48 Hours Mystery: The War in Chicago - CBS News

A "48 Hours" investigation into drugs, guns, gangs and the battle for America's third-largest city

Produced by Josh Yager, Doug Longhini, Josh Gaynor and Kathleen O'Connell

[This story first aired on May 18, 2013. It was updated on June 28, 2014]

After Hadiya Pendleton was shot in a Chicago park, she quickly became a symbol of the deadly street violence in the city. But nearly every day, someone is gunned down in Chicago, often the result of gangs fighting over territory to sell drugs.

In the fall of 2012, "48 Hours" correspondent Maureen Maher and CBS News correspondent Armen Keteyian began reaching out to some of the victims who are hurting and some of the people who are fighting back in this city at war over guns, gangs, and drugs.

"I wish you guys could've been here asking me about, you know, the dancing at the inauguration, but unfortunately this is what we're dealing with," Hadiya's father, Anthony Pendleton, told Maher.

"We know from years of working the streets ... that much of the gang-related shootings -- are drug related," Jack Riley, who heads up the Chicago division of the Drug Enforcement Administration, told Keteyian.

To get the gangs, Riley and the DEA go after their drugs -- heroin in particular.

"That's why I look the way I look, that's why I don't sleep a lot," he said. "One homicide in this city is too many. One person abusing heroin in the suburbs is too many."

Paula Nixon started using heroin when she 16. "... and the first time I did it ... I was in my family room ... and I was thinking, 'this is the best feeling in the world,'" she said.

Heroin has taken many of Paula's friends, but she can't kick it on her own.

"I'm not strong enough... if I saw heroin in front of me right now I can't tell you that I wouldn't do it," she said. "There is no amount of willpower I have on my own that I can stop."

With drug dealers at his doorstep, David Muhammad risked his life to stop them.

"Every day for about a year I videotaped them," he said. "It's worth it to lose my life if I have to try to slow this down."

For six months, we watched David Muhammad stand up to drug dealers, Paula Nixon battle her heroin addiction and the Pendletons search for justice.

The Chicago Police force and the DEA have been hunting down drug-dealing gangs and "48 Hours" is there as it all unfolds.

HADIYA PENDLETON
In 2012, the murder rate in Chicago soared to more than 500 - that's more than New York, though Chicago is only a third the size. "48 Hours" had been in Chicago for six months investigating gun violence when Hadiya Pendleton was shot to death.

Suddenly, what had been a local story began to fuel a national debate.

"One of those we lost was a girl named Hadiya Pendleton," President Barack Obama said in his State of Union Address. "Hadiya's parents Nate and Cleo are in this chamber tonight."

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Hadiya Pendleton AP PHOTO/COURTESY OF DAMON STEWART
Hadiya, 15, was gunned down on January 29, 2013, in a park only a mile from President Obama's Chicago home when members of a street gang apparently mistook her group of friends for a rival gang.

Until that moment, Hadiya's life had been largely untouched by Chicago violence, according to her parents, Anthony and Cleopatra. And "48 Hours" found Hadiya had no connection to gangs.

As early as the sixth grade, when she made a school video, she seemed to understand the risks for kids in her city:

Hi. My name is Hadiya ... this commercial is informational for you and your future children. ... so many children are joining gangs and it is your job to say no to gangs and yes to a great future.
"Amongst everything else she was doing, she was on the debate team ... she was a majorette, she did volleyball," Pendleton said. "Basketball... cheerleading," Cleo Cowley added.

Her parents say Hadiya was a normal, happy teenager who dreamed of being a veterinarian or a journalist.

"What did you see her growing into?" Maher asked.

"Whatever she wanted to, to be perfectly honest," Cowley said. "Best answer," Pendleton agreed.

"It's the truth, whatever she wanted and whatever it was she was going to be hugely successful at it," said Cowley.

 48 HOURS SEGMENT EXTRAS
Hadiya Pendleton's parents speak out
Less than a week after Hadiya's high school marching band had returned from the president's inauguration, school had just let out on an unusually warm winter day.

"When I got a phone call from her friend and she was like screaming, 'Hadiya's been shot. Hadiya's been shot...' Cowley recalled in a whisper.

She says she literally could not make sense of it -- even after meeting her husband at the hospital.

"This can't be us," she said. "This is not our life! This is not the rest of my life!"

"I mean, only thing I could really remember is 'why they bringin' these tissues in here? Why they bringin' these tissues in here?"" said Pendleton.

"After the doctor came in and told you that she hadn't made it, what do you remember happening after that?" Maher asked.

"I died," Cowley replied. "This is my best description...you ride roller coasters? ... I think the intensity of riding the ride is hearing the click, click, click ... and then the roller coaster starts to roll ... your stomach goes, like crazy, and you reach instinctively for that bar ... it's like reaching for that bar, but never having it and never falling any further to level off."

Just days after Hadiya's murder, the Pendleton family was riding an emotional roller coaster. But they agreed to let "48 Hours" into their lives as they remembered Hadiya's life as a typical teenager.

They wanted to share their memories, in the hope that her death would mean something.

"I just think that there needs to be an awareness that, you know, there are good people out here that have promising futures that are not living to see them through because -- because something's wrong," said Cowley.

"We've got people dying ... and I'm not rolling over, I have not thrown the towel in," said Jack Riley, who thinks he knows why so many of Chicago's children are dying.

Riley is a long-time veteran of the DEA and heads the agency's Chicago office, which controls five surrounding states.

"I wanted to retire a few years ago ... my wife's naggin' me every day... get outta the job," he said. "I can't do it!"

While Hadiya became a celebrity in death, shootings happen just about every day in Chicago.

Riley says many Chicago shootings are carried out by the area's roughly 70,000 gang members who are going to war over one thing in particular: drugs

"In your mind, there is an absolute direct connection between the murder rate in Chicago and the drug wars in the streets," Armen Keteyian noted to Riley.

 48 HOURS SEGMENT EXTRAS
Street gangs are "selling death and misery in the form of heroin"
"As sure as I'm sitting here telling you," he replied.

He said these days, the gangs are fighting mostly over distribution of one drug alone: heroin.

"It is right now the drug of choice for street gangs," said Riley.

A man who is risking his life to talk to "48 Hours" says the heroin is brought to Chicago by one main source: Mexico's infamous Sinaloa Cartel.

"And the worst part is they are armed," the man said. "It's practically a time bomb, and this is the reality we're living."

"How powerful is the Cartel influence in Chicago right now?" Keteyian asked.

"Very strong the influence of the Sinaloa Cartel here in Chicago and it's getting stronger," the man said.

He should know. He was once trusted by the cartel to smuggle drugs to Chicago. "I tell them if they have 50 kilos, I'll buy that...if they have 100 kilos in a week, I can sell that too," he said.

Jack Riley says the Sinaloa Cartel was run by one of the world's most dangerous men: Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman, who escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001. The Feds say Guzman targeted Chicago specifically.

Why Chicago? "It's the same reason there's many fortune 500 companies here," Riley told Keteyian. "It is a business logistic home run."

"We're over some of the biggest interstates in the country here in addition to the trucking and obviously the rail and that's what makes this area so important to traffickers," Riley explained while flying over the city with Keteyian.

"Jack, you've got a personal history with Chapo Guzman?" Keteyian asked.

"Yeah, I hate the guy," Riley replied. "He made it clear to some of his subordinates that he would like to see my head lopped off. ... I still got my head ... get in line Chapo! C'mon let's go!"

Guzman was considered such a menace to these streets that the city's crime commission named him "Public Enemy Number One" -- a title they last bestowed on notorious gangster Al Capone.

"Chapo to Chicago right now is what Al Capone was in my opinion," Riley explained.

"Does that make you the modern day Eliot Ness?" Keteyian quipped.

"I've been called worse!" said Riley.

Until Guzman and the Sinoloa cartel are is brought to justice, Riley and a multi-agency "strike force" are vowing to take down the violent Chicago street gangs that do the cartel's bidding.

"They're demanding a safer place to live, a safer place to raise their kids...and that's what it's all about today," he said.

"This is good versus evil and you're riding with good today," Riley commented to Keteyian as they headed to a pre-dawn raid.

THE HEROIN HIGHWAY
It may look like a scene from Iraq or Afghanistan, but, just 20 miles from Chicago, Jack Riley of the DEA is training an army to fight a drug war.

It's a new strike force to target middlemen between the violent street gangs and the Mexican cartels. They're making raids all over the area - from one on a quiet suburban street in Plainfield, Ill., to one in Gary, Indiana -- only about 15 miles from Chicago.

More and more these days, heroin is making its way out of the inner city, where it is cut and packaged for sale at secret locations. The workers in a so-called chop house on Chicago's west side are naked to keep them from stealing the drug before it reaches its suburban clientele.

To get their drugs, many suburban users drive down a stretch of Interstate 290 onto the city's west side. The street gangs in control of the neighborhoods there grant them safe passage. So many addicts are using the road that it's earned a nickname: the heroin highway.

"Well from what we're seeing is that heroin users take that road and head right into the west side of the city to purchase heroin. This is a crucial artery to the whole regional problem," he told Keteyian as they flew above the heroin highway.

"After I would get my heroin ... I would drive home high," said 18-year-old Paula Nixon.

Paula was a good student, an athlete and an avid photographer living in the leafy suburb of Glenview. While Hadiya Pendleton lost her life to Chicago's violence, Paula has been living through a different kind of war.

"You live to get high!" she told Maureen Maher.

Photos: Lives lost - The faces of suburban fatal heroin overdoses
Understanding heroin and its hold
Her ordeal began in 2011, when she was sitting in the family room with her boyfriend and he encouraged her to try a little bag of white powder. Paula was only 16.

"I remember saying, 'I love this feeling!'" she said.

