a woman's murder in small town texas. >> the killer's 200-page confession found years later. what it reveals. an all-new "20/20" starts right now. it's not every day in a town of 12,000 that you get a violent murder.

>> the body was draped over the tub with the chest and head submerged in water. >> there was the sense that there was rage involved. >> this was a young woman who put up quite a struggle for her life. >> could it have been a fantasy game that got out of hand? >> i knew he had killed her. i told him, i said, "he killed her." >> she started screaming. >> i said, "he killed her, he killed her." >> everyone in stephenville was damn sure they knew who did it. >> and who was that man? >> he had left terrible notes all over the house. you'd open the microwave, and there would be one in the door. you'd open the drawer in the kitchen, another note. >> there would be one in her coat pock ket. >> lift the lid on the toilet, there's a note. >> there would be one in the medicine cabinet. >> you said no one ever got angry at susan. you got angry at susan. >> as bad as we thought it was then, i mean, it was going to

get worse. >> he finds something much darker and much more ominous. >> as soon as i got in the vehicle, i knew i made the biggest mistake of my life. >> sometimes there are monsters that live in the hearts of other people. >> right under your nose. >> today is 06/06/06, the day we meet the devil himself. deep in the heart of texas, decades of unanswered questions about a murderer found hidden in a trailer on the outskirts of the woods, a voice from beyond the grave, and a mystery that had lingered over a town for years was about to resurface.

>> a friend of mine called me and he said, "hey, there's a guy out in abilene who has some writings he's very concerned about that you might be interested in." he says, "it's some crazy stuff." and he gave me all of this. of course, i didn't have no idea what it was. and i brought it back and started reading it. >> it remained this mystery. nobody ever understood it. a killing that has preoccupied so many of us for so many years. >> "by god, i had become a monster. i was the devil."

>> stephenville has always called itself the cowboy capital of the world. >> it was real big on rodeos. there were a lot of professional rodeo cowboys that started here. so that was a big thing. >> people wear their cowboy hats and their boots, and it's not kitsch. it's real. this is who people are. this is an authentic and enduring way of life. in rural texas, livestock and livestock raising is a big part of the economy. >> and right there, on a pedestal in the town square, not a lawman or local hero -- a cow. >> oh, yeah. the moo-la cow. it represented a really booming milk industry. >> so it's a lot of moola. >> people go to church on sundays and they go to lunch afterwards. a lot of people were born here. they were raised here, and they never left. so you had generations of families who all knew each other.

>> author bryan burroughs grew up in a small texas town. he was drawn to this story of a young woman from stephenville named susan jeanette atkins. >> she was sincere and sweet and humble, and she was pretty much everyone's idea of an ideal young woman. >> susan was a very shy, quiet person until you got to know her. she was hilarious. she didn't mind embarrassing you if she thought of something funny that would get your goat. but you couldn't stay mad at her because she was so cute. >> susan was no rebel. she was raised in a churchgoing family of four. that shyness meant she had only a few close friends. one of them had been in band with her. >> thelma and louise. we could finish each other's sentence. we were best buddies. yeah. she was a one in a million.

>> friday nights were for football. sundays for church. and on saturday night, everybody cruised. and in stephenville, it was called cruising the drag. >> all the kids would just drive from one dairy queen to the other, and you'd stop at the parking lots and wait for people you knew to pull in and talk to you. i spent a lot of time making the drag with susan and cindy. >> when she got out of school at 18, she took a job at a sandpaper factory. and her life started to change in ways that she hadn't expected. >> susan was very beautiful. every time we'd go out, the guys would go for her. >> how did she first get a look at michael woods? >> she was driving drag one day, and she's literally crossing the railroad tracks.

and she looks down like -- like an album cover. she sees this long-haired guy coming out of the sun. and so she pulls over and they met. she fell for michael, and she fell hard. >> susan had a type. and it was a kind of rough-looking, bad boy type. and they were older than her and very macho man types. >> it's easy to imagine that she found michael just a little bit exotic. you know, the long hair. he played the guitar. he played rock and roll. michael was her rebellion. >> so in a town of crew cuts and cowboys, michael woods was a rocker. to susan, he looked like bob seger. to everyone else, he looked like trouble. >> but that didn't deter susan. they had fallen in love. >> for a while there, every fiber of this woman's being was dedicated to this man. i mean, she was all in.

>> then susan tells michael it's time for them to get married. >> and michael just, with just this amount of thought, is like, "i'm free tomorrow between 11:00 and 1:00." >> at first it was susan and michael against everyone, even her family, even after they wed. stephenville was not the place for his rockstar dreams. at home, eventually the power ballads faded out. michael couldn't find steady work, and they got to quarreling. >> he was a great guy. until he wasn't, when they broke up. >> it was bad. and it, of course, just got worse. >> are they arguing with each other at this point? >> by that final year, yeah, they were fighting. he began to believe that he could've had a better life without her. and then, out of nowhere, he leaves. and he doesn't go with a whimper. he goes with a bang. >> she was devastated. >> and i can only imagine how that was.

you get home at a cold house. all the lights are out, and you're wondering what happened. >> he's taken the car. he's taken her fur coat and vanished in a rage. susan is freaked out. so cindy stays on her sofa. roy offers her a gun, but she gives it back. he comes over instead and nails her windows shut. >> she was afraid of michael after they broke up because he did have a little bit of a jealous, crazy streak. she was scared. >> susan asks for a divorce from michael, who's skipped town. and later that summer, it's as if she comes out of her shell a little bit. she starts going out with a new guy, a bartender. >> she was really starting to become happier. a whole new chapter going to open up for her. >> and then there's this night in late july that everybody involved remembers. roy and cindy take susan to a carnival, and nobody enjoys themselves for whatever reason.

so roy says, "it's all go back to stephenville and go to dairy queen." >> we both loved hot fudge sundaes too much. and susan done something she's never done before. she looked at me and she goes, "you know, i think i'm going to order me another one." and she really got to enjoy it. >> two days later, her supervisor at the factory called her dad and said, "we haven't seen susan for a couple of days." and it's totally not like susan. >> when we walked into the house i just wasn't ready for what we were going to see. when you have moderate—to—severe eczema, it's okay to show off. with dupixent, show off your clearer skin and less itch. because you have plenty of reasons to show off your skin. with dupixent, the number one prescribed biologic

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it's late july 1987, hot and quiet in the small town of stephenville, texas. joe atkins is worried about his 30-year-old daughter, susan woods. he had gotten a call from her boss that she hadn't turned up for work in two days. no one had seen or heard from her. >> he goes up to the front porch, and the front door is ajar.

