>> we interviewed her roommates, boyfriend. everyone is a suspect. >> and then a man said i kidnapped her, we have her, we ran the criminal history. that's when all the bells went off. >> he pulls in, asking me to get in the car. i feel the cold blade against my neck. he carries cme to the basement of his home. >> it was jaw dropping, just chilling. >> they started digging and they found women's clothing. >> it was escalating. >> there were so many victims? >> yes, there still are. >> until this guy is in longer in existence. i'll carry this fight. ecome a supreme court justice. ge, hello and welcome to dateline. shannon melindi dreamed big. at 15 she wanted to become a supreme court justice. in college she scored a foundation. detectives had a suspect in their sight, but it would take years. a horrific tail to unravel the mystery of shannon's disappearance. here is dana murphy with shannon's story. >> reporter: the videos, the document reof her life. >> reporter: the professional dad who captured every moment of his daughter's life. >> she loved life. she wanted to do everything. >> reporter: these parents didn't foe how difficult it would be to look at these memories. >> i want to remember her voice, yipped. >> it is definitely a sweet memory. i look back at how innocent we were. >> shannon was someone that wanted to live. >> reporter: but then came that phone call way back in march 1994. shannon melendi's sister, monique, was just 13 years old. >> i receive add phone call from her roommate. >> reporter: shannon was mid way through emery university in atlanta. their childhood home if miami and the other end of the line was athena, her sister's college roommate. >> and she asked if i had spoken to shannon. >> reporter: shannon had not been seen for more than a day. are you starting to do the calculation? >> i knew immediately that something was terribly wrong. >> monique hung up with her roommate and made a few calls of her own. >> i immediately called my grandmother who was living in atlanta. asking her if she had heard from shannon. she had not. i called my aunt and she had not hear. she called her parents and her grandparents came to pick her up. monique's dad was photographing a baptism, and her mom, yvonne, was with them. louis and his mom went to their sister's house. >> they said shannon is missing. i dropped to the ground on my knees and i said we'll never see her again. >> u saw my father collapse to his knees and i knew i was right in feeling the fear that i felt. >> reporter: when you heard the word missing, what did you think? >> i kept thinking no, this can't be. >> reporter: shannon missing. it was beyond all imagination. from the roommate, a rough timeline emerged. when she wasn't home by sunday morning, her roommate had started to worry. >> she said where is she, so she went looking for her. the first thing she dent was go to the south ball country club. the roommate went out to look with two other friends, but when they turned around, they spotted something. >> she saw her car parked at a convenience store. >> a gas station. >> shannon's black nissan unoccupied, parked at the far end of the gas station. she was as proud as she could be? >> yes. >> what was the condition of the car when it was found? >> it was unlocked with 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. >> reporter: but that expensive radio plate was still in the car, which to e her business.. >> we worked a lot of missing persons. that day it was something we investigated a lot. >> one of his officers were set out to meet at the gas station. >> inside that vehicle, there was no blood, no real signs of anything, struggle of. shannon's friend drove her nissan back to campus. the question is where was she? >> reporter: it did not take long for shannon's friends to hear she was missing. >> i got up and was getting ready to go to class when my father looked worried. he just handed me a copy of the local section of the miami harold and said miami family is flying up to that, it was surreal. feeling dazed and desperate. >> and we were like what's going on? >> with a was going on? a question that would consume law enforcement and the melendi family for over a decade. >> and what had happened to shannon? >> she would never run away. she never ran away from anything. >> and then some of her acquaintances u draw the interest of investigators. >> i did when dateline continues. at the source of. so for faster pain relief, advil the pain away. 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[♪♪] your skin is ever-changing, take care of it with gold bond's age renew formulations of 7 moisturizers and 3 vitamins. for all your skins, gold bond. introducing new advil targeted relief. the only topical pain reliever with 4 powerful pain-fighting ingredients that start working on contact to target tough pain at the source. for up to 8 hours of powerful relief. new advil targeted relief. dennis murphy: everywhere the melendis looked, there was shannon's face. their daughter's missing posters blanketed her college campus. everywhere they looked, there was shannon's face. their daughter's missing poster blanketed the college campus. >> that's all i could think of is where is she and is she okay? >> reporter: as the investigation started, police told reporters they were looking at two possibilities. >> either she left on her own our somebody grabbed her. >> whether shannon left on her home, they told investigators they were wasting time. she would never ever run away. she didn't run away from anything. >> reporter: they used the media to spread that message, hoping attention focused on the case would yield answers. >> i'm somebody who loves my daughter, and i want to do