Like much of the heroin coming from Mexico these days, it was cheaper than a six pack and easier to use -- so pure it could be snorted.

"I snorted the first time," Paula told Maher. Asked if she was hooked right away, Paula said, "Yeah ... The first high is the greatest. It really is. ... All your problems are gone..."

It was so good, Paula says, that she couldn't stop. She began driving the heroin highway nearly every day -- even after the boy who got her started died of an overdose.

"People ask me, 'How do you continue to use after you lose someone like that?'" she said. "... and it's indescribable how strong it is."

In suburban Will County, a middle class area southwest of Chicago, Coroner Pat O'Neil says heroin use has become an epidemic.

 48 HOURS SEGMENT EXTRAS
Will County Coroner: "Heroin is everywhere"
"I've signed four death certificates this week and all four have been heroin overdoses," he said.

In 2012, fatal overdoses were up 76 percent over the year before.

"We have more heroin overdoses than car crash fatalities and homicides combined," said O'Neal.

 48 HOURS SEGMENT EXTRAS
Heroin diaries: Jaymes Lindbloom's journey from addiction to recovery
In nearby Naperville, Jaymes Lindbloom knows the heroin scene well. He admits he was a dealer while at Neuqua Valley High School and drove the heroin highway to pick up his product.

"Kids from suburbs ... ride down to the west side [of] Chicago all the time," he explained. "People think it's such a far-fetched idea, you know. But it's just - it's in everyone's back yard now."

"It's taking over slowly but surely. I mean...It's everywhere," said Paula.

"It's like living with someone that's crazy," said Paula's mother, PJ Newberg.

Newberg forced her daughter into rehab.

"She made a horrible scene... I mean, she started swearing and yelling and kicking," she said. "I didn't recognize her; she was a completely different person."

When she got out, Paula did well for a while, but then fell of the wagon. After four more failed rehabs, Newberg decided tough love was her only hope -- and kicked Paula out of the house. In some ways though, that decision only made matters worse.

 48 HOURS SEGMENT EXTRAS
Heroin diaries: A mother's mission in the face of addiction
"I couldn't even sleep," said Newberg.

"What would you lay in bed thinking about?" Maher asked.

"Where is she? What's gonna happen to her? Is she alive?" Newberg replied.

Paula was alive, but within a few months, she was homeless -- injecting heroin five times a day.

"You'll do anything for it. You'll betray your family, your friends," she explained. "I stole my father's wedding ring and pawned it. ... like who does that?"

In September 2012, Paula was jailed for shoplifting. Four months behind bars forced her to get clean. But once she was released into rehab, the question was, could she stay clean? Even Paula had her doubts.

"I am scared! I am scared that I'm gonna relapse," she said. "I am scared that, you know, I won't get it this time, just like I don't every other time."

What's so hard for kids like Paula is that they know the heroin they crave is just down the road.

"My corner ... was dominated by gang members and drug dealers," David Muhammad said.

It's a neighborhood where "48 Hours" found one man risking his life to stop the gangs, guns and drugs.

Said Muhammad, "... one of the drug dealers told me that he would shoot me, I knew it was time to do something."

TAKING A STAND
On an early Sunday morning, the believers at the Sun Rise Baptist Church on Chicago's west side are already wide awake.

Inside, the spirit is high. But on any given day, just outside on the corner of Kilbourn and Van Buren, a much more sinister gathering takes place.

"All nationalities, all ages ... come and buy the drugs out of this community," said 58-year-old David Muhammad. The retired diesel mechanic for the city lives across the street from the church. For him, this corner is at the center of the city's drug war.

"... the whole block, the intersection, sitting on the church steps. All of that was used for drug activity," he told Armen Keteyian.

It is the heart of Chicago's 11th District, one of the most violent in the city -- the de facto property of Chicago's largest gang, the trigger-happy Gangster Disciples.

"I heard about 10 shots just go off. ...It was like pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa," Muhammad said, imitating the sound of the gunshots. "It's a common thing. When people around there hear gunshots ... you don't duck or anything. You're just used to it."

Seventeen convicted gun offenders lived within a 10-block radius from Muhammad's doorstep, where he says gang members deal heroin and crack from morning until night.

"Sometimes I would call the police and they wouldn't even come," he said. "It was like the wild, wild west."

When he saw dealers doing business right in front of the Baptist church, Muhammad, a Muslim, took a stand.

"It's a Baptist church. But in Islam we're taught to protect all institutions of God. So it was like a slap in my face for them to deal drugs right out of the door of the Church," he told Keteyian.

Politely, he asked the local dealers to take their business elsewhere. They pulled a knife and threatened to kill him. So Muhammad retreated to his house and armed himself, vowing to fight back. His weapon? A small digital camera.

"You were videotaping the drug sales?" Keteyian asked.

"Yes," Muhammad said. "Every day for about a year I videotaped them."

Every day, he sat at his third-floor window filming through a crack in his tightly-drawn blinds, capturing one stop on the heroin highway; each car, each face, each deal, each dealer.

"How many people during the course of the day on a busy day would you see come to that corner?" Keteyian asked.

"I'd say at least 75," Muhammad replied.

Like customers at a fast food restaurant, they came in sunshine and in snow.

"Every walk of life. Every walk of life," Muhammad noted -- black, white, Latino, housewives and businessmen. "All of that," he said.

The deals went off like clockwork: drugs in, money out. Everyday people getting their fix.

"It's not exactly subtle, Dave. The guy's driving a dump truck," Keteyian commented as he and Muhammad watched one of the deals captured on video.

"OK, now watch the hand come out of the window," Muhammad said. "...money ... drugs. It don't get too much better than that."

"Your sense is these are heroin dealers on your street," Keteyian noted.

"Oh, absolutely. The people come back every day, sometimes two and three times a day," Muhammad said.

 48 HOURS SEGMENT EXTRAS
David Muhammad takes a stand against gangs
The threats to his life kept coming, but David Muhammad decided to take it a dangerous step further by posting 75 of his videos on YouTube, to let the world know what was happening on his block.

"David, I hate to be blunt about this, but one of these guys could just walk up to you and say, 'You know what, it's over,' and put a bullet in your head," Keteyian said. "You think about that?"

"No," Muhammad replied. "No, I don't think about it. I just be careful as I can be ... If it's meant for me to leave here like that, I'll leave."

For Muhammad, each video in his vast collection tells a personal story of addiction, none more vivid or powerful than the man in the pickup truck.

"...he's gettin' ready to snort," Muhammad points out.

"There he goes. Wow! Head down," Keteyian said as he watched the man taking a hit while sitting in the driver's seat.

"...he's serious," said Muhammad.

"... and he just gives that little bit of a ... wow -- that's like five hits. Snortin' heroin," said Keteyian.

David Muhammad's goal is boundless yet simple: clean up just one street -- his street.

And he did clean it up. The dealing has stopped on Kilbourn and Van Buren and his neighbors have noticed. The church steps are clear; his block is, too.

But this is real life. He says the dealers have just moved to another corner close by, away from the eye of David Muhammad's lens.

The problem remains, but for one man, a little progress outweighs the enormous risk.

"...it's worth it to lose my life if I have to," Muhammad said. "I don't think I can stop it, but I think that someone has to try and slow it down because it's moving too fast."

Hadiya Pendleton's family didn't have to call for attention. Their tragedy seemed to attract it.

"I was just a woman that lost her kid...and then I got up off the floor and the world knew her," Cleo Cowley told listeners of radio show.

It was a constant buzz of calls and cameras, vigils and rallies, including attention from the governor and the mayor.

"I have called Cleo and Nate ... either every night or almost every other night," Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel told reporters.

It was all overwhelming, but it was also a helpful distraction.

"...all of it was just taken in stride. Like, 'Look at you, Hadiya. You know, I'm proud of you,' because they were callin' because of her," said Cowley.

And it got results, Just two days after Hadiya was gunned down, Chicago Police Superintendant Garry McCarthy made an announcement:

"We are going to take approximately 200 sworn officers and reassign them from administrative assignments to field duties," he told reporters.

The law enforcement surge immediately flooded Chicago's streets and neighborhoods with the power and presence of hundreds of uniformed cops.

"Before a flame becomes a fire, to put it out," Emanuel told reporters, "and, uh, have the resources to do that."

And then, just two weeks after Hadiya Pendleton's death, 18-year-old Michael Ward and 20-year-old Kenneth Williams, ID'd by police as Gangster Disciples, were arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Police say Ward confessed and indicated that Hadiya was not the intended target.

"Do you think the attention that was placed on Hadiya's case helped to have it solved more quickly than others?" Maher asked Cowley.

"Probably, probably," she replied.

"Would the pain you're in right now be more difficult if it was six months from now and there had been no arrests?" Maher asked.

"Yes," Cowley replied.

"And no answers?"

"Yes."

And that is a pain another mother knows all too well. Her 15-year-old daughter was gunned down in Chicago in November 2012. But the response to that senseless murder has been very different.

"My daughter's murderer is still standing on the streets," said Bonita Foster.

ANOTHER SENSELESS MURDER
To hear Cleo Cowley and Bonita Foster talk, it almost sounds like the two grieving mothers shared the same 15 year-old daughter.

"She was sweet, she was loved, she was a peacemaker," said Bonita Foster.

"She very much liked helping people," said Cowley. "That was my baby girl."

"A happy person, she was always happy," said Foster.

Porshe Foster and Hadiya Pendleton never met, but both fell victim to Chicago's merciless street violence.

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Porshe Foster
Porshe was shot in November 2012, when -- as with Hadiya two months later -- a gunman opened fire on her and other teenagers who were standing around talking.

Bonita Foster was at work, driving a public transit van when she found out her daughter had been shot. By the time she got to the hospital, Porshe was already gone.

