and i-- at that moment, i felt that he was going to kill me. and if not having remorse makes me guilty, i don't think it should be that way. reporter: perhaps not. but certainly, cindy carballo has years to rethink the question and her answer. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching.

to help children. >> they loved amy. >> back home, something sinister lay waiting. a bright young life snuffed out. >> who would do that? it doesn't make sense at all. >> and mother out for a walk >> karen is gone and i don't know where she is. i just cried. >> one murder. one disappearance in the same small town but soon police would discover a connection. >> one of the detectives got

their hands on an image. >> that did teenager and missing mom arm in arm. >> in that moment, most of us knew that was not coincidence. >> was someone stalking the women of this type church? a race to connect the dots revealing a truth burkert then anyone can imagine. >> i don't get that. it's just evil. >> it's no rough-and-tumble town. when a woman was killed in broad daylight, the community was stunned. then, another brutal attack. almost exactly one year later and it terrifying thought

started to spread. was they a serial killer on the loose? is keith morrison with someone was out there. >> there are children born into this world for whom a dance never ends. for whom joy seems uncontained. for home exuberance is uncontainable. >> amy jean, what are we doing right now? bay we are riding on the roof of a car. >> she loved adventure and people and who danced to music no one else could hear. which is why. >> it haunted me. >> haunted the police. hunted the whole town. >> is there a serial killer around? >> a serial killer with plans for two women at one particular

church in one particular photograph? bay i was like, this is insane and everybody needs to find this person. >> it began with that girl. that sprayed. >> the freest spirit you can think of. literally, not having a care in the world. >> kate is talking about her friend a fellow missionary amy jane. talking about her now that it's happened and it's all over. kate and amy jane went to india and nepal together. small town girls, kate from wisconsin and amy jane from oregon. >> she was always ready to give and pour her heart out to give everything she had to offer. >> they were there three months for something called youth with a mission. tourists, they went to the taj mahal and like preachers they spread the word to children, mostly. for home amy jane was magnetic, a resistible. >> they would see her and run

up to her. they would say sister, sister. so excited. >> when the trip is over. >> she hated it. she said i don't want to go home. >> home for amy jane was a universe away from vibrant, teaming india. here it is, pendleton. talked in a small valley and the vast rolling flanks of eastern oregon. cowboy country. >> ♪ >> come to one of the nation's biggest role audio -- rodeo. each september, celebrates the templars rough-and-tumble past is a brawling and bordello filled cow town. and then, good conservative

citizens waved good-bye to the partain cowboys and settle into a safe and predictable life. filled the pews every sunday morning without fail. people like bill who was like family to amy jane and her parents, dave and kathy. >> they brought amy jane home when she was three days old and we were there when she was brought home. >> bill knew and adored the remarkable little girl from the very beginning. brandhagen's asked bill to speak for them after what happened when they sorely needed their church family at pendleton free methodist like the youth minister and his wife who encounter the dancing sprite when she was in middle school. >> if she got the feeling you were left out, she would find you, and make sure you knew you had a friend. >> when she was in india, the public people who loved amy jane worried a lot and didn't breathe easy until she returned home to the safety and security of pendleton.

>> she was waiting for god to tell her what to do next. weather travel the world to go back to school. >> she wanted more freedom so she moved out of her parents house and got herself a little apartment in downtown pendleton . worked two jobs to pay for it including a job cleaning motel rooms at the travel lodge across from city hall. >> she was excited to get this other job. she wasn't so sure about working at the hotel. she was a little nervous about it. >> she's never done that sort of thing before answered to a loss, this sounded gruff, but she went and she scoured inscribed those little rooms that looked over downtown pendleton, and then, it was august 14, 2012. >> what is your emergency?

>> and his office down the hall from the 911 operator, bill listened and felt the dread fill in. >> it gave me a feeling that something was not good about this call. >> bill was a close friend of the family and attended the same church. he's also a policeman in that day with the chief on vacation, lieutenant bill was the man in charge. >> as soon as one of my patrol sergeants arrived, he requested my presence, and i knew then we were probably dealing with a homicide. >> as he raced to the hotel, he couldn't know what had been started there. anymore then whose life had just ended. >> coming up. what does the veteran investigator was about to find would leave him stunned. >> i just can't tell you the feeling that went through me,

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of god had a plan for pendleton, oregon, the afternoon of august 14, 2012, one could hardly have imagined it would be this. e this.

