Did you physically abuse her . Yes. Or was it another man in her life . They had been twogt the night she died. More than 13 years would go by as hannahs a fought fought for justice. Two possible suspects. Did your kid kill hannah hill . Two trials. I was a wreck. It was just very intense. Would there ever be justice for hannah hill . The truth always comes out. The night hannah hill disappeared. Hello and welcome to dateline extra. 18yearold hannah hill may have been living in her parents basement, but she was about to move up in the world. She had just bought her own car and set to start a new job. Then she vanished leaving friends and family reeling. Why, they wondered, did hannah go out so late the night before her big day and where had she gone . Heres Dennis Murphy. She was a girl who made big entrances. She could walk in the skproom light up a place. She would make a whole room smile. She was always happy. Just wanted to have fun. But it was her exit, her sudden disappearance, gone from her house just like that that enshrouded Yun Hannah Hill in history. She was last seen last wednesday. Were asking anyone with Information Contact the police department. She was 18 years old just days from turning 19 and seemed to be in for the night. A former home coming queen and her pjs phoning a few friends from the basement bedroom at her mom ask dads in akron, ohio. Its too late now, but she wish ed he could answer one question. Why did you leave the house so suddenly that night . Her brother doesnt know. She got dressed and said im going to go out for a little bit. Ill be back. I love you. And that was it . Never seen her again. The thing was the next morning a thursday in may of 1999 was going to be a red letter day for hannah. She is would drive her gold primp, the used car she was proud to be paying for to her first day of secretary work, the company that makes atms. Her boyfriend of more than a year expected her to swing by his place in the morning to pick him up. He says she was a noshow. I remember waking up with this gut feeling that something wasnt right. I paged her. No answer. She always called me back. Always. And she didnt. The kids relied on pagers back then. Cell phones and text messaging were off in the future for ha a hannahs circle of friends. Her mom was a home maker and dad was scratching out work as a boil er mermaker in the smokest of the rust belt. Dad loved his girl. Hannah was a very bubbly kid. She loved everybody. She liked the spice gills and signed her letters with tiny pink hearts. A nice kid. These friends of hannah thought so. She was a very easy going person, definitely someone you could be friends with very easily. He was a great friend. She was a great girl. Tara ferguson was her best friend forever. Shes so fun and silly and funny. She was a pretty young girl. Yes, she was a hopeless romantic. She was bound to try to find that prince charming. Not every teenage girl has the same definition of prince char charming. Hannahs boyfriend brad was a High School Dropout with more than a few rough edges. But by all accounts, hannah was smitten. Definitely her one true love. She just really loved him and was really happy. And brad remembers like yesterday being captivated by the girl at the party with the lively brown eyes. They quickly became a couple. Did you think im lucky to have this girl . I did. We used to get compliments. You guys look so cute together. By 1999 hannahs friends and family thought she was growing distant. They worried that brad was tugging her into a world where she didnt belong. She thrusted everybody. Saw the best in everybody. Yes. Didnt have her radar up . No, thats where we differed. Now hannah hill had vanished into the night. Out there somewhere, but where. Thursday turned to friday. The Close Friends were frantic. Brad and i were calling each other back and forth. Im calling the hills. Im paging her. Shes not calling. That just wasnt like her. Were freaking out now. So we make out thousands of f fliers. Ask were passing them out, have you seen my sister . We heard nothing. The boyfriend took it a step further. He went down to the Police Station on that friday, the first of several visits to the cops. My girlfriend is is mising and doesnt seem like the police are doing very much. Long days became longer nights with no word from hannah. By tuesday evening, she had been missing nearly a week. Police finally turn to the media. An 18yearold girl has vanished and tonight police are asking for your help. When it came across the cb she was missing, i got really real. The next morning a breakthrough. News that police had located hannahs car. It was parked on a quiet dead end street called cane road. Jerry hughes then with the akron pd raced to the the scene. Detectives popped the trunk. It was worse than hed expected. You have seen a lot of stuff in a lot of years. How does this fit . Its sickening. Its something you cant unsee. Youll see that for the rest of your life. The the body of hannah hill had been found naked from the waist down, posed, her shirt pulled up. 7 30 this morning that the auto belonging to a missing person hannah hill had been seen parked on cane road. Pictures of her car being towed away made the evening news. Devastated. How could this happen . I just totally blacked out. Every emotion just hit me all at once. What had happened to hannah and why. And who had killed hannah. Police quickly focused on one man, hannahs boyfriend brad. Coming up found out he was a drug dealer. He liked to chase other girls. When the night hannah hill disappeared continues. L disappeared continues. Its the last thing i want to do. Well i switched to swiffer wet jet and its awesome. Its an allinone so its ready to go when i am. The cleaning solution actually breaks down dirt and grime. And the pad absorbs it deep inside. So, it prevents streaks and haze better than my old mop. Plus, its safe to use on all my floors, even wood. Glad i got that off my chest and the day off my floor. Try wet jet with a moneyback guarantee how do you like it, how do you like it more, more, more how do you like it, how do you like it all you can eat is back. How do you like that . Applebees. