woman he loved him for years his good reputation, moved on. he remarried. and in 2021, he sold his beloved and restored haley's motel. but up and down the streets of anna maria island, sabine was not forgotten. >> i'm show blast she was in my life, even for the, time because she touch my life the plea. and it makes me really appreciate each and every day even more, because it can be cut short. >> even here in this little remnant of paradise,. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. thank you for watching hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is dateline.

>> she was an 18-year-old girl. it broke my heart. it destroyed me. what do you do? you just keep fighting. >> heidi allen was sweet, spirited, and supersmart. >> test more, no sweat. >> yeah. >> she took a job here to earn cash for college. >> she wanted to be responsible. >> she was working the early shift on easter sunday, that's when she vanished. >> they called from the store, i can't find heidi. >> they noticed somebody wrestling with somebody in a van. >> the theory became two brothers did it together. >> mystery solved? maybe not. years later during a chance encounter -- >> they said to us do you really want to know what happened to her? >> a horrifying story. >> he said i grabbed her like this -- >> an old case blown wide open. >> i said we can't let this go. >> two women teaming up for the truth. >> if you think i'm going to

walk away, they are mistaken. >> uncovering an astonishing twist. >> attached was a photograph from heidi allen. it had a code name julia roberts. >> a teen with a secret identity, did she also have the secret enemy? >> they wanted to shut her up, permanently. >> welcome to dateline. secrets, everybody has them, but some are more dangerous and take longer to be revealed than others. take the curious case of heidi allen, why did she disappear one fateful easter morning and how would it come to be that years later two women heidi never knew would help uncover her secret and tried to bust a case wide open? now here's dennis murphy with the informant. >> tanya priess never wanted to

be a star witness, least of all in a long ago murder investigation. but after that guy blurted out what he did she felt she had to come forward. >> would you live with it? could you live with all of that? >> and she found herself on the phone talking to a district attorney in upstate new york. tanya believed she knew who had done it, who had done the terrible thing at the convenience store on easter sunday many years ago. that store clerk abducted and never seen again. >> they probably only took maybe 60 seconds to do what they needed to do. >> what tonya reopened was a wound that had never healed in oswego county, new york. >> i can't let it go. i won't let it go. >> i will die trying and fighting for her. >> if they think i'm going to walk away, they are mistaken. i am not. >> even today, just say the name heidi allen and a swirl of

memories come back, some of them fuzzy now. it was 1994 that missing girl, the van, was it blue or was it white? and did they get the guy that did it and sent him away? tonya was a teenager back then. did you follow it in the news or did the kids talk about it in school? >> i knew that they were looking for a van. that is basically all i knew at that point. >> here is what's not in dispute about that snowy easter sunday morning. 18-year-old heidi allen taking the early shift for a coworker open the convenience store about 5:45 am. it was a part-time job for her, a way to defray some of her freshman college bills. lisa was heidi's sister. >> she was sassy and energetic and a risk taker. >> did she like school? >> she likes school because she was smart, she didn't have to study, she was one of those kids. >> she was one of those kids, really? >> one of those kids. >> what was her job?

>> it was close to home, our friends owned it so mom and dad felt safe. >> before they bird started showing up for the newspaper, a few gallon of gas at the pump i. d. s boyfriend was there with her to help her get things running for the day. >> he would take her so that she wasn't alone until people, you know the traffic was picking up and then he would go. >> that's what happened that day? >> right. >> richard thibodaux, a regular, lived a few miles down the road and saw heidi that morning. >> i asked her for two packs of basic cigarettes, paid her, i said have a nice day. >> a few more cars pulled up to the dmw. reporter john o'brien covered the case for syracuse. com. >> some customers had come in and didn't realize she wasn't there until they had been there for a while. they flagged down a deputy who knew heidi. >> heidi's sister lee so woke up that morning to very bad

news. >> in my aunt was on the machine and she said, heidi is missing. >> missing. >> we saw her the night before when she delivered our easter baskets and she had her usual goofiness. >> it was shocking that an 18-year-old girl could just disappear like that on easter morning. >> the convenience store was strung with crime scene tape by the time her sister arrived. >> i just felt like i was watching a movie. >> inside the store, not promising. they found heidi's purse, her car keys, money undisturbed in the register. no signs of a struggle and her car was parked in the lot. >> i just remember sitting and watching. i didn't know what to do. >> the community made a find heidi volunteer command center at the old firehouse, while the authorities readied their first news alert. >> we have an 18-year-old girl by the name of heidi allen who lives here in new haven who was the clerk. >> someone listening to that

