some laundry. but don't go away, "20/20" starts right now. it was like a mannequin. her hair was perfect, her makeup was perfect. >> almost too perfect. >> tonight on "20/20," this beautiful young daughter, did she take her own life? or did someone put her there? >> i became my daughter's investigator. i didn't have a choice. >> prompting the state to reopen the investigation. we take another look. >> and they paint the portrait of an obsessed mother, what do you say? >> good thing i was.

>> but in her grief, is she going after an innocent man? >> she needs to understand that everything that can be done has been done. >> and the fiancee taking a polygraph in front of millions. and what he told us before the interview stopped. >> can we cut? >> a man's life ruined, or justice for the girl in the shower? here now, david muir and elizabeth vargas. >> tonight, brand-new answers in a mystery "20/20" has been following for more than a year? what really happened to the girl m in the shower? did this mother's daughter take her own life? >> and convicting late-night surveillance.

but right here tonight, on what would be her daughter's 28th birthday, investigators revealing what they think really happened. reporter: on a friday night, the last thing this florida mother ever thought she'd be doing would be patrolling this small town an hour south of tampa. but for five years now, this is exactly how kelly osborn has been spending every ounce of her free time. determined to uncover what really happened at this charming beachfront hotel. up these stairs, around the corner and behind this hotel door, where her beautiful, 22-year-old daughter sheena was last seen alive. >> she was my only daughter, so she was everything to me. from the day she was born, and still to today. >> reporter: and life without her? >> life without her, the last five years, i am not the same person as i used to be. >> look at that. >> oh. >> reporter: these images are

from the last time kelly would spend with her daughter, celebrating christmas in 2008. you can see the smile on her daughter's face. >> you want to meet her? >> reporter: just days after this video was taken, that daughter, gone forever. how often have you gone back to look at that? >> i just went through it as recent as last night. it's her voice. it's the things that i don't have anymore. >> reporter: now that mother, a former real estate agent, has been thrust into a role she never imagined. a one-woman crusader investigating her own daughter's mysterious death. what was sheena like? >> sheena had a very vibrant personality. she was an amazing daughter. i could talk to her about anything. >> reporter: her love life, her hopes and dreams for the future, her babies. her two yorkshire terriers, chloe and encore. >> you know how people keep baby

books? she had baby books for her dogs. >> reporter: and they were not forgotten on christmas. >> oh! >> reporter: those prized dogs would be the last ones with sheena in that hotel room. they would be left behind. and so would sheena's friends. do you miss sheena? do you still think about her? >> oh, absolutely. >> reporter: what do you miss? >> everything. >> reporter: she was a good friend? >> she was a very good friend, yes. sheena owned the room the minute she walked into it. people were drawn to her. i was drawn to her. she was absolutely vivacious. >> loud, obnoxious. >> reporter: vivacious and among her group of friends, sheena was the head turner. >> there were always guys chasing her around, of course, which makes sense. >> reporter: and the last guy to chase her would catch her. and ultimately convince her to marry him. joe genoese, a successful contractor and builder, was

trying to build a future with sheena. they quickly fell in love. she was his everything. >> sheena seemed to be happy, just kind of loving life. >> reporter: but sheena's mother was hardly sold. >> i was told he was 35 when i first met him. and so the minute i laid eyes on him, i said, "you are not 35." >> reporter: joe was more than twice her daughter's age. he was 42 when they met. she was just 20. and that's not all that concerned her mother. joe already had three children and was going through a nasty divorce, not exactly this mother's idea of the perfect catch. and her daughter knew it. >> sheena looked at him and said, "my mother will have a full work up on you by morning." i did some public records search. and, you know, i found some tickets. >> reporter: so she wasn't kidding. >> no. no, she -- she really wasn't kidding. she is my only child, and it was my job to take care of her and to look out for her. >> reporter: but joe thought he was looking out for her too, paying her rent, showering her with gifts. but while there was love, their