whatever i have to do to get this thing happening. >> so you think to get anything going, it needed your intervention and your passion and your concern? >> well, i'm a pain. i do what i need to do, and i don't care whose toes i step on. >> reporter: the only thing that made sense was she had been abducted. gene moss says police were investigating every option. >> the first thing you do in a missing persons case of this magnitude is try to interview all the acquaintances and friends and get as much out of the ocean as you can. >> reporter: the melendi's were eager to share because the shannon they knew would never put this family in this kind of pain. there, shannon was the one to put everyone else at ease. >> she had a smile that just warmed a room. and she would walk in and people would be like shannon is here. >> reporter: she commanded her parent's attention. >> she has her father under her thumb. she just looked at it and go, but daddy, please. >> she was very good of convincing me whatever she was trying to do. >> people like being around her. she was witty, she was smart, she was funny. >> reporter: and when shannon became fast friends in seventh grade. >> we just had a lot in common. her father came from cuba, my parents are immigrants from cuba. we were, i guess what you would describe go getters. >> reporter: for shannon, the getting was good. she was a top student at her high school, captain of the debate team, and class president two years in a row. >> she had the confidence to speak, you know, in front of a class or a group of people. she just wasn't afraid. >> we cannot always say it's been for the better. >> reporter: this is video of shannon and her pal, al. >> and different el people will be both unethical and unmoral, while others believe it is okay. >> if you asked for 15, what will you do? she would have told you what? >> that she wanted to be the supreme court justice. >> reporter: but before the supreme court was emory university, 1,700 miles away from home. >> i wasn't a happy camper. >> down the street would be too far away, you know? >> reporter: but shannon thrived at emory. >> she loved everything about it, the culture, the night life, she loved emory. >> reporter: she studied political science and scored an internship at the carter center. and now her determined family leveraged every political connection from their local congresswoman to the former president and got the case on the fbi's radar. the feds were joining the search for the missing college student. >> we interviewed room pates and boyfriends and you would imagine that everybody is a suspect. >> reporter: the special agent as investigators would look into every aspect of her young life including a spring break trip she took in the weeks before her disappearance. >> who did she meet with? what hotel did she stay at? who did she travel with? >> one of the questions at the top of the list, did she go off the list with someone she met on spring break? >> we spoke to a lot of people, all those people that she went with. >> reporter: including chris goslip. they went to high school together as he was on the group, spring break trip to panama city beach, florida. >> we would be out on the beach during the day. we would be out in the night life at night and the clubs there. >> were you wild and crazy or 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 going to happen, is there anything you looked back on and wonder what's going on? >> no, i didn't see anything. we were just young, having a good time. >> chris told the fbi just that when they showed up at his apartment for an interview. investigators had a lot of questions including ask chris to account for his own whereabouts after shannon disappeared. >> i did feel under the pressure at points. >> how so? >> because they showed up a couple of times. they would call me at work or early in the morning. >> chris wasn't the only ones being grilled by authorities. he was good friends with one of her ex-boyfriends. >> he had gone on a few dates with shannon, but it wasn't anything long term or serious. >> reporter: authorities polygraphed the ex. they were still interviewing all of her 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, a game and some attention. >> yes, he was more interested in watching shannon than he was in calling the softball game. >> when dateline continues. o. i see myself more and i definitely see those deeper lines. i'm still kim and i got botox® cosmetic. i wanted to keep the expressions that i would normally have, you know, you're on camera and the only person they can look at is you. i was really happy with the results. i look like me just with fewer lines. botox® cosmetic is fda approved to temporarily make frown lines, crow's feet, and forehead lines look better. the effects of botox® cosmetic may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness may be a sign of a life-threatening condition. do not receive botox® cosmetic if you have a skin infection. side effects may include allergic reactions, injection site pain, headache, eyebrow, eyelid drooping and eyelid swelling. tell your doctor about your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, and medications, including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. see for yourself at botoxcosmetic.com. a slow network is no network for business. as thes that's why morehe risk choose comcast business. and now, we're introducing ultimate speed for business —our fastest plans yet. we're up to 12 times faster than verizon, at&t, and t-mobile. and existing customers could even get up to triple the speeds... at no additional cost. it's ultimate speed for ultimate business. don't miss out on our fastest speed plans