that's all for this edition of "dateline extra," i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. >> reporter: in the hospital she

battled back. >> not just her body but her mind. >> the guy come in the day care and erika said don't let him hurt me. >> she handed investigators what could be a vital clue but would it be enough to crack the case? hello. welcome to "dateline." i'm craig melvin. it 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 a killer who then disappeared. but a detective vowed to crack this case no matter how long it took. here is hoda kotb. >> reporter: one of the biggest attractions at the louisville zoo was a floppy-eared baby named scotty. cute and kind of cuddly, at

least for an elephant. >> he got hair. >> he's got hair is right! >> reporter: but on this day, he shared the spotlight with another media celebrity. a spunky girl named erika whose infectious laugh and incredible story captivated a city. >> that girl is a miracle child. >> reporter: why do you think they call her that? >>l because she has been throu a selot. >> we had a 2-year-old who was shot twigs and live. >> reporter: does chef an understanding of what happened to her? >>en she knows she was shot. >> you would have seen her and said no way this child could possibly make it. >> reporter: louisville, the home of churchill downs is fames for its big horse race, the kentucky derby, so it knows a thing or two about long shots but in betting parlance the odds of this story evert finding a hae happy ending was off the board p virtually impossible.

would a little girl gain the strength not only to recover and come back whole and would a dedicated detective not onlyd crack his biggest case but keep the emotional promise he made? erika's story began in a hard scrabble neighborhood in louisville in this brick house on wilson avenue. a 2-year-old, wild about dora, the explorer, erika lived here with her mom erin harper. on may in 2006, 911 got a call. what was his state of mind? >>te he was hysterical. >> what was he saying in there? >> sarthere's a little girl in there. >> reporter: the detective rushed in the house andtt found woman almostd certainly dead o the floor. >> just a big like a pool of blood. >> reporter: the officers had to step over the woman to get to the back room where, on the bed,

they saw the little girl motionless. >> when i first seen her, i thought she was -- she was dead. >> reporter: was she-- saying anything, doing anything? >>he no. and then eventually i touched her andth she pushed my hands a said, you know, leave me alone. >> reporter: tell me about the emotion you felt at that moment. >> just -- she was laughing. >> reporter: but barely. the officers couldr: see that t little girl had been shot in the head. dry blood washe everywhere. they could tell that she had beenel left there for a long ti. >> she had very labored breathing. >> reporter: have you ever seen anything who was breathing like that who made it? >> no, no, i have not. >> reporter: there was no time to wait for an ambulance. a sergeant at the scene barked the ordernt for a police car to take her to the hospital. but, first, the officers had to get her to the car. i got to tell you from the house to the car it seems like a long way. whaton did it seem like when yo guys were printing? >> like we were running to the hospital. >> reporter: you're holding her holding her re legs? were you like this, do you

remember? like this? >> like this, pretty much. >> reporter: when they finally reached the car, they handed her toer two ems firefighters in th back seat and now retired officer steve kelsey jumped behind the wheel. >> in my car seat going as fast as you can go i beguned it. >> reporter: kelsey headed to a three-mile trip to a hospital in downtown louisville. >> it could have been any of my children. we are all m fathers. >> reporter: the nbc station waive tv captured the final moments of theap high-speed motorcadeh- as it made a left tn toward traffic. . with traffic, the officer said it could up to 15 minutes. how long did it take you? >> about two or three minutes. >> reporter: across town another part of the story was>> unfoldi inside this house. all day long, harold harper and his wife judith were wondering why they couldn't reach their daughter erin and their 2-year-old granddaughter erika.

