bad situation into something positive. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> she's the little girl who won the big heart of a big city. >> they call you the miracle baby. why do they call you that. >> shot in the head at point-blank range. a crime scene that shocked even hardened police. >> dora the explorer ill low and it had blood on it. as she fought to live, this detective vowed to catch whoever left her to die. soon, he turned up a promising

lead. >> bells and whisti wis ls go wo off in my head. >> they was the guy that come in the daycare and erica said don't let him hurt me. >> handed investigators what could be a vital crew. would it will enough to crack the case. hello and welcome to "dateline," i'm craig melvin. all started with a crime that not even police could believe. a little girl, just a toddler, shot in the head deliberately. left for dead by killer who then disappeared. a detective vowed to crack this case no matter how long it took. here's hoda cobky.

>> one of the biggest attractions aattraction s at the louisville zoo. on this day he shared the spotlight with another media celebrity. a girl named erica whose laugh and story captivate add city. >> that girl is a miracle child. >> why do you think they called her that. >> because she's been through a lot. >> we have a two-year-old who was shot twice and live. >> dominique: does she have an understanding of what happened to her. >> if you could have seen her you would have said there's no way this child could possibly make it. >> louisville, the home of churchill downs is famous for big horse race, kentucky derby. it knows a thing or two about long shots. the odds of this story ever finding a happy ending were off

the board. virtually impossible. would a little girl ever gain the strength not only to recover, but to come back whole and would a dedicated detective not only crack his biggest case, but keep the emotional promise he made? erica's story began in a hard neighborhood louisville in this brick house on wilson avenue. a two-year-old wild about dora the explorer. erica lived here with her mom. on may 18, 2006. police got a frantic 911 call when they arrived at the house t man who made the call flagged them down. >> what was his state of mind. >> he was really hysterical. >> what was he saying. >> there's a little girl in there. there's a little girl in there. >> detective tom rushed into the house and found a horrifying scene. a woman almost certainly dead on the floor.

the officers had to step over the woman to get to a back room where on a bed they saw the little girl motionmotionless. >> when i first seen her, i thought she was dead. >> was she saying or doing anything. >> eventually i touched her and she pushed my hand and said leave me alone. >> the officers could see the little girl had been shot in the head. dry blood was everywhere. they could tell she had been left there for a long time. >> she had very labored breathing. very labored breathing. >> have you ever seen anybody who was breathing like that who made it. >> no. >> there was no time to wait for an ambulance. the sergeant at the scene barked the order for a police car to take her to the hospital. first, the officers had to get her to the car. >> from the house to the car, it seems like a long way. what did it seem like when you

were sprinting. >> forever. felt like i was running to the hospital. >> you're holding her head and you're holding her legs. just like this. >> when they finally reached the car, they handed her to two ems firefighters in the back seat and now retired officer steve kelsey jumped behind the wheel. >> go as fast as you can go. >> kelsey gunned it for the three mile trip to the hospital in downtown louisville. >> i kept driving and thinking about my own kids. it could have been any of our children. we're all fathers. >> the nbc station captured the dramatic final moments of high speed motorcade as it made the left turn towards the hospital. with traffic the ride can take up to 15 minutes. >> how long did it take you. >> about two or three minutes. >> across town, another part of the story was unfolding inside this house. all day long, harold harper and his wife judith were wondering why they couldn't reach their

daughter, erin, and their two-year-old granddaughter. they talked to their daughter nearly every day. so the silence was strange. then the tv news flashed on. >> first here at seven, some breaking news. >> said there had been a shooting down on wilson avenue where she lived and we thought oh, my god. >> he and judith picked up earn's oldest daughter and drove down to the house. >> a whole bunch of people sitting outside and it was taped off. and it was a mess down there. >> so you knew something was up. >> yes. and i just freaked out. >> yes >> it wasn't long before judith and harold's worst fears were confirmed. >> the jewelry she had on. they brought it to me. i knew it was earn then. >> their daughter, erin harper, 42 was dead in the doorway. >> when you saw that jewelry and