and he walks in, and he finds her in the bathroom, um, and she's dead. and when the first cruisers start showing up a matter of minutes later, joe's out in the front yard waiting for them in tears. it's not every day in a town of 12,000 that you get a violent murder. this is an all-hands. >> so, it was in the late afternoon. we heard on the police radio that there was a homicide. >> i walked in the front door, and immediately i noticed there was a tv against that wall. and then across from it, there was a little table. and on the table there was a bag of chips and a coke can and a cigarette tray with ashes in it. >> in the bedroom, there are signs of a desperate struggle. >> when we walked into the house and saw the carnage in the bedroom, i just wasn't ready for what we were going to see. >> it looked like where the bed

had been scooted about five or six inches towards the bathroom, like there may have been a struggle and trying to pull somebody in the bathroom. >> there was a single pillow they found. and upon studying it, it hit them. it was makeup from susan's face. you could see tears in the makeup. and it was the type of thing that everyone involved, well, still remembers. >> this is a close-up of that pillow. you can see those smudge marks right there. that is mascara from her eyes. so her head would've been smashed hard into the pillow during this assault. >> it's like a death mask. >> exactly. >> the scene in the bathroom even more disturbing. that's where susan was found. >> she was completely nude, so it looked like a sexual assault. the body was draped over the tub with the chest and head submerged in water.

her hands were tied behind her back with what looked like a tank top that had been twisted up. her arms were pretty high up. my initial thought was that somebody had used that as leverage to keep her under the water. and if that was the case, then there's probably going to be prints on the bathtub on either side. >> and sure enough, there were. both fingerprints and palm prints. but whose? >> so we got good prints on both sides of the body on the tub. we just had to identify who it was. >> it was pretty clear that the person who killed her tried to kill her three different ways. with a pillow across the face. clearly with some type -- it looks like an electrical cord with a ligature mark across her neck. and then by drowning her. >> the scene was beyond horrific. detectives took a close look at one detail -- the six cigarette butts that were in the ashtray >> you know, the question is,

what is going on with six cigarette butts? i knew it was significant. looked like somebody had been sitting there watching tv and smoking cigarettes and snacking. and she wasn't the kind that would let a person come in, especially a man. she was very introverted and cautious that way. >> well, susan did not smoke. nor did she drink caffeine. and so the thought developed early on that there was a good chance that the killer had stayed there long enough to drink that coke and smoke those cigarettes. >> now, if we've identified who the cigarette butts belong to and the cokes in the other room, they say, "yeah, i stopped by, and, you know, we watched tv for a little bit and talked. and i left. she was okay then." the way i figure it, those palm prints on each side of the body are irrefutable. the handprints, the side of the body, on the tub, you can't explain those. so i knew if we could find the

palm prints, we had the killer. >> well, there's a couple of theories going around. as far as the detectives could tell, robbery wasn't a motive. it was straight-up sex from what anybody could tell. >> there was the sense that there was rage involved. something really violent had happened. >> well, for entirely different reasons, the police and the community were thinking the same thing, that this was someone she knew. >> as we drove down the road, we could see strobing lights of emergency vehicles and stuff. and we got there close to her house and we saw -- >> the yellow tape. police. i knew he had killed her. i told him. i said, "he killed her." >> and she started screaming. >> i said, "he killed her. he killed her." and i was talking about her ex-husband, mike. >> and, of course, everybody in stephenville was damn sure they knew who did it. >> and who is that man? >> michael woods. >> no doubt in our minds.

all the pieces to the puzzle led straight to michael. she would've let him in the house. he smoked. and he had a very volatile personality. so the whole world blamed michael from the minute it happened. >> let's just say, as that impression and that conclusion spread around town, you didn't get a lot of pushback. and when the police talked to us, that's what we tell them. >> there was no other enemy. >> you go from the victim and start working your way out, spiraling out. so, you know, he was a rightful first suspect. >> but detective donnie hensley, who's taken the lead on the case, he has no have evidence to link michael to the scene. >> or even being back in the town, or even being back in the state of texas. so he does what he has to do, which is he starts to look at the other possible suspects. >> and one man in particular, a guy who'd been spending a lot of time with susan after michael had left, and some of that time in that very same bathtub.

>> she would have a beer while i'd have two or three coca-colas. >> when you're investigating a case like this, you don't want to get tunnel vision and miss the obvious. i want the person that did it and nobody else. >> if i was them, i would be looking at me too. ask about vraylar. because you are greater than your bipolar 1, and you can help take control of your symptoms with vraylar. some medicines only treat the lows or highs. vraylar treats depressive, acute manic, and mixed episodes of bipolar 1 in adults. proven full-spectrum relief for all bipolar 1 symptoms. and in vraylar clinical studies, most saw no substantial impact on weight. elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor about unusual changes in behavior or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. report fever, stiff muscles or confusion which may mean a life-threatening reaction or uncontrollable muscle movements which may be permanent. high blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death, weight gain and high cholesterol may occur. movement dysfunction

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as stephenville residents wake up to news of the gruesome murder of susan woods, local police begin to canvass the neighborhood. turns out the man they want to talk to is someone that susan met 30 miles from here. his name is j.c. bowman. >> j.c. was a bartender at a club in granbury that i had taken susan to, and i'd introduced them, and they were casually dating. >> he was basically just seen as a guy who had stumbled into susan's life at a point. he was one of the last male relationships she had before she was killed. >> i was bartending at north fork in granbury, and this cute

little lady came in one night wearing this shirt, einstein sticking his tongue out. i had the poster at the time, and she was wearing this, and i said, "i like that shirt." that's how we broke the ice. and the next time she came in, she gave me that shirt. >> i don't think it was a real hot and heavy romance, but they had fun together. it was kind of a distraction for both of them. >> and j.c. bowman was apparently passably cute. and he started coming by her house at night. >> neither one of us wanted a serious relationship. we just wanted friends with privileges. she would call me when she was in the mood to have company, and we'd sit there and watch the movie and snuggle. a lot of black and white. we both liked "tarzan," the original johnny weissmuller "tarzan" movies, and i'd drink my coca-colas and she'd drink a beer. >> in the crime scene photographs, there was a picture of six cigarette butts that were collected. then there was a beer can and a coke can.

