Timeline

She's like the mother of the group. And when she saw something wrong with someone, she always tried to do the most to try and fix it. But she was brave. I can make that assessment that in almost every part of her life.

And so, in the end, they both decided to move across the country to Las Vegas in search of achievement and glory. But as mystical and romantic as it sounds, they had a relationship that was doomed.

So Debbie and Jamil, they met in Baltimore and they dated for a while and he wasn't for sure so they didn't get married.

He knew that there was a domestic violence case against him and he was heartbroken because she had moved on to a new relationship. Jason was upset about the situation from over a year prior that Debbie and Jason had been in. He was upset about...

Speaker 1: ...and I let him talk as much as he wanted to talk. There was no confrontation of any kind, and we just gathered information. Speaker 2: Jason tells detectives that Debbie left the apartment that night and he never saw her again. During the interview with Jason...

I've never seen... narrowed down where... so I bought a shirt, some kind of, some kind of black top with... everything else was black, there was nothing else left. So, everything you say is going to be extremely...

Speaker 1: Practiced as much as you can? Speaker 2: Yes. Speaker 1: And we all sat down and we did a very long interview just to get used to standing in the door. Must have stood in the door and said, "What is she wearing?" as much as you can.

It's the worst thing, the worst thing, the worst thing, so at this point the worst thing that could happen. The reason we're here is the surgery was a success and from all accounts the patient is doing well.

So the last time she was seen was at six in the morning. We're never told to disclose this, but at this point, we are hopeful that somebody knows something and that somebody speaks up because of some inconsistencies in how she was last seen by the husband at three in the morning versus what happened at six in the morning.

Yeah. So then this video of her living in her car alone in her Geo Prism. And she tells everybody she's going to Jason's house and they're going to watch Dexter. That TV show.

Jason Griffith was Debbie's last known boyfriend when she disappeared. And he is completely willing to cooperate with us. All we really know at this point is he was the last person reported to see her alive.

On December 14th, a missing person's report was filed by Deborah's roommate, stating that she had not seen Deborah for a couple of days. Investigators are looking into Deborah's romantic relationships, and her old phone records might help them find out where she is.

It's a horrible thing to know that what you love most is out there somewhere and you can't get to it. Because the longer you're out there, the more that the possibility of losing it just keeps growing. And she's out there somewhere. All we know is...

Speaker 1: Suggest to the police. Speaker 2: Who would have reason to hurt Debbie? Speaker 1: It might be a former boyfriend. I can make that assessment. I can suggest that to the police.

She was the last person reportedly to see her alive. During the interview with Jason, he did indicate that he knew that there was a domestic violence case between Devon and Ekon and Jason.

Speaker 1: November 12th. If anyone has any information regarding the disappearance of Deborah, that they please contact the police department through Crime Stoppers. While detectives wait for tips to come in, inside the case, Jason Burton had another visit. All we really knew...

We encourage anyone to come forward if anybody's seen anything they can go on. Good morning. Thank you for attending this press conference this morning to discuss the disappearance of Deborah. We believe that Deborah was last seen on Sunday the...

Speaker 1: I'm not gonna let that happen. And I wouldn't allow that. Speaker 2: Two days past, there's no body, there's no obvious crime. If he's dead, he's just not back yet. So, thank you all for joining us. And we'll see you next time.

Speaker 1: ...investigation and it also starts, starts the investigation towards a homicide and then it goes straight up to the Supreme Court. Speaker 2: The parents are in distress. They're anxious, they're worried, but they're hopeful. There were times where they kind of gave up.

In the search of the car, the properties of [unclear]. In the search, in the video, there was no forced entry into the car, there was no blood in the car, except for the plate being removed and put inside the trunk. And there wasn't much there. The discovery of Debbie's car.

Now Mr. Shocks, the key in that car, many times it was left with the belongings in it, everything. That to me, that just indicated that this was, this was not the, this was not the... they searched the car, they found...

When the police found her car, it was very upsetting. She would never leave her purse and her bag and those types of things in the car. She always had her lipstick, her kind of whatever you need.

Between 2:15 and 2:30 Wednesday morning, somebody comes up to the place. And officers in that area, they actually heard the pop, and they went over to see what was going on. And Chloe and her friend were shooting some video and they found the blouse that she was wearing...

And I noticed it was... and I noticed it was more of a pop-up than... grabbed my binoculars and I went out, so I looked through the binoculars and I looked down my driveway. And the first thing I noticed is that it said "Mercury". And I called you Tuesday morning. I noticed it was a white van.

Speaker 1: ...several days. Speaker 2: Yeah. Holidays happen. And I just wish that somebody, you know, could have checked for us or something. Speaker 1: It's just a thing about the cars, and it's in the back of the house. So it couldn't be seen from the street, but a neighbor realized it.