you knew it was your daughter, what went through you. >> i lost a son in '78 in a car car wreck. he was already gone when i went to the hospital. i could have shed a two years went on about my business. this was different. my son was 21. he had no children. >> the loss of erin, a mother of four was devastating. now the family had to deal with what happened to baby erica. finding out in the most impersonal way. >> i knew she was hurt by the police rushing her down the street that i saw on tv. >> later they learned how badly hurt. she had been shot in the head. >> why in the name of god would somebody do that? >> it was this man's job to find out. >> now, in your experience, how many times have there been babies who are victims. >> there's never been a case i've worked where a baby has been shot. >> a life long local with a once promising pitching career, now retired detective rick arnold

now it would be a high profile case. he just didn't know it would be the case of a lifetime. >> this is detective rick arnold. today's date is may 18, 2006. a video camera rolled as detective arnold processed the crime scene. honing in on clues. >> it's a shell casing. the harsh reality of death lay side by side with the every day images of young life. erin's body in a pool of blood near a red kitty wagon. a shell casing in front of a box of diapers and the bed where erica once jumped for joy was now covered in her own blood. >> the suspected blood on the sheets, pillows and pillow cases. >> detective arnold noticed something in the bed that would burn in the memory throughout the investigation. >> the first thing that immediately hit me was the dora the explorer pillow and it had

blood on it. >> what was the emotion when you saw that. >> anger. >> with two young kids of his own, this case had already hit rick arnold hard. on the spot, he made a promise to erica's grandmother. >> you said we're going to find who did this. >> yes. >> that's a lot to promise somebody, isn't it. >> yes, it is. >> coming up. a glimmer of hope from baby erica. >> i was rubbing her hand and she opened her eyes. >> when "dateline" continues. protect your pets from fleas and ticks with frontline plus for dogs and frontline plus for cats. its two killer ingredients work fast and keep working all month long preventing new flea infestations on your pet. frontline plus. the number 1 name in flea and tick protection.

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detective rick arnold admitted it. little erica's shooting made his blood boil. that's why he guaranteed he would find out who killed her daughter and shot her granddaughter. >> why did you make that promise. >> that was emotion spilling over. there was a baby who had been shot as well as an adult killed. and we were expecting at that point the baby to die. >> erica had flat lined as the high speed police caravan delivered her. she was rushed into the emergency room where doctors and nurses worked frantically to stabilize her. >> her vital signs were barely measurable. >> doctor thomas performed surgery on the gunshot wounds to erica's head. these were cat scans of her skull and brain preop. >> this is where you can see

part of the bullet and broken bone. >> the surgeon's life saving mission was to clean the fragments from erica's lead, repair the wounds and preserve brain function in possible. erica was lucky in one way. the angle wasn't straight through the brain, but downward. exiting through her chin. >> what a blessing as opposed to the bullet going through and damaging and destroy everything. >> doctor was relieved the bullet only struck the frontal lobe which with absorb injury better. especially very young. >> less than three year's old, the brain's ability to repair is truly remarkable. >> after a surgery, doctor was encouraged by scans of the brain. the bullet and brain fragments in the preop image were gone, but despite the repair, brain injuries are unpredictable and doctor urged caution. >> next three days in the u kic

were going to be critical. >> another shell casings. at the crime scene. they continued to sift through clues. more leads came into focus. a bloody. second one had an ash about an inch long. someone had left that cigarette and rushed out of there. >> detective ordered dna testing on the cigarette and cans. he was also learning about erin. the only one home the night of the shooting and ebony, the oldest at 16. >> instead of like mother and daughter, more like sisters. >> you were like friends, huh. >> yes we did everything together. she was the best mom. >> and fun to be around with a oversized personality. >> she was outgoing. she was just would do anything.

