Transcript of What The Killer Left Behind

It was almost like Amanda talking from the grave. Is it a crime of passion? Is it a crime of revenge?

What's going on?

When you walk in this apartment, you see Amanda Plass lying there on the floor.

She's bred on her back, and there's blood all around her.

There is no doubt that she was already dead. It wasn't even like she needs help. It was she's dead. My worst enemy, I wouldn't want to have to go through that. It's just horrible.

Not knowing how to even comprehend what had happened. But then still knowing that, Okay, I need to put my child to rest.

Every single person in her life was a suspect. Everybody.

She said she had a lot of bad relationships in the past. Oh, my God.

You know what? Mom ain't playing around no more. Somebody knew something.

Our story begins here in Chicopee, Massachusetts. A small city nestled alongside the Connecticut River. Chicopee is a suburb of Springfield, Mass. It's about 90 miles outside of Boston. Here on bustling Memorial Drive is this busy friendlies restaurant. It's a place for ice cream celebrations and familiar faces. One of those familiar faces, 20-year-old Amanda Plass. More than a waitress, really. Those who knew her said she was the heart of this place.

Amanda really connected with the customers there.

She had a child that used to come in and only liked red gummy bears on a Sunday, so she made his Sunday with just the red gummy bears. That's just how Amanda was. Everybody loved her.

We would come here and we would ask for her because she just brightened our day. She was just a sweetheart.

It was a warm evening in August, right around five o'clock block, and Maline Holmes sat right here in this friendlies waiting for Amanda.

Maline was a customer, and she and Amanda had become friends. They were supposed to meet right before Amanda's shift for dinner.

She used to come here and have dinner with us before she'd start her shift. We had been waiting for her, and then she didn't show. Everybody was concerned.

They were trying to call her, and there was no response.

Everybody was like, Where is she? It was just very strange.

It was very, very strange.

Even more strange was when minutes turned to hours, and the ever-reliable Amanda Plass never arrived for her shift at friendlies. Not long after Amanda fails to show up for work, a frantic 911 call comes into the Chicopee Police Department. The caller is a 22-year-old named Seth Green, and Seth dispatchers that when he went to visit his girlfriend, Amanda, he stepped into a scene of unimaginable horror.

She was lying on the kitchen floor right when I opened the door. It was in a pool of blood, stabbed to death. I called 911. I was still holding her when I called 911. There was no doubt that she was already dead. It wasn't even like she needs help. It was she's dead. She was thin. Throat was slit, multiple stab moments to the chest, right in the heart.

I was the on-call state police detective for that particular day. I got a call to say that there was a homicide occurred in Chicopee.

Ronald Gibbons, who at the time was a detective with the Massachusetts State Police, raced to the crime scene. What's the scene like? You arrive, what are you taking in?

This is the building itself. The Chicopee Police officers had a cordon off this area, had put the yellow tape around it to block anyone from going to the back.

When the first detectives arrived at the scene, Lieutenant Gibbon says Seth was in distress and sitting on the back porch.

He was frantic. He was erratic. He was just a range of emotions.

What was that like for you to see her on that floor?

It's just something that I would never wish upon anybody. My worst tenet me, I wouldn't want to have to go through that. Honestly, it's just horrible.

When you walk in this apartment, you see Amanda Plas lying there on the floor. Describe the position she was in and what you're taking in as you see her.

She's spread out on her back, and there's blood all around her.

Death by stabbing is very often a personal attack on behalf of the perpetrator. You have to be up on top of somebody when you plunge that knife into them.

It was almost like Amanda talking from the grave. Is it a crime of passion? Is it a crime of revenge? There's a lot of slashes here. This was very violent. It looked like she fought.

I had knelt down right next to her. I wanted to imagine or think that she was breathing or something. I literally tried to give her CPR, blow into her mouth, and it literally blew out of her. She was pretty butchered up. It was just horrible.

She's lying on the floor in a pool of blood with multiple wounds, partially dressed, and very dead.

It's around the same time that Amanda's sister, Amy Lee, receives an unexpected visit from her aunt.

And she told me, your sister's dead. Your sister's been murdered. And I remember just crying instantly. I remember screaming. And my aunt is like, We need to find out who did this. We need to find out right now. And as we're in to go tell her, my mom's calling me, and she's saying, Amy, what's going on? My mom's begging me to tell her on the phone what's wrong.

So I went outside, and there were the Chigabee detectives in the state, my daughter, my husband, to let me know that she had been stabbed death.

So in real-time, you're learning that your daughter was stabbed to death. How difficult is it to process all of this that's going on in that moment?

Oh, my gosh. How am I going to bury this kid? Or what a 19, 20-year-old has a life insurance policy. Where do you get the money? Just that whole process of not knowing how to even comprehend what had happened. But then still knowing that, Okay, I need to put my child to rest.

It's something you can never be prepared for.

No, never in a million years.

You see your friend, and they're happy, they're vibrant, they're excited for life, and then all of a sudden, they're gone. And it just didn't make sense. It still doesn't make sense. I had this heavy gut feeling that something really bad was going to happen to Amanda. I was like, Oh, my God, did I manifest this? Did I put that thought out there? And it came true.

Nobody could understand why it happened because Amanda was just friends with everybody. I don't remember Amanda having any enemies.

Every single person in her life was a suspect. Everybody.

Any detective or criminologist is going to tell you that our money is on Seth Green, the most recent boyfriend.

My captain is now saying, head to the station. They got a possible suspect. He's down at the station. They're going to interview him. Needs you there right now. It's a race against time.

I think my knife might have been in her house.

So you have a knife at our house? That knife was not found. Seth was the perfect suspect.

To truly understand Amanda Plass, all you needed to do was look into her eyes.

She can see her soul, the love that she had for everybody and anybody.

Her eyes changed colors. When she was really happy, her eyes would literally turn green.

What stands out to you when you think about her?

Her spirit. Yeah, her energy.

Amanda grew up in Chicopee, once a bustling milltown, now a quiet working-class community known over the rambling Chicopee River.

Chicopee is a small place. Everybody knows everybody.

The neighborhood itself is a very close-knit neighborhood. The houses are pretty adjacent to each other. Very urban residential neighborhood.

How often does it happen that you have a random murder?

A lot of times you have a gang murder. And this was different because this is truly a victim in her own apartment Apartment, a young girl, 20 years old, brutally murdered.

Amanda was the middle child, raised by her mom, Michelle. She attended a local high school, but left before graduating, and instead earned her GED.

She was a hippie child. I often find her barefooted outside, painting or taking pictures of the neighbor's dog, playing her guitar.

Growing up, we were best friends. My mom used to dress us up like we were twins. My mom was a single mother for most of our childhood, and we moved around a lot.

