Original subtitles

You hear about stuff all the time,

and you never think it would happen to your family.

This was actually my first serious case.

It was surreal,

just the fact that I actually went to school with Dani.

This definitely raised flags for US.

It was the most violent body death

that I've seen in my career.

The tazewell county sheriff's office dispatched two officers

to the pruett home to learn more about the missing woman,

29-year-old Danielle pruett.

On those types of cases, most of the time the person

just...i hate to say it, that they're not missing,

that they're just not answering their phone

or their phone is dead or they just lost their phone.

When I went to the house, we just wanted to get a baseline

of who she actually spoke to throughout the day,

just trying to figure out what actually happened.

Officers arrive and are greeted by

Danielle's mother and her twin sister, Nikki.

What's up, man?

...and I said, "Dani..."

Nikki explains that Danielle's roommate, Chris,

is also her ex-boyfriend.

Nikki stated that Dani had a phone call,

and she told the person on the phone to meet her

on the next street over.

After that, she left,

and then that was the last time

that they ever heard from her.

We were very close. She was my best friend.

We were always together.

We -- we basically lived at the skating rink

or the bowling alley every weekend with our friends.

You know, if you seen her, you seen me.

We were -- we were together all the time.

Dani was a single mom.

So if she was going somewhere,

you know, she would definitely let, um,

me or my mother know where she was going,

how long she was gonna be, and have one of US watch the kids.

She wouldn't just, you know,

she wouldn't leave 'em like that.

So we knew something was wrong.

I called the police right there, like,

please do something to find her.

After leaving the pruett home,

officers head to Danielle's house

to speak with her roommates, Chris and Savannah.

They arrived to find only Chris.

He was very irate.

He wasn't happy I was there.

He was short-tempered,

one-word answers.

I asked him if I could step in the house to speak to him further.

He said no, I couldn't come in the house.

He was very, um,

not forthcoming with the stuff I wanted,

you know, just to ask him.

I wasn't trying to pin anything on him.

I was trying to find her.

I didn't know if she could be in the house or, you know,

or he could just be holdin' her there.

At that point, I figured that we needed to

go back at the house at some point to see what's going on,

if there's any evidence or if there was actually

miss pruett or Savannah or anybody else in the house.

The next day,

there's still no sign of Danielle.

So officers return to her home,

this time with a search warrant.

All right.

When we got the warrant on the house and we responded,

the SWAT team, which I was part of at that point --

went inside the house and cleared it

just hoping to find Dani or Savannah

or any other evidence that might lead to

finding miss pruett at that time.

SWAT officers clear each room in the home

but find no one inside.

After completing the search,

Savannah or miss pruett --

they were not inside the house.

Just as worrisome, however,

is that Chris seems to have also disappeared.

We didn't actually know where to go to at that point.

There was no, um, leads.

There was no evidence there that we seen right off

at that time that could lead to her.

And we just knew we had to find her for,

you know, her family and for her kids at that point.

Early morning of the 18th,

I actually went back to her family's house.

I was tellin' them everything that was

going on in the case about -- that we're still

trying to find her, still trying to search for her.

During that time,

Chris called and said he found the vehicle.

Detectives are shocked to learn that this is

the same Chris that had seemingly vanished earlier.

They immediately dispatch to the scene,

an auto body shop on the edge of town.

When I first arrived to her car,

the family also arrived

on scene, as well, which made it chaos there,

just trying to get everybody back from the car to just --

to see what was actually going on on the scene

at that point.

Detectives investigating the disappearance

of 29-year-old Danielle pruett

have just located her car

with evidence of blood on the outside trunk.

The family of miss pruett showed up.

It was chaos there --

they're screaming and hollering and crying.

Investigators search the vehicle,

but they find no trace

of Danielle or her missing roommate, Savannah.

Honestly, I was kind of hopeful

that we would find her in there in time, but she wasn't,

and her car had been wrecked,

and there was blood on the back bumper.