she was a daredevil. i just miss her so much. she was everything to me. >> she loved her kids. she tried her best to take care of them. erin worked at churchill downs. she had to go on disability because of ms and a painful inpoliceman tory condition known as fibromyalgia. she often took prescription painkillers to manager her symptoms. >> to put it bluntly, she was a heck of a woman. as far as a fighting spirit and everything is concerned. >> but her parents were concerned by the crowd she sometimes ran with. she was with some guys you weren't fond of. >> that's right. >> even so, her parents could not imagine who would have shot her and little erica or why. and that just ramped up their own fears that the shooter or shooters might come back. >> i was scared to death. i thought my god.

what if they don't catch these people. >> at the crime scene, detective arnold was searching for answers, combing the house for more clueclues. >> panning in on a closet that contains a safe. >> some contents miss sglg first thi . >> one of the first things we do is check phone records. >> erin received two phone calls in the hours before the shooting. both from a family friend. james had known erin for years. he called her auntie a. police brought him in to see if he had any information that could help the investigation. >> one of the very last people to call her and talk to her by phone was you, which is why we want to talk to you. >> it was me. >> he provided some names for investigators to check out and

repeatedly offered to assist police in any way he could. >> i'll help you find whoever it is. >> back at children's hospital, erica was not in the icu holding on for life. her grandparents and big sister stood by her side. >> ebony took it very hard. 14 years older, she had been like a second mother to erica. in fact, erica actually called her mommy. by day four in the icu, erica's mommy was seeing signs of hope. doctors believed erica was strong enough to remove her breathing tube. now, it was time to see how she would do on her own. >> i was rubbing her hand and she opened her eyes a little bit and she said mommy. and everybody was like, oh, my goodness. she's speaking. >> while erica took the first

steps to recovery, there was a big sign of life in rick arnold's investigation. it was a mystifying discovery that would turn out to be crucial. >> why is this with all these personal effects of aaron harper. >> makes no sense. >> makes zero sense. coming up, a cadillac leads to an unlikely clue. when "dateline" continues. there's no way to hide from potentially deadly heartworm disease. just one mosquito bite can transmit it. so protect your dog with delicious heartgard plus. digestive and neurological side effects have rarely been reported.

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four days after she was shot, erica woke up and started talking to her family. in the icu, erica was feisty and combative. her neurosurgeon said that was a positive sign. her brain was rebooting. >> did you pray a lot. >> oh, yes. >> judith was the most religious one in the family and a week after surgery, her prayers and unshakable faith were answered. erica's condition was upgraded from critical to fair. >> she looked real bad, but i never dwelled on she wasn't going to make it. >> now the family had to turn its focus to the one who did not make it. on may 25, 2006. a week after she was gunned down, erin's family gathered for her funeral. >> and the man who delivered the eulogy was none other than the officer who raced erica to the

hospital. steve kelsey also served as a minister in a local church. it was so moving and personal, but for jesse, then a crime reporter for a louisville journal. what el evaluated the story was simple. little erica. >> the public concern from the beginning was always there was a two-year-old involved. >> after nearly two weeks in the hospital, erica was well enough to move to nearby frazier rehabilitation institute, but the hard work was just beginning. the brain injury had damaged her ability to walk and talk. what had been second nature to her had to be relearned. running, talking back and forth, and just being a playful kid again. erica's sister who knew her best was worried. erica had lost sight in her right eye forever. and ebony was afraid she would never be her old self again. >> what was different. she didn't run and play and talk

as much. she was kind of quiet. >> with still no idea why her sister and mother were shot. ebony and grapare we mained fearful. >>ou mt have been worried. like who did this and where are they. >> i was thinking of the safety of the kids. i didn't go out much. >> back at the police station, detective arnold was trying to figure out his next move when his investigation caught a lucky break. a 75-year-old-year-old spotted some of erin's things and called police. something else that did not bloj. >> this is a cadillac muanuel. >> it stood out because it didn't seem to mess with the rest of the mess. why was the car manuel there and