bulletin was richard thibodaux, who of course recognized heidi from the convenience store where he had shopped earlier. he turned to his girlfriend teresa and said as much. >> and richard said, oh my god i was there, i bought two packs of cigarettes. so he picked up the phone and he called. >> called the sheriff and set in motion a sequence of life-changing events he could not stop. other callers that morning offered tips about a suspicious van at the store. ruhle todd was sheriff at the time. >> they noticed somebody driving very erratically, wrestling or struggling with someone in a man. >> this van, sheriff, did you get a model? >> different color, white, light blue. >> but in those early hours and the days before smartphones and ubiquitous security cameras, nothing was coming together. volunteers searched, national

guard was called out, but heidi was gone and stayed gone. >> we followed up on every lead. we had no major people. >> weeks went by without an arrest, without answers and then a couple of months past. they had brought in a criminal profiler with the fbi's behavioral science unit, someone who would later correctly profile the oklahoma city bomber. but in this instance, clint van zandt was the agent of the unit who was assigned to the heidi allen case in upstate new york. his case: look for someone with a history of violence and someone obsessed with the case. >> the person who committed this is somebody who was really interested the community was interested in the case. someone in the community may be obsessed but this is more interest -- >> obsessed. >> could not let it go. this is somebody who would be saving newspaper articles. >> and there would be many newspaper articles decades of them in fact. the case of heidi allen was just getting started. >> coming up --

a stunning twist, the killer seems to out himself. >> he says yes, i killed this girl. >> he gives it up? >> he gives it up. >> when dateline continues. 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, muscle pain and nausea. in clinical trials with abrysvo, low birth weight and jaundice were reported more frequently than placebo. every breath matters. talk to your obgyn or other healthcare provider about pfizer's maternal rsv vaccine, abrysvo.

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dennis murphy: heidi, the teenager behind the convenience store counter selling sunday papers and cigarettes, had vanished that easter morning-- sheriff reuel todd. so what was your working theory? who'd grab an 18-year-old girl? heidi, the teenager behind our theory then was probably a sex crime. the convenience store counter selling papers and cigarettes advantage that easter morning.

sheriff reuel todd, what was your working theory who would grab an 18 year old girl? >> our theory than was probably a sex crime. >> abducting and after weeks of fruitless searching presumed murder. >> she's the 18 year old girl that had her life taken from her. she was a good kid. with goals. >> but the sheriff's department was pursuing a promising lead and it concerns the guy who had bought cigarettes from heidi that morning, richard thibodeau. did the cops on the phone start to ask you questions? >> they said to someone over to the house and asked me a bunch of questions. >> investigators had turned out or suspicious of him from the get-go. they'd even put him under surveillance. the reason? thibodeau's was the last transaction recorded on the register that morning. and richer tip it also drove a white van. what seemed to match a vehicle described by a witness at the scene. >> at first it was blue, it change to white but he did say in the end that van, the thibodeau van that was the van. >> the witness reporting more than one man, so investigators also brought in richard's brother gary for questioning. the brother said he was home

asleep that morning and his girlfriend vouched for him. but gary thibodeau didn't have a spotless record. he had an outstanding warrant on a minor drug charge in neighboring massachusetts. >> they extradited him to massachusetts, which was an odd thing on a drug charge. >> in the county jail, thibodeau shot up a conversation with a fellow prisoner. >> him and gary are sitting there shooting the breeze and they get talking about something and he says yes, i killed this girl. >> he gives it up? >> he gives it up. >> brother gary is eventually said to have told two prisoners about his involvement in the crime. that he and heidi used drugs together, that she feared gary was going to screw her over in a drug deal. and with that jailhouse confession, investigators now believed they had their case. the two brothers, drugs, an abduction, and murder. >> i was waiting for my school bus to come -- >> this is richard thibodeau's

