Emma's Parent
Appearances
20/20
True Crime Vault: Shot in the Dark
Were you worried? I was worried. And we were watching her. I mean, Sunday, we followed her to work, followed her back home to make sure she was safe.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Shot in the Dark
She said, I'm craving ice cream. So we drove to Sonic. We had a nice, cold Sonic blast. And I wished her good night. I love you. See you tomorrow. I went to bed. She stayed up.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Shot in the Dark
She seemed very happy, very happy and relaxed, more of a Like a weight had been lifted off her shoulder.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Shot in the Dark
I went in there to wake her up, which is usually very easy to wake her up, and said her name, didn't hear anything, bumped her leg, didn't hear anything, and then went to her face and realized and checked for a pulse and couldn't find anything. I don't remember a whole lot from that moment. I mean, I know I called 911. The call came out as a suicide.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Shot in the Dark
Once the detective got there, we were asked to leave the residence. They were wrapping tape around our house and walking around outside, so obviously it had turned into a crime scene at that point. But we still had no idea what had happened to her.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Shot in the Dark
Was that a big deal for her? She had done competitive gymnastics as a young child and then competitive dance. When she tried out for cheerleader, she was the only freshman that made it. So she was very tickled with herself.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Shot in the Dark
It was a major relief to me knowing that You know, he's gonna pay for what he done.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Shot in the Dark
A boy next door. He came in very polite, very nice in the beginning.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Shot in the Dark
I thought he was a very nice-looking young man, well-mannered. What were the rules about dating and going out? Never would let them go out on a formal date. He could come over to the house. They would meet up after football games to eat and things like that.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Shot in the Dark
And what would you say to that? We're the decision makers in that. not your boyfriend.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Shot in the Dark
We, on one occasion, saw one, I'll see your name in the obituary. He wrote that to her? He wrote that to her. And we questioned him about it. He said, I was just angry. That's when it started to get many more red flags.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Shot in the Dark
Did you attempt to break them up or advise her to break up? Yes, several times. But as you do that with a teenager, the more you butt heads, the more she is going to think he's in the right. Because he had a way of isolating her and making her think that he was the only one.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Shot in the Dark
And does that work? You know, they would always find their way somehow to see each other. It became sneaky at that point.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Shot in the Dark
She did become like her old self again. She would come out of her room, eat dinner with us, socialize with us.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Shot in the Dark
She was supposed to come meet me. She didn't show. I had an intuition. Something's going on. So I drove to home, and Riley's car was sitting out front of the house, and they were in the driveway. What was your first thought? I thought, you're kidding me. He knows he's not allowed here, and I just said, you know, you're not allowed. He needed to leave, and he did leave. Were you worried?
20/20
True Crime Vault: Shot in the Dark
Yes, I was worried, yes. I tried to calm her down and take her mind off of it.