So that was even more clarification

something was wrong.

Even though we didn't find her yet,

I felt like it was too late.

This was actually my first serious case.

And it was...

It was different for me, it was surreal, just the fact that,

you know, I actually went to school with

both of them, and...

That she could be gone at that point.

Officers continue to process

Danielle's car for further evidence

when Danielle's roommate, Savannah,

suddenly arrives at the scene.

Savannah found out about the car discovery,

and she came over directly because she was,

um, Dani's roommate.

We also wanted to check with Savannah

to establish what kind of information that

she had in regards to where

Dani might have gone to

or who she was maybe going to meet.

When the police pulled me to the side to talk to me,

I was very emotional.

I really couldn't get the words out.

I just constantly cried -- we were best friends.

They gave me time, and eventually they pulled me back

to the side and was like, okay,

we need to know what you know,

and I told 'em, and...

It was just very hard.

Um...

Savannah's account matches what Danielle's sister, Nikki,

had told police.

But then Savannah reveals a startling new detail.

Danielle sold drugs to make extra money.

Savannah was able to relate to US that -- that Danielle was

selling drugs so that she could

provide a better life for her kids.

Danielle was a single mother.

She was struggling, was really just trying to get by.

Yeah, um...

Savannah also mentions that earlier that morning,

she had been looking for Danielle.

It was actually Chris who found the car.

It flew up a red flag to me,

because of the earlier dealings

I had with him at her house.

Then also, earlier in the night,

I drove by that same place.

I never did see the car.

And it made me wonder,

could he be involved in this case?

Detectives bring Chris, Danielle's ex-boyfriend,

to the station for questioning.

Investigators then press Chris

about discovering Danielle's car.

In my mind, I'm not saying he's the one done it, but,

you know, I'm being very cautious that, you know,

there's a link here, and then the car

automatically turns up not far away from home.

So there's a lot of questions,

a lot of unanswered questions

that we're trying to figure out.

You know, I pressed some details

that was inconsistent of the investigation,

he started getting really agitated

and started yelling back towards me.

And I explained to him,

we have to know what happened, because you may be the last

point of contact of her of US finding her.

I was skeptical about believing some of his story,

but some parts of his story I knew was true because of

the other interviews that we had done.

At the end of Chris's interview,

we felt like we couldn't link him any further

to Danielle's disappearance.

He cooperated fully, so we decided to let him go.

We would follow up what he provided US

in the investigation.

Back at the scene, detectives canvass

the area where Danielle's car was found.

As we turn the corner, we saw what appeared

to be a brown blanket covering something.

Police in tazewell, Virginia,

believe they have just

discovered the body of Danielle pruett.

Pshew.

When I peeled back the blanket

and saw that we had a human body here,

we started seeing tattoos, and the one tattoo

of the flower on her upper body,

her family said that that was the newest tattoo that she had.

And once we saw that, we knew that the victim was Danielle.

Investigators examine the remains

and identify injuries to her face and skull.

It was obvious that she had died in a violent way.

Her hair was saturated with blood and leaves

and sticks from where she was drug to the scene.

Her jaw was askew from being broken,

and both of her eyes were blackened.

There were numerous lacerations, cuts,

scrapes, drag marks.

We weren't able to recover any murder weapon,

but I could tell that she died from some type of

blunt force trauma by the damage to her head,

and it was one of the most violent

body deaths that I've seen in my career.

Several years ago in my career, I was the d.A.R.E. Officer,

and I had Danielle and her twin sister in my d.A.R.E. Class,

and I had known them since they were in fifth grade.

And standing there looking at her face...

I could see that fifth grader again,

and that just really lit the fire under me

to find out who did this.

When the officer came in there and said he found her,

I was hopeful,

but he said

not long after that that she didn't make it,

and it really felt like...

He was wrong.

He was...

It wasn't true.

He made a mistake.

I just didn't feel like that

could really happen to my sister.

You hear about stuff all the time,

and you never think it would happen to your family.

