like amy lavin. do you remember the first time you met corey parker? >> i do. >> reporter: corey, a young 20-something when she and amy became fast friends. >> we were at pete's bar on the beach. and we were actually in the bathroom waiting in line. >> reporter: and what did you say to her? >> i think she started the conversation and just said, hey, i see you around all the time. you know, we should hang out. i said all right. >> reporter: did you two get into a lot of trouble? >> we didn't get caught doing things or we probably would have. >> reporter: corey was a transplant from upstate new york, towering and sweet like a sugar maple. >> corey was 5'11", and she would wear heels. so she was so tall, and i'm very short. i think every time she walk into a room, people looked at her and she was so beautiful. >> reporter: did she kind of look like a model being 5'11"? >> she could definitely model. >> reporter: instead she chose a humbler route, taking classes at a local college and waiting tables at ragtime tavern at jacksonville beach. amy says that was

amy lavin, still visiting her mother out of town, got a call from corey's boyfriend. >> he was crying. and he said, did you hear what's going on? i'm so confused. i said no. what's wrong? everything's fine. and he said, corey, there's something wrong with corey. somebody found her in blood. and i said, no! no, she's fine. i talked to her yesterday. everything's fine. >> reporter: still, she drove back to jacksonville beach, straight to the police station, just to make sure. did it finally register at the police station eventually? >> i went into a room with a detective. they did confirm that she was found in her home dead. i kept thinking, something happened to her heart. i don't know why i kept going back to that in my mind. i don't know why. >> reporter: tiffany zienta who had been out with corey two nights earlier, was finishing her bartender shift when a customer broke the news to her. >> i had this feeling kind of wash over me. and called amy. and asked her if it was true. and she said it was. >> reporter: detectives on the scene, meanwhile, were busy talking to corey's neighbors

>> reporter: amy lavin found herself looking around at corey's other friends and wondering could it bethem. >> everybody was an actual suspect. so that became a little bit scary to me. >> reporter: her killer could have been right under your nose? >> yeah. >> reporter: tiffany zienta remembers just wanting to be helpful like most of corey's friends, she met with the detectives. they want to talk to you, detectives? >> we all made a statement. >> reporter: well, they wanted to talk to you? >> absolutely. >> reporter: tiffany told the detectives she'd been with corey at the ritz bar wednesday night into the early morning hours of thanksgiving. she said they left the bar at the same time, around 1:30 a.m. tiffany hitched a ride with another friend to go bar hopping. corey, she noted, got into her own car and headed home. later, tiffany said, she called corey's home phone. >> it was like 2:15. it was right after we left the original bar. >> reporter: detectives followed up on what tiffany had told them. carlyle says they quickly noticed a wrinkle in her story. >> her phone call was not on