Transcripts For WCAU Dateline NBC 20150314

Swords. Who collects that kind of stuff . Reporter there was the guy always hoping to get her attention. Trying to corner her in the hallways at school. Texting her on the phone. Weirding me out. Reporter but maybe the brutality of the crime pointed to the roommate. Something like a lover would do. Reporter revealing the coldest and most complicated of killers. You know theres evil in there. Reporter im lester holt, and this is dateline. Heres Keith Morrison with infatuation. Reporter once there was a quiet, little girl in a quiet, little town who liked to draw. She drew the butterflies that floated, quiet like her, around italy, texas. Spelled just like the country. But they pronounce it itly. She drew a butterfly in her art class when she was in elementary school. And all the little girls are like, oh, thats so good. Draw me one. Draw me one. Reporter her name was Samantha Michelle nance, but everybody called her shelley. And her mother, cynthia, loves to tell this story about her. Everybody was just so impressed with her butterfly that she said, well, i think im gonna be an artist cause i think i can do this. You know . So she just started honing her her artistic talent from that point. She would draw everything, anything, everything. She just loved to draw. And shed draw and draw and draw. Reporter shelley was different than the other girls at school. And at home, said her dad, sam. The other two girls we couldnt keep in the house. She didnt want to go out of the house. She was perfectly happy to be at home on the weekends, staying a long time by herself. Reporter which, as you can imagine, did not make her very popular in the intensely social world of growing up. But it didnt seem to matter much to shelley. What was it she said in the yearbook . They had them write a little ep log for the seniors, all the seniors. And she wrote, you laugh at me because im different. I laugh at you because youre all the same. Reporter she wasnt like you two. No. She was totally opposite. Reporter these are her sisters, shauna nance and rachel david. Yeah, i was the wild child. She got in trouble. Reporter shelley, however, did not raise hell. Not ever. Shes very artistic, smart, nonathletic. Did not like athletics. That was more me and her department. Reporter yeah. Just very shy. She was the one that would sit in her room, read a book, play video games. Never had to worry about her. She wasnt into, like, tattoos and piercing and alcohol and sex, for sure. She avoided the majority of everything that couldve got her into trouble, and i was so happy because of that. Reporter and then when shelley was a senior in the italy high school, her teacher suggested she enter an art contest sponsored by the Art Institute of dallas. And shes like, well, you know, im not that good. And the art teacher said, no, i think you are, shelley. Reporter and she won. That same piece of art they took and put in the national competition. And it won her fourth place there. So she got a total of 13,000 to a scholarship toward the Art Institute of dallas. Reporter thats quite markable. So she this is an a major talent. And she was so excited about getting to go. Reporter the Art Institute of dallas is an urban school. Everything about it and around it as different as can be from little italy, 45 miles and a whole world away. But here, finally, was a world in which shelley felt like she belonged. Just being around people that had her same objectives and her their same mindsets. And a lot of the boys which have never really paid much attention to her in high school noticed her in college because she knew her stuff. So they were quite impressed that she was so knowledgeable in her field already. Like, caught a lot of their eyes. Reporter well, maybe they were each others kind of people. Right . Yeah, yeah. Reporter they worried about her, of course. This was the first time shelley had ever been away from home. This is what she wanted to do. And she wasnt homesick. And i said okay. Reporter it was only an hours drive away if she needed them. Her first year was just fine. And so, in september 2009, when shelley was into year two, with a circle of friends, even a boyfriend, her parents felt free to set off on their first Real Adventure alone, far from home, just the two of them. A road trip to Yellowstone National park, more than 1,400 miles up the interstate from italy. Cynthia was texting that on her phone, you know, were leaving texas now. And she sent it to each one of the girls. Rachel and shauna responded almost immediately. And no no word from shelley. And we thought, well, shes probably still asleep, you know, cause she didnt have class today. So that wasnt really unusual at the time. It wasnt till later in the evening that we thought something might be wrong cause we hadnt heard from her, and that wasnt like her at all. Reporter whats that like . Its torture. She had a premonition that something was wrong. But i what would happen to shelley . She never goes anywhere. She stays in her room. She only goes out when she has to. Reporter yeah. So the next morning, when she still hadnt called, thats when we both got worried. Reporter the first thing the next morning, cynthia called the Art Institute. To find out if shelley was in class. And actually, they well, they wouldnt go check on her. They said they cant leave the office alone and go check on a class. Theyll have her call us when she gets a break. As soon as she has a break, theyll have her call us. Reporter then they phoned shelleys sister shauna. I told her really, i was like, stop worrying about it. Shes 20 years old. She doesnt want to talk to her mom. You know. I really didnt think anything bad would ever happen to her, so i just kind of brushed it off. Reporter so they kept driving. By now they were almost a thousand miles from dallas. Thats when the School Called back. When they finally sent somebody to the classroom, and she wasnt there well, i was ready to turn around right there cause i knew something was wrong. Reporter then relief. Someone from the school ran into shelleys roommate, Ashley Olvera. She said, i just saw her last night at the room. She was fine. Reporter but relief didnt last. When ashley went home, she found her. And she wasnt all right. No, she was not. Reporter the School Called shelleys parents yet again. Were on the highway and about 200 miles from our destination in the mountains. And phone reception was really bad. Reporter so, through the static, she couldnt tell. Was she hearing or imagining the words . And she said, your daughters been found in blood. And then the phone went dead and id lost reception at that point. Reporter daughters been found in blood. Yeah. I was asking him, what does that mean . But i knew what it meant. I just didnt wanna accept it. The only thing that made sense was a Sexual Assault. Thats all i could think of because she didnt have any money. She didnt have any enemies. No. That we knew of. Reporter what is that like driving through the mountains so far away and you get that call . Panic. I wanted him to stop the truck. We were in the middle of the freeway. There was no place to cross. I wanted him to cut across the median and go back. We needed to get back. Not that we could do anything, but we shouldve been there. We shouldve been there. It kind of feels like your guts were kicked out from the inside. Thats about the best description i can it it hurts your whole soul. Reporter as they raced back toward texas, cynthias cell service finally cleared. She called the police and got the confirmation. Shelley was dead. So, again, she phoned shauna. I had to tell her her little sister was dead on the phone. I needed somebody to be there, to be my be me in my place. To be, you know, there if the Police Needed to ask questions and stuff. Somebody needed to be there. So i called her. And of course, i hated to devastate her that way over the phone, but she had to know. And i just hit the floor. I couldnt stand up, couldnt do anything, couldnt talk, just shocked. Reporter did you have any idea what happened . None. I got to the scene first cause i lived closest to her. It was like a scene out of a movie. There was tape that had everything taped off. There were cops with dogs and they were searching the garbage cans. They had cops on golf carts and they were just searching all around the crime scene. I just ran towards the cops and started yelling, shelley, shelley. Reporter they wouldnt let her in, of course. But they had questions. Well, they just wanted to know, like, if i knew her boyfriend and if i knew her roommate and who could have done Something Like this to her. Reporter meanwhile, youre flying down the highway as fast as you can go. Yeah. We were trying to get back. We were still trying to put it together in our minds what happened. Who took our little girl from us . And at that time, youre so torn up that thats you dont know what to do. Reporter what happeneded to this talented, modest, innocent young woman would be all too obvious very soon. But as for who did it, and why for the case to have the twist and turns that this one did was something that i wouldnt have dreamed in 100 years. And im seasoned. Ive seen a lot of things. Reporter no kidding. But not like this. Reporter one thing the detective would see right there at the crime scene gave him the first inkling of who the killer might be. I start thinking personal. This is probably going to be somebody that she knew. Reporter and then, could the smallest of clues lead to the biggest of breaks . A little, bitty, tiny sliver of plastic about this long. I got roots and i got wings. Badabababa advanced design makes it easy to protect your dog or cat from fleas and ticks. Discover seresto. 