we were concerned if she was acquitted, that there would be a very real threat to the safety of our family. that relief is priceless. >> for dan's son nathaniel, it was finally time to send the ashes of his father, the organic farmer, back to the place he loved. >> we will find a little bed of chanterelle mushrooms somewhere. i think that would be the perfect spot. it seems like a fitting place to

>> he never seemed mean or violent. >> he was quiet and shy. smiling because he got away with it. just because somebody looks innocent, does not mean that they are. there were obvious clu es, but no easy answers.s, >> a gentle life ended by an

act of violence. >> i will never get the image out of my head. i have a good 20, 30 years of rage. uitar music] natalie morales (voiceover): 1987 was a year of fresh starts for susan woods. after the most challenging stretch of her young life, 30-year-old susan was looking forward to a better future. susan was a very shy, timid but happy-go-lucky person. natalie morales (voiceover): after six years of marriage, susan filed for divorce and was single again.

she even met a new guy. she loved life. she was looking forward to a new part of-- a new chapter of her life. natalie morales (voiceover): cindy hayes was susan's closest friend. natalie morales: your birthdays are on the same day. yes, yes. and over the years, you would celebrate birthdays together? cindy hayes: yes, yes. we did everything together. we spent weekends together. we would go shopping, of course eat out. just get out and have a good time. were you like sisters? yes, ma'am. just, we could finish each other's sentence. we really could. did everybody like her who met her? oh, yes. oh, everybody did. i believe everybody at her-- where she worked loved her. she was just a sweetheart. natalie morales (voiceover): susan worked at a factory that made sandpaper in her hometown of stephenville, texas. she liked the independence and security of holding down a steady job. and she was a reliable employee. so on july 28, when susan's dad, joe, found out

she hadn't shown up at work for two straight days, he thought something was wrong and went to her house, where he found her as no parent should. joe immediately called the police. i got the call at the house. all hands on deck. natalie morales (voiceover): sergeant donnie hensley, an investigator with the stephenville police department, headed to the scene. i imagine that's a call that sticks with you. oh, that whole case has stuck with me since day one. natalie morales (voiceover): when sergeant hensley pulled up to susan's house, joe was outside. joe and i were acquaintances. he's a good guy. i said, what's going on, joe? he said, susan's dead. i took his hand. i said, joe, i'm so sorry. seeing a man who has just discovered his daughter dead, i imagine that had to be pretty powerful. his only daughter. i mean, their family was tight.

she interacted with their family probably about every day in some form. like if she didn't, they'd know where she's at. natalie morales (voiceover): joe had found susan inside. the scene made it clear she had died a horribly violent death at the hand of someone else. no father needs to see that in their baby. [crying] no. and it's still hard for you to talk about that moment. yeah, but having lost a child, his world just ended. natalie morales (voiceover): the investigation ramped up quickly. a team of investigators and crime scene techs descended on the house. it was one of those sticky texas summer days, temperatures in the 90s. muggy. it was stifling inside as sergeant richard pringle walked through the house, camera in hand.

natalie morales: what was your primary responsibility in processing the crime scene? i concentrated on the bathroom. her nude body was slumped over the bathtub. her hands were tied behind her back. it appeared like it was maybe a tank top or something been twisted up, and then one end tied to one hand and the other end tied to the other hand. how high up behind her back? they were pretty high up, which told me that that had been used as leverage to keep her in the water. natalie morales (voiceover): it was a sickening scene. there was also a mark on susan's neck that looked like it came from a cord. donnie hensley tried to make sense of it. could you tell how she'd been killed based on that position? i could tell it was probably sexually motivated. and that usually results in strangulation or something. i mean, how brutal can you be? i don't care what you call them-- psychopath, sociopath. i don't care. that's just a damn monster.

natalie morales (voiceover): in those first moments, there was a lot hensley didn't know, but he felt certain about one thing-- he was dealing with a sexually motivated crime committed by a monster who is now at large. what he couldn't have known then is how hard it would be to bring that monster to justice. lester holt (voiceover): coming up, inside a troubled marriage. natalie morales: susan was the breadwinner. yes. what was he doing all that time? lifted weights, slept late, watched a lot of tv, and played around. and what was susan doing while he was doing all of that? working, and then she'd come home and cook him dinner. she did do everything for him. lester holt (voiceover): friends in shock. gloria martin: i was sitting on the floor of my parents' bedroom, crying. it was just so out of the blue. lester holt (voiceover): when "dateline" continues.

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iting for?usic] natalie morales (voiceover): susan woods was dead, the victim of a terribly violent act that seemed to come out of nowhere. it was, of course, a tragedy for her family and friends. it was a tuesday night. and i was getting my daughter ready for bed. natalie morales (voiceover): susan's friend, gloria martin. and the phone rang, and it was regina, my friend. she said, i don't know how to tell you this. susan's been killed. and i was just dumbstruck. and i said, killed, and she said, murdered. she's been murdered in her house. i was sitting on the floor of my parents' bedroom, crying. it was-- mm-hmm. it was just so out of the blue. natalie morales (voiceover): susan's murder was also a shock for her hometown. stephenville, texas, is a place that prides itself on its small town values.

it's a little place, but it also has a big-time reputation. [upbeat music] they call it the cowboy capital of the world, home, they say, to more rodeo cowboys and cowgirls than any place on earth. susan and gloria grew up here. we liked the same things. we got closer with every passing day, it seemed like. natalie morales (voiceover): she may have lived in the cowboy capital of the world, but susan was no cowgirl. she preferred cars. natalie morales: what did you all enjoy doing together? making the drag. [laughs] when you say making the drag, what does that mean? making the drag. you drive from one dairy queen on the main street in stephenville to the other dairy queen. [laughs] then you turn around and you drive to the other dairy queen. natalie morales (voiceover): a lot of guys in stephenville had a definite look-- cowboy boots, cowboy hats, shirts with pearl snaps, the whole nine yards. but it was a very different kind of guy

who caught susan's eye. his name was michael woods. i wore a leather jacket and engineer boots, and i didn't look like them. they also tended to make fun of my hair and my beard and didn't think much of my accent. you stuck out like a sore thumb here, then. yeah. so when she met you, what was it about you that attracted her? i was absolutely different. natalie morales (voiceover): and what was it about susan that attracted michael? just about everything. natalie morales: was it love at first sight? yeah, she was gorgeous. she was absolutely gorgeous. and she was amazed to hear my stories about other places because she'd never been anywhere or gone anywhere. and she was just fascinating to be around. she was so full of love. natalie morales (voiceover): when they met, michael was 23. susan was 22. he fell hard for her, but not for her hometown. he was an indiana guy who never felt at home after moving to stephenville.

i just didn't jive with the whole stephenville vibe. natalie morales (voiceover): including its music. michael was a musician, and country music wasn't his vibe either. in stephenville, that meant he was an unemployed musician. you were a rock and roller and a little bit of country. yeah. natalie morales (voiceover): so michael took jobs he didn't like and couldn't keep, mostly in fast food joints. eventually, he had trouble finding any job. michael woods: it was always the same story. you got long hair. you got a beard. you're weird. we don't like you. you know, it was very hard for me to find work. so being here was difficult for you. what were you doing at the time to try to make ends meet? well, i tried working in the hay field. i got hay fever. i tried working on feed systems for cattle. the boss's son kept calling me names, and i wouldn't put up with it, so i got fired from that. i tried working at sonic, and some cowboy

smarted off about his change. it was like, well, you know, you got that much trouble with the change. just step off the property, and we'll solve it. natalie morales (voiceover): even as michael's prospects for a good job hit rock bottom, his romance with susan flourished. after they got married in 1980, she was the one paying the bills. natalie morales: susan was the breadwinner. yes. she was the one who was making the money, keeping the house. yes. natalie morales: what was he doing all that time? lifted weights, slept late, watched a lot of tv, and played around. and what was susan doing while he was doing all of that? working at the sandpaper factory on the line. and then she'd come home and cook him dinner. she did do everything for him. he was just-- he was different than, i guess, the people that were around stephenville, you know. he was just a little different. how was he different? he wanted to have a good time all the time and, you know, certain things he probably didn't take seriously.