may-december romance was also stormy from the start. >> you know, she wasn't the type of person to back down. and he clearly wasn't the type of person to back down. so they butt heads more often than not. >> reporter: and sheena's friends tell us the relationship seemed to feed on drama. sheena's mother was just hoping it would end on its own. you thought it would end. >> yes. i was certain it was going to end. >> reporter: but then, what this mother did not see coming. when did you find out that they were engaged? >> it was just something that just kind of showed up out there. >> their engagement wasn't a huge, exciting celebration for anyone. not her, not him. to me it seemed more like a band-aid on years of problems. >> reporter: and if there were problems, that band-aid was covering them well. because on that christmas morning, the last time sheena's mother would see her alive, there were smiles, laughter. and another gift to go along with that engagement ring. a diamond bracelet.

>> that is so gorgeous. >> reporter: a bracelet revealing joe's love for sheena, and later perhaps revealing something else. just days later, another surprise. joe giving sheena a quick new year's getaway. they were headed to bradenton beach, where they would stay in that hotel room where sheena would last be seen alive. new years eve. 8:00 p.m. >> they had dinner at a restaurant across the street from the hotel. that was the restaurant where they planned on getting married. >> reporter: sheena's friends remember she was in high spirits that night, getting messages from her while she was sitting at the dinner table with joe. >> i received a text message from her saying, "happy new year." and then she had let me know that her cousin was in labor and she was beyond excited. >> reporter: at the stroke of midnight, the couple back in their room. >> they watched fireworks off the balcony. and at midnight, of course, they had a new year's eve kiss. >> reporter: but soon the sound of those fireworks, replaced by something else -- the shouting

coming from their room. the couple had gotten into an argument. >> it got pretty heated. the people staying in the room next door ended up calling 911. >> reporter: 1:47 a.m. >> there's two people over there just screaming and yelling, a woman and a man, at each other. >> reporter: the police arrive just as joe, the future husband, is leaving. they pass him as they head up the stairs to that room to find sheena and her dogs. >> sheena wouldn't go into too much detail about what the fight was about. >> reporter: soon the police leave. but this case was far from over. the most shocking twist was about to come next. >> i answer the phone, and i go "sheena, sheena." and there is no answer. and now i am screaming into the phone. and then all of a sudden, i hear a man's voice in the background. >> reporter: what happened inside that hotel room, and the last time anyone would hear sheena's voice again. a call to 911. >> he made me bleed and left claw marks all over me and stuff. >> reporter: when we come back. ♪

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we continue with the girl in the shower. here again, david muir. >> reporter: for most families, new year's day is a celebration. but it would soon turn into the worst day of this mother's life. 12:24 that afternoon, kelly osborn gets a call from joe genoese, her daughter's fiance. >> he talked to kelly and told her he was having trouble getting in touch with sheena. she became concerned for her daughter and went to her apartment. >> reporter: then suddenly, that mother's cellphone ringing. the name that comes up offers hope. >> i answer the phone, and i go "sheena, sheena." and there is no answer. and now i am screaming into the phone, i am upset and calling for her. and then all of a sudden, i hear a man's voice in the background. >> reporter: that voice, one of the police officers in her daughter's hotel room. it turns out, kelly says, they

inadvertently called her from her daughter's cellphone. that's when you knew something was wrong. >> that's when i found out something was wrong. >> reporter: when police accidentally called you from her phone. >> they said, "we need you to give us your address" and i couldn't figure out why that was. why would they need my address? >> reporter: the finace, joe, is summoned to sheena's mother's house too. and when police arrive they tell them sheena is dead. found alone in that hotel room. >> getting a notification like that is the most horrifying event you could have in your life. all we knew was that she was deceased. we didn't know how. >> reporter: a mother begging for answers. >> i am asking them, "well, where did you find her?" and they say that she was found in the shower. what we were thinking was, you know, did she slip and fall? did she hit her head? >> reporter: but the answer would be far more heartbreaking. >> the police never told us. so, when the medical examiner does call us and say, "we have