>> and police learn that j.c. had made one of those visits to susan's house just days before susan was murdered. >> she and i had taken a bath in the bathtub together. my fingerprints were all over the place, and they were already on file for possession of marijuana. i was in the wrong place at the wrong time. i had no alibi for where i was that night. i was at home alone watching tv by myself. yeah, if i was them, i would be looking at me too. >> the lead detective, donnie hensley, brought in j.c. bowman for a lie detector test and fingerprints. >> can you remember precisely what you was doing on sunday, the 26th of july? >> no, i sure can't. >> i'm not going to lie to you. you are a suspect, and you're going to be a suspect until i resolve the fact that you're not a suspect. >> i guarantee you i didn't do it. i couldn't do something like that. i couldn't do something like that and live with myself. >> well, that's between you and your god. >> i said, "am i clear now? did the lie detector test come out positive? how'd i do?" he said, "well, it was inconclusive." he said, "you're still on the

list, but you're not on the top of the list." >> police then turn their attention to the report of a man who was seen lurking outside susan's home around the time she was murdered. >> so after j.c., though, things get a little bit interesting. because first off, one of the neighbors did think that they saw a large guy in the neighborhood that night, maybe near susan's house. >> there was a red pickup truck and a guy, a large-framed man, probably 9:00 or 10:00 or 11:00 at night was seen leaving her house. got in that truck, and they took off. so based on that, the suspect would've been a large-framed, big guy. that's roy hayes. and, you know, roy was a friend. so, you know, hensley zeroed in on him. >> when susan was by herself in those days and weeks after michael left, she feared for her safety. it was roy who came in and nailed the the windows shut. it was roy who briefly lent her a pistol. so roy had access.

>> i got a call from the police department asking me to come in, and they wanted to ask me about susan woods' death. my fingerprints were all over the house because i had nailed all the windows shut. so, i mean, that's pretty much a given. >> what was your relationship with susan? >> it was mainly through cindy, but i did know her. >> you never sat down, drank a couple beers with her? >> no. no. she wouldn't have felt comfortable. >> you don't think she'd been comfortable sitting on the couch with you, you drinking a coke? >> no. i am sure she wouldn't have. >> but the thing that really made him odd was that roy played dungeons and dragons. you know, it's a game where you have a bunch of characters, elves and mystics and things. and, you know in a bible-fearing place like stephenville, it did bear a whiff of the satanic. >> so back in the late '70s and early '80s, dungeons and dragons set off a moral panic around the

country, thanks in part to shows like "the 700 club." >> dungeons and dragons creates a world of fear and death. the most thoroughly researched introduction to the occult in man's recorded history. >> and some critics went on to make false claims that the game caused players to take their own lives or even commit murder. >> a lot of people who here thought it had satanic -- satanic overtures. the question was, could it have been a fantasy game that got out of hand? >> because i played dungeons and dragons, that maybe under my sway or me under their sway or whatever, that we as a group had gotten together and done this. >> so donnie takes roy down to a texas ranger office down in waco to give him a lie detector test. >> and he asked me a whole bunch of questions. and when i got out and ot done, they came in there and finally unstrap me. >> roy gets up, takes a deep breath, and donnie meets him at the door. and donnie says, "you did it." and roy's like, "what?" "you flunked the test."

>> he said, "you might as well go ahead and confess. you failed this test. you killed this girl." >> and roy turns around with this look of horror thinking that he's about to go to jail when the guy -- the ranger who administers it came out and says, "you passed. you're fine. it was a misunderstanding." >> he accused me three times on it when he knew i'd passed the test. but i guess in his mind, anything justified his actions to try to get somebody. >> it didn't just put his heart in his throat. it stayed in his throat for days, weeks, months, and maybe years. >> although j.c. bowman and roy hayes were both eventually cleared, for both of them it was a real white-knuckle experience. >> i was worried that i'd end up being convicted and being sent to prison for a crime that i didn't commit. the guy who actually did it, that i felt did it, was mike woods. >> and roy wasn't the only one. five months after susan's

murder, it's christmastime and stephenville is convinced no more investigation is even needed. many didn't want to hear any other names. >> at the end of the day, everybody in town thought that it was michael. >> those close to susan know even more about the couple's break-up and angry messages michael had left for susan to find. >> the cassette tapes and these little notes change everything. he's all but threatening her. >> she feared michael.

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days after the murder of susan woods, stephenville turns out to mourn the unfathomable loss of one of their own. and for investigators, it wasn't so much about who showed up. it was about who didn't. and one man's striking absence would inflame suspicions -- that of susan's ex-husband, michael woods. >> a whole lot of people showed up. she had a lot of friends in the community and everything. and mike doesn't show up at all. >> and police were everywhere.

>> so it's said that suspicions about michael woods dated back to the late '70s. remember, stephenville was ten-gallon hats and country music to its core. michael had long hair, a motorcycle, and an antiauthority chip on his shoulder, like a rebel out of the '60s movie "easy rider." >> michael came to stephenville in '78 or '79 when a family friend in el paso was moving here and asked him could he move her things in a truck? and he stayed. >> more than 40 years after he first came to town, michael woods returned to stephenville for "20/20." >> it was a drastic switch any time i ran into somebody new. they were like, "well, you're kind of odd." i think people very much looked at me like an outsider because i didn't sound the same. i didn't look the same. i certainly didn't act the same. >> what made him stand out in this town?

>> what didn't? everything about michael woods not only stood out in stephenville. he was the anti-stephenville. but more than anything, michael had an attitude. >> i was a child of the '60s, and i wasn't about to cut my hair just to get along with a bunch of stuffed shirts. >> he presented as a very tough front, such that people were a little scared of him. when inevitably he would get insulted by somebody making a comment, he just popped them in the mouth. >> so police would pull me over, like, "who are you," you know, "what are you doing in our town?" >> michael woods, when i first met him, he was a pretty cool guy. very confident. michael was a live wire, and i think that's what susan saw in him is there was never a dull moment. >> susan was a bit of an outsider herself. she didn't like cowboys and

pickup trucks. i clung to her. i was different than them. and she clung to me. we just kind of became our own unit. >> michael woods brought a defiant attitude to everything he did, including when he met susan's parents. let's just say good first impressions were not michael's strong suit. >> when i went to susan's house the first time, it was hot, so i was wearing a pair of cut-offs, and that was all. and her mother answered the door and just about had a heart attack. because here's this half-naked man at the door, asking for my daughter. >> i was raised in a small southern town, and when you went over to meet the girl's parents, let's just say you wore something nice. >> he's feral on the doorstep. >> i would say he had a feral quality. >> michael just can't stand stephenville. out of nowhere, he tells susan that he's got a job offer back in el paso, where he grew up, in an auto repair shop.

and she takes a deep breath and says, "sure." it's an adventure. she's never lived anyplace else. she was all in. >> these pictures were made the day that she left stephenville. her green laguna is right there, and she was pulling a little u-haul, small trailer, with her stuff in it. her mom told us to do something silly. so we we did that with the legs. we didn't know what else to do. >> they'd get themselves to el paso and wed there. but for michael and susan woods, there would be no honeymoon of any kind. >> when they moved to el paso, they didn't last but a few months. they were starving to death. >> it wasn't working anywhere towards the dream that susan had. >> she was pretty miserable.