harold, a retired factory worker and, and judith, a homemaker talked to their daughter nearly every day and the silence was strange. then the newsnc flashed on. >> say a shooting on wilson avenue where she lived and we thought oh, my god. >> reporter: he and judith picked up erin's oldest daughter ebony and drove down to the house. >> there was a whole bunch of people sitting outside and it was taped off and it was a mess down there. >> reporter: so you knew that something wasd up? >> yeah. and then i just -- >> reporter: freaked out? >> yeah. >> reporter: it wasn't long before judith and harold's worst fears were confirmed. >> they brought it to me. i knew it was erin then. >> reporter: their daughter, erinn. harper, was dead in dovertdovert

doorway, what went through your mind? >> i lost a son i a car wreck and he was already gone when i got to the a hospital. it shed a few tears and went about my business but this was dirch. my son was 21. he had no children. >> reporter: the loss of erin, a mother of four, was devastating, but now the family had to deal with what happened to baby erika, finding out in the most impersonal way. >> i knew she was hurt and the police rushing her down the street that ius saw on tv. >> reporter: and late they learned how badly hurt. she had been shot in the head. >> why in the name of god would somebody doing that? >> reporter: it wasng this man' jobis to find out. now in your experience, how many times have there babiesen were victims? never case i worked that a baby was shot. >> reporter: a one time pitching career at the university of of louisville, rick arnold knew thisd would be a high profile case. he just didn't know it would be the case ofhe a lifetime.

>> this is detective rick arnold. today's day is may 18th, 2006. >> reporter: a video camera rolled as detective arnold processed the crime scene honing in on clues. >> this drew the victim's body, the shell casing. >> reporter: the hard reality of death lay alside-by-side with t everyday images of young life. aaron's body in a pool of blood near af red kitty wagon, a she casing in front of a box of diapers, and the bed where erika once jumped for joy was now covered in her own blood. >> the blood on the sheets. the pillow and pillowcases. >> reporter: detective arnold noticed r something on the bed that wouldon burn through his memory throughout theur investigation. >> the first thing that immediately meet was the dora explorer pillow and it will blood on it. >> reporter: what was the w emotion when you saw that?

>> anger. >> reporter: with two kids of hish own this hit rick arnold hard. on the spot he made a promise to erika's grandmother. you said we are going to find out who did that. >> yes. >> reporter: that is a lot to promise, isn't it? >> yes, it is. >> reporter: coming up a glimmer of hope for baby erika. >> i was holding her and she opened herng eyes. >> reporter: when "dateline" continues. "dateline" continues. it recommends our best custom fit orthotic to relieve foot, knee, or lower back pain. so you can move more. dr. scholl's. born to move.

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detective rick arnold admitted it. little erika's murder made her blood boil. so he wanted to find out who shot her. >> reporter: why did you make that commitment? >> because a baby had been killed and we were expecting at that point the baby to die. >> reporter: erika had practically flat lined as her high speed police caravan delivered her to the hospital and she was rushed into the emergency room where doctors and nurses were frantically trying to stabilize her. >> her vital signs were barely measurable. >> reporter: a neurosurgeon performed the surgery to erika's gunshot wounds to her head. these were cat scans to her brain pre-op. the surgeon's life saving mission was to clean the

fragments from erika's head and repair the wounds and preserve brain function, if possible. erika actually was lucky in one way. the angle of the bullet wasn't straight through the brain but downward exiting through her chin. >> what a blessing. >> reporter: and the doctor was relieved the bullet only struck the brain's frontal lobe which can absorb injury especially in young children. >> it's truly remarkable. >> reporter: after a delicate three and a half hour surgery, the doctor was encouraged by comparison scans of erika's brain. the bullet fragments in the pre-op imagine were gone but despite the repair, brain injuries are unpredictable and dr. moreartie urged caution. >> next three days in the icu

are critical. >> reporter: at the cream scene, detective arnold continued to sift through clues. more leads came into focus. a bloody for a print and three soda cans and two cigarette butts by the bed. >> the second one had an ash an inch long. >> reporter: detective around ordered dna tests on the cans and the cigarette butts and he was learning more about erin and the more he was drawn in. she was raising four kids kids and erika the youngest and oldest was 16. >> more than daughters, we were best friends. she was fun to be around. >> reporter: and boisterous. >> she was outigoing. she would do anything. she was a dare devil. i just miss her so much.

