Page 4 - First Halee News Today

And as i sat there in that moment i had no idea how to address it. >> what are you thinking when this happens? >> shocked. it was huge. it was huge. no one saw it coming. no one. i had no idea she was going to say that. i want today hug her. i wanted to thank her. the whole family did. it was probably the first time everyone in the room cried. it was an amazing gift. >> the judge called for a recess and cleared the courtroom. all sides left to absorb the enormity of what had just happened. heath...

Heather collins became less hopeful. there was no direct evidence tying isaiah hagan to her daughters murder, no gun, no dna, no eyewitnesses, nothing to prove isaiah was a killer. >> i was at the point where i was prepared for him to be walking the streets. >> prosecutor michael perry urged patience. >> we knew that we did not have enough evidence to convict at that point, but thats why you go to the end. >> there was one person in particular he wanted the jury to hear from, donna hagan, isaiah...

He joked with us. he actually took an interest in talking to us which is more than i can say for a lot of guys. >> the romance didnt last long, though, two remained good friends. besides, 20-year-old halee was laser focused on her schoolwork. on a sunday in late april 2017, she was home studying for a big exam the next day. just hours later, the sun was rising and halees mom heather was starting her morning. >> i was reading facebook, having coffee on a monday morning. just sitting on my porch, ...

When my stepdad was sick and called hospice in, halee was the first to come running with the book at the end of the bed and she was just there. any time someone needed something. >> i heard that the girl was constantly buried in a book. >> she wo,ed really hard. >> where does that come from? >> i dont know. because i dont have it. she had drive and ambition. >> reporter: when she wasnt hitting the books she was waiting tables at the texas roadhouse and met and started dating isaiah hagen, a shy ...

Tharon rathgeber never thought hed outlive his own daughter. >> when they, you know, said shed been murdered, you know, i went, you know, to the dark side. we all have. i wanted to kill myself. because i wasnt there to protect her. you see? >> it was hard for him to know how to move forward. but even in death, halee was a comfort to her family. >> and the things that impacted us the most is her tattoo that hadpsa -- had psalms 46:5. and it was, god is within her. she will not fall.

Interview remotely from the next room. and they had proof he was lying. theyd checked the parks security cameras, and there was no trace of isaiah and halee. cellphone data showed where they had really gone, to the soccer field where halees body had been found. >> we saw him leave her apartment complex on surveillance video. the cellphones are traveling -- hers and his cellphones are traveling together. >> okay. so theyre -- theyre definitely together at this point if you go by their cell phones...

Pain comes rushing back. >> that someone would shoot my child. like why? >> this was a small town who done it? >> we were afraid. >> what had happened that night? was the answer somewhere in her circle of friends? >> we are trying to find out why. >> i would never hurt halee. >> he is there. hes got a gun. how could it have not been him? >> then, a secret spills out in court. >> thats a bombshell. >> definitely was. >> i feel like i got my heart ripped out. >> for that mother to get on that stan...

Way because she wanted to go there to meet somebody. >> reporter: that didnt sound right to jake. >> i feel like he wasnt that type of person to let her be there alone at that time of night. he was way too overprotective. >> something wasnt adding up for you. >> not at all. >> reporter: and there was something else that bothered him. jake told police that the isaiah he knew had always been a stand-up guy. but recently hed heard stories about isaiah stealing from people. >> his roommate was telli...

>> reporter: heather found her two youngest, they were ok. but halee wasnt answering her phone. and friends told heather she didnt show up to take her exam at the university. >> its not like her to miss class. not like her to have her phone turned off. >> not like halee rathgeber to go missing. coming up -- what had happened to halee? are you getting a sick feeling? >> i was sick all morning. it was so much anxiety. >> i just started screaming her name like, my stomach had dropped. and i was lik...

>> we came here a lot when she was little. >> heather collins doesnt want to think any more about isaiah hagan. she comes to this park to think about halee, the good times they had here as a young family, and the woman halee could have been. >> i dont think that we have -- any of us have come to terms with what happened yet. and that she is really gone. you think that she is just going to come walking back in the door to pick up her laundry. >> emilee finds herself picking up the phone to call h...