>> that's all for this edition of "dateline extra." i'm craig melvin. thanks for watching. >> i wanna know what happened to my mom. i just wanna know why. why was she forgotten about all these years? >> there's nothing worse than her family told her one thing. her heart told her something >> something was missing --

night? >> reporter: two trials. >> reporter: a daughter's decades-long search for her this is "dateline." >> reporter: a few feet from the city limits of toledo, ohio, a car swings around the corner onto a desolate stretch of road. it's dark. wee hours. just stabs of light spilling from the houses. most people are asleep. he could so easily have missed her, lying in the grass on the side of the road. her knees drawn up to her chest. barely breathing. at first he drove right by her -- the story went -- then doubled back for a closer look. and what he found launched a thirty-year journey for one

lonely child. >> there's all these whys that have not been answered. why was she forgotten about for all these years? >> reporter: a daughter determined to find out what happened that night. >> what's making you go forward? why not just let it be? >> something inside of me just wodn't -- wouldn't stop. >> reporter: no matter how ugly the truth. >> she's knocking on every door, she's ringing every phone. >> did you wish she weren't doing it, toby? >> i would just love to -- to say to her one more time, you know, "i love you." one more time. >> reporter: a daughter who wasn't afraid to make enemies. >> you are his nemesis. >> mm-hmm. and i'll never go away. >> reporter: brittany stork grew up in oregon, ohio -- a comfortable town perched on the edge of lake erie, where weekends meant lawn mowers, church, and softball games.

>> what are you happy doing? what makes you wanna pop out of bed in the morning as a child? >> i danced. >> reporter: brittany felt loved. safe. until one afternoon in kindergarten, she says her teacher had a question for her. >> she had asked me you know "how did your mom die? was she in a car accident?" i think i was like five and i remember getting really teary eyed and going, "i don't know what you're talking about." so i went home crying and asked my mom, what is she talking about? >> reporter: it was a horrible way to realize the person she called mom was actually her grandmother. that her mother, 19-year-old dana rosendale, had died in a car accident. dana was a stranger to her. >> do you have so much as a memory of your mother's smile, or her touch? >> none. i have no memories. no voice, no nothing. i was only eight months old when it happened, so -- >> reporter: brittany was greedy for memories of this mother

she'd never known. she badgered dana's older sister, aunt deb. >> so when the curious little girl asks you, the aunt, "tell me about my mother," what do you say? >> i just -- she was a -- she was a beautiful woman, you know? she loved life. >> reporter: and adored her baby girl. >> she loved that little girl to death. she was just a great, great mother. >> reporter: dana had been so young. just eighteen when she got pregnant. >> did dana ever feel sorry for herself in any way? "i'm having a baby too young, my friends are out having a life, and i'm gonna miss some of that stuff?" >> never. >> it would be natural to feel that way? >> yeah, she never felt sorry for herself. she was -- she took life head on. >> reporter: and just like brittany, dana had loved to dance. that's what had taken her and her best friend to a club across town -- the south side roxy. she had died on the way home, just a few hours later. but aunt deb hadn't told brittany much about that night. there were some things she just wasn't willing to share with the little girl.

>> did you talk about her last hours? did she know -- >> no. >> what happened to her? >> no, no. >> did you try and keep her mother's presence in her life? >> somewhat, you know? >> it's hard to do. >> it's hard to do, because of the -- the horrible way that -- that the events happened. that she died. so do you want to continually have that in your life, you know? or do you put it -- put it away? >> reporter: but as the years passed, the silence, the mystery that weighed on brittany was a dark one. >> the older i got it was like everybody knew. everybody knew my mom had gotten killed, however it was -- >> did a kid tell you something? >> no, i just i could feel it. nobody could deal with my mom's death. >> so, something was missing -- >> yeah. >> in your mom's story. you didn't know what it was? >> yeah. >> reporter: then in seventh grade, brittany says, a police officer gave a talk to her class and told her something that got her attention. >> he said, "anything that ever happens can be found on microfiche at the library."

>> this is a light bulb moment for you? >> uh-huh. i was like, "well, what is that?" and he said, "all the newspaper articles, all the police reports. anything you've ever done that's on a record or that's happened is going to be on an archive." >> reporter: that night brittany scored a lift to the library and headed straight for the archives. >> and i just started scanning all the newspapers they had on file. after i found her obituary, i found another article and the headline was "19-year-old found on road, dead." so i read through that one, and then there was another one. >> and this is your mom, this is not a -- >> uh-huh. right. >> paper for school or an historic fige. thiss your mom you're researching. >> yeah. and so i think it was more of a shock, you know, and i just -- every article that was on there. >> reporter: shocking to read about her mother's death in black and white. she'd never let herself picture the accident in her head. >> -- woman found on road dies of head injuries. >> reporter: the articles didn't describe two cars colliding, but rather her mother's battered body lying on a lonely roadway. >> dana rosendale's death ruled

undetermined. >> reporter: and perhaps the most surprising new detail in those articles -- a comment from the local coroner. in 1982, he had told the press he had doubts, wasn't sure that dana had died in a car accident at all. but if not, how had she died? >> at that time, i was so mad that everyone lied to me. and it was just a whirl of emotions. >> reporter: brittany wondered if her family had been hiding something even more sinister than she'd ever imagined -- that her 19-year-old mother had been murdered. how did dana die? did the secret die with her? >> i can remember grabbin' her hospital gown and saying, you know, "wake up. just wake up, just open your eyes." >> reporter: and years later, brittany demands the truth from someone who might know, and hits a dead end. >> did he say, "okay, you're old enough now, i can tell you" -- >> unh-uh. he said, "you're not ready."

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nexgard. the vet's #1 choice. >> reporter: brittany stork's world was spinning. the 13-year-old believed all the adults in her life were lying to her. had been lying to her for years. >> i was just so mad at everybody. it was just, "leave me alone. and you can't tell me what to do." you know, "you lied to me." >> reporter: a tragic car accident. that's what brittany had been told about her mom's death, but the newspaper articles she'd unearthed hinted at something far more suspicious. brittany made a copy of them and confronted her dad, toby. he'd been in an on-again, off-again relationship with her mom, dana, at the time of her death. >> and i can't remember what i wrote on it, but i know that it wasn't a very nice message. >> what's up with this basically? >> yeah, i think i actually told him i hated him. >> did he say, "okay, you're old enough now, i can tell you"-- >> unh-uh. >> "a more complete story"? >> unh-uh.

he said, "you're not ready." >> "you're not ready," still? >> reporter: brittany wasn't sure her dad would ever tell her. he wasn't around much during her childhood. his parents were the ones who'd taken her in as a baby, raised her. they wouldn't talk about the past much either. >> so you're an angry teenage girl with your fists balled up, and you're still trying to find out the story of your mother, huh? >> right. >> what's making you go forward? why not just let it be? >> something inside of me just wouldn't -- i wouldn't stop. you know, i-- then i would start the hyperventilating, i'd wake up crying all the time, you know, "i want my mom, i want my mom." and they'd tell me, "you need to stop, you need to calm down." so then i started digging. >> reporter: sometimes when her grandmother slept, brittany says she rifled through her old photo albums. >> brittany, you're becoming kind of a detective in this thing. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: aunt deb says the very image of brittany's mom was much closer than the little girl knew. all she had to do was look in the mirror. >> you look at brittany and it

takes your breath away because she'll -- she's like a little clone. >> reporter: brittany's questions were opening up decades of old hurt. >> it's a fresh, open wound again. >> absolutely. yeah. just like it happened yesterday. you know, i -- i would just love to -- to say to her one more time, you know, "i love you." one more time. >> reporter: dana and deb had grown up the rosendale sisters in 1970s toledo. on summer evenings you could find them twirling batons in their backyard, tossing them high above their heads. >> we'd travel all over you know michigan, canada. we twirled in parades and marched in a marching band called the ambassadors. >> reporter: deb, the older sister, was more serious, more competitive. dana, the baby, was more interested in barbies and make up and her friends. >> she was vivacious, gregarious personality, big personality. you know, everybody liked her. she had a lot of friends.

