everything was a blur. all i m thinking is, is shannon really gone? we interviewed her roommates, boyfriends, everybody is a suspect. then a phone rings. right. he says i ve kidnapped her, i have her. and we ran his criminal history. that s when all the bells went off. he pulls in, asked me to get in the car. i feel the cold blade against my neck. he carries me to the basement of his home. it was jaw-dropping! just chilling! they started digging and they found women s clothing. it was just escalating! escalating! there were so many victims, aren t there? there. were there still are. until this guy is no longer in existence. i will carry this fight! hello, and welcome to dateline! shannon melendi dreamed big. at 15, she wanted to become a supreme court justice. in college, she scored a prestigious internship at former president jimmy carter s foundation. then, suddenly she vanished! detectives had a suspect in their sights. but it would take years
we interviewed her roommates, boyfriend. everyone is a suspect. and then a man said i kidnapped her, we have her, we ran the criminal history. that s when all the bells went off. he pulls in, asking me to get in the car. i feel the cold blade against my neck. he carries cme to the basement of his home. it was jaw dropping, just chilling. they started digging and they found women s clothing. it was escalating. there were so many victims? yes, there still are. until this guy is in longer in existence. i ll carry this fight. ecome a supreme court justice. ge, hello and welcome to dateline. shannon melindi dreamed big. at 15 she wanted to become a supreme court justice. in college she scored a foundation. detectives had a suspect in their sight, but it would take years. a horrific tail to unravel the mystery of shannon s disappearance. here is dana murphy with shannon s story. reporter: the videos, the document reof her life. reporter: the professional dad
pray that they saw what we saw. see him for the monster that he was. the jury deliberated for three days. then the moment that they had been waiting for finally came. we the jury find the defendant guilty. i ll never forget when they announced the verdict. just the sheer joy, and pain that you just saw on the faces of shannon s family. it was good to know that this monster would be away. the sheriff cups him. and when i hear the click. from the cuffs. i took a deep breath and said this is over. but the family found out it actually was not over. he was sentenced to life in prison. and the melendis assumed that he would remain behind bars forever. they were crushed when they learned that because he
right right. but the state had other witnesses to bring in stories of the criminal past. tammy singleton went to court to see how he kidnapped and assaulted her when she was 14. and to show that he no longer had any power over her. are you seeing him? did you make any eye contact? i made the point to look at him. i did look directly at him and forcefully say what transpired. i needed people to understand that he did have modus operandi, and i wanted to assist the melendis in getting some closure. in their situation. and while the prosecutors did not have a crime scene, they did have that bag found at the phone booth. it would tell a tale of its own. what did you learn about it? it s a little cloth bag. after a number of weeks of trying to determine where the bed came from, we finally found that there was a little company in richmond virginia that had
softball field about five miles from campus. the roommate headed out to look for shannon with two other friends, but they missed the entrance to the softball field parking lot, and when they turned around they spotted something. she saw her car parked at a convenience store. gas station. shannon s black nissan, unoccupied and parked at the far end of a gas station. she was as proud as she could be of that car. yes, she loved her car. what was concerning about the way the car was found, what condition it was in? it was unlocked, keys in the ignition. and the biggest thing was the plate on the radio. at that time radios were a commodity, and shannon would always take the plate off and take it with her. but that expensive radio plate was still in the car, which to the melendis meant this