asleep, it was a really bad dream. and this wasn't really happening. i couldn't imagine anything like that ever happening. >> definitely a shock. >> reporter: the first stage was denial. that shelley nance, their innocent wisp of a sister, had been murdered, was almost beyond comprehending. but maybe worse, quite possibly they weren't 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 24-hour 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.