Dateline: Secrets Uncovered-What happened to Annie Kasprzak?

Annie Kasprzak's brutally battered and disfigured body was found in March 2012, nearly 24 hours after she was reported missing by her family. She was 15 years old at the time and was discovered in a condition beyond recognition, so much so that authorities had to identify her using DNA, a scar, and dental records.

The investigation that ensued was more complicated than it had initially appeared. What followed was a derailed investigation, fake leads, and an unexpected twist in the tale that pointed all fingers at Kasprzak's boyfriend at the time of the murder, 14-year-old Darwin Christopher Bagshaw.

The case made headlines for years before the killer was finally brought to justice and featured on Dateline: Secrets Uncovered, in an episode titled The Girl With the Red Shoes, which aired on Tuesday, December 13, 2022, at 7 PM ET on Oxygen.

The synopsis of the episode states:

"Annie Kasprzak has a second chance at a happy life after being adopted by her case worker; then, the 15-year-old vanishes; her parents find a note in her room that reveals a secret Annie has been hiding."

---

The investigation of 15-year-old Annie Kasprzak's murder was derailed before the actual culprit was convicted

Born in January 1997, Annie Kasprzak was raised in foster care and endured an abusive childhood before she was taken in by the Kasprzak family at the age of nine. Annie was a freshman at the Summit Academy in Draper, Utah, when she went missing and was found bludgeoned to death in a river.

According to reports, Annie got into a fight with her adoptive parents and left her house in Draper, Utah, the day she was killed. However, when she failed to return home that night, her parents promptly contacted the authorities and reported the 15-year-old missing on March 10, 2012.

A jogger found some blood and a shoe on a pedestrian bridge crossing the Jordan River in Utah the next morning and notified the authorities. After further investigation, cops discovered Annie's brutally battered body in the river downstream. An autopsy revealed that she sustained blunt force trauma, causing multiple fractures to her skull. They claimed her body was beyond recognition.

Annie Kasprzak's death was prompted by a white lie — she told her boyfriend and friends she was pregnant and planned to leave with him. The investigation, however, was derailed by a second one when an addict named Joanna Franklin claimed to have witnessed the murder about a week after the killing and named one of her friends, Daniel Robert Ferry, as the culprit.

Ferry, who had a long criminal history and a violent past, along with Veanuia Vehekite, became a person of interest in the case. However, it quickly became clear that they were not involved, and the statement had very little real impact on the case other than the obvious delay it caused in the investigation.

---

Annie Kasprza's boyfriend at the time, Darwin Christopher Bagshaw, was behind the brutal murder

Authorities were only able to identify the true killer two years after the killing. According to the autopsy report, Annie Kasprzak was brutally hit in the face and head with an object.

Following further investigation, it was discovered that Annie Kasprzak had notified her ex-boyfriend, Darwin Christopher Bagshaw, that she was pregnant. Bagshaw, 14, then attacked her violently with a shovel and murdered her in a fit of rage. He also spilled Kasprzak's blood on his shoe in the process, something that eventually did not go unnoticed.

While Bagshaw came close to getting away with murder, a text message in which he attempted to hide his crimes made it clear that he was guilty. In 2016, 18-year-old Bagshaw pleaded guilty when the case went to trial.

---

Oxygen's Dateline: Secrets Uncovered aired on December 13, 2022, and explored Annie Kasprzak's murder case.