cotton-eyed joe. if you do it with your hands in your pocket it's even better. >> mike: yeah? >> jon: down the left field line. it is fouled. it is right in front of cory. jason lead off. l.a. leading in that game. a ball and two strikes now.

>> jon: just dreaming. pull the hands out of her pockets and let her go. >> getti-- >> mike: getting serious now. >> jon: i love this crew. high in the air to right. markakis, and that's the inning. two shut out innings. onto the nineth inning. it is 7-0 giants.

>> jon: tune in tomorrow for giants pregame live for game two of this series. we'll be back with you. in a couple of weeks for the

giants and d-backs from chase field in phoenix, arizona. so cory gearrin. gearrin has had a long time getting it back together since coming back from the disabled list. this is a little bit low to jace peterson. >> mike: i think most of his problem are location. you see his numbers. you'll get most effective around knees. you lose a lot of that. that is the location he was right there. he has come back off of the disabled list he has not been able to consistently come down at the knees or below.

that's a foul bag. >> mike: the giants need gearrin to come back. he was one of the most trusted and became the eight inning guy for a time. balloon hat just went down hard. >> jon: dropped his hat for doing that. >> mike: got a smile out of him. >> jon: he swung at it. one away. that's one of the best at bats

for gearrin so far for his return. >> mike: it really has been a search for gearrin to get back to the mechanics that allow him consistent release that enables him to get the ball down. with gearrin when he is throwing good he gets the slider you just saw. . >> jon: just a bit low to swanson. we were showing the captain out there. >> mike: yeah. >> jon: doing the texas line dance or whatever it was. tom miller, a great giants fan to bring in big ships in and out of the bay. he said there is something he

needs to try next time. >> i think he will appreciate that. here is brandon snyder as a pinch hitter for cunniff. the giants lead the game 7-0. seven shut-out innings from jeff samardzija. the big story, samardzija one of the highest scoring in the league here. it will bring it to an end, a shut-out victory for the giants. just as this one ends, look at that score. hayward, the dodgers and cubs are in a tie game in l.a. 7-0 the giants over the atlanta

braves and jeff samardzija gets his 11th win of the year and another outstanding performance. we'll have more from at&t park. stay with us. we'll be right back after this.

>> jon: seven shut out innings. let's go downstairs to amy. >> reporter: thanks so much. back to back shut out wins. let's start with your starting pitcher. he looked excellent. what did you see from him? >> just mixing it up. he incorporated that curveball lately. he has been using it a lot more and keeping guys off balance. that's huge for us. >> reporter: the offense seemed locked in. you seemed locked in after struggles. have you made ajustments? >> i think you're always making adjustments. once you think about how the season went you will always have a few struggles but you have to keep looking to get better.

just working and grinding. it is starting to come out a little bit. >> reporter: definitely is showing you're feeling comfortable at the plate. i want to ask you about the defense. the defense excellent all the way around tonight. he was kind of adding to that. what is your perception? you actually have to be locked in. do you get to admire what he is doing out there at all? >> no. but the balls you think will get to the infield usually don't. up the middle so it's just one of those things, i go straight to the back. >> reporter: congratulations on the win. let's get it up to jon and mike. >> jon: an excellent game for the giants. mike, it was all about jeff samardzija because he has become

an outstanding story. he had a no-hitter against the mets in his last start and yet . he was in trouble right away but he got threw it. >> he never got back into a pitch he had to throw. just like it upset the timing of the mets. what he added is the last five starts have been two off speed pitches. they are looking better than they were he is lock today have a nice last month. >> jon: they already have a

couple of those. so they wouldn't mind having more. so jake goes tomorrow and tonight a night to savor their second win in a row. dodgers and cubs are at a 4-4 tie in l.a. tune into sportsnet central. tune into csn tomorrow afternoon at 5:30 for game two pregame live. the game itself at 6:05. we'll be back on friday, 6:30 from arizona. i'm jon miller. we say good night from san francisco.

>> we heard all this talk around town that jessie was dead. to know that the last moments she spent on this earth, she 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? >> reporter: jesse gave her all. to everything she did. >> she was on a mission? >> her whole life. >> reporter: 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. this is not good. >> what's the problem? >> my daughter won't wake up. >> reporter: 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, these were men in their 40s. we wanted to talk to 'em. >> reporter: did something happen at that party? what was happening around this small town? >> i hear somebody running behind me, then i noticed he had a knife in his hand. >> reporter: someone was stalking young women. >> it was either i try to save myself, or let this guy do whatever he wants to me. >> reporter: his dreams were their nightmares. >> there were searches on serial killers. there were searches on bondage. >> reporter: could he be caught before he killed again? >> in my gut, i knew he had done it, and now, i needed to go out and prove it. >> reporter: i'm lester holt, and this is "dateline." here's andrea canning with "obsession." ♪ >> reporter: she was a young woman who'd devoted her whole life to making music. an accomplished musician who played several instruments, acted. even wrote her own songs. ♪

>> that was her biggest passion. she saw music as a way to change the world. >> that's the only friend i had that sang and did it all like the violin and piano. >> she had a really unique sound. >> yeah. >> 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. >> it 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 ems 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 she was happy, passionate, full of life. her dad, buck, says she had always been that way. >> did she have a happy childhood?

