that's all for this edition of "dateline extra," i am craig melvin, thank you for watching. ♪ she was there. >> he walked in the room and kind of brightens. >> and then she was not. >> the mother they adored missing. in her place of a trail of blood. >> what police found instead was a puzzle. >> like 28 years, i have never seen it before. a missing woman, a mystery with few clues. >> did you find anything?

hairs, anything? >> no. >> did one man have a motive? >> he steals $300,000 and about to be exposed for it. >> how can anyone convince a jury? >> can anybody name anything? >> could anyone solve the mystery? we the jury find the defendant david martin hawk -- >> the disappearance of debbie hawk. >> welcome to "dateline "extra,"" i am craig melvin. when debbie hawk vanished without a trace, her loved ones were devastated without answers. debbie was on the verge of exposing someone and may have caused the devoted mom her life, here is keith morris.

the evening, june 2006, outside their mom's house. where was she? she was always on time to pick them up at their dad's place. tonight she had to drive them. this was not like her. where was she? conrad, the elder put the key in the rock and chelsea stopped. >> stop, what was this? >> once we took a few more steps in then we realized there is something wrong. >> reporter: this was the moment, the defining one. nothing was said after this. >> this was a lot of blood everywhere. >> reporter: then the adrenaline kicked in. instincts took over. >> we dropped her stuff and slipped for the house. >> reporter: conrad was 16 there and his sister was 14 and

savannah 10. three kids trying to make sense of a horribly frightening scene. >> there is hardly any dusts anywhere and let alone anything out of order. >> reporter: and now things were anything but -- >> where the desk was, you can see papers scattered around and drawers ripped open. >> you went into the bedroom? >> that's the first place my sister went into. she called us and we followed her. >> reporter: what did you see there? >> there is blood on the ground. >> reporter: a lot? >> yes. >> reporter: her mom's bed was made but -- >> it was hazardly put together and not smooth out. >> reporter: she would have done it a different way. >> at that point you were upset, i imagine. >> my biggest fear that we are going to find her. that's what it scared me most that we'll find her some where in the house. >> reporter: they did not.

no debbie hawk nor anywhere. >> there was drag marks and smear marks leading out to the garage where they stopped. debbie's van was gone, too. >> my initial reaction was oh my god, what could happen? >> reporter: the girls ran to the neighbor's house and conrad called 911. >> we are in my mom's room and her bathroom and there is blood on the carpet. >> after the initial shock, i kind of start to be reasonable. whoa, clearly she cut her hand with a knife or something and she was bleeding and she raced out to the car and go to the emergency room, this is all a big understamisunderstanding. >> reporter: it was not, questions stubbornly refused to be answered. where was debbie hawk and what happened to her and what

happened to the sacred bond that once held three children together. back at the beginning. even the police were confused. this case seemed very unusual from the start. >> reporter: the case at the time, a hanford california along with the da investigator both work other cases here at hanford. the giant farms displayed across the flat belly. this one did not smell right at all thought matheson. >> she was dragged out of her house against her will. in 28 years i have never seen that before. >> reporter: whatever happened here must haves be been planned thought out. >> it looks like a staged crime scene for jewelry, nothing was missing but her and her van. >> reporter: have somebody been trying to make it look like

debbie hawk had been kidnapped or a failed intention to show that she just left home? >> i believe it was designed to look like a missing person's case. the bed was made. most folks don't that. >> reporter: had the perpetrator looking for something? >> there were paper work that would have been put away at least stacked up. it was not. it was scattered and this financial document was on top. >> reporter: significant? maybe. but certainly significant with the sound neighbors reported hearing in the middle of the night. the night before debbie's kids arrived at her doorstep and discovered she was missing. >> several neighbors heard a scream. >> reporter: why didn't anyone call 911? >> that's not the type of neighborhood of bad things happening. >> reporter: debbie was a sales

rep for a pharmaceutical firm. >> she was regal and royalty. she deaf legislative fits the bill as a princess. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: the ribbons which suddenly blooms everywhere around hanford were royal pur e purple. everyone joined to look for her. not a trace. the whole town knew about the disappearance of debbie hawk. they knew something else, too. two days after she vanished, there was a find and it was not good. it was not debbie. police found her van. it was parked on the street in the highway crime district of fresno, 40 miles from home. the drug sample debbie kept in the back, medications were missing. this was weird. the windows were down and keys

