all i'm thinking is, is shannon really gone? >> we interviewed her roommates, boyfriends, everybody is a suspect. then a phone rings. >> right. he says i've kidnapped her, i have her. and we ran his criminal history. that's when all the bells went off. >> he pulls in, asked me to get in the car. i feel the cold blade against my neck. he carries me to the basement of his home. >> it was jaw-dropping! just chilling! >> they started digging and they found women's clothing. >> it was just escalating! escalating! >> there were so many victims, aren't there? >> there were. >> there still are. >> until this guy is no longer in existence. i will carry this fight! ♪ ♪ ♪ >> hello, and welcome to dateline! shannon melendi dreamed big. at 15, she wanted to become a supreme court justice. in college, she scored a prestigious internship at former president jimmy carter's foundation. then, suddenly she vanished! detectives had a suspect in their sights. but it would take years, and the revelation of another teenager's horrific tale, to unravel the mystery of sharon's disappearance. here's dennis murphy with shannon's story! the snapshots, the videos. they documented her life. >> the photographer dad, the camera professional captured every moment of his daughter's life. >> she loved life. she wanted to do everything! >> these parents did not know back then how difficult it would be one day to look at these memories. >> i want to remember her voice. i put on a video. >> it's probably the hardest. it's hearing her voice. >> i'm shannon melendi welcome, to our special segment. >> when i look at that video, definitely a sweet memory. i look back at how just innocent we were. >> shannon was someone who wanted to live. >> but then came that phone call, way back in march 1994. shannon melendi's little sister monique was just 13 years old. >> i received a phone call former roommate. >> shannon was midway through her sophomore year in atlanta. they received a phone call from their childhood home in miami. and on the other line was athena, her sister's college roommate. >> athena was distraught, and was asking me if i heard or spoken to shannon. >> shannon had not been seen or heard from in more than a day. >> now are you starting to do the calculation even though you were 13? that there was trouble? >> there was. i knew immediately that something was terribly wrong. >> monique hooks up with the roommate and makes a few calls of her own. >> i immediately called my godmother who was living in atlanta. after she had heard from shannon, i she did not. i called my aunt that also lived there. she had not heard from shannon. >> monique was gripped with fear. she called her grandparents, and her grandfather came to pick her up. monique's dad was at work. and the mom was with them. and after they were done, they went to the mother's house. >> i went to the car. and it was my mother, i, think my mother's sister came out. and said shannon is missing. i dropped to the ground. and many said we'll never see them again. >> i just saw my father collapse to his knees. and i knew i was right in feeling the fear that i felt. >> when you heard the word missing, what did you feel? >> i just keep thinking, no! it can't be! >> shannon. missing. it was beyond all imagination. from the roommates, a love timeline emerged. >> shannon was supposed to be in her dorm on the saturday night, but when she still wasn't home by sunday morning, a roommate started to worry. >> she said where is she? so she went looking for her. the first thing she did was went to the softball country club. >> shannon worked part-time at a softball field five miles from campus. the roommate went to look for shannon with two other friends, but they missed the entrance to the softball field parking lot. and when they turn around, they >> she saw her car parked at a convenience store. >> gas station. >> shannon's black nissan. unoccupied, and parked at the far end of a gas station. >> she was as proud as she could be of that car! >> she loved her car! >> what was concerning about the way the car was found. what condition it was in? >> it was unlocked. keys in the ignition. and the biggest thing was the plate on the radio. at that time, radios were a commodity. and shannon would always take the plate off and take it with her. >> but that expensive radio plate was still in the car. which to the family meant this wasn't some kind of robbery. they called the police. they were patched through to the dekalb county police department. where gene moss worked as a captain. >> you know, we had a lot of missing persons in my day. that was something we investigated a lot. >> one of his officers was sent out to meet the roommate and friends at a gas station. >> there was no blood, no real signs of anything. no struggle or anything. >> so it was just, you girls take the car home? >> yeah, take the car. >> shannon's friends drove the nissan back to campus. the melendi's were reeling. >> you're worried where she is. >> right. >> it did not take long to hear back in miami that she was missing. and martina vasquez found out in the worst way possible. >> i was got up and was ready to go to class, and my