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She was stabbed in her neck, behind her head. I mean this was brutal and this was savage. Reporter overkill, said detective paul ellzey. As will be clearly apparent, detective ellzey has deep roots in oldfashioned police work. Starting as a kid, then 36 years with the dallas p. D. Dad was a cop. Wife and sisters, too, worked in law enforcement. Thats over now. Hes retired from the force. But he cannot get over the sight that greeted him in shelley nances bedroom. This was tragic, this was horrific. Reporter that sight sticks with you. Yes. Very much so. Reporter murder, as detective ellzey knew from long experience, takes something from the investigators, too. Makes them hard sometimes. But when he learned about the victim, about her decent family, her quiet modest life, her innocence, the murder of shelley nance hit him personally. I mean that was doin nothin wrong. She was not in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was not associating with somebody that she shouldnt have been associated with. The stars lined up just right that somebody, an animal, decided to take her life. Reporter sounds like it got to you, this one . Well, you know, ive got two daughters. And yeah, its its hard. Reporter shelley died here, in the falls, a large housing complex where the Art Institute arranged for some of its students to live. Seemed like a perfectly reasonable place, looked quite safe, when we stopped by to take some pictures one sunny afternoon. About you, i wouldnt let my daughter live there. Reporter really . Absolutely not. Reporter dallas, like any big american city, suffers from its share of crime. And the falls . You go there during the daytime, it looks very nice. But at nighttime, totally different story. Reporter innocent 20yearold girl out on the street in that neighborhood at night, youd worry about her . No way would i let my daughter walk that neighborhood at night, no way. Reporter the nances didnt know any better. Little italy, after all, presents few of the issues a person can encounter in the middle of a place like dallas. Anyway, on that september day when detective ellzey arrived at the falls, he had no idea what sort of scene would confront him there. All he knew was that a female had been murdered. Im ready to go Different Directions and i have to make some assessments. When i walk in that door and i make a left hand turn and i see that girl there, then i can eliminate things relatively quickly. She still had her panties on, which generally reporter means no Sexual Assault. Exactly right. It it relieves the Sexual Assault part of it. She has a tshirt on. So im not thinkin that that its a rape. Im not thinkin that. And when i see the stab wounds in the back then i start thinkin personal. This is probably gonna be somebody that she knew. I checked the windows. I checked the door. You wanna look for forced entry. I didnt see evidence of that. Reporter so somebody she knew. And from the looks of it the wild, repeated, ferocious stabbing somebody consumed by an uncontrollable rage. But aside from all the blood, they found no useful fingerprints, and, eventually, no dna to help them either. Whoever did this had managed to erase any sign of who he or she was. Except there was one tiny bit of well, was it evidence, what was it . They found it under shelleys left wrist. A little bitty tiny sliver of plastic. About this long. And probably a quarter of an inch in width. Reporter hmm. Any idea what it was when you found it . It wasnt confirmed until after the completion of the autopsy of what the material actually was, that it was latex, a latex material. Reporter a a kind of material that that a pathologist would be rather familiar with doing his autopsies. It appeared to be a fragment of a disposable glove. Of course they tested it to be sure it did not come from the medical examiner or any of the officers at the crime scene. And it did not. Must have been left by the otherwise careful killer. But who would want to hurt her . And so horribly . The first person detective ellzey talked to was shelleys roommate, Ashley Olvera, whod found shelley dead in her own bed. Thats how ashley became possible suspect number one. She wasnt sexually assaulted, shelley. That was my initial opinion. It was later confirmed. Reporter yeah. Why couldnt a woman do this . Reporter sure. Its her roommate. Theres a lot of things happen between roommates that we dont know about. So it very well could have been. Reporter sure. What happened, if anything, between these roommates was something detective ellzey was determined to find out. Even if he had to get rough. Coming up right away, he would become convinced that something just wasnt right between the two girls. What else can you say . Its weird. Its not natural. Its not normal. Reporter when dateline continues. Ppy anniversary. Next time you talk to caroline, ill remind you. 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That shelley nance, their innocent wisp of a sister, had but maybe worse, quite possibly they werent going to know who did it. The first and most obvious mystery jumped right out at the experienced eyes that cased her bloody bedroom. Shelley had been dead a while. We could tell by lookin at her that she had not been there longer than 24 hours. Reporter but this was curious. Her roommate was in the apartment for much of that 24hour period, and claimed she saw and heard nothing amiss. Like shelley, roommate Ashley Olvera was also 20 years old and from a tiny town taft, texas not far from corpus christi, on the other side of the state. Her interest at the Art Institute was animation. She was shy like shelley but more willing to be social. They took her in for questioning. Reporter what sort of state was she in . You know, she was upset. She was crying. But it was it it wasnt anything i dont know. I dont think that i would have had the same reaction had my roommate met that kind of death. Reporter it was a little less of a reaction than you might expect i more more of like maybe her puppy got run over than her roommate got killed. Reporter detective ellzey, highly tuned to the subtle reactions of his interviewees, was still seeing in his head the image of that intensely personal murder scene. Could ashley have been so full of rage . Reporter one of the things that can make a roommate situation between two girls deadly is if theres a romantic attachment. Absolutely reporter did you did you go down that path with her . You know, i went down two directions. I went down the part that maybe they were seein the same guy. I also because you have to explore the fact that maybe they were romantically involved, shelley and ashley, because the degree of injury that that poor girl suffered, as i stated, its personal, which is a lot of pent up rage. Reporter somethin like a lover would do. A spurned lover absolutely. Yes, sir. Thats correct. Reporter and she could well have been that spurned lover . Oh yes. Yes. She sure could have. Without a doubt. Reporter ashley told the detective she discovered the murder after the school sent her home to check on shelley. Said she knocked on shelleys closed bedroom door, got no response and then entered the room. I saw her feet and she wasnt moving. So i turned on the light, and said hey, shelley, are you okay . She wasnt moving . So i went in and i shook her in her bed was she covered up . Originally the blanket was on her and you shake her with her blanket over her. Yes, sir. And you shake her and she dont wake up. You pull the cover off of her and you shake her again . I saw the blood and and i touched her arm and she was cold. And [ crying ] as soon as you seen that, what happened . I yelled her name i dont know how many times. Reporter ashley told the detective it was all just an innocent mistake when she told the Art Institute shed seen shelley alive and well the night before when, in fact, shelley was dead by then, which didnt make sent to detective ellzey, any more than did the next thing ashley said, that it was not usual for several days to go by without seeing shelley at all. She said that shelley was a very private person. That she just would put her headphones on, go into her own world, close her bedroom door and start drawing. Reporter and close the door from the bathroom . Is that what is that what she had two doors. Shelley did. One that would allow entry into the living room to her bedroom. And then one from her bedroom to the bathroom. Reporter into the bathroom. Correct. Reporter and ashley claimed that door was closed. Yes. Reporter you wouldnt buy that . No. Reporter your first reaction when she said that she hadnt checked on her, hadnt seen her. She lived a bathroom away from this girl. What else can you say . Its