tonight a mysterious note and a gun left on the counter. >> who killed a former sports star and his wife? "20/20" begins right now. >> this case is a parent's worst nightmare. >> the murder retrial of a.j. armstrong. >> you now have all the evidence in this case. >> do you think it's possible to

convince 12 jurors to acquit? >> now we have a verdict? >> it's a showdown in a texas court years in the making. >> i was making my way down the stairs, and that's when i heard the gunshots. >> we start to hear it's two people shot, we believe it's the mother, father. >> dawn had been shot in the head. what? >> and suddenly you realize they suspect you. >> i was in complete shock. i can't even put into words how i felt. >> but how does he feel about his third trial for murder? >> you don't think a 16-year-old kid is going to be a suspect. >> i thought somebody had lost their mind, thought my grandson would kill his mom and dad. >> i saw the guy. i feel like i should have done something. >> did you physically see somebody -- >> i saw him running. >> there was a pistol and a note with a message scribbled on it. and it said, "i have been watching for a long time." and then up in the corner it was

scribbled "come get me." >> this is not right. and to be accused. ♪ >> it is the case that has captivated houstonians for years. >> the husband and wife shot in their bedroom. >> chilling details about the night the armstrongs were murdered. >> the armstrongs are the perfect example of a texas family. >> this is a family that is so respected in this community. >> they are a family that's all about faith and football. >> let's get it in, guys! >> a family which appeared to be perfect and wasn't. a loving family ripped apart. i've been covering this story for years. and tonight the explosive new evidence that upended this case and is the reason we're bringing it to you now. >> everything, everything points to him! >> get the camera out of our way. >> it got emotional. it was intense, both sides very fired up.

>> this is the latest twist in what seems to be a never-ending case. >> and now, finally a decision. >> a verdict has been reached. >> all rise for the jury. >> but this whole sordid tale began 7 years ago with gunshots in the middle of the night and a 911 call from a terrified-sounding 16-year-old. [ gunshots ] >> houston 911. do you need medical, police, or fire? >> we're gonna need police. >> he's whispering, advising he just heard gunshots in his parents room. >> is this a house? >> yes. >> and your name? >> aj. >> any medical attention needed? >> i heard gunshots, so i don't really know. >> in your parents' bedroom? >> yes. >> oh, my god. how'd you get into our house? >> he was whispering. he was very quiet, concerned somebody may still be in the house, constantly asking on the condition of his sister. >> i need to get my sister.

>> your sister is downstairs? >> yeah. >> on the first floor? >> no, she's on the second floor. >> how old is she? >> uh, 12. >> i remember aj coming into my room, waking me up. >> kayra, kayra, kayra, you gotta get up. come on. you gotta get up. come on, come on. kayra, i need you to get up. kayra, i need you to get up. >> i was halfway asleep, so i didn't ask any questions. i just got up and walked. >> just come with me. come on. come with me. just grab my hand and stay behind me. >> okay, police are on their way. >> i see lights outside of my house. what do i do? >> when they knock on the door, you can go down there. is anyone on the first level? >> no, it's just our living room and kitchen. >> okay. just listen for the police and listen for instructions. >> when police arrive at the home, aj has to deactivate the alarm system to let them in the door. >> i'm the one that -- i'm the

one that called. >> aj opens the door, and he and his 12-year-old-sister kayra walk outside to find this line of officers. >> there were maybe, like, seven police officers standing outside the door. >> stand by. there's going to be people walking. i'm courtney fischer, and i'm a reporter for ktrk in houston, texas. >> now to some breaking news from southwest houston. >> eyewitness news reporter courtney fischer is live from the scene with what police know so far. good morning to you, courtney. >> i have covered this case from the beginning. it was 3:00 a.m. police tape is already up. >> this just happened a couple hours ago, so it's very busy out here. >> good morning. my name is investigator jimmy dodson with the hpd homicide division. >> i was sitting on the desk on that night that the call came into the unit. my lieutenant at the time had asked me if i could go help with a murder that had occurred. there was a lot of family members that showed up on the scene that night. >> the first person that i saw was my older brother, josh. >> dawn and antonio armstrong

have a third child, josh. he'd recently moved into an apartment. it's just a few blocks away from the family home. >> i just remember being woken up by josh yelling, "babe, get up. get up. somebody's in the house." you know, i was startled. i just woke up out of my sleep, and he's like yelling this. and then i see him running out the door. >> hannah was staying over at josh's apartment that night. and she described that he was so upset, he was hyperventilating, trying to explain to her the phone call he had received from aj. and he runs over there, and hannah makes her own 911 call. >> somody's been shot. i need police. i'm at my boyfriend's apartment, and he ran over to his house because he lives, like, two minutes down the street. he just got there and just called me and told me that his parents have been shot. >> my daughter olivia got the phone call. she said we had to go to antonio and dawn's home, that there were shots. >> when aj called, i could hear

it in his voice. he was afraid. he was hysterical. he said, "there's been some gunshots and, you know, somebody was here. they were in the house." i didn't know what to think. >> the police immediately go through the house to secure the house and make sure there's no one else in the house. >> as they are going through the house, they're not sure what they have. someone could be jumping out at any moment. >> the officers found out very quickly that they showed up to a house that was locked. the windows are all closed. the blinds are all down. the locks are all in place, and there's no forced entry. >> dawn and antonio are upstairs in their bed, and when the police went in there and the paramedics, they believed that dawn had been shot twice in the head and was deceased. and antonio had been shot once in the head and he was alive, but in critical condition. >> they had pillows over the tops of their heads. it appears that they were placed on after the fact.

it was kind of odd. i don't know why you would shoot someone and then place pillows over their head. >> we start to hear it's two people shot. we believe it's the mother, father. we immediately start to think, is this a murder-suicide? >> we know one woman shot, her husband also shot, the couple's children inside the home, a teenage boy and a girl. >> i just remember seeing police cars and the ambulance, and somebody was rolled out on a stretcher. they were saying that antonio was being rushed to the hospital and that dawn had been shot in the head. what? >> they make the decision to separate the children. >> i was trying to get to my grandbabies. kayra, she was only 12. >> i remember being escorted to a police car, and an officer came by and i asked him -- i was like, "what's going on?" and they were like, "your mom has passed away, and your dad is fighting for his life, and he

might not make it." and someone brought me these bags around my hand and told me to put it on and that i couldn't take 'em off. >> the children were tested for gunshot residue. so they bagged their hands in order to preserve any gunshot residue. >> it's not that they think that the person is responsible at that point. it's just they don't exactly know what happened. >> i just did not know what was being told to me. i still had the bags on my hands. so as i was crying, i just couldn't wipe my face or anything. i just sat there alone. >> she was so traumatized, and i was so concerned about her. i wanted those bags off her hands. >> aj was also alone. police had bagged his hands and had him sitting in the back of a squad car. >> after they secured the house and took the victim out of the house, they looked around for any evidence they could find. they come in the kitchen. the drawers were open like it