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. When crabe stronger. Strong, with new nicorette coated ice mint. Layered with flavor. Its the first and only coated nicotine lozenge. For an amazing taste. That outlasts your craving. New nicorette ice mint. I have one kid in each branch of the military, but im command central. Its so important to us that verizon is supporting military families. When i have a child deployed, having a Reliable Network means everything. So, when i get a video chat, and i get to see their face, its the best thing in the world. And ive earned every one of these gray hairs. Military moms, we serve too. vo the network more people rely on, gives you more. Like military plans with a special price on unlimited, 100 per line, and big savings on our best phones when you switch. Hannah hill was buried in a family plot a day after what would have been her 19th birthday. For her friends back in akron, cane road, the quiet residential street where her car had been found became a place to honor her all too brief life. We put ribbons around a nearby tree for remembrance. For detectives the heat was on to find her killer. The Akron Police Department was already facing intense scrutiny for taking a full week to find hannahs car. There it had sat on cane road where just hours after hannah first disappeared residents began calling police to come take a look. At least five neighbors called police. We have a car in our neighborhood thats totally unexplained. And you need to come out here. Ed meyer was a reporter for the akron beacon journal. The neighbors saw car keys on the dashboard. A black eye for the department, police came and ticketed the car but failed to make the connection. How could this car have sat there since wednesday and not be connected with this . I think thats entirely possible for a car to be parked for many days anywhere in the city. Did somebody drop the ball here . Thats under investigation. Was the investigation compromised horribly because of that delay . The condition of the body, the forensic results . Very possible. It gave time for whoever did this to cover his tracks. Who did do it . In the week after hannah had van ished, all the while her body in the trunk of the car, police restaurant trying to make sense of her boyfriend. When detectives checked him out with the family, they got an earful. Mr. Hill was never a a fan of brad. He didnt like him. And mr. Hill made no bones about it. I try ed ied to pull her awam brad. When kids get something in their head, the more you try, the further they get away from you. Hannahs friends saw things they didnt like about brad too. I probably told her she was better than that and could do better. And he wasnt good for her. And when they met him, police were struck by brads demeanor. Before the car was found, washington lacy, a Police Officer at the time, was pulling weekend duty when again into the station walked a fuming teen demanding to know what was being done to find his missing girlfriend. The first impression, he was abrasive. Brads attitude wasnt the only thing to catch the officers eye. Right away noticed some scratches on him. We kind of raised our eyebrows at that. Lieutenant hughes was on duty and made note of the angry boyfriend with the scratches. He has physical injuries, coming on like a house of fire. Either he was completelien innocent and concerned about his girlfriend or he had done something and was going to use us as a tool. Could have fallen either way. Right, right. The detectives said brad was visibly upset and told him he had been a bad boyfriend, jealous, controlling. We found out that he was a drug dealer and that he liked to chase other girls. It takes you pretty closely into means and motive opportunity country. Take off your shirt. We need to get all your photos. We want full fingerprint asks palm prints. Is he saying, slow down, i need to talk to a lawyer. Absolute ly not. Never said anything about an attorney, his rights, just find my girlfriend. Whatever you need, find my girlfriend. Then came the awful day they sdovrd the body. Now were hammering him, were peppering him. If not you, who. I want more information. Give me something to go on. To detectives brad was a puzzle. A angry and abrasive on one hand and yet cooperative and seemingly distraught about hannahs death on the other. It didnt click. Questions still swirled around brd hours after the body was discovered. But now the case was about to spin off in a whole new direction. Investigators had obtained hannahs phone logs and learned she made four calls on her last night. One to a girlfriend, two to brad and another to a boy named denny ross. Denny ross, does it mean anything to anybody . Detectives learned he lived in a threebedroom apartment noex a porn shop. They drove over and knocked on the door. Denny ross answered the door. He has a phone in his hand. I said hang up. Id like to talk to you about this. He said, i have my attorney on the phone. An attorney . Yes. I said, oh, thats a little different. And denny ross would share a surprising admission about a visit from hannah the very night she disappeared. Coming up did that lead to murder . When the night hannah hill disappeared, continues. Hannah l disappeared, continues chuggachugga, charles my man hilda, i like the new do. Got some layers in there, huh . The more, the merrier. Got to have this stuff in the morning. Oh, thats too hot. Act your age. Get your own insurance company. Carlo, why dont you start us with a little bit of cereal . You can spread it all around the table. And were gonna split the warm hot dog. And ill have a glass of grape juice to spill on the carpet. Oh, uh, do you want some to spill . Act your age. Get your own insurance company. Award winning interface. Award winning design. Award winning engine. The volvo xc90. The most awarded luxury suv of the century. S. Is welcome back. Investigators learned brad was a drug dealer with a jealous streak and cooperating with police after his girlfriend hannah hill was found murdered. Then another name turned up in hannahs phone records. Denny ross, when detectives showed up at dennys apartment, denny surprised them with an admission. And they got a second surprise. A crucial clue that practically fell into their laps. Once again, heres Dennis Murphy. Investigators locking loo the murder of hannah hill followed her phone records to the doorstep of den any ross. Denny was a friend of brads. They