sorry i'm not there to meet my granddaughter. sorry we can't go on another hike together. or i love you. >> praise the lord for this country. >> that is all for this edition of "dateline", i'm craig melvin, thank you for watching! and this is "dateline." >> hello i'm craig melvin, and this is dateline. we heard all this talk around

town that jessie was dead. to know that the last moment that she spent on this earth, she was in so much fear. it's not fair. if he is still out there, he could still be plotting. he could still be hunting. who is next? >> jessie gave her all. to everything she did. >> she's on a mission. >> her whole life. >> and then, someone took it all away. >> and i was like, jessie? nothing? i jolt her a little bit. and then i knew, this is not good. >> my daughter, won't wake up. >> she had been murdered in her own bed after coming home from a pool party. a party that hadn't been all fun and games. >> she was 19 and these men were in their 40s. we wanted to talk to them. >> did something happen at that party? what was happening around this small town.

>> i heard somebody running behind me. then i noticed he had a knife in his hands. >> someone was stalking young women. >> it was either, i try to save myself or i let this guy do whatever he wants to me. >> his dreams were their nightmares. >> the research is on -- search is on bond. could he be caught before he killed again? >> and then we knew he done it. now we just had to prove it. >> hello and welcome to dateline. in small town wisconsin, a 19 year old girl came home from a party, said goodnight to her mother and went to bed, safe for the night. but, the next day she was dead. and police were calling it murder. who would want to kill this talented young woman. and was it somehow connected to reports of an attacker on the loose? here is andrea canning with friends until death. >> she was a young woman who

devoted her whole life to making music. an accomplished musician who played several instruments, acted even wrote her own songs. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> that was her biggest passion. she some music as a way to change the world. >> that was -- violin, piano. >> she had a unique sound. >> yeah. >> so who could've predicted that on july 15th, 2015, the music and the young girls dream would end so suddenly. >> we were in shock, disbelief. >> it was hard to understand, to come to grips with. >> oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my god. >> ma'am, stay on the line with me we're going to get themself or you. >> a small town was faced with a mystery with police asking, what was real and was a performance? >> he's an actor. he's two different people.

>> who is this guy. who does he think he is that he could go around doing this to women? >> ask anyone who knew jessie blodgett growing up in hartford wisconsin. they tell you she was happy, passionate, full of life. her dad said she had always been that way. did she have a happy childhood? >> yes, i show you 600 photos of my computer. you could be able to count on one hand the ones that you could find where she's not beaming and smiling. she's a really happy kid. >> jessie, an only child, was the light of her parents live. their miracle baby. buck and joy blodgett thought they couldn't have children. so they cherished her little girl that much more. >> we bonded from day one with a little purple head came out. and every day since. we talked about drugs. we talked about sex. there was nothing off limits. >> and her mom says jessie's

friends were like part of the family. >> they always seemed to hang out at our house. >> yeah. we did. she would, like fight her to throw a party. >> ian, jacqui and amelia were three of jackie's closest school pals. >> -- >> hard not to, i mean she's a really contagious personality. but jessie also had a more serious side. one that loved to debate issues and fight for causes she believed in. jessie sounds a little bit like an old soul. is that fair? >> she liked old people stuff. >> yeah, she did. i don't really know much highschoolers that are super activists about animal rights. >> she made herself well versed and just, a lot of different opinions and viewpoints. >> jessie wanted to make a difference. that much was clear. but what made her happiest was sharing her gift. >> every time i went over to jessie's house she would always be playing the piano. even when i was trying to talk to her she was like -- and i was like, hello, jessie? >> jessie's passion for music grew even stronger in college. in summer after a freshman year, she teamed up with an old boyfriend and theater pal, dan. and, together they wrote this heartfelt song.

♪ ♪ ♪ >> we had a music room, he had a music room in his house. so, he'd bring his guitar and they both saying. >> that summer, jessie also >> we had a music room, he had a music room in his house. so, he'd bring his guitar and they both sang. >> that summer, jessie also won the title rolled in the local production, "fiddler at the roof", jerry becker directed the show. >> did she just fully embraced it? >> she did, she enjoyed being the person who really opens the show and sets the mood, sets the feeling. >> it was july 14th, after the sunday matinee. jessie and the cast gathered for a pool party. >> we went out to a cast