had been ransacked. there was a pistol and a note with a message scribbled on it laying on the counter. it appeared to be a staged crime scene to them. when the police found the note, it was really hard to read and it said, "i have been watching for a long time." and then up in the corner it was scribbled, "come get me." >> the fact that there's no gun in that bedroom, they know this is not a murder-suicide. this is something very different. >> i find out that somebody else in the house shot this husband and wife. and it's like, "wait a second. over there." and you see this kid. he's really young. he has handcuffs on. >> i did see them put cuffs on him and put him in the backseat of the car and drive him off. but i didn't understand why. >> there is someone in the back of that squad car. he is handcuffed. we don't know the relationship right now to the victims. >> when you got that call, what specifically did chris tell you? >> he told me that mom was dead,

dad was struggling, and aj was in custody. >> that teen remains in juvenile custody this morning. >> you don't think a 16-year-old kid is going to be a suspect. >> houston police say the 16-year-old shot both of his parents. >> killing his mother, his dad fighting for his life. >> it didn't make sense. there's no way that aj could have done this. >> just not aj. during your pregnancy you'll take about 6 million breaths. two breaths as you get pfizer's maternal rsv vaccine, abrysvo. the only maternal vaccine given between 32 through 36 weeks of pregnancy to protect babies against rsv from birth through 6 months. 6 millions breaths to meet your baby. know you've helped protect them against rsv. abrysvo is not for everyone and may not protect all babies of vaccinated mothers. don't get abrysvo if you've had a severe allergic reaction to its ingredients. people with a weakened immune system may have a decreased response to vaccination. the most common side effects among pregnant women are headache, pain at the injection site,

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[ siren ] dawn armstrong has been murdered in her bed. her husband, antonio, has a gunshot wound to the head and is clinging to life.

and their 16-year-old-son aj is in handcuffs being taken in for questioning. >> we traveled to houston in early 2019 for the first of what would become many interviews with aj armstrong and his legal team. >> hi. matt. >> a.j. nice to meet you. >> two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, one, two, three. and you clap, we're good? all right. >> that night, the police come in and you're looking for help, and suddenly you realize that they suspect you. >> i was in complete shock. i can't even put into words how i felt. it was a mix of shock, it was a mix of anger, it was a lot of different things. like, why me? >> the first time you've ever had handcuffs on. >> first time i've ever had handcuffs put on my hand, and for me it was there's no way possible. i couldn't even fathom the idea of killing my parents.

>> i immediately went to the hospital. and it still didn't cross my mind that they took a.j. to the police station, and maybe you need to get an attorney there or something. >> i found out, you know, dawn had been killed and antonio had been transported to a hospital. he was on life support. >> chris was at the hospital. he was their family attorney, and he also was antonio's friend. >> i remember getting off the elevator, and the entire waiting room was packed with people from everywhere. >> when you saw antonio -- >> he was on a ventilator. i told him goodbye. >> it's clear he wasn't gonna make it? >> no, we knew it. i told him to fight, you know, that he's a fighter, but we knew.

we knew what the situation was. >> we're waiting for police to come talk to all the media who's standing outside. >> mic check, one, two, three. everyone ready? >> and one of the first things a sergeant says to me was, "this is the all-american family." >> this was an outstanding family. the male in the family was an absolute hardworking breadwinner. he is a great guy. and the family -- the mother was a great mother. >> i wanted to really get across to the media and to the people out there that these were really good people. >> everybody just loved them, loved their personality and just them as a couple. >> tell me about antonio senior. >> a monster of a man, dedicated to his family. >> antonio was my big brother. we were proud of him. just to watch the things that he'd accomplished. >> antonio was raised in a very poor situation.

his father he never really knew. his mother was 15 when she gave birth to him. >> i raised antonio in kashmere garden here in houston, texas. it's mixed, some working, some welfare, and a lot of areas of -- are drug-infested. when antonio graduated from high school, he went to texas a&m university and played football there. >> this is a guy who got a full ride to texas a&m, where he played linebacker. texas a&m football is not just a big deal. football is life. >> antonio played at a&m from 1991 to '94. >> in the cotton bowl in '94 against notre dame, named defensive player of the game honors. >> second sack of the ball game. >> he had eight tackles, three sacks. he went off. >> no doubt he was going to be picked in the nfl draft. >> he was drafted sixth round to the san francisco 49ers, then

went to the miami dolphins. >> and i'm like, "is this is really happening? are we getting out the hood?" >> how good of a football player was your father? >> he was amazing. i've never seen an outside linebacker better than my dad. >> dawn came to visit the church that i pastored. they met then. >> my daughter, she was a charmer, she was one of a kind. if you met her, you would love her. >> when antonio met dawn, she had a baby boy and josh became antonio's son. he had adopted him basically as his own. >> josh didn't learn antonio wasn't his birth father until he was 16, but according to the family, antonio always treated josh like his biological son. dawn and antonio had two kids together -- a.j. and kayra. >> dawn was very involved with her kids. dawn was the mom that took the pictures of every moment. she didn't want to miss anything. >> she was the perfect mom for me. i don't think like another

mother could have come in and handled me better than she did. she just knew how to always talk to me. >> how was your relationship with your dad growing up? >> he was there for everything, from football to basketball. when i wanted to play soccer, he was there. that was my go-to best friend. >> a.j. wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and play football. and once he started playing, he was good at every position he played. >> hello, everyone, my name is antonio armstrong, owner of first class training. >> once antonio's professional football career was over, he began to open up gyms. >> antonio armstrong knows what it takes to get in shape and stay there. >> and ten. good. >> they had three gyms. >> antonio, he worked day and night to provide and do for his family. >> a.j. grew up in the bellaire area. southeast houston. bellaire is a family area. there are a lot of bigger homes.

>> for antonio to come from kashmere garden and end up living near bellaire, owning a gym in bellaire, it was as different as day is from night. and it was a major accomplishment. >> tell me about life in your household, previous to 2016. >> it was amazing. i was attending a great school. >> the kids went to kinkaid, a very prestigious private school. >> he just finished up his sophomore year. he has a lot of friends. he has a girlfriend. he loves his parents. they appear to be this perfect family. >> but that picture perfect family is now shattered with both of the armstrongs shot in their bed and a.j. is in handcuffs. >> people were saying to me, "you need to get a.j. an attorney." i said, "for what?" >> you have a 16-year-old in a room with two experienced police

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[ siren ] it's been five hours since aj armstrong made that 911 call. most of his family is at the hospital where his father is still fighting for his life. at what point did you hear that aj was now the number one police suspect? >> it was one of the family members that told me that aj had been arrested and taken downtown, so i just had simply asked is anybody taking care of aj. >> chris wanted to do something for his friend's 16-year-old son, but he knew he was going to need help. >> i know rick had handled a

similar case and so i called him. >> rick when you got that call from chris, what did he tell you? >> he was pretty upset and he was asking me what i would do as far as dealing with aj and being in police custody. >> i didn't know what was going on. i kept asking questions, like, "can someone tell me something?" and, like, i got no answers. >> when it comes to a juvenile, it's important in the state of texas and the law says it, is that a judge has to read a juvenile their magistrate warnings. >> by my watch it is approximately 6:53 in the morning. i'm going to go over your rights with you. >> she has to read the warnings to aj so he understands he doesn't have to talk to police. she makes aj repeat it back to her. >> you are warned that you may remain silent and not make any statement at all. any statement that you make may be used in evidence against you. >> what does that mean to you, antonio? >> that if i don't want to say anything i don't have to.

