It was a horrific scene. She was stabbed 44 times.
She was alive for 33 of those stab wounds.
There's some personal connection.
This was somebody's rage boiling over.
She was a great big sister.
She was the oldest kid in our block.
We all kind of lost a mentor.
It really turned this town upside down.
The killer was still on the loose.
[man] He was very abusive, a lot of yelling and fights.
He's engaged in stalking younger females.
He was known to carry knives frequently.
He looked like a really good suspect.
It's been 24 years,
investigators are really at a standstill here
of why and more importantly, who.
The DNA results revealed a name
I definitely did not expect to hear again.
This is like discovering a new planet,
a suspect who had been hiding in plain sight
for nearly three decades.
[narrator] Every day in North America dozens of people are murdered.
The key to solving the toughest of these homicides
lies in the final 24 hours of the victim's life.
To crack the case,
detectives must reconstruct that critical timeline,
the minutes and hours containing evidence
that can help unlock the mystery and catch the killer.
Pleasanton, California is a suburban oasis
where families embody the American Dream...
with well-manicured lawns,
white picket fences and barbecues all summer long.
True to its name, Pleasanton is very pleasant.
It's an everybody knows everybody kind of a place.
Pleasanton in 1984 was just a very small town.
Only about 30,000 people.
Had a really cute main street, still does.
There wasn't a lot of crime.
It was not uncommon for people
to feel that we can leave our doors unlocked,
our windows open.
[narrator] But on a warm afternoon,
as students walk home from school,
the innocence of Pleasanton would be shattered forever.
On April 5th, 1984,
Larry Lovall was driving southbound on I-680
at about 3:10, 3:15 in the afternoon
and noticed what he thought was a child in distress
on the side of the freeway.
He pulled his truck to the side of the road
and he noticed the body was covered in blood
and was obviously in distress.
So he took the next exit and called 911 from a pay phone.
[James Knox] After hearing the call on the radio,
Detective Craig Veteran was in the area.
He went down into the creek area,
at which time he found the female body.
He noted that there were a number of stab wounds
and clothing soaked with her blood.
She was obviously deceased.
She was wearing her school clothes,
school books scattered about, papers scattered,
the blood soaked rocks all around her,
it was a horrific scene.
[narrator] Among the responding officers called to the scene
is investigator James Knox
from the Pleasanton Police Department.
[James Knox] They brought us out
and we actually did what they call a grid search
where you go back and forth
looking to find the murder weapon.
But we're never able to locate
what the victim was stabbed with.
In processing the crime scene, detectives collected a purse
that was found in the tree directly above the body.
And within that purse there was a report card
which had Tina Faelz's name on it,
and they were able to make an initial identification
based upon that.
[narrator] Investigators ascertain that the victim is Tina Faelz,
a freshman at nearby Foothill High School.
Tina Faelz was a very sweet girl.
She was 14 years old at the time that she was murdered.
She came from a really nice family.
Her brother Drew was eight years old at the time.
Great big sister.
Took on a mom role quite, quite a bit
because my mom was working a lot.
Oh, she was definitely more of a wallflower.
She would be a loner at times,
but at the same time I remember her being very mature
just with the way she always looked out for me.
[narrator] Police traveled to nearby Foothill High School
to gather information about Tina
and her movements in the hours leading up to her murder.
Tina's last class of the day was Geography.
After class was let out,
she stayed after and talked to the teacher,
the Geography teacher for a few minutes.
She was supposed to attend detention.
She skipped detention.
And when she's seen by her classmates,
she's last seen heading toward the culvert.
When Tina and I first found the culvert,
I remember we were playing in the creek
and we saw kids hanging out there.
And they explained to her,
"Oh, this is a shortcut to the high school."
[Det. Dana] Without that shortcut,
Tina would have to go all the way around the freeway,
then it would be a much longer journey.
So the cut-through really served its purpose.
It's a wooded area, there's not a lot of people out there,
you can hear the freeway buzzing in the background.
It just has kind of a scary feel, an ominous feel.