are in the ignition and the license plate had been replaced with a stolen one. >> it appears whoever left it there wanted somebody to get in and drive off. >> no, one more thing, the van's backseat was covered with blood. at that point whoever was driving the van immediately becomes a suspect of debbie hawk's disappearance. >> reporter: police were sure that's what the killer wanted. it was a reduuse. one individual they thought they knew who did it. but, suspicion runs fast. the truth dodd. >> does it arrive even now? >> someone seems to hold a grudge against debbie hawk but who and why? coming up. >> things like she needs a taste of her own medicine and she's

going to get what is coming to her. >> he just look like a crazed animal and i thought shehe's go to kill her. when the "disappearance of debbie hawk" continues.

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welcome back, debbie hawk, disappeared and police suspected foul play. the community turned out to help find her. investigators caught a break when they tracked down debbie's van 40 miles from the house and to them whoever left it there was trying to cut them off. some of debbie's inner circle knew who was behind the crime, suspicion detectives. here is chief morris. >> reporter: it cou the mother

three vanishes from her home leaving only traces of blood. before long, debbie was famous as everybody in town knows she loves all her children. >> she was all for her family and children. >> reporter: these were her parents. >> hard worker. to me she was perfect. she was -- perfect daughter. and i really miss her. >> demise, yes. >> reporter: in july of 2006, the case was reclassified from missing person to homicide. a formality really. t they knew from the moment they arrived the house, somebody

killed debbie. >> we kept up hopes obviously but it was clear that she was not alive based on the crime scene. >> reporter: investigators poked around debbie's history looking for clues. >> she was talkative and friendly and likable. always the life of the party. >> reporter: this was debbie easter who recalls how friends set her up on a blind date years ago. he was the date, dave hawk. >> she was short and attractive and a lot of fun. a pretty good sense of humor, you would say something and she would pop back something you would not expect. >> reporter: they were married for years.

>> they goboth wanted to have a family. that was the acceleration of their relationship. >> reporter: though debbie's big sister was not sure what she saw in him. >> he seems quiet and opposite of my sister. then before long, conrad arrives and chelsa and havana. >> reporter: i remember christmas everybody getting along. some happy memories there. >> reporter: sadly, a lot of unhappy ones, too. >> for what i can remember, fighting and arguing, we are pretty routine. after nearly nine years, this marriage like so many others fell apart. we might have been a little more different than we were willing to admit early on. >> even at that age i can see, the water was about to blow

over. >> reporter: the kids were nine, eight and four when the divorce were finalized in 2011. they know how to navigate the waters. >> we could not talk to each other. not trying to step in and help resolve that. >> reporter: you were a mediator in a way. >> yes. >> tough role to a kid to play. >> it was easier as a mediator than having them yelling at each other on the phone. >> reporter: all of our lives improved. debbie did well as a pharmaceutical representative that she was able to buy her own home. >> she can live her life the way she wanted to. >> reporter: except there were issues. once after they separated during the divorce, he claims he tried to choke her. >> she said he looked like a

crazed animal and i thought he was going to kill me. not too long after that she had said to me, you know, if anything ever happens to me, you know where to look. >> reporter: dave said the choking thing never happened and he was never violent with her. >> i never choked anybody. >> reporter: things settled down. there were always some disputes. the things conrad heard his dad say about his mom is awful. she needs a taste of her own medicine and she's going to get hers and what's coming to her. >> reporter: the very night he conrad told police his dad may have done this. >> honestly anything that would disqualify from him being able to carry it out. >> reporter: which is why hours after the kids discovered debbie was missing, it was 2:20 a.m., police called dave and woke him

up and asked him to drive down police headquarters to talk. the phone call was curious. dave did not ask why. >> i have received calls in the middle of the night. my first thought for me is family. what's going on? especially if it is the police department. >> he didn't. >> reporter: when he arrived in the interview room -- dave did not seem to have much of a reaction at all to learning his ex-wife, the mother of his three kids was missing. >> reporter: what did you expect? >> more surprise. i didn't see that at all. >> reporter: of course, people do react in different ways to traumatic news. dave told him he was asleep in the early morning hours when debbie was killed.

