was like? it was terrifying. you are hoping you are going to see the kid come walking around the corner. gene miller was a patrol officer, then, tacoma police. there s a special kind of horror or dread that goes with a little girl going missing like that. anytime a child goes missing, it s it s a scary thing. where was michella? the police looked, of course. but as the hours ticked by, my god. there s nothing. there s an emptiness there, you just time kind of stands still. yeah. and then then, it s, all of a sudden, it s gone. i mean, so it was dark. they said we re going to call in search and rescue because we haven t found her. it was late when they took search dogs into a nearby, overgrown gulch. and then
people, like him. but, even after she joined the tacoma police department, and earned her way through patrol and narcotics and sex crimes. she never forgot about jenni and michella. and the summer of 86. i would have a suspect, that i was working, and i would wonder, okay. could this guy be responsible? the mystery kept its grip on gene miller, too. inspired him to start a cold-case unit, here. i mean, things have changed, dramatically, in in how cases are investigated. there s so much more that can be done. eventually, in 2013, detective wade joined him. eager to dig into the case of michella and jenni. binders and binders of police reports, and interviews and leads. 27 years of dead ends. and point defiance. like a giant, ever-present question. so, her bicycle was back here, in this area. and it was lying on its side. the suspect had taken some of these fern frauns and ripped em out. and then, laid them across the top of the bike, to camouflage it. and further down th
i was in one of the police cars, and they told me that that they had found her body. and, you know, when you say found her body, it s not the person. it s just it s terrible. sorry. they found her near a makeshift fire pit. she had been beaten and sexually assaulted. her throat cut. it s this sickening feeling, that just overtakes you. and life is never going to be the same as you know it. and i think that it does one of two things to you. it s either going to eat you up or it s going to motivate you to find the bad guy. day after day, they searched for the killer. all that dismal spring. one of michella s classmates told police she saw a man in the park looking at the girls. they made a sketch, and tips flooded in. one of them seemed
bought a house in the north end of tacoma. scraped and saved money. even a little extra, to sign up her daughters for piano lessons. her youngest was nicole. there was angela, in the middle. and the eldest was michella. she was almost 13. she wasn t a rebellious child but kids that age want to be a little more independent. and it was spring break so michella begged her mom. she wanted to go to the park with her sisters, and be there for the piano lesson. puget park, a patch of green on the north end of tacoma. just across the street from their lessons. a couple of miles from home. michella s sisters will never forget that day. we were for like half an hour or so. but we went, like, two and a half hours. freedom. they rode their bikes to the park, where they realized they d forgotten their lunches at home. so, michella was just like oh, i will go grab them and then come back. and then, in the meantime, we had to go to the bathroom so
her mission. so how many names did you have? about 2,300 names. could cutting-edge technology crack an ice-cold case? i was like, no way. i believe in the devil, and people that don t believe in the devil, i think, they re in for a big surprise. hello and welcome to dateline. michella and jenni were just like most kids their age. they loved riding bikes, and playing outdoors. the fun-loving girls didn t know each other. but they would be forever connected, through tragedy. decades later, a detective would leave no stone unturned, on a quest for justice. and in the process, uncovered a twist that left investigators speechless. here is keith morrison with evil was watching.