02x09 - They'd Never Find the Body

[bunniefuu]

[♪ intense upbeat music playing]

[narrator] 19-year-old Jodi Sanderholm

is one of those people
who knows what she wants

and is determined to get it.

She's an A student,

a caring daughter and sister,

and the star of her college dance line.

She could just command a room.

-[cheering]
-You would just stare at her.

[narrator]
Jodi pays attention to every last detail.

So, all it takes is a few
missing pieces of mail...

to send her family into a panic.

I still kept hoping we'd find her.

Something had just gone wrong.

[narrator] And the trail
of clues she leaves behind

-sets off a race...
-[phone ringing]

So, they start tracking
those shoe impressions

into the woods.

The first thing that
we saw when we got that close

was her hand sticking
out of the brush pile.

It was like she was saying,
"Here I am. Come find me."

♪♪

[narrator]
...and ultimately, catch her k*ller.

♪♪

[speaker 1] She solved her own m*rder
from beyond the grave.

[speaker 2] The fitness app on the phone.

It was overwhelming evidence.

♪ I've been haunted by the visions ♪

♪ That I've seen with my own eyes ♪

♪ And the only way to find you ♪

♪ Is to go beneath the lies ♪

[speaker 3]
She did help catch this k*ller.

[♪ hip-hop music playing]

♪ I'm living for the spotlight,
I'm living for the spotlight ♪

♪ From here on out ♪

[narrator] Arkansas City, Kansas.

-Ark City to locals.
-[cheering]

Where everyone knows your name

and Friday Night Lights is a religion.

♪ I'm living for the spotlight
from here on out ♪

Jodi Sanderholm is
a devoted daughter and sister,

the determined star of the Cowley County
Tigerettes dance team,

and the valedictorian of
her high school class.

At times, high school was hard,

but we all had one thing in common
that kept us going, our futures.

[applause, cheering]

[narrator]
That's why on January 5, 2007,

when Jodi disappears without a trace,

it's so out of character

that it catches her family by surprise.

♪♪

[Jennifer Aldridge]
My name is Jennifer Aldridge,

and I am Jodi's sister.

I was pregnant with a little girl,

and it is all Jodi could talk about.

[♪ upbeat music playing]

That day, I actually went out
to eat lunch with a friend,

and then we went
and walked around the mall.

She was convinced

that we were gonna walk the mall
until I went into labor.

I was in a store shopping
when my mom called me

a little after noon and said,

"Hey, call your sister.

"I've tried a couple times to call her.

"She's not answering my phone call.

She'll answer if you call.
She'll think you're in labor."

-[ringback tone]
-I called, and it went to voicemail.

[voicemail] You call has been forwarded
to an automatic voice message system.

[Jennifer]
I waited about five minutes or so,

and it just didn't sit right with me,

-so I called again, and she didn't answer.
-[ringback tone]

I called my mom right back,
and I said, "Something is wrong."

-[echoing ringback tone]
-[♪ curious music playing]

[narrator] With her busy life,

Jodi's days are scheduled
down to the minute,

and she never misses an appointment.

Jodi was a college student,
and so she had her classes in the morning,

and then she had dance practice
with the college dance team.

[crowd chattering and cheering]

She would get done around lunchtime,

and she would go home
and shower after practice,

and eat lunch, and get ready
for the rest of her day.

[narrator]
But today, there's a noticeable break

in her routine.

[♪ tense music playing]

[Brian Sanderholm]
I'm Brian Sanderholm, Jodi's dad.

Every day, she'd show back home for lunch.

So, she'd get the mail and bring it in

and put it on the kitchen counter
and go on with her day.

[Jennifer]
The mail was out of the mailbox,

but the mail was not in the house.

So, we knew that she had
made it to the mailbox,

but not inside the house.

[clock ticking]

[narrator] To Jodi's family,
this is a huge red flag.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

And when she hasn't
shown up by dinner time,

they call the police.

[Sean Wallace] My name's Sean Wallace,
and I was the chief of police

of the Arkansas City
Police Department in 2007.

Ark City, it's-it's a
tight-knit community.

