Smoke and Mirrors

Summary

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Dateline NBC: “Smoke and Mirrors”

Original Air Date: December 31, 2025
Host: Lester Holt
Reporter/Narrator: Keith Morrison

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Episode Overview

"Smoke and Mirrors" unravels the heartbreaking case of Nailah Franklin, a successful young pharmaceutical representative from Chicago who vanished without a trace in September 2007. The episode follows her family's frantic search, the twisting investigation that exposed one suspect’s deceptive life, and the long fight for justice. This is a story not only of a crime, but of the resilience of family in the face of tragedy, and the frustrating realities of whose stories get attention in the media.

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Key Discussion Points & Timeline

1. The Disappearance of Nailah Franklin

[00:58 - 11:06]

• Family Alarm: Nailah, beloved by a large, blended family and fresh in a new, promising romance, suddenly goes silent. Her missed calls and emails raise immediate concern from loved ones, especially her sister Leah:
  • “She had missed a meeting. And then not to hear from her. This isn’t right.” – Leah Franklin [00:58]
• Odd Clues: Her habits—quick to respond, always in contact—made her silence alarming. Three mysterious 911 calls with nothing but music in the background further unsettle everyone.
  • “No voice, no struggles could be heard. Light music in the background.” – Investigator [09:41]

2. Media Attention and Missing Person Search

[11:06 - 15:31]

• Mobilizing Attention: Leah, a PR executive, leverages media contacts to publicize Nailah’s disappearance, aware that women of color often do not receive equal coverage.
  • “Quite frankly, I don’t know of a lot of women of color or people of color who get the same attention by the public in general.” – Leah Franklin [11:48]
• Urgent Search: Flyers are posted throughout Chicago; friends and family retrace Nailah's last steps. A grassroots search quickly unfolds.

3. The Family and Nailah’s Life

[03:31 - 06:13]

• Nailah's Upbringing: Listeners learn about the Franklin family — tight-knit, sprawling, and supportive. Nailah’s ambition from an early age, and her discerning taste in friends and partners, come through touching reminiscences.
  • “She was very sure of herself from really, the earliest time.” – Leah Franklin [04:52]
• New Love: The episode details Nailah’s relationship with Andre Wright, a Milwaukee attorney. Their connection is immediate and genuine, described affectionately by both family and Wright.

4. The Investigation Intensifies

[16:57 - 23:18]

• Evidence and Clues:
  • Chicago police discover six perfectly stacked boxes filled with pharmaceutical samples—bearing Nailah’s name—abandoned in a parking lot near a lagoon.
    • “Inside the boxes. Pills. Hundreds of them.” – Detective [18:32]
  • Nailah’s car turns up, wiped clean, in Hammond, Indiana, thanks to media tips tracing the vehicle.
    • “You open that trunk, the last thing you want to think is that there’s something in that trunk. Unfortunately, there wasn’t.” – Family Friend [20:26]
• Suspects: Police interview Nailah’s new boyfriend (Andre), as well as her ex-boyfriend, Reginald Potts—a flashy investor with a history of deceit.

5. Exposing the “Smoke and Mirrors”

[25:42 - 28:17]

• The Real Potts: The investigation reveals Potts lived an illusion of wealth—expensive cars and clothes, but defaulted loans and no real assets. His relationships were unstable; Nailah, realizing his true nature, had warned others about him.
  • “He lived a life of a lot of smoke and mirrors.” – Family Friend [26:25]
  • Potts had sent Nailah threatening messages.

6. A Break in the Case & Arrest

[24:10 - 29:39]

• Body Found: Nine days after her disappearance, Nailah’s body is discovered near the lagoon. Cause of death: asphyxiation.
  • "I think this type of death, it doesn't just kill that person. It kills a lot in the family." – Leah Franklin [24:57]
• Forensic and Circumstantial Evidence: Video footage places Potts with Nailah on the day she vanished; his supposed alibi falls apart under scrutiny. He is arrested, maintaining his innocence and alleging police frame-up.
  • “And if you have, you have been very creative with Photoshop.” – Reginald Potts [33:32]

7. The Trial and Aftermath

[36:05 - 44:42]

• Long Delays: Despite Potts initially demanding a speedy trial, years of delays ensue (frequent lawyer changes, self-representation).
• Trial Challenges: The prosecution’s case is circumstantial—no forensic smoking gun, but a web of digital, testimonial, and behavioral evidence. Nailah’s friends testify about Potts’ threats.
  • “And essentially in that voicemail, he said to Nailah, ‘I’m going to have you erased. I’m going to make you disappear.’” – Prosecutor [38:45]
• Conviction: After two weeks of testimony, the jury finds Potts guilty of first-degree murder. He is sentenced to life without parole.

8. Impact and Closing Reflections

[44:46 - End]

• Family’s Grief: The family reflects on the enduring pain of their loss and the hollow comfort of "justice."
  • “It’s still not done. She’s still not back. You still can’t talk with her.” – Defense Attorney / Family [44:57]
• Broader Message: Listeners are left with sobering reminders about vulnerability, predatory manipulation, and the importance—and limitations—of justice.

