just wish i knew for sure. >> i miss you so much, i'm a solid, and i hope you guys stay good. >> that's all for this edition of dateline, i'm natalie morales, thank you for tuning in. i'm natalie i have no memories. i have no voice, nothing. i want to know what's happened to my mom. >> i didn't think it was an accident. >> when did the whisper? start >> immediately. >> i believed she'd been murdered. >> there is a dark business going on at this nightclub. >> that is something buddy one talking about what happened at night? >> -- it was a sacred thing for us to do. >> i thought we were finally getting justice, i was absolutely shocked, i was shocked.

>> if you have a feeling in your gut and in your heart, fight, and don't ever give up. >> a few feet from the city limits of toledo, ohio, a car swings around a corner on a dusty stretch of road. it's, dark we hours, just stabs of light spilling from the house. most people are asleep, he could so easily have missed line in the grass on the side of a road, her feet drawn up to her chest, barely breathing, first drove right by her, the story went and then doubled back for -- a 30 year journey from one lonely child. >> there's all these lives that have not been answered, why

hasn't she forgotten for all these years? >> a daughter determined to find out what happened that night. >> what's making you go forward? when i just let it be. >> something inside of me, i wouldn't stop, no matter how ugly the truth. >> she's knocking on every, doreen every phone. >> a daughter who wasn't afraid to make enemies. >> you were his nine nemesis? >> yes, and will never go away. >> brittani stork grew up in oregon, ohio, comfortable town perched on the edge of lake erie. her weekends were full of softball games. what's >> when makes you want to have out of bed as a child? >> i danced. >> brittany felt loved and safe safe, and tell teacher asked --

>> how did your mom die, but in an accident? meow is five, and i remember being very teary eyed, and i went home to crying and ask my mom, was she talking about. >> it was a horrible way to realize the person she called mom, was actually her grandmother. to be told that her real mother, 19 year old dana rosendale died in a car accident. she was a stranger to her. do you have so much of a memory is your mother's smile? >> none, i have no memories. no voice, no nothing. i was only eight months old when it happened so. >> brittani badger, dana's older sister amped up her stories. >> when the little girl said ask me about my mother when did you say? >> she was a beautiful woman, she loved life. >> and adored the barely girl, dina was barely an adult

herself, 18, when she got pregnant. >> she love that little girl to death, she was just a great mother. >> and just like britney, dana loved to dance. when she wasn't at home with baby brittany, or studying, she sometimes headed to the south side market, and i club cross town that's where she was a few hours before she was discovered fatally injured, lying on the side of the road but she didn't tell her much about the night. >> did you talk about her last hours? >> now. >> but, as the years past, the silence and mistreat the weight on britney was darkening. >> the older i caught, it was like everybody knew. everybody knew that my mom had gotten killed. >> did you kill a kid tell you something? >> now, i could just feel it. nobody could deal with my mom's death. >> so something is missing in your mom story, you don't know what it was. >> she long to know more, a child looking for answers nowadays, needs only a key word

searched to google the way to the truth. but brittany don't know what to do, until she learned in seventh, raids when she learned that newspaper records were kept on micro film at the library, that same day she headed to a local branch, and went straight to the archives, and i just started scanning all the newspapers they all had on file. after i found her obituary, i found another article, and the headline was 19 year old fountain row dead. so, i read through that one, and then there was another one. >> shocking to read about her mom's death and brought black and white. they didn't describe a car accident, so much, as her mother's battered body line and lonely -- death ruled undetermined. >> the coroner had told a local newspaper, that he wasn't sure the data had died in an accident, he can rule out foul play. stunning news to britney. >> at that time, i was so mad that everyone lied to me. and it was just a world of

emotions. >> brittani wondered if your family had been having a secret darker than she imagined, the perhaps or 19 year old mother had been murdered. perhaps or 19 year oldcoming up. >> it wasn't a murder, they just had her body. >> just and storage on the side of the road? >> eight years later, brittani demands the truth from someone who might know. but, hits a dead end. >> if you say okay, you're old enough now, i can tell you the whole story? >> no, he said you're not ready. >> when dateline continues. he said you're no ready. so don't worry. it's all under control. [ screaming continues ] that's cool. we'll finish up here. bye! [ roars ] ready. >> for your dominion with progressive.

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every search you make, every click you take, every move you make, every step you take, i'll be watching you. the internet doesn't have to be duckduckgo is a free all in one privacy app with a built in search engine, web browser, one click data clearing and more stop companies like google from watching you, by downloading the app today. 13-year-old britney's stork duckduckgo: privacy, simplified. felt betrayed. >> i was just so mad at everybody. it was, just leave me alone, and you can tell me what to do. you lied to me. >> brittany didn't know what to believe anymore, first her family had hit in her mother's death from her altogether.

then, they told her is a tragic car accident. now it seems as though that night may not be the truth either. newspaper articles to track down hinted at something much more suspicious. she sent a copy to her dad, toby, he'd been in an on again off again relationship with her mom, at the time of her death. >> i can't remember what i wrote on it, but i know that it wasn't a very nice message. i think i actually told him i hated him. >> did he, say okay-year-old, enough i can tell you more of the complete story. >> no, he said no, you're not ready. >> still? >> brittany wasn't sure her dad would ever tell, her he wasn't around month during her childhood -- raised her, they wouldn't talk about the past much either. so, the teams started rifling through family photo albums, old letters tucked into drawers. >> you are becoming quite effective in this thing? >> yes. >> let's make any go forward, why not just let it be. >> something inside of me,

would not stop. >> as brittani started looking for the truth, -- the very image of britney's mom, was much closer than she, knew while she had to do is look in the mirror. >> you look at brittany, and it takes your breath away, because she's like a little clone. >> dana ended had grown of the rosendale center, is in the 1970s toledo. on summer evenings he could find them twirling buttons in their backyard, tossing them high above their heads. >> we threw in parades, and martian about marching, that as ambassadors. >> they have, the older sister was more serious and competitive. dana, the baby, was outgoing, more interested in barbies and make up. and her friends. >> where was your life heading? >> she had a lot of goals, she wanted to own a boutique, get a, job the successful, have a good life. >> but you never got? they're >> never got there. >> everything came to a halt, labor day weekend, 1982.

that was a, way 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 her friend. >> and i need to get to toledo as soon as possible, she was in critical condition. >> well deb raced to the hospital, rookie detective -- raced to the scene, where she was found. this is first big case. you pull up, what do you see? >> the squad is still, there the rescue squad. and there are people, of course, congregated at this point. >> among them, a young man name russell adkins, who first bought a dina line there. >> he said, i was driving, by and i saw something. i thought it was a body. i turned around, he showed me where he turned around, and came back. as and sure as heck, it was. he said, i immediately went up to some homes, knocked down some hot doors to try to seek some help. >> make sense. >> yes. i talk to the people that he

talked to, they confirmed that story, at least, and of course's name and address all that, and i didn't need him anymore. >> what do 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 really had no idea. >> so, the detective headed to the hospital, to talk to dana's family members, who were gathering by her bedside. >> she was unconscious, to the bandages, machines. >> ventilator. >> she had severe swelling, severe swelling interface. >> even though she was unconscious, were you talking to her? >> absolutely, begging her -- i remember grabbing her hospital gown, and asking her to wake up. just wake up in open your eyes, you know? open your eyes. >> but she didn't, she couldn't. detective brett and started

asking questions in the waiting room. who had seen the data that night, i will time. toby -- want to know part of it. >> he learned i was a detective, i'm talking to you, i don't need to talk to you. >> he started walking away from me. >> so i latch on to him, i bring him back. and we exchange some words. >> eventually, toby calm down. he said the dina had gone to the south side without him, he said he'll stay back at the apartment for an early night. as the detective made his rounds, dane's mother was inconsolable. >> she was in pieces. >> dana was hurt, she was a baby of the family. . >> six days later, dana died. her family was shattered. you never heal from this, ever. ever. you grief, you are angry, and then you grip. but you never get over it. >> beyond that unquenchable greed. something else lingered to. questions about how dana died.

