>> i told myself the worst part of dying is being afraid of dying.aid it won't be so bad. i just couldn't believe this was the way it was gonna happen. was a college student. found on a lonely road in texas. >> we figured she had been ly assaulted and dumped here. >> reporter: tough questions for her boyfriend. >> where was i the night before? what had i been doing?en her? >> i really thought he could be our killer. >> reporter: but while police

and he's shaking me and he's ng me not to say a word. >> reporter: you're a prisoner in his apartment? >> yes. >> reporter: a college campus gripped by fear. a growing list of suspects.list of victims, too. >> her body had kinda been propped up onto the bed. >> reporter: even law enforcement, they thought, "what do we have on our hands here?" >> reporter: there's growi police are looking in the wrong place. >> i lived to tell and then nobody believed me. >> this monster is walking free while they're wasting their timee. >> reporter: account killer be caught before he kills again? >> it makes you realize how fragile your life is, you know, and that anybody can take it. lester holt and this is dateline. here's andrea canning with "the face of evil."now, this woman almost didn't make it. >> i said if you keep doing this you're going to kill me., do you think i actually care about that? >> that when you feel like you're looking in the face of evil?

killing me. >> little did she know -- that in this college town-- she wasn't the only one.he would go to jail for murder before he'd ever go to jail for rape. >> what is going through your mind? >> i wish i had told all the ved, you know, that i loved them. >> but was their private horror connected to a very >> everyone's saying, "what is going on in this community it just had people asking what's gonna happen next. >> more women connected by tragedy and -- by questions. stopped sooner? >> i was so angry that two e in order for ve me. >> the story begins in a small texas town. but it's not just any town. this is college station, home to and in 1999 -- the home to 21 year old student jamie hart. >> i was immediately struck with

iend at the time. he says jamie was the light of his life. he remembers when he first laid eyes on her.y speak when i saw her, she was so pretty. e color came on in the wizard of oz. i had been living in a dark world and she showed me a world full of color. loyal friend, funny, outspoken. >> she would tell you exactly mind at all times. it was early one morning in may. jamie's roommates couldn't find her. they called chuck. >> i got a call asking me if ias. and i said, no, she didn't come last night. i didn't know where she was. i hadn't talked to her the night before. and-- and i went to work. >> that same morning detective kenny ellicounty sheriff's office was summoned to the scene of a disturbing discovery. >> there was a young female, appeared to be in her early 20s.

she had extensive road rash on and she was obviously deceased. >> reporter: a jogger spotted the victim in a ditch, nine feet the road. >> when i arrived there was probably half dozen officers here and they taped off the area, blocked. traffic, and at that point we the area. we figured that she had been sexually assaulted and dumped here.a mile away, deputies discovered what was presumed to be the woman's clothing strewn across the entrance to an oil field.es from there- an abandoned vehicle -- its engine still running. >> there was blood on the car, and that raised suspicion. we sent a team over there to ess the car. >> and inside the car, a drivers hart. when detectives showed up at chuck's workplace that afternoon, he says his heart sank.

and the appearance of police and when they told me that she nd dead, it felt like i had been hit by a truck. >> reporter: so your sense of dread was coming true? >> yep. realized, fully realized.r spread throughout the campus? >> oh, yes. i mean, it was front page news. >> kristin lancaster -- was a 19 year old freshman.her actually worked with jamie at the time i'll never forget him coming home devastated. >> r college town is terrifying. >> very much so, yes. >> this is something that happens in chicago. it something that happens in houston. it's not something that happens in bryan college station in aggieland.rown is the editor of the eagle, the local newspaper >> i think at the time people were hoping this is a drifter n going. because the location of her

>> sheriff's deputies canvassed the crime scene, searched jamie's car. and looked for eyewitnesses.to several hundred people, and no one's seen anything. >> turns out, there were no fingerprints inside the car.topsy the medical examiner did recover dna from jamie's body, dna which rapist and killer. >> did you put the dna into a database? >> we put it in codus. >> reporter: any hits? >> none.o eyewitnesses, no fingerprints, no dna matches. the investigation wasn't off to a good start. >> and that's when we started e at her place of employment, friends, roommates. >> reporter: did she have any enemies? >> everybody seemed to love her. >> detective elliott began to retrace jamie's steps on the der. jamie was taking time off from her studies at texas a&m and was working at a pizza parlor.