it didn't seem like he could work very long at a certain job or anything. hold it down for very long at a time. you're being polite, my sense is. yes, ma'am. my sense is you probably told susan a lot more-- i-- --about what you thought about michael. i didn't think it was right that she had to support them and did not. you let her know. yes. natalie morales (voiceover): all during their marriage, michael wanted to pack up and move somewhere else. back to indiana would have been perfect for him. but susan didn't want to leave stephenville. was it a constant struggle? it was a constant struggle for me. it wasn't so much of a struggle for her because she was in a place she liked. it was just unlivable for me there. and that's what the arguments were about, is, i gotta get out of this town. natalie morales (voiceover): those arguments became a bitter stalemate. there were trial separations followed by uneasy reconciliations. and when michael's brother bought an apartment building

back in indiana, michael drove susan's classic 1965 mustang there, leaving her alone in texas without a car. she wasn't happy. i moved to indiana to help him renovate the apartments. and she kept insisting, if you don't come home, i'll divorce you. and stephenville is not my home. so that's where your relationship came to an end? yeah. when me and her were together, it was wonderful. i'd never gotten along with anybody so well. but when we argued, we argued. and it was always the same thing. stephenville is not for me. natalie morales (voiceover): michael chose indiana, and susan made good on her ultimatum. she filed for divorce in february 1987. it was never finalized, but they didn't live together after that. five months later, susan was dead, and now detectives were combing through the evidence, looking for leads.

they would find plenty. lester holt (voiceover): coming up. richard pringle: it was a chair. and beside that chair was a small table, and it had an ashtray with cigarette butts in it. lester holt (voiceover): a killer who made himself right at home. richard pringle: somebody had been sitting there smoking and watching tv. sitting there for a while. it just seemed like it was somebody that she knew. lester holt (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking allstate first. like you know to check the weather first, before sailing. it's gonna get nasty later. yep. hey! perfect day for sailing, huh? have fun on land. i'll go tell the coast guard. yep. yeah, checking first is smart. so check allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. you're in good hands with allstate.

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support up to seven brain health indic[suspenseful music]mory. natalie morales (voiceover): a husband is always a suspect when a wife is murdered. but in this case, michael and susan woods had separated months earlier. and michael said he was 1,000 miles away in indiana when susan was killed. sergeant donnie hensley couldn't find anything to prove he wasn't. we didn't have any evidence. if we had, we'd arrested him. natalie morales (voiceover): so hensley and sergeant richard pringle cleaned the slate and took a closer look at the evidence from the crime scene.

natalie morales: whoever did this left quite a trail. and there was no trying to clean up the crime scene. no. when you look at the movies, they're always trying to wipe down everything and sanitize it so nobody knows they were there. but they didn't do that in this instance. did it look like anybody had tried to break in, or could it have been a robbery attempt? well, that's the first question that comes to mind. there were some problems with the screen on the front door. it looked like some fresh damage to the lock that would indicate there may have been some forced entry or something. natalie morales (voiceover): but once pringle stepped inside, the scene in the living room suggested another possibility. you walk in the door, and there's a tv there. and it was on. it was playing. and then directly across from it, there was a chair. and beside that chair was a small table. and it had an ashtray with cigarette butts in it

and i think a package of potato chips and a can of coke and some twinkies unopened and a paper bag, like they'd gone to the store and got those things in it. natalie morales (voiceover): there was a lot to unpack from that scene, especially when investigators found out susan didn't smoke and rarely drank coke. the living room itself looked tidy, undisturbed. the bedroom was a whole other story. it was all in disarray. there were clothes all over the floor. natalie morales (voiceover): the mattress was hanging over the edge of the bed. scratch marks on the floor suggested the bed frame itself had been moved from the wall several inches, as if there had been a struggle. each piece of evidence in the bedroom was more chilling than the last. there was a black smudge on the pillow. it could have been eyeshadow. like possibly-- like her face had been into the pillow. possibly, yeah.

that's-- that's what we figured-- natalie morales: possibly smothered. yeah. and a cord, as i understand, on the bed? richard pringle: it was some kind of an electrical thing. natalie morales: and the cord, too, in that position over the pillow, does that suggest maybe to be used for asphyxiation? strangling. did you see marks on the body that showed that as well? i saw what looked like it could have been from ear to ear. it's hard to say because that was-- decomposition had set in quite a bit. but it appeared that there was something there that could have been a mark caused by strangulation with the cord in my mind. natalie morales (voiceover): everything pointed to a vicious attack in the bedroom, an attack that carried over to the bathroom, where susan's body was found. natalie morales: was there blood in the water in the bathtub? was there anything that-- the water was red, which indicated there was blood. on the floor, there was what looked like overalls. and there was like a blouse right beside it.

the toilet seat was up, in an up position. she's the only one that lived there. natalie morales (voiceover): pringle snapped pictures around the house and started collecting evidence. the electrical cord and cigarette butts were packaged. fingerprints were found everywhere-- on the bag of chips and coke can, the bathroom sink and mirror. the most promising print was found on the tub right next to susan. richard pringle: on the left side of her body, i found some real good-- almost a whole palm print where somebody had grabbed hold of the tub. so i dusted that and brought them up good and lifted them. natalie morales (voiceover): it was a crime scene, rich with clues. but what was the story they were telling? the first thing the sergeant noticed at the house was that broken lock on the screen door, a sign that susan's killer might have broken into the house. but pringle changed his mind when he checked more closely

for signs of a break-in. go around the whole house and check all the windows and all the doors, see if there's any evidence of being broken or pried or whatever. we didn't find anything. natalie morales (voiceover): in fact, the windows had been nailed shut, and only the screen door was damaged. it looked like there was no forced entry. the evidence in the living room supported the theory. it was a scene of domestic tranquility-- tv on, snacks, on a table, cigarette butts in an ashtray. those items in the living room look like a calling card for a killer who felt right at home. somebody had been sitting there, smoking and watching tv. sitting there for a while. sometime, yeah. it just seemed like it was somebody that she knew or was comfortable letting into her house. the idea that she would go have a one-night stand or bring somebody home from a bar, had that been explored as well? according to all her friends, she wasn't the type of person that

would bring a stranger home. natalie morales (voiceover): but in the months before she was killed, susan did start dating someone new. there was also a short list of family and friends she would be comfortable letting into her house. and stephenville police were about to knock on their doors. lester holt (voiceover): coming up. you talk too much. i talk too much, way too much. lester holt (voiceover): one potential suspect had a hobby that raised eyebrows around town. what were you doing with your friends? uh, i'm a geek. we were playing "dungeons and dragons" that night. they even ran an ad in the newspaper talking about it being satanic and stuff. lester holt (voiceover): another put himself right at the scene of the crime. she said, well, i'm gonna go take a bath. and then she called me in. and then i got in, too. lester holt (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. subject 1: who's coming in the driveway? subject 2: dad! dad! dad, we missed you! daddy, hi!

