But it was too late now to kill her in the Green Iguana parking lot. The target was already in her car, headlights on, stereo blasting, pulling out onto the main road.

All of this went on as the killer realized what was happening, and became unnerved, staring at the target as she left the scene.

“Shit.”

The killer tore out of the parking space quickly and got on the road far enough behind the target, so as not to be suspicious.

Pulling up right behind the target as she approached the bridge over Old Tampa Bay, the killer made another call. Police would learn later it was the twentieth call of the day the killer had made to the Svengali at home calling the shots.

“It will be over in a few minutes,” the killer said, staring at the back of the target’s BMW. “I’ll call you when it’s done.”

As he pulled up closer to the target, their cars just feet apart, no one could have imagined what happened next.

A burned Pontiac Grand Am was discovered in the woods of Rutledge, Georgia, at 3:30 A.M. on February 16, 2002.

(Photo courtesy of the Hoover Police Department)

A different angle of the same vehicle.

(Photo courtesy of the Hoover Police Department)

Inside the trunk were two severely burned bodies.

(Photo courtesy of the Hoover Police Department)

A paper towel, charred on one end, was found near the torched Grand Am. It would turn into a key piece of evidence.

(Photo courtesy of the Hoover Police Department)

A spent projectile taken from inside the trunk of the burned vehicle was one clue that lead to solving the case.

(Photo courtesy of the Hoover Police Department)

Another angle of the same projectile, identified on February 17, 2002, as a .44 caliber bullet.

(Photo courtesy of the Hoover Police Department)

The battery taken from inside the watch of one of the victims, which ultimately stopped the trajectory of the .44 caliber bullet.

(Photo courtesy of the Hoover Police Department)

A couch, stripped of its leather backing, taken from the home of an Alabama couple suspected of being connected to the crime scene in Georgia.

(Photo courtesy of the Hoover Police Department)

Jessica Inez Callis in eighth grade in Hoover, Alabama.

(Photo courtesy of Gresham Middle School yearbook)

Heading into high school, Jessica was an honors student who claimed to have taken between “500 and 600” hits of LSD during her high school days.

Alan Bates was a popular student with a passion for the theater when he met Jessica.

(Photo courtesy of Shades Valley High School yearbook)

Still in high school, finishing his senior year, Alan Bates married Jessica after discovering she was pregnant. (Jessica had dropped out.)

Months after getting married and welcoming their first child in 1990, Jessica and Alan appeared to be a happy young couple enjoying the senior prom.

Hoover Police Department investigators look at a piece of floor tile inside Jessica’s home, searching for any sign that a double homicide had occurred.

(Photo courtesy of the Hoover Police Department)

Investigators later talked about how messy Jessica’s house was when they went in to conduct the first of two search and seizure warrants in 2002.

(Photo courtesy of the Hoover Police Department)

A break in the case came during a second search on February 18, 2002, when investigators discovered this single spent projectile on the floor inside the garage of a home owned by Jessica and her new husband, Jeff McCord, a police officer.

(Photo courtesy of the Hoover Police Department)

Moments after the bullet was uncovered, investigators found this piece of balled up wallpaper inside a garbage bag.

(Photo courtesy of the Hoover Police Department)

This coffee table, taken from Jeff and Jessica McCord’s home, was later found to contain blood evidence.

(Photo courtesy of the Hoover Police Department)

After investigators moved the couch and focused their search in the messy den of the McCord home, the pieces of a double homicide fell into place.

(Photo courtesy of the Hoover Police Department)

Investigators were at first perplexed that the wallpaper seams in the McCord home did not match.

(Photo courtesy of the Hoover Police Department)

When both spent projectiles—the bullet found in the trunk of Alan Bates’burned rental car and the one found inside the McCord garage—were put side by side, a clear match was made.

(Photo courtesy of the Hoover Police Department)

An only child, Terra Klugh hammed it up for this Norman Rockwell-like photo.

(Photo courtesy of Tom Klugh)

Many friends recalled the warmth and comfort of Terra’s smile.

(Photo courtesy of the D.W. Daniel High School yearbook)

As a young woman, Terra fell deeply for recently divorced father of two Alan Bates after meeting him at the Alabama Theatre in Birmingham.

(Photo courtesy of Tom Klugh)

Alan Bates and his father Philip were quite the pair as Indian Guides during a campout.

(Photo courtesy of Kevin Bates)

Together, Alan and Terra Bates enjoyed all that life had to offer.

(Photo courtesy of Kevin Bates)

Alan loved nothing more than taking photos of his second wife, Terra, whenever they went on hiking trips.

(Photo courtesy of Kevin Bates)

Terra enjoyed capturing this moment of her husband doing what he enjoyed.