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Tonight on Dateline.
She would show up sometimes before the pastor.
She loved the love we gave her.
I got a phone call that she didn't come home.
She went missing on Friday the 13th.
I heard sirens and my heart kind of dropped.
Kids would call it a haunted house.
You couldn't imagine a scarier place for a body to be found.
We're trying to identify potential suspects John Adams was Shantae's boyfriend Colin's name had been mentioned multiple times Colin told her to meet him in the shed and not to tell anybody She knew Ryan He was missing, he couldn't be located Take me to that Wednesday night church service He starts talking
about demon thoughts.
That's when it just exploded.
I grabbed a pew, and I was like, ow.
Ow. Church is a place where we expect confessions, but not one like this.
I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline.
Here's Blaine Alexander with The Haunted House Confession.
Down this backcountry road is an isolated stretch of land.
A place where hunters come looking for prey.
Behind the fence, just through the overgrown grass, sits an abandoned farmhouse.
the few people who know it's here call it the haunted house this place is truly creepy straight out of a horror movie but one night the horror became real this was the scene of a crime so evil it haunted an entire community and made neighbor doubt neighbor everybody was a suspect.
In the very beginning, absolutely.
The search for justice would lead to a different house, a house of worship.
Had evil made its way there too?
For the congregation of North Lake Community Church, this simple building was a refuge, A place to sing and worship in peace.
A haven for people like Shantae Blankenship.
You walk in that church and you felt like this is home.
This is family. And I really think that is what kept her coming back.
She felt safe there.
Shantae was 25 and lived with her grandfather and boyfriend in a community on Lake Brownwood in Central Texas.
Linda and Russell Lamond met Shantae at church.
Russell was the assistant pastor.
He and his wife took Shantae under their wing when she started showing up with a notebook and her own Bible.
You couldn't help but smile with her around because she just, she glowed.
You know, she glowed.
It didn't take a lot to make her happy.
Shantae's younger sister, Destiny Jarvis.
You know, she was happy with where she lived, her church, her neighbors, going on her walks every day.
Neighbors could count on seeing Shantae every day as she strolled her neighborhood by the lake.
Friday, May 13, 2016, was no different, except that evening, Shantae went out for a walk and didn't come home.
Her grandfather called Shantae's mom, Michelle McDaniel.
My dad had called and said that Shantae hadn't came home.
We just, my dad had kind of figured she had spent the night with one of her friends.
Shante's mother wasn't too worried at first, but as the hours ticked by, that changed.
He told me she still wasn't home.
The next day, her mom went to the house, took a look around and saw that her purse was still there.
She didn't go anywhere without her purse.
It had kind of went over me, something had happened.
Shante's grandfather said he'd been calling her nonstop.
It wasn't normal for her not to communicate, especially with him.
I remember us vividly walking down the street and her mother pulled up in a car and she said, have you seen Shante?
She hasn't reported back in.
She hasn't called. And it's not like her.
And I said, no, we haven't seen her.
Was her mother worried at that point?
Yeah, her mother was worried sick.
The family reported her missing to the sheriff.
And in a community this close, word spread quickly.
A search was organized after church on Sunday.
Were you surprised by how many people turned out to search?
Actually, no. She was loved by everybody.
And in the moment we found out that she was missing, it was like not even a thought.
Let's look forward.
We had to find Shante.
I remember coming down the hill back to the church and the parking lot's full.
probably 200 people, all there to search for her.
Yes. Since it was such a small community, it's like, she's got to be around here.
You know, she couldn't have walked that far.
We searched under piles of leaves.
We searched under boats.
You know, anything that would look like it would be hiding something.
911, what's the location of your emergency?
I have no idea where I'm at.
I am in the middle of nowhere.
We were looking for Shantai for his ship.
It was Sunday afternoon.
Shantae had been missing almost 48 hours.
Deputies sped down a road five miles from Shantae's home to that abandoned farmhouse.
Their body cameras were rolling as they met Charlie Radel and his girlfriend, Jackie Neal.
We were just driving around looking for her.
Everybody met at three at the church to go look for her and we were just driving around.