Not somewhere that I would want my kids to use as a cut through
but very common that the kids used that
to get to their neighborhood back in 1984.
[narrator] Investigators speak to some of Tina's classmates,
learning her troubles started earlier that day.
[James Knox] That day during lunch time
a number of girls had thrown rocks at Tina
and threatened to beat her up.
It kind of left us wondering
if maybe Tina was trying to avoid them
and really wanted to get home.
She stopped taking the bus
just because that's where she's being bullied, on the bus on the ride home.
So ultimately the girls who were responsible for threatening her,
they were identified and interviewed
and they were determined to not be involved
or responsible for Tina's murder.
[narrator] After speaking with more classmates about Tina's movements,
detectives are able to narrow down her timeline.
The Geography teacher last sees Tina
around 2:30 in the afternoon.
At around 3:00 p.m.,
Weldon Mann and Todd Smith see Tina leaving the school area.
It takes about seven minutes
to get from the high school to the culvert.
And the truck driver spots Tina's body from the freeway
at about 3:15.
[James Knox] I'm guessing probably around 3:05
is the time where Tina was assaulted and ultimately killed.
And that makes it even more difficult to really process
and comprehend that someone was able to do this
in such a short time and not be seen.
[narrator] To track down Tina's killer,
detectives will need to piece together her final 24 hours.
One of the hardest parts of investigating this case for me
was when I saw the autopsy photos.
She was stabbed 44 times.
She was alive for 33 of those stab wounds.
Based upon the overkill, profilers would probably say
that the suspect knew the victim.
Usually a suspect doesn't have that much rage for a stranger.
[Michael] Tina was stabbed multiple times in an obvious case of overkill.
Overkill being defined as excessive violence
that goes way beyond what's required to carry out the crime.
In this case, there's a personal connection
between the offender and the victim.
This was somebody's rage boiling over,
and that no number of stab wounds can be enough
to fulfill the offender's need for vengeance.
[narrator] Having established that Tina likely knew her killer,
detectives speak with her mother Shirley Faelz.
They hope she can provide more insight
on who might have wanted to harm her daughter.
Remember that day vividly, it was a Thursday.
My sister usually got home about 3:30
and she wasn't home yet,
and saw an undercover police car come down the court.
And I just had a feeling it was coming to our house.
Shirley was in complete shock,
complete disbelief that this could have happened
in this quiet little community.
Tina's mom Shirley had been divorced for about two years
and was a single mom struggling to make ends meet.
[James Knox] At the time, Shirley was dating Bobby Youngworth
and he had actually moved into the Faelz home.
And Bobby had a tendency to get violent when he was drinking.
At times, he would assault Shirley physically
and Tina didn't like that.
He was very abusive, a lot of yelling and fights.
So, it was pretty scary at times with him in the house.
[Det. Dana] Interestingly to the investigators,
about a week prior to Tina's murder,
he and her had really gotten into it.
Tina definitely did not want Bobby living there,
so it caused some major stress in that household.
Bobby became a person of interest very quickly in the investigation.
I think at my young age
I even thought it could be him as well too
because Tina would stick up for my mom
when they'd be having arguments.
And she wasn't afraid to stand up to him.
[Michael] Could she have been threatening to tell her mother something that Bobby had done?
Could she have given him some kind of ultimatum or been blackmailing him,
something that would have triggered this response,
not a response the victim could have ever imagined?
[narrator] In the brutal stabbing of high school freshman Tina Faelz,
investigators have their first suspect,
her mother's abusive boyfriend Bobby Youngworth.
Questioning if Bobby could have lashed out at Tina,
detectives bring him down to the station for an interview.
Early on with investigators he had denied any sort of temper or anything like that,
but it definitely came out that he did have a temper,
especially when he drank.
He did get into it about a week prior with Tina,
had gotten to a verbal argument with her,
but he always held by the fact that he would never hurt her
and genuinely cared about Tina.
[narrator] Detectives ask Bobby for his timeline
on the day of Tina's murder.
