the word help was scratched in the ground. we found two shovels that had what appeared to be blood on them. that just did it for me. i can t even think about how scared she was. a mother s worst panic. there are no signs to get there. just follow the rough, sandy trail from the subdivisions above, turn a corner and there it is, a creek, a low-twisting moving body of water in north carolina, that s nothing less than a garden of eden for teenagers playing hooky from high school. it was like a beach. if the weather was good, her decision was made, go right to the creek and bypass school all together. tell me about an afternoon at the creek, caroline, what would you do? just go swimming. after we were done swimming we would sit by the fire and get dry, and hurry up and go back to the bus and take it home. they would play all day like frisky otters. innocent fun until one day when this secret teenaged world collided with tragedy. i just knew in my heart s
her dear granddaughter had been at the hospital, visiting her. we thought they had found her and that just done it for me. reporter: on march 29th, almost three weeks after danielle disappeared, her family and friends gathered for a balloon release. her friend alexis was there. so was je michael. she remembers he was holding out hope that danielle was alive. he s like, hey, and gave me a hug. and he said, i just, you know, hope we find her and she s okay. reporter: up until then, danielle s aunt chena had managed to stay strong for the family. but with the release of those balloons she felt her resolve and confidence sailing away with them. for the first time then i felt like i was giving up hope. i was starting to feel like that she may not ever come home, and how would we be able to live
asking people under 50 to hold off on their booster shots. now back to dateline. now back to dateline reporter: on the morning of april 2nd, 2014, chena papa did what she d done almost every day since her niece disappeared. she went to her family church to pray for danielle s safe return. but this time, her prayer was different. it was, please just allow us to bring her home and lay her to rest. reporter: somehow you cr if that is what reporter: you had crossed that line. yeah. i felt like i was being selfish
right. yeah. but it even made me feel more nervous that it was by 95 because i m like she we re looking around here and she possibly could be somewhere else. reporter: after several days of searching the rv park, there was no sign of danielle, and no sign of her cell phone that last pinged by the highway. both could be anywhere. 95 is different than a county road. she could ve been five states away at that point. absolutely. absolutely. i mean, on i-95 an hour either way and you re in a different state and a few hours and you re in a different region of the country. reporter: a bad, bad feeling in the pit of her stomach gnawed away at chena. and we re kind of like well something bad has i felt something bad has happened. reporter: the news may not be good, but danielle s mother still held out hope she would one day see her alive again. i said, i m not leaving until i find my child. reporter: and that day might come sooner than anyone thought.
danielle s body had started the mourning process for her family. but it was also a turning point for detectives. because danielle knew someone who lived just down the road from the river where her body had been found. her ex-boyfriend, je michael. so he was on his home turf. he s in his backyard. that s rural county out there. there s not even a light in traffic light in that town. reporter: investigators thought that couldn t be a coincidence. but je michael wasn t someone the family had seriously considered as a suspect. at least not at first. he d been supportively by their side ever since danielle disappeared. he would gave me a hug. yep. he was at a balloon release. he was at the search parties, all that stuff. reporter: but there had been moments with je michael that gave them pause. one happened for chena during that big search. it was the strangest thing because he was, like, in the middle of an open circle, and there he stood not talking to anyone, standing there