she was everything to me. >> she loved her kids. she tried her best to take care of them. >> reporter: erin worked at churchill downs as a hostess meeting celebrities. she had to take contain wa painkillers to manage her symptoms of micro -- >> she was with some guys you weren't fond of? >> that is right'. >> reporter: even so her parents couldn't imagine who would have shot her or little erika and why and that just ramped up their own fears the shooter or shooters might come back. >> i was scared to death. i thought, my god, what if they don't catch these people. >> reporter: at the crime scene,

detective arnold was searching for answers combing the house for more clues. >> a closet that contains a safe. >> reporter: some contents apparently missing. >> the first thing that popped in my head was some type of a robbery. >> next is a cell phone. >> one of the first things we do is check cell phone records. >> reporter: phone records revealed that erin received two calls from a family friend. james quisenberry had known erin for years. police brought him in to see if he had any information that could help the investigation. >> you're one of the very last people to call her and talk to her by phone, which is why we want to talk to you. >> it was me? >> reporter: quiz equisenberry provided names for the officers to check out and offered to

assist in any way he could. >> find out whoever it is. >> reporter: back at children's hospital, erika was now in the icu holding on for life. her heartbroken grandparents and big sister stood daily vigil. >> it was like a horror movie. >> reporter: ebony took it very hard. 14 years older, she had been like a second mother to erika. in fact, erika actually called her mommy. by day four in the icu, erika's family was seeing signs of hope. doctors believed erika was strong enough to remove her breathing tube. now it was time to see how she would do on her own. >> i was holding her hand and she opened her eyes a little bit and she said, mommy. everybody is like, my goodness, she is speaking! >> reporter: while erika had taken the first small steps toward recovery, there was a big

sign of life in rick arnold's discovery. it was a mystic piece of evidence that turned out to be crucial. coming up, a cadillac leads to an unlikely clue when "dateline" continues. "dateline" continues 'cause let's be honest... nobody likes dealing with insurance. right? see, esurance knows it's expensive. i feel like i'm giving my money away. so they're making it affordable. thank you, dennis quaid. you're welcome, guy in kitchen. i named my character walter. that's great. i'd tell you more but i only have thirty seconds so here's a dramatic shot of their tagline so you'll remember it. when insurance is affordable, it's surprisingly painless.

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in the icu, erika was feisty and combative. her neurosurgeon dr. morartie said that was a positive sign her brain was rebooting. judith was the most religious one in the family and a week after surgery, her prayers and unshakeable faith were answered. erika's condition was upgraded from critical to fair. >> she looked real bad but i never dwelled on she wasn't going to make it. >> reporter: now the family had to focus on the one who did not make it, erika's mom erin. on may 25th, 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 erika to the hospital, steve kelsey, who also served as a minister in a local church. >> and it was so moving and

personal because he had been on the scene. >> reporter: but for jessie halladay, a crime reporter for the louisville journal, what elevated this story was little erika. >> the public concern from the very beginning was always that there was was a 2-year-old involved. >> reporter: after nearly two weeks in the hospital, erika was well enough to move to nearby frasier rehabilitation institute. what had been second nature to her, walking and talking had to be relearned. running and talking back and forth and being a playful kid again. erika's sister was worried. erika had lost sight in her right eye forever and ebony was afraid she would never be her old self. what was different? >> she didn't run or play and talk as much. she was still quiet. >> reporter: no idea why her

sister and mother were shot, ebony and her grandparents remained fearful. >> reporter: you must have been worried like who did this and where are they? >> yes. i was thinking about the safety of the kids and me. so i didn't go out much. >> reporter: 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 neat nick spotted some of air's things in a rain-soaked ditch three miles from erin's house and phoned police. empty prescription bottle and i.d. kards and paper and something else that didn't belong. tell me about this. >> this is a cadillac manual. >> reporter: a cadillac owner's manual. it stood out because it didn't seem to fit with the rest of the money mess, so why was the car manual there? and whose was it? rick arnold tried thumbing through it but the pages were soaked together. >> the front and the back cover

