Last November Garry and Judy Quinton told their story to the producers of the "America's Most Wanted" television program.
They explained how their 22-year-old daughter was stabbed to death last August in a home-invasion robbery in Salt Lake City. They spoke of her promise as an actress and her pending graduation from the University of Utah drama school.Saturday they had their first look, along with a nationwide audience, at how the television program showed Amy's death to the world.
"We had never seen the crime scene the way they portrayed it," Garry Quinton said. "It brought it back close to home. I just felt a lot of pain at that time, especially for my daughter."
Garry Quinton's daughter struggled to dial 911 during the attack, but her killer wrestled the phone from his victim and hung it up. When dispatchers returned the call, the killer answered and told them, "We're OK. It was a mistake."
Per police policy officers were still sent -- too late to save Amy or catch her killer -- but two other women in the apartment did survive. One of them suffered a stab wound to the stomach.
The television program did its best to re-create the horror that anguished a city. The screen pictured the bloody telephone Quinton used in an attempt to summon help. It also showed the now hollow remains of her former apartment.
The production netted some 50 tips that were sorted out by a show producer and Salt Lake homicide detective Mark Scharman.
Over the phone Scharman mulled through the responses, and the ones that he felt were significant were faxed to his office.
"It's kind of unique that they would do this for us," Scharman said of the television show. "Normally they do these productions with a suspect in mind. They did it for us so we could find a suspect."
Scharman said he will spend the next few days sorting the new leads and ruling out potential suspects by process of elimination. Suspects who can't be ruled out will be investigated, he said.
Meantime, Amy Quinton's parents, who moved to Sandy from Seattle during their daughter's senior year at the U., maintain a cautious optimism and remain thankful for the time they had with her.
"Moving here allowed us to be with her," Garry Quinton said. "We left her as a child and were able to get reacquainted with her as an adult."