00:00:12
Say goodbye to Emily. >> Bye. >> What' your baby say? >> What happened is something that I don't
00:00:20
really remember. [music] >> Give your baby a kiss. There were definitely times where I wish
00:00:27
that I could just remember anything that would help. Anything at all. >> What's your name?
00:00:34
>> My name is Emily Weidner. And when I was two, my mother Amy was murdered. I wonder what Amy would be like now. Would
00:00:44
she have gone to college? What would she have done with with her life? I imagine
00:00:49
that Amy and I would probably be friends. Not just mom and daughter, but friends. My daughter Amy was intelligent
00:00:59
and she smiled all the time. She was kind to people. She made people feel good because she would make them
00:01:07
important. I got upstairs and found Amy. No parent should ever find their child.
00:01:19
She was terrified. That's how she died. Terrified. On the day that Amy died, Emily was
00:01:28
there with her. She was in bed with her. >> Maybe have a kiss. >> And she called Amy and she told me she
00:01:36
tried to pick my up, but she was just too heavy. She tried to pick her up. You have 24 years of always wondering
00:01:48
why this happened? Why did they not find anyone? Is he still out there? >> Family's littleer.
00:01:54
>> I thought they're going to see we're a good family and they'll figure this out.
00:01:58
And then you go through periods of you think it's it's never going to be resolved.
00:02:04
>> This is the original case file for the Amy Witner murder. I'm William Carter.
00:02:08
I'm the detective sergeant with the Metropolitan Police Department. I'm just a civil type police officer.
00:02:15
I wasn't a homicide detective or anybody that ever investigated a homicide. The detective that was assigned to Amy's
00:02:21
case didn't know how to print from Facebook. And he approached me originally and asked me, "How do you
00:02:27
print from Facebook?" That's how I got involved in the case. I spoke to Gloria Widner. She had lost all hope. And it
00:02:34
just kind of made it a personal thing for me. Did you have faith that he could solve
00:02:40
this? >> Well, we really didn't know. No one else had. We expected to hear a name that we
00:02:46
did not know, not someone that we knew. I just remember feeling mostly [music] sad
00:03:28
and mostly sad for my family because I was so young. >> There is not one day of my life that I
00:03:40
do not think about my daughter. >> For more than 24 years, Gloria Widner has been mourning her daughter Amy, who
00:03:47
at age 16 was brutally murdered in their Indianapolis home. >> She loved school. She loved education. I
00:03:55
always thought that um someday she would probably have been a teacher. She kind of was our leader as far as doing our
00:04:05
chores and making dinner. >> Cassie, the youngest of the four Widner children, was just 12 when Amy was
00:04:12
killed. Despite the decades that have gone by, the Widner siblings, Tanya, one year younger than Amy, and JP, one year
00:04:20
older, have vivid recollections of their sister. >> What's some of your favorite memories of
00:04:26
her? >> My ninth birthday cake. She baked that. >> Mhm. >> We would play make believe. Karen and BB
00:04:34
were our names. And she always made me be BB just playing and being a kid. >> How about you, JP?
00:04:42
>> Just how much she looked up to me. >> The thing is, I had good kids. >> Gloria, a divorced mother, was raising
00:04:50
four children by herself, which came with challenges, especially when she learned Amy was 5 and a half months
00:04:56
pregnant. I was overwhelmed. I just couldn't even believe it. I thought that was the worst thing in the world that
00:05:02
could happen. [sighs] But, you know, I found out worst things can happen. >> How did she hide her pregnancy from you
00:05:09
for 5 and 1/2 months? >> Well, she did. They wore the the the sweatshirts. >> You had no suspicions?
00:05:15
>> No, no one did. >> That was until Amy could keep her secret no longer. and she just started crying
00:05:24
and she said, "Mommy, I don't want you to hate me." And I said, "I would never hate any of my children." I really
00:05:31
didn't know what to do. >> It helped that Amy's teachers like Jodie George were supportive.
00:05:37
>> And I just remember asking her, "Amy, are you pregnant?" And then she said, "That's why I'm coming in every day
00:05:42
early. I want to be sure that I'm as caught up as I can possibly be when I have to miss school."