>> that's correct. >> after being magistrated by a judge, he's down at the police station giving his story. >> he denied legal counsel. i asked him why did he do that. he said, "nanny, what did i need legal counsel for?" he said, "i just wanted to tell them whatever they wanted to know so they could find out who did this." >> when i walk into the room where aj armstrong is in the homicide division, he was just very calm. >> how is your relationship with your parents? >> it was -- it was a pretty good relationship. uh -- >> okay. did you get along with your mom? >> me and my mom, like, we -- i mean me -- like me, my brother and my sister, like, had our, like, little issues with my mom but we -- it was never anything, like, serious. like, we -- it was, like, family stuff. >> when we ask aj about his relationship with his mom, it's actually one of the more telling things that he says. he immediately kind of villainized her. which was pretty telling to us because we already had the a thought process that she was potentially shot first. >> and what about dad?

>> dad was, like, the go-to --- >> okay. >> -- for everything, so. >> and any recent problems? any issues between you and him, or anything like that? >> uh, no. like, my dad's a pretty, like, chill guy. >> the questioning of aj was going to be important because we want to lay out the timeline of the day in the household. we want to know if there was any arguments. we want to know if mom and dad had a bad running into with someone out in public. all of those things need to be established because you're trying to find a motive for why his parents were killed. >> my mom, she came back around five and it was me, my dad, and her. me, my dad, and her and then my mom and dad got dressed and they went to one of my dad's eve -- like, one of my dad's friends' events that he had. so they were gone till, like, eight and then when they got back, i went to go pickup my little sister from my grandmother's house. >> aj came and picked me up. and he took me home. he seemed happy, like always, just in a good mood. >> we got back to the house at, like, 9:00 or 10:00.

>> we locked the doors. i set the alarm and went upstairs. i went to bed. >> my parents were laying in their bed. i don't know what they were doing. and i was just upstairs, just watching netflix still. and then, i -- it was, like, probably one or two i was getting ready to go to bed and i went to the restroom and when i came out, i heard the door open and i haven't been -- i hadn't been feeling well, like, this whole day. that's why i've just been at home. and i thought it was my parents so i, like, walked downstairs. so, i was going to ask if i can get some medicine and i was making my way down the stairs and that's when i heard the gunshots. when i got, like, four or five stairs down and i, like, looked -- >> do you know how many you heard? >> i mean i think i heard two but it may have been three. i'm not really, like -- >> okay. >> -- like 100 percent positive. i just like personally felt bad because i -- i saw the guy, like, i feel, like, should've done something. >> when aj's being questioned by police, he makes a huge revelation. he says he saw a masked intruder. >> did you physically see somebody? or -- >> yeah, like i saw him running. like, i saw him running. >> what did he look like? >> i mean, they had a -- it was, like, a mask.

and, like, you could only see the eyes and the mouth, but he looked like a -- he looked like a black guy. >> mm-hmm. >> i'd say, like, six feet maybe. >> he's on that 911 call for 16 minutes. never in those 16 minutes does he say he saw a masked man. >> don't you think that would be one of the first things that you would tell officers at the scene? "hey, i saw an intruder." >> i understand your point there and it makes sense. but remember, this is a 16-year-old. you cannot put yourself in his shoes and imagine what's going on if he's just heard gunshots. >> and remember on that 911 call, aj does seem to briefly allude to someone being in the house. >> how did he get into our house? >> police say they didn't find any evidence of an intruder in the house that night, and they've now determined that the gun used belonged to antonio, sr. they want to see what aj knows about it. >> does your dad own a gun? >> yes, he does. >> do you know what kind of gun it is? >> i just know it's, like, a pistol.

i think it's a .22 but i'm not like 100 percent positive. but i've only -- the only time i've ever, like, used it was when we went the gun range when i was, like, eight years old. >> then detectives confront him with a puzzling piece of evidence found at the scene. >> they found a bullet hole that went through his bedroom floor down to the second floor study right outside of his parents' bedroom. >> a.j. armstrong had covered the bullet hole in the floor of his bedroom with socks. it was like almost a tepee of socks to throw off authorities that there was a hole in the carpet. >> police say, "well, wait a second. you sure you never touched that gun?" and the story changes. >> i can explain the gun from the room upstairs. uh, it was, like, two, three -- -- it was, like, i think it was two, maybe three weeks ago. like, me and one my friends was just, like, playing around. i was like, "hey, like, have you ever shot a gun before?" >> mm-hmm. >> and they were like, "nah. i've never done it." and i was like, "you want me to show you how to?" and the gun was under my dad's bed.

>> a.j. tells the officers, at least initially in the interview, that he never touched his dad's gun. that wasn't true. >> there's not -- not a lot of ways to -- to describe it. except again, he's a 16-year-old knucklehead and he might've been scared that he'd get in trouble for touching his dad's gun. >> they were playing around with the gun. stupid, sure, but that doesn't make him a bad guy, it makes him a stupid teenager. >> i think anytime you're talking to police and your story starts to change, that could be a bit of a problem. >> none of it was really very plausible. you could tell that he was someone who is trying to be smarter than other people, but not mature enough to pull it off. that's kind of what his explanations came across as. >> investigators seemed to be finding more problems for aj back at the house. more suspicious evidence that just isn't adding up. >> i understand the situation does not look good at all for me.

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investigators have been questioning aj for more than half an hour. and they've asked him about evidence found at the house. there's that bizarre note that says, "i have been watching," and the bullet hole in the ceiling. but it's not just those things that investigators have questions about. they've also noticed a suspicious burn mark on the carpet at the top of the stairs on the floor where aj's parents' bedroom is. >> so i know you guys saw the black little thing on the carpet when you walk upstairs. i was, like, playing with matches, and i dropped one and didn't realize it, and i just walked away. and then, like, the carpet set on fire, and then my dad came and confronted me about it. and i was like, "uh, i don't know." >> he tells investigators he

originally lied to his dad. his dad got upset. >> he was like, "you just, like, lied to me." but i mean, like, me and my dad, whenever we do have problems, like, we sit down and we talk about it and we solve it. >> it was something that was odd to us. he says, "oh yeah, i was playing with matches. i accidentally dropped one." well, the problem was that burn mark smelled like accelerant. so it smelled like a petroleum based, either gasoline or rubbing alcohol. >> by this point, detectives have also started to talk with other family members. and they're telling investigators that aj had started having some issues with his dad recently. >> they said that you recently got in trouble with your pop because you had some -- >> yeah, it was the -- it was the carpet. >> they said you got caught with drugs too. >> that was a really long time ago. i'd probably say, like, three, six months ago. >> okay. >> whenever aj would come over to the apartment, him and josh would smoke weed together. i remember a few times josh's mom calling about aj and his grades were falling and all he wants to do is party now.