either the data series have good, that's she saw no other injuries. that gave her pause. >> i remember seeing that the neurologist saying it was like taking a baseball bat and swinging for home run. and hitting her and the back of her head. that's the extent or injuries. >> she didn't believe her sisters that can be explained away as a tragic accident. and she wasn't alone in her doubts. >> how did the investigators regard with adaptive dana? to think wasn't accident or try to prove otherwise? >> they didn't goes an accident because the specialists was suspicious. >> after a few months investigation seem to spot. >> there was no murder weapon. they just had her body. technology was diverted 1982. >> those cell phones, of gps, just some stories and victims on the wrong side of the road. >> many years later as you watch data story, now a

teenager, trying to find out about trump's mysterious death. she wondered if she put a push police harder. >> the big yourself up about that? >> sure i'd, short. >> we're not there not opposite detectives. i have a lot of guilt. >> here to. because she watched her niece tried to piece together the decades old puzzle. she worried what britney might uncover. and at what cost. coming up. britney goes right at the top and isn't going to stop. i >> basically said i either want someone to investigate what happened to her or water violently taken somewhere else. when dateline continues. violently taken (heartbesomewhere ele

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angry, haunted by the loss of her mother. her aunt depp was she could stop the hurt. >> it was taken from her, her mother, her 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 comfortably, had food, shelter, clothes, toys? >> it is not the same. it's not the tom to have your mom pose or best friend as an adult. it's gone. >> depth as britney's father wasn't there for her. either toby was indeed a present during her childhood. serving time for theft, assault, domestic violence. and before she died his

relationship with data had written a rocky one. >> it is kind of like a can't live with, do catheters upper relationship. >> britney header some of the stories about him over the years. his temper, the fights with her mom, and which was 15 she cut toby off. >> i turned into just kind of suffering the relationship with my dad >> so he was out of your life from that point on? >> yes. >> and yet, somehow, amid all this loss, britney kept going. she graduated from high school, i love, and at the age of 19 found out she was going to have a baby girl. >> i wanted to name my daughter dana. i don't know why. and everybody cried. and i understand because i don't think, now, i can color data it would be hard. >> britney said it on dana as a

middle name instead. i began to raise her daughter her mother's death receded slightly to the background. that is until 2006, more than 20 years after she died, brittani was serving jury duty of local courthouse when a sudden impulse to cold. >> one of the day's image break i just walked into the lucas county prosecutor's office and the ask about me and i said i need to talk to somebody, my mom was murdered. >> brittani was given the number of an investigator in the prosecutors office in neighboring would county. that was the county where her mother had been found. >> he said, i'm sorry, there's that should've limitations, people die -- >> people die, members debated, this is a long time ago. >> for brittney's are to uncover the truth couldn't be so easily extinguished. she knew she needed to keep pushing. so she marched into the police department that headfirst handled remarks case and demanded to see, the police

chief. >> you just walked into these people? i >> basically said i want them to investigate what happened to her or water file and when to take it somewhere else. >> a detective promise to see what he could find out. but, apart from the hot phone call, britney says it felt like her mom's case went nowhere. and before she knew what, months, started the years. britney's life moved on. married now she had another baby. she was adept each are. then, one day, she ran into the original detective who work for mark's case. i'm >> in a restaurant with my wife, heating, and stadiums of me. i did know her. i did recognize. and she says, mr. breton i'd like to talk to you. i said sure, sit down. >> i said dana rosenbaum's daughter. altered the moths drop to the table. i want to know what happened to my mom. >> brett remember the case but was monger detective. >> he just said you need to keep pushing.

that's all he could say. >> so she did. britney such became calling the prosecutor vascular every week like clockwork. an amazingly he started show some interest in the case. >> he would say, nothing new. >> you're looking for killer, if you look for color try to find what happened? >> i think at that point to try to put the pieces together. >> it wasn't going to be easy. but brittani didn't know was that the detective had done a fair bit back in the day. chasing that leads, trying to make sense of it all. but interview tapes, crime scene photos, evidence, most of that was missing. >> we have to all those boxes, the interviews, the pictures, the measurements? it seems like a disappeared or just banished. >> the average person that is probably our excusable. and why did it happen. it is possible somebody looked at that, that's the date, and thought we can get rid of that. >> now that investigators were

taken a fresh look at the case. they needed to rebuild would have been lost. to track down key witnesses and interview them again. that included paramedic, ron -- who has since retired. >> shows lay on her right side in the semi fetal position. >> it's admit one of the first on the scene that night. but he found has haunted him, he says, for more than 30 years. >> i ceiling on the side of the road in between the pavement and the sidewalk. i put my hand behind ahead and we roll over. and my had come out and they're flood blood. >> the paramedic had told the investigator he worked hundreds of scenes but i'd never seen anything like this in an accident. some with massive injury but not much more. >> we are first check to see if she was hit by a car. which would've had more blood in the lower extremities and things of that nature. she didn't have any of that. nor were her clothes out of place. they were intact and not the

shoveled. >> why did the sink stick with you? >> because a lot of the ordinary. it wasn't a normal type of call. women are just fine at the side of the road almost graded. >> but this was a new information to authorities. if investigators back then hadn't been able to figure out what happened really happens at the equipment, could a new team break the case? or were they 30 years too late? coming up. rumors of drug doing at a nightclub. >> loud music, lot alexa, lot of people. >> there is some dark go business going on at this nightclub. >> drug deals, and then deals? >> girls day for money. after our parties. >> and a possible suspect. the man who gave data ride home. now it's the mr. but up next? >> correct. >> when dateline continues. up next up next >>

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what's happening.

president biden said he might declare a -- four abortion access. the president said he has asked his staff to look at whether he has the authority, and how effective the move would be. novak djokovic has won the men's title wimbledon, defeating the kyrgios, he wins a fourth consecutive wimbledon championship. it's also his 21st grand slam trophy, just one win away from rafael nadal's record 22. now, back to dateline. >> brittany stork and on the unexpected, persuaded law enforcement to dust off a 30-year-old case file, her mom's. >> she is a force of nature, i think. >> she is. >> doug kinder is an investigator in the prosecutors office. when he invaded inherited the case from another investigator, he also inherited those weakening phone calls from brittany, checking up on him. >> give me some adjectives to describe brittany. >> determined, unrelenting.

tough. >> was she tough to deal with? a squeaky will that you wish will go away? >> now. she just wanted answers. kinder needed to know if the original detective had looked into anyone back in the day. but when he cracked open the thin case file, this is what it told him. where dana's body had been found, who found her, that young man who've been driving minus car. and one thing that into close to home, a story that dana's mother wanted toby to leave the hospital, because she thought he had something do with dane's death. >> there were a lot of people pointing fingers at toby over the years. >> he went on to the, diner asked what happened to dana, they would say toby killed her. >> that's correct. >> family members told detectives that toby had a temper, and a couple thought a lot. >> there were some accusations that there was a turbulent lifestyle between dana and toby, and there may have been some violence in that. >> but, toby denied he had anything to do with whatever happened to her that night. he said he was at home asleep.

