>> we heard all this talk around town that jessie was dead. to know that the last moments she spent on this earth was in so much fear. it's not fair. if he's still out there, he could still be plotting. he could still be hunting. who's next? >> jesse gave her all to everything she did. >> she was on a mission? >> her whole life. >> and then someone took it all away. >> i was like, "jessie?" nothing. then i kind of jiggled her a little bit and then i knew that this was not good. >> what's the problem? >> my daughter won't wake up. >> she'd been murdered in her own bed after coming home from a pool party. a party that hadn't been all fun and games.

>> she was 19 and these men were in their 40s. we wanted to talk to them. >> did something happen at that party? what was happening around this small town? >> i heard somebody running behind me, and then i noticed he had a knife in his hand. >> someone was stalking young women. >> it was either, i try to save myself or let this guy do whatever he wants to me. >> his dreams were their nightmares. >> there were searches on serial killers and searches on bondage. >> could he be caught before he killed again? >> in my gut i knew that he had done it, and now i needed to go out and prove it. >> i'm lester holt and this is "dateline." here's andrea canning with "obsession." >> reporter: she was a young woman who had devoted her whole life to making music. an accomplished musician who played several instruments, acted, and even wrote her own songs. ♪ >> that was her biggest passion. she saw music as a way to change

the world. >> that was the only friend i had that sang and played the violin and piano. >> she had a really unique sound. >> reporter: so who could have predicted that on july 15th, 2013, the music and a young girl's dreams would end so suddenly? >> we were in shock and disbelief. >> was hard to understand and to come to grips with. >> oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. >> ma'am, stay on the line with me. we're going to get e.m.s. out for you. >> reporter: a small town was faced with a mystery with police asking what was real and what was a performance? >> he's an actor. he's two different people. >> who is this guy? who does he think he is that he can go around doing this to women? >> reporter: ask anyone who knew jessie blodgett growing up in hartford, wisconsin, and they'll tell you that she was happy, passionate, and full of life. her dad, buck, says that she had always been that way. did she have a happy childhood? >> oh, yeah.

i'll show you 600 photos on my computer. you're going to be able to count on one hand the ones where she's not beaming and smiling. she was a really happy kid. >> reporter: jessie, an only child, was the light of her parents' lives. their miracle baby. buck and joy blodgett thought they couldn't have children, so they cherished their little girl that much more. >> we bonded from day one when that little purple head came out and every day since. we talked about drugs and we talked about sex. there was nothing off limits. >> reporter: and her mom says that jessie's friends were like a part of the family. >> they always seemed to hang out at our house. >> yeah, we did. >> she would, like, find any reason to throw a party. yeah. >> reporter: ian, jackie, and amelia were three of jessie's closest high school pals. >> we all just, like, kind of hit it off right away, i guess. >> it was hard not to. i mean, she was a really contagious personality. >> reporter: but jessie also had a more serious side -- one that loved to debate issues and fight for causes that she believed in. jessie sounds like an old soul. is that fair?

>> she liked "old people stuff." >> yeah, she did. i don't really know many high schoolers that are super-activist about animal rights. >> she made herself well-versed in a lot of different opinions and viewpoints. >> reporter: jessie wanted to make a difference that much was clear. but what made her happiest was sharing her gift. >> every time i went over to jessie's house, she would always be playing the piano. even though when i was trying to talk to her, she'd be like -- ♪ i'm like, "hello, jessie." >> reporter: jessie's passion for music grew even stronger in college. in the summer after her freshman year, she teamed up with an old boyfriend and theater pal, dan, and together they wrote this heartfelt song. ♪ >> we had a music room and he had a music room at his house, so he'd bring his guitar and they would both sing.

