her good friend kendra smith said she hadn't been answering her phone for days. >> at first i thought, you know, why didn't i go down there? well, i knew something was wrong. >> police would later estimate ciara had been dead in her apartment for nearly a week. >> i think -- i think i was so distraught she was gone that i don't really think that at the time i put a lot of thought into like who did it or why. >> apartment managers told the arriving officers that ciara had small children. so one of the detectives'first questions are where are the kids now? that led to a bigger question, one all homicide inspectors asked. what is the backstory here? what was this victim's life all about? they began piecing together the story of ciara and jarod. ciara is your wife, mother of your children. what do you think about the end, the brutality of it? >> it's alwful. i wouldnt wish that on anybody. they both enlisted in the army in the early 2000s. he and a friend cozied up to the pretty young recruit and tried to get her attention. >> we started talking about how none of the soldiers who got off