>> this sweet spirit had known since she was a baby, 19-year- old amyjane brandhagen. >> felt someone kicked me in the pit of my stomach. i can't tell you the feeling that went through my mind. >> almost like she was your kid in a way. >> very much. >> lieutenant caldera notified amyjane's parents. >> that was probably the toughest thing i've had to do in my career. i can't tell you the feeling that we all had. we broke down in tears. >> why would anyone want to kill amyjane of all people? >> i was crushed. how is this possible?

i was speechless and then i sat crying in the bathroom for probably the next hour. not understanding, light, craziness. >> as word spread through the church family, so did the questions. high school youth bad -- pastor. was or any indication of who may have been responsible? >> i think anybody had any idea. i think that's what made this so hard is that so many of us, we know each other and we are family here. >> there was the dismal work to do. lieutenant caldera return to the hotel where amy was murder. it would be hard to take part in an active investigation. >> no, i couldn't have. not with my relationship. >> lieutenant caldera turn the case over to detective sergeant rick jackson. >> it was a pretty horrific crime scene. >> it was obvious amyjane fought for her life. her glasses lay in the bathtub and blood spattered the walls. dna, her attacker would be found under her fingernails.

the medical examiner said it was not a sex attack and was not robbery you there. her purse and cell phone were right there on the bedside table, and nobody saw anything. even though -- >> it's during broad daylight with a motel room doors open. >> the only potential witness, if he was a witness at all, was a painter working at the motel who said he saw a young man with longer hair, darker skin, perhaps hispanic or native american, walking near the back parking lot. >> it may have been the person to did not or may not have been. >> sure. within the first hour of being at the crime scene, upwards of 50 people walked by. this is a busy area of town. >> busy, yes, and studded with cameras. banks, bridges, city hall, walking trails along the river that runs through town. detectives painstakingly went

through the footage. >> there was nothing. >> they took dna from a to get to check against a sample taken from amyjane's fingernails. it was not any of them. so detective jackson would to the people who knew amyjane well or perhaps romantically. the stab wounds were focused around her heart, which often indicates some crime of passion. but. >> i think most of the males we spoke to view themselves as are protectors. >> pendleton police chief heard back from his abbreviated vacation and encountered a case going nowhere fast. >> everybody who knew her characterized her the same way. she knew no stranger and didn't have an evil bone in her body. >> as the investigation entered its second week, the family prepared the memorial service at the church where they raise their daughter. >> amy love thunderstorms and

it was one of her favorite things to do was go up barefoot and dance in the rain because she loved it. the morning of her memorial service, there was a loud clap of thunder that came over town about 6:30. several of us heard it. i think we knew. >> up there dancing in the rain summer? >> i think she was. >> together we pray in jesus' name, amen. >> many like jed and lisa were amazed by the strength of amyjane's parents. >> they were hurting deeply, but they weren't looking for vengeance. >> me, i was ticked. this is insane and everybody needs to find this person. >> they were certainly trying. even at that very moment. >> we had 10 to 12 undercover officers about the memorial service looking for anybody that would strike us as odd. >> but, no one stood out.

>> hang in there. >> a month after the murder, the famous round up filled the streets, as usual. and then, they emptied again. as the autumn wind turned raw, detective jackson's investigation chase down every lead, and got nowhere. >> we called them rabbit trails. >> the holidays came and went. holidays for other people and not detective jackson or chief roberts. >> it haunted me. this case haunted me. >> and then a spring breeze dipped into the valley. curled it's warming fingers into secret corners and came out whispering, a name. >> out of the blue, a tip. it's a name the police know well. have cops found their killer? >> we go out and find his girlfriend and she is gone. i always believed he could've

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i have one. i'd be so lost without mine. we are talking about mentors, right? yes. a mentor can guide you. support you. and unlock your potential.