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Notable Quotes

• On Media Attention:
  “Quite frankly, I don’t know of a lot of women of color or people of color who get the same attention by the public in general.” – Leah Franklin [11:48]

• On Realization of Loss:
  “In my heart I knew. I was like, you know what? She’s not coming back.” – Leah Franklin [24:10]

• On the Suspect’s Character:
  "He lived a life of a lot of smoke and mirrors." – Family Friend [26:25]
  “He’s a sociopath. He lies as easily as he breathes about anything.” – Legal Expert [43:03]

• On the Killer in Court:
  “I am not the person that Ms. McCarthy has tried to paint in this courtroom. I’m not a monster.” – Reginald Potts [44:18]

• On Justice and Grief:
  “It’s still not done. She’s still not back. You still can’t talk with her.” – Defense Attorney / Family [44:57]
  “I don’t want my 28-year-old sister to be my angel. I want her to be right here in the thick of it with me.” – Leah Franklin [45:19]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:58 – First signs of concern; family recounts Nailah’s habits
• 09:41 – 911 calls with music, no voice; eerie early clue
• 11:48 – Leah Franklin on disparities in media coverage
• 16:57 – Detective explains discovery of boxes, pharmaceutical samples
• 18:32 – Police find boxes in parking lot
• 20:26 – Nailah’s car located, wiped clean
• 24:10 – Prayer service; Leah senses Nailah is gone
• 24:57 – Body is found
• 25:42 – Family and investigators on Potts’ fabricated success
• 26:25 – “Smoke and mirrors” quote on Potts
• 33:32 – Potts claims he’s being framed
• 38:45 – Threatening voicemail to Nailah recounted in court
• 41:20 – Verdict returned: guilty
• 44:18 – Reginald Potts: “I am not a monster”
• 45:19 – Leah’s grief; family’s closing reflections

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Tone & Language

The episode features the measured, detailed storytelling characteristic of Dateline NBC, blending poignant recollections from family with matter-of-fact procedural updates from detectives and legal experts. Lester Holt and Keith Morrison's narration is both sensitive and suspenseful, ensuring that the victim’s humanity remains central while the investigation and court dramas are presented with clarity and gravity.

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Summary

"Smoke and Mirrors" is a gripping yet sobering exploration of the disappearance and murder of Nailah Franklin, illustrating the complexities of investigating violent crime, the resilience of a devastated family, and the troubling persistence of “smoke and mirrors”–the deceits and manipulative facades that can mask monstrous intentions. The episode delivers both a compelling true-crime narrative and a meditation on justice, remembrance, and the lingering presence of grief.

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Transcript

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[Leah Franklin]

She had missed a meeting. And then not to hear from her. This isn't right. It would have been impossible to get up every day knowing that she was gone. I had to believe we would find her alive.

[Detective Greg Jacobson]

Text her. She always got right back.

[DSW Advertiser]

I've seen her step out the shower to answer her phone.

[Detective Greg Jacobson]

Then one day she didn't.

[Leah Franklin]

Immediately. My spidey senses were high.

[Detective Greg Jacobson]

Where was Nailah?

[Andre Wright]

An email, all caps. Are you alive?

[Detective Greg Jacobson]

There was no sign of her. And such a confusing trail of clues. Even the calls to 911 were silent.

[Detective or Investigator]

No voice, no struggles could be heard.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

That's gonna be kind of eerie.

[Detective or Investigator]

Yes, it is.

[Leah Franklin]

In my heart I knew she's not coming back.

[Detective Greg Jacobson]

One of the suspects had an alibi until a camera caught him in a lie.

[Family Friend or Witness]

He lived a life of a lot.

[Detective Greg Jacobson]

Of smoke and mirrors and the strangest clue of all. There in an empty parking six perfectly stacked cardboard boxes. Why were they there? What was in them?

[Detective or Investigator]

It was right adjacent to a lagoon.

[Leah Franklin]

Whoa.

[Detective or Investigator]

I watch enough dateline to know that's probably not a good sign.

[Detective Greg Jacobson]

I'm Lester Holt and this is Dateline. Here's Keith Morrison with smoke and mirrors.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

It wasn't like this, you have to understand. It wasn't gray, wasn't cold. No flecks of snow to drift and catch the bitter breeze. No, no, it was hot. And it was late after midnight. September 27, 2007.

[Detective or Investigator]

Pretty secluded area next to a forest preserve.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

So it was. And it was clear and dark and still and vacant here where the deep wood fought back against the decaying suburban sprawl. And then nothing was clear at all.

[Leah Franklin]

I remember crying. This violent cry.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

You're experiencing everything, but it's not you.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

You're just waiting to wake up.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

It just feels like you're in. Literally, like in a nightmare.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Yes, still does. The name you'll want to remember is Nailah.

[DSW Advertiser]

The meaning was one who succeeds.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

This is Nailah's mother, Maria.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

I wanted her to be successful. She was.

[DSW Advertiser]

She lived her name.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Quite true. As, frankly, have the rest of them in this big family. This is Leah, the firstborn.

[Leah Franklin]

We might need a graph chart because.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

It'S kind of involved full siblings, half siblings, quarter siblings once removed, that sort of thing. Very blended.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

We share one parent, so technically half siblings. But that word is kind of offensive to me because to me it implies that it's something less. And I've never felt that way. I've never used that word. We're just siblings.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

One big, close, happy family. So said John, the youngest.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

It's simple for us because, you know, we grew up together from the time we were young. So for us, it's like we're one big family.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Not one, but two Ashleys.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

She's Ashley with the E and the other one's Ashley with the Y.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

That's this one. And imagine this. I think this is kind of unusual, kind of rare.

