When an Alabama woman disappears from her place of work, the evidence suggests an abduction.

Afterward, the dentist she worked for spirals into a series of criminal charges and attempts to reinvent himself as a spiritual leader in this episode of Last Seen Alive.

Music Thanks for listening to Last Seen Alive.

I'm your host Leah, crime analyst by day, and true crime

storyteller by night. And as always, I'm your co-host, Scott. A quick heads up. This episode contains

brief mention of sexual assault. We won't go into any graphic detail, but still, please listen with care.

Kelly Howard was last seen alive on June 2nd, 2009.

She was 41 years old of the time and lived in Riverside, Alabama. Riverside is a small town of about

2,000 people located just north of the Talladega National Forest. As its name suggests, the town is bordered by a river,

the Kusa River, to be exact. Because of its location on the water, the small community attracts

several big fishing tournaments every year, and that's one of the chief things Riverside is known

for, good fishing. It's not known for crime or for being an unsafe place to live.

By and large, life in Riverside is pretty peaceful, and for many years, that was true for Kelly

who'd grown up in the area. By all accounts, she led a family-oriented, low-risk lifestyle.

She was married, had an adult son, and was just months away from

becoming a grandmother to a baby boy, who would be her very first grandchild. She worked as a dental

hygienist at a small dental practice where she'd been employed for half a dozen years.

Kelly was good at her job, competent, outgoing, and friendly, so she was well liked by patients.

The day of her disappearance was a Tuesday, which meant that she had work.

She cared for patience during the first half of the day and at approximately one in the

afternoon, the practice closed for lunch.

Kelly used the break to talk to her mom with whom

...