stepdaughter amanda. she was just 11 at the time. >> and police cars came pulling into my driveway, i do not know how many. but they came shooting right in and stopped quickly. >> both brothers were arrested and charged with kidnapping in the first degree. >> a major break in the heidi allen case. >> what's the motive, sheriff? what's the theory that goes with them being in their van at the convenience store? >> you know what the motive is? opportunity. they stepped in there to get the cigarettes and that was the opportunity. >> to abduct this young cute girl? >> there would be two separate trials for the brothers, two separate juries to decide their fates. and in the summer of 1995, the first of the two, gary, went on trial. -- now a retired judge was gary's defense attorney. he said the case was a friendly and circumstantially light. >> there's no indication that gary had ever been to the store

that morning. >> gary testified that he was asleep that morning and that the jailhouse snitches got to him indicted for flat out lying. he figured they must of been angling for favors with the prosecution. >> the only thing that they had to contend with the fed that gary kind of boasted about, they were looking for me but they will never find her. but they were statements the jury apparently believed. and in just four hours, they rendered a verdict. >> how do you find the defendant -- ? >> guilty. >> brother richard, owner of the van, who bought the cigarettes and placed himself at the store, went on trial a few weeks later. his stepdaughter, amanda, was certain that he'd be found guilty as well. >> it did not make sense for them not to find him guilty because they found the jury guilty and they say that gary did it with him. >> richard was without a doubt heidi's last customer, and witnesses testified that they had seen a van like his at the scene. richard's van, however, showed no trace of blood or anything connected to heidi. this time, the jury deliberated

eight hours. >> we find him not guilty. >> two trials, two opposite results. >> so here is the strange thing about the two brothers, it seems, sheriff. you have got richard who is acquitted, and yet he is when he says i was in the shop. the one who does not put himself in the shop is the one who goes down for. don't they have to be in cahoots together for this to make sense? >> i would say so, but it still does not matter. do you believe good rested conviction? >> absolutely. >> heidi's family was not quite sure what to make of the two trials. heidi's first cousin is missy searles >> it was confusing to have, basically, the same evidence, just a different jury, and you end up with two different verdicts. >> and there was something that always bothered cousin missy about the trial. the jailhouse informants testified that it was a drug deal gone bad, which did not make sense. >> she was not a drug user

herself, she did not participate in that. >> clint van zant, the fbi profiler, was also left scratching his head. his profile predicted that the person responsible would be an obsessive, stalker type. >> did you think that you maybe missed something in your evaluation? >> the thibodeau brothers did not add up to my profile, so i was trying to figure out what i missed. was it something that i did not know about that i did not have a handle on? >> the years went by. a fading sign at the center of town was the lingering reminder that once there had been a girl named heidi allen whose life was taken from her. >> heidi allen has been huge in everyone's mind for years. i mean, because she has never been found. >> and there was a lingering feeling in the town among some people, that just maybe there was more to the story. >> i did not know what to do. it broke my heart. it destroyed me. >> coming up. a chance encounter and the shock of a lifetime.

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dennis murphy: it was an odd conclusion to the heidi allen case, one brother convicted, the other brother, it was an odd conclusion to the one who admitted to being at the store, acquitted. the heidi allen case. one brother convicted, the other brother, the one who admitted to being at the store, acquitted. and even though richard

thibodaeu was not found guilty, in some people's minds, he simply had a lucky day in court. stepdaughter amanda -- >> growing up, we were known as the kidnapper's kids, the murderer's kids. >> for the alan family, it was an unsatisfying result. they still did not know what had happened to heidi and her body had never been found. >> she's out there somewhere and somebody knows? >> that's right. and some day we are going to know. you cannot give up hope on your missing loved one. >> even after the dust settled, the case stayed in the news for years to come. some young people, like tonya priest, never really forgot. >> nothing like that had ever happened in our area before, so it stood out. >> a full decade rolled by. tonya was now in her mid twenties and one day while visiting a friend named vicky, up popped a story about the heidi allen case, an anniversary report. >> when the news flashed about heidi, i said to her i wonder

what happened to heidi, and she said me too. >> it was not really a question, just an out loud thought. but someone in the room decided to answer. it was the friend's boyfriend, a guy nicknamed thumper. >> he said to us, do you really want to know what happened to her? we were like okay, yeah. >> this next version of that easter morning is one that needs close attention. because it did not involve the thibodeau brothers at all, but what thumper himself and what two young buddies at the epicenter of heidi's abduction. >> he said they were pulled in right over by the doors with a vehicle running, they left the back doors open. they said i grabbed her like this, we dragged her out of the store, and then he left and he said when we hit that van, we hit that van hard with her. >> could he be serious? >> is this guy just sort of flexing his biceps for the girls? >> no, the more we did not believe him, the angrier he became. he said okay, how did the white van get involved? he said we just got lucky, one