00:05:50
>> Of course, I just said, "Well, you let me know. I'll do whatever I can to help
00:05:52
you. >> Gloria made it clear to her daughter that school would remain a priority and
00:05:57
told Amy she didn't want her involved with the baby's father, 17-year-old Tony Abberrombie, a friend of JP's that Amy
00:06:05
had been quietly seen. >> I was angry. I'm not going to tell you anything different. I felt uh betrayed
00:06:12
by a young man that was, I would say, my son's best friend. In October of 1987, Amy gave birth to a beautiful daughter,
00:06:22
Emily. >> I believe she missed six days of school. Not many grown women can do that.
00:06:27
>> She was just a very strong student. I think the most important thing about her
00:06:31
was her work ethic. She had everyone to help her and she was more than capable. >> Like, this is sleepy girl. Time to go to
00:06:39
bed. >> We called her ours. That means my family. >> Motherhood seemed to agree with Amy.
00:06:45
Jodie George noticed a newfound confidence in her student. >> She used to talk to me about my daughter
00:06:52
Molly, asking me questions. I'd ask her about Emily and she would say, "Now, you
00:06:56
know what you should do? You need to get Molly a coat this year." Or something like that. She was just giving me little
00:07:02
bits and pieces of of advice. >> Still, Amy enjoyed teenage life, spending time with high school friends
00:07:08
Angie Moore and Amy Summers. >> Angie had a Halloween party. It was hilarious. Amy was the jelly green giant
00:07:16
and Emily was sprout. But then later on, Gloria came by and picked up Emily, but
00:07:21
she would, you know, allow her to have some time cuz she did still want her to be a teenager.
00:07:28
>> Happy birthday. >> In the Widner home, there were celebrations as well, especially on
00:07:33
Emily's birthdays. >> Blow candles. Yeah. >> But on November 13th, 1989, 1 month
00:07:41
after celebrating Emily's second birthday, the Widner home was changed [music] forever.
00:07:46
>> She told me her throat was hurting. And I said, "Well, okay." And she I said,
00:07:52
"Do you want me to take Emily to the babysitter?" And she said, "No, leave her home with me today." And I cannot
00:07:57
remember exactly what time I started calling, but I'm going to say probably around 9:30. And she didn't answer the
00:08:03
phone. And so when I called back and she still didn't answer, I called my neighbor. I said, "Would you please go
00:08:08
check on the door?" So she knocked on the door, came back and called me and said, "Nobody's answering."
00:08:14
>> Gloria immediately left work to return home and to a scene in Amy's [music] bedroom that will always haunt her. Her
00:08:21
daughter was beaten, strangled, and dead. >> She was laying on the bed. You really
00:08:28
don't know what to do. You just kind of you panic. You don't know what to do. And I don't remember now if I called 911
00:08:35
first or I got Emily out of the house. Emily was there with her. >> You knew right away that she had been
00:08:40
murdered. >> I didn't know what had happened. I felt like somebody had done something to her.
00:08:44
So the word murder is just really [sighs] a hard word. The other thing I had a problem with for a very long time when I
00:08:52
talked about her, I'd say, "Well, before Amy died, after Amy died." But the truth
00:08:58
was, she didn't just die. Another human being did this. [music] I'm sure that there were moments when I
00:09:23
was angry, but I think I felt more confused like why did that have to happen? On November 13th, 1989,
00:09:33
family and friends of Amy Widner were learning the unthinkable. That the 16-year-old's life suddenly ended.
00:09:40
Despite the years that have gone by, emotions remain raw. >> First thing you think of with teenagers
00:09:47
is suicide. And after school, a reporter was there. And I remember stopping and saying, "Well, she didn't get an A
00:09:56
from me this time. She got a B." thinking, "Was it because of a French grave?" And she said, "No,
00:10:08
it's a homicide." >> She had lacerations to her upper head, unclothed. It was a scene that you don't forget.
