All language subtitles for At.Witts.End.The.Hunt.for.a.Killer.S01E04.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH

[soft tense music]

♪ ♪

- Crouch could very easily
be suspect in other cases.

This looks like he slipped
through the cracks.

- And on a side note, I got
a phone call yesterday that

Travis Crouch
is getting paroled.

- His hearing is today.

- We had our next cold case
meeting scheduled already.

We find out,
going into that meeting,

that Travis is actually set
for his parole hearing

the Thursday of that week, his
first time eligible for parole.

So, of course,
we're following that closely

because he's a strong
person of interest

at minimum at this point.

Ideally, we'd like to
interview him in custody

where he's not a risk
to the public.

And if he's getting out
in October,

then that really puts us at
a pace we don't want to be at.

We'd like to slow roll and have
all the resources in place.

And if I read his
documents right,

his parole release date
would be in October.

So if he did get granted,
we're on a two-month clock.

If he didn't, he did tell me
he could reapply in a year.

So we're on a one-year clock
if he got denied.

♪ ♪

Detective Marion
comes in and says

he knows that I've been
tasked with

the Travis Crouch side
of things.

And he says, received a phone
call that Travis's victim

would like to talk to us.

- I didn't know--

I mean, I saw Marion
tell you about that call.

And so...

I did--I mean,
when did she call him?

- Yesterday.

ALLEN: And do we know
what prompted that?

- My assumption would
be the parole hearing.

But no, I don't know.
ALLEN: OK.

- He hadn't spoken to her.

ALLEN: And so, for sure, it's
the victim of Travis Crouch,

who he's convicted on
in Colorado.

- That's what I've
been led to believe.

Special Agent Allen and I
did make a phone call to her.

It's been 26 years.

And she is--she's
struggled to talk about it,

and we didn't force it.

We're not going to--we have
records we can go back to.

So we don't need to make
her relive all that.

She had testified in the parole
hearing one way or another,

but that wound had been opened
for the first time in--

since that trial was over.

So she had been through
a rough couple of days,

to say the least.

But we did speak to her.

Fortunately, she was strong.

His victim fought this parole,
and it was denied.

♪ ♪

He'll be in Colorado prison
for at least another year.

He'll be eligible for another
parole hearing in a year,

and we'll see what happens.

But the timing was wild that
the day of that meeting,

we found out, he's going
to have a parole hearing

two days later.

But we were on a
pretty tight clock

if his parole had been
released, and worse than that,

he would be back
on the streets.

You know, maybe he was
reformed in prison,

but we don't know that.

And the data that
we do have on him

+is that he was very violent.

And I'm not sitting
here saying,

for sure, that he did it.

He's a really good
suspect, though.

And our job is to
either rule him out

or prove that it was him.

[projector whirring]

[click]

♪ ♪

[click]

♪ ♪

[soft tense music]

♪ ♪

[projector whirrs, clicks]

BRAD: So we know Melissa
was hit in the head.

The medical examiner said
it was something that was--

could render her
unconscious,

but it was not enough of a blow

that could be
the cause of death.

So that tells me,
about the crime scene,

that she was struck
and then, I believe,

carried through
the parking lot.

And that's why the blood spots
are so spread out.

But the longer she was
carried to the parking lot,

you get the larger blood spots
towards the, uh--

towards the back
of the parking lot.

The way the attack happened--
this could have been

a random person
sitting in the parking lot

that saw her and,
you know, acted immediately.

This could have been
someone that she knew

and had an argument with.

We know that there was a man
and a woman in the parking lot

and a verbal disagreement
that caused alarm

to the 11-year-old
that went outside.

So if I was to speculate,

I would say that Melissa got
into an argument with someone

that she knew.

And she turned to go
towards the bowling alley,

and she was hit in the head.

PARKINSON:
So during the investigation,

detectives go to Missy's home.

And when they're at
their home,

they're going to collect items
that may help with the case.

One item that detectives
did take was a diary.

BRAD: The last entry was
a week or two before

she had actually went missing.