>> when did those whispers start? >> immediately. >> about your involvement. >> immediately. >> a lot of members of her family think you are the killer here. >> toby says dane's family had never approved of his relationship with her. he was a rough and tumble character, four years older than her, fond of boxing and motorsports. >> there was evil can, evil and i was considered awful can awful. >> we he says that the birth of baby brittany, brought them closer together. >> did you think about a future together? >> yes, we plan on getting married, that's what our goal was. >> so, you are gonna give it a shot. >> oh yeah. >> that night, toby, says the only reason he wasn't within at the south side boxing, is because he'd come home after a hard day at work. he was beat. >> as dana went to go a way to go to a party in everything, she woke me up and told, me i love you.

and i was the last thing i ever heard from her dad. >> investigator kinder needed to know more about dane's activities, after she left home. starting with the nightclub on the senior side of town. >> i was a place all about? >> it was very stereotypical the early 80s, and a lot of nightclubs. a lot of music, a lot of lights, a lot of people. >> and a hot spot, well known to the city vice, unit according to detective bob bratton, toby had a theory about the club he shared with police. dana could've gotten mixed up with something. >> there is some dark business going down to this nightclub. drug deals? >> girls dating for money. after our parties. should come home and told me that she thought something was going to physically have into her. >> but, whatever happened today in, it didn't happen at the bar. they knew his best friend, roxie been with her said they headed out together. >> so it is rocks his story? it's been a festive night, a

lot of drink. >> according to wet rocks is told, us the dean it was pretty intoxicated, that she was not really study on your feet. >> and the friends had no way to get home, they've missed the last post. >> the club bouncer agreed to give them a left. >> is he a friend of, rockies or friend of gene, as or do they go together. >> roxana's always maintained she just knew him socially from being a regular at the club. >> that is correct. >> waukee said she got dropped off first, and watch the bouncer indiana steal away. so when roxie closes that car door, and says goodnight. what happens next? >> correct. >> 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, strangely troubled, line in the road. he'd gone looking for help, knocking on doors, police seem to call 9-1-1. >> correct. >>, but it looked as though a crucial part of that story that

he told the scene had been a complete lie. dana was far from a stranger to atkins, he'd been a passenger in her 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 he said to detective bob bratton, the reason that i didn't say anything was because i was on parole, and i was afraid to have police contact. >> 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's the truth he said, he was driving in a home near in a corner, when he heard the engine arrive louder, and his card or 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, authorities, including the local corner were skeptical. and that stuck out to the prosecutor who took over the case.

paul dobson. >> what did your corner back in the day find? >> he found she had in fact died from skull fracture, but he couldn't answer why she had died. he ruled her death is undetermined. >> undetermined meant anything was possible, according to the corner. accident or homicide. the corner trolled reporters, that her injuries didn't seem consistent with a fall from a car. but, he couldn't say anything with scientific certainty. >> it would've been very easy for him to check the boxes have by accident, natural causes. >> that's correct. >> when you check the boxes undetermined. >> but to, us was very significant. >> so, was the bounds for lying about the fall from the car? or maybe that part was true, but she had survived the fall, and never -- met her faith in another way. -- would have better luck figuring it out. one of his investigators wanted to find out, seeking advice from the county's chief deputy corner, but today and scallops

arnett. not to my door one day, and he said doc at this case, it was originally ruled undetermined. the daughter has been seeking an answer, what do you think about an explanation? >> where did you? tom >> i, said you never know where you will look, because you never know with the bodies can look like, after 31 years down. >> the part of you that is investigating needs it, but the daughter in mice must be just terrified. , well knowing that they're gonna use zoom, her means they are looking at her case. she's not just, a people full paper file anymore. so, they are going to look further. >> brittani prepared herself to face whatever secrets had been buried with her mother. been buried coming up. >> this was in no way consistent with her falling out of a vehicle. >> a new autopsy, a new case. >> i was ecstatic. >> when dateline continues.

case case >> i was it's so fun. two things coming together like a force of nature, like it was really meant to be, y'know? yes, yes, i do. i catch a ride home with you? i never said it was. but technically you didn't say it wasn't. it's not. yet.

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and find out what your case all when a truck hit my car,ade. ♪the insurance companyed, wasn't fair. eight million ♪ i didid't t kn whahatmy c caswa, so i called the barnes firm. i'm rich barnes. it's hard for people to k how much their accident case is worth.h barnes. on october 9th, 2013, brittany t ouour juryry aorneneys hehelpou stork stood vigil, as -- open your mother's grave. >> i just, stared i want to make sure that no matter what you, do please put her back exactly the way you found her. >> and deb was at brittany side. >> it was very emotional to her,

and to the investigators. -- the casket up. >> you needed to put up that pain, to get to the next step of this thing. >> right, right. >> it might have been better flavor in the ground in just, say something happened, but we just don't know, let it be. >> no. that's not right, that's not fair. it's not fair to dana. somebody is accountable for what happened to her. so, if she has to come up, and be exhumed and examined, and that's what needs to be done. >> 30 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. >> then, one day, she got a surprising call from the coroner, but not with the autopsy results. instead, the coroner said she had something for brittani. >> i said will that be. >> well, i need a lot of your mother's hair.

and she put it in a little glass jar for me, so i have that. she said there is some jewelry on your mom, and i was able to save it. >> the rings her mother had been buried with. >> would i like? it i said yes. so that, was probably the best gift i could've ever had. you know, having a piece my mom with me every day. >> brittany remarried are, mom on what would've been her birthday, she laid five dozen roses on her coffin. >> i stood there, and i wouldn't leave until she was back, exactly issue was. i started thinking -- and i started putting dirt back into her grave. >>, there is still no word from the corner, about what's, if anything, she discovered. brittany could only guess, an agonizing wait began, she 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, roxie blamed all these years later, when brittani gave her a call. >> i said would happen to my? mom and she immediately throughout my dad's name. and i said, why would you say? that just because. well, was my dad there with you guys that night? now. well then, why would you say. because i just. now toby wasn't surprised his name cropped backup, he knew brittany's questions could reignite suspicion that he was involved. >> -- >> when i found it when she was doing, i just didn't want her to be pushed aside by can never mattered. >> and, if she's kicking over this rock a new again -- you know. you're gonna be in the bull's-eye again. >> i've got another bull's-eye on my back. >> but toby maintained his innocence. >> i knew the truth. you know, i didn't do this. and brittany believed, him not

once said he tried to stop her from investigating her mom's death. in fact, he'd been her champion. as a grown-up, she said she could finally understand which he'd failed to see as a child. >> my dad has had a really bad life. and now that i'm older, i see why. miley mom was the love of his life, and obviously knowing the background, and hearing the stories, he couldn't cope with it. >> it's been 30 plus, here's toby, do you stillness her? >> tremendously. it's the love of my life. it's the love of my life. >> investigator kendrick, quickly came to the same conclusion as brittani, totally was not a suspect. there was no evidence that he was at the scene that night, and he didn't try to shut down the new questions. i found that toby just wanted answers for why dana was got as well. >> so father and daughter post waited anxiously for the autopsy. finding hoping would give them