>> we contacted everybody on-- that she delivered pizzas to, and nothing out of the ordinary. >> after work, she'd headed overd's house. >> he said they were there watching movies and she left morning. >> reporter: what time did you think that she was killed. >> we got the call, i think, at 7:15 a.m., so between 4:30 a.m. and 7:00. >> the male friend, a college student, was the last known person to see jamie alive.id him a visit. >> he was upset, obviously. they were friends, and had been for some time. >> the friend's grief seemed ut something was peculiar. when investigators asked for a dna sample. >> he said no. >> no? >> and o know why. was he the killer, or was he not? >> the detective was determined to anticipate that question. der surveillance, followed him to a local restaurant. >> reporter: and are you hidden

yeah. ent have a few drinks, and when he left, the detective snagged the dirty beer mugs and sent them out for dna testing. the results would take weeks -- ull of young people on edge. >> dads and moms were telling e kids, "be alert everywhere you go." go with people when you go out. and that's a frightening-- order to give anybody. >> frightening but sound advice, because in this case, connecting the dots e so easy. >> detectives have a possible suspect in their sights. jamie's boyfriend is invited to ph test. >> failed the test. >> bad sign for you, right? >> bad sign for him. but there's a difference between the omega-3s in fish oil in megared krill oil.

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>> reporter: 21-year-old jamie hart had been sexually e on the side of a busy roadway. >> i could barely function. i -- i -- all i could think about was loss, that she's gone ever. >> reporter: jamie's boyfriend, chuck cruz, then 24, says right after the murder he took off to amie's hometown. >> about the only thing i remember her father asking me is, "when are you coming down?"

drove down as soon as i could. and i spent most of the next week with them, mourning with . and then acting as a pallbearer for her funeral. >> reporter: back in college lliott was working the case. >> anytime you have a killer out on the run it's frustrating. you want to catch the person responsible. >> reporter: one possible friend jamie visited the night of her murder. he'd refused to give police a dna sample for testing. >> reporter: that's kind of odd, hide. >> a lot of people will not give up dna. too much tv. >> reporter: but the detective had snagged a sample from a beeren the dna finally came back, he was not a match. reporter: you felt confident that you could rule him out, based on -- >> yes. yes. >> reporter: the dna not matching? >> yes.eporter: but even before the dna test cleared jamie's friend, the detective was already looking for other suspects. and his attention quickly landed

victim. her boyfriend. >> the questions that they asked, focused on where was i the night before, what had i been doing. >> reporter: looking at you as a possible suspect?lly occur to me that that was what they were for information. >> reporter: chuck told the detective that before jamie was killed he hadn't seen her for night of murder, he said he was at home. >> i was playing computer games like a good nerd. >> reporter: did you have anyone there to corroborate your alibi? >> i think my roommates were there but they were both aslight there, sitting there with me. >> reporter: so the boyfriend's alibi wasn't solid. and as they spoke the detective was looking carefully for signs he might be hiding something. >> he was cooperative. apprehensive.erything was fine in

>> reporter: the detective asked chuck for dna, and he said yes. and when they asked him for a eed to that too. but here's the thing with that last part, the polygraph. >> he failed the test. >> reporter: that's a bad sign for you, right? >> also bad sign for him. yes.ll you that he's guilty. but he was a very strong person of interest. >> reporter: and what's more, d been speaking with jamie's friends who said the relationship wasn't fine. in fact the couple had a fight and were on the verge of a breakup.t led to more questions. >> basically, he went over every aspect of the relationship. just questioned him on his tried to get him to confess. >> reporter: and if a failed polygraph wasn't suspicious t the detective says chuck told him next. >> he said he had done some bad things, and wouldn't tell us what. >> reporter: did you look him in the eyes say, "is one of those bad things killing jamie hart?" >> i did.. at that point in time, i -- i

