Dateline: Unforgettable - 5 harrowing details about Molly Jane Matheson and Megan Leigh Getrum's murders, revisited

The stories of Molly Jane Matheson and Megan Leigh Getrum told on Dateline are not just about two brutal crimes, but about missed chances, warning signs, and how one man kept slipping the the cracks until it was too late.

In simple terms, the 5 most harrowing details of this Dateline episode comes down to how to crimes unfolded, how evidence spoke, how the suspect stayed hidden in plain sight, how past failures mattered, and how justice finally came in.

Trigger Warning: This article contains discussion of sexual assault, rape, and murder. Some readers may find the details disturbing. Please proceed with care.

Dateline: Unforgettable - 5 harrowing details about Molly Jane Matheson and Megan Leigh Getrum's murders, revisited

1) Molly was found dead in her bathroom:

Molly Jane Matheson was someone who valued time and kept busy all the time. She was working part-time at a lingerie store in Fort Worth while trying to figure out her life and her next steps after college.

So, when she missed her shift on April 10, 2017, coworkers noticed. Her boss called her mom, Tracy. That call was the beginning of a nightmare no parent should ever face.

Tracy walked straight to Molly's apartment. Inside the bathroom, she found her daughter in the shower, lying on the floor, dead and cold. Molly had been strangled and later investigators also confirmed she had been sexually assaulted.

The crime scene was confusing at first. Water was running, and Laundry had been done. The sheets and clothing were in the washer. Detectives believed someone had tried to clean the proof they might've left behind. Even the power of the washing machine became important because it helped narrow down when the killer was inside the apartment with Molly.

Dateline walks us through how small details like wet clothes and timing can speak louder than most words can. It is chilling because it looks like a normal apartment. The contrast shown is what sends chills down our spine.

Molly's life ended in a space that should have been safe, and the effort made to erase evidence only made the story more unsettling.

2) Megan Leigh Getrum was found dead in very similar circumstances:

Just four days after Molly's body was found in her shower, another life was taken. Megan Leigh Getrum was 36 years old, and she loved the outdoors, loved photography, and her cats. Apart from this, hiking after work was also part of her routine.

On April 14, she went to a nature preserve in Plano and never came back home. When someone who is always dependable suddenly disappears, alarms go off fast in loved ones' heads.

Megan Leigh Getrum's body was found days later in Lake Ray Hubbard, about 20 miles away. Megan had also been strangled, suffered blunt force injury to her head, and, just like Molly Jane Matheson, Megan had also been raped.

The similarities between Megan and Molly's cases were impossible to ignore once the investigators lined them up. Different locations, the same kind of violence, the same pattern of harm.

Dateline emphasizes this case because Megan's disappearance started as a missing person case, full of hope that maybe she would be found alive. The hope, though, faded quickly.

The distance between where she was last seen and where she was found added another layer of fear and mystery. Someone had her moved. Someone had planned enough to hide what they did. It made the case Dateline covers even more harrowing than it already is.

3) The late-night text, the timing gap, and the DNA trail:

As the detectives dug into Molly's phone records, one name stood out. Reginald Kimbro.

The Abuser and Murderer - Reginald Kimbro (Via. FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, YouTube)

Kimbro had texted Molly late on the night before her body was found. The two had known each other from college in Arkansas and had dated briefly. They stayed loosely in touch even after breaking up. That night, he had gone to her apartment.

He told the police how they talked and kissed, but when Molly said she was not interested in being intimate with him, Kimbro claimed he left around 1:30 a.m. However, the surveillance footage later showed his car leaving closer to 2 a.m. Kimbro also agreed to give DNA but refused a polygraph.

What really shifted the case was physical evidence. DNA collected from Molly matched Kimbro. When DNA from Megan also matched him, the connection between the two cases became clear.

Dateline alludes to how science, timing, and basic records are all boxes that have been ticked to move closer to solving the two murders.

4) The rape kit that sat too long while a pattern kept growing:

One of the saddest parts of this story is what came before 2017. Kimbro had been accused of multiple violent sexual assaults in earlier years in different parts of Texas. Multiple women reported being choked and assaulted.

Other Surviving Victims of The Abuser and Murderer - Reginald Kimbro (Via Dateline NBC)

In one case from 2014, a rape kit existed, but the DNA match was confirmed years later, just weeks before Molly was killed. Even then, there was a long delay before a warrant was even issued.

Dateline does not outright point any fingers at the system at play, but the timeline sure does speak for itself. If the earlier cases had been looked at with due diligence, two lives might not have been lost.

Advocates later explained how rape kit backlogs and slow processing are a real issue. Laws were passed in Texas after these murders to improve tracking and testing, so survivors are not left waiting in silence.

Justice is not just about catching someone after the harm has happened. It is also about stopping patterns before they grow further. Molly's mother even pushed for reforms that later became known as Molly Jane's Law, aimed at better data sharing for sex crime investigations.

5) The plea deal that finally stopped him for good:

In April 2017, Kimbro was finally arrested. Years later, in March 2022, just before the trial, he accepted a plea deal. He admitted to murdering Molly and Megan and to multiple other sexual offenses.

Parents of Molly Jane Matheson and Megan Leigh Getrum (Via Dateline NBC) Molly Jane Matheson and Megan Leigh Getrum

Kimbro received life without parole for the murders, along with additional life and long sentences for the other crimes.

For the families, it was not a celebration. It was a breath after holding it for years. Megan's mother shared that hearing him admit guilt brought a small sense of peace. Molly's family felt that his voice could no longer harm anyone else.

Dateline treats the rape and murder case with respect, showing that justice does not erase grief, but it can silence unanswered noise.

At the end, two lives remain taken. The system learned hard lessons. But the families of the victims continue to live through loss and strength.

Dateline revisiting the murders of Molly Jane Matheson and Megan Leigh Getrum is painful, but important. The details remind us how warning signs can be missed and how abusers can hide behind a mask and get away for years on end.

However, the crime also reminds us of how even the tiniest of evidence could build a bridge of truth for providing justice to the victims and their families.

Molly Jane Matheson and Megan Leigh Getrum deserve to be remembered not just for the shock value that comes with each of their cases, but for the lives behind the names and lessons that must not be ignored.