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donald trump is asking the supreme court to hit pause on that law that would ban tiktok in the u.s. fighting broke out online this week after temporary working pieces. trump advisers defended the name for the skilled foreign workers and anti-immigration says it unfairly takes away american jobs. now back to dateline. to datel we did not have dna as we know it now. you have a lot of evidence, but you've got nothing and no ability, really, to be able to match it against. i mean, we had a treasure trove of evidence. you know? and nowhere to go. natalie morales (voiceover): of course, they could still rely on old-fashioned shoe leather.

and when investigators canvassed susan's neighborhood, they came up with a witness who said he spotted a pickup truck and a large-framed man near susan's house around the time they believe she was killed. everybody drives a pickup and steam mill. it could have been anybody. natalie morales (voiceover): but hensley was interested in the description of a large-framed man. so when he learned susan's best friend, cindy, was dating a big guy named roy hayes, he wanted to talk to him. i had an alibi. i was with a couple of friends. what were you doing with your friends? uh, i'm a geek. we were playing "dungeons and dragons" that night. natalie morales (voiceover): playing "dungeons and dragons" sounds innocent enough, but at the time, some religious leaders in america thought the fantasy role play game was the work of the devil. that idea had taken hold in the very conservative stephenville. they even ran an ad in the newspaper talking about it being satanic and stuff.

so playing "dungeons and dragons" was considered-- roy hayes: yeah. --very unconventional, possibly satanic? possibly. so that just automatically threw you under the bus. natalie morales (voiceover): roy is a big guy and also a big talker. he didn't do himself any favors running his mouth when he was questioned by sergeant hensley, like when he shared some inside knowledge about how someone might get into susan's house. always been an avid mystery person. i'd watch "rockford files" and "magnum pi" and all that stuff. i was trying to pitch out things that i thought that might have been why or what happened. you talk too much. i talk too much, way too much. one of the things you look for in any case is people who jump in and try to get involved in the case.

that's one of the hallmarks of the-- the suspect. natalie morales (voiceover): roy hayes had talked himself into some serious trouble. and even though a lawyer told him it might not be a good idea, he agreed to take a lie detector test. i came out for the lie detector test. mr. hensley met me there. and he said, well, roy, you failed the lie detector test. you might as well go ahead and confess. was it nerve wracking, though, for a minute there, thinking-- - oh, yeah. --i didn't pass? i'll be honest, i was 22 years old. not a clue in the world. no real experience. i was definitely concerned. natalie morales (voiceover): roy didn't really fail his polygraph. telling him that was just a ploy. and when his palm prints didn't match the ones next to susan's body, hensley put him on the back burner, but didn't clear him. he's right there behind mike woods or anybody else until i have somebody in custody.

natalie morales (voiceover): another man on hensley's radar was jc baughman, who met susan at the bar where he worked. the first time she came in, susan was wearing an albert einstein t-shirt that caught jc's eye. i made a comment about how i liked that. i used to have a poster. and the next time she came in, she came and gave me that shirt. so she literally gave me the shirt off her back. and we started dating because she was separated from her husband. natalie morales (voiceover): jc described one of those dates to police-- a romantic evening at susan's house. she said, well, i'm gonna go take a bath. and then she called me in. and then i got in, too, and so on and so forth. and it was pretty much normal-- if there's such a thing. normal is a setting on a washing machine, you know. natalie morales (voiceover): it's hard to argue that taking a bath with a girlfriend, who ends up dead in that same tub, is normal. some other normal things about jc also worked against him.

and what about drinking cokes or smoking cigarettes? did you do any of that? yeah, i smoked cigarettes, and i drank coca-cola, soda pops. natalie morales (voiceover): the items found in susan's living room led to a profile of the suspected killer as somebody who smoked and drank coca-cola. so jc checked those boxes and a few more. there were some fingerprints. yeah, that's one of the reasons why they suspected me, is my fingerprints were all over the bathtub and all over the house, because i'd been there several times. natalie morales (voiceover): a bad set of facts only got worse when police asked jc where he was the night susan was killed. did you have an alibi on that night? no, i couldn't even remember where i was or what i was doing that night. and i'm pretty much of a loner. natalie morales (voiceover): now it was jc's turn to take a lie detector test. the test was inconclusive. they couldn't tell if i was lying or telling the truth, in other words. natalie morales (voiceover): so sergeant hensley dialed up the pressure on jc.

natalie morales (voiceover): but jc wasn't charged. hensley's focus was on someone else. he was fixated on the idea that susan's ex, michael, was the likely killer, especially after talking to susan's friends. their description of him was damning. everybody i talked to said, she's scared of mike. natalie morales (voiceover): gloria martin told hensley why susan was so afraid. when they finally broke up the last time, he left horrible, horrible notes all over her house and a cassette tape saying the most horrible things you ever heard about her and to her. and i remember coming over there, and she was just crying her eyes out. natalie morales (voiceover): the cassette tape michael left behind was a 30-minute rant of grievances about susan.

did it sound threatening to you? it sounded crazy, irrational. and it sounded bad enough that when she got killed, i had no doubt in my mind who had done it. there was no doubt. it had to be mike. natalie morales (voiceover): hensley had heard enough. he'd developed some solid leads on suspects in stephenville, but he decided to set them aside. it was time to turn up the heat on michael woods. lester holt (voiceover): coming up, the talk around town. what were the red flags that led you to him? the friends, what they were saying. lester holt (voiceover): and michael woods' difficult last talk with his wife. lester holt (voiceover): when "dateline" continues.

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natalie morales (voiceover): in july 1987, the investigation into susan woods' murder had sparked new leads, and police wanted to talk to susan's husband, michael. he was living in indiana. so two days after susan was found dead in her texas home, indianapolis police brought him in for questioning. natalie morales (voiceover): michael told the officers he was in indianapolis at the time of susan's murder and said he had last spoken to her a couple of weeks before she was found dead. natalie morales (voiceover): the officers probed further.

natalie morales (voiceover): michael was not officially a suspect then, but as months went by and the investigation shuffled into 1988, stephenville detectives donny hensley and richard pringle refocused their attention on him. what were the red flags that led you to him? the friends, what they were saying, and the people who knew him, and possibly a motive-- break-up of the marriage. natalie morales (voiceover): they'd also heard from susan's friends about a cassette tape michael had left for susan, in which he let loose all his complaints about her in the most vitriolic language. very offensive, very offensive. you know? just like putting her down every which way he could. i wished i'd been able to hear that tape. you never got to hear it yourself? no. natalie morales (voiceover): the tape might be strong evidence against michael,

but michael had asked for the tape back. he apparently told susan he needed it to work through his anger issues with a therapist in indianapolis. we determined that she had mailed it back to him. so we were just going on what we were told about it, which what we were told made him a good suspect in the case. natalie morales (voiceover): it wasn't just the cassette. the detectives learned when he'd suddenly left stephenville with susan's vintage car, michael had also made off with some of her precious belongings. he packed up her figurines, her rabbit coat, and her '65 mustang. and he was gone. he was gone. natalie morales (voiceover): if michael was volatile enough to leave that anger-filled cassette and steal her things, the detectives reasoned maybe he was capable of traveling 1,000 miles back to stephenville in a rage to murder susan. so was it your thinking that he either flew or drove back