Inside the diary, you know, she
laid out just about everything

she--her friends,
every activity she had done.

And Melissa seemed like she
was a very outgoing person.

There was nothing
to indicate any kind of

drug activity or alcohol
activity, anything like that.

She just seemed
like she was a--

just a very young--

I'd say love-stricken teenager.

- Looking at some of the
people in the investigation,

such as Charles Ray Vines,
Travis Crouch,

their MOs were outliers.

They were different.

You start looking at,
who knew Missy?

Statistics show that
something like this

is going to be
most likely someone

that she was associated with.

♪ ♪

- Any type of case you work,
the victim's statement is

the best thing that you have.

I mean, what they experienced,
how they experienced it.

And that was exactly what
finding the diary was like.

You have her day-to-day
life in her own words.

She references boyfriends,
friends, going to parties,

people that have said
ill things about her,

people she doesn't like.

Melissa was very
meticulous in the way

that she wrote things
and described things.

I mean, you could almost feel
her excitement in her words.

- As we're searching all the
documents, what was done,

what do we want to do,
what do we still need to do.

♪ ♪

We know Missy
was bleeding

in the parking lot
of Bowling World.

We found blood.

So we assume that
the bleeding will

continue on into the
vehicle she was placed in.

As the investigation
is ongoing,

you know, multiple vehicles
are being searched.

Trying to rule people out.

If you do find blood,
then we're going

to want to have it analyzed.

So that's something that we
are, you know, hoping to find,

rule out, look at.

As part of the investigation,
we look at phone records.

So we pull up the phone
records for her house.

We look at the phone number
and the date and time,

and then we go and
look at the diary.

And surely, you know,
right there is a document

in Missy's own words

about what was discussed
on the phone call,

how she felt about the phone
call, who she spoke with.

So it's basically
Missy talking to us.

And, you know, we got the date
and time of the phone call,

and then we have how Missy
felt about that phone call

and what she wanted to tell us.

So it's real nice
to have that,

where we can make
that connection.

This is who she spoke to,

and this is how the
conversation went.

BRAD: My goal at that point is
to find out as much as I can,

try to interview friends,
family, just to build a profile

and see what other
people's interactions,

other relationships,
what those were like.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

DETECTIVE: Baker, you got some
updates on Crouch on CODIS?

JAY:
Yeah. Yeah.

We'd noticed in his IIIs that
there was an entry that said,

no CODIS entry made.

Collect DNA.

So that was a little alarming.

Contacted the Colorado
Bureau of Investigation,

and they said, on their
end, yes, there is one,

and it's constantly
being searched.

I still wasn't real comfortable
with that, given the IIIs.

So Arkansas State crime lab--

Miranda Crawford's
also checking that.

She said in her findings,
the same thing.

She's going to go a
little more in depth

into the cigarette butt and the
evidence that they're aware of

and the partial off the
cigarette butt up there,

and see if--she said
there's been no hit on it.

But she's going
to make sure it's

being processed in such
a way that if it's there,

they'll find it, so--

The family--his family said

he--he was not in the
area in this time.

There's a lady named Glenda
who lives in that area.

And she came forward
and said he absolutely

was in this area at that time.

She remembered, for sure,
that it was Travis.

She remembered for sure that
Travis was in his mama's car.

And it would have been six to
eight weeks after Labor Day,

putting us somewhere
in November that Travis

was absolutely in this area.

Miss Glenda is still
locked in on that.

She is in a difficult position
because she is still very good

friends with Travis's parents.

She said maybe they just
misremember the dates.

She doesn't think they're
doing it intentionally.

She made an interesting
comment to us.

Because as soon as we
walked in, she said,

you're here about Melissa
and Travis, aren't you?

And we said, yeah.
We want to visit with you.

She said, well,
I can tell you this.

Travis didn't kill her.

Travis wasn't a killer.

He was only a rapist.

So we just kind of
filed that back,

knowing the behavioral
patterns of serial rapist

and the affinity for violence.

So we didn't dig into
that with Ms. Glenda.

