town that jessie was dead. to know that the last moment that she spent on this earth, she was in so much fear. it's not fair. if he is still out there, he could still be plotting. he could still be hunting. who is next? >> jessie gave her all. to everything she did. >> she's on a mission. >> her whole life. >> and then, someone took it all away. >> and i was like, jessie? nothing? i jolt her a little bit. and then i knew, this is not good. >> my daughter, won't wake up. >> she had been murdered in her own bed after coming home from a pool party. a party that hadn't been all fun and games. >> she was 19 and these men were in their 40s. we wanted to talk to them. >> did something happen at that party? what was happening around this small town. >> i heard somebody running behind me. then i noticed he had a knife in his hands. >> someone was stalking young women. >> it was either, i try to save myself or i let this guy do whatever he wants to me. >> his dreams were their nightmares. >> the research is on -- search is on bond. could he be caught before he killed again? >> and then we knew he done it. now we just had to prove it. >> hello and welcome to dateline. in small town wisconsin, a 19 year old girl came home from a party, said goodnight to her mother and went to bed, safe for the night. but, the next day she was dead. and police were calling it murder. who would want to kill this talented young woman. and was it somehow connected to reports of an attacker on the loose? here is andrea canning with friends until death. >> she was a young woman who devoted her whole life to making music. an accomplished musician who played several instruments, acted even wrote her own songs. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> that was her biggest passion. she some music as a way to change the world. >> that was -- violin, piano. >> she had a unique sound. >> yeah. >> so who could've predicted that on july 15th, 2015, the music and the young girls dream would end so suddenly. >> we were in shock, disbelief. >> it was hard to understand, to come to grips with. >> oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my god. >> ma'am, stay on the line with me we're going to get themself or you. >> a small town was faced with a mystery with police asking, what was real and was a performance? >> he's an actor. he's two different people. >> who is this guy. who does he think he is that he could go around doing this to women? >> ask anyone who knew jessie blodgett growing up in hartford wisconsin. they tell you she was happy, passionate, full of life. her dad said she had always been that way. did she have a happy childhood? >> yes, i show you 600 photos of my computer. you could be able to count on one hand the ones that you could find where she's not beaming and smiling. she's a really happy kid. >> jessie, an only child, was the light of her parents live. their miracle baby. buck and joy blodgett thought they couldn't have children. so they cherished her little girl that much more. >> we bonded from day one with a little purple head came out. and every day since. we talked about drugs. we talked about sex. there was nothing off limits. >> and her mom says jessie's friends were like part of the family. >> they always seemed to hang out at our house. >> yeah. we did. she would, like fight her to throw a party. >> ian, jacqui and amelia were three of jackie's closest school pals. >> -- >> hard not to, i mean she's a really contagious personality. but jessie also had a more serious side. one that loved to debate issues and fight for causes she believed in. jessie sounds a little bit like an old soul. is that fair? >> she liked old people stuff. >> yeah, she did. i don't really know much highschoolers that are super activists about animal rights. >> she made herself well versed and just, a lot of different opinions and viewpoints. >> jessie wanted to make a difference. that much was clear. but what made her happiest was sharing her gift. >> every time i went over to jessie's house she would always be playing the piano. even when i was trying to talk to her she was like -- and i was like, hello, jessie? >> jessie's passion for music grew even stronger in college. in summer after a freshman year, she teamed up with an old boyfriend and theater pal, dan. and, together they wrote this heartfelt song. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> we had a music room, he had a music room in his house. so, he'd bring his guitar and they both saying. >> that summer, jessie also >> we had a music room, he had a music room in his house. so, he'd bring his guitar and they both sang. >> that summer, jessie also won the title rolled in the local production, "fiddler at the roof", jerry becker directed the show. >> did she just fully embraced it? >> she did, she enjoyed being the person who really opens the show and sets the mood, sets the feeling. >> it was july 14th, after the sunday matinee. jessie and the cast gathered for a pool party. >> we went out to a cast members farm, he had a pool and some llamas and other animals there. i left early with my family. and i remember her sitting there and said goodnight and thanked her for her performance. >> she came home around, what time? >> it was late. 12:30, i believe. >> you were still awake? >> i waited up for her. i couldn't go to sleep until i heard that she was in the house. >> they chatted briefly and said goodnight. the next morning, jessie's mom popped into her daughters room before work and saw jessie still fast asleep. >> nothing that you could ever think was odd when you left, i would imagine? >> no, no, and this was her first morning to sleep in for a very long time. >> joy returned home for lunch and saw that jessie wasn't downstairs, ready for her afternoon violin lesson. >> i went to the top of the stairs and i was like, jessie? nothing. so, then i went in and i came around the bed and then i kind of wiggled her a little bit and nothing. and then i knew. this is not good. this is not good. >> joy made a frantic call to 9-1-1. >> what's the problem? >> my daughter is blue. i went to wake her up and -- i just got home from -- for a lunch and she won't wake up. >> is she breathing? >> i don't think so, no. >> okay you're trying to do cpr? >> i'm trying to pump her chest. >> just hours before, she had seen her daughters sleeping peacefully. now, joy, a chiropractor, was fighting to save jessie's life. >> your mother instincts were kicking in -- >> yeah. i just kept thinking, she fell asleep and stopped breathing in the pillow or something. >> as joy moved jessie to the floor to better perform cpr, first responders arrived. >> did you, at that point, start to feel her slip away that hope was dwindling fast. >> i think that i just was thinking, do it. they'll take her to the hospital. they could do all kinds of stuff. you know? >> but they never took jessie to the hospital. it was too late. she was gone. a tragedy and now a mystery. what happened to jessie blodgett. >> coming up -- detectives hear something from jessie's mom they find interesting and troubling. when jessie got home that night from the party, she was upset. >> what's going on, she said, oh, the guys you know? >> what about the guys? when dateline continues. to nurtec. