Youre just so shattered and hurting so bad. Imagine being hunted in your own home, held a virtual prisoner, your children in danger from a man with a blueprinta for murder. I was terrified. She will face down evil and come forward with a new revelation that will make your jaw drop. What i did was wrong. There are no words. I have everything to lose. Hello and welcome to dateline. It was a brutal crime, and right away one woman said she knew what happened. It would take years to bring the alleged killer to trial. But the verdict was far from the end of this case. Its a story of obsession and control that will keep you guessing till the very end. Heres Andrea Canning with the killing in cobb county. A new attraction can be so exhilarating. But not always. Sometimes attraction turns into a dangerous obsession. Lottie spencer says she knows all about that. Hed show up at my job. He would showow up at the store. And no matter where i went he would be there. Nt lottie says she had a stalker, a teenager who got into her house, into her car, and worst of all into her head. I wouldnt go out to the mailbox without a gun. Il i was terrified. He had total control over you, it sounds like. Pretty much. Lottie could feel it in her bones. Something bad was coming. And she felt powerless to do anything about it. I knew he was watching. And then i just thought here it comes again. Life used to be much simpler for lottie. In the fall of 1995 she moved to cobb county, georgia, just north of atlanta. She lived in this house with her daughter christina. This is an upperscale neighborhood. Me and christina were always outside. My life was really good. I was really happy. Their downstairs neighbors were carmen smith and her son nick. 5yearold nick had sparkling blue eyes and a milliondollar smile. Just like his mom. Kristen horan is carmens sister. She is a gorgeous strawberry blond, feisty. Very outgoing. Young woman who loved her son more than anything in the whole world. Theyre just like two peas in a pod. It was a monday afternoon the week before halloween. Nick and christina got off the school bus and walked home together. Cobb county prosecutor jesse evans. First thing they did is go down stairs to see if they could find nicks mom. Is there. She should be r there. Reporter while christina stayede by the door nick went inside. Someone was there. But not his mom. Nick turned the corner and he saw something move across the bedroom down the long hallway. It was a dark figure wearing gloves and a mask. The stranger suddenly stabbed nick and left him for dead. As hes laying there on the floor, he actually sees his perpetrator run from the house. Christina began really freaking out. Be she was terrified. Christina ran upstairs to her apartment to get help. Her babysitter catherine was there with her boyfriend scott. E they hurried downstairs. Ri christina started walking toward thehr sliding glass door. And i grabbed her shoulders and i stopped herab and i said don touch danything. The glass door was smeared with d blood. The scene inside was unspeakable. Sp somebody said oh, my gosh, theres nick. And you could see him through the window on the floor in a pool of blood. Said get out of here, go dow, the street. She said what are you going to do . I said ive gotsa to get that b out of there. Im not leaving without that boy. Scott grabbed an ax from the garage for protection, then dropped it when heth realized h desperately nick needed help. He wasnt breathing at the time. I smacked him a few times and nothing happened. And so i started screaming at himed and started smacking him harder and telling him he wasnt going to die today. And all of the sudden he kind of bolted up. At that point i said,p. Youre alive. Scott picked up the little boy and bolted from the house. He squeezed nick tightly against his chest, trying to staunch the bleeding. He was running andch he was yelling down the street call 911, call 911. Hes [ muted ] up. Call 911. Lottie was at work when she got a frantic call from her daughter. Ll she was hysterical. She was saying that nick was hurt. And i drove home as fast as i st could. I was screaming for christina and nick, but they werent there. Lottie didnt see carmen either. But when Police Officers arrived at the scene, they made a terrible discovery. The vivacious Flight Attendant and devoted single mother was dead. Shed been strangled. Carmen smith was just 30 years old. Youre just so shattered. And hurting so bad. And youred so thankful that yr daughters alive. Then you feel so bad what happened to nick and carmen. Carmens sister kristen and brotherinlaw jim barely had time to process the news about carmen before learning that nick was fighting for his life. They rushed to be at his side. We went straight to the hospital. You mustnt have been thinkin how could someone stab a 5yearold, your nephew, approximately 18 times. Thats a monster. Exactly. Yeah. I wont ever forget walking in that hospital room. Im sorry. But yeah. And then you you have to come to grips with reality. And it was a grim reality. Li after emergency surgery nick was inni critical condition. He looked so little, so fragile in his hospital bed. You never think that you could be touched by Something Like this. When youve got the perfect family. v hed been stabbed 18 times and had lost a dangerous amount of blood. But he survived. Nick was going to make it. It was nothing less than a miracle. There was no easy way to tell him about his mom, but he had to know. And even 18 years later nick remembered it like it was yesterday. My dad and my aunt told me that my mom didnt make it and i didnt