in peter dixon? i see my husband... the father of our girls. i see a public servant. a man who served under secretary clinton in the state department... where he took on the epidemic of violence against women in the congo. i see a fighter, a tenacious problem-solver... who will go to congress and protect abortion rights and our democracy. because he sees a better future for all of us. i'm peter dixon and i approved this message. . no voice, nothing. i want to know what happened to my mom. i have no memories. i have no voice, nothing. i want to know what's happened to my mom. >> i didn't think it was an

accident. >> when did the whisper? start >> immediately. >> i believed she'd been murdered. >> there is a dark business going on at this nightclub. >> that is something buddy one talking about what happened at night? >> -- it was a sacred thing for us to do. >> i thought we were finally getting justice, i was absolutely shocked, i was shocked. >> if you have a feeling in your gut and in your heart, fight, and don't ever give up. >> a few feet from the city limits of toledo, ohio, a car swings around a corner on a dusty stretch of road. it's, dark we hours, just stabs

of light spilling from the house. most people are asleep, he could so easily have missed line in the grass on the side of a road, her feet drawn up to her chest, barely breathing, first drove right by her, the story went and then doubled back for -- a 30 year journey from one lonely child. >> there's all these lives that have not been answered, why hasn't she forgotten for all these years? >> a daughter determined to find out what happened that night. >> what's making you go forward? when i just let it be. >> something inside of me, i wouldn't stop, no matter how ugly the truth. >> she's knocking on every, doreen every phone. >> a daughter who wasn't afraid to make enemies. >> you were his nine nemesis?

>> yes, and will never go away. >> brittani stork grew up in oregon, ohio, comfortable town perched on the edge of lake erie. her weekends were full of softball games. what's >> when makes you want to have out of bed as a child? >> i danced. >> brittany felt loved and safe safe, and tell teacher asked -- >> how did your mom die, but in an accident? meow is five, and i remember being very teary eyed, and i went home to crying and ask my mom, was she talking about. >> it was a horrible way to realize the person she called mom, was actually her grandmother. to be told that her real mother, 19 year old dana

rosendale died in a car accident. she was a stranger to her. do you have so much of a memory is your mother's smile? >> none, i have no memories. no voice, no nothing. i was only eight months old when it happened so. >> brittani badger, dana's older sister amped up her stories. >> when the little girl said ask me about my mother when did you say? >> she was a beautiful woman, she loved life. >> and adored the barely girl, dina was barely an adult herself, 18, when she got pregnant. >> she love that little girl to death, she was just a great mother. >> and just like britney, dana loved to dance. when she wasn't at home with baby brittany, or studying, she sometimes headed to the south side market, and i club cross town that's where she was a few

hours before she was discovered fatally injured, lying on the side of the road but she didn't tell her much about the night. >> did you talk about her last hours? >> now. >> but, as the years past, the silence and mistreat the weight on britney was darkening. >> the older i caught, it was like everybody knew. everybody knew that my mom had gotten killed. >> did you kill a kid tell you something? >> now, i could just feel it. nobody could deal with my mom's death. >> so something is missing in your mom story, you don't know what it was. >> she long to know more, a child looking for answers nowadays, needs only a key word searched to google the way to the truth. but brittany don't know what to do, until she learned in seventh, raids when she learned that newspaper records were kept on micro film at the library, that same day she headed to a local branch, and went straight to the archives, and i just started scanning all the newspapers they all had on file. after i found her obituary, i

found another article, and the headline was 19 year old fountain row dead. so, i read through that one, and then there was another one. >> shocking to read about her mom's death and brought black and white. they didn't describe a car accident, so much, as her mother's battered body line and lonely -- death ruled undetermined. >> the coroner had told a local newspaper, that he wasn't sure the data had died in an accident, he can rule out foul play. stunning news to britney. >> at that time, i was so mad that everyone lied to me. and it was just a world of emotions. >> brittani wondered if your family had been having a secret darker than she imagined, the perhaps or 19 year old mother had been murdered. coming up. >> it wasn't a murder, they just had her body. >> just and storage on the side of the road? >> eight years later, brittani demands the truth from someone who might know. but, hits a dead end. >> if you say okay, you're old enough now, i can tell you the whole story?

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13-year-old brittany stork felt betrayed. i was just so mad at everybody. it was just leave me alone and you can't tell me what to do, 13-year-old felt betrayed. >> i was just so mad at everybody. it was, just leave me alone, and you can tell me what to do. you lied to me. >> brittany didn't know what to believe anymore, first her family had hit in her mother's death from her altogether. then, they told her is a tragic car accident. now it seems as though that night may not be the truth either. newspaper articles to track down hinted at something much more suspicious. she sent a copy to her dad, toby, he'd been in an on again off again relationship with her mom, at the time of her death. >> i can't remember what i wrote on it, but i know that it wasn't a very nice message. i think i actually told him i hated him. >> did he, say okay-year-old, enough i can tell you more of

the complete story. >> no, he said no, you're not ready. >> still? >> brittany wasn't sure her dad would ever tell, her he wasn't around month during her childhood -- raised her, they wouldn't talk about the past much either. so, the teams started rifling through family photo albums, old letters tucked into drawers. >> you are becoming quite effective in this thing? >> yes. >> let's make any go forward, why not just let it be. >> something inside of me, would not stop. >> as brittani started looking for the truth, -- the very image of britney's mom, was much closer than she, knew while she had to do is look in the mirror. >> you look at brittany, and it takes your breath away, because she's like a little clone. >> dana ended had grown of the rosendale center, is in the 1970s toledo. on summer evenings he could find them twirling buttons in their backyard, tossing them

high above their heads. >> we threw in parades, and martian about marching, that as ambassadors. >> they have, the older sister was more serious and competitive. dana, the baby, was outgoing, more interested in barbies and make up. and her friends. >> where was your life heading? >> she had a lot of goals, she wanted to own a boutique, get a, job the successful, have a good life. >> but you never got? they're >> never got there. >> everything came to a halt, labor day weekend, 1982. that was a, way camping with her family. when she got word that dana had been found lying on the side of the road, about eight miles from the dance club where she'd gone with her friend. >> and i need to get to toledo as soon as possible, she was in critical condition. >> well deb raced to the hospital, rookie detective -- raced to the scene, where she was found. this is first big case. you pull up, what do you see? >> the squad is still, there the rescue squad. and there are people, of course, congregated at this

point. >> among them, a young man name russell adkins, who first bought a dina line there. >> he said, i was driving, by and i saw something. i thought it was a body. i turned around, he showed me where he turned around, and came back. as and sure as heck, it was. he said, i immediately went up to some homes, knocked down some hot doors to try to seek some help. >> make sense. >> yes. i talk to the people that he talked to, they confirmed that story, at least, and of course's name and address all that, and i didn't need him anymore. >> what do you think you had? >> i really wasn't sure, to be honest with you. i didn't know if i had someone hit by a car, or was she thrown from a vehicle. i really had no idea. >> so, the detective headed to the hospital, to talk to dana's family members, who were gathering by her bedside. >> she was unconscious, to the

bandages, machines. >> ventilator. >> she had severe swelling, severe swelling interface. >> even though she was unconscious, were you talking to her? >> absolutely, begging her -- i remember grabbing her hospital gown, and asking her to wake up. just wake up in open your eyes, you know? open your eyes. >> but she didn't, she couldn't. detective brett and started asking questions in the waiting room. who had seen the data that night, i will time. toby -- want to know part of it. >> he learned i was a detective, i'm talking to you, i don't need to talk to you. >> he started walking away from me. >> so i latch on to him, i bring him back. and we exchange some words. >> eventually, toby calm down. he said the dina had gone to the south side without him, he said he'll stay back at the apartment for an early night.