father looked worried. he just handed me a copy of the local section of the miami herald. it says miami family is flying up to atlanta to search for their daughter. shannon melendi. it was surreal! >> by the time anne read those words, the famile was already in atlanta. feeling dazed and desperate. >> i was like, what's going on? >> what's going on? a question that would consume law enforcement and the melendi family for over a decade. >> what happened to shannon? police float the idea that she might have skipped town. >> coming up! >> i tell them, you do not know her! you do not know her! she would never run away. she never ran away from anything. >> and then, some of them shannon's acquaintances draw the interest of investigators. >> they would call me at home, they will call me at work early in the morning. >> when dateline continues! anketed her college campus. everywhere the melendi's looked, there was shannon's face. their daughters missing photos posters blanketed the campus. >> all that i could think of is, where is shannon? is she okay? >> as the investigation started, police told reporters that they were looking at two very different possibilities. >> either she left on her own, or someone else grabbed her. >> if police were looking into whether shannon left on her own. the melendi's told them they were wasting their time. >> i told them, you do not know her! you do not know her! she would never, ever run away. she never ran away from anything! >> the melendi's use the media to spread the message. hoping the focus on the case would lead to answers. >> i know i'm doing whatever have to do to get this thing happening. >> so you think to get anything going it had your passion. >> i'm gonna do what i have to do and i don't care who's toes i step on. >> shannon's only thing that made sense was that she had been abducted. police were investigating every option. >> the first thing you do on a missing persons case of this magnitude is try to interview all of the acquaintances and friends. and we didn't get as much information as out of those as we can. >> the melendi's were eager to share. because they knew their shannon would never put them through this kind of pain. they're shannon put everybody else at ease. >> she had a smile that warmed the room. she would walk in and people would go, shannon is here! >> from a young age, she commanded her parents attention. >> she had her father under her thumb. and she would just look at him and say, but daddy please! >> she was very good at convincing me of whatever she was trying to do. >> people with liking being around her. she was witty, smart, funny. >> shannon and anne became fast friends in seventh grade. >> we have a lot in common. her father came from cuba. my parents were immigrants from cuba. we were, i guess you could describe, as go getters. >> for shannon, the getting was good. she was captain of the debate team, and class president for two years in a row. >> she had the gift to speak in front of the scat class or group of people. she just was not a frayed. >> we cannot always say it's for the better -- >> this is a video of shannon, and her pal anne doing a school subject together. >> it's the same things to be both unethical and immoral. while others believe it is a-okay. >> you answered 15 whether you're gonna do? and she's gonna tell you what. >> that she is going to be a supreme court justice. >> but before the supreme court was emory university. over 700 miles from home. >> i was unhappy with that. >> you thought she was too far away? >> that she was too far away. >> but shannon strived for emory university. >> she loved everything about it. the culture, the nightlife. she loved everything about it. >> she studied political science, and scored an internship at the carter center. and now, her determined family leverage every political collection. from the local congresswoman, to the former president. and the case was on the fbi's radar. the feds would join the search for the missing college student. >> we interviewed her roommates, boyfriends, you would imagine that everybody is a suspect. >> special agent joe had investigators look into every aspect of shannon's young life. including a spring break trip she took before her disappearance. >> who did she meet with? what hotel did she stay at? with who did she travel with? >> and one of the questions of the top of the list. did shannon go all over the grid? with someone who met on spring break? >> we spoke to a lot of people. all the people that she spoke to. >> including chris. they went to high school together and he was on the group spring trip to panama city beach, florida. >> so we would be on the beach during the day. we will be out in the night knife at night in the cubs there. >> and you weren't bracing not so much. >> i think it was a little bit wild. we were not out of hand at all. it was very controlled. >> knowing what's gonna happen, is there anything you look back on? and world that's about? >> no, i did not see anything. we were just young and having a good time. >> chris told the fbi just that when they showed up at his apartment for an interview. investigators have lots of