>> she was having to eat bacon bit sandwiches. >> bac-os, in a jar. >> sprinkled on bread. >> my family grew up really poor. susan didn't grow up poor. she just couldn't stand living like that. >> and before long she drew the line and said, "this isn't working. i have to go back. we're going back." >> they come back to stephenville. >> yeah. >> she got her job back at the sandpaper factory, and even working overtime, and he's at home, watching tv. >> sunbathing. >> sunbathing outside. playing his guitar. >> people would see you, as you remember, sort of outside, sunning. and they thought, "he doesn't want to work." what was the story? >> well, i wanted to work, but i couldn't find places that would hire me or keep me. and i had a bit of an attitude. >> what does that feel like to come back to a place where you can -- you can just sense the hostility and the rejection? >> i felt trapped. no way out.

>> and then one day michael just ups and leaves. he vanishes. susan was at work, but she comes back and the car's gone, the yellow mustang. he's gone back to indianapolis. >> susan was a basket case, crying. couldn't stop crying. he had left, taken things that belonged to her, crystal prisms that she collected, just what he considered his half of everything they've got. >> he takes the mustang. he takes the only car they have. >> yes. it's one thing to take a mustang. we all like mustangs. it's another thing to take the one in which the only one of them that works drives to work. >> michael leaves without ever saying a word to susan's face. and yet he gets the last word anyway. why? because he tape recorded a 30-minute angry diatribe. it's laced with profanity. and he leaves the tape for susan on her kitchen counter. >> the "b" word? >> a lot of bad words.

he tells her that everything is her fault. the fact that they have no friends, the fact that he couldn't get a job, everything. >> and to add insult to injury, he had left terrible notes all over the house. >> you'd open the microwave, and there'd be one in the door of the microwave. >> "you're a bitch." you know. "it's all your fault." >> you'd open the drawer in the kitchen. there'd be another note. you'd lift the lid on the toilet. there's a note. she found them for weeks. >> there'd be one in her coat pocket. >> there would be one in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. >> just all these little surprise booby traps or minefields to destroy your self-esteem. >> the cassette tapes and these little notes change everything. they take what was a nasty break-up, in which one spouse took some stuff, to, "oh, my god, he's all but threatening her." she feared michael. >> that seething rage in michael's words to susan was not lost on police investigators.

>> i'm sorry. any detective in the world identifies michael wood as the prime suspect. >> a lot of things didn't help him. he didn't fit in. nobody liked him. he left in a huff. he has become a number one suspect. >> he was a suspect, a good suspect, and he wouldn't cooperate. so we had to keep going after him. >> now detectives would track him down to indiana, and they were about to pay him a visit. this is a hot flash. this is a hot flash. but this is a not flash. ♪ i got a good feeling ♪ there's big news for women going through menopause. veozah - a prescription treatment for moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms - the medical name for hot flashes and night sweats. with hormone-free veozah, you can have fewer hot flashes, and more not flashes.

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the investigation into the murder of susan woods starts to reveal new leads.

police learn of that angry, profanity-laced tape and notes that michael left for susan before high-tailing it out of town. >> michael woods had taken a mustang that she had bought and gone to indianapolis, indiana. >> at the end of the day, everybody in town thought that it was michael. that's what all the family thought. that's what her friends thought. >> they were afraid that she was going to come back and hurt her. >> any detective in the world identifies michael wood as the prime suspect. >> he's the focus right now. >> stephenville investigators reach out to the indianapolis metropolitan police department, asking them to find michael woods and bring him in for questioning. >> on a wednesday morning, the day after susan's killed, he's in his front yard, and police drive up. >> and i said, "well, is this about the parking dispute?" because there was a parking

dispute at the house. and they said, "yes, and if you'll come downtown, we can wrap this up." >> so michael goes on downtown. he's led into a conference room, and there's a bunch of cops in there. >> as a matter of routine, it's necessary for us to establish an alibi for you, where you were at and so forth. >> i'll assist you anywhere i can. >> and as michael tells the story, they begin to accuse him saying, "we knew you did it." >> they said, "well, your wife's dead and we know you killed her. so you might as well confess now so you don't get the gas chamber." and that's how i found out my wife was dead. i had to take a break from that, and i went to the restroom and threw up. it was such a shock. in the back of my mind was thinking, "they must've made a mistake. it must be somebody else." >> michael also tells police that he was in indiana when the murder was committed and that the last time he spoke with susan was a couple of weeks before she died.

>> when was the last time you spoke with your wife? >> i spoke to her, i think, a couple weeks ago. >> would you say that was a friendly conversation on both ends? >> it was friendly, but not as friendly as i would've liked. >> did she indicate she was seeing anybody? >> she indicated that she was seeing other men and was glad to see men that didn't have my problems. it was refreshing. >> at one point, the police officer wrote out a confession and asked me to sign it. and i said, "no, i'm not going to sign that, i think i want a lawyer." and so they let me go, and i had to walk home. >> michael would say later that he took the yellow mustang and some of the stuff in the house because he and susan shared ownership of those things. and as for that rage-filled tape and those notes he left for susan -- well, michael says he was angry but never intended to threaten her.

you said no one ever got angry at susan. you got angry at susan. >> yeah. >> do you regret that now? >> of course i regret it now. if -- if i had known something was going to happen to her, i would have never left. >> what do you mean by that? >> after i left, i kind of felt like she got murdered because i wasn't there to take care of her. i couldn't even come to her funeral because i didn't trust the police not to shoot me. >> you thought you'd be gunned down as you tried to attend her funeral? >> i thought they would arrest me and find some excuse for shooting me. >> michael is in the crosshairs of the stephenville police investigation. they suspect that michael drove back to texas, committed the murder, and returned to indianapolis. lead investigator donnie hensley just needs michael's fingerprints and palm print to connect him to the crime scene. so they get on a plane and head to indianapolis. >> sergeant hensley and i drove

by the house where michael woods was staying, just to get the lay of the land. later on, we came back with the surveillance van. you drive by vans like that all the time, and you don't pay any attention to them. so innocuous, just sitting there. >> as luck would have it, they actually spy michael and his brother in the front yard. and they're starting to put out items for what looks like a yard sale. >> and donnie notices a number of crystal figurines sold in this yard sale as says, "ah-ha, those have got to be crystal figurines that he stole, took, purloined from the house. i bet you we can swoop in and get him for theft." >> they used that to get a search warrant to go grab michael. >> the indianapolis police not only saw the figurines. >> they found some marijuana, and they arrested him, and that's how they got his fingerprints and palm prints.