00:10:17
>> Captain Jack Gilker, now with the Marian County Sheriff's Office, was at the time
00:10:21
of Amy's murder, one of the first to arrive at the Widner home from the Indianapolis Police Department. There
00:10:28
was blood prints and you could tell that it was a violent scene. >> Police believed Amy's murder was a
00:10:33
result of a robbery gone wrong. Stereo equipment and cash were missing. The theory was that the asalent entered
00:10:41
through an open back door. Amy surprised him and a struggle ensued during which she was raped, beaten, [music] and
00:10:48
strangled. When you see that this young mother [music] is murdered and the baby was
00:10:55
there was wandering the same floor, it's something you really don't see too much
00:11:00
in your career. Thank God. >> Emily no longer has a memory of those events, not even of how she learned Amy
00:11:06
was murdered. >> I don't even remember when a serious conversation was had about it. I feel
00:11:14
like from that point on, they would say, "Here's, you know, Amy is gone." >> Emily talked about the crime. Uh there
00:11:25
was a a police officer uh that actually interviewed uh victims and he used finger puppets to talk to her about the
00:11:33
crime. She would show me how she ran back and forth from her bedroom and Amy's bedroom to my bedroom. Back then,
00:11:42
Gloria said Emily shared a few details about what happened to Amy. >> May have a kiss
00:11:47
>> or maybe as Emily called her. >> She also told me that my was mean and meaning that she fought.
00:11:57
>> At first, the family hoped the crime would be quickly solved. Whoever killed Amy had left behind a key clue.
00:12:04
>> They had a handprint. They took parts of my wall. They took all the bedding. They
00:12:09
took clothes. >> Police also conducted interviews with people like Amy's classmate Angie.
00:12:15
>> They obviously wanted to know who she'd been around, who she's been dating, what
00:12:21
she's been doing, where she been. >> Even Amy's brother JP was questioned. >> How old were you?
00:12:28
>> Uh 17 at the time. >> What kind of questions did they ask you? >> Really, I don't remember all the
00:12:34
questions they ask, but they were accusing me of doing it, and that was pretty tough. I talked with him. You've
00:12:40
got to consider everybody in a situation like that. >> As police investigated, the news of
00:12:46
Amy's murder spread. The room was full of students who who [snorts] needed help coping.
00:12:57
But nobody teaches you how [snorts] how to help kids cope with tragedy. >> At school, Jodie George wrote a letter
00:13:12
to help Amy's classmates. We have all suffered deeply because of Amy's death. How can we accept it? Why does sorrow
00:13:21
have to be a part of our lives? >> It was unfortunately my first funeral. I remember being so overwhelmed with
00:13:29
sadness that I almost couldn't feel. >> Attending the funeral were not just those close to Amy, but also detectives.
00:13:38
We went to the cemetery and to the funeral home the night before just to watch people with the leads that we'd
00:13:44
had, the names that we'd been given. You got to go there [clears throat] and you
00:13:47
got to study what's there. >> One of the names they were given was Tony Abberrombie, the friend who got Amy
00:13:53
pregnant, seen here in a news report a day after Amy's murder. >> Great girl. There wasn't really too many
00:14:00
out there like her. I mean, she was very, very smart, pretty. I actually called him at work.
00:14:07
>> Joy Haney was friends with Tony Abberrombie and Amy living across the street from the Wideners at the time of
00:14:13
the murder. >> I said, "Hey, you need to come home. There's something's wrong." >> I had to leave work because I was just
00:14:19
tore up. I mean, hit me pretty hard. >> Abbercrombie had an alibi. So eyes turned to another friend, Troy Jackson,
00:14:28
who lived in a house behind the Wideners and who police say knew about the stereo
00:14:33
equipment stolen on the day of the murder. DNA testing was in early stages, so police photographed Jackson's hands,
00:14:41
which did not show bruises from a struggle. Jackson also submitted hair samples, which did not match any found
00:14:47
in Amy's room, and he passed a polygraph test. So, detectives continued their investigation into other suspects.