members farm, he had a pool and some llamas and other animals there. i left early with my family. and i remember her sitting there and said goodnight and thanked her for her performance. >> she came home around, what time? >> it was late. 12:30, i believe. >> you were still awake? >> i waited up for her. i couldn't go to sleep until i heard that she was in the house. >> they chatted briefly and said goodnight. the next morning, jessie's mom popped into her daughters room before work and saw jessie still fast asleep. >> nothing that you could ever think was odd when you left, i would imagine? >> no, no, and this was her first morning to sleep in for a very long time. >> joy returned home for lunch and saw that jessie wasn't downstairs, ready for her afternoon violin lesson. >> i went to the top of the stairs and i was like, jessie? nothing. so, then i went in and i came around the bed and then i kind of wiggled her a little bit and nothing. and then i knew. this is not good. this is not good. >> joy made a frantic call to 9-1-1. >> what's the problem? >> my daughter is blue. i went to wake her up and -- i just got home from -- for a lunch and she won't wake up. >> is she breathing? >> i don't think so, no. >> okay you're trying to do cpr?

>> i'm trying to pump her chest. >> just hours before, she had seen her daughters sleeping peacefully. now, joy, a chiropractor, was fighting to save jessie's life. >> your mother instincts were kicking in -- >> yeah. i just kept thinking, she fell asleep and stopped breathing in the pillow or something. >> as joy moved jessie to the floor to better perform cpr, first responders arrived. >> did you, at that point, start to feel her slip away that hope was dwindling fast. >> i think that i just was thinking, do it. they'll take her to the hospital. they could do all kinds of stuff. you know? >> but they never took jessie to the hospital. it was too late. she was gone.

a tragedy and now a mystery. what happened to jessie blodgett. >> coming up -- detectives hear something from jessie's mom they find interesting and troubling. when jessie got home that night from the party, she was upset. >> what's going on, she said, oh, the guys you know? >> what about the guys? when dateline continues. to nurtec. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. ask about nurtec odt. we're travelling all across america, talking to people about their hearts. how's the heart? i feel like it's good. how do you know? let me show you something. it looks like a credit card, but it is the kardiamobile card. with kardiamobile card, you can take a medical-grade ekg in just 30 seconds, from anywhere. kardiamobile card is proven to detect atrial fibrillation, one of the leading causes of stroke. kardiamobile card is just $79 during our holiday sale, a $20 savings. get it for yourself or a loved one at kardia.com or amazon.

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year old daughter, jessie dead in her own bed. jesse's father was at work. >> you had to call your husband. >> i wanted to let him know as soon as possible because i knew how much he loved his little girl. >> she said, honey, honey, honey it's jesse. and then she busted up crying and i knew something was really wrong. i said is she gone? and joy, no more words came, just tears. so i raced home. >>but when buck arrived home, police cars on a crime scene truck were already in the driveway. >> i went in the door, through the yellow tape and when i saw joy's eyes in the living room, and then i knew that jess was gone. >> buck wasn't allowed in jessie's rooms because police were in there, trying to figure out what had happened. detective richard thickens of the hartford police department were one of the first on the scene. he looked around, found a typical teenager's messy bedroom. nothing strange there but when he found jessie's bodies, it was clear to the detective that

jesse did not die of natural causes. >> the first thing i noticed is that there was red marks running pretty much all the way across her neck. >> did you need an autopsy to tell you what you are seeing? >> no. it was very apparent that this was a ligature mark at that point. >> jessie had been murdered, strangled. but inside her bedroom there was no murder weapon. no sign of a struggle. except one thing did seem odd about jesse sped. >> the covers were over the bed in a perfect manner. and a kid who had stuff thrown all over the bed, there was nothing on the bed. >> it was very apparent that the scene had been changed. this was someone impossible trying to change that they did not leave anything of themselves behind. >> did they finally let you go upstairs when they had finished to say a proper goodbye? >> they released her room as a crime scene at the end of the day.

and brought her down. and after waiting all day, and finally getting my moment to say goodbye and tell her i love her, suddenly everybody is around watching the. and i never really had that moment with her, alone to say goodbye. >> that is heartbreaking. >> yeah. >> having barely digested the news of their daughter's death, still in shock, buck and joy sat down with investigators to tell them everything they knew. there was no sign of forced entry to the house. but they explained that most people in this quite safe town, they often left the door unlocked. >> this individual found that one door, the house wasn't ransacked. it looked to us that this person knew right were to go to find her. >> to the detectives, it didn't seem random, it was clear jessie was targeted. one of buck's first thoughts, a crew of tree cutters who recently worked outside of jesse's window.