"can you, you know, talk to him? can you try to steer him on the right path?" >> what aj doesn't know at this point is that he is the main suspect. and investigators are trying to appeal to him to just fess up. >> there's a time in your life, even -- even at 16 when you have to man up and accept responsibility for -- for doing something -- >> right. >> -- wrong, losing your cool, whatever it is. okay? >> throughout the entire interview, aj maintained his innocence. he never once said that he had anything to do with it. >> the detectives are telling him, "we bagged your hand so we could run a gunshot and residue test. that's going to tell us if you fired the gun or not." >> gunshot residue is the blowback that comes after a weapon is fired and the residue comes flying out of the gun. now, in most instances it's going to end up somewhere on your clothing. it could be on the gun. it's possibly also going to be on your hands. >> the gunshot residue is talked about so much during the interrogation. and aj keeps saying, "you'll see. there will be no evidence on

me." >> i can tell you now there's nothing that will come back that it's on me. there will be no gunpowder, none of my fingerprints. nothing like that will come back on me. i had nothing to do with this. >> even as aj maintains his innocence, the detectives continue to ratchet up the pressure in the interview, trying to get him to admit that he knows more than he's saying. >> i mean, like, just being man to man here, there's four people in the house. the house is completely secured with locks and with an alarm system. >> i honestly don't buy that somebody was able to rush out the house, place a gun, write a note, you know? >> no one else got in that house tonight, antonio. no one else got in that house, man. >> i mean, i -- >> did casper come in and do it? >> detectives also have another card to play. they claim the 911 call points directly to aj's guilt. >> they still haven't knocked on the door? >> i'm on the third floor, so i

may not hear it if it's not loud. >> okay. >> and i'm in my closet. >> your parents have both been shot, and you're very calm on the phone. that -- that's not normal. >> i, like -- >> that's not a normal scenario. >> like, you can ask the police that have been -- i'm just like -- i was crying but, like, my brother calmed me down. and i, like -- >> well no, i -- i understand that. >> i was bawling crying coming out of the house. >> i understand that. i'm talking about when you called 911, when this incident happened. i'm not talking about down, afterwards, several minutes, after your brother showed up. >> i didn't really know what happened. i didn't know if, like, they were actually dead. i didn't know if, like -- i just didn't know what happened. >> now, that 911 call is 16 minutes long, and there's something that aj whispers about seven minutes in that would raise the eyebrows of any detective. >> mm-hmm. it's all my fault. >> under his breath aj says, "it's all my fault." >> you said, "it's all my fault. it's all my fault."

>> well, i mean, i felt like i could have done something. >> when we were listening to the 911 call, aj makes what we think to be a freudian slip that was an accidental confession. >> two sides take this very differently. aj's attorneys believe he was saying, "it's all my fault because i couldn't protect my parents." >> well, if you felt you could have done something, the first thing that comes to mind is say there's a masked man in the house as soon as you call 911. >> i understand the situation does not look good at all for me. >> but it's not that it doesn't look -- it doesn't make sense. >> it doesn't make sense. i understand that. >> it's just -- it's -- but i'm telling it loud -- i'm telling you, i didn't get -- get anyone to do it, and i didn't do it. maybe when my dad wakes up, you should talk to him because i -- it has nothing to do with me. >> but at the hospital, his dad is on life support. and ultimately, antonio never wakes up. >> you know how you watch movies and you see those doctors that come in and they say to you, to the family, "i'm so sorry, but the person didn't make it"? that is exactly how it happened.

and it was -- it was hard. it was hard. >> my mom said, "let him go. he wouldn't want to be here." i told my brother i love him. i don't know until this day if he could hear me or not. but i did, and i appreciate his life. >> after his interview, aj is booked as a juvenile on charges of capital murder. >> i thought someone had lost their mind, trying to charge my grandson with killing his mom and dad. >> but then, with aj sitting in juvenile detention, something happens that his defense team says could be related to the murders. a break-in at one of the armstrong gyms. >> they throw a brick through the window. they come inside the gym. it looks like they're looking for something.

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that night is just a blur. >> so why do you think the police focused on you so quickly? >> your guess is as good as mine. >> and the idea is, there were four people in the house. >> two are dead. >> two of them were severely shot in a house that's locked, with the alarm on, so that only the occupants inside the house could've conceivably committed this murder. >> and there were no signs of forced entry. >> this sweet little girl couldn't have done it. has to be a.j. >> i'm kate ober, and i am a.j.'s girlfriend. we met when i was in the seventh grade, so a long time. >> that's my girl. we've been through everything together. not only her, but her family has been supportive of me this entire time.

>> you couldn't ask for nicer. he treated kate with such respect. you could just look at him and tell that he really cared about her. you know, i felt like she was safe with him. >> that night i was on the phone with him, and his parents were in the background. they were all laughing and joking, and just being goofy together. after the phone call we continued to text and talk, like normal. i wake up the next morning and i'm texting aj and my texts aren't sending. >> kate kept saying, "a.j.'s not answering his phone." we just happened to walk into the room. and then it was on the tv. you could see the police cars and this baby's hair.

you could see that it was him standing there. >> at this point in time it's an ongoing investigation, we're following up on some leads, trying to narrow down some things to gather a suspect. >> it was really hard. he's mourning the loss of his parents, while being accused of murdering them. i can't even begin to understand like the pain he went through. >> i was taken to the juvenile detention center downtown. for me being in there on a capital murder charge that's, that's scary. >> a 16-year-old boy is expected to be in harris county juvenile court tomorrow charged with killing his parents. >> i went to see him in juvenile detention. >> what was that like? >> unbeknownst to me, i may have been the first person who told him that his dad passed. and i could see just everything kind of drained out of him.

>> that's when everything like hit. like it was real, like they were gone, and uh -- it's just, it's not -- it's not easy at all. it's just not right. and to be accused just makes everything so much worse. it makes it so much harder for my family. >> if you want to see how much dawn and antonio sr. were loved, you just had to go to the funeral. it couldn't even be held at their home church, it had to be moved to a bigger facility. >> and if you don't mind doing that, can you just touch somebody by you and tell them, "this is a celebration of life!" >> it was powerful, to see all the lives that they touch, all the people that they knew. >> dawn and antonio are still

living. they're just living in a heavenly place. >> thousands of people. and i was among the crowd and i was touched by the ceremony. >> were you allowed to attend their funeral services? >> yes. that was -- it was a blessing. >> he was on the very front row, and they had him handcuffed. and so he had a jacket over his arms. >> just staring, just looking at two caskets with the people that, like, i love more than anybody, and knowing that i'll never get to have a conversation with them. i'll never get to see them. >> after the funeral aj is taken back to juvenile detention. miss kay says she would visit him twice a week. >> and it was, the most difficult thing was seeing him and having to leave him there. there were some visits he cried the whole visit. >> how often were you allowed outside?

>> there was no outside. >> you never saw the light of day. >> we saw light through a window. but there was no going outside, fresh air. there was none of that. >> i knew what i was dealing with emotionally, so i can only imagine what a 12-year-old is dealing with. >> it was really hard on kayra, it was. no 12-year-old should have to wake up and find out that both your parents are no longer here. >> when i went back to school, i just kind of felt out of my body really. they would talk about stuff, and i couldn't tell you what was being said because my mind was just gone. i would think about my parents. i would think about a.j. >> did she ever ask you point blank if you killed your parents? >> no. she doesn't need to. she knows me. >> not a single doubt in my mind, he couldn't have. >> the truth is this is an amazing kid who no way would hurt his parents.