"I knew by the look on the doctor's face," she said. "[Sighs] That was an unbelievable moment."

The lives of both 15-year-olds have been frozen in time. Neither girl will go to a prom, go to college or get married and have her own children.

"You know, I just whispered to her, 'I'm sorry this had happened to you. I'm sorry," said Foster.

But that is where the similarities end. It is as if Porshe and Hadiya died in a city with two very different police departments: one for high-profile cases, the other for almost everyone else.

One department, as Chicago's Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy described, moved heaven and earth to solve the murder of the teenager who had been at the president's inauguration.

Arrests were quickly made. But most killers in Chicago never get caught. In fact, that other police department solved only 26 per cent of the homicides committed in 2012.

"What irritates me, my daughter's murderer is still standing on the streets," said Foster.

More than a year after Porshe Foster's murder, there still have been no arrests.

"I don't see why one gets more attention than the other. I am thinking that had they took the action that they're taking now, with her, with Porshe... maybe little Ms. Pendleton would still be here," said Foster.

Porshe's family says there's has been almost no information from the police, though shortly after she was killed, a detective did stop by.

"He came - shortly after. He was on his way to another shooting," Foster told Maher. "He gave me his card. And - that's the last I've heard from or seen him. ... We have tried to call. ... And we find out he's on vacation. I haven't talked to him [in two months]."

"We've made calls to the officer doing the investigation," said

Demetria Rogers, Porshe's aunt. "I did just call him last week and I haven't gotten a response - phone call yet."

Chicago police dispute those accounts. Two months after "48 Hours"' interview, a detective did pay another visit, but the family believes more should be done. So they're trying to find Porshe's killer themselves, putting up reward posters near the crime scene.

"That's gonna happen again next week if it's-- if it's not happening right now as we're speaking. It's gonna happen again next week. It's gonna happen again. It's gonna keep happening," said Foster.

"And why does it keep happening?" Maher asked.

"I actually believe this thing is bigger than the police. Can the police handle this?" Foster asked.

"Can they?" Maher asked.

"Can they?' Cause if they can, then what's the problem?" said Foster.

"She was told repeatedly by -- when she called the department, 'He's on vacation. No one else can talk to you. You'll have to wait till he gets back,'" Maher told Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy.

"OK -- that shouldn't have happened," he said. "There's a system where if the detective's not there there's supposed to be somebody else picking that up and taking care of it.

"You've gotta treat every individual, every victim like you're treating one of your own family members or you would want your family members to be treated," said McCarthy.

"Can you understand how the parents of some of these other victims felt like the Hadiya Pendleton case got more attention than their case did? Maher asked.

"I speak to -- I speak to the families all the time. So absolutely I understand it. But you know that's not something that we did. That's something that happened in the press and in the media. That's where that got blown up," said McCarthy.

McCarthy says it was good old-fashioned detective work that quickly solved the Pendleton case, not the extra 200 cops on the streets.

"Was that just a coincidence then, the timing that it came right after Hadiya was killed and there was such national attention?" Maher asked McCarthy.

"Yeah, probably was a coincidence," he said.

Whether by coincidence or as a result of the surge, McCarthy says, "We're starting to hit a point that I am hoping will be a turning point."

In the year since Hadiya Pendleton was killed, Chicago's homicide rate dropped 22 percent.

"We're getting progress, not victory," said McCarthy. He says most homicides are gang-related, one gang member shooting another.

"So how are you getting in front of it today?" Maher asked McCarthy.

"We actually ... charted out the territories that the gangs call their own, and every gang member within those gangs and every gang they're in conflict with," he replied.

Chicago police now track gang conflicts to try to predict -- and stop -- the next shooting.

"We put our resources into that neighborhood, picking up those guns that we're seizing more than anybody else in the country and preventin' those retaliatory shootings," McCarthy explained. "The mayor recognizes as do I that we're not going to fix this thing by throwing on a light switch."

But like many big cities, Chicago has serious budget problems. The extra police on the streets is costing the city millions. Can they afford to keep up the fight?

SUCCESSES & SETBACKS
There are lines of demarcation in every city. For the uniquely American city of Chicago, the death of Hadiya Pendleton may well be one of them. After her murder on Jan. 29, 2013, the number of extra police on the streets -- in high-crime neighborhoods -- doubled to 400 with officers working seven days a week

In the six months we shadowed the DEA and its newly-formed strike force, it had its fair share of success.

Jack Riley's agents seized millions of dollars of Chapo Guzman's heroin. But by the end of 2013, they had failed, as yet, to execute the type of big-time bust needed to cripple the cartel's hold on Chicago.

"Someone might say, Jack ... the war on drugs has been a failure and this is just the next chapter of that failure," Keteyian commented.

"Now you've got my Irish going," he said. "The changes we're making, the way we're attacking organizations, the way we're educating suburban police departments for the first time, by the way, is going to have an effect. It's gonna take time. And if you hold tight with us in the next couple of months, I think you're gonna see the fruits of our labor come to fruition."

On Feb. 22, 2014, the world's most notorious drug kingpin finally was captured after 13 years on the run. American agents pinpointed Joaquin Chapo Guzman's location at a seaside hotel in Mazatlan, Mexico, using cell phone signal tracers while Mexican Marines moved in for the arrest.

Guzman is being tried in Mexico on several organized crime charges. He has also been indicted in seven states, but it is unclear if he will ever be extradited to the U.S. to face trial.

But even with Guzman behind bars, the drug war is far from over. Either the Sinaloa cartel under new management or one of their rivals is expected to go right on sending billions of dollars of illegal drugs up the "heroin highway" to Chicago and around the world.

"48 Hours" was there in April 2013, when Paula Nixon completed rehab and moved into a halfway house.

 48 HOURS SEGMENT EXTRAS
Paula Nixon's heroin journey
"I'm doing good, I'm really happy to be here," she said. "I'm waiting for this place for almost six weeks..."

But less than three weeks later, she disappeared. Her mother was frantic.

"I called her eight times in the last two days and she wouldn't pick it up. She doesn't want to talk to me," PJ Newberg said in tears.

Then she discovered her daughter had been picked up for shoplifting again. Paula was back in jail, but alive.

"It's tragic ... it's tragic ... it's life or death. I know how easy it is to overdose...I don't want her to die! I really don't," Newberg cried.

For Hadiya Pendleton's family and friends, her funeral was a day filled with love and loss.

"I'm so broken ... like I'm so like distraught. Like I don't know how to explain it," Cleo Cowley said. "There's not enough for me to try to understand that, like, someone actually did this to my family ... like someone actually did this, stole my baby."

With Hadiya's 10-year-old brother, Anthony Jr., in tow, the Pendletons arrived at a church already overflowing, with people and emotion.

It wasn't just family and community. It was media, local and state dignitaries -- even the first lady came. As one Chicago mother comforted another, an emotional Cleo Pendleton continued riding a roller coaster of grief and gratitude.

"No mother, no father should ever have to experience this," she told the crowd packed inside the church. "I just want to say thank you to everyone who had something to do with grounding her and making her who she was."

The same community that helped raise Hadiya, seemed to raise her family's spirits.

"... precious Hadiya, you were excited to have been at the inauguration in the presence of the President. Today you sit at in the welcome table, in the presence of the King of Kings. ...Welcome home sweet Hadiya, see you on the other side," Father Michael Pfleger spoke from the pulpit.

Damon Stewart was Hadiya's godfather. "I loved that child... nobody knows how much I love that child," he said at the funeral.

As a Chicago police officer, he reminded everyone a city is only as strong as its citizens.

"If you say this is painful to you - then prove it," he urged the crowd." Police your own family... find someone with your blood and make a decision you're not going to turn your back on them."

Hadiya's parents say they were always there for her.

"How many times do you ask yourself, 'Why?'?" Maher asked.

"Too many to count," Cowley replied.

"Then you still ask yourself ... 'why mine?'" said Anthony Pendleton.

The answers live in the hearts and eyes of those left behind, like Hadiya's little brother.

Photos: Lives lost - Caught in the crossfire
For Porshe Foster, the hundreds of others who were lost and for 15- year-old Hadiya Pendleton who came to symbolize all of them.

"She's important because of those other people who died are important. She's important because all those lives and the voices of their families that was ignored or that was silenced she now speaks for," Stewart said of Hadiya.

This was a family's plea for peace.

Said Stewart, "She's a representative not just of the people of Chicago. She's a representative of the people across this nation who has lost their lives ..."

The two men charged with the killing of Hadiya Pendleton have pleaded not guilty. No trial date has been set.

There has still been no arrest in the killing of Porshe Foster.

The murder rate in Chicago in 2014 is down 33 percent compared to the first half of 2012.

48 Hours Mystery: Amanda Knox - The Untold Story

"48 Hours" reveals Knox's personal accounts of cruel manipulation and sexual intimidation while in prison; Plus, never-before-seen video diaries from Amanda's best friend
Produced by Doug Longhini, Clare Friedland, Paul LaRosa, Sara Ely Hulse

48 Hours Mystery: Amanda Knox - The Untold Story Video

[Editors note: On March 27, 2015, Italy's highest court overturned the murder conviction of Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend, which appears to finally bring an end to the high-profile case. It's the second time Knox and Raffaele Sollecito have had their convictions overturned in the murder of Knox's British roommate Meredith Kercher, in Perugia, Italy, in 2007.]

(CBS) SEATTLE -- The welcome home signs in Seattle say it all.

"My family is the most important thing for me right now and I just want to go be with them," Amanda Knox told supporters at a welcome home press conference in her hometown.

Amanda Knox is doing just that -- reconnecting with family, friends and adjusting to freedom.