00:14:56
>> We're not close by any stretch of the imagination. >> Weeks went by, then months, and still no
00:15:02
arrest as family and friends wondered, was there a killer in their midst? >> We didn't know who it was. You're lry of
00:15:11
everyone. It's just constantly in the back of your head wondering who It's a sad thought knowing the family
00:15:25
you [music] could have been growing up with versus the family that just fell apart and they didn't really know how to
00:15:33
put the pieces back together. >> She's your child >> to become that family that they were
00:15:38
before Amy died. >> Exactly what I had. >> Wait a minute. >> We became a family that really didn't
00:15:43
talk for a long time. It was you didn't know what to say. My children didn't even come home for school uh for a while
00:15:50
until they knew I was home. It was difficult. >> This house holds a lot of memories, some
00:15:57
of them painful. >> Yes. >> Why did you decide to stay? >> I had no money. I had four other
00:16:04
children. Where am I going to move to? >> The man in the house. >> Gloria did her best to keep life normal
00:16:11
for her family. She legally adopted Emily, the little girl who had been a granddaughter and a niece, became
00:16:18
daughter and sister. >> I was raised knowing Cassie and Tanya as my sisters and John Paul is my brother
00:16:27
>> and mom Gloria as mom. >> I understand that Amy is my biological mother, >> but Gloria has raised me.
00:16:35
>> You got that? I hope. >> So, she's absolutely my mom. Family and friends kept Amy's memory
00:16:42
alive with stories for Emily, as did teachers like Jodie George, who had both Amy and Emily in her French classes.
00:16:51
>> I said, "I just remember so many things about your mother and about how your mother felt about you." And when it was
00:16:58
time for her to graduate, we talked a little bit and I just said to her, "I know your mother would be so proud of
00:17:03
you right now." While Emily only recalls life following Amy's death, she says when watching home
00:17:09
movies, she can see a before and after. [applause and cheering] >> Birthdays one and two, family is great.
00:17:17
They're all happy. >> Family's little >> and after that it sort of changes. >> Close up.
00:17:22
>> You can feel the difference in their personalities. >> It was tough going for everyone.
00:17:30
Police believed Amy had been murdered by an acquaintance. And with no arrest, [music]
00:17:35
fear and suspicion spread. >> When I come home and I know one of my children were supposed to be home
00:17:43
and they're not answering me and I have to walk up those same stairs to find out
00:17:49
if they're in their room, it's terror because you don't know what you're going to see.
00:17:54
>> I was absolutely terrified. I asked my dad to put nails in my windows. And then
00:18:03
when you go few weeks, months, years, and you're thinking, I could be standing at the grocery store next to this person
00:18:12
and I'd have no idea. >> It was unbelievable cuz you think there's a print on the wall and we can't
00:18:17
figure out who it is. >> But police could not find a match for that promising lead, the handrint. And
00:18:24
the investigation grew cold. Years would go by without contact from the police. >> Sometimes you get to the point or I got
00:18:34
to the point that um maybe I I didn't want him to solve it. I wanted them just to go away and leave us
00:18:41
alone. >> But you certainly you wanted justice for your daughter. >> Yes. And it's not that I didn't want it
00:18:46
solved. Truth is I wanted it all to go away because every time they come back with
00:18:52
something else, it brings you start all over again. Like in 2002 when police thought they had a promising
00:19:01
lead. >> This call came in about a person wanting to talk about an old murder. >> 12 years after Amy's murder, Roger
00:19:09
Spurgeon was heading the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department's new cold case unit. He was telling me that
00:19:16
he had had some dreams about uh this murder that happened um ultimately back in 1989 and that he from this dream uh
00:19:25
believed he knew who the suspect was. >> Lieutenant Spurgeon was not familiar with Amy Widner's murder. It was in a
00:19:31
pile of 800 cold cases, but the caller seemed to know all about it. >> A lot of information did match up. Um,
00:19:40
but there was really not a lot of what he had spoken of that could not have been gleaned from news reports at the
00:19:46
time. >> It was determined the caller was not a legitimate source, but it raised
00:19:52
Spurgeon's interest. >> Did this look like a case that could be solved? >> Well, I believe that all cases
00:19:59
potentially could be solved. >> What were the challenges with this particular case, though? It was really
00:20:04
difficult to kind of figure out who the suspects might most likely be. You know,
00:20:09
is this somebody that simply was committing a burglary and it was a burglary that went bad? Uh, is this
00:20:15
somebody that had some sort of a relationship with Amy? >> Still, Spurgeon had persons of interest.
00:20:22
He spoke again to several people previously investigated. >> And then a few years pass after I've
00:20:27
done everything I can do. I move on to another um job. The case remained with the cold case unit with no new leads.