[DSW Advertiser]

Yes.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

That everybody gets along.

[DSW Advertiser]

Yeah, everybody gets along. It's a good thing.

[Leah Franklin]

Although when we were kids, it was a lot more crazy to other people.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Hi. And in the middle of this big family was Nailah.

[DSW Advertiser]

Happy birthday, Harper.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

I love you.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Little Moot they used to call her, because once she decided something all arguments against were moot.

[Leah Franklin]

She was very sure of herself from really, the earliest time.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Yes, Nailah Franklin was going somewhere.

[DSW Advertiser]

She was like my hero. I looked up to her.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

She always just accepted you for who you were. It's almost like she glowed when she walked into a room.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

After college, Nailah came home to Chicago and began building a career, eventually in pharmaceutical sales. At 28, she owned a condo in the heart of the city.

[Leah Franklin]

I think everything she wanted to be, she was just as a theme, fabulous was the aspiration. And I think she definitely met that mark.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

But always number one, really. She stayed in touch, never failed. Call her. She'd call back right away, text her. She'd reply instantly. Always.

[DSW Advertiser]

She managed to water all of her relationships. She spent time with everyone, friends, family.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

That's a pretty special skill.

[DSW Advertiser]

Yeah. To manage that in your career.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

There were men. Of course there were. Though she was, shall we say, discerning.

[Leah Franklin]

The young men she dated were of a caliber that, you know, we expected of her.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

What sort of guys did you like?

[DSW Advertiser]

Successful, nice, respectable men, professional men.

[Leah Franklin]

She was dating a plastic surgeon guy and this guy and that guy.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

She took up briefly with a dashing investor who drove a white Bentley. And then in July 2007, Nailah attended an art gallery opening. And he came, this lawyer from Milwaukee, Andre Wright.

[Andre Wright]

She had a big, beautiful smile. She's a very pretty woman, very warm personality. And we just kind of walked around the space looking at different pieces, talking about my interests, what I was looking for in a piece of art. Obviously, I tried to engage her.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Suddenly, this is a different search than it was.

[Andre Wright]

I mean, the artwork became of little interest to me at that point.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

And just like that, it was all over for both of them. You know, I don't want to go all Hallmark card on you or anything like that, but, I mean, this was clearly kind of a transcendental moment or something.

[Andre Wright]

Yeah, absolutely. Definitely.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Aila's family loved Andre. What family wouldn't?

[Leah Franklin]

She brought him to my child's first birthday party. He brought my baby a gift. I was like, who does that?

[Family Friend or Witness]

But he.

[Leah Franklin]

Because he's a nice, quality person.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

They liked you?

[Andre Wright]

I think so, yeah. Yeah.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Due to her influence, you started planning on moving in together, right? On being together? We did, and that was happening pretty fast.

[Andre Wright]

It felt good, though. I mean, it just felt natural.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

It was long distance. He in Milwaukee, she in Chicago. They stayed connected by phone and email and text all day long.

[Andre Wright]

I would call her every morning, and.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

No one seemed to notice any dark force, any unseen thing festering in the heat of that hot, late summer. Didn't feel the warning, didn't know who said what to whom. It was September 18th, a Tuesday.

[Andre Wright]

That Tuesday morning, I thought I had called her on my way to work, but I was interrupted. And she called me and said, hey, what happened to my call? And I said, oh, I thought I had. So we spoke for a bit, exchanged emails later, and then just kind of went about the date.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Evening came, he in the flush of love, called again. No answer.

[Andre Wright]

Left her a message saying I was heading home and got a text message back from her phone saying she was at a dinner and would reach out later.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Wait a minute. You'd been calling her every day, talking all the time? Yeah. And she said, I'm at dinner. I'll call you later. But she didn't. Then, 9pm One of the Ashleys called Nailah. Nailah, who always picked up the phone for a sister.

[DSW Advertiser]

I got a text message that said something along the lines that I'm at dinner and I'LL call you in a few.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Does that sound like her?

[DSW Advertiser]

No. It wasn't like her to not answer the phone. I've seen her like step out the shower to answer her phone.

[Andre Wright]

I send her an email, all caps. Are you alive?

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

One of those half in jest, half worried things you say without knowing what a good question it was.

[Detective Greg Jacobson]

Not only was Nyela increasingly hard to reach, even worse, she hadn't shown up for work that day.

[Leah Franklin]

When we returned immediately, my spidey senses were were high.

[Detective Greg Jacobson]

And one more ominous sign. Three calls to 911 from her cell phone.

[Detective or Investigator]

No voice, no struggles could be heard. Light music in the background.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

That's going to be kind of eerie to hear that, huh?

[Detective or Investigator]

Yes.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

September 19, 2007 dawned in Chicago like any other late summer day. Hot, humid, windy, the usual, except for one thing. Nayla Franklin, ambitious, dependable, and always on her phone, was suddenly radio silent, even with her new love, Andre.

[Andre Wright]

I called her that morning, emailed her, called her again early afternoon, and that's.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

When he sent her that all caps email. Are you alive? And you probably didn't mean it the way it really.

[Andre Wright]

No. Was just like say to someone, are you there?