There's about 13,000 people
that live there.

♪♪

It's enough people that
you, you know a lot of people,

but you can't know everybody.

I was in my office, and the phone rang,

and it was Brian Sanderholm.

Jodi actually went to high school
with one of my sons.

So, I had this pretty good relationship
with the Sanderholms.

Brian, he was distraught
when he called me,

and he said, "I can't, I can't find Jodi.
Jodi's missing."

♪♪

[Brian] I thought maybe something
had just gone astray.

-[birds chirping]
-Maybe her car broke down.

Maybe she couldn't use her cell phone
to call us for one reason or another.

[Sean] I tried to assure him.
I said, "You know,

"we get these calls all the time,

"and 99.9% of the time,

"it's a miscommunication,

"or something happened in the child's--

this teenager's life,
that you weren't quite aware of."

[narrator] But Brian Sanderholm
insists that isn't Jodi.

Our relationship with Jodi wasn't like
that where she would just run off.

[♪ solemn music playing]

I said, "I'm gonna send a policeman
to you to take a report,

and so we can start investigating
where she might be at."

♪♪

[narrator] Meanwhile,
Jodi's family starts to hypothesize.

Could Jodi be with someone?

Did someone take her?

Because Jodi had a lot of admirers.

The Tigerette dance team

was a pretty well-known
dance group in the community.

[narrator] Could one of them have
turned obsessive and kidnapped her?

Or maybe the answer is closer to home,

because Jodi has a longtime
boyfriend named Colby.

When she brought Colby
home the first time,

I thought the world of him. I really did.

He had been around, at that point,
for five or six years.

So, he was one of us.

[narrator]
Right now, anything is possible.

But, the detectives have to start
by looking in the obvious places.

Retracing Jodi's daily routine.

Her last whereabouts
was a dance line practice.

When we took the report,

then the patrol officers were instructed

to go out and talk
to the other dance line girls,

'cause maybe they know where she's at.

The dance line girls knew she hadn't
showed up for a couple appointments,

but they had no idea where she was at.

[narrator] The investigators
gather as much information

as they can from Jodi's teammates,

and get names of people seen
hanging out at rehearsals.

But the team doesn't recall
anyone unusual lately.

Now, everyone, even Chief Wallace,

goes out looking for Jodi.

[♪ upbeat music playing]

[Sean] Most of the community comes out
for high school basketball games.

[indistinct chatter]

So, I go to the basketball game
'cause I'm thinking

maybe she'll show up
at the basketball game.

She was kinda quasi-coaching
the high school dance line.

[applause, cheering]

And she did not show up.

And I talked to several students.

None of them could give me any idea
of where she might be.

[♪ ominous music playing]

That evening,
we started an all-out search.

At that point,
I was honestly still thinking

she was in a car wreck.

[glass shattering]

[♪ somber music playing]

Her car is turned over
in a ditch somewhere,

and she cannot get out.

She needs help.
She's probably bleeding to death.

She needs-- We have to find her.

[♪ intense music playing]

My dad was driving up and down
every alley in the town.

He was driving on every dirt road,
every country road,

searching for her car.

I had friends show up to my house

that, uh, we loaded up in their truck
and took off,

looking everywhere we could look.

♪♪

We asked the county to look in the ditches

along the 77 highway

and, uh, main routes.

[sirens wailing]

But we did not find anything.
Did-- [stammers]

Did not find her vehicle,
did not find any signs of an accident.

[♪ ominous music playing]

My mom and dad obviously were up all night
the night that--

the first night she went missing,

and it was probably around


when my dad knew that the,
the local news in Wichita,

that they would be getting
to the news station.

At that point,
she had been gone for 14 hours.

So, we figured
we've gotta get the news out.

[reporter] 19-year-old Jodi Sanderholm
finishes dance practice.

She's supposed to meet a friend for lunch,
but never shows.

Flyers with Jodi's picture and description
are posted everywhere.

Police also ask for help
finding Jodi's car,

telling residents in rural Cowley County
to search their properties.

[narrator] The investigator's next stop

is Jodi's longtime boyfriend, Colby.