as the detective made his rounds, dane's mother was inconsolable. >> she was in pieces. >> dana was hurt, she was a baby of the family.. >> six days later, dana died. her family was shattered. you never heal from this, ever. ever. you grief, you are angry, and then you grip. but you never get over it. >> beyond that unquenchable greed. something else lingered to. questions about how dana died. either the data series have good, that's she saw no other injuries. that gave her pause. >> i remember seeing that the neurologist saying it was like taking a baseball bat and swinging for home run. and hitting her and the back of her head. that's the extent or injuries. >> she didn't believe her sisters that can be explained away as a tragic accident.

and she wasn't alone in her doubts. >> how did the investigators regard with adaptive dana? to think wasn't accident or try to prove otherwise? >> they didn't goes an accident because the specialists was suspicious. >> after a few months investigation seem to spot. >> there was no murder weapon. they just had her body. technology was diverted 1982. >> no cell phones, of gps, just some stories and victims on the wrong side of the road. >> many years later as you watch data story, now a teenager, trying to find out about trump's mysterious death. she wondered if she put a push police harder. >> the big yourself up about that? >> sure i do, sure. >> we're not there not opposite detectives. i have a lot of guilt. >> here to. because she watched her niece tried to piece together the decades old puzzle. she worried what britney might uncover. and at what cost. coming up. britney goes right at the top and isn't going to stop.

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brittany stork was motherless, angry, haunted by the loss of her mother. her aunt deb wished she could stop the hurt. what was taken from her, deb? brittany stork was motherless, angry, haunted by the loss of her mother. her aunt depp was she could stop the hurt. >> it was taken from her, her mother, her mother's love. there can't be anything worse. there's nothing worse. there's nothing worse than losing your mother's love. >> she was always comfortably, had food, shelter, clothes, toys? >> it is not the same. it's not the tom to have your mom pose or best friend as an adult. it's gone. >> depth as britney's father wasn't there for her. either toby was indeed a present during her childhood.

serving time for theft, assault, domestic violence. and before she died his relationship with data had written a rocky one. >> it is kind of like a can't live with, do catheters upper relationship. >> britney header some of the stories about him over the years. his temper, the fights with her mom, and which was 15 she cut toby off. >> i turned into just kind of suffering the relationship with my dad >> so he was out of your life from that point on? >> yes. >> and yet, somehow, amid all this loss, britney kept going. she graduated from high school, i love, and at the age of 19 found out she was going to have a baby girl. >> i wanted to name my daughter dana. i don't know why. and everybody cried. and i understand because i don't think, now, i can color data it would be hard. >> britney said it on dana as a middle name instead.

i began to raise her daughter her mother's death receded slightly to the background. that is until 2006, more than 20 years after she died, brittani was serving jury duty of local courthouse when a sudden impulse to cold. >> one of the day's image break i just walked into the lucas county prosecutor's office and the ask about me and i said i need to talk to somebody, my mom was murdered. >> brittani was given the number of an investigator in the prosecutors office in neighboring wood county. that was the county where her mother had been found. >> he said, i'm sorry, there's a statute limitations, people die -- >> people die, members debated, this is a long time ago. >> for brittney's are to uncover the truth couldn't be so easily extinguished. she knew she needed to keep pushing. so she marched into the police department that headfirst handled remarks case and

demanded to see, the police chief. >> you just walked into these people? i >> basically said i want them to investigate what happened to her or water file and when to take it somewhere else. >> a detective promise to see what he could find out. but, apart from the hot phone call, britney says it felt like her mom's case went nowhere. and before she knew what, months, started the years. britney's life moved on. married now she had another baby. she was adept each are. then, one day, she ran into the original detective who work for mark's case. i'm >> in a restaurant with my wife, heating, and stadiums of me. i did know her. i did recognize. and she says, mr. breton i'd like to talk to you. i said sure, sit down. >> i said dana rosenbaum's daughter. altered the moths drop to the table. i want to know what happened to my mom. >> brett remember the case but was monger detective. >> he just said you need to

keep pushing. that's all he could say. >> so she did. britney such became calling the prosecutor vascular every week like clockwork. an amazingly he started show some interest in the case. >> he would say, nothing new. >> you're looking for killer, if you look for color try to find what happened? >> i think at that point to try to put the pieces together. >> it wasn't going to be easy. but brittani didn't know was that the detective had done a fair bit back in the day. chasing that leads, trying to make sense of it all. but interview tapes, crime scene photos, evidence, most of that was missing. >> what happened to all those boxes, the interviews, the pictures, the measurements? it seems like a disappeared or just banished. >> the average person that is probably our excusable. and why did it happen. it is possible somebody looked at that, that's the date, and thought we can get rid of that.

>> now that investigators were taken a fresh look at the case. they needed to rebuild would have been lost. to track down key witnesses and interview them again. that included paramedic, ron billings who has since retired. >> shows lay on her right side in the semi fetal position. >> billings had been one of the first on the scene that night. but he found has haunted him, he says, for more than 30 years. >> i see her laying on the side of the road in between the pavement and the sidewalk. i put my hand behind ahead and we roll over. and my had come out and they're flood blood. >> the paramedic had told the investigator he worked hundreds of scenes but i'd never seen anything like this in an accident. some with massive injury but not much more. >> we are first check to see if she was hit by a car. which would've had more blood in the lower extremities and things of that nature. she didn't have any of that. nor were her clothes out of place. they were intact and not the

shoveled. >> why did the sink stick with you? >> because a lot of the ordinary. it wasn't a normal type of call. women are just fine at the side of the road almost brain dead. >> but this was a new information to authorities. if investigators back then hadn't been able to figure out what happened really happens at the equipment, could a new team break the case? or were they 30 years too late? coming up. rumors of drug doing at a nightclub. >> loud music, lot alexa, lot of people. >> there is some dark go business going on at this nightclub. >> drug deals, and then deals? >> girls dating for money. after our parties. >> and a possible suspect. the man who gave data ride home. now it's the mr.game what happens next? >> correct. >> when dateline continues. dates ha ha ha. variants are out there...

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i am richard louis with your hours top stories. former south carolina governor nikki haley vowing to stay in the race no matter what happens in her home states primary saturday. her rival, donald trump, has a significant lead despite mounting legal troubles. and, on friday, a judgment was entered for 400 and $54 million against donald trump with more than $100,000 of interest accruing daily. the penalty was imposed on trump for committing business fraud in new york. he had 30 days to appeal. now back to dateline to appeal. now back to dateline persuaded law enforcement to dust off a 30-year-old >> brittany stork had done the unexpected, persuaded law enforcement to dust off a 30- year-old case file, her mom's. >> she is a force of nature, i think. >> she is. >> doug kinder is an investigator in the prosecutors office. when he inherited inherited the case from another investigator, he also inherited those

weakening phone calls from brittany, checking up on him. >> give me some adjectives to describe brittany. >> determined, unrelenting. tough. >> was she tough to deal with? a squeaky wheel that you wish will go away? >> no. she just wanted answers. kinder needed to know if the original detective had looked into anyone back in the day. but when he cracked open the thin case file, this is what it told him. where dana's body had been found, who found her, that young man who've been driving by in his car. and one thing that into close to home, a story that dana's mother wanted toby to leave the hospital, because she thought he had something do with dane's death. >> there were a lot of people pointing fingers at toby over the years. >> he went down to the, diner asked what happened to dana, they would say toby killed her. >> that's correct. >> family members told detectives that toby had a temper, and a couple thought a lot. >> there were some accusations that there was a turbulent lifestyle between dana and toby, and there may have been some violence in that.

