Original subtitles

Narrator:

Narrator: In November of 2007,

Lynn Dodenhoff experienced a parent's worst nightmare.

Lynn Dodenhoff: Christine and I, we just had a fight.

That's the last time I ever saw her.

Narrator: She received a phone call that changed her life forever.

He said, "Lynn, your daughter went missing."

This desperate mother stopped at nothing to find her child.

I promised her I'd never let her down, ever.

Narrator: A two year investigation had police struggling

to put the pieces together.

Shawn Sarver: They discover the journal

and they start looking at her possibly trying

to get rid of her kids and escape.

Brandi Bacon: We all tried to warn her about him.

He was not a good guy.

Michael Farlow: Our primary witness had been pegged

by the best science available as a liar.

Sarver: The map showed us where the ditch was.

So it was pretty easy to follow.

Narrator: And there's only one place

to dig up the answers.

Sarver: We walked through the backyard,

and soon we would make a horrific discovery.

Narrator: Nestled on the banks of the scenic Pocomoke River

in eastern Maryland is the River House Inn,

a charming and historic bed and breakfast.

Snow Hill, Maryland is a quaint little town

that's located in Worcester County.

And you do have a lot of bed and breakfasts in the area,

and the River House Inn being one of the more popular and famous old ones.

Michael Farlow: This was a beautiful property

and because it was so beautiful,

people would have weddings there,

birthdays, graduation parties.

Narrator: The cozy bed and breakfast usually slows down

when the weather turns cold.

But that wasn't the case in the winter of 2010,

when the backyard of this peaceful inn

became the focus of a homicide investigation.

Sarver: I remember the day like it was yesterday:

February 19, 2010.

It was a cold day. The ground was slightly frozen.

We walked through the backyard of this historic bed and breakfast.

I think everybody's mood was somewhere

between excited that we might fight an end to this case

and upset over the fact that what we were going to find

was not gonna be a good end.

Narrator: Detectives were carefully following a hand-drawn map,

and what they'd unearth beneath the X would put an end

to an agonizing years-long investigation.

In the fall of 2007,

Lynn Dodenhoff had welcomed her two young grandsons

and her 26-year-old daughter, Christine Sheddy, to live with her.

Dodenhoff: I would do anything for Christine.

You know, I wasn't the best mom in the whole world, you know.

I thought maybe this would be my opportunity to be better.

Narrator: Christine was a single mom

who had just suffered a bad breakup

and she wanted nothing more than to start a new life,

but money was tight

and friction between Lynn and Christine

sometimes boiled over.

Dodenhoff: Christine and I were like two peas in a pod.

But when you get two women living in the same house,

you're gonna have some issues.

Brandi Bacon: She loved her mom to death, you know?

But they were both bullheaded,

so, you would knock heads.

Narrator: And on one cool November morning,

an argument over the grocery bill went too far.

Dodenhoff: Christine and I, we just had a fight.

She pushed me, I pushed her.

Said things, you know,

I can't take back.

All I remember is seeing her holding the baby,

holding Isaac's hand and just walking.

We didn't say anything, 'cause we were just mad.

That's the last time I ever saw her.

Christine was an old soul.

Would make you laugh. Christine was funny.

She was really funny.

Had a very giving spirit.

Man on video: Oh, there she is!

Bacon: She was rambunctious, comical,

and always into something.

And this is a nylon shirt,

and it ties.

Bacon: We both ended up having boyfriends about the same time.

Her first love, my first love, were friends of each other.

Dodenhoff: Christine met James through hanging out with her friends.

It was like one day she was single,

next day there was James.

Narrator: James, nicknamed Jimbo, was a 17-year-old

who swept the high school junior off her feet back in 1997.

Bacon: Jimbo was fun-loving, easygoing.

They were both comical.

Christine loved that he could joke with her.

Jimbo was her first love.

Jimbo was everything to her.

Narrator: But Christine and Jimbo's young romance was cut short

by a tragic accident.

Dodenhoff: James worked as a construction worker,

and James fell off a building,

and he broke both his ankles,

and in the process when going through the X-rays,

there was a spot found on his leg bone

and it turned out to be Ewing sarcoma.

Narrator: This rare, deadly bone cancer was already advanced

by the time James was diagnosed.