to texas, committed the murder, then went back to indianapolis right after? right. natalie morales (voiceover): but they needed evidence. maybe they could put their hands on that cassette. did you go to indianapolis then to interview michael? yeah, richard pringle and i did. natalie morales (voiceover): and they enlisted the help of indianapolis pd to surveil him. we found where he was living at the time, and we went out in a truck. they had a surveillance van. and we did surveillance on him for a few days. [camera shutter clicking] natalie morales (voiceover): almost immediately, they spied something they thought was suspicious. michael and his brother were having a yard sale. and among the objects laid out on a table, they spotted what they thought were some of the items missing from susan's home. we saw what appeared to be some of those on the table. we didn't go up and look at them. we just did it from a distance with a telephoto lens. natalie morales (voiceover): the detectives had seen enough to believe there could be more evidence in michael's home, maybe evidence he was a murderer. and did you get a search warrant to look

at his place in indianapolis? oh, yeah, we did. that's when we recovered the coat and the figurines. natalie morales (voiceover): but as for the cassette with michael's potentially incriminating rage toward susan-- you never were able to get that as evidence? that tape just disappeared? no. that or the handwritten notes he'd left either. natalie morales (voiceover): however, the search of michael's home did turn up marijuana. that gave the police grounds to arrest michael and gave the detectives a golden opportunity to grill him about susan's murder at the local police station. while the detectives hadn't found any evidence in michael's house, what might they find in susan's car? i asked him. i said, well, mike, where's your car? he goes, what car? i said, the car you took and came back to indianapolis in. i think it's a yellow '65 mustang. oh, i saw that. that's another red flag going up. because you wanted to process that car.

absolutely. what did he say his alibi was that night? he was working on his brother's house and living with his brother. natalie morales (voiceover): michael stuck to the story he'd given police two days after susan's murder. he was 1,000 miles away in indianapolis. natalie morales: did he ever, at any point in time, crack or seem like he was going to give you any information? no, no, never. did that surprise you? because you took a pretty tough approach with him. i don't know what you call tough, but anyway, assertive? yeah, i was very assertive with him. did you try to shake him into confessing? pringle told me i made him cry. i mean, just telling you the facts made him cry. natalie morales (voiceover): but as the detectives continued to put the squeeze on michael, he had enough and clammed up. richard pringle: he asserted his right to remain silent and have a lawyer. so at that point, we stopped questioning. natalie morales (voiceover): even so, the detectives did come away with something they'd

wanted from the beginning-- michael's fingerprints. as they waited to see if his prints matched those lifted from the crime scene, the detectives were confident they'd get their man. lester holt (voiceover): coming up. was she the love of your life? yeah. i never met anybody like her. she was-- she was so sweet. lester holt (voiceover): a suspect seemingly still in mourning. i love her. i loved her then-- - you still love her. --and i love her now, yes. lester holt (voiceover): but to some, it didn't matter. there was never a doubt in my mind. i thought he got away with murder. was there anything else that made you think, he certainly did it? yeah, nobody else would have hurt her. lester holt (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. i told myself i was ok with my moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis symptoms... ...with my psoriatic arthritis symptoms. but just ok isn't ok. and i was done settling. if you still have symptoms after trying a tnf blocker like humira or enbrel,

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withonatalie moralesturals (voiceover): michael woods had become the prime suspect in the susan woods murder case. detectives had not been able to nail him,

but they believed they would. they'd gotten his fingerprints. and if those matched prints from the crime scene, they could send michael to prison for the rest of his life. i didn't do anything wrong. i wasn't even in the state. natalie morales (voiceover): michael stopped answering police questions years ago in indianapolis, but he did agree to answer ours. so where were you on the night she was murdered? i was at my brother's house in the front yard, drinking heavily. natalie morales (voiceover): he says when police questioned him two days after the murder, he had just sold susan's car. the car that i sold, i had sold like a day or maybe two earlier. it's like, well, how can i be doing business here and be in stephenville, texas? it's not possible. natalie morales (voiceover): but what about susan's crystal figurines he was apparently selling in the yard sale? they said that susan was missing crystals she had bought right before her murder.

and me and susan collected crystals. when i left, i took my half of the crystals. natalie morales (voiceover): but he did admit to being frustrated by life in stephenville, not being able to find steady work, relying on susan to pay the bills, and, yes, he admitted he did leave that anger-filled cassette tape. what do you remember saying on that tape? that i wasn't going to be a maid, and i wasn't going to be taken care of by a woman. that i'm a man and i intend to be a man. and i wasn't going to be less than a man because it makes her happy. well, a lot of people, when they heard that, thought angry enough to kill. i was never angry enough to hurt susan. i never struck her. not once, not once. i cursed, and i raised my voice. i did not threaten her in any way. i was-- you said things you wish you hadn't said? i do wish i hadn't said anything mean or spiteful.

natalie morales (voiceover): as angry as he was, he said he had no motive to murder susan. i love her. i loved her then-- natalie morales: you still love her. --and i love her now. yes. was she the love of your life? yeah. i never met anybody like her. she was so sweet. natalie morales (voiceover): he says the first he heard about susan's murder was when indianapolis cops picked him up and started questioning him. natalie morales (voiceover): he wanted to be cooperative, he told us. i wanted to find her murderer. i did everything in my power to help them until they turned on me and said, well, you did it, and we're going to prove it. but there was no confession of any kind that you signed. no, i had tears in my eyes.

i was freaking out when they finally said, well, you're free to go, but we're going to get you. natalie morales (voiceover): nine months later, when michael was arrested for marijuana possession and his prints were taken by stephenville detectives, they thought they at last had him, sure his prints would match those from the crime scene. and they didn't match. no match. no match. natalie morales (voiceover): but that wasn't enough to convince donnie hensley. he's on the back burner now, ok? but he's not eliminated? no, no, no, no, no. natalie morales (voiceover): still, it was a devastating blow to the case against michael. with no more strong leads to follow, the susan woods case went cold. did you think it would ever be solved? no. you thought somebody got away with murder here. exactly. a monster was walking the earth who should not be. natalie morales (voiceover): however, susan's family was determined to hold michael responsible and filed a wrongful death civil lawsuit against him.

i thought it was ridiculous because i wasn't guilty. natalie morales (voiceover): as the final hearing date approached, detective hensley called michael. i said, hey, mike, you want to be there to stand up for your rights. he said, ok. natalie morales (voiceover): but michael would not be there in person to defend himself. well, the day before, he called. he called me. you put me in jail. he never showed up for the wrongful death hearing. natalie morales (voiceover): if michael's absence was seen as evidence of liability, the hearing also included damning testimony that he did not even show up for susan's funeral or assist in the investigation. and witnesses poured cold water on michael's alibi that he was with his brother the night of the murder. i said, do i believe his brother? would i lie for my brother if he is looking at a murder charge? probably so. natalie morales (voiceover): then the ruling came down in court. they found by a preponderance of evidence that

i had caused her death, and therefore, i owed them $700,000. and i've never seen $700,000 in my life. never will. but now you have a ruling against you. right. how were you feeling? i have pretty much given up on the justice system of the united states. natalie morales (voiceover): the civil ruling only confirmed to susan's friends that michael should be convicted in a criminal case. did that convince you of his guilt even more? yes, yes. was there anything else that made you think he certainly did it? yeah, nobody else would have hurt her. i really didn't need convincing. there was never a doubt in my mind. i thought he got away with murder. natalie morales (voiceover): after the wrongful death case, life moved on in stephenville. detective hensley retired from the pd in 1993.

cindy and roy had gotten married. gloria, too. but they never forgot their dear friend, susan woods. and there was someone else who never forgot the case. solving susan's case, was it always top of mind for you? i never let it go, yes, ma'am. lester holt (voiceover): coming up, a breakthrough. amazingly, i got a hit. lester holt (voiceover): and a breakdown. i hadn't smoked in over a year and a half, and the first thing i did was grab a cigarette and start crying. lester holt (voiceover): when "dateline" continues.