being a mentor can be just as life-changing. and inspire the next generation. helping someone find their path can transform your own. so find a mentor. wait, can i do both? let me ask my mentor. of course, you can. bring someone along on your journey, and see where it takes you. six months after the merger , investigators from the caught a break, the county jail inmate looking for -- get word out to the cops. he claimed to know who killed amyjane. >> we've gone for months without anything another was this. >> there were two.

both well known to local law enforcement. who soon confirmed the men were in the area the day of the murder. they found taurus first and it looked like they were on to something. taurus said he was in on it but he did not kill her. it was the guy he was with, he said, draper who went into the motel room and came out very bloody. >> he tells him, yeah, i was driving the getaway car. >> it was his buddy who did the killing. >> we go out and find his girlfriend. she is gone and i believed he potentially could have done this. he is aggressive and he has these journals and journal entries about defiling women and killing and burying them. >> they found a question draper who said he understood why he was a suspect. >> have you ever thought about killing anybody? >> after a few minutes with

draper, jackson had a familiar sinking feeling. >> he was enamored by the fact that the police were giving him attention. >> he is playing you. playing it for what it was worth. >> he was getting street cred for it. >> the dna confirmed it was an act. two unpleasant man, the police said, who seemed to be enjoying themselves at the expense of the cops. back to zero. by august, 2013, it had been almost a full year since amyjane brandhagen murder. investigators exhausted hundreds of leads and themselves. >> i knew it was having an impact on physiological health as well as my mental health. >> august day, the chief took his family out of town and the very next day, a woman named karen lang happen to be a

member of amyjane's church and announced to her husband she was going for a walk. >> she came down, and i'll never forget what she said. she said, well, i was thinking we could maybe go out for dessert afterward. >> karen was an accomplished singer and vice president of the local community college. her walk around the river levee, the riverwalk, was almost a daily habit. it was 4:30 p.m. lots of sun left on a warm august afternoon. >> the last word she said to me were, i guess we will have a nice, boring evening. >> dan went back to tinkering on his motorcycle and lost track of time. it was dark when his son walked into the room and asked an innocuous question. >> where is mom? i said, well, i don't know. i will give her a call. so, i tried to make the phone

call and could not get a hold of her. >> it was after 9:30 p.m. karen usually walked for less than an hour. and she had been gone for five. in some people, anxiety stokes panic. dan is not like that. it's a coping mechanism. he stays calm and made another call. >> 10:00 my phone rings and a into, hi, dan. >> remember jed and lisa friends of amyjane? karen parked her car in front of their house when she took her late afternoon walks. >> he said, is karen at your house? no. i just got home and i asked lisa if she had been over. i said no, haven't seen her. >> i looked outside and sure enough the car was there. we went to the car and she was not there. >> jed and lisa clapped script flashlights a walk down to the river levee. there in the parking lot said

he pendleton policeman. what should they do? >> he thought it was unusual enough that he got a hold of dan. >> as the officer left to talk to dan, jed and lisa kept looking through the dark along the riverbank. >> is a fear of not finding anything and if you're finding something. >> when i got to where the policeman was, we were talking, and he said, you seem to be awfully calm for your wife being missing. at that point, i thought, holy mackerel. if there is something, if there's something bad that happened to her, i could be a suspect. >> from his patrol car, the officer pulled up images from cameras stationed around the river levee. no sign of karen, but the a cell provider sent a pin to her phone. it turned up across the main road half a mile from the river, in the parking lot at walmart where the officer could not find karen.

what was going on? around and around the riverwalk they went. pointing their puny flashlights but a sea of dark. >> i did go home at about 5:00. i will an email saying, karen is gone and i don't know where she is. i just have to go to bed. i just cried. >> he did not sleep long. the phone call that startled him awake brought news. some good. some very very bad. >> coming up. amyjane's murder and karen's disappearance, could they be connected? investigators are about to uncover a disturbing clue.