just completed the autopsy, and it's consistent with a hanging," we are just dumbfounded. >> reporter: sheena was found with her clothes on, hanging in the shower, one of her precious dogs' leashes around her neck. and with no signs of a struggle in the room, and no obvious injuries to sheena's body, the detective in the case lenard diaz and the police department quickly ruling it a suicide. family and friends immediately argued it didn't add up. >> the moment i got the call, i knew that something was not right about the situation. >> reporter: and kelly says her daughter was hardly someone planning her own demise. the smiles in that video just days before. and so many other telling signs in the days before her death. she renewed a subscription to a magazine. >> yes, she did. she renewed her aaa for the year. >> reporter: left her rent check. >> yes. yeah. rent check is all filled out, ready to be paid, for the, you know, month of january. >> reporter: and she says what also didn't make sense were those joyful text messages

sheena sent from that new year's eve dinner with joe. >> and that night, sheena's texting all her friends, she's all excited, saying, "i'm gonna be an auntie, i'm gonna be an auntie." >> reporter: kelly says she immediately wanted answers from one person. >> three days after sheena died, i had asked joe to come out to the garage, that i wanted to talk to him. >> reporter: and she delivered this message. >> this isn't over. sheena didn't commit suicide. i said, "you can make this as easy or as hard on me, and yourself, as you would like." >> reporter: kelly was done selling houses. now, a mother trying to solve a tragic mystery. >> i have every police report in here. >> reporter: she studied hundreds of other suicides looking for patterns. and the one common theme that kept coming up. drugs and alcohol? >> yes. >> reporter: and yet the amount of alcohol in your daughter's body -- >> -- was under the legal limit,

she could've legally driven, um, might have been one drink, two? >> reporter: and any drugs? >> no, none. >> reporter: and that was just the first discovery. she began poring over her daughter's cellphone records. and discovered a call to 911 that night. not the one from the neighbors who heard that screaming, but it turns out there was also a call from sheena herself. >> 9-1-1. what's your emergency? >> hi, my name is sheena. >> reporter: her mother says police never revealed that. >> i call detective diaz. and he said, "only the people in the room next door made a 911 phone call." i had to go and learn how to try to retrieve a 911 phone call. and when i did, i delivered it to detective diaz. >> reporter: sure enough, it was her daughter calling after that argument with joe. 2:10 that morning. >> he just made me bleed and left claw marks all over me and stuff. >> they had had many fights before. she chose to call the police on this particular night for a reason. this one had to be a big one.

>> reporter: and sheena's mother discovered something else. the text messages her daughter sent joe after that 911 call. 1:53 in the morning. you're evil and scary. stop being an alpha male and stop putting your hands on a woman. and there were images too. how did you discover the pictures? >> they had released the camera to us. and that's where we found that she was actually taking pictures of herself, of what he did to her. >> reporter: the photos on her camera showing a cut on her neck and a scratch on her finger. so the police, they'd never looked at the pictures. >> they knew what was in her camera. and they dismissed it. >> reporter: and as kelly quietly pored over every piece of evidence, there was someone else who got a tip. a reporter, a former cop himself, lee williams. >> i had a call from a source in law enforcement, who said i needed to look at this case. i talked to kelly, i was hooked. >> reporter: you were? >> yeah.

