everything was a blur. 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
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 hello, and welcome to dateline! shannon melendi dreamed big. at 5, she wanted to become a supreme court justice. in college, she scored as prestigious internship at the headquarters 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 our 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 no
All im thinking is, is shannon really gone . We interviewed her roommates, boyfriends, everybody is a suspect. Then a phone rings. Right. He says ive kidnapped her, i have her. And we ran his criminal history. Thats 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 jawdropping just chilling they started digging and they found womens clothing. It was just escalating escalating there were so many victims, arent 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 carters foundation. Then, suddenly she vanished detectives had a suspect in their sights. But it would take years, and the revelation of another teenagers horrific tale, to unravel the mys
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
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 of 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 dead, 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 lewis 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