edge. but weeks past, with no arrest. more than 40 detectives chased thousands of leads. all the public heard was silence. from the outside, there was a perception you guys were not getting anywhere. was that frustrating? very. yes. every day, we will come to work. and we knew we were a phone call a way. a phone call away. the way that phone call ever come? hoping to shake out a lead, police finally released the information about the underwear found with brianna. they guessed right. that one, tawdry detail would break this case. coming up. closing in on a killer. with that photograph and initial sketch that we got from a forensic sketch artist, it was very similar. when dateline continues. n dateline continues
i can get out of it. back at that field, detectives found something that looked like the killer s calling card. they were two sets of andes that were on her right side, tucked underneath the right side. thong underwear, one pink and one black, with an image of the pink panther cartoon character. crime lab technicians tested everything and determined that neither pair of underwear belonged to brianna. the pink panther underwear had dna from an unknown person, but the other pair. they were identified by forensic dna evidence as having belonged to one of the roommates in the residence where she had been abducted from. they belonged to k.t. hunter, the friend of brianna s who lived at mackay court. there was more dna on the thong, some from the suspect, some from brianna. and that hip strap matched
public. and one more thing, like the attack on the foreign exchange student a month later, the man made her hand over her underwear. police were now convinced he was keeping his victims under whereas some sort of sophie. they did release that information, not yet. it was now the biggest man hunt in the city s history. trying to find a rapist and kidnap or, before he struck again. we had three linked, syria s, violent felonies, by the same individual, and a 400 yard radius. same neighborhood. in a short period of time. it was a very chilling thing for a community. people were rightfully scared to death. parents are pulling their daughters out of the university of nevada renal. those who stayed, were on high alert. owners of a gun and specialty stores saw spike in the business. selling weapons, pepper spray and even tasers. police knew that dna would be the key to breaking the case. the county crime lab tested
he tried to choke her a few times. you mean, during the session? during the session. police asked the woman to entice them and back to the ranch. well, when they came back the next session, the girl kept him talking, kept in classy, drinking, we turned him over to the police. they had dna was rushed to the crime lab, but it did not match the killer. investigation had started off so well, with so many clues about the killer, whose habits, his truck, his dna had now gone almost cold. the detectives pressed on, following more than 4000 leads, all of them to dead ends. but one day in november, 2008, ten months into the investigation, a detective was thumbing through yet another stack of tips. one of them caught his eye. one thing struck me as on, because they were talking about the underwear. the anonymous tip was about a woman who had found someone
you look at every extended cab pickup you passed? no. the physical description, when you are at a grocery store, parking lot. i want to see license plate numbers i would see coming, in and make a note that we would follow them down. but, there was nothing. so we feared the worst. you know, gosh, we sure hope nothing else happens. there have been some promising leads, thinking that a killer who strangled his victim with underwear might also visit prostitutes, police started canvassing some of the legal brothels. the moonlight ranch is about 30 miles south of reno. the owner is janice hough. police asking for help. i said listen, let s talk to the girls, talk to the gross and find someone who fits that profile, who comes to the ranch. one of the women who worked at the ranch told police about a regular client, who seemed to fit the profile. she was scared.