weird. Its not natural. Its not normal. You know, if im if i have a roommate in such a small apartment, if i dont see em im definitely gonna hear em. Im certainly gonna communicate to em. And with two girls you would think that bathroom would be tied up all the time. Reporter did you suggest that the possibility existed that these two girls didnt like each other and sometimes girls can be pretty you know she ashley told me that they didnt have arguments but they had disagreements. And i asked her what she meant by disagreement and she said, well, just girl stuff. You know . Not fights. Not you know, we we didnt hate each other. Its just like we kind of lived two different worlds. Strange. Reporter hard to know whether to buy that or not. Exactly. Many many twists and turns. Reporter Something Else, something potentially huge. Police found spots of blood in the bathroom the girls shared, a bathroom ashley used after theyy was murdered. So, did she just not see the blood . Or did she leave it there herself . As youll hear, detective ellzey used an oldfashioned strategy. He exaggerated the evidence, another way of saying he didnt exactly tell the truth, in an effort to get ashley to cough up the truth herself. You got to dig in people sometimes to really see where theyre coming from reporter sometimes you can throw them off stride and it puts them off their story. Absolutely. I dont see how you can miss that big blood right here on the sink. I dont see how you can miss that. I dont see how you can miss the big deal of blood right here on the bathtub. I dont see how you can miss it all on the trash can. How do you do that . I didnt see the trash can. But i remember seeing the little splotch of blood on the sink. When did you see that . When i was leaving for school. When . What day . Today. And you still didnt, didnt even think to knock on the door no, sir. To say, hey, shelley, you cut yourself . You hurt . You injured . You need something . Thats weird, man. I know it is. Im telling you everything i know. I mean, shelley was my roommate. She was my friend. She is my friend. We went to school together, sir. There is no reason why i would harm her. I really believe that something terrible happened between you and shelley that youre not telling me. Reporter thing is, there was no forced entry. Whoever killed shelley had a key. You know, when i talked to ashley i wasnt the nicest guy in the world. You know, i i dug into her pretty hard, especially when i i found out theres no forced entry. Ashley had a key. I need to know what happened. I i have to have an explanation as to what happened. Youre the only one that can tell me. I know and im telling you the truth ashley, i dont believe you, honey. I know. I dont believe you. I know i dont believe you. You cut her. You stabbed her, didnt you . No, i did not. Yeah, you did. I just need to know why you did it. I did not kill her. Yeah, you did, i can prove you did it. Something made you snap. I didnt hurt her. Im looking you straight in the eye, sir. Nobody else could have did it, nobody else could have did it. Nobody this looks terrible for you. I know it does. This looks terrible, terrible, terrible for you. Reporter no, detective ellzey did not go easy on shelleys roommate. But there was a murder to solve. And the first day of an investigation is crucial. Time to bring in the boyfriend. Coming up shelley had been stabbed to death, and guess what theyre about to find at her boyfriends place . What a collection he had. He had throwin stars. He had daggers. He had knives. He had swords. Who collects that kind of stuff . He just keeps sending more pictures. If youre a freerange chicken you roam free. Its what you do. If you want to save fifteen percent or more on Car Insurance you switch to geico. Its what you do. Two wheels a turnin. [ man ] i remember when i wouldnt give a little cut a second thought. 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Reporter to say that murder victim shelley nance had a boyfriend was perhaps an overstatement, at least as the term is generally used in the his name was nathan shuck. He was a classmate at the Art Institute 20 years old, like but in class and with close friends, he was energetic. Shelley and nathan had been going out if you could call it that for a couple of months. I didnt even find out till the summer, i think it was like july of 2009, that she had a boyfriend. She said, by the way, mom, ive got a boyfriend. Im like, you do . She said, yeah, and and dad probably wouldnt like him too much, cause hes got, like, a lip piercing and some tattoos. Reporter but, she told her mom, they hadnt even kissed yet. She, as far as i know, had only held his hand like once. Shes just naive that way. I sheltered her. Reporter sister shauna was the only one in the family whod met nathan. She introduced me to him as her friend, not her boyfriend. What was he like . He was just a nice, goofy kid. I mean, they were joking and making jokes and laughing and having a good time. And you could tell she liked him. She would blush and kinda giggle, and reporter really . You hadnt seen that from her before . Not like that, no. Reporter it was a fellow art student, Chris Phillips, who saw them as a couple. She was exactly in the same vein as nathan, you know. They were both artists. They both loved to draw. They both kind of kept to themselves. You know, they were pretty quiet. Reporter and then one terrible day chris heard that a female art student had been killed somehow over at the falls apartment complex. So, said chris, he and nathan and a few others piled into his car and headed over there to see if they could find out what happened. On the way, chriss cell phone rang. It was a friend named jeremi. Who told them it was shelley who was dead. I hear those words and i look at nathan and its you know, its one of those defining moments in your life where its, like, what what happens now . Did you hand him the phone or did you tell him yourself . No, i told i told jeremi that he needs to tell him, you know, so i handed him my phone. And you know his [ sigh ] you know, you kind of see this sudden shift of emotion going from worry to absolute just i dont think ill ever forget the way he looked at me as he was listening to jeremi talk to him, you know. His eyes were so so just broken. Reporter in some kind of denial, at least according to chris, they knocked at shelleys apartment door. No answer. So they hurried to jeremis place, also at the falls, to see if he knew anything more. And the Police Showed up. And they grabbed him by the arm and yanked him out the door and they started talking to him. Not gently . No, no. They were talking to him and then they got in the car and went. And i didnt see him for the rest of the day. Reporter in a murder so up close and personal so vicious boyfriend nathan naturally became a person of interest immediately. When officers brought him to Dallas Police headquarters, detective ellzey was more than ready to ask nathan some very personal and specific questions about his relationship with shelley. Are you a virgin . Yeah. Is Shelley A Virgin to your knowledge . Yall ever discuss sexual intercourse . Never . Shes been in your bedroom before with the light off. Yeah. What do you all do . We were sitting there playing video games. You never tried anything sexual with her . [ shakes head ] she never tried anything sexual with you . Did you kiss her . No, never. You never kissed her . Shes been your girlfriend two months and you never kissed her . [ shakes head ] why . Its weird. It was my first girlfriend. Reporter detective ellzey had never heard of a college romantic relationship like that. Question was, could he believe it . How many 19 and 20yearold people proclaim to have a girlfriend or boyfriend who have not kissed them . Reporter nathan also said he hadnt seen or spoken with shelley since several days before the murder. In fact, he said, he spent much of the week back home with his mom and grandmother. Was he telling the truth . Standard procedure detective ellzey checked out nathans body for scratches. All right. Turn around. Okay. Come back around again. How did you get those scrapes right here, them scratches . Oh, i actually scratch myself. Reporter again, could he believe that . We asked him, can we go to your apartment . You know . Describe your apartment. Do you have knives . Do you have swords . Do you have this . And he answered kind some some weird stuff. Reporter funny thing is, he did. He did. And what a collection he had. He had throwing stars. He had daggers. He had knives. He had swords. Who collects that kind of stuff . Reporter then detective ellzey learned something very interesting from shelleys mom something shelley had told her mom not long before she was killed. She said, mom, im thinking about breaking up with nathan. She said, i just dont have the feelings for him that i think i should. You know, i just dont, you know, dont see the relationship going anywhere. Reporter had a furious young man struck back at the woman who rejected him . A not uncommon motive for murder, as the detective knew very well. He confronted nathan. Shelley told her mom that she told you that yall were through. No. Ah, yeah. No, she didnt. Her mama told me that. Son, i talked to her mama. Dont call me a damn liar i just talked to her mom her mama, shelley told her mama that yall had had nothing in common. And that it was over. That it was through. [ shakes head ] she never said that. Boy, you sound like mad. Youre a damn psychopath. Are you like coocoocoo and la la land . Does [ expletive ] not register to you . Nothing makes sense. Im just im just waiting to wake up. Thats right. Youre waiting to wake up. Now, what did you do with the knife . I wasnt there. Nathan, you i didnt do anything with a knife. Yeah, you did. Reporter detective ellzey made no apology for the aggressive tone of his interrogation. There was more to learn about this closed off young man, for whom questions about knives would have an extra special meaning. Reporter coming up someone offers a new and unsettling portrait of nathans relationship with shelley. Nathan was actually stalking shelley everywhere she goes. Reporter and then, a fresh clue surfaces in a damning place that changes this whole case. Reporter when dateline continues. Chase freedom. The card is for the essentials. The cash back is for the fun. Chase. So you can. Doing this all day, my feet and legs got really tired. So i got dr. Scholls massaging gel work insoles. They absorb the shock of working on my feet all day. I feel energized im a believer. 