>> those tests investigators have been waiting for start coming back, and the results are very surprising. >> and investigators believe that the perpetrator had to have had intimate knowledge of the home to commit this crime. but could there be someone else out there who knew the house just as well as aj? then a last-minute discovery of evidence changes everything about this case. >> my first reaction was, "you've got to be kidding me." more, is merrier. and nobody knows that better than olive garden. from breadsticks, homemade soup, and garden-fresh salad that never ends... ...to festive favorites piled high... ...it's everything you love about the holidays... just with alfredo. whether it's catered to your table... or at ours. celebrate more this season with olive garden. when you're here, you're family. ♪ ♪ celebrate more this season with olive garden.

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aj armstrong not only killed his parents, he had been planning on killing his parents for days. >> aj prepares for the fight of his life. >> the district attorney's office confirms it will try aj for a third time.

>> this is the latest twist in what seems to be a neverending case. >> there's also the question of why aj, who seems to be living a pretty typical teenage life, would want to murder his parents. >> it's impossible. just totally impossible. >> everything, everything points to him! >> you have to put the gun in his hand, and they haven't done that. >> within minutes the houston police department decided he was the suspect in this case. >> we decided we would bring the crime scene to the courtroom. >> you've got to be kidding me. >> how after seven years is this just now being discovered? whose bluff is this? >> here we go again. for a third time. >> we've lost antonio and dawn. we're no closer to who murdered them. but here you are pulling us back in court again. >> do you think it's possible to convince 12 jurors to acquit?

♪ >> houston 911. do you need medical, police, or fire? >> i just heard two gunshots downstairs in my parents' room. >> in your parents' bedroom? >> yes. >> and your name? >> aj. >> antonio and dawn armstrong were gunned down at point-blank range while they slept at their home. now their 16-year-old son aj, who called 911 that night, stands accused of the unthinkable, being the person who pulled the trigger. >> he was charged with capital murder. and so after that he was transferred into custody. and then he had to go through the juvenile proceedings. >> the prosecutor had a meeting with the family members very early in this case, and we knew about it. and they said, "look, the evidence is gonna come back with gunshot residue on his hands. it's gonna come back. there's gonna be dna on him." >> i do remember hearing the d.a. tell us that if these

results come back and they have no evidence, "hey, i'll be free to drop the case. charges dismissed." that didn't happen. >> so you're 16? >> yes, sir. >> are you a junior or anything? >> yes, i'm a junior. yes. >> aj gave his statement because he felt like, "i didn't have anything to hide." >> i've told you guys everything. like, i mean, y'all -- like, all the tests you guys run -- >> no, i know. >> -- will come back with the -- it has nothing to do with me. >> and that was odd to us because we had just laid out every piece of evidence we have against you and how it points to you, and that was the first thing you could say. you weren't upset. you weren't mad. you weren't sad. you didn't cry. you just said, "yeah, what evidence do you have against me?" >> that's an innocent person saying, "i didn't commit this crime, and you're not gonna find evidence of it in my house." >> so all those tests that police told aj they were going to run come back. but they seem to confirm what aj had been telling those detectives all along. >> aj didn't have gunshot

residue on his hands. >> kayra armstrong's hands, which were also tested, came back clean. and detectives are surprised that there's no gunshot residue found anywhere on aj. but there could be a simple explanation for that. >> it's common that the type of gun that was used, which was a .22, doesn't produce gunshot residue. >> the gun at the scene was found on the kitchen counter next to a note. the note was on a piece of paper clearly torn out from a pad that was in the kitchen drawer. and when police test everything, there are no fingerprints of his on the gun. aj's fingerprints are not on the note pad. they're not on the pen. they're not on the note that was left there. his fingerprints are nowhere. >> and then there's the question of blood spatter. rick detoto actually says if aj shot his parents at point-blank range, you'd expect there to be some blood on his clothing. >> so the lack of blood spatter

on him could point to him having time to clean himself up. he was on the phone with 911 for 16 minutes, which is a really long time. we don't know how long he waited from the time he pulled the trigger to the time he called 911. >> everything that they had access to was tested. there was no water in the sinks. no one used soap. they didn't find any gloves. there's absolutely nothing that links him to any physical evidence in this case. >> where on earth did it go? >> in order to try someone for murder and put these charges to them and take away, you know, my nephew's life, then you have to put the gun in his hand. and they haven't done that. >> police say at this point they are not sure of a motive in this shooting. >> and there's also the question of why aj, who seems to be living a pretty typical teenage life, would want to murder his parents. >> as we kind of established the relationships going on in the home, specifically with aj and

his parents, the motive that starts to come out is just disgruntled teenager. he's a 16-year-old kid whose entire world has just imploded on him. >> prosecutors have a few theories. aj was really struggling at kincaid. he was basically failing. and that's not acceptable for dawn and antonio. >> what was going on? why did you let your grades go south? >> uh, i was a 16-year-old kid. i had just got a car. so school kind of took a backseat. all i was worried about was football. i had a car. so, like, kind of the freedom got to me. >> because you were struggling at school. >> yes, sir. >> at kinkaid, after your sophomore year, your parents decided to pull you out. >> yes, sir. >> were you upset? >> i wasn't upset because i knew that it was my fault, so i couldn't blame anyone. and i was ready to take that next step in my life and go to lamar. >> lamar is a public school in

houston with a much more competitive football program. so authorities are wondering, "maybe being pulled out of his fancy private school where he's the star of the football team could be a motive for murder." >> they are coming down on him constantly. it starts with the grades, and then it gets a little heavier. "why are you smoking pot? why are you doing it in the house?" it doesn't really match up to this wonderful relationship that he tells police about. >> it showed that he was an individual who had the capability of telling you one thing to your face and having a completely different plan behind your back. >> i know my grandson. i know my family. we were close. it's impossible, just totally impossible for aj to had -- have done something like that >> but if authorities had begun to think a picture of an out-of-control teenager willing to murder his parents was finally coming into focus, something was about to happen that would raise questions about that theory.

>> a few weeks after the murders, one of the gyms that the armstrongs owned was broken into. it was captured on surveillance video. >> at this point, aj was in custody in juvenile. >> two masked intruders bustin through the windows, coming inside, going through, looking for something specific. there was big screen tvs in there. there was a lot of other equipment and things that they could have taken. but they left with just the computer. >> and the person who did that, this defense attorney claiming, could be a person of interest in the murders. >> it's suspicious. we have a double homicide where you're accusing a 16-year-old of doing this. >> that opened up a whole other can of worms. immediately i start thinking, "why are they coming for my family?"