>> michael is never charged with marijuana possession. but the lawmen from texas get what they came for. >> donnie walked back to the indianapolis airport the next day going, "ah-ha! on this card, i've got his prints, we've got the bastard." >> so they are thinking, "okay, we nailed him." >> donnie was so confident that they had now broken the case. they're on the airplane back to texas. he's already filing out the extradition papers for michael to come back to stephenville. >> but what happened then? >> they sit down and they compare those fingerprints to the fingerprints at the crime scene. and donnie told me he has never been more surprised in his entire adult life. they find something much darker and much more ominous. >> no one could have imagined is that here, at this secluded rest stop just off the highway, a hideous crime had taken place that would cast new light on the

murder of susan woods. >> i couldn't scream because it would make the beating worse. >> this is the same person who killed susan woods. >> he told me -- he goes, "i've killed before, and i'm not afraid to kill again." type 2 diabetes? discover the ozempic® tri-zone. ♪ ♪ i got the power of 3. i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it.

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this was a young woman who put up quite a struggle for her life. >> that's like a death mask. >> i needed the case solved. i owed it to susan to find her killer.

>> i think this might be it. >> as soon as i got in the vehicle, i knew i made the biggest mistake of my life. >> in shannon's telling, suddenly dr. jekyll turned into mr. hyde. >> why were you leaving items of clothing around the campground here? >> because no one knew i was down here. he got on top of me, and he pushed my head into the water. he said, "i've killed before, and i'm not afraid to kill again." >> it was like hearing beaver cleaver had killed susan. >> nobody ever suspected him. nobody. >> once you hear shannon's story, each one of these pictures connects somehow to what happened to susan woods. >> susan let him in her house because she felt he was as harmless as we did. >> "i was without any doubt evil to my entire core." >> a monster if one was ever born.

>> gotcha. it's july 1987, and in the small town of stephenville, texas, 30-year-old susan woods is found brutally murdered in her bathtub. >> she didn't deserve what she got. that was pure torture and hell on earth. >> as they investigate, police zero in on her estranged husband, michael woods, whose bad boy biker attitude had made him a town pariah, and who'd had an angry bust-up with susan just weeks earlier. >> she was afraid of michael after they broke up. every window was nailed shut, every door was deadbolted, she was scared. >> but when detectives in stephenville obtain michael woods' fingerprints and compare them to those at the crime scene, they get a

texas-sized surprise. >> the prints didn't match, uh, michael woods. his prints, palm prints did not match the ones on the, that i lifted from the tub beside the body. >> no match, no murder charge. yet michael woods knows he's still not off the hook. >> they were still after me. they didn't care if the prints matched. that was a minor detail to be dealt with in court. >> susan's parents learn that their murdered daughter had an $11,000 life insurance policy. guess who's the beneficiary? michael. >> when they became aware of this life insurance situation, they were just apoplectic. so they brought a suit against him, to eliminate the payment but also to have him declared legally responsible for susan's death. >> susan's parents said that i had killed her, that it was a wrongful death. i had no way to fight it. i couldn't afford lawyers.

and they sued me for $700,000 plus interest. >> the court decided in favor of susan's parents. but up in indiana, michael doesn't have $700,000 or anything like it. >> so long as he didn't go back to texas, which he was never going to do, that they could not, you know, seize any of his meager assets. >> but that cloud of suspicion over michael's head never goes away. it's not just susan's parents, even complete strangers seem to believe that michael had killed her. >> everybody in town thought that it was michael. at an actual performance, while we were on break, i had a guy came and up said, "hey, man, didn't you kill your wife?" it's like, "no, i didn't kill my wife, why are you asking me this?" i tried to put it out of my mind as much as possible, but it -- it weighed heavy on my mind. >> can anybody who hasn't gone

through what you went through understand what you felt like in those days? >> when i should've been grieving for my wife, i was trying to fight for my freedom. you know, i had to constantly watch over my shoulder. my life just fell apart. i guess the music was the only thing i had left. >> meanwhile, the criminal investigation into susan's murder is at a standstill. >> and the years went by -- '88, '89, '90, all the way to the year 2000. and everyone knew it would never be solved. we'd learned to live with that. >> after a gig in 2005, michael pours out his heart to a friend about susan, about her murder, and about his life in the shadow of suspicion. >> it was around the time of year that susan had died, and i

just kind of broke down after we'd played. >> that single conversation changes everything. his friend emails the stephenville police and begs them to help michael, says he's been really suffering about all of this. >> i thought, well, this is interesting. i called her, and i said, "okay. have michael call me, because if he'll cooperate with the police, then we'll reopen the case." i didn't hear anything for six months. >> still, detective miller sees an opportunity here, thanks to dna testing, which was not available when susan's murder was first investigated. remember those six cigarette butts from the crime scene? they had a male's dna on them. but whose? >> don miller wanted to get my dna, and i was pretty weary of cops. >> and at first he said yes, and then he called back and said, "no, don't come."

so i went up there anyway. >> suddenly, after 19 years, michael woods is face to face with a stephenville police officer. >> what did he say that caused you to open the door? you could've shut that door and never seen him again. >> i needed the case solved. and he was at the door. and i owed it to susan to find her killer. we stood out on the porch while him and his partner got my dna. >> the dna came back. it's not his dna. so 100% now, there's no question in my mind michael woods is cleared. and i call him, and he just started crying, and he said, "thank you," and he hung up. >> i don't think any of us can know what it's like to get the phone call you got, that you had been cleared in the murder of

the woman you loved. what does that feel like? >> i couldn't think clearly for a few days. it was like, it's finally over. you know, they're not going to put me in jail, i'm not going to die in prison. >> all of this kind of put don miller in a tough position. you know, good news for michael woods that you're not a murder suspect. but bad news for don miller. he's just freed up his only suspect. >> and that leaves don miller with almost no remaining leads, except for those original fingerprints from the crime scene. >> i take them to dps in austin, i ask them to run these fingerprints through automatic fingerprint identification system. >> so a few days later there's a call from a trooper down in austin and, he says, "we got a match on those prints for you." when don reads the d.a.'s file, he finds something much darker and much more ominous.