♪ You're somethin' special ♪

♪ You're somethin' else ♪

♪ You got me feelin' ♪

One of the first things
we thought about was that

teenagers sometimes do crazy things.

Maybe something's going
on with her boyfriend.

[Jennifer] Jodi and Colby had actually
started dating in eighth grade.

♪♪

They were in love,
and not a normal teenage love.

It was an adult, forever love.

They were going to get married.
They were going to have children.

♪♪

[narrator] Could Jodi and Colby's
storybook romance

have secretly crumbled?

Colby is an obvious person
for the police to question,

if they can find him.

[♪ intense music playing]

[Sean]
We knew Colby as well, and his family.

But we all found out he was in Texas.

[narrator] Is Colby's absence
a case of sheer coincidence

or perfect timing?

Police race to find him,
as they can't help but wonder

if he holds the answer
to Jodi's disappearance.

[Brian] We realized at that point,
there was something wrong,

and it was gonna be bad.

♪♪

[♪ intense music playing]

[narrator] Jodi Sanderholm,

the determined dancer
and star student, is missing,

seemingly vanished into thin air,

leaving her family and community
in utter disbelief.

[♪ curious music playing]

Arkansas City epitomizes
small town rural Kansas.

My name's Michael Schwanke.

I'm an anchor and investigative reporter
with KWCH,

the CBS affiliate in Wichita.

Literally, people go to bed at night

and don't lock their cars,

and some don't even lock
the doors to their houses

because there's that much trust.

It's one of those towns
that everyone rallies together.

Friday night football, for example.

-[whistle blows]
-[crowd chattering]

And I think everyone there
watches out for everyone.

It is a family, in a sense.

[♪ ominous sting]

[narrator] So when Jodi goes missing,
almost everybody has a theory.

[echoing phone ringing]

[Sean]
I put a police officer on a phone,

a line that he would answer
and take all the leads

that, that the community would give him.

[♪ foreboding music playing]

Some of them told us she was in Hawaii

and things like that, and you know,
those went to the bottom of the pile.

[narrator]
But there's one lead in particular

that the investigators
are eager to follow up on.

Jodi's boyfriend Colby,
who's coincidentally in Texas.

♪♪

I think it's fair to say that when
someone like Jodi disappears,

the fingers always go
to the boyfriend first.

Jodi and Colby, at that point,

they had been together
for five or six years.

He was sticking around here,

waiting for her to finish up at Cowley,

and he said he was in
Texas visiting his brother.

[♪ intense music playing]

[narrator] Investigators get to work
confirming Colby's story.

[Sean] He returned to town, and he was
interviewed by one of our detectives.

We would encourage him,
"Look, nobody's in trouble.

"If, if you guys got something going on
that you needed to be together,

"and you don't want the Sanderholms
to know, you can tell us.

We just wanna find her."

He's like, "I don't--
I have no idea where she's at."

He acted very concerned
about where, where she might be.

♪♪

[narrator] The anxiety that has taken over
the Sanderholm family

has become too much to bear.

Saturday morning, around 9 o'clock,

my mother-in-law came over to the house.

And at that point, she said,

"You need to go to the hospital.
You have not slept.

"You are not eating.
You are not drinking water.

You are now three days overdue."

♪♪

So, I went to the hospital...

[echoing EKG beeping]

[echoing click]

...and they said,
"Yep, you're in active labor."

[beeping continues]

God gives you a baby when you need a baby.

And God knew we needed that baby

right then to keep my mom sane,
to keep my mom alive.

[baby crying]

[Emma Mayfield] I am Emma Jolea Mayfield,
and I am Jodi Sanderholm's niece.

Her name was Jodi LeAnn,

and my middle name is Jolea
as a combination of Jodi and LeAnn.

She was so excited to be an aunt,
and she told my mom

that as soon as she found out
that she was in labor,

that she was gonna drive all the way up
to Kansas City to come be with her.

My mom tried so hard
to be strong for everyone,

and she recently told me that
she didn't even tell her mom

that she was in labor
because she just wanted her

to focus on my aunt.

