Where is Justin Hansen now? Whereabouts explored ahead of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered on Oxygen

Nearly a decade later, Justin Hansen, a married father-of-four, was sentenced in the September 2008 shovel attack beating of Brittani Marcell, who was a 17-year-old high school student at the time in Albuquerque, New Mexico that left her brutalized for life. Hansen pleaded no contest to charges of first-degree attempted murder and aggravated burglary. He was given 18 years in prison.

Marcell was found bleeding and unconscious at her house by her mother, Diane, who had returned home to have lunch with the teen. The attacker stood over her body with a shovel and threatened the victim's mother before fleeing the crime scene. Hansen was linked to the attack in 2017 after blood evidence collected at the scene matched his DNA, leading to his arrest.

According to the New Mexico Department of Corrections, Justin Hansen is currently in NMCD Custody.

An upcoming episode of Oxygen's Dateline: Secrets Uncovered will chronicle the assault on Brittani Marcell. The episode, titled The Match, airs on the channel this Thursday, May 4, at 7:00 pm ET.

Here's what the synopsis for the episode reads:

"Diane Marcell walked into her home and found her daughter covered in blood, the attacker said she was next; a single drop of blood was the key to finding him, but it took nearly a decade to unlock its secrets."

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A single drop of blood from the crime scene was used to find Justin Hansen responsible for Marcell's beating

In July 2018, nearly ten years after the violent incident, Justin Hansen, who had pleaded no contest to the shovel beating Brittani Marcell, then 17, was given the maximum 18-year prison term. In 2008, Marcell was attacked in her Albuquerque home by an intruder who left behind crucial evidence - a drop of blood - while escaping via a broken back window after her mother interrupted the beating.

According to reports, 34-year-old Hansen was arrested in 2017 after authorities used a cup he discarded at McDonald's to conduct a DNA test and discovered that his profile matched the one obtained at the crime scene nine years later. He maintained his innocence throughout, but in April of the following year, he pleaded no contest to first-degree attempted murder and aggravated burglary.

Just before giving maximum punishment, district judge Cindy Leos made the following statement:

"That droplet of blood is pretty profound for me. It wouldn’t be there unless Mr. Hansen was there."

Initially, the blood evidence failed to produce any results and Marcell's case went cold until 2013 when it was re-opened. The beating survivor, who had lost most of her memory, including that of the assault, then underwent hynopsis and was able to recall a vague description of the attacker. In 2016, she identified her attacker as someone named "Justin," which then led to Justin Hansen.

During Hansen's sentencing, Brittani Marcell recalled the assault and said,

"On Sept. 11, 2008, I had a plan for my life. I had goals. And one of them was not to be a survivor of a violent attack. After the attack, that was my only goal. On Sept. 11, my dreams and goals were beaten out of me."

According to The Cinemaholic, in March 2021, Justin Hansen appealed for a sentence reduction and the appeals court ruled in his favor, awarding him credit for the previously served house arrest of 371 days on pre-trial services along with 14 days in jail. Hansen is currently in NMCD Custody.

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Learn more about the case on Dateline: Secrets Uncovered this Thursday at 7 pm ET on Oxygen.