you schooled us. i did. you picked the wrong partner to partner with. you should have come with me. you're totally right. you schooled us. wake up. wake up. >> deborah: four young women taken. four separate families devastated. >> david: but never giving up.

how a fifth girl who got away helped crack the case. an all-new "20/20" starts right now. >> what happened to your daughter, tiffany? >> she was murdered. she'd just gotten married three months before that. >> the entire community was in fear? >> yes. >> there's a killer on the loose. >> the girls were doing ordinary things. laura smither was jogging down a road. >> if you can remember anything, please contact the police department. >> kelly cox was going to school. tiffany johnson was washing her car at a car wash. >> this is just snatching girls up in broad daylight. >> just happened across the path of a serial killer. >> we could be the next one. >> there's nothing in this world more powerful or compelling than needing to find your child. >> this case has been soleen co

long, and there's finally an answer. >> one they got from a stunning tape seen in public for the very first time tonight. >> as you relax and let go, you will drop into hypnosis. >> he was pretty much a one-man crime spree. >> he started driving until he found somebody. >> constantly hunting. he was a predator on the prowl. >> sounds like a monster. four young women disappear in 1997. it's a mystery that baffles investigators and fuels their family's quest for answers for almost 25 years. the first to vanish is laura smither, just 12 years old. what was laura like? >> oh, she was a joy. she was so sweet and so caring.

and so loyal, fiercely loyal to all her girlfriends. >> she was one of my best friends. we spent a lot of time together. >> everybody loved laura. she was just one of those people. i always say she was touched by light. because everybody loved her. >> she was the friend that would come over to your house and make you look bad because she would help put away the dishes after dinner. >> and laura wasn't perfect. she was a normal kid, but she was very smart, wickedly smart. she could have done anything. >> she would have turned 13. she'd been counting down the days for 87 days. >> about to become a teenager. >> she was so excited to become a teenager. >> in 1997, friendswood was just a very quiet small town. so we're about halfway between the city of houston and galveston.

>> in '97, we had been voted one of the top ten safest cities in america. >> laura lived near the creek, and their house was kind of magical. because i would go there, and they would always have the computers going and we could go outside and explore and climb trees. >> there wasn't a lot of development in the area. it was a quiet country road. >> so laura lived on ware dairy at the end. and so, if we were in the kitchen, you could see right to the end of the road from inside the house. >> laura wanted to be a professional ballerina. she had just gotten accepted into the houston ballet academy. >> ballet was probably the most important part of her life besides her family. >> she loved to dance. she was always choreographing little pieces, and she'd put on little plays for us. >> she started when she was six. she did ballet, tap, and jazz. >> wow, for six years?

>> but she just really loved ballet more than anything. >> take me back to april 3rd, 1997. what are you doing that morning here? >> it was a thursday, and because i'd been out of town i said, "okay, we'll do pancakes with bacon," which was laura's favorite. she'd just finished reading a book, and it was all about running, and exercise, and building your endurance. she felt that if she did that, she could hold her arabesques longer and it would make her stronger for ballet. now her dad was a runner, he ran every day. so, i granted her permission to go running while we fixed breakfast. and, of course, she didn't come back. we knew immediately that something was wrong, immediately.

and we called the police within an hour of that happening. >> but our top story tonight, she's only 12 years old and at this hour, she's missing. >> it made the news that first day. >> police concentrate the search near the girl's home. her parents wait and hope. >> it's just been concentrated here around the house. as far as i know, there are some open fields that she might've run by and they've, you know, searched those areas very thoroughly. >> she is a very good girl. she -- something -- something very unusual has happened that -- she would have been home. >> someone had to have taken her. >> the search continues this morning for a missing 12-year-old friendswood girl. >> do you travel on this road at this time of day? did you see anything unusual at this time yesterday? >> yesterday? no. not at all. >> nothing. did you see my daughter? >> i ended up running the ground search. and i was drinking from a fire hose. >> hundreds of people flooded to come help us search, and then it just exploded.

>> overnight, family friends blanketed the neighborhood with flyers. at daylight, a small army of searchers fanned out. >> lori's dad went out with the first wave of volunteers, grateful for all the support. >> i'm somewhat encouraged by the turnout this morning. i've been overwhelmed by the community support and the police. >> what was it like for you and your family last night? >> don't ask me. >> laura was a 12-year-old little girl, and it just touched people. >> the community of friendswood is very close. and they felt that laura was one of their own. >> i'm going home, i'm going to hug my kids and kind of regroup a little bit, and i'll be ready to run in the morning. >> people from all over houston put their lives on hold. the best came out in some people. >> we offer to you and pray that you would watch over laura, wherever she is. >> people of different denominations, different faiths,

all showing up together to -- to pray for this child. and hoping that maybe that will have some power. >> i just want to let her know that we are going to find you. and we're not going to stop until we do find you. >> please keep her in your prayers. >> the fbi has been called in on this search. >> now police are calling it an abduction. >> her parents grow more frantic by the hour. >> volunteers trudged through swamps and dodged snakes, but by day's end there was nothing to report. >> it was a tough search for anyone involved in -- in being out there. that went on for days. >> they covered over 75 square miles. they plan to do the same thing again until laura is found. >> there is a maximum commitment to find you and do everything the law permits to bring you to justice. >> just about every police agency in the area was involved in the search.

>> you have a 12-year-old girl who goes jogging at 9:00 in the morning. and for whatever reason, no one saw anything. >> she was here one second and gone the next. >> we were worried that whoever took her was still out there, and that we could be the next one. >> our top story this morning, what could be a nightmare comes true. >> it was like deja vu. >> somebody had to have taken her. >> it's like she just disappeared. >> has almost picture-perfect ties to the smither case. >> the entire community was in fear. >> yes. >> there's a killer on the loose. >> exactly.