I wasn't trying to run his
name into the dirt with her.

I just wanted to
corroborate with her

that he was in this area
in that general timeframe.

And we were able to.

His ex-wife stated that
every time he got out of jail,

he always went back
to his dad's.

We know, for sure, New Orleans
PD ran him in NCIC

on January 3 of '95.

So we've got a firmly
established line.

We've got a
north-to-south travel line

from Minneapolis to
New Orleans that logically

would include our area.

If Travis Crouch
is the suspect,

whatever vehicle
he used to transport

Melissa will have
blood in it because

we know it was a bloody scene.

We know that when
she got in that car,

she didn't suddenly
stop bleeding.

So if we can ever
find a vehicle

that has her blood, especially
if it's connected to him--

but even if it's one of these
other gentlemen--

these other men
that we're looking at--

then that's rock-solid
evidence

that she was in that car.

But I think it's
worth our while

to look into the other cars,
see if we can find

some other vehicles,
belong to the family,

see if we can track them down
and perhaps run those as well.

And maybe he was driving
something different that day.

PARKINSON:
You know, you have this

beautiful young woman that

was abducted and murdered,
and then her body dumped

out here in
the National Forest,

and, you know, stripped nude.

I mean, just--
it's not right

not to be able to figure out
who did this to her

and bring them to justice.

Even though, like you said,
her parents are gone,

I think the community
demands that,

and that's what they
expect from, you know,

the police department.

It's not about pointing
fingers or, you know,

did you do a good job,
did you not do a good job.

Trying to find something--
something to grasp

and identify who did this.

And even if that person
is no longer here,

at least we could
wrap it up and, you know,

say, without a doubt,
this is the person that did it.

I mean, just--to me,
you abduct her,

knock her over the head,
fight with her, whatever,

in the parking lot,
and then drive all the way up--

I mean, we're not even
on the logging road yet.

- We're not even there.
Yeah.

- And it happens at night.

It's pitch black out here.

- Yeah.

I mean, there's 1,000 places
he could have dumped her.

It's just hard to
fathom he randomly

ended up on a logging road.

- Yeah, because the store
and the campground

was on the aerial maps.

We're still here, so...

- But then you got
the campground,

which puts Travis Crouch
in the area,

and then you got the cemetery.

- And the lady that puts him in
the area worked at that store

right there.

That's where she
said she saw him.

And she still holds
that to this day,

even though she doesn't
think he did it.

She's friends with his parents.

She absolutely holds
that he was right there,

picking up those puppies--

picking up a puppy in his
mama's car

in the time he says
he wasn't here.

- And then you got
Charles Ray Vines

that had a work order for
digging the cemetery

even closer to
the logging road.

So--

- Well, we'll get on up there.

We got a lot to do.

When I think about it,

I mean, we are already
quite a distance away from 40.

And the windy roads,
coming up here

in the middle of the night,
how dark it would be--

like you said, he definitely
have to be familiar.

And this is just
on the highway.

You know, we're not even
on the logging road yet.

So that adds another
whole layer of someone

has to be familiar
with the area

to get all the way up there.

I don't know.

I keep going back
to Crouch or--

I don't know.

I just--it's so fucking far
out here.

I mean, look at this, going...

♪ ♪

- Kind of spooky
how that big rock

almost looks like a headstone.

♪ ♪

- So when you're
examining a cold case,

and you want to look
at the evidence,

you're going to pull
all this evidence out

so you can determine
what evidence

is best and will give you
the best luck of getting

a return on DNA, say.

DNA has made leaps
and bounds, advances,

and they can do a lot
more now than they could

back in 1995, 2000.

When we're looking at new
procedures and the advancement

in technology, we really want
to look at possibly submitting

almost everything again,
and private labs

as well, who may have
a better technology

than your state crime lab.

[soft tense music]

♪ ♪

DANNY: One of the
first questions I had is,

um, the nail clippings.

I know the ME took those,

like,
when you did the autopsy.

