he apologize many guisedied for the harm and a judge sentenced him to 1 months in prison. cassidy came out of court ready to put this behind her. >> you've said you don't want this to define the rest of your life, obviously. >> no. >> you don't want to give him control over your life. >> no. i want to be able to move on from this, but i think i already have. have. >> after her year as miss teen usa, cassidy is going back to school to study broadcast journalism. >> i now protect my online privacy. >> and she's become an advocate for hacking victims working for a security software company to raise awareness about cybersecurity and speaking at schools to tell other teenagers what she's learned. >> if something like this happens to some other girl out there, if she getsen an e-mail saying i've got photos of you, what should she do?

>> please talk to somebody. that's my biggest advice, tell somebody, tell somebody that will be able to help you. >> to avoid being hacked, experts say never click on a link or attach the in an e-mail if you don't know who sent it or what it is and make sure you regularly update on tie virus software. cassidy has a low-tech solution. >> protect yourself and put a sticker over your webcam. >> a sticker? >> a sticker. cover it because you never know who could be watching you at any time. >> you'll find more advice and how to protect yourself from these kinds of computer hackers on our website, at date line dateline.nbc.come. now a story of love gone wrong on a college campus. >> the police officer said this is now a crime scene, nobody touch anything. it was just like, oh, wow. he did it and he took off. we didn't know where he was.

>> call it a mother's intuition. >> she had a sign. i don't know how something was wrong. >> her daughter away at college wasn't answering her phone. >> she was scared. she didn't know where i was. >> then, terrible news. a student had been murdered, a young woman but apparently, it wasn't alex. >> the girl lying on the floor had dark, almost black colored hair. she had much lighter hair. >> so who was it and where was alex? >> at that point, it was one dead and perhaps another missing. >> the killer could be roaming a campus full of students. >> we were really scared. >> a mysterious tweet. >> what do you think it meant? >> i don't exactly know. >> a terrifying phone call. >> my son just called and told me he killed somebody. >> and a terrible truth. >> i didn't know how. i didn't know who. i didn't know anything. i just know she's gone. >> here is andrea canning with

"after midnight." ♪ ♪ every year, as summer fades into fall and lazy days at the beach come to an end, students flood back to college. it's the same scene year after year at campus after campus. and every year, there is that new bunch, the freshmen. >> i was nervous for classes the first day because i'm that scared little freshman. >> all those worries, all those questions. >> do i really have to go to these classes and what is this teacher like and that stuff. >> they are not quite adults, they are not quite teens but now, suddenly, they are on their own. >> leaving home for the first time can be scary. >> scary for the kids, for their parents, too. >> every mom has that, my baby. going to college. >> most of the time kids fail through the expert -- sail through the experience,

meet new people and move on. but there are others who are not so lucky. they are the victims of a troubling trend that caught the nation's attention, dating violence. >> it could happen to anyone's daughter. >> this could happen to anyone. ♪ ♪ >> it was late september 2012. the college at brock port was well into the new school year. 18-year-old alexander was having the time of her life. >> as soon as i met here, i knew we were the perfect match for each other. >> alex and samantha turner met within days of arriving at campus, besties from the beginning. >> you clicked with alex? >> i did. >> why did you like her so much? >> i liked her because i could act so funny in front of her and myself f. i had a problem, she was there for me. >> by september they were

inacceptable swapping cloths and confidences. >> sounds almost like you were sisters. >> pretty much. every second i saw her, woe would have fun and laugh together, every possible thing just made our relationship grow stronger. >> but on friday, september 28th, they were going off in different directions. samantha was heading home to see her family, alex was staying on campus counting the hours until her long-time boyfriend arrived for a weekend visit. that afternoon, alex went down the hall to samantha's dorm room to say good-bye. >> it was around 3:00 maybe, and i was about to go home, and she's like can i pick out some clothes in your closet? i was like sure. so she took three of my shirts and a pair of my shoes and she was all excited like clayton will be here in half an hour. >> 21-year-old clayton was alex' boyfriend and coming to spend the weekend but first, alex had a swim team meeting. she had been swimming since high