whose was it. tried thumbing through it, but the page were soaked together. >> even the back cover, when i looked through it. pages were still sticking sglg days later rick could separate a few page, but was still frustrated. third time and i really was thinking this if i don't find something now i'll be out of luck. i went through this. went through it page by page. >> the third time was the charm. i was able to find all the way stuck in the binding of the book an automobile insurance. >> with a name. >> with a name, most important. >> by now his working days had turned into working nights. detective arnold typed a name, a man's name into his computer and it spit out 15 matches. one of them lived in southern indiana just across the river from louisville. around 11:00 p.m., rick called the man. >> i asked him if he knows why

this manuel would have been until louisville kentucky. >> he said, i don't know, but his car was broken into last week in kentucky. >> his cadillac. the break in happened may 17. just a few hours before erin harper was found dead. >> i asked him where do you work and he said he's a pharmacist at a walgreens bells and whistles went off in my head. they sell prescription drugs. >> now had a working theory and it went like this. someone broke into a shiny cadillac parked outside an indiana walgreens. the car happened to belong to the store's pharmacist. for no apparent reason, the thief grabbed the owners manuel from the glove compartment and tossed it in his own car. he then went to erin's house where she and erica were shot and her prescription pills and credit cards were stolen. then according to the theory,

the person rushed away from the house, threw the pill bottles and credit cards into the get away car and drove off. a few miles away, whoever was in the car got rid of the hot property, tossing the empty pill bottles and credit cards out of the window along with themanuel and that's how everything ended up together in the drainage ditch. >> i think they were just grabbing stuff and probably thought. we don't want to have this. she's dead. >> rick asked if he knew who broke into the car. >> he said, i don't know for sure, but i have a pretty good idea. >> the pharmacist remembered and store security cameras confirmed a man in a baseball hat and another man came into the walgreens at 9:30 p.m. on may 17. just hours before erin was shot. >> and he said, they didn't look like they were regular shoppers at our walgreens. most our prescription customers are regular customers.

they had come back to pharmacy and tried to obtain prescriptions using bogus names. >> on the tape, rick looked closely and saw the man in the baseball cap leaning through the window of enclosed pharmacy section. seemingly checking out names from pill bottles. over and over he staired at the grainy wall greens tape. the man in the baseball cap looked familiar. >> as in james. erin's family friend who phoned herd minutes before the murder. earlier he told the detective how much he wanted to help the investigation. rick wasn't buying any of it now. james had become a prime suspect though rick wasn't ready to arrest him. not yet. not until he had the other man, but that wouldn't be easy. although there were two suspects in his site, the mystery man was not in focus. >> how clear is the image of the

second guy. >> it's not very clear. >> coming up, for them it was an image that was all too clear to little erica. >> they was the guy who come in the daycare and he had braids in his hair and erica said, don't let him hurt me. goin' up the country. later, gary' i have a motorcycle! wonderful. ♪ ♪ i'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go? ♪ ♪ i'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go? ♪ geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. each day justin at work... walk. and after work. does it all with dr. scholl's. only dr. scholl's ha massagingel insoles that provide all-day comfort. to keep him feeling more energized. dr. scholl's. born to move.

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hello. we have breaking news from canada where 14 people are dead and another 14 injured after a bus collided with a tractor trailer. the bus was carrying members of a junior hockey team and on way to a game last night. at this point, no word on the names of those killed. texas has begun deploying 250 national guard troops to the southern border. first state to do so after the president ordered national guard deployment this week. arizona will send 1 troops to the border nt week. back to "dateline."