So Bobby worked in Fremont, California.
He had taken the bus to work, he got on the bus about 2:30,
he arrived at his place of employment around 2:45
and then went to the break room
where he was observed until 3:15 prior to going to work.
So when detectives went to verify Bobby's whereabouts,
the boss informed detectives that while Bobby's at work,
Shirley calls and she notifies him that Tina has been killed.
At that time, Bobby had a knife on his belt,
which he handed to the boss and asked him to hold for him
because he didn't feel that it would be a comfortable thing
to take the knife to the Faelz residence when he went there.
So investigators of course become interested in this detail
and ask for the knife to be tested.
But there was no DNA found.
Ultimately, investigators looked at the time
to travel from Pleasanton to where he worked
and they determined
that he couldn't possibly have committed the crime.
He didn't fit the time parameters
that we had established when Tina was killed.
[Det. Dana] So he was quickly dismissed as a suspect.
[James Knox] I think everyone was confused.
Someone has taken this 14-year-old girl's life
and it was really hard to fathom who could be responsible.
People were looking for closure.
They didn't know, could it be my neighbor,
could it be someone that's going to kill again.
And I think that was unsettling to people in the community at the time.
[narrator] With the investigation now back at square one,
detectives reach out to the community
hoping to find information
that could lead to a potential suspect.
[Det. Dana] Investigators are doing a witness canvass.
They become aware of some kids
observing their activities on Lemonwood Way,
which is where Tina was taking the shortcut to.
So, investigators end up knocking on the door
where the teenagers are seen.
And who opens the door
but a classmate of Tina's by the name of Steve Carlson.
[James Knox] The day that Tina was killed,
Steve Carlson's parents were out of town.
He gives the investigator some information
that he actually had seen Tina heading toward the culvert
at about 3:00 pm.
[narrator] Realizing that Steven
could have been one of the last people to see Tina alive,
police bring him down to the station
for a formal interview.
On that particular day,
Steven invited some of his schoolmates
to come to his house and have a "party".
They drank and used some drugs.
At one point, Steven returned to campus
and a couple students grabbed him
and they threw him in a dumpster.
He's actually locked in the dumpster for about 10 minutes or so
before a woodshop teacher comes and lets him out.
Steve Carlson is angry,
he's covered in garbage, he's pissed off.
The teacher tells them to head toward the principal's office.
However, Steve Carlson walks the other way back to his house.
He told police at the time
that he saw Tina going down towards the drainage canal
around the time of her murder.
[Det. Dana] Steve Carlson also gives information to the investigators
that he sees another classmate by the name of Jeff Michaelson
heading toward the culvert
kind of a little bit after he sees Tina.
He paints this picture of Jeff Michaelson
as a troublemaker, he bullies other kids.
He's even pulled out a pocket knife at school
and kind of bragged that he has this knife.
So, Carlson really paints the picture that Jeff Michaelson
is a potential suspect in Tina's murder.
[narrator] With suspicion swirling around Jeff Michaelson,
investigators bring him down to the station
for questioning.
So on that particular day, April 5th, 1984
when Tina was murdered,
Jeff Michaelson attends detention.
He is released from detention at 3:00 p.m.
He is supposed to walk over to the elementary school
and walk with his younger sister.
But he's late, his sister ends up getting a ride from someone else.
And by the time he got home,
it was 3:40 p.m. in the afternoon
and his mother questioned why he hadn't picked up his sister.
During the time of Tina's murder,
Jeff really doesn't have a solid alibi.
There's no confirmation as to what exactly he was doing.
So that created more suspicion around Jeff,
and whether he could have been involved.
[narrator] Then Jeff tells detectives he goes to his job,
working at a local pizza parlor, arriving at 5:00 p.m.
[James Knox] At the time of his interview, he had a cut on his hand
and claimed that he cut his hand while working.
That really led us to consider him rather strongly
because of the violent nature of the stab wounds to Tina's body.
We felt that it was a high probability
that the suspect probably cut his hand.