>> but, toby denied he had anything to do with whatever happened to her that night. he said he was at home asleep. >> when did those whispers start? >> immediately. >> about your involvement. >> immediately. >> a lot of members of her family think you are the killer here. >> toby says dane's family had never approved of his relationship with her. he was a rough and tumble character, four years older than her, fond of boxing and motorsports. >> there was evil can, evil and i was considered awful can awful. >> we he says that the birth of baby brittany, brought them closer together. >> did you think about a future together? >> yes, we plan on getting married, that's what our goal was. >> so, you are gonna give it a shot. >> oh yeah. >> that night, toby, says the only reason he wasn't within at the south side roxy, is because he'd come home after a hard day at work.

he was beat. >> as dana went to go a way to go to a party in everything, she woke me up and told, me i love you. and i was the last thing i ever heard from her. >> investigator kinder needed to know more about dane's activities, after she left home. starting with the nightclub on the senior side of town. >> i was a place all about? >> it was very stereotypical the early 80s, and a lot of nightclubs. a lot of music, a lot of lights, a lot of people. >> and a hot spot, well known to the city vice, unit according to detective bob bratton, toby had a theory about the club he shared with police. dana could've gotten mixed up with something. >> there is some dark business going down to this nightclub. drug deals? >> girls dating for money. after hour parties. should come home and told me that she thought something was going to physically have into her. >> but, whatever happened today in, it didn't happen at the

club. they knew his best friend, roxie been with her said they headed out together. >> so it roxie's story? it's been a festive night, a lot of drink. >> according to wet rocks is told, us the dean it was pretty intoxicated, that she was not really study on your feet. >> and the friends had no way to get home, they've missed the last post. >> the club bouncer agreed to give them a left. >> is he a friend of, rockies or friend of gene, as or do they go together. >> roxana's always maintained she just knew him socially from being a regular at the club. >> that is correct. >> waukee said she got dropped off first, and watch the bouncer indiana steal away. so when roxie closes that car door, and says goodnight. what happens next? >> correct. >> but here's the thing, the name of the bouncer was one police had heard before. it was none other than russell adkins, the young man who said he'd spotted dana, stranger in

trouble, lying in the road. he'd gone looking for help, knocking on doors, police seem to call 9-1-1. >> correct. >>, but it looked as though a crucial part of that story that he told the scene had been a complete lie. dana was far from a stranger to atkins, he'd been a passenger in her car. he admitted as much to the original detective in 1982, when he was called in for an interview. >> one of the first things that he said to detective bob bratton, the reason that i didn't say anything was because i was on parole, and i was afraid to have police contact. >> the bouncer had served time for receiving stolen property, he didn't want any trouble he told the detective, but he did want to help. here's the truth he said, he was driving in a home near in a corner, when he heard the engine arrive louder, and his card or close. next thing he, knew dana was out of the vehicle, it would be such a simple explanation, if true. dana's massive head wound, had been the result of an unlucky fall from a moving car, an accident. but, authorities, including the local corner were skeptical. and that stuck out to the prosecutor who took over the

case. paul dobson. >> what did your corner back in the day find? >> he found she had in fact died from skull fracture, but he couldn't answer why she had died. he ruled her death is undetermined. >> undetermined meant anything was possible, according to the corner. accident or homicide. the corner trolled reporters, that her injuries didn't seem consistent with a fall from a car. but, he couldn't say anything with scientific certainty. >> it would've been very easy for him to check the boxes have by accident, natural causes. >> that's correct. >> when you check the boxes undetermined. >> but to, us was very significant. >> so, was the bounds for lying about the fall from the car? or maybe that part was true, but she had survived the fall, and never -- met her faith in another way. -- would have better luck figuring it out. one of his investigators wanted to find out, seeking advice from the county's chief deputy corner, but today and scallops

arnett. not to my door one day, and he said doc at this case, it was originally ruled undetermined. the daughter has been seeking an answer, what do you think about an explanation? >> where did you? tom >> i, said you never know where you will look, because you never know with the bodies can look like, after 31 years down. >> the part of you that is investigating needs it, but the daughter in mice must be just terrified., well knowing that they're gonna use zoom, her means they are looking at her case. she's not just, a people full paper file anymore. so, they are going to look further. >> brittani prepared herself to face whatever secrets had been buried with her mother. coming up. >> this was in no way consistent with her falling out of a vehicle. >> a new autopsy, a new case.

>> i was ecstatic. >> when dateline continues. on continues. on

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on october 9, 2013, brittany stork stood vigil as a backhoe october 9th, 2013, brittany stork stood vigil, as -- open your mother's grave. >> i just, stared i want to make sure that no matter what you, do please put her back exactly the way you found her. >> and deb was at brittany side. >> it was very emotional to her, and to the investigators. -- the casket up. >> you needed to put up that pain, to get to the next step of this thing. >> right, right. >> it might have been better flavor in the ground in just, say something happened, but we just don't know, let it be. >> no. that's not right, that's not fair. it's not fair to dana.

somebody is accountable for what happened to her. so, if she has to come up, and be exhumed and examined, and that's what needs to be done. >> 30 years after dana rosendale's mysterious death, her coffin was loaded onto a truck and taken to the lucas county coroner's office for a second autopsy. >> and they don't tell you anything, right? >> no. >> then, one day, she got a surprising call from the coroner, but not with the autopsy results. instead, the coroner said she had something for brittani. >> i said will that be. >> well, i need a lot of your mother's hair. and she put it in a little glass jar for me, so i have that. she said there is some jewelry on your mom, and i was able to save it. >> the rings her mother had been buried with. >> would i like? it i said yes. so that, was probably the best gift i could've ever had. you know, having a piece my mom with me every day.

>> brittany reburried her mom on what would've been her birthday, she laid five dozen roses on her coffin. >> i stood there, and i wouldn't leave until she was back, exactly issue was. i started thinking -- and i started putting dirt back into her grave. >>, there is still no word from the corner, about what's, if anything, she discovered. brittany could only guess, an agonizing wait began, she imagined that night over and over in her head. accident, murder, the bouncer, her dad. toby was still a suspect in some people's eyes, and that's who dana's best friend, roxie blamed all these years later, when brittani gave her a call. >> i said would happen to my? mom and she immediately throughout my dad's name. and i said, why would you say? that just because. well, was my dad there with you guys that night?

no. well then, why would you say. because i just know. toby wasn't surprised his name cropped backup, he knew brittany's questions could reignite suspicion that he was involved. >> -- >> when i found it when she was doing, i just didn't want her to be pushed aside by can never mattered. >> and, if she's kicking over this rock a new again -- you know. you're gonna be in the bull's- eye again. >> i've got another bull's-eye on my back. >> but toby maintained his innocence. >> i knew the truth. you know, i didn't do this. and brittany believed, him not once said he tried to stop her from investigating her mom's death. in fact, he'd been her champion. as a grown-up, she said she could finally understand which he'd failed to see as a child. >> my dad has had a really bad life. and now that i'm older, i see why. miley mom was the love of his life, and obviously knowing the

background, and hearing the stories, he couldn't cope with it. >> it's been 30 plus, here's toby, do you still miss her? >> tremendously. it's the love of my life. it's the love of my life. >> investigator kendrick, quickly came to the same conclusion as brittani, totally was not a suspect. there was no evidence that he was at the scene that night, and he didn't try to shut down the new questions. i found that toby just wanted answers for why dana was got as well. >> so father and daughter post waited anxiously for the autopsy. finding hoping would give them the answers they. great three long months after dana's summation their weight was over. then you corners report came out with a new matter of death. homicide. death. homicide. dennis murphy: this time, the coroner had gone a step further to examine dana's skull fracture, using a forensic anthropologist to help clean the bone.

