigation into Leslie's murder slowed. In the detective's notebooks, entries went from multiple notes a day to having a month long stretch between them. By October of 2001, Brett Reedy's DNA results were back. He wasn't a match with the DNA from the crime scene. None of his colleagues were either. They were all eliminated as potential suspects. In February of 2002, the unknown male DNA was sent to CODIS, the national DNA database that holds records of convicted offenders. But it didn't get a match there either. And when Chandra Levy's body was found in May of 2002, it didn't reveal any new information about Leslie's murder. Detectives determined there was no connection between the two cases. The investigators increasingly wider search for answers had turned up nothing. The detectives had gone quiet and Lauren Prear soon got tired of waiting for them to call.

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[Detective]

Well, first of all, I guess you called me and you said that you wanted to come by and talk or so forth. So here we are.

[Lauren's friend or relative]

Here we are.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

A year after Leslie's murder, Lauren Prayer met with the two detectives in charge of the case. She'd come to find out what was new in the investigation, but they only wanted to rehash an old theory. The detectives were still convinced Sandy was the killer.

[Detective]

And it's frustrating for us because I just. My gut feeling is that your dad had something to do with this. I've just been a cop too many years. I've worked too many cases. It is so bizarre to think that this could be someone else.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

The unknown male DNA hadn't shifted the suspicion from Sandy at all. It had just added another layer of complexity. Detectives had a whole timeline of how they imagined Sandy had carried out Leslie's murder. Their theory was that on Tuesday, May 1, 2001, after eating pasta for dinner, Leslie Preer had an unknown male guest over. When Sandy got home, there was a confrontation during which the unknown male had been injured and left through the back door. This would explain the unknown man's blood being found in those three locations and his DNA on Leslie's fingernails. According to their official report, the detectives believed that Sandy had then turned his anger on Leslie, killing her in the foyer area and spending the early hours of Wednesday morning cleaning up before leaving for work as usual. The report also speculated that the biggest wrinkle in Sandy's plan was Brett Reedy. He didn't expect Brett to insist on coming over and see the blood that Sandy hadn't finished cleaning up. This was all speculation based on key pieces of evidence that for Lauren didn't add up to the same result. The pasta, for example.

[Lauren's friend or relative]

All the time she ate in the morning.

[Detective]

Yeah. And she could have had it in

[Lauren's friend or relative]

the morning every day.

[Detective]

Yeah.

[Lauren's friend or relative]

She did it so with an adorable to wake up.

[Detective]

Yeah.

And that's what we, we said. We said that can cut both ways.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

If Leslie ate the pasta for breakfast, as Lauren said she often did, it was totally plausible she'd been killed on Wednesday morning and Lauren said they still hadn't found the person who left the mystery DNA in the house.

[Lauren's friend or relative]

But don't you think that's really weird?

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Yes,

[Detective]

and that's why we are here. A year later, with nobody under arrest,

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

the detectives acknowledged that their theory wasn't perfect and that the mystery DNA had raised more questions than answers. But they still felt Sandy was the most likely option.

[Detective]

I think this was something where he just lost it for many seconds, as so many people do. And in that many seconds that he lost that, you know, something terrible happened.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

That idea that anyone is capable of losing it. Lauren had thought about it.

[Lauren's friend or relative]

I mean, of course, I'm not stupid. I'm 24. I've seen. I've heard stories like we were talking about that people can just snap, you know, and then the timeframe, the situation, the house, like, so those kind of things don't make me think, don't put me at ease of saying, I know for a fact my dad's innocent. Then the other side is like, it's my father. And my dad was never a violent person, ever.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Lauren was adamant her dad just wasn't capable of killing.

[Lauren's friend or relative]

He never hit me. He never hit my mom, ever at her worst. And it takes a really insane person to just take that next step besides, like, beating somebody. Joe, Paul, but just throw into almost being dead. I mean, that part of it just seems. And him, like, taking her body there isn't going to work. No way. No way.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Investigators told Lauren the case was in a sort of holding pattern. The cloud of suspicion over Sandy would stay until new information could clear him or confirm him as the killer. And detectives weren't the only ones holding on to their suspicions about Sandy. Leslie's large family, devastated by the loss of their sister and daughter, had turned on Sandy, too.

[Lauren Prier]

They basically cut him out, which is sad, and I know it hurt him very much. But my dad and I had each other, so we worked through it. And he. I'm sure behind closed doors, he was a mess and sad and cry, but in front of me again. We worked through it, but he tried to be strong.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Sandy moved away from Chevy Chase to Virginia. Lauren visited him about once a week. They would go out to dinner and talk. She never asked him about Leslie's murder again. But she kept reaching out to the detectives, hoping for some update or new lead in her mom's case.

[Lauren Prier]

So I just kept calling. I knew someone knew something, you know what I mean? So I just didn't give up.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

And as the years went on, Lauren started to wonder if she would ever learn the truth.

[Lauren Prier]

I thought I was going to die without knowing. I really, truly thought that. And that's when we talked about it. I came to a term where Lauren, you can't do this every single day. You can't. It's gonna kill you. And then I got the phone call.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

It took 24 years for Lauren to get the call she'd been waiting for. By the time it came, a whole new generation of detectives was on the line. They reached out because they had new ideas, new investigative methods, and a new mindset about how to solve the crime. And they said they knew who killed Leslie Prier.

[Lauren Prier]

He almost got away with it. He almost got away with it.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

Blood and water is a production of abc audio and 20 20, hosted by me, stephanie ramos. Produced by madeline wood, shane mckeon and kiara powell. With help from emily schutz and caitlin schiffer. Edited by gianna palmer. Our supervising producer is susie liu. Music by evan viola. Mixing and mastering by bob mallory. Scoring by kiara powell. Special thanks to katie dendoz, janice johnston, sean dooley, chris donovan, camille peterson, christina corbin, gail deutch, amanda carr, ellie joestad, ng adam and michelle margulis. Josh cohan is our director of podcast programming. Eamonn mcniff is our executive producer.

[Narrator/Producer or Advertiser]

There was only one Richard Simmons.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

It's sweating time.

[Narrator/Producer or Advertiser]

Megastar adored by millions. Then one day, he disappeared for a decade.

[Advertiser/Voiceover]

Where in the world is Richard Simmons?

[Narrator/Producer or Advertiser]

Now his closest family and friends speak out for the first time to Diane Sawyer.

[Narrator/Host (Stephanie Ramos)]

He had to be in a lot of pain.

[Detective]

He had to be in a lot of pain.

[Narrator/Producer or Advertiser]

And what does Richard's live in housekeeper, the last person to see him alive now say happened behind closed doors.

[Lauren Prier]

This is the first time I'm talking about this.

[Narrator/Producer or Advertiser]

The mystery of Richard Simmons. A Diane Sawyer special premieres tonight on ABC and stream on Disney plus and Hulu.