>> where was her life headed? >> she had a lotta goals. she wanted to own a boutique. get a job, be successful, have a good life. >> but she never got there. >> never got there. >> reporter: it was labor day weekend, 1982. deb was camping with her family when she got word that dana had been found lying on the side of the road, about eight miles from the dance club where she'd gone with a friend. >> and i needed to get to toledo as soon as possible. she was in critical condition at st. charles hospital, in oregon, ohio. >> so this is an awful drive for you? >> absolutely, yeah. >> you don't know what you're gonna find at the other end? >> yeah. >> reporter: what she found was dana hooked up to life support and friends and family gathering. >> and of course my mother was there, and she was in pieces. dana was her, you know, dana was the baby of the family and -- she was unconscious. >> tubes, bandages, machines? >> ventilator -- she had severe swelling.

severe swelling in her face. >> reporter: and that was the only injury dana appeared to have. deb's mind reeled with the possibilities of what might have happened -- a terrible accident, perhaps a hit-and-run. and of course nothing could be learned from dana herself. >> even though she was unconscious, were you talking to her? >> absolutely, you know, begging her, wake up. you know, i can remember grabbin' her hospital gown and saying, you know, wake up. just wake up, just open your eyes, you know. open your eyes. >> reporter: rookie detective bob bratton was in bed when he got the call about a possible hit-and-run on tracy road. he raced to the scene. >> so you pull up. what do you see? >> when i pull up, what i see is the squad is still there, the rescue squad. and there are people, of course, congregated at this point. >> reporter: among them, a young man who said he was the person who had first spotted dana. >> he said, "i was drivin' by.

i seen somethin', thought it was a body. i turned around." he showed me where he turned around, "and came back, and sure as heck it was." now, he said, "i immediately went up to some homes, knocked on the doors to try to seek some -- some help." >> reporter: the detective wrote down the man's name -- russell adkins. >> what did you think you had? >> i really wasn't sure, to be honest with you. i didn't know if i had someone hit by a car or was she thrown from a vehicle? i -- i -- i really had no idea. >> reporter: so he headed to the hospital hoping to find some answers from dana's family and friends. what he heard were words of suspicion, hints even of murder. with some people in dana's family pointing the finger at someone very close to home. coming up: if it was murder, how would they ever prove it? >> it was all circumstantial there wasn't a murder weapon. they just had her body.

>> just had stories and a victim on the side of the road. >> right. >> reporter: when "dateline" continues. dray, when he was younger, he loved to smile; and we knew he would need braces because his teeth were coming in funny. this is the picture that was on the front page of the newspaper. all you can notice is the braces! then, once he got to michigan state, he broke the retainer! my bottom teeth, they were really crooked, and i just wasn't getting braces again. then i discovered smiledirectclub. it's easy to just grab it and go and

i can change it on the road. i did photoshoots with my aligners in and you can't see them. a smile is a first impression, that's why i think having a great smile is so important. hey, want the fastest internet?

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plus, ask how to keep your current phone. visit your local xfinity store today. >> reporter: six days after dana rosendale had been found dying on an ohio back road, deb's family made the decision to take her off life support.

>> how did you say goodbye to her? >> that was so absolutely horrible, it was horrible. once they took the ventilator off, probably less than three minutes and she was dead. it was horrible. >> reporter: deb says her family was shattered. >> you never heal from this ever. ever. you grieve and you're angry. and then you grieve, but you never get over it. >> reporter: and with the grief came the rumblings of suspicion. no one believed dana had been killed in an accident, deb says. and some people in the family openly wondered whether dana's boyfriend, toby, father to baby brittany, might have hurt dana. the relationship was a rocky one. >> it was kind of like a -- a can't live with you, can't live without you type of relationship. >> reporter: toby certainly caught the wary eye of detective bratton. the boyfriend refused to talk to him in the hospital waiting room. >> he learned i was a detective. "i ain't talkin' to you. i don't need to talk to you." he started walking away from me.

so i latch onto him. i bring him back and we exchange some words. >> reporter: the detective says he blocked the doorway until toby calmed down. when he did, toby gave bratton his alibi, he'd been asleep in dana's apartment at the time of the incident. but that apartment was less than a mile from the place where dana had been found. bratton says family members told him toby had a temper and the couple fought a lot. >> toby, when did the whispers start -- >> immediately. >> -- about your involvement? >> immediately. >> a lot of members of her family think that you're the killer here. >> yes. >> reporter: toby says dana's family had never approved of his relationship with her. he was a rough and tumble character, four years older than she, fond of boxing and motorcycles. >> there was evel knievel, and i was considered awful. knawful. >> reporter: an unlikely couple, perhaps. but toby says they fell hard for each other after a chance meeting at a bar.

>> this girl walked by me, and she said, "goodbye." and at that moment, i said, "well, how can you say goodbye to me? you never said hello." >> reporter: sure they argued, toby says, but the birth of baby brittany brought them closer together. >> did you think you had a future together? >> oh, yes. we planned on getting married. that's what our goal was. >> so, you were going to give it a shot? >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: that night, toby says, the only reason he wasn't with dana at the south side roxy is because he'd come home after a hard day at work. he was beat. >> as dana went to go away to go to the party and everything, she woke me up and told me, "i love you." and that was the last thing i ever heard from her. >> reporter: it was a touching tale, but dana's mother didn't buy it. she asked toby to leave the hospital in those final, awful days, sure that he was involved in dana's death. sister deb didn't know what to think. the only thing she was certain

of was this. >> you believed at that point that dana had been murdered? >> yeah, i -- i believed she'd been murdered. >> who, why? >> i don't know. you know, i have no idea. what did she do? you know, why would somebody want to hurt this beautiful little girl that was full of life? >> reporter: it looked as though deb would never find out. a few months after dana's death, the investigation seemed to sputter out. >> the air seems to go out of the balloon, deb, and nothing happens. what do you think happened? >> i believe it was -- it was open for a couple of years. there wasn't a murder weapon. they just had her body. technology is different in 1982. >> no cell phones. no gps. just had stories and a victim on the side of the road. >> right. right. >> reporter: many years later, as she watched dana's daughter, now a teenager, trying to find out about her mom's mysterious death, aunt deb wondered if she should have pushed police harder. >> do you beat yourself up about that? >> sure i do. sure i do. >> for not staying on top of the detectives? >> absolutely. you know, i have a lot of guilt. >> reporter: fear, too.

back in the day, deb believed dana's killer was on the loose somewhere. she wanted to protect her family, not make waves. but as brittany got older, she knew nothing was going to stop the teenager from searching for answers. >> what was taken from her, deb? >> her mother. a mother's love. there can't be anything worse. there's nothing worse. there's nothing worse than losing your mother's love. >> she was always raised comfortably. had food and shelter and -- >> yeah. but it's -- >> -- clothes and toys. >> but it's not the same. it's not the same to have your mom who's your best friend when you grow up as an adult. it's gone. >> reporter: and someone else important was missing in 15-year-old brittany's life. her dad. brittany had heard the whispers about him over the years. his temper. the fights with her mom. toby had spent much of her childhood in and out of prison serving time for theft, assault, domestic violence. >> i'd turned into, you know,

just kind of severing the relationship with my dad. >> so he was out of your life virtually from that point on? >> yes. >> reporter: and so brittany grew up motherless, now fatherless. she felt so lost until she decided to take the initiative and get answers to the mystery of her mother's death, no matter what the personal cost. coming up -- brittany goes right to the top. >> i basically said i either want someone to investigate what happened to her, or i want her file and i'm going to take it somewhere else. [ indistinct chatter ] sorry, can i get in there? oh, yeah. sure. except, you know what? it's all about image. it's like so true. you know what i mean?