>> reporter: that summer, jessie also won the title role in the local production of "fiddler on the roof." jerry becker directed the show. >> did she just fully embrace it? >> she did. she enjoyed being the person who really opens the show and sets the mood and the feeling. ♪ >> reporter: it was july 14th after the sunday matinee. jessie and the cast gathered for a pool party. >> we went out to a cast member's farm. he had a pool and some llamas and other animals there. i left early with my family and i remember her sitting there. i said good night and thanked her for her performance. >> reporter: she came home around what time? >> it was late. 12:30, i leave. >> reporter: you were still awake? >> i waited up for her. i couldn't go to sleep until i heard that she was in the house. >> reporter: they chatted briefly and said good night. the next morning, jesse's mom popped into her daughter's room before work and saw jesse still fast asleep.

>> reporter: nothing that you would ever think was odd when you left, i would imagine. >> no, no, and this was her first morning to sleep in, in a very long time. >> reporter: joy returned home for lunch and saw that jessie wasn't downstairs ready for her afternoon violin lesson. >> i went to the top of the stairs and i was like, "jessie?" nothing, so then i went in. i came around the bed and -- and then i kind of jiggled her a little bit. and nothing. then i knew this is not good, this is not good. >> reporter: joy made a frantic call to 911. >> what's the problem? >> my daughter is blue. i went to wake her up. i just got home for lunch and she won't wake up. >> is she breathing? >> i don't think so, no. >> okay, you're trying to do cpr? >> i'm trying to just pump her chest. >> reporter: just hours before, she had seen her daughter sleeping peacefully. now joy, a chiropractor, was fighting to save jessie's life. your mother instincts were

kicking in and your doctor instincts. >> yeah, yeah. i, i just kept thinking -- she fell asleep and stopped breathing on the pillow or something. >> reporter: as joy moved jessie to the floor to better perform c.p.r., first responders arrived. did you at that point start to feel her slip away, that hope was dwindling fast? >> i think that i was just thinking, they'll do it and they'll take her to the hospital. oh god, they can do all kinds of stuff, you know. >> reporter: but they never took jessie to the hospital. it was too late. she was gone. a tragedy and now a mystery. what happened to jessie blodgett? >> when we return, detectives hear something from jessie's mom that they find interesting and troubling. when jessie got home that night from the pool party, she was upset. >> i said, "what's going on?" she said, "oh the guys, you know." >> what about the guys?

>> reporter: joy blodgett had come home for lunch and discovered her 19-year-old daughter jessie dead in her own bed. jessie's father was at work. >> reporter: you had to call your husband. >> i wanted to let him know as soon as possible, because i knew how much he loved his little girl. i knew i had to get on the phone and tell him, but i didn't want to get him on the phone until i knew for sure. >> she said, "honey, honey, honey, it's jessie." then she busted out crying, and i knew something was really, really wrong. i said, "is she gone?" and joy -- no more words came, just tears. so i raced home. >> reporter: but when buck arrived home, police cars and a crime scene truck were already in the driveway. >> i went in the door through the yellow tape, and when i saw joy's eyes in the living room, then i knew that jess was gone.

>> reporter: did you quickly ask, how did this happen? >> no. my first thing was that i wanted to see her. i wanted to touch her. i wanted to tell her goodbye, but they would not let me. >> reporter: buck was not allowed in jessie's room because police were in there, trying to figure out what had happened. detective richard thickens of the hartford police department was one of the first on the scene. he looked around and saw a typical teenager's messy bedroom. nothing strange there. but when he saw jessie's body, it was clear to the detective that jessie didn't die of natural causes. >> the first thing that i noticed was that there was a very red mark running all the way across her neck. >> reporter: did you need an autopsy to tell you what you were seeing? >> no, it was very apparent that this was a ligature mark at that point. >> reporter: jessie had been murdered, strangled. but inside jessie's bedroom, there was no murder weapon. no sign of a struggle.