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the search goes on for 12-year-old laura kate smither. >> there is no sign of a 12-year-old girl. >> the ground search is swelling into its sixth day. >> whoever has laura, we would like you to bring her home now. >> three weeks after she disappears, there's a town hall meeting. >> i just remember sitting there feeling numb. this was for my child. >> you need to allow the chief and the fbi some time to analyze some of the information. >> it was a couple of hours later before the police chief made it here to tell us that, indeed, a -- a body had been found. and it was like a -- a dark blanket just swallowed the household.

we just -- were silent. nobody spoke. the police left. and we just all stayed in this room all night. >> based on our knowledge of the case and evidence recovered at the scene, i am prepared to say that the young lady found is, in fact, laura kate smither. >> she had a ring that she would wear that had her initials. and she was wearing her socks. >> it's a -- it's a hole. it's just a void that exists for a long time. and even now. >> the city was heartbroken. people, i think, felt like that could have been their child. and so laura was everybody's child. >> once laura was found, i think it was understood at that point

that this was not an accident. this was an intentional abduction and homicide of a 12-year-old. >> we were worried that whoever took her was still out there, and that we could be the next one. >> three months later and 300 miles north, those worries prove true when another woman goes missing. 20-year-old kelli cox heads out for the day -- and is never seen alive again. what was kelli cox like growing up? >> growing up, she was always very independent, even as a little child. i mean, one time, i told her, "don't put your fingers on that again." so, she reached over with her toes. >> kelli had a really good sense of humor. >> kelli cox is also a mom to her own independent daughter, alexis.

>> say hi to the camera. say hi to the red light. hi, hi. >> kelli was a young mom. she had big plans and big dreams. >> give mommy some sugar. >> how old was she when she had alexis? >> she was 19, just barely 19. >> did she like motherhood? >> she said it was the happiest day of her life. >> listen here, miss thang, you need to laugh, laugh, laugh. >> the day that alex sister was born, and she said that any number of times, "happiest day of my life, mom." >> do you have any memories of your mom, kelli? >> i always knew i was loved. it was beautiful. the way -- the giggles with me, and the way i giggle back, as a baby. >> she was an excellent student, and very focused. she delivered alexis, and a week later she took her finals at the

community college. made all as. >> kelli breezes through community college. and then heads to the university of north texas, studying psychology and criminal justice with plans to be a therapist. >> i'm like, "wow, you're really on track." she had a plan, and she was sticking to it. >> i mean, i think she would have been a phenomenal mother. bettering her future so that she could better our future. >> she said, "mom, i need to support alexis and me." and that's one reason she insisted on summer school classes, 'cause she wanted to graduate in may of '98. >> she would have been a phenomenal role model as well. but sometimes it's not the way things go. >> tell us about that morning. >> it's like it just happened yesterday. she was leaning back in her bed, her hair up on top of her head.

i said, "have a good day. i love you." you know. "i'll see you this afternoon." >> on july 15th, 1997, kelli was touring the city of denton jail for her criminal justice class. >> should, she comes out of the building. and what happens? >> she tried to get into her car. she couldn't get into it. >> couldn't open the door? >> couldn't open the door. she, you know, the -- the key would not work. >> so she walks to a nearby convenience store to call her boyfriend for help. but by the time he arrives here, kelli is nowhere to be found. >> when he got there, her car was there in the parking lot. but, of course, she was nowhere to be seen. >> he opened the car, sat in there. she never showed up. so, he left a note, saying, "hey, it got hot. call me." >> kelli's seen on surveillance video?

>> she was seen doing the tour of the jail. they didn't have cameras on the outside. >> there was no cameras or anything over there at the gas station. no cameras in the immediate vicinity. they confirmed that kelli did go inside the gas station. so they knew that she was there, but no one saw where she went. she just disappeared. the police station's on one end of the road. and where kelli was at is on the other end of the road. but it was in within, probably, 200 yards of the police station. >> it's pretty bold to kidnap a young woman next to a police station. >> it was real scary, because you just don't know. and it was so unlike her. she wouldn't just leave her car and abandon it. and it was at 4:00 on that day that lawrence called me. the boyfriend called me and

asked me if i had heard from kelli. and then when 5:30 finally rolled around, i knew without a doubt something bad was wrong. because that's when she was supposed to pick alexis up from the babysitter. >> she wouldn't have just left her. so, that's when her mom knew she's missing. something serious has gone wrong. >> it's like she was there one minute, and then she was gone. right from the get-go, i'm thinking somebody had to have taken her. >> it makes you wonder how many times the person who kidnapped her had done this. he knew the exact right moment to approach a victim. ♪ i have type 2 diabetes, but i manage it well ♪ ♪ jardiance! ♪ ♪ it's a little pill with a big story to tell ♪ ♪ i take once-daily jardiance ♪ ♪ at each day's start! ♪ ♪ as time went on it was easy to see ♪ ♪ i'm lowering my a1c! ♪ jardiance works twenty-four seven in your body to flush out some sugar. and for adults with type 2 diabetes

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a young mother is missing. >> kelli cox disappeared without a trace. >> i have to remain optimistic that we're going to find her. >> i couldn't see her, couldn't find her. i had a bad feeling. >> investigators questioned lawrence harris yesterday for four hours. >> whenever you're dealing with missing persons or any type of homicide investigation, more often than not, it's someone that you know. there's rarely a situation where it's just a true whodunit. it was natural at that time to look into the boyfriend.

>> we all want the same thing, we want her to come home safe. >> he had been seen in that parking lot. he was sitting there for an extended period of time. >> they have questioned the boyfriend and he has passed a lie detector test. >> he wasn't a good suspect in the case. >> there are no witnesses, her boyfriend passes the polygraph, and leads are going nowhere. >> they really did everything that they possibly could to generate a lead. even the leads that were coming in, they weren't really fruitful. but no clear-cut, concrete evidence about what happened to her. the case eventually went cold. >> so the days turn into weeks, the weeks into months, and the months into years. >> yes. we always tried to keep the story out there. wanting people to know it was not a solved case and kelli was not home. there's nothing in this world more powerful or compelling than

you want to find your child. >> eleven days after kelli cox went missing, another young woman vanished. her name was tiffany johnston. she was in oklahoma, about three hours north of denton. >> where was tiffany born and raised? >> she was borned in chickasha, but she was raised in anadarko. >> anadarko is a little town in southwestern oklahoma. >> everybody knows everybody. everybody grows up together, goes to school together, goes to church together. tiffany was so energetic and daring. >> tiffany was my shadow. everywhere i went, tiffany went with me. >> oh, that's not an idea,

honey, that's a fact. wherever mama was, tiffany was gonna be there learning how to do something or helping. we went to junior high and high school together. i didn't have friends, and i think she saw that and decided that she was going to be my friend. >> she just loved life, loved life. and nothing could stop her. >> ryan and her dated for about a year. >> she just had this sixth sense about people. so if she had decided at 19 that he was the one, like, he was the one. >> she wanted a big wedding. >> big wedding, yes. >> cost a lot of money. >> yes. i took a job, yeah. and i made enough to pay for it. >> it was july 26th, 1997, the day tiffany johnson disappeared from the sunshine car wash here in bethany, oklahoma. that night, she had plans to celebrate her three-month

wedding anniversary with her husband. >> and she stopped at a car wash along the way. and she went missing. >> it was late at night, was it normal for people to be washing their cars here? that late? >> yes, those were the summer months, and yes, this was a very popular car wash. >> what happened? what did you see? >> so, about 11:30 p.m., i was heading to another call. and i drove by the car wash. there's several occupants still in the car wash, washing. i also observed a white dodge neon in the far west bay. i continued on to my call, came back about 45 minutes later, and that car was still there, no one around it, and it was the only car still there. >> when they arrived the second time, they noticed some floor mats were hanging up on the rack, like someone would wash them. the car was unlocked. the keys were in the ignition.