And I just can't imagine

keeping such an important part
of your life a secret

because you don't wanna
take away from the tragedy

that's happening in your life.

[birds chirping]

[narrator] The birth of Jodi's niece
provides a small glimmer of hope

for the Sanderholm family.

And nearly 24 hours
after Jodi's disappearance,

investigators double back to a person

Jodi's teammates mentioned the day before.

There's a Tigerettes fan

who the girls think is
a little too interested.

[Sean] They start pointing a finger
at this guy, Justin Thurber,

because they had--
would see him almost every day

around the dance line practice.

"He watches us practice."

And then, they tell us stories.

"He followed me home."
"He was following me,

and I had to pull into the police station
to get away from him."

♪♪

We knew Justin
as kind of a petty criminal.

He would get caught with
some weed, or shoplifting.

He'd get into arguments with
his girlfriend, and we'd get called.

[narrator]
And it just so happens that the police

have had a recent run-in with Justin.

Justin called around to the bondsmen

to ask 'em if he can work for them

to go out and, uh, capture bond jumpers.

He had this dream of being
Dog the Bounty Hunter.

But they said, "If you capture somebody
that has jumped our bond,

"we'll pay you a little something
if you bring 'em in,

but we can't take you on the payroll."

Now, about a week
before Jodi disappeared,

we got a call at a house
that there was an individual there

claiming to be an Ark City detective.

Justin thought there was
somebody in this house

that had jumped bond for
one of the local bondsmen,

-and so he was trying to get in there.
-[doorbell ringing]

[police radio chatter]

[narrator] Ark City Police charge Thurber

for impersonating a police officer.

[Sean] That was the only kind of contact
we'd had with Justin.

[narrator] Justin's criminal history
doesn't sound major league,

but he's one of the only leads
the investigators have got,

-and they're going to have to find him.
-[phone ringing]

But just then,
another unexpected tip comes in.

Someone saw Jodi in her car
on the day she went missing.

A witness that knew Jodi,

see her at Kansas Avenue,
which turns into 166.

[♪ intense music playing]

She sees Jodi in the passenger seat

and a male driving
who she didn't recognize.

She tries to call Jodi,
and Jodi doesn't answer the phone.

[phone ringing]

[narrator]
A broken routine, a missed call,

and a small-town mystery
that has everyone on edge.

Who is the stranger behind the wheel,

and where was he taking Jodi?

The answers lead
the investigators on a wild chase

to unimaginable places

and an unthinkable end.

[♪ dramatic sting]

[♪ intense music playing]

[narrator] It's January 6th,

and Jodi Sanderholm has been
missing for more than a day.

The authorities are racing
to follow up on a tip

about a possible sighting of Jodi

heading out of town
with a male mystery driver.

But first,

they need to pay a visit to
Justin Thurber, the dance line fan

who Jodi's teammates
think could be involved.

♪♪

[Sean] So, Lieutenant Bert goes up
and knocks on the door.

Says to him, "Justin, look, we need to
talk some more about your case last week

"for impersonating a police officer.
Can I come in

and talk to you about that?"

And so, he comes in,
and he asks a few questions.

[investigator] Pretty girl, dark hair...

[narrator] When investigators ask him
about his whereabouts,

Justin has a quick answer.

[Sean] "I was out past the state lake
with some guys."

And he mentions their names.

"And we got stuck in the mud.

"And I got angry.
We had a little argument.

"So, I just started walking home,

and when I got by the state lake,
I called my dad."

And his dad was there in the house
and said, "Yeah,

"he called me, and he was wet and muddy.

And so, I went out and picked him up."

[narrator] Justin seems to have an alibi
the day Jodi went missing,

and investigators have no reason
to believe that his father would lie.

The detectives make a note
to double check his story

and turn back to Jodi's boyfriend, Colby.

I was convinced it had
to be somebody she knew in some way,

had some attachment to.

And which is why the first suspect's
gonna be a significant other, a boyfriend.

♪♪

[narrator]
But Colby's digital footprint proves

he was in Dallas, just like he said.