hi, i'm richard lui with a news update. president-elect trump saying he will not ask or more cabinet

members mike pompeo and nikki haley to serve in the new administration. trump is set to meet with president biden at the white house wednesday. dozens were killed in lebanon and northern gaza sunday in a new series of strikes by the idea. qatar and did mediation efforts between israel and hamas citing a lack of good faith negotiations. for now, back to dateline. karen lang had been missing within 12 hours. and then, finally, the morning sun lit up the banks of the river. and? >> the policeman called and said we found your wife. >> she was found and alive, but what the police man said next

was terrifying. >> when he said we found your wife and she is alive, that was a great relief, but, he certainly made it sound like it was a tough thing. >> oh, it was. karen had been struck from behind by some heavy blunt object, her skull was crushed. the wound was massive. right away, the detective called the chief on vacation five hours away and described the way they found her. >> did they think she was dead? >> we thought she was dead. tremendous amount of blood. he reaches for the rest to see if she has a pole sender leg moves and she gasps. >> it didn't look like she would be alive for long. the detective drove her to the hospital and said prepare for the worst. as he arrived at the emergency room, dan ran into a nurse he knew. >> she took one look at me, and

it was so heartbroken that i, of course, broke down. then i had a chance to see karen. >> the doctors gave her a slim chance. one in 100 and she was airlifted to a bigger hospital for specialized care. as dan capp watched at her bedtime, he remembered and not, karen made before she was attacked. her boys were in college, nearly grown, and she wasn't sure what her purpose was anymore. >> i wish i could be more useful if i'm going to remain here. >> on planet earth. >> on the planet. but god has a plan i assured her, and you will be used. >> what kind of use was this? if she lived she might not regain consciousness. if she regained consciousness,

she might not be the same. how useful could that be? suddenly, they murder of amyjane and attack of karen lang took on a new meaning. chief roberts return from his vacation to be handed this photograph investigators. it had been taken four years earlier. >> one of the detectives got his hands on an image of amyjane brandhagen and karen lang together, dated august 14. >> oh, my god. >> amyjane was murdered on august 14 and karen lang was assaulted on august nine, when you're after amyjane's murder. >> like somebody is targeting them or someone within the church has a strange motivation? >> it could be a member of the congregation for some and they provided outreach services to. >> at the free methodist church, the word spread quickly. >> i think in that moment, most of us knew that that was not coincidence.

i can't tell you how we knew. >> small town, same church. >> small town, same church, we all knew each other. >> in a town where murder is rare, two women, one photo and dates that lined up like a message, had to be a connection. >> it certainly crossed my mind it crossed everybody's mind. >> once again, detective jackson and the other scoured, hours of video recorded by dozens of cameras based around town, looking for a suspect. good luck. when amyjane was murdered in broad daylight, the videos turned up nothing. and then, then look turned. they saw this. recorded by one of the cameras stationed around the riverwalk, 6:31 p.m. karen lang, right there out for her walk. following her, a man watching her with what looks like a pipe hidden behind his back, right there. >> they crossed the small footbridge and there's a short

stretch, maybe 50 or 60 yards where there is no visibility unless you are on the path. right there is where he attacks her. >> is that where she was found? >> she was found 30 feet down the path. >> then they found this video recorded by another camera an hour after the attack, say man enters a park bathroom, and minutes later emerges to use the drinking fountain. >> i said it's the same guy. we got the same guy. >> same guy as who? chief roberts remembered. after amyjane was murder, the only witness who saw anything, reported a young man with dark hair wandering near the hotel. >> the description was fairly generic. male, twentysomething, dark hair, a little longer. dark toned skin. we have a second crime a year later almost to the anniversary and here's a male profile image on the network camera system

that fits. it fits. >> but who was he? and why was he targeting women from the same church? within hours, an unusual pendleton roundup was underway. the order was clear. find him. fast. >> coming up. the evidence that was about to send this case into overdrive. . . even replaces multiple cleaning products. ooh, those suds got game. dawn powerwash. the better grease getter.