except one thing did seem odd about jessie's bed. >> the covers were over the bed in a perfect manner, and for a kid who had stuff strewn all over the bed, there was nothing on the bed. >> it was very apparent that the scene had been changed. this is a possibility of somebody trying to ensure they didn't leave anything of themselves behind. >> reporter: did they finally let you go upstairs when they had finished to say a proper goodbye? >> they released her room at the crime scene at the end of the day and brought her down. after waiting all day and finally getting my moment to say good bye suddenly everybody is around watching me. i never really had that moment with her alone to say good bye. >> that is heartbreaking. >> yeah. >> having barely digested the news of their daughter's death and still in shock buck and joy sat down with investigators to tell them everything they knew.

there was no sign of forced entry to the house, but they explained like most people in this quiet, safe town that they often left the door unlocked. >> this individual found that one door. the house wasn't ransacked. uhm, it looked to us like this person knew right where to go to find her. >> reporter: to the detective, it didn't seem random. it was clear jessie was targeted. one of buck's first thoughts was a crew of tree cutters that recently worked outside jessie's window. >> it made me wonder if they had had thoughts when they were in the trees. just wondered if they noticed here's this teenage girl sleeping, home alone when joy and i are at work while they're in our yard. >> reporter: buck also told the detectives about a problem jessie was having at her part-time restaurant job. trouble with a co-worker. >> she had come home a couple of times and said that he was inappropriate with her. >> reporter: what was he doing that was inappropriate? >> he would often make sure that

she had to rub against him as she passed him. >> reporter: that must make you nuts as a parent when you hear stories like that. >> when i first heard that, i was almost out that door to go over and talk to him about it. >> reporter: the restaurant was just down the road, and it seemed possible that this co-worker that jessie found creepy knew where she lived and had been watching the house. >> certainly, we are gonna take any possibility. you don't want to close any avenues in an investigation at that point. >> reporter: then joy told the detectives something that really caught their attention, jessie had come home from that "fiddler on the roof" cast party, clearly upset. >> i said, "what's going on?" and she said, "oh, the guys, you know, they are always making passes and i don't know why they have to always turn it there." >> reporter: jessie told her mom that two older men from the cast were flirting with her and it made her feel uncomfortable. one man pulled her onto his lap and the other told a dirty joke. at the time, joy thought the

flirtations seemed harmless and that her young daughter simply did not know how to handle it. >> she didn't like men taking, you know, privileges on women. >> reporter: but perhaps the incidents were more serious than her mother thought. jessie wrote about them in her diary that night, ending her final entry with "god be with me." >> she was 19 and from what joy understood, these were men in their 40s. >> reporter: was that a bit of a red flag for you? >> it can be, but we wanted to talk to them. >> reporter: detective thickens could see that the pretty, talented teenager could attract unwanted male attention. now he had to figure out if any of it had to do with jessie's murder. >> coming up, a possible suspect. >> someone that was flirting with her less than 24 hours before her death. >> we thought it was him. i mean, who else could it have been? been? >> when "dateline" continues. here in vineland, new jersey where progresso light soups are made, we'll never give up our cheddar, our cream, and especially our bacon.

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

>> exactly. jessie was someone you could not imagine a bad thing happening to. >> reporter: finding jessie's killer became the police department's number one priority. >> this is a, a girl that's been attacked in her home where she should be safe, and i think that it definitely did put people on edge. >> reporter: detectives talked with cast members from "fiddler on the roof" and heard again how jesse had been upset after the cast party, in particular with one man named randy talley. >> we made contact with him and asked him to come in to speak to us. >> are you thinking that this could be the guy? >> he's significantly older. someone that was flirting with her less than 24 hours before her death, so he's certainly a person that -- of interest. >> reporter: randy came in for questioning and admitted to joking around playfully with jessie at the party and swore there was nothing more to it. but part of randy's story didn't sit well with detective thickens. >> where had he been during the time of the crime?