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it's 2006 now, and stephenville detective don miller is back to square one after finally clearing michael woods in the murder of his wife susan. he takes the existing fingerprints from the crime scene and runs them in a fbi database system -- one that did not exist back in 1987. and finally, after all this time, there is a match. the fingerprints belong to a man named joseph scott hatley, who was arrested for armed robbery in 1988, in las vegas, nevada. >> so he calls the district attorney and says, "do we know a joseph scott hatley?" and he says, "we sure do. want to come read the file?" >> and so i opened the file, and i started reading this report about a 16-year-old girl who had been sexually assaulted. >> she is shannon myers, and in 1988, one year after susan woods' murder, shannon told police that she had been sexually assaulted by scott hatley.

so what's hatley's story? he comes from a well-known family in town. he'd gone to stephenville high. his sister regina lived next door to shannon. >> in 1987, i met scott hatley when i was over there visiting regina. >> and he began to ask her questions and express an interest. >> one night i was over at regina's, and scott and i had already been heavy flirting. and he reached over and kissed me. and we started having sex, and i was a teenager, and i just wanted to have fun. i'd go out partying with my friends, come home, and meet up with scott. >> but, shannon says 20-year-old scott grew increasingly testy and aggressive. >> he became very controlling. he wanted to know exactly who i was with, where we were going, how long we're going to stay there. any time that he and i would have intercourse, it was always by water.

it was always in the bathroom. >> one night, shannon recalls, scott demanded sex, and she said no. >> and in shannon's telling, "no, stop," suddenly dr. jekyll turned into mr. hyde. >> and he pulled out a knife, and he held the knife to my throat, and he raped me. >> after the assault, shannon and her mother go to the police, but hatley is never charged. and shannon ends the relationship. 10 months later, hatley asks her to meet, to explain himself. >> i wanted to know, why did he betray the trust that i instilled in him? as soon as i got in the vehicle, i knew i made the biggest mistake of my life. >> ultimately, he pulls up in this little roadside park in the middle of nowhere about three miles south of town. >> it was like a little bitty

picnic area park. it was pitch black. >> and she knew she was in trouble. >> so did you come over here? is that what happened, you walked? >> we got out of the vehicle. we came over here and sat down. he kissed me passionately and he wanted to have sex immediately. and i told him no. and then that's -- that's when he released his rage on me. i see cars going by. i'm thinking, help, somebody help me. and i couldn't scream. i was screaming inside, but i couldn't -- i couldn't scream because it would make the rape worse. it would make the beating worse. i always had to stay naked. i couldn't put my clothes back on. and he would drink.

and he would smoke a cigarette. and then the cycle of abuse would happen again. >> they were out there all night long, and the violence never really let up. at some point, she got up and ran. >> go ahead and show us, if you'd like. >> okay. i ran this way. and i got right along where the -- where the creek was at. and that's when he caught me. he got on top of me, and he pushed my head into -- into the, um, into the water. he said, "i've killed before, and i'm not afraid to kill again." when scott said, "i've killed before," i really thought that i was going to be his next victim.

i started leaving pieces of me behind, clues. i left my bra behind, my hair clip. >> why were you leaving items of clothing around the campground here? >> because no one knew i was down here. i ended up -- i stopped fighting him. i started manipulating him. >> and what sort of things did you say to him then? >> that i loved him. that i want a future together. that still -- it just sends shivers to -- through my spine, even saying it today. it was probably around 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning when we started getting into the vehicle. then scott turned on the light. and i believed what saved me was because i did like this, and i

hid my face. he really could not see the bruises. he goes, "okay." he goes, "i'm going to take you back home." and he goes, "don't you tell or i'll come back, and i'll finish." and i believed him. as soon as i got home, my stepfather walked out of the bedroom, and i fell into his arms. and i said, "scott did this." >> her parents take her to the hospital, and once again, shannon reports a sexual assault at the hands of scott hatley to the police. and with photos of her injuries, and rape test kits to support her account, shannon is convinced that this time hatley will be charged with rape. hatley is so sure he'll be arrested that he flees to vegas, and there he gets picked up for armed robbery, where those crucial fingerprints are taken. >> the case went to a grand jury, and that went on deaf ears. the grand jury didn't indict scott because of lack of evidence.

>> this was back in the day in the state of texas where if you can show a young woman was promiscuous, you could undercut a rape charge. that's exactly what happened. >> i'm still mind-blown by that. you had pictures of bruises of him choking me. you had the rape kit. you had everything. to me, the justice system that day raped me. it was a lot for the 16-year-old me to take. >> for detective miller, shannon's story is a roadmap that leads directly to susan woods' killer. now it's time to put the heat on scott hatley. >> i'm going to straight up and ask you, did you kill her?

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so don is going down into the reports, and there in shannon's report, she talks about being raped violently. and hatley said, "you mind me, because if you don't, i'm going to kill you." and then don read the words that changed everything. this hatley said, "i've killed before." and don leaned back. he thought, "gotcha." >> so to make it clear, the assault took place in 1988. >> yes, sir. >> and you're looking at these pictures in 2006. isn't that correct? >> yes.

>> once you hear shannon's story, each one of these pictures connects somehow to what happened to susan woods? >> my mind is going back to susan woods' crime scene. because everything is matching now, up to and including the cigarette butts. >> just the sheer violence, the manner in which she was sexually assaulted, the fact of he would, you know, beat her senseless, and she'd come back around and he'd do it again, and in the meantime be smoking and drinking -- that explained why i had six cigarette butts in the ashtray. >> here's another shot of that creek you were talking about. >> yeah, yeah. >> and this is a -- this is an important moment in shannon's narrative, isn't it? >> very important in shannon's narrative. when she said," there's the indention of my body. there's the creek that my head was held under as i was being assaulted." then i knew that this crime scene is the same as susan woods' crime scene. >> because that's exactly what happened to susan woods. >> that's exactly what happened

to susan. yes, sir. >> shannon's assault took place in 1988, a year after susan woods' murder. no one thought about connecting the two cases back then. and had hatley's fingerprints from his arrest in vegas been available on a database, detectives might have put the pieces together. >> i mean, shannon was the key all along. >> you know, so at this point, things begin to move really fast. hatley turns out not to be hard to find at all. he's in the phone book down in round rock, texas, just outside austin, where he worked as a supervisor at a warehouse. >> so my partner and i, russell ford, we get in the car. and as we're headed down to round rock, texas, i looked at russell, and i said, "today is 06/06 of '06, the day we meet the devil himself." and we did.