the answers they. great three long months after dana's summation their weight was over. then you corners report came out with a new matter of death. homicide. >> i was ecstatic i, was said it was just a mix of emotions because it was like everything i had dreamt or thought or said or anything. it was like i was right. this time the corner had gone a step further to examine dana's skull fracture using a forensic anthropologist to help clear the bone. the injuries they saw the coroner thought it looked like foul play. >> this was in no way consistent with our falling of a vehicle. >> homicide? >> yes. neither the case was officially declared a homicide investigators are working hard. and the focus became the bouncer. he had all-star they're something off about his statement to detective rightly. >> he said one of the statement he said was he won't even

fighting or anything. i've talked a lot of people over the years and that just struck me as odd. you introduce that got? she falls out of your car. but yet you've got to interject that we weren't fighting or anything. >> the investigator also wondered why shoot a fallen out of the bands was car. there was talk back in the day that carded defective door. but detective breton told investigator he didn't exist. you take a look from. self >> i know i got in the car. an attractive because i'd pushed up against it. and i'm a pretty good size guy. my weight should maybe tell us -- i felt comfortable that i didn't see anything wrong with the door. when >> you don't feel if you need to get a search warrant or have the think towed? >> no, not at that point, looking back probably an error. >> vehicle gone, is it in the jacquard yet? >> we believe it isn't regard. we tried to track it but we

weren't able to do that. and there wasn't a lot of notation in the reports about what was found in the car, but wasn't founded the car, there was just a very short sentence in airport and a lot of memories of those specifics, by the officers that were there that night, they remember those details. >> as for the rest the bouncer story. the investigator had an idea. he would take a fresh look at the stretch of road where it all began. >> i want to see it for myself. >> the bouncer told police he'd been approaching encounter when they fell obscure. i >> did a deal school way. and ahead of police crew behind me blocking traffic and i got out and i walk the whole thing. >> disobey their figured out that the closest corner was more than 200 feet away from where dana's body had been found. >> the whole thing to make sense. when you sit there and how did she end up on the right side of the road, how does a purse and upon the middle of the roadway? when she's going out the

opposite direction? why is he down here in the first place? >> announcer told the original detective that he had taken that particular boat to get cigarettes, but investigator kindred knew the area and he said there is no stores open that late. >> so you guys making it up as he goes long. here >> absolutely. >> the investigator was convinced russell afghans was hiding something. his next up was to track down the one-time bouncer and get him to talk. what would a story be now? coming up. a suspect who says he wants help and has a brand-new clue for investigators. >> you start talking about what happened that night? >> this is before that. because it's just stupid you know? when >> dateline continues. when >> dateline continues. e it's just stupid you know

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since the nitrous icons offer to friends a ride home from the south side club. only one of those friends had made a home life. with a new investigation and autopsy, brittani was now convinced thermostat was no accident. and that adkins was the one responsible. >> he ruined my life. and he needs to pay for it. >> if described it, but what is motivation be? >> i don't know. >> you need motivation? >> i just want to know why. what led up to why he did what he did. >> so where was adkins now? investigator kindred didn't have to look far. the bouncer was living just a few miles from where he had grown up. not far from where they and had been found. he was the captain of a chart about. and people in town loved him. >> he comes up kind of rough but he's a big teddy bear. he's got a big heart. >> shauna patty stall first got to know atkins when he started

working for them in their concrete business. but he had become more like a member of the family. watching their kids, cooking for them. >> once a russ would have fish fry and he would stand there the whole time and just do nothing but cook fish. and he loved it because he was doing involves friends. >> we regret rules wasn't just a friend. she said she did it atkins for years. they shared a love of motorcycles and a home. she says he was kind to her, made her feel safe. >> yeah we thought, we had problems, we were the regular couple. but was afraid martin like that? never. >> hardly the portrait of her murder. russell's friends were shocked to hear police were sniffing at his door. >> we know russell, the person, eight and there's just no way that russell would intentionally hurt someone. something we'll said about, you know, russ why don't you just get out here? when obviously. he said why? i don't do anything wrong. >> they did say that something

happened the way he said because he did leave the community. >> this is look at 30 years later so around. >> here's changes lifestyle this with these people know and these people love. and i understand why they are supporting him. >> but many of his supporters had known icons back in 1982. the investigators track down some people who had. and what they told him was ugly. and ex-wife in ex-girlfriend with tales of beatings, were colleagues who say was quick to throw punch, -- >> was to protect him to gather? >> and that time period. very short temper. very short fuse. >> finally after 30 years, investigators believed an evidence against. armed with an arrest warrant investigator went with u.s. marshals to pick atkins upton bergman for questioning. and this is the monument was polite, cooperative, i can seem eager to slow down and talk. >> what is a strategy in dealing with him?

>> i didn't go slow and easy. i will take over story. >> the sort of talking about what happened that night? >> this just need to get figured out because it's stupid to know? >> historic started out the same we had before. >> she fell out of my car, i mean, absolutely fell on my car. i don't look up the door handle, i still don't know, it's still boats me to this very day how she got out that are. >> once again, he had already explanation for why he did initially lied to the cops. >> brittani told them, russ, that you just driving by he's are laying in the grass. >> gazelle scared. >> very scared of? >> involve the police, period. >> investigator confronted atkinson but they had been up to. >> they did another autopsy. and lastly those hit over the head, not from falling out of the car. so then that comes to me as asking you now. then how did she end and

ultramodern head? >> from that poll that was there with them in boxes at. or shooting begins on the officer came. >> a mailbox? that was a new detail didn't appear in the old case files. >> suddenly goes out the door, tabs on the road, her hair presumably hits a mailbox. >> that is which he says. >> which would counter the injuries? >> but we knew there was nothing there except for three very large trees kind of spread along the roadway. >> investigator profoundly leveled with the bouncer. >> russ, with all due respect, not bind. it wears you look at nine cars are treating with me with respect to. but i'm sorry man, i'm not buying it. >> that same day, atkins was charged with murder. when britney founded atkins wasn't custody it was only one person she wants to tell. >> the first neck and my mind was i need to get my dad. and i just said, they got him. and it would mean they got? i said he's been indicted, he's

in custody, and my dad just cried. he just kept saying, thank you god. thank you. this is what i wanted my whole life. >> but brittani knew her fight for justice was far from over. >> you have to suffer the trial. >> yes, and i will be there, every second of it. because, you know, nobody else is ever been there. and you know it is a cold case file? it is still mostly circumstantial. it is a tough case to make. >> but i feel, in my heart, if people listen to the facts, there is facts, -- >> but to the jury doesn't say that way and he walks. are you okay with that? >> i am not. but i'm not going to stop my opinion, my heart, everything he killed my mom. i need to pay for what he did. >> coming up. no dna, fingerprints, no eyewitnesses. >> it was kind of shocking to

stop and look and say, would actually do we have? >> i knew that the prosecution had a heart problem. >> later, someone will help to get in the car that night tells her story. >> when you think happened? when dateline continues. k happened k happened when ♪ i'm the latest hashtag challenge. and everyone on social media is trying me. i'm trending so hard that “hashtag common sense” can't keep up. this is going to get tens and tens of views. ♪ but if you don't have the right auto insurance coverage, you could be left to pay for this... yourself. get allstate and be better protected from mayhem for a whole lot less.