yet! switch to comcast business and get started for $49.99 a month. plus, ask how to get up to an $800 prepaid card. call today! dennis murphy: college student shannon melendi had vanished in broad daylight. investigators had been looking at a spring break trip she'd taken recently. when we were done doing our interviews regarding college student ctivshannon melendi vanished in broad daylight. investigators had looked at a spring break trip she took recently. >> we were confident it happened during the spring break activity. >> also ruled out, shannon's ex- boyfriend who ended up passing that polygraph. does it take you back to the softball field? >> it does. >> the softball field where shannon was working part time as a scorekeeper. it was the last place she had been seen alive, so police tracked down everyone who had been around shannon on the saturday cheesed appearance. >> they were having a tournament with 25 teams. so you're talking about a lot of people. every single person there was questioned. that took us to four to five interviews. >> reporter: investigators were told a curious story about one person in particular, an umpire. >> a lot of the players in the game were concerned that his he didn't pay attention to a lot of balls being thrown. his object was shannon who was behind home plate where he was calling the game and she was keeping score that day. >> so he's checking out shannon? >> yes, he was more interested if calling the game. >> his name was butch hinton. >> he's a member of the church where his dad was a pastor. >> he was married and had a job as an airline maintenance worker when he wasn't umpiring at the softball field. you don't take these stories at face value. you go to the guy, butch, and say what was your story? >> we did talk to him on april 4. >> reporter: hinton was aware shannon was missing, and he said nothing unusual happened during the game. >> he told different stories about where he was in the hours after shannon vanished, but he did say he went home soon after the game. sure enough phone records showed he made a phone call from his house. so if this man did something to shannon, he would have had a tight window to commit his crime. but hinton was the only possible suspect they had. then a phone call came in. >> there was a moment when you think oh my gosh, she's alive. she's okay. >> this is a week after shannon has gone missing, is that right? >> correct. >> who is on the other end of the line? >> it came into the emory counseling center and he appeared nervous to the woman working the switchboard. he asked if she is familiar with the shannon melendi case. >> a man had shannon and said she was fine and healthy. before the caller hung up, he told the operator his plans. >> when i'm done with her, i'll release her. what you'll find is an article that belongs to her, so he hung up and the fbi immediately traced the call, we traced it back to a phone booth. >> a phone booth outside the city. just as the caller promised, there was something there. >> underneath the phone booth that had fallen to the ground was a cloth bag. inside the cloth bag was a ring. >> reporter: a ring yvonne recognized it right away and it had a stone. >> what's the story with that particular ring? >> her god mother had given that to her. >> reporter: shannon's police said she received the ring in high school. from the day she got it, that ring was always on shannon's finger. she even wore it in this family portrait. so they knew whoever made that phone call had their daughter. a dreadful shock, they had to accept that she was definitely kidnapped. you can no longer say flight because we established that she was, in fact, kidnapped. >> reporter: they waited for the callers next move. >> waiting, but not idle. the distraught parents are about to turn up the heat on their daughter's abductor as the search for shannon continues. coming up. an ingenious idea to ensure whoever has shannon cannot take off. >> and we put 77 billboards all around the city. >> i felt if people see her face, they can't come to the home, but they said butch hinton's house son fire, when dateline continues. billy: one second, grandma. this guy is going to buy my car. okay? grandma: you need carvana... entering plate number... grandma: no accidents, right? 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(vo) new and existing customers get iphone 15 on us when they trade in any iphone. verizon i'm jessica layton with the hour's top stories. israel's military says they will pause fighting during the daytime hours along a route in southern gaza to free up a backlog of humanitarian aid deliveries. the pause applies to about 7.a miles of road in the rafah area. and nine people including two children were injured in an apparent random mass shooting saturday at a park splash pad in michigan. police say a 42-year-old suspect then took his own life after the incident. and now back to dateline. e investigators learned umpire butch welcome back to dateline, i'm craig melvin. shannon melendi was last seen at a baseball game, where the umpire was acting strangely. word had it he kept his eye on shannon more than the ball. police were quick to question him to then came that discovery. police had recovered her ring, but could it lead them to shannon? and 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 left a clothed bag like this one carrying shannon's ring at phone booth. could that be proof of life? >> is there a glimmer of hope here that you will be in a period of ransom negotiations with whoever this anonymous caller was? >> that moment, that moment i kind of had hopes, you know, so all of a sudden i said maybe we can recover her. >> and so you're waiting for another phone