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

At the end of the workday, big sister Leah did get a call. Not from Nailah, but from Nailah's boss.

[Leah Franklin]

He said she had missed a meeting. Immediately my spidey senses were high. So of course I tried to call her. Didn't get her.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

So Leah called Nailah's friends and her other siblings. Had anyone heard from Nailah?

[DSW Advertiser]

I didn't speak with her that day. I didn't speak with her the day before.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

And I said, no, I haven't. I actually haven't. I've been really busy and I haven't talked to her.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

A cold fear took hold of Leah. She called the Chicago pd, filed a missing persons report, and then she drove over to Nailah's condo, knocked on the door, no answer. She got a key. She went in.

[Leah Franklin]

You see her eggs and coffee that she had just left there, just out.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Something's wrong.

[Leah Franklin]

Just like, you know what? This isn't. This isn't right.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

And then Leah got professional. She knew. How. She's a public relations executive. And she called every media contact she had. You kind of went wide on this thing. Your PR impulse really kicked in.

[Leah Franklin]

Yes.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Leah's experience told her not to hope too much for media help for one very unfortunate reason.

[Leah Franklin]

Quite frankly, I don't know of a lot of women of color or people of color who get the same attention by the public in General.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

You know, there's that old saw in the media business and in fact, there's some truth to it.

[Family Friend or Witness]

No. Yeah.

[Leah Franklin]

Yeah, I think it's not just a saw.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

The good looking young blonde goes missing and the whole world wants to know about it and stay talking about it for years. Black woman's not quite the same deal.

[Leah Franklin]

No. And there is reality to that. It troubles the mind that when people of color go missing or if it doesn't fit the narrative of gun violence or gang violence or something like that, then somehow it's not. It's not. It's not real.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

So Leah knew. But Leah was not to be denied. You decided they were damn well going to cover it.

[Leah Franklin]

Well, they were.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

And maybe this was because of Leah's media savvy. The next morning, Nailah's picture was all over the news. Flyers with her picture are taped to traffic posts and handed out to people passing by.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

We were in the streets and putting up any place we could. Downtown, suburbs.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

They phoned and texted and emailed their friends, but no one reported seeing Nailah. No one. Nailah's sister kept replaying their last conversation.

[DSW Advertiser]

She called me and she said, I've got something to tell you. And before she could tell me, she got a call on the other line and she clicked over and she said, she'll call me back.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

She didn't call you.

[DSW Advertiser]

She didn't call me back.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Awful. With a person's mind could churn up in the dark as day one became two and then day three.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

I kept calling her and kept calling her. I just kept thinking, she's gonna answer, she's gonna answer, she's gonna answer.

[Leah Franklin]

There's no handbook for this. So you wake up and you think it's a bad dream and no, it's still real.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

The case of the missing pharmaceutical representative landed on the desks of Sergeant Mia Oliore and Detective Greg Jacobson, who right away scanned Nailah's phone records and found something alarming. Just after 10pm the night Naila vanished, her cell phone made three calls to 911 Chicago merchants.

[Detective or Investigator]

No voice, no struggles could be heard. No background noise with the exception of some light music in the background.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

That's gonna be kind of eerie to hear that, huh?

[Detective or Investigator]

Yes, it is. Is the person physically unable to complete the conversation and just able to dial a 91 1?

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

So the investigator set about talking to just about everybody.

[Family Friend or Witness]

Nyla knew there was interviews completed through doctors she had visited to try to retrace her, trace her steps and people she had encountered a lot of people were talking. Of course, everyone, anyone that we knew had a relationship with her.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Maybe Leah's PR campaign helped because we.

[Detective or Investigator]

Had some anonymous tips. People saying that they saw her at.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

This location, but not a single one of them led to Nyla. By now, the detectives believe they were dealing with a serious crime, and yet she's missing.

[Detective or Investigator]

Technically, there hasn't been a crime committed.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

That makes it somewhat awkward when you're looking into it.

[Family Friend or Witness]

But anyone that we knew that had contact with her, the boyfriend that she was in Wisconsin with the weekend before she went missing, they were all interviewed.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

That boyfriend from Wisconsin, Andre, had come to Chicago, was helping with the search and soon was perhaps the subject of it. They came to you.

[Andre Wright]

They did.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

The perfect boyfriend. Now to police a perfectly obvious person of interest.

[Detective Greg Jacobson]

Coming up, a discovery in an empty parking lot.

[Detective or Investigator]

It was in a pretty secluded area right adjacent to a lagoon.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Whoa.

[Detective or Investigator]

I watch enough DATELINE to know that's probably not a good sign.

[Detective Greg Jacobson]

A strange sight, to be sure. But what, if anything, did it have to do with Nyela? When DATELINE continues.

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[DSW Advertiser]

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[Prolon Advertiser]

So what are you waiting for?

[DSW Advertiser]

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[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

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[Narrator / Lester Holt]

There's this big search. Yes, how overwhelming was that?

[DSW Advertiser]

You don't realize how the world seems so big when you're Looking for someone.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Imagine all of Chicago and Naila could be anywhere. Tied up in some basement in the trunk of a car. A worse then, middle of the night, 20 miles south of town, at a place called Calumet City. A local cop was on routine patrol checking out a golf course parking lot. His name is Calvin Lucius.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

So as I got to this area right here, I noticed right in front of me, six perfectly stacked cardboard boxes, you know, shipping boxes sitting right there in the parking lot, sitting right on the curb so it stood out. So I'm looking like something's not right here.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Inside the boxes. Pills. Hundreds of them.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

I was thinking, okay, this might be something big as far as, you know, some type of narcotics and drug related case.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Except look more like samples. Something a pharmaceutical rep would have been handing out free to doctors. What were they?