I've always raised my children to be independent, and you get what you earn.

I used to call Amanda the bigger sister. She had a job, a department. Her work ethic was nonstop. Amanda was always dancing around and painting and splashing colors everywhere.

Anything that had to do with being artsy, she would make feather earrings.

When you see a sunflower, you think of Amanda. It became her trademark. When she found the music festival scene, that really is where she started to blossom. She's in her early 20s, and she just found herself right before she passed.

A butterfly coming out of a cocoon. Just the brightness. That was her.

On that tragic Friday in Chicopee, Amanda's boyfriend, Seth, whom she had only been dating for about a week, tells police he stopped by Amanda's apartment and immediately noticed a broken window.

I pounded down the door from this. And then you could try go to her apartment door. Yeah. Turn the handle on the hot. I went to her door and let myself in. And she was laid on the floor in a pool of blood. She got up immediately and called me. You have the right to remain silent. Do you understand that?

Seth had only been dating Amanda for the week.

But he said he had moved his things in, and it was a serious relationship.

I've been hanging out every single day for a week now.

When I get to give him congruence. And the relationship was moving fast, right?

Yeah, I was moving fast. She had that go getter attitude and just a fun, caring person. What were you doing for a living at the time? I'm a Carpenter, but roofing is where the money is at. So roofing was my main go-to, usually for the construction field.

Seth tells police he spent the night at Amanda's, left for work around 9: 00 AM, and returned to find her dead. He also tells investigators he was working on a roof that day and left the job site multiple times to purchase supplies.

What time did you leave to get the materials? They had left like three lines. It was later in the day, 3: 00 to 4: 00?

Like 3: 00 to 4: 00. Seth says he and Amanda had fallen into a routine. Every day after he finished working, When he was gone, Seth would drive Amanda to her job at friendlys. However, the day she was murdered, Seth tells detectives that routine was broken because he had to work late.

He was there every day that week to take her to work But this is the one day that he had to work late. That was suspicious to us.

How important was Seth's timeline?

His timeline is very important. He leaves his job site several times, and he's on his own. So where exactly did he go or where exactly did he do?

He texted and said, Where are you? She didn't answer. My first thought was like, Oh, she stayed home. Maybe she couldn't find a ride.

So you weren't concerned or anything at that point?

No, not at all. I drove straight to her house, expecting to see her there waiting for me.

Oh, my God.

She deserves so much.

I think we can give it all to her. This range of motions does not add up. He's rising to the occasion of being a suspect.

The interrogators zone in immediately on the fact that Seth Green is a carpenter and a roofer. In other words, he uses sharp objects and utility knives all the time.

Then comes a chilling detail that ratchets up the suspicion on Seth. He tells detectives the knife he used at work, a sharp MTEK blade, has gone missing.

But I think my knife might have been in her house.

So you have a knife at her house?

Yeah, I think it might be at her house. Might be in my car as well, I'm not sure.

He was missing his Mtec knife that he didn't take to work that day. That knife was not found. Seth was the perfect suspect.

My girlfriend just got murdered and you're blaming me for it. Dude, are you kidding me?

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Michelle Penna will never forget the final text message she received from her daughter, Amanda.

She sent me a text and said, Mom, can you give me a ride to work? And I said, I can't. And she said, Okay, she'd find a ride.

No one could have imagined that just hours later, 20-year-old Amanda Plass would be gone forever.

Homicides happen all the time. But when it happens to you, I would have never thought that my sister was going to be murdered.

What you stumbled upon when you went to Amanda's house, how does that compare to a lot of other homicides you've covered?

In this particular case, there's droplets of blood all around the room, and that's indicative. This was a very, very brutal and harsh fight.

Well, when we were finally able to get into her apartment, they had covered the floor with paper, so we didn't have to see all the blood. So you're trying to clean out her apartment as I'm walking across paper to cover my daughter's bladder blood. And then who do you ask to help?

My theory is that the attacker came through the back door. When we found Amanda, she's actually in her work pants, her work clothes. There was no evidence of a sexual assault.

She was found on the kitchen floor, and they do believe she was killed there. So not in a bedroom, not in a living room. And that suggests perhaps an element of surprise.

She just didn't lay down and die. She actually fought back. And when she fought back, underneath her fingernails was possibly DNA. And we're going to have to match this DNA to someone.

The first person investigators test? Amanda's boyfriend, Seth Green.

I'm going to do a couple of tests.

We're just going to swipe the inside of your cheek, okay?

The interesting thing, we stepped out of the room, but we still observed them. And he'd cry a little bit and then just wonder why he was there.

I can't believe that. I'm happy with her. I don't think I believe it.

He had only been dating her for a week, and he was so caught up. This is the best thing that ever I've ever had into his life.

But detectives also receive information that points to someone Other than Seth, Amanda had recently told her family that someone had been sneaking into her apartment.

She said, My apartment got broken into again. And I said, Well, what did they take? You need to call the police. And she says, No, Mom. All they took was a glass bowl, like a marijuana bowl. I said, Well, do you still need to call the police? And she said, No, what am I going to do? Tell them my pot got stolen?

Amanda's friends say she suspected an unidentified male was watching her.

She saw him peeking in her back window of her apartment. The window is actually broken, and we surmised that the person possibly had tried to make it look like a break-in. So on that same window, you end up with a palm print. We can identify the palm print. We can also identify the person that would have been there that particular day.

But among the most important piece of evidence found at the crime scene, a bloody sneaker print.

That footprint showed a sneaker print in blood. Solid. You can actually see the Nike impression in that footprint. We had it measured, we had it analyzed. That was very important because it was a smaller shoe, maybe a female, maybe a male. We were looking for a Nike size seven and a half Air Max shoe.

I remember a couple of days And after she was murdered, everybody had went to her apartment in Chicopee Center and just held a memorial. The whole front of her building was just a sea of sunflowers.

That was a really intense emotional time to be in front of the apartment of where she was murdered and just comforting each other, just shocked, not understanding how or why.

And then, a few days after Amanda's murder, there was a funeral.

I just remember it just being beautiful and intense and very heartbreaking. And a lot of sunflowers.

Meanwhile, police aren't giving up on the idea of Amanda's boyfriend, Seth, as a suspect. Within hours of Amanda's murder, they even go as far as to ask him for the shoes on his feet.

Would you give us permission to look at your shoes?

Yeah, you can take them off now.

Let's put up.

Finally, after almost 15 grueling hours, investigators reach a conclusion. Seth Green is not their killer.

His DNA did not match. His shoe print didn't match. His boots were a size 12. It was too large to be the person at the scene.

Clearly, there's some other shoes there that were not mine, and that's the thing that got me released, honestly.

What did that moment feel like for you?