>> reporter: there were enough red flags right from the start? >> right away. >> reporter: lee williams has reported extensively on the case for the "sarasota herald tribune," writing that the lead detective in the case had never been sent out on a homicide investigation alone before, asking how would he know if he were looking at one now? >> any suspicious death should be initially viewed as a potential homicide. he walked in, he saw her hanging, and i think he just, in his mind it became a suicide. >> reporter: sheena's mother started calling that detective, convinced the investigation had been botched. >> i had called him, and said, "have you questioned the boyfriend yet?" his exact words to me were, "no, why? should i?" >> the detective waited 22 days before interviewing joe genoese, during which any wounds or scratches that he had on his body could have healed. >> reporter: do they write up a report? >> no, they did not. >> reporter: how do you not document that? >> i certainly would've documented that conversation, probably videotaped it too. >> reporter: and the big question -- just where did joe go after leaving the hotel room? he told police he went home and there were tenants in his

townhouse who saw him. but sheena's mother said police at first never went to check on that alibi. we reached out the bradenton beach police department and to that detective. they've declined to comment. but the bradenton beach police have long said they didn't rely solely on that alibi. they say they have cellphone records, pings from joe's phone cell phone calls and text messages, revealing joe's locations. in fact, they say those pings trace his route home. >> i've never seen the pings, they've been sealed by a judge, i'd love to see them. >> reporter: you'll see them for yourself later. when we come back -- "20/20" returns to that very same hotel shower. and later tonight, the fiance, with sheena that new year's eve. how does he explain the evidence? celebrate your love of crab with gthis year's largest variety!. 'cause it's crabfest at red lobster! dig into a succulent selection of crab entrées. like new crab lover's trio! with sweet snow crab legs, split king crab,

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>> reporter: long after most of us put our work weeks behind us, kelly osborn is still up at night. still pouring through every piece of evidence.

but, by far, the most difficult pieces to study are the images of her dead daughter. >> a lot of people will ask, how could a mother look at the photographs from an autopsy? >> i don't recommend it to any, any parent. >> reporter: but why did you? >> i had to. i became my daughter's investigator. i didn't have a choice. >> reporter: and immediately there were clues. the kind she says only a mother would notice. >> the first thing i was very shocked at, looking at her eyes. sheena and i, we wore the same mascara, and i knew that we, if you cry with this mascara on, your eyelashes are all clumped up and, and hers were perfect. >> reporter: if sheena took her own life, there were no tears. which experts say is very rare. her make-up, untouched. something else only a mom would notice, that diamond bracelet they fawned over at christmas. >> that is so gorgeous. >> reporter: kelly says it was on the wrong wrist. >> it is on her right wrist. i knew that sheena didn't wear

her bracelets on her right wrist. as a matter of fact, that video on christmas, when she got that bracelet, she takes that bracelet out of the box, and shows it, with her right hand and automatically places it on her left wrist. >> reporter: the crime scene photos also show both the bathroom and the shower doors left open. sheena's mother convinced she would never have done that with her babies, her two little dogs right there in the room. >> she would have made sure that her dogs didn't see her that way. >> reporter: and while that's what a mother noticed from those photos, veteran crime reporter lee williams saw something else. >> there's a photo of sheena in the shower. her feet are caked with sand and debris yet there's no debris on the white floor, on the shower or on the white floor of the bathroom immediately outside the shower. >> reporter: so her feet were caked in sand and yet there was no sand anywhere in that bathroom? >> none whatsoever. other than on her feet.

>> reporter: for williams, sand on her feet and not on the floor around her makes it nearly impossible to believe sheena killed herself in that shower. >> so either sheena was carried in there, post mortem, and hung or she somehow levitated into that room. >> reporter: kelly had the reporter on her side. but what she truly needed were some big names, forensic heavyweights. and she got three of them to look at all the evidence. one of them, taking "20/20" back to that very hotel room with her. jan johnson is one of those csi experts who examined the evidence. she's spent more than 40 years studying crime scenes and she immediately saw red flags. >> there was a pillow lying on the floor. i would be very interested in what's on that pillow. >> reporter: jan says a veteran investigator would have ruled everything out. asking, could that pillow have been used to smother her? because you're thinking someone could've used one of these pillows to kill her? >> absolutely. >> reporter: but most telling, says jan, the bathroom where she says crucial evidence was