>> he was working, or was scheduled to work through a temp agency. he didn't actually go to work that day. >> so where was he then? >> he said he spent most of the day actually at his apartment by himself. >> did you just come right out with it? did you have anything to do with the murder of jessie? >> i asked him if he had any involvement in her death. he said, "no." >> reporter: but the detective wondered, was his story straight out of a script? >> he's an actor, and it's hard for me at that point to gauge if he's acting or being truthful. >> reporter: investigators issued a search warrant for his phone records. >> we were gonna verify where randy was and look at his alibi, was his cell phone anywhere near that house in this time period? >> reporter: jessie's friends quickly heard the police were looking at a cast member. >> what was being said about the -- the cast member? >> just that he was kinda creepy. and we thought it was him. i mean, who else could it have been? >> reporter: but the play's director, jerry becker, didn't believe it. he couldn't imagine randy being responsible for jessie's death.

>> did you pick up the phone and call randy when he was going through this? >> yes. he was saddened by all this. >> how did that conversation leave you feeling? >> i was exceptionally confident at the end of that phone call that he was not involved in this in any way. >> reporter: and when the detective got his hands on randy's phone records, he began thinking the same thing. >> did his phone records tell you anything that was of significance? >> no. he hadn't been talking to her on the phone that we could see in this time period that we were looking at, and he hadn't been near the house. we haven't eliminated him, but we're having to look at other options. >> reporter: so, working day and night, they went over the other leads from jessie's parents. they interviewed the tree-trimmers who might have been peering into jessie's window. >> there was nothing of significance found as far as their possible involvement. >> reporter: and they tracked down the restaurant co-worker jessie had been upset with.

>> he was actually out of the country, is our understanding, it was at the time this woulda happened. >> so case closed on that one? >> he's not going to be involved. >> reporter: and remember, joy mentioned a second man from the cast party who made jessie uncomfortable. the one she claimed told an inappropriate joke. turns out that guy was none other than jerry becker. >> i got to believe it was some sort of misunderstanding with regard to who jesse was talking about. >> so it was a surprise to you that she had brought up your name specifically? >> absolutely. >> did you have anything to hide about that night? >> no. my daughter and my son where there at the picnic with me. >> reporter: jerry told us he'd had just a brief conversation with jessie that night. there was nothing flirtatious about it. and detectives didn't think it sounded like much of a lead, and jerry never became a suspect. in fact, the investigation was going nowhere leaving the town on the edge. >> every time someone would come up behind me, i would jump, even if i knew they were coming up

behind me. >> reporter: then, news of another crime heightened everyone's fears. >> it was an attack so brutal she had to get 15 stitches on her hand. >> reporter: it happened in a neighboring town. another attack on a young woman close to jessie's age, in a park less than ten miles from her house. >> did you think that there was any possible connection to the park attack? >> they were too similar. they were too violent. they were against young women. they must be connected in some way or another. >> reporter: what had happened in that park? and could it lead detectives to jessie's killer? coming up, a harrowing first person account of that vicious attack. >> you grabbed the knife with your bare hands? >> it was either i save myself or let this guy do whatever he wants to. >> was someone stalking women around this small town?

>> reporter: after the vibrant 19-year-old with a passion for music was strangled in her own bed, jessie blodgett's grief-stricken parents couldn't stop thinking about the way she died. >> that's such a dark place to go, to think about her last moments. >> it doesn't get any darker than that. and i laid on her bed early on and held my breath as long as i

could, until -- longer than i've ever been able to in my life, trying to black out, to see how that was. which is nothing like what she went through. >> reporter: police thought jessie had been targeted, but now some of jessie's friends wondered if her murderer was the same person who attacked a woman in a nearby park. >> when i found out about that, i was almost thinking in my head, like, "who's next?" you know? if he's still out there, he could still be plotting, he could still be hunting. >> i was like, "who is this guy?" >> reporter: this is melissa richards, the victim of that attack. it happened three days before jessie was killed. her courageous story of survival is amazing. >> you arrive at the park. and what's the first thing you see? >> a blue minivan. >> anything out of the ordinary? >> no. >> reporter: melissa richards and her dog, remy, went for a walk in richfield park. and when they returned -- >> the guy was still parked in