00:20:38
Then in 2011, in response to a newspaper article about unsolved cases, friends created a remembering Amy Widner
00:20:46
Facebook page. The cold case detectives were not familiar with Facebook, [music]
00:20:50
but knew someone who was call information on a carjacking. >> Detective Sergeant William Carter, a
00:20:57
nuisance abatement officer. that >> this is like a typical Saturday night detail.
00:21:02
>> We'll we'll hit three or four of them. We'll we'll start. >> We'll be looking at the nightclubs.
00:21:07
They'll be looking for uh liquor law violations. The fire marshall is going to be looking for over capacity.
00:21:13
>> Concerned with quality of life issues like underage drinking and overcrowding.
00:21:18
Carter uses Facebook to try to find events being promoted, not solve murders. >> I really knew nothing about the case. My
00:21:25
job was to print this Facebook memorial page out. I looked at it and then eventually I read the case file, the the
00:21:33
case notes. It's something that I dove into and I just couldn't put it down. >> Well, no one asked you to read the file,
00:21:40
did they? >> No. >> So, what prompted you to just pick up the file and take it home and and read
00:21:45
65 pages? Why were you intrigued? I think it was the the photo we always saw of Amy.
00:21:51
>> In the file was u the original palm print that was recovered from the scene. >> On his own time, Carter continued
00:21:59
working the case, looking at everything that had been collected over two decades. Evidence at the crime scene,
00:22:05
school attendance records from the day Amy was killed, even the list of people attending the funeral.
00:22:10
>> Older files, of course, um were all typewritten. Carter entered it all into a database and soon realized the other
00:22:19
investigators had overlooked some obvious leads. >> There was tons of friends of her
00:22:24
brothers that they had never even talked to and never got DNA from. Once I saw a
00:22:30
lot of those things, I guess it became u a mission of mine to say, "Hey, we're going to fix this."
00:22:34
>> What did you have to work with to solve this crime? >> I had the original palm print. Um it was
00:22:40
a full palm print that was left on the wall in Amy's blood. and I had some partial DNA, not enough
00:22:47
DNA to put into the national database. >> Carter started contacting the Widner's
00:22:54
family and friends, asking for names of people who might remember anything and began collecting DNA from individuals
00:23:01
police had ruled out. >> Did you canvas this neighborhood when you started investigating?
00:23:06
>> Luckily, in 1989 when they canvased the neighborhood, they wrote down and took
00:23:10
notes of everybody that lived in the neighborhood. I took those notes and went to those homes to see if those
00:23:14
people still live there. And for the most part, most of them did not. >> So Carter tracked down old neighbors
00:23:20
like Joy Haney, Amy's friend who had lived across the street. >> He just mainly was asking me to kind of
00:23:27
recall the day and if there was anybody that, you know, um, stuck out in my mind or just give him
00:23:36
names of, you know, people that hung out with us. Most of the people Joy mentioned were ones Carter was already
00:23:42
familiar with and had been cleared of wrongdoing. But one name was new. A name that Carter hoped could solve a
00:23:49
22-year-old mystery. >> We probably all turned pale. It was disbelief. It would come in waves.
00:24:15
There would be times where I was very hopeful and I thought, "Yes, certainly. Certainly this could be solved."
00:24:24
>> For more than two decades, Emily Widner [music] had been waiting for justice.
00:24:29
And then there were times where so many years had gone by that I didn't know. I didn't know anymore.
00:24:36
>> But in 2012, with the cold case unit's approval, Detective Sergeant [music] Bill Carter was on the case and asking
00:24:44
lots of questions. >> I reached out to one of the former neighbors and uh she gave me the name of
00:24:49
of Rodney Dink, [music] not as a suspect, just talk to Rodney and see if he actually knew anything. But Rodney
00:24:55
Dink was a new name that I I hadn't heard. But the Wideners were very familiar with him.
00:25:01
>> I hadn't seen him in a long time, but uh I would have considered him to be a good
00:25:05
friend. >> What kinds of things did you do with Rod? >> Just normal things that kids do. Running
00:25:10
around, being teenagers, riding bikes, fishing. >> When Detective Carter asked me about
00:25:17
Rodney, I said no. I said Rodney was quiet, kept to himself. There wasn't a suspicion of Rodney.