>> reporter: his kids says they did not hear him leaving the house and there was no evidence that dave was at the crime scene. >> did you find any dna? >> no. >> reporter: hairs? anything? >> but then they just begun to uncover the troubling secrets of dave and debbie hawk. coming up, a family divided. >> my suspicion was growing stronger and stronger. when the "disappearance of debbie hawk" continues. e of ♪

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welcome back, investigators are looking into the disappearance of debbie hawk are now treating the case as a homicide. they brought dave into questions and his answers did nothing to lower suspicions. instead, his behavior raised red flags, look at the couple's financial history was about to reveal an explosive secret. here is keith morrison.

>> reporter: it was a frustrating year back in 2006 here in california central valley. those purple ribbon search teams came up empty. >> reporter: dave hawk, a person of interest. he seems to have an alibi. all three kids were with him in his house the night debbie vanished and it was not a shred of physical evidence. >> i don't believe he would be capable of doing something like this. >> reporter: then they started polki poking around the relationship between debbie and dave. in the months before debbie disappeared, dave took debbie to

court and she was fighting back. >> the issue she was dealing with was custody and support. >> reporter: dave asked the court for a reduction of his $553 child a month support came up. he claims he only earns $6,000 a year. his salary and from his dad who pays him 500 a month to work on his farm. his only income apparently, debbie found it hard to believe. >> he lives in a nice home and drove a late model suburban. that's hard to do on $6,000 a year. >> reporter: debbie asked the court for more time with the children. >> his response was to ask for half custody. the percentages were 65% and 35% with dave. he wanted to make it an even 50/50. >> reporter: that's when the battle moves through trust funds

set up for the children's futures. debbie was sure he's stealing from his father to support his lifestyle. why would she think that? this was the second set of trust established for the children. several years a judge caught dave's hand in the cookie jar. dave was removed as trustee of those funds. during the divorce, dave's father gave him soul control of the second quite generous trust fund. but when investigators ran the number on the second fund that admin st administered only by dave. instead there was a couple of hundreds of thousand dollars for the kids. he had been living off of it. something like $300,000 were missing. he bought his girlfriend a

$27,000 lexus and took her on vacation to hawaii and using 50,000 to pay off the divorce costs. >> reporter: here was the heart of the motive for murder. debbie, if she had not disappeared is about to expose all that in court. >> he steals $300,000 and about to be exposed for it. >> certainly one more piece of the puzzle. >> reporter: another straenge. remember that mess around debbie's desk. sitting right on top of the pile was a record from the children's first set of trusts. the one that debbie controls. >> there is $166,000 in those accounts. >> reporter: investigators are focusing hard on dave. searched his home several times and caught a lot of stuff.

he had a stun gun a month after debbie disappeared. he told investigators it was for protection. >> he never discussed it with the children at all. they did not know it existed. >> reporter: they could not find anything connecting the stun gun to the crime, it was odd. they also took his computer and since dave did volunteer work at a local church, they seize the church's computer, too. and cuffed him outside his house in full view of local television camera which were now buzzing around and asking, did you do it? >> for the last time, no. i am getting tired of answering that question. no means no. but, the fools at the police department don't seem to understand it. we are on a witch hunt is what's going on. >> reporter: whatever they were

on, they could not find the evidence to arrest him. dave remains a free man. something that makes his own son, conrad very nervous. >> my suspicion was growing stronger and stronger. conrad toll police the night he discovered his mom were missing. he saw the night with his father and his girlfriend. >> at the time i thought my father and his girlfriend had poor taste. >> reporter: conrad spent that summer out. in august of 2006, two months after his mother's disappearance, child protective disappearance took 16 years old conrad to a foster home. there were just a few altercations kind of what my mom had gone to. investigators talked many times to dave's girlfriend, mary and eventually this exchange

occurred. [ bleep ]. >> numerous times. >> reporter: an ah-ha moment? >> well, maybe not quite. >> earlier i thought it is never going to stop until she's dead. >> reporter: it all seems quite suspicious. most people in town made up their minds about dave hawk. one of them was not the da. >> i kept on pushing him and pushing him and we kept sending back. did the cops have it wrong? dave hawk's long time pastor thought so. >> coming up, this person who was portrayed as such a monster simply is not. he's a man who has worked hard

at the church and he's a father. >> another side of the accuser, when the "disappearance of debbie hawk" continues.