the car. and what i noticed was him lookin' out of the driver's side window. >> did it seem weird? >> i just thought he wanted his privacy. and then about here, i hear somebody running behind me. so, i look back and go, "oh, you scared me." then i noticed he had a knife in his hand, and he was still coming towards me. >> reporter: before melissa could run, she was knocked to the ground, and her attacker pinned her down on her stomach. but melissa fought back and did something almost unthinkable. she grabbed the knife by the blade. >> you grabbed the knife with your bare hands? >> right. >> what -- what possessed you to do that? >> well, it was either i try to save myself, or let this guy do whatever he wants to me. >> reporter: with melissa resisting, the attacker apparently panicked and seemed to give up. >> he finally was just kind of got up off of me. he was still holding onto the

knife, and he's like, "can i just go?" and i said, "no." >> reporter: a defiant melissa wanted her attacker to stay put and answer for his crime. but instead, he dropped the knife and fled. >> so he ended up running back to his car. i got in my car, and i got out of here as fast as i could. >> reporter: wounded and bloody, mellissa picked up the knife and got herself to a hospital for stitches. there she was met by detective clausing of the washington county sheriff's department. >> this wasn't a robbery. he didn't say, "give me your purse." this wasn't a dog nappin'. he didn't say, "give me your dog." this was a vicious personal attack on a stranger. >> reporter: melissa had never seen her attacker before, but lucky for investigators, she had an almost photographic memory. >> he was wearing glasses. he had blond shaggy hair. i said he's about 6'2", 210 pounds. >> did he look like a normal guy? >> uh-huh. yeah, especially with

what he was wearing. just normal clothes from kohl's. >> reporter: melissa could even tell police the make and model of his van. >> she knew it was a blue dodge caravan, likely around 2000 to 2002. >> reporter: despite that great description, investigators could not identify melissa's attacker and he was still at large when jesse was murdered. and while some of jessie's friends had been speculating about a link, investigators disagreed. >> you're not linking the two crimes or -- or trying to force them -- >> no. >> to fit together? >> not at all. one's in -- in -- in a park with a knife, and -- and the other one's in a private home with strangulation. >> reporter: so the two investigations remained separate and hartford police continued to look for new leads in jessie's case. one by one, they called in her heartbroken friends to ask them what they knew. >> did you consider any of her friends as possible suspects? >> never. >> not one friend? >> never.

>> reporter: the interviews with jessie blodgett's friends revealed nothing new. then, detectives in the park case got a huge break. one that would change the course of both investigations. melissa's description of her attacker's van triggered the memory of a deputy who routinely patrolled the park where she was assaulted. >> deputy meyer had approached us in the detective bureau and said several weeks ago i was in that park. there was a blue van parked in the exact same spot that you had described, parked the exact same way. >> reporter: at the time, the deputy thought the van seemed suspicious and ran it's license plate, but he found nothing alarming and continued his patrol. now, his intuition was telling him the van was the same one involved in melissa's attack. he had no paper record of the plate, but in his squad car, the computer kept a log of old

searches. and after hours of backtracking -- >> bingo? >> it wasn't a bingo, but it was very good. >> close? >> yeah it was close. >> reporter: the van belonged to a laura and melvin bartelt. records showed that melvin was too old to be melissa's attacker, but detectives learned the bartelts had a 19-year-old son who matched melissa's description perfectly. and when detective clausing called that son's cell number, it rang somehwere that would surprise everyone. >> he answered. i introduced myself. i said i needed to speak with him. his name had come up in a incident. i asked him where he was. he told me he was at the blodgett house. and i said, "w -- where?" >> coming up -- was this the break detectives so desperately needed or just a strange coincidence? >> we were saying, no, not this kid. >> there's no way that he could have kil

- oh. uh, hi. the next time you get the latest video game, give the old one away. you've already played it, like, a million times. you'll not only make someone else happy, you'll make the earth happy too. the more you know. i've almost got him. >> reporter: it was a promising lead for investigators searching for the young man who so brazenly attacked melissa richards with a knife. they had a suspect who matched her description. a suspect whose parents owned a blue mini van just like the one she'd spotted at the scene.

