Every year around this time, Amy Adams flips through a thick, 3-ring binder filled with photos and mothers of the 18-year-old she had with her daughter, Danick.
Every now and then, Amy will add a letter she wrote when she can not find the words to say it out loud.
“I miss her so much and I think of her every day,” Amy told Dateline. ‘I can not talk to her, so I write letters. I write about life. And everything that’s happened since she’s gone. And details about her case that will hopefully help her find her killer. “
Danick Adams was just 18 years old when she was shot and killed outside Ultimate Fitness, a 24-hour fitness center in Jacksonville, Arkansas on August 15, 2008. Twelve years have passed, but no one has been arrested in her death.
Amy told Dateline she remembers it was a typical hot and humid August evening. She spoke to her daughter on the phone at 2:30 p.m., Friday, August 14th.
‘She told me,’ Mama, I’m with Princess, but I have to go. You deserve my minutes, ” repeated Amy. ‘So before I knew it, she was off the phone and I never heard from her again. ‘
Amy explained to Dateline that Princess was someone who knew Danick from high school and that she had recently started hanging out. Amy said she later heard that the girls went to the gym to use the tanning beds and then put on makeup before going to bed at night.
“It doesn’t really make sense to me,” Amy said. “Danick was pretty pale and was never really tanned. Something was just going on that they were there so late. ‘
A few hours later, Amy received a phone call that would change her life forever. There had been a shooting outside of Ultimate Fitness and Danick was shot.
“I knew right away that she was gone,” Amy said. ‘I could feel it in my gut. My baby was gone. ”
Detective Cynthia Harbor with the Jacksonville Police Department told Dateline that Danick and her friend left the fitness center just after midnight on August 15, and were walking toward Danick’s white Cadillac when approached by a masked gunman.
The gun demanded her purse, phones and money. Danick’s friend told police that Danick started protesting and that was when the man briefly pulled off his mask and started shooting. Danick was shot five times, Det. Harbor said. Her friend was not hit and she was not injured and authorities told her she did not recognize the gunman.
The detective said the gunman then fled the scene in Danick’s car. According to police, Danick’s friend said she ran out of the shooting range and went to a house nearby, where she was using her phone to call 911.
“It’s just weird, because I think if you’ve just shown your face to someone you’re about to kill, I wouldn ‘t think you want to let a witness do it,” Det said. Harbor told Dateline.
The detective said Danick’s friend has been questioned many times over the years, and authorities believe she knows more than she reveals to police. Dateline NBC tried to reach the friend for comment, but attempts were unsuccessful.
A few hours after the shooting, a man was spotted driving Danick’s car past the fitness center – which had become a very active crime scene. When the car was chased and stopped by police, the driver managed to escape the car and flee the area, Det. Harbor told Dateline. A woman, who was sitting a passenger in the car, remained at the scene and told authorities she was just picked up by the man and could not identify him.
“Why would someone who has shot a person once multiple times return directly to the scene of the crime?” That. Haven surprised him. ‘It could have been the shooter, or maybe the car was traded at that point. We just do not know. ”
Detective Harbor said they believe Danick was targeted and that more than one person is responsible for her death.
“It’s very hot and humid here in the summer,” Det. Harbor noted. “I find it hard to believe that a man wearing a ski mask was waiting outside the gym to rob a random person who would be working out in the gym at midnight.”
Danick’s mother told Dateline that when her daughter was shot, she had a pink Motorola RAZR phone in her back pocket and 30 cents in her front pocket.
“She didn’t have much to do with it, but she didn’t want to just let anyone take it,” Amy said. “She was always just totally.”
Evidence from the crime scene – including some DNA – is scant, but Detective Harbor is hopeful that advances in technology will lead to some answers.
They confirmed that there had been several individuals of interest over the years, some deleted by the DNA that was found. No one has been mentioned in public, but there are a few people they plan to interview and re-interview.
“It’s only a matter of time until someone talks,” she said. “Someone knows what happened and we’ll find out.”
The years after Danick’s death were a nightmare for Amy.
“I did not know what to do or what I would think or how I would live without her,” Amy said. ‘How do I breathe? I was a complete mess. The trauma and the grief were unbearable. ”
But with the help of the Parents of Murdered Children Organization, Amy said she was able to move on and even find a new calling for her own life.
She is now a victim advocate for families who are going through the same thing with the Central Arkansas Chapter of Parents of Murdered Children.
“I can not bring Danick back,” Amy said. ‘But with this new purpose in my life, I can use it to help others. To let them do this you do not need to define. ”
Amy’s other goal in life remains the same – to find justice for her daughter. She thinks that Detective Harbor’s dedication to the cause will make a difference.
Detective Harbor, which has been in Danick’s business for five years now, keeps multiple binders of the case file on her desk, where she can see it every day.
When she retires in April 2021, Detective Dateline said she plans to work full-time on Danick’s case.
‘I can not wait to give this all my time and come to an end,’ Det. Harbor told Dateline. “It’s time to get some answers.”
Her dedication gives Amy hope that there will soon be justice in the case – a final piece to add to her own binder that holds memories of Danick’s life.
“It’s time,” she added. “It’s time for my girl to get the justice she deserves.”
Anyone with information that could help resolve Danick’s case is asked to call the Jacksonville Police Department – Criminal Investigations at 501-533-6477. A $ 5,000 reward is being offered by Crime Stoppers for information leading to an arrest in the case.