when the free methodist church went to their weekly services that sunday in august 2013, they offered their prayers for karen lang, lying in a portland hospital in a coma. her husband dan, constant presence at her bedside. the prognosis was poor but dan, optimistic by nature, struggle to hang on. >> it's the faithful attitude that says no matter what happens, it is god's plan and his plan is to prosper a. even if i were to lose karen, i had to hold onto that. and realized that. >> in the first two days since karen was found in the brush alongside the pendleton riverwalk, shock spread like

had electricity. >> someone came up to the pastor and said i think i'm glad i'm not part of your church. if all these things have happened. your thinking, is there a serial killer around? >> not fear exactly. not yet. someone was out there. it was among them and it killed once and perhaps twice. and so the on these group. dark places were avoided. >> the odds of a stranger picking two people that were connected, difficult to wrap your mind around. >> the dictators -- district attorney. >> this sounds like a zodiac type killer. one of those weird puzzles. >> absolutely. as you work the investigation, you're thinking of that and trying to determine what connection is there between karen lang and amyjane. >> it seem likely to the police and the a the man seen in this video was a 10 attack karen lang. and, that he may also have been

the killer who stabbed amyjane to death in the hotel room one year earlier. but who was it? the chief asked street cops to look at the video, anybody recognize him? and what do you know. one of them it. >> he looked at the image for a second and said that's danny woo. >> how did a no? he encountered in four times the previous year. minor infractions so they never confirmed his name actually was danny woo. there was one thing that might help i.d. him. >> he had a distinct tattoo inside his left wrist which read semper fi. >> he is a marine. >> that was my initial reaction. >> although the chief didn't know who he really was or where he was now, the why he targeted two women a once taught bible school together, he knew they had to track him down right away. >> this is a community on edge.

>> and now is out there. >> he is out there and we've got to find it. there could be more victims. >> the chief cult in every available officer. a manhunt was an. and then? a bit of luck. the very same sharp eyed detective who found karen noticed something odd nearby. a wooden panel on the back of an old batting cage beside the river walk looked not quite right. so the officer reached behind the loose panel and found a pipe that appeared to have blood on one end and dna confirmed it was karen's blood. and then, when the crime lab compare the dna sample from the other end of the pipe with the material found under amyjane's fingernails? >> i get that call on sunday afternoon and we connected the dots. >> the man who assaulted karen and amyjane's killer were one and the same.

the police chief shared the news with the da. >> i was home and the chief asked me if i was sitting down. he told me the dna from the pipe matched the dna found underneath amyjane's fingernails and it gave me chills. >> but chief roberts officers scoured the town and distributed flyers with danny woo's picture on it. they found nothing. days and more than a week piled up. no danny woo but anxiety? oh, yes. >> you didn't leave garages, sheds, cars unlocked. >> you feel there is a serial killer in town. >> and then? a call from the local convention center. two catering company place told the dispatcher they had gone through a side door to the kitchen. >> here sits this person that they readily recognize as this danny woo that we disseminated the images off and he was drinking a coke, and he basically picked up his stuff and disappeared into the

facility. >> so he's in the facility somewhere. >> within minutes they surround the convention center and a search dog trying to bite join them. they set up a command post outside one of the windows. >> the dog is barking at the door. the oregon state trooper behind us said i can see lake hanging out of the ceiling. i take about two steps back and i can see it. i give him the command to enter in the enter and go straight to this location, the stairwell, and there he is. >> minutes later, the suspect, the man known as danny woo, the manager may have murder one- woman and possibly two and terrorize the town of pendleton walked out in handcuffs and into the flashing cameras of the local paper. later, officers took this video of his hiding spot in and air conditioning duct in the convention center ceiling where he had a blanket, radio, and

clothes. >> it looked like a nest in like had been there for a while, coming and going hiding in plain sight. he had been here all year. >> what a talk? lawyer up? or would he reveal who he really was and why it appeared he was targeting the women of the free methodist church. >> coming up. revelations that would leave the town and these investigators shattered. shattered. i'll try and shorten down the story. so i've been having these headaches that wouldn't go away. my mom, she was just crying. what they said, your son has brain cancer. it was your worst fear coming to life. watching your child grow up is the dream of every parent. you can join the battle to save the lives of kids like brayden, by supporting st. jude children's research hospital .