>> he was showing up in 15 minutes, so we were talking about how we were going to talk to him. >> reporter: their person of interest arrived, friendly and cooperative. >> my name is joel clausing. that's aaron walsh. >> nice to meet you. >> reporter: almost immediately, investigators noticed suspicious cuts and bruises on his body. >> what's that on your thumb? >> got stabbed with a screw at work. >> how? >> we have a, like a cart that we move stuff around on. >> he had a cut on his thumb. he had road rash on his leg. he had injuries which looked consistent with the injury someone might have had with attacking melissa richards. >> reporter: detectives were skeptical about the work injury story. in fact, they weren't sure this 19-year-old even had a job. >> if we check with your employer, would they -- would you still have your job? >> no. >> okay. that's what i thought. how long -- when did you lose your job?

>> a while ago. >> it's the first time we had him in a lie. i picked up -- picked up my chair, moved it over next to him. we started a different phase of the interview. >> no more lies. it just makes things worse. >> reporter: so after the detective's warning, the suspect tried another story -- this time, he claimed he'd cut his finger while cooking. >> nobody in their right mind would lie about cutting themselves if it happened at home cooking. okay? >> okay. >> what happened? just be honest. >> i have gone to the park before. i have been there. >> reporter: as the police continued to press the young man he began to crack --and quickly. >> and you were in your van, correct, or your mom's van or your dad's? >> yes. >> and you had --you went after that girl, right? >> yes. >> reporter: he admitted to going after melissa richards

with a knife. and then offered a bizarre explanation for why he did it. >> i wanted to scare someone else because everyone else is so confident. i don't understand it, and i need someone else to be like me. >> reporter: detectives placed him under arrest -- but were far from finished. the reason? remember what he told detectives when they reached him by phone? >> where were you at again? >> a house in hartford, jessie blodgett's house. >> reporter: that's right, the confessed attacker was also a friend of jessie's. >> is that the girl that just passed? >> yeah. we were visiting her parents. >> reporter: his name was daniel bartelt, "dan" to his friends -- and he was the same 'dan" jessie had been writing this music with that summer. >> reporter: detective clausing called hartford police right away -- they had a suspect for them in custody.

jessie's parents refused to believe the news. >> we were saying, "no, not this kid, no." >> he's a friend of ours and our daughter's -- >> yeah, he's a little screwed up. he just got back from college. and he doesn't know what he's doing right now, blah, blah, blah. but -- we don't think it's dan. >> reporter: after all, daniel was more than jessie's friend. he was her first love in high school -- and had never been in trouble. >> he had everything going for him. he was a top notch student, straight a student. >> he got the lead role in most of the musicals. very talented. >> i was like, "i like this kid." you know, just cause, you know, he could make me laugh. and he came from a nice family. >> we said, "it's not dan. he's a good kid." >> reporter: jessie's friends agreed. when detectives called daniel's cell phone, they were with him at the blodgett house grieving together. >> we were all crying, and our friend dan's -- his phone rang. and he was like, "i got called into the police station for questioning." >> reporter: amelia and jackie

were the ones who drove daniel to the police station that afternoon. they'd assumed it was just routine questioning about jessie. >> i was like, "well, you know, dan, like, they might question you as a suspect. that's what they've been doing for all of her male friends." and he was like, "oh yeah, i didn't even think about that." >> reporter: now, even with dan under arrest for the park attack, they couldn't imagine their friend was capable of murder. >> i was thinking it was a mistake. like, yes, maybe dan did attack this girl in richfield but there's no way that he could have killed our friend. >> reporter: but the detective who'd just interrogated daniel thought the opposite. >> did you believe daniel could've killed jessie? >> yes. it was just a sense you got, a feeling you got. >> that you were sitting across from a killer? >> yes. >> reporter: detective thickens went to grill dan himself. >> i was hopeful that we might get more information that would advance our case. >> when was the last time you saw her?