00:25:26
Still, Carter went to Dank's Indianapolis home. Long divorced from a woman with whom he had a son, Denk lived
00:25:33
with his mother, but was at work at an auto shop when Carter came by. So, he left his card with Dank's mother.
00:25:40
>> He did call the office. I left me a message. I immediately called him back and asked him if he would meet me. I
00:25:46
need to talk to him about this case. And um I told him Amy Widner and that was it.
00:25:52
Denk agreed to meet at his house. But when Carter arrived, he was nowhere to be found. Now, Carter was suspicious and
00:26:00
ran Dank's name to see if he had prior arrests. He found a 1991 battery and a 1997 larseny.
00:26:08
With his interest raised, Carter took the prints from Denk's last arrest to the forensic [music] unit to compare to
00:26:14
the palm print from Amy's bedroom wall. >> My goal was kind of, hey, I'll submit
00:26:18
the print. If it doesn't match, we'll just move on. just wanted to clear him as a suspect.
00:26:23
>> Later that day, Carter checked back with forensics to see if he could cross Dank
00:26:28
off his list. Instead, he received stunning news. Rodney Denk's print was a match.
00:26:36
22 years of waiting were over. Finally, there was a real suspect for the murder of Amy Widner.
00:26:44
>> I was kind of shocked. I really, you know, didn't expect it really to be that
00:26:49
easy. While it had been a year since Carter had been asked to look at Amy's Facebook page, it was only in the past
00:26:55
two weeks that he began questioning potential suspects. And now he felt he had his man. But Dank had disappeared.
00:27:04
>> We contacted our fugitive task force unit to try to track him down. He had used his credit card to rent a car that
00:27:12
is equipped with OnStar. With the help of the OnStar tracking device in the rental car, detectives
00:27:18
went in search of Dank. Meanwhile, Carter let the Wideners know they had identified a suspect, but did not give a
00:27:25
name. >> He felt a wave of relief. >> No, almost fear. >> Why fear? >> Cuz who is it?
00:27:36
>> A few hours later, they would have their answer. Dank's rental car was found in
00:27:41
Indianapolis where he was visiting a friend. As Dank was about to get into his car, police approached him and he
00:27:48
pulled out a knife. >> He made a statement, something to the effect of, "I didn't do it." And he had
00:27:54
a knife that he cut his wrist with, but they were able to bring him into custody
00:27:59
without any further injury to himself or any other officers. >> Anything you say he used his evidence
00:28:05
against you in court? You understand that? >> Well, Dank was taken to a hospital to
00:28:11
treat his wounds. The Wideners wondered why their former friend would betray them.
00:28:16
>> To comprehend that this person that you knew did this, it's um it's just impossible to wrap
00:28:25
your mind around it. >> I think the four of us just stood there looking at each other in
00:28:30
shock. >> I found out through Cassie and then my next thought was, "Oh my gosh, he was at
00:28:37
the funeral with us. How can you commit this murder this brutal to someone you know and two days later sit with us at
00:28:48
the funeral and mourn with us? >> Dank had even signed the visitor's book at Amy's funeral. And that wasn't the
00:28:57
only place Carter found Dank's name. >> Dank was overlooked and his name was given to a detective as somebody to talk
00:29:03
to. And >> did they talk to him? >> They didn't talk to him at all. Had you heard of the name Rodney Denk before
00:29:09
Sergeant Carter came to you? >> No, never heard that name. >> However, Denk's name appeared in this
00:29:16
2003 statement from Tony Abberrombie, Emily's birthfather, as someone who spent time at the Widner home. A
00:29:23
statement taken by Spurgeon when he led the cocase unit. If the name Rodney Dank
00:29:28
ever came up in the course of my investigation or relooking through the files, uh that was one of literally
00:29:36
dozens upon dozens of names that I may simply have not had the opportunity to look at uh during my years of the
00:29:44
investigation. I simply don't recall seeing that name. What I don't understand is how did you recognize the
00:29:51
mistakes that were made in this investigation that seasoned detectives overlook?