school where paige whitney was the captain. >> you were the captain of the swim team but call alex more of the heart of the swim team. >> yeah, definitely. in high school, she definitely wasn't the fastest on our team, but she was one of the most important people on our team because she had the most heart. she would be behind you at every single one of your races cheering you on, wishing you luck. >> now, paige and alex were teammates again. she must have loved knowing she had you to lean on. >> i know there was definitely that sense of security. >> that friday the team meeting ran late. alex' boyfriend got to town before it ended. alex texted to apologize she wasn't there to greet him. please don't kill me, i'm sorry. no worry he answered and soon the two got together. midway through the everything, samantha texted alex. >> i told her, can't wait to see you tomorrow, love you, good

night and she said the same. >> but later, in the early hours of saturday morning, samantha was awakened by a call. alex' mother was on the line. what in the world was up? >> she was scared. she didn't know where alex was, what she was doing. she had a sign, i don't know how something was wrong -- >> her mother just thought something was wrong and called you. >> yes. freaking out and i was like i'm home. i don't know. >> a fearful mother on the phone in the middle of the night searching for her daughter. what happened to set her off? why was she so distraught? sandra whitney is a good friend of alex' parents, she's paige's mom. >> they had gone off for a weekend vacation and been texting that everything and becky was sending her pictures of the hotel room, you know, you get to a hotel, hey, look and

alex didn't respond. and she tried over and over again and didn't respond and that's not how their relationship worked. you text, you call, you always respond. >> is that unusual, though, that she wouldn't respond in college, it's a weekend, her boyfriend is coming. >> i imagine the first couple times maybe she wasn't concerned but when it was several, that's what raised flags for becky. >> was it a little mother's intuition, you think? >> i imagine it was. >> alex' mom worked the phone frantically trying anyone who might know where her daughter was. finally, at 2:42 a.m. she called the campus police to ask them to go to her daughter's dorm room to check on her. officer michael johnson. >> you took that call. >> i did. >> and you headed over to the dorm. >> yes. >> and then what happened? >> when we went there, i knocked on the door and i knocked twice and since it was a welfare check, let me see if this door

is unlocked. >> it was and officer michael johnson will never forget what was inside that room. >> it just seemed that something really bad happened there that night. >> coming up, what had happened in room 108? police were about to confront a frightening and confusing scene. >> you never come to work thinking you're going to see something like that. >> a young victim but who is it? >> they are just telling everybody keep your door shut, don't come in the hall. we didn't really know what was going on. it helps this place tell a story all your own. it's what's there in the air when you've made your house a home. air wick home is in the air.

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officer michael johnson was at a welfare check on saturday, september 2012 when he got the shock of his life.

>> we don't see that level of violence. >> room 108 was wrecked, there was blood everywhere, on the bed, the door, a pillow on the floor and in the center of the room was a young woman lying on the floor face down her bloody hair falling over her face. >> it seemed unnatural the way she felt. the blood spatter that was in the room, the bloody footprints around her all indicated something violent had happened in that room. >> what feeling do you have when you see something like that? >> the adrenaline kicks in and you need it at that moment and it was time to go to work and if she was alive, i had to do something for her. >> officer johnson knew he needed help fast. >> i heard this guy yelling and i thought it was a drunk college kid. >> hailey lived across from alex' room. the commotion woke her up. >> a man was yelling for help and stuff so i woke up and i started looking through my peephole and it was a police officer yelling. >> lieutenant daniel works with

officer johnson on the campus force. >> he radioed me for the aed. >> what's an aed? >> defibrillator. so i arrived and grabbed it and went running to his location. >> when what did you think when you saw what you saw? >> i couldn't believe it. i guess you never come to work thinking you're going to see something like that. >> hailey was now glued to her peephole. she saw residents' officials everywhere. >> they were just telling everybody, keep your door shut, don't come in the hall and we didn't really know what was going on. >> the news was spreading, hailey was fielding a storm of texts from worried students. >> everyone was so confused. like i don't know. i think somebody is hurt. but i don't know what has happened. >> by now, the cops realize the young woman on the floor was dead. hailey soon learned that, too. >> what happened was the ambulance showed up and the