questions. including asking chris to account for his own whereabouts after shannon disappeared. >> i did feel under pressure at points. >> how so? >> they shared a couple of times, they would call me at work. they would come in home early in the morning. >> chris was not the only one being grilled by authorities. he was good friends with one of shannon's ex boyfriends. >> he had gone on a few dates with shannon, but i don't think it was anything long term, or serious. >> authorities polygraph the acts. they were still interviewing all of shannon's friends, when a mysterious phone call came in. the caller was about to give police a clue that would kick start the engine of this investigation. >> coming up! >> right before shannon disappeared, again. and some attention from an empire. >> he's checking out shannon? is what you're saying. >> yes. he was more interested in watching shannon than he was in calling the softball game. >> when dateline continues! aveling all across america, talking to people about their hearts. wh-who wants to talk about their heart! 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>> yes. he was more interested in watching shannon than he was in calling the sophomore game. >> police learned his name was bush hinton. here is seen on camera, getting ready for a game. he was a man or of a church where his dad was a pastor. >> he was married and had a job is an airline maintenance worker when he wasn't umpire at the softball field. >> you don't take the stories at face value, you go describe what should say, let's talk about saturday, what's your story, what we are doing that? >> we did talk to him on april 4th. >> he told police he was aware that shannon was missing. he said nothing unusual happened during the game. >> still he had a number of inconsistencies. it did not add up. >> internal different stories about where he was in the hours after shannon vanished. he did say he went home soon after the game. sure enough, phone records showed he made a phone call from his house. if this man did something to shannon, he would've had to tight window to commit is crime. hinton was the only possible suspect they had. then a phone call came in. one that could become a game-changer >> we had hoped that -- when the call came in. there was a moment where you thought, oh my gosh, she's alive, she's. okay >> this is about a week after shannon's gone missing is, that right? >> correct. >> who gets called and who's on the other land? >> the phone call came into the emory counseling center, emory university. -- he asked her first if she was familiar with the case. the woman said no, explain,. >> he said i have kidnapped her. i have her. >> a man had shattered. he said she was fine and healthy. before the color hung, up he told the operator his plans. >> when i'm done with her, i will release her. what you'll find where i'm is an article that belongs to her. he hung up and got off the phone. following that the fbi did immediately trace the call to emory--got the call from reintroduced back to a phone booth. >> a phone booth outside the city and just as the caller promised, there was something there. >> underneath the phone booth, a little cloth back. inside the cloth back, a ring. >> a ring. even recognize the ring right away. >> it was a gold ring and it had an oval storm with two little diamonds on either side. >> what's the story about that particular? ring. >> her godmother had given it to her. >> shannon's parents told police she got it - in high school. they said from the day she got it, that ring was always on china's finger. she even wore it in this family portrait. lewis and ivan knew whoever made that phone call had their daughter. a dreadful shock. but mixed with some vindication for the family in their dealings with the authorities. >> they had to accept that she was definitely kidnapped. you can no longer say flighty because we established that she was, in fact, kidnapped. >> they waited for the caller's next move. waiting, but not idle. the distraught parents are about to turn up the heat on their daughters abductor, as a search for continues. coming up, an ingenious idea to ensure that whoever has shannon cannot take off. >> we put 77 billboards around the city. i felt that if people see her face, they can't move her. >> and then -- >> the phone rang and a friend in atlanta said, bush hinton's house is on fire. >> when dateline continues. my mental health was much better. but i struggled with uncontrollable movements called td, tardive dyskinesia. td can be caused by some mental health meds. and it's unlikely to improve without treatment. i felt like my movements were in the spotlight. #1-prescribed ingrezza is the only td treatment for adults that's always one pill, once daily. ingrezza 80 mg is proven to reduce td movements in 7 out of 10 people. people taking ingrezza can stay on most mental health meds. ingrezza can cause depression, suicidal thoughts, or actions in patients with huntington's disease. pay close attention to and call your doctor if you become depressed, have sudden changes in mood, behaviors, feelings, or have thoughts of suicide. don't take ingrezza if you're allergic to its ingredients. ingrezza may cause serious side effects, including angioedema, potential heart rhythm problems, and abnormal movements. report fevers, stiff muscles, or problems thinking as these may be life threatening. sleepiness is the most common side effect. it's nice. people focus more on me. ask your doctor about #1 prescribed, once-daily ingrezza. ♪ ingrezza ♪ looking for a bladder leak pad that keeps you dry? 