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

Just different type of medicines. I can't even pronounce the names.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

What were they doing here? On the label? The address to a storage locker and a name. Nailah.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

And pretty soon the FBI and Chicago police.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Everybody was out here looking, including Detective Greg Jacobson.

[Detective or Investigator]

It was in a pretty secluded area next to a forest preserve which was right adjacent to a lagoon.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Whoa.

[Detective or Investigator]

I watch enough dateline to know that's probably not a good sign.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Was Niela down there in that murky water?

[Family Friend or Witness]

We had light trucks out there.

[Detective or Investigator]

They dredged the lagoon back and forth.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

They went, scoured every inch of the pond and the thick woods behind it and found one weird thing.

[Detective or Investigator]

There was some jewelry that was on.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Some of the bushes, pearls and such, just hanging there. The cops checked with their friends. Looked like Nailah's, they said, except Niela wasn't here. But remember Sister Leah's PR campaign not far away from there, next town over.

[Leah Franklin]

The person saw a newscast and they were like, that car's been on my block for a couple days. And thank God they saw that. And thank God they cared enough to call it in.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

That call came from here. Hammond, Indiana, just down the road from Calumet. Three days after Naila vanished. A black Chevy Impala.

[Family Friend or Witness]

We rushed out there to, you know, to see it.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

It was hers.

[Family Friend or Witness]

You open that trunk, the last thing you want to think is that there's something in that trunk. Unfortunately, there wasn't.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

You obviously do a workup on the vehicle. Did you find any prints, any DNA, anything useful at all?

[Detective or Investigator]

I think our evidence technicians that processed it described it as it was wiped clean.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Including in the trunk?

[Family Friend or Witness]

Yes.

[Detective or Investigator]

Yes.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Believing somehow she might find her sister, the younger Ashley drove out there.

[DSW Advertiser]

The car was parked in front of an abandoned house. And I went and I banged on the door, Looked through the windows. I screamed her name. I didn't want to leave. I had to be taken from the area.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Of course, the cops canvassed the neighbors and what do you know?

[Family Friend or Witness]

They had seen a male mulling around the vehicle and then enter another vehicle and leave. And that was a few days prior to us actually locating the vehicle.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Did they give you a good description?

[Family Friend or Witness]

A male african american, thin build.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

That description might have fit a lot of people in nailah's life. Like, for example, her new boyfriend, Andre wright. Police had questioned him right away. It was about their relationship and where he was when she disappeared.

[Andre Wright]

They asked about when. Last time I saw her was last time we spoke.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Or could that man mulling around the car have been someone else? Like that previous boyfriend, the investor? His name was reginald potts. But before the cops could find him, he stepped up and called them.

[Detective or Investigator]

He wanted to know why Chicago police wanted to.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

And talking with him, he agreed to stop by headquarters for a talk.

[Detective or Investigator]

He gives us a lot of information.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

He met her a year earlier. He told them by pure chance, really. On the street in the ritzy gold coast. She was sophisticated. So was he. They dated briefly. Realized it wasn't for life, Though a girl could do worse, what with his white bentley and duplex overlooking the lake.

[Detective or Investigator]

He lives in a very large apartment complex. A high rise.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Nice place and beautiful.

[Family Friend or Witness]

In an upscale area in the city.

[Detective or Investigator]

It's where you want to live.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Wow. Reginald told them everything he did the day nailah vanished. Everywhere he went. Very detailed the day's events. Early evening shopping with friends at target bar hopping later with not one but two girlfriends. Separately, of course. And after that, an intimate part with a third girlfriend.

[Detective or Investigator]

They make arrangements to meet at reginald's apartment around midnight on the 18th.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

This guy gets around.

[Detective or Investigator]

If you got a bentley, your options are open, right?

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

I guess so. As investigators headed off to check Reginald potts alibi down in calumet city, officer calvin lucius was again cruising vacant parking lots. This time a mile or so from where he found those boxes. When a partner noticed something.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

He saw A pair of earbuds hanging from the tree.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Bright little bobbles showed up in the dark. What else was in that abandoned place at the edge of the midnight woods?

[Detective Greg Jacobson]

Coming up. It's now a different type of investigation. And detectives take a closer look at a man from nailah's past.

[Family Friend or Witness]

She saw, sensed there was something off about him.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

It's a grassroots effort by family and friends for all the frantic activity, the phone calls, the flyers, the organized looking about. It was a rare quiet time nine days in, when Nailah Franklin's sister felt it.

[Leah Franklin]

We had a prayer service at our church. In my heart I knew. I was like, you know what? She's not coming back.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

And that very night, in the 3am Hush of Calumet City, Night patrol officer Calvin Lucius felt his way past the glittering earbuds his partner saw hanging from a tree to the inky flat fringe of forest at the back of a long abandoned parking lot behind a derelict video store.

[Detective or Investigator]

I probably got like, maybe right around in this area.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Yeah.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

And just looked over and the body was there.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

What was that moment like?

