cynthia was texting that on her phone, you know, we re leaving texas now. and she sent it to each one of the girls. rachel and shauna responded almost immediately. and no no word from shelley. and we thought, well, she s probably still asleep, you know, cause she didn t have class today. so that wasn t really unusual at the time. it wasn t till later in the evening that we thought something might be wrong cause we hadn t heard from her, and that wasn t like her at all. reporter: what s that like? it s torture. she had a premonition that something was wrong. but i what would happen to shelley? she never goes anywhere. she stays in her room. she only goes out when she has to. reporter: yeah. so the next morning, when she still hadn t called, that s when we both got worried. reporter: the first thing the next morning, cynthia called the art institute. to find out if shelley was in class.
reporter: it was only an hour s drive away if she needed them. her first year was just fine. and so, in september 2009, when shelley was into year two, with a circle of friends, even a boyfriend, her parents felt free to set off on their first real adventure alone, far from home, just the two of them. a road trip to yellowstone national park, more than 1,400 miles up the interstate from italy. cynthia was texting that on her phone, you know, we re leaving texas now. and she sent it to each one of the girls. rachel and shauna responded almost immediately. and no no word from shelley. and we thought, well, she s probably still asleep, you know, cause she didn t have class today. so that wasn t really unusual at the time. it wasn t till later in the evening that we thought something might be wrong cause we hadn t heard from her, and that wasn t like her at all. reporter: what s that like? it s torture.
a road trip to yellowstone national park, more than 1,400 miles up the interstate from italy. cynthia was texting that on her phone, you know, we re leaving texas now. and she sent it to each one of the girls. rachel and shauna responded almost immediately. and no no word from shelley. and we thought, well, she s probably still asleep, you know, cause she didn t have class today. so that wasn t really unusual at the time. it wasn t till later in the evening that we thought something might be wrong cause we hadn t heard from her, and that wasn t like her at all. reporter: what s that like? it s torture. she had a premonition that something was wrong. but i what would happen to shelley? she never goes anywhere. she stays in her room. she only goes out when she has to. reporter: yeah. so the next morning, when she still hadn t called, that s when we both got worried. reporter: the first thing the
just the two of them. a road trip to yellowstone national park, more than 1,400 miles up the interstate from italy. cynthia was texting that on her phone, you know, we re leaving texas now. and she sent it to each one of the girls. rachel and shauna responded almost immediately. and no no word from shelley. and we thought, well, she s probably still asleep, you know, cause she didn t have class today. so that wasn t really unusual at the time. it wasn t till later in the evening that we thought something might be wrong cause we hadn t heard from her, and that wasn t like her at all. reporter: what s that like? it s torture. she had a premonition that something was wrong. but i what would happen to shelley? she never goes anywhere. she stays in her room. she only goes out when she has to. reporter: yeah. so the next morning, when she still hadn t called, that s when we both got worried.
shelley was into year two, with a circle of friends, even a boyfriend, her parents felt free to set off on their first real adventure alone, far from home, just the two of them. a road trip to yellowstone national park, more than 1,400 miles up the interstate from italy. cynthia was texting that on her phone, you know, we re leaving texas now. and she sent it to each one of the girls. rachel and shauna responded almost immediately. and no no word from shelley. and we thought, well, she s probably still asleep, you know, cause she didn t have class today. so that wasn t really unusual at the time. it wasn t till later in the evening that we thought something might be wrong cause we hadn t heard from her, and that wasn t like her at all. reporter: what s that like? it s torture. she had a premonition that something was wrong. but i what would happen to shelley? she never goes anywhere. she stays in her room. she only goes out when she has to. reporter: yeah.