missed. this is where sheena was found hanging from a dog leash? >> that is correct. and it's attached to the showerhead. you can see it's clipped at the top, extending downward. the noose is around her neck, and her buttocks is about eight inches off the ground. she's extended towards the back side of the shower with her legs extended outward. >> reporter: so, she's not suspended in -- in midair? >> no, she's not. >> her legs are actually on the bottom of the shower. >> flat. yes. >> reporter: wouldn't that give someone ample opportunity to stand back up, to pull themselves back up? >> absolutely. >> reporter: jan also points to her clothes. if she were convulsing after hanging herself, jan says she would expect the clothes to be riding up the body. but the cuffs of her pants were actually down around her feet. and jan says it looks more like she was dragged into the shower. >> the pants are extended outward. and you would have expected if she had, you know, walked her way down the shower wall and hung herself that the pants would've gone up her legs. i mean, her clothing is perfect. >> she appeared serene, like she

had just fallen asleep. a hanging is a violent act. towards the end, your body fights that. it fights the ligature. it struggles to get air. and there was no evidence of any of that. >> her hair was perfectly in place. like a mannequin that had just been pushed over on its side. i've never seen a hanging like that. >> reporter: and one more giant red flag for jan and that entire team of experts was what they saw in sheena's eyes. so when you saw that in both eyes she had popped blood vessels, you immediately thought -- >> she'd been strangled. you usually see petechial hemorrhages in a strangulation. you don't often see them in a hanging. >> reporter: the hemorrhaging in sheena's eyes, they believe, is more consistent with a violent struggle. a strangling. and then the bombshell conclusion. all three experts weighing all three experts weighing in, and in every one of their reports. >> three words stood out -- staged crime scene. and that's huge. that means that what was done to

sheena was staged to make it appear as a suicide. >> what i think happened in that room that night is, she may have been suffocated on the bed and i think that she was dragged into the shower and placed into that leash on that shower head. >> reporter: armed with those forensic experts' affidavits kelly got a meeting with the medical examiner who had classified sheena's death a suicide. and right there while sitting across from her, the break she was waiting for. he changed that one key line on sheena's death certificate. >> they changed the manner of death to undetermined pending further investigation. we thought, well, that automatically opens this case, no. you know what detective diaz tells me? "that's just their opinion." >> reporter: in fact, that detective who answered the call remained convinced that sheena did kill herself and he went on local station wtsp to say so. >> she wants to say she's not in denial. i say she is.

i say she just can't accept her daughter committing suicide. >> reporter: when they paint the portrait of an obsessed mother, what do you say? >> it's a good thing i was. obsessive? or you call it just doing their job for them? when we come back -- joe genoese on the hot seat. not just facing off with kelly osborn but taking a polygraph test in front of millions. before sitting down one on one with "20/20." did you kill sheena? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: stay with us. with unlimited talk and text, gigs e and for a family of four, its $160 a month. $160 a month? sign us up. um, maybe we sign you up at the store after this. right, 'cause this is the... food court, yeah. it's the food court. at&t's best-ever family pricing. for instance, a family of four gets 10 gigs of data, with unlimited talk & text, for $160 dollars a month.

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>> reporter: as this florida mother walks the beach, there is little peace. consumed by the mystery surrounding what happened to her daughter in a hotel just across the street. and while she says police in this small town refused to listen to her, kelly osborn's own investigation was heating up. she had three foresnic experts who shared her sneaking suspicion that her daughter was murdered and now the medical examiner who changed the official cause of death from suicide to undetermined. finally, this mother turned detective had people listening. >> her mom believes her daughter was murdered. >> there's a tremendous amount of pressure that's been applied to, not only those two police officers, but the mayor in bradenton beach as well. >> reporter: do you think they underestimated this mother? >> i do, i do. i think they saw her as they described her, just as a grieving mother. >> reporter: and now that grieving mother had her sights set on the state's top investigators.

turning to the florida department of law enforcement, a panel with the power to take another look at the case. and they did. asking to hear from that first detective who labeled sheena's death a suicide. >> their evidence is presented to them by detective diaz. he goes over his findings from his investigation. >> and what does this panel decide? >> the case needs to be re-opened. >> state investigators say they will now be looking into this case. >> reporter: was this a hard fought victory? >> oh my, yes. >> reporter: finally they were going to investigate your daughter's death. >> finally, and why? why did we have to fight, for four years, four years. nobody would listen. >> reporter: but now they were. local station fox 13 follows her as she wheels years of her evidence straight through those doors. >> justice has not been served.