And after three painful years, he lost his battle.

Bacon: He was her love, above and beyond all.

And when he passed, Christine lost part of herself.

She took it very hard.

Narrator: Losing Jimbo paralyzed Christine for nearly a year.

Feeling vulnerable and desperate for companionship,

the 22-year-old found comfort

by reconnecting with former classmates and old friends.

Dodenhoff: After James died, Christine decided, you know,

to hang out with her friends and to try to, you know, forget,

and that's when she met Mitch.

Mitch was very different from James.

I-- I thought he was kind of a dullard.

Didn't seem to have much going on,

and, um, he was very controlling.

And he had been known to be violent.

He was not a good guy.

Mitch was not a good guy.

I tried on several occasions

to tell Christine, "This is not the guy for you,"

but the more you pushed, the harder she pushed back.

Christine was gonna do what she was gonna do.

Narrator: Despite their rollercoaster relationship,

Christine was content spending weekends with Mitch,

and weekdays with her mom.

When she found out she was pregnant,

she hoped it would bring she and Mitch closer together.

Christine thought maybe this would help smooth things over.

And soon baby number two arrived.

But Mitch's temper continued to spiral out of control.

Dodenhoff: After a weekend with Mitch,

and right before Christine went missing,

he had beat her up.

She had, you know, the black eye and bruises

on her arms.

Christine was scared to raise her children

with the type of father figure that Mitch was.

He was very mentally, verbally, and physically abusive to her.

And she knew the only way to get out

was to get away from him.

Narrator: Christine finally mustered the courage to break up with Mitch,

but that meant more time spent at home with her mom.

The two constantly butted heads,

until a particularly bitter argument in November of 2007.

Christine took the boys

and went to stay with one of her best friends, Tia Johnson,

who lived in Worcester County, Maryland, 75 miles away.

Dodenhoff: Christine and Tia, you know,

they shared a lot of similar things,

like they were both single moms.

You know, so they could relate to each other.

So when we had a fight Christine called Tia,

and go down to the farm just to get away.

Narrator: Tia and her two kids already shared her farmhouse

with her boyfriend, Junior Jackson,

and her cousin, Justin Hadel.

But happily opened her doors to Christine and the kids.

Dodenhoff: I knew that she wasn't leaving for good.

It's not like we haven't had these little tiffs before.

Narrator: But two weeks after Christine stormed out,

Lynn got the news that no mother ever wants to hear.

I got a phone call from Tia's boyfriend Junior,

saying that Christine was missing.

And I said, you know,

"What are you talking about, Christine's missing?

He said, "We checked all around. I couldn't find her.

I already reported her missing."

Narrator: Even more worrisome, Christine's boys,

ages two and four, were left behind.

Dodenhoff: Well, my immediate thought when I got the phone call,

I said, "Christine would never leave her kids."

She would never do that.

She'd die first.

Bacon: I was on the phone with Lynn.

She really didn't go into too much detail that morning.

I knew she was in her own panic,

but we knew something wasn't right.

( police radio chatter )

Farlow: When police got the missing person's report,

they went to Byrd Road,

which was the residence Christine was living at

on a small farm.

Any missing person's case,

the investigators want to try and find out

was there any motivation for the person to leave of their own accord.

They found Tia, Junior, and Justin there,

and they had interviewed all three.

Farlow: Tia reported when she came back home, after doing some errands,

she discovered that Christine was gone.

She was concerned because it was unusual

for Christine to leave her children there unattended.

And she went outside

and she started yelling for Justin and for Junior.

They were at the farm,

but they weren't inside the farmhouse.

And a few minutes later

they came from the area of the woods.

Narrator: When officers questioned them,

Justin and Junior said they had no idea

where Christine could be.

So, police began a routine search of the grounds.

Sarver: The deputies take a look around,

observing the house and the area around that house,

They didn't find anything suspicious.

Narrator: While searching every corner of the farmhouse

for her missing friend,

Tia discovered an ominous clue.

Farlow: Tia Johnson found a thank you letter from Christine to Tia

thanking her for cordiality in letting Christine stay at the house,

letting the children stay there.

And it almost seemed like it was a good-bye letter.

Narrator: Police were baffled.

Had Christine left on her own?

Or was something more sinister going on?