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the internet doesn't have to be duckduckgo is a free all in one privacy app with a built in search engine, web browser, one click data clearing and more stop companies like google from watching you, by downloading the app today. january, 2016 in northern ohio. duckduckgo: privacy, simplified. winter settles in, ice, gray sky is black and the state. gloom hung over the prosecutor's office to, where paul dobson, and his fellow prosecutor gwen howe gebers, considered their long shot case against russell adkins. >> it was kind of shocking to stop and, say what exactly do we have? >> but they didn't have stuck out. no crime scene photos, no dna, no strong motive. but, but they did have spurred

them forward. the new autopsy, and a fresh determination to seek justice they believed was long overdue. >> and, so it came to pass the 33, years and four months after her mother was found beside the side of the road, brittani stork was entering marble hallways the wood county courthouse, she'd spent so much of her life trying to figure out what it happened to her mother. and now, the moment of truth had arrived. >> the defendant, russell adkins, did purposely cause the death of dana rosendale. >> the prosecution's opening statement was simple, common sense and science would prove that russell adkins was a lawyer and a killer, who created a story about a tragic car accident to cover his tracks. >> deb, are you familiar with dana rosendale? >> i am. >> dana's sister deb took the stand talk about her little sister, forever 19 years old. >> she loved life, she loved people, she loved her family. she loved her little girl.

>> was a story that the prosecutors want to elicit from you? >> when they wanted me to do was, basically, talk about who dana was, how she was as a little girl growing up. >> they had to make her presence in the courtroom. >> absolutely. and one of the things that is critical, for the prosecutors, was i witnessed injuries. they wanted me to give a very detailed description of what i witnessed that day, when i arrived at the hospital. deb told the jury, it was obvious to her the data had not been injured in the car accident. >> she didn't have one abrasion, she did not have one road burn, she had nothing but the swollen side of her face, and i will never forget that for the rest of my life. >> you are emotional, that, on the stand. >> extremely emotional. extremely.

it's like i'm 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. >> the prosecution's next witness, it was that, empty ron billings who had seen dane's body with her own eyes -- he told her an accidental fall made no sense him either. >> the shoes she was wearing where the clock, style and one was still on, and one was right next to her body. and they weren't scuffed up either. >> another thing the prosecutor wanted the jury to understand, was how many times atkins had changed his story about that night. detective bratton told jurors about his story number one, that he'd been a good samaritan who stop to help dana. >> he stated that he was driving south, and seen something in the roadway. >> then, the detective testified came russell adkins

story number, to dana had been in his car that included a broken door, the detectives told the jury that he didn't buy it. he checked out the car for himself. >> what did you observe in doing? that >> i didn't observe any problems. >> finally, there was russell adkins story number three, prosecutors argued. when you came up with a new detail how did the back of her d get caved in? >> the pipe from the mailbox of his there. >> the problem, was the paramedics said there is no mailboxes near where her body was found. >> but, if russell adkins was lying about when made it an, accident prosecutors needed to tell the jury what really happened, when evidence was there for more, here is the heart of the prosecution's case, forensics. >> this comes as a case about science. >> if the science in, work and the jury didn't understand it was going to be a nightmare. >> dr. barnett, the corner had performed the autopsy, told the

jury that with the help of a forensic anthropologist, she had been able to get a better look at dana skull. >> i saw fractures, and the pattern of fractures only after the bone was cleaned. with three impact patterns, three distinct patterns. >> and what were the? causes >> a beating. >> some sort of blunt instrument, unknown. >> absolutely. >> there were three impacts on the skull, no question? >> no question, and this was not at all consistent with falling out of the car. not at all, not in my experience. >> why shaped incision. >> it was gruesome testimony for brittani to sit through. >> they tell you, this may be the, day anyway want to step outside. >> they did, -- you do realize we are gonna show some of the pictures, her injuries. if you don't think that you want to see, it and might be the time to go out. i said, no i'm from here from the beginning to the end, every, second a matter what. >> a large area of bruising -- >> but what had caused these

terrible injuries? the prosecution at a theory. >> what we believe happened was that, on the way home, he may have tried to do something to dana that she didn't want him to, do 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. as she is laying on the ground, he struck her at least two more times, and fractured her skull. >> and, the prosecution at a possible murder weapon they wanted the jury to hear about. they called a former patrol officer to the stand. two days after dane's body was found, he had stumbled on something a few feet from the place where africans said he had turn his car around. >> i found the backside, the back end of a pool cue. and it appeared to have, i substance on it, that i thought

possibly could've been blood. >> could a pull up you have been the murder weapon? prosecutors asked the jury to listen to what russell adkins had to say about it. >> did you use to have a poll queue that you carried in a car? -- >> it was at the bar. >> he never had one in the car that night? >> no. >> some of the indentations on the skull, are consistent with, like, the fat end of a bull q. and the funny thing about that is, that the end of a poll q was found where you said he got down on the phone. >> i am going for that, i did not do that. she fell out of my car, dude. >> did you know that in fact, it was the pool cue that he carried? >> we can't say, 100 percent. but, circumstantial evidence and coincidence says that he went down to that location, turns around, and in a field

nearby, a pool cue just happens to show up. >> so, nearly 34 years on, have the prosecutors painted a clear enough picture for the jury of what they believed happened that night? >> did they do, it in your opinion. 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 in themselves. >> the defense team was about to lay into the prosecution's case, with a celebrity scientist, and a bucket full of doubt. case, with a celebrity scientist, and i didn't win the lawsuit, but everybody knows i wrote that song. flo? gosh, it's been forever. you look fantastic. doubt.

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the ice and snow into the courthouse where russell atkins, the man accused of killing her mother, was on trial. she had about to sit through every moment. so two had russell akins friends. they took turns back in the courtroom benches behind the bouncer. >> i've got to get and said we gotta go in there and show these people that russell would never do that. >> once before, the same friends that don't a benefit to help raise money for the bouncers legal funds. >> people just broadened food, there were probably five different people that got up and played. music just so many that really had nothing but they all pull together whatever they had to offer. >> she would've her former lover was being targeted because he was a biker. but she says his path and where people thought about was as a person was irrelevant. >> but 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. >> i can defensive tierney, no abroad, couldn't agree more. >> i francisco they got the case was it's a 1982 case. the must've been a dna hit. something has been discovered. some dna match. and of course there was nothing. appointee the sizing is opening argument had russell construct. >> bond forsman lost or destroyed several pieces of evidence. >> macaroni's partner drilled into the prosecution witnesses, challenging their 30 year old memories. >> we don't remember worlds fat? ? >> no, i can tell you the exact spot. >> i don't remember. i mean, it was, 30 some years ago. >> as for the return detective, bob breton, the defense got him to conceive just how much evidence was missing. >> as it relates to the clothes,

the pool cue, any photos, map of the scene that was made that night, all that information is gone. is that correct? >> that's would have been informed, yes. >> and the defense question detectives account of checking out atkins passenger car door. he did note in the police report. >> is anywhere in that report where you state i went out to the car i, inspected the car, i sat in the car, i opened the door. is there anywhere in that report? >> no it is not. >> just to be assessed the defense was the prosecution theorize murder weapon. that now longwell spooky. there is nothing looking the polluted russell against. zip. >> you can tell the story that pool cue came from russell adkins vehicle. >> no i cannot. >> it didn't matter anyway they said. because there's no blood on it. >> you set them off that test material that was found on the stick and you became aware

there was not blood. >> negative four. blood >> negative four hair? >> yes. >> what's more, it wasn't just that there was no evidence lincoln russell advance to the murder. the defense pointed out the only forensic evidence investigators uncovered excluded him. after the second autopsy, investigators had said they illustrative quipping's to the state crime lab. >> the male dna under fingernails was not mister atkinson's? >> that is correct. >> former believable, the defense said, was that can story of an accident. >> he has insisted september 1982, he didn't do anything, she fell from his car. that is not changed at all. >> he couldn't believe broadside can support the defense said, his actions that seem to speak for themselves. >> frankly, it doesn't make sense that someone who had just murdered someone's been going to go door to door, at three in the morning, pounding on doors.