and the injuries they saw, the coroner thought it looked like foul play. this was in no way consistent with her falling out of a vehicle. homicide. yes. dennis murphy: now that the case was officially declared a homicide, investigators were working it hard. and their focus became the bouncer. a vehicle. >> homicide? >> yes. now the case was officially declared a homicide investigators are working hard. and the focus became the bouncer. he had all-star they're something off about his statement to detective rightly. >> he said one of the statement he said was he won't even fighting or anything. i've talked a lot of people over the years and that just sts struck me as odd. you introduce that thought? she falls out of your car. but yet you've got to interject that we weren't fighting or anything. >> the ase investigator also wondered why shoot a fallen out of the bands was car. ho there was talk back in the day

that the car had a defective it door. but detective breton told investigator he thdidn't exist. you take a look for himself. >> i know i got in the car. an attractive because i'd pushed up against it. and i'm a pretty good size guy. my weight should maybe tell us -- i felt comfortable that i didn't see anything wrong with the >> door. when >> you don't feel if you need to get a search warrant or have the think towed? >> no, not at that point, looking back probably an error. >> vehicle gone, is it in the jacquard yet? >> we believe it is in the junk yard. we tried to track it but we weren't able to do that. and there wasn't a lot of notation in the reports about what was found in the car, but wasn't founded the car, there was just a very short sentence in airport and a lot of memories of those specifics, by the officers that were id jsnsn

that night, they do not remember those details. >> as for the rest the bouncer story. the investigator had an idea. he would take a fresh look at the stretch of road where it all began. >> i want to see it for myself. >> the bouncer told police he'd been approaching y.whencounter they fell obscure.i >> did a deal school way. and ahead of police crew behind me blocking traffic and i got out and i walk the whole thing. >> disobey their figured out that the closest corner was more than 200 feet away from where dana's body had been found. >> the whole thing to make sense. when you sit there and how did she end up on the right side of da tdoes a purse and upon the middle of the roadway? when she's going out the opposite direction? why is he down here in the first place? >> the bouncer told the original detective that he had taken that particular boat to get cigarettes, but investigator kindred knew the area and he said there is no stores open that late. >> so you see a guy making it

up as he goes long here. >> absolutely. >> the loinvestigator was convinced russell afghans was hiding something. his next up was to track down the one-time bouncer and get him to talk. what would a story be now? coming up. a suspect who says he wants help and ngrae has a brand-new for investigators. >> you start talking about what happened ythat night? >> this is before that. because it's just stupid you know? when >> dateline continues. dateline. cetaphil. we do skin. you do you. mr. clean magic eraser powers through tough messes. so it makes it look like i spent hours cleaning, and you know i didn't. it makes my running shoe look like new! it's amazing. it's so good. it makes it look like i have magical powers. magic eraser and sheets make cleaning look easy.

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more than 30 years had passed since the night russell adkins offered two friends a ride home from the south side roxy. only one of those friends had made it home alive. more than 30 years had passed since the night russel adkins had offered two friends a ride home from the south side club. only one of those friends had made a home life. with a new investigation and autopsy, brittani was now

convinced--was no accident. and that adkins was the one responsible. >> he ruined my life. and he needs to pay for it. >> if described it, but what is motivation be? >> i don't know. >> you need motivation? >> i just want to know why. what led up to why he did what he did. >> so where was adkins now? investigator kindred didn't have to look far. the bouncer was living just a few miles from where he had grown up. not far from where dana and had been found. he was the captain of a chart about. and people in town loved him. >> he comes up kind of rough but he's a big teddy bear. he's got a big heart. >> shauna patty stall first got to know atkins when he started working for them in their concrete business. but he had become more like a member of the family. watching their kids, cooking for them. >> once a year russ would have fish fry and he would stand there the whole time and just do nothing but cook fish. and he loved it because he was doing it for all his friends.

>> we regret rules wasn't just a friend. she said she did it atkins for years. they shared a love of motorcycles and a home. she says he was kind to her, made her feel safe. >> yeah we thought, we had problems, we were the regular couple. but was afraid of him like that? never. >> hardly the portrait of her murder. russell's friends were shocked to hear police were sniffing at his door. >> we know russell, the person, eight and there's just no way that russell would intentionally hurt someone. something we'll said about, you know, russ why don't you just get out here? when obviously. he said why? i don't do anything wrong. >> they did say that something happened the way he said because he did leave the community. >> this is a guy 30 years later so around. >> here's changes lifestyle this with these people know and these people love. and i understand why they are supporting him. >> but many of his supporters had known icons back in 1982.

the investigators ed down some people who had. and what they told him was ugly. an d ex-wife and ex-girlfriend with tales of beatings, were colleagues who say was quick to throw punch, -- >> was to protect him to gather? >> and that time period. very short temper. very short fuse. >> finally after 30 years, investigators believed they had evidence against him. armed with an arrest warrant investigator went with u.s. marshals to pick atkins upton bergman for questioning. and this is the monument was polite, cooperative, i can seem eager to slow down and talk. >> what is a strategy in dealing with him? >> i didn't go slow and easy. i will take over story. >> the sort of talking about what happened that night? >> this just need to get figured out because it's stupid to know? >> adkins started out the same we had before. >> she fell out of my car, i mean, absolutely fell on my

car. i don't look up the door handle, i still don't know, it's still bugs me to this very day how she got out that are. >> once again, he had already explanation for why he did initially lied to the cops. >> brittani told them, russ, that you just driving by he's are laying in the grass. >> i was scared. >> very scared of? >> involved with the police, period. >> investigator confronted atkinson but they had been up to. >> they did another autopsy. and led us to believe she was hit over the head, not from falling out of the car. so then that comes to me as asking you now. then how did she end and ultramodern head? >> from that poll that was there with them in boxes at. or shooting begins on the officer came. >> a mailbox? that was a new detail didn't appear in the old case files. >> suddenly goes out the door, tabs on the road, her head presumably hits a mailbox. >> that is which he says.

>> which would counter the injuries? >> but we knew there was nothing there except for three very large trees kind of spread along the roadway. >> investigator kinder leveled with the bouncer. >> russ, with all due respect, not bind. it wears you look at nine cars are treating with me with respect too. but i'm sorry man, i'm not buying it. >> that same day, atkins was charged with murder. when britney founded atkins wasn't custody, there was only one person she wants to tell. >> the first neck and my mind was i need to get my dad. and i just said, they got him. and he said what do you mean they got him? i said he's been indicted, he's in custody, and my dad just cried. he just kept saying, thank you god. thank you. this is what i wanted my whole life. >> but brittani knew her fight for justice was far from over.

>> you have to steal yourself for this trial. >> yes, and i will be there, every second of it. because, you know, nobody else is ever been there. and you know it is a cold case file? it is still mostly circumstantial. it is a tough case to make. >> but i feel, in my heart, if people listen to the facts, there is facts, -- >> but if the jury doesn't say that way and he walks. are you okay with that? >> i am not. but i'm not going to stop my opinion, my heart, everything, he killed my mom. he needs to pay for what he did. >> coming up. no dna, no fingerprints, no eyewitnesses. >> it was kind of shocking to stop and look and say, would actually do we have? >> i knew that the prosecution had a hard problem. >> later, someone will help to get in the car that night tells her story. >> when you think happened? when dateline continues. dateli. of magnesium.