[Sean] Agent Falletti
at the Kansas Bureau of Investigation

was able to determine that Colby was,

at least his phone, was in Dallas, Texas.

Then, you confirm that
with the people he was with.

Then, you confirm that
with credit card receipts

where he's purchased
gas or food in that area,

and not in anywhere near Ark City.

There was nothing to indicate that
he was involved in any way.

[♪ eerie music playing]

[narrator] So, with Colby in the clear

and no new information
about the mystery car,

it seems like investigators
are at a dead end.

[♪ "Falling" by Madison Malone playing]

♪ I can only do so much ♪

♪ I can only say so much... ♪

[Michael Schwanke] As soon as we begin
our coverage on that Saturday,

it feels like we had been there for,
for weeks

because of, of how the community
was rallying around Jodi.

[reporter] In the meantime,
a community pulls together,

praying for Jodi's safe
return at nightly vigils.

And there was still this sense of hope,

um, and it was, it was real. It was--

There was a real hope,

um, in the initial hours
after her disappearance,

because everyone, everyone was
working together to find her.

[♪ somber music playing]

[narrator] By the following day,
there's still no sign of Jodi.

She has been missing for two days.

Her family is getting desperate.

I was just on the phone
constantly with my mom.

"Have you heard from her? Have you heard
from her?" She was not answering.

[narrator] Hoping to provide
Jodi's family with answers,

detectives look deeper into
the one person with a record,

Justin Thurber.

Agent Falletti went about
clearing those three friends

that he said he was with
east of town by the state lake.

One was in Texas.

We confirmed that with cell phone records,

credit card receipts.

One was getting a marriage
license at the courthouse.

I think one of 'em said, "He's a weirdo.

I don't-- I don't have
anything to do with him."

So, he's lied to us now.

[narrator] With his alibi falling apart,

the investigators zero in
on Justin Thurber.

If he does have something to do
with Jodi's disappearance,

it's critical that they get him in custody
as soon as they can.

[siren wailing]

Asked the county attorney,
"Is, is there a warrant filed yet

on the impersonated police officer?"

And he made sure there was.

So, we arrested him on that warrant...

[♪ dark music playing]

...and we developed probable cause

to get a search warrant on his house

based on all these little things
that are pointing towards him.

We collected his Adidas shoes,

the clothes that he said
he had on that night,

and some other pieces of evidence.

[narrator] Investigators won't
be able to hold Thurber

for long on this minor unrelated charge,

and they still have nothing that links him
to Jodi's disappearance.

We contacted Thurber's ex-girlfriend
because we thought maybe she might give us

some insight into his thinking.

[echoing ringback tone]

He had gotten violent with her,
both physically and sexually.

[♪ foreboding music playing]

So, that's starting to
cause us some concern

that there's a propensity here

in, in Justin Thurber
we didn't know about.

And so, I asked one of the lieutenants,

"Put her in your car,

ask her to take you
everywhere he likes to go."

♪♪

So, they go to a few places in town.

But then, she takes him east of town,

out into the Kaw Wildlife Area,

and they go down a dirt road.

[♪ tense music playing]

And she points back into that area,

and she says, "He told me one time

"that you could k*ll somebody
and put 'em in there...

and they'd never find the body."

♪♪

Well, of course, that perks up our radar.

First thing we did Sunday morning,

after breaking the briefing,
is send out a detective

from the Arkansas City Police Department

to the Kaw Wildlife Area.

[police radio chatter]

And then, it was only a few minutes,

and he called me on his cell phone
and said,

"We need to get the trackers out here

"because there's shoe impressions
that have an Adidas emblem in 'em,

"just like the Adidas that we collected

from Justin Thurber's house."

[♪ eerie music playing]

And he goes,
"And there's another shoe impression

that looks like it could be a flip-flop."

♪♪

[narrator] With no time to lose,
investigators send a tracking expert.

[Ron Cannon] My name's Ron Cannon.

I was a senior instructor
for the county trackers.

♪♪

Tracking's a lost art.

[insects chirping]

It's viable

for collecting evidence at crime scenes.