were soggy to the point when i started to look through the very first time and flip through, pages are still sticking to the. >> reporter: days later, rick would separate a few pages but was still frustrated. >> it was the third time. i really was thinking, you know, this is if i don't find something, i went through this and licked my thumb and forefinger and went through it page-by-page. >> reporter: the third time was the charm. >> i was able to find stuck in the binding an automobile insurance card with a name. >> reporter: with a name? >> a name, most importantly. >> reporter: his working days had turned into working nights. detective arnold typed a man's name into his computer and special spit out 15 matches and one lived in southern indiana across the river from louisville. around 11:00 p.m., rick called the man. i asked him if he knows why mi hanel would be in a drainage ditch in louisville, kentucky? >> reporter: what did he tell you? >> he said i don't know but my

car was broken into at work last week. >> reporter: his cadillac, the break-in happened on may 17thth, a few hours off erin harper was found dead. >> reporter: i asked him where do you work? he said he was a pharmacist at a drugstore where she sell prescription drugs. it hit me the manual was with the stuff now. >> reporter: detective arnold had a working theory and it went like this. someone broke into a shiny cadillac parked outside of an indiana walgreens. the car happened to belong to the store's pharmacist. the thief grabbed the owner manual and tossed it into his own car and went to erin's house where she and erika were shot and erin's prescription ills pills and credit cards were stolen and according to rick's 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, who wasever was in the car got rid of the hot property tossing a ining erl pill bottles and credit cards out the window along with the cadillac manual and that is how everything ended up in the drainage ditch. >> i think they were grabbing everything and we don't want to do that because he is did. >> reporter: ricked asked the pharmacist if he knows who broke into his car. >> he said i don't know but i have a pretty good idea. >> reporter: the store security cameras confirmed a man in a baseball cap and another man came into the walgreens at 9:30 p.m. on may 17th, just hours before erin was shot. >> and he said, they didn't look like they were regular shoppers at our walgreens. he said most of our prescription customers are regular customers. he told me they had come back to the pharmacy and tried to obtain prescriptions using bogus names.

>> reporter: on the security tape, rick looked closely and saw the man in the baseball cap leaning through the window of the enclosed pharmacy section seemingly checking out names from pill bottles. over and over, detective arnold stared at the grainy walgreens tape. the man in the baseball cap looked familiar. >> one person sure looks like -- >> reporter: as if james quisenberry, erin's family fend who phoned her minutes earlier and he told the detective how much he wanted to help the investigation. rick wasn't buying any of it now. quisenberry had become a prime suspect, though rick wasn't ready to arrest, not yet, not until he had the other man but that wouldn't be easy. although two suspects in his sights, the mystery man was not in focus. how clear is the image of the second guy? >> it's not very clear. >> coming up, it turned out it was an imagine that was all too

clear to little erika. >> it was the guy that came in the day care and they had braids in their hair and erika said, "don't let him hurt me." said, "don't let him hurt me." comes power, confidence, reassurance you're doing what's right to protect your dog from fleas and ticks for a full month. this one little nexgard chew is the #1 vet recommended protection. and it's the only chew fda approved to prevent infections that cause lyme disease. plus, it's safe for puppies. there's a lot of power in this one little nexgard chew. nexgard. what one little chew can do. nexgard. with advil liqui-gels, what stiff joints? what bad back?