I walked around in the house and didn't see nothing in there and went to all the outbuildings and I was coming back and that stormiste over there had a bunch of grass knocked down.
So I run around and looked and there she is.
She's upside down in there and she just beat s***.
I got a daughter that age.
I'm no funny. Brown County Sheriff's Office Investigator Scott Bird responded to the scene.
What was the condition she was in?
Very brutal assault.
There was cuts, bruises all over her face and head.
So it was very clear to you from the beginning, this is a murder investigation.
Oh, yes. That meant all hands on deck.
Texas Ranger Jason Shea was called in to help.
I'm a dad. I've got kids.
It kind of hits home to you, because we all have kids, and it affects you.
I can tell. Just looking at you, when you talk about it, it affects you.
Yeah. Sure. A young woman.
A violent murder. It felt like it couldn't have been a first -time killer.
The disappearance on Friday the 13th, and the location where she was found.
Is this some type of cult activity?
It could have been anybody.
How long could a murderer hide?
I can't grab hold of him.
I can't find him. All of a sudden, it was almost like somebody turned the lights on, and you were like, oh, and there he is.
I realize it's like I just put my face in front of a killer's face.
You know, I'm in that clothes.
Shante's mother, Michelle, heard the sirens first.
Then a friend who'd helped organize the searches came to find her in person.
I remember her telling me they had found her.
I remember falling to my knees, screaming.
Are there any words to describe what you felt?
I was lost. I just had lost myself at that moment.
But I'd fell to my knees and ask him why.
I was devastated. Yeah, devastated and in shock.
There's bad things that go on in the community anywhere.
You'll get that anywhere.
But her specifically, why her?
Why would anyone want to hurt Shante?
What was it about Shante that just really drew people to her?
Her love. Just her.
I mean, just meeting her would make you just fall in love with her.
She'd always make you laugh.
She'd always do something or say something.
Stephen McDaniel is Shante's stepfather.
He'd known her since she was six years old.
What was Shante like?
Funny. Loved music.
She had a good smile.
You couldn't question whether or not she was happy.
People not only noticed Shante's smile, she had a sense of style, too.
She thought everything was better in pink or with sparkles or glitter.
And she had like the sassy attitude to go with it.
Shantae was tiny, not even five feet, barely 90 pounds.
But she had big opinions about what to wear, what to do, and how to pronounce her name.
We call her Shantae.
She calls herself Shantae.
It was a big voice for such a small person.
She knew what she wanted.
always. And her grandfather, Charlie, the one she lived with, was happy to give her whatever she wanted.
He'd helped raise her from birth.
I had her when I was 16.
I guess I was trying to live for me for a while.
I worked and I partied, so she just became my dad's permanent kid, pretty much.
Growing up, Shantae needed extra care.
She developed more slowly than other kids.
So her walking, her talking, all of that was delayed?
Mm -hmm. If you talked to her, you would know that she was different than a normal child.
She still kind of talked like a child.
It was like she aged to a certain point, and she stopped.
How did she navigate those challenges?
She just did. She, nothing ever bothered her.
She would figure it out.
But she didn't do it alone.
It seemed everyone in the neighborhood had a protective eye on her, from her family, her friends, and of course, her boyfriend John.
He spoiled her just like my dad.
She never went without as long as they were together.
Sounds like he really took care of her.
He did take care of her.
So did her friends at church.
I understand that there were some times you would help her with the hymns that would be sung in church.
She stood right next to Linda and I in the choir.
So she's like our daughter.
She felt like family to you.
Yes. This is the church, North Lake.
Shante's church had become the makeshift headquarters for her search.
Now it was where authorities launched their investigation.
Pastor? How are you, sir?
Hey, folks, could you have your attention just a minute?
If you believe you have information that will assist in this investigation, I ask you don't discuss it with anybody else.
I want your recollections to be your own.
We'll be speaking to you as we get to you, all right?
She wasn't involved in any type of drugs or gangs.
This was an innocent girl who hadn't done anything wrong.
And then we find her in the bottom of the cellar.
