the word help was scratched in the ground. we found two shovels that had what appeared to be blood on them. that just did it for me. i can t even think about how scared she was. a mother s worst panic. there are no signs to get there. just follow the rough, sandy trail from the subdivisions above, turn a corner and there it is, a creek, a low-twisting moving body of water in north carolina, that s nothing less than a garden of eden for teenagers playing hooky from high school. it was like a beach. if the weather was good, her decision was made, go right to the creek and bypass school all together. tell me about an afternoon at the creek, caroline, what would you do? just go swimming. after we were done swimming we would sit by the fire and get dry, and hurry up and go back to the bus and take it home. they would play all day like frisky otters. innocent fun until one day when this secret teenaged world collided with tragedy. i just knew in my heart s
on life, including her mom. she was a funny, witty girl. she stood out, she shined. you would notice her. she was always happy. never seen her without a smile on her face. danielle s aunt sheena was somewhere between an older sister and surrogate mom for danielle. danielle was living with aunt sheena s family in hope mills, north carolina, while her mother worked her way through a painful divorce in another state. my sister s like, hey, do you mind if danielle can come? i m like, not at all. danielle was the outsider, the new kid at school for about ten minutes. caroline and danielle became best buds immediately. we were sitting in the auditorium, and i guess everyone was scared to talk to her because of how pretty she was. i tapped on her shoulder and complimented her hair. she started making jokes and
so on march 11 when sheena and her mom had to go over to atlanta for a doctor s appointment, danielle s grandfather was given the responsibility of keeping an eye on the teen. so grandfather s in charge here. yeah, grandfather s in charge. and this was something we would really never do. and on the way down there we get a text, danielle, she s like, oh, you guys just left me, huh? it s just me and papa. we would always joke. like you d do that to me like you guys just left me. it was a tuesday, a school night. after supper, just before bed, danielle asked her grandfather if she could drop off a school notebook at a classmate s house a few doors away. he said yes. my dad says, okay, well, make it quick. you know. we never had any issues with her. so he lets her go. and off danielle went into the night. in atlanta, sheena sensed something was off. i had a bad feeling come over me. felt really uneasy and felt like
on a pair of glasses that didn t belong to her. so i zoomed in to the lenses, and i could see there were like four kids, like a reflection of four kids in the background. i asked her friend, i said wait a minute. so there were other people there? she s like, ah, a little hesitant. sheena pried the names of the other kids out of this friend. more names and faces for police to track down. and so now i m like, i got to find out who these kids are. sheena didn t know it then, but one of those kids was caroline. caroline first introduced danielle to the creek days before her disappearance. it didn t seem like danielle s kind of place. dani never really skipped class. and one day she was, like, i don t want to go present my project, so i can go with you. then the next day, the day danielle went missing, she was at the creek before the school day was over. she was already at the creek before me.
her dear granddaughter had been at the hospital, visiting her. we thought they had found her and that just done it for me. reporter: on march 29th, almost three weeks after danielle disappeared, her family and friends gathered for a balloon release. her friend alexis was there. so was je michael. she remembers he was holding out hope that danielle was alive. he s like, hey, and gave me a hug. and he said, i just, you know, hope we find her and she s okay. reporter: up until then, danielle s aunt chena had managed to stay strong for the family. but with the release of those balloons she felt her resolve and confidence sailing away with them. for the first time then i felt like i was giving up hope. i was starting to feel like that she may not ever come home, and how would we be able to live