Twenty Years

Mike Mooney: That terrible morning, Antonio Balta dropped off his girlfriend, Michelle Bashford, at the Gulfstream Park Racetrack in Hallandale Beach, where she worked as a waitress and he as a horse groomer. The couple planned to drive north as soon as she finished her shift. They'd be in New York with their families in a day or two. Balta, a 27-year-old Peruvian, told Bashford not to worry; he'd take care of all the last-minute errands. As she got out of the car, she kissed him and said goodbye to their 9-month-old daughter, Veronika.

Once alone with the baby, Balta ticked off his pretravel chores. He got the car washed, said goodbye to the landlord, and loaded the couple's meager belongings — dishes, baby clothes, photos — into their 1996 Pontiac Grand Prix. He went to a gas station and filled up the tank, buying a bag of Fritos and two Starbucks coffee drinks for the road.

When he returned to the Gulfstream parking lot around 1 p.m. on that spring day — March 13, 2004 — it was 65 degrees out, cool enough for many race fans to wear light jackets. He called Michelle on her cell phone to let her know everything was ready to go. When she got out around 5, they'd head straight for the state line.

She asked what he planned to do until then. Balta said he had to talk to his boss for a minute, to make sure his transfer back to Saratoga would go smoothly. She warned him not to leave the baby alone in the car.