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america's number one se music] natalie morales (voiceover): nearly 15 years had passed since the murder of susan woods. investigators had run out of leads and moved on to new assignments. but don miller, a lieutenant at the stephenville police department, was using new dna technology to help solve crimes.

and so, on a whim, as he was sending evidence from another case to the lab, he also threw in items from the susan woods case, including the cigarette butts, though he was all too aware it might be no use after so many years, they were not properly stored and i was afraid that the dna would have decayed. natalie morales (voiceover): but then lieutenant miller received a phone call. amazingly, i got a hit. i didn't think i would because of the age. we got male dna on all of the cigarette butts. but unfortunately, it was unknown male dna. and for all those years that you basically had been waiting for technology to catch up to the evidence that you had, to be able to have a breakthrough like this, how significant was that? well, it was one step closer to solving the case, you know? i mean, i was pretty excited about it. 'cause you know he's a male.

you know his dna, even. you just don't have a match. precisely. natalie morales (voiceover): with no match in the system, susan's case went back on the shelf. it wasn't until a few years later when, out of the blue, lieutenant miller got an email from a friend of michael woods asking for his name to be cleared officially. michael and the woods family were having a real hard time dealing with the fact that he was still named as a suspect, which pretty much spurred me to try to aggressively reopen the case because it needed to be done. natalie morales (voiceover): for michael to be cleared, miller needed his dna, so the detective travel to indianapolis to meet him. don miller realized that a murderer doesn't cry two decades after the fact. and he felt like there was some chance that i was innocent. he believed you then. yes. natalie morales (voiceover): so michael allowed detectives to swab the inside of his cheek.

the dna was submitted, and of course, naturally, it came back not being his dna. natalie morales (voiceover): for nearly 20 years, michael had been the prime suspect in the susan woods murder case. and for all those years, he'd been living under a dark cloud. and now, the dna had finally cleared him. i had a complete breakdown. i hadn't smoked in over a year and a half, and the first thing i did was grab a cigarette and start crying. natalie morales (voiceover): as for lieutenant miller, it was back to square one. we have dna. we've got fingerprints. we've got palm prints on either side of susan. there was no forced entry to the house. so she knew who it was. so i knew we'd miss somebody. i just didn't know who. it was a big miss, though, right? oh, yeah. yes, ma'am. natalie morales (voiceover): and so he tried a different technique. in 2006, he submitted prints taken from the crime scene to the national computerized fingerprint database, a system

that was just getting started around the time of susan's murder. and finally, he caught a break. natalie morales: did somebody call you and say-- yes, ma'am. --we've got your guy? he said, we got a hit. natalie morales (voiceover): the prints entered were a match to a man arrested in 1988 for armed robbery in las vegas, one year after susan's murder. his name was joseph scott hatley. the name meant nothing to lieutenant miller, but he would soon find out he was very familiar to susan woods' friends. natalie morales: he was your friend's younger brother. yep, he was regina's baby brother. natalie morales (voiceover): gloria, cindy, and susan were all friends with regina hatley. and so, naturally, they knew scott, or scotty, as they called him. he'd pester us like little brothers do. but he was just a beaver cleaver type, just a little round face, little goofy guy that tagged

along with the older people. natalie morales (voiceover): roy hayes knew him, too. they were classmates, even appearing side by side in the yearbook. roy hayes: me and him had played football together. he was quiet. he was shy. he was not one of these people who got into fights. he normally was always very much a pacifist. natalie morales (voiceover): after high school, scott left small town texas and served in the us air force reserve. but in 1987, the 21-year-old moved back home. he started working for his parents' ice company. they had an ice company here in stephenville. natalie morales (voiceover): he settled right back in. but the boy who once reminded them of beaver cleaver had clearly grown up. well, sometimes i would go over to regina's house on friday night, and he would always be over there. and he was always drinking very heavily. natalie morales (voiceover): he was developing a reputation as a party boy, but seemed harmless. scott never seemed mean or violent,

never saw any kind of of that in him at all. you never got a sense that scott liked susan-- no. natalie morales: --or had anything going on with her? no, ma'am, i did not. she wouldn't have had anything to do with him. natalie morales (voiceover): but all lieutenant miller knew at the moment was that scott hatley had been charged with armed robbery and was now a match in a decades old murder case. still, those fingerprints from susan woods' house could only prove scott had been there. lieutenant miller needed to find out more. i called the district attorney and asked him, do we know joseph scott hatley? and he said, yes, i do. i know exactly who he is. he said, i'll have the file ready when you get here. natalie morales (voiceover): when lieutenant miller started reading through the da's file, he knew he was on to something. the pages contained the excruciating account

of a woman who has only told her story publicly while wearing a disguise until now. natalie morales: this is the first time you're revealing who you are. woman: yes, yes. lester holt (voiceover): coming up. woman: it was after 10:00. it was very dark. lester holt (voiceover): a young girl who says she came face to face with evil. i knew i made a mistake when he locked the doors. lester holt (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. can neuriva support your brain health? mary. janet. hey! eddie. no! fraser. frank. frank. fred. how are you? support up to seven brain health indicators, including memory. when you need to remember, remember neuriva.

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natalie morales (voiceover): ] lieutenant don miller had just been given a case file that contained the story of a woman who was just a teenager when she knew scott hatley. her name is shannon. she doesn't want us to use her last name. and she sat down with us on camera for the first time without wearing a disguise. natalie morales: for the longest time, you did not want to be identified. you've given interviews before, but always in disguise. natalie morales (voiceover): this is the first time you're revealing who you are. yes, yes. why? because i'm not his victim anymore. natalie morales (voiceover): she took us back to 1987, when she first met scott. natalie morales: and it's still emotional. it's been 30 years. yeah, yeah. natalie morales (voiceover): she says she endured years of sexual abuse growing up. in her teens, she sought companionship and found it at the home of next door neighbor regina, whose younger brother was scott.

i was like, oh, there's a guy that's paying attention to me. and we struck up a conversation and-- and started dating almost immediately. natalie morales (voiceover): but there was one red flag already. scott was 21, and shannon was just 15. she says she was attracted to the big teddy bear of a guy who liked to party. at the time, i was drinking and smoking. so it was something we had in common. and it was a physical relationship? yes, it was physical, sexual relationship. natalie morales (voiceover): which meant it wasn't legal because of her age. natalie morales: you had previous relationships with other boyfriends. and how was he different? he was very controlling, something i didn't experience with my other boyfriends. he'd always wanted to know where i was at and what i was doing, like every little detail. natalie morales: controlling and worse, she says, there was a side to scott most weren't aware of.

we'd argue, and he hit me a few times. and i-- i was scared. natalie morales (voiceover): in 1987, two months after susan woods was murdered, shannon even reported scott to stephenville police for raping her at knifepoint. police didn't find any evidence that had happened, seeing it as a case of he said, she said. so no charges were brought against scott. but shannon didn't lose contact with him. one july evening in 1988, when she was 16, she says scott picked her up outside a laundromat. natalie morales: why did you go with him? i wanted answers. i wanted to know why he did what he did. i knew i made a mistake when he locked the doors. he had cold, cold look in his eyes. like he would just look like a monster. [ominous music] natalie morales (voiceover): she says scott drove her to a park by a creek,

hidden from the road. it was after 10:00, and so it was very dark. i was very scared. natalie morales (voiceover): scott started kissing her, she says, but not tenderly. it was very rough. like, you know, he was-- he was mad. he was in a rage. and tell me what happened next. we got out, and he started demanding sex. i refused. and then he slapped me. and i screamed. and immediately, he started raping me then. [tense music] natalie morales (voiceover): she says that was just the beginning of the assault. he would rape me. then he would smoke a cigarette, rape me again, and beat-- you know, hit me, choke me. natalie morales (voiceover): she says he pushed her head down into the creek. shannon: he held my head down in the water. natalie morales: like he was trying to drown you?

