she is the definition of grit. she didn t give up. he s hurting me. the details that she gave. it was unbelievable. she said, you did it. i said, no, you did. route 66 once stretched across the southwest from one horizon to the next, going from what america was to what it wanted to be. cities like albuquerque, new mexico, were celebrated stops along the journey. today buildings that once lined this part of the iconic highway faded and closed as the cotton wood mall became the new downtown. the mall was the big hangout. i met my husband at the mall. so did i. it has played a pivotal part in our lives. for the marcell sisters, all six of them, along with their brother, jonathan, the cotton wood mall in albuquerque was important in their lives. 17-year-old brittani worked at a sunglasses kiosk. she is this blue-eyed girl with a big eyes and a striking mile. everything was good, until september 11th, 2008, brittani just starting high school had planned
5 months now. yet, there was still a question mark next to his name. so, time again, for gonterman to get creative. coming up an undercover mission to mcdonalds? they followed him, and watched him eat. a hunt for treasure in the trash. i said, i can t believe this. when dateline continues. knocks out symptoms from over 200 allergens. without knocking you out. feel the clarity and make today the most wonderful time of the year. live claritin clear. after advil. feeling better? on top of the worlddddd!!! before advil.
witnesses. talked to neighbors, and i would look at every house to see is there anybody at this house who has a criminal history that would fit this type of crime. because the case had been out of the public eye for so long, gonterman and thomson began drumming up local press coverage hoping it would shake loose a new lead. so i did a piece on local media. we reissued the sketch. and, then, detective gonterman started taking in tips. and right off the bat, they got a good one. i thought, wow, maybe this is the guy. coming up one name then two. then three. then four. a suspect was developed, and then another suspect would be developed and over and over, they were excluded. what is it that we re missing? i did not give up. we need to get an answer for brittani
match. dr. leon morris had a possible explanation. a lot of eyewitness identification is wrong! at the end of her hypnosis, i knew what she told me, but i didn t know whether it was accurate or not. no one knew if what brittani said while under hypnosis was accurate or not. the composite sketch based on her description failed to produce any usable leads. once again, the job of pushing the case forward fell to detective jodi gonterman. she s probably the best detective i could ever ask for. did you find yourself getting emotionally invested in the case with so many years going by and yeah. i did. yeah. i went in her office crying once before because i was so disappointed. it s rough, i mean, you try not to get emotionally involved, but you do. as the investigation languished, brittani continued on with her life.
brittani s mom placed an uncomfortable call to sgt. thomson. i finally said, you know what, i think we need new eyes on the case. and so we had to have some hard discussions about what are the next steps? how can we move this case forward? sgt. thomson decided the best way to accomplish that was to re-assign the case to veteran homicide detective jodi gonterman. i read through the case. i briefed with detective morales. i spoke with the family. brittani didn t remember what happened at all. describe her for us. your first impression, what you thought of her? she s a go-getter. she s stubborn. she doesn t give up. she s just fascinating. she s cute, vivacious. she s a mom. she has kids. when she got, like, her hands on the case, she would call my mom almost every day. you finally had hope? did i did. that they would find your attacker?