The Lost Daughter

17:05Tracy Smith:Was there ever a time that you wanted to give up? Yeah. I don't know, I don't can lie about that. I mean, there was times early on when I was just so overwhelmed and didn't, you know, in the frustration of not knowing what to do. And the good news was, even when I'd start to slow down, everybody else pushed me. And no one pushed Pat more than this woman. In 2006, Sadie Darnell became the first woman elected sheriff in Alachua County. She was just a young cop in 1989 when Tiffany disappeared, and that memory stayed with her. It was very jarring and very scary and very haunting to think that that could happen in our midst.

17:42And then this many years later, still having it unsolved.

17:46Tracy Smith:Throughout the years, even though she was never actually assigned to the case, Sadie would mail and fax Pat words of encouragement. September 15, 1995. Patrick, I know this must be difficult for you to maintain a constant struggle for Tiffany's case. I have always believed it can and will be solved. I have loyalty to you. The overall goal is for you to have Tiffany back, and in some time in the future, peace. Call me any time to vent, strategize, coordinate, kick butt, etc. et cetera. Always Sadie. So when Sadie became sheriff, one of her main goals was to set up a cold case unit and find out what happened to Tiffany Sessions.

18:29Tracy Smith:In January 2013, Sheriff Darnell hired Detective Kevin Allen to do just that. He's one of the best I've ever seen. In fact, I kept asking, where has he been on my career? This is the kind of guy that gets the cold case stuff. That's the kind of person that you need on this. She told me very matter-of-factly, I want this case solved during my tenure here. And Sheriff Darnell told Detective Allen that she wanted him to focus on one man, a convict by the name of Paul Rolls. I'd been in that case for a couple weeks. I'd never read the name, never heard the name. She said, get down and talk to Talk to them right away.

19:09Time is of the essence.

19:24I have an 18-year-old daughter. My daughter is the light of my life.

19:30Tracy Smith:It's that personal to you? Yes. When Kevin Allen joined the Alachua County Cold Case Unit early in 2013, he knew working on the Tiffany Sessions case would be difficult for him. Just being a parent and just the thought of something happening to your child. I have a picture of Tiffany Sessions I keep at my desk. I go to bed thinking about the case and I wake up thinking about that case. We look at all the cold cases. We can't forget the past and we can't just let it go. Sheriff Sadie Darnell made the Tiffany Sessions case a priority. You need to lift up every rock, peel back every layer. She started by giving Detective Allen that lead to look into convicted murderer Paul Rolls.

20:18What I found was that Paul Rolls was a psychopath, a serial killer. He had sadistic tendencies, sadistic fantasies.

20:32Tracy Smith:And Detective Allen would soon learn that Paul Rolls had a long and violent past that lasted over 20 years. In 1972, he killed his first victim, former beauty queen Linda Fida. At the time, Rolls was a newly married 23-year-old architecture student. Linda Fida was a neighbor of his. They lived in an apartment complex in North Miami. Paul was a stalker. I mean, he would plan and watch his prey. He saw her through the peephole in his door to his apartment, and that's how he watched her. When Linda Fida went to do her laundry, Paul Rolls snuck into her apartment, and when she returned, he tried to rape her.

21:19Tracy Smith:She fought back, and he strangled her. This was a nude young girl in the bathtub. Detective Marshall Frank, now retired, rushed to the crime scene. One of the things that we found that was different on this crime scene than other crime scenes was a couple of Band-Aids. Detectives were able to get toe prints off those Band-Aids. Then, a day after the murder, when they knocked on neighbor Paul Roll's door, they immediately noticed Band-Aids on his toes. So they went and took a toe print from him. Compared against the print that they had at the scene, they had their guy. After his arrest, Detective Frank was shocked when Rolls quickly confessed.

22:04There was no voices raised. There was no hate or anger. Just kind of like matter-of-factly going over something that just happened.

22:13Tracy Smith:Detective Frank says Rolls told him he had sexual urges that he couldn't control. I just asked him, how long have you had these kinds of feelings? And he said, for a while now. My thought process was, this man has a severe problem. Detective Frank believes Paul Rolls was the most dangerous type of killer. When you met him at that time, you met a nice guy anybody would trust. Have him over for dinner. You'd never know. You'd never know. Rolls was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Linda Fida. But in 1985, Rolls' life sentence was abruptly cut short when he was suddenly released and out on parole.

22:58I thought, oh my God, that's not good. That was the deal back then through prison overcrowding and lots of crime in the state of Florida. The average sentence for life in prison was 15 years.

23:11Tracy Smith:Rolls only had to serve 13 years of his life sentence. This is the kind of guy who should not be released in prison. I mean, he committed a heinous crime without any guilt at all. In 1988, Rolls settled in Gainesville, where he worked as a pizza delivery man. He also had another job putting up scaffolding on that apartment complex, Hunter's Run, located right on Tiffany's walking route. He always stayed under the radar. When I interviewed his boss at Pizza Hut, he said it was as if Paul didn't want to be seen. He just maintained an extremely low profile, as many serial killers do. In 1989, just one year after Paul Rolls moved to Gainesville, Tiffany Sessions disappeared.