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>> reporter: as a teenager, brittany stork felt alone, angry and unmoored. she had cut her father out of her life. and was haunted by the mystery of what happened to her dead mother. >> it was almost like i started reliving it for some reason, i don't know. >> reporter: for a while she got on with her life --she made the cheerleading squad, studied hard, even invited her dad to her high school graduation.

then at the age of nineteen, she found out she was going to have a baby. >> i had found out i was havin' a girl. i wanted to name my daughter dana, i don't know why. and everybody cried. and i understand 'cause i don't think now i could call her dana. it would be hard. >> yeah, hard to the family, child walks into the room and everybody breaks out in tears -- >> yeah. >> -- thinking about the lost mother. >> right. >> reporter: brittany gave her baby her mother's middle name instead. but becoming a mother herself only made her grieve more for the mother she'd lost. and she brooded, bitter at her family. >> i talked to your aunt, she's a little bit hard on herself about why she didn't push back in '82, '83, '84. >> and i have a lot of resentment for my family for not pushing. >> still? >> yeah. uh-huh. why they didn't do anything, you know.

why was it me, the daughter fighting for it. and nobody else was there. >> reporter: she was bitter at police too. >> i want to know why they let it go, you know. there's all these whys that have not been answered. why was she forgotten about for all these years? >> reporter: so brittany decided to find out. in 2006, she was serving on a grand jury. >> and one of the days on the lunch break, i just walked into the lucas county prosecutor's office, and the girl asked if she could help me and i said, "i need to talk to somebody. my mom was murdered." >> reporter: brittany was given the number of an investigator in the prosecutor's office in neighboring wood county. that was the county where her mother's body had been found. >> he said, you know, "i'm sorry, there's a statute of limitations," you know, blah, blah -- >> people died-- >> -- blah -- >> -- memories have faded -- >> right, and -- >> -- this is a long time ago? >> reporter: but brittany didn't stop there. she says she marched into the police department that had first handled her mom's case and demanded to see the police chief.

>> you're just cold walking in on these people? >> uh-uh. and i basically said, "i either want someone to investigate what happened to her, or i want her file and i'm gonna take it somewhere else." >> reporter: a detective promised to see what he could find out but apart from the odd phone call, brittany says it felt like her mom's case went nowhere. and before she knew it months turned into years. brittany's life moved on. married now, she had another baby. she was a dance teacher. then one day she ran into the original detective who'd worked her mom's case . >> i'm at a restaurant with my wife eating, and this lady comes up to me. and i -- i didn't know her, didn't recognize her. and she says, "mr. bratton, i'd like to talk to you." "well, sure, sit down." >> and i said, "i'm dana rosendale's daughter" and all three of their mouths about dropped to the table and i said "i wanna know what happened to my mom." and he just said -- "you know, you need to keep pushing" and that's all he'd say. >> reporter: so she did.

brittany says she began calling the prosecutor's investigator every week like clockwork. and amazingly he started showing some interest in the case. >> and he'd say, you know, "nothin' new," or -- >> you're looking for a killer? >> right. >> is he looking for a killer or just trying to find out what happened? >> i think at that point at first he was just trying to put the pieces together. >> reporter: it wasn't going to be easy. what brittany didn't know was that detective bratton had done a fair bit back in the day, chasing down leads, trying to make sense of it all, but interview tapes, crime scene photos, evidence --most of that was missing. >> not to beat people up, but what happened to all those boxes, the interviews, the pictures, the measurements --it seems like it disappeared, just vanished. >> to the average person that's probably unnexcusable and why did it happen? it is possible somebody looked at that, looked at the date and thought -- >> moldy oldie, huh? >> "we can get rid of that." >> reporter: investigators reported back to this man, wood

county prosecutor paul dobson telling him what they had to work with and what they didn't. >> somewhere along the line, you had to greenlight this and commit budget money to it. you had to roll the dice a little. >> we had to find out whether -- there was justice to be done. >> reporter: the prosecutor's investigator teamed up with the northwood police department to rebuild what had been lost. to track down people and interview them again. that included paramedic ron billings. >> she was laying on her right side in the --semi-fetal position. >> reporter: billings had been one of the first on the scene that night. what he found has haunted him, he says, for thirty years. >> i see her laying on the side of the road in between the pavement and the sidewalk. i put my hands behind her head and we roll her over and -- my hands come out and they're full of blood and at that point i just shake my head and -- this isn't real good. >> you're gonna lose her, huh? >> i didn't think she was nna live through theight.

>>eporter: t paramedic told the investigator he had worked hundreds of traffic accidents but he had seen nothing like this -- someone with a massive head wound but not much else. >> we were first checking to see if she was hit by a car. >> coulda been popped and -- >> which woulda had more blood in the lower extremities and things of that nature. she didn't have any of that, nor were her clothes outta place. they were intact and -- not disheveled, so -- >> so what did that tell you in your experience. >> it told me -- from what i've seen, that somebody beat her up. >> reporter: a beating? that's what it had looked like to one of the doctors who treated dana in the hospital, says aunt deb. >> i can remember being in that room and the neurologist said that it was like taking a baseball bat and swinging for a home run, and hitting her in the back of her head. that's, you know, the extent of her injuries. >> reporter: but if investigators back in the day hadn't been able to figure out what really happened to dana, could prosecutor paul dobson and

his team come up with anything new? or were they thirty years too late? >> reporter: coming up: rumors of dark doings at a nightclub. >> girls datin' for money -- after-hour parties and another >> now we're into the mystery of what happens next, huh? >> correct. >> reporter: when dateline continues. ♪ ♪ protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. frontline plus. trusted by vets for nearly 20 years.

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>> reporter: brittany stork had done the unexpected, persuaded law enforcement to dust off a thirty year old case file -- her mom's. >> she's a force of nature, i think. >> it's -- it's -- she is. >> reporter: doug kinder is an investigator in the prosecutor's office. he inherited the case when the first investigator retired. he also inherited those weekly phone calls from brittany checking up on him. >> give me some adjectives to describe brittany. >> determined. unrelenting. tough. >> was she tough to deal with? >> no, not at all. >> was she a squeaky wheel you wish would go away? >> no. she just wanted answers. >> did you wish she weren't doin' it, toby? >> no. when i found out what she was doin', i just didn't want her to be pushed to the side like it

never mattered. >> and if she's kicking over this rock anew again, you know, there you were gonna be with the bull's-eye again, right? >> i got another bull's-eye on my back. >> reporter: when the investigator cracked open the thin case file. this is what it told him -- where dana's body had been found. the file also told him who found her -- that young man who'd been driving by in his car. but just as interesting was where dana had been partying that night -- that nightclub on the seamier side of town. >> so, what was that place all about? >> it was very typical -- stereotypical of the early '80s in a lotta the nightclubs -- a lotta music, a lotta lights, lotta people. >> reporter: and a hotspot well-known to the city vice unit, according to detective bratton. toby had a theory about the club he shared with police. dana, he said, had gotten mixed up in something and was scared. >> dana actually told me that somethin' was gonna happen to her there were dark business going on at this nightclub. >> drug deals, hand-to-hand deal, or? >> girls datin' for money,

after-hour parties. she come home and told me that she thought somethin' was gonna physically happen to her. >> reporter: but was toby's theory something else? maybe an attempt to throw the cops off his trail? remember toby said he'd been asleep at dana's apartment, near the scene that night and he was known to have had a turbulent relationship with her. >> there were a lot of people pointing fingers at toby over the years. >> if you went down to the diner and asked, "what happened to dana," a lotta people woulda told ya, "toby killed her." >> that is correct. >> reporter: but dana's best friend, roxy, who'd been partying with her at the nightclub had another lead for investigators -- another name. >> so, what is roxy's story? it's been a festive night, a lotta drink. are either one of them wobbly? i mean, can they handle themselves leaving the club? >> according to what roxy has told us, that dana was pretty intoxicated, that she was not really steady on her feet. >> reporter: and the friends had no way to get home. they'd missed the last bus. the club's bouncer agreed to

give them a lift. >> is he a friend of roxy's or a friend of dana's or how's that go together? >> roxy has always maintained she just knew him socially from being a regular at the club. >> not intimate. >> that is correct. >> reporter: roxy said she got dropped off first. and watched the bouncer and dana speed away. >> so, when roxy closes that car door and says, "goodnight," now we're into the mystery of what happens next, huh? >> correct. >> reporter: but here's the thing. the name of the bouncer was one police had heard before. it was none other than russell adkins, the young man who said he'd spotted dana -- a stranger in trouble -- lying in the road. he'd gone looking for help. >> knocking on doors. >> knocking on -- >> late in the night. "please, somebody call 911." >> correct. >> reporter: but it looked as though a crucial part of that story had been a complete lie. dana was far from a stranger to russell adkins. she'd been a passenger in his car. he admitted as much to the original detective in 1982, when he was called in for an interview.