detective rick arnold identified one man, now a suspect for murder on security video, but there was another person in the picture too. would detectives track him down before it was too late. once again, hoda kotb. >> met offer steve kelsey and other rescuers. it was nothing short of a miracle. ericale laughed, cried. acted like a two-year-old. amazed at progress, but also concerned about long-term brain damage. >> i didn't feel at that point i could say for sure she was going to be okay. >> even getting this far and beating the odds, erica was going home. >> just great to have her there,

you know. get her home from the hospital. >> it was a home she already knew. her grandparents judith and meryl were waiving good-bye to carefree golden years. they were full-time parents again. >> i greagreed from the first di would take care of her not knowing what shape she was going to be in. not knowing what mental state she would be in. >> erica's father had never been a big part of her life. court granted full custody. >> you worked your whole life. supposed to be your time. kind of kick back and put your feet up. >> that doesn't bother me a bit. me and my husband, we're a little different. >> didn't turn out exactly like i thought it would because of well the children. >> four years before the shootings, harold had retired from long time meat packing job expecting to ride his harley

into the sun set. >> i had a california trip. i've been into canada most everywhere. that had to stop. >> he knows i couldn't maintain these children without him. i love those little kids. >> i love my grandparents. >> do you think they sacrificed a lot. >> yes. my grandpa loves his harley. >> but you know, people do what they have to do. you know. what's in their heart to do. >> together they gave erica a secure home. day by day, she was gaining strength. the things were not normal. >> erica was so afraid of balloons. and balloons popping and she was afraid of fire crackers. >> loud noises and everything she's like this. >> she was scared when it rained. >> anything that sounded like gunshots. >> yes. >> there was something else that terrified erica. it was harder to understand. >> there was the guy that come

in the daycare to pick his child up and had braids in his hair and erica started running and crying to the teacher and said don't let him hurt me. judith told detective arnold about erica's new fear. men with braids. there on the walgreens video, detective arnold saw it. the man coming in with james had braids, but the image was still too fuzzy to figure out. rick circulate add freeze frame of the man and hoped someone could identify him. then he waited. eight months later. rick got promising news, a detective thought he recognized the walgreens guy from another shooting. his name, kenneth williams. compared several mug shots to the video. >> i think it's probably him, but then again the video is not real good. i start focusing in on him now.

>> then his investigation got lucky again. unlikely witness came forward with information about that same kenneth williams and the night erica and her mom were shot. >> but the witness was questionable. he was charged with murder himself for which he later pled guilty to manslaughter and was also gravely wounded in the shooting. >> he's on his death bed. he thinks he's going to hell. and he has something he needs to say. >> weeks later turner's health improved enough to talk to rick. >> they hit a lick on somebody. >> what's that mean. >> that's like a robbery. >> robbery that quickly escalated to murder. >> he knew things he couldn't know. he knew things that weren't in the media. >> what kind of things.

>> the pill bottlebottles. >> it was a long frustrating 15 month investigation, but rick was finally close to the answers ehe had promised erica's grandmother. >> what kept you going during some of those times when you felt like you were at a dead end. >> five days after interviewing turner, detective arnold was ready to bring in james and williams for tough questioning. actually, rick had enough to arrest him earlier, but he wasn't ready yet. he wanted more. both men from the walgreens video. so he could play them off of each other in dueling interrogations. and now, he had them. >> you have been waiting and waiting patiently so it's time to do your thing, right. >> now it's time to do it. >> the detective moves to get each suspect and implicate the other, not knowing they were running out of time. >> you had no idea you were playing the clock. >> no, no idea at all.

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i'm pretty cynical so i was not really sure what the long-term affect was going to be. >> one year after erica was left for dead, jesse holiday made a house call to the grandparent's house. >> with erica being so young and with the grandparents raising her, so much interest to begin with. we wanted to go back and see how she was doing. >> erica had jesse at hello.

that's all it took for the high spirited then three-year-old to win over the cynical reporter. >>ca was in it from the beginning. trying to write with my pen. wanted to color on my notebook. i was struck by her curiosity. >> jesse reported that erica lost all sight in her right eye and also had a small scar on her chin where the bullet had exited. i think people still wonder how she survived: i still wonder how she survived. >> louisville and erica's family were still consumed by two questions at the heart of it all. who could commit such a horrifying crime and would the shooter ever be caught. judith harper had faith all along that justice would be done. most of all, faith in detective arnold. after all the promise he made to solve the case was to her. >> he was going to see that these people were found if it had just been erin, it would have been just maybe another