there was money in the console, a payroll check was in the console, so it didn't appear to be a robbery. it just appeared to be whoever drove the car just wasn't there. >> we did find a phone number to kathy dobry, which was tiffany's mother. >> and then after midnight, you get a phone call? >> it was the bethany police department wanting to know if i knew who tiffany dobry was. and i said, "yes, i'm her mother." and they said, "well, we found her car sitting and abandoned." >> police also contact ryan, who rushes to the car wash. >> the husband didn't have any idea where she was and was very concerned. >> did you try to call her? >> yes. and she didn't answer, and that was something really unusual. her pager was in the car, everything. and that was really when i

really got really scared, because she didn't go anywhere without it. >> in this kind of case, you don't have any physical evidence to go with. and typically you look at the spouse first. they interviewed him. they checked his alibi. he was at work till 11:00 that night. >> ryan's work punchcard rules him out as a suspect. >> the thing about this particular crime scene, it didn't appear to be a struggle. it's just that tiffany wasn't there. >> we are not sure exactly what happened. but we had concerns that something bad might have happened to tiffany. >> the very next day, tiffany's partially clothed body is found in a tall patch of grass here near the interstate. she'd been raped and strangled to death. >> it was hard to just digest that someone would want to murder her, because everybody that met her liked her. why would somebody want to

murder tiff? >> i just lost it, because i'm 19. at 19, these things don't happen. i still believed that the world was good and people are good. >> this particular case, it's really tough. there's no particular witness. there were swabs that came from tiffany johnston that the medical examiner had collected. >> those swabs were taken for dna analysis, and those results were inconclusive at the time. and at that point, the case went cold. >> now there are three cases. laura and tiffany found murdered, and kelli still missing. handled by three different police departments along the interstate. there's no sense that these cases are linked. then, four weeks later -- >> a nightmare comes true for some ticki island parents. >> their 17-year-old daughter has been missing for more than 24 hours, and police say this is

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it's the summer of 1997, and three young women have mysteriously vanished. there was laura smither, just 12 years old, out for a jog near her home in friendswood, texas. then there was a college student and young mother, kelli cox, taken near a police station in north texas. and finally, up in bethany, oklahoma, 19-year-old newlywed tiffany johnston was last seen at car wash. and now august brings more heartache back in texas. >> our top story this morning, what could be a nightmare comes true for some tiki island parents. their 17-year-old daughter has been missing for more than 24 hours, and police say this is

no runaway. >> if you have my daughter and you're through with her, i pray that you would return her, because her daddy and i still want her. >> 17-year-old recent high school graduate jessica cain is the only child of suzy and c.h. cain. what did she mean to you, jessica? >> oh, well, she meant everything in the world. you know. you could lose a limb, an arm or something, and it'd be easier than doing without your child. >> right in the face! >> she was a parent's dream. she was just as good a child as you could ever want. >> say hello to mr. -- mr. rodney, everybody! >> she did plays in elementary, junior high, high school.

and so, she'd been at the drama house for two or three years, playing different events. >> and what were her dreams? what did she want to do? >> jessica wanted to study criminology. >> her immediate plans were to go to college? >> uh-huh. >> did she get to attend one college class? >> no, she was starting the next week. >> tell us about august 1997 and the play she was acting in? >> she was in a musical, "songs of the '50s." and when we sat down in the audience, she grabbed me by the arm and pulled me out of the chair, and we jitterbugged down the aisle to her stage. >> and what do you remember about her performance that night? >> how pretty she looked, how excited she was. i went up to tell her how proud i was of her. and the last thing she said to me was, "i love you, daddy."

>> after the play was over with, the cast members went to have dinner at bennigan's restaurant. she was driving her dad's white ford pickup truck. jessica, they saw her going down the entrance ramp to the freeway, and that was the last thing anybody saw of jessica cain. >> i had stayed up in the recliner and was waiting up for her, and i dozed off to sleep. and it was about 2:30, i guess, when i woke up and i realized she wasn't here. and that's when i immediately began to panic. >> she woke me up, and i just jumped out of bed and hit the road looking for her. about two and a half hours after i left the house, i found the truck on the side of the road. it was empty.

it was the most horrible feeling you could imagine of emptiness and hurt, 'cause i knew that something tragically had happened. >> there were reports, probably 50, 60 sightings of a white pickup truck being chased by a vehicle at high speed down the freeway. it was so close to the bumper, it was like it was being towed. >> we beg you, please, if you know anything, if you can help us in any way, help us find our daughter. >> anybody that can spare a little time, we would appreciate your coming out and helping in any way that you possibly can. >> what did the search for jessica look like? >> at one time, i think i was told there were 6,000 responses, and people walking the fields looking for her, and tall

saltgrass filled with cottonmouths and rattlesnakes, and beating their way through the brush piles and thick areas around the coast. >> it was like deja vu. i mean, thousands of people joined the search for jessica cain. >> incredibly, laura smither's parents, still grieving from the loss of their own daughter, join the search. >> she must never give up her hope. there was no question that we had to go help. >> you said, "we had to do that." well, you didn't have to. >> for us, we had to. we had to give back -- people had been so kind to us, and there was no question we had to go find jessica. >> it's a nightmare relived. it's very painful. >> what did bob and gay give you? >> they gave us their hearts and their love and their support. >> and the knowledge, they'd already been there. >> yeah. >> they'd already been through it.