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And its like, okay, if it was her, is it gonna be me next . In fact, in short order, the Art Institute of dallas moved its students out of the falls and into a more secure apartment complex in a safer part of town. But with the investigation just days old, they didnt know what police were thinking. That this was no random crime that it was personal, an inside job, so to speak. They were looking at people close to shelley. Someone who had a key. Like a boyfriend or a roommate. Someone who knew shed be asleep, and then surprised her, attacked her with a knife. She was small in stature. She was a little girl. It wouldnt take much. But who . As tough as detective ellzey was with roommate ashley and boyfriend nathan, he was not much farther along than when he started. And so he spent some time with a few of nathans friends, like his roommate, Daniel Willyam. Reporter you were a little older than the other kids . I was reporter i mean, they were all kind of 18, 19 and you were yes, i was 26 years old. Reporter hadnt always been easy for daniel. He, too, was a little different. For one thing, hed been born in indonesia and struggled with some rude culture shocks when his family moved to america. Still, he put on a brave face, served in the navy, and then signed up to study Interactive Media at the Art Institute. If anybody knew what nathan was up to, it would be daniel whose role in the student apartment was, well, almost like a den mother. I became a big brother to him, you know . It was like, do your homework, take him to school, pick him up from school and things like that. Reporter well, yes. I mean, you were. You were helping him with his homework, you were making his lunches, you were, you know, cleaning up after him. You were driving him to school. He was afraid . Yes. I was like reporter little nervous . A father to him, yes. Reporter or or the way but he reporter but the way it was described later was more like you were a mother to him. I mean, you were well, yes, that was his own his own words. Daniel worried about nathan, he said. Saw early red flags in nathans behavior toward this first girlfriend of his. Nathan, he said, seemed obsessed with shelley. Maybe dangerously. I started to notice that nathan had missed his classes. And finally, i talk to shelleys roommate, ashley, and what she told me shocked me because from her own words, nathan was actually stalking shelley everywhere she goes. And after shelley was murdered, he said, he saw scratches on nathans body. Which, in fact, the police had noticed, too. And then daniel added something very interesting he picked up nathan from school on thursday night, thats the day of the killing. It was more than 12 hours before shelleys body was discovered, he said, and nathan behaved like someone who felt what, guilty . He had like a bad mood or something. For what . Did he tell you . No. Right before i went to sleep, i heard him crying in his room. What was he crying for . Do you know . Did you approach him about that . I knocked on his door, he i asked him if, like, are you okay . And he said, yeah, why . cause i heard you crying. And he was like, no. But his face was red because like, you know when people cry and their faces are red he didnt tell you why he was crying . I didnt know if he was or not because he said he is not crying in any case he was upset you lived with this guy for so long and youd know obviously if something was bothering him. Which is what their friend, Chris Phillips, thought, too. Daniel knew nathan well. In fact, said chris, daniel kept a helpful eye out for a lot people at the school. He was very bright, friendly, eager to help anyone out. He you know, he was he was that kinda he was that guy that a lot of people knew. And he would walk into, say, the student lounge, and other everybody would be like, hey, its daniel, you know. Reporter hmm, nice guy . Yeah, very nice guy. A nice guy who was telling detective ellzey he was troubled about nathan. And then, when the detective dug a little deeper among other people who knew nathan, he began to hear a different take on the kid who was supposedly too shy to kiss his girlfriend. Some people would describe him as a little bitty, scrawny kid, kind of introverted who just lived and breathed his artwork. Other people would say, the guy had a temper. Ashley said shed heard the same thing. One of my friends would say just like you know, i would never want to see nathan angry. And i asked him, why . And they said, have you ever seen him play a video game . Because he just kind of pops if he doesnt get something. Then the police searched nathans bedroom and found his collection of knives which was not the only thing nathan liked to collect. He also kept a very unusual costume, which anybody who searched social media could readily see. Just google his name at the time and his myspace page came up and hes dressed as a ninja. Reporter yeah. And he clearly has an obsession with ninjas. Reporter and knives. And knives, yeah. Former reporter Scott Goldstein covered the case for the dallas morning news. As the investigation went on, there were some other pieces of key evidence that pointed to him even more so. Perhaps the most startling was a remarkable piece of evidence that police discovered in daniel and nathans apartment. Im paying attention to what was found in the bathroom. Reporter in your bathroom . No, not my bathroom, nathans bathroom. A plastic baggie. With blood on it. In nathans bathroom. That changes this whole case, and when hes asked about that piece of evidence, he locks up. Now hes not that little boy ive been talking to. Now hes a man and he understands his situation and he says, i need a lawyer. Reporter just like that . Absolutely. Reporter and clammed right up . He locked up tight. He sure did. Reporter also, remember, whoever killed shelley must have had a key to her apartment. There was no sign whatever of forced entry. Nathan may well have had a key. And shelley told her mother she was thinking of breaking up with nathan. Did she tell him . Did he use one of his many knives to get even . Is that why the bloody baggie was in his bathroom . The kid, being a boyfriends got a motive. He could very well did it. He could have very well had a key. He could have very well slipped in there undetected, been in there from you know, she could have invited him in for all we know. Did what he did for whatever reason he chose and then left. It was not looking good for nathan. Not at all. Coming up the focus widens to include another student. Someone shelley had once expressed concerns about. Trying to corner her in the hallways at school. Texting her on the phone. 