dead, but since erica was involved in that, he wasn't going to let up on it. >> judith didn't know it yet, but down at police headquarters, detective arnold was close to getting answers from the men he had been pursuing since they're starring roles in the walgreens video. james, the family friend who made the last phone call to erin, and kenneth williams who admitted to a witness that he was part of a robbery that turned deadly. now, it was time to bring both men in and interrogate them. >> i was a littleapprehensive, but not nervous. no butterflies. it's something i had planned on and prepared for. >> you were ready. >> i was ready. >> 15 months after the shootings, james and williams voluntarily came down to headquarters. each knew the other was there. >> i wanted them both to understand that if they didn't tell us the truth, the other guy maybe did. >> as a tactic. detective arnold even walked williams past a closed circuit

monitor where he could see james in the interview room. >> now he's got time to think, what's he telling these detectives. what's he talking about. >> detective arnold needed both suspects to admit they were in the house when the shootings went down. >> that would back up murder charges against both of them no matter who pulled the trigger. james was interviewed first. said he knew nothing about the crime. as the interrogation grew on, he started blaming the man in the other room. but detective arnold knew something james did not. after his first interview, rick has scooped up his smoked cigarette for dna testing. results were back and they matched a butt from the crime scene. >> he claims he wasn't there, but you got dna that puts him

there. >> yes. >> >> see that's what i'm saying. you were in that house. that's what i want to know. >> how does he react to be corner. >> dominique: he was backtracking. he was scared. >> i mean, i never. >> that's my point. >> that's what i'm saying. >> now he was admitting he had visited his friend erin that day, but insisted he left before anyone was shot. rick sensed that james and his story were crumbling so he went for the juggler. demanding he come clean. and it worked. >> i saw him go in there and i was like i was behind. pow, pow, pow. pow. i hear more gunshots. >> him saying he was in the house was critical. that becomes the most important thing. >> detective arnold now had admission number one. the interview nearly over, james had a request. one of the strangest rick had

ever heard. i need to smoke a blunt. >> a blunt is a king sized marijuana cigarette. >> i've never been asked that before. >> we can't do that here. >> we can't. >> now it was time to interrogate williams. he proved to be a tougher nut to crack. >> first impressions of him. >> he's hard core. he's hard core. >> i did not shoot the lady. i did not do nothing to her or her baby. >> he also denied everything and blamed the man in the other room. did he have a gun. >> yes. >> what color was it. >> black. >> williams kept insisting he wasn't in the house. >> i wanted him in the house. not out by the car or the stop sign. >> he needed it fast. he didn't realize now fast at the sometime. >> you didn't know you were playing the clock.

>> no idea at all. >> detective arnold saw an opening and pounced. first you'll hear williams finally admit to coming inside. then listen closely as rick asks a rapid fire follow up about his location in the house giving him no chance to think or change his story. >> after i heard a gunshot i ran in there to see. what room were you in. i was in the back room. >> that was music to my ears. hearing him say i'm in the back room. >> rick had him right where he wanted. inside the house. and none too soon. an attorney who immediately stopped the interview. >> just in the nick of time. >> detective arnold placed williams and james under arrest. then he wasted to time making the one phone call he had waited 15 months to make. to erica's grandmother. >> i literally ran to the

bathroom to make that call. >> it was just a relief. i promised judy harper in 2006 that i would get those answers. now we had them. >> what did you think when they told you. >> well, just relieved. i had confidence they would find them that they would find them sooner or later because they couldn't get he away with it forever. >> williams and quisenberry would stand trial for the murder of erin and the attempted murder of erica. an eye for an eye, the the death penalty hung over both of them. coming up, an emotional trial and a little girl who not only survived, but thrived, when dateline continues. who wouldn't want to go to prom with this? here, try clearasil. pimples can form deep below the skin's surface. up to three weeks before they reach your face. clearasil! that's not the usual cleanser!

