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tv   Dateline  MSNBC  August 11, 2024 1:00am-2:00am PDT

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bill nielsen: a lot of stephanie's close friends and family didn't even know what was going on, and i knew of a couple of events over the years, and let's say it was only two. keith morrison: yeah. it only took three, and she's dead. keith morrison: and so, say her friends, take some advice. heed the warning. don't hide the secret. jennifer voxakis: that's why i'm talking about it now. and hopefully, just one woman would have the courage to stand up and say, i'm being abused. i'm living in fear. i'm living with secrets and i need to stand up and be bold. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. [music playing] . i'm craig melvin. and i'm natalie morales. and this is "dateline."
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new would want to hurt her. how could this happen? how could this happen to someone that we knew? homecoming queen was 18 when she disappeared. everybody sweetheart. >> people like her. >> reporter: was at her boyfriend? they had fought before. >> did you verbally abuse her? >> yes. >> physically abuse or? >> yes. >> reporter: or was it another man in her life, they had been together the night she died. more than 13 years would go by as hannah's family fought for justice. two possible suspects.
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>> did your kid kill her? >> it was very intense. >> reporter: with her ever be justice for hannah hill? hello and welcome to "dateline". hannah hill was an outgoing teenager with a future as bright as a smile. then suddenly, she went missing. when her body was found a week later, police the road in an two potential suspects. her boyfriend and another young man who caught hannah's eye. but to crack this case, detectives would have to unravel the clues, held in a mysterious black bag. one appeared seemingly out of nowhere. here is dennis murphy with the night hannah hill disappeared.
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>> reporter: she made big entrances. >> she could walk in the room and light up a place. she could make hill that's a whole room smile. >> reporter: it was her sudden disappearance, gone from her house just like that. that enshrouded young hannah heal in mystery. >> she was seen last wednesday and anyone with information to contact the police department. >> reporter: she was 18 years old, days from turning 19 and seem to be a former homecoming queen in the pajamas from akron, ohio. it is too late now but you were she could answer one question. why did you leave the house recently that night? and her brother justin does not know. >> she got dressed in said a will go out for a little bit and i love you. and that was it. and never seen her again.
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>> reporter: the thing was the next morning, thursday in may of 1999, was going to be a red letter day for hannah. she would drive her used car she was proud to be paying for the first day of full-time secretary work at the company that makes atms. her boyfriend of more than a year, brad o to swing by his place in the morning to pick him up . and he says, she was a no-show. >> i woke up with a feeling that something was not right and i paged her and no answer and she always called me back. always. and she did not. >> reporter: the kids relied on pages back then, cell phones and text messaging were often the future for hannah's circle of friends. her mom was a homemaker and her dad was scratching at work as a boilermaker in the smokestacks of the rust belt. dad loved his girl. >> hannah was a bubbly kid.
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she always loved everybody. >> reporter: she liked the spice girls and signed her letters with tiny pink hearts. a nice kid these friends of hannah also. >> she was an easy-going person. someone you could be friends with easley.>> a great friend. >> reporter: tara was the best friend forever. >> she was so fun and silly and funny. >> no doubt she was a pretty, young girl. >> she was a hopeless romantic and she was found to try to find her prince charming. >> reporter: not every teenage girl has the same definition of prince charming. hannah's boyfriend brad was a high school dropout with more than a few rough edges but by all accounts, hannah was smitten. >> her one true love. she really loved him and was really happy. >> reporter:, brad, remembers
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like yesterday being captivated by the girl at the party with the lively brown eyes. they quickly became a couple. did you think i was lucky? >> i did. we used to get compliments and people would say you guys look so cute together. >> reporter: but by late spring, 1999, hannah spence family thought she was growing distant. they were worried that brad was talking her into a world where she did not belong. >> she trusted everybody. >> reporter: all the best and everybody. did not have radar on? >> no. that is where we differed. >> reporter: now hannah hill had finished into the night. out there somewhere but where. thursday to into friday in the close friends were frantic.>> brad and i are calling each other back and forth and i am calling the hills and i am pitching her. and she is not calling. that was not like her. >> we are freaking out now and we make thousands of flyers. and we are passing them out, have you see my sister? have you see my sister?
