♪ ♪ ♪ ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ♪ ♪ i'm just a hunter i'm just trying to survive ♪ ♪ [ cheers and applause ] ♪ this is "nightline." >> byron: tonight, scott peterson shocking. a new twist in the case that captured the nation's attention.

the innocence project now representing peterson, serving life for the 2002 murder of his wife, lacey, and their unborn child. >> did you murder your wife? >> no, no, i did not. and i had absolutely nothing to do with her disappearance. >> byron: the evidence they say was excluded from his trial. after all this time, could scott peterson be innocent? plus, are we alone? everyday americans claiming to have encountered extra-terrestrials. some say they bear scars from the experience. >> so i had two xs. i never thought in a million years i'd go on tv and show my tush like this. >> byron: take a tour down the e.t. highway. what experts and scholars say about signs of alien life. also, journalist mariana van zeller. >> i could take you out right now. >> byron: the host of nat geo's "traffic" delving into the dark world of black markets and dirty

deeds. >> he shows me his gun, "you have to be careful about what you ask me, if i'm not happy this could end badly." >> byron: the terrifying interview that terrified even her. what the kelce nfl star gave his mcdonald's server. i choose airborne. it has an unbeatable amount of vitamin c, plus a unique blend of immune focused ingredients to turn up our immune support. airborne - bye, bye cough. - later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours!! mucinex dm gives you 12 hours of relief from chest congestion and any cough, day or night. mucinex dm. it's comeback season. now try mucinex instasoothe sore throat medicated drops.

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>> byron: good evening. thank you for joining us. an explosive development in the case that still is lingering in the memories of many americans. an esteemed legal advocacy today filing motions on behalf of scott peterson, the shocking claim that the convicted murderer might be innocent. tonight, a stunning development in the scott peterson case. los angeles innocence project now representing the man convicted of murdering his wife, lacey, and their unborn son conner on christmas eve 2002. lacey was 27 and 8 months pregnant when she went missing. peterson claimed he had been fishing in san francisco bay when lacey disappeared. months later, her body and unborn child were found washed ashore near where peterson said he was fishing on christmas eve. peterson was arrested the same day his wife and son's bodies were identified. after a five-month-long trial, he was convicted and sentenced to death. now 51 years old, peterson is

currently serving life without parole after his death sentence was overturned on appeal. the innocence project, a nonprofit known for helping overturn hundreds of convictions, stating in court documents, "evidence has been discovered that points to mr. peterson's innocence and points to the actual perpetrators of the crimes against lacey and conner peterson." the motions point to a burglary that occurred across the street from the peterson home around the time of lacey's disappearance. claiming it was not fully investigated and that witnesses who saw lacey walking her dog the morning she went missing were not properly interviewed. the filings also request more dna testing of a van found burned one mile away and says scientific evidence shows that lacey and conner peterson were alive until january 3rd, 2003 peterson stating, "i have steadfastly maintained my innocence from the moment my wife went missin ingmissing." a month after his wife

disappeared, scott peterson sat down with our diane sawyer. >> everybody sitting at home wants the answer to the same question. did you murder your wife? >> no, no. i did not. i had absolutely nothing to do with her disappearance. >> byron: abc news will continue to follow the story closely as it unfolds. we turn to a potentially otherworldly story. in this vast universe full of undiscovered stars and galaxies, are they really alone? the search for aliens hs has fascinated us throughout history, eemerging in congress with testimony. hear from those who claim they were contacted by the other kind. abc's megan wright has the story. >> it was like looking into two pools of black oil. and i'm just staring at him. he's just staring at me. and i'm scared to death. >> i was paralyzed on this table. and i turned around, and this being was standing right here.

>> reporter: for nearly five decades, seb talk says she's been contacted by aliens. some bad, some good. >> my very first memories of e.t. contact are from the age 10. i would find myself outside in the middle of the night. and i would see a spaceship coming. and each time it came from a different location. and it would come and hover right over me, and it was so big that i couldn't even see the sky. >> reporter: little green men. flying saucers. unexplained bright lights that appear out of nowhere. tales of aliens and ufos have captivated the masses since the 1940s. >> the army air force has announced that a flying disk has been found and is now in the possession of the army. >> reporter: the intrigue and obsession surrounding these otherworldly beings becoming one of the most popular topics in science fiction.