Well, it was definitely a big relief, honestly. When they were walking me out, it was definitely an in awe moment. Finally, I told you guys a million times, it wasn't me.

What is that like to to go through that, to experience the loss, and then to have to face that questioning?

I mean, it's unbearable, honestly. It's like, I just called you guys. Why are you trying to blame me for this? I love this girl.

Seth is officially cleared as a suspect and tells cops there's someone else they should be looking at.

She said she had a lot of bad relationships in the past.

Detectives also want to learn about an ex-boyfriend who was allegedly upset after seeing a public display of affection between Seth and Amanda at friendlies.

While she was working, he had showed up at work, and they started making out.

And detectives say that ex's reaction wasn't very friendly at all. So at the very least, you had to consider that he could have had something to do with this.

Very much so. A motive of revenge is in our mind.

What surprised you most about the conversations police were having with you?

It was hard for me to hear them making me feel like they're asking me questions as if I were the one that did it. Not something I'd ever want anyone to have to go through. It's just horrible.

Any problem with that stuff at all?

She was so happy.

She said she had a lot of bad relationships in the past. Amanda's boyfriend, Seth Green, is fully cleared. But now investigators wonder if one of those previous relationships could be a factor in Amanda's murder. They discovered that before Seth, Amanda had been seeing a man named Jesse.

He was a boyfriend of Amanda basically a week before Seth was, and he also worked at friendlys.

So at the very least, you had to consider that he could have had something to do with this.

Very much so. Jesse wanted a serious relationship. Amanda didn't. And she finds a new boyfriend.

Police learn of an alleged incident at friendlys involving Jesse and Amanda's new boyfriend, Seth, that raises alarm bells for authorities.

Friday was a murder. Thursday night, when Jesse's working, Seth shows up at the friendlies.

Amanda's boss at friendlys tells police Seth came in and kissed Amanda openly. Jesse saw it, and he looked uncomfortable afterwards. Jesse asked to go home a little later.

Jesse moves up the chain as a very likely suspect. A motive of revenge is on our mind about Jesse.

I want to play some of your interrogation from speaking to Jesse.

So you both worked at friendlys on that Thursday, right? Correct. You left work early, right?

Correct.

You told us you left because they overscheduled you, right?

Yeah. Okay. Well, that's not what we heard. We heard that Seth went in there, gave her a kiss that made you uncomfortable. Seth was in there for a while. And he did kiss a man in front of you and it made you uncomfortable. Not that I'd seen. I've seen them talking. It didn't bother me. I was talking to Seth, but I never physically seen them kiss. Not once.

You knew that Amanda was dating Seth?

Yeah.

How did that How did that make you feel?

It sucked, but what are you going to do?

After he left work, Jesse says he texted Amanda about some items they wanted back from each other now that their relationship was over. But investigators press him about the nature of those messages.

Was there any anger in the text?

Not in that text. I don't believe so.

But there was some anger in some other text, weren't there? Yeah.

I was just angry at the fact that she She just didn't talk to me for a few days, and I was just wondering what was going on. I was just pissed that she wouldn't tell me.

And this is the time that she's now with Seth?

I don't know if I knew about it yet, but she's probably talking to him then.

At this point, you're trying to figure out who might have been involved. How does this information fit into your investigation?

We're looking at the fact of who could have done this, who was angry at her. Because as we look at the scene, there's a lot of blood, there's a lot of anger going on. It's not a one and done out the door. Can we also look at your phone?

What? What'd you do with those text messages that you texted her?

Do you delete them all?

Text is hard to delete.

Because you thought they were on contour.

First of all, I didn't want to look at any conversation of me and her just because it made me sad to even think about her. Why is that?

Because she's murdered.

So you deleted him after you found out she was killed? I I didn't even want to have to look at him. Everything reminds me of her.

As an investigator, what do you make about him?

He's trying to hide something. So now there's obviously text that he doesn't want investigators to see. Did you delete him because she's dead or is he part of something that happened to her?

Deleting text messages certainly seems out of the ordinary.

Yes, it does.

Now investigators want to know if Jesse was doing anything out of the ordinary the day of Amanda's murder.

Did you stay home all day?

Most of the day. The only time I really left was to go to a friendly's.

What way did you go there for?

For my check. Did you cash it? No. Actually, yeah, I did cash it. I had a general. How did you get there? I got a ride.

From who? Kyle. He says he goes to General's. We check a tape to verify his story. We learned that Kyle did not drive him there. So Jesse had lied. Jesse, we interviewed you twice already. And were you telling us the truth?

I Then except for about me taking my car, in general. Why weren't you telling the truth about that? Because I told you guys that I didn't drive my car. And then when we got in the story, I remember I took my car to general. I just didn't want to go back my word. I was scared. I don't know. But I may I regret it at the second I did.

You were scared? Yeah.

What were you scared about?

Just nervous. I've never been in a investigated before or anything like that. Never had a deal or anything like this.

Basically, his story is he didn't want to tell his parents he wasn't supposed to be driving, so he's more afraid of his parents than he was of the police. Jesse has lied about who he is with from friendlies, quite possibly if he's in a car by himself. He could have went by Amanda's and then went to Jenrose.

With questions lingering over Jesse's account, investigators decide to compare his shoes to the bloody shoe prints left in the crime scene.

Now, what are those?

Vans? Yeah.

They have two pairs of shoes.

Yeah. That's it.

When I went to the bottom?

Yeah, that was it.

Ultimately, Jesse's shoes are not a match, and his alibi checks out.

We talk to people at General's. He's not bloody. He's cashing his check.

Those close to Jesse never thought for a second that he was capable of such a heinous crime. Tell me about Jesse.

Jesse's a great kid.

When his name was brought up, that was a absolutely not moment.

I've never seen Jessie angry.

Sweetest. Sweetest kid.

I know that was really intense for Jessie. I know that was to be put in that spotlight and to have the whispers, I think that was really hard for him.

With Jessie now fully cleared by authorities, investigators follow another lead, a mysterious vehicle that a witness says she saw speeding away from Amanda's apartment right around the of the murder.

So to us, it's like, wow, that's big. We're on the look out for a white sedan.

And a 911 call comes in that might just turn the entire case on its head. Police, Cora minus Vantage, daily speeding.

I'd like to call to turn myself in.

I have to know what you're turning yourself in for.

A murder.

Just See, there's a couple of things that are bothering me here on your statements.

Amanda's ex-boyfriend, Jesse, raised eyebrows when detectives say he was less than forthcoming with information.

You said you still don't know how she died. I don't. You don't. I find that very hard to believe that you have no idea how she died when everybody's talking about it. It's been on the news.

But after determining Jesse had a solid alibi, he was cleared, and investigators with the Chicopee police and the state police quickly move on. Still unclear who exactly they're searching for.