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Now get 10 off select major appliances 399 and more at lowes. Im jerry bell the second. And im jerry bell the third. Im like a big bear and hes my little cub. This little guy is nonstop. Hes always hanging out with his friends. Youve got to be prepared to sit at the edge of your seat and be ready to get up. Theres no deep couch sitting. Definitely not good for my back. This is the part i really dont like right here. doorbell whats that . A package its a swiffer wetjet. It almost feels like its moving itself. This is kind of fun. That comes from my floor . Eww this is deep couch sitting. [jerry bell iii] deep couch sitting reporter they took shelley nances body back to italy, texas, not quite a week after the murder. Held her funeral at the familys church. And it seemed like the whole town was there, along with many from the Art Institute of dallas. Its the most horrible thing weve ever been through. The day after the funeral, i was ready to kill somebody. Reporter the institute held a memorial, too. And it was there shelleys he come up and wanted to shake my hand and i couldnt do it. I didnt wanna look at him, i didnt wanna touch him because if he had somethin to do with killin my shelley i didnt wanna pretend that it was okay. Reporter shelley nance was just 20 when she was attacked and killed in her offcampus apartment here in dallas. Tiny, quiet, sweet, and defenseless. The last person anyone would want dead, everyone said that. But clearly someone did. The police already had ashley on their list of suspects. Ive interviewed her. Im satisfied that i can set her to the side for the time being. Shes not going anywhere. Reporter and shes not eliminated yet. Absolutely not, no, no, no. Reporter but for the moment, detectives were concentrating a lot of attention on nathan. But carefully. They werent done. Not yet. Gotta take it slow. Reporter we try to look at it from a distance. You cant let your personal emotions get involved. Reporter yeah. You cant allow tunnel vision to take over. Your job is to investigate. Look at the evidence and then go where the evidence leads you. Reporter detectives were still canvassing fellow students, and teachers, school administrators. Anybody who could help them nail down nathans movements on thursday morning, the time of the murder. And again, if anybody knew, it would be daniel. Who, after all, watched over nathan, drove him around, looked after him. But it turned out nathan was at home in suburban dallas the night before the murder. His mother drove him to school that thursday morning. He said he was doing homework in a computer lab at the time of the murder. But was he . And he was in school from what time to what time . I dont know. What time did you pick him up thursday . I picked hip up around 10 00. Reporter detective ellzey also asked daniel what he was doing on thursday morning. Routine questioning. Starbucks. Thats when i texted ashley to see if she wanted to go get lunch. From there i went to White Rock Lake because i was supposed to take a picture but i forgot to bring my camera for the assignment. And from there i went to my friends place. And you forgot your camera so you went to whose house . Jessica howard. What time did you get there . Around 12 30ish, but she wasnt home. Reporter perfectly reasonable. No apparent reason not to believe him. But did daniel know something more than he was saying . Detectives talked to Chris Phillips, too. Chris was daniels roommate before nathan moved in and it was great at first, said chris. But daniel ended up doing more of the house chores. And resentments began to fester about things like trash not taken out and so on. Daniel turned out to be something of a neat freak and well, needy, maybe . I im a college guy, so i wanted to interact with women and bring them to our apartment and stuff. And he, he wasnt very excited about that. He was he he didnt really want me to bring people to the apartment that he didnt know. And reporter people or women . Well, it was it was i guess it was it was both. Reporter did you understand what this was all about . You know, at at first, i didnt. But over time lets see. Whats whats a good word for it . Kind of needy, you know, towards me. Like he needed me to hang out with him more than anybody else. Reporter he wanted to be central in your existence. Right, yeah. Reporter did you understand when you were first hanging out with him and and deciding to move in there that he was gay . No, i i i didnt know. But as time went on, he eventually came out to me. I had essentially just started to figure he was anyways. And, you know, its i was absolutely cool with it. I had no problem. Reporter but did he, like, make a request . Did he want to have the a romantic relationship with you . No, he never he never made any kind of request like that towards me. Reporter shelleys mother cynthia had heard a thing or two about daniel as well. From shelley, who told her some stories about what happened when she started dating nathan. Trying to corner her in the hallways at school. Texting her on the phone. Trying to call her and saying, we need to talk. Shes like, what does he need to talk to me about . She said, hes really weirding me out. Reporter and she kept refusing to talk to him. Shes not a confrontational type person. She didnt want to know what it was he wanted. She says she ended up asking nathan. And come to find out he was just insulted that they werent inviting him to go out with them on dates which i thought was rather weird to begin with, too. She said, why did this reporter and she found this out . Yeah, she said thats what he told her. Said, well, youre being inconsiderate of his feelings. Reporter did she have an opinion about this . She just thought it was strange that hed wanna go out on a date with them. Shes like, you know, if we over at his apartment and wed be, like, playin videogames or something in nathans bedroom hed open the door, and stand there in the doorway watching them, you know. She said, that that thats just weird. Reporter that is pretty weird. Yeah, she said they just got to the point where theyd go to her apartment instead. Reporter strange, but did it have anything to do with shelleys murder . Maybe, maybe not. But just maybe there were three murder suspects now. Coming up which of them had a key to shelleys place . The roommate did, of course. But according to her, one of the others had had access to it at least once. You know if he made a copy of it . No, but its a possibility. Its the only time i loaned my keys to somebody. Reporter when dateline continues. Leash the beauty of your curls. Thats why we created new dove quench absolute. This system deeply nourishes curls to quench dryness for 4 times more defined natural curls. New dove quench absolute. 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S. , and match your data. Goodbye verizon. I am done with at t. Bring in your verizon or at t bill, turn in your old phone and well cut your rate plan in half. Switch now and well pay whatever it costs for you to come to sprint. Reporter an innocent young art student has been found the suspectsive clue her the Dallas Police department was zeroing in on the boyfriend, nathan. And so detectives decided to interview daniel a second time. After all, he lived with nathan. Maybe daniel could tell them more. And then something odd happened. Daniel changed his own story a little. Remember the story of where he was day of the murder . This time, he added something. 10 15 to 10 20 you were at starbucks. Where did you go . To White Rock Lake. Okay, specifically at White Rock Lake, where . Well, i went to walmart first, and then to White Rock Lake. Okay. You cant leave that out. So you go straight from starbucks to walmart. Uhhuh. You how long, what did you do at walmart . I got hair dye, soap and gloves to color my hair. Reporter wait, walmart . He did not reveal any stop at walmart during his first interview. And then, he amended his story again. Just slightly. After the walmart and the trip to White Rock Lake, he said, he went to visit that friend, jessica. Discovered she wasnt home. He said that already. But this time he added one little detail where his friend lived. You get back in your car. Where do you go . I went to the falls to go to my friends house, jessica howard. Reporter the falls apartment complex. Thats where shelley was killed. Daniel didnt mention the falls the first time he was interrogated. Why did you leave that part out . Because i was mugged over there, sir. Reporter mugged . And yet he somehow failed to mention that during his first, long session of questioning . Coincidentally, while hes at this same complex, hes approached by a black male with a knife who robs him. Reporter the robber took 40 in cash and his backpack, said daniel. You didnt tell me a damn thing about getting robbed. You know why . Because thats bull [ bleep ]. You didnt get robbed. The robbery never happened. Thats horse [ bleep ]. Reporter clearly, detective ellzey didnt believe him for a minute. And in fact, no evidence of the claimed mugging ever turned up. But it was that little crumb of truth inside the suspected lie that caught detective ellzeys attention. Daniels admission that he went to the falls on the morning of the murder. What you did, son, is put yourself right there at that complex where that little girls killed. Thats exactly what you did. I didnt do anything. Yeah, you did. You killed that girl. You took a knife and you stabbed her. I want to know why you did it. I didnt do anything yeah, you did. You killed that girl, man. You killed her. You stabbed her and you killed her. I did not do anything. Yes, you absolutely did. [ crying ] all i want to do is hear the truth. I know what the evidence is going to tell me. Reporter he shoved a photo of shelley, dead, covered in blood, in front of daniel. Remember her looking like that . Thats your handiwork. Thats what she looked like when you finished with her. Look at her. Dont cover her face. Look at her. Thats what you did to her. Thats what you did to her. Thats what her mommy and daddy had to look at. What do you think about that . Look at this look at it think about the last words she said. Think about the last words you heard that say that girl say before she took her last breath. You think about it. How can you live with yourself . Take your damn hand away from your eyes and look at me and tell me how you treat a girl like that. Tell me how you do that. I didnt