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and hearing nothing. >> reporter: brad o it a step further. he went to the police station on that friday, the first of several visits. >> my girlfriend is missing and it does not seem like the police are doing much. >> reporter: long days became longer nice with no word from hannah. by tuesday evening, she had been missing nearly a week, the police finally turned to the media. >> in 18-year-old girl has finished in tonight police are asking for your help. >> when it came across the tv she was missing, i got really real. >> reporter: the next morning a breakthrough. news police had located hannah's car. was parked on a quite dead-end street called cain road. harry hughes with the akron pd race to the scene and detectives pop the trunk. it was worse than he expected. >> reporter: you have seen a lot of stuff and a lot of years and how does this fit? in the awful things you
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encounter. >> sickening. it is something you cannot on scene. you will see that for the rest of your life. >> reporter: the body of hannah hill had been found naked from the waist down, posed with her shirt pulled up. >> at 7:30 this morning, we found hannah hill. >> reporter: pictures of her car being towed away made the evening news. >> devastated. how could this happen? >> i kind of blacked out and every emotion hit me all at once. >> reporter: what had happened to hannah? and why. >> an even bigger question,? that killed hannah? police quickly focused on one man, and his boyfriend brad. coming up -- >> was in a drug dealer? you like to chase of the girls? >> when "dateline" continues.
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dennis murphy: hannah hill was buried in a family plot in kentucky the day after what would have been her 19th birthday. hannah hill was buried in a family plot in kentucky the day after what would have been her 19th birthday. for her friends in akron, the quiet residential street were her car was found became a place to honor her all too brief life. >> we put ribbons around a nearby tree and in remembrance.
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>> reporter: for detectives the heat was on to find her killer. the akron police department was already facing intense scrutiny for taking a full week to find hannah's car. it sat abandoned in the night on cain road, just hours after hannah first is secured, residents began calling police to take a look. >> at least five neighbors called police that we have a car in our neighborhood that is totally unexplained. and you need to come out here. >> reporter: and was a reporter for the akron beacon journal. he said the neighbors saw car keys on the dashboard and hannah's name written in two places. and a black eye for the department. police came and ticketed the car but failed to make the connection. >> how could this car have sat there since wednesday and not be connected with this? >> i think that's -- entirely possible for a car to be parked for many days in the city. >> it somebody dropped the ball, captain? >> like i said, that is under investigation.
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>> was the investigation compromised because of the delay? the condition of the body and the forensic results? >> very possible. it gave time for whoever did this to cover his tracks. >> reporter: who did it? in the week after hannah had vanished come all the while her body in the trunk of her car undetected the police were trying to make sense of her boyfriend, brad o when detectives check them out with and his family, they got an ear full. >> mr. hill was never a fan of brad o like him. mr. hill, made no bones about it. >> when kids get something in the head, the more you try, the further they get away from you. >> reporter: hannah's friends saw things they did not like about brad. >> i probably told her she was better than that and she could do better. and he was not good for her. >> reporter: when they met him please is hit by brad's
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demeanor. before hannah's car was found, washington lisa, a police officer at the time was pulling we can duty when again to the station walked a fuming teenager, demanded to know what was being done to find his missing girlfriend. >> first impression, i did not like him. he was abrasive. >> reporter: brad's attitude was not the only thing to catch the officers i.>> i noticed scratches on him. and that raised eyebrows. >> reporter: lieutenant hughes was on duty that weekend. he made note of the angry boyfriend with the scratches. >> he has physical injuries and coming on like a house of fire. either he was completely innocent and concerned about his girlfriend and loved her, or he had done something and was going to use us as a tool. >> reporter: the detective said brad was physically that's a visibly upset and said he had been a bad boyfriend. jealous, controlling. >> he was a drug dealer and he
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liked to chase other girls. it takes you close to means, motive, opportunity. >> reporter: he had tough questions for brad. >> take off your shirt and we want full fingerprints and palm prince. >> reporter: is he saying slowdown? i want to talk to a lawyer. >> never want to said anything about an attorney, his rights. find microphone. whatever you need. >> reporter: thinking the awful day they discovered hannah's body. >> now we are peppering him, if it is not you, who? i want more information. give me something to go on. >> reporter: to detectives, brad was a puzzle. angry and abrasive on one hand and yet cooperative and seemingly distraught about hannah's death on the other.>> this did not click. >> reporter: questions world around brad in the hours after hannah's body was discovered.