our top stories, president trump and his top aides are reje rejecting report of the dire conditions at the immigration center. after shocks in california. some residents are still without power after friday's 7.1 magnitude quake. now back to "dateline." welcome back to "dateline extra," i am craig melvin. detectives were convinced that

debbie's wife killed her. why? they learned that he took $3,000 from their children's pension. dave hawk's action were about to force the decision. here is keith morris. >> they kept pushing and pushing. we kept on sitting back. >> reporter: the prosecutor at the time, larry crouch, told investigators he would not charge hawk even after it is obvious that this single mother had been murdered. after months searching around hanford, california, turns out no signs of her anywhere. prosecutor crouch would not budge, not yet anyway. >> we'll wait until we find the body, more time to come up. instead a year after debbie

vanished, dave was charged with embezzling and stealing from his own children's trust funds. he pleaded not guilty. >> how does it feel to be out of jail. >> reporter: and waited for r the other shoes to drop. >> imagine this, the police and not to mention most of the time believed their father killed their mother. leaving three children caught in the middle. conrad had no doubt his dad killed his mom. a dad he referred to as dave. >> i tried to cut all ties that i had with him as much as i cou could. he's nothing to me now. >> chelsa has been her father's strongest defender. >> reporter: why do you think your siblings chosen the other path. >> they're very upset and their

relationship was not as close to my dad. they were not home or not awake when i was awake. they were not around him the next day like i was around him. >> reporter: chelsa said dave was acting perfectly normal and nothing suggesting that he's up all night committing a terrible crime. >> the thing that convinced me of his innocence, are not there to convince them. they're going to point to the most obvious suspect. chelsa was not the only one in this small town that dave hawk is innocent. >> i believe what he said. sandy brown is dave's hong time pastor and friend. >> this person who was portrayed as a monster simply is not, he's a man and worked hard in the church. he's a good father.

>> reporter: dave dave's parentk over custody of their grandchildren. >> he made some mistakes but nothing of the scope that is generally accepted in the community. >> stan established those trusts for his grandchildren and says dave had the right to use the money how he saw fit to benefit the children. >> were you surprised to discover how it was used? >> his financial situation was worse than i knew. >> a year past in 2008, after two years her body still has not been found. there is no new evidence tieing dave to her murder. larry crouch heard this report

from investigators. this was getting pretty concerning out there. >> reporter: on may 29th, dave hawk was arrested and charged with first degree murder and special circumstances, murder for financial gain. he pleaded not guilty. when the trial finally began, dave faced murder and earlier embezzlement charges together. >> larry crouch offered the jury this theory. . dave snuck out of his house without waking up his children. maybe he could use a ladder and got someone to give him a ride to debbie's house. >> i think he tried the stun gun on her and she screamed very loudly. >> he struck her with something more than once.

then said the prosecutors, he must have dragged debbie's body in the garage and dispose of her some where and drove them out to fresno and left it in a high crime zone. >> how did he get back home snl. >> the prosecutors must have picked it up and driven 40 miles back to his farm. >> there was no body and dna and no forensic evidence to show that dave had been at the murder scene. >> everybody in town seems to have a theory and the prosecutor, did, too. >> was that proof? >> the state tried to build a bridge of dave's financial crime to the murder, pai-- enough? >> well, we shall see. >> there is a number of other

explanations for what could have happened other than dave. >> dave was an ex-husband. one of his children was convinced he was not guilty but could dave hawkins convince the jury? >> coming up. >> i told him i wanted to testify. when the disappearance of debbie hawk continues. hawk continues ♪trelegy. ♪the power of 1-2-3. ♪trelegy 1-2-3 trelegy. with trelegy and the power of 1 2 3, i'm breathing better. trelegy works 3 ways to... ...open airways,... ...keep them open... ...and reduce inflammation... ...for 24 hours of better breathing. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. trelegy is not for asthma. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain,