>> it made me wonder if they had had thoughts when they were in the trees -- about the bedroom when she was sleeping there. just wondered if they noticed that there's this teenage girl, sleeping home alone when joy and i are at work while they're in the yard. >> buck also to the detectives that a problem that jessie was having -- with a coworker. >> she had come home a couple of times and said that he was inappropriate with her. >> what was he doing that was inappropriate? >> he would often make sure that she had to rub against him as she passed him. >> that must make units as a parents when you hear stories like -- >> when i heard that i was almost out that door to go over and talk to him. >> the restaurant was just down the road. it seemed possible that this coworker jessie found creepy knew where she lived, had been watching the house. >> certainly we take every possibility, we don't want to close in the evidence for the investigation, at that point. >> then, joy told the detective something that really caught their attention. jessie had come home from that fiddler on the roof cast party, clearly upset. >> i said, what's going on? she said, oh the guys, you know.

they're always making passes and i don't know why they have to always turn it to there. >> jessie told her mom, to older and from the cast were flirting with her. and it made her uncomfortable. one pulled her on his lap, the other one told a dirty joke. at the time, joy thought the flotation seemed harmless. and her young daughter simply did not know how to handle it. >> she didn't like men taking,, you know, privileges on women. >> but perhaps the incidents were more serious than her mother thought. jessie wrote about them in her diary that night. ending her final entry with god be with me. >> she was 19 and from what joy understood these were men in their 40s. >> is that a bit of a red flag for you? >> could be. we wanted to talk to them. >> detective thickens could see a pretty talented teenager could attract unwanted male

attention. now, he had to figure out if any of it had to do with jesse 's murder. >> a party packed with older men but only one had raised eyebrows. had police found a possible suspect. coming up -- >> someone that was flirting with her less than 24 hours before her death. >> we thought it was him, who else could've been? >> when dateline continues. but this is my story. ( ♪♪ ) and with once-daily trelegy, it can still be beautiful. because with 3 medicines in 1 inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open for a full 24 hours and prevents future flare-ups. trelegy also improves lung function, so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis.

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because breathing andrea canning (voiceover): it was hard to believe a murder >> it was hard to believe a like this could happen in peaceful hartford, wisconsin,

murder like this could have happen in peaceful hartford, wisconsin. let alone to a warm and loving teenager like jessie blodgett. within hours of her death, word had spread. jessie's close friends, jackie and amelia, race to the blodgett house. >> we drove up to her driveway and her parents were sitting outside. and they said jessie is no longer with us anymore. >> was that when it became real for you? >> it was just -- i don't know, it was just like really shocking i guess. so, it's probably the worst pain anyone could ever feel. >> jessie's theater director, jerry becker, was also stunned. having just celebrated with jessie and the cast of "fiddler at the roof" the night before.

>> the best way to describe it is simply surreal. >> finding jessie's killer became the police departments number one priority. >> this is a girl that's been attacked in her home where she should be safe. and i think that that definitely put people on edge. >> detectives talked with cast members from "fiddler at the roof" and heard again how jessie had been upset after the cast party. in particular, with one man named randy tally. >> we made contact with him and asked him to come to speak with us. >> are you thinking that this could be the guy? >> he is significantly older. somebody who was flirting with her, less than 24 hours before her death. so, he is certainly a person of interest. >> randi came in for questioning, and admitted to joking around playfully with jessie at the party. and swore that there was

nothing more to it. but part of around the story did not sit well with detective thickens. >> where had he been during the time of the crime? >> he was working, or scheduled the work through a temp agency, he did not actually go to work that way. >> so where was he then? >> he said he spent most of the day, actually, at his apartment by himself. >> did you just come right out with? it did you have anything to do with the murder of jessie? >> i asked him if he had any involvement in her death. he said, no. >> but, the detective wondering was his story straight out of a script? >> he's an actor. and it's hard for me, at that point, to gauge if he's acting or being truthful. >> investigators issued a search warrant for his phone records. >> we're going to verify where randy was and look at his alibi. was a cell phone anywhere near that house in this time period? >> jessie's friends quickly heard the police were looking at a cast member. >> what was being said about the cast member? >> just that he was kind of creepy. and, we thought it was him. i mean, who else could've been? >> but, the place director, jerry becker, did not believe it. he couldn't imagine randy being responsible for jessie's death.

