Bethany Decker vanished case on Dateline: Secrets Uncovered- A detailed case overview 

Dateline: Secrets Uncovered season 16, episode 2, titled Bethany Vanished, spotlights the 2011 disappearance of 21-year-old Bethany Anne Decker from Ashburn, Virginia. A young mother and student, Bethany was five months pregnant when she vanished after returning from a trip with her husband.

Her car was found parked oddly in her apartment lot, with the keys inside and her purse untouched, sparking a desperate search by her family. Years later, a confession from her boyfriend brought some answers, but questions about her remain.

The episode examines signs of abuse, digital clues such as fake Facebook posts, and the long road to justice. The episode aired on Wednesday, November 5, 2025, on Oxygen. It can also be streamed on Peacock.

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Dateline: Secrets Uncovered: The life of Bethany Decker

Dateline: Secrets Uncovered season 16, episode 2 (Image via Unsplash/ @ Ethan Wilkinson)

Bethany Anne Decker was raised in Fredericksburg, Virginia, by her mother, Kim Nelson. She was born on May 13, 1989. At 21, she juggled a whole life on her plate: raising her 18-month-old son from her marriage to Emile Decker, an Army National Guardsman who often went away on deployments.

Bethany waited tables at an Italian restaurant in Centreville and studied global and economic change at George Mason University in Fairfax. Her days started with early drop-offs at daycare and extended well into the night with homework and shifts.

By late 2010, stress on her marriage caused the couple to separate. Emile's deployment to Afghanistan put even more distance between them, and Bethany moved into a one-bedroom apartment at Dulles Crossing in Ashburn, as per Oxygen.

That's where she met Ronald Roldan, a landscaper from Bolivia in his early 30s. He quickly moved in, but friends observed changes in her: Roldan demanded to know her every move, down to photographing her license plate to prove where her car was parked. Despite that, she became pregnant with his child by the end of the year, five months along by January 2011.

To family members, including her mother, Bethany was a strong-willed girl who had gotten herself into a tough spot. She tried to patch things up with Emile during his brief leave, taking a vacation in Hawaii with him, as per CNN.

But at home, tensions were escalating. No one knew how near she was to getting help for the relationship. Her routine work, school, and motherhood concealed deeper concerns, according to Oxygen.

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The day she vanished

Bethany Decker had an 18-month-old son (Image via Unsplash/ @ Michael Förtsch/ Dateline)

January 29, 2011, began like many for Bethany. After dropping Emile off at the airport following their trip to Hawaii, she drove back to Ashburn around 1 p.m.

Roldan later said he saw her arrive at the apartment. That afternoon, she called her boss to confirm her work schedule for the next week, her last known contact with the outside world. Friends expected her at events soon after, but she never showed.

By early February, alarms rang. Bethany missed work shifts, classes, and calls to family. Her son stayed with the in-laws, but she skipped pickups. On February 19, her mother, worried by odd Facebook messages from her account, sent relatives to check the apartment, as per True Crime News.

They found her silver Hyundai Elantra in the lot, parked at an angle with a flat tire. Dust covered the hood, unchanged from days before. Inside: keys in the ignition, purse on the seat, no sign of flight, according to Oxygen.

The messages, posted mid-February, claimed she needed "time alone" and praised Roldan. Their tone felt off, unlike Bethany's. Police arrived, treating it as a missing person case.

Emile, still in Afghanistan, got word and pushed for answers. No bank activity, phone pings, or emails were reported after January 29, as per Oxygen. The untouched car suggested something sudden had happened inside the apartment. This quiet Saturday turned into the start of a long mystery, pulling loved ones into a state of fear.

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The search and investigation

Roldan was sentenced to 40 years in prison(Image via Unsplash/ @ Markus Winkler/ Dateline)

Loudoun County Sheriff's Office jumped in after the February 19 report. Detectives like Mark Bush reviewed the scene: no struggle in the apartment, but Roldan had moved out to his mother's house in Centreville. He gave shifting stories about the car's spot and Bethany's plans. Emile flew back from deployment for questioning and cleared a polygraph; officials later sent him a letter of innocence.

Focus turned to Roldan. Digital traces revealed that the Facebook posts originated from his laptop's IP address, a key breakthrough. His past included arrests for theft, drunkenness, and a 2006 window-smashing incident against an ex, as per CNN.

Searches of his home and nearby fields found devices but no body. Cadaver dogs and tips led nowhere. The case went cold, featured in a 2012 episode of Disappeared on Investigation Discovery, as Oxygen reported.

Years passed. In 2014, Roldan assaulted his girlfriend, Vickey Willoughby, in North Carolina. She shot him in self-defense; he fired back, blinding her in one eye, as reported by the Daily Mail. His 2016 guilty plea resulted in a six- to eight-year prison sentence.

Willoughby's later account of his threats, "I can make people disappear," linked back to Bethany. Released in 2020, Roldan faced Virginia charges for abduction. The probe used old evidence, along with new witness stories, to build a timeline of the crime, as reported by Oxygen.

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The confession and justice

Roldan confessed to killing Bethany (Image via Unsplash/ @ Tingey Injury Law Firm/ Dateline)

In November 2022, Roldan took a plea deal, confessing to second-degree murder after a four-hour talk. He described an argument with Bethany after her Hawaii trip: pushing Bethany, her fall hitting a windowsill, and no pulse. He wrapped her body in a bag and tossed it in the complex's trash compactor so no remains surfaced.

Details matched some evidence, but the windowsill showed no marks, raising doubts. Strangulation seemed possible to some experts, as per Oxygen.

On February 21, 2023, Judge David Schell sentenced him to 40 years, suspending all but 12.5 years, with an additional 27.5 years contingent upon good behavior. He was also required to have no family contact for 25 years and refrain from committing new crimes. Breach means serving a full-time sentence, then deportation to Bolivia. Emile gained full custody of their son.

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The family got partial peace but no body or full truth. Kim Nelson called the account hard to accept, focusing on Bethany's unborn child. Dateline: Secrets Uncovered: Bethany Vanished recaps this path, stressing persistence in cold cases.

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