showed up before we did. i said thumper, there's an innocent man in prison. he said, not my problem. >> so did she run to the police then and there, scream out to anyone who would listen? it was not that simple. >> tonya, why didn't you go to the sheriff's office at that point and say i had a story to tell you? >> well, he lived a mile down the road from my house. >> tonya says she was paralyzed by fear of thumper. >> i went home and cried, i did not want to know what to do. >> but she never forgot about that chilling conversation. she tried to cut off contact with her friend vicky and the boyfriend, and eventually tonya moved out of state. >> she was an 18-year-old girl, and it broke my heart. it destroyed me. >> the turning point came in 2010, three years later. that is when tonya learned some sickening news. in a domestic dispute, thumper had shot and killed her former friend. >> did you then think he was capable to have done that to heidi? >> of course.

>> the domestic and then -- >> of course. >> thumper, real name james steed, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. tanya says that conviction and the tragedy in her own life, the death of her husband, galvanized her to finally speak up. she picked up the phone and called the county prosecutor, a guy she once knew. >> this is tonya from high school? >> this is tonya from high school. >> gregg oakes had risen through the ranks to become oswego county district attorney. now running that same office that had gotten the gary thibodeau no conviction years earlier. of course, you remember the case of the missing girl. >> i was home for easter and remember that being on the news. >> when tonya priest called him about a story that implicated three new suspects in heidi allen's abduction, he listened carefully. >> i know the truth, sir. i have nothing to lose and nothing to gain from this.

just my conscience. >> absolutely. >> the dea flew tonya up to new york to hear more details. and, together, they discussed how to verify their story. one detail seemed promising. in the story told by some for that today, he said that they had taken heidi in the van to the home of a young woman named jennifer westcott. >> he screamed if you do not believe me, go ask jennifer. >> what we wanted to do is try to follow up to see if there's any truth to that. >> jennifer westcott was a girl tonya new from high school. the da encouraged her to get in touch by facebook. they exchanged telephone numbers, and then it was time for a phone call. >> they plugged into my phone, taped the whole conversation. >> hope she'll answer. >> hello? >> it had been years since they last spoke. tonya made small talk at first. and then eased into the story that she had heard, the murder of heidi all those years ago. >> he just told me that they grabbed her from the store and they brought her to your house. >> i really, in my own head, dropped that. >> right. >> i don't know, probably about ten years ago. >> jennifer did not deny a

thing, but she was not saying much either. >> why did they even involve you, or even do this? >> i don't know. >> you don't know even which one of her killed though? >> no idea. >> i had to keep throwing stuff at her, and finally she would bite. >> did you even know that this was heidi that they brought there and this was what they were gonna do? you had no clue? they just showed up with her? >> yeah, they didn't even bring her in the house. >> yeah that's -- >> made her sit in the van. >> it sounded as though jennifer had real information and just delivered the da the goods. >> it bothers me to talk about it. i won't lie to you. >> tonya had just one more question. had jennifer ever considered going to the police? >> i would never open a can of worms like that, he called almighty. i'm not, i'm not doing the investigators job. i don't get paid enough. >> at first i felt sorry for her because the more talked were on the phone, and the more i realized that she had no remorse. >> based on the conversation

that takes place, we had concerns that maybe there was some truth to tonya's claim. >> 20 years, 20 easters had come and gone since heidi's disappearance. and now with tonya's story, everything old was new again. >> the da starts looking into the evidence tanya helped gather. but what will it mean for the case? coming up. >> when the investigator talked to jennifer westcott she explained that, look, my statement to tonya priest simply were not true. >> when dateline continues. can disrupt your life for weeks. a pain so intense, you could miss out on family time. the virus that causes shingles is likely already inside of you. if you're 50 years or older, ask your doctor or pharmacist about shingles.