"We've now kind of woken up and realized that the nightmare is over," Amanda's father, Curt Knox, told "48 Hours Mystery" correspondent Peter Van Sant. "Living for four years inside a concrete and steel prison and now being able to kind of look around, smell the air...it makes a huge difference."

 48 HOURS SEGMENT EXTRAS
Extra: Curt Knox on daughter's release
It's almost hard to believe that days earlier, her face was filled with fear as Amanda Knox stood up in court -- with the whole world watching -- to deliver the most important speech of her young life.

In fluent Italian, she spoke forcefully and emotionally, proclaiming her innocence in the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher.

"I am not what they say..." she told the court." "...the perversion, the violence, the disrespect for life, for people, that's not who I am. ...I did not do what they claim I did. I did not kill, rape, I did not steal. I wasn't there. I wasn't present at this crime."

 U.S.
Amanda Knox's tearful final appeal
More than 10 hours later, the tension was almost unbearable. A judge read the verdict: Not guilty. Amanda was quickly rushed from the courtroom.

It was the end of a long and difficult road for her family.

"I watched Amanda and I saw her slump, and I went 'No' and then our attorney that speaks English turned around and said, 'She's free,' and [I] couldn't tell you, couldn't' be better," said Curt Knox.

Amanda's family had sacrificed everything to be near her, and so did one very determined best friend, 24-year-old Madison Paxton.

Paxton moved to Perugia in 2010, and played a crucial, behind-the-scenes role as morale booster and confidant as Amanda prepared for her new trial.

Amanda Knox murder case
"Your spunkiness and the nature of your relationship with Amanda, you've really encouraged her to stand up and fight," 48 Hours correspondent Peter Van Sant remarked to Paxton.

"Very much so," she replied. "I can remind her ... that you can be mad, that you should be mad, and that it's fine for you to defend yourself."

Just about every Tuesday and Saturday, for the past 10 months, Madison took a 15-minute bus ride and then set out on a 20-minute walk, to see her best friend in prison. Her visits provided much-needed human contact during times of desolation and despair.

"I remember one time when I visited her, and she just had an eyelash. And so of course I brushed it off.... And the letter I got from her a few days later, she wrote ... how much it meant to her that I brushed off her eyelash, just because it's like a kind, friendly, physical gesture and that just doesn't exist for her anymore."

Paxton kept a video diary at "48 Hours"' request. The powerful entries provide an inside look at what Amanda was thinking and feeling while trapped behind bars.

Paxton video diary excerpt:
"She's beyond heartbroken. She is depressed. She's absolutely terrified...
"And Amanda, she's just like, 'Why do people feel that they have a right to like, make these presentations about my life when I've never met them and they don't know me?' And I just turned to her and I was like, 'Babe, cause you're a character to them; you're not a person, you're a character.'"

How could all this have happened? "48 Hours"' investigation reveals an incredible story of how police and a powerful prosecutor twisted the evidence to fit their theory of the crime.

It started on Nov. 2, 2007, with the murder of her 21-year-old British roommate.

TV Reporter: Police say Meredith Kercher was found partially clothed and had been left in a pool of blood with a deep cut to her throat.

Amanda had no idea how quickly she would turn from witness to suspect. Her troubles began with a kiss with Sollecito that would be played over and over again on Italian TV.

"And from right at the beginning with those series of kisses, Amanda Knox was demonized in the Italian mind?" Van Sant asked Bob Graham, an investigative journalist and CBS News consultant.

"Yes. It showed a callousness; it showed a disregard for this moment when her flat mate had been murdered," he replied.

And if Amanda could be so cold, Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini thought, that meant she could also be involved. Amanda's mother, Edda Mellas, had a very different view.

"It's not passionate kissing. It's comforting and consoling behavior ... because she was devastated," she said. "...you can tell she's in shock."

Ironically, Amanda's eagerness to stay in Perugia and help the police was backfiring on her.

"She had the opportunity, on several occasions, to leave the country," according to Graham. "Her aunt in Germany phoned and said, 'Amanda, your mum says you should get out of the country.' ...and she said, 'No I want to stay here. I wanna help solve my flat mate's murder.'"

Amanda was interrogated for a total of 50 hours, over four days, without an attorney. None of the questioning was recorded.

"And these are people who are trained to break Mafia suspects," Van Sant noted to Paxton. "Yeah, they break Mafia," she replied. "And here, they had a little 20-year-old yoga hippy from Seattle who thought that everybody was wonderful and just wanted to go have coffee together."

The brutal interrogation ended with Amanda confessing -- putting herself at the scene and implicating another person, her boss at a local bar where she worked, named Patrick Lumumba.

Author Nina Burleigh has been studying the case.

"She's signed a statement that says, 'I see myself in the house... Patrick with with me -- Patrick Lumumba. He's gone into Meredith's bedroom. And I can hear her screams,'" said Burleigh.

The statement Amanda signed implicated Lamumba with a bizarre and awkward line: "I confusedly remember that he killed her."

"I take offense with the word confession cause Amanda never says that she participated in the murder of her friend ... she never confesses to being part of that crime, ever," said Mellas.

There were many troubling details about that so-called confession. But it was all the police chief of Perugia needed to arrest Amanda, Raffaele Sollecito and Patrick Lumumba for the murder of Meredith Kercher.

"He had the nerve to say case closed, we've solved this murder," Graham said. "That's OK if you've got the evidence."

In fact, none of the forensic evidence -- including the DNA testing -- had even come back. But the prosecutor insisted his gut -- and Meredith's near-naked body -- told him how the murder had occurred: During a drug-fueled orgy. And Amanda was the ringleader.

"Amanda was presented ... as extremely attractive, having lots of sex, decided one night to act on these completely diabolical urges and bewitched two men into attacking her roommate," said Burleigh.

And the world's media ate it up.

Asked if Amanda's beauty played a role in all of this, Paxton told Van Sant, "...it definitely sells more papers if you have two beautiful, beautiful women and then headlines that there was some attempt at an orgy between them."

To prosecutor Mignini -- an orgy that led to a satanic killing.

The fate of Amanda Knox has always been inextricably linked to Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini.

"His world view is evil walks on this earth ... there are people in his community who are practicing occult rituals ... who maybe worship the devil," said Nina Burleigh, author of "The Fatal Gift of Beauty."

Learn more: The Fatal Gift of Beauty: The Trials of Amanda Knox
Amanda Knox murder case
Burleigh said that the closer Mignini looked at Meredith Kercher's murder, the more he began to see not only evidence -- but the spector of the supernatural.

"A body has been found. It's very spooky. It's the night after Halloween," Burleigh explained. "... it happened on a Thursday night ... that's when the witches held their Sabbath."

Witches? The Sabbath? It sounds laughable, but, Burleigh said, Mignini sees the face of evil everywhere.

"I think when he looked in the eyes of Amanda Knox, he thought that she was evil," she said.

To Mignini, a staunch Catholic with a medieval mindset, Amanda Knox was a sinner who took part in a satanic orgy that resulted in the murder of an innocent.

"This is ridiculous. This is absolutely insane and it's unfounded," said Amanda's friend, Meredith Paxton. "The claims that they put against Amanda that she was so sexually powerful that she could manipulate these two men who she didn't even really know ... tells you a lot more about the person making the claims than about the person those claims are made against."

But Mignini did not back down -- not even when he was forced to release Patrick Lumumba, who had a solid alibi... and not even when the DNA evidence came back and seemed to exonerate Amanda and Raffaele Sollecito.

"There's nothing in that room, out of all those 400 samples, that places Amanda or Raffaele in that room," her mother, Edda Mellas said. "You can't go into a room and selectively just clean up your DNA and leave everybody else's DNA there. It's impossible, it can't be done."

A bloody fingerprint found at the scene gave Mignini a new suspect: Rudy Guede, an African immigrant, who was known to have confronted people with a knife.

"He was hanging around with these students and partying with them and pretending to be like them. But he wasn't like them at all," Burleigh explained. "And in order to keep up with them he started, apparently, getting involved in breaking and entering."

Guede was tracked down, arrested and charged with Meredith's murder.

"His bloody fingerprint is there?" Van Sant asked investigative journalist Bob Graham.

"Absolutely," he replied.

"His footprint is there? DNA."

"Yep. Absolutely."

"And he fled to Germany?"

"And he admits he was there," Graham explained. "He admits cradling her body as she -- as she was bleeding to death, feeling bad about it, feeling so bad that he ran out of there, carrying her money. He felt so bad that he went to a disco and partied. He felt so bad that he disappeared to Germany, to let other people take the rap for it. That's how bad he feels."

Even with Guede in custody, Mignini refused to believe that only one person was responsible.

"He believes deeply in conspiracies," Burleigh told Van Sant. "Conspiracy is part of his investigative DNA."

Mignini believed he was in possession of the murder weapon: a kitchen knife, found in the apartment of Raffaele Sollecito, Amanda's boyfriend.

"The Roman scientific police claimed they found an infinitesimal amount of DNA on the handle related to Amanda and an infinitesimal amount of DNA on the blade relating to Meredith," Burleigh explained.

All that was left for Mignini was to establish a link between Rudy Guede, Amanda and Raffaele. The police began pressuring Guede.

"First statement from Rudy Guede, 'Amanda had nothing to do with it.' Those are his own words. Following statements he's moving her more into the story -- moving her more into the case ... he gets up and says, you know, 'She did have something to do with it. She was there,'" Burleigh told Van Sant. "And was the instigator."

In 2008, Guede went on trial first. He was convicted of killing Meredith Kercher and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Mignini told the court that Guede had expressed remorse and later his sentence was reduced to 16 years.

The stage was set. Amanda and Raffaele's trial began in January 2009, and by then, Mignini had another piece of evidence that reportedly had Raffale's DNA on it.

"A piece of Meredith Kercher's bra that had been cut off by the killer," said Burleigh.