>> one of the first things that russ said to detective bratton was the reason i didn't say anything was because i was on parole and i was scared to have police contact me. >> and he was gonna get jammed up if he -- >> correct. >> reporter: the bouncer had served time for receiving stolen property. he didn't want any trouble, he told the detective. but he did want to help. here was the truth, he said: he was driving dana home, nearing a corner, when suddenly he heard the engine rev louder and his car door close. next thing he knew dana was out of the vehicle. it would be such a simple explanation, if true. dana's massive head wound had been the result of an unlucky fall from a moving car, an accident. but that wasn't what was written on dana's death certificate. >> what did your coroner, back in the day, find? >> he found that she had, in fact, died from skull fracture. but he couldn't answer why she had died. he -- he ruled her death as undetermined. >> reporter: undetermined meant

anything was possible, according to the coroner. accident or homicide. he just couldn't say with scientific certainty. >> it would have been very easy for him to have checked the box that said "by accident/natural causes"? >> that's absolutely correct. >> but he checked the box undetermined? >> which to us was -- was very significant. >> reporter: so was the bouncer lying about the fall from the car? or maybe that part was true, but she'd survived the fall and met her fate in another way. the prosecutor wondered if a modern day coroner would have better luck figuring it out. one of his investigators went to find out. >> he knocked on my door one day, and he said, "doc, i have this case. it was originally ruled undetermined. the daughter has been seeking an answer. and what do you think about an exhumation?" >> what'd you tell him? >> well, i said, "you never know unless you look." because you never know what the body's gonna look like after 31 years down. >> how'd you feel about this?

i mean, the part of you that's investigating needs it, but the daughter of you -- in you must be -- >> i was -- >> -- just terrified that you're gonna be -- >> well, getting -- knowing that, okay, they're gonna exhume her means they're looking at her case. she's not just a paper file anymore. so they're going to look further. >> reporter: brittany prepared herself to face whatever secrets had been buried with her mother. coming up -- a 30-year old cold case turns red-hot. >> it was like, i was right. >> reporter: and the spotlight of suspicion lingers on brittany's dad. >> i said, "what happened to my mom?" and she instantly threw out my dad's name. ♪

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>> reporter: on october 9th 2013, brittany stork stood vigil as a backhoe broke open her mother's grave. >> i think i just stared. and i wanted to make sure that, no matter what you do, just please put her back exactly the way you found her. >> reporter: aunt deb was at brittany's side. it might have been better to leave her in the ground and just say something happened. but it's beyond our capacity to come to terms with it. we just don't know. let it be. >> no. that's not right. that's not fair. it's not fair to dana. somebody's accountable for what happened to her and they need to be held accountable. so if she has to come up, be exhumed and be examined by the forensic pathologist, then that's what needs to be done. >> reporter: thirty years after dana rosendale's mysterious death, her coffin was loaded onto a truck and taken to the lucas county coroner's office for a second autopsy.

>> and they don't tell you anything, right? >> no. unh-uh. >> reporter: until one day she got a surprising call from the coroner. she said she had something for brittany. the jewelry her mother been buried with. >> would you like it? and i said yes. and i wear them every day. so that was, like, probably the best gift i could have ever had, you know, having a piece of my mom with me every day. >> reporter: brittany reburied her mom on what would have been her birthday. she laid five dozen roses on her coffin. >> i stood there. and i wouldn't leave until she was back the exact way she was. so they had pulled the dump truck up and they said, you know, "you can go," and i said, "i'm not leaving until everything is same." i started taking the shovel and i started putting dirt back into her grave. >> reporter: but there was still

no word from the coroner about what, if anything, she had discovered. brittany could only guess. an agonizing wait began. brittany imagined that night over and over in her head. accident. murder. the bouncer. her dad. toby was still a suspect in some people's eyes. and that's who dana's best friend roxy blamed all these years later when brittany gave her a call. >> i said, "what happened to my mom?" and she instantly threw out my dad's name. >> and i said, "why would you say that?" "just because." i said, "well, was my dad there with you guys that night?" "no." "well, then why would you say?" "because i -- it -- i just know." >> reporter: like some people in dana's family, roxy just couldn't shake the idea that toby might have been behind dana's death. and he certainly had an ugly record. he'd even served time for assaulting. brittany. >> they arrested me for domestic violence. >> reporter: on your daughter? >> on my daughter. >> reporter: but brittany and

toby say that incident was overblown. far more important to brittany than toby's past behavior was the fact that he had not once tried to stop her from investigating her mom's death. in fact he'd been her champion. >> i knew the truth, you know. i didn't do this. >> reporter: brittany believed her dad was innocent. as a grown up, she says she could finally understand what she'd failed to see as a child. >> my dad's had a really bad life. he's had a really tough life. and now that i'm older, i see why. i couldn't -- i mean, i know how hard it is on me and i don't even -- quite frankly, i don't know her and, you know -- >> reporter: he's been in and out of prisons, i don't know what his demons are but he's had a tough time of it. >> uh-huh. well, i think with everything that happened, my mom was the love of his life. and obviously knowing the background and hearing the stories, you know, he couldn't cope with it. >> reporter: it's been 30 plus years, toby. you still miss her? >> tremendously. she was the love of my life.

she was the love of my life. >> reporter: it was painful for both father and daughter to read the coroner's report when it finally came. three long months after dana's exhumation, the coroner changed the manner of dana's death to homicide. >> i was ecstatic, i was sad, you know, it's just the mixed emotions because it was like everything i had dreamt or thought or said or anything, it was like, i was right. >> reporter: now that the case was officially declared a homicide, investigators were working it hard. and their focus wasn't toby. it was the bouncer. investigator kinder had always thought there was something "off" about adkins' statement to detective bratton. >> one of the things that he said was, "we weren't even fighting or anything." i've talked to a lot of people over the years, and that just kind of struck me as odd of -- >> reporter: introduce that thought, huh? >> you introduce that thought, she falls out of your car, but

yet you've got to interject, "we weren't fighting or anything." >> reporter: the investigator also wondered why dana would have suddenly fallen out of the bouncer's car. there was talk back in the day that the car had a defective door. but detective bratton told the new investigator he didn't think so. he'd taken a look for himself. >> i know i got in the car and i checked it because i had pushed up against it. and i'm a pretty good size guy. my weight should maybe tell us. >> reporter: if the door's bum, it would have popped, yeah. >> i felt comfortable that i didn't see anything wrong with the door. >> reporter: you didn't feel you needed to get a search warrant or call to have this thing towed? >> no, not at that point. looking back, probably an error. >> reporter: there was another problem. there was no note of the detective checking the car in the police report. and no way for investigator kinder to look himself. was the vehicle gone? is it in the junkyard now? >> we believe that's in the junkyard.

>> reporter: the investigator had an idea. he'd take a fresh look at the stretch of road where it all began. >> i wanted to see it for myself. >> reporter: remember the bouncer told police he'd been approaching a corner when dana fell out of his car. so you actually measured? you had one of those roll-out. >> i did it the old -- >> reporter: measuring devices, huh? >> i did it the old school way. and i had a police crew behind me, blocking traffic, and i got out, and i walked the whole thing. >> reporter: the investigator figured out that the closest corner was more than 200 feet away from where dana's body had been found. >> the whole thing didn't make sense. when you sit there and go, how does she end up on the right side of the roadway? how does her purse end up in the middle of the roadway when she's going out the opposite direction? why is he down here in the first place? >> reporter: the bouncer told the original detective he'd taken that particular road to get cigarettes. but investigator kinder knew the area. back in the day, he says, there were no stores open that late. >> so you see a guy making it up as he goes along here. >> absolutely.

>> reporter: the investigator was convinced russell adkins was the man responsible for dana's death. his next step was to track down the bouncer and get him to talk. what would his story be now? what would his story be now? brittany stork didn't buy it. stupid, you know.

a suspect who seems to want to help. and who has a brand-new clue for investigators. >> do you still want to talk to me about what happened that night? >> this thing needs to be figured out because this is just stupid, you know. >> reporter: when dateline continues. ♪ ♪ protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. frontline plus. trusted by vets for nearly 20 years.

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nothing but cook fish. >> reporter: vera gregory was more than just a friend. she says she dated adkins for years. they shared a love of motorcycles and a home. she says he was kind to her. made her feel safe. >> yeah, we fought, we had problems. you know, we were a regular couple. but was i afraid of him, or anything like that? never. >> reporter: hardly the portrait of a murderer. russell's friends were shocked to hear police were sniffing at his door. >> we know russell, the person he is, the big teddy bear he is. and there's just no way that russell would intentionally hurt someone. something was said about, you know, "russ, why don't you just get out of here? why don't you just leave?" he said, "why? i did nothing wrong." >> there were people that believed in russell adkins. >> absolutely. >> did it speak something to his -- maybe it happened the way he said, that he didn't leave the community? this is a guy 30 plus years later who's still around.