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a look at the hour's top stories. north korea has launched a suspected long-range ballistic missile into this, either first such teeth in the months. the -- recently criticize updated military drills by the u.s. and south korea from cleaning nuclear operations scenarios. much of the east coast is bracing for another storm. heavy wind and rain is expected

to move through the northeast after hitting florence south carolina over the weekend. back to dateline. over the weekend. back to dateline back to dateline attorney of the county, he was tentatively giving the case a fresh look. when somebody comes forward with a claim that gregg oakes had grown up potentially exonerates a convicted man, not far from where heidi allen disappeared. and now, as district attorney of the county, he was tentatively giving the case a fresh look. >> when somebody comes forward with a claim that potentially exonerates a convicted man, we have to take it seriously. >> inside the walls of the clinton correctional facility in danamore, new york, we met the convict who is the subject of all this reconsideration. it was 2015, gary thibodeau was an old 61 with gimpy legs and a bad lung. >> did you abduct heidi allen? >> i did not. >> and then kill her?

>> no, i never abducted or killed anyone. >> he says those jailhouse snitches lied and their testimony was the only real evidence against him. >> did you tell those -- >> >> no. >> you're not doing drugs with heidi? >> no. >> thibodeau had been inside for 20 years, he had always proclaimed his innocence, but -- >> do you say why me? >> i've gone through all of them, feelings and emotions and thoughts over the years. but i kinda believe that you are what you are in life because that's what you're supposed to be. whether it has anything to do with the innocent and guilty. >> but yours is more than 20 years now in the new york state correctional system for a crime you say you did not commit. >> i did not. >> back in 2013, when tonya priest stepped forward, gary had no idea the case was being given another look. he had exhausted his appeals. the other brother, richard, the one acquitted of heidi's kidnapping says that his life has been filled with anxiety. >> i've been afraid for the

past 20 years of actually going anywhere by myself. >> you have been traumatized by all of this? >> yeah. >> and he is also regretted coming forward as the good joe who told investigators that he had been in the convenience store that morning. >> the worst mistake of your life, richard, picking up that phone and calling the cops? >> they had to convict somebody. why us? because i had a van? >> are the two brothers self pitying, saying why me? >> they're together as one, like, why did it happen to us? >> neither brother was aware that a woman unknown to them were beg banging on authorities doors to get the case reopened. the investigator asked tom's old friend, the woman on the phone who seemed to know more than she should. >> they didn't even bring her in the house. made her sit in the van. >> to come down to the station fort to talk. >> i don't know anything about the heidi allen case. >> the investigator asked her about that recent phone call with tonya, omitting the fact

that they had it all on tape. >> did you make reference saying that they brought her to thouse and that you stayed she -- kept her out of the van. >> no, i never said anything to her about a van. >> well, in fact, she had. that is when they told her that the call was recorded. >> oh my god, i really don't -- i mean, i was-- this [bleep] lady. where does she even come up? what is about? i said i don't know anything about them taking -- i just thought i was shutting her up. i don't -- i guess i was confessing i had heidi allen at my house. >> when the investigator talked to jennifer westcott and she explained that, look, my statements to tonya priest were simply not true. i was trying to get her off the phone, i was trying to appease her. >> the da tracked down thumper aka james steen and the other two men.

each said that the story was baloney. investigators also contacted the jailhouse snitches from back in the day and they stood by their testimony. more importantly, greg oakes said they got nothing for testimony. >> so as you reviewed them you found them credible? >> i did. >> why do you believe some people and not others? >> we have to look beyond we believe someday or not. is their information that they can provide that can be backed off by other independent evidence? >> the da did not think he could believe anything that jennifer westcott had to say. he came to question tonya's credibility too. >> i do not believe tonya priest and her her story. she said she had heard this back in 2006, and i asked her, why didn't you immediately come forward to the police? and her response was, i simply didn't believe him. >> after reviewing all the evidence, he decided that there was no there there. >> i was convinced that they had had the right person. >> what would the motive be for these thibodeau two brothers? >> unfortunately, dennis, there

has been no obvious motive for all of these years. >> months had gone by since tonya first called the d.a.'s office. then she got a phone call. >> i was told there would be no further investigations. >> case closed, we've got the thibodeaus for this thing? >> yeah, i started crying. >> so is that it? had she given at her best shot? time to go home? you would think so. >> if they think i'm going to walk away, they are mistaken. i am not. >> coming up, a secret document and a stunning revelation. heidi allen was a young woman with an alternate identity. >> code name julia roberts. >> why this case might just be blown wide open. >> how did this not come out during the trial? >> when dateline continues. because a lot can happen in 48 hours. cetaphil. we do skin. you do you.