Mignini barreled ahead with his prosecution, convinced that Amanda, Raffaele and Rudy Guede all conspired and took part in the murder of Meredith Kercher.

And the press, Graham says, played a key role.

"I don't just blame the prosecutor and the police in this. I also attribute a lot of the blame to the media," he told Van Sant. "...they bought the lies ... they helped create the perception that existed that Amanda Knox was the she-devil and Raffaele Sollecito was her slave."

At nearly every turn, Amanda was losing the publicity war. After "the kiss" came a videotape showing Amanda shopping for "sexy underwear" a day or two after Meredith's murder. Never mind that all her clothes were locked up at the crime scene.

"The public was fed a diet of untruths, myths, rumors, falsehoods, lies about Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito," said Graham.

Mignini spun a fantastic tale for jurors, filled with graphic details about the violent sex orgy on the night Meredith was murdered. An Italian magazine created drawings based on Mignini's theory, showing Amanda plunging a knife into Meredith.

"It was made up," Graham said. "It was fantasy."

On Dec. 4, 2009, after a trial that lasted nearly a year, a smiling Amanda Knox walked into the court at nearly midnight convinced the jury had seen the truth and that she'd soon be going home.

Paxton video diary excerpt:
"She did not think for a single moment think that she was going to be convicted ... it never really fully entered into any of our minds that it could actually happen. She very ideally thought that the truth was enough.
But the jury found a different truth. Amanda was found guilty of killing Meredith Kercher and sentenced to 26 years. Raffaele got 25 years.

"This is a complete miscarriage of justice and is a travesty to the Italian judicial system," said Curt Knox.

Amanda, trapped in an Italian prison, soon had a new, more immediate problem -- a prison official she feared was on the prowl for sex.

"48 Hours" has learned just how frightening those first dark days in prison were for Amanda Knox. Right from the beginning, she was terrified that she might be sexually assaulted.

"This is a letter that came to me from Amanda," said investigative journalist Bob Graham, of Amanda's letter detailing cruel manipulation and incidents of sexual intimidation. She described how a high ranking prison administrator ordered her into his office -- alone at night -- to talk about sex.

The letter read in part:

"He was fixated on the topic of sex, with whom I'd done it, how I liked it, if I would like to do it with him."
"When I realized that he really wanted to talk to me about sex I would try to change the subject."

Amanda wrote that she was particularly frightened because the administrator "acted as if he was the king of the castle."

"Therefore, I thought he didn't have to answer to anyone for his behavior."
Amanda eventually came to believe that the administrator had a different motive; that he was perhaps trying to support the prosecution's theory that she really was a sex-crazed she-devil who killed Meredith Kercher during a violent orgy.

"'I realize that he was testing me to see if I reacted badly, to understand me personally," she wrote. "He wanted to get a reaction or some information from me... I did not get the seriousness of the situation."

The intimidation reportedly ended after Amanda's lawyers complained.

"What does this letter say to you about what she's been going through?" Peter Van Sant asked Graham.

"It says in a time when she was clearly traumatized by...the murder of her flat mate...and here she was being pressured, in a prison system -- a system that at least she should have had some degree of safety, and here was this guy, a senior officer in this prison, now pressing her about sex, pressing her, 'do you want to have sex with me?" said Graham.

Bob Graham spoke with the administrator, who admitted he and Amanda discussed the topic of sex, but claims she brought it up.

Madison Paxton says Amanda stood her ground, showing remarkable strength.

"It's still her life," she said. "And the only way that the prosecution wins...is if she becomes some broken, bitter person who relies on the free and abundant tranquilizers at the prison. She's never done that and she's beyond determined to not do that."

Amanda's focus was the appeal - and she soon had a world-renown ally.

"This case horrifies me. I'd like to say it shocks me. But I've seen others like it," said psychologist and professor Saul Kassin, an expert on police interrogations.

On his own initiative, Kassin filed a report with the Italian court on Amanda's behalf. It outlines some of the psychological reasons why Amanda could have confessed to a murder she did not commit.

"Amanda Knox, like everybody, has a breaking point. She reached her breaking point," he explained. "Eight or 10 or 12 police officials in a tag team-manner come in and interrogate her... Their goal is a confession and they're not leaving that room without it."

At her first trial, Amanda told the court just how badly the Italian police had intimidated her:

"I was very, very scared because they were treating me so badly and I didn't understand why" she said with a sigh. "They told me that I was trying to protect someone. But I wasn't trying to protect anyone. ...but they continued to call me a stupid liar."

"She's obviously in a state of grief or shock," Kassin said of her statement. "She is accused, she's called a liar when she denies having any involvement... She's in a foreign place. ...And she's being interrogated in a language in which she's not fluent."

"Now, what does that do to someone?" Van Sant asked.

"She's confused. She's disoriented," Kassin replied.

Hour after sleepless hour passed, with no food, no water, no bathroom breaks and no attorney. During that brutal interrogation, Amanda's mother says, it was the police who first brought up the name Patrick Lumumba, Amanda's boss. They had discovered that Amanda had exchanged texts with him the night of the murder. Amanda's last message said, "See you later."

"See you later is an American way of saying goodbye. But in Italian, it's not, is it? Van Sant asked Amanda's mother, Edda Mellas.

"No, and they took that to mean we're making an appointment to get together later tonight; that's the way they interpreted it," she replied.

"They kept saying you sent this thing to Patrick. We know that you left the house. We know! I just said his name," Amanda told the court.

She didn't know it at the time, but the moment Amanda named Patrick Lumumba would seal her fate. She described it in the letter to Bob Graham:

"So I said Patrick. Nearly all the police officers leapt up, they hugged each other and went off in search of Patrick," she wrote. "In the meantime, I just cried. I curled up into a ball and bawled my eyes out. I don't know how long I cried. I was so tired. I couldn't think."

Hours later, Amanda signed that confession that placed her in the house where Meredith Kercher was killed.

"I believe Amanda's confession is false. I believe Amanda is innocent," Kassin said. "If she was there...wouldn't she have known that Patrick wasn't there? Wouldn't she have known that Rudy was there? The reason she didn't know those things is that she wasn't there."

Amanda later recanted, but it was too late. The damage done, she was officially under arrest.

Three years after the murder, Amanda is ready to attack all the prosecution's evidence head on at her appeal: the confession, the eyewitnesses and the DNA.

"You can't even put into words, as we sit here and talk to you, what it must be like for her," Curt Knox told Van Sant. "I mean, our lives are not on the line. Her life is. It's gonna be put in somebody else's hands again."

And the prosecution would not go down without a fight.

With all the brouhaha over Amanda Knox, it's sometimes easy to forget Meredith Kercher, the murdered woman at the center of this case.

But Amanda's father, Curt Knox, says his thoughts are never far from the Kercher family.

"They've experienced the worst thing that a parent could ever experience in the loss of a child," he said. "You can't even...describe what they must be going through as well."

And in November of 2010, the ordeal was still far from over for any of the families -- Meredith's, Amanda's or Raffaele Sollecito's. It was back to court as Amanda and Raffaele appealed their murder convictions.

"We know she's innocent. She knows that she's innocent. She's not afraid of the truth," said Curt Knox.

A lot had changed in Perugia since the first trial ended.

"If we were to walk up to an average person here in Perugia and ask them, 'Describe Amanda Knox' what would they say after all of this media blitz?" Peter Van Sant asked Bob Graham.

"Three years ago, everyone would have said, 'She is evil, you know, she is the killer.' Now I think you would get a pretty strong number of people who would say, 'Well, perhaps she's not the person that we thought she was."

That attitude carried over into this second trial, which was presided over by a new judge.

"He started the appeals trial with a very clear statement and that was, 'The only thing we know for certain is that Meredith Kercher is dead," said Curt Knox.

True to his word, this judge asked independent experts to review the key DNA evidence in the case. What they discovered shocked most observers.

"Fifty-four mistakes in the gathering of the DNA in that room," Graham said. "That's shoddy work. That's appalling work."

During the first trial, Prosecutor Mignini had said a kitchen knife found in Raffaele's house had Amanda's DNA on the handle and Meredith's on the blade... damning if true.

"Meredith Kercher's DNA was not on the blade," Graham told Van Sant. "Indeed Amanda Knox's was on the handle, but she never doubted it."

"And why was Amanda's DNA on the handle?" Van Sant asked Edda Mellas.

"Cause she cooked in Raffaele's house," Mellas replied, "Her DNA was on the handle and rye bread residue was on the blade, so obviously she had been using the knife to cut bread in Raffaele's house."

And then there was that small clasp from Meredith's bra - supposedly containing Raffaele's DNA.

"The bra clasp, the one piece of evidence that Prosecutor Mignini said definitely put Raffaele Sollecito in the murder room. What happened to that piece of evidence?" Van Sant asked Graham.

"Again, thrown out. Contaminated," he said.

In police video, crime scene technicians are seen collecting this key piece of evidence six weeks after the murder. Using dirty gloves, they pick it up and then place the bra clasp back on the floor.

"Go back to the phrase, 'the forensics will tell us everything about the case.' And it did and it does'," Graham continued. "There is zero evidence against Knox and zero evidence against Sollecito."

In fact, not a single text, email or phone call has ever been found that links Amanda and Raffaele to Rudy Guede, who has admitted holding a blood-soaked Meredith in his arms the night of the murder.

And important witnesses from the first trial appeared to be discredited this time around.

"One of the biggest witnesses was a homeless guy who was a drug addict, who said that he saw Amanda and Raffaele arguing...nervously standing around above the house around the time that the...murder would've occurred," Nina Burleigh explained. "Well, come to find out in the appeal, this guy's a heroin addict...he could barely walk to the witness stand."