But I haven't found--

I know you sent me something
on the nail clippings,

but it said it was,
like, being retained,

that it hasn't been tested.

BRAD:
I got you on speaker.

But no, I was just
calling earlier.

We were fixing to go into a
meeting with the crime lab.

And we had a list of
questions and stuff,

and we wanted to make sure
we didn't miss anything.

It's pretty exciting.
So--

JAY:
Yeah.

- The--they said, from their
end, what they can tell--

the fingernail clippings
have never been tested.

JAY:
Ooh, that is exciting.

- So that's pretty awesome.

So--

JAY:
Yeah.

- They've got them there,

so they're fixing to
start testing them.

They said it could be anywhere
from three to six months,

but just depending on
if they can get people

moved to the cold case stuff.

And then, like,
the blood droplets--

you know, we talked about,
like, did they test each one,

or did it--

you know, they just
test one or two spots?

And they said most likely
it was the one or two spots,

but they were going
to go back,

and they would retest
all of them.

JAY:
OK.

- Pretty exciting.
So--

JAY: Dude, that fingernail
thing--that is exciting.

Oh, my gosh.

- Hopefully--

JAY:
You know, that could be--

I mean, that has the potential
to be a huge breakthrough.

We'll see.

It seems like that's our
best potential right now.

- Right.
Yeah, I agree.

The whole purpose of
the Cold Case group

is to overlook and see
what could have been missed

and what can be re-approached.

And now we're doing that,
and we're actually

getting solutions and finding
key pieces that could have

slipped through the cracks.

I want to push to get this
done because, I mean, this is,

like I said,
it's one of those things

that you never thought
you'd be part of,

and you're doing it.

And to feel like you're making
headway and getting close

to something, it's pretty--

I mean, I can't
even describe it.

- You know, they see, OK,
we've got 10 blood spots.

Let's test four of them.

Four of them show
to be the victim.

OK, we believe that
all to be the victim.

I mean, that's a very
good educated guess.

You know, and in that time,
in that moment,

maybe that's sufficient
enough at the time.

But when you get down
to a case such as this,

where it's nitty gritty, like,
every blood spot matters.

Every piece of DNA
matters because you're

looking for that game-changing
piece that could put everything

that we have together.

You know, that's why you
have to have these follow up

meetings and explain
to the crime lab, hey,

we need to revisit this.

We need to resubmit
everything.

We need to figure out
what's been tested,

what's not been tested so we
can make sure it's all tested.

That way, nothing's missed.

BRAD: Now, Melissa
was found in January.

And five to six
months later,

you had the Morgan Nick
case come up.

So you've got the
insane amount of evidence

being sent from our case.

Then you turn around,
and you know,

they're still sending stuff,
I'm sure,

on that case and constantly
following up with me and check.

There's no telling how
many pieces of evidence

they had sent in that case.

- I think that's
what makes this

a crucial time now is
that we are finding out

that some didn't get tested.

Let's test it now and see
what it does to open--

open up this case.

- Have I told you the story,
when Morgan was actually taken,

that I was playing the
Little League game the night

that she had gotten taken?

♪ ♪

I'll never forget.

My mom just like,
stand right here.

Do not move.

And I was not to
leave her side.

And I remember
everybody kind of--

it's hazy.

But I remember, like,
people in a panic.

You could just tell that
something was wrong.

There wasn't any
celebrating after the game.

There was--everybody
was getting in their cars

and leaving.

And I remember a lot of
police officers being there,

but you didn't really--

it wasn't until
probably the next day

that it started
hitting home and you

started hearing everything
that actually had taken place.

Back then,
nobody really had cameras,

and it was just a rare thing.

But my mom had gotten a video
camera and had taken it to film

our last game.

And so the tape was turned
over to the police and--

♪ ♪

That's the last time
that Morgan was seen,

in the background
of that video.

- I guess I didn't realize
that your mom's was--

it actually had her
in the background.

- But it also makes you think--

look at the Witt case--

you know, I said earlier,
that can't happen to me.

And that happened.

And now here we are working it.