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i'm ok. i'm ok. dennis murphy: tonya priest had gone to the authorities with an explosive allegation. she said a man nicknamed thumper had confessed to her that he and two buddies had abducted and murdered tonya priest had gone to heidi allen back in 1994. the authorities with an explosive allegation. she said a man nicknamed thumper had confessed to her that he and two buddies had abducted and murdered heidi allen back in 1994. and she was devastated when the prosecutor checked out her story and ultimately chose not to believe her. >> i was doing it because i was a good person. and that is how i felt. >> but tonya would not give it up. she was convinced that an innocent man, gary thibodeau, was in prison. she made calls and was eventually put in touch with a new york federal public

defender named lisa peebles, somebody who had ties to the defense lawyers who had worked on thibodeau's failed appeals. >> tonya felt as though things were on this by the time she called our office. >> lisa, the lawyer, listened to that secretly recorded phone call between tonya and her childhood pal and came away with different takes than the da. >> i would never open a can of worms like that. god almighty. >> that was like, jaw-dropping. >> what do you hear on that to? >> a woman confiding that it took her a long time to get the images out of her head. i heard her say they made her in the van. she also said that she would never go to police. >> did you believe tonya priest when she came forward? >> i absolutely did. i said we cannot let this. >> lisa called up her friend john o'brien, then a reporter with syracuse. com. >> she says, you have always told me to call you when i have good case and i've got one. >> lisa had a morsel that intrigued him. >> this was the first time in 20 years that anyone said they knew anything about what

happened to heidi allen. >> one of the early doors the reporter knocked on was richard thibodeau's, the brother who had been accused and acquitted. >> finally, it was unbelievable. >> finally somebody comes forward to help my brother get out of prison. >> i was like if you have anything that might help here, let me know. so he had seven boxes of documents in his garage. absolutely, i'd like to see those right away. >> for two decades, richard had kept every scrap of paper related to his trial. was there something buried in there that the other lawyers had missed? something that might help his brother? for lisa and the reporter, eagerly digging through those boxes was like opening presents at christmas. >> i thought, what is this stuff? it was so bizarre to me. >> there was something buried there, something forgotten that almost glowed it turned out to be so important for their quest. what they fished out was an

internal memo that put heidi allen in a whole new light. she was not just the bright faced smart girl selling papers, she had a secret arrangement with local law enforcement. >> heidi allen was a confidential informant. >> telling us who is selling acid on school grounds, who's dealing dope? >> right. >> she had been issued a three by five informant index card. it had name, fingerprints, even a secret informant alias. >> it had the code name julia roberts. it had all her personal information on this card. >> saying this woman, code name julia roberts, is a drug informant for the county sheriff's office. >> i was thinking, how did this not come out during the trial? >> the discovery of heidi's informant status opened up a whole new series about her disappearance. >> it certainly would have opened up the field to many other possible suspects with motive to harm her. >> it turns out thumper had said as much to tonya. >> he said that is what happens to rats. she was a rat, she was going to

turn some big guys in and that is why they did it. >> as thumper tells it, she is a snitch. >> she is a snitch. >> lisa peebles immediately got on with his trial attorney from 1995, joe fahey. back when he did hear rumblings that heidi might have been working with the sheriff's office, but said there is no file and that simply it was not true. >> i don't know anything about the card, i don't know anything about julia roberts. >> so who did no? as it turns out, heidi allen's i.d. card was not locked away in a sheriff's filing cabinet somewhere. a deputy actually carried it around with him. one day, two years before she disappeared, he lost it, dropped it in the parking lot of the d&w convenience store where heidi would one day become a cashier. the idea was later found. >> it is essentially like outing an undercover officer or protected witness. >> yes. the idea that it is out there, that they believe she is an informant, is a problem. >> what was important for lisa