When investigators are questioning Jeff Michaelson,
he admits to frequently carrying around a pocketknife.
He produces that pocketknife to investigators
and investigators have that knife tested
for the presence of any DNA.
[narrator] With Jeff in their crosshairs,
detectives request permission to search his bedroom.
[Det. Dana] Inside his bedroom is another knife that's found.
It's a larger knife. It's contained within a sheath.
So they end up confiscating the large knife
that was found in his room, his pocketknife,
the clothes that he was wearing that day.
The more that time goes on,
the stronger of a person of interest he becomes.
Here's a guy who is known to carry knives,
witnesses put him in the vicinity of the crime
and he has wounds on his hands.
You add it all up, he immediately looks like a very viable suspect.
[narrator] In the homicide of high school freshman Tina Faelz,
detectives are zeroing in on a prime suspect,
the school bully, Jeff Michaelson.
Jeff Michaelson quickly becomes a strong person of interest
based on the statement given by a classmate
that he's following Tina in to the culvert
right around the same time of her murder.
He was known to carry knives frequently,
and ultimately detectives were able to take his knives
and had them tested.
[Det. Dana] The DNA results from the knives,
from his clothing that he was wearing that day
come back with no traces of DNA.
So though he remained a person of interest,
there was really no physical evidence to put him there at the scene.
[narrator] With no new leads,
the investigation into the murder of Tina Faelz hits a wall.
[Det. Dana] It really turned this town upside down.
Murders in Pleasanton were not common at all,
much less that of a 14-year-old girl.
The city was just scared to death at that time
and especially because the killer was still on the loose.
[narrator] Then police get a potential break in the case
when an arrest is made for a separate crime.
Walter Nyman is arrested
for a sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl.
She was using a shortcut to leave school.
He attempted to sexually assault her
and she ultimately got away.
But the victim profile was the same as that of Tina Faelz,
which really piqued the investigators' interest.
[Keira] Could Walter Nyman have killed Tina?
He has a past sexual offense
where he's engaged in following,
potentially stalking younger females
similar in demographic profile to Tina.
There's no sexual assault per se,
but it could be the very act of stabbing someone repeatedly is an act of penetration
that is arousing or has a sexual undertone to it.
[narrator] With Walter Nyman already under arrest for sexual assault...
detectives speak to his grandmother
hoping to learn more about his whereabouts
in the hours leading up to Tina's death.
[James Knox] The odd thing about Walter Nyman
is five days after Tina's murder
he suddenly shows up at his grandmother's house in Felton, California
out of the blue and she said that he was visibly upset, he was not himself,
that something seemed wrong with him.
[Det. Dana] Investigators obtain a search warrant
for Walter Nyman's apartment in Pleasanton.
When they enter his apartment,
they end up locating bloodied clothes
and a knife that's hidden in his apartment.
The investigators thought this was going to be a huge break for them.
He looked like a really good suspect because of the similarities.
He had suddenly left Pleasanton in a hurried manner,
he shows up and commits a crime very similar
to what transpired ultimately to Tina.
Investigators at this time are waiting on pins and needles
to get the DNA results back because it's so promising.
It took some time for the testing to be done,
but ultimately the results are that the blood on his clothing was animal blood,
there was no DNA or anything consistent with Tina's murder on them.
[Det. Dana] For investigators, it was a huge disappointment.
They just keep coming up empty-handed.
[James Knox] This was a heinous crime.
Tina was robbed of her childhood.
She was robbed of her innocence.
You hope that you can follow through to the end
and catch whoever the responsible individual is
and make them pay for their crime.
[narrator] With no new leads or suspects,
the investigation into the murder of Tina Faelz goes cold.
[Det. Dana] Investigators conducted 150 interviews
of potential suspects, witnesses.
Investigators are really at a standstill here of why
and more importantly, who.
[James Knox] Through the years, Shirley would contact police
on the anniversary of Tina's death.
Do you have anything new? Do you have any news for me?
And that happened year after year after year.
[Drew] I was really losing hope.
