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 hello, and welcome to dateline! shannon melendi dreamed big. at 5, she wanted to become a supreme court justice. in college, she scored as prestigious internship at the headquarters foundation. then, suddenly she vanished! detectives had a suspect in their sights. but it would take years, and the revelation of another teenager s horrific tale, to our unravel the mystery of sharon s disappearance. here s dennis murphy with shannon s story! the snapshots, the videos. they documented her life. the photographer dad, the camera professional captured every moment of his daughter s life. she loved life. she wanted to do everything! these parents did no
shannon was a sophomore year in atlanta. they received a phone call from their childhood home. and on the other line was athena, the college roommate. athena was distraught, and was asking me if i heard or spoke to shannon. shannon had not been seen or heard form in more than a day. now are you starting to do the calculation even though you re 30? that there is trouble? there was. i knew immediately that something was terribly wrong. monique hooks up with the roommate and makes a few calls of her own. i immediately called my godmother who was living in atlanta. after she had heard from shannon, i she did not. i called my aunt that also lived there. she had not heard from shannon. monika was gripped with fear. she called her grandparents, and her grandfather came to pick her up. monika stat lueck s was at work. and the mom ivan who was with them. and after they were done, they
fear. she called her grandparents, and her grandfather came to pick her up. monika stat lueck s was at work. and the mom ivan who was with them. and after they were done, they went to the mother s house. i went to the car. and it was my mother, i, think my mother s sister came out. and said shannon is missing. i drop to the ground. and many said we ll never see them again. i just saw my father collapse to his knees. and i knew i was right in feeling the fear that i felt. when you heard the word missing, what did you feel? i just keep thinking, no! it can t be! shannon. missing. it was beyond all imagination. from the roommates, a love timeline emerged. shannon was supposed to be in her dorm on the saturday night, but when she still wasn t home by sunday morning, a roommate started to worry. she said where is she?
right? correct. who gets called and who s on the other and the line? the phone call came into the emory council center at emory university he asked her first if she s familiar with the shannon melendi case. the woman said, no, explain. he said, well, i have kidnapped, or i have. her a man had shine in. he said she was fine and healthy. before the caller hung up, he told the operator s plans. one and done with her, basically, i will release her. would you will find, where i m at, right now, is an article that belongs to her. so, he hung up and got off the phone. following that, the fbi did immediately trace the call. we got a call from memory. we traced back to a phone booth, outside the city. just as the caller promised, there was something there. underneath the phone booth had fall into the ground, a little cloth bag. inside the cloth bag was a ring. a ring. ivan recognized it right away. it was a gold ring, and it
than 11 years after she had disappeared from that softball field in georgia. when we went into the courtroom, i was thinking, in my head, 50 50 chance that this is the way it could go. there he was, the one-time delta airlines maintenance worker they had had in their sights for years. ivan, this is your first chance to see, ha? well, you know, the old saying, if looks could kill, he would ve been dead on the spot. dekalb county prosecutor, john petri, had a daunting task ahead. the first case in georgia with no crime scene, nobody the absence of a body does not mean that you can prosecute a murder case, it is of course complicated. it was gonna be a steep mountain to climb. absolutely. still the prosecutor did have some key witnesses to paint a picture of him, and possibly link him to the murder. inmates, who shared his cell with him. which never really confessed,