One of the best clues that investigators find is a shoe print, a sneaker that is a size seven and a half men's shoe, which is very small for men. It's the smallest size you can get in men's shoes. Or it could be a woman's size nine.

Investigators get a new lead from a neighbor of Amanda, a witness who told police, she saw a suspicious car the day of the murder outside Amanda's apartment. And so afterwards, as you're learning more about the scene, you learn about this white sedan that's here that peels away at one point. Right. Not a common thing to do.

Not a common thing to do. And we actually got that information from the neighbor next door. They remember a white car here, and they just remember a single female in a car pulling away at a high rate of speed around the 4: 30 hour. And then we identify who that white car was. Ended up being a girl from East Hampton named Mercedes Benz.

That's right. Her name is Mercedes Benz. Another friend of Amanda's who works of friendlies.

Mercedes was a really nice girl.

She was a waitress here also, and she was friends with Amanda, and we used to talk to her all the time also.

Now it was police who wanted to talk to Mercedes Benz. Mercedes tells detectives that Amanda had texted her earlier that day asking for a ride to work. She said it was a little after 05: 00 PM when she arrived at Amanda's building. This is right around the time police believed Amanda was murdered. Mercedes said she called and texted Amanda to let her know that she'd arrived. But after waiting five or six minutes, she said she left.

We talked to Mercedes Benz, and she says Well, the reason I had to leave was I had to go to Walmart. Does that add up for you? It doesn't add up because her purpose of coming here all the way from East Hampton was to give a ride to Amanda to work, to friendlies, which is basically 5 to 10 minutes down the road. So it doesn't make sense. If you pull up here to get her, why would you just leave without even going upstairs?

But what seems like a promising lead fizzles out. That neighbor who saw Mercedes speed away confirms she never got out of her car, and police obtain surveillance footage from Walmart that backs up her timeline. That's her in the white sedan pulling into Walmart. And more footage shows her shopping inside the store.

Mercedes was basically cleared once we were able to get the tape from Walmart.

It was very interesting. Frustrated, investigators push forward, now casting a very wide net.

I mean, they were taking DNA from everybody and anybody.

We made a point for the medical examiner to make fienel clippings of her fingernails. On this particular case, it was entered in a database, and there was no convictions for a felony that would have matched it.

With no matches to the DNA collected at the crime scene and no viable suspects, the case stalls. What surprised you most about this time?

I think how tight-lipped they were, whether it was Ronny Gibbons or Chicopee detectives. Nobody was talking, even to me. Nobody was talking. They were very tight-lipped about certain things.

How did that make you feel?

It was very frustrating at first because I wanted answers. I would call every Sunday night. I would call down the Chigabay Police Department, looking for the detectives. What's the update? What's the update? What's the update? Got nothing to tell you, Michelle. Got nothing to tell you, Michelle. It's just, at what point is I never gave up. But you just think, is this going to be a cold case? Will I ever know?

That fear of never getting justice for Amanda was fuel for a fire that was now burning inside Michelle.

My mom made it very clear that she wasn't just going to let the case go cold.

I didn't give up hope because Michelle never gave up hope. She never gave up. She didn't let anybody Nobody else either.

Tell me about how after this time it passed that you said, I got to take matters into my own hands.

I was driving home from work and I saw a billboard, and underneath it was Lamar and Company. And I said, You know what? Mom, I'm playing around no more. I called them and emailed them, and next thing I knew, Amanda's billboard went up.

And that's It was the beginning, right? You did flyers.

Balloon releases. I even had cards made up, business cards, with the text a tip number on it. We attached them to the balloons. When we did the balloon releases, one of the balloons ended up three hours away, Cape Cod. Wow. It's been 18 months and five days since Amanda was murdered. So today, I'm hoping with the release of these balloons, that somebody will come forward. Somebody knows something that happened that day. It was a busy Friday afternoon. We're just looking for that one missing piece of the puzzle.

She was just in your face. She really was like, you would be as a mother. We want to find out what happened to your child. And she was out there. She was going to find out.

Michelle's a force.

Despite Michelle's efforts to publicize Amanda's case, the investigation continues to languish. Then a dramatic development. More than a year after the murder, a 911 call comes in that initially stuns police. A man confesses to Amanda's murder. I like to turn myself in. I live in Plymouth.

Spell your last name.

Do I really have to? I'm turning myself in. Right, but I have to know what you're turning yourself in for. A murder. From where, sir? From Chicopee. From Amanda Platt Bay, and I just can't handle it anymore. Cops track down the collar. But just like hundreds of other promising leads, the confession is a dead end. The collar was impersonating another man, trying to get him in trouble. Neither had any involvement in the murder.

They had read it online, facts about the murder. And once you got through the facts, there was no factual basis to the confession. This was a very frustrating investigation.

And then a discovery that blows the investigation wide open.

And I still remember the night. It was probably 10: 00 at night.

I got a call from Ronny Gibbons.

Michelle, you got that whiteboard from the apartment?

A clue that had been hiding in plain sight all along.

I never heard his name.

Had you ever heard Amanda mention something? No. Dennis?

Never. Not once.

Can you spot the clue on this whiteboard?

Where do you guys want me to start?

Nobody could wrap their head around the fact that Amanda was killed to begin with, let alone trying to think of who could do it.

We had a billboard on 391, a huge billboard with this beautiful picture that she took of herself. That day, she was murdered.

Somebody knew something, and nobody was talking.

I kept saying, There's no way that there is no DNA. There's just no way. There has to be something.

There was a white boy way in the back. On a white boy, there was wording in it. Dennis was W-A-Z here. Who's done this?

I got goosebumps right now.

I was on the way to the hospital. They had told me 12 hours before I had her that I was having a boy, and Amanda by Boston was on the radio. Lazzar Godmother and I drove to the hospital, and when she was born, the nurse looked at me and said, It's not a boy. I named her Amanda after the song by Boston.

I know I'll take your last surprise and make you realize, Amanda. I love you.

She was just always bubbly and fun, and she had this big curly hair, and she just... She was a light.

But on that tragic Friday in August, Amanda's bright light was extinguished when she was found brutally murdered in her apartment.

She was lying on the kitchen floor right when I opened the door. She was in a pool of blood, stabbed to death.

I got the call to say that we have a homicide in respond to the scene. So I actually responded to the scene initially.

People in the neighborhood were worried, Is someone going to come to my door and kill me? You don't even think it's real at first. You're numb to it.

Then you're like, Okay, maybe something's a miss.

Maybe this isn't true. Nobody could wrap their head around the fact that Amanda was killed to begin with, let alone trying to think of who could do it.

At the crime scene, police discover a partial palm print on the broken window and a bloody shoe print in the kitchen near Amanda's body. But with lead after lead coming up empty, the investigation is losing momentum.