call, a letter or something? >> if this is about money, then maybe we can still -- there's a chance that she's still alive. >> the fbi was less optimistic. what was your instinct telling you? >> ten days is a long time. you could give it more possibility that she's alive because she was an adult. it is possible. >> with that new break in the case, the family stepped up their media campaign. >> we are living through every parent's nightmare. we just want 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. >> reporter: shannon's family and friends kept waiting, but no ransom demands came in. >> that was the one and only call. and as time goes on, you realize she's gone, she is not coming back. >> law enforcement focused on the key lead they had. that softball umpire, butch hinton. he's still the prime suspect in the disappearance of shannon, i'm assuming? >> yes. >> they didn't have any physical evidence. so they executed a series of search warrants. >> this was to take his blood sample for dna and if dna was found and hair samples. >> 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're the primary suspect in the disappearance of shannon melendi and we would like to take a chance to talk to you. >> i glance at the tv and see a picture of an officer going like this, you know, with a rod in one of the planters. >> they were at his house? >> yes. >> we already knew he was a suspect, so they were at his house, searching the house. >> now were the cops letting you know what was going on with their investigation? >> very little. >> what did you find? >> well, that house was gone through with a fine tooth comb they said and they also took a cadaver dog down there to see if there is any evidence of a body being there and we found nothing down there. >> no sign that shannon had ever been there? >> that i could find. >> they did find something interesting. a collection of women's clothing. >> there was no evidence to link him in the search warrants to shannon. >> what about her car found abandoned at that gas station? the officer on the scene let shannon's friend drive it back to campus. that means any forensic evidence was contaminated. >> this is our first mistake we made in the case. >> not to beat that officer back in the day up, but what was the protocall there? what should have happened when you come upon this abandoned vehicle? >> somebody from investigations should have come out. we would have been able to look inside that vehicle at that time and see if there is any forensic evidence left. >> by the time the forensic team got a real look at the car. when they processed it, chief, what did they find? >> that is another interesting thing. they come to the conclusion that the car had been wiped down. >> so someone made an effort to clean that car up? >> yes. >> shannon's parents felt certain hinton had kidnapped their daughter and hopes that he would never see her again. photographing other's happy events started becoming too painful for louis and yvonne. is it difficult you're in the business of gathering intimate memories for families and yet you're not able to do the same thing for your child? >> yes. i stopped doing weddings just because of that. we tried one, and she was crying. usually she operates my camera in the back of the church. >> too close? >> and when i went back to check and she was crying, i said that's not fair to the bride and groom. it is not fair to us, so the last couple of weddings i had, i finished them and i never booked another one again to this date. >> as difficult as it was. they still kept up tear awareness campaign in the press until a sudden twist five months after she disappeared. >> the phone rang, it was 10 after 11. they said his house was on fire. >> the house was deliberately set. he was convicted and sentenced to fine years in prison. >> it was great to have him off the streets, but that just left shannon's family, shannon's friends, just wondering what happened to shannon? where is shannon? >> with hinton now behind embarrass, shannon's loved ones were worried they might never have an answer. but unvest gators 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 put my hands together and tied my hands behind my back. 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'm going to use it on you. >> 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. (luke) this will be a gold mine of local intel. (marci)cause breathing so, tell us about this corn festival. (stylist) oooh you got your corn pudding... 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>> we never had much at all until the u.s. attorney's office brought the boxes to us, so i buried myself in this office and started going through the file. >> and one thing was clear, he had been their de suspect early on because of a criminal record. as they began pouring through the file, he came across a name, tammy singleton. she sat down with us to tell us the same heroine story she told the fbi. >> a real small town, everybody knew everybody. >> back in 1982, 12 years before shannon's disappearance, tammy was 14 years old living in illinois. one day she got a call from the brother of her 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 the slumber party. >> i'm waiting around with my overnight bag. he finally pulls in. doesn't see me initially and then does. >> reporter: she expected her ex, tim to be there too, but he wasn't. still she knew the brother as the son of the one-time pastor. when he asked her to get in his car, she did. >> and he said he had something from tim for me, and it was a ring that he tried on my fingers and placed on my pinky, and then he tied, he asked me to clasp my hands together and tied my hands behind my