I never thought it would get solved.
[Keira] The psychological toll that this would take on the family
just day in and day out, it's just unfathomable
to think that you have no answer in the case,
that you don't know who did this to your daughter.
It's just, it's got to be heart-wrenching.
[narrator] 24 long years after Tina Faelz's death,
her killer remains at large
and each passing year leaves the community of Pleasanton
with more questions than answers.
[Drew] It was very difficult for my mom.
It was always the topic of conversation.
When the case went cold, my mom would do whatever she could
to make sure it stayed fresh in everyone's mind,
if it was contact the newspaper
or check in with the police station.
And I think it just... Slowly, mentally,
she was deteriorating.
[narrator] But in 2008, the case gets new life
when Dana Savage, an up-and-coming detective with the Pleasanton PD,
decides to take another look at Tina's file.
[Det. Dana] This case really spoke to me.
Being a mom myself, I really felt for this family.
When I was looking into this case,
it was absolutely overwhelming.
There was over 20,000 pages of police reports.
I knew several of the investigators
that had worked on this case exhaustingly.
So I didn't have a whole lot of hope.
[James Knox] In the course of reviewing the case files,
Detective Savage noted the picture of Tina's purse
hanging in the tree above her head.
[Det. Dana] We seriously doubted
that Tina was able to throw the purse in the tree.
She's defending herself, she's defending her life.
Probably the person who threw it into the tree was the suspect,
the only other person that was there.
[James Knox] I really was hopeful that I could get involved
and somehow find that needle in the haystack
that would break this case and solve it.
[narrator] Knowing the odds are stacked against her,
Detective Savage recovers Tina's purse,
hoping it may be the key to solving this cold case.
[Det. Dana] When I take the purse out of evidence,
there was nothing visible on the purse.
No blood droplets, nothing like that.
[James Knox] The purse was sent to the FBI crime lab.
And of course being in a cold case,
it probably wasn't top priority.
[Det. Dana] Along with Tina's purse is a sample of her blood,
and that is also sent to Quantico for testing.
If anything is found on the purse,
we can compare it to Tina's blood.
[narrator] While awaiting results from the FBI,
Dana starts combing through the case files,
looking for anyone they could have potentially missed in 1984.
[Det. Dana] In the early 1980s there were three serial killers
that were around Pleasanton, California.
I started focusing on these three suspects,
which was James Daveggio, Robert Rhoads, and Michael Ide.
Michael Ide had raped and murdered Lisa Monzo in 1984.
Lisa Monzo also fit the victim profile of Tina Faelz
being a young Caucasian girl.
Through the crime analyst, I learned that Michael Ide would have had an alibi
for Tina's murder because he was incarcerated at the time.
[narrator] Then Detective Savage discovers Robert Rhoads
also has an airtight alibi for the day of Tina's murder
and he's eliminated as a suspect.
I then focused my attention on James Daveggio
and his girlfriend.
They snatched Vanessa Sampson off the street around Pleasanton,
they sexually assaulted her over a period of time
before they murdered her.
And interestingly enough, James Daveggio attended Foothill High School.
So James Daveggio is serving life in prison.
Investigators interview him.
James Daveggio says, "Look, I'm just going to level with you.
I'm doing life anyway. I had nothing to do with the murder of Tina Faelz.
However, you might want to look into..." and he names Walter Nyman.
And I don't know how these people find each other
but James Daveggio and Walter Nyman were friends
and had hung out at a local bar in Pleasanton.
Walter Nyman was the suspect who had sexually assaulted
and grabbed a young girl five days following Tina's murder.
Even back in 1984,
Walter Nyman looked good as a person of interest in the murder of Tina Faelz.
[James Knox] But in 1984
we didn't have any physical evidence to tie him to Tina,
so unfortunately things didn't pan out
like we'd hoped that they would.
There is no honor among thieves.
We have no idea if James Daveggio is telling the truth.
But now investigators are looking again at Walter Nyman.