Farlow: Investigators were really concerned

about what had happened to Christine because she had no vehicle of her own.

That meant that either she left the property of her own accord on foot,

or that somebody had come there and taken her off of the property.

Investigators start looking at Christine as possibly trying

to get rid of her kids and escape.

At that point in time,

Lynn and the Worcester County sheriff's department

just didn't get along.

Dodenhoff: In my heart of hearts,

I didn't think there was enough being done.

So I took it upon myself to search for her.

Narrator:

Narrator: In November 2007,

grieving mother Lynn was desperate for answers.

Her daughter Christine had disappeared

from her friend's farmhouse,

leaving her two young sons behind.

Less than three hours after she went missing,

Christine's concerned roommates told police they had no idea

where Christine had gone.

Farlow: The investigators don't think

that Tia, Junior, or Justin were involved,

because all three of them are concerned for her safety.

All three of them are relaying to the investigators

that they wonder what has happened to Christine.

Narrator: Tia felt in her gut that something was wrong,

because it was unlike Christine to leave her boys alone.

She couldn't stop thinking

that maybe Christine's ex-boyfriend

may have had something to do

with her friend's disappearance.

Sarver: Tia informed the police

that they needed to speak with Mitch Hill,

the estranged boyfriend of Christine.

Bacon: We all tried to warn her about Mitch.

I knew from prior experiences that he was not a good guy.

Dodenhoff: Mitch was very abusive to my daughter,

but Christine was gonna do what she was gonna do.

She loved him.

Farlow: Investigators were now very worried

that this person who was an abusive boyfriend

may have had something to do with Christine's disappearance.

Dodenhoff: When Christine first went missing,

my first gut instinct was

that Mitch killed Christine.

Farlow: So investigators go to talk Mitch Hill.

He tells them right up front

that he and Christine have had a number of problems

over the years, but they've worked on reconciling their differences.

And he tells them that on the day that Christine disappeared,

he was working.

And he wants to know where Christine is

as badly as anyone else.

Narrator: Mitch's alibi was air-tight,

but he seemed to be holding something back.

And when investigators pressed him harder,

he handed over a new piece of evidence.

And it convinced them

that Christine may not be missing at all.

Sarver: While talking to the deputies,

Mitch offers to give the deputies a journal

that Christine Sheddy had been keeping.

When the investigators start looking through the journal,

they discover the names and numbers of three adoption agencies.

Narrator: Police couldn't understand

why a doting mother like Christine would want

to contact an adoption agency.

Could it be that motherhood overwhelmed her,

and she was looking for a way out?

Sarver: So, investigators start looking at Christine as possibly trying

to get rid of her kids and escape.

At that point they charge her with child abandonment.

It was like a big slap in the face for me.

'Cause I thought they were, you know, looking for her.

So, immediately called down to district county bureau of investigation,

and got the guy on the desk,

and I just ripped him a new one.

Christine would never leave her kids.

She has had her butt beaten and not left her kids.

So, why would she, you know, leave her kids now?

Bacon: Christine would never put her kids up for adoption.

She was wanting to give them a better life.

It was unfair, because they didn't know Christine.

Christine was with her kids 24/7.

Narrator: Lynn knew her daughter wrote in a journal

as a way to work through life's hardships.

What they don't realize is the way

that Christine would process stuff.

She would write it down,

rather than act on anything just to get it out.

Farlow: Even though investigators had come to the belief

that Christine had left on her own,

they still continued to conduct searches.

Law enforcement put out a poster

for a missing person for Christine,

but even though the poster was out there,

there were no tips and there was no new information from that avenue.

Narrator: Once detectives cleared Mitch Hill as a suspect,

they seemed to hit a brick wall.

Frustrated by the lack of leads,

Lynn was determined to stir things up.

Lynn continued to urge law enforcement

and push them to do what they needed to do.

She never gave up.

Dodenhoff: When Christine went missing,

you know, that was kinda like-- You know, I can't be quiet.

And, uh, I promised her I'd never let her down.

Ever.

Farlow: At that point in time,

Lynn and the Worcester County sheriff's department

just didn't get along.

Lynn would call them constantly,

trying to get updates on the case,

providing information that Lynn would accumulate on her own.

She never let up.

