circle were questioned, close to ten of them. friends, acquaintances. each one provided a dna sample for melissa grass. as we received more samples from individuals in this case, we anticipate that one of them would eventually, or could potentially match the unknown dna profile in this case. reporter: but, none of them did. and a terrified victim waited, and winter came to fort collins. and anxious detective seymour watch for news, anywhere, of sexual assaults. tiktok. he had to be out there. was he watching? coming up for investigators, the depths of despair. i felt helpless, how do we not know who this guy is? reporter: and then for amber, a brand-new trauma. i would look at men and question is it him? reporter: what would happen to you inside when that happened? i would have an anxiety
hospital reporter: ilias so no one could find you. yes, i was scared everywhere, if somebody looked at me for longer than a few seconds i would get suspicious. reporter: this is more than just fear, isn t it? yes, i definitely thought he was still lurking, still trying to find me. reporter: but, who? it was a face in a crowd watching her, coming for her? was it a stranger? a friend? as she round her test, the crime lab melissa was optimistic that a solid dna profile would emerge. and solve the mystery quickly. we expected that it would either hit to other cases or to an offender in the database. reporter: or of course to the last person amber remembered being with, aric vanagunas. he swore he didn t hurt her. dna would tell the truth. reporter: coming up the lab results come in. a gut punch for everyone. we were shocked.
from her body, the dna profile match the dna profile on the duck tape. that tells us that the same individual that sexually assaulted her life dna on the duck tape that was wrapped around her body. reporter: the detective put that little nugget of information in her back pocket. who knew when she might need it. she and her partner s started all over again. amber s friend aric had suggested maybe check out some of other friends. he wasn t so sure about some of them. she had several friends that he brought up that may have been involved in this. they are from a part of her history that she was involved in some risky type behavior. reporter: wasn t always making the best choices? yes. so we followed up on those individuals. reporter: and so day by day, one by one, the man in amber
the sample from her only person of interest, amber s friend, aric vanagunas. we thought of possibly could ve been eric, the person she was with the night before. reporter: who can know what a person is capable of? even a young man who lived with his parents and helped out church. and then, nearly a week after the attack on amber, dna analyst melissa grass picked up the phone and call detective seymour with the news. for the first part of the conversation was exciting, we were able to develop a dna profile. reporter: a full incomplete genetic picture of the suspect, which they could use to i.d. amber s attacker. that was the good news. the only good news. we were pretty shocked as a dna laboratory, we were surprised that there were no other cases, no offenders that were matched to. reporter: no match. none. zero. not one single hit among the