>> he had changed his lifestyle, and that's what these people know. and that's what these -- who these people love. and i understand why they're supporting him. >> reporter: but many of his supporters hadn't known adkins back in 1982. the investigator tracked down some people who had. what they told him was ugly. an ex wife and ex girlfriend with tales of beatings. work colleagues who said he was quick to throw a punch. >> what was the picture that came together? >> in that time period? very short temper. very short fuse. >> reporter: finally, after 30 years, investigators believed they had enough evidence to arrest adkins. he was charged with felony murder. investigator kinder went with u.s. marshalls to pick him up. and he says the man he met was polite, cooperative. adkins seemed eager to sit down and talk. >> you've got a limited window here before he says, "i want to have a lawyer. we're done here." you've got to keep him talking as long as you can, i think. >> right.

>> what's your strategy in dealing with him? >> i just wanted to go slow and easy. i wanted to go over his story. >> do you still want to talk to me about what -- what happened that night? >> yeah, this -- this needs to be figured out. this is just stupid, you know. >> reporter: adkins story started out the same as it always had. >> the chick fell out of my car. i mean, absolutely fell out of my car. i don't know if she grabbed the door handle, or i still don't know how. it still bugs to me this very day how she got out of that door. >> reporter: and once again, adkins had a ready explanation for why he'd initially lied to the cops. >> you originally told them, russ, that you were just driving by and saw her laying in the grass. >> well yeah, 'cause i was scared. >> well what were you so scared of? >> just being involved with the police, period. >> reporter: but as hard as he said it was to remember that night, adkins offered the investigator a brand new detail when confronted with evidence in the case. >> as you well know, dana's body was exhumed. >> right. >> okay, and then they did

another autopsy and that led us to believe that she was hit over the head not from falling out of the car. so then that comes to me as asking you now how did she get the trauma on her head, then? >> from that pole that was there where the mailbox was at where she was leaned up against when the -- the officer came. >> he claims that he found her leaning up against a mailbox post. >> so she not only goes out the door, tumbles in the road. her head presumably hits a mailbox? >> that's what he says. >> which could account for the injuries. >> right. but we knew there was nothing there except for three very large trees kind of spread along the roadway. >> reporter: investigator kinder finally leveled with the bouncer. >> russ, with all due respect, i'm not buying it. i'm going to treat you like a man, 'cause you're treating me with respect too, but i'm sorry man, i'm not buying it. >> reporter: when brittany found out adkins had been arrested, there was only one person she wanted to tell. >> the first thing that came to my mind was, i need to get my dad.

and i just said, "they got him." and he said, "what do you mean, they got him?" and i said, "he's been indicted and they've -- he's in custody." and my dad just crumbled. he just kept saying, "thank you, god, thank you." like this is what i've wanted my entire life. >> reporter: but brittany knew her fight for justice was far from over. >> you have to steel yourself for this trial? >> uh-huh. and i will be there every second of it, because, you know, nobody's else has ever been there for her. >> and you know it is a cold case file, it's still mostly circumstantial. it's a tough case to make. >> right. but i feel in my heart if people listen to the facts, i mean, there's facts, you know. >> but if the jury doesn't see it that way and he walks, are you okay with that? >> i'm not. but i'm not going to stop my opinion, my heart, everything, he killed my mom. and he needs to pay for what he did.

>> reporter: coming up -- no dna. no fingerprints. no witnesses. >> it was kind of shocking to stop and -- and look and say, you know, "what actually do we have?" >> i knew that the prosecution had a hard road. or, finding your perfect hotel at the lowest price... is as easy as dates, deals, done! simply enter your destination and dates... and see all the hotels for your stay! tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites... to show you the lowest prices... so you can get the best deal on the right hotel for you. dates, deals, done! tripadvisor. visit tripadvisor.com dray, when he was younger, he loved to smile; and we knew he would need braces because his teeth were coming in funny. that's when he had the bunny rabbits. we called him the bunny rabbit. now, those are the same two front teeth, there, that they are now. then dray ended up having to wear braces for 5

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>> reporter: january, 2016. in northern ohio, winter settles in. ice and grey skies blanket the state. and gloom hung over the prosecutors' office too, where paul dobson and his fellow prosecutor gwen howe gebers considered their longshot case against russell adkins. they didn't even have any crime scene photos for the jury to see. >> it was kinda shocking to stop and look and say, you know, "what actually do we have?" >> reporter: and so it came pass that 33 years and four months after her mother was found by the side of that road, brittany stork was entering the marble hallways of the wood county

courthouse. she'd spent so much of her life trying to find out what had happened to her mother and now the moment of truth had arrived. >> the defendant russell adkins did purposely cause the death of dana rosendale. >> reporter: the prosecution's opening statement was simple -- common sense and science would prove russell adkins was a liar and a killer who had created a story about a tragic car accident to cover his tracks. >> deb, are you familiar with dana rosendale? >> i am. >> reporter: dana's sister deb took the stand to talk about her little sister -- forever 19 years old. >> she loved life, she loved people, she loved her family, she loved her little girl. >> reporter: deb told the jury it was obvious to her that dana had not been injured in a car accident. >> she didn't have one road burn, she had nothing except for the swollen side of her face,

and i will never forget that the rest of my life. >> you were emotional that day on the stand? >> extremely emotional. yeah. extremely. yeah. it's like living it all over again, almost 34 years later, just like it happened yesterday. >> do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? >> reporter: the prosecution's next witness was the e.m.t. ron billings. he told the jury why an accidental fall from a car never made sense to him either. >> her shoes that she was wearing were the clog style, and she had one was still on and one was right next to her body and they weren't scuffed up either. >> if you think of riding a bicycle at 20 -- 20-25 miles an hour coming off of that bicycle, you're gonna do damage to yourself and those are the kind of things that you wanna bring out to the jury. >> reporter: another thing the prosecutor wanted the jury to understand was how many times adkins had changed his story about that night.

detective bratton told jurors about adkins' story version number one: that he'd been a good samaritan who'd stopped to help dana. >> he stated that he was driving south and seen something in the roadway. >> reporter: then came adkins' story number two, the detective testified. dana had been in his car, but had fallen out. the detective told the jury he didn't buy it -- he'd checked out that car for himself. >> and what did you observe in doing that? >> i didn't observe any problems. >> reporter: finally there was adkins' story number three, prosecutors argued, when he came up with that new detail -- the mailbox. >> how did the back of her head get caved in? >> that pipe from the mailbox that was there. >> reporter: but if adkins was lying about it being an accident, prosecutors needed to tell the jury what really happened. what evidence was there of murder? and here was the heart of the prosecution's case -- the

forensics. >> this really becomes a case about science, doesn't it? >> if the science didn't work, if the jury didn't understand it or didn't buy into it, it was gonna be a not guilty. dr. diane scala barnett, the coroner who had performed the autopsy on dana's exhumed body told the jury she'd been able to get a better look at dana's skull than the first coroner. >> i saw separate fractures and the pattern of fractures only after the bone was cleaned. >> there were three impact patterns, three distinct patterns. >> and what would have caused those? >> a beating. >> a beating? some sort of bludgeoning instrument -- >> absolutely. >> unknown, was used? >> absolutely. >> but there's no question there were three impact sites on the skull? >> no question. and this was not at all consistent with falling out of a car. not at all. not in my experience. >> "y" shaped incision -- >> reporter: it was gruesome testimony for brittany to sit through. >> the one thing i wasn't prepared for as much but i toughed it out was the autopsy pictures.