>> did you pick up the phone and call randy when he was going through this? >> yes. he was saddened by all of this. >> how did that conversation leave you feeling? >> i was exceptionally confident by the end of that phone call that he was not involved in this in any way. >> and, when the detective got his hand on randy's phone records, he began thinking the same thing. did his phone records tell you anything of significance? >> no, he had been talking to her on the phone that we could see in this time period that we were looking at. and he hadn't been near the house. >> we hadn't eliminated him but we are looking at other options. >> so, working day and night, they went over the other leagues from jessie's parents. they interviewed the tree trimmers who might have been peering into jessie's window. >> there was nothing of significance found as far as the possible involvement. >> and, they tracked down the restaurant coworker jessie had been upset with. >> he was actually out of the country, my understanding was at the time that they have been. >> so, case closed on that one? >> he's not gonna be involved in this one. >> and, then they remembered that they mentioned a second man from the party that made just uncomfortable. the one she claimed told an inappropriate joke. turns out that guy was not

other than joey becker. >> i gotta believe it was some misunderstanding with regard to who jessie was talking about. >> so, it was a surprise to you that she had brought up your name specifically? >> absolutely. >> did you have anything to hide about that night? >> no. my daughter and my son were there at the picnic with me. >> jerry told us he had just a brief conversation with jessie that night. there was nothing flirtatious about it. detectives didn't think it sounded like much of a lead and jerry never became a suspect. in fact, the investigation was going nowhere, leaving the town on edge. >> every time someone would come up behind me i would jump, even if i knew they were coming up behind me. >> then, news of another crime heightened everyone's fears. >> it was an attack so brutal she had to get 15 stitches on her hand. >> it happened in a neighboring town, another attack on a young woman close to jessie's age in a park less than ten miles from

her house. >> did you think that there was any possible connection to the park attack? >> there were two similar. they were too violent. they were against young women. they must be connected one way or another. >> what had happened in the park and could it lead to detectives to jessie's killer? >> coming up -- >> a harrowing first person account of that vicious attack. >> you grabbed the knife with the bare hands? >> it was either i tried to save myself or let this guy do whatever he wants to me. >> with someone stalking the young women around the small town. when dateline continues.

>> i'm jessica layton, when they look at the hour's top stories. former president trump announced sunday he will not be testifying in his defense,

including the final week of his civil fraud trial in new york. he had previously taken the witness stand in november. and severe weather continues to hit the northeastern u.s. this morning. heavy rains and wind leading to flood alerts across the eastern seaboard. a tornado was reported to have touched down in north carolina. and now, back to dateline. k to dateline. >> after the vibrant 19 -year-old with a passion for music was strangled in her own bed, jessie blodgett's grief-stricken parents could not stop thinking about the way she died. >> that is such a dark place to go, to think about her last moments. >> it does not get any darker than that, i laid on her bed early on and held my breath as long as i could, longer than i ever could in my life. trying to black out. which is nothing like she went through. >> police thought that jesse had been targeted but now some of her friends thought her murder was the same person who

attacked a woman in a nearby park. >> i was like who is this guy? >> was like who is this guy. >>this is melissa richards, a victim of that attack. it happened three days before jessie was killed. her courageous story of survival is amazing. >> you arrive at the park and what is the first thing you see. >> a blue mini van? >> anything out of the ordinary? >> no. >> melissa richards went for a walk-in ridgefield park and when they return. >> the guy was still parked in the car and what i noticed was him looking out of the drivers side window. >> did he seem weird? >> i thought he wanted his privacy. and about here, i hear somebody running behind me.

so i look back and go, oh you scared me. then i noticed that he had a knife in his hand. and he was still coming towards me. >> before melissa could run, she was knocked to the ground and her attacker pinned her down on her stomach. but melissa fought back and did something almost unthinkable. she grabbed the knife by the blade. >> you grabbed the knife with your bare hands right? what possessed you to do that? >> it was either a try to save myself or let this guy do whatever he wants to me. >> with melissa resisting, the attacker apparently panicked and seemed to give up. >> he finally was just kind of getting up off of me, was still holding on to the knife and was like can i just go. >> i said no. a defiant melissa wanted her attacker to stay put and answer for his crime.