do that, sir. Reporter however, by then, detectives had heard that daniel was not fond of shelley because he felt she was a Bad Influence on nathans studies. Which wasnt true, by the way. But thats what daniel claimed. And then his friends suggested what might be the real reason daniel disliked shelley because he was jealous. Didnt like nathan spending time with a girl. Detective ellzey turned up the heat even more. How can you despise a human being that bad . She didnt do nothing to you. How did you hate that girl so much . I didnt you hated her enough to kill her . Over a dude . I didnt you hated her that much, that she took nathan away from you, that much, that she caused you so much problems in your personal relationship, that the only answer was to kill her. Thats it . Reporter two days after that interview, it was, once again, ashleys turn to talk. And she also revealed something she had not said before. Remember, it was quite apparent that whoever killed shelley must have had a key to her apartment. There was no sign of forced entry. Well, now ashley told the detectives that a month before the murder, daniel borrowed her car. Which would have been neither here nor there, except the key to her apartment was attached to her car keys. You know if he made a copy of it . No, but now that my its a possibility that he its the only time i remember i ever loaned my keys to somebody. Because i always have my keys. Reporter daniel may or may not have copied the key. But as much as the detectives wanted to make an arrest, they had to be sure they had the right person or persons. A lot of times, you got one shot at it. And if you dont do it right, that killer could walk for life, and thats the last thing i want to do. Reporter coming up, finally detectives believe theyve zeroed in on their killer. When all these facts come together, theres no other suspect. Kill 99. 9 of germs, and destroy dirt and grime. You only need scrubbing bubbles disinfecting cleaners for 100 problem solved. We work hard so you dont have to. Sc johnson a family company. 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Reporter and then finally, the lab results came in. Dna confirmed that that blood come from shelley. And then then you have to sit back, scratch your head and say, well, i wonder if both these guys did it . And then if if you go with that theory, what is the motive . Robbery . No. Rape . No. I mean, how would you get these two people on the same page to kill this young girl . Reporter there was one other possibility did daniel frame nathan by planting that bag in his bathroom . After all, he lived in the same apartment. So, detectives went about the painstaking work of verifying every moment in the lives of those two young men on the day of the murder. And nathan was a hard, hard suspect. But after we do our timelines and we interview people, and we check his phone and we check Surveillance Videos and witnesses at class, he had an alibi. He was at school when we believe shelley was killed. Reporter but daniel . Daniel, remember, had given the police a shifting alibi. Didnt tell them in his first interview that he stopped by a Walmart Store to buy hair dye. But, as detectives thought about it, that new little nugget raised more questions. I mean this is a young kid not old enough to have to cover, you know, whatever theyre covering. I mean he his hair looked fine to me. I thought it a little odd. Reporter did he actually go to walmart at all that morning . They subpoenaed this walmart Surveillance Video and sure enough, there was daniel. In the walmart when he said he was. But why hair dye . Could it be he really wanted the protective gloves that are generally included in a hair dye kit . Gloves is important because theres evidence at the scene where a glove turned up. Reporter not a whole glove, of course, but a tiny piece of material that appeared to have been torn from a rubber glove. So they requested a copy of daniels walmart receipt. And what do you know the type of hair dye he bought came with a pair of gloves. Oh, which did not match the snippet of blue material found at the crime scene. But daniel, it turned out, bought Something Else that morning at the walmart. A whole box of disposable gloves in blue nitrile. Was that the same material as that tiny glove fragment found under shelleys wrist . Why yes, it was. We were able to scientifically connect that little sliver of glove found at the scene as being of the same manufacturer and consistency of that glove that walmart sold on the day that daniel purchased those gloves. Reporter that was huge real evidence linking daniel to the crime scene. When all these facts comes together, theres no other suspect. And the reason that shelley was killed is because she stood in the way of a romantic rendezvous that he so desperately wanted with nathan. Reporter on november 4, 2009, eight weeks after shelleys murder, they arrested Daniel Willyam. The arrest was, for shelleys family, a doubleedged thing. They were relieved, of course. But until then, the police had not told them that shelley had been stabbed 42 times. Oh, my god. I almost passed out. 42 exact. And i just thought, oh my god. Reporter prosecutor Dewey Mitchell got the case then, and right away could see the problem. This was a circumstantial case, in which the accused would likely say, the other guy did it. Especially in a case like this. Reporter so he sent out his investigator, hoyt hoffman, to second guess the police. You have to make sure that no stone is left unturned. Reporter and then, they strategized we spent i would say half of or more of our time actually working it the other way, saying, okay, well, lets say that the other person did it. Nathan. Nathan. Lets say nathan did it. Or lets say ashley did it, and and lets look at the evidence, and does that bear fruit or is that something where you look at at them, and it just it just doesnt work . Because we wanted to make sure we got the right person. Could you have prosecuted nathan . Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, it wouldve been it wouldve been an easy case. Really . To say absolutely. To come in and say, he did it, hes the boyfriend, any time you have a stabbing, you immediately look to whoever that person is romantically involved with. Reporter so they called in nathan yet again tested his answers. Multiple times. Ashley, too . Yes, yes. Reporter they finally arrived at the same conclusion the Dallas Police did that neither ashley nor nathan killed shelley. Had to be daniel and daniel alone. But making the case in court might not be so easy. This is one of those cases where circumstantial is is kind. I mean, you had no fingerprints, you had no dna, you had no bloody clothes on the suspect, you had right. You had no incriminating statements really, just some sort of weird stuff, but right. Yeah. Its a you have tough case. Nothin. Tough case it was. Circumstantial is a correct word. Reporter question was, could they make the case or would a jury believe theyd reached the wrong conclusion . Coming up motive its been tricky to pin down in this case. But in court, prosecutors present jurors with a theory of everything. Thats why this whole thing happened. Reporter when dateline continues. Pizza hut stuffed crust. I helped launch it twenty years ago and to commemorate that pizza hut has brought me back, along with the original price. Get a large original stuffed crust or any one of ten new flavorful stuffed crusts like salted pretzel for just 9. 99. Only at pizza hut. Thank you, cable for the slower internet upload speeds. For making me wait longer to share my photo albums. Thank you cable, because if we never had you we wouldnt know the incredible difference verizon fios makes. In Customer Satisfaction studies, fios is rated 1 in Internet Speed and reliability 8 years running. Plus, fios has the fastest wifi available from any provider. Period. See the difference for yourself. Get a fios triple play online at an amazing price, guaranteed for two full years plus, get a 300 bonus with a twoyear agreement. Call the Verizon Center for customers with disabilities at 800. 974. 