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a few weeks after dawn and antonio armstrong were murdered, surveillance footage captured masked men breaking into one of their gyms. and remember, on the night of the murders, aj said he saw a masked man in his house. so for the defense team this was just too close to be a coincidence. >> they're very specifically looking for something. so we didn't know if the armstrongs were involved in something we didn't know about and it was revenge or debts or whatever. but it further led me to believe that aj was not involved in what happened here. >> the burglary at the armstrongs' gym occurs a few weeks after the murder. that is actually not unusual because when you have a high publicity case and people know victims are now dead, it is not uncommon that that business may be burglarized because they know they're not operating it the

same way. >> those perpetrators were never caught. and aj's defense team sees this as what they describe as investigators with tunnel vision, refusing to adequately pursue leads outside of aj. >> for us, though, the gym was an isolated incident and everything that we had showed us that we had the right person. >> it's april 2017 and aj has been in juvenile jail for eight months. and he spent christmas there. it's basically his junior year of high school. >> it was just definitely -- it was tough. just not being around family, especially at this time, it was just -- it was a lot to deal with. >> but his case is now transferred to adult court, which is good news for aj in some ways because he now can bond out of jail. >> can you talk to us about how you're feeling? >> aj enters a plea of not guilty. >> this is my ankle monitor. it was part of my bond

condition. once i was bonded out, they placed me on house arrest and it's just been on since then. >> we visited aj in 2019 and he told us what life on house arrest was like. >> it's frustrating. i look down and it just reminds you of everything that i have to deal with and the case and all of that stuff. >> he can go out into the backyard. he can go out into the street. but he cannot go past, like, the mailbox and stuff like that. >> i'm missing out on so much and i'm seeing all my friends going and do things with their life and i'm just stuck here. >> i try to stay away from social media as much as possible just because it just shows me everything that everyone else is doing. it's -- it's hard. >> two years and nine months since the murder and here we are, in court. >> the big question everybody

has had is motive. on july 28th, the alarm was set in the home of dawn and antonio armstrong. >> the alarm never went off. the killer didn't come from outside of the house. >> within minutes, the houston police department decided he was a suspect in this case. and then they shaped this case to fit their opinion. >> we don't have dna. we don't have fingerprints. we don't have blood spatter. and so the real smoking gun for the prosecution shifts to the alarm system. >> the alarm system was really big for us in this case because of the fact that, once the records came back, we were able to tell definitively that the alarm was set at the time of the crime. >> the alarm records show that he obviously turns the alarm system off. he disarms it from a key fob, and he then opens the door to let police officers in. >> that is virtually the end of the story for them. there's no ghost. there's no burglar.

there's no nobody. >> there were two motion sensors in the house. one was on the first floor and one was on the second floor. and so we know that for somebody to come into the house and go up the stairs, the first floor motion sensor would've tripped. >> prosecutors say that at about 1:09 a.m. the motion detector on the second floor of the house, where dawn and antonio's bedroom was, goes off. they say that's a.j. coming down the stairs to kill his parents. >> what happened between 1:09, when the upstairs detectors went off, and 1:40 when the defendant said he heard shots? that's a long time to be able to write a note, put a gun downstairs, change clothes. whatever you need to do. >> the defense has their own expert come and testify and

study the alarm system, put together a video of how it worked. >> this was the actual keypad that was used to arm the alarm system. >> and he says the armstrong alarm system is completely unreliable. >> you'll notice that the door is slightly ajar. this did not stop the system from being armed. >> the front door and the door from the garage were on the same loop. and if one of those was opened, you could open the front door and the alarm wouldn't go off. >> the front door can be opened and closed without anything happening. >> the other piece of evidence for the prosecution that really stuck with me was the shot in the middle of aj's bedroom floor. >> this defendant is up in his bedroom with the gun, and he fires it through the comforter. >> the day of the murder, he takes the murder weapon and shoots it in his own bedroom as a test fire. aj armstrong not only killed his parents, he had been planning on killing his parents for days.

>> "how loud will it be? will it wake my sister up?" >> regarding the bullet hole on the floor, he tells the police officers that he was showing his cousin how to shoot the weapon and they were just playing with it. you got to remember he's 16 years old. >> i'm glad this is in evidence. >> next up for prosecutors. something they think will show what was really going on with aj in the months and weeks before the murders. his text messages with his parents. >> we start in october 2015. "son, you can do this, we believe in you, you got to bring up your grades, you can do this." then we get into january, "you're lying to us." february, "you're starting to lie to us." march, april, may, it gets more somber. >> the text messages there is chastising and disappointment from the parents and aj deflecting his parents. >> out of a gazillion pages of text messages, they picked and

presented to a jury only the things that if you put it all together would make aj look like a liar, or he had trouble with his parents. >> what was going on between aj and his parents was typical teenage stuff. >> so if aj armstrong didn't kill his parents, who did? the defense believes there is an alternate suspect. >> someone who has some severe mental health issues. someone who has access to the house. someone who knows where the gun is. >> i think everybody including my jaw just dropped. around here, we like to keep things simple and honest. sure do. that's why at progressive, we show you rates from other companies, even if they're lower than ours, so you can choose what's best for your family. comparing rates used to be a hard day's work, but not with autoquote explorer. -need me to help again? -no. so join us and taste why progressive is the name people trust. sorry, are we talking about apples now or insurance?

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in houston texas prosecutors have presented their case against aj armstrong. now it's the defense's turn, and they waste no time telling jurors who they think really killed dawn and antonio. >> you're gonna hear about one person. his name is josh. >> i think i know everything about this case.

and when aj's attorney says josh armstrong could be the real killer, i think everybody including my jaw just dropped. >> remember, josh armstrong, aj's older brother, lived around the block from the family home. >> josh had access to that house just like aj did. in fact, josh showed up at the scene the night this happened. >> and we do know in interviews with the family that he was upset with his dad, he was upset with his mom and all this stuff was kind of simmering inside of him. >> i think when joshua found out that antonio wasn't his biological father, things changed. >> i lived with josh. i was with him every day. i know 120% in my mind that josh would have never done this. >> neither the prosecution nor the defense calls josh to testify. prosecutors insist that he is not a viable suspect. >> we had corroborating evidence

that he was outside of the home at the time of the crime. we had no evidence to place him inside of the home. >> closing arguments begin today in the aj armstrong murder trial. >> you want to know the answer? here's the answer. the people in the house that took away his car, his money, that restricted his freedom to go see his girlfriend, they were killed. >> he's not a perfect kid, never said he was an angel, but they're asking you to take that and jump over to killing two people. not just two people. his parents. >> ladies and gentlemen, you now have all the evidence before you. >> after 19 hours and ten minutes of deliberating, we watch the jurors come in. they look exhausted and beat up. >> the court finds it is

improbable the jury can reach a verdict and accordingly, because of that, the court declares a mistrial. >> were we disappointed we didn't get an acquittal? absolutely. but the fact that he's getting to go home is huge. >> but that relief only lasts so long because prosecutors announce they will try aj again. by the time that trial was set to begin in 2021, so much about aj's life had changed. >> i've been on house arrest for, today we're making 1,603 days. the biggest change in my life has become becoming a dad. >> you've got to let go. there we go. >> i love being a dad. once you have a kid of your own, you really do understand how

much a child changes your life. >> and kate, the girlfriend who has stood by aj's side since the very beginning, is still with him. >> hendricks, come here! >> we decided to do hendricks antonio to keep his dad's name going. >> i mean, obviously i would love for hendricks to have been able to meet my parents, but i know they're up in heaven, they're happy for me, and it's just, it's something i try not to think on for too long. >> num-num. >> six years after his parents were shot and killed in their home, aj armstrong is back on trial for their murder. >> for the second trial the defense is the same. but for the prosecution, the team is completely different. >> the first trial team really focused on motive, why he did the killing, which was a lot different than how john and i looked at the case.