♪♪

[Sean] So, they pull into the state lake,

and they get down to
a camping-style toilet. A pit toilet.

And they see the remnants,

muddy remnants of the same shoe impression
they're following.

♪♪

[Ron] And, um, very low lighting.

So, I got my flashlight out,
shined it around,

I walked over to the first toilet.

[door creaking]

♪♪

And that's where I noticed

Brian Sanderholm's mail sticking up.

♪♪

[narrator] The Sanderholm's missing mail,
that small break in Jodi's routine

that first set off her family's
alarm bells, has been found.

And it's an awful sign of more to come.

It's just evil. Pure evil.

There's no reason for it.

[♪ dramatic crescendo]

[♪ intense music playing]

[narrator] It's been two days
since Jodi Sanderholm disappeared,

last seen in her own car
being driven out of town

by an unknown male.

After learning that Justin Thurber
likes to visit an isolated nature preserve

in the same direction Jodi was going,

law enforcement has
uncovered the first evidence

of Jodi's possible whereabouts.

[Sean] It was addressed to Brian and
Cindy Sanderholm, had their address on it.

Just laying on top of, of feces
and, and just floating there.

♪♪

We knew that Jodi's routine was

go straight to the mailbox,
get the mail,

then go inside her house.

[narrator]
That missing mail, the first clue

that tipped off Jodi's family
that something was wrong, has been found.

Chief Wallace races to the scene.

So then, I looked in
the other toilet down in there,

and I saw a, a flip-flop.

[shutter snaps]

I said, "There's a flip-flop down there."

Just one.

And then I saw

what could've been a leotard

when they-- we started dragging out stuff.

And I look back in there,
and I see the color orange.

I'm like,
"There's something orange back there."

I said, "What can that be?"

And I-- so, I asked the fire chief
who was there.

I said, "Hook that,
let's see what that is."

And as he's pulling it in,
it hits me what it is.

[shutter snaps]

That's her Tigerette jacket.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[police radio chatter]

Investigators collect all that evidence,

the mail, and all the clothes,
and the shoes,

and we call it a night.

[♪ somber music playing]

Came back in like at 4 or 5 o'clock
in the morning just to get prepared,

'cause I knew I needed to
contact the Sanderholms.

[Brian] Well, that's about when
the world shifted on us.

Once-- Once we found out that

the mail and her clothes were
in the outhouse, that was--

there was no reason for that
other than something terrible.

[narrator] Now a potential crime scene,

the Kaw Wildlife Area becomes the focus

of a determined search.

At first, it seems like
the trail has gone cold.

But, on the second day of the search,

the authorities bring in
a dive team to scan the lake.

[Sean] So, they come to the state lake,

and put the boat in,
turned on their sonar...

[sonar beeping]

...and in about 30 seconds, they said,

[echoing beep]

"Her car's right there."

[shutter snapping]

And they sent in their diver

and took photographs of the car.

[shutter snaps]

[narrator]
With the discovery of Jodi's car,

the fear that her body
may be inside grows.

As police prepare to drag the car out
from the depths of the lake,

they brace themselves for the answer.

[♪ eerie music playing]

[Sean] We pull it out of, of the lake.

There's no body.

She wasn't in the car.

[narrator] With no human remains,
the tracking team keeps looking,

and they soon pick up on a new trail.

We had two impressions together,

and we were looking for
a flip-flop and a tennis shoe,

and they were together.

[♪ intense music playing]

[shutter snaps]

Right where I'm standing,
this area was damp soil.

So, instead of seeing scuff marks
coming down off the road,

now we're starting to pick up
enough footprint impression

that we can see the geometric design
in the footwear.

[Sean]
One of the things that they informed us

by radio and cell phone is that,

"Hey, um, we've stopped
seeing the, the flip-flops."

And we just get into the woods,
and the flip-flops disappear.

But the Adidas continues in--
deeper into the woods.

[♪ eerie music playing]

[Ron] So, we're gonna come off the road
into the wooded area

and start continuing
the footprint trail into the woods.

[narrator] And then, a gruesome discovery.

Okay, this is-- this is the location.