They interview hundreds of people who knew her, friends, relatives, coworkers, and there is nothing new under the sun. Unless somebody comes forward with new information, this case is going to grow cold.

I think there's this impression sometimes that a murder happens, police will solve it in months. Some cases, they take time, they linger. Was that frustrating for you?

It was very frustrating. Very frustrating because as time goes on, and you have to realize that in 2011, when this occurred, time didn't stop. Investigation didn't stop. Crime didn't stop. So we were working other cases as well.

I was getting nervous that her case was going cold. Somebody knows something that happened that day. We're just looking for that one missing piece of the puzzle.

Amanda's mother, Michelle, takes matters into her own hands, organizing benefits, balloon releases. She even got a massive billboard with Amanda's picture put up on the highway.

I wanted people driving down the highway and seeing my daughter's face. Somebody knew something, and nobody was talking.

But then, a little more than a year after the murder, the story takes a strange turn. Rumors were swirling in Chicopee about graphic crime scene photos seen at a high school football game.

New details on the Chicopee police officers accused of taking pictures of murder victim Amanda Plass's body. It was June 10th of 2013. I will never forget. There was a news conference. It was the then mayor who was appointing a new chief of police and said that they were investigating a crime scene photo leak by two of the Chicopee police officers.

My heart just sank. What do you mean police officers were taking pictures of the crime scene and sharing them?

Two Chicopee police officers who had been assigned to protect the crime scene took photos of Amanda's body with their personal phones. And adding insult to injury, they forwarded the pictures to other officers, and it was shown to coaches at a high school football game.

Everyone, the whole newsroom was, How could anyone do this? How could an officer do this?

Michelle sued the police Department and the city, claiming emotional abuse suffered at the hands of the Chicopee PD.

I sued them for $10 million. I sued the city, the police Department. I sued them all. It wasn't about the money. It was about proving a point.

An internal affairs investigation called the behavior an affront to the professionalism otherwise demonstrated by Chicopee and the state investigators in this case. The officers responsible were disciplined by the police Department.

They were there to protect the scene and at my daughter's most vulnerable moment, you just respect her in the worst way ever and think that's okay. I just Oh, I was mad.

At the same time, Michelle's dealing with the photo controversy. She's campaigning tirelessly to keep Amanda's murder case front and center. What was it like Is it for you to have to handle questions about that controversy, while at the same time, what you're really focused on is finding your daughter's killer?

Yeah, and I think that's the hard part of it all. I didn't want the controversy to overshadow the fact that we still did not have justice for Amanda. We were still looking and begging for that end to be closed.

Investigators working on Amanda's case had no involvement in the alleged scandal. Frustrated by the lack of progress, they go back to square one, reviewing everything from scratch.

We would try to keep saying, What do we miss? What do we miss? What do we miss?

And then a breakthrough. While reviewing photos of the crime scene, investigators spot a potentially critical clue that had been overlooked, hiding in plain sight in Amanda's bedroom.

We come upon in a scene where the table was at, there was a whiteboard way in the back. On a whiteboard, there was wording in it, Dennis was, W-A-Z, here, 811 11.

The grizzly murder took place in the kitchen, but the whiteboard was in Amanda's bedroom, which appeared undisturbed, and they missed the clue.

I got a call from Roni Gibbons, and it was like quarter to ten at night.

Michelle, you got that whiteboard from the apartment?

I said, Yeah, it's in the closet. He said, I'll be over in five minutes. I got to grab it.

After more than two years, investigators finally had a name. But the answer to the question, who is Dennis? Only brings more mystery. This Dennis was here on this whiteboard. This is a huge clue for your case.

This is a big clue. Why? Because Dennis's name had never come up in the investigation.

Now we're scrolling through Amanda's Facebook going, Who's Dennis?

She didn't know. Amy Lee didn't know.

Her My friends were calling me going, Dennis.

Nobody knew who Dennis was. For 100 days, I'm going to cross the seven continents because the answers to everything important are out there at the edges of our world. I'm stepping into the unknown.

Where are we going?

To see our planet. This is amazing. As it's never been seen before. From Pole to Pole. Pole to Pole with Will Smith. From National Geographic, now streaming on Disney Plus and Hulu.

Show me the way. Amanda's friend, Desiree, said through force of sheer will, you kept her name out there. How difficult was that?

It was difficult. It takes a toll. There are some nights where you just, again, you I don't want to be that mom. But then something else would pop up and you'd be like, Okay, let me call Trooper Gibbons. It was tough. It was Very tough.

I have Michelle that was calling me at 11: 00 at night, 12: 00 at night, mad and angry. You got to do something. You got to do something.

There was never a time where Roni did not show up at my house without a smile on his face. The only side that I saw was the compassionate side, the side that said, I'm here to the end.

It was a Wednesday night in October, more than two years after the murder, when Detective Gibbons was the one making a late night phone call to Michelle.

It was October 30th, 2013, quarter to 10: 00 at night. I got a call from Ronny Gibbons. Hey, you still got that whiteboard from Amanda's apartment? I said, Yeah, it's in the closet. He said, I'll be over in five minutes. I got to grab it.

The discovery of a name hiding in plain sight on a whiteboard in Amanda's apartment kickstarts an investigation that, frankly, had been on life support. Now the question everyone is asking, who's Dennis?

No one knew Dennis.

Had you ever heard Amanda mention someone named Dennis?

No. Never. Not once.

And I've never heard his name.

The detectives told me right when they found it. Asking me if I knew the name. I'm like, no idea.

It is such a long shot, but they zone in on that and they decide they need to find out who Dennis is.

One of the things I was missing was her cell phone. We went back to her cell phone records. We came out that there was phone calls. For a number, they came back to a Dennis Rosa Roman. I immediately recognize the name because about a year before, I had actually arrested Dennis Rosa Roman.

Gibbons had arrested Rosa Roman on a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. Rosa Roman played guilty and paid a fine. But now, Gibbons knew exactly who Dennis Rosa Roman was. The question, was this the same Dennis whose name was on that whiteboard?

You have anything further you wanted to ask?

A possible answer could lie in one of the police interviews with Amanda's ex-boyfriend, Jessie.

While Jessie was still dating Amanda, Amanda had told him that she thinks her apartment had been broken into while she was at work.

She thought it was some kid that she had met about to eat off of.

Jessie describes him as being shorter. Jessie's probably 5, 10, 6 feet.

He's got to live somewhere within two second walk. I remember seeing him walking around that area all the time.

Jesse said Amanda told him she had hung out with the person once before, but he had no idea where. Now, Detective Givens is wondering if the man Jesse had been describing in that interview could have been Dennis Rosa Roman. Amanda lives about a half a block away from this park. She used to hang out here, right?