really understand it then. I still dont really understand it. It was such a senseless act. Nick and his family could only grieve and wonder why. But back at the apartment, now a crime scene, a chill ran through lottie. She told police she could explain p exactly what happened. I told them that i had somebody that had been stalking me and it was my belief that he was the one behind what happened to nicholas and carmen. Coming up who was this man in the mask who would kill the young mother and try to kill her son . He hes pure evil. Hes a monster. A chilling story of hunter and hunted. Hes always told me he can gets away with the perfect mother. His plan was in the making. When dateline continues. Tis heres to the duers. To all the people who realize they can du more with less asthma thanks to dupixent, the addon treatment for specific types of moderatetosevere asthma. Dupixent isnt for sudden breathing problems. It can improve lung function for better breathing in as little as 2 weeks and help prevent severe asthma attacks. Its not a steroid but can help reduce or eliminate oral steroids. 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Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Man 3 vo ask your rheumatologist about humira. Woman 4 vo go to humira. Com to see proof in action. It is a haunting memory, impossible to forget. It definitely changed my life of course completely. So i remember it pretty well. Nick smith was only 5 years old when a masked man stabbed him 18 times and killed his mother, carmen. While recovering in the hospital, nick was told his mother was gone. Do you remember your mom . Not as well as i wish i did. Most of my memories are just stories ive been told from other people. Carmens sister kristen and her husband, jim, helped raise nick. Bedtime stories were often about his beautiful mother. She was very athletic. She was in swimming and basketball, softball, track. And she was in the homecoming court. Prom queen. She dated, you know, the football player. She was a cheerleader. I remember her liveliness. She was very vivacious, very beautiful, and very fun. She had nick fairly early in life and did a great job of working and providing for nick at the same time. Do you just feel robbed you that never got to experience all those things a mother and son get to experience together . Definitely. A lot of people in my family say i act just like her. I just know she was a happy person. A happy life that ended in an appalling act of violence. The Police Officers who discovered carmens body got an immediate emphatic lead from her upstairs neighbor, Lottie Spencer. Did you know immediately who had done this . Mmhmm. Who had committed this. I knew. Lottie was certain it was the work of a teenager named waseem daker. Waseem and lottie had a history. She said it would explain the hideous attack. She told detectives her story. Things had started so innocently. Dont they always. Push it up. Come on i met him at the paintball field, playing paintball. So we just met by being teammates on the same team. Lottie was the captain of her team. Kind of a den mother to the other, much younger players. Especially waseem, a georgia tech student 12 years her junior. He didnt have anybody else that he could open up and talk to or share his thoughts and feelings with. So you felt kind of like a big sister to him. Thats exactly how i felt. Daker was a bit of a loner. He latched on to lottie, started calling her at work, at home, and wouldnt stop. I told him that you know, i have a life and youre just taking too much of my time. And then he would cry and then i knew that there was a problem. What was a nuisance at first lottie says quickly escalated. Her phone started ringing off the hook. Up to 100 times a day. Why didnt you just stop talking to this person . I should have. I felt really sorry for him. I really didnt want him to get into trouble. It sounds so crazy. But maybe that also says about you that youre a good person. Or a very foolish person. Foolish, lottie says, because dakers stalking became bolder, increasingly bizarre. He just started flipping out, yelling on the top of his lungs that hes going to get me and slit my daughters throat in front of me. I would come home from work and there would be a pair of my underwear on my doorknob or a few days later a bra. What message is he sending with that . Look at me, im getting into your place and getting away with it. Theres nothing you can do to stop me. Another time i came home early and went into my bedroom and there was waseem daker, naked, wearing garter hose and a garter belt, looking at himself in my mirror. This is any womans worst nightmare. Mmhmm. Lottie says things reached a Tipping Point when once again daker threatened her and her daughter, this time while brandishing a knife. Hes always told me that he can get away with the perfect murder. His plan was in the making. Finally lottie decided to let the Justice System take over. Daker was arrested in august 1995 but released on bond. A judge ordered him to stay away. He didnt and was arrested again in september. This time he was sent to a Psychiatric Hospital for evaluation. Prosecutor jesse evans. Hes got some severe issues with obsession. I dont think that he has the ability to feel compassion for other people. Hes clearly a brilliant individual. Hes also a brilliantly scary individual. While daker was hospitalized, lottie packed up and moved to the house in cobb county, about 20 minutes north of atlanta, where carmen and nick lived downstairs. So you moved. Yes. To try and escape him. Mmhmm. In october on friday the 13th waseem daker