And I mean, you just got to--

it's wild how everything
falls in line.

♪ ♪

[soft tense music]

♪ ♪

ALLEN: So Fort Smith PD
has worked with--

is working with
the state crime lab

to get the fingernail clippings
sent to a private lab.

And that's that lab in Florida.

And so the goal is, uh,

to fully test the fingernails
for the touch DNA.

So they're going to
use that private lab.

And that private lab's--
you know, it's got the--

the reputation of handling
touch DNA as their forte.

And then the other thing
was the culmination

of everyone's work is that
three of the blood spots

were confirmed tested,
but not all of them.

- Gotcha.

- And so the state crime
lab is going to--

they have the blood samples.

They're going to
retest all of them,

the three that
have been tested

and the seven or eight
that have not been.

Any one of those blood spots--

if she had struggled enough
to cause him to bleed any--

that if any of those spots
could be our suspect,

then we would--

the only way to know is
to have them all tested.

- Right.
- So that should be

in the works now, to get
all the blood spots tested.

♪ ♪

Admittedly, in the
back of our minds,

we're going to be
waiting for that answer,

waiting for that lab result,
and guardedly hopeful

that it gives us something
that we can act on.

- It's often not like what it
appears in TV shows and movies

and things of that nature.

A negative answer
is still an answer.

So if, for some reason,
we get results back

that say it's not this, well,
that just gives me motivation

to keep pushing forward
to get some answers

for something to get
a positive result.

So I'm hopeful,
but at the same time,

I'm realistic and understanding
that not every result

is going to be positive.

But that gives me the
motivation to keep trying

to look for the right answer.

ALLEN: The hope would be
that there's some form

of suspect DNA
that can be found

with her fingernail clippings.

♪ ♪

[keyboard clacking]

[line ringing]

CHRISTINE:
DNA Labs International.

This is Christine.

- This is Detective Marion
with the Fort Smith

Police Department.

CHRISTINE: OK. Let me see
if she's in her office.

Hold on one second.

BRAD:
Thank you.

[classical music playing]

♪ ♪

It almost hurts to
have to sit and wait

because it's something that,
you know, has never been done.

And you just can't--
you want the results now.

But once we get it all
sent off, 10 to 12 weeks,

I mean, that kind of
crushes the excitement

as far as the timeline.

But it's still--
it's just because,

you know, you want it now.

In a case like this,
I would think

that the fingernail clippings,
in a strangulation case,

are going to be crucial
evidence because, you know,

we know that Melissa fought
at the bowling alley,

and most likely, she fought
when she was being strangled.

And, you know, her fingernails
could hold potential evidence

of the--of her killer.

I mean, it's--to me,
I think that is a vital,

vital piece of evidence
that has never been tested.

And, you know, with all
the technology today,

hopefully we can find--

find some good answers with it.

♪ ♪

[indistinct chatter]

- Well, there's a
lot of weight that

goes into a call like this.

You know, there's hopes,
especially with

the community
and family members

and the department in general.

We just don't know
whether that's

going to be a good phone
call or a bad phone call

or inconclusive.

So either way, regardless
of the information,

there's still going to
be a lot of work to do.

So we're just hoping that
we get a good phone call.

[phone ringing]

- Hello.
This is Deputy Chief Thompson.

RACHEL:
Hi, Deputy Chief Thompson.

This is Rachel from
DNA Labs International.

- How are you?
- I'm great.

How are you doing this morning?

RACHEL:
Good.

I was just calling with
some preliminary results

from your case.

So as you know,
we had extracts

from the nail clippings,

and then we also tested
the nail clippings

using our sponge shell method.

So looking at the extracts,
we re-quantified them.

And although there
is plenty of DNA

present to move forward
with DNA profiling,

there was
no male DNA detected.

- OK.

RACHEL: So we also
retest them, as I said,

using our sponge shell method.

And again,
although there's plenty

of DNA to move forward
for DNA profiling,

no male DNA was detected.

I have a question
for you guys.

So we do have two options.

We could stop testing
at this point,

or we could still move
forward with DNA profiling.