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back to dennis murphy with shannon's story. >> after more than a week of theories, of speculation, investigators now had a promising lead in shannon melendi's disappearance. an anonymous caller had left a cloth bag, like this one, carrying gianna's ring at the phone booth. could that be proof of life? is there a glimmer of hope here, that you're in a period of ransom negotiations with whoever this caller was? >> and that moment, i kind of had hopes. you know, all of a sudden, i said, maybe we can recover. >> so you're waiting for another phone call? >> if this is about money, maybe we can -- there still a chance, that she still alive. >> the fbi was less optimistic. what was your instinct telling you? >> ten days out is a long time on a kidnapping. i think, in this instance, you can probably give it a little more possibility that she's alive because she was an adult. it's possible. >> with that new break in the case, the family stepped up its media campaign. >> we are living through every parents nightmare. we just want to shannon to come home. >> they started raising money for a possible ransom demand, canvassing the city with flyers and more. >> we put 77 billboards all around the city. i felt that if people see her face, they can't move her. >> shannon's family and friends kept waiting, but no ransom demands came in. >> that was the one and only call. as time goes on, you realize, she's gone. she's not coming back. >> law enforcement focus on the key lead. that softball umpire, butch hinton. he's still the prime suspect in the disappearance of shannon, i'm assuming? >> he is, we have no other suspects. >> they don't have any physical evidence to link him to shannon, so they executed a series of search warrants. >> this was to take his blood sample for dna, if dna was found that matched his hair samples if the same was found. >> additional search warrants let law enforcement go to hinton's home, about 30 miles away from emory university. shannon's family found out about it from the local news. >> we know you are the primary suspect in the disappearance of shannon melendi, and we would like to take a moment to talk to you. >> i glanced the tv and i see a picture of an officer going like this, with the rod, and one of the planters. >> they were at his house? >> yes. we already knew that he was a suspect, so they were at his house searching the house. >> where the cops letting even on this? >> very little. >> what did you find? >> that house was gone through with a fine tooth comb, they say. they also took a cadaver dog down there to see if there was any evidence of a body being there. we found nothing down there. >> no sign that shannon had ever been there? >> that we could find. >> but, in the trash pit behind hinten's house, they did find something interesting. a collection of women's clothing. anything from shannon, any garment, any apparel? >> there was nothing of evidence to link him in those search warrants to shannon. >> what about shannon's car found abandoned at the gas station? >> the officer on the scene let shannon's friend drive it back to campus, that meant any forensic evidence was contaminated. >> this was our first mistake. >> not to beat that officer back in the day up, but what was the protocol there? what should've happened when you had come upon the abandoned vehicle? >> somebody should've from investigation should've said release the car. we would've been able to maybe look at the vehicle at the time and see if there was any forensic evidence. shannon had been missing for days by the time a forensics team got a real look at the car. when they processed the chief, what did they find? was there anything there. >> well that's another interesting thing. they came to the conclusion, the crime scene people did, that the car had been whiped down! >> so someone had made an effort to clean the car up? >> yes. >> shannon's parents felt certain that he had kidnapped their daughter. and hope he'd be arrested. but days turned to weeks. weeks two months, with no resolution. they came to realize the unbearable, they would never see her again. photographing others happy events became too painful for luis and yvonne. >> is it difficult that you're in the business of gathering intimate memories for families and yet not being able to do the same for your child? >> yes i was discouraged from that. we tried one, and she was crying, and she usually operates my camera in the back of the church. >> too close? >> i went back to check and she was crying. and i said that's not fair to the bride and groom, it's not fair to us. so that was the last couple of weddings that i had. i finished them, and never booked another one