24:01How could somebody just totally disappear off the face of this earth with no evidence?

24:09Tracy Smith:And it turns out Rolls did not show up for his pizza delivery job on the day Tiffany vanished. And then in 1992, just three years after Tiffany went missing, Beth Foster, that other college student, was found murdered just one mile from where Tiffany went walking. Every time something happened up here in Gainesville, I was concerned. Tiffany's mom, Hillary, immediately thought that the two cases could be related. You thought back then, back in 92, that this could be a serial killer. Absolutely. The same guy who murdered Elizabeth Foster. Could have taken Tiffany. Yep. And I've said that all this time.

24:53But nobody wanted to listen to me.

24:55Tracy Smith:Private investigator Wayne Black says at the time, police couldn't link Rolls to either crime. Remember, we didn't have the forensics that we have today. We were really in the dark ages. And even though Rolls, by then 43, was an ex-con living in the area, police never questioned him. And just two months after Beth Foster's murder, he quietly left town. Paul Rolls had lived in Gainesville for about four years. And I think the heat was on, basically, at that point. So he got out of town. And in 1994, Rolls struck again, this time in Jacksonville, when he raped and attempted to kill a 15-year-old girl.

25:40Tracy Smith:She was able to escape and identified Rolls as her attacker. Rolls was convicted, and this time he was sent to prison for good. He was confronted soon after the crime and gave a full confession. To that crime? Yes. To the young girl? Yes. But what about to the other crimes? Elizabeth Foster, Tiffany Sessions. He wasn't interviewed about either of those cases in a timely fashion. The dots had not been connected. Over the next few years, as DNA technology advanced, detectives submitted Roll's DNA to the FBI database to see if he could have possibly killed others. And although it took 18 years, finally, in 2012, there was a match to Elizabeth Foster.

26:31Tracy Smith:How big of a development was that, linking Elizabeth Foster's death to Paul Roll's? It was huge. Years go on, decades go on, and nothing's happening, no new information. So it was energizing, it was wonderful. Sheriff Darnell knew that if Paul Rolls, who is now 64, had killed Beth Foster, he could also have killed Tiffany Sessions. She was a young white female. They lived in the same quadrant of our county. Paul Rolls didn't show up for work the day that she went missing. You got to look at him. You got to look at him. Detective Allen couldn't wait to confront Rolls, hoping he would cave and confess to Tiffany's abduction.

27:19Tracy Smith:But when the detective went to question him in December of 2013, Rolls was in a coma and dying of lung cancer. Did you hope that maybe he'd wake up? Oh, sure. And with a last twinge of conscience, could, would, should say, I did it and this is where she is. But that didn't happen. Paul Rolls died almost two weeks later. But Sheriff Darnell was not giving up. I sent an email to Kevin Allen saying, crap, crap, crap. Get down there and get his personal belongings as soon as possible. Something in her gut told her to get a hold of Paul Rolls' personal property. And what Paul Rolls left behind changed the entire investigation.

28:09I got chills when Kevin showed it to me.

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28:56Tracy Smith:When Detective Allen went to retrieve serial killer Paul Roll's personal belongings from jail, it was 24 years after Tiffany Sessions disappeared. It was just one box. He didn't think he would find much. And it's just a lot of letters and loose writings and stuff. But then he came across Rolls' address book. I said, I should copy this. This might be relevant. And there in the dead center of the book is a date, 2-9-89. I went, oh my gosh, because that's the date if he disappeared. Then he saw what Rolls wrote next to the date. Then number two. I knew Linda Fida was his first victim. and chronologically, Tiffany Sessions would have been his second victim.

29:47I almost fell down when I saw it. What was going through your head? We have a possible link to the Tiffany Sessions disappearance from Paul Rolls' personal property. It's a huge break. Lucky. Really lucky.

30:03Tracy Smith:And that's not all that was in the address book. Rolls had also written down the names of all of his other victims. Linda Fida, Elizabeth Foster, and the 15-year-old girl roles raped and attempted to kill in Jacksonville, a minor whose name we won't disclose. Some serial killers like to keep a diary. Some keep artifacts. Some like to write down what they've done, a feeling of accomplishment. Look what I did. I've got two, three, four. I said, can I see it? This could be the smoking gun piece of evidence Sheriff Darnell has been looking for all these years. I was literally shaking, holding it, to see it and to see the depth of what that meant.

30:54After all these many years, there's a possibility, just a possibility, that this case could be solved.

31:06Tracy Smith:Once he discovered the address book, Detective Allen ordered up cadaver dogs to search the site where Rolls buried Elizabeth Foster. They all alert about 20 feet from where Beth Foster was buried. So what did that say to you? There's human remains here. And it could be Tiffany. It could be Tiffany Sessions. He obviously was in a comfort zone there. He left Beth Foster there for a reason. so he may have left multiple bodies there. So on January 13, 2014, just one month away from the 25th anniversary of Tiffany's disappearance, Pat Sessions and Detective Allen have gathered a team of people to help at the excavation.