>> oh, yeah. i'll show ya 600 photos on my computer. you're going to be able to count on one hand the ones you can find 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, we talked about sex, there was nothin' off limits. >> reporter: and her mom says jessie's friends were like part of the family. >> they always seemed to hang out at our house. >> yeah. we did. >> she would, like, find any reason to throw a party. [ laughter ] yeah. >> reporter: ian, jackie and amelia were three of jessie's closest high school pals. >> we all just, like, kinda hit it off right away i guess. >> it's 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 she believed in. >> jessie sounds a little like an old soul.

is that fair? >> she liked old people stuff. >> yeah, she did. i don't really know much high schoolers that are super activists about animal rights. >> she made herself well versed in just 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, he had a music room at his house. so he'd bring his guitar and

they both sang. >> 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, sets 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 and i said goodnight, and thanked her for her performance. >> she came home around what time? >> it was late. 12:30, i believe. >> you were still awake? >> i waited up for her. i couldn't go to sleep until i heard that she was in the house. >> 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. >> 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. and 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 and i just got home from, 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 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 cpr, first responders arrived. >> did you at that point start to feel her slip away, that hope was dwindling fast? >> i think i just was thinking they'll do it, 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 they find interesting and troubling. when jessie got home that night from the party, she was upset. >> what's going on? oh, you know, the guys. >> reporter: what about the guys?

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>> 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. >> 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. and i knew i had to get on the phone and tell him as soon as possible, 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. >> did you quickly ask how -- how did this happen? >> no. i -- my whole first thing was i wanted to see her. i wanted to touch her. i wanted to tell her goodbye. but they wouldn't let me. >> reporter: buck wasn't 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, 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 i noticed was there was a very red mark running pretty much all the way across her neck. >> 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 a kid who had stuff strewn -- strewn all over the bed, there was nothing on the bed. >> it was very apparent that the scene had been changed. this is certainly a possibility of somebody trying to ensure that they didn't leave anything of themselves behind. >> did they finally let you go upstairs when they finished, to say a proper goodbye? >> they released her room as a crime scene at the end of the day and brought her down. and after waiting all day to get my moment and say goodbye and tell her i love her, suddenly everybody's around

watching me. and i never really had that moment with her alone to say goodbye. >> that is heartbreaking. >> yeah. >> reporter: 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, they often left a door unlocked. >> this individual found that one door. the house wasn't ransacked. um, it looked to us that 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, 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, limbing our trees above her bedroom, and she was sleepin' in there. just wondered if they noticed that 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. >> what was he doing that was inappropriate? >> he would often make sure that she had to rub against him as she passed him. >> that must make 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. >> reporter: the restaurant was just down the road. it seemed possible that this co-worker jessie found creepy knew where she lived, had been watching the house. >> certainly we are gonna take any possibility. you don't wanna close any avenues of 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? she said, oh, the guys, you know, they're always making

passes and i don't know why they have to always turn it there. >> reporter: jessie told her mom two older men from the cast were flirting with her and it made her uncomfortable. one pulled her on his lap. the other told a dirty joke. at the time, joy thought the flirtations seemed harmless and her young daughter simply didn't 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. >> is that a bit of a red flag for you? >> can be. we wanted to talk to 'em. >> reporter: detective thickens could see 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

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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 is 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 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 jessie 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 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?

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 kind of 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, was at the time this would have happened. >> so case closed on that one? >> he's not gonna 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 gotta believe it was sort of -- some misunderstanding that with regard to who jessie was talking about. >> so it was a surprise to you that she had brought up your name specifically? >> absolutely. >> did you have anything to hide about that night? >> no. my daughter and my son were there at the picnic with me. >> 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 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 10 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 try to save myself or let this guy do whatever he wants to me. >> reporter: was someone stalking young women around this small town? technology. technology... say, have you seen all the amazing technology in geico's mobile app? mobile app? look. electronic id cards, emergency roadside service, i can even submit a claim. wow... yep, geico's mobile app works like a charm. geico. expect great savings and a whole lot more. a leading consumer testing the top laundry detergents. the winner - persil 2 in 1, didn't only beat tide... it beat every single detergent tested. boom. switch to persil proclean 2 in 1. #1 rated.

music was strangled in her own bed, her 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. >> doesn't get any darker than that. and i laid on her bed early on and held my breath 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 she had been targeted. but now some of her 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 looking 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 doughe have

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