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i'm dara brown. a plane crash, sky divers saw the plane take of and nose dive and flip over before exploding. 11 people died in the crash which is under investigation. president trump called off sunday's round of rounding um undocumented immigrants across the country after a call from nancy pelosi. the president said he would delay the raids by two weeks. now back to "dateline." . welcome back. i'm craig melvin. detective rick arnold believed he had 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. >> reporter: just 27 days after being shot in the head, erika was released from rehab and met officer and pastor steve kelsey and her other rescuers. it was nothing short of a miracle. >> that is beautiful. that is beautiful. >> reporter: to see the looks on those faces and know that she had survived was a pretty powerful moment. >> reporter: erika laughed, cried, and acted like a 2-year-old. reporter jessie halladay was amazed by her progress but concerned about long-term brain damage. >> i didn't feel at that point i could say for sure she was gbt okay. >> reporter: but getting this far had beaten the odds. erika was going home. >> just great to have her there, you know? and to get her home from the hospital. >> reporter: it was a home she

already knew. grandparents judith and harold harper were waving good-bye to their carefree golden years. they were full-time parents again. >> i agreed from the first day i would take care of her, not knowing what kind of shape she was going to be in, not knowing what mental state she would be in. >> reporter: erika's father had never been a big part of her life so a court granted full custody of erika and her baby sister. you worked your whole life. this is supposed to be your time to kick back and put your feet up. that don't bother you. >> it turned out exactly what i thought it was. the reason with the children and stuff. >> reporter: four years before the shootings, harold are retired from his long time meat packing job and expecting to ride his harley. >> noaa the sunset. >> i had been a trip going into

canada and most every why and that had to stop. >> he knew i couldn't maintain these children without him. >> i love those little kids. >> i love my grandparents. >> reporter: do you think they sacrificed a lot to do this? >> yes. my grandpa loves his harley. >> but, you know, people do what they have to do. you know? what is in their heart to do. >> reporter: together, they gave erika a secure home, day-by-day, she was gaining strength. but things were not normal. >> erika was so afraid of balloons. >> reporter: balloons? >> balloons popping. and she was afraid of firecrackers. >> loud noises and everything she is like incidentally. >> she was scared when it rained and thundered out. >> reporter: anything that sounded like gunshots? >> yes. >> reporter: and there was something else that terrified erika and harder to understand. >> a guy came in the day care to pick his child up and had braids in his hair and erika started

running and crying to the teacher and said, "don't let him hurt me!" >> reporter: judith told detective arnold about erika's new fear, men with braids and there on the walgreens video, he saw it. the man in the walgreens had braids but the image was too fuzzy to figure out. he freeze-framed the man and hoping someone could identify him. then he waited. eight months later, rick got some promising news. a detective thought he recognized the walgreens guy from another shooting. >> you might want to check him out. >> reporter: his name? kenneth williams. rick compared several mug shots with the walgreens video. >> reporter: you think, boom, we got our guy? >> i think it's probably him but the video is not very good but i started focusing in on him at that point. >> reporter: then rick's investigation got lucky again. unlikely witness came forward with information about that same

kenneth williams and the night erika and her mom were shot but the witness turner was questionable. she was charged with murder himself for which he later would pleat guilty to manslaughter and he was also gravely wounded in a shooting. prosecutor john heck. >> he's on his death bed. he thinks he is going to hell and he has something he needs to say. >> reporter: weeks later, turner's health improved enough to talk to rick arnold. >> they hit a lick on some lady. >> reporter: what does that mean. >> >> that is slang term for a robbery. >> reporter: robbery that quickly escalated to murder. >> he knew things he couldn't have known. he knew things that weren't -- >> reporter: no way he could have known this stuff. >> reporter: what kind of things? >> he couldn't have known there were pills involved. >> reporter: it was a long frustrating 15-month investigation, but rick was finally close to the answers he

had promised erika's grandmother. what kept you going during some of those times you felt i was hitting a dead-end oo ? >> reporter: a 2-year-old baby was shot. >> reporter: rick had enough on quisenberry to arrest him earlier baugh 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've been waiting and waiting patiently so it's time to do your thing, right? >> now it's time to move. >> the detective moves to get each suspect to implicate the other. not knowing he was nearly out of time. coming up. >> reporter: so you didn't know you were playing against the clock? >> no. no idea at all. >> no. no idea at all y won three cars, two motorcycles, a boat, and an r.v. i would not want to pay that insurance bill. [ ding ] -oh, i have progressive, so i just bundled everything with my home insurance.