but instead, he dropped the knife and fled. >> he ended up running back to his car, i got in my car and i got out of here as fast as i could. >> wounded and bloody, melissa picked up the knife and drove herself to the hospital for some stitches. there she was met by detective clawson of the washington county sheriff's department. >> this was not a robbery, he did not say give me a purse. this is not a dog napping, he did not say give me your dog. this was a vicious personal attack on a stranger. >> melissa had never seen her attacker before, but lucky for investigators, she had an almost photographic memory. >> he was wearing glasses, he had blond shady hair, i would say he was about 6'2", 210 pounds. >> did he look like a normal guy? >> yeah, especially with what he was wearing, just normal clothes from kohl's. >> melissa could even tell police to make and model of his van. >> she knew that it was a blue dodge caravan. likely around 2000 to 2002. >> despite that great description, investigators could not identify melissa's

attacker and he was still at large when jessie was murdered. and while some of jessie's had been speculating about a length, investigators disagreed. >> you are not liking the two crimes are trying to force them to fit together? >> not at all. one is in a park with a knife, the other one is in a private home with strangulation. >> so the two investigations remain separate and hartford police continued to look for new leads in jessie's case. one by one, it called on her heartbroken friends to ask them what they knew. >> did you consider any of her friends as possible suspects? >> not for. >> not one friend? >> never. >> the interviews with jessie blodgett's friends revealed nothing new and then detectives in the park case got a huge break, one that would he change the course of both investigations. melissa's description of her

attacker's van triggered the memory of a deputy who routinely patrolled the park where she was assaulted. >> the deputy had approached us and the detective bureau and said weeks ago i was in that parking there was a van parked in the exact same spot that you have described park the exact same way. >> at the, time the deputy thought the van seemed suspicious and ran its license plate, but he found nothing alarming and continued his patrol. now his intuition is telling him that the van was the same one involved in melissa's attack. he had no paper record of the plate, but in his squad car, the computer kept a log of old searchers and after hours of backtracking, bingo. >> wasn't a bingo, but it was very close. >> close? >> the van belong to laura and melvin. records show that melvin was too old to be malicious attack or. but they learned that they

bartelt's had a 19 year old son that matched the description perfectly. and when the detective called that someone's cell number, it rang somewhere that would surprise everyone. >> he answered, i introduced myself, i said i needed to speak with him, his name had come up in an incident and i asked him where he was. he told me that he was at the blodgett house. i said where? >> coming up, was this the break that detective so desperately needed? or just a strange coincidence. >> we were saying no, not this good. >> there was no way he could've killed our friend. >> when dateline continues. for a superior clean. oral-b. brush like a pro.

andrea canning (voiceover): it was a promising lead for investigators searching for the young man who so brazenly attacked melissa richards with a knife. >> it was a promising lead for they had a suspect who matched her description, a suspect investigators searching for the young man who so brazenly attacked melissa richards with a knife. they had a suspect who matched her description, a suspect whose parents owned a blue mini van just like the one that she had spotted at the scene. >> he was showing up in 15 minutes and so we are finding about how we are going to talk to him. >> their person of interest arrived friendly and cooperative. >> nice to meet you. >> almost immediately, investigators noticed suspicious cuts and bruises on his body. >> what happened on your thumb?

>> got stabbed with a screw outwork. i move my stuff around. >> had a cut us, them had road rash on his leg. had injuries what consistent with the injuries that somebody might have had with attacking melissa richards. >> detectives were skeptical about the work injury story and in fact, they weren't sure that this 19 year old even had a job. >> we check with your employer, would they still have your job? >> no. >> okay that's what i thought. how long -- when did you lose your job? >> a while ago. >> the first time we had him in a lot. picked up my chair moved it next to him and started a different phase of the interview. no more lies, it just makes things worse. >> after the detectives warning, the suspect tried another story. this time, he claimed he had cut his finger while cooking. >> nobody in their right mind would lie about cutting

themselves if it happened with home cooking, okay? >> okay. >> what happened, just be honest. >> i've gone to the park before. i've been there. >> as the police continued to press the young man, he began to crack and quickly. >> and you are in your van, correct? >> yes. >> and you went after that girl, right? >> yes. >> he admitted to going after melissa richards with a knife and then offered a bizarre explanation for why he did it. >> i wanted to scare someone else, because everyone else is so confident. i don't understand it, i need somebody to be like me. >> detectives placed him under arrest, but we're far from finished. the reason, remember what he told detectives when they reached him by phone. >> where were you at again? >> a house in hartford, jessie blodgett's house. >> that's right, the confessed attacker was also a friend of jessie's. >> the girl that just passed? >> yes, we were visiting her parents. >> yeah, we are visiting her

