Over 1400 people go missing in America every single day. Nearly 20% of them are never seen again.

Saturday morning, he's not home. He's not answering his phone. It's going straight to voicemail.

Something's wrong. Eighteen-year-old Justin Gaines, a college student, missing now three weeks. For almost eight years now. Fifteen years ago in Winnet County.

The disappearance of Justin Gaines began 16 long years of pain and heartbreak for a family desperate for answers.

I want my to walk in the door and give me a hug. I want to look in his blue eyes again.

And a frustration for investigators who can't let it go.

You just pulled the scab off the wound. The part that's puzzling you about lying is the part that's kicked me in the gut every day for several years.

But my investigation has uncovered a much darker story than I ever imagined.

They said that he had really changed, that he had befriended some people that were into drugs.

Shocking revelations reveal a secret life.

He wasn't the same person that I knew. He just didn't feel like Justin.

And lead me into an underworld of drugs, money, and murder.

At some point, there's a tussle, and he chokes him out. So they wrap him up in a paint tarp.

One shoots him. They dump his body in Lake Lanier.

My name is Sean Kuype. In the most complex case I've ever taken on, I'll attempt to pick apart nearly two decades of mystery to find the truth. But that all relies on the willingness of witnesses to come forward.

I've seen the worst of the worst right after buddies if they think it's going to save them. But not here, nobody's saying a word.

To me, there's no such thing as a conspiracy that can't be broken.

For the first time, law enforcement has opened their files to me on an open case that's anything but cold. I'll confront the main suspect this entire case revolves around. They didn't want justice.

They want a conviction. They don't want to believe the truth.

Dylan said he killed Justin.

He took that earring out of Justin's ear the night that he was killed.

No matter how you dress it up or make it look, I never killed that boy.

The problem with this case is not just that we don't have a body. We don't have any physical evidence of death.

In this investigation, the stakes are real, and so is the risk.

My only word to you is to do it in broad daylight and be very, very careful.

They've killed one. Like the old folks say, when you ask them, does that dog bite? They say, You got teeth, ain't it?

This is Drounding Creek, a 10-episode podcast series.

When you hear everything that really happens, it's going to blow your mind.

How willing are you to dive into these waters?

Coming soon wherever you listen to podcasts.