Yeah, this is like a hangout for the neighborhood. And we learned later on this is like where Dennis would hang out during the daytime because he just didn't work.

So they might have come across each other in this park just in passing in the neighborhood.

Exactly.

In the time since Amanda's murder, Dennis Rosaroman had moved from Chicopee to nearby Westfield, Massachusetts. Gibbons decides to pay him a visit. So now we're headed to Westfield, Massachusetts, sits. Why is that significant?

That's very significant because once we found that Dennis was here on the whiteboard and his number is on the phone, we want to locate Dennis.

What's your expectation going there? What are you trying to achieve?

The plan was to knock on his door and talk to him, just like we had talked to over 50 other people in the case, as well as to get his shoe size, as well as to get his DNA. They go to the apartment, ring the doorbell, no answer. And next thing you know, I see from a side alleyway that's between the building, Dennis come out.

And what happens next?

Beautiful timing. But here he is. He comes right around the corner. Just walking right to you. Walking right to us. So I stop him and say, Hey, Dennis, you got a moment? We want to talk to you about Chicopee. We want to talk about a girl named Amanda Plast. His first thing is, he chuckles. He says, Oh, no, I don't go to Chicopee. It's too dangerous there. And I say, Well, how about this girl, Amanda Plast? And he said, I don't know him, Amanda, at all. So I know that from the phone records, yes, he does know Amanda Plast.

In fact, Gibbons knew from those phone records that there were nine calls between between Dennis and Amanda. Dennis had called Amanda five times, just a month before the murder.

I said, Hey, can we go to the police station? He said, No, I got something I got to do. I noticed him light up a cigarette, and he's smoking on a cigarette. And now I'm thinking, Wow, maybe I can get DNA off this cigarette that he's smoking.

Although Gibbons had arrested Rosa Roman a year prior, because he had never been convicted of a felony, his DNA was never entered into the national database. Gibbons says Rosa Roman didn't want to talk to him that day and began to walk away, but not before he tossed the cigarette he was smoking on the sidewalk.

Meanwhile, I told my partners, Go to my car, get a paper bag, give me some rubber gloves. Dennis sees that because he keeps looking back. My partner has come back with rubber gloves. He sees me put them on. He sees that paper bag. He sees me reach down and put that inside that bag.

Two days later, Dennis Rosa-Roman is sitting in an interview room at the Westfield Police Department.

So your first name is Dennis, right? D-e-n-n-i-s.

Engaging in a high stakes game of cat and mouse with investigators.

I don't feel right doing this at all, but I have to. You understand? I'm trying to save my life here.

Outside his home, Dennis Rosa-Roman appears to be acting cool and calm with detectives until he sees them pick up his cigarette butt off the street. Clearly, he's concerned because not long after they leave, he calls Lieutenant Ronald Gibbons.

After seeing me take that cigarette butt, he's now blowing my phone up. Hey, you and I got to talk.

You say you really need to talk to Yeah. Seriously, where do you guys want me to start?

Where they want him to start when they meet with the cameras rolling is very simple. Does he know Amanda Plass?

You knew her? I met her. I didn't know her that long, but I knew her of her. Do you know her first name? Amanda. How much before did you meet her? When did she pass? So like a week or two. Two weeks, the most. So you know her about a week or two before she got killed? Yeah.

He didn't know Amanda at all. And then he comes around to say that, Okay, I did know Amanda, but I would sell her weed.

I'm married by I was like, family's out there by Amy Dauher and Taneshi and Jigami. You remember that? So I've seen her. She asked me if I could get some blood. How many times previously did you get weed for her? Tell me about three times, the most. You Have you been to our apartment? Up the stairs, and that's about it. I've never stepped in her house. I've never seen the inside her house.

As Dennis is talking, he notices detectives checking out his sneakers.

Where's my shoes? Yeah, Nike's Air Max.

What he wears into the station that particular day is this black Air Max shoe. We took the aha moment to say, You know what? Can you take off your shoe? I'm to take a picture of your shoe.

I don't want to see you playing. I'm sorry.

Because the crime scene itself has in print, in blood.

The print that you found on the seam, what size was that?

That was a size seven and a half Nike shoe.

And what size is the shoe that we're looking at?

This is a size seven and a half Nike shoe.

Remember, detectives have had no luck matching those bloody shoe prints to previous suspects. So according to Gibbons, this is potentially damning if confirmed, but still not as conclusive as a DNA match to what was found under Amanda's fingernails. So Gibbons says they get Rosa Roman to agree to a DNA mouth swab.

Just be him out. Just rub that inside of your lip. And do the other side.

Gibbons says he wants Rosa Roman directly tested in case that cigarette butt sample might somehow be contaminated.

Doing great. Under your tongue.

There's a really big difference between you thinking, Hey, I think we got our guy, and you lining it up with the evidence.

This is a matter of fact.

So the day that this all happened, what happened that day?

So Rosa Roman starts telling detectives his version of what happened the day Amanda was killed.

I brought her some lead. Did she call you that day? Yeah, she called me that day. She said, Yo, you're giving me a dime bag. She was not the one that came to the door. The guy opened the He just said, Yo, give me that. And that's it. And I, What about my way?

What Dennis says is that this other guy was at the apartment.

I didn't bother saying anything to the guy. The guy looked like a suspect. He looked like a suspicious of you.

He answers Detective's questions about what he says the man looked like.

I'm 6 feet. So what are you saying? Five, 10, maybe. He's taller than you. Taller than me. He has dirty bondage hair, mutually white. Yeah, he's white. He said he weighed about 171, 190 the most, almost 200 pounds.

And goes on to describe what he claims he heard while outside the apartment.

I'm listening to this guy. I want my money. I didn't give you this shit for no reason. Why would you do this to me? That was the guy's voice? Yeah.

You're asking him questions about the description of the man who made these comments from inside the apartment. Why are you asking him about that?

Because I want to lock him into a story. Will you be consistent with that story or you go on another tangent?

So the guy says something to her like, I want my money. I didn't do this for you. I didn't want my money. I didn't do this for nothing. For nothing? Great. Did you hear her voice? No, I didn't. I didn't hear nothing.

Rosa Roman is consistent, even though Gibbon says he is convinced Rosa Roman is making up his story.

That's all about everything I know, and I can't say no more, no less. You know what I'm saying? So really, I'm sorry, guys. I'm actually helping you guys. You're very helpful.

You know what? Not too many people have told us that they saw the guy there.

So you're aces with me.

I didn't have enough to arrest him at this point. I had to allow him to leave.

Thank you very much.

One interview ends, but Rosa Roman isn't done answering questions. Two days later...

This picture is inside our apartment. You ever seen this?