knew denny as the host of a nonstop fun house ask crash pad. Were you surprised hannah was hanging around with that crowd . No, i mean, we hung out with people that didnt do some fwraet stuff, but i guess we just kind of thought not that it was okay, but we werent doing it so i guess we were pretty naive too. Denny was days into probation on a drug charge and asked to have his lawyer present when detectives arrived for a conversation. Once the lawyer showed up, detectives took out a tape recording and began an interview. Denny told the detective he stayed in the night hannah disappeared. But then volunteered an astonishing bit of information. That makes him the plast known person to have seen her alife. Absolutely. Yes. Denny offered up a tip for the cops take a look at brad. But denny, not brad, was suddenly the person cops ed ed know a lot more about. At 3 00 a. M. They returned to dennys in force with a search warrant. The officers charging up these exterior stairs said they heard a thud. It wasnt long before one of them found a garbage bag beneath his window. In it, hannahs missing clothing. Is that case closed . Its not case closed, but its a big factor. I called that bag of evidence the key factor in this whole case. The magic bag. Critics of the police work in the case, like local journalists, were skeptical. We didnt buy it. Why would he keep a potential bag of evidence that could hang him inside his apartment r for a full week. Denny insisted he did not toss the bag out the window. His fingerprints werent found on it and it didnt match any of the garbage bags he had at home. The officers didnt check the temperature of the bag and couldnt say a if it had been out nor minutes or days. Still the next day denny was charged with hannahs rape ask murder. Breaking news. An arrest has been made in the murder of 18yearold hannah hill. The arrest of good time denny was incomprehensible to hannahs friends. I cant say why someone we knew would want to hurt her. You tell me who your boy is. Denny ross, a young kid who got himself in a situation by telling the truth. He was an average, carefree kid oobt kpooited about a new job in internet marketing. Personality, gheern. A person who doesnt stop smiling. It doesnt matter who you are. Youll feel at home around him because he has that personality. The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide by fitsuation saying she was strangled to death, but little else was clear. The me found semen inside hannahs body, but the sample wasnt useful because it had degradeed so much during the week her body lay in the trunk of the car. And then there were what critics saw as investigative lapses. Police never checked brads alibi the night hannah disappeared. Never checked her pager records and never performed a key chemical test of the carpet in dennys apartment. The Police Investigators can spray a chemical on this alleged evidence and it will luminous and show blood and can be tested. That was never done. Visible blood spots were found on dennys apartment walls, but in the dozens of samples of blood and fibers sent is out for testing, none came back to hannah. No dna or blood. She was killed there and theres no trace of her . Yep. Nor there was a trace of denny on or in hannahs car. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Despite the ambiguous evidence in october 2000, 21yearold denny ross stood trial for the rape and murder of hannah hill. He pleaded not guilty and faced the Death Penalty if convicted. He beat her into submission so he could rape her. Two young prosecutors argued their theory of the case. That inside that apartment denny had raped and killed hannah. They faced off against what the papers were calling a Million Dollar defense dream team hired by dennys father. The lead defense attorney was david chestnut from las vegas. Police rushed to denny and ignored everything else. The girls mother was called to the stand but not videoed. It all came down to the contents of the trash bag found beneath the window. Of all the dna tests run on hannahs clothing spotted with blood, only one came back to denny. A small semen stain on the girls underwear. Hardly proof of a crime, said dennys lawyer. They are kids. They are fooling around. That doesnt mean he raped her. The case went to the jury. And in the midst of deliberations came a stunning turn. The judge quite unexpectedly walked into the jury room and declared a mistrial. She said she took that drastic measure because she was getting a report that one of the jurors was talking about a Lie Detector Test not in evidence. A Lie Detector Test hannahs boyfriend had taken and passed. That, said the judge, was jury misconduct. The court finds that the jury is unable to fulfill the obligations required by law. The Prosecution Team was stunned. It was not a good day. Nor was it a good day for the defense. Everybody was brokenhearted. Dennys team was more heartbroken to learn when the judge sbruptd the jurors they had reached a decision on the major counts. Dateline spoke with four jurors and had already signed and sealed the ballots on all of the charges except the lesser charge of manslaughter. Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty. Denny had come oh so close to being acquitted in hannahs murder. Because jurors had voted in his favor, his lawyers went back to the courts to contest being tried again on grounds of double jeopardy. How does one get tried again for a crime that he was found not guilty of . Denny waited in jail for over a year while the courts tried to sort out what to do. In september of 2001 he was released on a 1 million bond. Its great to finally be out. Reporter dennys freedom would be short livid. Youll hear more about that later. For hannahs friends and family, the shock of the violent death followed by the inconclusive trial took an enormous toll. Brad now lived under a shadow of suspicion with people wondering if he killed hannah. He tumbled deeper into drugs and did time for robbing a bank. Maybe hardest hit of all was hannahs mother kim. She went into a shell. It ripped our family apart. Several years after hannahs murder, the figure of an angel appeared in a tree near where her car had been found. A small shrine to hannahs memory and for hannah east best friend it wasnt that she ever stopped thinking abo