spurring movies like "the day the earth stood still." "e.t.: the extra-terrestrial." >> e.t. phone home. >> reporter: this long-standing debate of extra-terrestrial life a hot topic among scholars. >> aliens exist, because to think otherwise is arrogant. >> if you're going to say we are alone in the universe? that would be an expression of ego that has no justification whatsoever. >> reporter: whether you're a believer or not, skepticism remains. >> in science, we try not to use the word proof. we say, how good is the evidence? right now, there's no evidence for -- no convincing evidence that we have made contact with life outside of the earth. >> reporter: i've always wondered what could be out there. are we really alone in the universe? so we're heading out to see what

we can find. an hour and a half north of vegas is extra-terrestrial highway with tourist stops designed to reel in alien and ufo fanatics. first, a store called "e.t. fresh jerky." where's the jerky from? >> i tell folks, from my alien overlords. it comes from the animals that have been abducted. they need a human face to sell for them. >> reporter: her customers come from all over the globe hoping to get a glimpse at something otherworldly in the area. namely from area 51, a military base long associated with e.t. fightings. >> the rumor is whatever crash landed in roswell in 1947, they brought up to our military base. supposedly, and this is rumor, they reverse engineered whatever they found, and we had a massive technology boom right after. >> reporter: the search for alien life -- >> don't believe me, but i know what i saw.

>> reporter: speculations on possible e.t. intervention on earth has spanned the dawn of time. >> it was a perfect triangle floating across the sky. >> totally silent. >> i could see some shape of a dark dome. >> reporter: in 1947, perhaps the most infamous case of them all. >> the army may be getting to the bottom of all this about so-called flying saucers. >> reporter: a rancher claims to have discovered debris, including mysterious, metallic-looking scraps on his property. >> what we know is probably that it was a weather balloon incident. but a lot of lore has risen up around that and around specially secure areas in the american west where people then ask a lot of questions about what's really happening there. >> reporter: experts say it was likely a weather balloon, but that did little to quiet the claims of a cover-up, that the

remnants of the crash site were taken to a classified location. area 51. a u.s. military base in the middle of the nevada desert. the facility the focus of a number of theories about possible alien >> if area 51 had aliens, do you think the government could actually keep that a secret? ask yourself. how competent do you think the u.s. government really is in maintaining a secret for dozens, perhaps hundreds of people who have to be in on the secret? that's extraordinary. >> reporter: then this summer, questions surrounding possible alien life peaking with bombshell testimony by david grush, a former u.s. intelligence official and member of the u.s. air force. >> biologics came with some of these recoveries. >> were they human or nonhuman biologics? >> nonhuman, and that was the assessment of people with direct knowledge on the program i talked to that are currently still in the program. >> reporter: the former air force intelligence officer

alleging the unconfirmed existence of a secret ufo recovery program sanctioned by the government. >> so when congress is holding hearings, investigating the questions of unidentified aerial phenomenon, those are really questions about national security. questions about overflight. not so much about something overflying in space. >> nowadays, there are 10,000 satellites, many of which are communications satellites. a lot of people mistake them for otherworld subjects. there are many drones. >> reporter: according to a 2023 report by a ufo study team convened by nasa, they found no evidence of extra-terrestrial origins for any reported sightings. for years, sev tok kept quiet about her experiences. >> i learned quickly not to say anything. because it just wasn't received well. >> reporter: trying to grapple with the unknown left a mark, literally. >> so i had two xs.

i never thought in a million years i'd go on tv and show my tush like this. never in a million years. >> reporter: two xs. one on each cheek. branded by what she claims were e.t.s. >> x here, x here. >> reporter: she's now on a mission to spread a message she claims she received from her e.t. encounters. >> i was told that we are headed down the path of annihilation. and that's why the hybridization program is happening. where they take dna from human beings and mix it with their dna. and they're creating embryos. those embryos would be used to recede this planet. but i was also told that it's not definite. we could still turn ourselves around. >> reporter: the u.s. government says there is no proof of extra tres tree life. but for others, the answer is not so black and white. >> why should aliens even be interested in us? i worry that we haven't offered

sufficient intelligence to interest them or for them to count us among their own ranks. i lose sleep over that. >> byron: you can see more of megan's full report and hear from more e.t. experiencers in this week's episode of "impact by nightline": aliens, are we alone?" streaming on hulu. when we come, juju chang sits down with intrepid journalist mariana van zeller revealing how she found humanity in an assassin. k, i have the power to educate people and hopefully save lives. when my son brian died in a drunk driving accident, i put out a video about it and try to stop young people from drinking and driving. no other family has to go through what we did. tiktok has the power to change society, and i think that's where the power of tiktok lies. if you save one person, that's one more person