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now the case was about to spin off in a new direction. investigators had obtained hannah's phone logs and learned she had made four calls on her last night. want we girlfriend, two to brad and another to a boy named, denny ross. does that mean anything? >> it does not mean anything. >> reporter: detectives learned that denny ross lived in a three bedroom apartment next to a pornography shop. they drove over and knocked on the door. >> he answers the door and has a phone in his hand. i am detective use and i would like to talk to you. and he said i have my attorney on the phone. that is a little different. coming up. but did that lead to murder? when "dateline" continues.
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dennis murphy: investigators looking into the murder of hannah hill had followed her phone logs to the doorstep of 20-year-old denny ross. ie investigators had baltimo foam on to the doorstep of 20- year-old denny ross. denny ross it turned out was a friend of hannah's boyfriend brad o the kids knew denny as a host at a nonstop fun house and crash pad. were you surprised hannah was hanging around with the crowd? >> no. we hang out with people who did not do great stuff but we thought it was -- not that was
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okay but we were not doing it so i guess we were pretty naove. >> reporter: denny was days into probation on a drug charge and asked to have his lawyer present when detectives arrive for a conversation. once a lawyer should up, detectives took out a tape recorder and began an interview. denny told the detective he stayed in the night hannah disappeared. but then volunteered an astonishing bit of information. >> that makes him the last known person to have seen her live. >> absolutely. yes. >> reporter: denny offered up a tip for the cops. to look at hannah's boyfriend, brad o
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>> reporter: but denny , not brad was suddenly the person the cops wanted to know a lot more about. at 3:00 and they return to denny 's in force with a search warrant and the officers charging up these exterior stairs said they heard a thud and it was not long before one of the found a garbage bag beneath denny 's window. in it, hannah's missing clothing. >> reporter: is that case closed? >> it is not case closed but it is a big factor. >> i always call that bag of evidence the key factor in this whole case. the magic bag. >> reporter: critics of the police work in a case like a local journalist, were skeptical. >> we did not buy it. why would keep a potential bag of evidence that could hang him , inside his apartment, for a full week?
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>> reporter: denny insisted he did not toss the bag out the window. his fingerprints were not found on it and it did not match any of the garbage bags he had at home. the opposite did not check the temperature of the bag and could not say if it had been outside for minutes or four days. still, the next day, denny was charged with hannah's assault and murder. >> breaking news. an arrest has been made in a murder of 18-year-old hannah hill. >> reporter: the arrest of good time denny was incomprehensible to hannah's friends. >> i cannot see why someone we knew want to hurt her. >> reporter: denny 's father said he was stunned. you tell me who your boy is. >> denny ross, a young kid who got himself in a situation by telling the truth. >> reporter: the father said denny was an average every kid and excited about a new job in internet marketing, not a killer . >> you would meet a person who
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does not stop smiling and it doesn't matter who you are, you will feel at home around him because he has a personality. >> reporter: the medical examiner ruled hannah's death homicide by asphyxiation sanctuary strangled to death but little else was clear. instance, they found semen inside the body during the autopsy but it was not useful because it degraded during the week her body laid in the trunk of her car. and then there were what critics are as investigative lapses. police never checked boyfriend brad o hannah disappeared. never checked her pager records, and never performed a chemical test on the carpet. the luminal test. >> the police investigators can spray a chemical on this alleged evidence and will luminous and show was blood and therefore can be tested. that was never done. >> reporter: visible blood spots were found on denny 's
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apartment walls put in the dozens of samples of blood and 5% for testing, none came back to hannah. no dna or blood. you rely she was killed their inability homicide but no trace of her.>> yes. >> reporter: nor was there a trace of denny in on hannah's car. despite the ambiguous evidence, in october, 2000, 21-year-old denny ross stood trial for the assault and murder of hannah hill. he pleaded not guilty and face the death penalty, if convicted. >> he beat her into submission so we could assault her. >> reporter: two young prosecutors argued their theory of the case that inside the department, denny had assaulted and killed hannah and they faced off about what the papers calling a million-dollar defense dream team hired by denny 's father. daily defense attorney was david from las vegas. >> the police rushed to denny and ignore everything else. >> reporter: the girl's mother with -- was called to the stand but not videoed.