>> very tough? >> right. >> did they tell you this is gonna be the day and you may wanna step outside? >> they did. and i said, "no, you know? i'm here from the beginning to the end every second no matter what." >> large area of bruising -- >> to listen to the experts testify that she had three blows, distinct, different blows you just hope she didn't suffer. >> reporter: but what had caused these terrible injuries? the prosecution had a theory. >> what we believe happened is that on the way home, he may have tried to do something to dana that she didn't want him to do it. it may have resulted in a confrontation, she's either ordered out of the car or she gets out of the car. perhaps, more words are exchanged, but she was walking away from that vehicle, and he came up behind her and he struck her on the back of the head -- and immediately dropped her to the ground and as she's laying on the ground, struck her at least two more times. and fractured her skull. >> reporter: and the prosecution had a possible murder weapon

they wanted the jury to hear about. they called a former patrol officer to the stand. two days after dana's body was found, he'd stumbled on something a few feet from the place where adkins said he'd turned his car around. >> i found the back side, the back end, whatever, of a pool cue and it appeared to have a substance on it that i thought possibly could have been blood. >> reporter: could a pool cue have been the murder weapon? the prosecutors asked the jury to listen to what adkins had to say about it. >> did you used to have a pool cue that you used to carry in the car? >> well, yeah, i shot pool with it, but i never carried those at the bar. >> you never had one in the car that night. >> nope. >> okay. well some of the indentations on the skull are consistent with like the fat end of a pool cue and the funny thing about that is that a end of a pool cue was found where you said you kind of went to look for a phone.

>> for you to say that there was a pool cue down there that -- no, i ain't going for that. no, i didn't do that. she fell out of my car. >> do you know that, in fact, was the pool cue that he carried -- >> we can't say 100%, but circumstantial evidence and coincidence is he goes down to that location, turns around, and, in a field, nearby, a pool cue just happens to show up. >> reporter: so, nearly 34 years on had the prosecution painted a clear enough picture for the jury of what happened that night? >> did they do it in your opinion as you sat there? or were you worried? >> i was a little worried and i don't know if it was just because it was my first time hearing everything, and everything was so scrambled and it was so stressful. >> i knew that the prosecution had a hard road ahead of themselves. >> reporter: the defense team was about to lay into the prosecution's case with a celebrity scientist and a basket load of doubt. coming up --

>> law enforcement lost or destroyed several pieces of evidence. >> reporter: a gap in the files. and some people's memories. >> i don't remember. i mean it was thirty-some years ago. >> reporter: when "dateline" continues. [ indistinct chatter ] sorry, can i get in there? oh, yeah. sure. except, you know what? it's all about image. it's like so true. you know what i mean? [ grunting ] the moment you realize a good back yard party requires a good backyard. at lowe's we have everything you need to create the outdoor space you've always wanted. ♪ all projects have a starting point. start with lowe's. ♪ protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection.

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>> reporter: brittany stork picked her way through the ice and snow into the courthouse where russell adkins, the man accused of killing her mother, was on trial. she had vowed to sit through every moment. so too had russell adkins' friends. they took turns packing the courtroom benches behind the bouncer. >> everybody got together and said, "we got to go in there and show these people that russell would never do that." >> reporter: months before, the same friends had thrown a benefit to help raise money for the bouncer's legal fund. >> people just brought in food. there were probably five >> reporter: vera wondered if her former lover was being targeted because he was a biker. but she says even that doesn't matter. >> whether he's a nice man or whether he's a jerk, the bottom line is there was not enough evidence to accuse this man of this. >> reporter: adkin's defense attorney neil mcelroy couldn't agree more. >> my first instinct when i got the case was, "it's a 1982 case, there must've been a dna hit.

something has been discovered, some dna match." and of course, there was nothing. >> reporter: a point he emphasized in his opening argument at russell adkins' trial. >> law enforcement lost or destroyed several pieces of evidence. >> reporter: neil mcelroy and his partner, ronnie wingate, drilled into the prosecution witnesses, challenging their 30-year-old memories. >> but you didn't remember where it was found? >> no, i couldn't tell you the exact spot. >> i don't remember. i mean it was 30-some years ago. >> reporter: as for the original detective, bob bratton? the defense got him to concede just how much evidence was missing. >> as it relates to the clothes, the pool cue, any photos, the map of the scene that was made that night, all that information is gone, is that correct? >> that's what i've been informed, yes. >> reporter: the defense even questioned the detective's

account of checking out adkins' car door. >> is there anywhere in that report where you state, "i went out to the car, i inspected the car, i sat in the car, i opened door?" is that anywhere in report? >> no, it's not. >> reporter: just as questionable, said the defense, was the prosecution's possible murder weapon, that now long lost pool cue. they argued there was nothing linking it to any crime. >> you sent them off to have them test the material that was found on the stick, and you became aware it was not blood, negative for blood? >> negative for blood. >> negative for hair. >> yes. >> reporter: and there was nothing linking the pool cue to russell adkins either. zip. >> you can't tell this jury that that pool cue came from russ adkins' vehicle on september 5th of 1982, can you? >> no sir, i can not. >> reporter: what's more, it wasn't just that there was no evidence linking russell adkins to the murder.

the defense pointed out the only forensic evidence investigators uncovered excluded him after the second autopsy, investigators had sent dana's fingernail clippings to the state crime lab. >> the male dna found under her fingernails was not mr. adkins'? >> that's correct. >> reporter: far more believable the defense said was adkins' story of an accident. >> he has insisted since september of 1982 he didn't do anything, she fell from his car. that has -- that has not changed at all. lots of other evidence has vanished, witnesses have disappeared or died that's the one thing that has not changed. >> reporter: and even if you didn't believe russell adkins' words, the defense said, his actions that night seemed to speak for themselves. >> frankly, it doesn't make sense that someone who has just murdered someone is then going to go door to door at 3:00 in the morning, pounding on doors, trying to get them to call someone to come help her. >> putting yourself at the scene? >> correct.

>> reporter: and if the crux of the prosecution's case was the science, the defense was more than happy to make this a case of dueling science. >> you knew early on it was going to be a battle of science, expert versus expert? >> yes. >> reporter: and if weighty resumes counted, the defense expert maybe had the edge. he'd performed or supervised more than 62,000 autopsies. his name? dr. werner spitz. >> i'm not sure there's a better cv for a forensic pathologist that you could find. >> the brain. >> reporter: renowned for his work in historic cases like the jfk assassination and more recent sensational cases like casey anthony, dr. spitz had even written the textbook for pathologists, and he disagreed with everything the coroner had to say. >> dr. barnett's opinion was that these fractures that you see in this photo were caused by three different impacts. do you agree with that opinion?

>> no. >> what conclusion can you draw about how these fractures and these injuries were caused? >> one impact on a very hard, flat surface. that's my opinion. >> reporter: dr. spitz said the science showed russell adkins had been telling the truth. dana had hit her head on the road after falling out of a car. and the original autopsy, which identified three small abrasions on her elbows and shoulder, proved that. >> the abrasions were significant to him, that abrasions to the elbows and the shoulder are indicative of a fall. when you fall back, your arms tend to go back to brace yourself from the fall. >> dr. spitz, if these fractures are a result of being struck with a weapon the size of a pool cue, i believe you said you would expect lacerations on her scalp, is that right? >> yes, let me just say this. if this was a weapon, this whole

thing would look different. >> and not to slight your county person, but dr. spitz has got a lot of credentials, a lot of autopsies, a lot of history. >> the concern is that the jury buys the flash and -- and doesn't listen to the science. >> reporter: but before the jury could mull over the science, they had to take into account the story of the only other person in the car that night, dana's best friend roxy, who would tell her story in public for the first time. coming up -- roxy says dana was in danger even before she left for the nightclub. >> the bedroom door opened. he came out and he turned around. he goes, "there, bitch, now go out." and she walked out and she had marks and stuff. ♪ protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection.

