Dateline: Secrets By The Bay - What happened to Elizabeth Sullivan? Details of San Diego native's disappearance and murder, explored 

Dateline NBC's 'Secrets By the Bay' episode revisited the story of San Diego native Elizabeth Liz Sullivan who went missing in 2014 and was later found dead. Elizabeth was a mother of two and was married to Matthew Sullivan, an ex-US Navy official.

As shown in Dateline, Elizabeth was engaged in a heated encounter with Matthew shortly before she went missing. However, Liz's body was found only after a gap of two years near a San Diego bay - the location was reportedly close to her home. The detectives involved in the case found multiple stab wounds on Elizabeth's body and a broken jaw.

The official synopsis of the Dateline episode Secrets By the Bay, per IMDB, reads:

"A San Diego mother suddenly vanishes in 2014; nearly two years later, her body is found in the San Diego Bay, but medical examiners say that she has only been dead for a month or two."

Dateline episode titled Secrets By the Bay, which aired on May 21, 2021, revealed some harrowing details of the 32-year-old's murder as discussed below:

---

What happened to Elizabeth Sullivan? Details explored on Dateline episode

Elizabeth Sullivan was found dead two years after her disappearance on Oct. 13, 2014, from her Liberty Station, San Diego residence in California. According to reports, on the night she went missing Liz and her husband Matthew had a heated confrontation that left both of them agitated.

Per Dateline, her good friend Calandra Duckett was the last person who got in touch with her. Calandra reportedly told Dateline representatives:

"She sounded frantic. They were arguing and she said this expletive is talking about he’s gonna kill me and I was half asleep, but I know that I told her lock yourself in your room, we just have to get to morning and she said hold on a sec, hold on, I think he’s coming."

Calandra, while later being interviewed about her friend Liz, mentioned to the officials:

"She was very infectious. Elizabeth had a very eclectic personality."

It was strange how a vibrant and "completely brilliant" (as mentioned by Elizabeth's friend Calandra) woman like Liz disappeared all of a sudden and died mysteriously. However, as reported by Dateline, Liz did have some personality disorder and suffered from anxiety issues.

Eyewitnesses revealed that Liz was last seen near her residence on the day she went missing. The police found no trace of her until a week later on October 21, 2014, when reports came in that she had been spotted close to Lindbergh Field.

The incident soon drew a lot of social media attention, besides primary search parties being deployed on a lookout, a Facebook Page was soon started to find Elizabeth. Her father, Edward Ricks, also reportedly joined the team and participated in an active search for his daughter.

Sadly, her dead remains were found two years later on October 4, 2016, near a San Diego shoreline close to Farragout Road, NTC Park, per Sportskeeda. Furthermore, her autopsy reports revealed that Elizabeth had succumbed to five stab wounds and had multiple injuries to her jaw, ribs as well as nose. Detective Kim Collier reportedly mentioned in a statement:

"Essentially, she had been stabbed with a sharp object, enough to cause damage to some of her bones."

---

What did the investigation reveal about Elizabeth's death?

Though initial investigation, post her disappearance, led to theories that Elizabeth had walked away from her old life and started afresh, things got complicated as San Diego PD got more involved in the case. Per Dateline, it was eventually learned that Elizabeth moved money from a joint account to her personal one shortly before she went missing.

There were journals in her room that revealed her muddled personality and how she crafted stories that explored parallel identities. However, her previously mentioned medical condition sufficed the same and it gradually became evident that there was more to the story.

On further digging, the investigators learned that Matthew and Elizabeth had a tumultuous marriage. Liz had started dating a guy named Steve Sutton whom she met through the dating app Tinder. She told her husband about this relationship who was not "bothered by it".

Det. Collier reportedly opened up to Dateline about the love triangle, saying:

"Based on his interview, while surprised … he didn’t come across as that bothered by it."

But Matthew's reaction to the news soon turned out to be a lie on his part. It was eventually revealed that Liz died just a month prior to when her body was found. Things seemed fishy to Collier, who then asked the officials to search Matthew's house (he had surprisingly moved out of his apartment on the same day and gone to Maryland with his girlfriend).

The dots were soon connected as detectives found evidence in the couple's bedroom and bathroom using Luminol. A DNA match to Liz confirmed the whole theory that she had been murdered by her husband. Matthew Sullivans was thus charged with second-degree murder and on March 12, 2021, was sentenced to prison for 16 years. Collier shared his feelings on the case, saying:

"I actually cried. You know, you work a case that long and you’re like, ‘this is it’ so it was a very good moment for me."

---

On the day she disappeared, Elizabeth reportedly took matters of her marriage into her own hands and had a word with a divorce attorney. It was speculated that Matthew decided to murder his wife on learning that she had planned for a divorce following a disturbed marriage.

It was, thus, all a pre-meditated murder, and when detained for questioning, Matthew reportedly mentioned to Keith Morrison from Dateline:

"No absolutely not, that’s crazy. I’ve never laid a finger on her, I’ve never hit her, nothing like that."

Theories further suggested that the decomposition of her body was slowed down by putting it in a freezer. When Matthew moved out of his apartment on the same day Elizabeth's body surfaced, all fingers naturally pointed towards him.

Dateline episode Secrets By the Bay can be streamed on NBC.com.

---

Stay tuned to Soap Central for more information.