"The judge even stopped the questioning and basically said, 'You're outta here,' Curt Knox explained.

"I've heard enough. Take him away," added Mellas.

Things were looking up for Amanda but she couldn't help but worry, said her friend Madison Paxton via her video diary:

As things slowly start to look better with the trial, it almost hurts to hope because we know what it felt like the first time that they were convicted and you have this acknowledgment in your head like wow, this would actually genuinely destroy her if she was convicted again. ...in some ways, it's easier psychologically to be filled with despair - [looks into camera] does that make sense?
"One irony of this case is that the Italian authorities actually did a great job. In less than three weeks, they had the person who murdered Meredith Kercher," Van Sant noted to Graham.

"Indeed," he replied.

"They arrested Rudy Guede and they had the evidence against him."

"Absolutely, but they'd also dug a hole so deep that they couldn't get out of it," Graham said. "That was the problem. And pride, vanity -- whatever it was, ensured they just kept digging."

But Mignini would not let go of his theory that Guede did not kill Meredith by himself, but had help from Amanda and Raffaele.

"So as prosecutor Mignini watches his case collapse around him, what does he do during the course of this appeal? He says that her sentence should be lengthened to life," Van Sant remarked to Burleigh.

"Exactly. It's mind-boggling ... they're not going to give up easily," she said. "I mean, there's a reason vendetta is an Italian word."

After nearly four years in prison, Amanda was itching to get outside again.

"She said today, she's like, 'Madison, it's been three years since I've been able to walk outside past 3:00 p.m. ...I miss walking at night. I miss stars...I miss that so much,'" Paxton said.

But Amanda would never see those stars again if prosecutors had their way. In closing arguments, prosecutors dismissed all questions about their forensic evidence and stood by their witnesses. Nothing they said had changed - Amanda and Raffaele were still guilty of murder.

As the final act of this four-year saga came to a head, it was clear that Amanda Knox was no longer the trusting 20-year-old hippie from Seattle, but instead, a 24-year old prisoner.

"A lot of people have noticed that she's lost weight, there's so much concern on her face. Are you worried?" Van Sant asked Amanda's mother.

"Of course, as a mom, you know she's suffering, you know she's lost weight. She tells you she can't eat, she can't sleep," an emotional Edda Mellas said, "because of the stress. Of course, it breaks your heart as a parent to watch that and know that she's dealing with all of that. Yeah."

Just as he did with the infamous 'kiss,' Mignini attacked Amanda and Raffaele Sollecito's behavior, saying they did not react appropriately when gruesome crime scene photographs of Meredith Kercher were shown in court.

"Amanda was looking down. Raffaele was looking away," Mignini told the court.

"You sit there and you want to yell out, 'LIES,' but you have to sit quietly and remain composed as people just...you watch your daughter being tortured - emotionally tortured - sitting there, having to listen to that stuff," said Mellas.

Complete coverage: Amanda Knox

But then Raffaele and Amanda got their turn.

Raffaele told the court, "I never hurt anybody ever in my life."

The jurors were riveted as Raffaele removed a plastic bracelet.

"My bracelet says 'Free Amanda and Raffaele'. I think the time has come to take it off," he said.

A hush fell over the courtroom as a visibly shaken Amanda Knox began to speak.

"If I had been there that night I would have been dead. Like her. The only difference is that I wasn't there. I was at Raffaele's," she said in Italian.

After thanking Raffaele for his support, Amanda addressed her so-called confession.

"My absolute faith in the authority of the police has been betrayed... and I am paying with my life for things I did not do."

As she ended her dramatic speech, three jurors were in tears.

"I want to go home. I want to return home, I want to go back to my life. I don't want to be punished, deprived of my future for something that I didn't do. Because I am innocent. Raffaele is innocent. [long pause] We deserve freedom because we didn't do anything to deserve this," she said.

That night, the first verdict gave everyone pause: Guilty. Amanda had slandered her former boss, Patrick Lamumba. She was sentenced to three years, time served.

But then came the verdict Amanda longed for: Knox and Raffaele's murder convictions were overturned. The emotional upheaval of her lost years was etched on her face.

Her former boyfriend Raffaele stayed calm, as did the family of Meredith Kercher, who were in the courtroom. Meanwhile, outside, the streets of Perugia exploded.

"It's an extraordinary scene outside the courthouse. There's been whistling, great disappointment among people out here that Amanda Knox has been found not guilty in the murder of Meredith Kercher," Van Sant reported on the "CBS Evening News" following the verdict.

It was time for Amanda to make her last trip back to prison and this time, she had company. Sitting next to her was the boy, turned man, who had been with her on every step of this journey - Raffaele Sollecito.

"They were actually able to both sit in one of the cars that took them back to the prison.. I think it kind of became, 'you're a human being again' versus 'you're a prisoner,'" Curt Knox told Van Sant. "Amanda was crying so much that Raffaele was telling her, 'We're free, hey why are you crying?' ...it was just a very emotional moment."

At the prison, Amanda said goodbye to some of her guards, including one who showed Amanda a touch of humanity.

"There was actually a female guard there that actually put money on Amanda's account one time, because it was kind of that motherly thing," Knox continued.

Today, the lovers from that fateful day are separated; Raffaele remains in Italy, and Amanda is with her family in Seattle.

She missed a lot during her four years in prison...and now that she's free, Amanda is focused once again on her future.

"Maybe in five years, she may be an advocate for people that have been wrongly accused, having felt what she felt," Curt Knox told Van Sant, "and let it be known that there is still a light at the end of the tunnel."

48 Hours Mystery The Railroad Killer - Serial Killer

48 Hours Mystery The Railroad Killer - Serial Killer

The lone survivor of a serial killer on a multi-state killing spree tells her story
Produced by Lourdes Aguiar and Michael McHugh

This story originally aired Dec. 11, 2010.


What if someone wanted you dead... but you lived to tell?

At age 20, college junior Holly Dunn came face-to-face with an infamous serial killer who earned his nickname by choosing victims along the railroad tracks. After being raped, beaten and stabbed, Holly somehow found the will to survive. She would learn that her attacker was responsible for a multi-state killing spree. The race was on to find him before he killed again.

Heather Dunn Niemeier, Holly's sister: I began writing as a process of healing. ...The writing, I found, really helped me deal with what had happened.

Heather reads: "Since as far back as I can remember, I've had the same dream. I'm running. I was constantly running away from someone. We lived on 13 acres. So, I could never get someone to hear my screams or run fast enough. I would run down the hill of the front to our house across the fields.

There were many mornings that I would wake up after a night of running all night in my dreams. But, then run down the stairs to play with my younger sister. We had a great time growing up together. We had that special bond that you hear people talk about. We were so close.

[Aug. 29, 1997] I didn't get to hear the answering machine until I got home that night. ...I remember there being an oddly high number of calls. But three of the messages were from my dad.

The room was dark and she woke up [at University of Kentucky Medical Center]. She was lying on her side and I put my head to her face and just held her. It was there that she told me the worst story that I had heard in my life. Maybe this is what I had been running from in all those dreams as a child - this horrific story that happened to my sister."

Holly Dunn, Heather's sister: In late August 1997, I was a student at the University of Kentucky. It was about the second night of classes. It was a Thursday night. And I went to a party with my boyfriend, Chris Maier, not far from campus. It was a little bit boring, so we packed up Chris' backpack with some beers, and we were gonna head down to the tracks.

We sat there and talked for a while, I'm not sure how long, but we got up to leave and go back to the party. And we started walking along the tracks. And when we got to an electrical box beside the tracks a man came out from behind it. He asked us for money. We of course said, "We don't have any money, we're poor college kids".

And I don't know if it was an ice pick, if it was a screwdriver, but he had it on Chris the whole time. He asked Chris to get down on his hands and knees... He went through his backpack and didn't find anything that he wanted. And I didn't realize it, but he was tying up Chris' hands with the backpack... behind his back.

And he took off my belt and tied up my hands behind my back with my belt. And he actually pulled Chris from the tracks, on the gravel, into the grass beside the tracks. In my head, I was panicking. And I was like saying my last prayer. And thinking, "I'm going to die."

Holly Dunn: It was very dark and you couldn't see very well. So it was very startling to see someone come out that was crouched behind an electrical box.

Chris and I were looking at each other I think in disbelief that this was actually going on. Like, we were looking at each other very confused. Like, "What in the heck is happening?"

You know, I remember saying, "Why are you doing this? What do you want? Do you want credit cards? ATM cards? You can have our car it's just parked down the street." You know, we were just trying to figure out what he wanted.

And, at this point, our attacker ripped a shirt. And he gagged us. I actually stuck my tongue out so that the gag wouldn't work. It just fell off.

We had split seconds in where - our attacker would go back up to the tracks and we were down in the grass. And so, we could talk to each other, and... Chris and I started strategizing, you know, saying, "OK, should I run? Can you get untied?" I got my hands untied. I couldn't get my feet untied. I ripped Chris' gag off of his mouth. And so, we were talking to each other, trying to figure out how we were going to get away... Because Chris kept saying, "You know if you can get yourself untied get away, run away." Because he couldn't get - his arms were all tied up in his backpack. And he couldn't get untied.

And I really don't know how much time passed before our attacker came down carrying a rock. ...and he came over and literally just dropped it on Chris' head.

I think, at that point, I went into survival mode. I, you know, to see him drop this rock on Chris' head, and... He climbed on top of me. I realized, at that point, that he was going to rape me. I fought him. I tried to hit him. I tried to kick him. I tried to scream. That's when he took that weapon that he had, and he held it to my neck and he said, "Look how easily I could kill you." That's when he stabbed me in my neck. And so, I just stopped. I was like, "Okay, well, you know, what's gonna happen is gonna happen."