>> last week i think. >> reporter: daniel admitted to having romantic feelings for jessie -- but swore, through sobs, he had nothing to do with the murder. >> what do you think happened to jessie? >> i have no idea. [ crying ] >> do you think it could have been accidental? >> i don't know why someone would do that to her. [ crying ] >> reporter: but detectives didn't believe him. and he fit the profile of the killer they were looking for -- someone who knew jessie and her habits. >> she usually wouldn't get up before 11:00 or 12:00. >> all right. >> i would text her in the morning, ask if she wanted to hang out or something, and she wouldn't respond. >> he knew where she was gonna be, knew she didn't have a dog in the house, knew she didn't have siblings, knew where her parents were gonna be. >> reporter: and as for his emotional denial, they thought it was an act. >> he was making these noises,

gulping and -- and sobbing noises, as if he was crying. he didn't shed a tear during that entire time i talked to him. in my gut i knew he had done it, and -- and now i needed to go out and prove it. >> coming up daniel faces a jury and jesse's family. >> i can't give you the answers that you're looking for.

>> reporter: daniel bartelt had confessed to a violent attack against a woman in a park. but after police spoke with him, they realized he could also be guilty of something far worse. did you leave that interview having any doubt that dan was the killer? >> none whatsoever. >> reporter: daniel told investigators on the morning jessie was killed, he was in a park, reading a book. and when they checked the security cameras -- >> we found video that put him there. >> reporter: but that didn't mean daniel was innocent. detectives decided to search the park, combing through more than a dozen garbage bins, hoping to find anything that linked daniel to jessie's murder.

>> and in one garbage can this cereal box full of ligatures. >> reporter: ropes that were very likely the murder weapons used to strangle jessie, plus a whole lot more. bloody sanitizing wipes, tape, shoe laces. >> i guess he didn't believe that we would have made the effort to go through the garbage to find anything. >> reporter: police sent the evidence for testing, and forensics showed that both jessie and daniel's dna were on the ropes found in the park. detectives shared the incriminating discovery with jessie's parents. >> i had trouble getting it, that it was dan. the realist in me knew it was him. the other half of me was like, "what happened to dan?" >> reporter: daniel bartelt was officially charged with murder. buck and joy tried to wrap their heads around what happened to the funny teenager and had nothing but empathy for his parents.

>> they didn't do this. they did nothing wrong. they provided a great environment for him, for his sister. they're good people. >> i can't say that he's totally evil. but something went very wrong. i don't know what. >> reporter: and they also felt sorry for randy talley, the cast member briefly rumored to be involved, now completely cleared. >> i felt bad. just more collateral damage from one person's evil choices. >> reporter: and though the dna evidence linking daniel to the murder seemed to give the da a slam-dunk case, daniel pleaded not guilty. gary schmaus was his attorney. >> some people might say that there was overwhelming evidence against daniel. why go to trial? >> you go to trial when your client and -- and in this case dan denies having committed the crime. >> reporter: when daniel's trial began, the courtroom was full of conflicted hearts. supporters on both sides knew or cared for jessie and daniel.

>> what was it like watching one friend being tried for killing another? >> it's like i was watching a tv show. you're in the same room as the person that, you know, murdered your friend. it's crazy. >> it was the strangest mix of emotions. when he walked in from the backroom of the courtroom i wanted to hug him and make him feel better. i felt his humiliation and shame. i wanted to punch him. >> reporter: prosecutors said from the start, there was no easy explanation for why daniel did what he did. >> why did he pick jessie, was he mad at jessie? no he wasn't mad at jessie. he picked jessie because she was convenient. >> reporter: but the da did say there was evidence that showed the seemingly sweet young man had been secretly obsessed with murder. on his computer police found disturbing internet searches. >> what does he do in the days and events leading up to this,

