annie kasprzak had been brutally murdered and dumped into the jordan river. we kept asking, are you sure it wasn t an accident? the idea that somebody else could do that to her was just even now, it s hard to imagine that that s even possible. reporter: and now draper police were working hard to catch her killer. we re trying to actively locate suspects in this case, any witnesses, so we can actually bring this case to a conclusion for the parents. reporter: and within a week of annie s murder, they found that witness. her name was joanna, and she had been picked up on a fraud charge
reporter: maybe their witness was confused or deliberately hiding the fact that ferry and l.j. were one and the same. either way ferry seemed like their man. but the d.a. wanted more evidence before filing charges. derek johnson and chad carpenter thought the blood samples taken from daniel ferry s home would push the case over the finish line. bloodwork came back, and it was negative for blood. reporter: not only were the samples not annie s blood, it wasn t even blood at all. a major blow to the investigation. didn t mean he s not good for the crime? it doesn t mean that he s not good for the crime. it just led us to believe that, okay, it didn t happen here, at the ferry residence. reporter: so ferry might be good for this thing, but boy, you re just not getting there? yeah. reporter: the only bright spot, daniel ferry wasn t getting out of jail.
he was also being investigated for an unrelated kidnapping and assault case in a neighboring town. reporter: they continued to investigate ferry. months went by. lead detective derek johnson was promoted to sergeant. which meant former hairdresser jaclyn moore s dream of making detective finally came true. maybe a case of beware what you wish for. one of her first assignments was the annie kasprzak murder. how did you feel about it? that this was now going to be your case? i cried for two hours. reporter: jaclyn decided she needed to start again from the beginning, following the chain of evidence that led her colleagues to daniel ferry. she thought she might link ferry to annie through his phone calls. but when she checked all of his cell phone records showed he was in the middle to northern part of salt lake county. he had never gone south close enough to where annie was killed. not even near her house. reporter: and she well knew the physical evidence wasn t there either.
home to foster home before she was adopted by her case worker, veronica. annie s life finally seemed to be turning around. then in 2012, annie, just 15, was found murdered, her body floating in the jordan river. there was never a second that your mind didn t go to, this is not what was supposed to happen. reporter: an eyewitness said she saw daniel ferry assault a girl the night annie was killed. that witness also said the girl had shown up with l.j., whom police could never find. but in the course of their investigation of ferry, detectives learned something interesting. and you had another l.j. in that crowd, didn t you? yeah. reporter: daniel ferry? yeah. reporter: what was his nickname? he used two. one was joker and the other was little joe. reporter: little joe? l.j.? yeah.
by neighboring west jordan p.d. during her interview, she started telling detectives about a young girl she had seen a week prior. the cops thought some of what she said sounded eerily similar to annie s case. so they called draper p.d., and detective derek johnson and his colleague came over to hear what joanna had to say. tell me what you know about this girl. it was the second time i ve seen her over there. reporter: there at the home where a man named daniel ferry used to live. danny ferry is a guy known to law enforcement? yes. reporter: as maybe a drug dealer? drug dealer. he was a member of a gang called vario loco town. and law enforcement has dealt with danny quite a few times, yeah. reporter: ferry had a long rap sheet. in fact, derek had served a search warrant on his home a year earlier. and now here was joanna telling derek that she saw a girl who sounded a lot like annie at daniel ferry s home on the night annie was killed. joanna also said the girl showed u