The phone. Shes like hed weirding me out. Her boyfriend. He had daggers, knives. And he could have been her lover . He could have. Soon a dark picture begins to develop. A portrait of the artist as a young killer. Theres evil in there. Once there was a quiet little girl in a quiet little town who liked to draw. She drew the butterflies who floated, quiet like her, around texas spelled like the country but they pronounce it italy. She drew a butterfly in our art class in Elementary School and all the little girls are like draw me one, draw me one. The name was Samantha Michelle and her mother simply loves to tell this story about her. Everybody was just so impressed with her butterfly. She said i think i can do this, you know. She started honing her artistic talent. She would draw anything and everything. She loved to draw and shed draw and draw and draw. Shelly was different from the other girls at school and at home, says her dad, sam. The other two girls we couldnt keep in the house. But she didnt want to go out of the house. She was perfectly happy to be at home on the weekends, spending alone time by herself. Which, as you can imagine, didnt make her intensely popular in the world of growing up but it didnt seem to matter much to shelly. They had them write an epilogue for all the seniors and she wrote you laugh at me because im different. I laugh at you because youre all the same. She was totally opposite. Reporter these are her sisters. I was the wild child. She got in trouble. Reporter shelly, however, did not raise hell, not ever. Very artistic, smart, nonathletic. Did not like athletic. At the was more me and her department. Just very shy. She is the one at the would sit in her room, read a book, play video games. Never had taworry about her. She wasnt into tattoos, piercing and alcohol, and sex for sure. She avoided anything at the could have got her in to trouble. I was so happy about at the. Then her teacher suggested she enter an art class sponsored by the Art Institute of dallas. Shes like im not at the good and her art teacher said, no, i think you are, shelly. And she won. At the same piece of art in the National Contest won fourth place. So she got a total of 14,000 towards the Art Institute. Thats quite remarkable. So this is a major talent . Shes so excited about getting to go. Its an urban school. Everything about it and around it as different kaz be from little italy 45 miles and a whole world away. But here is a world in which shelly felt like she belonged. Being around people had her same objectives and mindset. And a lot of the boys, which never paid much attention to her in high school, noticed her in college because she knew her stuff. So they were quite impressed she was so knowledgeable in her field already. Caught lot of their eyes. Maybe they were each others kind of people. Yeah. Reporter this is the first time shellyever been away from home. This is what she wanted to do. She wasnt homesick and i said okay. Her first year was just fine. And so in september 2009, when shelly was into year two of a circle of friends and even a boyfriend, her parents felt free to set off on their First Adventure alone, just the two of them, to Yellow Stone National park. More than 1400 miles up the interstate from italy. I texted her on the phone were leaving texas now and rachel and shana responded almost immediately. No word from shelly. We thought, well, shes probably still sleep because she didnt have class today. So at the wasnt really unusual at the time. We hadnt heard from her and at the wasnt like her at all. Whats at the like . Torture. She had a premonition something was wrong. But what would happen to shelly . She only goes out when she has to. So the next morning when she still hadnt called, thats when we both got worried. The next morning cynthia called the nart stut. Actually they, well, they wouldnt go check on her. They said they cant leave the office alone and go check. Theyll check when she has a break. Then they phoned shellys sister, shonna. I was like stop worrying about it. Shes 20 years old. I didnt think anything bad would ever happen to her so i brushed it off. By now they were almost 1,000 miles from dallas. Thats when the School Called back. When they finally sent somebody to the classroom and she wasnt there, i was ready to turn around right there because i knew something was wrong. Then relief. Someone from the school ran into shellys roommate. She said i just saw her last night at the room. She was fine. But relief didnt last. Shellys parents were about to discover their youngest daughter was far from fine. Dateline returns after the break. Dateline returns after the break. So the whole world looks different. The unbeatable strength and speed of advil liquigels. What pain . Of a lifetime. Its progressive on ice. Everything you love about Car Insurance the discounts. The rate comparisons. And flo in a boat. Insurance adventure awaits at progressive on ice. Tickets not available now or ever. At progressive on ice. Upbeat music no coverup spray here. Cheaper aerosols can cover up odors in a flowery fog. But febreze air effects eliminates odors. With a 100 natural propellent. It leaves behind a pleasant scent youll love. [ deep inhale] freshen up. Dont cover up. Febreze. Ashley over had assured School Officials everything was fine but shellys parents couldn couldnt shake the feeling she wasnt fine. The School Called shellys parents yet agren. Were on the highway about 200 miles from our destination in the mountains and phone reception was rel really bad. So was she laering 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 happened 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. Coming up, could the smallest clue lead to the biggest break, when dateline continues. T break, when dateli continues. Its finally time for. Geico sequels classic geico heroes, starring in six new commercials, with jawdropping savings. Vote for your favorites at geico. Com sequels ahhh, which way do i go . i dont know, im voting for our sequels. With geico, the savings keep on going to a screen near you. Not the leg you dang woodchucks geico sequels. 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Especially to her. What was done to shelly, just 20 years old, was viciously ugly, at the it was murder was all too obvious. The girlbeen attacked as she lay. The killer stabbed her again and again and again. Over 40 times in the back. She was stabbed in her back, behind her head. I mean this was brutal and savage. Overkill, said detective paul. He has deep roots starting as kid. Spend 36 years with the dallas pd. Two with law enforcement. Thats over now. He retired from the force but he cannot get over the sight at the greeted him in shellys bedroom. This was horrific. Tragic. Something at the sticks with you . Yes, very much so. Murder, as detective elsey knew, takes something from investigators to rr. Makes them hard. But when he learned of her quiet, modest life, her innocence, the murder hit him personally. She was not in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was not associating with someone she shouldnt have associated with. The stars lined up just right at the an animal could take her life. Ive got two daughters and yeah, its hard. Shelly died here in the fall, a large housing complex they arranged for some of the students to live. Looked quite safe. When we stopped by to take 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. Janine Ghostbusters . Of course id love to take an informal poll. I used to be a little cranky. Dealing with our finances really haunted me. Thankfully, i got quickbooks, and a live bookkeepers helping customize it for our business. live bookkeeper youre all set up janine great hey you got the burnt marshmallow out delivery man he slimed me. janine tissue . vo get set up right with a live bookkeeper with intuit quickbooks. The easy way to a happier business. Hello. The death of top military official, suleimani near baghdads airport is prompting threats from teheran of forceful revenge against the united states. President trump saying the action was not to start a war but to stop one. Today six more were killed in another u. S. Air strike north of baghdad. The u. S. Is deploying approximately 3,000 troops to the middle east as american civilians with civilians are being told to evacuate iraq. Now back to kweet dateline. Now back to kweet dateline. I kept thinking i was asleep, it was a really bad dream. And this wasnt really happening. I couldnt 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 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 us