>> but as the boxes were boxed and the supplies were shipped out, volunteers could only fight back tears because jessica is still missing. >> this is kind of a letdown, but we're going to keep searching. we're going to keep -- we're going to find her. >> in jessica's case, there was nothing. no leads at all. and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. >> i think after jessica came up missing, that's when people started believing it was a serial killer involved. >> we were so scared, because the thing that we had been afraid of all along, that there was this monster. >> jessica cain is now the fourth young woman who had gone missing. three in texas, one in oklahoma. but what authorities investigating those cases at the time did not know was that there was a fifth young woman taken who escaped. >> somebody just came in and said that someone was abducted,

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the desperate search for a 12-year-old girl in friendswood is on this afternoon. >> kelli cox disappeared without a trace. >> here in the la marque-tiki island area, searchers will be searching for 17-year-old jessica cain. >> families and investigators

are puzzled. four young women have gone missing in texas and oklahoma. including 12-year-old laura smither, who dreamed of being a ballerina. she went running one morning and was found dead three weeks later. >> based on our knowledge of the case and evidence recovered at the scene, i am prepared to say that the young lady found is, in fact, laura kate smither. >> at the time, it was terrifying for all of us, for the whole community. >> while the murder of little laura dominated the local news, there was a fifth girl who was taken. but this kidnapping had not received much media attention at the time. >> on may 17th of 1997, just weeks after laura smither's body is found, a 19-year-old woman is kidnapped in webster, texas, mere miles from friendswood. >> sandra sapaugh was in a neighboring city in webster, which is immediately adjacent to

the city of friendswood on the i-45. it's a small city on the i-45 corridor between houston and galveston. >> it's about 1:30 in the morning when 19-year-old sandra sapaugh stops at that convenience store behind me. she's using a payphone outside, calling a friend, when she notices a strange man parked nearby staring at her. she tells her friend to meet her at this waffle house across the street. but as she starts driving there, she notices she's got a flat tire. >> as she pulled into the back of the waffle house, the unknown person who was watching her across the street at the stop-n-go had followed her across the street. >> this individual pulls up beside her and -- and tells her she's got a flat tire and asks her if she would like for him to change it. >> he looks like a good samaritan trying to help. >> yeah, so, like, in her words, just a normal cowboy, you know?

he opens the hood of his truck and asks her to go to his front seat and get a rag, which she does. and he comes up behind her with a large hunting knife and puts it to her neck and tells her to get into the truck or he's going to kill her. she gets in the truck. he starts driving north on i-45. he's driving at a high rate of speed. >> he was holding her down, told her to take off her pants, so it was clear to her that -- that he was going to sexually assault her. >> she then said, "i can't take my pants off because my shoes are on, i have to take my shoes off." so he lets go of her leg, and as soon as he did that, she opened the truck door. >> she felt like that was her only chance, that she was going to be killed one way or the other, and this was her only

chance to possibly get away. so she made the decision to jump out of the moving vehicle. >> webster 911. >> y'all need to come to waffle house. somebody just came in and said that someone was abducted and they jumped out of the car and they're bleeding. >> a call came over the radio as an aggravated kidnapping. >> units en route to waffle house. female jumped out of a white dually, unknown lp, last seen headed 45 northbound. she needs an ambulance. she can't walk. >> as i arrived on scene, i just started gathering as much information as possible. >> sandra sapaugh had been critically injured. but in spite of that trauma, she was able to recall that her kidnapper was driving a white ford duly truck, and she provided a very basic physical description of the driver. >> white male in his 30s, blond hair with a beard. >> sandra sapaugh is transported

to a local hospital where she remains for several days. >> had road rash from head to toe, so severe injury to her head that i remember her clothes were ripped and torn and -- >> among the evidence collected, the left front tire from the young woman's vehicle. the tire had been punctured, and police reports note that the puncture looked like it was made with a knife. >> there was interviews done, but there wasn't anything concrete linking her abduction to any individual. >> fearing that there could be a serial rapist on the loose, investigators bring in a police officer who is trained in hypnosis. it was the very first time this unconventional tool was used by the webster police department. >> she was so traumatized, there was very little she could recall. >> as you relax and let go, in the very process of relaxing, you will gradually drift into hypnosis.

>> for more than two hours, they painstakingly go through every detail of the crime. >> did he make you get in the truck, or did he just ask you? >> made me. >> during her hypnosis, i asked her to describe the inside of the vehicle. the pad of paper with the number, what color was it? >> yellow. >> did he have any facial hair? mustache, beard, goatee? >> mustache. >> she was able to recall some details through the hypnosis and gave a description of the vehicle and the suspect. >> incredibly, with the help from the hypnotist, police narrowed their search to one man. >> he was a predator on the prowl, constantly hunting. >> the predator remains at large, but the hypnosis session proves crucial.

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he was a predator on the

prowl, constantly hunting. >> he started driving until he found someone. >> sounds like a monster. >> we were worried we could be the next one. >> the entire community was in fear? >> yes. >> there's a killer on the loose. >> it was a feeding frenzy on this case. the press is all over it. >> what keeps you going? what allows you to move forward? >> catching who did it. >> there's nothing in this world more powerful or compelling than you want to find your child. >> but one victim escaped and helped find the killer under hypnosis. >> just relax. >> this case has been cold for so long. and there's finally an answer. >> he just put his hand head.

all four of them. so that was one of those, oh geez, you know? >> what a moment. >> it was their fault, they did something wrong to annoy him. >> get shoulder to shoulder. >> you have said you could feel the evil in the room. >> repeat after me in a loud, clear voice. "do not scream." >> do not scream. >> do not scream. >> do not scream. >> do not scream. laura smither, just 12 years old, goes missing on april 3rd, 1997. she's found murdered 17 days later. that july, two other young women go missing farther north. kelly cox in denton, outside of dallas, and tiffany johnston in a suburb of oklahoma city. then in august, jessica cain disappears off i-45, just north of galveston. and it's that very same roadway, i-45, that connects these disappearances.

in each case, authorities have very little to go on, but they are not giving up. >> laura is no longer just a name in friendswood, it's a battle cry. a battle cry to find a killer. >> what the public doesn't know is that investigators working on laura smither's murder quickly have someone in their sights. >> very early on, there was a suspect that was developed. >> right from the start? >> right from the start. his name was william reece. >> william reece was kind of a jack of all trades. he was a truck driver. he operated heavy equipment. he shoed horses. >> william reece had a history of kidnapping people. >> william reece had been convicted in the '80s of kidnapping and sexual assault. he was supposed to serve a 25-year sentence.

he ended up getting out after nine and a half years of that sentence on an appeal. >> william lewis reece was released october 18th, 1996, from oklahoma department of corrections. >> he was working at a construction site next door, essentially, to where laura's house was. that morning, he was dismissed early from the construction site because the ground was too wet, it had been raining, and drove down the same road that laura had been out for a jog on. >> it would've taken william reece in direct path with laura smither the morning of april the 3rd. >> well, as soon as they found out that he had kidnapped a female in oklahoma and sexually assaulted her, you know, that kind of opens your eyes up pretty quickly. and they talked to him, did an interview. >> early on? >> early on. >> he consented to a search of his vehicle. they took photographs of the inside of the vehicle, collected fingerprint evidence. they collected fibers from floor mats and seats. >> the fbi conducted a polygraph test, which was inconclusive.