I was staring at every scar he had, every tattoo he had. I was thinking, "Let me remember everything about you that I can, because we'll get you at some point."

And I tried to rip off my fingernails and dig in the dirt so that if I was taken away, someone would know that I had been there. I started saying, you know, "What are you? Where have you been? What do you need?" You know, "how can I help you?" You know, "I really have a family that wants to see me again." I said, "Do you have friends? Do you have a family?"

I was begging him, "Please don't hurt me." You know, "I will let you go. I won't tell anybody what happened here, just don't hurt me."

That's when he started hitting me. I don't remember being hit. I was hit with some sort of wooden board. ...I think I put my hand up to block it. But I was hit five or six times in the front of my face and then, I turned over, and I was hit five or six times in the back of my head. I'm positive that he probably knocked me unconscious. And ... my breathing was shallow enough that he thought he had killed me.

I don't know how long I laid there. But, at some point, I got up, and I realized that he was gone. I knew that I was injured. I knew that I was hurt. I don't think I knew what my injuries were. I realized that my mouth wasn't shutting right. And I was covered in blood.

I walked about 200 yards or so ... maybe on the rocks along the tracks.

Chad Goetz, University Senior: It was - probably 1:00, 2:00 in the morning. It was between 1:00 and 2:00. I was sitting in my chair, studying. And out of the corner of my eye just glimpsed something go across the front yard. She was covered in blood from head to toe. And I could not figure where all the blood had come - was comin' from. ... Her face - it looked like a boxer whenever they - whenever they get cut during a boxing match. At that point, I brought her in and set her down on the couch. And she collapsed on the couch.

I thought she was going to die. There was no doubt in my mind. And she started - I kept losin' her a little bit here and there. And I just kept talkin' to her 'cause I definitely didn't want her to pass out, ya know, I was just trying to keep her awake until the paramedics got there.

Video: Paramedic recalls the events of that night

Holly Dunn: And I did keep saying to him, "My friend's still out there. You know, like, "be sure they know my friend's still out there. My friend's still out there."
Det. Craig Sorrell, Lexington Police Dept.: On Aug. 29, 1997, I received a call at home about 3:00 in the morning that there had been an attack on two students along the railroad tracks. My lieutenant asked me to come out and said it was a bad one.

Another detective and I were sent over to the University of Kentucky Hospital to check in on the victim. On the way, we learned her name was Holly Dunn.

Heather Dunn Niemeier, Holly's sister: Her face was disoriented. She had a broken eye socket, a broken jaw. And, so, her face looked off. It was very bruised - lots of cuts across her face. And then, of course, staples of where they could - just to stop the bleeding. They couldn't even, you know, cut her hair. They just stapled on top of her hair.

And even in that state of her looking the way that she did, I can just remember this feeling of overwhelming gratitude and love that she was alive. Just feeling so thankful that she was alive and that she was there. ... I have felt so guilty to not be there, to know that your sister is begging for her life. She is begging someone for her life, and you are... you're sleeping.

Holly Dunn: I remember they weren't talking about Chris. And, eventually, I asked my dad, I just said "Chris is dead, isn't he." And my dad was like, "Yes, he is." It was very hard to accept the fact that I lived through this and Chris didn't. And, you know, it was just - I just felt like it wasn't fair. It's not fair that - that I'm still alive and that Chris isn't.

Chris was so friendly... he was very laid back and down to earth... he loved the outdoors, he didn't have a care in the world.

I couldn't attend the funeral. I was really upset about that only because I really wanted to attend I never really got the chance to say goodbye and ... I wanted to have that chance to have some peace.

Det. Craig Sorrell: Despite her - state, she was ready and willing to try and communicate what had happened to her.

Holly Dunn: I was really trying to remember every detail about my attacker. And I remember hearing his accent, thinking, "that is a Mexican accent."

Det. Craig Sorrell: Holly described the suspect as a male, possibly Hispanic. Five six, five eight in height. Kind of a wavy, black hair, wearing glasses. She said that - he wasn't muscular, but he seemed somewhat wiry.

Holly Dunn: They repaired my jaw. They actually kind of just realigned it. And wired my mouth shut. And really that was the only thing that they could fix. The broken eye socket, there was nothing they could do. As soon as I could get the surgery to get my jaw wired shut and my jaw fixed, my parents took me home.

I definitely think that there's parts of me that wanted to retreat away. Right after this attack happened, I just wanted to lay in bed and not get out of bed again. But, you know, there's always something that's pulled me out of that.

My sister was my rock throughout this entire process... And she doesn't - maybe didn't even realize how much she was helping me by what she was doing.

Det. Craig Sorrell: We received a lot of phone calls and a lot of tips, and we followed up on a lot of people who thought they had seen this person. We were able to establish - that we had a DNA sample of the suspect - from the rape. The sketch was the best thing we had and the DNA evidence, of course. And then we also entered it into the National Database for Violent Offenders... in the hopes that maybe someday down the road - there would be some similarities to other cases that I could become aware of to try to track this fellow down.

14 MONTHS AFTER THE ATTACK

Drew Carter, Texas Ranger: In December of 1998, a doctor was murdered in the Houston area.... She had suffered both stab wounds and blunt trauma to the head. And she was also the victim of a sexual assault. And then, a pastor and his wife were killed in Weimar. And the pastor and his wife were murdered in their bed with a sledgehammer that was found in a tool room there at the house.

Photos: "The Railroad Killer" & his victims

When we first started working it, we approached it from the standpoint of a fugitive investigation and that was trying to learn as much as we could about the subject at hand. We knew that we had forensic evidence, we had fingerprint evidence that linked to a particular suspect and both houses were in the near vicinity of railroad tracks.

Det. Craig Sorrell: Somewhere around May or June of 1999, I got a call from ViCAP, which was the national database that we put the info in. Get a call from them saying, "Listen, we've had another homicide near railroad tracks in Texas." It was a loose connection at best... But it was near railroad tracks. And after two years, we hadn't had anything of substance anyway, so we chased any lead.

Drew Carter: Detective Sorrell called and we compared details about the cases. And realized that we not only had a serial killer that was within 150 mile radius of Houston, but we had one that was in other states as well.

Det. Craig Sorrell: They were able, through fingerprint analysis, to have a suspect. The suspect at that point had been identified as Rafael Resendez Ramirez.

Drew Carter: The majority of his attacks were by surprise. Often the people were in bed asleep when he was getting 'em. So he's like the boogeyman coming into your house. He supports the fact that true evil does exist in this world.

Holly Dunn: To know that he was doing it again, that he was more violent, that he was killing more people. That he was doing it over and over again. ...I started to feel like, "Wow, this is a lot bigger than me." It was almost like my worst nightmare coming true.

Det. Craig Sorrell: And that was when the ball started rollin' and it became a national serial killer manhunt. We were driven. We had to catch him before he killed somebody else.
Det. Craig Sorrell, Lexington Police Dept: We knew then we had a serial killer on the loose. We knew that he was extremely violent. And we had no information as to where he was. Our last clue was Texas. So it was an all out race then to try and figure out where he was and get hands on him.

So everybody went to Texas.

From what I've come to learn of Resendiz, he was an immigrant, transient, moved around, had done a lot of odd jobs... migrant work. He was prone to violence at least 20 years prior to this killing spree.

Drew Carter, Texas Ranger: He was nicknamed by the media as "The Railroad Killer." And he got that moniker just by the fact that most of his murders happened in and around railroad tracks and that that was a mode of transportation that he used to travel across the country.

Local news report: The dragnet for the suspected rail riding serial killer now stretches from Ohio to the Mexican border.

Det. Craig Sorrell: As part of the search, there was actually a huge operation to stop trains. A bunch of Texas agencies participated. We had helicopters in the air to fly over various train tracks. ...If they saw somebody, we'd get the train stopped, check the train - stop anybody and identify anybody on it.

Devon Anderson, Harris County Prosecutor: The sense of urgency was - it was unbelievable because people were dying.

He was continuing to kill. And he was killing effortlessly. No one was stopping him. He killed two women in one day, 90 miles apart. Four days later, he's in a different state. People were scared.

FBI press conference: We are here to announce that Rafael Resendez Ramirez has been elevated to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List.

Holly Dunn: I just got really scared, because it - it got so big. And they still couldn't find him. They didn't know where he was. And that - that was, you know, a very scary time, because I just - I felt - I knew that he knew I was still alive. I felt that. So, I was afraid. I thought he would come back and get me.

I was so scared that I had to get out of the country. I signed up that day to go to school in England.

Det. Craig Sorrell: The FBI, all the local agencies, the different areas, everybody was running leads. So the volume was huge, and you just started piecing the things together. But truthfully, the tip that made the case was a call from a family relative to "America's Most Wanted."

Drew Carter: And based on information from that phone call, it led us to go back - to go to New Mexico, to speak with his sister.

She hadn't been in touch with her brother but she had been in touch with someone that was in touch with her brother. And that's where we started the discussions about Resendiz and the fact that he was tired ...and that he might be willing to surrender.

Devon Anderson: She became the liaison between United States law enforcement and the serial killer.

Drew Carter: I believe that his options were limited. ...This man had no friends. I mean he was a loner, he had a high price on his head and he had an entire nation, really two nations, looking for him. And I think the - amount of pressure that was put on him, ultimately led to him to have to make a choice.

TWO YEARS AFTER THE ATTACK
INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE, U.S. - MEXICO BORDER

Devon Anderson: It was early in the morning, and Drew was on one side of the International Bridge, waiting. I mean, on the Texas side. And not knowing, I assume, whether he was gonna show up or not, if he was gonna show up armed. I mean, who knew?