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winter settles in. ice and gray skies blanket the state. and gloom hung over the prosecutor's office, january, 2016 in northern ohio. winter settles in, ice, gray sky is black and the state. gloom hung over the prosecutor's office to, where paul dobson, and his fellow prosecutor gwen howe gebers, considered their long shot case against russell adkins. >> it was kind of shocking to stop and, say what exactly do we have? >> whatt they didn't have stuck out. no crime scene photos, no dna, no strong motive. but, what they did have spurred them forward. the new autopsy, and a fresh determination to seek justice they believed was long overdue. >> and, so it came to pass that 33 years and four months after her mother was found beside the side of the road, brittani stork was entering marble

hallways of the wood county courthouse, she'd spent so much of her life trying to figure out what it happened to her mother. and now, the moment of truth had arrived. >> the defendant, russell adkins, did purposely cause the death of dana rosendale. >> the prosecution's opening statement was simple, common sense and science would prove that russell adkins was a lawyer and a killer, who created a story about a tragic car accident to cover his tracks. >> deb, are you familiar with dana rosendale? >> i am. >> dana's sister deb took the stand to talk about her little sister, forever 19 years old. >> she loved life, she loved people, she loved her family. she loved her little girl. >> what was the story that the prosecutors want to elicit from you? >> when they wanted me to do was, basically, talk about who dana was, how she was as a little girl growing up. >> they had to make her a presence in the courtroom. >> absolutely. and one of the things that is critical, for the prosecutors,

was i witnessed her injuries. they wanted me to give a very detailed description of what i witnessed that day, when i arrived at the hospital. deb told the jury, it was obvious to her that dana had not been injured in the car accident. >> she didn't have one abrasion, she did not have one road burn, she had nothing but the swollen side of her face, and i will never forget that for the rest of my life. >> you are emotional, that, on the stand. >> extremely emotional. extremely. it's like i'm living it all over again, almost 34 years later, just like it happened yesterday. >> do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. >> the prosecution's next witness, it was that, empty ron billings who had seen dane's body with her own eyes -- he told her an accidental fall made no sense him either. >> the shoes she was wearing

where the clog style and one was still on, and one was right next to her body. and they weren't scuffed up either. >> another thing the prosecutor wanted the jury to understand, was how many times atkins had changed his story about that night. detective bratton told jurors about his story number one, that he'd been a good samaritan who had stopped to help dana. >> he stated that he was driving south, and seen something in the roadway. >> then, the detective testified came russell adkins story number two, dana had been in his car that included a broken door, the detectives told the jury that he didn't buy it. he checked out the car for himself. >> what did you observe in doing? that >> i didn't observe any problems. >> finally, there was russell adkins story number three, prosecutors argued. when he came up with a new detail, the mailbox.

>> how did the back of her head get caved in? >> the pipe from the mailbox that was there. >> the problem, was the paramedics said there is no mailboxes near where her body was found. >> but, if russell adkins was lying about when made it an accident, prosecutors needed to tell the jury what really happened, when evidence was there for murder, here is the heart of the prosecution's case, forensics. >> this comes as a case about science. >> if the science did not work and the jury didn't understand, it was going to be a nightmare. >> dr. barnett, the corner had performed the autopsy, told the jury that with the help of a forensic anthropologist, she had been able to get a better look at dana's skull. >> i saw fractures, and the pattern of fractures only after the bone was cleaned. with three impact patterns, three distinct patterns.

>> and what would caused that? >> a beating. >> some sort of blunt instrument, unknown. >> absolutely. >> there were three impacts on the skull, no question? >> no question, and this was not at all consistent with falling out of the car. not at all, not in my experience. >> y shaped incision. >> it was gruesome testimony for brittani to sit through. >> did they tell you, this may be the, day anyway want to step outside. >> they did, -- you do realize we are gonna show some of the autopsy pictures, her injuries. if you don't think that you want to see, it and might be the time to go out. i said, no i'm from here from the beginning to the end, every, second a matter what. >> a large area of bruising -- >> but what had caused these terrible injuries? the prosecution had a theory. >> what we believe happened was that, on the way home, he may have tried to do something to dana that she didn't want him to do, it may have resulted in a confrontation. she's either ordered out of the car or she gets out of the car, perhaps more words are exchanged. but, she was walking away from

that vehicle, and he came up behind her, and he struck her on the back of the head, and immediately dropped her to the ground. as she is laying on the ground, he struck her at least two more times, and fractured her skull. >> and, the prosecution had a possible murder weapon they wanted the jury to hear about. they called a former patrol officer to the stand. two days after dana's body was found, he had stumbled on something a few feet from the place where adkins said he had turn his car around. >> i found the backside, the back end of a pool key. and it appeared to have, i substance on it, that i thought possibly could've been blood. >> could a pool cue have been the murder weapon? prosecutors asked the jury to listen to what russell adkins had to say about it. >> did you use to have a pool

que that you carried in a car? -- >> it was at the bar. >> he never had one in the car that night? >> no. >> some of the indentations on the skull, are consistent with, like, the fat end of a pool cue. and the funny thing about that is, that the end of a pool cue was found where you said he got down on the phone. >> i am going for that, i did not do that. she fell out of my car, dude. >> did you know that in fact, it was the pool cue that he carried? >> we can't say, 100 percent. but, circumstantial evidence and coincidence says that he went down to that location, turns around, and in a field nearby, a pool cue just happens to show up. >> so, nearly 34 years on, have the prosecutors painted a clear enough picture for the jury of what they believed happened that night? >> did they do it, in your opinion. were you worried? >> i was a little worried, and i don't know if it was just because it was my first time hearing everything, and everything was so scrambled and it was so stressful.

>> i knew that the prosecution had a hard road ahead in themselves. >> the defense team was about to lay into the prosecution's case, with a celebrity scientist, and a bucket full of doubt. -- >> when dateline continues. >> when dateline continues. s m. ( ♪♪ ) 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.

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brittany stork picked her way through the ice and snow into the courthouse, where russell adkins, the man accused of killing her mother, was on trial. she had vowed to sit through every moment. britney stark picture way to the ice and snow into the courthouse where russell atkins, the man accused of killing her mother, was on trial. she had vowed to sit through every moment. so two had russell akins friends. they took turns back in the courtroom benches behind the bouncer. >> i've got to get and said we gotta go in there and show these people that russell would never do that. >> once before, the same friends that don't a benefit to help raise money for the bouncers legal funds. >> people just brought in food, there were probably five different people that got up and played. music just so many that really had nothing but they all pull together whatever they had to

offer. >> she wondered if her former lover was being targeted because he was a biker. but she says his path and where people thought about was as a person was irrelevant. >> but he's a nice man or whether he's a jerk. the bottom line is there was not enough evidence to accuse this man of this. >> adkins defensive attorney, neil abroad, couldn't agree more. >> i francisco they got the case was it's a 1982 case. the must've been a dna hit. something has been discovered. some dna match. and of course there was nothing. appointee the sizing is opening argument had russell construct. >> law enforcement lost or destroyed several pieces of evidence. >>--drilled into the prosecution witnesses, challenging their 30 year old

memories. >> we don't remember worlds --? >> no, i can tell you the exact spot. >> i don't remember. i mean, it was, 30 some years ago. >> as for the return detective, bob breton, the defense got him to conceive just how much evidence was missing. >> as it relates to the clothes, the pool cue, any photos, map of the scene that was made that night, all that information is gone. is that correct? >> that's would have been informed, yes. >> and the defense questioned the detectives account of checking out atkins passenger car door. he did not note in the police report. >> is anywhere in that report where you state i went out to the car i, inspected the car, i sat in the car, i opened the door. is there anywhere in that report? theorized murder weapon, that now long lost pull q. there was nothing linking the pool cue to russell africans. zip. >> you can't tell this jury that that pull q came from russ

atkins a pickle, can you? >> no, i cannot. >> it didn't matter anyway they said. because there's no blood non i >> you set them off that test material that was found on the stick and you became aware there was not blood. >> negative four. blood >> negative four hair? >> yes. >> what's more, it wasn't just that there was no evidence lincoln russell advance to the murder. the defense pointed out the only forensic evidence investigators uncovered excluded him. after the second autopsy, investigators had said they illustrative quipping's to the state crime lab. >> the male dna under fingernails was not mister atkinson's? that has not changed at all. >> even if you didn't believe russell atkins words, defense aside, his actions that nice

seem to speak for himself. >> frankly it doesn't make sense that someone who has just murdered someone is then going to go door to door at three in n the morning, pounding on doors, trying to get them to call someone to help. or >> putting herself at the scene? >> correct. >> if the crux of the prosecution's case was the science, the defense was more than happy of making it a case a of dueling science. >> you knew early on it was going to be a battle of science. expert versus expert? >> yes. >> the coroner who performed the original autopsy was dead, but the defense brought in its own expert to look at the case. if weighty resumes counted, -- had the edge. he performed or supervised more than 62,000 autopsies. >> the brain -- >> renown for his work in cases like jfk assassination and more recent sensational cases like casey anthony. doctor sports had even written the textbook for forensic pathologist. and he described everything the corner had to say.

