tubes, bandages, machines? ventilator she had severe swelling. severe swelling in her face. reporter: and that was the only injury dana appeared to have. deb s mind reeled with the possibilities of what might have happened a terrible accident, perhaps a hit-and-run. and of course nothing could be learned from dana herself. even though she was unconscious, were you talking to her? absolutely, you know, begging her, wake up. you know, i can remember grabbin her hospital gown and saying, you know, wake up. just wake up, just open your eyes, you know. open your eyes. reporter: rookie detective bob bratton was in bed when he got the call about a possible hit-and-run on tracy road. he raced to the scene. so you pull up. what do you see? when i pull up, what i see is the squad is still there, the rescue squad. and there are people, of course, congregated at this point.
never mattered. and if she s kicking over this rock anew again, you know, there you were gonna be with the bull s-eye again, right? i got another bull s-eye on my back. reporter: when the investigator cracked open the thin case file. this is what it told him where dana s body had been found. the file also told him who found her that young man who d been driving by in his car. but just as interesting was where dana had been partying that night that nightclub on the seamier side of town. so, what was that place all about? it was very typical stereotypical of the early 80s in a lotta the nightclubs a lotta music, a lotta lights, lotta people. reporter: and a hotspot well-known to the city vice unit, according to detective bratton. toby had a theory about the club he shared with police. dana, he said, had gotten mixed up in something and was scared. dana actually told me that somethin was gonna happen to her there were dark business going on at this nightclub. d
she was the love of my life. reporter: it was painful for both father and daughter to read the coroner s report when it finally came. three long months after dana s exhumation, the coroner changed the manner of dana s death to homicide. i was ecstatic, i was sad, you know, it s just the mixed emotions because it was like everything i had dreamt or thought or said or anything, it was like, i was right. reporter: now that the case was officially declared a homicide, investigators were working it hard. and their focus wasn t toby. it was the bouncer. investigator kinder had always thought there was something off about adkins statement to detective bratton. one of the things that he said was, we weren t even fighting or anything. i ve talked to a lot of people over the years, and that just kind of struck me as odd of reporter: introduce that thought, huh? you introduce that thought, she falls out of your car, but
yet you ve got to interject, we weren t fighting or anything. reporter: the investigator also wondered why dana would have suddenly fallen out of the bouncer s car. there was talk back in the day that the car had a defective door. but detective bratton told the new investigator he didn t think so. he d taken a look for himself. i know i got in the car and i checked it because i had pushed up against it. and i m a pretty good size guy. my weight should maybe tell us. reporter: if the door s bum, it would have popped, yeah. i felt comfortable that i didn t see anything wrong with the door. reporter: you didn t feel you needed to get a search warrant or call to have this thing towed? no, not at that point. looking back, probably an error. reporter: there was another problem. there was no note of the detective checking the car in the police report. and no way for investigator kinder to look himself. was the vehicle gone? is it in the junkyard now? we believe that s in the
he learned i was a detective. i ain t talkin to you. i don t need to talk to you. he started walking away from me. so i latch onto him. i bring him back and we exchange some words. reporter: the detective says he blocked the doorway until toby calmed down. when he did, toby gave bratton his alibi, he d been asleep in dana s apartment at the time of the incident. but that apartment was less than a mile from the place where dana had been found. bratton says family members told him toby had a temper and the couple fought a lot. toby, when did the whispers start immediately. about your involvement? immediately. a lot of members of her family think that you re the killer here. yes. reporter: toby says dana s family had never approved of his relationship with her. he was a rough and tumble character, four years older than she, fond of boxing and motorcycles. there was evel knievel, and i was considered awful. knawful.