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i'm pretty cynical, so i was not really sure what the long-term effect was going to be. >> reporter: one year after erika was left to day, reporter jessie halladay made a checkup of sorts to erika's house. >> with erika being so young and her grandparents raising her and so much interest to begin with, we wanted to go back and see how she was doing. >> reporter: erika had jessie at hello and all it took for the high spirited 3-year-old to win over the cynical reporter.

>> erika was it in from the very beginning. she was trying to write with my pen. she wanted to color on my notebook. i was struck by her cure i don't say qudr curiosity. i think people still wonder how she survived. i still wonder how she survived. >> reporter: louisville and erika'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? but 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 is going to see that these people were found. if it had been erin, it was

maybe another death but because erika was involved in, that they wouldn't let up on it. >> reporter: down at the police headquarters detective arnold was close to getting answers to the man he was pursuing since the walgreens video was found. james quisenberry and kenneth williams who admitted he was part of a robbery that turned deadly. now it was time to bring both men in and interrogate them. >> i'm a little apperehensive bt i was ready. >> reporter: 15 months after the shootings, quisenberry and williams voluntarily came down to headquarters. each knew the other was there. >> i wanted them to understand if one guy didn't tell us, the other would. >> reporter: he walked past the

monitor he could see quisenberry into an interview room. >> he has time to think what is quisenberry telling these texts? >> reporter: 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. quisenberry was interviewed first saying he knew nothing about the crime but as the interrogation went on, he started blaming the man in the other room. but detective arnold knew something quisenberry did not. after quisenberry's first interview, rick scooped up his smoke smoked-down marlboro's and did a dna test on them.

how does he react to being sort of cornered, caught in the lie? >> he was backtracking and he was getting scared. >> reporter: on now quisenberry had admitted he visited his friend erin that day but insisted he left before anyone was shot. rick sensed that quisenberry and his story were struggling so he went to the jugular demanding he come clean and it worked. >> him saying he was in that house was critical. that becomes the most important thing he says in the whole statement. >> reporter: detective arnold now had admission number one. the interview nearly over, quisenberry had a request -- one of the strangest rick had ever

heard. a blunt is a king-sized marijuana great. >> he never been asked that in an interview before. >> reporter: now it was time to interrogate williams and he proved to be a tougher nut to crack. first impressions. him? >> he is hard-core, hard-core to the max. >> reporter: he also denied everything and blamed the man in other room, qusisenberry. williams kept insisting he was not even in the house but rick needed to get him inside as he had with quisenberry. >> i wanted him in the house. not outside by the car or down the street by the stop sign. >> reporter: he needed it fast but he didn't realize how fast. >> reporter: you didn't know you were trying to beat the clock? >> no idea whatsoever.

>> reporter: he pounced and then you'll hear williamson finally admit to coming inside and 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. >> that was music to my ears hearing him saying i'm in the back room. >> reporter: rick had him right where he wanted, inside the house. and none too soon. an attorney who immediately stopped the interview. >> just under the wire and just in the nick of time. >> reporter: detective arnold placed williams and quisenberry under arrest and then he wasted no time making the one phone call he had waited 15 months to make to erika's grandmother. >> i literally made that phone call from the bathroom. >> reporter: what was making that phone call like? >> it was an echo because it was

in a martha. i promised judy harper on may 18th, 2006, i would get those answers and now we have. >> reporter: when did you make when they called you? >> they couldn't get away with it it forever. >> williams and quisenberry would stand trial for the murder of earon and attempted murder of erica. eye for an eye, the death penalty hung over both of them. coming up, an emotional trial, and the little girl who not only survived, but thrived. when "dateline" continues. beep goes off ] now that you have new dr. scholl's massaging gel advanced insoles with softer, bouncier gel waves,