Dodenhoff: I was on the local news.

I talked with reporters and newspapers.

One way or another, we just need to bring her home.

In my heart of hearts, I really--

I didn't think there was enough being done.

So, I took it upon myself

to go to the farm and search myself.

I kinda prepared myself 'cause I was looking for my daughter's body.

I even went so far as to Google

what state of decomposition I would be stumbling upon.

Something I did, yeah, I guess maybe to harden myself,

take myself away from it.

But I would just walk and look for any kind of sign,

like clothes or mounds of dirt.

I befriended the neighbor, the next door neighbor.

We became really good friends.

I mean, we'd walk the woods for hours.

Like eight hours at a time.

Narrator: As weeks turned into months,

Lynn fought back anxiety and despair,

in her relentless search for Christine.

But nearly two years after her daughter's disappearance,

she was still in the dark.

Farlow: By 2009, the case has grown cold.

There's no new information about Christine.

There's nothing on her bank accounts.

No one has heard from Christine in almost two years.

And all of a sudden something happens.

On March 24, 2009,

a body is discovered in Westminster, Maryland.

Narrator:

Narrator: In March 2009,

15 months after Christine Sheddy vanished,

a grisly discover was made in a Baltimore suburb.

Farlow: Somebody is going hiking through the woods

in Westminster, Maryland,

which is about a hundred and fifty miles

from Pocomoke, the place where Christine disappeared.

And this individual discovers

the skeletal remains of a young woman

who appears to have died from blunt force trauma.

Because they're skeletal remains,

the investigators can't just do a visual confirmation of her identity.

But because there are no other missing persons in the immediate area,

investigators begin to wonder.

Could these be the remains of Christine Sheddy?

Dodenhoff: My daily routine was get on the computer all day,

and do research or whatever trying to find my daughter.

And I came across this article

that said there was skeletal remains found

in Westminster, Maryland.

I was on the phone with Lynn.

We kept in communication.

And we were waiting on pins and needles

to see if it was Christine.

They said it seemed to have belonged to a petite female.

Okay, my daughter was five-three,

a hundred-- a hundred and four pounds.

So, I thought this would be Christine.

Narrator: Lynn tried to cope with the awful possibility

that Christine had suffered a terrible fate

150 miles away from home.

As she mulled over a thousand grim scenarios,

she got a call from police.

Unfortunately, investigators determined that the skeletal remains

ultimately isn't Christine Sheddy.

Narrator: The belonged instead to a sex worker from Baltimore,

missing since 1997.

And all of a sudden all of the hope

that Lynn Dodenhoff had

that her daughter had been found disappeared,

and she's back to square one.

The whole thing had kinda like come to a standstill.

Just one of those obstacles that I had to get through,

you know, in order to find my daughter.

Narrator: But if the body wasn't Christine's,

then where was she?

To police, the most plausible theory was

that Christine was trying to get rid of her kids and escape.

I got a phone call from a detective,

from a local police department.

And he's like, "Let me tell you something.

Your daughter was sponge on society,

because of her lack of work history,

and she simply ran away.

Bacon: Christine didn't have a job,

because her job was them kids.

Wherever she went her children were there.

You know, and it's hard being a single mom

when you don't have no child support, nothing.

Who's gonna pay the daycare?

Who's gonna take care of the kids

when I do get a job?

It was very hard for her.

Dodenhoff: I just burst into tears.

I said to the detective,

"You know what? She was my daughter."

Nobody has the right to say anything like that,

and especially somebody

that was sworn to protect and to serve.

Narrator: But instead of giving up,

Lynn doubled down on her own crusade to find Christine,

by any means necessary.

Dodenhoff: From the time I got up in the morning,

until the time I went to bed, I was on the computer.

Taylor: Lynn would call, would e-mail.

Would just bother anybody

and anybody that could help her get the story out

about her missing daughter.

They were sharing missing person flyers

to all the different media outlets

to get attention on the case.

I was very receptive,

because I always think about the family,

what it must be like.

And if you talk to Lynn,

you know that it was not normal for Christine

to take off and just leave her kids behind.

Bacon: You know, a lot of people thought maybe

Christine ran away or, you know, she gave up.

But Lynn, she was gonna make sure Christine had justice.