>> reporter: and just as the state was taking another look -- millions across america were about to see the case too. >> these two people think you had something to do with their daughter's death. >> reporter: there was sheena's parents, kelly and father dave on the "dr. phil" show, and they were stunned because right there with them was joe. so confident in his innocence he agrees to a polygraph test. >> some would say, who would agree to go on a national tv show and take a polygraph test unless you're certain you're innocent? >> exactly. especially since the polygraphist that conducted the examination is one of the best in the country. he is the former chief polygraphist for the fbi's l.a. field office. >> maybe he thought that after four and a half years, he's been so convincing to all the authorities, that he'd be convincing there too. >> reporter: he would have to convince them on two major points. the two questions were? >> did he kill sheena, or was involved somehow in her death?

>> reporter: and with millions watching, the results. >> the result on both questions is that that answer was deceptive. that you were not telling the truth. >> i literally became nauseous. >> how do you explain those test results? >> well, i don't. i was uneasy with a lot of the questions he asked. >> reporter: for the first time since being branded a liar on national television joe genoese is speaking out. sitting down with "20/20" saying far from a liar he's a victim too. so why sit down with me? >> because i have to tell you my side of the story. i'm being victimized cause i cared about someone. >> reporter: put under the microscope he says by a mother determined to prove her daughter did not commit suicide. joe says the portrait painted of his relationship with sheena is not a true one.

we've interviewed a lot of sheena's friends. many of her friends say that this was a tumultuous relationship. >> i just don't understand where they're getting at. >> there wasn't any fighting? >> well, in a relationship, there's always -- there's always arguments and stuff. >> it was never physical? >> no you know, in a normal relationship, there -- there was fights, there was, you know, back and forths. but there was no -- never any violence, no. >> reporter: and he points out his fights with sheena, including the one in that hotel room, were often caused by her jealousy of the children he already had. he says after a new year's kiss that night it was a call to his kids that set sheena off. >> it lasted all about 15, 20 seconds that i was on the phone. and as i turned back around, she was right there. she just looked at me and said, "you just [ bleep ] up the whole night." >> why did she have such a big problem with you calling your kids? >> she just didn't want me involved with my children. it was, like, another family to her. and she started getting really upset, screaming and yelling. and then she started punching the wall. >> reporter: joe says initially it was sheena's idea to leave the hotel but she suddenly

changed her mind -- refusing to go. >> she actually at one point tried to grab the money that i had on the bureau so -- and she said that i wasn't leaving. and i told her, "i am leaving. because at that point, i -- you know, she -- from her punching the wall, and screaming and yellin' the way she did, i-- i was afraid that, you know, cops were gonna come. >> reporter: but guests were already placing that call to 911. >> there's two people over there, just screaming and yelling, a woman and a man, at each other. >> reporter: and joe told us what police say he's always told them. and where did you go? >> home. straight home. straight to my townhouse where there were people there, they were havin' a party, and at least five or six people saw me. >> reporter: on the drive home, joe says, sheena was on the phone with him. suddenly sounding desperate. what was she saying to you? >> there was one thing that she did say. in a somber note, she said, "if i can't have you all to myself, i don't wanna be here." >> had she ever said that before? >> not -- no. >> reporter: as for that 911 call sheena made just after