trying to get someone to call someone come help. >> when you saw that the scene? >> correct. >> and at the crack the prosecution's case was decides. the defense was more than happy to make this a case of dueling science. >> you are there is gonna be a battle of science. expert versus expert. >> yes. >> the corner from the rich autopsy was that, but the defense brought in its own expert to look at today's. and if weighty rest miscounted, expert doctor warner smith had the edge. he had performed or supervised more than 62,000 autopsies. >> renown for his work in cases like the jfk is asked nation. and more recent sensational cases like casey anthony. doctor sports had even written the textbook for forensic pathologist. and he described everything the corner had to say. >> and doctor barnett's opinion, that these fractures that we see in this photo war caused by

three different impacts? do you agree with that opinion? >> no. what conclusion can you draw about how these fractures in these injuries were caused. >> one impact on a very hard flat surface. that is my opinion. >> dr. smith said decide showed russell had guns have been telling the truth. they had hitter head on the road after falling out of a car. >> well she said there is no other injuries hyundai's body. the original autopsy identified three small aberrations honorable central there's. spit said, those bruises mattered. >> then ration's were significant to him? that abrasions the elbow on the shoulder of decorative a fall. >> images say this. this was a weapon, this whole thing will look different. >> not just like your county person but dr. smith has got a lot of credential, a lot of autopsies, a lot of history. >> the concern is that the jury

buys the flash and doesn't listen to the science. >> but before the jury could mall over the science, it had to take into account the story of the only other person in the car that night. they dispersed front, proxy, who will tell her story in public for the first time. coming up, she was my best friend, who are gonna raise our kids together. >> proxy says dana wasn't danger, even before she left with a nightclub. >> there was commotion going on inside the bedroom. better more open, he came out, debra said -- as she walked out and she had marks honored stuff. when dateline continues. marks honored stuff. marks honored stuff. can dramatically improve symptoms... rinvoq helps tame pain, stiffness, swelling. and for some...rinvoq can even significantly reduce ra fatigue. that's rinvoq relief. with ra, your overactive

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are thousands of years old. fire crews have said straight sprinklers to trying protect the trees. and disparate airline --

clear lights as the flight from tampa to atlanta had made a safe landing when one of the brakes overheated. the plane was total gator all passengers got off safely. now, back to dateline. one woman had been had they inside the night she was fatally injured. her best friend, roxie. it was she would watch dana drive off into the night with russell atkins. making him, the last person seen but they know that night. naturally, that bedrock will testify at trial. but, investigator kindred knew that calling roxie to the stand was a gamble. >> i think would be safe to say that proxy had told the same story since 1982. but i also felt that maybe there was a little bit more there. >> there are founders you thought cursory? >> yeah. >> but you weren't going to be able to crack them? >> no. >> the judge agreed with rocks request not to video her court

testimony. but iraqi later decided to tell us her story directly. it was her way, she said, to talk to brittany. her best friend's daughter. >> my heart breaks for her. i wish we could just see mina differently. because she sees me is one of the bad people, and i'm not. >> box of so much to share. about her close friendship with data. that made britney's baby book together. even top but raising their has close friends. but it wasn't to be. moxie said she was at dana's hospital bedside in her final days. she was the one who did her makeup at the funeral. >> talking to for the very last time. do moran makeup. just like we always did. and i constructed by. laying there on the steel table. >> your friend data? >> my friend data. i miss her. >> rockies haunted by her memories of the night she last saw her friend. seeing dane across the dance

floor, here across a, the bouncer was giving them a lift home. >> so when you get the car. he said don't forget. i said, i know. we had to go through the driver side. because the patients or cider was broke. >> condo peanut? >> you could. but to make a close correctly, yet the kind of lifted up and close it. >> was it commonality that he had a car with a blown door? >>. >> roxie said could be would happen next could be the key to the mystery. quinter rocks, the bouncer stopped at her house for us and dana got accused bathroom. then she helped him get back into the car. through what your members as the faulty passenger door. >> so i want drought there and i put on the car and i close the door and i talk to later. i never seen a lot. >> the beach or self up, roxie, about that door? and with the closed correctly? >> i thought about that for a long time. for a long time. >> what do you think happened? >> i think a lot. i think was a freak accident.

>> but there is more territory. if she was wrong, and data was murdered, rocks was sure the bouncer didn't do it. even though investigators eliminated tobias suspect. roxie still wonders about the boyfriend. she told disdain had confided in her just how bad the relationship with toby had become. >> anything that happens to me it's toby. >> while. >> yes. >> she said that? >> was it mental -- >> it was mental, physical. >> something she saw with their own eyes, roxie said, when she went to meet dana before they went dancing that night. there was commotion going outside the bedroom, bedroom door opened, he came out and run and said now you can go out. she walked out chad marks on hard stuff. roxie said painted told her something horrific. that kobe had not only been heard that evening, he had assaulted her to. this was the bombshell testimony that proxy gave on the witness stand. something the prosecution team

hadn't heard before. >> how much damage to tear case? because now maybe got someone else who has i thing against a. >> just didn't make sense to. it doesn't fit well we knew. she fell out of the car or was -- because he was the last one with her. >> he was a terrible thing for birdie to hair butter that. but she didn't buy it for a second. >> my mom was the one that would put up with that kind of stuff. yeah, they fought, i've heard the stories. but if my dad beater and assaulted her before she went out. she would be the fought back or the cops had been there. because she would've happened or not. >> there's something roxie told us when she sat down with us. something she didn't testify about a trial. she says that an angry toby showed up the club that night looking for data. it is a claim that investigator kinder set is not cooperated by any other witnesses. still, rocky says it is possible toby could've track them down later that night. attacking data after she fell from the bouncer scar. while akins went out looking

for help. >> he had enough time to summer head and outside that road. and then we got. because alibis fortress away from her body. that's his alibi. >> prosecutor thompson says this theory about kobe is impossible. toby of course denies everything. >> you heard the stories that you were there that dietary saying that's baloney? >> that's total crack. >> little did she say you are there that night but she says that you violently assaulted data. royal that happen? >> no, not at all. not at all. >> that's a rocky story? >> that's iraq story. >> britney wonders why her mother's best friend so adamantly defends atkins. amanda proxy has always told police was just a casual acquaintance. and yet, there's a note in the police file that atkins might have been rocks boyfriend back then. but you told dana's mother they were dating. >> clearly, issuing thing between you and restaurants? >> absolutely, not ever. >> he's just a guy.

sir not covering for him and do anything? >> absolutely not. she was my best friend. we are gonna raise our kids together. no way but i ever, ever -- >> if he had involved there's absolutely no way. no way. >> what would the jury make of roxie and all those other accounts about that night so long ago. after five days of testimony the jury was set off to deliberate. britney stork prayed along the only road to find justice for her mother. and tua races suspicion hanging over her father said, was almost over. coming up. how dana herself finally got to tell her story. >> it's a clear second the process when he said i want to have your mom there. >> it was a weighty conversation for me to have with them to say it is my intention to re-exam her body. >> when dateline continues. intention to “hashtag common sense” can't keep up.

