Elizabeth Anne Vargas (born September 6, 1962) is an American television journalist who is the lead investigative reporter/documentary anchor for A&E Networks, and the host for Fox's revival of America's Most Wanted. She began her new position on May 28, 2018, after being an anchor of ABC's television newsmagazine 20/20 and ABC News specials for the previous 14 years. In 2006 Vargas was co-anchor of World News Tonight alongside ABC News journalist Bob Woodruff. Early life and education Elizabeth Anne Vargas was born in Paterson, New Jersey, the daughter of an Italian-Spanish father, Rafael "Ralf" Vargas, a colonel in the U.S. Army from Puerto Rico, and an Irish-American mother, Anne Vargas, a part-time English teacher. She has two siblings, Amy and Christopher, who both work in tech in Silicon Valley. Her father was a U.S. army captain and moved the family to Okinawa when she was four years old. Vargas then spent much of her youth moving from post to post in Germany, Belgium, and the United States. Vargas graduated from an American high school in Heidelberg, where she realized her passion for journalism. Vargas enrolled at the University of Missouri in Columbia in 1980 and graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1984, having served as a student reporter at KOMU-TV and a student editor at KBIA. Former advisors spoke well of her competency in her journalism work on campus; Rod Gelatt, former KOMU news director, noted that she was the first student to ever fill in for him as moderator of the station's Missouri Forum public affairs program and Kent Collins, chairman of the university's journalism faculty, remembered her "aggressive and energetic" work ethic. Career 1984–1993: Career beginnings After college, Vargas worked at Reno's CBS affiliate KTVN, before moving to Phoenix as a lead reporter for then-ABC affiliate KTVK-TV. After three years there, she moved to Chicago to work at CBS station WBBM-TV, where Phyllis McGrady, a senior vice president at ABC, said of her: "Elizabeth is one of the most flexible talents I've ever worked with. She could do interviews, and do hour-long specials that make you think, and then she'll do a great interview with P. Diddy. She is versatile." Vargas left WBBM-TV in 1993. 1993–1996: NBC News In 1993, Vargas joined NBC News as a correspondent for Now with Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric. She later became a correspondent mainly for Dateline NBC, and