parents. >> his name was daniel bartell and the same friend that jessie had been writing music with that summer. >> detective called hartford police right away. had a suspect in custody. jessie's parents refused to believe the news. >> we were saying, no, not this kid. >> he's a little screwed, up just got back from, college does nobody's, doing but doesn't think it's dan. >> detective called hartford police right away. had a suspect in custody. jessie's parents refused to believe the news. >> we were saying, no, not this kid. >> he's a little screwed, up just got back from, college does nobody's, doing but doesn't think it's dan. >> after all, daniel was more than jessie's friend he was her first love in high school. and had never been in trouble. >> had everything going for him,

a top notch, student straight a student. had gotten the lead role in most musicals. was very talented. >> i was like, i like this kid. he could make me laugh and he came from a nice family. >> we said that it is not dan, he is a good kid. >> jessie's friends agreed. when detectives called daniel's cell phone, they were with him at the house grieving together. >> we were all crying, my friends phone rang. and he was like i got called into the police station for questioning. >> amelia and jackie were the ones who drove daniel into the police station that afternoon, assuming it was just routine questioning about jesse. and we were like they might question you as a suspect. that's what they've been doing to all of her male friends. he was like, i didn't even

think about that. >> now, even with dan under arrest for the park attack, they could not imagine that their friend was capable of murder. >> i was thinking that it was a mistake, like yes, maybe dan did attack this girl in rich field, but there is no way that he could've killed our friend. >> but the detective who just interrogated daniel thought the opposite. >> did you believe that daniel could have killed jesse? >> yes, it was just a sense that you got, a feeling you. got >> that you were sitting across from a killer. >> yes. >> detective thickens went to grill dan himself. >> i was hopeful we would get more information to advance our case. >> when was the last time you saw her? >> last week i think. >> daniel admitted to having a romantic feelings for jessie, but swore through sobs that he had nothing to do with the murder. >> what do you think happened too jessie? >> i have no idea. >> do you think it could have been accidental? >> i don't know why somebody would do that to her. >> but detectives did not believe him and he fit the profile of the killer that they

were looking for. someone who knew jessie and her habits. >> she usually wouldn't get up before 11 and 12, i would text or in the morning, asked her if she wanted to hang out or something and she would not respond. >> he knew where she was going to be. knew she didn't have a dog on the house, knew she didn't have siblings, and where her parents are going to be. >> and asked for her emotional denial, they thought it was an act. >> he was making these noises, gulping, sobbing. as if he was crying. >> he did not shed a tear during that entire time we talk to him. >> i knew he had done, now i gotta go out and prove it. >> coming up, daniel faces a jury and jessie's family. >> i can't give you the answers that you are looking for,. >> when dateline continues. two breaths as you get pfizer's maternal rsv vaccine, abrysvo.

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welcome back to "dateline." i'm craig melvin. as police searched for evidence against jessie >> welcome back to dateline, blodgett's killer, they also looked for a motive i'm natalie morales. as police searched for evidence against jessie blodgett's killer, they also looked for a motive and found something about jessie's friend daniel that sent chills throughout the community. here is andrea canning with the conclusion of friends until death. >> daniel bartelt had confessed to a violent attack against a

woman in the park. but after police spoke with him, they realized that he could also be guilty of something far worse. >> did you leave that interview having any doubt that dana was the killer? >> none whatsoever. >> daniel told investigators on the morning that jessie was killed, he was in a park reading a book. and when they checked the security cameras -- >> we found video that put him there. >> but that did not mean that daniel was innocent. detectives decided to search the park, combing through more than a dozen garbage bins, hoping to find anything that linked daniel to jessie's murder. >> in one garbage can, this cereal box full of ligatures. >> ropes that were very likely the murder weapons used to strangle jessie, plus a whole lot more, bloody sanitizing wipes, tape, shoelaces. >> i guess he didn't believe that we would have made the effort to go through the garbage to find anything. >> police sent the evidence for

testing, and forensics showed that both jesse and daniel's dna were on the ropes found in the park. the detective shared the incriminating discovery with jesse's parents. >> i had trouble getting it, that it was dan, the realist in me knew that it was him. the other half of me was like, what happened to dan? >> daniel bartelt was officially charged with murder. buck and joy tryed to wrap their heads around what had happened to the funny teenager who had nothing but empathy for his parents. >> they did not do this, they did nothing wrong, they provided a great environment for him and for his sister. they're good people. >> i can't say that he is totally evil, but something went very wrong, i don't know what it. >> they also felt sorry for randy tally, the cast member briefly rumored to be involved, now completely cleared. >> i felt bad, just more collateral damage from one person's evil choices.

