it could not have shocked me more. hello and welcome to dateline. when angie samota walked into a room, people noticed. pretty, vivacious, and outgoing. the college student had her choice of dates. then late one friday night, angie was murdered. a crucial clue pointed to one man, but in this case, nothing was as it seemed. it would take decades, and a tenacious friend to uncover the truth. here s josh mankiewicz with in the middle of the night. it was a saturday morning in 1984 when sheila wysocki s phone rang. it was a girlfriend, and she said there s been an accident. an accident involving sheila s good roommate, freshman roommate and fellow student at southern methodist university, angela samota.
tragically short. by 2008, she had been dead longer than she had lived, and still her case had been unsolved. but with advances in dna technology, police were now ready to reveal a promising new suspect. for years, angie s friend, sheila wysocki, wanted nothing more than the truth. what she learned was as stunning as the murder itself. here s josh mankiewicz with the conclusion of in the middle of the night. more than 23 years after the rape and murder of angie samota, the man with that dna was identified. it was not, as we now know, russell buchanan. it was not lance, the ex-boyfriend. and it was not ben, the boyfriend who never asked police how angie died. the man whose dna was found in angie samota s body is donald andrew bess. not a name you had heard before? never. never hit the radar of the dallas police
sample from angie samota s cold case was entered into the national data base. to sheila wysocki, the frightened coed turned mom, turned private i, the pieces were about to finally fall into place. you still focused on the theory that russell buchanan did it and got away with murder? absolutely. found out that he was still in dallas, he was a professional. i kept thinking why is this man having a good life after he murdered angie? russell was going to go to jail. well, just a minute. sheila s persistence breathed new life into a case that sat cold for nearly 24 years. now, the investigation was about to take a stunning turn. coming up the detective said we ve got him. my mind immediately went to russell. who else could have done it? good question. but the last
sample from angie samota s cold case was entered into the national data base. to sheila wysocki, the frightened coed turned mom, turned private i, the pieces were about to finally fall into place. you still focused on the theory that russell buchanan did it and got away with murder? absolutely. found out that he was still in dallas, he was a professional. i kept thinking why is this man having a good life after he murdered angie? russell was going to go to jail. well, just a minute. sheila s persistence breathed new life into a case that sat cold for nearly 24 years. now, the investigation was about to take a stunning turn. coming up the detective said we ve got him. my mind immediately went to russell. who else could have done it? good question. but the last thing she was prepared for was the answer. when dateline