he was trying to drown me. yes, yes. ok, he's not gonna let me live. because he told me that he killed before. he said "i killed before"? yes, and "i'm not afraid to kill you." i had no doubt that he killed before. because a few times, i passed out because he would beat me so hard in the face, in the head. natalie morales (voiceover): she says she was so desperate that she left her bra, her banana clip, and hairpins as a trail of clues. just in case i was killed, that they could, you know-- they could investigate. they could find me. natalie morales (voiceover): she says scott's furious assault went on for about four hours before she made what she believed was a last ditch effort to save her life. shannon: so i started manipulating him, telling him, i love you. you know, you're the best thing that came into my life. you had to play games. yes, yes.

natalie morales (voiceover): somehow, she says, she survived. natalie morales: why do you think he spared you? that, i don't know. he goes, i'm not going to kill you today. and i was like, ok. and he drove you then back? back to the laundromat and let me out. and he told me, you tell and i'll come looking for you. natalie morales (voiceover): she says she ran home and collapsed into the arms of her stepfather. then she reported the attack she shared with us to the sheriff's department, which documented injuries to her limbs, body, and face. the investigation that followed was another trauma, she says. scott said that this was a little rough sex. it was consensual rough sex. said you wanted it? i wanted it. i asked for it. i mean, you can see the pain in my face in this picture.

i was 16. i was-- i was a child. that in itself would have been a crime. right, right. natalie morales (voiceover): others questioned by police said she was a troubled teen with a history of making false accusations. cindy says scott's family stood four square behind him. well, they were just saying he's innocent, that's he's just being falsely accused. did you believe that? well, yeah, i did. and what were they saying about the young girl who he was with? oh, that she was just wild, and it was all her. she's doing all this to try to ruin his name. natalie morales (voiceover): eventually, shannon's horrific story was presented to a grand jury. john terrell was the da back then. he says shannon's case was complicated because it came at a time when defendants in texas were allowed to present as evidence the sexual history of accusers under 17 years old and as young as 14.

it was known as the promiscuity defense. in essence, the victim had to prove themselves innocent. and promiscuity was a tremendous hurdle to get over and make a case. given your knowledge of the evidence that existed, do you think it was credible? i thought she was credible, that coupled with the medical evidence that we had. mr. hatley was from a local family that was well-thought of in the community. but if the grand jury had indicted, we would have prosecuted him. they just didn't feel like there was sufficient evidence. we can't second-guess them. so scott hatley wasn't charged with assault. natalie morales: how hard was that, for you to endure that? it was very hard. natalie morales (voiceover): less than two weeks after shannon reported she'd been assaulted, scott was arrested in las vegas and later pleaded guilty to robbery. nearly 20 years later, he was living in round rock, texas,

with a wife and two kids, working as a training supervisor at a food wholesaler. little did he know that after his prints in the national database were matched to the susan woods crime scene, lieutenant miller was on to him. the detective concluded the man who murdered susan woods was the same man shannon said had attacked her. i saw her pictures, and she had been beaten. and the story she told about the manner in which she was assaulted, sexually assaulted, i knew for a fact that this had to be the guy. natalie morales (voiceover): it was time to confront scott hatley. lester holt (voiceover): coming up. lester holt (voiceover): tough questions, a cool customer.

was he nervous? well, i'm sure he was, but he sure wasn't showing it. lester holt (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. [tense music] i told myself i was ok with my moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis symptoms... ...with my psoriatic arthritis symptoms. but just ok isn't ok. and i was done settling. if you still have symptoms after trying a tnf blocker like humira or enbrel, rinvoq works differently. rinvoq is a once-daily pill that can rapidly relieve joint pain, stiffness, and swelling as fast as 2 weeks for some. and even at the 3-year mark, many people felt this relief. rinvoq can stop joint damage. and in psa, can leave skin clear or almost clear. rinvoq can lower ability to fight infections. before treatment, test for tb and do bloodwork. serious infections, blood clots, some fatal; ...cancers, including lymphoma and skin; serious allergic reactions; gi tears; death; heart attack; and stroke occurred. cv event risk increases in age 50 plus with a heart disease risk factor. tell your doctor if you've had these events, infection, hep b or c, smoked,

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chew on a [birds calling] natalie morales (voiceover): it had been 19 years since the murder of susan woods. finally, lieutenant miller was on his way to round rock to confront the man he believed to be her killer-- scott hatley.

miller's case was built on fingerprints and police reports of hatley's alleged violence against women. natalie morales: any reason to think that this guy couldn't have done that? not in my mind. natalie morales (voiceover): at a local police station, miller and a fellow detective took hatley back to 1987. we all knew that he did it. we were just trying to get him locked into a story. it's got to feel pretty good when you're questioning somebody like that, but you already know-- oh, yeah. --how it's gonna go down. yeah. natalie morales (voiceover): miller got to it. so he admitted that he had been with susan a couple of days or-- well, he said, i don't know. but yeah, i was there.

natalie morales: and what was his demeanor during the interview? calm, cool, collective, and calculating. calculating, trying to figure out ways around-- i would say so. yes, ma'am. natalie morales (voiceover): hatley said who he thought was responsible for susan woods' murder-- michael. natalie morales (voiceover): then the investigators turned the tables on hatley. natalie morales (voiceover): the sex and dna questions seemed to jab hatley. his story shifted. natalie morales: was he nervous? no. not nervous at all? well, i'm sure he was, but he sure wasn't showing it. a good poker face, then. oh, very good. yes, ma'am. natalie morales (voiceover): and through it

all, hatley maintained an air of cooperation. natalie morales (voiceover): even though miller could show hatley's fingerprints were lifted from susan woods' home, his case would be stronger if he could match hatley's palm prints to her bathtub and also match his dna to the crime scene. natalie morales (voiceover): miller turned the screw.

natalie morales: you didn't tell him at this point that we've got palm prints on the bathtub? no. natalie morales (voiceover): then miller asked the question at the center of the susan woods case-- natalie morales (voiceover): scott hatley might have thought he was getting the better of the detectives, but he had no idea that as he was being questioned by lieutenant miller, three miles across town at his home, his wife was being questioned by round rock police. she told the officers she'd endured sickening torture during her 13-year marriage to hatley. she said he sometimes assaulted her in the bathroom. and sometimes he tore up her clothing and tied her hands behind her back before raping her. in one incident, she said she thought he was suffocating her to death. all the more shocking because hatley's wife is disabled and uses a wheelchair. miller realized hatley's wife was describing in uncanny detail some of what

had happened to susan woods. so he asked round rock police to interview hatley again the following day. natalie morales (voiceover): hatley made excuses for all his problems with the law. the robbery in vegas-- natalie morales (voiceover): his troubles with shannon-- natalie morales (voiceover): and as for the allegations by his wife, it wasn't the first time. natalie morales (voiceover): then the police asked hatley about susan woods and why lieutenant miller might want his dna and prints. natalie morales (voiceover): maybe hatley felt the walls were closing in because he came up with a new story about susan woods. he said he did have a sexual relationship with her.