again. to this day. >> difficult as it was, they still kept up the awareness campaign in the press. until a sudden twist! five months after shannon had disappeared. >> the phone rang. it was ten after 11. and a friend in atlanta said, butch hinton's house is on fire. >> investigators determined the fire was deliberately set. and when he filed a insurance claim on the house, he was arrested for fraud. he was convicted, and sentenced to nine years in prison. >> it was great to have him off the streets. but, that just left shannon's family and shannon's friends wondering what happened to shannon? where is shannon? >> with hinton now behind bars, shannon's loved ones worried they would never have an answer. but investigators were about to dig deeper. >> coming up! from hundreds of miles north, a critical clue in the form of a bone chilling tale. >> he asked me to clasp my hands together, and tie my hands by my back. >> what's going on here? >> i'm not registering it's a problem until i feel the cold blade against my neck. and he says if you don't cooperate i will use it on you. >> when dateline continues! hi! do you know that every load of laundry could be worth as much as $300? really? and your clothes just keep getting more damaged the more times you wash them. downy protects fibers, doing more than detergent alone. see? this one looks brand new. saves me money? i'm starting to like downy. downy saves loads. 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(vo) get iphone15 pro, apple tv 4k and 6 months of apple one. all three on us. only on verizon. nearly two years after shannon melendi's disappearance, butch hinton was serving time in prison for fraud after a mysterious fire at his home. shannon's parents, who had already been suspicious of butch hinton thought it could be a sign. >> i said, well, he probably burned the house itself to cover evidence. >> now the end of the investigation into the disappearance, had a deadly clock taking to his release. >> the case was still open at that point in time. we realize no new leads are coming in, and we decided at that point, this is the time when bitch would get out of jail. he's gonna get out of jail in december 2003. >> during this time behind bars, the fbi was working on the case. building up more and more circumstantial evidence against him. >> seems like it was just escalating, escalating, escalating. the thinking is, well, we're gonna know what's happened. >> it would take a new prosecutor to look at the case with fresh eyes. john petree, who was the chief assistant da for dekalb county georgia. >> well, we never really had much at all until the u.s. attorney's office did in fact bring the boxes to us and i was able to find an empty store room in the courthouse. and created, what i call a war room for this case. so i buried myself in his office, started going through the file. >> one thing was clear, hinton had been the key is suspect early on because he had a criminal record. as petrie came across the file he came across a single name. tammy singleton. she told the same story she had told the fbi. >> it was a real small town. i did know anybody. >> back in -- before the disappearance, she was 14 years old and living with her parents in illinois. one day, she got a call from the ex-boyfriend. the brother was 22 years old, already married. he asked tammy to get together and she agreed to meet him on the way to a slumber party. >> i'm waiting around when my overnight bag. he doesn't see me initially, and then does. >> she expected her ex to be there too. but he wasn't. still, she knew the brother was a son of his one-time pastor. so he asked her to get in the car, and she did. >> and he said he had something from him for me. it was a ring that he tried on my fingers, and placed on my pinky. and then he asked me to clasp my hands together, and tied my hands behind my back. >> tammy, tammy what is going on here? >> i'm not registering it is a problem until i feel the cold played against my neck. and he said you know this is? a knife. and if you don't cooperate i mean i use it on you. >> the man with a blade, as you might suspect, was butch hinton. >> he tells me things like, i want to waste you right now. if you don't cooperate, i'll do you like i did the other two. >> i'll waste you right now? >> yes. and at some point i move from the front seat to the back. and he proceeds to tie me further. to use bandanas tied together on my mouth. he dictates me. he is what is known as hog tying, and places me in the trunk. >> tammy says he drove around with her in the trunk for a long time. until they finally got to his house. >> he carries me through the seller door in the basement of his home. >> it's now dark out? >> yes. >> can you yell or scream at this point? >> no, my mouth is gagged. >> you had clearly been objected. to what ends you do not know. >> how are you going to play this person? >> i prayed hard. >> he took the gag off of her mouth and started asking her questions. >> he asked me if i ever had sexual intercourse. i told him no i had not, i was a virgin. i had never had sex. >> what did you say about his face? about his demeanor? >> there was a jekyll