is dateline. she s the little girl that one hard in a big city they called you the miracle baby, why did they call you. that shot in the head at point blank range, a crime scene that shocked, even hardened police. dorothy explorer pillow and it had blood on it. as she fought to live, this detective vowed to catch whoever left her, soon he turned up a promising lead. bells and whistles go off in my head. in the hospital she battled back. to know that she had survived was a pretty powerful moment. not just her body, but her mind. they was the guy that came in the daycare, and erika said don t let him hurt me. she had handed investigators what could be a vital clue. but would it be enough to crack the case? . hello and welcome to dateline. i m craig melvin. it all started when the crime but not even police could believe. a little girl, just a toddler. shot in the head deliberately, left for dead by a killer who then disappeared but a, defective vowed
reporter: on the security tape, rick looked closely and saw the man in the baseball cap leaning through the window of the enclosed pharmacy section seemingly checking out names from pill bottles. over and over, detective arnold stared at the grainy walgreens tape. the man in the baseball cap looked familiar. one person sure looks like reporter: as if james quisenberry, erin s family fend who phoned her minutes earlier and he told the detective how much he wanted to help the investigation. rick wasn t buying any of it now. quisenberry had become a prime suspect, though rick wasn t ready to arrest, not yet, not until he had the other man but that wouldn t be easy. although two suspects in his sights, the mystery man was not in focus. how clear is the image of the second guy? it s not very clear. coming up, it turned out it was an imagine that was all too
sister and mother were shot, ebony and her grandparents remained fearful. reporter: you must have been worried like who did this and where are they? yes. i was thinking about the safety of the kids and me. so i didn t go out much. reporter: back at the police station, detective arnold was trying to figure out his next move when his investigation caught a lucky break. a 75-year-old neat nick spotted some of air s things in a rain-soaked ditch three miles from erin s house and phoned police. empty prescription bottle and i.d. kards and paper and something else that didn t belong. tell me about this. this is a cadillac manual. reporter: a cadillac owner s manual. it stood out because it didn t seem to fit with the rest of the money mess, so why was the car manual there? and whose was it? rick arnold tried thumbing through it but the pages were soaked together. the front and the back cover
harold, a retired factory worker and, and judith, a homemaker talked to their daughter nearly every day and the silence was strange. then the newsnc flashed on. say a shooting on wilson avenue where she lived and we thought oh, my god. reporter: he and judith picked up erin s oldest daughter ebony and drove down to the house. there was a whole bunch of people sitting outside and it was taped off and it was a mess down there. reporter: so you knew that something wasd up? yeah. and then i just reporter: freaked out? yeah. reporter: it wasn t long before judith and harold s worst fears were confirmed. they brought it to me. i knew it was erin then. reporter: their daughter, erinn. harper, was dead in dovertdovert
detective arnold was searching for answers combing the house for more clues. a closet that contains a safe. reporter: some contents apparently missing. the first thing that popped in my head was some type of a robbery. next is a cell phone. one of the first things we do is check cell phone records. reporter: phone records revealed that erin received two calls from a family friend. james quisenberry had known erin for years. police brought him in to see if he had any information that could help the investigation. you re one of the very last people to call her and talk to her by phone, which is why we want to talk to you. it was me? reporter: quiz equisenberry provided names for the officers to check out and offered to