31:5125 years ago we started. I hope we're going to finish. I want to be there for the end of this if it is.

31:57Tracy Smith:Some members of the team have been searching for Tiffany since she went missing.

32:05I've probably been on over 20 searches for Tiffany.

32:08Tracy Smith:Dr. Michael Warren is a world-renowned forensic anthropologist, an expert in identifying human bones. I've had Tiffany Sessions' master file on my desk for 21 years. He's been actively involved in the search for Tiffany since 1991. She's just been one of the cases that I would really like to resolve. And he knows it is not going to be an easy task. It's very hard to go out and do an organized search over such a large area, so we've got to be pretty aggressive.

32:42Tracy Smith:And if they find any bones, Dr. Warren will know if they are Tiffany's. I've memorized her dental pattern and her dental chart. I'll know if it's her or not. To find her would just be a remarkable feeling. Their plan, to dig for five days. I feel good about the operation. I feel good about the people on the ground. So we're all thumbs up, trying to stay positive. After clearing the trees, they now begin the tedious job of sifting through every bit of dirt, looking for pieces of human bone. And in the afternoon, they do find a bone. But it's not human. It's a deer bone.

33:29Tracy Smith:Pat is disappointed, but he knows they have a lot more ground to dig. We've waited this long, worked this hard to get here. It's amazing. The commitment from everybody. And if they don't find Tiffany here, Jason will never stop looking for his sister. I don't have any doubt if I drop dead tomorrow, that he'll just keep on going. I hope he doesn't have to. Maybe we'll get lucky.

33:59Yeah, I'll continue looking forever. As long as there's a lead to follow, we're going to continue looking.

34:06Tracy Smith:With just three days left to dig, Tiffany's mother, Hillary, is adamant. The search will be over. This is definitely the one. You know why? The pieces are fitting. Everything is fitting in place. This is it.

34:42Tracy Smith:Is it hard to imagine that Tiffany might be in that spot? I don't know what's worse, having absolutely no idea what happened to her, or having someone as bad as Paul Rolls having done it. Believing serial killer Paul Rolls murdered his daughter makes it even harder for Pat Sessions to understand how, after receiving a life sentence in 1976, he was ever released from prison. That makes me sick. Tiffany would probably be alive today if they hadn't let that guy out.

35:26Tracy Smith:On day three of the excavation... We're really moving some dirt. There isn't a chance we're missing anything. Pat starts to wonder if Rolls may have buried Tiffany someplace else. Am I losing optimism that we're going to find Tiffany this go-around? It's hard not to. Later that day, Pat's fears come true when excavators finish digging in the areas where the cadaver dogs alerted and find nothing. Certainly dogs are very good at finding the recently dead who are giving off these human-specific scents. Forensic anthropologist Dr. Michael Warren says cadaver dogs sometimes can be unreliable when trying to solve cold cases.

36:08Skeletons are a different thing. They just don't have any odor associated with them.

36:17Tracy Smith:And with no focus on where to dig. By the end of the week, the excavation comes to an end. We have not found Tiffany Sessions. Was it disappointing? Yeah, really disappointing. But we're never going to find out if we don't keep trying.

36:38Good morning, everyone, and thank you for being here. This has been a long journey. And then, just three weeks after the dig,

36:46Tracy Smith:Sheriff Darnell goes public about Paul Rolls. He was in this community. He murdered in this community. He had made comments about this site being a dump site. Darnell hopes that someone will know something that leads them to Tiffany's remains. If you had any involvement with him, if you know of anyone who had involvement with him, bring it forward. For Pat and Hillary, there's a sense of finality to this moment. They think they have their man, even if they don't have their little girl. And above all, they're grateful. I want to thank the people who have come over the last 25 years. They're especially thankful to Detective Kevin Allen.

37:28This is the guy that's made everybody work.

37:31Tracy Smith:He's the one who gave Pat and Hillary the answers they've been longing for. I think he solved the case. I think we found who took Tiffany. I believe that. I think anyone who has children is touched by the case of Tiffany Sessions, especially myself. I know the sheriff, too. Oh, yeah, you take care. It was an emotional day for all of us. Tiffany's case is still officially open, but over the years, Pat and Hillary have tried to bring closure to other parents of missing children. Hillary has worked with advocates on child protection legislation, and Pat works directly with families. You know, you try to find something, as corny as it sounds, try to make some meaning out of something, try and do something positive out of a terrible thing.

38:16And I think that's the best thing I could do. You know, if somebody calls me, I'm there.

38:26My cute little Missy.

38:31I'm very comfortable here in her room. On bad days, like sometimes her birthday, I come and sleep here in the room because I just feel very close to her at that time.

38:48I honestly do think that if Tiffany were here, she'd say, get over it. I don't think she'd want me to be spending my entire life, having already spent 25 years of this, trying to do something that isn't going to bring her back. So if you imagine that she would tell you, knock it off, Dad, move on, why do you keep doing it? For my own benefit. to try and to do what I think I should have done. I don't want to ever, if she walked in the door tomorrow, I want to always be able to say that I did the best I could do. That's all anybody can do.

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