>> doctor burnett's opinion was that these fractures that you see in this photo were caused by three different impacts. do you agree with that opinion? >> no. >> what conclusion can you draw about how these fractures in these injuries were caused? >> one impact on a very hard, flat surface. that is my opinion. >> doctor spitz said the science showed russell atkins had been telling the truth. dana had hit her head on the t road after falling out of a car. while -- said she saw no other injuries on dina's body, the original thoughts of the identified three small operations on her elbows and shoulders. spitz said those bruises matched. >> the abrasions were significant to him. with the abrasions to the elbows and shoulder are addictive to a fault. >> let me say this. if this was a weapon, this whole thing would look

different. >> not to slight your county co person, but dr. spitz has got a lot of credentials, a lot of autopsies, a lot of history. >> the concern is the jury buys the flash and doesn't listen to the science. >> but before the jury could mull >>over the science, it had to take into account the story of the inonly other person in t car that night. dain's best friend, roxie, who tell her story in public for the first time. coming up -- >> she was my best friend. we are going to raise our kids together. >> roxie says dana was in danger even before she left for the nightclub. >> there is a commotion going on inside the bedroom, but -- there, go out. she walked out and she had marks on her and stuff. >> when dateline continues. st >> when dateline continues. i've been holding on to these pieces of crown molding, 'cause you never know when you're gonna need them. i do, and it's never. it can be a lot for them. do you still own that car? -i do not. -okay.

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hi-ya! it's time for kicking butt and taking names. [ chanting ] violence. violence. no, that's not what i said. one woman had been at dana rosendale's side the night she was fatally injured-- her best friend, roxy. it was she who had watched dana drive off into the night with russell adkins, making him the last person seen with dana that night. >> one tuwoman had been at dana rosendale's side the night she was fatally injured. her best friend, proxy. it was she who had watched dana drive off into the night with russell atkins, making him the last person seen with dana that night. naturally, that meant rocky would testify at trial. but, investigator kinder knew that cooling roxie to the stand was a gamble. >> i think it would be safe to say that roxie has told the same story since 1982, but i always felt that maybe there was a little bit more there.

>> there boundaries he thought to her story? >> yeah. >> but you won't be able to craft them? >> no. >> reporter: the judge agreed with roxie's request not to video her court testimony. but roxie later decided to tell us her story directly. it was her way, she said, to talk to brittani, her best friends daughter. >> my heart breaks for her. i wish we could just see me in a different light because she sees me as one of the bad people and i'm not. >> reporter: and rocks he says she has so much to share with britney about her close friendship with dana. they had made brittani's baby together, even talk about raising their children as close friends. but it wasn't to be. roxie said she was a dean's hospital bedside in her final days. she was the one who did her makeup at the funeral home. >> talking to her for the very last time, doing your hair and makeup like we always did. then i kissed her goodbye. laying there on that steel table. >> reporter: your friend dana.

>> my friend dana. i miss her. >> reporter: rocks he is haunted by her memories of the night she last saw her friend. seeing dane across the dance floor, hearing her say the bouncer was giving them a lift home. >> i want to go get in the car and he said, don't forget, and i said i know. so we had to go through the driver's side because the passenger side doors broke. >> reporter: couldn't open it? >> you could, but to make it close correctly you kind of had to lift it up and close it. >> was it common knowledge, roxie, that he had a car with a bad or? what roxie says happened next was a key to the mystery. according to roxie, the bouncer stopped at her house first and dana got out to use the bathroom. then she helped dana get back into atkins car, through what she remembers as the faulty passenger door. >> i walked her out there and put her in the car and i closed the door and i said i'll talk to you later. last time i saw her alive. >> reporter: do you beat yourself up, roxie, about that

door and whether you closed it correctly? >> i thought about that for a long time, a long time. >> reporter: what do you think happened? >> i think she fell out. i think it was a freak accident. >> but there was more to her story. if she was wrong and dana was murdered, roxie is sure the bouncer didn't do it. even though investigators eliminated toby as a suspect, roxie still wonders about the boyfriend. she told us daddy had confided in her just about the relationship with tony had become. >> anything that happens to me, it is toby. >> reporter: wow. she said that? >> yeah. >> reporter: was it mental games? >> mental, physical. >> reporter: something she saw with her own eyes, rocks he said, when she went to meet data before they went dancing that night. >> there was a commotion going on inside the bedroom, the bedroom door opened, he came out and said there, go out. she walked out and had marks on her and stuff. >> reporter: roxie says dana told her something horrific.

that toby had not only beaten her that evening, he had raped her to. this was the bombshell testimony that rocks gave on the witness stand, something for the prosecution team have been heard before. how much damage is she doing to your case? now you have someone else who has acing against dana. >> it just didn't make sense, though. it doesn't fit what we knew. she either fell out of the car or it was wrong, the cause she was the last one with them. >> it was a terrible thing for brittani to hear about her dad, but she didn't buy it for a second. >> my mom wasn't the one that would put up with that crap. they have thought, i've heard the stories, but if my dad beat her and raped her before she went out and she would have either fought back or the cops would have been there because she would've had him thrown out. >> reporter: there's something else roxie told us when she sat down with us. something she didn't testify about to trial. she says that an angry toby showed up at the club that night looking for dana. it is a claim that investigator kinder says it is not corroborated by any other

witnesses. still, rocky says it is possible toby could've tracked them down later that night, attacking dane after she fell from the bouncers car while atkins went out looking for help. >> he had enough time to slam her head on the side of that road and then be gone, because that is his alibi. >> reporter: prosecutor dobson says the story about toby is implausible and toby, of course, denies everything. >> when you hear the story that you were there that night, that's baloney? >> it's a crock. >> reporter: not only did she say you are there that night, but she says you violently assaulted dana. >> -- >> reporter: virtually raped her. did that happen? anything approximating that? >> not at all. >> reporter: so that is a roxie story? >> reporter: brittani wonders why -- so adamantly defends atkins, a man roxie tells police was just a casual acquaintance. yet there is a note in the police file that atkins might have been proxies boyfriend

about then, that -- >> reporter: to clear up the issue was there anything between you and ross atkins? >> just a guy at the club? >> absolutely not. she was my best friend, we are going to raise your kids together. no way would i ever -- >> reporter: if he had been involved. >> there will be absolutely no way. >> reporter: what would the jury make of roxie and all those other accounts about that night so long ago? after five days of testimony the jury was set off to deliberate. britney stork prayed her the only road to find justice for her mother. and tua races suspicion hanging over her father said, was almost over. coming up. how dana herself finally got to tell her story. >> it took me a second process when he said i want to have your mom there. >> it was a weekly conversation for me to have with them to say, it is my intention to read