police officer said to the paramedic, we only need one of you to go in and pronounce her and the paramedic went in and came out pronounced her jane doe and it was just like oh, wow. i knew that that meant that they couldn't identify who it was and they left. and i woke my roommate up, and i said, you know, somebody died. and she didn't believe me at first and i told her, you know, like they left. the stretcher had nobody on it. >> the students on their phones tried to stay calm but it wasn't easy. after all, a college residence is supposed to be safe but now there might be a killer on the loose. >> we were really afraid. the police officers are like you're okay, we're here, you're safe but we were really scared. >> hailey went over and over the events of that night in her mind. and she remembered something about 1:15 a.m. as she was

trying to go to sleep, an unusual sound but was it related? >> it was like little thud, thud and then it was like maybe like a pause and then it was like more and then kind of another break and some of them were louder than others. >> now, as the activity in the hallway intensifies, hailey heard a line straight out of a cop show. >> the police officer said this is now a crime scene, nobody touch anything. >> at that time i knew we had to do our jobs and preserve everything for the safety of the rest of the campus. >> the officers had a million questions, number one, who was the girl lying with her face to the floor? alex the girl they were asked to check on had blonde hair. there were pictures of her in the room. the glirl onirl on the floor was a brunette. her face was bloody, unrecognizable. >> so then you must be wondering, well, where is alex?

>> right. >> yes. >> the cops learned that aleck entered the dorm with her boyfriend after midnight and made a startling discovery when they looked closer at the photos of the room they saw a young man they recognized, in fact, they issued him a ticket that very night. >> so we knew who he wanted to look for at that time. >> it was clayton. >> if we have someone that did this violent act here in this specific room, you know, what is he capable of doing what he leaves here? >> coming up, a missing boyfriend, an anxious best friend. >> left here at 4:00 in the morning. >> and a mist flying murder. >> there were so many things that didn't make sense it was hard to say this is what happened, case closed.

life's running out of shaving stuff. and thankfully being able to find backups.

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the campus cops investigating the murder in mcclain hall weren't sure who the victim was but recognized a young man in photos in the dorm

room. they seen that same young man when they were patrolling the campus earlier that night. >> i observed a couple coming down the street here. we could see he had an open container in his hand. as he kept coming, we intercepted him here on the sidewalk. i requested his id. i could see it was an open beer can and explained we have a local ordinance here that says you cannot have an open contain container. >> did he seem angry and agitate snd. >> no, he was cooperative and i gave him the ticket and he walked away. >> the young man that got the ticket was clayton wittamore returning home from a party with his girlfriend. >> when they left, did they seem fine? >> they seemed normal to me. >> i was even doing small talk with the female he was with and was able to make her laugh little bit. so if anything was bothering her, she didn't let us know. >> so just a normal couple out on a friday night and wasn't quite the last of him.

>> no, they both started walking away, i observed him drop the beer can onto the ground and i made a comment to him that could be another $100 fine, and he compiled and went back and picked it up and after doing that, i saw him cross the street here and the same time the female stayed on this side of the street and then they both continued to walk on separate sides of the street. >> alex and clayton had been dating for a year and a half by then. they were both from the town of new hartford. they got together when alex was in high school. clayton had already graduated and now they were trying to make a go of a long distance relationship. >> they really wanted to make it work and it was working. she really did love him. >> what did she say about clay, describing him or the time they spent together? >> just little things here and there, i can't wait to see him. i miss him. you could see it in her eyes she

really did want to be with him. >> clayton, number 21 had been a standout hockey player in high school. after he graduated in the spring of 2010, he spent a season playing for a college prep team in florida living with a host family there. >> he was like the star player. he was the guy that scored the goals. >> hunter fernandez, one of clayton's teammates lived with the same host family. >> paint a picture of clayton for us. >> he was hard working. he was really nice guy. he was funny. always had a good time. >> did you guys ever get into a little trouble? >> no, we never really got in trouble. we were always busy. >> what about girls? did you hang out with girls or time? >> no. >> partying? >> drinking? >> he drank once. >> seems like the tamest bunch of hockey players i've heard of. >> yeah. >> it was surprising alex was drawn to another athlete and clayton was a catch. paige whitney, alex' swim team