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and it all came down to the contents of the trashbag found beneath the window. of all the dna tests run on hannah's clothing spotter with blood, only one came back to denny . a small semen stain other girls underwear. hardly proof of a crime, said denny 's lawyer. >> they are kids. they are fooling around. it does not mean he assaulted her. >> reporter: the case went to the jury and in the midst of deliberations came a stunning turn. the judge unexpectedly walked into the jury room and declared a mistrial. she said she took that drastic measure because she was getting a report that one of the drawers was talking about a lie detector test not in evidence. a lie detector test that hannah's boyfriend had taken and passed. and the judge said that was jury misconduct. >> the court finds that the jury is unable to fulfill the obligation required by law. >> reporter: the prosecution team was stunned.
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>> it was not a good day. >> reporter: nor was it a good day for the defense. >> everybody was brokenhearted. >> reporter: denny 's team was even more heartbroken to learn that when the judge interrupted the jurors they had already reached a decision on the major counts. i spoke with four jurors after the trial, and they said they had already signed and sealed the ballots on all the charges come except the lesser charge of manslaughter.>> not guilty. >> not guilty. >> reporter: denny had come also close to being included in hannah's murder. because jurors had voted in his favor, his lawyers went back to the courts to contest is being tried again on grounds of double jeopardy. >> how does one get tried again for a crime that he was found not guilty on? >> reporter: denny waited in jail for over a year while the courts try to sort out what to do with him . in september of 2001, he was released on a $1 million bond. >> it is great to be out.
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>> reporter: but his freedom would be short-lived. you will hear more about that later. for hannah's friends and family the shock of her violent death, followed by the inconclusive trial, took an enormous toll. brad o shadow of suspicion, with people still wonder if he had killed hannah. he tumbled deeper into drugs and even did time for robbing a bank. maybe hardest hit was hannah's mother. >> she went into a shell. i mean. they ripped our family apart. >> reporter: several years after hannah's murder, the figure of an angel appeared in a tree near where her car had been found. a small shrine to hannah's memory. and for hannah's best friend, it was not that she ever stopped thinking about her sweet friend, but found she could not talk about it. emotions all bottled up. hannah froze forever at 18. you went on with your life. and you have babies.
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she never got to do that, did she? >> no. >> reporter: the case was mostly in the deep freeze, making the glacial procession through the courts. seasons pass with no resolution. but that was about to change in startling fashion. coming up, a second trial, but at times it was hard to know exactly who was the defendant. was it denny ross? or hannah's boyfriend? when "dateline" continues. resv in people 60 years and older. arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. arexvy is number one in rsv vaccine shots.
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ukrainian forces posted a video that shows them taking control of a town near the russian border in response to the surprise attack, russia moved extra tanks, artillery and rocket systems to the region. now back to "dateline". welcome back to "dateline". jurors in the denny ross murder trial were deliberating when , in a stunning this, the judge declared a mistrial. after posting a $1 million bond, the defendant was released from prison. at least temporarily. soon prosecutors would have a second chance to take the case. this time, they would be armed with crucial new evidence and a bombshell witness. but could they prove denny ross was the killer ? here again is dennis murphy with, the night hannah hill disappeared.