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i'm richard louis through our top story. the judgment and donald trump's civil fraud case was officially entered friday, meaning the clock has started for trump to pay his hefty bill of more than $454 million. every day he does not pay that amount will grow by over $100,000 until it is paid off. in new orleans magician claimed friday that the democratic operative for dean phillips, the presidential campaign paid him to use artificial intelligence to impersonate president biden in the infamous robocall that urged new hampshire democrats not to vote in the states january primary. now back to dateline. now back to dateline. britney and her aunt deb had endured it together. >> been easy for them to sit through. the op tops, the expert

testimony. brittani and her and deb had endured together. >> reporter: how did you take care of one another? >> there were a lot of tears, a lot of prayers. strength, inner strength. she might be a little more strong than me, she's a lot like dana. >> reporter: they waited together in the courthouse lobby as the jurors deliberated. >> i knew they had a tough case be because -- the evidence was circumstantial. the longer it went throughout the day, you know, i started to get concerned. i tried to put myself in that position to actually see if they had enough evidence to convict russell adkins. >> reporter: after they had been out for more than five hours, the jurors filed back into court with discouraging news. they could not reach a decision. the judge sent them back out, but only an hour later they returned again, still deadlocked. >> that said, we will declare

wrong jury. >> reporter: you had pushed this thing for so long. did you think that with all there is going to be? >> right then, in that second, i just kept thinking oh my gosh is he getting out, is it over? >> reporter: fear, disappointment, exhaustion. brittani wondered what would happen next. only the prosecutor could decide. his team sat down with some of the jurors, hoping to understand where the case had gone wrong. >> from what we were told by the jurors that we spoke to, they did not believe for a second that dana fell out of the car. but, for a few of the jurors, they just were not confident of how those injuries got on dana's head. >> reporter: the jurors complained so much was -- >> to say it is my intention to

re-exhumed the body and to keep her skull out and presented to the jury. >> reporter: the prosecutor believed dana's skull would do something the photos and diagrams couldn't. enabled coroner to show the jurors at the distinct places where dana had been struck. >> the damage was visible as you looked at the base of her skull. >> reporter: you think that is the most telling injury? >> in his head would have had to have been bent down with someone striking it from up here in order to get into that area and do that damage to her skull. >> reporter: the coroner had some reservations about that approach. >> i thought it was a good idea, but i was hesitant because i knew that if dane's skull was entered into evidence it they might wind up in a locked locker somewhere for the rest of eternity and i couldn't see that. >> reporter: this is where some people believe the sole resides? >> i know. >> reporter: was there a moment, brittani, where he said

enough is enough? let my poor mothers spirit rest here? >> it took me a second to process when he said i want to have my mom there. it took my dad to tell me it's okay. >> reporter: so, in april 2016, brittani and her aunt stood by as dana's grave was opened up yet again. >> i'm trying to be strong. i've been wanting this for so long. for most people it's bringing everything back to me, it's just anger. i'm mad. >> reporter: the second trial began a few months later. brittani's family and atkins supporters gathered once again at the courthouse. was that tough to be coming up the elevators with him and see him in the hallways? >> it was tough, but i have to tell you there are several of them that came over to me and apologized, that we had to go through this and go through the pain. >> reporter: brittani watched as the prosecution called the same cast of witnesses to the stand. the detective, the

investigator, the paramedic. >> i kind of stayed with her, held her hand. >> reporter: this time around, jurors saw dana's injuries not on the slide, but at least in bold. to show the jury what the new examination had found the prosecution brought a box to court. inside it, dana's actuals goal. >> this is got to be god awful for you and the family. they're walking around the courtroom with your sister's skull saying here's the evidence you need. >> it was pretty hard for me. it seemed like forever, forever. like ours. >> reporter: what was there to be seen in the photographs, but something about the skull. >> actually seeing dana there, she was part of the trial. >> reporter: the data became her best witness, didn't she? >> she did. she did. she absolutely did. >> reporter: the prosecutors weren't the only ones with something new for the jury. the defense had been fine- tuning its case, to. they showed the jury photos

from a french case where a man had fallen out of a mini van. >> his fracture was clearly busier than mr. rosendale,'s but it's too similar to be something that is just a mere coincidence. >> reporter: doctor spitz took the stand and said he was more confident than ever in his opinion. >> i believe that this is a single impact when she either fell or jumped out of a moving vehicle. >> reporter: of course, rock to is there to. she scored points for both sides. the prosecution. >> did you ever see anything in mr. atkinson's car? >> a pool stick that was cut with a piece of metal on it. >> reporter: and point for the defense. >> you are aware for the difficulties? >> reporter: proxy, once again, raised the specter of another -- as she told the story of kobe's fight with dana. >> it was a physical fight and a rape. is that correct?

>> yes, yes. >> reporter: the man on trial set as a defense table as the scene played out before him. he couldn't believe it had come to this. his faith in the hands of a jury for a second time. he had listened as the dueling expert sparred in court. he had been silent through it all in till now. >> what did you think about the crops, the prosecutors? >> reporter: coming up. you are not chitchatting back and forth about the night? and you're not making a move on? or >> no. >> reporter: russell adkins talks. >> i heard the door closed and she was gone. >> reporter: after three decades and two trials, a verdict. >> everyone started scrambling. >> it's when your stomach starts turning and you think, did we do everything we could? >> reporter: when dateline continues. could? >> reporter: when dateline continues. so you're always ready for the unexpected. cetaphil. we do skin. you do you. icy hot. ice works fast. ♪♪

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i think it's a great prussell adkins has had more than three decades to reflect on the night he gave dana rosendale a ride home. to this day, he is adamant in saying he did nothing to harm her. i heard the door close, and she was gone. russell adkins had more than three decades to reflect on the night he gave dina rosendale a ride home. to this day, he is adamant in saying he did nothing to harm her. >> i heard the door close and she was gone. i mean, that fast. that's all i can really say. i don't know nothing more. >> reporter: adkins didn't testify in his own defense at his first or second trial, but he did agree to sit down with us to talk about his case. >> reporter: you didn't bludgeon her head? >> no. >> reporter: when she got out of the vehicle? >> no, never. >> reporter: he maintains her fatal rooms must have happened accidentally. how do you explain the ugly injury to the base of her skull? >> the mailboxes were there, or street signs, or paper boxes. >> reporter: velocity, momentum

are carrying her into the pole there? >> like i said, i didn't even see her go out of the car. i don't know if she went out headfirst, backwards, jumped out, was getting sick. i don't know, i didn't see none of that. >> reporter: you're not cheat shouting back and forth about the night? >> no. >> reporter: and you're not making a move on? or >> no. >> reporter: atkins says that he's not guilty, he did nothing to harm data that night. but there's nothing that he is allowed, he is guilty of changing his story. russell let's talk about some of these inconsistencies in your story. officers are arriving, you tell them, i don't have any idea who she is, why she is there. now that she is a passenger in your car. >> right. >> reporter: why deliver that important fact, right? they're >> basically trying to get her out. >> reporter: but you're concerned about your own skin? there >> my persona with the police -- they will do anything to do whatever. >> reporter: so i'll give them the story? >> right. and they'll just leave me alone. >> reporter: that wasn't the

only time russell's story evolved. >> reporter: the story about her head hitting the mailbox of holders and sound plausible. >> why not? >> reporter: is there something that you invented to explain it? wouldn't it be better to say i don't know, i didn't see it happen? >> i'm trying to come up with maybe possibilities. >> reporter: we're trying to solve this, trying to answer all the things, does it create a problem for you? >> it probably did, but i was trying to help. i wasn't trying to be a bad guy and be gone. >> reporter: atkins said he had nothing to hide, then or now. he stayed in the area after dana's death, carrying on with his life until his arrest all those years later. >> what has happened to you, your personal life there? >> it stopped. i lost everything i had. i didn't have much, but it was paying the bills. >> reporter: adkins said he thought it would all blow over soon. he didn't think the case was strong enough to go to trial, but he was wrong. what did you think about the cops, the prosecutors?

