>> it was hard to believe murder like this could hav been impeached full hartford wisconsin. let alone to a warm and loving teenager like jessie blodgett. within hours of her death, wor had spread jessie's close friends, jackie and amelia, race to th blodgett house >> we drove up to her driveway and her parents were sitting outside. and they said jessie is no longer with us anymore >> was that when it became rea for you? >> it was just we -- i don't know, it was just like really shocking i guess. so, it's probably the wors pain anyone could ever feel. >> jessie's theater director jerry becker, was also stunned having just celebrated wit jessie and the cast of "fiddle at the roof" the night before. >> the best way to describe it is simply surreal. >> finding jessie's killer
to how jessie was killed >> prosecutors say that daniel used as an instructional video >> he pulls out a binding in places it around her neck, h then strangles her >> there were searches o serial killers there were surges on bondage >> did dan then, who was big into theater, a straight a student, was he also a seria killer in training >> i think that is the potential. >> these items >> prosecutors showed the jury all of the physical evidence the dna, the tapes, the wipes, the likely murder weapons that tied daniel to jessie's. through it all, daniel sat quietly at the defense table looking at no one, showing little emotion >> even when the evidence that the public had never heard before dna that the state argue showed that he not only killed jessie, but also raped her >> daniels dna was found under jessie's fingernails and insid of her that would've been must of the toughest pieces of evidence to come back from the jury. >> difficult
>> who is this guy who does he think he is that h could go around doing this t women? >> ask anyone who knew jessi blodgett growing up in hartfor wisconsin. they tell you she was happy, clash in, it full of life. her dad said she had alway been that way. >> does she have a happy sho -- childhood? >> yes, i show you 600 photo of my computer you could be able to count o one hand the ones that you could find where she's not beaming and smiling. she's a really happy kid >> jessie, an only child, wa the light of her parents live. their miracle baby buck enjoy blodgett though they couldn't have children. so they cherished her little girl that much more. >> we bonded from day one with a little purple head came out. and every day since. we talked about drugs. we talked about sex. there is nothing off limits. >> and her mom says jessie's friends were like part of th family >> they always seem to hang ou at our house >> yeah. we did she would, like fight her to throw a party. >> ian, jacqui and amelia were
in the trees - above the bedroom when she was sleeping there just wondered if they notice that there's this teenage girl sleeping home alone when joy and i are at work while they'r in the yard. >> buck also to the detectives that a problem that jessie was having at her part-tim restaurant job trouble with a coworker. >> she had come home a coupl of times and said that he wa inappropriate with her >> what was he doing that wa inappropriate? >> he would often make sur that she had to rub against hi as she passed him. >> that must make you nuts as parents when you hear storie like - >> when i heard that i was almost out that door to go ove and talk to him. >> the restaurant was just dow the road it seemed possible that this coworker jessie found creepy knew where she lived, had been watching the house >> certainly we're to take any possibility, we don't want t close any evidence for the investigation, at that point >> then, joy told the detectiv something that really caught their attention. jessie had come home from that fiddler on the roof cast party
town, another attack on a youn woman close to jessie's age in a park less than ten miles fro her house. >> did you think that there wa any possible connection to the park attack? >> there were too similar. they were too violent. they were against young women. they must be connected one way or another >> what had happened in th park and could it lead t detectives to jessie's killer? >> coming up - >> a harrowing first perso account of that vicious attack >> you grabbed the knife wit the bare hands >> it was either i tried t save myself or let this guy do whatever he wants to me. >> with someone stalking the young women around the small town when dateline continues. >> after the vibrant 19 year old with a passion for music was strangled in her own bed
he was saddened by all of this >> how did that conversation leave you feeling? >> i was exceptionally confident by the end of that phone call that he was not involved in this in any way. >> and, when the detective got his hand on randy's phon records, he began thinking the same thing did his phone records tell you anything of significance >> no, he had been talking t her on the phone that we could see in this time period that w were looking at. and he hadn't been near th house. >> we hadn't eliminated him bu we are looking at othe options. >> so, working day and night they went over the other leads from jessie's parents. they interviewed the tre trimmers who might have been peering into jessie's window >> there was nothing o significance found as far as the possible involvement >> and, they tracked down th restaurant coworker jessie had been upset with. >> he was actually out of th country, my understanding wa at the time that they have been >> so, case closed on that one >> he's not gonna be involve in this one.
and the same friend that jessi had been writing music wit that summer. >> detective called hartford police right away. had a suspect in custody jessie's parents refused t believe the news >> they were saying no not thi good >> he's a little screwed, up just got back from, colleg does nobody's, doing but doesn't think it's dan doesn't think it's dan >> after all, daniel was mor than jessie's friend he was he ugh covid-19? first love in high school. >> had everything going for him, a top notch, student straight student. had gotten the lead role i most musicals. was very talented. >> i was like, i like this an oral treatment for people 12 and up...
jessie blodgett grief-stricken parents could not stop thinkin about the way that she died. that is such a dark place to go, to think about her las moments. >> it does not get any darke than that, i laid on her bed early on and held my breath as long as i could, longer than i ever could in my life. trying to block out. which is nothing like she went through. >> police thought that jesse had been targeted but now some of her friends thought her murder was the same person who attacked a woman and a nearb park >> when i heard, that i thought, who's? that if he's still out there he could be plotting, he could be hunting >> i was like who is this guy. this is melissa richards, victim of that attack. it happened three days befor jessie was killed. her courageous story o survival is amazing. >> you arrive at the park an what is the first thing yo see. >> a blue mini van
clothes from coles >> melissa could even tell police to make and model of hi van. >> she knew that it was a blue dodge caravan. likely around 2000 to 2002 >> despite that grea description, investigators could not identify melissa's attacker and he was still at large when jessie was murdered and while some of jessie's friends had been speculating about a length, investigator disagreed. >> you are not liking the tw crimes are trying to force the to fit together? >> not at all. one is in a park with a knife, the other one is in a privat home with strangulation. >> so the two investigations remain separate and hartford police continued to look for new leads in jessie's case one by one, they called on her heartbroken friends to ask the what they knew >> did you consider any of her friends as possible suspects