and hyde personality. i recall the evil that passed over his eyes. there was definitely an evil in his eyes. at the time he is talking to me. >> hinton took her to a bed and sexually's assaulted her. >> at that point i had lost it, and it was painful what he was doing. so i was screaming, please don't do this to me! please don't do this to me! and crying. >> after the assault, he left tammy in the basement, handcuffed with duct tape on her mouth. >> and at some point i hear his wife, i hear her voice upstairs. so i began to make some noise in the basement. and she's like, what is that? and he kept running to the basement. which was curious to her. so in the meantime, i managed to lick the duck tape off of my mouth. so that my mouth was free. and he came down, and opened the door. yelling at me. he actually punched me, and i somehow managed to connect with his thumb and bit him. and he recoiled because he was in pain. and the wife was behind, she sees me. she says what is going on? i said it is me, tammy singleton. he tried to rape me. and she broke down in hysterics. and immediately, he's like a chastised little boy. >> so his demeanor changed again? >> yeah. and so she is begging. she says butch, you have problems, you need to get help. >> but hinton was arrested and charged with kidnapping and taking indecencies with a child. he pleaded guilty, but mentally ill. >> how long was he inside? >> he received a four year sentence and he served about 21 months. >> that short prison sentence in tammy's case back in the 80s meant he was a free man. free to divorce and remarry. free to move to georgia, free to get those jobs at delta airlines and the softball field. and free to meet shannon in march of 1994. >> as john petrie studied the files, he realized there was a lot there. but with a huge challenge. shannon's body had never been found. but this prosecutor wanted to take a chance. >> this is the kind of case that you look at and you say, i want one of those! >> i can make a difference here? >> yes, i can make a difference! >> hinton was released from prison for that insurance fraud case in 2003. it will take a few months before law enforcement finally investigated him for murder, ten years after shannon disappeared. >> and i heard butch being arrested. for the murder of shannon melendi. and my tears, just hit my glasses. my glasses were wet from the inside. and, and that was a great moment. great moment for my soul! a great moment for the family. for sure. >> but prosecutors had an uphill battle. still did not have a body, or a crime scene. could they convince a jury that was butch hinton was shannon's killer? >> coming up! an emotional trial. >> this is your first chance really see him. >> we were saying, if looks could kill, he would've been dead on the spot. >> then it's all up to the jurors! >> all i could do is pray. pray that they saw what we saw. see him for the monster that he was! >> when dateline continues! e just know that's not gonna fit. those are the people who know to choose allstate. that's not gonna fit. what's that? 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[ cheers ] yeah! woho! running up and down that field looks tough. it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. welcome back, at just 14 years old, tammy singleton was kidnapped and sexually assaulted by butch hinton. years later, cheryl advantaged and investigators thought bush hinton had struck again. hinton was now headed to court, charged with shannon's murder. her family believed that justice was inside. but, they were about to learn that the fight was far from over. here's dennis murphy with the conclusion of shannon story. >> bush hinton's trial for the murder of shannon began in august of 2005. more than 11 years after she disappeared from that softball field in georgia. >> when we went into the courtroom, i was thinking in my head 15 50 chance. that was the way it could go. >> there it was, the one-time delta airlines maintenance worker they had in their sights for years. >> this is your first time to really see him? >> well you know, if looks could kill. he would've been dead on the spot. >> the county prosecutor had a daunting task ahead. the first case in georgia with no crime scene, nobody. >> the absence of a body does not mean that you cannot prosecute a murder case, it does of course complicate it. >> but it would be a steep mountain to climb? >> absolutely. >> still the prosecutor did have some key witnesses that painted a portrait of birch and possibly linked him to shannon 's murder. inmates who shared a cell with him. >> butch never really confessed per se to anybody. but he made a horribly incriminating statements to 38 inmates that to me worse so believable. >> one of them remembered an eerie late night conversation. >> but she had woken up in the middle of the night and said i don't do this, a demon inside of me kill that girl. and went back to sleep. >> and yet jill hill snitches, as they're called, get a lot of side eye. and what is this guy get an exchange for sitting here and telling us the story? >> right right. >> but the state had other witnesses to bring in stories of the criminal