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welcome back, the prosecution of the dave hawk's murder trial painted a portrait of ex-husband trying to silence h his wife. the defense had a very different th theory and a secret recording that dave's attorney believes will show his innocence. here is keith morrison. >> it was stacked against dave

hawk. at least in the harsh core of public opinion. it looked bad for dave hawk as his murder trial is tried in hanford, california. this guy stealing from his kids saying bad things about the sympathetic victim and why we play it in the press? >> reporter: if there is a case for change, this must be it. almost everybody seem to have heard the accusations about dave. every time he had a court of appearance, friends of debbie crowded the public gallery. during jury selection, he heard some jurors tell the judge they have already decided davis guilty. >> if i order you to set those opinions aside, can you do it? >> i guess so. >> the defense application for a

change oven yu f venue is denie. >> they wanted to make him look like a bad person. a person who would take money from his kids would be likely to murder his ex-wife. >> the prosecution would say dave feared that debbie was about to reveal an open court and give steph the kids' trust funds. >> that was already exposed and already been filed in an open declaration in court. >> he would have gained nothing buy getting rid of her. >> no. >> we have that great, old american saying, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck. but you are saying it is a turkey. >> the prosecution has no

evidence that david even left his house the night debbie was abducted and presumably murdered. his daughter chelsea insisted she could not have left the house without having her heard it. >> it does not seem at all possible. >> even though investigators would tell the court that the kids slept so soundly and it is hard to wake them up. the defense claims that the prosecution theory of what happened did not add up. >> that's beyond believes that somebody would take that kind of regre regrets. he would sneak out the hallway and drive over to debbie hawk's house and subdue her and bludgeon her and drive to fresno and get back to his house without getting blood on him or without being discovered? >> what happened to debbie hawk. >> the defense floated this

theory. debbie worked in pharmaceutical sales. all of the pharmaceuticals in her van were missing. somebody took it. >> reporter: that was a ludicrous idea. >> why didn't thieves take any jewelry or electronics. it all comes down to dave, his behavior and characters and own words like the conversation with a friend police reported which they speculate on what may have happened to debbie. the defense in court as an unguard -- he basically offered that i don't think she's ever going to be found. >> did it work? >> listen to prosecutor larry

crouch. >> oh no, why are they throwing those in? >> though what the jury thought, no one could say. then there was inevitably a conversation about whether or not dave would testify. >> i told them i wanted to testify. >> the idea that dave's attorney do not like one bit. >> davis a combative individual. >> he thinks he's smart but he's not smart. >> dave held his tongue in court. >> he saved his story for us. so you don't think they had any useful information against you at all. >> can anybody name anything? dave hawk speaks out and so does the jury. >> coming up, i was home with my children in another town all night. >> we the jury, find the

defendant david martin. when t"the disappearance of debbie hawk" continues. of debbie hawk" continues covers us with what? you got me. [ scoffs ] she's an insurance lady. and i suppose this baker sells insurance, too? progressive protects your pets like you do. you can see "the secret life of pets 2" only in theaters. "the secret life of pets 2" on a john deere x300 series mower. because seasons change but true character doesn't. wow, you've outdone yourself this time. hey, what're neighbors for?

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>> his attorneys tried to poke holes in what they saw ass a purely circumstantial case. his fate was in the hands of the jury. while the accused killer did not take the stand in his own defense, he did talk to us, sharing his theory of who really killed debbie. with the conclusion of our story, here's keith morrison. dave hawk on trial for the murder of his ex-wife debbie did not testify, didn't tell the members of the jury what he was thinking. he had a sinking feeling he knew what they were thinking.