00:29:58
>> I respected those people because I assumed, hey, you know, I've never done this job. I'm just a more of a civil
00:30:04
type police officer. But um I don't know why no one ever looked at Rodney Dink. I
00:30:08
really don't. For some reason, Detective Carter found it in his heart and who he is to have
00:30:16
this determination to find who Amy's killer was. When you walked into homicide, were you met with wild
00:30:24
applause? >> Um, I don't know. I really don't know. Um, I always felt like I was u stepping
00:30:31
out of where I belonged. >> Still, Carter found himself an unlikely hero at the center of a press
00:30:38
conference. It's been a long time coming for the family. I will say that. And I'm
00:30:42
just happy that we do have someone in custody and we can offer some closure to the family. It
00:30:48
>> was emotional for me to think that, you know, all these years after all these
00:30:51
years, you know, it was somebody that was there. It wasn't the boogeyman. It was somebody that was a friend of their
00:30:57
families. You feel like you can tell us and finally put this to bed of what you carried for 22 years.
00:31:07
>> With Dank now under arrest and in the hospital, investigators got some long overdue answers about his motive. It was
00:31:14
as suspected, a robbery gone terribly wrong. >> I didn't know she was in there. I was in
00:31:21
John's room taking the radio and she came around the corner. >> Over the course of 48 hours, police
00:31:32
questioned Dank on videotape who admitted to raping and hitting Amy with an object, but kept changing his story
00:31:39
about whether he acted alone. had one dude that was >> like staking at the house,
00:31:47
but his name was like Bucky or Buck or some crap. Maybe it wasn't Buck. Maybe it was the other guy.
00:31:58
I don't remember. I don't remember a whole lot about that day. Can I just say it was me? I did everything. And
00:32:09
>> one thing Dank seemed certain about was that he never saw Emily. >> Where was Emily?
00:32:15
>> I don't know. >> Did you ever see the baby at all? >> Did you ever hear the baby crying?
00:32:22
>> I don't remember seeing or hearing the baby much. >> In the time that you spoke to him, what
00:32:27
were your impressions of Rodney Dank? >> Was never upset, never screamed, never hollered. Uh was pleasant with us. Um
00:32:34
not what I would think that would be a killer. Rody, did you have anything to do with Amy's death?
00:32:39
>> Dank provided a DNA sample which, as expected, matched semen taken in 1989 from Amy's sheet and blanket. Do
00:32:47
>> you have anything you wish to say? >> However, [music] there was something unexpected that police discovered during
00:32:52
their investigation about Rodney Deng's son, Dylan. always tried to be a good person, but I
00:33:12
guess I know deep down inside I'm I'm not a good person. >> With Rodney [music] Denk in custody for
00:33:17
the murder of Amy Widner, detectives were learning more about their suspect, including something shocking about
00:33:24
Dank's son, Dylan. >> It was very odd to me that father and son about the same age committed two
00:33:29
terrible acts, horrible acts. This is probably best described as just a bizarre coincidence.
00:33:35
>> In 2009, Dylan Dank was charged with murdering his mother, Mary Mckenry, beating her to death with a baseball
00:33:42
bat. The circumstances stand out to Kentucky Commonwealth Attorney Bruce Keel. >> I think it's the brutality of the crime,
00:33:51
the fact that he is so young. He was 16 years old at the time, almost 17. In fact, during that week, he turned 17.
00:34:00
one year younger than his father, Rodney, was at the time of Amy's murder. >> This one involved just a brutal act by
00:34:09
son against his mother. >> A mother who, according to court testimony, had a history of abusing
00:34:15
Dylan. Rodney Den had little contact with his son or ex-wife for years, but he did attend some of Dylan's hearings,
00:34:22
prompting a social worker to recommend Dylan be released to his father, who no one knew was living with his own secret.
00:34:30
However, the judge ruled against releasing Dylan. >> Sir, uh, you want to, uh, apologize.
00:34:38
>> In a plea deal, Dylan Dank was sentenced to 20 years. Meanwhile, his father was
00:34:44
looking at spending the rest of his life in prison for the murder of Amy Widner.
00:34:48
>> You were prepared to stare down, evil. You were preparing to go to trial. >> I'm worried to death about it. I didn't
00:34:55
want my girls and my son to have to hear or see any of the things that I saw when
00:35:04
I found her. >> Gloria Widner was set to go to trial, as was Marian County Prosecutor Denise
00:35:13
Robinson. Attempts at a plea deal had been stalled until Den told the prosecutor no one else was involved in
00:35:20
Amy's murder. Before you offered him this plea agreement, he had to make certain admissions to you.