6006 tty v reporter it was at the trial when sam and cynthia nance finally came face to face with the man accused of killing their or, more accurately, their eyes boring a stare into the back of Daniel Willyams head. It was november, 2011. I wanted him to look at me and he wouldnt do it. So that that told me right there he had to have done it cause hes too ashamed to even look at me in the face. Reporter Chris Phillips saw daniel in court, too, when chris testified for the state. Im very cool under pressure, but something about seeing him that day was very shocking to me. I look over at daniel and i gave him a nod, like, i see you. And he nods back. And there was just kind of this this i dont know this tension. Reporter Scott Goldstein covered the trial. Could tell right away this could be unusual. The opening line, i think, for the prosecutors was, there are two people on the face of the earth who couldve done this. They said up front that its about these two these two men. Reporter nathan and daniel. A boyfriend incapable of murder, the prosecutor would say, and that boys roommate, driven by jealousy. We couldnt just go in and say, heres the heres the physical evidence, and the circumstantial evidence, and you know he did it. We had to then show all the evidence that we had that showed nathan didnt do it, because we knew that was gonna be the defense. Reporter and as for daniel i told them in opening statement, it is bizarre as it is brutal. And i wanted them to know that they would be hearing a case where their first reaction was going to be, how could this happen . This this is this is crazy. I didnt want to be in the middle of the case and them trying to figure out, wait, whats going on, and why are we looking at this guy and not that guy . Reporter then the prosecutor presented his theory, a story of how it went down. Shelley, a known night owl, had been up all wednesday night into thursday morning on her computer until 6 00 a. M. , when she went to sleep. Ashley left for school. Then daniel entered the apartment, possibly with ashleys key, the one hed secretly copied when he borrowed her car and key ring a month before. Once inside the apartment, he stabbed shelley to death. He cleaned up any evidence of his presence and got out of there. But he could not erase all the evidence. Like, for example, his Text Messages that morning. Particularly his texts to ashley before the murder. He can be seen sending some of those texts while at the walmart on this Surveillance Video. Timing was starting after the 10 00 hour on september 10th. And it was one minute, the next minute, the next minute, the next minute. Then there was a pause. Pause for an hour and something. He was asking her in those Text Messages if she wanted to go to lunch with him. He was hammer texting her. And it was one of those situations where i have no doubt in my mind, he was texting her to see whether or not she was gonna leave that classroom. She repeatedly told him no, that she was in class, that she wasnt interested. And the fact that he kept asking just showed that he really wanted to make sure he could get away with what he was about to do. And that she wasnt home, also. Reporter right. So that was key. He had to make sure that there was nobody in the apartment. Absolutely. Reporter then daniel stopped texting her for almost two hours and then resumed again. And remember, in his first interview with the police, daniel lied about where he was the morning of the murder. And then in a second interview, he told them he went to the falls that morning. And that bit was true, the prosecutor said. But when daniel claimed he went there to meet another female classmate for a photo assignment, that was a lie, said the prosecutor. We talked to her and she said that there was no reason for him to have ever been there. He didnt contact her about coming in and doing any such project. And so then the other lie, though, was in that he then told the detectives about going straight home. And when the detectives started to look at the cell phone records of his location after we believe he committed the offense, he went to an entirely different location. Reporter didnt go home . He did not go home. He went 30 minutes north of town, stayed up there for some period of time before coming back. Reporter getting rid of his bloody clothing and the murder weapon and other evidence, the prosecutor figured, none of which police were able to find, though they searched thoroughly through the area. In this case, we had someone who committed this crime and then did a fantastic job of cleaning up and not leaving evidence and after the fact told multiple lies. Reporter in fact, the prosecutor said, daniel was so good at cleaning up it would be reasonable to assume he was framing nathan when he left that one piece of obvious evidence, the bloody baggie, in nathans bathroom. And then there was daniels complicated relationship with nathan, and by extension, shelley. We would hear these stories about him getting upset because he didnt get an offer to go to breakfast with people, or he wasnt invited to go to the movies with nathan and his girlfriend. And it was it was just a consistent, pervasive feeling that daniel would tell anybody who was willing to listen about how he was slighted by not being involved. And part of part of the the chain of events, too, was the fact that he was not invited by nathan and shelley to go to some anime festival here in dallas the weekend before this ended up happening. Reporter so nathan went with shelley and left him at home. Absolutely. Reporter it was one weird triangle. The prosecution argued that daniel felt left out, became increasingly jealous and then angry. And then his anger turned to rage at shelley. Thats why this whole thing happened. I believe he had hate in his heart for her. Reporter but remember, in a court of law, a defendant is innocent until proven guilty. And daniel . My mother asked me if i killed shelley. And i told her, mama, im not the one who committed this. Im not the one who killed her. Reporter coming up, daniels defense tries a single, bold tactic to cast suspicion on nathan. And theyve got plenty of ammunition. What they had in their pocket is the boyfriend, who we knew the girlfriend was thinking about breaking up with, who happens to be obsessed with knives. Reporter what would the jury make of all that . Badabababa if you have moderate to severe Rheumatoid Arthritis like me and youre talking to your rheumatologist about a biologic. This is humira. This is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage. This is humira giving me new perspective. Doctors have been prescribing humira for ten years. Humira works for many adults. It targets and helps to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. 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If youre saltnpepa, you tell people to push it. Push it real good. Its what you do. Ah. Push it. If you want to save fifteen percent or more on Car Insurance you switch to geico. Its what you do. Ah. Push it. Im pushing. Im pushing it real good reporter Daniel Willyam, as was his right, declined to testify when he went on trial for killing shelley nance. So he did not himself point at nathan and accuse him of committing the murder. But of course he didnt have to. His attorney did it for him. It was not a surprise to prosecutor Dewey Mitchell. They said it couldve been nathan, and it couldve been a random person, and that by the time the states done with its case, youre not gonna be able to know who did this crime. They just dont have evidence. I think it was a pretty good strategy. Reporter yeah. I think it was the only strategy. You know, this wasnt a selfdefense case and it wasnt an insanity case. So it had to be somebody else. Reporter well, it makes sense. I mean, again, did you have blood . No. Do you have dna . No. What they had in their pocket, my star witness is, is the boyfriend who we we knew the girlfriend was thinking about breaking up with, who happens to be obsessed with knives. Reporter and oh, by the way, hes appearing online in a ninja costume, for heavens sake. When he was crossexamined by the defense, they just left the picture of him with the mask on up on the screen. Reporter make you worry just a little bit, i would think. And that just happens to be how young women tend to die. Boyfriends who dont want them to leave. Absolutely. Reporter and thats exactly what she was gonna do. Absolutely. Reporter the Defense Attorneys strategy was we certainly wanted to know more about the reason for the defense strategy. Its opinion of the charges and the evidence. But at daniels direction, his attorney declined our request for an interview. And in court, called just one witness. No, not daniel. Daniel did not testify. The witness was shelleys mother, cynthia. At first they said since i was gonna be called that i couldnt sit in the courtroom during the whole trial. And im sorry, i was going to raise a conniption fit because i was going to be there. And the judge decided yeah it would be okay. Reporter why call cynthia nance . Do you remember that conversation in which shelley told her mother she was thinking of breaking up with nathan . That, said the defense, gave nathan a motive. But certainly not daniel. Cynthia was incensed by the questions she was asked. For them to call me and ask questions trying to make it sound like that her conversation with me wanting to break up with nathan would be the reason why nathan would go and kill her, you know, i didnt want them twisting my words to make it sound like the things that i said made it reflect more on nathan and less on daniel. Reporter so did that work out for them . Or did it backfire . It didnt work out because shelleys mother also testified when she was crossexamined by the prosecution that as far as she knew, shelley never had that conversation with nathan. So nathan reporter nathan wouldnt have known. He wouldnt have known. So that kinda kills the idea that that could have been motive if he didnt even know that they were gonna break up. Reporter still, one way or another, nathan may have felt he was on trial as much as daniel was. So in their closing argument, the prosecutors had to essentially act as nathans Defense Attorneys. Reporter one of the prosecutors pointed at him and remarked this is basically a scared little boy who spent that week at home with his grand grandmommy cutting the crusts off his bread. I told the jury he was yellow as mustard without the spice. He was a scrawny little kid. Shelley probably could be have took him in her sleep, you know . Reporter but was Daniel Willyam capable of so brutal a murder of someone he barely knew . The jurors would have to make up their minds without hearing a word from daniel. Though when we spoke with him, daniel had a great deal to say about the case against him. Now im not trying to accuse nathan of murder, im just trying to trying to find out where was he. But i do have a suspect. Reporter oh. Coming up, just who is daniel talking about . Someone the Police Never Even looked at. He put the baggie in the bathroom . No, im saying he had access to my house. Reporter when dateline co thats it. Good job. Nice coating. And get this one next. Whoa what are you guys doing . Making sure nothing sticks. Otherwise, we gotta scrub all this stuff off. Huh, what . Nobody thought of this before . Whats wrong with people . Dish issues . Not with improved cascade platinum. It powers through. Your toughest, starchy messes. Better than finishs best. The first time. As if your dishes were nonstick. Cascade. Now thats clean. Lowes presents how to use the greek gods to update your deck. 