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night her life was destroyed, her best friend roxy. it was she who had watched dana drive off into the night with russell adkins. that made her an important prosecution witness. but investigator kinder knew calling roxy to the stand was a gamble. >> i think it would safe to say that roxy has told the same story -- since 1982 but i always felt that maybe there was a little bit more there. >> there were boundaries, you thought, to her story? >> yeah. >> but you weren't gonna be able to crack 'em. >> no. >> reporter: the judge agreed with roxy's request that we not record her court testimony. but she did agree to sit down with us for an interview. she said after thinking about it she was eager to tell her story, all of it. it was her way, she said, to talk to brittany, her best friend's daughter. >> my heart breaks for her. i wish she could just see me in a different light 'cause she sees me as one of the bad people and i'm not. track 103 and roxy says she has so much to share with her.

stories of her mom, dana, when she was alive and their friendship. she was the one, roxy says, who helped dana make brittany's baby book. >> i remember sittin' on the couch with her makin' that baby book. i was still pregnant and she had already had brittany, and we were makin' it. and we did a pinkie swear and said that our kids would grow up as cousins. >> reporter: but it wasn't to be. roxy says she was at dana's hospital bedside in her final days. she was the one who did her make-up at the funeral home. >> talkin' to her for the very last time doin' her hair and makeup just like we always did. and i kissed her goodbye layin' there on that steel table. >> your friend dana. >> my friend dana. i miss her. >> reporter: roxy is haunted by her memories of the night she last saw her friend. seeing dana across the dance floor, hearing her say the bouncer was giving them a lift home. >> so we went to go get in the car, and he said, "don't forget."

and i said, "i know." and so we had to go through the driver's side 'cause the passenger side door was broke. >> couldn't open it. >> you could. oh, yeah. >> you could? >> you could. but to make it close correctly, you had to kinda lift it up and close it. >> was it common knowledge, roxy, that he had a car with a bum door? >> yep. >> reporter: and what roxy says happened next could be the key to the mystery. according to roxy, the bouncer stopped at her house first and dana got out to use the bathroom. then she helped dana get back into adkins' car, through what she remembers as a faulty passenger door. >> i walked her out there and put her in the car and i closed the door and i said, "i'll talk to you later." >> but you weren't gonna. >> and off they went. >> that is the goodbye. >> last time i'd seen her alive. >> do you beat yourself up, roxy, about that door and whether you closed -- >> i beat myself up -- >> -- it correctly? >> -- a lot. >> or? you know? >> uh-huh. i -- i thought about that for a long time. for a long time. >> what do you think happened? nobody knows. but what do you think happened there? you know the -- >> i -- >> -- vehicle. >> i think she fell out. i -- i think it was a freak accident. >> reporter: but if she was wrong, and dana was murdered,

roxy is sure she knows who did it. and it wasn't the bouncer. roxy says dana had confided in her, that her relationship with toby was broken. and one chilling statement she made stood out to the best friend. >> anything that happens to me, it's toby. >> wow? >> yep. >> she said that? >> yep. >> was it hands-on? was it mental games? or -- or was it -- >> mental. physical. yup. >> reporter: something she saw with her own eyes, roxy says, when she went to meet dana before they went dancing that night. >> he was in the bedroom with her and there was commotion goin' on inside the bedroom. and the bedroom door opened. and she walked out and she had marks on her and stuff. >> reporter: roxy says dana told her something horrific -- that toby had not only beaten her that evening. he'd raped her too. this was the bombshell testimony roxy gave on the witness stand. something the prosecution team hadn't heard before. >> how much damage is she doing to your case 'cause now, maybe, you've got someone else who has a thing against dana?

>> it just didn't make sense, though. it doesn't fit what we knew. she either fell out of the car or it was russ because he's the last one with her. >> reporter: it was a terrible thing for brittany to hear about her dad but she didn't buy it for a second. >> my mom wasn't the one that would put up with that crap. yeah --yeah. they fought. i've heard the stories. but if my dad beat her and raped her before she went out, she would have either fought back or the cops would have been there 'cause she would have had him thrown out. >> reporter: but there's something else roxy told us, something the jury -- and brittany -- never got to hear. roxy says toby followed dana to the club that night. >> toby was there? >> toby was there. >> what'd you see in him? >> mean, nasty, the guys that were there -- the -- at the front door wouldn't let him in 'cause he was steamin' and he was bein' hot. >> reporter: roxy says that's why dana had asked for a lift home. she was scared of what toby would do to her if he caught up with her. and maybe he did, roxy thinks. she says the bouncer told her he saw a motorcycle near the scene that night.

could it have been toby following them? roxy wonders whether toby pounced on dana after she fell from the bouncer's car and lay stunned and helpless on the road. remember adkins had gone looking for help. >> he had enough time to slam her head in that -- side of that road and then be gone 'cause his alibi is four trailers away from her body. that's his alibi. >> reporter: toby adamantly denies having anything to do with dana's death. he also denies he raped dana that afternoon or showed up at the club. >> when you hear the stories that you were there that night, you're sayin' that's baloney? >> that's -- that's total crock. >> she's got another part of the story. not only does she say you were there that night but she says that you violently assaulted dana. >> yeah. she, you know -- >> virt -- virtually raped her. >> did that happen? >> no, not at -- >> anything approximating that? >> -- all. no, not at all. not at all. >> so, that's -- that's a roxy story? >> that's a roxy story. >> reporter: brittany wonders why her mother's best friend so adamantly defends the man accused of killing her.

a man roxy has always told police was just a casual acquaintance. and yet, there's a note in the police file that adkins might have been roxy's boyfriend back then. that she told dana's mother they were dating. >> clear up the issue, was there anything between you and -- and russ adkins? >> absolutely not. never. >> he was just a guy at the club? >> that's right. he was just a guy at the club. >> and you're not covering for him and trying to do him some good? you -- >> absolutely not. i wouldn't even protect him over my best friend. she was my best friend. she was -- we were gonna raise our kids together. no way would i ever, ever do that. >> if he'd been involved in foul play? >> if he had been involved, there is in -- absolutely no way. no way. >> reporter: what would the jury think of roxy. had her story of a violent toby raised the specter of another killer? after five days of testimony the jury was sent off to deliberate. brittany stork prayed her long lonely road to find justice for her mother and erase the suspicion hanging over her father's head was almost over. coming up: how dana, herself,

finally got to tell her story. >> you're gonna be holding the skull itself in front of the jury. >> it was a sacred thing for us to do. >> reporter: when dateline continues. ♪ protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. frontline plus. trusted by vets for nearly 20 years. before people invite something they want to know who you are. we're almond breeze. and we only use california-grown blue diamond almonds in our almondmilk. cared for by our family of almond growers. blue diamond almond breeze. the best almonds make the best almondmilk. from the first moment you met, it was love at first touch. and all you wanted to do was surround them in comfort and protection. that's why only pampers swaddlers is the number one choice of hospitals to wrap your baby in blanket-like softness and premium protection.

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>> reporter: the trial hadn't been easy for them to sit through. the autopsy photos. the expert testimony. brittany and her aunt deb had endured it together. >> how did you take care of one another? >> there were a lot of tears. there was a lot of prayers, strength, inner strength. yeah. she might be a little bit more strong than me. kind of like she's a lot like dana. >> reporter: they waited together in the courthouse lobby as the jurors deliberated. >> the longer it went throughout the day, you know, i -- i started to get concerned. >> reporter: after they'd been out for more than five hours, the jurors filed back into court with discouraging news. they could not reach a decision. >> all this work you've put into it, and you don't have a resolution one way or the other.

>> the judge gave them what -- what we generally term "the dynamite charge," which is, "you're the best jury. now, go back in there try and come up with a determination." and they went back for about an hour. >> an hour, yeah. >> for an hour, and they came back and they said there's just no way. >> with that said, i will declare a hung jury. >> you had pushed this thing for so long. did you think that's all there's ever going to be? >> right then in that right second, i just kept thinking, "oh my gosh. is he getting out? is it over?" >> reporter: fear. disappointment. exhaustion. brittany wondered what would happen next. only the prosecutor could decide. his team sat down with some of the jurors hoping to understand where the case had gone wrong. >> from what we were told by the jurors that we spoke to, they -- they did not believe for a second that dana fell out of the car. but for a few of the jurors, they just were not confident of how those injuries got on dana's head. >> reporter: the jurors complained so much was missing from 1982.

reports, photos, evidence. they needed something more. the prosecutor could think of only one thing, but he would need brittany's permission. >> it was a weighty conversation for me to have with them to say, "it's my intention to re-exhume her body and to keep her skull out and present it to the jury." >> so now it's not going to be just a power point presentation of suspicious looking injuries to the skull. you're going to be holding the skull itself in front of the jury like a scene from hamlet. >> this is going to sound -- but i can't come up with another word because it was actually a word used by the pathologist. it was a sacred thing for us to do. >> reporter: the prosecutor believed dana's skull would do something the photos and diagrams couldn't. enable the coroner to show the jurors exactly where dana had been struck. >> the damage was -- was visible as you looked at the base of her

skull. >> okay, so there's one injury to the ear. >> there's one injury there. now, if -- now if you'll turn around, the other injuries were to the back of her head. and then, there was another one, which was very telling. >> you think that's the most telling injury of the -- >> yes, dana's head would have had to have been bent down with someone striking it from up here in order to get into that area and do that damage to her skull. >> reporter: the coroner had some reservations about that approach. >> i thought it was a good idea, but i was hesitant, because i knew that if dana's skull was entered into evidence, it might wind up in a locked locker somewhere for the rest of eternity. and i -- i couldn't see that. >> i -- i'm a layman of laymans, but we're not talking about a fibia or a tibia. >> no, we're talking about a skull. >> kind of -- if you're -- >> a human skull. >> you know, this is where some people believe the soul resides. >> i know. >> reporter: would brittany go for it? >> was there a moment, brittany, where you said, "wait a second, enough is enough. let my poor mother's spirit rest, here."