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. ask about nurtec odt. we're travelling all across america, talking to people about their hearts. how's the heart? i feel like it's good. how do you know? let me show you something. it looks like a credit card, but it is the kardiamobile card. with kardiamobile card, you can take a medical-grade ekg in just 30 seconds, from anywhere. kardiamobile card is proven to detect atrial fibrillation, one of the leading causes of stroke. kardiamobile card is just $79 during our holiday sale, a $20 savings. get it for yourself or a loved one at kardia.com or amazon. ♪ if there's pain when you try to poo ♪ ♪ and going sometimes feels like you ♪ ♪ pushed through a pineapple or two ♪ ♪ colace is the brand you need ♪ ♪ to soften stools, we're all agreed ♪ ♪ #2 should be easy to do ♪ trust colace to soften stools with no stimulants for comfortable relief. 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(♪♪) (♪♪) the new festive family meal. starting at $24. now celebrating at el pollo loco. andrea canning (voiceover): joy blodgett joy blodgett had come home for had come home for lunch and discovered lunch, and discovered her 19 year old daughter, jessie dead in her own bed. jesse's father was at work. >> you had to call your husband. >> i wanted to let him know as soon as possible because i knew how much he loved his little girl. >> she said, honey, honey, honey it's jesse. and then she busted up crying and i knew something was really wrong. i said is she gone? and joy, no more words came, just tears. so i raced home. >>but when buck arrived home, police cars on a crime scene truck were already in the driveway. >> i went in the door, through the yellow tape and when i saw joy's eyes in the living room, and then i knew that jess was gone. >> buck wasn't allowed in jessie's rooms because police were in there, trying to figure out what had happened. detective richard thickens of the hartford police department were one of the first on the scene. he looked around, found a typical teenager's messy bedroom. nothing strange there but when he found jessie's bodies, it was clear to the detective that jesse did not die of natural causes. >> the first thing i noticed is that there was red marks running pretty much all the way across her neck. >> did you need an autopsy to tell you what you are seeing? >> no. it was very apparent that this was a ligature mark at that point. >> jessie had been murdered, strangled. but inside her bedroom there was no murder weapon. no sign of a struggle. except one thing did seem odd about jesse sped. >> the covers were over the bed in a perfect manner. and a kid who had stuff thrown all over the bed, there was nothing on the bed. >> it was very apparent that the scene had been changed. this was someone impossible trying to change that they did not leave anything of themselves behind. >> did they finally let you go upstairs when they had finished to say a proper goodbye? >> they released her room as a crime scene at the end of the day. and brought her down. and after waiting all day, and finally getting my moment to say goodbye and tell her i love her, suddenly everybody is around watching the. and i never really had that moment with her, alone to say goodbye. >> that is heartbreaking. >> yeah. >> having barely digested the news of their daughter's death, still in shock, buck and joy sat down with investigators to tell them everything they knew. there was no sign of forced entry to the house. but they explained that most people in this quite safe town, they often left the door unlocked. >> this individual found that one door, the house wasn't ransacked. it looked to us that this person knew right were to go to find her. >> to the detectives, it didn't seem random, it was clear jessie was targeted. one of buck's first thoughts, a crew of tree cutters who recently worked outside of jesse's window. >> it made me wonder if they had had thoughts when they were in the trees -- about the bedroom when she was sleeping there. just wondered if they noticed that there's this teenage girl, sleeping home alone when joy and i are at work while they're in the yard. >> buck also to the detectives that a problem that jessie was having -- with a coworker. >> she had come home a couple of times and said that he was inappropriate with her. >> what was he doing that was inappropriate? >> he would often make sure that she had to rub against him as she passed him. >> that must make units as a parents when you hear stories like -- >> when i heard that i was almost out that door to go over and talk to him. >> the restaurant was just down the road. it seemed possible that this coworker jessie found creepy knew where she lived, had been watching the house. >> certainly we take every possibility, we don't want to close in the evidence for the investigation, at that point. >> then, joy told the detective something that really caught their attention. jessie had come home from that fiddler on the roof cast party, clearly upset. >> i said, what's going on? she said, oh the guys, you know. they're always making passes and i don't know why they have to always turn it to there. >> jessie told her mom, to older and from the cast were flirting with her. and it made her uncomfortable. one pulled her on his lap, the other one told a dirty joke. at the time, joy thought the flotation seemed