It's a photo of that whiteboard. What will Rosa Roman have to say when he's shown his name is on it?

And see right here, it says Dennis was here. Dennis, thank you very much for coming in. All right, Dennis. And you've been very cooperative with us. We appreciate that.

Dennis, Rosa and agrees to another interview.

I wish I could do more to help you guys.

Repeating the story, detectives say they don't believe that he never entered Amanda Plas' apartment the day of her murder after he claimed some man answered her door.

I'm going to have to get her some lead. He's like, Well, she's busy right now, and I give him. He shuts the door damn hard in my face, and that's it. I was like, Okay, this guy's mad, and I'm about to leave.. And I left. You know what I'm saying?

But Rosa Roman says that was long enough for the man to recognize him.

I feel like this guy is going to run into me one day and just try to say something to me or hurt me or something, and that's when I'm going to peel my ass to the police station. Yeah. Is that because he saw you that day? This guy knows what I look like.

But what Rosa Roman doesn't know is that Gibbons is expecting critical evidence to the case to come back at any moment, the results from his DNA swab.

You were asking me about this picture, right? Yeah, I want to see.

So before that happens, Gibbons confronts Rosa Roman for the first time about that all-important whiteboard where it says Dennis was here.

This picture is inside where a All right. You ever seen this? First time I'm seeing it.

We said, First time I'm seeing it. And then, Well, how about this? This white boy that's in the back room.

And see right here? It says, Dennis was here. Oh, yeah, I do remember that. I wrote my name on that. You wrote your name on that? Yeah, I wrote my name on that.

So he's admitting to you that that's his name on the whiteboard?

You've told me all this time you've never been in an apartment, and now I got you in there.

So you signed Dennis was here? You didn't put the date? No, I didn't. I don't even know why that was there. But you remember this dry race board? Yeah, I do remember. Where was the dry race board? In the back of the door right when you come in. It was right there.

As he is confronted with the evidence, he shapeshifts. He manages to keep changing his story to try to ameliorate the facts in front of him. There are certain people who can make up things on the fly and change their narrative based on the clues that are being given to them.

You said you've never been inside of a place. I have been in her house, but I just don't want people to look at me like if I'm going to go to murder.

So now this is the first time that he actually puts himself in the apartment.

But you went in the apartment. How many other times since you've been inside? Twice. Two times, that's it. And we were waiting for it. To bring her weed and smoke the phone and sign this. So the room that you were in was that back room, the kitchen, and the back room. That's about it.

The back room was where the whiteboard was.

So what are you putting together at this point?

I'm putting together at this point that he, in fact, had not only been in that back room, he'd also been in the kitchen at some point where the crime occurred.

Remember, Amanda had told friends she suspected someone had broken into her apartment, and Dennis says she had asked him about that.

You said that Amanda approached you about somebody breaking into her place. She asked me, Oh, somebody came into my house. Do you guys know? I was like, Well, I really don't know. I don't know what to tell Now, Gibbon suspects that someone was Rosa Roman.

Then, a few minutes later, a huge development. The detectives get called to leave the interrogation room.

How much longer is this going to take? Five minutes.

Outside, they get the news the DNA results are in. Rosa Roman is a match for what was found under Amanda's fingernails. They soon dropped that bombshell on him directly.

The DNA that was found under Where her fingernails connects you to her. You know what? It doesn't just get there.

Dennis is now thinking in his mind, How do I get out of this?

And what he tells them next totally flips the story on its head. He now claims he tried to save Amanda.

I know the fucking murder risk, and I tried to save her life.

What's he trying to do here?

He's trying to create a situation of why we have his DNA, why his DNA is possibly on her.

He's casting himself almost as the hero in Yes, he is.

Well, why don't you tell us everything that happened in the apartment? I know he killed a murderer. That's all I know. I can't give you no more. I'm sorry. You said he tried. I want a lawyer. I want a lawyer. Okay.

Givan says asking for a lawyer stops the interrogator station room recording immediately. So you don't see the scuffle that he says breaks out when detectives handcuff Rosa Roman and place him under arrest.

You don't have to be aggressive with me. You didn't have to be that aggressive.

And then they have him booked. He's charged with first-degree murder. This is over two years after Amanda was killed. They tell you we are making an arrest. What did you think?

Finally. Finally. You always I wonder why. Why? Why?

Dennis, though, is admitting nothing.

Were you guys trying to pin me for this murder, too? My DNA may be on your body. My DNA may be in the house. But you guys really don't know what the fuck went down.

But after he's reported from the Westfield Police Department to Chicopee, he's about to explain.

He demanded to speak to myself and Watson again. So he didn't come to the door. You actually went inside.

I went inside. I barged in.

Was the door open?

The door wasn't locked.

As Rosa Roman tells them the newest version of his story, he now claims when he hears the commotion inside a man's apartment, he rushes in and fights the man he says was trying to kill her.

What do you see when you get to the kitchen?

I see the guy on top of her.

When you say he was on top of her, where was she at?

She was on the floor.

What are you doing?

I'm hustling with the guy trying to get the knife out of his hand, and he's just thrusting it, thrusting it, thrusting it forward towards me. And I'm trying to back up, and I tried to grab Amanda, and she scratched me. She scratched me. She got some skin off of me. But that was because I was trying to save her.

That's right. Rosa Roman now claims he tried to save Amanda's life. This is the key to his new story. Story, his explanation for why his DNA is under Amanda's fingernails, even though he says he didn't kill her.

And after that, me and him were tussling, and the guy punches me in the fucking jaw, and I had to run out the door.

And that's what his story was, that this guy is now following him around town. He's now being threatened by this guy because this guy doesn't want the truth to come out. What did he tell you?

You snitch on me, I'm going to kill you. Just like that. I know I killed her, and that's it. It's done.

But now, Rosal Roman has to tell that story in court. The trial the man accused of killing 20-year-old Amanda Plas is getting underway today in Springfield. And he says he can identify who Amanda's killer is.

Amanda Plass's parents sat hand in hand with Justice for Amanda bracelets on as they waited for the murder trial of their 20-year-old daughter to begin. I think I broke down more so in the courtroom, just looking at him.

It's hard to describe how it felt to see him for the first time. It's like a fever dream. Like, is this really happening? But my mind was not on him. My mind is on my sister.

When I was selected for the jury, it was surreal. It was definitely a bit of, Oh, my God, what am I in for? The home that Amanda lived in was two houses from where my mother grew up and my grandmother lived. It just became very personal. Evidence in this case will show that on Friday, August 26th, 2011, Amanda Plass was brutally murdered in her home.

Ms. Plass was getting ready to go to work when the defendant came into her apartment while she was getting ready and snatched her six times.