The tree limbs and brush were all gathered

in a, in a pretty large area right here,

and then brought together.

The first thing that we saw
when we got that close

was her hand sticking
out of the brush pile.

Well, there was a big hesitation
with all four of the trackers.

Obviously, we'd found Jodi.

And, um, so, we just took a moment.

Um...

[♪ dramatic crescendo]

Like I'm doing right now.

[♪ somber music playing]

Pretty emotional for all four of us.

So, we, we didn't wanna bring
any evidence into the crime scene,

so we stopped right here.

[narrator]
The trackers call in what they found.

[Sean] This is when I get the phone call,

"Chief, we found her."

It was so wooded,

such a remote, thick area,
they had to cut down trees

to get their vehicles in there

to process the scene properly.

And also in the course of that,

we found an area
where there was a hair tie,

some hair,

um, and it just looked like a scuffle
had occurred right there.

She was underneath a pile of tree logs.

Um, the reason they saw her

is because she had one hand sticking out
of this pile of logs.

It was like she was saying,
"Here I am. Come find me."

And when they removed
all the logs from her,

she was posed. No clothes on.

The crime scene was the most horrific
crime scene I've ever seen.

And I've seen humans do a lot
of awful things to each other.

♪ This is the end ♪

♪ This is the end of it ♪

Before her body ever left the scene,

I go straight to the Sanderholms' house,

and I sit down with them, and I tell them,

"We have found Jodi, and she's deceased
in the Kaw Wildlife Area.

"Right now, we're working the crime scene.

"As soon as we can,
we're gonna get her outta there,

"and we're gonna send her up
for an autopsy

and to collect evidence
that's on her body."

[♪ somber music playing]

[Brian] Well, I can remember it,
but I can't tell you

any thoughts that I had in my mind.

It was just all over with.

It was probably three years

after that point in time

where my life was just a blur.

I had learned that
her body had been found,

and that she was naked.

And so, obviously to me, I knew that
she had been sexually assaulted.

I remember...

a thought of like absolute horror.

"How did I bring a baby

"into this awful, scary world?

"How could I bring a baby into this world

where there's r*pe and m*rder?"

[narrator] The news of the discovery
of Jodi's body is crushing.

But can any of this be
linked to Justin Thurber?

[♪ intense music playing]

Once again, they turn to the trackers,

who discover a critical
new piece of evidence.

[Sean] We sent the trackers
over to the mailbox area,

and the area around Jodi's house.

Well, they found shoe impressions
across the street from Jodi's house

that were consistent with
the shoe impressions they were finding

out at the Kaw Wildlife scene.

[shutter snaps]

That told us that that's
probably where he abducted her,

right at her house.

[narrator] On June 9, 2007,
police charge Justin Thurber

for the r*pe and m*rder
of Jodi Sanderholm.

[gate shutting]

But what the detectives
and Jodi's family soon learn

is that there are more
horrific secrets to uncover.

Secrets that suggest Justin
is even more dangerous

than anyone could believe.

I learned that Justin Thurber
had stalked me

from the time that I was 13 years old.

♪♪

[♪ somber music playing]

[birds chirping]

[narrator] Police finally know the fate

of 19-year-old Jodi Sanderholm

after finding her body concealed
in a nearby nature preserve,

viciously assaulted and m*rder*d
by Justin Thurber.

As soon as they discover Jodi,

there are two storylines.

One still centers around Jodi,

and who she was,
the impact she had on the community,

because immediately,
the town shifts into mourning.

[mourner] She was very committed

and one of the most consistent people

that I've ever met in my life.

Then, the other storyline turns
to the suspect in this case

and the absolute brutality as the details

start to come out...

in how he k*lled Jodi.

[♪ intense music playing]

It was discovered that her cause of death
was ligature strangulation

because she still had
the marks of either a cord

or a piece of clothing,

something thin that was
used to strangle her.

Also, one of her major
arteries in her neck

had been severed.

What the pathologist surmised
is that she was hit hard enough

to twist her head enough
to tear that artery.

It was also evident that
he had tortured her and r*ped her.

