People magazine investigates the murder of Jessica Lunsford

At bedtime on the night of February 23, 2005, Jessica Lunsford crawled under the covers, wearing a pink nightgown and holding her stuffed purple dolphin under her arm, and fell asleep.

Jessica was never seen alive again.

The 9-year-old girl disappeared in the middle of the night from the Homosassa, Florida, home where she had been living for the past year with her father, Mark Lunsford, then 41, and her grandparents.

Authorities searched for the third-grade girl for nearly a month before finding her body in a shallow grave, wrapped in a plastic bag, just 150 yards from her home.

His heartbreaking murder is the focus of the season premiere of People magazine investigates on Monday, October 28.

Airing on Investigation Discovery/ID at 9/8c and airing on Max, the episode, titled “The Boogeyman,” details what happened that night, the exhaustive search for Jessica and how authorities finally caught her sadistic killer.

Monday Night features back-to-back episodes, with the episode “A Story to Die For,” about the murder of reporter Sarah Greenhalgh, following the episode about Jessica’s murder, airing Monday, October 28 at 10/9 c.

In the days after Jessica disappeared, search and rescue teams scoured Citrus County looking for any sign of the girl.

On March 5, police suspended search and rescue efforts to focus their resources on following up on telephone tips and other key leads.

During their investigation, they learned of a man named John Couey, then 46, who had been staying in a mobile home across the street from the Lunsfords when Jessica disappeared.

In an exclusive clip from the episode, retired Citrus County Sheriff Jeffrey Dawsey talks about how they began to approach Couey as a suspect.

“One of the clues came from Maddie Secord, Couey’s niece,” Dawsey says.

“Maddie Secord came because she knew John Couey’s history of sexually assaulting people. “He told us Couey lived in the house across the street from Jessica Lunsford, but no one knew.”

The house belonged to Dorothy Dixon, Couey’s sister, who was one of the people police interviewed when they began canvassing the neighborhood. But when police went to his home, they were only allowed into certain parts of the house, something that seemed concerning after they learned about Couey’s past.

“We really went to this house and maybe the girl was there and we missed her?” Dawsey says.

On March 17, 2005, police arrested Couey, who sneaked into the Lunsford home through the open front door, put his hand over Jessica’s mouth, and took her to the trailer where she had been staying.

Want to stay up to date with the latest crime coverage? Enroll in PEOPLEFree True Crime Newsletter for breaking crime news, coverage of ongoing trials and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

Authorities don’t know how long Jessica was alive after being kidnapped, but they say he raped her before burying her alive.

He was a convicted sex offender who failed to register his new address, as required by law, authorities said.

He was convicted of Jessica’s murder in March 2007 and sentenced to death.

He died in 2009 of natural causes.

People Magazine Investigates: The Boogeymanseason premiere, airs Monday, October 28 at 9/8c, on Investigation Discovery/ID and streaming on Max. That episode is immediately followed by another. People magazine investigates episode, “A Story to Die For,” about the murder of reporter Sarah Greenhalgh, which airs at 10/9c.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit rainn.org.