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the trial hadn't been even easy for them to sit through. the autopsy photos, the expert testimony. brittani inert and deb had entered it together. >> how did you take care of one another? >> there are a lot of tears, there was a lot of prayers. strength, inner strength. she might be a little bit more strong than me, she is a lot like dana. >> they waited together in a courthouse lobby, as the jury is deliberated. >> i know they have a really tough case, because of all the evidence, it was circumstantial. and i'll tell you, the longer it went throughout the day, i started to get concerned. you know, i tried to put myself in that position to actually see if we had enough evidence to convict russell adkins. after they've been out for more than five hours, the jurors filed back into court with disturbing, news they couldn't reach a decision.

>> and the judge sent them back out, but only an hour later, they returned again. still deadlocked. >> that said, we will declare a hung jury. >> you had pushes thing for so long, did you think that was all there never been? >> in that second, i kept thinking, oh my, gosh is he getting, out is it over? >> fear, disappointment, exhaustion. brittani 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 we spoke to, they did not believe for a second that dana fell out of the car. but, for a few of the jurors, they were not confident of how those injuries got on dana's head. >> 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 for, that you need

brittany's permission. >> it was a weighty conversation for me to have with them, to say it's my intention to re-examine her body. and, to keep her skull out, and presented to the jury. >> the prosecutor believed that dana's skull would do something that the photos and diagrams couldn't, enable the corner to show the jurors this distinct places she had been struck. >> the damage was visible, as you look at the base of her skull >> you think that's the most telling of the three. >> she would've had to have been bend down, with someone striking it from up here, in order to get into that area, and do that damage to her skull. >> the coroner had some reservations about that approach. >> i thought it was a good idea, but i was hesitant, because i knew that if dean's skull was submitted into evidence, it might end up in a locked locker somewhere for the rest of

eternity, and i couldn't see that >> this is where some people believe the sole resides >> i know. >> is there a moment where you said, brittany, enough is enough, let my poor mother spirit rest here. >> it took me a second to this process -- and to my dad to tell me, it's okay. >> and so, in april, 2016, brittani and her aunts stood by as dana's grave was opened up yet again. >> i'm trying to be strong. i have been wanting this for so long. and, for most people it's bring everything back for me, is just anger, i'm mad. >> the second trial began a few months later, brittany's family an atkins supporter gather once again at the courthouse. >> was that coming tough coming out the elevators, together and see him in the courtroom. >> it was very, tough but there are several of them who came

out to me and apologized we had to go through this, and go through the pain. >> i brittany watched as a prosecution called the same staff witness to the stand, the investigator, the medic. >> i kind of stayed with her and held her hand. >> this time around, jurors saw with dana's injuries, not on the slide, but etched in bone. to show you the jury what they had, found the prosecution brought a box to court. inside, dane's actual skull. >> this has got to be god awful for you in the family, they are walking around a courtroom before a jury, with her sister skull, saying this is the evidence you need. >> it was pretty hard for me. it seemed like forever, i mean forever, hours >> it was there to be seen in the photographs, but something about actually seen dana there >> yes, she was part of the drywall. >> she became her best witness, didn't she? >> she did, she did.

she absolutely did. >> the prosecutors weren't the only ones with something new for the jury. the defense had been fine-tuning its case to, they showed the jury photos from a french, case where a man had fallen out of a mini van >> his fracture was clearly bigger than miss rosen deals, but it's too similar to be something more than just a mere coincidence. >> doctors fits took the stand and said is more confident than ever in his opinion. >> i believe this is a single impacts, when she either fell or jumped out of a moving vehicle. >> and of course, roxie was there to. once again, she scored points for both sides, the prosecution. >> did you ever see anything in mr. russell adkins carr? >> -- there is a poster that was, cut a piece of metal on it. >> and points for the defense. >> you are aware of the difficulties with the store? >> yes, yes. >> roxie once again raise the

specter of a number suspect, when she told her story of toby's fight with dana. >> it was a physical fight, and a rape, is that correct? >> yes, yes. >> the man on trial sat at the defense table, as the scene laid out before her, he couldn't believe it had come to this. his fate, in the hands of a jury for the second time. he listened as the dueling experts pardoned court, and he'd been silent through it all, until now. >> what did you think about the cops, the prosecutors? >> coming up. >> you are not chatting back and forth about the night? and you're not making a move on or? >> no. >> russell russell adkins talks. >> and after three decades into, trials a verdict. >> everyone kind of started scrambling. >> that's when your stomach starts turning, and you're thinking, jeez, do we do everything we could? >> when dateline continues. everything we could? >> whe

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than three decades to reflect on the night that he gave dana rosendale a ride home. until this day, he's adamantly said he did nothing wrong. >> i heard the door closed, and she was gone. i mean, that fast. that's all i can really say, i don't know nothing more. >> russell adkins didn't testify in his own defense of his first or second trial, but he did agree to sit down with us to talk about his case. >> you didn't bludgeon her head, when she got out? >> no, never. >> he, maintains her fatal wounds must have happened accidentally. >> how would you explain this ugly injury to the base of her skull? >> the mailboxes where there, or street signs, or paper boxes, you know? >> velocity, momentum, carrying her into the pool? >> like i said, i didn't even

see her go out of the car. i don't know if you are not headfirst, backwards, jumped out. was getting sick. i didn't know, i don't see all that. >> you're not chitchatting back and forth? >> no. >> and not making a move on? or >> no. >> russell adkins says he's not guilty, he did nothing to harm or that night. doesn't the nothing to, doubt he is guilty of changing his story. let's talk about these inconsistencies in her story, those emts, there those officers. there you tell them, i have no idea who she was, why she's there, not that she was present in your car. why did you leave that important fact right there? you are concerned about your own skin? >> yeah, no. my persona with the police is, -- whatever, i give them a story. i believe me alone. >> that wasn't the only time russell story evolved. the story about her hitting the

milwaukee, pull doesn't seem plausible. is that something you invented to explain? it >> now, there were all up and down the side of that road. >> wouldn't have been better to say, i didn't see better. trying to solve, is trying to answer all of, things that crater problem free? >> well, it probably did. but, i was trying to help, i wasn't trying to be a bad guy. >> russell adkins so she had nothing to hide, then or, now he stayed in the area after dane's death, carrying on with his life until his arrest all those years later. >> it does happen, to your personal life there. >> it just stopped, lost everything i hand, didn't have much but, it is paying the bills. we russell adkins thought we would all blow over, soon he didn't think was strong enough to go to trial. but he was wrong. >> wouldn't you think about the, cops the prosecutors? >> hell-bent on putting me in prison. handled it incorrectly all the way around, in my book.

