and it s like, okay, if it was her, is it gonna be me next? in fact, in short order, the art institute of dallas moved its students out of the falls and into a more secure apartment complex in a safer part of town. but with the investigation just days old, they didn t know what police were thinking. that this was no random crime that it was personal, an inside job, so to speak. they were looking at people close to shelley. someone who had a key. like a boyfriend or a roommate. someone who knew she d be asleep, and then surprised her, attacked her with a knife. she was small in stature. she was a little girl. it wouldn t take much. with roommate ashley and boyfriend nathan, he was not much farther along than when he started. and so he spent some time with a few of nathan s friends, like his roommate, daniel willyam.
i yelled her name i don t know how many times. reporter: ashley told the detective it was all just an innocent mistake when she told the art institute she d seen shelley alive and well the night before when in fact shelley was dead by then. which didn t make sense to detective ellzey. anymore than did the next thing ashley said: that it was not unusual for several days to go by without seeing shelley at all. she said that shelley was a very private person. that she just would put her headphones on, go into her own world, close her bedroom door and start drawing. reporter: and close the door from the bathroom? is that what is that what she had two doors. shelley did. one that would allow entry into the living room to her bedroom. and then one from her bedroom to the bathroom. reporter: into the bathroom. correct. reporter: and ashley claimed that door was closed. yes. reporter: you wouldn t buy that? no. reporter: your first reaction when she said that she
for one thing, he d been born in indonesia and struggled with some rude culture shocks when his family moved to america. still, he put on a brave face, served in the navy, and then signed up to study interactive media at the art institute. if anybody knew what nathan was up to, it would be daniel whose role in the student apartment was, well, almost like den mother. i became a big brother to him, you know? it was like, do your homework, take him to school, pick him up from school and things like that. reporter: well, yes. i mean, you were. you were helping him with his homework, you were making his lunches, you were, you know, cleaning up after him. you were driving him to school. he was afraid? yes. i was like reporter: little nervous? a father to him, yes. reporter: or or the way but he reporter: but the way it was described later was more like you were a mother to him. i mean, you were well, yes, that was his own his own words. daniel worried ab
and she wrote, you laugh at me because i m different. i laugh at you because you re all the same. reporter: she wasn t like you two. no. she s the total opposite. reporter: these are her sisters, shauna nance and rachel david. i was the wild child. got into trouble. reporter: shelley, however, did not raise hell. not ever. she s very artistic, smart, non-athletic. did not like athletics. that was more me and her department. reporter: yeah. just very shy. she was the one that would sit in her room, read a book, play video games. never had to worry about her. she wasn t into, like, tattoos and piercing and alcohol and sex, for sure. she avoided the majority of everything that could ve got her into trouble, and i was so happy because of that. reporter: and then when shelley was a senior in the italy high school, her teacher suggested she enter an art contest sponsored by the art institute of dallas.
and she s like, well, you know, i m not that good. and the art teacher said, no, i think you are, shelley. and she won. that same piece of art they took and put in the national competition. and it won her fourth place there. so she got a total of $13,000 to a scholarship toward the art institute of reporter: that s quite remarkable. so she this is an a major talent. and she was so excited about getting to go. reporter: the art institute of dallas is an urban school. everything about it and around it as different as can be from little italy, 45 miles and a whole world away. but here, finally, was a world in which shelley felt like she belonged. just being around people that had her same objectives and her their same mindsets. and a lot of the boys which have never really paid much attention to her in high school noticed her in college because she knew