peebles about the heidi identity card was that even though it was in the brothers case, it apparently had never been given to gary thibodeau's defense team. she argued that is something called a brady violation, prosecutors are required to turn over any evidence that might help the defense. lisa filed a motion to have gary's convictions thrown out. john o'brien broke the news, writing the first of many heidi stories to come. >> it just took off and people are devouring it. >> a rock had been kicked over. the reporter was now getting hundreds of tips and leads. he even tracked down one of the jailhouse informants from the trial. robert bald sorrow and recorded the interview. the man's story had changed somewhat. >> your testimony came out that he confessed to it. >> i never said he confessed to anything. i just said, you know, he never came flat out and told me that he killed anyone. >> and a coworker of heidi's said in a sworn statement that shortly before heidi went missing, she had been afraid because the sheriff's department wanted her to nail

people for dealing coke. but, heidi's sister, lisa, was having nothing to do with the new theories. >> do you believe that the conviction of one of those brothers explains everything or do think there's more? >> this means that we trust our law enforcement, we trust cartier. >> you had confidence in their professional-ism and you do now you're saying? >> of course we do. >> the judge looked at the new evidence decided to hold the hearing. >> you are seeing to the court, there is no evidence. given the new trial cut them loose? >> yes, i think there's been a huge injustice and it's been a huge mistake. >> are you in a better place now? >> i feel relieved, i finally got somewhere. >> but all of the fervent interest outside the walls over the fate of gary thibodeau seemed to wash right over the man himself. >> can you imagine life on the outside? >> no. i'd like to go fishing with a can of beer. that would be nice, sitting on the bank, fishing, having a can

of beer. >> coming up, the question that provoked this response. >> are you out of your ever loving mind? why in god's name would we ever do something like that? why? >> when dateline continues. nues don't get burned by winter nose. a nose in need deserves puffs indeed. america's #1 lotion tissue. what can you do with sensitive skin? ♪♪ cetaphil gentle skin cleanser does more than clean. it actually protects skin by keeping it hydrated. so you're always ready for the unexpected. cetaphil. we do skin. you do you. ♪ febreze man: i don't about y'all, but when it comes to working from home, i gotta have every part of my house clean. that means tidying up, then spraying my febreze air mist, to leave every room smelling fresh and clean.

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i'm a little anxious, i'm a little excited. i'm gonna be emotional, she's gonna be emotional, but it's gonna be so worth it. i love that i can give back to one of our customers. i hope you enjoy these amazing gifts. oh my goodness. oh, you guys. i know you like wrestling, so we got you some vip tickets. you have made an impact. so have you. for you guys to be out here doing something like this, it restores a lot of faith in humanity. welcome back to "dateline." i'm craig melvin. it was a clue hidden for more than 20 years, a secret identity accidentally revealed welcome back to dateline, that some were now arguing may have resulted i'm craig melvin. it was a clue hidden for more than 20 years. a secret identity accidentally

revealed that some were now arguing that may have resulted in heidi allen's murder and a man admits to investigators that he has been obsessed with the case, but is he connected? here's dennis murphy with the conclusion of the informant. >> in january 2015, a judge granted a hearing in the manner of gary thibodeau, the man convicted of kidnapping heidi allen in 1994. his brother, richard thibodeau, was also in the court with his family. heidi's family was there but not expecting much. >> there's nothing new today, it's just sensationalized. >> the narrow issue at this hearing was whether or not prosecutors years ago unfairly and illegally failed to turn over a key document to the defense. that i.d. card of sorts indicating that heidi had been recruited as a teenage sheriff's drug informant. district attorney greg oakes out in fact turned over the

confidential informant records before trial. >> they did receive this information, they did know about this. >> but beyond the issue of who saw what discovery evidence when was another layer. prosecutors said it did not really matter. >> really her activity was limited to giving some high school information to the deputy. >> there was not a contemporaneous investigation about to go down? >> around the time of her disappearance, no investigation that she was involved. with so far he was not naming names -- that bad guys had killed her in revenge for being a snitch. by then the sheriff reuel todd vehemently denied the defense in the window that the deputies were somehow responsible for getting out he killed. >> did you guys carelessly bust your identity sheriff? >> are you out of your ever loving mind? why in god's name would we ever do something like that and jeopardize a girl's life or career or anything? why? >> accidentally. this resulted in a girl being vulnerable.