pal knew that. she had gone through high school with clayton and sat beside him in math class. >> she felt like he deserved more and she was very, very lucky. >> really? >> yes. >> so she considered herself lucky he had chosen her? >> absolutely. >> watching them together, did it seem that he really cared about her, that he really liked her? >> absolutely. >> happy to be in that relationship? >> yeah, you see them laughing together and getting along so well. >> their twitter messages were light-hearted. they called each other dork and freak and lived out their lives in twitter. before clayton arrived this friday, alex tweeted awe, see you soon. her family liked him, too. they had given him a care package for her and her mom contributed $20 towards gas for the trip. once alex' swim team meeting ended that day, the couple met up and had alone time and went to dinner. alex and samantha were texting

of course. >> i asked how she was doing and what. she said we're out to dinner now and went out to a friend's house and came back to the dorm. >> on the way back, clayton got that ticket and the cop saw the two walk away separately. then, at 12:13 a.m., alex posted a cryptic tweet, should have known it read, should have known. >> what do you think it meant? >> it probably does have something to do with clayton, but i don't exactly know. >> minutes later, alex swiped her card to enter her dorm with clayton. it was 12:17 on saturday morning. so now, investigators were desperate to find out where clayton wittamore was. >> luckily, we had all his information from the ticket. >> but clayton was a model of cooperation then. what could he tell them, if anything, about what happened in the dorm room that night.

>> what is your gut telling you happened? >> i couldn't put together what happened because it was so violent and so many things that didn't make sense in the room it was hard to say this is what happened, you know, case closed. >> what were the scenarios you were thinking of? >> maybe there was an altercation between roommates, maybe possibly alex and clayton were on the run and this was the roommate that was on the ground. maybe alex was abducted by clayton. maybe clayton hurt the roommate. >> a lot of things are running through your mind? >> yes. >> lots of things on other people's minds, too. at her parents' house, samantha turner was phoning all her friends when she got through to her roommate, a college official got on the line and told her there was a situation. >> and then i broke down and i grabbed my sister and i was like we need to go now and i rushed here. >> 4:00 in the morning. >> 4:00 in the morning and got here, saw the police cars. >> you didn't know at this point what had happened still?

>> i didn't know exactly who it was. >> hundreds of miles away, a frantic mother waited desperate for answers but when those answers came, they would be unbearable, and they were coming soon from the killer himself. coming up, two frantic phone calls from a mother. >> she was breathing and she stopped. >> and her son. >> what is going on there, bud? >> i did something. hey rich, what's that in your hand? my at&t cell phone bill. verizon bill? ye-aaah. that's cool. noooo... how much are you spending per month? $110 bucks $120 bucks $330 yeee-ah... what if sprint could cut your rate plan in half? and give you unlimited talk and text in the u.s., and match your data. goodbye verizon. i am done with at&t. bring in your verizon or at&t bill, turn in your old phone and we'll cut your rate plan in half. visit us online or visit a sprint store today.

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early that saturday morning, steven a veteran homicide investigator with the monroe county sheriff's office was called to the brockport campus. they had a murder on their

hands, a body they count identify -- couldn't identify and killer on the loose. >> everybody thought they knew what was going on but nobody did until you put the pieces together, you didn't know. >> as he drove to the campus, he reviewed the facts as he knew them. one young woman was dead, another missing. >> we were reported a young lady was alive and still needed help. right then that was my priority on my mind. >> did you think clayton had taken alex and hurt her but she was still alive or that someone else may be involved in the whole thing? >> at that point i was thinking she was just with clayton and he had hurt her. >> so you're thinking we have to find her immediately? >> yes. >> but five counties away, a drama was unfolding that would break up this case. about 3:00 a.m. an operator out oneida emergency center got a call from a troubled dad. >> my name is scott wittemore and my son clayton just called

me and told me he killed someone. >> it was a stunning statement, even for a 911 dispatcher in the early hours of the saturday morning but the dad didn't know much. >> okay. where did this happen? >> i don't know. >> where is he right now? >> i don't know. >> the father reported his son was in a bad way. >> he talked about killing himself, too. i don't know what's going on. >> the divorced dad admitted he was out of the loop about family matters. now he was doing his best to stave off a tragedy. >> do you know if he has any weapons? >> i don't know. he asked me for one i have. i have a permit. >> he asked you for your pistol? >> yes. he doesn't have it. >> and did he say what he wanted to do with it? >> kill himself. >> the dispatcher asked scott to call his son back to find out more. minutes later the fastther was on the line.