♪♪

[narrator] Why would a casual fan

and an apparent stranger
target and k*ll Jodi?

And I remember I told my mom,
"I know the name,

I-I-- but I can't put a face to him."

And she said, "You graduated with him.

Go get your yearbook out."

[narrator] Little does
the Sanderholm family realize,

Justin Thurber has been nearby, lurking.

I went to school with him
from kindergarten on.

He was in-in my elementary school.

I graduated high school with him.

But I didn't really know him.

[Brian] He just lived
two blocks to the south of us.

We knew nothing of him.

[narrator]
As prosecutors build their case,

they make a chilling discovery.

Jodi was not the only Sanderholm

Justin Thurber was stalking.

I learned that Justin Thurber
had stalked me

from the time that I was 13 years old.

[♪ intense eerie music playing]

He started walking over to our house,

sitting in the wooded area
across the street from our house,

watching us through the windows,
watching me swim in the backyard.

There were a lot of other females

who he made uncomfortable,

who he threatened, who he watched.

I mean, this was definitely
repetitive behavior,

and it was escalating.

[chains rattling]

[narrator] In February 2009,
Justin Thurber stands trial

for the r*pe and m*rder
of Jodi Sanderholm.

Both cases entitled State of Kansas
versus Justin Eugene Thurber.

[narrator]
The prosecution presents evidence

of how Justin quietly terrorized
Ark City's young women.

His obsession growing

until things finally went too far
with Jodi Sanderholm.

In addition to the footprints
outside her mailbox,

they are able to prove
that he was following her

on the day she was m*rder*d.

The day that Jodi disappeared,
we stopped him on campus

and wrote him a traffic ticket.

He would later claim
he was never on campus,

but we had video evidence that he was.

[♪ eerie music playing]

[narrator]
But the final piece of evidence,

the one no one can argue against,
comes from Jodi herself.

In an attempt to save her own life,
Jodi scratched her attacker,

and that person's DNA was discovered
under her fingernails.

We later sent that to
the KBI lab in Topeka ,

where they did a DNA test.

What the KBI Lab concluded

in their analysis

is that it had to be Justin Thurber.

By Jodi's actions, she was able to show

who her k*ller was.

That right hand, as good as you can get.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

"We unanimously find the defendant

guilty of capital m*rder
of Jodi Sanderholm."

♪♪

Justin Thurber was convicted
of first degree m*rder

with aggravating circumstances,
aggravated r*pe,

aggravated kidnapping,

and sentenced to death

by a jury of his peers.

♪♪

[narrator]
Jodi's determined spirit left a trail

that helped catch her k*ller.

It began with the mail
she clung in her hand

when Thurber abducted her,

culminating with her defiant
final show of strength.

[Michael] In the end, it was Jodi herself

that led police to her k*ller.

A girl who decides at some point

in this crime that it was time to fight,
and she did.

By the time this airs,
it will be 17 years since my sister died ,

and he is still sitting
on death row in Kansas ,

and we are, um,
in the middle of his appeal.

I've gotten to a point
where I don't allow him

to control my thoughts, control my mind.

I don't even really think
about him that much.

I think about my sister every day.

[Emma]
I know that if my aunt was here today,

she would be my biggest supporter.

For pageants, I spread
the word about Jodi's Law,

which is a law that my family
actually created and passed

in Kansas and New Mexico,

that broadens the definition of stalking
and makes it more easy to prosecute.

And so, no one has to go through
what my aunt went through,

and that we can make
more women and men safe

from any predator.

[♪ somber music playing]

[Brian] Not knowing what she became,

what she was gonna become,

whether or not she'd have children now

or have a big fancy career,

or whatever she'd be doing now.

I just-- I wanna know.

♪♪

It was very hard, but...

tried to find closure somewhere, but...

I just don't.

♪ I don't know where my head is lately ♪

♪ Have I lost my mind? ♪

♪♪

[exhale]

♪ But I know that I have a secret ♪

♪ And it's only mine ♪

[♪ vocalizing]

♪ And the only way to find me ♪

♪ Is to go beneath the lies ♪

[♪ music fades out]