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5 months now. yet, there was still a question mark next to his name. so, time again, for gonterman to get creative. >> coming up -- an undercover mission to mcdonalds? >> they followed him, and watched him eat. >> a hunt for treasure in the trash. >> i said, "i can't believe this. " >> when "dateline" continues. knocks out symptoms from over 200 allergens. without knocking you out. feel the clarity and make today the most wonderful time of the year. live claritin clear. after advil. feeling better? on top of the worlddddd!!! before advil.

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brown hair. so, we say blonde to brown. it's fairly equally likely blonde to brown. so, it's sort of on the lighter brown side, and most likely doesn't have a lot of freckles. >> there was one detail in john doe's profile that turned out to be crucial information. the color of his eyes. remember brittani's description of john doe. brittani marcell, brown eyes. well, it turns out she was wrong. john doe's eyes weren't brown. >> we found that this person has green to hazel eyes. >> which is unique. >> it's fairly unusual, yes. >> green eyes. the same color as justin hansen's and the sketch itself. here it is. >> when we saw that composite, i was like, oh my god. >> it was that close. >> it was. >> oh yeah. >> to justin. >> we think it's -- yeah. yeah. >> yeah, but i still didn't wanna get my hopes because i didn't wanna get disappointed again. >> still not convinced this man was the guy she'd spent years hunting, gonterman, along with a fellow detective wearing a body cam, paid justin a visit. >> hi, how are you? are you

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justin? >> i am justin. >> okay, cool. i'm jodi. we're detectives with the apd. >> okay. >> right from the start justin was calm and cooperative. >> i'm investigating a case, an older case and i'm just going back and to talk with the friends or the people who knew brittani marcell. >> okay. >> it's from'08. >> okay. >> hansen invited the detectives into his home, where gonterman started off with the basics. >> do you remember hanging out with her at her sunglass place ever? >> not hanging out with her. i walked by, maybe and kind a just, "hey, how ya doin'? what's new? how's your family? how's your sisters? " that kind of stuff. >> on a like, on a regular basis or do you just remember, like -- >> no, no, no. just when i -- when i think when i was working at the mall. i'd just happen to walk by and say "hi. " it wasn't like a hanging out, regular basis type thing. >> because she--'cause brittani actually remembers you coming in and visiting her and hanging out and talking with her, like twice a week. >> no, no. >> after a few minutes of this,

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used to visit her. when she was bored, you would come in about twice a week and hang out. she remembers you used to wear tight abercrombie shirts and pants a little bit saggy you know with your underwear hanging down. >> hansen said he'd come by gonterman's office after speaking with his mom, but he never showed up. so, gonterman gave him a call to see what was going on. [phone ringing] >> hello? >> hi, justin. >> hello. >> hi, it's detective jodi gonterman with the apd. how are you? >> i'm doing okay. how about yourself? >> good. >> the call started off well enough, but the tone quickly changed. hansen said he felt targeted and outright refused to give a dna sample. >> i felt like the way you guys were coming at me was like no matter what i said. i was the person you were looking for and no one wants to be that. >> hansen ended the call demanding an apology. >> i'd appreciate a call to hear an apology >> i'll apologize after i get your direct dna. >> detective gonterman had been investigating justin hansen for

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>> the scientific way of working the case through dna and fingerprints was a bust. and so was gonterman's old knocking on doors approach. >> did you ever say to jodi, you know what, i think we need to stop folks on this case so much? >> oh no. oh, good heavens no. we just hadn't found this person or this person was deceased and we just needed to figure out who they were and get their dna and solve it that way. but no, yeah, we just have to keep plugging away at it. >> there was no doubt brittani was improving dramatically, but she still had no recollection of the attack. no one knew if her memory of that day was gone forever or would eventually emerge from the haze. detective gonterman thought if they're ever going to solve this case, they had to do something radical. possibly even dramatic. to get brittney to relive the attack that nearly killed her

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>> she had a good relationship with the forensic team. she reviewed all the dna. when she got her hands on the tire case, she would call my mom almost every day. >> you finally had hope? >> i did. i did. >> i did. she goes out. and she goes after, like, the evidence she's got. she goes after every tip. >> i told her, every time she called me. i'm looking at your case. i'm not filing away. i will never put it away. >> did you have an instant connection with brittany? >> absolutely. >> gonterman immersed herself in brittani's world prior to the attack. >> who she was friends with, what those relationships were -- who, who was in her phone, who the photos were, who she hung around with, what did she like to do? she was a very social girl. she was a very good girl. >> now five years after the attack, gonterman worked the case like it happened yesterday, searching for new leads, new

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>> for sergeant liz thomson and detective jodi gonterman, calling brittani's case cold was an admission of defeat. but 8 years after the attack, the investigation had clearly stalled. so this new name from brittani -- justin hansen -- didn't look to be any kind of case-changer. >> she gave me so many names -- names of people, but nothing was really significant to her and all along justin's name never came up. >> did she have any reason why his name, of all people, was popping into her head? >> she didn't know. it just popped into her head one day. >> hansen didn't match the description brittani gave while under hypnosis. >> he's hurting me. >> that person was tall, muscular, and had brown eyes. hansen on the other hand is average height, thin and has

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what they normally do, type thing, " and just come and see you guys? >> absolutely. >> is that okay? >> yeah. >> what did you make of his demeanor that first time when you went to go see him? >> well, you know, he was friendly. he was acting like he was concerned, but it was almost an act. >> but then he wouldn't give his dna. >> we thought it was odd for a man of that age to say they wanted to talk to their mom. his wife is right there. he's, what, in his thirties and suddenly he's wantin'to talk to his mom. and so we're like, "is his mom a lawyer? " and you know, just the whole thing seemed suddenly very odd and a big red flag, yeah. >> and he seemed like a bad actor -- >> yeah. >> -- when i spoke with him. it seemed like he was putting on an act. it wasn't genuine to me. >> before she left hansen's house, gonterman decided to rattle his cage by telling him, brittani's memory was finally starting to return. >> your statement doesn't match what she remembers. she remembers very well that you

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match. dr. leon morris had a possible explanation. >> a lot of eyewitness identification is wrong! at the end of her hypnosis, i knew what she told me, but i didn't know whether it was accurate or not. >> no one knew if what brittani said while under hypnosis was accurate or not. the composite sketch based on her description failed to produce any usable leads. once again, the job of pushing the case forward fell to detective jodi gonterman. >> she's probably the best detective i could ever ask for. >> did you find yourself getting emotionally invested in the case with so many years going by and -- >> yeah. i did. yeah. >> i went in her office crying once before because i was so disappointed. it's rough, i mean, you try not to get emotionally involved, but you do. >> as the investigation languished, brittani continued on with her life.

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to look at the item of evidence, swab the sample, extract the dna, see how much you have, and when it's on the instrument, you get a dna profile. >> at the end of all that did you think it was him? >> i thought it was a possibility got my hopes up. then i was very disappointed when it wasn't. >> the dna didn't match. a big let down. one of many to come. then another tip. gonterman took it seriously because of who it was from. >> a parent saying i think it's my son who did this. my son would visit the house right across from brittani's home and he looks like the sketch and this was considering this would be very difficult for a parent, i thought, wow, okay. >> but when she got the man's dna sample -- >> he was excluded. >> another let down? >> yes. >> so she and thomson tried a different strategy, focusing on

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