We don't necessarily know
what happened to Melissa.

So it is possible we could
still yield a DNA profile that

could have information,
or we could also just

pause at this point
and move forward

with some of the other items
that we talked about.

- Do we think that the
DNA profile could be hers,

or do we think that it's--
is there a way to test that?

RACHEL:
It could be just hers.

It could also be her
and another female,

or it's also possible that
there could be a really

low-level male that's not
being picked up

with quantification.

But the only way to
be able to detect that

would probably be doing
next-generation sequencing,

which is much more sensitive.

- OK.

RACHEL: Do you want us
to issue a report

at this time on what
we've done so far,

or do you want us to hold off?

- Yeah, if you
could issue a report

and send it to us,
that way we can look at that.

And then we can discuss it
and go from there.

RACHEL: OK, sounds good.
Thank you, gentlemen.

Have a good day.

- All right. Thank you.

PARKINSON: Yeah, that's
definitely disappointing.

Disappointing news.

But I think bring
that report and--

you know,
to the team and discuss

what we want to do from there.

- But we'll just have to
look and see how much further

we want to try to go with it.

- Yeah.

I don't think he's
going to answer, so...

VOICEMAIL: Your call has been
forwarded to voicemail.

- Yeah, no luck.

Brad's on vacation now.

I have to get in touch with him
some other time, it looks like.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

[indistinct chatter]

REPORTER: I remember
interviewing people and people

saying this was such a safe and
quiet and friendly community.

This is shocking that
something like this

has happened in our town.

And I think that's why the
town mobilized like it did.

But as far as violent crime
or abductions or anything

like that, I mean,
that was not going on

when I was there, you know,
in the mid '90s.

It wasn't until this abduction
occurred with Melissa Witt

that it just, it shook
that community to its core.

INVESTIGATOR: Because when
we walked up here, I saw--

REPORTER: I don't even think
there was a,

we've got to find who
did this, in the beginning.

It was more like, well,
she's got to be somewhere,

and we've got to find her.

♪ ♪

PARKINSON:
I think Melissa's case

is important to the community.

Someone committed
this horrible crime.

Someone needs to be
brought to justice.

And even if this person
who did this to Missy--

if they're deceased,
we still want

to be able to identify and make
sure that nothing like this

could ever happen again.

So I think that's
kind of what drives me

and the fellow detectives
is you have this cold case

that hasn't been solved,
we have plenty of evidence,

And just going back
through all that evidence

and statements
that were made--

see if we could find a link or
something that wasn't followed

through with all the way
and maybe rule out

some of the people that
were already investigated,

but kind of left in limbo
so we could definitely

cross them off the list.

REPORTER: It's 29 years later,
almost 30 years later.

And if there's anything,
anything that

covering her story today
can do to help bring closure--

um, you know, unfortunately,
Mary Ann has left us.

She's passed away.

And that breaks my heart to
think that she passed

never knowing what happened
to her daughter,

and that she lived all
those years without knowing.

Even the day that they
found Melissa's body

and we went to her home and--

she invited us in.

You know, her friends and
family were showing up.

Melissa's friends were there.

She invited us into her home.

And I just said, Mary Ann,
take this time for privacy.

We'll report from outside.

You need your--I had
so much respect for her

and admiration for her
on how she handled

herself through all of this.

And in her memory and honor
and Missy's,

if there's anything that we
could do to put out there

that could bring either
justice or closure to this--

I guess it would
make us feel better.

I know she's with Missy now.

You know,
I know they're together.

I know she knows
what happened now.

And that's the only thing
that honestly brings me

consolation is that--

is that I know
they're together.

♪ ♪

ALLEN: There's so much
to be--to review,

so much information
to go over,

boxes of materials
to go through.

One person is easily
overwhelmed by that.

But if you get a group
of investigators that

are interested and will
spend a little bit of time

individually and take a
piece of the investigation,

then it's a force multiplier
to enhance the ability

of the group to further
the investigation,

to maybe get some clarity,
eliminate suspects,

hopefully, theoretically,
conclude what happened

and, you know,
potentially convict someone

or at least close the case.