00:35:27
>> Yes. He told us that he acted alone, which was something that we had felt confident in after we had intercepted
00:35:33
some jail calls that he had made to his mother. We want to be able to tell the family that there wasn't another suspect
00:35:38
out there that we should be looking for. >> In June of 2012, just 10 days before the
00:35:43
trial was scheduled to start, [music] Denk plead guilty to the murder and rape of Amy Widner. He would be sentenced to
00:35:50
65 years. Despite Denk finally admitting to acting alone, family members and police are not completely convinced.
00:35:59
>> Was he really the only one? Was there other people that knew he did it? >> That's something we're not going to know
00:36:05
unless Rodney tells us those things. >> I just can't definitively say that with the arrest of Rodney Dink, the case is
00:36:13
absolutely closed and he's the only one that will ever be held accountable for it.
00:36:18
Without a trial, the Wideners would not hear testimony about what may have occurred. But at hearings and
00:36:24
sentencing, they faced the man who changed all their lives. >> I had prepared myself to feel this anger
00:36:33
and overwhelming rage. And when they brought him in, all I saw was Rodney. For the Wideners, having Dank behind
00:36:46
bars has brought some resolution, but the impact of Amy's murder still haunts them.
00:36:51
>> They still know that Amy is not coming back. So, relief, yes, but there's definitely still sadness there. I miss
00:36:59
her. And the thing is, the older I get, the more I miss her, cuz they're all grown
00:37:08
and they have their families and they have their their lives and she's not here.
00:37:19
>> What triggers the pain? Just Emily's birthdays, Emily's accomplishments, her her graduations.
00:37:28
I always feel like it should be Amy here enjoying these. >> Gloria tries as best she can to focus on
00:37:37
the present. Amy's old bedroom, the site of the murder and a place she once feared, is now used for happier times.
00:37:45
>> It's for my grandchildren now. When they come to stay, they have a room. The only
00:37:50
thing that's in here that was here when Amy was here was is the hat that's on the door. It's not Amy's room anymore.
00:37:59
Amy's in me. She'll always be with me. >> You're still in our hearts. Those touched by Amy have found through the
00:38:08
years different ways to cope with their sorrow. >> Does it feel like it's over to you?
00:38:13
>> No, not really. Me neither. >> For Angie Moore and Amy [music] Summers, visits to their friend's grave help. As
00:38:22
does reading that letter from long ago that teacher Jodie George gave students, which Amy still keeps nearby.
00:38:30
>> My advice to you, be kind to others always, even if it hurts. I wish you peace and comfort now and always.
00:38:40
>> You go through life and you wonder, I'm really introverted. I wonder why. Or I get really angry at certain things.
00:38:50
Maybe it's because of what happened, but I I don't know. >> Emily felt a change of scenery might
00:38:58
provide some answers. A year after graduating college, she left Indianapolis for California.
00:39:04
>> I couldn't be who I thought I was supposed to be in Indiana. And I'm I don't know that I'm necessarily the
00:39:12
person I'm supposed to be yet, but I'm getting closer in California. >> Emily visits when she can. 48 hours
00:39:21
brought her to Indianapolis to be part of a celebration decades in the making. >> We're calling this a Midwest open house.
00:39:29
[laughter] And I >> it was an opportunity to share memories of Amy. >> Oh, Amy would have loved this. She's
00:39:35
here. Believe me, she's here. >> As well as to honor the man who did what others [music]
00:39:40
could not. >> On behalf of everyone here, I say thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
00:39:49
>> It's nice for me to hear so many people who adore this girl. And she was a girl. She was 16.
00:40:01
She had like [music] impact. Like she was there and she had a purpose. >> We're going to release 24 balloons.
00:40:09
>> I like that cuz it makes me think that was my mom. >> One for every year that we've been
00:40:14
without Amy. >> That was Yeah. [music] I'd like to be like that. >> Give it love.
00:40:21
>> Give it love. Okay. Heat. Heat. [music] [music] >> [music] [music]