>> so the round rock police have brought him in for questioning, and don is absolutely convinced that he's the guy. >> did the police ever interview you back then? >> no, they didn't back then, no. >> okay. >> in my mind, it's not alleged. it's not a matter of, "i wonder if hatley really did this murder." he did it. >> can you think of any reason why someone would say that you were responsible for this? >> why somebody's saying i'm responsible? >> well, i just want to know if you can think of any reason why somebody would say that you that you killed susan. >> i certainly wouldn't. there would be no reason i would. >> he's calm, cool, and collected. you know, i mean, an innocent person would be pinging off the walls. he knows why we're there, stephenville pd. and i know that he knows. >> how do you feel about being interviewed about this?

>> well, it's 25 years too late, probably. i mean, personally, i had nothing to do with it. >> what i'm hoping for is him to say, "i was never in the house." but unfortunately, that's not what we got. >> did you ever go into the house? >> yeah. >> a bunch or -- >> i don't know, a bunch. it was a place we partied sometimes. >> did you ever have sex with susan at any time? >> no. >> so there wouldn't be any reason why your dna would be anywhere around her body? >> i wouldn't think so, no. >> so i've got palm prints on either side of a dead body that i know is gonna be hatley's. in my mind, it was a formality. >> would you mind if we took a sample of your dna today? >> i don't know if i should talk

to an attorney. >> then detective miller cuts to the chase. >> i'm going to straight up and ask you. did you kill her? >> i didn't kill her. >> but then hatley starts to change his story. he backtracks a little and reveals that he knew susan a little more than he first let on, all while keeping his cool. >> did you have sex with her? >> you know, like i said, a lot of that times we were just over there, and we all hung out. >> do you think you might've had sex with her? >> it's possible. i had sex with a lot of people. yeah, i would say we might've fooled around. but it wasn't nothing heavy. we were usually too high or drunk to be anything real heavy. >> so same hatley is being interrogated, there's a

startling new development. round rock police are simultaneously interviewing hatley's wife, and she's alleging a harrowing story of domestic abuse. >> she describes an event that happened on christmas eve of '05, where she was physically assaulted. >> hatley's spouse, who is disabled and uses a wheelchair, says he pulled her hands behind her back and sexually assaulted her. it's a vicious attack, and she even notes it on her calendar for that night. it reads, "scott beat the hell out of me, nosebleed, black eye, could barely breath." and she then claims he did this on a number of occasions. >> all right, sir, we'll have -- go ahead and come with us. >> back at the round rock police station, hatley consents to giving a dna sample, and he's sent home. so will those dna test results finally confirm the identity of susan's killer?

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18 years after the town of stephenville, texas, was rocked with the news of the brutal death of susan woods, her murder has remained unsolved. susan's family, they had started to lose hope that they would ever get justice. then a dramatic development while joseph scott hatley and his family are out to dinner. >> they went to eat supper, and when they left the restaurant, the s.w.a.t. team arrested hatley. >> hatley was arrested on domestic violence charges tied to his wife's graphic allegations of abuse. and that gave detective don miller time to run hatley's

dna for the murder of susan woods. the dna from the cigarette butts are a match for joseph scott hatley. the first person detective don miller tells is susan woods' father, joe atkins. >> i said, "mr. atkins, the guy who killed your daughter has been arrested." and he said, "well, i'm glad you finally got old michael. i thought he was gonna get away with it." and i said, "no, sir, mr. atkins. it was a guy named joseph scott hatley." and he looked at me, and he said, "well, i don't believe it." >> to hear that scott hatley was who had killed susan was like hearing that beaver cleaver had killed susan. >> for susan's friends cindy and roy, the news is even more shocking. they know scott hatley. they're related to him. >> my initial reaction was -- >> oh, boy. >> -- there's no way he did. >> he was my first cousin that i was raised with.

he was like a brother to me. it was very, very hard to take. but the evidence was there, and i did believe don. i did believe him. >> hatley was a chameleon. nobody ever suspected him. nobody. >> it gets even worse. hatley would talk with susan's unsuspecting friends about her murder. he even attended a birthday party with susan's friends just weeks after her death. >> susan was the main topic of conversation at this birthday party. that's all anyone talked about, including scott wanted to discuss it. he did have a fascination with the case. but we all did at that time. >> michael woods, he'd spent decades as an outcast, scorned, under constant suspicion for his wife's murder. now her real killer had been found. >> i was shocked.

it was her best friend's cousin. a monster if one was ever born. >> i can't imagine what michael went through all those years, knowing that everybody blamed him for something he didn't do. there was a lot of hatred toward him. >> dna tells a story, and it doesn't lie. the proof is there that i didn't do it, and i would've never hurt susan for anything. when they arrested hatley, i felt like, you know, he's going to go to jail for what he's done now. and that susan's going to be able to rest a little easier in her grave. >> everybody saw that they got scott hatley. cool. great. go, justice. but there was no concurrent announcement that michael woods is free and that we wronged him. there is no concurrent announcement that, "by the way,

that crazy 16-year-old girl, by the way, oh, she was right too." i'm sorry. i get a little angry about it. >> in retrospect, just like michael, she was a total victim. everyone rallied around scott, while this poor girl suffered. there was a lot of injustice in this case. >> after hatley was charged with the murder of susan woods, shannon says she was looking forward to facing her attacker in court at last. but susan's parents, they don't want a public trial. so instead, joseph scott hatley pled guilty to murder. >> i was hoping to go to trial and to stand before him and say, "look at me now," and to show him that, i don't fear you anymore. >> scott hatley never actually goes on trial. >> i think there are a lot of people that follow this story that would like to have seen justice disclosed.

>> hatley is sentenced to 30 years in prison. >> the deal was only for the murder. he was never prosecuted for the domestic charges in round rock or the rapes of shannon myers. the reason he let shannon live is he knew no one would believe her. he knew the town. if susan talked, she was a stephenville girl. people would listen. they would know. shannon is only alive today because scott hatley knew no one would believe her, and the awful truth is he was right. >> stephenville was a town that kept its secrets well hidden. but there was one more shock still to come to light, a discovery that would shed light on how hatley became a monster. >> susan let him in her house because she felt he was as harmless as we did. there's no way he could be dangerous. >> secrets revealed in joseph scott hatley's own words.