Drew Carter: And so then, you know, the doubt sets in. Like, all right, you know, is this gonna happen? An amount of time passed, and you see a pickup truck drivin' up, drivin' across the bridge. And there's three people in that ol' pickup truck. And the center passenger, I immediately recognized as Resendiz. And that's kinda when I thought to myself, "Man, this is really gonna happen."

Resendiz surrendered to Texas Ranger Drew Carter and other law enforcement on the International bridge in El Paso. He was transported by the Rangers back to Houston to face charges.

Devon Anderson: I closed the door and started crying because I was so relieved there wasn't ... I don't want another case to prove up. I don't want another dead body.

Drew Carter: At the time of his arrest, Resendiz was linked to six murders in Texas, two in Illinois and one in Kentucky.

Det. Craig Sorrell: For two years we had operated under the belief that his name was Rafael Resendez Ramirez. We learned that he had a variety of names. But ultimately it was determined his name was Angel Maturino Resendiz.

Devon Anderson: And I had been waiting to see this guy. So when they walked him in [to the courtroom] it was a great moment, but he was so scary. He was a little guy. But wiry and strong, ropey muscles on his arms and curious. He would look - he'd look at everybody in there. He'd looked at me. And there is nothing there. There was nothing there. No humanity. No emotion. It's like somebody took a black magic marker and colored his eyes. They were flat black and expressionless face.

But I just buckled down and just decided - it's gotta be about the victims. And it's gotta be about gettin' this guy dead. Honestly. It's gotta be about convincing a jury to give him the death penalty, because he so richly deserved it and earned it.

Holly Dunn: And I knew that I was going to testify. I had always wanted to do that.... I just wanted the chance to tell what had happened to us. And that was my chance.

Devon Anderson: And I wish I could've seen his face when he heard that someone was living. I wish I could've seen his face when he knew she was comin' to testify against him. I just would love to know what he - what he thought when he found that out.
Holly Dunn: I don't have things that I think about all the time. ...I can't forget about Chris being hit... the rock hitting him. That really is probably the part that I try the hardest and can't forget.

Devon Anderson: She was definitely our star witness. She was our only living witness. Nobody else could speak out against him in first person. "This is what happened to me. This is what he did to me." We didn't have anybody else.

Trial started in May of 2000. It was held here in Houston.

He was so different at trial. I guess sitting in jail he got fat, he got the jail house pallor, had grew his hair, greasy.

There was not a shred of humanity about this man. He did not deserve to live among us. I wanted to put him down.

Local news report: Resendiz faces capital murder charges in the stabbing death of Dr. Claudia Benton.

Devon Anderson: [Dr. Claudia Benton] had been sexually assaulted, stabbed, beaten in the head. He was only charged with one because that's all you need to get the death penalty.

He ultimately pleaded not guilt by reason of insanity. The evidence was overwhelming as to his guilt. ...So that was really his only out - was the insanity defense. We knew we were battling with the jury not wanting to believe that someone could do these horrible things to people and be sane. ...A lot of people did not want to believe - you have to be crazy to do that to someone. You have to be crazy.

The jury reached a verdict after many hours of deliberation. It was pretty - nail biting... But they worked through the evidence. They saw all the indications that he knew what he was doing was wrong, and then they ultimately convicted him of capital murder.

Holly Dunn: I actually got involved in the penalty phase of the trial, so that's when they say whether he gets the death penalty or life in prison.

Devon Anderson: I knew I wanted Holly to testify last. So by the time she took the stand, the jury had heard the gruesome details of all the other murders we had solved at that point. It was a horror show. Heads beaten to a pulp. Knives put all the way through the body, that's how much force was used. Just horrific violence.

Photos: "The Railroad Killer" & his victims

Det. Craig Sorrell: We were the last of the cases presented. I testified as to the evidence at the scene, presented the pictures... And then, lastly, Holly testified as the only surviving victim.

Holly Dunn: I flew into Houston with my family the night before I was going to testify. And I woke up during the middle of the night screaming and crying.

I talk about the trial as the hardest day of my life. ...What I was most worried about, I think, was seeing him again.

Devon Anderson: I cannot imagine the amount of courage she had to marshal to come into that courtroom to walk in and face him.

Holly Dunn: [Devon Anderson] told me, "Don't look at him. Look at me. I'll be right in front of you. You know, look at your family. They'll be right behind me. He'll be off to your left. Just do not look at him."

The first question that the prosecutor asked me on the stand was "What did you do last weekend?" And so I was like, I graduated from college. ... It felt good for me to be able to say, you know, I graduated from college ... in front of the guy who basically could have ruined my life and destroyed it. And not that he cared, because I don't think he did.

For me to be able to say, "You didn't destroy me." Like... "I'm still here. I'm still strong. I'm still, you know, the same person I was" - it felt good. It felt like I'd finally had my chance.

I told all the details of what I knew, what I remembered. And, you know, cried through the entire testimony... I was crying - all the jury was crying. I don't even remember exactly what I said or how long it took.

Det. Craig Sorrell: Sometimes you don't always have the human picture, the actual human suffering. Because there's no victim to stand in front of you to tell you what they experienced, what they went through. Holly gave that to Chris and all the others that had been murdered. She was able to give a real-life person - to give them a real feeling of the brutality of this man.

Holly Dunn: They got to the moment in the trial when they say, "Is the person who attacked you in the courtroom today?" I hadn't looked at him yet. I knew he was there. I said, "Yes."

Devon Anderson: I wanted it to be the last thing that jury heard and the last thing they saw was Holly Dunn sitting on that witness stand saying, "That's the man."

Holly Dunn: They said, "Well, could you tell us what he's wearing?" And I turned and looked at him. It was surreal. I said, "He's wearing a white button-down shirt." And they - I mean, I literally - I felt my hearing going into my head. He had like this smug look on his face. And I mean, I was so close to fainting when I looked at him again that I mean - I don't know how I didn't.

Devon Anderson: It was devastating. And it was the best part of our case... I mean, she basically, from his perspective, came back from the grave - to nail him.

The jury did find that he was a future danger to society. So the judge sentenced him to death.

Holly Dunn: I felt, I guess, relieved. I mean it just felt good to know that he would never be able to hurt anyone ever again.

Devon Anderson: After the trial, Resendiz was sent to death row in Huntsville, Texas. He was not tried for any other crimes. He had gotten the ultimate penalty. When the last appeal was denied, he was put to death in June 2006.

Holly Dunn: I chose not to attend the execution because Resendiz represented all those angry feelings that I had. And I decided to stay with my family, be surrounded by my family. I had already seen one person die in front of me and I did not need to see another.

Devon Anderson: I read an account of the execution, and it said that right before they injected him, his feet were shaking under the sheet. And I hoped that he experienced some of the fear - that Holly did. That gave me a small sense of satisfaction, that he was scared.
Holly Dunn: I definitely feel like I have another opportunity at life. I wanna live it to the fullest.

I can't explain how this changes you. I'm a stronger person because of it. My whole life focus changed because of it. I'm a different person today because this happened. I knew that I had to heal physically first. And then I had to heal. I had to deal with Chris dying. I had to deal with myself almost dying. And then I had to deal with being raped.

Your brain works in amazing ways and it kind of sort of let me deal with each thing as I could.

In 1997, I met Jacob Pendleton at the outdoor store that I was working at. He was the first guy that I dated after the attack. And he just, like, reintroduced me to the world.

(Gets emotional) I don't think Jacob even knows like how much he helped me ... by just listening to me. There'd be days that I would literally cry to him. And, you know, be upset. And he would just listen to me. And, you know, really wouldn't judge me at all, which was great.

Heather Dunn Niemeier, Holly's sister: To see Holly happy, married is wonderful. She has led our family in how we have recovered from this and it could have gone a completely different way where our family was devastated by this, but instead, we are so happy for how she's led her life.

Holly Dunn: I started speaking about two years after the attack. To me it felt like part of my healing process to talk about it, and to cry about it and to be emotional, because for so long I had to kind of detach emotion from it...

When I was speaking, I didn't have to worry about that. I could work through my emotions and that really helped me in my healing process.

Being a survivor is one thing, but helping other survivors and knowing how to do that in a professional manner was another thing.

Holly's House is a child and adult advocacy center that provides a safe reporting location for victims of intimate crimes. It's a nonprofit center in Evansville, Ind. We opened on Sept. 2, 2008, and we have served over 300 victims since that time.

Holly's website
Learn more about Holly's House

Devon Anderson: Holly is a hero because she did not let what happened to her destroy her. But she did the opposite. She decided to make it her reason to live. Or her reason to help people.

Holly Dunn: It's important to me for victims to be supported. For them to know that they're not alone. That they're not going through what - what has happened to them alone. I get support through victims that come through Holly's House. I feel like through helping others they're helping me.

Det. Craig Sorrell, Lexington Police Dept.: This case for me has become one that I have looked back on many times. I keep a little bit of a reminder on my desk. A rock from our crime scene and a railroad spike that I got from down in Texas. ...Not so much as a reminder of the largest case I worked, but more a reminder that if you stick with a case and follow up on everything that you can be successful. So be determined. Don't give up.

I've stayed in touch with the victim, Holly, since it began. She's really just an amazing person individually. She is the model of survivor.

Holly Dunn: I remember Chris in a lot of ways. I like to keep things around me that remind me of him. I'm lucky enough to have my amazing husband and have Chris be a part of our lives.

I think to get over my survivor's guilt that I had, I had to know that I lived my life not just for me and not just for Chris. I'm living my life for all of Resendiz's victims, for all of them... And that I have to - or I want to - be the best person I can be and live the best life I can, because they didn't get that chance and I did. So I want to live for them. I want them to be remembered. ... and what I would want for them is to be proud of, you know, me.

By the time of his execution, Resendiz was linked to at least 15 murders in six states.

Authorities learned he killed a teenage couple in Florida just months before he attacked Chris and Holly.