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>> reporter: the trial of denny ross for assault and murder had collapsed . years past with the akron police department getting kicked in the teeth, producing the conviction with but so many called sloppy police work. >> people remember the case and it was known as a fumble. >> unfortunately, it is the latest remembered by most but defending ourselves is not what we are concerned with. solving the case is. >> reporter: with a team of detectives and prosecutors, he toiled away in hopes of a second chance at convicting denny ross. >> the case went careening into years of appeals in state from a federal, and the ohio supreme court. >> reporter: find the ohio supreme court overturned lower court decisions and ruled that
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denny ross could be retried for hannah's murder. 13 years after hannah's death, the second trial began. hannah's mother was dreading it, said her best friend, tara. >> she said i have to be there every day. and another was probably hard for her. that is just what she thought she had to do. >> reporter: these are the prosecutors who laid out the theory of the crime. nearly 70 witnesses were called. some of them testifying off- camera to things denny had told them over the years about hannah's death. yes, your honor. dennis murphy: this woman was a stripper back then and a regular at denny's place. for 12 years, she denied being there the night hannah died.
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but just months before the second trial, she changed her story, saying now she was there that night >> reporter: this woman was a stripper back then and a regular at denny's place. for 12 years, she denied being there the night hannah died. just months before the second trial, she changed her story. saying now she was there that night and had not spoken up earlier because she had been afraid. >> while you are there, what did you observe and hear and see? >> they were in the bedroom. >> did you know what was going on in the bedroom? >> i had a good idea. i knew they were messing around and i heard her make weird sounds. i don't want to be part of a crime scene. >> reporter: would you believe the kids? >> 10 or 13 years later i think you look at somebody for who they are when they come before you. the jury can believe some all or none of what the people testify to. >> reporter: and then there were expert witnesses like this pathologist who said dna testing had advanced so much of the years since anna's death,
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the now they could detect denny 's dna and blood droplets on hannah's pants discarded in the trash bag. and even on the t-shirt found on her body in the car.>> a profile, which is one of the cuttings, is consistent with denny ross. >> reporter: the new evidence, his blood on the victims clothing, seem to belie his account of two teenagers making out. kissing and stuff. >> there is not an exchange of blood unless it is violent. >> reporter: one of the most electrifying prosecution was misses was this woman who said she first met denny at a bar in 2004, five years after hannah's death . denny was out on bond at the time. she said she invited him back to her place where she says, he violently attacked her. >> how were his hands on your neck? >> from behind. he was checking me from behind and squeezing.
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until i could not breathe. i cannot breathe at all. i know i pass out a few times. >> what are you doing at this point? >> pretending i am dead hoping he cannot see me breathe. >> reporter: choked, battered and left for dead. the prosecution's implication was clear. is this what happened to hannah hill years before?>> people develop patterns of behavior. it is that we do, we form habits and killers in a different. >> reporter: the prosecutors knew that denny's lawyers would offer the jury an alternative killer in this trial. you would that be? brad o with them. to preempt the defense team the prosecutors put bride in the stand. it was a risky strategy. >> i was a heroin addict for quite some time. >> reporter: the story brad told of his relationship with this nice girl, hannah, was for sure a warts and all presentation. >> i was not a good boyfriend. >> could you explain to us what , not a good boyfriend, means?
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>> i was abusive. i abused her. >> verbally abuse her? >> yes. >> did you physically abuse her? please answer out loud. >> yes. >> reporter: brad testified days before hannah disappeared, they had had a big fight about hannah cheating on her. and said that is when she scratched him. >> does that picture fairly and accurately represent scratches on your arm? >> yes. >> reporter: most painful with the fact that he it introduced hannah to denny the first place. >> but for you hannah hill would have never met denny ross . is that what you're saying?
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>> yes. >> do you blame yourself for hannah's mother? >> yes. >> do you still blame yourself? >> yes. >> did you kill hannah hill? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: prosecutors had their chance to show pride as on the killer put but defense attorneys would have their crack, and all or nothing cross- examination. coming up, did brad have a motive for killing hannah? maybe something he had heard in her secret diary. when "dateline" continues. in people 60 years and older. arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain.