>> it took me a second to process when he said, "i want to have your mom there." it actually took my dad to tell me, "it's okay." >> reporter: and so, in april 2016, brittany and herunt stood by as da's gra was opened up yet again. >> i'm trying to be strong. you know, i've been wanting this for so long, and for most people it's bringing everything back. for me, it's just anger. i'm mad. >> reporter: the second trial began a few months later. brittany's family and adkins' supporters gathered once again at the courthouse. >> was that tough to be coming up the elevators with them, and seeing them in the hallways? >> it was very tough. but i have to tell you that there were several of them that came over to me, and -- and apologized that we had to go through this, and go through the pain. >> reporter: brittany watched as the prosecution called the same cast of witnesses to the stand. the detective, the investigator, the paramedic.

>> and i kind of stayed with her and held her hand. >> reporter: and of course, roxy was there too. >> he's the defendant wearing a green shirt. >> reporter: once again, she scored points for both sides. the prosecution. >> did you ever see anything in mr. adkins' car? >> a pool stick that was cut with a piece of metal on it. >> reporter: and points for the defense when she told the jury about adkins' faulty car door. >> you were aware of the difficulties with this door? is that correct? >> yes. yes. >> reporter: and even though the defense insisted the evidence proved dana's injuries were from an accident, not a beating, roxy once again raised the specter of another suspect when she told her story of toby's fight with dana. >> as a matter of fact, it was a physical fight and a rape, is that correct? >> yes. yes. >> reporter: brittany says she felt much calmer this time hearing other people talk about her mother and the way she died. and maybe that's because her mom

was right there, too. >> as soon as they brought that box in, i knew it was her, and i just sat there and stared at it for a minute. >> reporter: the coroner took the skull out of the box to show the jury what her examination had found. >> this has got to be just god awful for you and the family. they're walking around a courtroom before a jury with your sister's skull saying, "here's the evidence you need." >> it was -- it was pretty hard for me. it seemed like forever. forever. i mean like hours. >> reporter: the prosecutors weren't the only ones with something new for the jury. the defense had been fine tuning its case too. they showed the jury photos from a french case where a man had fallen out of a minivan. >> his fracture was clearly bigger than miss rosendale's. but it's too similar to be something more than just a mere coincidence. >> reporter: dr. spitz took the stand and said he was more confident than ever in his opinion. >> i believe that this is a single impact when she either

fell or jumped out of a moving vehicle. >> reporter: but this time, the prosecution went toe to toe with the renowned doctor, arguing that some of his testimony didn't match the writings in his own book. >> but please answer my question and i'll be happy to provide you your book. but is that what your book says? >> this was my second opportunity at dr. spitz, and this was not going to be one where we were going to shake hands at the end. >> none of it has anything to do with a triangular fracture, does it? >> no, but i would like -- >> thank you. >> reporter: when prosecutor gwen howe gebers gave her closing argument, it was dana's skull she asked the jurors to consider first and foremost. the three injuries, she said spoke for themselves. >> and recall that a bone is a moment frozen in time, ladies and gentlemen. >> reporter: "nonsense," replied the defense in its closing. >> where is the proof beyond a reasonable doubt? >> reporter: no argument was going to change brittany's mind.

she prayed the jury would see russell adkins the way she did as a ruthless killer who had escaped justice for too long. >> you are his nemesis. >> uh-huh. >> had you not come along, he would have gone about his life. >> uh-huh. yeah, and i'll never go away. ever. no matter what, i'll never stop fighting for my mom. >> reporter: coming up -- after three decades and two trials, a verdict. could brittany's long fight for justice finally be over? ?

>> reporter: the sun set over the wood county courthouse as jurors began to deliberate in the second murder trial of russell adkins. and then twilight gave way to blackest night. brittany settled in to wait one last time. >> you've been the one that has kept up the cry for justice

here. kept everybody going. >> uh-huh. yeah. i -- i think my mom was pushing me, 'cause sometimes i don't think that i was that strong of a person. >> reporter: upstairs russell adkins's friends were waiting too. >> we sat out in the hallway -- >> six hours we sat in the wa -- hallway. and they -- >> i took a nap on a bench. i mean, really. and when we went in there i thought it was-- it was like i hadn't woke up from a nightmare. >> reporter: word came in the middle of the night, just after 1:00 a.m. the jury had a verdict. >> and everyone kinda started scrambling and i started texting my family. >> you're all filing into court, going to your table. what did you think? >> that's when your stomach starts churning, and although it's air conditioning and you're cold, you're hot. your hands start to sweat, and you're thinking, "geez, did we do everything we could? was there something we could have done differently?"

>> reporter: brittany closed her eyes in a silent prayer and waited. the family clasped hands as the judge read the verdict. >> we the jury find the defendant, russell adkins guilty. >> reporter: brittany doubled over finally feeling the weight of it all. >> when i heard guilty, i had lost it. i started bawling and it was almost like did i really even hear that word, you know? it was just so crazy, you know? i was happy. but it was just like all my emotions that i kept in the entire trial came out at once. >> reporter: russell adkins was led away -- an angry man. a few days later he wept as the judge sentenced him to life in prison. >> i still to this day cannot believe when they said, "guilty." i just -- >> yeah. >> unbelievable. unbelievable. on what? there's so much doubt. >> did you finally get justice? >> i got justice for my mom and

i got justice for my dad so people would stop saying that he killed my mom. >> 'cause you really had two agendas here? >> yeah. >> truth be told? >> right. >> you wanted to have the person who killed your mom come to accounts? >> right. >> and you also wanted the court of public opinion to let your father go? >> right. >> reporter: toby knows just how much he owes his daughter. and how much he's failed her over the years. he wants to do better. >> how are you doin' with brittany these days? >> pretty good. >> she's turned out great. you know that right? >> i am so proud a her. to see how i was and how i lived and how i acted by example, she learned what not to be. and i couldn't be prouder of my daughter. >> reporter: brittany doesn't expect her relationship with her father to be perfect overnight. nothing can make up for the years she spent without him in

her life. but she's willing to give it a shot. >> how would you describe things between you and your dad today? >> i mean, it's not -- >> can you put together some kind of a adult relationship? >> we do, you know? he texts me and i call back. sometimes it's not right away. but i think our lives have been so separate for so long that it's hard. >> reporter: there are other hard things brittany didn't expect. a few hours after the conviction, a woman who knows russell adkins, posted what appeared to be a threat on facebook. >> "to the little b that started all of this, i'm coming to you for you and your daddy. you can take this as a threat -- because it is." >> reporter: instead of a homecoming where she could hug her own daughter tight, brittany went into hiding. the author of the threat was arrested and charged with intimidating a witness. she has pleaded not guilty.

still, brittany says she's on edge. >> it's always gonna be in my mind, you know? that late-night knock at the door. do we answer it or is it somebody that might be there for me? >> reporter: she is also mindful that her mother's skull is in an evidence box somewhere. and it's going to be there for a while until the appeals process is over. still, she says it's all worth it. this 30-year fight for a mother she loves and cherishes, even though she never knew her. >> did you ever have a moment where you're able to say goodbye? we're done? we finished it? mission accomplished? >> i think it was that night when the judge said, "guilty." it was probably i think in my mind the best thing i'd ever heard my entire life and it was like it's over. >> reporter: but it's not really goodbye. brittany's baby blanket is in her mom's coffin.

brittany wears her mom's rings every day. they are close, these two. >> she's gonna be on my mind every day, you know. i wanna keep her with me. she was there. >> she'd walk into the room and kind of brightened. >> and then she wasn't. >> my initial reaction was what happened. >> the mother they adored. missing. in her place, a trail of blood. >> my biggest fear was we were going to find her. >> what police found instid. >> a puzzle. >> in my 28 years, i have never seen that before. >> a missing woman. mystery with few clues. did you find dna? >> no. >> fingerprints? >> no. >> hairs, anything? >> no.