Michelle McDaniel

What stands out to you the most about that day? The people. Some people are standing outside, walking into the church being seated, and it's packed. People are standing. The whole parking lot's full of people.

My dad had called and said that Shantae hadn't came home. My dad had kind of figured she had spent the night with one of her friends.

She didn't go anywhere without her purse. It had kind of went over me. Something had happened.

Everybody was involved.

Nobody was ruled out in my eyes.

Everybody was scared. The kids that walked out there constantly started pairing up. Nobody walked alone. It snatched away that feeling of safety from the whole community. Everybody. That's when everybody started locking doors.

You start thinking at that point, they'll probably never actually find who did this. They told me they would never stop, but in my eyes, they had stopped because they were doing stuff that I didn't know at the time.

It was her thing. It was. She loved it. Everybody always talked about her. You know, all the beautiful moments. You know, everybody's seen her. Most of them are her walking and her smile. And she had this little walk where her little honey shook. That's how you remember her, seeing her. Like living out there on that road with her being gone, I could see her.

I remember coming down the hill back to the church, and the parking lot's full, probably 200 people, all there to search for her. Yes.

And it's like, I don't know who that could be. We look at the sketch, me and my husband, and nothing. Did anything about it stand out to you? Nothing. Nothing. Did not. Not familiar?

My dad looked at it. Nobody knew it.

I looked him up, and as soon as I seen that face, my heart hit the floor. And I remember crying, and I turned, and I said, this is him. This is him.

Ryan had bullied Cutter in school and had poured a whole glass of sweet tea over his head. So your son had known him for years. They all did. And they all used to play video games together.

He was at the house for, you know, her wake. He was at her house multiple times with John, Shantae's boyfriend. I'd be crying, talking about it, and he'd just act like just normal.

So you're just lost.

I couldn't imagine being a person sitting on that pew when he confessed that.

I felt like it was done wrongfully, that he shouldn't have been brought into the church. Should not have been able to step foot in that church.

To me, that would have been an easy way out. Easy for him? Easy for him. What? He wouldn't have got to suffer.

It doesn't ever go away. I see her all the time.

I remember her telling me they had found her. I remember falling to my knees, screaming. Are there any words to describe what you felt? I was lost. I just, I had lost myself at that moment. I'd fell to my knees and asking why.

Her love. Just her. I mean, just meeting her would make you just fall in love with her.

We call her Shantae. She calls herself Shantae. It was a big voice for such a small person.

I had her when I was 16. I guess I was trying to live for me for a while. I worked and I partied, so she just became my dad's permanent kid, pretty much.

If you talked to her, you would know that she was different than a normal child. She still kind of talked like a child.

How did she navigate those challenges? She just did. Nothing ever bothered her. She would figure it out.

He spoiled her just like my dad. She never went without as long as they were together. Sounds like he really took care of her. He did take care of her.