>> hey, scott, he has a girlfriend in brockport. >> the 911 dispatcher got clayton wittemore's mother on the line. >> sandy, we're trying to find your son. you think he was visiting his girlfriend? brockport. >> he's in canada right now. >> he's not in canada, at least his cell phone is not in canada. if you were just talking to him on his cell phone, he's not in canada. just take a couple deep breathes and we're going to try to find him to get him some help. >> the dispatcher got the name alex kogut from the mom. slightly wrong but it was enough. seconds later he was on the phone with the campus cops in brockport and now finally the pieces of the story began fitting together. >> we got a call from a father about an hour ago that said his son called him and said that he killed somebody.

the son's name is clayton wittemore. apparently he's out there with a girlfriend, an alex kogut at your college. >> that's who we're looking for. we had him on an open container at midnight. >> is the girl okay? >> no. >> well, we don't know where this alex kogut is. we can't locate her but her roommate is doa. >> that's the theory the campus cops were acting on but the roommate was dead and alex was with clayton somewhere. but then, new information from clayton's mom. clayton had just called his sister and told her a frighten story about alex. >> he said she was breathing and then she stopped. >> he said the girlfriend stopped breathing. >> yeah. >> clayton's mother was beside herself. >> did you get ahold of the college out there? >> yeah, they are looking for him. everybody is out looking to see if they can find him and make sure they are okay.

>> and then, once more that morning, the call line lit up at the 911 center. this time it was the call everyone was waiting for. clayton wittemore was on the line. >> what's going on there, bud? >> i did something -- >> it was 3:44 a.m. the horror of what had happened in room 108 would soon be revealed. coming up, who had clayton wittemore killed? >> i didn't know how. i didn't know who. i didn't know anything. i just know she's gone. >> when "dateline" continues. ♪ ♪

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clayton wittemore was at a rest stop when he called 911 with a stunning admission. >> i'm turning myself in. i just, i did something i can't take back and i just got to turn myself in. >> it was almost 4:00 a.m. a frantic hunt that had pulled in multiple police agencies, emergency dispatchers, college officials and two sets of anguished parents was almost over. >> there were two officers, two new york state troopers who, you know, were patrolling the

thorough way that night. >> sandra is the district attorney of monroe county in western new york. >> they were called to respond right to that road service area, not knowing what to expect. at that point, it was one dead on the brockport college campus and perhaps another missing. >> and clayton was there waiting? >> he was. he walked over and said i'm turning myself in. they noticed bloody sneakers and blood on his hands. >> within seconds, 21-year-old clayton wittemore was cuffed and in custody. for his car, what could it tell them? >> they wanted to check the trunk. they didn't know if there was a body in the trunk because at that point they hadn't determined who it was actually on the dorm room floor of 108. >> that was about to change. the cops back in brockport who initially thought the victim was alex kogut's roommate, learned the roommate was staying elsewhere that night but where?

they started an urgent search until they spoke to her, they couldn't be certain of the victim's identity because of the hair color. investigator steven pe glo. >> the girl on the floor had very dark, almost black colored hair and when you saw the photos alex had put up in her dorm room of her and clayton, she had much lighter hair. the roommate had darker hair. >> investigators knocked on students doors, questioning them. then a new get bury in a conversation. they learned alex recently died her hair brown. they had what they needed to id their victim. now they wanted to hear from just one more person, alex' roommate. when she did call in, finally, they learned she had been staying in another dorm room. >> we had her come to us so that we could speak with her and then we were positive. >> positive that the girl on the dorm room floor was alex kogut. bubbly, happy, lovely alex. only 18 years old.