DETECTIVE: I don't know how
guys and gals do this job

without faith as a central
element to it because you

could quickly lose your hope,
faith in all things.

But you just--

I've got on the back
of my work phone

that from the
Gospel of John

just to be a light
in the darkness.

Coping with it, it's just
a matter of getting in there

and realizing
that you've been--

it's truly an honor to
get to do what we do,

to shine light on these
situations and to help--

maybe help deliver people
from them and help them

find their way out.

BRAD: From the night
that she was taken

and seeing how everything
played out in the community,

how it affected the family,
how it affected

law enforcement, just--

and watching that the entire
time you're growing up

and then being part of
this cold case group

that is on the other end
of it working the case,

and seeing all the work
that's gone into it--

I mean, it's very surreal.

DANNY: But then also too,
we got to be mindful of,

you know,
however many years left

we have in law enforcement,
what we do today is extremely

important because if we're
not doing it right now,

the right way--

and say we don't solve the
case and it gets passed on

to the next detective,

you know, he's going
to look at what we did

and then have to go off of our
notes, what we've discovered,

you know, and some day, find
a piece that we're missing,

add it to the rest of
the case, and solve it.

I mean, everybody plays a part.

So we're hopeful
we solve the case

or get a closure on that end.

But if we don't, we're
still laying the foundation

or climbing the
ladder to whoever

is able to solve that case.

ALLEN: You know,
Melissa Witt's case, where,

you know,
her family's deceased,

and a person would say, well,

what closure are you
giving to anyone?

Well, it doesn't matter in
the grand scheme of things,

because, you know,
it's important

to get justice for people.

It's important for--

it gets to me in a way
because I think of--

and maybe it's wrong,
but I think of, like,

Melissa Witt as a--

she was a 19-year-old girl
who did nothing wrong.

And her last hours
on this Earth

were probably the most horrific
a person can experience.

And that 19-year-old
Melissa Witt

deserves justice and deserves
our best effort of justice.

Even if we fail, at least
we give it our best effort

and do the best we can
to get her justice

because that's what
she deserved then.

She deserves it now.

You know, any victim of that
kind of crime deserves it.

And if you don't have
a heart towards that,

then you have no conscience.

[sniffles]

♪ ♪

[sirens wailing]

BRAD: It was December,
so you never know.

I mean, she could
have fought back,

and the killer could have had a
long-sleeve jacket on or shirt

or, you know,
something like that where

she just was not able
to collect that DNA

under her fingernails.

Melissa was unfortunately
out in the elements

for several days
and exposed to,

you know, the sun,
the snow, the cold weather,

things like that, wildlife.

When you put all that
into account,

you know, DNA starts to
deteriorate rather quickly.

You know, when we get assigned
these cases, even new cases,

we become involved in them.

I mean, you meet with these
people, you speak with them.

And just like in
this case, you know,

we've talked about
Melissa's diary

and how personal it was
and how involved

and how real it makes it.

It's almost like you're
entering into her world.

We had numerous blood spots
located in the bowling alley

that we know all
haven't been tested.

So we got to just kind of

move forward
and hope for the best

with the evidence
that we have and

start looking at
the next suspect.

REPORTER: She was walking from
her job at Hardee's on Waldron

in Fort Smith when she was
approached by a man

who tried to abduct her.

That man was allegedly
Dustin Markel.

- Within a minute or two, he
had grabbed me by my right arm,

and I jerked away.

BRAD: He had very lengthy
criminal history,

including sexual assaults,
attempted rapes, rapes.

You know, he had
attempted a kidnapping

at Central Mall
from a lady that

was luckily able to escape.

And, you know, the day
after Melissa was abducted,

this individual left the area
and left the state.

You know, there's, like
I said, several people

in this case file, and
we've just kind of scratched

the surface of it.

So we'll keep pushing until we
get the results that we want.

♪ ♪

[somber music]

♪ ♪