What happened?

On January 26, 2001, Jonah Dale arrived at the home of his 25-year-old daughter, Missy Hammond, and found her dead in her bed.

Missy's seven-year-old daughter, Liddie, was also in the home, bewildered after apparently spending the night with her mother's body.

• What happened to this young mother?
• Who could've wanted to hurt her?
• What, if anything, did the child see and hear?

Physical evidence was collected at the scene and witnesses are being questioned.

No suspects were immediately identified, but Missy had an ex-husband, a boyfriend, a doting neighbor, and a married ex-boyfriend.

Help investigate the case

Case documents are presented in chronological order in the Case Files section.

• To filter by document type, click the Evidence, Interviews, Biographies, or Press tag at the top of the Case Files page.
• To filter the case documents by investigation week, click the Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, or Week 4 tag at the top of the Case Files page.

If this is your first look at the investigation, you may want to start here:

• TV news report from the crime scene
• The YCSD incident report
• Local newspaper coverage of the death
• Interview with Jonah Dale, called 911