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welcome back to dateline. the texas just made an arrest in that amyjane murder case, but, even the most seasoned officers were not prepared for what their suspect was about to tell them. here is keith morrison but the conclusion of someone was out there. >> here he was. the man they knew as danny woo, the detective had been chasing him for a year. >> jackson was hunting elk when they caught danny woo hoping to finally get answers to his ear of questions. questions. >> the chief and the da watched from a nearby office.

>> i didn't expect him to say anything. i expected him to ask for a lawyer and i wasn't sure how he would respond to the questions. >> the da said they were in for a big surprise. >> sure enough, not danny woo. lukah chang, 23 years old. the son of christian missionaries. a deserter from the u.s. marines who drifted into town without a plan. he stayed in the downtown motel where he encountered a made named amyjane. >> did you talk to her? >> soon, he was broke living on the street spending his days at the town library across the street from the travelodge.

>> when detective jackson tried to get into his head, the conversation veered off into a cold and disturbing place. as a missionary son was lukah chang rebelling against his parents, against god? detective jackson asked the question on just about every mind in pendleton, oregon.

bee that was it? to see how it felt? >> i didn't understand the. i never heard that from a killer before. >> but why the second attack? ditty target those women because they taught bible school together and appeared in the photograph together? the photograph together? >> that was just about it said lukah chang . >> he was a brick wall. if the real answer was buried in his religious pastor failed military career or some other secret corner, we were not to know. know.

>> and then, having his say, the man the police had been chasing for so long was safely tucked away in a jail cell. soon to plead guilty to murder and attempted murder and to begin serving 35 to life. >> i cannot describe the relief. it's like the world is lifted off your shoulders. >> i didn't know whether to cry or scream. i was dumbfounded. >> across the state, dan lang told his comatose wife they caught him. although, of course, she could not hear that. and then? a few days later dan turned on his video camera and? well, see for yourself. >> karen can you raise your hand again? can you be set up. there you go. have. very good. >> to the astonishment of her doctors, life flooded back. >> i'm doing very well. >> a year after that vicious

attack, he or she was, karen lang, the woman whose ordeal wound up catching a killer . not exactly the purpose she expected when she talked to her husband, dan, that day. >> i told him, don't ever pray for more to do with your life. because, boy, you get answered on that. >> her recovery took a long time. three hospitals. surgeries to rebuild her skull and months of a protective helmet. but of that awful night? she has no memory at all. what was the sent you recall of coming out of this blackness into into life again? >> a lot of it was just a feeling that i didn't know what was wrong. i didn't know why i was in the hospital? i didn't know why was in portland. >> their troubles are not over.

a few months after dan brought karen home, he was diagnosed with cancer. so, a skeptic's question. you two have been through so much the last year. i mean, hasn't not damaged your faith? here are not angry at god for picking on you? >> no. >> if it's a plan for you, to be so brutalized by an attack and cancer? >> the beauty is we see the blessings. see how it has had a positive effect on people and how it could be so much worse for me. we need to go through it and it will be a season of recovery for us. >> and then, september 2014, it was pendleton roundup tye mcginn. the mc's voice boomed through the arena, miracles happen.

>> for our national anthem, please welcome karen lang . >> [ cheers and applause ] >> ♪ posts a can you see by the dawn's early light. >> i looked at it as an opportunity to really just thank the people of pendleton for all the support and things they did for me and my family. >> two years later, karen found herself in the arms of the community again when dan died. pendleton was once again a smaller, sadder place. without dan and the girl who always reached out to the lonely, the strangers, just like the one who drifted into town and killed her.

pretty remarkable. i mean, isn't he exactly the sort of person she would have sought out? >> i find that very ironic. it's also the same person that if she she were here today, she would say, take the weight of forgiveness. it's the better way. >> and, every sunday, the faithful still filled the pews at the pendleton free methodist church. a barefoot sprite who loved to dance lives on, at least in memory. >> her life was great and the people who knew her would want to live better lives because of knowing her and knowing who she was. >> that is all for this edition of dateline. i am craig melvin. thank you for watching. watchin