killer. >> reporter: and the more you started to think he was the killer, how does he react to that?ry nervous. he just acted like -- as if he was guilty. >> reporter: chuck was free to but as authorities waited for his dna to be processed, the detective developed a theory of the crime that made sense to him. >> he was in love with her. he didn't want to lose her. and they were having some issuesnship. >> reporter: so the boyfriend, a likely suspect was in the cross hairs. but when the dna results came back --ot a match. >> reporter: so were you able to rule out chuck cruz, then, once you got that dna checked? >> i didn't rule him out completely, no.t was enough for you with -- with the -- the friend, who she was with the night before. you ruled him out, after you got the dna, correct? >> i did. the other guy wasn't her boyfriend.flunked polygraphs. he wasn't in a bad relationship

chuck was. >> reporter: but they didn't arrest chuck.nd the detective kept investigating him. authorities seized his computer, searched his car. they were looking at the wrong >> there's a lot of people that won't confess to a murder for obvious reasons. and at that point, he was a -- strong person of interest, but i still didn't continued to search. >> reporter: the investigation dragged on, life for the students on campus began to go rmal. parties every weekend. but when police were called to the scene of one house party, it wasn't because of noise or underage drinking.man was in a fight for her life. coming up -- >> a student at a party ends up in a stranger's apartment. >> i screamed as loud as i can. immediately, he grabs me and

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when chuck cruz's girlfriend was murdered, he was immediately a strong person of interest. >> reporter: the acting nervous, like you had something to hide -- >> they interpreted all these my guilt rather than a distraught boyfriend. at the time i had long hair and this was a cowboy town. th and unusual. >> as for those "bad things" he told the detective he'd done-- he explained to us he was referring to a petty argument just days before jamie's murder and the guilt he felt from not being with her the night she died. >> reporter: do you remember what you were arguing about?

sacker had put a cantaloupe on a loaf of bread. [ laughs ] and she was upset that the sacker had squished the bread.t wasn't that big of a deal. and we had picked our sides and we argued about something as a loaf of bread. smiem and. >> and now he says he could hardly grieve with police breathing down his neck. waking up every morning and 're under a cloud of suspicion? >> incredibly depressing. >> he left college station -- moved home to be with his who spent money to hire a defense attorney. >> the biggest thing that was going through my mind the whole didn't do it, they don't know who did it, and the guy who did it is out walking around and likely to

while they're wasting their time on me. >> kelly brown of the eagle newspaper was writing front pagee unsolved crime in the college town. >> and it really shook the community area that isn't used to seeing this type of crime. >> and kelly was hearing talk that the police had a suspect.re was no arrest and that's what kept everybody saying, well, then, okay. was it the boyfriend? was it-- you know, someone that's still out there?" is he going to strike again?of course -- and students like kristin lancaster followed the investigation?ange their behavior patterns because of this crime? >> to a certain degree, but i think it was short-lived. >> i mean people went back to their classes and their business, yeah. you start rationalizing that maybe, you know, she trusted the >> reporter: this doesn't happen to you? >> exactly, yeah. >> and then it was late october -- half a year since the

kristin didn't know it yet, but become part of a chain of events that only deepened the mystery. >> i think maybe i went to classes that day. i'm not exactly sure.t the evening time rolled around. i think, was it a friday? >> a friend invited kristin to a party. >> and she said you know im having a little get together at my house.me by? >> kristin drove over to the apartment complex in bryan texas -- that's the town next to college station. >> the door is open.ople inside. there's some music playing and people having some drinks. >> she struck up a conversation with her friend's upstairs neighbor.as 24, hadn't been to college, but mixed in easily with the students. >> reporter: was he kind of a likeable guy? >> he seemed, yeah, very likeable. yeah, he was very approachable -- seemed very nice.ad no problem sharing intimate details with kristin about his personal life. >> he had been married and-- and somehow the conversation, you know, goes into him telling me how he had found god. i made a lot of mistakes. i usband. >> reporter: yeah, you guys--

the personal conversation for having just met. >> well, i was young and i think that was normal, and he was drunk.g after the party started it abruptly ended kristin's friend hosting the into a fight with her boyfriend. >> there was alcohol involved and so it was worried that it would get out of hand. >> everyone left. but not kristin.d about her friend and stuck around talking to the upstairs neighbor. >> so, you were feeling protective-- >> yeah. >> he said to me, "you know are you-- you know you're worried about your friend? i said yes i am.an go to my apartment so you can be close to a phone to call. >> she and the neighbor walked up the staircase to his apartment. >> it's directly above her apartment.ns the door. i was barely a step into the door and he just sort of kind of pushes me in, slams the door shut. >> he locks the door and immediately grabs a remote that and turns the stereo up to this deafening volume, just deafening.