back. >> tammy, what's going on here? >> i'm not registering that it is a problem until i feel the cold blade against my neck, and he says you know what this is? it's a knife. and if you don't cooperate, i'm going to use it on you. >> the man with the blade as you might suspect was butch hinton. >> he tells me things like if you don't cooperate, i'll do you like the other two. >> i'll waste you right now? >> yes. >> at some point i moved from the front seat to the back and he proceeds to tie me further to use bandannas tied together around my mouth, he duct tapes me and does what's known as hog tieing and places me in his trunk. >> tammy says he drove around her in his trunk for a long time until he finally got to his house. >> he carries me through the cellar door into the basement. >> and it is now dark out? >> yes. >> can you yell or scream, tammy? >> no, my mouth is gagged. >> you've been abducted to what ends you don't know. how are you going to play this person? >> i prayed. i prayed hard. >> he took the gag off her mouth and started asking her questions. >> he asked me if i had ever had sexual intercourse. i told him that no, i had not and that i was a virgin. i had never had sex. >> what about his face and demeanor? >> there was an evil, definitely an evil in his eyes. at the time he is talking to me. >> reporter: hinton took her to a bed and sexually 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 and crying. >> after the assault, he left tammy in the basement handcuffed with duct tape on her mouth. >> at some point i hear his wife. so i began to make some noise in the basement. she's like what is that? he kept running to the basement, which was curious to her. so in the meantime i managed to lick the duct 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 connect with his thumb and bit him and he recoiled because he was bleeding. his wife came running down the stairs behind me, she sees me. and she says what's going on? i said gail, it's me, tammy singleton. he tried to rape me. and she breaks down into hysteria and is crying and immediately he's like a little boy. >> and his demeanor has changed again? >> yeah. and he's begging, butch, you've got problems. you need to get help. >> butch hinton was arrested and charged with kidnapping and taking indecent liberties with a child. he entered a plea of guilty, but mentally ill. how long was he inside? >> he received a four year sentence and served about 21 months and came out after the 21 months in jail. >> that short prison sentence 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, 1994. as john pietry studied the files, he realized there was a lot there, but with one huge challenge. shannon's body had never been found. but the 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. >> hinton was released from prison for that insurance fraud case in 2003. it would take another few months before law enforcement finally arrested him for murder, ten years after shannon had disappeared. >> and i heard butch being arrested for the murder of shannon melendi, and my tears just hit my classes, and that was a great moment. a great moment for my soul. >> reporter: a great moment for sure, but prosecutors had an uphill battle. still didn't have a body or a crime scene. could they convince a jury that he was shannon's killer? coming up. an emotional trial. >> this is your first chance to really see him? >> the old saying, if looks could kill, he would have been dead on the spot. >> all i can do is pray and pray that they see him for the monster that he was. >> when dateline continues. s . but trelegy has shown me that there's still beauty and breath to be had. because with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open and prevents future flare-ups. and with one dose a day, trelegy 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 ♪ ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy for copd because breathing should be beautiful. your best defense against erosion and cavities is strong enamel. nothing beats it. i recommend pronamel active shield because it actively shields the enamel to defend against erosion and cavities. i think that this product is a game changer for my patients. it really works. nothing dims my light like a migraine. with nurtec odt, i found relief. the only migraine medication that helps treat and prevent, all in one. to those with migraine, i see you. for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura and the preventive treatment of episodic migraine in adults. don't take if allergic to nurtec odt. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. it's time we all shine. talk to a healthcare provider about nurtec odt from pfizer. norman, bad news... talk to a healthcare provider i never graduated from med school. what? -but the good news is... xfinity mobile just got even better! now, you can automatically connect to wifi speeds up to a gig on the go. plus, buy one unlimited line and get one free for a year. i gotta get this deal... i know... faster wifi and savings? ...i don't want to miss that. that's amazing doc. mobile savings are calling. visit xfinitymobile.com to learn more. doc? welcome back. at just 14 years old, tammy singleton was kidnapped and sexually assaulted by butch hinton. welcome back. at just 14 years old, tammy singleton was kidnapped and sexually assaulted by butch hinton. years later shannon melendi vanished and investigators believe butch hinton had struck again. hinton was now heading to court charged with shannon's murder. her family believed justice was in sight, but they were about to learn their fight was far from over. here is dennis murphy with the conclusion of shannon's story. >> reporter: butch hinton's trial for