>> how did she become vulnerable? >> the sheriff said yes her i. d. card was dropped in a parking lot, but was returned to the office right away. only the store owner sought. but something else was going on in the hearing. lisa, the defense attorney, was also acting a little bit like a prosecutor. she was about to introduce evidence about those three men identified as the so-called abducters and killers. >> all i have to do is say hey, there is new evidence. and had it been available, it would've created reasonable doubt for a jury to acquit him. >> the attorney called other witnesses who, like tonya, who had heard stories about of these three men killing heidi and disposing of her body. >> he would tell us several times that he would do us like he did heidi. >> and that girl from the phone call, jennifer westcott, she changed her story again, telling authorities on tape that she did know what happened. >> the only thing they said to me is that heidi was burned in

a in a wood stove and taken care of in a van. >> and then the men themselves. first, there was some, her real name james steen, doing life for murder. >> i have nothing that i can tell you about that man over there. nothing. >> he claimed not to know about how these abduction. nor did potential suspect number two, his buddy roger breckenridge, another guy with a record. and then there was the third guy from tonya's story. his name was michael bohr, he lived a mile from the convenience store and had heidi make him a sandwich most days she was working. what made him stand out among the three was his admitted obsession with the heidi allen case. and told investigators as much months earlier. >> i knew one day -- i'm gonna pop in the picture somewhere. >> you seemed so preoccupied with the case. >> i was obsessed with it because it just freaked me out. >> it turns out he had a shoe box full of old news clippings he had kept for two decades. in court, bohrer's testimony was not videoed, but he admitted years back that he had

been a drug dealer and that he became very emotional. >> he started crying when it came to questions concerning his obsession with the case and he kept driving by the sign that said where is heidi and he thought about her six times a day. >> strange. and remember that profile drawn up by the fbi agent clint van zant, the contributor to msnbc? back then he predicted heidi had been killed by someone who would later appeared to be obsessed with the case. >> it was going to be someone who knew the victim and somebody, who will follow this crime very closely, who will gather newspaper clippings, articles. >> and there was something else the fbi profiler had predicted. >> i suggested that this is so bold, they are going to have other type of offenses in their background. you may see stalking, you may see other types of kidnappings. >> holy cow, he just profiled michael bohrer. >> the attorney tracked down this woman, kathryn schmidt,

who said she was attacked by bohrer's years before heidi's abduction. she told us he tried to push her into a car. >> he was dragging me backwards with its hand over my mouth and i could not breathe. >> she managed to run away with minor injuries. he pleaded guilty to unlawful imprisonment. but the judge would not allow kathleen schmidt to testify at this hearing, ruling her story about michael bohrer was not relevant. >> he is obviously very curious, i think he's mentally unstable. >> or knows what happened to heidi and feels remorse all these years later? >> i don't believe that's the case. >> so, the judge took it all under consideration, dismissed the hearing and said he would have a ruling in due time on whether thibodeau should get a new trial. weeks went by, then months. >> it is giving me a reason to live now. >> and when it finally came, the ruling was dropped with little fanfare, just an entry in the docuet. the judge ruled that first there had been no so-called

brady violation, no proof that the state did not hand over documents related to heidi's drug informant status. and he agreed with the da that it was not legally relevant anyways. >> it's all speculation, it's irrelevant, hearsay. >> and as for those alternative suspects put on by the defense, interesting, but in his opinion, too speculative and remote to warrant overturning the jury's verdict. none of the three has been charged with anything related to the heidi allen case. >> i cannot let it go, and i will not let it go. >> lisa peebles, gary thibodeau john o'brien e lisa peebles -- lost that day. >> as long as gary's alive we aregonna keep fighting for him. >> and she did, into august 2017, new york state's highest court agreed to one more review of the case. >> i hope gary lives to see the

day. >> but in june 2018, the court of appeals rejected thibodeau's request for a new trial. gary's lawyer petitioned the court to reconsider. gary thibodeau was awaiting the decision until august 12th 2018 when he died in prison. his decades old battle to clear his name had finally come to an end. now, all of these new years later, the two families, the thibodeaus and allens are left with the same questions. what did happen to heidi and will we ever find a shallow grave? >> i think eventually something is going to talk. >> someone's going to say something. >> i might not know, i might have to wait. but i will die trying and fighting for her. >> she went to work early on an easter sunday morning and was never seen again. ♪♪ this sunday, targeting biden.