natalie morales (voiceover): and he explained away why police might have found evidence of his presence in susan's home. natalie morales (voiceover): but at last, he was cornered. we knew it was him. you knew it was him? yes, ma'am. he just didn't know that he had been pegged yet. oh, i got a feeling he did. natalie morales (voiceover): hatley's fingerprints from the vegas robbery matched the susan woods murder scene. and it wasn't long before miller also matched hatley's palm prints and dna. don miller: i knew the dna on the cigarettes were going to be his. i knew the palm was going to be his. i knew it. everybody else knew it. my partner knew it. the da knew it. we all knew it. how soon before you arrested scott hatley? the next day. natalie morales (voiceover): scott hatley was arrested and charged with aggravated sexual assault in his wife's case and was later charged with the murder

of susan woods. he seemed to have evaded justice for nearly two decades and now faced the rest of his life behind bars. but as his case headed to court, he still had a big play up his sleeve. lester holt (voiceover): coming up, scott hatley's story. he had talked a lot about wait and don't judge until all the facts come out. lester holt (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. speaker: who's coming in the driveway? speaker: dad. dad, we missed you. daddy, hi. speaker: goodness. my daughter is being treated for leukemia. [music playing] i hope that she lives a long, great, happy life and that she will never forget how mom and daddy love her. saint jude-- maybe this is what's keeping my baby girl alive. [music playing]

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. i'm jessica layton with the hours top stories. treasury secretary janet yellen warned to raise the debt limit or risk the full faith and credit in the u.s. she said extraordinarily measures would be to be implemented mid-january to avoid default if the new republican-led congress does not act. and one lucky player in

california has just hit the mega millions jackpot worth $1.22 billion, the fifth largest prize in the lotto's history. and now back to "dateline." ck t. r s s made headlines for weeks. scott hatley was charged with murder and booked at the erath county jail. that's where reporter sarah vandenburgh interviewed him for "the empire tribune." he didn't scare me. he didn't make me nervous. if i had bumped into him on the street, he wouldn't have made me think twice. he was just an ordinary guy. natalie morales (voiceover): and the father of two hardly seemed like a cold-blooded killer. he had talked a lot about, you know, wait and don't judge until all the facts come out. and then he alluded to things like, "when i tell the truth about the situation, people are going to be sorry they asked." did you know what he meant by that when he said that? i didn't. i just felt like he was going to say that him and susan had

some type of relationship that was other than being an acquaintance. a consensual sexual relationship that maybe got a little carried away? i think that's what i-- that's the take i got from our interview. natalie morales (voiceover): it was something prosecutors would have to plan for as they prepared their case. erath county district attorney john terrell led the team. natalie morales: did you feel like you had a pretty strong case against him? there is no such thing as a lay down case in criminal law, especially with juries. but i thought we would get there. natalie morales (voiceover): the da planned to present all of the physical evidence recovered from susan's house-- the fingerprints, the dna from the cigarette butts, and most damning, the palm prints lifted from the bathtub next to susan's body. but he also wanted the jury to hear from scott's wife, whose own harrowing story seemed very familiar. facts in that case were somewhat similar to our facts.

similarities in terms of the manner in which-- the manner in which that the committed the crime by sexually assaulting her and holding her head down in a way that she had trouble breathing at the time. natalie morales (voiceover): what's more, investigators found evidence on scott's computer that showed he had disturbing interests. there were photographic images similar to those of our crime scene involving women being attacked and subdued and actually having their heads submerged in water at the time they were being sexually assaulted. pornographic images with violence. of violence. very, very similar to our case and to what was occurring with his wife. natalie morales (voiceover): but the da knew there would be some challenges because the case was so old. 20 years had passed. the evidence gets to be a problem sometimes. you get pieces of evidence mixed up in the police locker room or lost or people,

their memory fades. natalie morales (voiceover): meanwhile, rumors about scott's defense strategy made their way around stephenville. scotty's defense was going to be that they were secret lovers, and it just got out of hand. natalie morales (voiceover): susan's friends were certain that she, 30 at the time, would never have dated a 21-year-old. and if there's one thing i know about susan, there wasn't anything appealing about scotty. she had a type, and ugly little boys that don't even shave yet was not her type. but he was going to drag her name through the mud. natalie morales (voiceover): but just before the trial was to begin, scott asked to make a deal. he said he had information and was ready to turn jailhouse snitch on another inmate in another case in hopes of evading a life sentence. he had important evidence that we could use against his roommate in the jail that involved

evidence of the commission of a capital murder, a double capital murder involving two individuals here in this county. natalie morales (voiceover): scott was willing to plead guilty to killing susan and cough up details on the capital murder case in exchange for a 20-year sentence. i said, no, this won't be less than 40. and he's going to have to testify and give us everything he knows. natalie morales (voiceover): the da told susan's parents about the possibility of a plea deal. we laid it all out for them, what would happen if we agreed to it and if not. i told him why we would be willing to do it. but if they didn't want to do it, we were not going to do it. and how did they feel about that? well, i think it would be obvious to say that they were unhappy. natalie morales (voiceover): but knowing what the defense might try to present at trial, they agreed to the deal. and in october 2007, susan's family and friends were in the courtroom when scott pleaded guilty.

i was just staring him down like, you know, i want you to look at me in the eye. and he never would. and i was mad. i was hot. there was no, no, no reason, none whatsoever, for him to do what he did to her and put her through that. natalie morales (voiceover): in the end, scott was sentenced to 30 years in prison with the possibility of parole. did you think it was enough? no, ma'am. i still don't. natalie morales (voiceover): in his wife's abuse case, scott pleaded guilty to injuring a disabled individual and was sentenced to 10 years to run concurrently. even though shannon did not get the justice she felt she was due in her case, she was relieved scott was finally off the streets. did you feel like finally you're free?

oh, i lived-- lived life up. i mean, i left my door open. you know, i didn't have to look over my shoulder, looking to see, is he there? a little bit of that fear was gone. oh, yeah. a lot of that fear was gone. natalie morales (voiceover): susan's friends felt the same relief, but were no closer to understanding what happened and why their friend was murdered. why? why did you do it? what did she ever do to you to hurt you? natalie morales (voiceover): and now, after all these years, scott hatley was finally ready to talk. lester holt (voiceover): coming up. drugs and alcohol don't make a murderer. no. no, you have that in your head first. you actually have that in your heart. and you had that in your head and in your heart? yes. lester holt (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. this charmin ultra soft smooth tear

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se music] natalie morales (voiceover): joseph scott hatley agreed to sit down for an interview to tell us what he said is the truth about the crimes he committed, starting with the night he killed susan woods. it was madness. it was out of control. the day i stepped on her porch, i had no idea i was going to commit murder. natalie morales (voiceover): when scott showed up at susan's door, he said she invited him in, and the two sat in her living room,

snacking and listening to music. then at one point, i get too friendly with her. i try to kiss her. she ends up slapping me. at that point, there was just a total rage. you know, luckily, i can't remember a lot of that, but it was rage. it was pure rage. it was-- it's like everything in my life culminated at that point. because she didn't want anything to do with you? well, it was a slap that just seemed to just really set me off to-- and uncontrollable. so that rage. then what happens? well, then i do horrible things, you know? did you rape her repeatedly? well, not repeatedly, no. and at the end, i had suffocated her. i hadn't drowned her. i had suffocated her. natalie morales: you pushed her face into the pillow. yeah. and there's a picture of a pillow. and in that pillow, you can see a face, the pillow