Texas Ranger Jason Shea and a team of investigators canvassed Shantae's neighborhood, retracing her final steps.
This really was the starting place for your investigation.
Yes, this is the very beginning of it.
Besides the crime scene, We knew that she had been over here, so this is the main area where we focused a lot of our investigation.
What did you hope to find out?
Somebody that had seen her or seen her get in the car with somebody.
A handful of neighbors had seen her at a local restaurant just a few hours before she disappeared.
Then she went home, said goodbye to her boyfriend John, before he left for work at 6 p .m.
She set out for her walk right after, eventually meeting up with a friend.
That friend, Caitlin McAbee, told investigators that she and Shante walked together for a couple of hours.
Her grandpa called her right before we got to the end of the street, said, hey, it's getting dark.
She was like, it's okay, Papa, I'll be home soon.
She says, I'm walking.
Her grandfather confirmed to police that call was at 8 .48 p .m.
Caitlin said after that, she and Shantae said goodbye.
And then within minutes after, she and her friend split.
She goes missing. And where she and her friend parted ways, how far was she from her home?
Quarter mile. When you think about that small window, does it mean that the killer was maybe following her, waiting for her?
He could have been.
He may have been waiting for her and watching for her and waited for that time to where she was by herself to take his chance.
What happened next was still a mystery, but a bizarre clue was about to spark a new and terrifying question.
You think Friday the 13th, you start wondering, is there something more sinister than just somebody got murdered?
Every morning, we choose how to begin our day.
This is today. I think about the people at home.
They tune in because they are curious.
They care about their world and they care about each other.
There's always something new to learn, whether a news event or a new recipe.
And when we step through the morning together, it makes the rest of the day better.
We come here to make the most of today.
We are family. We are today.
Watch The Today Show with Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin, weekdays at 7 a .m.
on NBC. It was late, past midnight, when they broke into the farmhouse.
Never in a million years would you think that you'd see your parents' house taped off by that yellow tape.
Wrong. And they said, do you remember being killed?
They left behind a wall of blood and the key to a secret.
She looked at me and she said, I'm screwed.
Murder in the Moonlight, a new podcast from Dateline.
To listen to the latest episodes each week completely free, you can find and follow Murder in the Moonlight on Pandora.
A true crime story never really ends.
Even when a case is closed, the journey for those left behind is just beginning.
Since our Dateline story aired, Tracy has harnessed her outrage into a mission.
I had no other option.
I had to do something.
Catch up with families, friends, and investigators on our bonus series, After the Verdict.
Ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances with strength and courage.
It does just change your life, but speaking up for these issues helps me keep going.
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The old house was set back from the road, isolated and in a state of disrepair.
Even for a native like investigator Scott Bird, a complete mystery.
I've never seen that house before.
I don't know that I'd ever been on that county road in my career.
Investigators soon learned it was a party spot for kids.
Teenagers had nicknamed it the haunted house.
So it's obvious that people haven't lived here for years.
The floor is gone. It's just joy is going across.
You're going to find snakes in there, other living animals in there.
What were you looking for immediately when you got here?
We looked for shoe prints, what's being left in the dirt, tire tracks, looking for any kind of biological material, blood, hair.
I've got his body cam so we can get a video going over there.
Investigators set up a grid search, combing every inch of the property for clues.
There's good tire tracks that just dead end at the gate and back out.
And then there's spin out marks.
Like someone's been through it recently or something.
They found Chantay's bracelets scattered across the grass.
Here's another pink man right here, John.
She wore a bunch of different colored bracelets.
There was one on this side of the gate and then there was one just on the other side of the gate.
So what did that tell you?
Bracelet here, bracelet there, both on the ground.
Somehow or another, she's losing them off of her arm.
At that point, we didn't know what caused that.
Then, in the gravel, they found strands of brown hair.
You can kind of see right there in this grass where it looks like something's been through here right here.
Yeah, right here, too.
Investigators concluded someone had dragged Shante to the place where she was found.
Our body had been thrown over the fence, and then she was drugged by her hair to the cellar.
Something very brutal happened out there.
You don't just walk and lose your hair and your bracelets and your jewelry.