It wasn't particularly suspicious. Other than that, the case went very cold until we start spotting her across the country. Police found her car, a 1997 Chevy Prizm, and a nearby resident said it sat for days.

...only spoke to her through the open window of the passenger side of the van, which he then drove away for a few minutes and left. Police also learned that Jason had many on-again, off-again girlfriends, and Debbie was just one of them. After detectives spoke with Jason, they were able to confirm his alibi.

The reason why I chose Las Vegas was some personal circumstances that I had back in October, November, December of 2021. When we went to the house where Jason and another man named Blue lived, Jason said that Debbie was there and he said that she never left and her belongings were still there.

Speaker 1: So Jason, tell me what you learned about this relationship. Speaker 2: I learned that Jason was a very skilled and trained professional dancer. I learned that they were dating and they were dating for a while. Speaker 1: Two dancers told Brenda... Speaker 2: ...he was a dancer to the stars.

Prior to the final rehearsals for the show, to visit her boyfriend, who was another successful baseball player, Jason Grilli, who's also called Blue Grilli. So, if you could become an artist, you'd have a nickname as you evolve as an artist in the entertainment industry.

Speaker 1: ...is for her to be so... so... there's no motive. She is... She was everybody's sister, everybody's friend. She didn't have an enemy. So absolutely, let's find this girl. Speaker 2: Detectives were determined to find out why she left her apartment...

Speaker 1: There's been so much media attention on the news lately about Nancy Grace. Speaker 2: What? Speaker 1: How about Debbie Ford? She doesn't show up for a rehearsal, she doesn't show up for a show, sings the last line, and then leaves. How about that?

It's, you know, it's not just a place that people disappear from, and it doesn't mean that a crime has been committed. Again, she could have just left, there could have been some issue, we don't know. The media is all over this, there's pressure from every direction. Maybe this is...

Any time that I would go outside, obviously the desert would be out there somewhere. Look, this is Vegas. What's the old slogan they were using? What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, something like that. Since Vegas was invented, it was a place that people disappeared to.

...careful what, when, where. I just wanted to find her alive. I was out there night and day from the moment I woke up until the moment I went to bed. I was constantly driving around. I was putting her face out there. I was setting up volunteer groups to pass out flyers. Anything...

I'm not really sure what's going on with the sounds right now. It's Christmas holidays, I should be thinking about sort of gifts and Christmas and family and Home Alone's back on the laptop today. My main focus was to time reference the system and I didn't really get that done.

Me personally, I'm thinking that we must worry. She probably just left, didn't tell anybody. Parents haven't talked to her either. Nobody in Vegas has talked to her.

If Debbie was going to stop by her boyfriend's place on her way to this final rehearsal to tell him that she was breaking up with him, detectives are going to have to go find the boyfriend and find out what he knows.

...in the hallway and this [unclear] and then her [unclear] she's wearing these high boots, not the other ones. She's got her bag with her and in my opinion she's put her dance clothes to go to rehearsal later.

Speaker 1: This is an extremely strange video. It shows the universe just for six minutes. A scary video shows the universe just nicely. And she's...

I think it's totally fine to talk to different people and learn more about what they're doing and what their section is like.

...and the alarm started going off. She jumped up and showed up. She know the reason she came in was to be at this point in time. That's everything she said. I'm like, wow, I'm just so proud of her. And just proud of her.

Every time she had an event, she was just so excited. So excited. And then of course, Debbie's promoted to that teacher role assistant. So for those who don't know, Debbie used to show up at the final rehearsal, they know...

...creating project plans didn't fly with the senior players. The dynamic was always just to jump in and say, "Well, we'll do this this way." And the specific goal at that time was to end the project of the network.

For Michael Jackson, This Is It, really sounds like it's about to be about this retrospective, how much she talked. She just had so much to say, so much to ask, so many ideas, and you're in a situation of...

I first met Teddy after initial auditions for the role of. The first time I saw him was during the. The first time I saw him was during the. The first time I saw him was during the. I first met Teddy after initial auditions for the role of. The first time I saw him.

Speaker 1: Absolutely not. I'm so upset. I don't want to go back to my mother's house in Las Vegas. Las Vegas is Sin City. You don't know anybody. Your friends aren't there, your family's not there. Who's out there? Nobody. I don't want to go. I'm staying with my...

People are cheering you on, that's what she wanted. I can't believe it, but she let me know how much potential she had. But still, this was not enough for her. I remember her personally calling me and saying, "Please listen, I'm thinking about moving..."

Well, really just a brand ambassador for one of the leads in the franchise. It's a big role to me. I love being with other girls, you know, that were wearing the character outfit and the other mother characters. I loved making the fans happy, you know, making them smile.

And while she was working, she also decided to try out and audition for the Redskins Cheerleaders and ended up as a Redskins Ambassador. Debbie was hired as a cheerleader, that's a very important public-facing role.