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>> juju: joining me is award-winning investigative journalist mariana van zeller. her nat geo show "traffic" dives into is complex and dangerous global underworld. so nice to see you safe and sound. i always feel like you're so intrepid. you are our girl crush on the show, friend of "nightline." let's talk about "traffic." it is explores the dark corners of the world and everything from assassins to narco terrorists to those who traffic in body parts. so as a journalist, what keeps drawing you to these dark corners? >> i've always been fascinated by sort of -- i think as a journalist, you'd understand when they tell you there's a dark, secretive world, a part of the world you can never get into, that's where you want to go. >> juju: sure. >> i've always been super attracted and fascinated by these worlds. people don't know these black and gray markets make up half

the world's economy, yet we know so little about them. from the beginning, i think i started doing this, covering black markets for over 20 years now. and yeah, it's always drawn me. >> juju: this is season four of "trafficked." episode 1 is about assassins. let's take a quick clip about a character you met in los angeles. >> we're changing your voice. >> this is the only [ bleep ]. i could easily take all of you out right now. >> that made me flinch, i have to say. how did you hold your comb poshe sure in a situation like that, how do you det these literal killers and outliers to trust you? >> this was not an easy interview. i think i always try to see the humanity in people. and this was one of those situations where that wasn't easy. i was told beforehand, actually, before we went to meet him, that he was a very difficult

character, that he was perhaps bipolar, that i had to be very careful with him. and immediately off the bat, he shows me his gun and tells me, "you have to be careful with what you ask me, if i'm not happy this could end badly." that's not something that you like to hear at the beginning of the interview. >> juju: no. >> one of the things we always try to do with the show is try to find the humanity in people. even the operators of the black markets. assassins is a little more difficult. traffickers and scammers. it's all about creating that human connection and understanding their motivation. >> juju: part of the reason i admire you is because you give that context. you talk about the commonalities of poverty and police corruption. and the lack of accountability that this assassin, for example that you talked to in south africa feels that he has no choice. >> absolutely. you know, i think at the end of the day, we tend to think of the world as good and bad, black and white. but it's much more complicated than that. i think "trafficked" is a great conversation starter for all of us about the opportunities we've

been given and what would we do if we didn't have these opportunities? which is what i find in most of these black market operators. >> juju: you connect with that assassin's humanity, he reveals to you he's an orphan? >> yes, that's the other assassin in south africa, fascinating. we spent an hour and a half talking, more or less. he told me this was a big therapeutic session for me because i've never thought about these issues. his parents were killed when he was young by an assassin. he eventually started working the drug trade, became an assassin himself. he said he would not touch women and children, just men, only kills men. i asked him, do you understand that you're doing to other women and children what was done to you as a young kid? and this breeds the cycle of violence. he said, i never actually thought of it that way. >> juju: that was a jaw-dropping moment. you could tell that he was thinking in realtime as you were having this conversation. >> he was. >> juju: and yet your humanity is brought about by the fact that you also talk to the victims these assassins and that

you talk about the depths of their pain as well? >> oh, absolutely. you know, one of the stories we did this season was actually about black market medications. and when you look at how the system is broken, health care system in the united states is broken, and you have 20 million americans that cannot afford their prescriptions, so they have to go either down to mexico or to online pharmacies and buy these really dangerous prescription fills that a lot of times are counterfeit and have toxic ingredients in them. they have no idea. and they're doing this because our system is broken. so i think that a lot of times, we tend to look at the black market operators and the criminals and the smugglers and even the immigrants as the people that are creating is problems in our country. but the ones that we really have to hold accountable are the people in power. the people that have the possibility of making these decisions. >> juju: you mentioned the prescription pills. what else do you cover in this season? what else can we look forward to? >> we have an episode on sextortion, a new growing crime

affecting a lot of our teens. it's really sad because it's leading a lot of teens to suicide, it's horrific. we have an episode on apes getting closer to the brink of extinction. we looked at chip pan zees and gorillas and how they're being trafficked so we can take selfies at roadside zoos. it's very, very sad. another amazing episode about this drug mule scam, basically, where i answered a direct message from a woman in minnesota who told me that her father was in prison in mozambique in africa, that she absolutely knew he was innocent. we ended up actually confronting the scammer that put him in prison and sort of proving that, in fact, he was innocent. >> juju: there's a reason why your series and all of your reporting is so critically acclaimed and highly regarded. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> juju: always great to see you. the physical episode of season 4, "assassins," is available on hu hulu. episodes dropped every wednesday on national geographic.

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♪ >> byron: finally tonight, one mcdonald's employee was definitely loving it after receiving a super-sized surprise from nfl star jason kelc danielle bonham has served the philadelphia eagles center many times. when he pulled up to the drive-thru window wednesday, the life-long eagles fan held up her 62 jersey and asked for his autograph. >> he was like, "sure, how many ls? i know your name's danielle." i spelled it out for him. and he gave it back to me. i told him i loved him. he said, "you too."