she was brave. she was incredibly brave. why didn t i know that she needed me and that she was alone and that she was hurt? nothing was the same after that. nothing. they found her at the soccer field. the straight arrow student killed by a single bullet. i just hit the floor. i remember the pain. every time i talk about it the pain comes rushing back. that someone would shoot my child. like, why? this is a small town whodunit. oh, yeah we were afraid. what had happened that night? was the answer somewhere in her circle of friends? we re trying to find out why! i would never hurt halee. they came and talked to me. it was four fbi agents. he s there. he s got a gun. how could it not have been him? then a secret spills out in court! that s a bombshell. that definitely was. i felt like i had gotten my heart ripped out. for that mother to get on that stand. it was absolute silence. hello and welcome to dateline. halee rathgeber was barely o
this is a small town whodunit. oh, yeah we were afraid. what had happened that night? was the answer somewhere in her circle of friends? we re trying to find out why! i would never hurt halee. they came and talked to me. it was four fbi agents. he s there. he s got a gun. how could it not have been him? then a secret spills out in court! that s a bombshell. that definitely was. i felt like i had gotten my heart ripped out. for that mother to get on that stand. it was absolute silence. hello and welcome to dateline. halee rathgeber was barely out of her teens. halee enjoyed taking care of others. it made sense to them she was studying to become a nurse. what made no sense was that anyone could want her dead. the crime scene told investigators little, but a jaw dropping moment in the courtroom spoke volumes. here s on the outskirts of town. i m miles from my family in new york. but i m driving, oddly enough, through a place that feels like hom
every time i talk about it the pain comes rushing back. that someone would shoot my child. like, why? reporter: this is a small town whodunit. oh, yeah we were afraid. reporter: what had happened that night? was the answer somewhere in her circle of friends? we re trying to find out why! i would never hurt halee. they came and talked to me. it was four fbi agents. he s there. he s got a gun. reporter: how could it not have been him? then a secret spills out in court! that s a bombshell. that definitely was. i felt like i had gotten my heart ripped out. for that mother to get on that stand. reporter: it was absolute silence. hello and welcome to dateline. halee rathgeber was barely out of her teens. halee enjoyed taking care of others. it made sense to them she was studying to become a nurse. what made no sense was that anyone could want her dead. the crime scene told investigators little, but a jaw dropping moment in the courtroom spoke volumes.
to get pregnant in the future. find it yourself in the family planning aisle no prescription, no id. i ve got this. as his father, i poured everything i could into that young man. and to even be considered to have committed such a heinous act to another person was just inconceivable. isaiah s father wandel hagan was dumbfounded when police told him his son was a suspect in halee rathgeber s murder. he and his wife donna, a corrections officer who worked for the sheriff, said isaiah had always been a good son.
jury. we wanted to to show them that isaiah was the last person to see her alive, that he lied about her cell phone, that he had money problems, that he did a lot of things to cover his tracks. and the prosecution presented perhaps the most explosive piece of evidence they had, what investigators found when they searched the home of wandel and donna hagan. we were able to locate a towel from that home that was actually the the same make, the same model of the towel that was located at the soccer field. and there was something else investigators discovered. wandel owned several guns, but one of them was missing. did you think that maybe isaiah took it? it wouldn t be something that we would suspect because he he didn t like guns he didn t like guns was not comfortable around them. the prosecution told the jury that isaiah owed his father some cash and on the night halee died wandel sent a text to his son, got the money