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and have professional monitoring backing you up with xfinity home. demo at an xfinity store, call or go online today. >> they call you the miracle on the carousel of life in louisville, everyone had been asking. how was erica, the miracle baby doing? >> how you doing? but through it all, other questions swirled, to, what happened in the house on wilson avenue and would the men involved in the shootings pay for their crimes? those answers would come three years later, april, 2009, in a louisville courtroom, where james quisenberry and kenneth williams stood trial for the murder of earon harper and the attempted murder of little erica. whatever the verdict, one man would not be there to hear it.

for harold harper, facing the defendants was simply too much to bear. >> i couldn't look them in the eye without rage. and i was just afraid that i would mess everything up. >> it was an emotional trial. co-prosecutor mark baker, with two young daughters himself, cried in his opening statement. >> once you determine there's still life in that little body, you can imagine what the officers did there at the scene. >> prosecutors maintain that the defendants came to steal earon's pills and money but then williams changed the plan after earon fought back, according to key witness, rashaun turner. >> he told me he snatched the purse from her but she wouldn't let go of her purse. he shot her. >> turner's testimony helped to fill in another piece of the puzzle, why quisenberry and williams were in the house that night. after earon became too ill to work, she found a way to supplement her income, by

selling her prescription pills. she had invited quisenberry to purchase pills before, but this time the deal deteriorated into robbery and ultimately murder when williams came along with his gun. >> i had no idea they would go in the house and kill you over a bottle of pills. >> the trial took one week and there was little doubt that quisenberry would be convicted of some crime. he got manslaughter and a maximum 45 years in prison. as for williams -- >> we, the jury, find the defendant, kenneth williams, guilty. >> guilty of murder. and then a life sentence with no possibility of parole, spared the death penalty only because one hold-out juror would not vote for it. did you think that he 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 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. >> i drew a lot from judy's strength. she told me from the get-go that things would work out. that's a sign of her faith. >> out of the tragedy, the harper family had pulled together. with her grandparents as her guiding light, erica's future now looks bright. when i caught up with her, she was a playful 6-year-old at the zoo, where she briefly stopped her fun and games to talk. they call you the miracle baby. the miracle baby. why do they call you that? >> i'm a special girl. >> why are you special? >> i know everything. >> 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 have been blockbuster news in her hometown. and the miracle baby became the media celebrity. as the familiar face for a community leader's campaign to keep the children of louisville safe. >> please help us fight crimes against children. >> 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. >> and why a nurse? >> you have to help people. >> erica, come here! yay! >> like the nurses and doctors from children's hospital, who saved her life. >> oh, 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 moriarty, 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 this little flower that has grown. >> he left her with a good brain and that's very important. >> smart cookie. >> yeah. she's going to need it throughout life. >> when you look at erica, do you see any of your mom in erica? >> what parts? >> main thing it her loud mouth. >> is that right? >> erica is loud and she's got the raspy voice like my mama had. >> where is your mom right now? >> up in heaven. >> do you think about her a lot? . what kind of things do you think about? >> think about her coming down. >> what happens? >> she will still be my mama. >> it's a constant reminder your mom is with you. >> yeah. >> there's one other shared trait. that kept erica alive in her darkest hours. her mom's fighting spirit. >> to battle what she had to

battle. she had her fighting spirit to pull through all that. thank god tore that sniefrmgts that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. good morning. i'm joe ling kent at msnbc world headquarters. here's what's happening right now. sudden reversals on attacking iran and the weekend i.c.e. raids. what prompted the president's last-minute decisions. the winners and losers from a south carolina democratic convention. hear from all of the candidates. plus, the key voting bloc cutting joe biden slack at least for now. new information on that skydiving tragedy in hawaii.