when we start thinking about who is responsible for killing cassie, the very first thing i want to know is who s the last person that was with her? the last person known to see cassie alive was her boyfriend matt beckham. he claims he had stopped by to keep cassie company as she house sat but then he left around 9:30. matt is very adamant that when he left cassie alone, that she was fine. they hadn t been arguing. they hadn t been fighting in any manner but everybody is still a suspect or a person of interest until we can 100% clear them. but matt beckham passes a lie detector test. he s cleared as a suspect, and instead he becomes a witness, and he tells police that he wasn t the only one at the house the night cassie was killed. when we interviewed matt, we learned of two other people that he had been there to visit that night.
doctors described her brain as jell-o. there was severe hemorrhaging, lots of blood. doctors immediately suspected shaken baby syndrome. but when police questioned veech, seen here in this interrogation video, he denied harming the toddler. veech told police cassie was in her highchair eating cheerios when he turned his back to answer the phone he said he heard a thud. just two thumps on the first oneky only assume was the kitchen table. reporter: veech said cassie fell out of her highchair but cassie s highchair was just 30 inches from the ground. just 2 1/2 feet. it just didn t make sense that she would fall and from that short fall that she would be in such critical condition. reporter: doctors couldn t save her. 15 days after she was rushed to the hospital, the little girl with the sparkling blue eyes and blond pigtails was dead.
her highchair eating cheerios when he turned his back to answer the phone he said he heard a thud. just two thumps on the first oneky only assume was the kitchen table. reporter: veech said cassie fell out of her highchair but cassie s highchair was just 30 inches from the ground. just 2 1/2 feet. it just didn t make sense that she would fall and from that short fall that she would be in such critical condition. reporter: doctors couldn t save her. 15 days after she was rushed to the hospital, the little girl with the sparkling blue eyes and blond pigtails was dead. the medical examiner ruled cassie had died of blunt force head injuries but couldn t say for sure how it happened or if a crime had been committed. so prosecutors in yuma county, arizona, chose not to charge veech because of lack of evidence. the file on cassie was officially closed in 2003. veech was a free man. fast forward a few years to
back that we d finally put him away, and not to be afraid anymore. reporter: cassie would have turned 11 this year. julie haney still looks at her picture. she ll never forget the little girl, who after so many years, finally got justice. such a cute little girl, randi. tough story to hear. so he got ten years in prison. he pleaded to this lesser charge, thought he could get between three and 12 1/2 years. they gave him almost the maximum amount. was he surprised by that? he was. he told us by phone he was shocked because he thought pleading to the lesser charge to manslaughter, he only admitted thoughtlessness, never actually admitted harming cassie or killing cassie but he thought he would get closer to the three years, but he got the ten years. he also told us by phone he thought this was a witch hunt. he said this was just another notch in the belt for julie haney, the investigator. he thought it was all about ego, that she tampered with evidence. she of course told us she di
i never put my hands on her. and they never could prove that i did. reporter: after veech was sentenced, cassie s grandmother went to her grave with a message. i told cassie when we got back that we d finally put him away, and not to be afraid anymore. reporter: cassie would have turned 11 this year. julie hanie still looks at her picture. she ll never forget the little girl, who after so many years, finally got justice. such a cute little girl, randi. tough story to hear. so he got ten years in prison. he pleaded to this lesser charge, thought he could get between three and 12 1/2 years. they gave him almost the maximum amount. was he surprised by that? he was. he told us by phone he was shocked because he thought pleading to the lesser charge to manslaughter, he only admitted thoughtlessness, never actually admitted harming cassie or killing cassie but he thought he