And on the other side, on the dark side,

there was a lot of people that, you know, were really evil.

There was another blog and they would write,

"Your daughter was a slut."

Or, you know, that kind of stuff.

There were people that were writing in, you know,

about they didn't think Christine was,

you know, worthwhile to look for and this kind of thing.

That's what anonymous people do on blogs.

Farlow: Lynn ultimately wasn't willing to just sit around

and wait for leads to develop.

She ended up being the lead investigator

of this case for so long,

because she just would not let any lead go away.

Narrator: Lynn reached out to anyone who knew Christine.

Hoping that someone had seen or heard from her.

No one had any information,

including her close friend Tia Johnson,

who stopped returning Lynn's calls.

I figured, Tia's a mom.

You know, Tia's a woman.

And you would think that she has some kind of empathy

for what I was going through.

Narrator: Lynn wondered since it had been over two years

since Christine went missing from the farmhouse,

had Tia simply moved on or was there more to her story?

Farlow: During the course of Lynn's investigation,

she found out that several of Tia's family members

thought that Tia knew more than what she had led on.

Narrator: Lynn wasn't about to let anyone off the hook.

So, she plied Tia for information.

So, I would, for lack of a better term,

stalk her.

I would-- I was relentless.

I would do it publicly on a blog.

I would do it, you know, on the radio.

I even got on her MySpace,

and just tore her up.

Narrator: Tia was a dead end.

But in February 2010,

Lynn's investigation finally turned up a promising lead.

Farlow: Lynn is able to learn

that Junior is living in Tennessee.

And he was actually arrested

for burning his neighbor's apartment.

Narrator: Junior Jackson, Tia Johnson's boyfriend,

was at the farm the day Christine went missing.

And now, because of an arson charge,

he was in prison in Tennessee.

So, because of his criminal past and Tennessee's third strike rule,

Junior was looking at a third strike for felony arson,

and therefore, he was looking at life in prison in Tennessee.

Narrator: Junior was desperate to make a deal to avoid prison time,

and reached out to Lynn with an offer.

Sarver: I advised the state's attorney that we had fresh information

that Junior wanted to talk.

And when you get information like that,

you have to act very, very quickly.

Dodenhoff: Junior wrote me a letter from jail,

and he wants to give me what I was looking for for two years.

And I thought,

"Finally, somebody's listening to me.

Finally, somebody believes me."

Narrator:

Narrator: In February 2010,

Narrator: In February 2010, after almost three years

of searching for her missing daughter Christine,

Lynn Dodenhoff finally got the break she'd been praying for.

A letter from Junior Jackson, Tia Johnson's ex-boyfriend.

Farlow: In the letter Junior is willing to confess that he knew

where Christine's body was,

and that he would help the Maryland authorities locate that body,

if they would help him get out of the charges in Tennessee.

Junior wants my help and he would give me my daughter.

You know, it's like, finally!

You know, finally there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

Farlow: The prosecutors and investigators were able

to work out a deal.

They take Junior back to the farm,

where he, Tia, Justin, and Christine had been living.

Junior tells investigators exactly what happened.

On the day that Christine disappeared,

Tia had gone to run some errands,

Christine's children had fallen asleep,

and Christine and Junior had gone into the woods

to have sex.

Narrator: Junior claimed he and Christine were wildly attracted

to each other.

But that was a problem for his roommate Justin Hadel,

who had a big crush on Christine.

Justin ended up following into the woods a few minutes later,

saw the two of them,

became incredibly jealous.

And ended up getting a shovel,

coming back to where they were having sex,

and beat Christine with the shovel until she was dead.

Narrator: According to Junior,

Justin was filled with jealousy and rage,

because he was under the delusion

that Christine had feelings for him.

But was Junior telling the whole story?

In many cases, when you have a defendant

who is willing to provide testimony

against a co-defendant,

they're going to minimize their own involvement

in whatever happened

in order to get out of serious jail time.

Sarver: Junior clearly says that he didn't have any first-hand

action involved in the homicide. He just helped

after she'd been murdered.

Farlow: According to Junior's story

when Justin has killed Christine,

he ends up worried that somebody's going to discover the body

and he also tells investigators

that he's worried no one would believe him he wasn't involved.

