i'm never going to have my son back. >> had he lived, had he gotten extra years, where do you think he would have been ? >> still the fun-loving kid he was, joking and teasing. i think he would be looking ahead at a very bright future somewhere as an athlete. >> but the boy is buried now with the artifacts of his childhood, including that rip stick. garrett exits forever frame left, the mystery surrounding his killer, still abides.

happened to him. >> this need to be reported to the police. unusual for him not to tell one of us that he was going to be gone. >> when was the last gotime you heard from him? >> way back in may. >> yeah. >> his dad stated he had been gone in the past to take off. >> it was always pretty tense at the ranch. >> i'm not supposed to know but i do know. >> if the wrong thing was said or done, there was fire in her eyes. >> the river that runs through all of this was green with money. >> very much so. >> now was the time y.to find o the truth. >> i just kind of froze. and i said is that what i think it is? she looked at me i and said you moe you can't ever leave now. right?

hello and welcome to dateline. jake loved hanging out with a tight group of guys. then he stopped answering calls and texts and his friends feared the worse. but years would pass before a series of clues unearthed something much darker. here unis josh mankiewicz with trouble on the 7-11 ranch. >> reporter: sometimes it is so quiet in western colorado, all you can hear is the wind. >> beautiful hay meadows that wave in the breeze. it's a lovely part of the valley. >> reporter: it is beautiful. no doubt. at the t same time, that lovely lonely valley can be an unforgiving place to live. it can drive some people to

extremes. no one understood that better than rancher jake. >> he would etjust be out there working. >> reporter: and a rancher's work is never done. there is always a fence that needs mending. and jake seemed cut out for that life. but then he disappeared. >> thno one got a message or a text, nothing. >> no. he evaporated. no one heard from him two years. >> reporter: it was weird, the ranch had been jake's life most of his life. the spread was the 7-11. hundreds of acres outside the town of gunnison under a canopy of colorado sky. jake lived with with his older sister stephanie since they were kids. jake's parents had divorced and his mom had found another

husband. a guy who owned the 7-11. they home schooled jake. so he could help out more on the ranch. >> he was out there all day every day. >> reporter: another jake and rebecca used to help out. >> what was the vibe at the ranch? >> really quiet. maybe a couple of times a year they would have a family reunion or hunters would come up and stay in the cabin. >> reporter: by 2003, jake's sister stephanie had moved out. looking for a life beyond the sprawl of the 7-11. >> what about jake and his sister? >> i know he loved his sister. but, he kind of was upset she married who she married. >> reporter: that would be david jackson. >> so, jake didn't like dave so much because he was a carney and he did the paint ball booth

in gunnison when the carnival came through. >> and jake thought my sister would do better than that? >> exactly. >> reporter: they married anyway and liveed in town only coming out to the ranch originally. jake had an adventurous streak. >> he was kind of a recluse but always willing to go explore the mountains and just try to hang out with his friends. >> reporter: randy martinez was another member of jake's posse. >> very quiet. shy toward girls. >> reporter: jake's stepfather died in 2009 and the workload got heavier. now, it was 23-year-old jake and his mom running the ranch. except for that time he took off to alaska to make money on a fishing boat. and even that was about the ranch. >> he was on a ship i think for three months. he came back with a good chunk of money. and he put all of that into the

ranch to kind of save it from going under. >> reporter: the only break jake ever got was time with his friends. a kind of second family. >> a we were all best friends. so, we would all hang out. we would kind of snow everything we were going. and do it together. >> reporter: that meant oi shooting pool at some local hang-outs and drinking beer. except, for jake. who was always happy to be the designated driver. >> jake would always go up to o the bar and order a coke. even though he was just a couple of years older than us, he always acted like an old man. he was always the responsible one trying to do the smart thing in tricky situations. >> i met jake in the winter, december of 2012 at the gunson jujitsu gym. >> reporter: that was the other important part of jake's life and another group of friends.

marshal arts. particularly jujitsu. derek was one of his sparring partners. >> and jake was good at it? >> jake was good. jake was the most akconsistent student that was ever in that gym. he was there every night. four nights a week. >> reporter: he announced his presence on his motorcycle. a sportster. he had it since high school. >> i can picture him coming on it right now. >> he was proud of it? >> oh yeah. he iwore a red bandanna when hd drove it. >> reporter: in may, 2015, they were practicing for an upcomingc tournament in denver. >> he landed on his ankle and twisted it and i believe he had to pull out of the tournament because he couldn't walk. >> reporter: then came friday night. may 15th. stuck at home, jake called his pal randy about going to a movie up in crested butte.