to leave. me back. and that's when he starts making some demands. all of a sudden it's very serious and aggressive.i almost to the point where i thought he was joking. >> but he was serious. demanded she undress. >> i kept arguing, "i'm not gonna do it." he's, like, "you're gonna do it. >> and that's when he runs over and he grabs me by the throat. ing me. and then the second he lets up i scream as loud as i can. and then immediately he grabs me and starts choking me again. and this time he picks me up roat and sort of, like, pulls me back into the bedroom that's in the back. >> you're a prisoner in this apartment now? >> yes. >> and he puts me on the mattress. black out. >> i wondered if this-- for a second, this was it. >> i could die? >> yeah. hand still on my throat and he's sort of shaking me. >> kristin couldn't fight him off physically, so she tried to talk her way out of a sexual assault.nt want to do this and he stops and he says, "why don't i wanna do this?" and-- and i say, "well, because i

and you can tell he's for a second. and he says to me, he says, "well, guess what, so do i." >> the lie didn't work. she tried something else."well, what about, you know-- you know, you finding god, and, like, trying to work on yourself." i actually was able to stall him for quite some time. >> i must've gotten off the bed ding talking. and i remember that's when i started to just stomp my foot. like, and i was sort of, like, trying to make it look like i was making a point and stompin he grew angry again. >> he threw her back on the bed-his grip on her neck tighterssaulted her. >> he's squeezing so hard at this point in time thanes in my throat were cracking. >> i said, "if you keep doing this you're going to kill me." and he sort of looked at me and it was this half smile, and he looked at me for a second, and he just said, "do you think i actually care about that?" >> reporter: is that when you looking in the face of evil? >> i mean, he-- i knew then

he intended on killing me. >> a knock at the door. >> this is like a miracle. >> and doubt. >> i couldn't dy believed me. rly unique to wear, go to your wardrobe. your jewelry wardrobe... jared the galleria of jewelry...selection of levian. only levian, masters of jewelry design for centuries... makes jewelry with chocolate diamonds.ing looks... like this limited edition piece you can only find at jared. making levian the essential part of her jewelry wardrobe. that's why... she went to jared. ani simply 100 . it's the only light greek yogurt with zero preservatives. to love this life is to live

>> reporter: 19-year-old kristin lancaster was preparing to die. your life, when you think that someone is going to kill you, what is going through ed them. >> reporter: she was in a stranger's apartment being sexually assaulted, drifting in and out of consciousnebut then i start to come to again. and it's, you know, the scenes in the movies where the bombs explode and everything's really fuzzy, everything's, like, coming through this fog.

om. ordered her to remain quiet. >> and i scream as loud as i can, "call the police. call the police."ns out, the bryan police were at the door. >> so my friend had heard me screaming and stomping and had called the police. >> reporter: this is like a miracle ---- yeah. >> reporter: that in the nick of time the police show up. that -- that only happens on tv. >> i know. believe me, i know. >> they ran in. i was just curled in a fetal floor just shaking, shaking uncontrollably. i remember them asking me what happened and i just -- the words out so fast. >> reporter: the cops took the man away in handcuffs while kristin slept on her friend's couch that night.d the police to see what would happen next. >> she found out that they didn't book him for sexual assault charges.fact, kristin's attacker, the man she said almost killed her, had been released. that must've been a tough pill to swallow. >> it was terrifying.