And at that point we have no physical evidence,
everything is speculation, so it's extremely frustrating
because we're not able to determine
who is responsible for this case.
[narrator] It would take two more years before the FBI crime lab
gets around to examining Tina Faelz's purse for outside DNA.
There were so many suspects,
many of whom had the potential and motive
to have committed this homicide.
The advancement of DNA technology has been very significant.
So, cases that years and years ago couldn't be tested
can now be pinpointed
to one in a trillion to the exact match of an individual
who may have been on that suspect list.
[Det. Dana] At this point in the investigation,
there's very high stakes in getting a DNA match on a suspect
to move forward with this case.
[narrator] Finally the FBI lab criminologist
is able to pinpoint four blood stains on Tina's purse.
[Det. Dana] Once we received the DNA results,
only one comes back as not belonging to Tina.
I receive a call and it's Marty Parker from the FBI
and she says to me, "Do you want to know who killed Tina Faelz?"
And I said, "Yeah, I do."
Once the DNA profile was located,
that kit revealed the name,
then I definitely did not expect to hear again.
The only viable sample was a nearly 100 percent match
to male DNA belonging to Steve Carlson.
Steve Carlson was Tina's older classmate
from Foothill High School
who had been seen watching the investigation as it was going on.
He was also the one that told investigators
that he saw Jeff Michaelson following Tina
into the culvert right before she was murdered.
My first thought was shock.
It's really hard for anyone, even an investigator,
to wrap their mind around the fact that a kid can kill a kid.
[narrator] After a 26-year investigation,
Pleasanton detectives are closing in
on the killer of high school freshman Tina Faelz.
Modern DNA testing has placed her classmate Steven Carlson
at the scene of the crime.
Steven Carlson and Tina Faelz were not friends.
They didn't share the same social circles.
[Det. Dana] There was no other reason for his DNA to be at the scene of this murder
unless he was the one that did it.
[James Knox] And that was an overwhelming feeling, just disbelief that,
"Wow, we really have something solid, concrete here now
that ties him to the case."
[Det. Dana] In 1984 Steve Carlson was asked for an alibi,
but he was more or less focused on as a potential witness
being that he had supposedly seen Jeff Michaelson
following Tina into that culvert.
[James Knox] At the time we didn't have any physical evidence
to tie him to Tina.
There were no witnesses that tied him to the crime.
It just seemed so unlikely
that he could be responsible for something so heinous.
[Michael] Twenty-six years later
the DNA actually points to a fringe player
that hadn't even been considered in the original investigation.
This is like discovering a new planet,
a suspect who had been hiding in plain sight
for nearly three decades.
[narrator] With the discovery of physical evidence
that places Steven Carlson at the crime scene,
detectives work to track him down,
only to discover he's already in jail.
[Det. Dana] With fresh eyes on Steve Carlson, we re-interview witnesses.
Steve Carlson's shop teacher
knew of Steve's violent history.
He said that following Tina's death
there definitely was a change in Steve Carlson's behavior.
This information did not get back to investigators at the time however.
[James Knox] Steve Carlson's nickname was Creepy Carlson.
He was not well liked. He was a loner.
We looked at the circumstances surrounding Tina's murder.
Obviously, Steven was there in the neighborhood the day she was killed.
His home sat in a location
where he could see her walk down into that drainage canal,
walk through that fence.
In fact, he at one point stated
he saw Tina go down into that drainage canal.
[narrator] Armed with this new information,
investigators set out to interview Steven Carlson at the Santa Cruz Prison
where he is being held on an unrelated drug charge.
[James Knox] We mentioned that we were detectives from Pleasanton
and asked if he remembered a girl named Tina Faelz.
[Det. Dana] Steve Carlson's body language completely changes.
He starts almost throwing up at hearing her name.
One question further,
Carlson just kind of starts babbling incoherently.
[Det. Dana] Mutters the name Jeff Michaelson.
He's just deflecting. He doesn't know, he wasn't involved.
Thankfully, investigators have a warrant for his DNA.