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for 13 years of talking hearings, appeals, and trials, denny ross always had one loyal person in his corner, his father alan. for 13 years, hearings appeals and trials, denny ross had one boil person in his corner, his father. did your kid kill hannah hill? >> no. >> reporter: in a moment that went bad? she is dead. that the body in the car and walk home. >> and make yourself a suspect by telling the police she was they are? no. no. my son did not do this. >> reporter: alan sees hannah showing up at denny 's apartment looking for a shoulder to cry on. the teenager upset that her
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boyfriend brad, the guy she recently scratched up had cheated on her. the father says the night unfolded just as denny had told the cops pulled out a little, kissed and stuff. and hannah left a few hours later. had someone been waiting below for her to leave the notorious party house? you say he was framed by the true killer >> that is pretty obvious. >> reporter: that is the theory that the defense attorneys to court. preparing for denny 's trial number two was a daunting task. >> it turned out to be a 13 year investigation. it was an awful lot of data. >> reporter: they insist denny is innocent. the fallout victim of all the heat that came down on the akron pd and it failed to find hannah's car. >> once they found a bag of her clothing outside the window, the case turned from an investigation into the death of hannah hill, into an investigation of denny ross. >> reporter: denny is lawyers told the jurors about the things that the police failed to do a check and his pitcher
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records or do a luminal test of denny 's place. they question how denny could have killed hannah in his apartment and left no trace of the murder. >> no blood. no excrement. nothing that belonged to hannah hill. and they say that is when she was murder. >> reporter: as for the so- called new blood evidence, denny's at any still jurors, those spots were so tiny they did not prove anything. and also challenge the notion that bleeding necessarily prove a violent encounter. >> we all get paper cuts, deputy? >> correct. >> mosquito bites. >> yes. >> reporter: the defense team challenge the credibility of prosecution witnesses in denny's circle. for instance, the former stripper who 12 years along had changed her story, now testifying she heard denny hurting hannah the day she died at the defense team got her to admit she had smoked a lot of hot that night and had a pattern of lying. even lying
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in a formal pretrial interview with denny 's lawyer. >> you decided it was better to lie to me , correct? >> yeah. >> in your best interest to live? >> yeah. >> reporter: we can do this woman who had electrified the court by saying denny had attacked and choked her, the defense attorneys have lost the pretrial prattle battle to keep up the stand. they insisted the matter what she had to say she cannot tell the jurors about what had happened. >> you know for hannah hill was between may 19th, 1999, at 9:00 p.m. until may 20th, 1999, at 2:00 a.m. >> absolutely not. >> i have no further questions. >> reporter: the defense attorney told the focus on the other witnesses was the prosecutors attempt to shift attention away from the true killer. >> the person who he still to this day believed killed hannah is her present, brad o alibi to where he was that night was that he was home watching television with his
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roommates . and they never interviewed inmates. >> reporter: now denny 's attorney would have a shot at the one man who could create reasonable doubt in their case. brad o they began by attacking his depiction of himself as a bad boyfriend.>> you were a bad person but also abusive. you hit this young girl. >> no. >> you slapped her and kicked her. >> no. >> reporter: he tried to trip them up on dates and times. >> did you said earlier today, if i get the straight, -- >> you are trying to confuse me. >> reporter: but did brad have a motive for killing hannah? for an answer to the question, denny's attorneys would turn to hannah's diaries. >> page after page of injuries in her own handwriting. you could argue that she was fed up with brad o reaching out on the night she disappeared. >> reporter: that has to be something to think about. the diary entries, speaking
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from a great, hannah's own words:jurors who she was thinking of. denny . on november 11th , again on december 2nd, and again on december 16th. can. the defense attorney. >> did you recognize where it said brad. >> i recognize the fact that she recognized. >> i don't remember. >> reporter: was a jealousy? was that the motive?