>> and we decided that you may never know why he did it. you're just going to know he did it. >> this case is a parent's worst nightmare. to come to the realization that the person you brought into this world would end your life. >> the alarm system is so important for prosecutors, but they don't just rely on that. now they have software where they're able to extract more information from aj's cell phone. >> we could determine whether he plugged his phone in or unplugged his phone. >> the defendant had unplugged his phone at 1:08. >> there's only one reason why you unplug your phone. it's because you're on the move. >> one minute later we know from the alarm records that the sensor on the second floor, where his parents' bedroom is, goes off. then we know there's no other activity on that phone until a.j. calls 911 at 1:40 a.m. >> this time around the defense

presents a case that goes all in on josh armstrong. >> it's time for you to really get to know josh armstrong. >> josh's medical records were not allowed in the first trial. and this time the defense says you have to allow these in. here's why. we believe that this proves why he could be the killer. >> they show jurors pages of his medical records. and aj's attorney rick detoto reads jurors direct quotes. >> "josh is extremely psychotic, with command voices to hurt self and others. brought to hospital by police with psychotic symptoms. patient experienced watching the murder of both parents in 2016." >> the mountains of medical records started four months after the murder and they leaned into "well, if you witnessed the murder then you must have committed the murder." he did witness his parents' murder. he was outside as his parents

are taken out of the home, one in the ambulance and one to the morgue. >> the prosecution argues his parents' murders acted as a catalyst, bringing on the symptoms of schizophrenia. >> we knew very well josh had nothing to do with it, and i suppose we could have called him to the stand, but we didn't believe we needed to use him to convict his brother. >> prior to the second trial we reached out to josh armstrong, but he declined multiple requests for an interview. >> all right, happening today we expect closing arguments in the murder retrial of aj armstrong. >> before the prosecution rests, john jordan goes back to those text messages between aj and his parents. he wants jurors to hear from one final voice, dawn armstrong. >> what i saw made my jaw drop.

she says, "i know you left. the alarm doesn't lie. you lied." >> ryan and i obviously never met dawn, but through reading through the text messages, we feel like we got to know her and admired her as a strong mother. >> all right, ladies and gentlemen, you now have all the evidence in this case. please retire the jury. >> all rise for the jury. >> today jurors were once again unable to decide whether a.j. armstrong is in fact guilty in the 2016 murders of his parents. >> it's been probably millions of dollars of expenses by the district attorney's office. it's time to let this young man go. >> we were shocked and in disbelief and we wanted to try him again. >> but prosecutors knew at a

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big developments in the aj armstrong case.

the district attorney's office confirms it will try aj for a third time. >> it's almost embarrassing we weren't able to convict him, and this was not going to happen again. >> when i heard that they made the decision that they were going to try aj for the third time, i thought it was complete [ bleep ]. i feel like it was a political decision to try aj, and i felt like they would continue trying him. and it's why we felt that we had to get a not guilty or the saga would not end. >> we were devastated. we couldn't believe it. we've lost antonio and dawn. we're no closer to who murdered them. but here you are pulling us back in court again. we knew that aj was going to either be found innocent, or it was going to be another hung jury and they wanted to move on with their lives. they had a beautiful wedding. they were happy. they were planning their future.

>> aj armstrong is back in court on monday when jury selection starts for yet another capital murder trial. >> knowing that we probably had one more shot at this with trial three, knowing that we had to get him now or a killer would go free really motivated us to get the job done. >> and so we went back to the drawing board and we'd be fools if we tried to try it the exact same way. so we decided we would bring the crime scene to the courtroom. >> cele rossi is one of the leading bloodstain pattern analysis experts in the country. >> sergeant rossi, she was brought in to assess the crime scene, figure out how aj would have shot and killed his parents for the state. >> although she's seen all of the physical evidence and photographs, cele rossi wanted to take a look at the pillows placed over antonio as well as dawn's head after the murders. so we arrange for her on the friday before opening statements

to view the pillows. >> and so when i was looking at that inventory list, the first thing that i came to was a shirt, a pair of pants, and two sandals. and so i asked the detective if those were aj's clothing that were collected the night of the offense, and he confirmed that they were. and so obviously now given the opportunity, i want to look at that. >> in 2016, months after the murder, they tested the clothes and the lab had said there's no blood here at all. >> i laid out brown paper and laid out his shirt to visually inspect it. >> on the night of the murders when aj was brought into the police station for questioning, a visitor's badge was placed on his shirt. but until that day in the evidence room no one had thought to remove it and look underneath. >> when i pulled back that sticker, i saw what looked like small, reddish brown circular stains. you know, when you have done

this long enough, you don't get too excited because there are other things that have similar appearance to bloodstains. and so the first thing that i want to do is i want to presumptively test them. and it had a chemical reaction and turned the swab a dark green color, which is positive, presumptive for blood. >> it was a whirlwind of a day and you know that dna testing is not something they can do overnight. and we also, i think, were concerned of how it would look the friday before trial, all of a sudden this comes up now. >> the immediate thing we did is reached out to the defense and reached out to the court to say, "this is what we have." >> i wasn't sure what to think. but i was concerned. i was angry. there's been no evidence of that. >> well, it was quite the shock. aj armstrong's third capital murder trial is now being delayed by another week. >> this is the latest twist in what seems to be a neverending case.

>> my first reaction, like i'm sure everyone else's was you got to be kidding me. how, after seven years, is this just now being discovered? >> it sounds very shocking. any given day in america, things get missed. >> so not only how was this just being found, whose blood is this? >> the houston forensic science center, they had results pretty quick. and i was told that it had been identified as a single source to antonio senior. >> we learned about the match. so it got really complicated because we had a jury waiting. we didn't want to lose that jury. after careful consultation with aj, with his family, with lots of different lawyers, we're just going to let it in, because it looks so desperate. and it would add to our theory that there's no evidence. >> the discovery of the blood. we don't need it to convict him. if you look at the evidence, his own words in the 911, his own

words in the defendant's statement hours after the murder, frankly it is just overwhelming. >> now armed with what prosecutors see as powerful new evidence, trial three is about to get underway, and both sides are ready for a final showdown. >> why is his father's blood on his clothes? >> everything, everything points to him! whether people want to believe it or not, all evidence points to him! >> this is a reckless prosecution. it's a dangerous prosecution. >> will prosecutors succeed, or will aj armstrong walk away a free man? (vo) you weren't made for moderate to severe crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. but #1 prescribed entyvio is. it's the most prescribed biologic for crohn's and uc. in clinical trials, entyvio helped many people achieve long-term relief and remission.