So I really felt like it was a nightmare, that I was

gonna wake up and it was -- she was gonna be there.

I felt like a part of me went with her.

As detectives search for a suspect,

a woman arrives at the station

who claims to have information about the investigation.

We had a female come into the office that had --

felt like she had some information about

a gentleman that had been at her apartment the night before.

He was just acting really hyper,

you know, suspicious acting.

Okay.

The woman tells detectives

the man's name is Shaun Wakefield.

Shaun gets there to their apartment, you know.

He's asking for a shirt to put on.

They felt that it was very odd,

that something wasn't right.

She then states that Shaun also made

a second request that caused her even more alarm.

While we're listening to the individual

provide US this information about Shaun,

this definitely raised flags for US.

After her interview, detectives arrange to drive

the woman home.

While taking her home,

the female provided US additional information that

she forgot to tell that she felt like it was important.

The woman states that the next morning

Shaun actually picked her up and drove her to run an errand.

While traveling in the vehicle with Shaun,

he tries to get off of the main highway,

gives her some of his clothes,

"I need you throw 'em out now, throw 'em out now."

In between the seats.

She's telling US this, so we had to stop

what we were doing and find the clothes.

We needed to get there and get there quick.

Officers searching for

Danielle pruett's killer in tazewell county,

Virginia, have just learned that a man named Shaun Wakefield

discarded clothing that may

hold the key to Danielle's murder.

We get there, and we find Shaun's clothes

at the exit that she states that she threw 'em out at.

We were very lucky to be able to find these clothes

and get 'em as quickly as we did

once we learned of this information.

We recovered Shaun's jeans,

his pullover shirt,

and a sock.

Once we discovered clothes,

we noticed some types of

red stain

that was on the clothes.

There was a good indication that it was blood.

Detectives collect the clothing

and then send it to the lab for forensic testing.

The discovery of these clothes

to the investigation was a very key element,

and we knew we had to talk to Shaun.

At this point, we wanted to question Shaun

because we believed Shaun was a possible suspect.

Detectives dig into Shaun's background and are

surprised to learn of his current location.

It was very easy to locate Shaun.

He'd actually been picked up

the day prior on a probation violation.

So he was easy to locate at the jail.

Detectives bring Shaun and his lawyer into the station

to question him on his whereabouts

the day Danielle disappeared.

Shaun has been fitted with an ankle bracelet

that tracks his whereabouts,

so police know well what to ask about.

When I questioned Shaun regarding his activities

the day of Danielle's disappearance,

he was very specific initially,

and then he had large gaps in his story

around the time that we believe Danielle was murdered.

While I'm questioning Shaun,

I'm analyzing his body movement,

I'm looking at his eye movement,

and I can tell immediately that he's not being truthful,

that he's aloof.

I felt that very little of his story was truthful.

I felt that he was being very deceptive,

very dishonest the entire time.

As soon as I started to question him very specifically

on his inconsistencies,

Shaun's attorney immediately shut the interview down.

But checking Shaun's account of his whereabouts is easy.

Officers simply download a map of

his GPS coordinates off his ankle bracelet.

Being able to establish that he still had

his ankle bracelet on was very important to this case.

And through the use of GPS monitoring,

we were able to track Shaun's movement everywhere

he had gone.

With his ankle bracelet intact

on the day of Danielle's murder,

officers canvass the route

Shaun's GPS confirmed he traveled.

We were able to identify businesses

and residence and different locations that had cameras,

and that was gonna provide significant evidence

should this case go to trial.

Detectives scour through hours

of surveillance footage

when they spot a vehicle that

stops them dead in their tracks.

We were able to obtain traffic cam footage from

a four-way intersection in one of our local towns.

When we find this video footage,

we are thinking, this is it.

This is the moment that we're looking at our suspect.

Detectives investigating Danielle pruett's murder

have just found shocking surveillance footage.