uh, to this crime? he does a search for serial killers on wiki, a little bit later serial killers by number of victims. >> reporter: their most alarming find was a violent, pornographic film with a plot eerily similar to how jessie was killed. prosecutors claim daniel used it as an instructional video. >> at some point in the movie he pulls out a binding and places it around her neck. he then strangles her. >> there were searches on serial killers. there were searches on bondage -- >> did dan, then, who was big into the theater, a straight-a student, was he also a serial killer in training? >> i think that's the potential. >> reporter: prosecutors showed the jury all the physical evidence. the dna, the tape, the wipes, the likely murder weapons that tied daniel to jessie's death. through it all, daniel sat

quietly at the defense table, looking at no one, and showing little emotion. even when the da presented evidence the public had never heard before. dna that the state argued showed not only did daniel kill jessie. he also raped her. >> daniel's dna was found under jessie's fingernails and inside her, that must have been one of the toughest pieces of evidence to combat in front of the jury. >> difficult. difficult. you know, didn't have really an alternate explanation for that. and don't have one as i sit here right now. >> reporter: in any case, daniel was never charged with rape. and for the murder? the defense rested without calling a single witness to the stand. the jury deliberated just three hours. >> we the jury find the defendant, daniel bartelt guilty of first-degree intentional homicide as charged in the information. ladies and gentlemen is this your verdict?

>> it's not a good day for anybody. nobody won. >> reporter: months later, at the sentencing, buck stunned the courtroom when he said this. >> dan, i forgive you. as i have every single day since we found out it was you. >> reporter: and in response to such unbelievable grace, daniel looked straight at joy and buck and continued to deny his guilt. >> buck, joy i can't give you the answers that you're looking for. i pray for you, for all of you. and i hope that -- i believe that someday i will be before a court that will know that my conscience is clear. i love you and i'm so sorry for your loss.

>> he's such a liar. he looked right in our face. i mean, with all this evidence that there's just no refuting it, do you know what i mean? and then for him to still be looking at me saying this, i'm thinking, kid, do you honestly believe that i believe you with this? >> i think dan's a sociopath. he doesn't seem to have the conscience. or if he does, he doesn't care. >> reporter: buck and joy have accepted they may never hear the truth from daniel or know why he turned so violent. but the blodgetts are doing their best to move on. for buck, jessie's untouched room is a constant comfort while for joy it's a painful reminder. >> are you going to move? >> i'm staying here because that's what he wants. but i would move tomorrow. >> do you feel that if you leave you're leaving jessie? >> not exactly. i feel like she's with me everywhere. and maybe we should talk again

'cause i didn't know you still felt so much that way. >> reporter: daniel was sentenced to life in prison without parole. for the attack on melissa, she was sentenced to five more years. >> melissa's our hero. if it wasn't for her, they wouldn't have caught him. we are forever indebted and thankful to her for that. >> the police and the blodgetts commend you and do you feel that other women could have been murdered if it wasn't for you. >> i tried to help as much as i could. i just wanted to help 'em out. i don't know. i tried. ♪ >> reporter: jessie's parents have started an educational campaign in their daughter's honor called "love is greater than hate." >> i'm doing it for the millions of people who will be jesse, if not murdered sexually assaulted and have their lives changed forever because of it. >> reporter: those who loved jessie say her zest for life

changed them for the better and still lives on through her music and her spirit. >> we started thinking differently because of her. we started acting differently because of her. >> have the tables turned? you were always the one proud of her. and now, do you feel she's the one proud of you? >> i feel like now she's the one lifting me up and encouraging me through life, where it used to be the other way around. ♪ ♪ i'll be here, i'll be here for you ♪ that's all for now. over... it ends up in the water.

we're live with e breaking news in santa cruz. chaos at the wharf. a car almost runs people over and then flies off the edge in to the water. we are live with the latest. good evening to you. >> a car in to the water off the santa cruz wharf tonight. two people inside and look at the video from the scene as car went tgh