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sure. still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. now you can get it, too. welcome to the party. how you doin'? on the carousel of life in louisville, it was what everyone had been asking. how was erica, the miracle baby, doing? how you doin'? but through it all, other questions squirrelled, too. what happened in the house on willson avenue and would the men involved in the shootings pay for their crimes? >> okay. we are on the record. >> those answers would come three years later, april 2009, in a louisville courtroom where james quisenberry and stood

trial. whatever the verdict, one man would not be there to hear it. for harold harper, it was too much to bear. i couldn't look him in the eye without rage and i was afraid i would mess everything up. >> it was an emotional trial. coprosecutor mark baker with two young daughters himself cried in his opening statements. >> once he determined there was still life in that little body, you can imagine what the officers did there at the scene. >> prosecutors maintained that the defense came there to steal erin's pills and money, but williams changed the plan after erin fought back, according to key witness rash on on turner. >> he told me he snatched the purse from her, but she wouldn't let go of her purse. he shot her. >> why quisenberry and williams were in the house that night.

it appears after erin became too ill to work, she found a way to sxlimt her income, selng her prescription medication. she had invited her friend, quis quisen berry, to buy pills before. but this time it deteriorated when williams came with a gun. >> i had no idea they would go into a house and kill you over a bottle of pills. >> there was no doubt quisenberry would be convicted of some crime. he got man slaughter and a maximum 45 years in prison. at for williams -- >> we tell judge find the defendant kenneth williams guilty. >> guilty of murder and a life sentence with no possibility of parole, spared the death penalty because one hold-out jurors would vote for it. did you think you should have gotten the death penalty?

>> no. i can't go around talking or acting with hate in my heart because if i do that, then in my children, they're going to be thinking it's all right for them to do it. >> rick was gratified that he could make good on his promise to erica's grandmother, but he also got something back from her. >> she told me from the get-go that things would work out and that's a sign love her faith. >> out of the tragedy, the harper family had pulled together. with her grandparents as her guiding lights, erica's future looked bright. when i caught up with her, she was a playful 6-year-old. we went to the zoo where she briefly stopped her fun and games to talk. >> they call you the miracle baby. why do they call you that? >> i'm just a special girl. >> why are you special? >> i know anything. >> you know everything. what do you know? >> i know about, like, when

bananas are rotten, i don't eat them. >> what else do you know? >> erica's struggles from the brink of death became blockbuster news in her hometown. and the miracle baby became the media's celebrity as the familiar face for a community leader's campaign to keep the children of louisville safe. >> she is still the miracle baby, but she is also a great advocate for fighting crimes against children. >> erica, what do you want to be when you grow up? >> a nurse and a teacher. >> why a nurse? >> you have to help people. >> erica, come here. >> like the nurses and, doctors from kosair children's hospital who saved her life. >> we're so glad to see you. >> more than three years later, they celebrated erica's recovery with a red carpet reunion. taking it all in, surgeon thomas

moriarity, proud and pleased that he could give his miracle patient a clean bill of health. no brain damage whatsoever. she's wonderful. she's perfect. she is, you know, this little flour that hflower that has gro. >> he left her with a good brain. that's important. >> when you look at erica, do you see any of your mom in erica? >> yes. >> what parts? >> the main thing i see is her loud mouth. erica is loud and she has the loud voice that my mom had had. where is your mom right now? >> up in heavy. >> do you think about her a lot? what kind of things do you think about? >> i think about her coming down. >> and what happens? >> she would still be my mama. >> so is like a kand reminder that your mom is with you. >> and there is one other trait. her mom's fighting spirit.

>> to battle what she had to battle, i guess she did have erin's fighting spirit, you know, to to pull through all that. you know? so thank god for that. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." he married the woman of his dreams, beautiful and sweet. >> she's just angelic. >> and was folded into her tight-knit family headed by an elderly religious matriarch. to together they had a little girl, sydney. when things fell apart, they closed ranks. >> one day, he went to pick up his little girl for a visit and