best buddy samantha turner rushed back to college early that morning was devastated. >> i just broke down and i knew at that point my life was changed. >> and you knew what happened without anyone telling you? >> uh-uh. i didn't know how, who, i didn't know anything. i just knew she was gone and i could never see her again. >> sandra whitney and her daughter paige are family friends of the koguts. paige was a student at brock port, too. her roommate woke her up a that morning. >> she said we have to go. we're all meeting together, something happened. >> paige called me and said something happened to alex. alex? what? she said it was a terrible accident and she said -- well, is she okay? >> she said no. i said is she in the hospital? and she said no, mom, she's not. and i said, has she died?

and she said yes. so i was shocked and all i could think was what could have happened to alex in her dorm room? >> the new york state police were asking clayton wittemore that very same question that very morning. >> clayton put the pieces together for the police about what happened that night. and it began with the fact that his relationship with alex wasn't so good after all. the couple had dinner, then the party. clayton said he and alex drank moderately but at the party he got annoyed with her, he thought he felt disrespected. 3 f2 al salir de la fiesta clayton re3

f2 clayton recuerda caminar al otro clayton said they were fighting about cheating, old stuff he called it. 3 f2 w>> luego él le dijo a la policiía 3 f2 w>> pero el intvestigador indicó q

i don't know. >> don't know how to explain it? >> i don't know if it was my temper or just her hitting me in general and pushing me and stuff. >> but you're not hurt? right? she didn't hurt you at all, right? >> no. >> he told the cops he asked her to stop, but he said she wouldn't, and when he offered to leave, he said she told him to stay and then this. >> all of a sudden i snapped. >> what, did you hit her back? >> the attack that followed was unthinkable in a tiny dorm room surrounded by sleeping students, clayton wittemore beat his girlfriend to death.

investigator pe glow seen plenty of homicide scenes but never one like this. >> i have blood on this, okay, i have blood on this and give you an idea of the rage that had gone on in that room. >> pe glow who studied the interview video says there is one thing he can't forget, clayton told police near the end he realized alex' breathing had become labored, that the girl he said he loved was dying. >> you know, it was like suffering. >> okay. >> the other stuff that i did, you know, someone you love, i'm not going to lie. >> yeah, okay. >> so you see her suffering and you think she's going to die, is that right? >> yeah. >> didn't get help, didn't call on ambulance, didn't occur to him. instead, he hit her until she died to put her out of her mystery, he said.

>> it seemed impossible, how could she be murdered? >> exactly. disbelief, shock, not real. that's not real. that doesn't happen. you don't go away to college and suffer that. you just don't. >> clayton wittemore was charged with second-degree murder. he pleaded not guilty because clayton wittemore had an explanation and his attorneys would reveal it at trial. coming up, could anything explain such violence? >> i saw it all. >> the verdict. isn't it awesome?! so ya'll optimized it? we optimized it! people of earth... oh boy... ...america's strongest lte signal is here!

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it wasn't until the spring of 2014, almost two years after

alex kogut died that clayton wittemore went on trial. although he told the cops he beat his girlfriend to death, he entered a plea of not guilty to second-degree murder. prosecutors had a powerful case against him and they knew it. the gruesome images in room 108, the mountain of incriminating evidence, even his words. >> he was a ticking time bomb, prosecutors argued, a killer years in the making. how does this young man go from star athlete, popular, college student to what some would call a monster? >> you know, our theory that night is that his anger was just building, building and fueled by alcohol. >> prosecutors tried to show that clayton wittemore already established a pattern of violence. they called ex-girlfriend melinda to testify about one scary episode. >> we were fighting in a parking lot and he choked me and held on

for a few seconds and i thought he might not shop but eventually he did. i walked him to the car to cool down. >> that one was serious. >> yeah, it was scary. >> hunter fernandez was called to the stand. he played hockey on that college prep team. hunter, too, had a scary experience. it happened after clayton drank a half dozen beers, the one time hunter says, he saw his teammate drink. >> he walks in the kitchen and grabbed a knife and raised it in his head. he looked possessed. he took a step towards us and our host mom sees it and says clayton, put the knife down. >> defense attorneys didn't dispute that clayton wittemore killed alex kogut, didn't try, and they didn't dispute his anger was years in the making but argued this wasn't a case of murder. their client was guilty of the lesson charge of manslaughter. why? they say he was under the

influence of extreme emotional disturbance when he killed alex kogut because clayton wittemore was a victim himself. >> i'm turning myself in. the man who called you, the man should turn himself in. >> that's clayton talking to the 911 dispatcher hours after the murder. he's talking about his dad telling the dispatcher his father had abused him and his family for years. >> happened my entire life. >> so you saw a lot of it, huh? >> i saw it all. watched my brother get beat by a baseball bat by my own father. watched my father break my sister's nose and throw my mother down to the ground and beat her. watched him try to shove the remote controller of all of us. her fingerprints on his car. >> the cops in the interview room asked him how he felt about his dad now.