after the movie, they hit a couple of bars. played some pool and parted ways around midnight. there aren't a million thing to do in gunnison and this all seemed routine. it turned out not to be. >> the next morning i woke up. texted him to see what was up. never got a replay. >> reporter: the next week, jake's jujitsu pals were back from that tournament and back on the mats. no jake. they figured he was still nursing his ankle. then after a few days they started to wonder. >> week goes buy. and we are like where is jake? >> unusual for him not to come in. >> unusual for him not to tell one of us he would be gone. >> reporter: gone because he was fed up with the hard life on the ranch? or was there a side of jake that even his best friends didn't know about? coming up.

>> his bad stated that he has been gone in the past. known in the enpast to take off abruptly and do things. >> reporter: the mystery deepens. >> when somebody doesn't show up, there's a lot of ground to cover. a lot of things to explain his absence that are not criminal. >> absolutely. i didn't want to jump to any conclusions. >> reporter: jake's mother had her own idea about what happened to her son. >> i'm not supposed to know. but i do know. >> when dateline continues. >> when dateline continues. some things should stand the test of time. long lasting eylea hd could significantly improve your vision and can help you go up to 4 months between treatments. if you have an eye infection, eye pain or redness, or allergies to eylea hd, don't use. eye injections like eyla hd may cause eye infection, separation of the retina, or rare

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it was may 2015, ten days had passed and there was no sign of jake millison. >> this need to be reported to the police. and so, i stepped up and said you know what? i'll do it. >> because? you're not just any friend? >> no. i'm a sergeant with the town of mount crested butte. and so, i thought i had a little bit of credibility so if i had red flags it would translate to the deputy there. >> reporter: that deputy was mark michael. his first order of business,

call jake's mother. >> deb told us he left with a friend and was going to the reno, nevada area. >> reporter: investigators phoned jake's father. >> his dad ray stated that he has been gone known in the past to take off abruptly. and do things. >> reporter: at 29, he had no obligation to tell anyone where he was going and it didn't mean something bad had happened. >> when somebody doesn't show up, there's a lot of ground to cover. >> right. >> he met some girl and they decide to go to las vegas. he has some fight with his family or somebody and decides to just hit the road. there's a lot of things that might have explained his absence that weren't criminal. >> absolutely. that is why i didn't want to jump to conclusions. >> reporter: there was something jake's pal randy martinez noticed. when he had gone to the ranch with a buddy looking for jake, and they ran into jake's

closest friend. >> his dog. really cool dog. he runs out to meet us and we thought that's weird, elmo is here, so jake should be here. so we start talking to more people. we talk to everybody we knew that he knew. nobody had heard anything. and it was really weird. >> reporter: in early june, the sheriff paid his own visit to the 7-11 and heard jake had returned. his mom said jake had been gone for a little while, but then came back to pick up supplies. she said jake was with a friend. someone she didn't know. >> deb was telling us it was late at night. took a bunch of camping gear. loaded it all up and took off. there wasn't any room for the dog. >> reporter: none of it made

sense. what could jake be up to? and who takes a trip without his cell phone? >> she told us the phone fell in an irrigation ditch and showed us the phone. it was in a bag of rice. >> reporter: that could definitely explain why jake wasn't answering any calls or texts. deb said jake told her he was off to nevada to study marshal art. >> so didn't have anything to go with at that point. >> reporter: by august, jake had been gone almost three months. and by then, it seemed even his mom was becoming concerned. she filed a missing person report. that wasn't enough for jake's friends. they wanted to get his story out. so they contacted chris rourke. and she called jake's mom. >> hey, deb, thanks for calling me back. >> no problem. >> what is deb like? >> small wiry woman.