So they dig a shallow grave in the woods,

cover her body up with some branches and some leaves,

and go back to the house.

Taylor: They knew that at some point

there were gonna be police coming to the property.

So, at that point

they decided they better remove the body

from the property on Byrd Road and take it to Snow Hill,

the River House Inn bed and breakfast.

Farlow: So they ended up taking Christine's body,

putting it along with some shovels

in the truck of the car, driving to the inn,

made certain nobody else was at the inn that night.

Junior had been working at that bed and breakfast,

and he knew that there was a ditch

that had been dug there, was actually very deep ditch,

probably two to three feet.

And it was just convenient for them.

Junior knew that no one would think twice

about a freshly dug earth,

because there was already some there.

So, in the backyard of the inn over by one of the fences,

Junior and Justin dug a small, shallow grave

and buried Christine

thinking that she would be there forever.

Narrator: Junior even went so far as to draw a map to the grave

located on the grounds of the picturesque River House Inn.

Dodenhoff: They told me, "Lynn, we know exactly where she is.

Junior drew out a diagram of where she was."

They didn't tell me exactly where.

They just said they know where she it.

Farlow: Investigators that were at the farm

forwarded that map to investigators that were at the inn.

They were waiting for that information.

Sarver: The map showed us where the ditch was.

There was still grass that hadn't grown on the ditch.

So, it was pretty easy to follow.

And then we proceeded to set up a forensic dig site

and start digging.

Farlow: The investigators finally had some hope

that they would get answers,

but if Junior's lying about his story,

then we're back to a cold case

with no leads, no clues,

hope ripped away.

When he takes a polygraph test,

he ends up testing deceptive

on one or more of the questions.

What that means is that he's lying about his story.

Narrator:

Narrator: On February 19, 2010,

the backyard of the River House Inn bed and breakfast in Snow Hill, Maryland,

became the scene of a grim excavation

as investigators went digging for Christine Sheddy's grave.

Farlow: It was actually a rather lengthy process.

The investigators didn't want

to dig too far, too fast and potentially miss evidence.

A shovel full of dirt at a time would be dug up,

and sifted through to see if there was anything

that would point to what had happened to Christine.

Narrator: But hours passed and there was still no sign of any remains.

Sarver: We had actually dug down a bit,

and had not found anything.

And I think everybody was starting to lose hope

until finally we uncovered the tennis shoe.

Which led to the rest of Christine's body.

Narrator: For Lynn Dodenhoff,

who'd spent more than two years hunting for her daughter,

the news was overwhelming.

Dodenhoff: The police said,

"I just wanna let you know that we, you know, we found her.

You know, we found her shoe.

We found her, you know."

And-- ( exhales )

It was surreal.

I just burst into tears.

It was down to the depths of your soul crying.

But I knew-- I knew I was gonna find her.

Bacon: It was on the news that they found a body.

I knew it was her.

It was like you-- You knew.

Lynn said they were waiting, but we knew.

Dodenhoff: When I finally found out

that she was at this bed and breakfast,

where she was buried is

where like bridal parties walked by.

Reporter: It wasn't until nearly two and a half years later,

Christine Sheddy's remains were found buried in the backyard

of the River House Inn bed and breakfast.

And Sheddy's family is hoping for closure

after years of pain and unanswered questions.

Narrator: But this case was far from closed.

After Junior Jackson's tip led investigators to Christine's body,

they shifted their focus to verifying his story.

That Justin Hadel killed Christine.

Farlow: The investigators talked to Junior

and they make a deal with him on a few simple stipulations.

One, that he agreed to testify

against Justin Hadel,

and two, in order to be able to testify,

the state was going to require him to take a polygraph test.

When he takes it the results are not

what the investigators were expecting.

He ends up testing deceptive on one or more of the questions.

What that means is

that he's lying about his story.

So, this put everybody in a little bit of a bind.

We now had our primary witness

as someone who had pegged

by the best science available as a liar.

Narrator: Investigators now needed to find out

what was Junior lying about.

Did Justin really kill Christine?

Or was it someone else?

Farlow: Investigators were able to locate Justin in Texas

and get him back to Maryland.

Narrator: In February of 2010,

Justin Hadel was questioned in a Maryland jail.

And what he told investigators turned their case upside down.