>> and though the dna evidence linking daniel to the murder seemed to give the da a slam dunk case, daniel pleaded not guilty. gary schmaltz was the attorney. >> some people might say that there was overwhelming evidence against daniel, why go to trial? >> you go to trial when your client, in this case, dan, denies having committed the crime. >> when daniels trial began, the courtroom was full of conflicted hearts. supporters on both side, knew or cared for jessie and daniel. >> was it like watching one friend be tried for killing another? >> it's like i was watching a tv show. you are in the same room with the person who murdered your friend. it is crazy. >> it was the strangest mix of emotions.

when he walked in from the back room of the courtroom, i wanted to hug him and make him feel better. i felt his humiliation and shame. i wanted to punch him. >> prosecutors said from the start that there was no easy explanation for why daniel did what he did. >> why did he pick jessie? was he mad at jessie? no. he picked jessie because she was convenient. >> the da did say that there was evidence that the seemingly sweet young man had been obsessed with murder. on his computer, police found disturbing internet searches. >> what does he do in the days and events leading up to this crime? a search for serial killers on wiki. a little bit later, serial killers by a number of victims. >> their most alarming find was a violent pornographic film, with the plot seemingly similar to how jessie was killed. >> prosecutors say that daniel used as an instructional video. >> he pulls out a binding in places it around her neck, he

then strangles her. >> there were searches on serial killers. there were searches on bondage. >> did dan then, who was big into theater, a straight a student, was he also a serial killer in training? >> i think that is the potential. >> these items. >> prosecutors showed the jury all of the physical evidence. the dna, the tapes, the wipes, the likely murder weapons that tied daniel to jessie's. through it all, daniel sat quietly at the defense table, looking at no one, showing little emotion. even when the evidence that the public had never heard before. dna that the state argued showed he not only killed jessie, but also raped her. >> daniel's dna was found under jessie's fingernails and inside

of her. that would've been must of the toughest pieces of evidence to come back from the jury. >> difficult. didn't have an alternate explanation that. and don't have one as i sit here right now. >> in any case, daniel was never charged with rape and for the murder, the defense rested without calling a signal witness to the stand. the jury deliberated for just three hours. >> we the jury find the defendant daniel bartelt guilty with intentional homicide. ladies and gentlemen, was this your verdict? >> it's not a good day for anybody. nobody won. >> months later at the sentencing, buck stunned the courtroom when he said this. >> dan, i forgive you. as i have every single day since we found it was you. >> in response to such unbelievable grace, daniel looked straightaway and buck

and continued to deny his guilt. >> buck, joy, i can't give you the answers that you are looking for. i pray for you, for all of you, my hope is that i believe that someday i will be before a court that will know that my conscience is clean. i love you and i am so sorry for your loss. >> he is such a liar. he looked right in our face, with all of this evidence. there is just no refuting it, then for him to still be looking at me and saying this, kid, do you honestly believe that i believe you with this? >> i think that dan is a sociopath, he does not seem to have the conscience, or if he does, he does not care. >> buck and joy have accepted

they may never hear the truth from daniel or know why he turned so violent. daniel was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole. for the attack on melissa richards, he was sentenced to five more years. >> melissa is our hero. if it wasn't for her, they would not have caught him. we are forever indebted and thankful for that. >> the police and the blodgetts commend you and do feel other woman could've been murdered if it was not for you. >> i tried to help out as much as i could. i just wanted to help them out. i don't know, i tried. ♪ ♪ ♪ jessie's parents have started an educational campaign in their daughter's honor, called love is greater than hate. >> i am doing it for the millions of people who will be jessie, if not murdered, sexually assaulted and have

their lives changed forever because of it. >> those who love jessie say her zest for life changed them for the better and still lives on through her music and her spirit. >> we started thinking differently because of her, we started acting differently because of her. >> have the tables turned? you were always the one proud of her, and now do you feel that she is the one proud of you? >> i feel like she is the one lifting me up and encouraging me through life, where it used to be the other way around. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> that is all for this edition of dateline, i'm natalie melvin, thank you for watching. >> i'm craig melvin