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Dateline: Unforgettable Season 3, Episode 5, titled Left for Dead, revisited the story of Amber Smith and her attacker, Stefan Moon. It first premiered on February 15, 2024, on the Oxygen network.
In August 2013, Amber, a 20-year-old single mother in Fort Collins, Colorado, went through a nightmare that shook the nation. Her evening out at the local park was followed by a brutal assault by a man who tied her down with duct tape, choked her, and abandoned her almost dead in an isolated part of the town.
She was badly injured with a broken jaw, brain bleed, and several other injuries. The most bizarre twist in this case was the identity of the person who attacked Amber, the man who would later creep back into Amber’s life under unimaginable circumstances.
The case was once again brought to light during the Dateline episode, which re-examined Amber’s story in greater detail, including the gruesome twist that the Moon was later found and what he is doing at present.
Ever since the incident, many have wondered about Stefan Moon's whereabouts. How did he get convicted, and what is the sentence he is serving as a result of his cruel acts? Let’s trace the chronology of the 2013 case, the chilling aftermath, and the current state of Moon.
Where is Stefan Moon now? The background to the conviction and recent status
Stefan Moon was arrested after the DNA evidence conclusively linked him to viciously attacking Amber Smith. Although the crime took place in 2013, Moon was not discovered until a few years later, around which time he could creepily befriend Amber Smith, a fact that she was completely unaware of.
Moon was later arrested by police after being detained on an unrelated case of attempting to sell stolen property. This led to his DNA being added to the Colorado database and linked to evidence found during Smith’s assault.
Moon’s 2019 trial ripped the mask right off. Some of the details that came out were absolutely brutal. Turns out Moon was a master manipulator, and convinced Smith he was a trustworthy friend, all while hiding what he really was. Cops ended up digging through Moon’s digital life, and it had loads of sketchy, disturbing searches about non-consensual adult material.
In court, Moon was found guilty of kidnapping, sexual assault, and related charges. He was, however, acquitted of attempted murder. Eventually, he received a life sentence of up to 128 years imprisonment.
As of the most recent updates in 2025, Stefan Moon is serving his long prison term at the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility. His imprisonment is a conclusive end to the legal struggle over one of the most notorious Fort Collins crimes.
Meanwhile, Amber Smith has made it her mission to help survivors of sexual violence. She is seeking to empower the victims of such cases and stop this kind of thing from happening to other people.
What did Stefan do with Amber as per the Dateline episode?
The story of Amber Smith and Stefan Moon was highlighted in one episode of Dateline: Unforgettable titled Left for Dead.
As reported on Dateline, Stefan attacked Amber violently in August 2013. He beat her, raped her, strangled her, tied her hands and legs with duct tape, and dumped her naked and severely injured in a park in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Amber suffered a broken jaw, brain bleeding (intracranial hemorrhage), and serious bruising. She survived despite the horrors and was discovered by police early the next morning.
In a dramatic twist, Moon later befriended Amber following the attack without her knowledge that he was the rapist. They became friends and started living together as roommates through mutual friends. Moon came off as a trusting and supportive person, and Amber even shared about her trauma.
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The Dateline episode uncovers the complexity and disturbance with which Smith had unknowingly lived with her abuser before he was arrested and convicted.
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