Farlow: Justin told investigators

that it was Junior, not him

who was the murderer.

And that he was only an accessory

after the fact, and helped with the body.

And that Junior was the mastermind

behind what had happened to Christine.

Narrator: With both suspects pointing a finger at one another,

and no real evidence to prove who was telling the truth,

police were at a dead end,

but there was one fact both men agreed on.

Tia Johnson, Christine's best friend, was in on the plot.

They end up getting in touch with Tia Johnson,

who's the only person

that might know the truth

about what happened at the farm that night.

I knew she knew something.

that she wasn't telling.

Narrator:

Narrator: In 2010, investigators

Narrator: In 2010, investigators still had no idea

who killed Christine Sheddy.

Junior Jackson and Justin Hadel blamed each other.

Both admitted to burying the body,

but they weren't alone.

Farlow: Junior and Justin told investigators

that they ended up getting Tia involved

to help cover up the crime.

They ended up taking Christine's body,

putting it in the trunk of Tia's car,

driving to the inn.

Junior, who worked at the inn,

made certain nobody else was at the inn that night.

And they buried Christine on the property.

Narrator: According to both Junior and Justin,

Tia climbed up the inn's fire escape, broke into a room,

and acted as a lookout from an upstairs window.

For Lynn, it confirmed her long held suspicion

that Tia was hiding something.

Dodenhoff: I knew in my heart of hearts Tia knew.

Ooh, I had a lot of contempt for her, and I still do.

She could have brought this all to an end.

She could have, you know, at any time

went to the authorities, but she never said anything.

Narrator: After evading Lynn got over two years,

Tia Johnson finally came clean about her role

in covering up Christine's murder.

Then she told investigators that the person responsible for Christine's death

was Justin.

Tia indicated that Justin had a short conversation with her

and he confessed to her that he had killed Christine

the day that she had disappeared.

Tia's story was essentially the same as Junior's confession.

That Justin was the murderer.

Tia, a friend of Christine's, was protecting Junior.

She had went so far as to throw her cousin, Justin, under the bus.

Tia had blamed everything on Justin and that she was afraid of telling anybody,

but, you know, there was a time when both Justin and Junior were gone

and she could have called the police.

Farlow: I don't think that any of the people involved

have fully told the truth about what happened that afternoon

that Christine died. We ultimately may never know.

Narrator: Both Junior and Justin took plea deals

and got 30 years behind bars.

As for Tia, she was sentenced to 15 years,

ten for breaking in to the bed and breakfast,

and five as an accessory to murder.

Dodenhoff: Tia, she got more time for breaking and entering

in that bed and breakfast then she did for knowingly

transporting my daughter's body in the trunk of her car

ten miles down the road to Snow Hill.

When Tia Johnson was convicted of accessory after the fact,

the maximum penalty was five years incarceration,

and she got that five years.

After this case happened, a lot of people looked at

the punishment for accessory after the fact

and realized that it was totally out of line

with the severity of the crime,

and Lynn led the charge

to get the legislature to change the law.

I'm very proud to say that we had a law changed

in the state of Maryland that's called the Sheddy-Bennett Act.

It used to be five years for accessory after the fact.

Now it's up to ten.

This case was about Lynn Dodenhoff never giving up.

Constantly trying to network,

constantly trying to feed information and evidence

to the detectives that were working the case at the time

and constantly hitting a brick wall.

She had the information.

We were the authority that got it where it needed to go

and ultimately finding Christine as a result of not our work,

of Lynn Dodenhoff's work.

( music playing )

Dodenhoff: I always told her, I said, you know,

"If you ever run away," I said, "I will hunt you down

and I will find you, you know?"

And it's kind of funny now because I did it.

Bacon: Christine was one of the strongest women I ever knew.

She was a positive person.

If you had a bad day, she was one that could have you

in hysterics in a heartbeat.

She was a good person to lean on.

Narrator: Lynn's life has changed in many ways

since her daughter's death,

including being a mom all over again.

For more than a decade, she's raised Christine's children,

who are now teenagers.

After, you know, we found Christine and stuff,

there was really nothing left, but she did have her ring.

And, um, they were-- the state's attorney's office

was good enough to have it cleaned for me.

And I wear it.

This is...

It's...

It's...

It's my baby's ring.

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