2:00 a.m. -- >> he just made me bleed and left claw marks all over me and stuff. >> the scrape on her -- on her finger, we know that came from her punching the wall. and the scrape on her neck when she went to grab the money off of the bureau, and -- i grabbed her by her -- her -- shirt, and -- and it -- and it got her necklace. and it left a little scratch on her neck. that's -- that's it. >> she said you had taken her purse, her house keys, her car keys -- >> no. that's not true. i didn't -- i wouldn't take her purse. i wasn't out to destroy anything. >> reporter: and he says, like the mother who loved sheena, he was devastated too that new year's day when they all learned she was dead. >> i walk up, and i -- and i -- and i look, and i asked, like, "what's going on?" he looked at me, he said, "i'm sorry for your loss." and i fell to my knees. and i just looked at him, and i couldn't believe what he said to me. can we cut? can we cut? >> reporter: and when he was ready to continue.

>> she was a beautiful girl. i -- this is a tragedy in everybody's lives, you know? >> for you too? >> absolutely. i was engaged to her. >> reporter: do you think everybody's forgotten that you felt this way too? >> no, i just think that they -- they're on the kelly train, and if you go against what kelly says, then you're not an advocate of sheena. >> and once and for all, did you kill sheena? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: but that's just the question florida's top investigators were working to answer. when we come back -- >> a major development in the sheena morris case. >> reporter: the state's investigators release a bombshell report that will rock the case. >> the state attorney's office ruling once and for all. >> reporter: will kelly osborn be victorious in her crusade. what are you hoping to hear? >> miss osborn, we have a suspect in custody. >> reporter: and joe genoese's fate hangs in the balance. >> of course i'm nervous. i mean, who wouldn't be nervous? >> reporter: stay with us.

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>> reporter: after 14 months, reviewing hundreds of documents and crime scene photos and conducting three dozen interviews, florida's top investigators finally came to a conclusion about the death of sheena morris. >> the call came from the state attorney's office letting us know that we're gonna meet and the first thing that went through my mind was, "finally." >> reporter: so what really happened to sheena in that hotel room? >> my emotions were just all over the place. part of me was confident that there's no possible way they can come back that sheena's death was a suicide. not after all the information that we found out. not after all the experts.

>> reporter: but that's exactly what the state of florida told her. according to their report her beloved sheena did in fact committ suicide. in a meeting that lasted an hour and a half, kelly was shown the evidence that the fdle said proved it. at first she seemed ready to concede. >> we thought that this must be what it is. it must've been a suicide. >> i think all the expert literature and all the analysis that the report discusses is right on point. >> reporter: lyann goudie is a prominent florida defense attorney who reviewed the report on the fdle's investigation starting with that 911 call made by the hotel guests in the room next door. >> screaming and yelling. a man and a woman. >> those people basically confirmed that nothing that was suspicious or was indicative of any kind of a violent struggle occurred after the police initially responded to the 911 call. >> reporter: those witnesses

saying the walls of the hotel were so thin, if a murder had occurred, they would certainly have heard it. and the report dismisses that sand found on the bottom of sheena's feet, but not on the shower floor. >> they indicate that they blew up the photographs, changed the lighting and the contrast in the photograph, and put it on better paper. so, they're actually able to see sand on the shower floor. >> reporter: and what about those hemorrhages in sheena's eyes that the forensic experts said pointed to strangulation, not suicide? >> anybody that's experienced in doing homicide work will tell you that sometimes they're present and sometimes they're not. in fact, the reports are that people that hang themselves, 50% of the time have petichiae present. >> reporter: as for sheena's bracelet that kelly remembered being found on the wrong wrist? >> the report emphasizes that they were able to secure photographs that were taken some time earlier in december, that established the bracelet, in fact, on her right wrist.

which contradicted what ms. osborne thought. >> reporter: and the state's report also pointed out that sheena had a history of depression. did she ever say to you that she was depressed, or having suicidal thoughts? >> she told me she tried to commit suicide when she was commit suicide when she was 15 years old. took a bottle of pills. >> reporter: in fact that's the same story police say sheena's mother told them the day her body was found. >> had there ever been suicidal thoughts before? >> she had gotten in some trouble with her dad. and, she kind of like said to her father that she took some pills. they checked everything out. she really didn't take anything. it was a false alarm. >> reporter: but for the fdle the incident demonstrated a risk factor for suicide. >> it was almost, like, a post-mortem psychoanalysis. it had brought up things from when she was 14. >> reporter: lee williams, who wrote so extensively about the case, doesn't buy the report.