past. tammy singleton went to court to see how he kidnapped and assaulted her when she was 14. and to show that he no longer had any power over her. >> are you seeing him? did you make any eye contact? >> i made the point to look at him. i did look directly at him and forcefully say what transpired. i needed people to understand that he did have modus operandi, and i wanted to assist the melodies and getting some closure. in their situation. >> and while the prosecutors did not have a crime scene, they did have that bag found at the phone booth. it would tell a tale of its own. >> what did you learn about it? >> it's a little cloth bag. after a number of weeks of trying to determine where the bed came from, we finally found that there was a little company in richmond virginia that had been around for 100 years. that produced this bag. >> the company supplied those bags through a middleman to only one client in georgia. delta airlines. >> delta airlines is where he hit his mark. and when we conducted a search at his workplace, on his desk where a number of these bags. >> and the prosecutor brought in a forensic expert who said that the bag from the phone booth, contained mick tylik particles that would've been found at his workplace. >> as i started listening to the scientist, i started feeling really positive about it. >> he said this bag could only have been sold to this customer. >> phenomenal! >> it was unreal! >> hinton's defense was straightforward. his attorney argued that the states evidence was scant, and circled central. and that he could have not have killed somebody whose body that was never found. >> in his defense, it's not me, you got the wrong guy? >> absolutely. and he never took the stand, he never claimed his innocence on the stand. >> after nearly a month of testimony, hinton's face has to the jury. shannon's sister waited alongside her parents. >> it's always a moment of high anxiety. what are they gonna do this? >> all they could do was pray. pray that they saw what we saw. see him for the monster that he was. >> the jury deliberated for three days. then the moment that they had been waiting for finally came. >> we the jury find the defendant guilty. >> i'll never forget when they announced the verdict. just the sheer joy, and pain that you just saw on the faces of shannon's family. it was good to know that this monster would be a way. >> the sheriff cups him. and when i hear the click. well on the cuffs. i took a deep breath and said this is over. >> but the family found out it actually was not over. he was sentenced to life in prison. and the melendez assume that he would remain behind bars forever. they were crushed when they learned that because he committed the murder in 1994, he would be eligible for parole in seven years. >> we are the ones who have a life imprisonment without parole. he has a hope, just a hope, that he might get out. >> they remained determined to do all that they can to fight every time his parole comes up. he will be eligible again in 2025. when he will be 64. >> i'm carrying this to the very end. until this guy is no longer in existence. i will carry this fight. >> the fight was not only because of shannon, but because the family, and investigators believe that he had other victims. remember those police searches behind hinton's home? they did not find anything from shannon. but. >> it was very, very macabre. they found many items in different locations of women's clothing, all sorts of sweaters, and tops, and blouses. >> this is chilling to hear you say this. >> oh yeah. >> hinted did finally confessed to killing shannon after the conviction. which answered some key questions for investigators. but the body has never been found. >> recovering the remains, how important is it to you at this stage? >> well, i'll answer that question. why do we bring the remains of our veterans wherever they are? bring them back? it's important to the families. so i say, she is my hero. she is our daughter. we deserve to have her remains. >> he could draw map? >> yes. >> he could lead people to wherever the site is. >> yes. but he refuses to. and i think it is because there are other bodies there. >> if it wasn't for the events after the softball game back in 1994, shannon would be sharing her life with loved ones. like one-time best friend and. >> we would have been at each other's weddings. i'm sure we would have been at each other's bridal showers. baby showers. there is only so many friends in life that you stay in close touch with over a lifetime. shannon would have been one of those. >> and monique has a keepsake that ensures that shannon is with her every day. on her finger. >> this was the infamous ring that he had taken from her >>. >> saying this is evidence i have her? i guess you in the ring whenever separated for very long. >> no. it makes me feel very close to her. >> and that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin thank you for watching! >> a lot of news to get to tonight, including the noes to americans, judith, and her 18 year old daughter natalie were released by hamas hours ago members of the family spoke to the media in the last hour. >>