[narrator] Detectives send Steven Carlson's DNA sample to the crime lab
to confirm it matches the sample found on Tina's purse.
[James Knox] And was confirmed as a match to Steven Carlson.
And ultimately that's the piece of evidence that broke the case for us.
[narrator] After 26 years,
detectives are finally able to piece together Tina Faelz's final 24 hours.
[Det. Dana] At 7:15 in the morning on the day that Tina's murdered,
she's dropped off by her mom
to avoid taking the school bus to avoid the bullies.
At 8:05, Steve Carlson convinces three of his friends
to come back to his house with him and drink alcohol and use drugs.
Steve and his friends returned to the school about 8:40 in the morning.
At 10:10 am at school,
Jeff Michaelson grabbed Steve Carlson
and threw him into the dumpster and locks him in.
Steve Carlson gets out, he's covered in garbage, he's pissed off.
He leaves school and he heads back home by himself and continues drinking.
At 2:25, Tina finishes up geography class
and visits with her teacher for about five or ten minutes,
skips detention to avoid her bullies.
And that's when she walks toward the culvert toward home.
Steve Carlson sees Tina walking toward the culvert.
He grabs a knife out of his own kitchen
and follows her into the culvert.
So about 3:05 pm, now intoxicated, enraged,
he confronts her and assaults her,
stabbing her ultimately 44 times.
[Det. Dana] Tina does her best to defend herself,
but ultimately Steve Carlson just overpowers her.
After attacking Tina,
Steve Carlson throws her purse into the tree
and then he throws the murder weapon into the field.
It's hard to wrap your mind around
the fact that this 16-year-old kid
would kill this young, sweet innocent girl.
But that's what happened.
And it's because he's a psychopath and he's evil.
I think Steven wanted to unleash
his rejection from peers
and he did that without any thought or concern for that victim.
He's made a series of decisions to take out his pain
on other victims who he can overpower.
And that culminated in this homicide of Tina.
[narrator] On August 7, 2011,
Detectives Knox and Savage drive to Santa Cruz County Jail
to arrest Steven Carlson.
[James Knox] Putting the handcuffs on Steven Carlson
was the most rewarding point of my career.
For that case to have gone that long,
for him to be undetected for all those years
was so rewarding, it's hard to describe.
Being able to tell Shirley was special.
She never let go of hope
that we would finally someday catch her daughter's killer.
And we were able to do that.
I remember my mom calling me on a Sunday night.
She said, "They got him."
And I remember I just started crying,
just so happy to finally get some justice for Tina.
[narrator] On October 29th, 2014, 30 years after Tina's death,
Steven Carlson is convicted of first degree murder.
But in 2017, the conviction is overturned
and he is re-sentenced to 16 years
for second-degree murder.
[Drew] The trial was initially supposed to start on February 13 of 2014.
That's actually the date my mom passed away.
I, I always look at it as my mom's way of letting go
and saying we got him now.
[James Knox] Steven later wrote a letter to the Faelz family
in which he confessed to killing Tina.
In that letter he stated that he was so intoxicated
and enraged that it didn't matter that it was Tina Faelz,
that it could have been any random person.
But I don't buy it.
I think that he had some predisposed anger towards Tina.
And she had confronted Steven on several occasions
trying to protect one of her friends.
And I think that was the inner drive for him to attack her.
[narrator] Pleasanton police feel both pride and relief
that they were finally able to do right by Tina Faelz.
[James Knox] I grew up in the town,
so being able to bring justice to the Faelz family
and maybe a sigh of relief to all those folks
that have lived in Pleasanton for all those years
was extremely rewarding.
[Det. Dana] Solidifying a timeline in this case was crucial.
We had to know what time she left school,
what time she had left geography class,
when she was supposed to be in detention but wasn't.
I'm happy that Steve Carlson is in prison,
and I hope he never gets out.
[Drew] When Tina died, she was the oldest kid in her block.
We, we all kind of lost a mentor and a leader.
We all just loved hanging out with her.
It makes me wonder all the time
what, what life would be with, if she was still here.