the murder of shannon melendi began in august 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, 50/50 chance. this is the way it could go. >> there he was, the one-time delta maintenance airline worker they had in their sights for years. yvonne, this is your first chance to see him, right? >> well, you know, the old saying, if looks could kill, he would have been dead on the spot. >> reporter: dekalb county prosecutor john pietry had a daunting task ahead. the first case in georgia with no crime scene, no body. >> and the absence of a body complicates it. >> it was going to be a steep mountain to climb? >> oh absolutely. >> still the prosecutor did have key witnesses to >> butch never really confessed per se to anybody, but he made horribly incriminating statements to three inmates that to me were just so believable. >> reporter: one of them remembered an eerie late night conversation. >> butch woke up in the middle of the night saying i didn't do this. the demon inside of me killed that girl, and then went back to sleep. >> jailhouse snitches get a lot of side eye. >> tammy singleton came to court to tell how hinton kidnapped and assaulted her when she was 14. and to show he no longer had any power over her. >> are you seeing him? are you making eye contact? >> i looked directly over him. he tried to overlook my stare. i needed people to understand that he did have a motive, and i wanted to assist the melendi's in getting some closure in their situation. >> while the prosecutors didn't 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 this bag came from, we finally found a little company in richmond had, virginia, that had been around for 100 years produced this bag. >> they supplied the bag to only one client in georgia, delta airlines. >> delta airlines is where butch hinton worked. when we conducted a search at butch hinton's workplace on his desk were a number of these bags. >> and the prosecutors brought in a forensic expert who said the bag from the phone booth contained metallic particles that would have been found at hinton's workplace. >> i started listening to the scientist. i started feeling really positive about it. >> and the forensic -- >> this bag could only have been sold to this customer? phenomenal. >> it was unreal. >> reporter: hinton's defense was straightforward. his attorney argued the state's evidence was scammed and circumstantial, and that he could not have killed someone whose body has never been found. and his defense is it's not me, you've got the wrong guy? go look somewhere else? >> absolutely. he never took the stand or claimed his innocence on the stand. >> after a month of testimony, hinton's faith passed to the jury. shannon's sister, monique, waited alongside her participants. >> it is always a moment of high anxiety. what are they going to do with 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 they had been waiting for finally came. >> we, the jury, find the defendant guilty. >> i will never forget when they announce the verdict. just the shear joy and pain that you just saw on the faces of shannon's family. it was good to know that this monster would be away. >> the sheriff, when i hear the click of the cuffs, i took a deep breath and said this is over. >> but the family found out it actually wasn't over. hinton was sentenced to life it in prison, and the melendi's assumed he would remain behind bars forever. they were crushed when they learned that because hinton committed the murder in 1994 under looser parole guidelines, he would be eligible for parole in seven years. >> we are the ones who have the life imprisonment without parole. he has a hope, just a hope that he might get out. >> they remained determined to do all they can to fight every time his parole comes up. hinton 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'll carry this fight. >> and now carries on the fight without his fight, yvonne. she passed away in 2021. louis fights not only for shannon, but because he and investigators believe hinton may have had other victims. remember those police searches behind hinton's home? they didn't find anything from shannon, but. >> they found many items in different locations of women's clothing, all sorts of sweaters and tops, blouses. >> this is chilling just hearing you say this? >> oh yes. he confessed to killing shannon after his conviction, which answered some key questions for investigators, but her body has still never been found. >> recovering the remains. how important is it to you? >> well, i'll ask that question. why do we bring them back? and it is important to their families. so i say she is my hero. and she is out to order. we deserve to have the remains. >> he could lead people to whenever the site is? >> yes. >> but he refuses to. and i think it is because there are other bodies there. >> if it weren'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, ann. >> we would have been at each other's weddings. i'm sure we would have been at each other's bridal showers and baby showers. there is only so many friends in life that you kind of stay in close touch with over a lifetime. shannon would have been one of those. >> and monique has a keepsake that ensures shannon is with her every day on her finger. >> this is the infamous ring that he had taken from her. >> saying this is the evidence that i have? and i'm guessing you were never separated? >> no. this makes me feel really close to her. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. ccluskd that she met him in a bar. i am andrea canning ten.ands is dateline. >> she said that she met him at a bar. >> she was smitten. she went all out for him. >> she could not see the red flags. >> it was a heartbreaking case.