very talkative. she liked to talk. >> i know he originally was going to go on his motorcycle. but decided to go with somebody. >> reporter: while the reporters' recorder ran, deb told her the same thing she had told the sheriff deputy. >> jake had run off and jake took off in a truck with a friend. and the friend didn't want the dog along. >> and he took enough stuff for two people. >> she started out a little reticent. and then, the details started coming. >> he also wiped out my groceries. >> oh really? huh. >> and, you know, he took all the chef boyardees. >> when is the last time you heard from him? >> i'd have to look it up on a calendar. it was about the 20th. >> of september? >> no. way back in may. >> reporter: deb told rourke

something the reporter had never heard before. jake had a dark side. a serious drug problem. >> i'm not supposed to know, but i do know. because everybody has kept it a big dark secret that my son has been doing drugs. >> reporter: because of that, deb said, there was tension between mother and son. >> have you two been typically close? >> no. once he started doing the mixed marshal arts and the drugs and stuff. we had one argument fight after another. >> reporter: maybe that is why jake left. he was just sick of fighting with his mom all the time. >> and i knew he was going to be gone a while. he has been gone too long. and so i have declared him a missing person. >> so it is possible he left of his own volition? >> oh he did. >> and gets into some kind of trouble? >> right. >> reporter: a picture of a different jake was starting to emerge. >> and i think it lends itself to the two sides paints of who

jake was. this reckless person that was irresponsible and had run off and his friends described him as someone who was very disciplined. cared and his friends. >> reporter: with that in mind, chris filed her story. >> so, you make sort of reference to the two jakes. >> right. >> and what reaction does that article provoke? >> the friends were mad. they were upset. they said something has happened to him. the jake that deb is portraying is not the guy we know. >> reporter: jake's friends seemed hellbent on finding him. that was in october. soon the case would get as cold as a western colorado winter. coming up. >> she did a posting that said big things are happening for the jackson family. a couple of days later, she posted again, do you ever hear such great news in the morning

that you can't stand it? >> reporter: with jake gone, his sister stephanie moves in to help with the ranch. and reveals a dark side. >> if the wrong thing was said or done, there was fire in her eyes. >> when dateline continues.

you ready? -showtime. this is gonna be epic. [ barking ] it's what the poster said. do you want to make out or? nope. i meant yes. he's a bon garçon. i give amazing sponge-baths. can i get a room? [ chuckling ]

♪ ♪ chef's kiss. he had never met jake

millison but jeremy mcdonald would have the ring side seat for the circus that was jake's family starting with jake's brother-in-law dave. >> you have known him for a long time. >> yeah. since we were nine or ten years old. >> reporter: remember, dave jackson was married to jake's sister stephanie. by then, jake had been gone almost a year. without him, his mom had been running the ranch all by herself. that was about to change. dave called jeremy and offered him work. jake's mom deb had been diagnosed with cancer and undergone major surgery. dave, stephanie and their then eight-year-old son had move today the ranch to help out. dave asked jeremy to live with them and fix up the place for

room and board? i thought it wasn't a bad idea. >> get the ranch back to making money. >> pretty much. >> what is it like when you get there? >> it's a mess. there's clutter and junk everywhere. a lot bigger project than i had ever exspected. >> reporter: he decided to stick it out. after off, dave was one of his best friends. >> what about deb? did you know her? >> i had never met deb until i moved there. and she seemed very reclusive but was very obvious she was a little bit ornery. i'll say that. >> how did that manifest itself? >> she was super controlling. any time we tried to clean up. there was a building with couches covered in rat feces and they were destroyed. and, dave and i were moving them out and she came out and

started screaming and yelling at us that she wanted to keep the couches. >> and you chalked that up to what? >> crazy. honestly. that's just how she wasful everything she got didn't leave. >> reporter: and jake's sister stephanie, jeremy says there was a side of her few people saw. >> there is the steph that most, a lot of people knew. which was a very nice lady. but, seems like there was a switch. if the wrong thing was said or done, there was fire in her eyes. >> reporter: stephanie and her family seemed pretty cool with jake's disappearance. his friends were not. they created a facebook page. where is jake millison and they peppered the sheriff's office

with phone calls. they had been looking all over for some sign of jake millison. >> our heads are in alaska, our notions are in nevada and we are still running across nothing. >> reporter: in the fall of 2016, mostly because of the attention generated by jake's friends, the case finally landed on the case of gunnison county deputy attorney jessica wagner. >> his friends knew this was not something he would have done. >> reporter: at that point, jake had been missing for a year. >> the colorado department of investigation got involved and we put a plan in place to do search warrants on the phones. and begin the process of looking for jacob. >> reporter: the more the prosecutor talked with the investigators, the more concerned she became. normally when somebody disappears, it is the family who is saying to you this isn't

normal. something is wrong. but, in this case, family is telling everyone there is nothing to worry about. >> right. and it wasn't until the friends really pushed. they started posting it on facebook. started calling law enforcement. that is where we had to just keep digging. >> reporter: and when wagner dug into stephanie's facebook page, she noticed something stephanie had written just a few days after her brother went missing. >> she did a posting that said big things are happening for the jackson family. a couple of days later show posted again do you ever hear such great new ins the morning that you can't stand it or something like that. and her friend responded saying oh, jake's gone. >> reporter: stephanie seem today be treating jake's sudden absence as an opportunity.