it was an awful problem the day his ex-wife disappeared in a trail of her own blood. the number one suspect was him. that is what the police had been saying all along. that is apparently what a great many people thought in hanford, california. even as he sat here as a defendant in a murder case. even though -- >> i didn't have the motive and i didn't have the capacity. >> you know how it can be, said dave. once people get it in their heads you did something, they will tend to misinterpret everything to make you look guilty. >> i was home with my children in another town all night. but i'm being accused of being in another place committing a terrible crime based on financial shenanigans that didn't exist in the first place. >> shenanigans like for example the trust fund for his kids. his father made the terms very broad, said dave, so he could

spend the money as he saw fit. any way that would benefit the children. >> the money is to be used for the health, education, support and maintenance of the children. and that's exactly what it was used for and i acted legally in that respect. >> and then since they didn't have any evidence against him, said dave, prosecutors made a case based on misinterpreting things he said. like the time he said to a friend, if i was a bad guy, i would throw somebody off a bridge. >> my point was they haven't looked for her. if someone had thrown her off a bridge it would have floated downstream. they didn't look anywhere. >> so did you throw her off the bridge. >> no. i didn't throw anybody off a bridge. >> they made a huge deal about something he supposedly said to his girlfriend about dave.

dave said we won't be rid of that f'ing bitch until he is dead. >> i might have. that doesn't mean i'm going to go kill somebody. >> there was his own son conrad who believed he was guilty and told police he saw dave and mary share a celebratory toast after debbie's disappearance. dave said he didn't get it. >> whenever we open a bottle of wine we raise our glasses and say cheers. it is just a tradition. we were not toasting anybody's anything. >> why have you never been able to persuade conrad of your innocence? >> i don't know. he knows that i was at home the whole time, never left, didn't have any involvement in anything illegal.

but he's perhaps angry and needs to fill in the blanks with something. >> maybe he is angry at his dad because his dad killed his mom. >> his dad didn't kill his mom. >> he thinks so though. >> he could be wrong. >> so who did kill debbie? dave has an opinion about that, too. who else wanted her dead? >> maybe the boyfriend that was stalking her. >> stalking her? >> this is somebody who was reported to the police and the police swept it under the rug apparently. it was an ex-boyfriend. >> of course, investigators say they did look into that and other leads, too, but they all came back to dave. and one primary motive. so some cross-examination. prosecutors said you killed your ex-wife because she was going to expose your embezzlement of the childrens' trust funds.

were you afraid your father was going to find out what you were doing with that money with the trust fund? your father who lovingly put the money into the trust fund before you siphoned it out. >> i really don't like the way you are characterizing these things. >> whether you like it or not, those are the accusations. >> yeah. and they are not right. they are wrong. they are false. which part did you not understand? >> what part did i not understand? what i understand is you bought a $27,000 car using trust fund money. you took a trip to hawaii with your girlfriend. you paid off your divorce attorneys fees and money you took from the first set of trusts by taking $60,000 out of the kids' second trust fund. >> the money was used for the children. >> which child drove the lexus? >> all three children were driven in the lexus. >> which child went to hawaii on vacation?

>> perhaps that money was my own money. prosecutor never bothered to figure out what dollar went where, did they? >> you made it hard because you were mixing up the trust fund money and your money all the time. frankly, that is what scam artists do. >> i'm not a scam artist. >> why didn't you get a job. >> i had a job. >> i'm talking about a job that pays enough to support a family which is what a dad does. >> you are reading from a script the prosecutor has given you because none of these things are true. >> a guilty man or not? the jury did not take very long to decide. >> we, the jury, find the defendant, david martin hawk, guilty of the murder of debbie hawk. >> guilty of murder and nine financial crimes. dave hawk was sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

but is it over? no. in march of 2016, 10 years after debbie hawk disappeared, a farm hand found her remains. debbie's father had a dying wish that she be found before he passed away. he left this earth just a week after that discovery. the children who held a posing views about their father's innocence. >> it's complicated, huh? >> yep. >> is this creating a rift between the two of you? >> a little bit, yes. >> not easygoing for the children of dave and debbie hawk. >> it's going to take a while, but we don't want to lose it.

that's all for this edition of "dateline extra." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. g melvin thank you for watching -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com i can't believe that your baby's lying there lifeless. >> she was everything to me. she was so sweet to everybody. >> state troopers said bonnie had died in a hiking accident. >> they said she fell off a cliff. her mother said they were wrong. >> i was screaming to them, these are defensive wounds. >> no witnesses, no weapon, nothing left behind but a stranger's dna. >> we no longer have some accidental death. this was a homicide. >> they had no suspect, but for years her mother kept fighting