[Detective or Investigator]

Shocked.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

You don't know if it's her or not, but you have an idea.

[Detective or Investigator]

Because it's a female body, they had.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

To resort to dental records to confirm it was Nailah.

[Leah Franklin]

I think this type of death, it doesn't just kill that person. It kills a lot in the family. It's the absence of a piece of you because that person's not here.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

I can't describe it. It's like you know it's happening, but it just doesn't feel real. It just feels like you're in. Literally, like in a nightmare.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

An autopsy confirmed the death was by asphyxiation. So now it was homicide. But who was the killer? Not Andre confirmed he was in Milwaukee when Nailah vanished.

[Family Friend or Witness]

Everything with him checked out.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

As for being questioned, are you upset by it?

[Andre Wright]

Not at all, no. They should. They should have done that. That was part of doing their job.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

So what about that investor, Reginald Potts? The one who'd been so helpful? Well, this was curious. When the detectives went to visit his high rise apartment, they couldn't help but.

[Detective or Investigator]

Notice the exterior to one of the doors was extremely damaged. Like it had been forced open.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Huh, that's weird. Maybe not so weird. There was an explanation.

[Detective or Investigator]

Reginald Potts was recently visited by members of the Cook County Sheriff's Department in an attempt to evict Reginald Potts.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Of course, this was 2007. Lots of people were falling behind on their mortgages. But by the look of it, Reginald's problems ran deeper than that.

[Family Friend or Witness]

He was constantly in default. 15 pairs of Gucci shoes. And not a bed to sleep on.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Not a bed to sleep on.

[Detective or Investigator]

A mattress.

[Family Friend or Witness]

A mattress. No furniture. Not a pot or pan in the kitchen. But yet what he believed were important items to surround himself with. Cars, clothing, high end restaurants. They're for show.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

The Bentley, it turned out, belonged to somebody else. And Reginald juggled Girlfriends and hookups and an ex wife who was raising one of his children and an ex girlfriend with whom he'd had another. Didn't take Nyla long to figure it out, or so her friends told the police.

[Family Friend or Witness]

She sensed there was something off about him, and that's probably where she decided to, you know, look a little deeper.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

So she ended it. And as she did, she warned whomever she could about Reginald. Even one of his other girlfriends. Watch out for this guy. He's bad news. And he's cheating on you.

[Detective or Investigator]

Yeah, they were in communication about Reginald.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Nailah told Andre that when Reginald found out, he wasn't happy.

[Andre Wright]

He got wind of that and reached out to Nailah in a threatening manner.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Sent her nasty emails and voicemails. Did she worry about that a lot?

[Andre Wright]

She didn't exhibit any worries to me.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

About it, but she must have been worried. Detectives found a report that Nailah had called a non emergency police phone number, asked about filing an order of protection against a threatening ex boyfriend. She mentioned Mr. Potts. So, yes, Reginald Potts was a murder suspect. But he wasn't exactly hiding from the police. Remember, he'd given them a very detailed alibi to check out.

[Detective or Investigator]

He's pretty specific on where he's at.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

And as the weeks went by, he seemed quite eager to help.

[Detective or Investigator]

And he continuously called me on my cell phone.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

Really?

[Detective or Investigator]

Yes.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Called you to tell you what?

[Detective or Investigator]

Tried to direct an investigation. Why haven't we talked to Hugh Eckles and Caster Echols?

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

His friends? The Echols were with him much of the day.

[Detective or Investigator]

He said they were at a Target store, shopping.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

And sure enough, Mr. Echols confirmed his account. There they are. On surveillance cameras at the Target store. Which would seem to exclude Potts as a suspect. If he was shopping, he wasn't kidnapping and killing Nailah. But this was curious. For some reason, Reginald did not show up on camera.

[Family Friend or Witness]

So if you're ever going to commit a crime, do not do it at Target because they're going to have everything down to your sign this transaction on the keypad. Very clear.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Meaning either he managed somehow to investigate, avoid every camera in the store, or his friend lied for him. So they hauled Reginald's buddy down to the station, and after a few go rounds, he admitted not only that Reginald wasn't at the Target, but he did.

[Family Friend or Witness]

Receive a phone call from Reginald Potts and then traveled to Hammond in order to pick him up because he needed a ride.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Hammond, Indiana, the town where Niela's car was found found on the 6th of December, 2007. Reginald Potts was arrested for the murder of Niela Franklin. But Reginald quite vehemently denied killing her.

[Detective or Investigator]

This is the evidence.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

Okay, we can put you let me the fabrication.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Fabrication? Yes, said Reginald. He was being framed.

[Detective Greg Jacobson]

Coming up, a suspect bears all.

[Detective or Investigator]

Why are you taking your clothes off?

[Andre Wright]

What's that?

[Detective Greg Jacobson]

Okay, but would he reveal the truth? When dateline continues.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

The McDonald's snack wrap is back. You brought it back. Ranch snack wrap. Spicy snack wrap.

[Detective or Investigator]

You broke the Internet for a snack?

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Snack wrap is back.

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[Prolon Advertiser]

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[DSW Advertiser]

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[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Here we are in a little room in a Chicago police station.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

Let's say that is what you're saying.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Reginald Potts is under arrest for the murder of Nailah Franklin. The detectives are certain they have their man.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

But Mr. Potts, I am adamantly denying that I was ever there, period.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Reginald Potts appears to be insulted they even asked.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

And I can tell you you're lying.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Nailah, he was nowhere near her. He said the day she vanished.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

Listen to me. I was not in her apartment on the 18th period. Or her building or apartment building.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Of course they told him they had evidence.