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well, here we go again. for a third time a jury in harris county heard opening statements in the capital murder trial for aj armstrong. >> as aj armstrong's third murder trial gets underway all eyes are on the prosecutors waiting to hear about the new discovery of that blood on aj's shirt. >> we knew that there was no back spatter, so how does the blood get on his shirt? cele rossi, she educated us that there's something called expiration blood. >> and the state's blood expert also took the stand to explain for jurors just how antonio sr.'s blood could have ended up on a.j.'s shirt after he was shot. >> it was my opinion that as dad is trying to breathe, his airways are filling up with blood, that breath puts the spatters into flight, those stains landed on aj's shirt when he was placing the pillow over his dad's head, and they stayed there until this sticker

was placed on there, which preserved those stains. >> people that handled aj never saw any blood on him. did you ever see blood on his hair, on his hands, on his shirt, on his face? they're trained to look for that. and if we have a million specks of blood flying out of antonio senior's mouth, there should be blood other than under that sticker on his shirt. >> the surface area of the spatter is very, very small. the diameter of a mechanical pencil. and so, in flight, they are drying. and so, when they're deposited on the shirt, they're not soaking into the shirt. >> thankfully, there is a surveillance camera in the property room when they discovered the blood on the back of the badge. the video footage itself shows this was organic, it just happened and everybody was there. >> well, the surveillance footage is one camera that's in the evidence room and it's sort of back off in one corner. so you can't really see what it is that they're doing, but you could see that obviously they

got a little flashlight from their phone out and that's really all that you can see. >> any insinuation that the discovery of this blood evidence was anything planned or anything suspect by the prosecutors or myself is ridiculous. >> tomorrow closing arguments happen. they are set for 9:30 in the morning. >> why is his father's blood on his clothes, when according to the defendant, he never went in and checked on them. >> ms. rossi all of a sudden discovers blood under the name tag. in seven years there's not been one person, anyone who was with him, near him, by him who said there's blood. so they have to figure out how to get those blood specks on that sticker. >> it's very possible the specks of blood got under that sticker through the handling of the

evidence. >> the defense, they say this was cross-contamination. having covered all three trials, we saw a lot of the bloody pieces of evidence out in the courtroom. and so it's the defense's perspective that lifting up those bloody pillows over and over, moving them from box to box, pieces of blood flaked off. the history of the evidence does matter. >> the defense spent so much time trying to combat the blood evidence, and they had totally looked over all the things we've been telling people for years about this case as to why he's guilty. >> the crime scene alone tells you he did it. everything, everything points to him! whether people want to believe it or not, all evidence points to him! >> this is a reckless prosecution. it's a dangerous prosecution. over seven years they've refused

to look at anything else. and they zeroed in on this young man within 11 minutes. only you can tell them enough is enough. >> it is the case that has captivated houstonians for years and it could right now be in its final moments. the jury is deliberating at this point in the murder trial of aj armstrong. >> so a couple days have passed, and we're starting to hear that there is a verdict. >> breaking news that we have been following for you all afternoon. a verdict has been reached in the aj armstrong capital murder trial. >> wait a second, the last two times i covered this, there wasn't a verdict. now we have a verdict? >> all rise for the jury. please be seated. mr. foreman, i understand that the jury has reached a unanimous verdict? >> that is correct. >> okay. >> i'm sure he was scared to death, but he did his damn best

to be positive for his family, to be positive for his wife. he's an amazing kid. >> mr. armstrong, please stand. >> we, the jury, find the defendant antonio armstrong jr. guilty of capital murder as charged in the indictment. >> there's no reaction on aj's face. i mean, i'm looking at it. i'm sitting behind him to the side. i'm looking at him like, did he hear that? because this is life in prison. there's an automatic sentence. he is not going home to his son and his wife. he's going to prison. >> our job is to do the right thing, and it was an emotional experience that i don't think we could have prepared for when that verdict came down. >> you better get that camera outta my way. >> clear the way, please. clear the way. >> justice? no justice was served here. my grandson is convicted. they say he's guilty. antonio armstrong jr. is not guilty.

he is not guilty. >> we knew what we had done, and how many hours and nights that we'd spent without a family's support and fighting for two people and fighting for justice. it was pretty overwhelming. >> now a verdict has been reached. everybody's wondering what happened inside that jury room. >> we did have the privilege of talking to the jury afterwards, and they said something very powerful to us. yeah, i'm ready. is your treatment leaving you with uncontrolled symptoms?

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by l'oreal paris. transfer resistant lightweight feel up to 16 hours long-lasting it makes me feel infallible. you're worth it. ♪ for seven years we have been following this story. >> hey, aj. matt. >> aj. nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you. >> and now, a verdict. for some victorious, and for others heartbreaking. >> that's the hardest thing in my professional career by far. because i'd lost somebody. and it's not just a typical

client. aj was a friend. i respected him. and i lost him. and it was devastating. >> i have spoken to jurors from this third trial. they told me it wasn't the blood evidence for us, it was aj's own words. it was aj's lies on his 911 call and lies on the interrogation tape. >> we did have the privilege of talking to the jury afterwards. and they said we didn't even discuss josh. it was just as important for us to exonerate josh as it was to convict aj armstrong. >> some people believe josh armstrong, in some ways, is the most tragic victim of this case because that very private life was put out there and his mental health was put on blast for everyone to see. >> come re >> and then there is aj's young family. >> i think the real victim is his son. i think that he's going to grow

up without a father in his life and that's nothing that he did. >> aj's ripped away from his own family. so there's loss all across the board. and now hendricks is in the shoes of aj because hendricks now has lost his dad. and it's just -- it's a battle. it's a battle. >> well, i told kate, i thought the best thing to do was to tell hendricks that he was gone to work and he was going to be gone for a while. >> since aj's been transferred from harris county, i went to see him. and at that time, i'll be honest with you, it was very difficult to go visit him in jail. it was really hard for me. and that young man was upbeat, he was positive, he was happy, he was smiling. he actually made me feel better. >> being a parent myself, you kind of wonder how dawn and antonio would feel. they probably forgave him the moment that he killed him.

>> right now antonio and dawn are not at peace about what's happening to their baby boy, not at all. they loved their children and they would do whatever they had to do to protect and help their children. >> we spoke with aj's sister kayra recently, and she told us she was devastated by the verdict and continues to stand by her brother. >> even if we never find out who really killed my parents, i will always remember my mom being my best friend and my dad just being the strong role model that he's always been. i will always just keep that image in my head of them. >> a broken family. aj armstrong's attorneys are in the process of appealing his guilty verdict. >> because he was 16 at the time of the murders, he'll be eligible for parole after serving 40 years in prison, when he's 63 years old. that is our program for tonight. thank you for watching.

i'm david muir. >> and i'm debora roberts. from all of us here at 2020 and abc news, good night. good evening. i'm dionne lim and i'm dan ashley. >> thanks for joining us. besides the rain headed to the bay area, there's also a spare the air alert as well. yeah. >> right away. let's get to spencer christian with our first look at the weekend forecast. hey, spencer. >> okay, diana. dan, let's take a look at the 24 hour planner. right now for tomorrow. tomorrow is going to be another spare the air day. we have had an increase