>> there were other people on the radar earlier that were being looked at closer for a while. but he was the primary suspect. there was reasons not to announce that. >> still, behind the scenes, the friendswood authorities heading up the smither investigation are willing to discuss their suspect. >> and that's how a fateful connection between laura smither's case and the sandra sapaugh kidnapping is made in october, when sue dietrich-nance, the detective who had hypnotized sandra, stops by the friendswood police department. >> i spoke with the chief there, and he told me about who they suspected. and i left his office, went home. and about 3:00 in the morning i woke up and i thought, "oh my god, that's who sandra sapaugh

described was william reece." >> the suspect was a thin cowboy who wore a cowboy hat. he drove a large white dually pickup truck. there was a notepad or what she thought was some type of notepad or calendar on the dashboard. >> sue dietrich-nance immediately connects investigators from friendswood and the neighboring town of webster, where sandra was taken. >> friendswood police department had already processed william reece's vehicle, so they were able to confirm that his vehicle was consistent with what sandra sapaugh had described being the vehicle that had abducted her. >> they brought reece in as part of a live lineup. >> there's a one-way mirror where they come in, where sandra is sitting on the opposite side of the glass. >> if y'all would get shoulder to shoulder. >> one after the other after the other, the investigator had each person say phrases that the suspect might have used. >> face the glass. i want you to repeat after me in a loud, clear voice. "do not scream." >> do not scream.

>> okay, now loud voice. "get in the truck." >> get in the truck. >> in a loud voice. "i will kill you, bitch." >> i'll kill you, bitch. >> sandra was able to pick reece out of the lineup. she recognized him, recognized his voice. >> webster police arrested reece at his home on fauna street thursday. detectives say that arrest has almost picture-perfect ties to the smither case. >> just after his arrest for sandra's kidnapping, friendswood authorities publicly name reece as the prime suspect in laura smither's murder. >> we are confident that over the weeks ahead, that evidence will link him to our case and lead to what we have all been aiming for, a successful prosecution and conviction. >> ultimately, testing does link reece to laura's body. there are fibers on her socks that match the floor mats of his truck and a blanket found in his apartment. >> unfortunately, the evidence was not enough to convince the harris county district

attorney's office to file charges in the death of laura smither. >> were you hopeful that he would be charged -- >> very hopeful. >> -- with laura's murder? >> yeah. and then he wasn't. i was angry, i was very angry at that time. but because he was prosecuted for sandra sapaugh, i was very glad about that. >> there's a feeding frenzy on this case. the press is -- is all over it. >> this was a huge case. the seriousness of him also being a possible suspect with laura smithers, it was very high profile. >> do you think you're being unfairly treated, mr. reece? >> yeah, i do. >> how so? >> by the press. you're blowing it all out of proportion. i didn't do nothing. and they know it. friendswood knows it. >> reece's whole attitude was so cocky. >> this is case number 766088. the state of texas vs. william lewis reece.

>> kay smither attended the trial. she wanted to see this man face-to-face. >> that was the only thing i could do to try to hold him accountable. >> reece's lawyer is trying to prove that reece became a suspect in this kidnapping case only after it was revealed he was a suspect in an unrelated murder case, the murder of laura smither. >> the spin is that he's being framed. >> in the end, the jury takes little more than seven hours to decide reece's fate. >> the verdict has just come in. william reece has been sentenced to 60 years behind bars. >> reece said he didn't expect such a long sentence. >> the term, 60 years. did that surprise you at all? >> oh yeah, yeah, it did. >> what did you expect? more leniency? >> well, no, i really didn't expect to be convicted, really. >> he's found guilty. and he's sentenced to 60 years in prison. did it provide some solace to you? >> it did, because then we knew he couldn't hurt anyone else. >> is he charged for laura's murder? >> no. we became resigned to accepting

that he was never going to be held accountable for laura. >> and what about the other girls' families? well, it turns out one of them in oklahoma knew william reece. >> now, you had a relationship with his mother? >> yes. zyrtec allergy relief works fast and lasts a full 24 hours so dave can be the... deliverer of dance. ok, dave!

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what happened to your daughter, tiffany? >> she was murdered. >> she'd just gotten married three months before that. it was quite a surprise when they told us that she was missing. >> toughest night of your life? >> it's something that a parent never should have to go through. >> and for years, you didn't know who did it? >> no. >> what keeps you going? what makes you -- allows you to move forward? >> catching who did it. >> kathy dobry, she would not stop pushing investigators. >> i told tiffany i would get who murdered her. that was my promise to her. >> we were able to actually get

the case reopened and get osbi looking at it again. >> so when i got this case, there was three or four boxes full of reports, full of information, full of notes that i basically just worked my way through them. >> it turns out there had been a potential suspect, william reece. several months after tiffany was taken from the sunshine car wash and raped and murdered, investigators in oklahoma had gotten a tip from texas authorities. when reese was arrested for kidnapping sandra sapaugh, the woman who got away, he claimed that police were not only trying to frame him for laura smither's death, but that they were also trying to pin tiffany's murder on him. >> without that phone call, william reece wouldn't even have been on our radar screen. that's not a name that the investigators at the time had even heard of. >> detectives in texas also say

they can place reece in oklahoma the night tiffany disappeared. >> investigators early on developed a timeline with william reece, using his phone records, his gas receipts, showing what days he traveled up and down i-45 from houston to oklahoma. >> a phone call had been made from a payphone the night that tiffany came up missing, and it was from the yukon area. which is just west of where tiffany was reported missing and just east of where her body was located. >> william reece immediately becomes a person of interest, but that's the closest investigators could put him to the crime scene. >> the carwash owner recognized him as being a customer there at the carwash, but that particular day there wasn't anyone that could put him there.

