Exposed

A "CSI: Miami" Actress Crosses Paths With A Real Serial Killer

(CBS)  Asked what she thought when she found out that her picture was in Bradford's group of photos, Nika says, "It could have been me just as easily as it could have been any of these girls because I was there, just as they were. I was doing the same thing they were. Like a sniper in a group of people: that person wasn’t lucky, and that person wasn’t lucky."

Nika has a small role in the CSI episode, written by Haynes.

Haynes knows a lot of crime, because for years he was a well-respected detective for the L.A. County Sheriff. "There were a lot of turf wars, a lot of dope rips that occurred, a lot of murders and we were out there trying to do something about it. And Bobby and I worked together in South Central and southeast L.A. as young detectives in gangs and narcotics back in the early 80's," he recalls.

“Bobby” is Sgt. Bobby Taylor, now in charge of finding the women on the poster - it’s another real life connection between the Bradford story and the make-believe world of CSI: Miami.

"When you think about it, do you think about the contrast between make-believe and real life?" Lagattuta asks Haynes.

"I do," he replies. "Sometimes when we’re gathered in the writer’s room, someone will be telling a story about something they saw on the news or whatever, it does impact me in a different way. It was hard to change hats from being a cop and then being a writer and I used to tell people that, ‘Hey it’s not as whimsical as that.’ There really are lives that are truly affected forever."

Of all the photos on the sheriff’s poster, one in particular hits home for Lisa Mora and Lori Duhamel whose long-lost mother, Donnalee, was No. 28 on the sheriff's photo board.

It’s been decades since 31-year-old Donnalee Duhamel vanished, leaving behind her two daughters, who were then ages 11 and nine.

“She dropped us off at my grandma’s house and never came back," Lisa remembers. “I definitely cried every night, you know? I really missed my mom. She just - she never came back."

The questions haunting Lisa and Lori about their mother’s disappearance resurfaced in July 2006 when police went public with the Bradford photos.

The story of Donnalee’s disappearance dates back to 1978, on a night when she was out with boyfriend Jake Karcher at a local bar in Culver City.

“I was in a place called 'The Frigate,'" Karcher remembers. "I was playing pool and she was having a couple of margaritas. She seemed in good spirits.”

Once again it seems that being photographed was the killer’s lure: Donnalee met a man in that bar who told her she could be a model. She left her purse, keys and her car, and told her boyfriend she’d be back soon.

"I was hopin' it was legitimate. I didn’t wanna have her not have an opportunity to do something with herself,” Karcher says.

He now believes that photographer was Bill Bradford. Karcher waited all night in the bar for Donnalee but she never returned.