Denton Ritchie still remembers the summer of 1995 when he spent days frantically searching for his little girl who lived with her mother.
Ritchie said, "I was in a panic because I didn't know what happened."
Therressa Jolynn Ritchie was eventually convicted of beating her daughter to death and dumping her body in a watery pit, with the help of her boyfriend.
She has spent nearly 15 years behind bars and could soon be free. Her ex- husband said she deserved death.
Denton Ritchie said, "Life in prison is still getting off easy because I think she should have gotten the electric chair."
During the past few weeks, Denton Ritchie and friends passed around a petition and thousands signed it hoping to convince the parole board to keep Samantha's killer locked up.
Samantha would have been 20 years old in 2010. Her father often dreams about what it would have been like to walk her down the aisle at her wedding or watch her start a family of her own.