[Detective or Investigator]

Distinctive Bentley in her parking garage or building.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

And I can tell you it's a.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Police frame up to which the detectives said.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

Reginald, do you understand about video cases?

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Yes. Including Nailah's apartment building. And there Is Reginald plain as day with Niela arriving and leaving with her on that very day she disappeared. So you knew he was there? Yes, but Reginald doubled down on his denial.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

I am certain that I am nowhere near inside of Naida Franklin's apartment building.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Accused the police of fabricating evidence.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

And if you have, you have been very creative with Photoshop. I guarantee you cannot bring me getting off in an elevator at Nyla Franklin's house. If you have, you've been very creative with Photoshop.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

He talked and talked. Denied and denied.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

We can put you in, letting you.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

All without any apparent desire for an attorney. But when they asked him to stand in a lineup so witnesses could have a look, if there's no lawyer here.

[Andre Wright]

That can bear witness to what is.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

Going on and you speaking to whom in the lineup room, the person who's viewing me, I definitely not feel wrong.

[Detective or Investigator]

There's a Warner here with the state's attorney here from Cook County.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

State's attorney is at representing the people and representing the case. I would not feel comfortable at all.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

At all. So they waited for Reginald's attorney to arrive, and then it got odd.

[Detective or Investigator]

Attorney's right there.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

Yes, sir.

[Detective or Investigator]

Why are you taking clothes on?

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

Because I am.

[Detective or Investigator]

What's that?

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

Because I am.

[Detective or Investigator]

Okay, your attorney's right here. We want to take you for a lineup right now.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

We stepped in the other room.

[Detective or Investigator]

Reginald removed all his clothing and refused to stand in the lineup.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

That's an interesting tactic.

[Detective or Investigator]

Yes.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Have you ever seen that before?

[Detective or Investigator]

No.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

So no lineup, but they charged him anyway with capital murder. Nailah by then, had been dead three months.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

I was definitely relieved. I was kind of surprised that it took so long, but I was relieved.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Relieved, too, that Reginald Potts, as was his right, demanded a speedy trial. But then Reginald Potts used every resource.

[Detective or Investigator]

At his disposal to delay the process.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

NBC Chicago's Charlie Vorjahewski watched in something like amazement as Reginald turned speedy justice into something else altogether.

[Detective or Investigator]

He hired lawyers. He fired lawyers. He tried to act as his own attorney at each step of the process. The trial itself had to be reset.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

One, two, three years passed that way. In the fourth year after the murder, Illinois abolished capital punishment. So that was off the table. And still Reginald's actions forced delays.

[Detective or Investigator]

This is one of the most bizarre cases we've seen in Chicago.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Just as Nailah's family had reached out to the media, Reginald Potts tried to launch a PR campaign from behind bars.

[Detective or Investigator]

His family reached out, trying to convince me that there may be some way that he's not associated with this Crime, that it might be someone else, that there was a rush to judgment.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

He talked to a newspaper columnist who wrote sympathetically about his treatment in jail. And every delay, every move, manipulation was slow torture.

[Leah Franklin]

I very much believe that everyone should have a fair and just trial and that too often people who are poor or people of color do not. Or most often they don't get proper representation and they don't get a fair shake in our court system. But this was not that.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

And then finally, on October 28, 2015, on a cross on a crisp fall day in Chicago, the State vs. Reginald Potts began. It had taken eight years to get here. Cook county assistant State's attorneys Maria McCarthy and Fabio Valentini brought the case against Potts.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

This was a case with no eyewitnesses, no confession, no video of the crime, no physical evidence linking Reginald Potts to the crime, and a cause of death that was based on primarily exclusion. We don't try many cases like that.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

And not many cases with a defendant quite like Reginald Potts.

[Detective Greg Jacobson]

Coming up, an accused killer's defense.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

I'm not a monster.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

He's smarter than the average criminal, but not as smart as he thinks he is.

[Detective Greg Jacobson]

And after eight years, a verdict.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

What really tormented me all these years.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

Is that there's a possibility that justice won't be done.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

For eight years. Daila Frank Franklin's family struggled through their incomplete grief. What really tormented me all these years.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

Is that there's a possibility that justice won't be done.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

There was no real forensic evidence, only circumstantial things. Though, according to the prosecutors, there was a whole smorgasbord of proof. That video, Reginald Potts with Diela the day she vanished, the video at the time, Target store that did not show him and thus blew up his alibi. Nailah's friends testified she showed them emails and played a voicemail in which he threatened her.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

Nailah played that voicemail for them because.

[Leah Franklin]

She was so terrified.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

And essentially in that voicemail, he said to Nailah, I'm going to have you erased. I'm going to make you disappear.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

In fact, the prosecutor, that's exactly what he did. Snuck into her building, led her, terrified, to the garage where he strangled her, stuffed her body in the trunk of her own car. And how did they know he took her out to the suburbs to dump her body and her car? Cell towers linked their phones together like a trail of breadcrumbs.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

From the moment that they walked out of that vestibule to the garage, she's not seen by anybody. She's not calling anybody.