e. >> reporter: down at the police station, the man had given a wildly different version of events. eric buske is the current bryan police chief. department back then, but says the suspect told investigators that he and kristin had a fight over drugs. >> she got angry when he rin for cocaine, and she went off in a rage when that occurred. >> i think he had told them some story about how it had been a drug deal that had gone bad.as crying, "rape." >> reporter: after the attack police charged him with unlawful restraint.nor. the next day, kristin and her dad went to the bryan police department to find out why her attacker wasn't charged with something more serious. >> i was furious. this moment that i survived, i survived. like, this is it. this guy is going down. >> reporter: she met with a detective who asked her questions. >> i had bruises all up and down

i couldn't swallow.point in time the detective asked me to place my hands on my own throat and i mean, which even then -- >> reporter: why? >> like, psychologically, like, that was just even traumatizing. >> reporter: why -- why would he want yecause i did that and he looks at me and he says, "well, those could've been self-inflicted." >> reporter: what did you say to the detective who's coming up with these theories? >> i mean, i was hysterically crying and telling him, like, man tried to kill me." you know, and he would just say, "well, that's not what he says." i'm, like, "of course that's not what he says." >> reporter: kristin says that despite her bruises, police e said-she said" story. how angry were you getting? >> i was furious.believe, like, nobody believed me. >> reporter: chief buske maintains the detective was just doing a thorough investigation. >> everything i've read indicated the detectives did believe her.mes when you're conducting an investigation, your job is to get to the truth as a detective you're going to have to ask some hard questions. >> reporter: they interviewed few months later did charge him with sexual assault. >> the unlawful restraint was still in place. and then we booked him on first

grand jury but it decided not toct him. >> so the sexual assault charges were dropped, because they felt that there was insufficient evidence. >> reporter: oh, that must have been tough to hear that. >> it was very tough to hear that.it was at a point in time though when i found that out i just didn't feel like i had any recourse. >> reporter: she did talk about ith reporter kelly brown. >> it bothered me at the time be the grand jury indict him for at least attempted sexual assault?" >> but it seemed a little troubling to me that -- what what part of the story did we not have? did the detectives say something that made them think, "maybe it was consensual?"was still facing the misdemeanor charge of unlawful restraint scheduled to go to court down the road.

man.alking around. >> he's out walking around. >> reporter: in the next town over, detectives at the brazos county sheriff's office were e jamie hart murder case in addition to keeping an eye on jamie's boyfriend chuck, they say they followed up on hundreds of other but no one in that department looked at kristin's case for a possible connection. >> reporter: you were sexually assaulted. jamie hart was sexually assaulted. think that these could be connected? >> i didn't think they were connected. and that was primarily because, with jamie there was a boyfriend it was a romantic relationship that went wrong. it wasn't some random occurrence by a stranger. >> reporter: kristin was now whelming anxiety and dread, which she says manifested into dangerous behavior. >> instead of being afraid of everything i became afraid of completely risk seeking. >> reporter: what kind of things

>> i think i started drinking ile after that. you know, i'd hop on the back of a stranger's motorcycle after he'd had three beers and it took a long time to really get out of that hole.r: just as kristin was starting to turn a corner her attacker was due in court on that misdemeanor charge. but nothing came of it.how up. >> i'd done what i needed to do. and part of me just wanted to forget it ever happened. >> reporter: but she couldn't. k right into another crime scene in college station. coming up -- do we have on our hands here? >> a shockingly brutal murder, >> the clothing that he was erent than what he had just told us. you get hungry. and you count the seconds until red lobster's lobsterfest is back with the largest variety of lobster dishes of the year.ueling lobster tails with one tail stuffed with crab,

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2000, six months since kristin had been assaulted. her attacker had failed to show up to court and seemed to have just disappeared. >> r up? >> didn't show up. >> in the next town over, detective kenny elliott k the jamie hart murder case. he'd spent the last year casting a wide net for possible suspects.

70 people? think 77, mainly people that were bein' booked into jail for violent crimes. anyone that was in the area that just didn't want to talk, we took dna from everybody that wo >> but he also had never taken his eye off of her boyfriend -- chuck cruz. >> reporter: there was just as bothering you about chuck cruz? >> there was a lot bothering me about chuck cruz. >> so the brazos county sheriffs office kept investigating chuck -- a about possibly convening a grand jury. chuck and his lawyer spoke to the detective on many occasions. and the detective continued to havior was suspicious. and he still seemed nervous. >> reporter: did you ever think eason that chuck cruz was acting this way was that you guys were coming down pret his girlfriend.

