On Friday night, those who tune in to watch the new episode of "Dateline" will be taken inside the case of college student Jesse Valencia as NBC correspondent Keith Morrison examines the events that led up to his murder.

Valencia's body had been discovered on a June afternoon outside of residential housing near the University of Missouri. That day, many initially passed by him as they believed he could have been sunbathing. When law enforcement was eventually alerted and called to the scene, they found him lying outside of a home wearing only blue shorts. However, Morrison says, he had been there since before daylight.

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Detective John Short then arrived at the crime scene to find that police officers had already placed yellow tape around the area and had started to take photographs.

"It was obvious to them, at that point, that this was a homicide," Short told the NBC host in the below preview.

Later, a local medical examiner took a closer look to begin putting the pieces together of what had transpired the night before. According to Morrison, she could immediately tell that it was a "deliberate, determined killing" upon arriving at the location. It was then that she saw a "gaping wound on his neck."

Upon closer examination, she saw the cut on his neck was deep and uneven, which led to the theory that a serrated knife may have been the murder weapon.

Another thing that stood out to the medical examiner, she said, was that the grass adjacent to where Valencia's body was blood-soaked. Throughout the investigation, she would also work to unravel why he had not had any blood on the front of his body.

As stated by Morrison, the college student had once had "many admirers, and lovers, and a capacity for speaking out a little more than he should." Friday's new episode of "Dateline" will explore what happened to Valencia leading up to his death as the relationships in his life are examined and the truth about his murder is revealed.

This new episode of "Dateline," called "Before Daylight," will air Friday at 9 p.m. EDT on NBC.

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"Dateline" key art is pictured. NBCUniversal
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