Page 7 - First Halee News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

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. heather drove to the soccer field to reflect. she honored halee by kaerpg the are wearing the same tattoo...

Heather collins became less hopeful. there was no direct evidence tying isaiah hagan to her daughter's 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 that's why you go to the end. >> there was one person in particular he wanted the jury to hear from, donna hagan, isaiah's mom. the prosecutor had no idea what she'd say on the stand, but he had reason to believe isaia...

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 didn't 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 halee's mom heather was starting her morning. >> i was reading facebook, having coffee on a monday morning. just sitting on my porch, and i scroll across a news article. >> it was shocking. police had found a body in a soccer field ...

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 don't know. because i don't have it. she had drive and ambition. >> reporter: when she wasn't hitting the books she was waiting tables at the texas roadhouse and met and started dating isaiah hagen, a shy fellow waiter. >> seemed nice to me and let halee do her own thing which i liked. >> how did you ...

Tharon rathgeber never thought he'd outlive his own daughter. >> when they, you know, said she'd been murdered, you know, i went, you know, to the dark side. we all have. i wanted to kill myself. because i wasn't 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.