>> i don't know, but he had-- hegs goin' against him, and we just couldn't walk away from him. we either had to prove that he did it, or prove that he didn't do it. >> but chuck says he should have been cleared almost right away. e dna didn't match -- >> there was no match. but they insisted on targeting me as the prime suspect. to build a case that wasn't there. >> while chuck's life had been ar -- kristin was starting to feel like her old self again. in the six months since her attack she'd taken up running -- had a new boyfriend.in hoped the pain of that horrible night was behind her for good. it wasn't. >> and there's police tape everywhere. kristin had just arrived to visit friends at an apartment complex.son, not then anyway, to think her case was connected to the scene unfolding there.

and all kinds of, you know, emergency response vehicles everywhere. >> and now the sight of police tape sent memories rushing back.just, you know, fear. >> firefighter leon moore had arrived at the apartment early that morning, after a neighbor reported smoke in one of the units. >> the bedroom door was open ande flames. they were on the carpet so-- we had-- a water extinguisher that we used and-- and put the small fire out. >> there on the floor -- a body >> we backed out and made sure that we preserved as much s we could. >> he sensed foul play-- not just a fire. and called for detective jeff capps of the college station police department.e her body had kinda been propped up-- onto the bed. >> she was nude from the waist down. >> reporter: this is really disturbing. >> it was. victim was 21 year old carolyn casey-- a day care worker. her parents anita and larry- so proud of their eldest daughter.rful with kids.

everyone loved her. >> never could they have prepared themselves for the dreadful phone call they received.r daughter carolyn casey?" i said, "yes." i think he said, "well, there's been an accident and your daughter's dead. a fire."rolyn's younger sister amanda learned the really loud, made my ears ring from my screaming. >> they've got this wrong? >> yeah.g. dn't-- she d die. and i said, "no, she's not dead. >> what was the turning point? >> i called her apartment. and she didn't answer.ve capps did say it was homicide. >> i think we-- we had a strong feeling that possibly there was ual assault that occurred and that somebody was trying to cover up some evidence. >> kelly brown of the

story to write.his is a community that's not used to a lot of murders. it's not used to violent crimes like this. and it certainly wasn't used to urder victim be set on fire. even law enforcement, they thought, what, what do we have on our hands here? >> on the night of carolyn's d been a small party in one of the apartments. and now the detective was canvassing the complex.s. >> reporter: you're literally dock knocking on doors. >> yes. >> in one unit, two men answered. one of them had been to the party.name was ynobe matthews he >> he mentioned that he did attend this party. she was there. >> like many people who'd attended, ynobe agreed to an interview, his down at the police department. he was friendly, and rolyn had left the party before he had. >> he later left the party. went with another female that

convenience store that was closend bought some cigarettes. >> ynobe gave the detective a dna sample, and supplied the clothes he'd been wearing. to verify his alibi, the detective pulled surveillance onvenience store and noticed something. >> the clothing that he was actually wearing was different than what he had just told us he not telling us the truth? >> ynobe claimed he'd simply forgotten-- and then handed the detective the proper clothing. no forensic evidence found on the clothes connected him to the crime scene. >> so this wasn't your big moment. >> no.asn't. >> the "big moment" did come though, just a few nights later when the pieces of this le finally came together. coming up -- >> an arrest of a familiar suspect. >> i was certain that he had but at the same time, i didn't think he would do it again. abdominal pain. urgent diarrhea. it could be ibs-d