to be truthful with you, i had no idea what i was going to do with the case. the only hope i had, there was one item of evidence that with new dna technology that might be able to be tested. >> there were some swabs left from the original analysis. >> that particular evidence had been tested previously, and no dna profile was able to be developed then. >> and with our current technologies, which are more sensitive, there was hope that we could develop a dna profile. a partial male dna profile was obtained from the swabs from tiffany's body. >> the partial profile is a huge step forward, but has its limitations. you have to match it to specific samples. >> i had to basically go and eliminate everyone who might have known tiffany. >> while osbi agents are gathering samples in oklahoma,

they reach out to texas authorities to get a sample from william reece. and that request gets the attention of investigators in friendswood who are starting a cold case review of laura smither's murder. >> so in 2014, i was tasked with looking into the laura smither case. >> and that's when josh and i started working together. >> there was two plans. one, we see if we could develop enough evidence. to file charges on william reece. second plan was to help oklahoma develop a strong enough case where their district attorney would file capital murder charges. on william reece. which would be an incentive for him maybe to give up some information in exchange for a life sentence versus the death penalty. >> armed with that timeline of reece's whereabouts, friendswood investigators start working

together with law enforcement, investigating cold cases in places where reece had visited. >> in all three cases kelli, jessica, and tiffany, they were able to find gas receipts, calling cards that put him nearby these locations where the women went missing. >> meanwhile, osbi has tested and eliminated all the other dna samples they took in tiffany's case against their partial dna profile. >> it was not any of them. so i'm looking at a table full of numbers. and each location where the evidence has results, the partial profile was consistent with reese and nobody else. it's exciting. this case has been cold for so long, and there's finally an answer. >> in a cruel coincidence, tiffany johnston's mother kathy knew william reece personally. >> his parents lived across the street from them in anadarko.

>> now, you had a relationship with his mother? >> yes, his mother did my laundry for me while i was working. she pressed the clothes that we were going to bury tiffany in. >> do you know if tiffany knew william reece? >> i don't believe tiffany ever met william reece. >> the evidence now suggests that somehow reece encountered tiffany at the sunshine car wash. >> that's really when things started moving a lot faster. >> the amount of information in the partial profile was enough for the d.a. to file charges. >> but we purposely waited, because we knew that william reece was not going to get out of prison. the game plan was to allow texas an opportunity to run their cases. >> we're all comparing notes, and there wasn't anything missed, there was no new evidence. what it was going to come down to was us making a run at william reece. state your full name. >> william lewis reece. >> i'm detective doug bacon. >> so at this point in time, we

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♪ william reece is behind bars in texas serving 60 years for kidnapping sandra sapaugh. now, with a threat of a death penalty case for tiffany johnston's murder in oklahoma looming over him, law enforcement in texas decide to approach reece to see if he'll cooperate with their cases on laura smither, kelli cox, and jessica cain. >> my experience with suspects is if you can make them a good offer or better offer than what they're about to receive, they'll usually take it. >> there may be consideration if he's willing to give up the locations of the remaining girls. >> originally, i always felt i was going to do the interview, right? the issue we had and all of that, william reece hated friendswood police department. >> that's right. >> so, we had to come up with something else. >> doug bacon and i discussed who we'd like to use to make a

run at william reece. >> reece was a cowboy, right? we felt that he could relate to another cowboy, which there's no more of a cowboy in texas than a texas ranger. >> jim holland with the texas rangers. february 9th, 2016 at the ellis unit, huntsville, texas. time is now 2:46. >> we knew jim holland was a very good interviewer. so, we recruited him to come on board. >> bill? >> yes, sir. >> agent holland with the rangers. what do you think this is about? >> it's probably about some murder cases. >> yep. but which ones, any clues? >> i have no idea. >> oklahoma's got you on a case, and we've got you on smithers. >> yeah. >> okay? but it doesn't have to be all bad, all right? >> ranger holland's explaining to him that if he was willing to cooperate, now would be the time. >> 'cause at the end of the day, i would like your help. that's my goal. >> mm-hmm. >> i'm not going to promise you

things. but for at least a little bit of time, if you help me, you can get treated like a rock star. >> i think they tried to make him feel like he was one of the boys. you know, "hey, we want your help with this." >> this is a very unique opportunity for you. there is a thing called consideration. and there's things that, you know, you can, you can get guarantees in advance. all right? >> holland interviewed him for five and a half hours. >> and i think at the end of the day that bill's gonna make a decision based on what's best for bill. >> it ain't gonna be today. >> but there's a clock ticking, all right? >> we provided jim holland with photographs of all of those girls. >> and at some point in time, he had laid the pictures of jessica cain, laura smither, kelli cox, and tiffany johnston. >> what do you want me to say? >> you tell me. i mean, do you want me to go to the d.a. and broach it and get you a guarantee? >> tell you what, give me until monday. >> all right. >> if you come back monday, i'll tell you either we're gonna do this, or i ain't gonna do it. >> okay. >> we'll talk about all this. >> all four.

>> he just put his hand over and said, "all four of 'em." >> wow. >> so that was one of those, "oh geez," you know. >> he is giving some indication that he was responsible for the murders of all four of these girls. >> suzy had been praying for that exact thing just previously. >> all the families, we all talked to law enforcement. >> bringing those two girls home was very important to us. we'd taken the death penalty off the table. >> we okayed that. i said, "if in fact he takes you to where he buried kelli and we can get her remains, that's fine." >> when ranger holland returns to meet reece as agreed, oklahoma isn't making any promises. >> they had not made a decision one way or the other, whether they would or wouldn't pursue the death penalty. >> although reece is initially reluctant, he still agrees to give up the location of one of the missing women as a first step. >> at the end of the day, you don't have one chip, you've got two chips. >> right. >> okay? so -- >> you want one of them? >> yeah.

