Dateline: The Call — How did the police catch Meghan Landowski's killer? Here's all about the 2008 homicide 

Dateline doesn't just dive into murder mysteries, it unearths the ones that leave even seasoned investigators speechless. In the case of 16-year-old Meghan Landowski, a Portsmouth, Virginia, dancer found stabbed over 40 times in her home, the tragedy unraveled with more twists than a crime mystery movie.

It was a case that began with assumptions and ended with a shocking betrayal that no one — not her family, friends or even the cops — saw coming.

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The wrong suspect and a vanishing case in Dateline

Let's set the scene. It is April 10, 2008. Meghan Landowski, a talented dancer with a gentle smile and a growing list of admirers, was found murdered inside her home.

Her stepfather, Chris Short, made the horrific discovery. Meghan's murdered body in the kitchen, bound, sexually assaulted, and stabbed with such violence that investigators knew this wasn't random.

With the brutality of the crime and the fact that Meghan had recently accused a trusted adult — Chris's best friend, Robert Hicke — of sexual misconduct, the detectives had what looked like a clear-cut-suspect. Chris says, about Hicke:

"This is my best friend and I trusted him more than I would trust just about anybody else..."

When the police questioned him, Hicke presented an airtight alibi. He claimed:

“I can tell you from the time I got up to the time that you saw me, I was with someone every second of the entire day..."

Even more damning, or rather, redeeming, was his DNA test. It did not match the blood left on the crime scene.

*Cue that trademark Dateline head-tilt moment*: The case wasn't as closed as investigators had hoped. With Hicke ruled out, they had to start from zero, collecting over 80 DNA samples from potential suspects.

Nothing matched. Frustration mounted, and for a while it looked like the killer might just get away.

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A memorial walk and a violinist with secrets

So, how does a cold case suddenly get revived? In this instance, Dateline reveals it happened thanks to a memorial walk arranged by Meghan's dance teacher. the event triggered the memory of a tipster who pointed the investigators toward a bus driver from Meghan's former arts school.

The driver remembered a soft-spoken musically-gifted student named Robert Barnes, someone who had once ridden the bus with Meghan and even hung out at her home. No red flags at first glance. One of Meghan's friends said:

“He was a nice guy. He was normal, he blended in, and he made good grades...”

Detective Sgt. Robert McDaniel met Barnes at school. Nothing in their first conversation screamed 'killer!'

But as any good Dateline viewer would know, it's the quiet ones you need to watch.

According to NBC Dateline, Barnes eventually offered up a piece of chewing gum out of his own free will for DNA testing. And — guess what — DNA sample on the gum turned out to belong to a female. McDaniel soon realized the teen had faked the sample, and that's where the plot took a dark turn.

Brought in for questioning, Barnes told an unbelievable tale: He claimed he had entered Meghan's house and encountered a masked man holding her at gunpoint. That man, he alleged, forced him to assault Meghan and then killed her. But here was the kicker — only Barnes' DNA was found. No masked man. Just a violent fantasy come to life.

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The truth, the tech, and the twisted reality

Dateline then mentions how all of the evidence sealed the deal. Blood, fingerprints, and disturbing content found on Barnes' computer painted the real picture. Barnes had digitally inserted himself into stories of assault, imagined violent break-ins, and had an obsession with domination that left the investigators feeling a sense of chill down their spine.

Did Robert feel rejected by Meghan? Did she not accept his advances of constant flirting? Why was he at her home that night to begin with?

McDaniel called it "the worst" of cases he had ever seen. When asked why he could not let it go, he answered,

“You can’t get it out of your head. You just want to go home and hug your children.”

Barnes, a young violin prodigy with no prior record, shocked the entire community when he plead guilty to first-degree murder, attempted rape, and aggravated sexual battery, and more. In exchange, he received a sentence that makes him eligible for parole after serving 42 years.

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Dateline brings us stories where evil hides in plain sight. In Meghan Landowski's case, her killer wasn't a stranger or a known predator. He was a quiet, talented peer. While justice came with time, the horror of what happened left a mark no sentence could ever erase.

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