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Though he didnt testify, he wanted us to know something about him. And his concern that people young people especially lack courtesy. Theyre just too rude. Like, for example, the young people he lived with at the Art Institute of dallas. What i was trying to do is be courteous to the people that lives around you. Its a lot of discourtesy expressed by these kids . [ daniel laughs ] thats been a problem. That is. I mean, you see that everywhere . Yes. I mean, people dont have right attitudes about respect and doing the right thing and manners and courtesy, yes. Manners and courtesy . Yes. Reporter which is what he was up against, said daniel, first with roommate Chris Phillips and then with nathan. But just as happened with chris, daniel went through an enamored stage first. One day, chris brought nathan home. And when i first saw him, i was like, wow, you know . This kid is goodlooking. Reporter daniel, who is gay, was attracted at first, he admitted. You were infatuated . Not anymore. Reporter no, about you, not anymore by a few months into the relationship . No. Ive never had no sexual relationship whatsoever with him except for being a platonic friend. Did you ever try to initiate a sexual relationship . No. Not at all . No, no. Didnt hint at it, nothin . No. Reporter friends like Chris Phillips, however, said they saw Something Else going on. I mean, essentially, they were saying you were obsessed with nathan, that he was becoming more interested in shelley, that it it it seemed to bother you according to those who saw you. It seemed to bother you a great deal yes. He was stalking her. Reporter well, or that he was actually hanging out with her a lot. And he theyd play video games together and they didnt include you . True. True. And they didnt include you in in places they went to see other people. They left you out. You were feeling like left out by these two . Yes. I did feel left out because i told nathan, you know, its very rude that, you know, you didnt ask me if i wanted to do this or that to do this or to do that with you, now. All those things you had done for him and he is just basically shoveling you out the door . Yes. Actually, i came i came to him and talked to him about it. I told him that it was very rude. And, you know, its not that i felt left out but its just that it was very rude and so of course you felt left out. No, not really. It would not be human of you if you didnt feel left out. Well, at first, yes, i did. But let me tell you this. After i talked to him, he before he goes with goes out with shelley, he would ask me. I was like and i said, no, i dont wanna go. Dont worry about it. Reporter we asked daniel about something shelley told her mom that daniel kept trying to corner her, speak to her alone. That it bothered her. His reply he did approach shelly, but only out of concern for nathan. I was actually asking her, i was like, is there something wrong because hes literally failing his classes. So you, as his big brother, mother figure, whatever it was, felt a responsibility for him . And it was because of his obsession with shelley . I believe so. Did she tell you to lay off . No, no. She actually thanked me for bringing up the issue and then thats where i left it. Reporter of course, it was quite easy for us to check his claim that nathan was faying his classes. Was he . No. But, listen now to daniels central claim that for evidence of who killed shelley, one need look no farther than that plastic baggie stained with her blood, and found in nathans bathroom. Daniel swore he didnt put it there. Theyre telling me that im obsessing with nathan, so therefore, i was the one who committed this crime. My question is, okay, if that was true, why would i put it in there . Because once you realized its either you or nathan, you better blame nathan. Dont do okay, thats what you would think that. Right, for me to blame nathan but i didnt. I, to this day do not you just did. Im not trying to accuse nathan of murder. Im just trying to w trying to find out where was he. But i do have a suspect. Oh. Where was Christopher Phillips at this time . Reporter Chris Phillips . . Now that was a new one. Reporter he put the baggie in the bathroom . No, im saying he have access to my house. Reporter by the way, Chris Phillips was never a suspect in the case. In fact, he was a witness for the state. But daniel was adamant that he, at least, was innocent. Im not the one who killed that girl. Im not the one who killed shelley. I have two younger sisters, sir. What if that happened to my sisters . What if that happened to my mom . I would kill myself before i hurt anybody else. I couldnt kill her because she reminds me of my younger sister, amanda. [ sniffs, cries ] what if that happens to amanda or kati . [ sniffs ] i would kill myself. Reporter but it happened to shelley. Thats what happened to shelley. But im not the one who kill her. Even if i have to go through this, im still telling you, im not the one who kill her because i cant. That would be like me killing my younger sisters and i love them. Reporter would the jury have believed him, had he testified . Well never know. But without it, the verdict came back in just three hours guilty of first degree murder. It was a very good feeling. Its one of the cases that ill never forget. Only because of the brutality involved in it, and at that time, my daughter was exactly 20 years old. Same age. So it struck close to home. Reporter after the verdict, shelleys mother approached nathan and apologized for ever suspecting him. I was grateful that he was nice to her. Howd he take it . He didnt have a whole lot to say. He just gave me a hug and said, thank you. Reporter at daniels sentencing, the state revealed a little more about his past about the times he reacted to what he considered to be rude behavior. The defense attorney had told them he was a pastry chef in the navy in his opening statement. That was all they knew. And so what were you able to tell the jury . So, we were able to tell them that while he was in the navy he had repeated times where someone would upset him and he would go to a superior and let them know that he was contemplating hurting them. Hurting them with knives knives. And hot oil. Then we found out that once he was back at his house, he had gotten into an argument with his brother and taken a Samurai Sword to his room and torn the whole place up. What i hoped it would do was say to the jurors, you got it right. Reporter because it was texas, it was also the jurys job to decide on a sentence. It took them less than an hour. He got life. No chance of parole for at least 30 years. I was like, what just happened . You thought you shouldve been found not guilty . Yes. You expected to be . Yes, cause im not the one who killed her. How many times do i need to tell you this . How did it feel inside . Soul crushing. Reporter life in italy, texas, is not the same anymore, of course, without shelley nance. Her mother founded an art scholarship in her memory, and did something very unusual for a woman her age, in a place like italy. She got a tattoo. Of a butterfly, of course. I can look down and i can remember shelley every time i see it. Reporter she and sam are deeply religious people. Their faith tells them to forgive. Its very hard. I havent forgiven him for what hes done. And thats a hard thing to do. I know he has. But if he could ever admit that he did it then i might be able to forgive him. But i cant forgive him and i cant forget. How have you been able to forgive him . I just know that everybodys not perfect. But i dont know, i to me, if i hold a grudge like that, its going to eat me up more than its going to eat him up. I just had to let it go. Put it in gods hands, let it go. I miss my daughter every day. Theres not a day goes by i dont think about her, thats for sure. I know ill see her again someday. Its what keeps me going. 7 cc3 im lester holt. Thanks for joining us. Ow on the ring