>> i'll give you one. >> william reece was released into friendswood police department's custody. we first drove him to where he said he buried kelli cox. >> this is the site out in brazoria county off of 288 and county road 51. >> why did he choose this spot to bury her? >> there was a stolen bulldozer on site. so, he had already had a bulldozer staged here that he was hiding out until he could sell it. >> that he had stolen? >> that's correct. >> as investigators begin to dig where reece directs them, he settles into his own cell at the friendswood jail. >> so, you get him to open up to you by appearing to be friendly with him? >> correct. as an investigator you have to play a role, right? but you always knew what he did. >> but your intention was to get information from him. >> that was my intention. within three days, and he was telling me about the murders of the four girls. >> over the course of several taped interviews, reece shares details on how he murdered each

young woman, starting with 12-year-old laura smither who was out jogging. >> and, uh, i heard this loud noise. i hit something. i thought it was some mailboxes. i checked my mirror, it's slung up against the side of my truck and it broke. so, i stopped. that's when i seen her in that ditch. i didn't know what to do. i thought, "man, they ain't gonna believe me." >> according to him, it was an accident. >> i pull up to the side of the building -- >> reece says he ran into that young mother, kelli cox, at the convenience store near the denton police station. >> she bumped into him walking out the store with a coke in her hand and called him a drunk. >> we got into it there, and she hit me with that coke. it was just a plastic bottle. and it was on. and when i hit her, she hit her head. >> with jessica cain, she was coming out of bennigan's getting

in her car. he bumped his car door, and he yelled at her, and she flipped him off. he left that parking lot driving down south toward galveston. and jessica cain just happened to be driving behind him. so, he said he pulls off the side of the highway. >> she just pulls right up behind me for no reason. she should've kept going, but she didn't. she was yelling at me. then i lost it. i just got up and walked over there and hit her right there on the interstate. cars were going by and everything. >> so, i asked reece if he would be willing to give me a statement concerning the tiffany johnston case, and he agreed. and he said he was at a car wash with his horse trailer. >> i was spraying in between the truck and the trailer. next thing i know, this girl is yelling at me that i sprayed her. i don't think i sprayed her, but she was cussing me and everything. we started getting into the verbal words back and forth. >> he threw her in the horse

trailer, where, after more physical confrontation, he wrapped a rope around her neck and strangled her to death. >> and i remember her being on top of me. and i told her to get off, because it was too hot in there, i couldn't do it. and she hit me in the back of the head with a horseshoe. >> okay, but let's back up just a little bit. because i -- you just lost me. >> he claimed that he grabbed her, was beating on her, and suddenly she wants to have sex with him. >> the part that's hard to believe -- >> yeah. >> -- is that you guys start out with a fight -- >> right. >> and suddenly, she wants to have sex with you. >> i ain't saying she was doing it voluntarily. >> william reese never, never admitted to being in the wrong. he always had an excuse for what he did. it wasn't his fault. >> it was their fault. and i don't think normal people like you and i can even begin to understand the mindset of somebody like that. >> you know he's not telling the truth. you know he's lying to you.

but you don't want to push him too hard because you don't want to lose his cooperation. >> after days of digging, investigators are starting to doubt his word, especially his story about where he buried kelli cox. >> we dug for seven days and did not locate anything. we let him know that folks are starting to lose confidence in what he's telling us. >> i could see the concern on his face. >> because his life depended on it? >> right. >> i'm telling you, she's got to be out here somewhere. >> eventually, reece will take police to a second location where he says he buried the other missing woman. >> i just don't understand why we can't find her. there it is... that feeling you get when you can... du more with less asthma. it starts with dupixent. dupixent is not for sudden breathing problems. it's an add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma.

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penalty hanging over his head and seven days of digging without finding kelli cox, william reece assures investigators he can bring them to where he buried jessica cain. >> you telling us the truth about burying her out there? >> yes, sir. 100%. >> reece said, "yeah, i'll take you directly to jessica cain's location, 'cause i know where i buried her 'cause it's right by a pipeline." >> reece had drawn, by hand, a map for these investigators of where he buried the body. >> we start digging with shovels, and that quickly turned into some excavation equipment that we start getting when we realize that we're not going to find the remains immediately. >> eyewitness news was first on scene and captured this exclusive video of william reece. he's still in police custody but has been brought out to the site to help find jessica cain. >> he had handcuffs, just calmly walking around.

he would speak with investigators, he would point at the ground. >> two massive excavators have been moving all day, digging more than six feet into the ground. investigators are keeping a close eye on the dirt falling from the buckets, looking for anything out of the ordinary. >> all of these agencies had kind of descended on this strip of land. >> this has now become an enormous operation. time, money, manpower. >> the activity has not slowed down more than one week into the digging process. >> some days it'd be cold. mosquitos, a lot of snakes. really, pretty miserable. but everybody that was there knew that they were there to find jessica. >> i've prayed for this child for years and years. and just hoping that, upon hope, that this is it. >> there were friends who had come up to the dig site. they had tied ribbons around the fence.

everyone was really just hoping that after all of this time, there would be some answers. but this land, of course, has changed over the years. >> he thought that he had buried her over here. but he had his fencelines confused. >> he thought he buried her along this fenceline, but he actually had buried her along this fenceline? >> correct. >> after a total of three weeks digging at this remote site, investigators discovered human remains. investigators believe those remains belong to 17-year-old jessica cain. >> once we saw the bones, we took pictures of that and sent it to an anthropologist to confirm that that was human remains. there was a lot of emotions with everyone that had been involved, the weight that was on everyone's shoulders. >> the initial shock at first of her not coming home and

anticipating that any moment she is going to walk through the door -- i think those years were harder. as it went on, i think we had accepted whatever god had in store for us. >> for thine is the kingdom and the power -- >> because our faith had grown stronger. you learn so much through trials. and that's why i think the closure when it came was a little harder on everybody else, maybe than us, because we'd already accepted whatever god's answer was. >> reece immediately said that, "now that everyone knows that i'm serious, we need to go back to brazoria county and find the other one." >> kelli cox, the mother of a 1-year-old, went missing in 1997. >> we were out there for several days. >> the area just past the trees

is ground zero for digging operations. what these grounds hold is still a mystery. >> they were raising the bucket up. and there was just a little cylindrical piece of something. so we just said, "stop." and it was a small bone fragment. and i was down in the trench on my hands and knees. so i kind of dig a little bit more, and i see something metallic. it looks like gold. and i remember jan telling me about a chain that kelli wore, and i knew then that this was kelli. >> she always wore it. she never took it off. she just left it on. >> and they brought it to you? >> yes. they brought it to the house. it's very important to me. >> it still kind of gives me goosebumps, thinking about it,

because that was alexis' mom. >> it felt cathartic to look at the ground and say, "i'm so sorry, but we found you." >> she did not deserve to be there in the ground where she was found. there was a sense of relief, knowing that we had found her for the family. >> almost 20 years. >> yep. yeah. i had nightmares for years that she was in some sort of sex trafficking ring or something, being harmed every day. when we did have answers, it was comforting for me to know she wasn't being harmed. she -- she had been in god's arms since july 15th, 1997. >> now that jessica and kelli have been found, reece is extradited back to oklahoma to stand trial for the murder of