>> do your dad and you have a relationship now? >> not really. my family, not like people i'm really close to. growing one my dad, one man i despised. >> he wrote i'm sorry to the family and you he tected. nothing will ever unfix or do what i did. i became my father. in court, clayton's sister took the stand and supported her brother's story. their father, scott witt the emore did not respond to "dateline's" calls. a psychiatrist testified scott admitted as a form erer marine, he may have been rough. because of that abuse, they said clayton was suffering that extreme emotional disturbance and snapped in the dorm room.

the prosecution begged to differ. >> it's just sad and tragic and you know what? we never discounted or denied his past, but that doesn't excuse what he did. >> three weeks after the trial began, the case went to the jury. the verdict was swift. guilty of second-degree murder. >> i just felt this overwhelming sense of relief that the truth came out and that there was a -- there was finally a verdict. it was the right verdict. >> alex' mom did not attend the trial but followed it closely and tweeted. >> becky kogut after the verdict tweeted justice for my beautiful baby. >> uh-huh. >> did you talk to her about the verdict? >> uh-huh. >> what did she say? >> it was a private conversation between two moms.

there were tears, of course. doesn't bring back alex, it doesn't. >> clayton wittemore was sentenced 25 years to life. among those who know the story of alex kogut's life and death, there is a new awareness about the viability challenges of young love especially because prosecutors say there was evidence to say clayton had a history of threatening alex. he left angry voice mails on her phone. the assistant district attorney. >> there were almost 30 voice mails that she saved from him. they were all of the aggressive controlling nature, is what we argued to the court to seek admissibility of them at trial. >> the voice mails were not admitted in court, but prosecutors read an excerpt for "dateline". >> i'll kill you next time i see you.

you're a [ bleep ] and [ bleep ] don't call me. >> when you add in the expletives, it's really hard to hear. >> it was. these were voice mails that really were scary. >> those close to al leblgsex and her family say they never knew about the voice mails, never knew there was a problem. they say there were no red flags about clayton witt the emore. >> that's why it's out of the blue. never saw that coming. >> nothing. >> totally, totally caught me off guard. >> perhaps for parents, there is a lesson to be learned, ask questions, know what is happening even if there are no warning signs. >> even if, you know, they might be not wanting to talk about it, you know, ask those questions. >> after alex died, sandra wit whitney and her family started the purple pinkie foundation. purple

purple symbolizes the fight against violence and it was alex' favorite color. >> i said paint your pinkies purple and this is for alex. you have more strength in your little finger than the worst thing that could come at you. >> two years later, there were still purple ribbons in alex kogut's hometown, still friends attending a college memorial to honor students that died, a college that had to heal and since opened a center to raise awareness about dating violence and there are still those like paige whitney who will never let the memory of a graceful, joyous young spirit fade away. >> for the rest of my life, whenever i see purple, i will think of her. whenever i hear a story of any type of domestic violence, i will think of her. and i will not stop telling her story. that's all for this edition

of "dateline" sunday, we'll see you again for "dateline" friday at 9:00, 8:00 central. i'm lester hold, for all of us at nbc news, good night. trump: "celebrity apprentice" is back with an all-new season and all-new celebrities. it's going to be bigger and better than ever. who will be the next celebrity apprentice? announcer: 78 different celebrities have come seeking the title. you pressed the last button in me, miss star jones. i do what i want. you've raised no money. you ain't doing jack for me, piers. you know why you've raised no money? i ain't going nowhere. but only six have succeeded. whoo! in the process, they've changed millions of lives forever... joan: here's my first friend to die of aids. that's why i w