>> hell-bent on putting me in prison. handled it incorrectly all the way around, in my book. >> reporter: a trial, atkins says that all he could see was what was missing. important evidence like his car. he wished he could've shown it to the jury. russell, how much weight would you put on the bad door part of this thing? >> all of it. >> reporter: whether she is leaning or fiddling with the door handle, the state of that door -- >> was the biggest part of it. >> reporter: yet jurors had to rely on testimony alone and so it went for much of this case. with us a little hard evidence, atkins said all they had against him was a made-up theory about what he did, nothing more. >> that's how you come up with this murder charge? all from theory? everything you see on tv is i've got this, i've got the weapon, blood analysis, blah blah blah. >> reporter: so it's just a theory that you made a clumsy move on a drunk girl in your car and you beat her brains out? >> that's what they say. >> reporter: russell's frustrations didn't change the fact that he was on trial for murder a second time.

sitting in court near dana's daughter, the catalyst for it all. there is her daughter accusing you. what did you think? >> i can't say that on television. >> reporter: she got you in that courtroom, right? >> pretty much, that i believe. >> reporter: you were his nemesis. i do not come along he would've gone about his life. >> and i'll never go away. ever. i will never, no matter what, i'll never stop fighting for my mom. >> reporter: at the courthouse, all that was left was for brittani to wait once again. the sunset one final time over the wood county courthouse as jurors began to deliberate in the second murder trial of russell atkins. then twilight gave way to black as night. upstairs, rachel atkins friends were waiting, to. >> i took a nap on a bench. i mean, really. when we went in there i thought it was like i hadn't woke up from a nightmare.

>> reporter: word came in the middle of the night, just after one a.m.. the jury had a verdict. >> everyone kind of started to scrambling and i started texting my family. i think that is where it set in and i started shaking because i was like, that means it is one way or the other. not that it's going to be like last time that they don't know whether unsure. i'm going to find out. easter he is going away for a very long time, if not forever, or he's going home. >> reporter: you're all filing into court, going to your table. what did you think? >> at that time that is when your stomach starts turning and you're thinking, jeez, did we do everything we could? >> reporter: brittani closed her eyes in silent prayer and waited. the family clasped and as the judge read the verdict. >> with the jury find the defendant, russell atkins, guilty of murder. >> reporter: brittani doubled over, finally feeling the weight of it all. >> when i heard guilty i lost

it. i started bawling. it was like, did i really even hear that word? it was so crazy. you know, i was happy, but it was like all my emotions that i kept in the entire trial came out at once. >> reporter: the defense team couldn't make sense of it. >> this was not a case that sort of come back with a guilty verdict. >> unbelievable. unbelievable. on what? there is so much doubt. >> reporter: russell atkins was led away an angry man. they pronounce you guilty of this murder. take me into your head, what's going on? >> wow, how did that happen? >> reporter: did you think that you're done, this is life over, you're going inside? >> yes. >> reporter: a few days later he wept as the judge sentenced him to life in prison. for britney, the verdict felt doubly significant. >> i got justice for my mom and justice for my dad. so people would stop saying that he killed my mom. >> reporter: you really had to agendas here, truth be told. you want it to have the person who killed your mom come to

accounts, and you also want it to the court of public opinion to let your father go. >> reporter: it would soon be clear that lady justice hadn't had her final say, not just yet. far from it. coming up -- >> i was absolutely shocked. i was shocked. >> reporter: the end, again. >> everything just came cashing down. >> reporter: when dateline continues. . >> reporter: when dateline continues. with dupixent. because children 6 months and older with eczema have plenty of reasons to show off their skin. with dupixent, the number one prescribed biologic by dermatologists and allergists, they can stay ahead of their eczema. it helps block a key source of inflammation inside the body that can cause eczema to help heal your child's skin from within. serious allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems

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after years of fighting for the mother she knew only

through pictures, brittany stork felt she had a degree of peace. russell adkins had been found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. >> ny kreporter: after years of fighting for the mother she knew only through pictures, brittani stork felt she had a degree of peace. also, atkins had been found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. but you knew she would always keep her mother close to her heart. >> she's going to be mom my mind every day. i want to keep her with me. >> reporter: meanwhile, the man convicted of killing britney's mother was now facing a bleak reality. life behind bars. >> when you don't have no rights, no nothing. orders, either go into the hole where you're going to get the -- kicked out of you. >> reporter: atkins wasn't giving up yet. the public defenders took on his case and filed an appeal. they argue that atkins had been denied his basic constitutional right to a fair trial. in the three decades that passed since atkins had been

charged with murder cuban assistive died, memories faded, mountains of evidence went missing. this unfairly damaged the, cases lawyers said, and meant that atkins couldn't properly defend himself. >> it was a fundamentally unfair trial because of the 34 year wait. and then they expect mr. adkins to be able to defend himself when all of the stuff is gone. >> reporter: the defense acknowledged the delay might have been justified if there had been some new advancement like a dna -- that led to a break in the case. but there is nothing like that here, they said. the only difference maker had been the new coroner's report. >> reporter: no question they did in morris thorough examination, but the evidence upon which they based their findings was available to them in 1982. >> reporter: they could've done it back then. >> forensic anthropology was around in the 80s, it really got going in the 90s, was around in the 2000s, and yet they waited until 2015. >> reporter: brittani said she expected an appeal and wasn't

too worried. >> it was just arguing little aspects of what they thought of why the case should be thrown out and, to me, it was more silly putty stuff. that little thing would be no reason why he should get away with what he did. >> reporter: the prosecution argued that the new autopsy and the thorough cleaning of the skull had been viewed of advancement that came about after the early 80s. and it was that science that led to a 12 person jury to convict russell adkins. >> the prosecutors felt pretty confident that they had presented a pretty good case. >> reporter: both sides briefly made arguments before the judges and then settled in to wait for a ruling. days turned into weeks. weeks and months. finally, on june 29th, 2018, the court of appeals ruled on adkins faith. >> the appellate court overturned. it >> reporter: overturned the conviction? >> yes. >> reporter: go home? >> go home, get out. threw me out of prison.

within ten minutes of that phone call i was out the front door. >> reporter: in a stunning reversal, the court said adkins was right. the long delay in charging him caused actual prejudice without justification. there would be no chance to retry his case. >> i was absolutely shocked. i was shocked. >> that's when i finally broke down. after all of the years i thought we were finally getting that piece, and that justice, and being able to move on. then everything just came crashing down. >> reporter: one thing in particular struck a nerve with and dab. in the court decision, the judges wrote that fading memories may have impacted the accuracy of testimony so many years later. debbie says, in her case, that simply isn't true. >> i would leave the hospital because dane was unconscious. i would go to sleep at night thinking that that was the last i would ever see of her. so i will never forget that,

ever. >> reporter: now, in their eyes, a murderer is walking free. >> russell adkins has been able to live his life. i have no sister, my children had no aunt, my niece had no mother, and i lost my mother because when dana died my mother died right along with her. she might have been here in her body, but she died the same day. and it is unfortunate that the justice system -- i have no words. >> i believe he is guilty, 1000%. there's nothing the appellate court or anybody can say to change that. >> reporter: russell adkins, a free man,, but feeling a sense of injustice about what happened to him. >> are you elated to be out of prison, are you bitter about what happened? >> both. elated to be out of prison, but bitter at the whole system. >> reporter: what do you want to do for take two? >> just to basically get back to where i was at.

fishing, hunting, things like that. surviving, basically. >> reporter: despite the outcome, brittani says she doesn't feel as though her efforts were all for nothing. she hopes that her drive to find the truth may inspire others. >> if you have a feeling in your gut and in your heart, fight. and don't ever give up. just fight. >> reporter: through everything, brittani grew to love the mother she never really knew in life. her baby blanket is now in her mom's coffin and she wears her mom's rings every day. they are close, these two. >> i'll never have regrets from pushing those. it's my mom's the story and nobody else could tell it. hello, i'm andrea cannd this. he's evil. he's pure evil. he is that character in those horror movies. >> reporter: hello, ask.i'm and canning and this