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it had been nearly 25 years since tiffany johnston went missing at a car wash in oklahoma. her body found strangled to death the next day. you have said you never thought william reece would be brought to justice, why not? >> we just -- we didn't have any -- really, any hope. >> but the long wait is finally over. in may 2021, william reece goes on trial for the murder of tiffany johnston. and then finally, you see him in court. what was that like? >> well, they made me promise to behave. but i was angry. i would have loved to just get up and just waylay him. and i would have felt a lot better. but i'd get kicked out of the courtroom. and i didn't want to get kicked out, because i'd waited too long

to get there. >> reece is on trial for tiffany johnston's murder, but family and friends of all the victims come to court to witness what they hope will final i be long-awaited justice. >> to walk with laura through tiffany -- that was important to me. it's-- it's all i had left. >> you have said you could feel the evil -- >> yeah. >> -- in the room. >> absolutely. and that's exactly how it was. it was like a presence of its own. it was eerie, almost. >> what was his demeanor like? >> it was stoic, didn't show any emotion. >> among the witnesses -- reece's previous victims including sandra sapaugh, the 19-year-old woman he kidnapped at a waffle house who escaped by jumping out of his moving truck. >> a whole bunch of victims were

paraded before the jury, telling their story of what he did to them. they were extremely courageous young women getting up and testifying. >> what impact did they have -- their testimony? >> a huge impact. >> the prosecution brings up that partial dna link to tiffany. and also plays for the jury hours of taped interviews with reece. allowing them to hear in his own words what he said happened not only to tiffany johnston but also to laura smither, kelli cox, and jessica cain. >> and i'm not gonna lie to you. it's just, it's over with. i want this to be over with. >> the defense argued that those statements weren't confessions, because he was telling detectives what they wanted to hear in an effort to take the death penalty off the table. >> that's it, that's all i know. >> hang on one second, i'm going to be right back. >> okay. >> the prosecution counters that reece was well aware that there was no deal with oklahoma,

playing an audio interview recorded during a search for kelli cox which they said proved reese knew that there was no deal. >> if they say they don't want a deal -- it, let 'em give me the needle. well look, man, i don't got no family left so it really don't bother me now. >> after eight days of testimony, it took the jury less than one hour to arrive at a verdict. >> we, the jury, do upon our oaths find as follows, the defendant is guilty. >> what happened there was extraordinary in -- in many ways. because i think that trial was also a trial for all of the girls. that conviction in that trial was really for all the girls. five days after the guilty verdict, william reece is back in court for sentencing.

>> we are on the record. state of oklahoma versus william lewis reese. >> a death sentence is not something to be celebrated, it is not something to be taken lightly, and it is not something to be utilized on a whim. >> you have been solidly behind giving william reece the death penalty. why does he deserve the death penalty? >> according to the bible, it's eye for an eye. and i believe that. >> i wanted to see him get sentenced. and i wanted to make sure that the judge didn't -- you know, you have all these nightmares. "can they change the sentence and pull it away, and not do it?" and i wanted to hear those words. >> there's an old saying in the law. justice delayed is justice denies. justice will not be delayed any longer in this case. i sentence you to death. >> he's a monster.

and he's a sex offender. and he's a liar. and he's a murderer. >> now a convicted murderer sentenced to death. but what about his other victims? would those families ever get their day in cou this is a hot flash. (♪) this is a hot flash. (♪) but this is a not flash. (♪) for moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms due to menopause... veozah is the first and only prescription treatment that directly blocks a source of hot flashes

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a texas prison. he was sentenced to 60 years for sandra sapaugh's kidnapping and the death penalty in oklahoma for killing tiffany johnston. >> how do you plead, guilty or not guilty? >> guilty. >> reece pleads guilty to three separate counts of murder. life for each case in the murders of laura smither, jessica cain, and kelli cox. >> hearing reece plead guilty, i knew what it meant to the families. he indicated in a courtroom in front of the judge and the families that he was responsible for their death. >> i told him in my victim impact statement that i forgave him. i was in a prison that i placed myself in, because i was so angry at him. and i had to find my way out of that prison of anger by forgiving him. >> as much as we'd like to rely on our justice system, you can't rely on the justice system for peace.

i had a picture of kelli and alexis that we held up the entire time for him to look at. >> i wanted him to see that he had not ruined or destroyed our family. that i still had a great childhood, and i still grew up happy, and i was still raised really well, you know? >> this is the statue. >> this is it. kelly holding alexis, and we did a big balloon release at her life celebration, so we put balloons with it. if i could say anything to you personally, it would be stay aware, stay safe, and god bless, kelli. i miss you. i think about you every day. every day. every day.

>> it gives me peace for coming out. it's my peaceful place. it's no confusion or anything. it's being here with tiff by myself. >> if you could talk to her, what would you tell her? >> that i love her and i miss her. and she should be here with us. >> it's been almost 27 years. how often do you think of her? >> every day. >> when you love, that love doesn't just die after you've buried your child. that love stays with you. it'll be with you. it is our life sentence. we will carry that with us always. >> jessica cain's parents hold on to memories of happier times. >> on a dad's night out, i took

her into baytown to a movie, and on the way home they played a song that i loved. and it was by the platters, "only you." ♪ only you ♪ and so i just pulled off on the side of the highway, inrstate 10, and it was dark, no traffic. and she put her feet on my toes, and we just danced around. >> what a beautiful memory. >> yes, it is. >> what's the moral of this story? >> teach your children well. >> and dance when you can dance. >> and dance when you can dance. >> deborah: the families we spoke with telling us, david, they're sharing their pain and their memories as a warning to try to protect others from experiencing the same heartbreak. >> david: and we should note tonight, deborah, what william reece is appealing his conviction and death sentence in

oklahoma. that is our program tonight. thanks for watching. i'm david muir. >> deborah: and i'm deborah roberts. from all of us here at abc and "20/20," good night. home >> united airlines turbulent two weeks continues with another mishap. a plane that took off from san francisco international airport lost a panel mid-flight. good evening. i'm ama daetz and i'm dan ashley.