harmless. and her young daughter simply did not know how to handle it. >> she didn't like men taking,, you know, privileges on women. >> but perhaps the incidents were more serious than her mother thought. jessie wrote about them in her diary that night. ending her final entry with god be with me. >> she was 19 and from what joy understood these were men in their 40s. >> is that a bit of a red flag for you? >> could be. we wanted to talk to them. >> detective thickens could see a pretty talented teenager could attract unwanted male attention. now, he had to figure out if any of it had to do with jesse 's murder. >> a party packed with older men but only one had raised eyebrows. had police found a possible suspect. coming up -- >> someone that was flirting with her less than 24 hours before her death. >> we thought it was him, who else could've been? >> when dateline continues. but this is my story. ( ♪♪ ) and with once-daily trelegy, it can still be beautiful. because with 3 medicines in 1 inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open for a full 24 hours and prevents future flare-ups. trelegy also improves lung function, so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ [laughing] ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy for copd because breathing should be beautiful, all day and night. because breathing andrea canning (voiceover): it was hard to believe a murder >> it was hard to believe a like this could happen in peaceful hartford, wisconsin, murder like this could have happen in peaceful hartford, wisconsin. let alone to a warm and loving teenager like jessie blodgett. within hours of her death, word had spread. jessie's close friends, jackie and amelia, race to the blodgett house. >> we drove up to her driveway and her parents were sitting outside. and they said jessie is no longer with us anymore. >> was that when it became real for you? >> it was just -- i don't know, it was just like really shocking i guess. so, it's probably the worst pain anyone could ever feel. >> jessie's theater director, jerry becker, was also stunned. having just celebrated with jessie and the cast of "fiddler at the roof" the night before. >> the best way to describe it is simply surreal. >> finding jessie's killer became the police departments number one priority. >> this is a girl that's been attacked in her home where she should be safe. and i think that that definitely put people on edge. >> detectives talked with cast members from "fiddler at the roof" and heard again how jessie had been upset after the cast party. in particular, with one man named randy tally. >> we made contact with him and asked him to come to speak with us. >> are you thinking that this could be the guy? >> he is significantly older. somebody who was flirting with her, less than 24 hours before her death. so, he is certainly a person of interest. >> randi came in for questioning, and admitted to joking around playfully with jessie at the party. and swore that there was nothing more to it. but part of around the story did not sit well with detective thickens. >> where had he been during the time of the crime? >> he was working, or scheduled the work through a temp agency, he did not actually go to work that way. >> so where was he then? >> he said he spent most of the day, actually, at his apartment by himself. >> did you just come right out with? it did you have anything to do with the murder of jessie? >> i asked him if he had any involvement in her death. he said, no. >> but, the detective wondering was his story straight out of a script? >> he's an actor. and it's hard for me, at that point, to gauge if he's acting or being truthful. >> investigators issued a search warrant for his phone records. >> we're going to verify where randy was and look at his alibi. was a cell phone anywhere near that house in this time period? >> jessie's friends quickly heard the police were looking at a cast member. >> what was being said about the cast member? >> just that he was kind of creepy. and, we thought it was him. i mean, who else could've been? >> but, the place director, jerry becker, did not believe it. he couldn't imagine randy being responsible for jessie's death. >> did you pick up the phone and call randy when he was going through this? >> yes. he was saddened by all of this. >> how did that conversation leave you feeling? >> i was exceptionally confident by the end of that phone call that he was not involved in this in any way. >> and, when the detective got his hand on randy's phone records, he began thinking the same thing. did his phone records tell you anything of significance? >> no, he had been talking to her on the phone that we could see in this time period that we were looking at. and he hadn't been near the house. >> we hadn't eliminated him but we are looking at other options. >> so, working day and night, they went over the other leagues from jessie's parents. they interviewed the tree trimmers who might have been peering into jessie's window. >> there was nothing of significance found as far as the possible involvement. >> and, they tracked down the restaurant coworker jessie had been upset with. >> he was actually out of the country, my understanding was at the time that they have been. >> so, case closed on that one? >> he's not gonna be involved in this one. >> and, then they remembered that they mentioned a second man from the party that made just uncomfortable. the one she claimed told an inappropriate joke. turns out that guy was not other than joey becker. >> i gotta believe it was some misunderstanding with regard to who jessie was talking about. >> so, it was a surprise to you that she had brought up your name specifically? >> absolutely. >> did you have anything to hide about that night? >> no. my daughter and my son were there at the picnic with me. >> jerry told us he had just a brief conversation with jessie that night. there was nothing flirtatious about it. detectives didn't think it sounded like much of a lead and jerry never became a suspect. in fact, the investigation was going nowhere, leaving the town on edge. >> every time someone would come up behind me i would jump, even if i knew they were coming up behind me. >> then, news of another crime heightened everyone's fears. >> it was an attack so brutal she had to get 15