Decades of Deceit | Full Episode

Detective Sergeant William Carter, a nuisance abatement officer, became involved in Amy Widner's cold case after being asked to print a Facebook memorial page. Despite lacking homicide experience, he took it upon himself to read the full case file, identifying overlooked leads and pursuing the investigation on his own time, ultimately leading to the arrest of the killer 22 years later.

Carter states, 'My job was to print this Facebook memorial page out. I looked at it and then eventually I read the case file... It's something that I dove into and I just couldn't put it down.' He also notes, 'There was tons of friends of her brothers that they had never even talked to and never got DNA from.'

A full palm print left in Amy's blood on a wall at the crime scene in 1989 was a key piece of evidence that remained unmatched for decades. Detective Carter used this original print to finally identify Rodney Denk by comparing it to prints from his prior arrests.

Carter states, 'In the file was the original palm print that was recovered from the scene.' And later, 'I had the original palm print. Um it was a full palm print that was left on the wall in Amy's blood.'

Rodney Denk, a friend of Amy's brother, was known to the Widner family and even attended Amy's funeral, yet his name was overlooked in the initial investigation despite being mentioned as someone to interview. His palm print ultimately linked him to the crime.

Gloria Widner states, 'I would have considered him to be a good friend.' And later, 'Oh my gosh, he was at the funeral with us. How can you commit this murder this brutal... and two days later sit with us at the funeral and mourn with us?' Carter confirms, 'Dank was overlooked and his name was given to a detective as somebody to talk to. And they didn't talk to him at all.'

A shocking discovery during the investigation was that Rodney Denk's son, Dylan, had also committed a brutal murder in 2009, beating his mother (Rodney's ex-wife) to death. Both father and son committed their crimes at similar young ages (17 and 16, respectively), a 'bizarre coincidence' noted by investigators.

Detective Carter states, 'It was very odd to me that father and son about the same age committed two terrible acts, horrible acts.' Kentucky Commonwealth Attorney Bruce Keel notes Dylan 'was 16 years old at the time, almost 17... one year younger than his father, Rodney, was at the time of Amy's murder.'