i suffocated her with. i'm sure she was dead at that point. the bathroom, in my mind, was just like a setup. and i have no idea why. i don't know why i wanted to look like a murderer. after she was dead, you tied her hands behind her back? yeah, it was a loose-- and you placed her body over the tub and filled it with water. like i said, i committed a horrible act of murder. and then i tried to make it look like a horrible act of murder. it was just insane. natalie morales (voiceover): scott was certain he'd get caught. for days, i just kept waiting for them. every shift changed. the police cars would come by the house, and i'm thinking, well, they're coming to get me. you know, what's wrong with them? why aren't they coming to get me? and you never, at any point in time, tried to go and turn yourself in? no. i don't have that much courage. natalie morales (voiceover): as for his wife's abuse,

scott admitted it's true and served his time. natalie morales: you assaulted your wife. yes. and you have to live with that. your children saw you do that. mm-hmm. i put my children through a lot. your wife told investigators she was unable to breathe. she was held down. yeah, i abused her. there's no doubt about that. she was black and blue and almost unconscious. well, i mean, like i say, i'll admit what i did, but a lot of times, they-- they spin things to-- to-- nobody's spinning anything here. these are the facts. you pleaded guilty to it. yes, i pled. and if you look at that conviction, i told them just to-- i'll plead guilty to the maximum. natalie morales (voiceover): we also asked scott about shannon, the then-teenage girl who accused him of rape. but he said he would not talk in detail about the case since he was never charged. there is more to the story. not saying i'm innocent of things.

but are you guilty? i'm guilty of some things. do you want to say sorry to her? here's your chance to tell shannon you're sorry. well, anything that i did to hurt her, i'm sorry. anything i did to hurt anybody, i'm sorry. natalie morales (voiceover): according to scott, drugs and alcohol controlled a good part of his life. i have been high on drugs or intoxicated every time i've done something wrong as far as a crime. but it didn't create that crime. drugs and alcohol don't make a murderer. no. no, you have that in your head first. you actually have that in your heart. and then-- you had that in your head and in your heart? yes, i just didn't really realize how-- how it could explode one day. but at the point i am now, i regret everything that i ever did. you know, that was like, i regret my early life. you don't consider yourself an animal. scott hatley: no. or a monster.

i was one. are you not now? are you a changed person? absolutely. i'm changed. the older i get, the more remorse i have, the more understanding i have that what i did was something unchangeable. natalie morales (voiceover): despite what scott said, there were plenty of people who thought he was still a monster and incapable of change. when he was sentenced to 30 years, most everyone expected he would be behind bars into his 70s. they would be in for a painful surprise. lester holt (voiceover): coming up, one last troubling twist. that was probably the hardest part for him to have to tell me, that the monster's out. why should we not be scared of you? you probably have every right to be. lester holt (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. let's monopoly go! hehe. chris!

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natalie morales (voiceover): scott hatley was just shy of five years into his 30-year sentence when he became eligible for parole under a texas law that applied to crimes committed at the time he killed susan woods. it seemed unlikely that he'd walk out of prison, but susan's friends, including gloria, weren't taking chances and sent letters pleading with the parole board. i wrote them so many times. i asked them to consider what he did. he should never walk the streets.

he should have never gotten 30 years. natalie morales (voiceover): shannon routinely checked the department of corrections website. every three weeks to three months, i would look up to make sure that he was still there. still that part of you living with that fear, right? exactly, and a few times, i'd have a flashback really bad. and i'd have to call miller up-- is he still in prison? where is scott? a lot of times. i would just say, where is the monster? and he would calm me down. natalie morales (voiceover): scott was denied parole twice, but in august 2018, shannon looked online and was stunned. he was released. i was mad. i called miller, and i had a few choice words for him. and, you know-- and i was-- what did he say? he goes, let me find out. and a few minutes later, he called me back,

and that was probably the hardest part for him to have to tell me, that the monster is out. natalie morales (voiceover): because scott committed the crime in 1987, he fell under the old texas parole law, which, due to prison overcrowding, gave automatic release to prisoners who served a certain amount of their sentence with good behavior. to the disgust of those who loved susan, scott walked out of prison after serving only 12 years. he's dangerous. he should never be allowed to walk amongst the people. natalie morales (voiceover): scott hatley said he understood how they feel. why should we not be scared of you? well, you probably have every right to be. you know, i don't blame you for that. but people say it's a manipulation. and of course, it's a manipulation of the system. but everybody's going to get the best deal they can. speaking of manipulation, you are a master manipulator, would you admit? yes. in my life, yes.

i will admit that. are you manipulating us now by doing this? oh, no, absolutely not. because this is a bigger negative for me than-- if i did an interview, y'all are going to tear me up on tv. if i don't do an interview, y'all are going to tear me up on tv. i'm the bad guy. so i understand that. do you feel justice was served in the case? no, ma'am. i think people who sell drugs get more time than-- [laughs] than he did for murdering my best friend. natalie morales (voiceover): for cindy, it was even more difficult to process because scott hatley was more than just her friend's little brother. natalie morales: how do you know scott hatley? he is my first cousin on my dad's side of the family. family? yeah. family. natalie morales (voiceover): which explains, in part, why the friends never suspected scott and why they never mentioned his name to police. gloria remembers him attending her birthday party seven

months after susan's murder. susan was the main topic of interest, and scott just sat there piping in with his opinions on the case, when all the while, he was the killer. natalie morales (voiceover): a photo was taken that night that haunts her. he's leaning over, smiling, not a care in the world. when you see that picture, you know why nobody would have believed it was him. smiling ear to ear, but yet-- yes, knowing he's the one that killed her. smiling 'cause he got away with it. natalie morales (voiceover): gloria sees it as a lesson learned and an important one for law enforcement. sometimes it's not the most obvious thing. just 'cause somebody looks innocent doesn't mean they are. and somebody that looks guilty like mike doesn't mean they are. natalie morales (voiceover): and perhaps it was that failure to look beyond the obvious that caused investigators to take so long to finally connect scott to susan's murder.

remember, both the police and local sheriff's department had investigated scott hatley for the alleged sexual assaults on shannon. but despite the fact he'd been on the radar of local law enforcement, investigators working the susan woods murder never talked to him and never collected his fingerprints. natalie morales: of course, hindsight is 20/20. and as a longtime detective, is there a part of you that believes that this is a case that could have been solved so much sooner had the dots been connected that much sooner? had the sheriff's department and police department been adequately communicating their two cases, then perhaps it could have been solved. i don't know. i was lucky enough to connect the dots. i can't speak for anybody else, ma'am. natalie morales (voiceover): of course, the failure to quickly bring scott hatley to justice created other victims in the case. michael woods was under suspicion for nearly two decades, and it took a toll on him.

honestly, i drank way too much. i spent way too much time alone. i cried way too much. i withdrew as much as i could from life. natalie morales (voiceover): michael is now remarried and trying to find joy in life. he's even started playing his music again. (singing) a '60s child is turning 60 today natalie morales (voiceover): but his life is forever altered, collateral damage of an investigation that focused on him so much for so long. as for scott hatley, he was diagnosed with cancer less than a year after our interview and died in december 2021. susan's loved ones say his death gives them some sense of justice. but more than three decades later, there is still little consolation for all that was lost. a daughter, a friend, a young woman just

on the verge of discovering who she really was when her life was so savagely taken. natalie morales: is there a day that goes by that you don't think of your friend? no. no, not a single day. she deserved to live. she deserved to have her own family one day. she would have made a great mother. she was just a wonderful person. very loving, very caring. just a sweetheart. [chuckles] [soft music] [theme music] hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline." hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline."wed. there are threats on my life. i know we're in danger. i know we are. craig melvin (voiceover): it's a riveting mystery that started in a place of glamour.