>> a trial, russell adkins side only could see was what was missing, important evidence like his car, he wished he could show it to the jury. -- whether she's leaner filling with a door handle, the state of that door. >> was the biggest part of. it >> yet, jurors had to rely on testimony alone. and so it went for much of his case. >> with so little hard evidence, russell adkins said all they had against him is a made-up theory about what he did, nothing more. >> that's how you come up with this murder charge, off of a theory? everything you see on tv, is i've got blood, analysis the weapon, this, blah blah. >> so, it's just a theory that you made a clumsy move on a drunk girl in a car? and peter brains in? >> that's what they say. >> but russell's frustrations did change the fact that he was on trial for murder a second time. sitting in court near dana's daughter, the catalyst fertile. >> there is your daughter, accusing you.

>> i can't say the words. >> but she's one who got in that courtroom, right? >> yes, pretty much. >> you are his nemesis. >> mom. >> how do you and not come along, he would've gone along with his life? >> i never go, away no matter what, i will never stop fighting for my mom. >> at the courthouse, all that was left was for brittani to wait once again. the sunset one more time with the over the wood county courthouse, as jurors began to deliberate in the second murder trial of russell adkins, and then twilight gave way to black's night, upstairs, russell adkins's friends were waiting to. >> i took a nap on a bench, i mean really, and when i went there i thought it was like i hadn't woke up from a nightmare. >> word came in the middle of the night, just after 1 am. the jury had a verdict.

>> and everyone kind of started scrambling, and i started texting my family. i think that's where it, sent in anchorage leaking, because i was just like, that means it's one way or another. not that it's gonna be like last time, where they don't know where it's unsure, i'm gonna find out neither a he's going away for a very long time, if not forever where he's going to home we -- >> would do you think? >> you, know at that time that's when your stomach starts churning, and you are thinking, cheese, we do everything we could? >> we brittany closed our eyes in a silent pet prayer, and waited. the family passed cans, as a judge give the verdict. >> we the jury find the defendant guilty of murder. >> brittany doubled over, finally feeling the weight of it all. >> when i've heard, guilty i started balling, it's almost like i didn't even hear that word. it was just so crazy, you know,

i was happy, but it was just all i am oceans that they kept in the entire trial, came out at once. >> the defense team couldn't make sense of it. >> this is not a case that should've come back with the verdict. >> unbelievable, unbelievable. on? what there is so much doubt. >> we russell adkins was led away, an angry man. >> and they pronounce you guilty of this murder. >> right. >> take me into your head, what's going on? >> why? why did that happen? >> did you think you are done, this is life? over >> yes. >> a few years later he wept, as the judge sentenced him to lie from president. >> to brittany, the verdict felt doubly significant, i got justice for my, mom and i got justice for my dad. so people would stop saying he killed my mom. >> because he really had to agendas, here truth be told. we wanted to have the person who killed your mom come to accounts, and you also one of the court of public opinion to

let your father go. >> but, it would soon be clear that lady justice hadn't had our final say, not just yet. far from it. hadn't had our final coming up. >> i was absolutely shocked. i was shocked. >> the end, again. >> everything just came crashing down. >> when dateline continues. crashing down. >> when dateline continues

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every move you make, every step you take, i'll be watching you. the internet doesn't have to be duckduckgo is a free all in one privacy app with a built in search engine, web browser, one click data clearing and more stop companies like google from watching you, by downloading the app today. after years of fighting for the duckduckgo: privacy, simplified. mother she knew only through pictures, brittany stork felt she had a degree of peace. russell adkins have been felt to be guilty, and sentenced to life in prison. brittany, she'd always keep her close to her heart. >> shall be on my mind every, day on a keeper with. me >> meanwhile, the man convicted of killing brittany's mother, was now facing a bleak

reality. life behind bars. >> you really don't have anything, you just follow orders, if you don't follow, orders either going to the hole or get the shake kicked out of you. >> but russell adkins wasn't given up yet, the public defender said he would take up his case -- basic constitutional right to a fair trial. in the three decades that passed before russell adkins those charged with murder, key witnesses died, memories faded, and mountains of evidence went missing. this unfairly damaged a case, his lawyer said, and meant it russell adkins could not properly defend himself. >> it was a fundamentally unfair trial, because of the 34 year wait. and then they expect mr. russell adkins to be able to defend himself, with all this stuff is gone. >> the defense acknowledged it might have been justified, if there is new and then advancement like a new dna hit that led to a break in the case but, there is nothing like that here, he said.

the only difference maker had been the new coroner's report. >> no question they did a more thorough examination, but the evidence upon which the -- was available to them in 1982. >> could've done it back then. >> forensic anthropology was around the, 80s really got going in the 90s, was around in the 2000s. and yet, they waited in till 2015. >> brittany said she expected an appeal, and wasn't too worried. >> they were just arguing little aspects of why they thought the case should be thrown, out and to me was more silly putty stuff, as, that little thing would be no reason why he should get away with what he did. >> the prosecution argued that the new autopsy, and a thorough cleaning of the skull, had made use of advancements that had been after the early 80s, and was that the lead a 12 person jury to convict russell adkins. >> the prosecutors felt pretty confident that they presented a pretty good case.

both sides briefly made arguments before the judges, and then settled in to wait for a ruling. days turned into weeks, weeks into months. finally, on june 29th, 2018, the court of appeals ruled on russell adkins's faith. >> the appellate court overturned. it >> overturned the conviction. >> yes. threw me out of prison. within ten minutes of that phone call, i was out the front door. >> in a stunning reversal, the court said russell adkins was right, the longer the lay actually caused him actual prejudice, without justification. there would be no chance to retry's case. >> i was absolutely shocked. i was shocked. >> that's when i finally broke down, after all the years. i thought, we were finally getting that piece, and then justice, and been able to move on, and then everything just came crashing down. >> one thing in particular

struck a nerve with and bat of, the court decision they wrote that fading memories may have impacted the accuracy of testimony so many years later. depp says, in her case, that simply isn't true. >> i wouldn't leave the hospital, because dana was, unconscious i would go to sleep thinking about, that was the last thing i'd ever see of her. so, i will never forget that. never. >> now, in their eyes, a murderer is walking free. >> russell adkins has been able to live his life, i have no sister, my children had no aunt. my niece had no mother, and i lost my mother. because, when dana died, my mother died right along with her. she might have been here in her body, but she died that same day. and, it's unfortunate, but the justice system is so -- i have no words.

>> nothing the appellate court or anything anyone would say can change that. russell adkins, yes a free man, but also feeling a sense of injustice over what happened. >> are you related to be out of prison, a bitter about what happens? >> both. better at the whole system, but elated to be out. >> when you're gonna do with his take to freedom? >> basically, get why facts whereas that, you know. fishing, hunting. things like that, you know? surviving, basically. >> despite the outcome, brittany says she doesn't feel better effort was all for nothing, she hopes that her drive for truth may inspire others. >> if you have a feeling in your gut, and in your heart, fight, and don't ever give, a just fight. >> through everything, now brittany grew to love the mothership really knew in life. her baby blanket is now in her mom's coffin, and she wears her

mom's rings every day. they are close, these two. >> i will never have regrets from pushing this, it's my mom story, and nobody else could tell it. my mom story, this sunday, nervous democrats. >> to say this president has not shown urgency is just false. >> growing criticism from democrats that president biden needs to show some fun. >> we want the president to crawl into every corner and say, what can we do to help. >> to guns. >> if you are angry today, i'm here to tell you be angry. i'm furious. >> to the economy. mr. biden says his options are limited. and republicans are standing in the way. >> that's why my plan is not finished and why the results aren't finished either. >> i will talk to commerce