During the course of our investigation,

in utilizing this ankle bracelet GPS

we were able to identify

Shaun in what we believe is Danielle's vehicle.

We were able to see Shaun coming up to

the traffic light and making a right-hand turn,

and then he drives around for a short period of time

and then leaves the vehicle

at the location where we find the vehicle the next day.

So now we were able to be 100% certain

that this was Danielle's vehicle,

and this is a major piece of the puzzle.

Investigators then go to the construction site

next to where Danielle's car was found.

The detective downloads the footage to a thumb drive

to review at the station.

Upon reviewing the construction site footage,

in that video, Danielle was going to meet Shaun.

We were able to see Danielle's vehicle pull in,

and then we see Shaun's vehicle pull in

shortly thereafter.

We see what we believe is Danielle come into view,

and then there's a sudden movement away.

It's a very quick jerking -- we believe it --

it was at that point that Shaun actually

grabbed Danielle and began to -- began to murder her.

If police are right, they're looking

at the start of Danielle's murder.

And then we see Shaun's vehicle drive away.

A couple of minutes later, we see Shaun walking back over,

and then we see Danielle's vehicle leave.

We never see Danielle again

from that point on.

We believe that Shaun was

driving Danielle's vehicle with Danielle

in the back and looking for a place to dump her body.

While detectives have their suspicions about Shaun,

the evidence they have against him is circumstantial...

...until they receive

the results of the forensic tests done

on Shaun's clothing he dumped on the side of the highway.

Once the lab had examined the clothes,

it had Shaun's DNA,

Danielle's DNA --

we felt we had a very solid case.

Armed with this new information,

police bring Shaun in for a second time and confront him

about the inconsistencies in his story.

We wanted to question Shaun again in hopes of

getting him to confess to Danielle's murder.

Confronted by the new evidence,

Shaun admits that he contacted

Danielle to buy drugs the day she disappeared.

Based on all the evidence, it's my opinion that

everything coming out of his mouth is an outright lie.

Okay.

At this point, even without Shaun's confession,

we were very certain that Shaun is our person.

So I believe that Shaun acted by himself and Danielle

did meet Shaun in order to sell him an eight ball of cocaine.

I believe Shaun is there to Rob her.

He has no intentions of giving her any money.

I believe Danielle is a fighter.

And I believe it got to the point

where the only way that

Shaun was gonna walk away from this

was that he had to kill her.

Once he killed her, he realized what he's done,

and he had to get rid of the body.

And at some point, he found a place

where he felt safe enough to dump her body.

But he forgot that all-important piece

of evidence that he had around his ankle,

and that was that GPS monitoring,

and with that, we were able to nail him.

Although he never confesses to investigators,

after being confronted with the evidence,

Shaun Wakefield pleads guilty to first degree murder,

grand larceny, and concealment of a dead body.

He is sentenced to 57 years

in prison for murdering Danielle pruett.

This was not my first homicide,

but I got to interview my first murder suspect.

Being able to sit across from somebody

and look into their soul

and know that the person

that's sitting across from you committed murder

is very exhilarating for me,

and I -- I always wanna win.

And that was my entire goal

with this is we wanted to win,

and I think we did.

I have a lot of hatred in my heart for him,

and I hate that, because that's not the type of person I am.

And I hope one day, I can forgive him,

but I can't right now.

For US to get him to plead guilty to

first degree murder was an absolute relief,

and it was very important for US

to provide that closure to that entire family.

I always knew Danielle as a best friend, as a sister, honestly.

She was my back, and I was her front,

like, that's how close we were.

And the saying is true,

like, you never know what you got till it's gone, and...

I definitely know what I lost.

Life's a lot different now.

I just want everyone to remember

how great of a mother she was,

how great of a friend.

Just remember how caring and how giving and how loving

she was.

I'm sorry I took her for granted.

I'm sorry about all the silly fights.

I didn't realize how much I need her,

that she is my best friend.

It physically hurts when I think

about her, like it really hurts.

I'd give anything to have her back.