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r: it was two nights detective capps made a discovery one that would finally connect series of crimes that had terrorized this college town. >> i spent that evening basically reading through all these reports. detective had ordered background checks on some of the people who attended the party in carolyn's apartmentng ynobe matthews. it turns out, there were several police reports in the file

crimes.thews had a tendency to try to sexually assault females, and in the process ofuld choke them if they were not willing to have sex with him. >> reporter: how did carolyn die? >> her death was ruled a strangulation. so things started kinda matchin' up. >> reporter: ynobe had never f sexual assault, but in the files the detective read the story one particularly brutal assault.being charged as a misdemeanor unlawful restraint it was kristin's. ynobe was the man she says almost killed her. >> i was certain that he had . but at the same time i didn't think he would do it again. detective called ynobe matthews back down to the station for another interview decided to pull a fast one with his suspect telling him he was about to get dna results from the crime scene.t were you really about to get it that

>> we weren't gonna get it that quickly that day, but tryin' to get that information, that we had everything that we needed. i had contacted my supervisor earlier. and i told him, if he would pagey put in type in the words that says dna matches. >> reporter: and right on cue, the detective's pager went off.it to mr. matthews. it said "dna matches." >> reporter: so what's his face like when he looks at that match?tty emotional. and he said -- he -- it was an accident but he had killed her. >> reporter: the detective called carolyn's parents and gave them the news of the >> said, "i think we got-- got him." i said, "well, how sure." he said, "i'll bet the farm on it.was the next morning when kristin lancaster opened up the newspaper and learned her attacker had been charged with murder.overwhelming guilt,

that he'd killed someone and that, you know, perhaps i hadn't tried hard enough to make people believe me. you feel like a life could've been saved if you had've been taken more seriously? >> oh yes, carolyn would still be here.no doubt. >> reporter: and what about the woman at the start of our story? jamie hart's case had been handled by the brazos county sheriff's office.was arrested, it didn't take long for the college station police department and the sheriffs office to compare the dna. ynobe was also jamie's killer. >> reporter: what's that moment like?e feeling of wanting to feel relieved. but all i could think was, "this is -- this is exactly what i oing to happen. he struck again, another girl is

>> reporter: chuck says to this day he misses jamie and has never gotten over being viewed as a suspect.to spend such a long time under investigation for the death of a loved one. it hurts. it hurts a lot. >> reporter: it's -- it's like a scar?ch so. very much so. >> reporter: do you feel bad about that at all, that he was put through that? >> i'm sorry that he had to go through that, yes. but if i had to do the er, i wouldn't change anything. i'm sorry he lost the love of his life. but we had a job to do, and we for murder, or clear him. we cleared him. >> reporter: but before jamie, before carolyn, there was another victim who soon learned she was also connected to this horrifying series of events.s misty johnson. >> if i didn't let him rape me, he would have killed me.

reported her attack to the bryant. but ynobe denied it, claiming it was consensual, and misty was too traumatized to help police in the investigation.probably within a week, i quit my job and left up to. i was scared. >> reporter: she now regrets her attack happened first. s murdered. >> i feel like if i would have stayed and fought him through the police department that dn't have been able to go on to hurt anyone else. >> reporter: and kristin, is left with the memory of an assault, that, according to the really happened. >> i was so angry that two people had to die in order for someone to believe me. >> reporter: did the system fail? it failed carolyn. it failed jamie. >> reporter: you think about them a lot? they were total strangers to you. >> but they're my alternative

i mean, they're what could've happened to any of us.r: a jury convicted ynobe matthews of carolyn's murder and sentenced him to death. he also pleaded guilty to jamie's murder. kristin faced him in court ty phase. >> it was terrifying. i had to testify and i met carolyn's family and -- and jamie's family they all came out afterwards and gave me a hug.me realize that their families didn't hold any grudge against me, you know. >> it's not her fault that my sister died. and kristin should have no guilt over that.r: with the casey family as witnesses, ynobe cuted three years later. if there is a lesson to take from this story, it is one that comes directly from a survivor herself. someone who has learned the hard

each and every one. >> it makes you realize how fragile your life is, you know, and that anybody can take it, in a moment's notice. this story, you know, for them that's it. that's their life story. the final chapter's been written. but for me i get to keep going on. >> reporter: what would you call yourself? people have called me a survivor, i would call myself lucky. all for this edition of "dateline." we'll see you tomorrow at 8:00, 7:00 central with a date looip saturday night mystery and 7:00, 6:00 central. i'm lester holt. for all sued over claims shell out lots of money

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