was released from the hospital. Less than two weeks later carmen smith was dead. And Lottie Spencer was overwhelmed with guilt and anger. Waseem daker is evil. Hes pure evil. Hes a monster. And thats what lottie told police. She said her stalker must have been the one behind the attack on carmen and nick. But why . Daker was obsessed with lottie. Hed never met or even spoken to carmen. Or had he . Lottie thought she knew the answer. A phone call she says daker made to carmens phone a few days before the murder. It was friday the 20th, and like daker style the calls started coming in and the phone got put off the hook. And then i could hear her phone ringing. Carmen answered, then hung up abruptly. What was said . Nobody knows. But carmen told her sister and brotherinlaw that the call was from lotties stalker. She said im going to go get a hammer and put it next to the bed. And i remember laughing thinking if that guy decides to get in the house hes in trouble. But you really never think that it would go to where it went. We had talked about her packing some stuff and coming to stay with us for a while. Lottie says seeing carmens reaction to dakers call was heartbreaking and she did what she could to help her neighbor feel safe. The only entryway from within her dwelling was on the sliding glass door, and so we just barricaded the door with some wood. She was so scared. She was shaking and just she was so scared. Just three days later that glass door was open and smeared with blood and waseem daker was the lead suspect in a horrible crime. Coming up evidence at the scene of the crime. Theres a broken knife blade and hair and fiber evidence that was recovered off carmen smiths body. Will it be enough to catch the killer . He was getting away with murder. Hes getting away with exactly what he told me he would. When dateline continues. N e karate moms. In desperate need of brown sugar. Meaning, you. Youre the one we made mywalgreens for. With pickup in as little as 30 minutes. Hiya get 30minute pickup at walgreens. Com every minute. Understanding how to talk to your doctor about Treatment Options is key. Today, we are redefining how we do things. We find new ways of speaking, so youre never out of touch. Its seeing someones face that comforts us, no matter where. When those around us know us, they can show us just how much they care. The first steps of checking in, the smallest moments can end up being everything. Theres resources that can inform us, and that spark can make a difference. When we use it to improve things, then that change can last within us. When we understand whats possible, we wont settle for less. The best thing we can be is striving to be at our best. Managing Heart Failure starts now with understanding. Call today or go online to understandheartfailure. Com for a free Heart Failure handbook. Call today or go online to understandheartfailure. Com xfiniwith the new hbo max app on xfinity. Watch the greatest collection of shows, movies and new max originals. Enjoy hbo favorites you know and love like game of thrones and the undoing. With exclusive max originals like the Flight Attendant. And blockbuster movies like dolittle. Just say hbo max into your voice remote to sign into your hbo account or sign up. Tv made simple, easy, awesome. Just three days before she was killed carmen smith told family and friends shed gotten a call from waseem daker, the man whod been arrested for stalking her neighbor. It was the strongest allegation yet connecting the victim to the suspect. Investigators tipped off about that call by lottie now closed in on daker. Did you execute a search warrant on his house that night . We did. John dawes was a homicide detective with the Cobb County Police department. In his room we found a piece of paper with the address where this crime occurred. We found a tornup letter that was his words to Lottie Spencer. Dakers tornup letter to lottie was hateful and threatening. Prosecutor jesse evans. He specifically talks about having plans and backup plans to exact revenge on lottie, and the worst part about the letter is he gets to the and end he says, but im going to let you live. Im going to get revenge on you but im going to let you live. To police and prosecutors this wasnt just a rant. It looked like a blueprint for murder. Now they tried to link daker to the crime scene. Some of the important evidence we start with is the hair and fiber evidence that was recovered off carmen smiths body. There was a broken knife blade. It was a fairly clean crime scene other than that. Carmen had small puncture wounds on her back and terrible bruising, suggesting a ferocious struggle. She had been not only tortured and murdered but she had been undressed at some point and redressed. At carmens bedside the hammer shed wanted for peace of mind. Never touched as she fought for her life. Not far away was the suspected murder weapon, a piece of rope. Crime scene technicians dusted for fingerprints and collected blood samples. The evidence was sent to the state crime lab for analysis. The lab tests kept coming back without the physical evidence that we needed that linked him to the dead body of carmen smith. Thats when we knew that it may always be a circumstantial case. And the circumstantial part of the case was just too weak too make an arrest. Prosecutors still believed daker was the only viable suspect in carmen smiths murder and the stabbing of her son, nick. But they didnt have the evidence to prove it. The investigation stalled. So waseem daker walked away from the murder. He walked away from the murder but not from some accountabilit