Narrator Joel Patrick Courtney was sitting in jail in albuquerque. It was december 2004. The married father of three was facing decades in prison if convicted of kidnapping, sexual assault, and battery charges. As investigators began checking out the possible link to Brooke Wilbergers case, a call went out to her family. They had waited more than six months for news, any news, about their daughters disappearance. Now, there was a man in custody who they thought might be able to reunite them with their daughter, just as Elizabeth Smart had been returned to her family. What are you thinking in that when you hear this . Actually, i had prayed so faithfully all fall that whoever had done this would make a mistake. And when i heard the news, i thought, they made a mistake. They tried it again. And No One Else knew what id prayed, because i hadnt told anyone else, because it was always, Find Brooke. You know, help us to Find Brooke. I guess that was a selfish prayer, you know, to help whoeve
and this is dateline. this doesn t happen in our happy little world. their world shattered, a young mother strangled. we had a homicide and no lso no evidence. but police found a dark side behind that bright suburban facade. she slept with the children and the door locked. and finally a vital clue. what happened to nancy the day she disappeared? welcome to dateline. a young mother disappeared one her husband said she went for a run and never came home. the puzzling case happened in a safe, suburban neighborhood where crime is unexpected. but sometimes there are secrets hidden behind closed. nothing about that morning made any sense. it seems like such a bad nightmare. this doesn t happen our happy little world. it was a saturday morning in july 2008. the happy total world of sweet and leafy suburb of raleigh north carolina, called carry. the sort of place a young family would aspire to. if you are someone like hannah pritchard, for example. there s always l
also no evidence. but police found a dark side behind that bright suburban facade. she slept with the children and the door locked. and finally a vital clue. what happened to nancy the day she disappeared? welcome to dateline. a young mother disappeared one her husband said she went for a run and never came home. the puzzling case happened in a safe, suburban neighborhood where crime is unexpected. but sometimes there are secrets hidden behind closed. it all seemed like such a bad . it. . at reporter: it was a saturday morning in july. the happy little world suburb of raleigh, north carolina, called cary, a place where a young family would aspire to if you were someone like hanna pritchard, for example. there s always lots of friend making going on through someone you meet. lots of cookouts and family functions. reporter: like the one in the neighborhood the night before. so hanna would have heard party stories that saturday morning from her friend nancy co
night, reportedly. we ll bring that to you more details as we get it. this is happening at the same time that there was another shooting in louisville, kentucky, last night. a second shooting in that city, mass shooting, in a week. four people were transported with injuries including one in critical condition and two people are dead, after a gunman or gunmen shot into a crowd of more than 100 people at a local park in louisville, kentucky, chickasaw park last night. no word on arrests. they are asking for the public to help identify the suspect or suspects in that shooting. second mass shooting in louisville. we are trying to get more information on dadeville alabama. that is a town of just 3,000 people. what you are seeing is in louisville. what we have been talking about dadeville we have seen live scenes that show mahogany dance is that there was a gathering there, maybe a sweet 16 they are reporting, a bunch of teens, now 20 are injured. we will get you more information a
realizing that it s amber. how could that be? her life was just beginning. amber meet friends for life. there was just no trying with our friendship. it just was. but that life didn t last long. amber is on the floor, face down, and she has a plastic bag wrapped around her heads. it still is open, the door is open. most people who rob a store don t kill anybody. my whole world just died right there. for months, the murder stayed cold. didn t have witnesses, didn t have video, didn t have the any. we had everything going against us. we go down and talk to the detective, we would not let it go. then a break. another victim. he would duct tape me, duct tape my mouth. and she knew a secret. could she risk revealing it? something is going to happen tonight. a killer ready to run, face to face with the one person who might be able to stop him. he just reached over the glove compartment and he pulled out a gun. and i said, please don t kill me. i m go