[Detective or Investigator]

She's not answering calls. Her texts are all odd, but her phone and his phone are together.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Lockstep the entire rest of the day right to the abandoned video store behind which they finally found Nailah's body. No coincidence he chose that particular spot so far from Chicago, said the prosecutors.

[Detective or Investigator]

And we find out that the video.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

Max store is owned by Potts is.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

A brother in law, his friend. The alibi witness now testified for the prosecution that yes, he initially lied for Reginald, but didn't know it was to cover up a murder. And remember those three strange hang up calls to 911 and those odd texts her family and boyfriend received? It was Reginald Potts using Nailah's phone hours after he murdered her, said the prosecution. A clever killer's attempt to throw off a missing person's investigation.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

He's smarter than the average criminal, but not as smart as he thinks he is.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

But Reginald Potts was nothing if not strategic. His defense was to refute their evidence and discredit the prosecution.

[Detective or Investigator]

Defense attorneys need to create reasonable doubt in this case. It was very difficult to determine cause of death. So immediately the defense is going to rush to that idea and say, well, you can't really tell how they died. And it's little things like that. In the hopes that one juror or two jurors will latch onto that and say, I can't convict.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

They even disputed the cell phone evidence the prosecution believed cinched the case.

[Detective or Investigator]

The defense has alleged that the idea that you can triangulate a cell phone signal based on the cell it pings on a tower is somehow flawed.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

After two weeks of testimony and argument, the jury had the case. Did Reginald's arguments persuade them? 2 hours and 15 minutes after they began, the jury answered no. They pronounced Reginald Potts guilty of first degree murder.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

Whew. I was so relieved. It's like, okay, that's passed, now it's the next thing.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

So the next thing was sentencing nearly.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

Four months later, still waiting and hoping he doesn't get like four years or something stupid like that.

[Detective or Investigator]

Mr. Potts is present.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

But again, they had no idea. What was this man all about? There was a hearing to help the judge make a decision about sentence. Normally just arguments, recommendations from both sides, but not this time. The prosecution called 35 witnesses to tell the judge a hair raising story about Reginald Potts. Reginald was not quite the gold plated success story he appeared to be.

[Family Friend or Witness]

He lived a life of a lot of smoke and mirrors.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

He's a con man who fooled a lot of People.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

And when the con man was challenged, everybody, even law enforcement, was a target.

[Detective or Investigator]

He would kill me. He'd kill my family. My family would never be safe. When he was struck three times by Mr. Potts in the face.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

He spent much of his adult life in prison where he assaulted guards.

[Detective or Investigator]

I was struck in the right eye by detaining Potts.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

All of that was too prejudicial to present at trial, but now absolutely relevant.

[Detective or Investigator]

And he took her back by the elevator, and I heard slap.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

This guy has been an absolute menace his entire adult life. Do you see Mr. Potts in court today?

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

And when a woman stood up to witness after witness testified that Reginald betrayed them, bullied them, and much worse, he.

[Detective or Investigator]

Choked her, choked her out and threw.

[Detective Greg Jacobson]

Her on the bed.

[Detective or Investigator]

This guy not only had a propensity for violence against women, but he had.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

A propensity specifically to choke and strangle them.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

He's a sociopath. He lies as easily as he breathes about anything, no matter how stupid. If he tells you what time it is, look at your wife.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

That bad, huh?

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

Yes. Guy's a monster.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

A monster who, however briefly, fooled even the sophisticated, successful Nailah to her mother's eternal sorrow.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

You don't know who you're letting into your life.

[DSW Advertiser]

They could. They don't always come looking like a monster.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

There's a kind of ceremony about these things. Everyone gets to talk.

[Leah Franklin]

Nailah's murder stole from our community.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

A bright light nightmare still taunt me with her screaming, moaning and reaching out, begging for her life.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

But Reginald. Reginald cried, denied everything.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

The jury of my peers came back with the verdict that I believe is false, and I believe it is invalid. And I believe that a court of appeals will overturn that. But for now, this court has to honor what they said and impose a sentence. But I tell you, your honor, I am not the person that Ms. McCarthy has tried to paint in this courtroom.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

I'm not a monster.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

I'm not a monster.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

We waited to see if the judge would buy Reginald's story or the prosecutors. And here it was.

[Detective or Investigator]

You are a cold, calculating, conniving coward of a con man who must be punished.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

And indeed he was. Life without parole.

[Detective or Investigator]

Take him away.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

So that was justice the most naive's family could hope for. Terribly important and strangely empty.

[Defense Attorney or Legal Expert]

It's still not done. She's still not back. You still can't talk with her.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

No. They try to remember Nailah not as a murder victim, but as the beautiful young woman she was, the vibrant center of her family. But grief, real and painful, comes to visit every day.

[Leah Franklin]

You know, people say, oh, well, she's your spouse and she's your angel and she's in a better place and all this other stuff. I'm like, yeah, but I want her here. I don't want my 28 year old sister to be my angel. I want her to be right here in the thick of it with me.

[Detective Greg Jacobson]

That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt. Thanks for joining us.

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

The McDonald's Snack Wrap is back. You brought it back. Ranch snack wrap. Spicy snack wrap.

[Detective or Investigator]

You broke the Internet for a snack?

[Narrator / Lester Holt]

Snack wrap is back.