Prosecutors lay out their case against Dennis Rosenroman. There are the bloody footprints in his shoe size, his palm print on the broken window, and his DNA under Amanda's fingernails. They argue that Dennis, and only Dennis, committed this crime.

One set of bloody footprints, one major male DNA profile under the both her right-hand and left hand fingernails. One killer, one defendant.

They literally took us from A to B to C to D. They laid out every single piece of evidence. They correlated every piece of evidence to him.

In addition to the physical evidence, prosecutors also use Dennis's own words against him.

Is she right here that says Dennis was here? Oh, yeah, I do remember that. I wrote my name on that.

Each time he's confronted with evidence, he changes his story to fit the evidence.

I think it was important for them to see the three interviews because it showed Dennis as agreeing to some of the facts, denying some of the facts, and then coming around and changing the stories repeatedly.

But while the prosecution says the evidence proves Dennis's guilt, the defense argues that it isn't what it seems.

He was in her apartment when Amanda Plante was killed.

He did not do it, but he noticed the guy who did it.

The last story he told was that he was there with another man And he saw the other man kill Amanda, but he will never give the name because he was afraid the killer would kill his family.

And he tells you how many times he's afraid for himself.

He's afraid for his family.

Charge me. I'm not giving up his name. My name pops up, meaning if they capture him and my name pops up, he's going to kill me. Dennis's version of events kept changing over those three police interviews. In his final one, Dennis had a new detail for detectives, that the alleged killer was none other than his own drug dealer. Your dealer went to her house? Yeah. Your dealer?

My dealer. The two of you walking the house together? Yeah.

He had said he was there because he had given Amanda pot and she had not paid. So he said that the drug dealer killed Amanda and he saw it.

I'm like, Yo, why are you doing this? I'm going to get you your money. And I tried to grab her and she grabbed my arm and he just keep going and going and going and going.

What do you mean he's going and going? He's stabbing her?

He continuously stabbing her. She just collapsed on the floor after I separated her.

You think she was dead?

I know she was dead. I was just thinking to myself, How do I get myself out of this?

The defense strategy was basically that the police should look further.

They continually brought up other people to say, Well, it could have been them, or it was them, or it was this, or just to Two tried to have a sense of doubt.

After eight days of testimony, the fate of Dennis Rosa Roman now rests with the jury.

When we retired to the jury room to deliberate, we took a photo of Amanda It was a closeup of her face with her smile, and we hung that in the jury room just so we could remember why we were there and what this was all about. It was hard. You don't ever want to think of your best friend going through something that awful.

And that was her final moments. And then bringing that into the trial, it was just...

It's terrible.

It's terrible.

To this day, it's just... There's no words.

After only five hours of deliberation, the jury reaches a verdict.

We were sitting in the DA's office in the break room, and next thing you know, you're here running down the hall. That the jury came back. Breaking news this hour. A guilty verdict today in the Amanda Plas murder trial.

The jury today found Dennis Rosa-Romand guilty of first-degree murder.

We had a couple jurors who weren't quite sure. One of them wanted to review a bunch of evidence again, and his commentary the whole time was, Look at him.

He's He keeps changing his answers.

And we very quickly came to a unanimous decision that Dennis was guilty.

When that moment, you felt?

Relief, definite relief. Now I can put an end to this chapter.

Despite a guilty verdict, there's still the unanswered question hanging over this case, and that's, why did Dennis Rosa Roman, kill Amanda Plass in the first place? Dennis Rosa Roman has been found guilty of the murder of Amanda Plass, but the one mystery that still remains is motive.

I don't know why. There's only one person who knows why, and he never spoke, so that's definitely the hardest of it. There wasn't a bad bone in that child's body. She never did anything wrong to anybody.

Lieutenant Gibbons has developed his own theory as to why he believes Dennis Rosa Roman murdered Amanda. He says he learned during the investigation that there was a bag of marijuana inside Amanda's apartment left behind by someone else. Gibbons says investigators were never able to find that bag and suspects Dennis broke in looking to steal it.

Dennis is a low-level dealer in the neighborhood. My theory is that he wanted to steal that weed that was in the apartment, and Amanda just was a victim of circumstances that she happened to be there when he arrived.

Before Rosa Roman is sentenced, Amanda's mother, surrounded by family, tearfully addresses the court.

On August 26, 2011, my world was forever changed. My pain does not end here, but my healing begins. I think at that point, it was finally my time to to tell him, you took something precious from this world, and I hope you never see the light of day again. There is no amount of time that will ever bring Amanda back. I would like to ask for to hand out the highest sentence possible of life without a rule.

It's the justice Michelle Penna has spent more than five years fighting for. Court is hereby sentence you to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Cedar Junction for the term of your natural life without the possibility of parole. As you look at him and you see that he's getting life without parole, what emotions are going through you at that time?

It was a relief knowing that we were finally at another closing point.

Did you feel like justice had been served?

No, justice will never be served because she's dead and he's not.

As for those officers who snapped those photos of Amanda's body at her most vulnerable moment, the mayor of Chicopee released a written apology. Michelle also reached a resolution in the lawsuit she filed. Plasas family sued the city of Chicopee and the police Department.

The lawsuit was settled for $110,000.

Michelle continued her fight and helped pass Amanda's law.

The bill bans first responders from taking and sharing unauthorized pictures of crime victims.

For an officer to want in that moment to take a picture of a scene like that, it makes my stomach turn. My mom wanted to make it known that you're never doing that again.

Today, Michelle keeps Amanda's memory alive by sharing her story with college students.

This is about the path that I have taken, the path that has helped me to my healing process. I want people to know that grief never goes away. But dealing with it or trying to deal with it or put a bandaid on enough to get you through every day is what you have to do.

Thank you again.

Thank you so much.

Oh, these are great. That's her and Brandon. Brandon is my son. See just how the happiness on his face and her big smile. I have always said that Amanda passing saved my life because Because I knew that I wanted to make her proud. She really helped me become the woman who I am today.

She was just a very kind person and wanted to help the world be better. That's just something I hope everyone can try to do.

Do you feel like she's with you now?

Oh, yeah. Oh, absolutely. All the time.

If you could have one more minute with her, one more second to say something to her, what would you say?

What she always said and what she always did. Keep your face to the sun, never look back at your shadows, just like her precious sunflowers.

Dennis Rosa Roman appealed his conviction, but it was denied. And David, even though he was sentenced to life without parole, there's still a chance he could walk free one day as early as 2028.

A Massachusetts court has ruled that it's unconstitutional to sentence offenders under the age of 21 to life without parole.

Rosa Roman was 20 at the time of Amanda's murder. Her family tells 2020, they plan to fight this new ruling. That's our program for tonight. I'm David Muir. And I'm Deborah Roberts. From all of us here at ABC News and 2020, good night.