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.
were 13? that there was 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. monique was gripped with fear. she called her grandparents, and her grandfather came to pick her up. monique s dad was at work. and the mom 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 dropped 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.
years later, shannon melendi vanished and investigators thought butch hinten had struck again. hinton was now headed to court, charged with shannon s murder. her family believed that justice was inside. but, they were about to learn that the fight was far from over. here s dennis murphy with the conclusion of shannon s story. butch hinton s trial for the murder of shannon began in august of 2005. more than 11 years after she disappeared from that softball field in georgia. when we went into the courtroom, i was thinking in my head 50/50 chance. that was the way it could go. there it was, the one-time delta airlines maintenance worker they had in their sights for years. this is your first time to really see him? well you know the old saying, if looks could kill. he would ve been dead on the spot. the county prosecutor had a daunting task ahead. the first case in georgia with no crime scene, no body. the absence of a body does
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!
home. they started raising money for a possible ransom demand, canvassing the city with flyers and more. we put 77 billboards all around the city. i felt that if people see her face, they can move her. shannon s family and friends kept waiting, but no ransom demands came in. that was the one and only call. as time goes on, you realize, she s gone. she s not coming back. law enforcement focus on the key lead. the softball umpire, butch hinton. he s still the prime suspect in the disappearance of shannon, i m assuming? will he is, we have no other subjects. they don t have any physical evidence to link him to shannon, so they executed a series of search warrants. this was to take his blood sample for dna, if dna was found that matched his hair samples. additional search warrants let law enforcement go to