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for all of joseph scott hatley's evil deeds, he only spent 11 years in prison. >> when i found out he was being released for killing my best friend, i'm thinking, "gosh, drug dealers get more prison time than that." >> he moved into a trailer near his daughter outside of abilene, texas. was diagnosed with cancer. and in december of 2021, his landlord found him on the floor of his trailer dead. >> there is a god. thank you, lord jesus. >> unknown to all, in that trailer on the outskirts of the woods where he had spent his

final days, there were answers to the mystery of his depravity just waiting to be found. >> so not long after hatley was found dead, detective don miller gets this call. somebody had just bought the trailer where hatley died, and while cleaning it out, had found all sorts of disturbing stuff that really creeped him out. >> pages and pages of a handwritten account of a life of crime and murder. he shares those surprising findings with writer bryan borough. >> the killer in his own words. it answers all the things that nobody ever knew -- the why's and the how's and insight into the mind of joseph scott hatley. >> scotty was just a goofy, kind of chubby kid that didn't quite fit in at school. he seemed utterly harmless. >> there's another story of scott hatley, though. it's a story of a kid who was

able to keep those violent fantasies at bay with the help of booze and pornography, until he couldn't anymore. >> his violent fantasies kicked in as early as age 8, he writes. he thinks about how cool it would be to shoot up his school, but how he'd have to kill his parents first. you know what i was struck by in this, was his description of what he said his mother did to him. >> his mom would hit him upside the head, and it would make his ears ring. and every time that he got mad, his ears would ring. >> he writes, "i grabbed my mom, wrap my hands around her throat, and whisper to her, i would kill her. i saw it in her eyes -- fear. i had found a new drug -- fear." >> that slap of his mother's, and what it triggered in him, would reverberate for years. >> after we graduated, i didn't see him until he had kind of got out of the air force and come back. and he was drinking a whole lot. >> he writes "smoking and drinking beer out on the drag. man, i felt like a rockstar."

>> he writes about how from the age of 13 onward, he craved the feeling of being intoxicated. but it was with a cold, clear mind that he began to plot his hideous crimes. >> he said, "everything that i ever did, i thought about doing when i was sober." >> hatley writes that it was at a weekly round table gathering of friends, organized by his sister regina, that he got his first look at susan woods. he had come to drink and play cards that summer night. in his drunken state, he thought susan was flirting with him. a week later, he was still thinking about her. >> "you must understand, i did not set out that night to hunt anyone. i was lonely, drunk, high, and looking for a good time." >> there was no reason for him to go to her house. she probably let him in because of me, because she knew he was my cousin. that's it. >> she let him drink a coke, and they talked. "at one point, i overstepped my bounds and susan slapped me.

what happened next is a blur. by the time i came out of the fog, i had brutalized her. she was alive. i could have stopped, but i didn't. she said she would not tell anyone if i'd just let her go. i found it interesting that she thought any of that mattered. i asked her if she believed in god. she said she did. i told her, 'then you need to pray.'" he actually writes, "by god, i had become a monster." >> given the state susan's body had been found in, police were never able to discern exactly how susan had been killed. but scott hatley knew. and he wrote about it. >> "it was not death by drowning in the bathtub but suffocation by a pillow that would tell the tale of murder." >> immediately after killing susan and leaving her house, hatley drives past the police department and, he claims in his writings, thinks about turning himself in.

what he actually did days later was go to susan's funeral, sign the guest book, and silently taunt the police as they watched the crowd. >> "i did not cry. i did not grieve. i was, without any doubt, evil to my entire core." and then he finishes, "i wish with all my heart that i could tell you i've mourned for what i've done, but that would be a lie." >> no one suspects him. and hatley writes that when he sees his crime in the paper, he experienced an unbelievable thrill. >> "my sister had a round oak table in her kitchen that for years our group would sit around, drink, and talk the nights away. we spent many hours discussing susan's murder. my cousin's boyfriend was a suspect, so she had inside information." >> scott would be sitting at the table, we would fill them in. >> scott had no serious concern that they were any longer going to get him because they were so fixated on michael woods, who hatley actually calls "my other

victim." >> he was right there. nobody ever suspected him. nobody. >> "how could they know that the answers to the questions sat right across the table?" >> we don't realize that sometimes there are monsters that live in the hearts of some other people. >> right under your nose. right under your nose. >> towards the end, hatley sums up his life with another final chilling realization. >> "i've spent hundreds of pages writing about my two sides -- dr. jekyll and mr. hyde. those men in the mirror, are they still there? can i see them? to say i don't would be a lie. they have always been there and always will." >> but what about shannon, what words did hatley have for her from beyond the grave, and what was her message back?

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ask your doctor about fasenra. when joseph scott hatley's handwritten autobiography was revealed after his death, the murder of susan woods was not the only thing he wrote about. he also wrote about shannon. >> "shannon had no idea who i was, what i was. i told her i would give her

something to file charges on. once i was done humiliating her, i drove her back to her neighborhood. i had become a walking demon." >> i know scott knew that he was guilty. i know scott knew that what he did to me was terribly wrong. >> that day in the park has haunted shannon for 35 years. >> when i first met her, her eyes were sunken. any time a pickup pulled up next to her with loud pipes, she'd have a panic attack. any time she took a shower, she'd have a panic attack. any time any water got around her, she had a panic attack. >> the fear ended one day while i was at work. i get this phone call from donnie. >> when don miller told shannon that scott hatley had died, the news changed everything for her. >> i felt happiness that i could live again. i had to learn how to live again

without fear. we were -- we were more up in this way. >> shannon felt compelled to face her demons and revisit the park decades later. could you ever have imagined that you would survive this and stand here today as someone who had endured and prevailed what was done to you? >> never. i never thought that i could be strong enough to stand here today and tell my story. >> you're a hero, shannon. >> i don't see myself as a hero. i also don't see myself as a victim. i do feel a connection with susan, because she lost her life. and i'm here. i still feel like we're bonded by that, strangely.

♪ >> michael woods? he's still writing and performing his music today. but he remains haunted by his memories of susan. >> i loved susan. i love her to this day. i think about times with her, driving around, laughing, and having a good time. she had quite the sense of humor. i just miss her. >> i miss her every day. i do. but she did come to me in a dream. she was walking along the road, and i put my hand on the glass. and she put her hand on the other side of the glass. and she looked at me, and she had the most angelic smile on her face.

i never will forget it. but i'm going to see her one day. i will see her, hopefully. >> deborah: even with susan woods' case closed, detective don miller thinks joseph hatley had other victims, based on his writings. >> david: and hi plans to look at other cases with similarity to susan woods. in the meantime, that's our program tonight. thanks for watching. i'm david muir. >> deborah: i'm deborah roberts. from all of us here at "20/20" and abc news, good night.

just about all of our cameras in the bay area were wet at some point tonight. and guess what? there was a lot more on the way. good evening. i'm ama daetz the first of several storms rolled through tonight and we are far from done. this was a one on our exclusive storm impact scale, so let's get to meteorologist sandhya patel and the weekend going to be a total washout. sandhya well. >> ama no, but there will be some significantrillionain this upcoming weekend, so let's