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the states case could not add to a conviction. inconclusive dna. a long string of schetchy witnesses, and most of all, and angry, abusive, jealous boyfriend.>> against to is the evidence stronger? any kind of evidence against brad o reasonable doubt . >> reporter: had the defense made a persuasive case? for hannah's family and friends, there was now more waiting and just one hope, justice for hannah. >> justice will come about. coming up. >> we have two families and we have to take our time and make the right decision. >> when "dateline" continues. . arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine.
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dennis murphy: jurors deliberating, asked by the state to pass judgment on another human being. we had two families out there. we had to take our time and make that right decision. jurors deliberating, asked by the state to pass judgment on another human being. >> we have two families and we had to take the time to make the right decision. >> reporter: what they make up the weeks of testimony, what a murder defendant he did not look like one. >> first i thought he was a lawyer. >> he had this book. as if to say, why am i here? i did not do this. >> reporter: seven jurors spoke to "dateline" and told us they
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were an evenly divided panel of 12. as they talk it became apparent regarded some of the prosecution witnesses as literally unbelievable. and you have to make a decision, do i believe the story this person is telling me? >> that is hard especially when they tell you how many drugs they put in the system. >> reporter: indicate that this woman, the one who testified about denny attacking her, jurors said they believe the story about being assaulted, but nonetheless, her testimony was not a deciding factor in their final decision. and once again, 15 years later, the investigation in the early days after hannah's disappearance, still bedeviled the case. the jurors said the police work left them with so many unanswered questions. >> they did not look at her pager. and she used it. >> i was not convinced that he dropped the bag. >> reporter: monday, tuesday, wednesday past. for those outside the jury room, it was excruciating. taking a long time.>> october
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6th. >> reporter: they say they weighed brad o >> looking at his body language, making contact with the jury, i believed him. >> none of us felt it was him and not of his dna was there. >> reporter: on friday, just after lunch came order decision. lawyers from a friends, family, all assembled at the court. hannah's brother stayed away. >> i was at a friends house. waiting by the phone and i was terrified. >> reporter: in moments there was no more need for guesswork.>> count one, is it your determination that the defendant committed murder in this count, in that he did purposely cause the death of hannah hill? is that your decision? >> yes. >> reporter: denny ross guilty on all five counts.
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in the back of the courtroom, hannah's friend tara was visibly shaken. >> it is intense. i remember thinking, thank you god and a sense of relief all at once. >> reporter: the long years of work for prosecutors and detectives have paid off. jurors told us that in the end, it all came down to the blood evidence on hannah's clothes. >> the dna outweighed a lot of unknowns for us. >> it said denny ross was there. >> reporter: as a result of the hannah hill case, the lieutenant said the akron police department has made any changes throughout the years. especially in the communications department. to make sure mistakes like the failure to locate hannah's car never happen again. >> 13 years odd, can residents be sure that this has been rectified? >> i believe so. >> reporter: denny ross was
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sentenced to 19 years to life in prison for hannah's death. he will not serve that time for years to come . what the jurors did not know, he is already serving a 25 year sentence for the assault and attempted murder of this woman between the two trials. he will be 67 years old before he is eligible for parole. >> we are disappointed. we had hoped for a different result. >> reporter: denny 's lawyers filed a request for a new trial which was denied. after the trial, reporter said he was still suspicious about how the bag of evidence appeared beneath the window of denny ross. >> skeptics and wonder. >> reporter: despite the fact that denny's defense had been that brad killed hannah, brad o serious suspect by the authorities or hannah's transit family. brad said he loved hannah and living under a cloud of suspicion had taken its toll. >> you feel like occlusion name? >> the only thing i'm guilty of is being a bad boyfriend and i cannot change that. i wish i could. if i had three wishes, all
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three would be to change that. i cannot. >> reporter: on a rainy sunday after the verdict, hannah's friends and family gathered for a balloon release in her memory. the past round sharpies and messages for the lost girl. her brother. >> i am glad it is over with. >> reporter: the father.>> i will always love you. >> reporter: the best friend. and after a brief prayer, they stood by the pond and the brisk wind carried away their goodbyes. farewell to hannah hill. never forgotten by her family and friends. or is it turned out, by the criminal justice system.

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