>> i had a lot of issues with some of the experts that were quoted in there. >> reporter: what about that stunning polygraph that joe bombed on national television? the fdle discounted it, saying the questions were improperly phrased. and they retested him. this time he passed. >> there's a reason why polygraphs are inadmissible in court. and the reason is because they're not reliable. >> reporter: despite kelly's ongoing investigation there are many in florida who believe this case is now closed for good. >> there was no indication that sheena morris' death was anything other than a suicide. there is no way based on everything that's outlined in this report that any responsible state attorney's office would've brought charges against joe genoese. >> reporter: and kelly seemed ready to accept that too -- for about 24 hours. but she quickly had a change of heart, going on television to announce it. >> i believe sheena was

murdered. in reading the report and the things -- just went, "no. no, this is -- this wasn't a suicide. my daughter was murdered in that room." it was seeing the things that were there and saying, "i can't just walk away when i know what's here." >> reporter: for kelly the heart of the case was always about joe's claim that he went straight home after leaving the hotel. now, for the first time, she gets access to his cellphone ping data which for so long had been sealed by a judge. >> i had two separate experts analyze that data. and those two experts were, you know, just dead-on, the same thing. but not the same as the fdle. >> reporter: the fdle's analysis confirmed joe's account but kelly's experts say they discovered an error in the location of one of joe's last cellphone pings that night. >> we now once again have sloppy investigative work. and it only shows that they left these loopholes as to knowing where genoese was. and those things haven't been answered. >> reporter: fixated on finding

out every detail, she also started contacting the witnesses the fdle interviewed, including the alibi witnesses who say they saw joe come home that night. >> i am on my way to kissimmee, florida, to meet with john ferrentinos. >> reporter: today, this witness tells kelly those investigators left out some details he told them in a statement attributed to him. >> people felt that, in the fdle reports, that their own statements weren't quite accurate. >> they weren't. >> reporter: the fdle declined "20/20"'s request for an interview saying their report speaks for itself. as for joe genoese -- >> i think i should bring civil charges against kelly and her family. there's no reason why this family did what they did to me. >> reporter: but even after years of being at odds with kelly, it turns out they do have somehting in common. both are left with questions. but his are for sheena. >> i ask the question all the time. i asked it, "why did you do this?" i don't understand it.

i mean, who understands it. i don't. >> she has a birthday coming up. >> reporter: the questions kelly finds herself asking in the room she still has set up with sheena's things are different. >> she would be 28 years old. it makes me wonder what she would be doing now. >> she's a mom who's lost her child. and it's hard for anybody to criticize her but i think that she needs to sit back, and maybe through therapy deal with some of her grief issues that she has. and understand that everything that can be done has been done. >> reporter: and as committed as she remains to investigating her daughter's case, there are certain realities that have begun to set in. >> it will never be re-opened. it'll never be looked at. it will never be changed. but i won't stop working on that. >> reporter: and the friends sheena left behind wouldn't want her to. what do you think she would make of what her mother has done? >> i think she would be impressed.

there was never one day, or one moment when we thought she would give up the fight and she won't. >> reporter: and what do you think sheena would say? >> she'd tell me how much she loves me. she would tell me, "i'm glad you knew, mom. i'm glad you knew, and i'm glad you saw it through." ♪[upbeat music]

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we design good mornings. little experiments. big ideas. brighter ways. and better tomorrows you can take home today. imagine if everyday was just a little bit better for everyone. s >> it is friday night and the big story on "action news" tonight is breaking news from the grays ferry section of