the prosecutor found that troubling. she saw comments like this. >> it was always pretty tense at the ranch when ever dave was out there. >> reporter: in fact, she learned jake was afraid of dave. and taking up jujitsu hadn't been just for the exercise. >> so he decided to start taking jujitsu because he was kind of scared of his brother- in-law trying to do something to him. >> reporter: so that made it all the more strange when she saw this posted on dave's facebook page. him astride jake's prized bike. something jake never would have tolerated. >> he loved that motorcycle. it had a history with him. nobody could ride it if i remember correctly. >> he loved that bike and road it as much as he could when he could. to see his arch nemesis on his bike was really weird. >> reporter: maybe jake would ditch the ranch. maybe even the dog.

but not the harley. that picture told jake's friends something they didn't want to admit. but now, couldn't avoid. jake was never coming back. >> where was jake millison? investigators turn up the heat on jake's family and uncover a twisted trail of lies. coming up. >> the cities kept changing and the reasons he was leaving kept changing. >> and in any of those cities you couldn't find anyone who had seen him or talked to him. there was no financial record of him anywhere in those places. >> correct. >> deb said she thought he might be in witness protection somewhere. >> reporter: as the excuses grow stranger, the prosecutor grows more suspicious. >> we couldn't buy the family's reasoning anymore. >> when dateline continues. reasoning anymore. >> when dateline continues. copd hasn't been pretty. it's tough to breathe and tough to keep wondering if this is as good as it gets. but trelegy has shown me that there's still beauty

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president biden is in atlanta.

his address has preemptively received criticism from students and alumni at the hbcu over the administration's stance over the israel hamas war. and in florida, a 17-year- old was shot by police after a chase involving a stolen car driven by another teenager. officials say the teen allegedly reached for a gun during that pursuit. he was hospitalized and set to receive surgery. for now, back to dateline. atel. spring, 2017, jake millison had been off the grid nearly two years. he had disappeared without a trace. reporter chris rourke had been watching the story closely along with all of the town of gunnison. >> it was always talked about in the community. it was always on people's mind. i recall a body was found west

of town. it turned out to be a hiker. but, you know, gone the wrong way on a trail. but you know, any time something came up like that, we wondered, do you think that is jake? >> reporter: she kept thinking back to her interview with jake's mom and something deb had said. >> when is the last time you heard from him? >> i would have to look it up on a calendar. it was about the 20th. >> of september? >> no. >> no. >> way back in may. >> reporter: just a second, think about that. >> i interview a lot of women whose children have disappeared. and they know exactly when the last time they spoke with them was. >> yeah. >> to the minute. >> yeah. >> but i can't remember when the last time i talked to him was. >> right. i have to look at my calendar. >> very odd. >> yes. >> reporter: by now, prosecutor jessica wagner had moved on

from odd to possibly criminal. jake's friends seemed credible. saying jake would never have taken off like that. his family? not so much. >> we couldn't buy the family's reasoning anymore. deborah rudibaugh said he headed to nevada for marshal arts fighting. then stephanie would tell everyone that deborah rudibaugh told her he was in portland or seattle and the cities kept changing and the reasons why he was leaving kept changing. >> and in any of those cities you couldn't find anyone who had seen him or talked to him. >> correct. >> reporter: since he disappeared, jake had never used a credit card, never used his passport. never gotten a new cell phone. and never visited an atm. and as she pieced it all together, the prosecutor

wondered if millison had ever really left the ranch. >> the property that we are talking about was massive. they owned some hunting rights in various places up in the mountains. they had a quarry across the road. they had caves. >> reporter: by spring, she had enough to convince a judge to sign a search warrant. but the prosecutor was born and raised here. and she knew she had to wait. >> with gunnison and its weather, we couldn't have searched for him in the spring. grounds are still frozen. and that would have caused some problems of being able to find him. so we knew it had to be in the summer. >> reporter: meanwhile, back at the ranch, jeremy mcdonald's experience was going to weird to weirder. >> how did they explain jake's absence? >> so, they always told me he had just left.

he had just disappeared. i had never met jake so i didn't know anything about what he was like. maybe he did just leave. there were times deb said she thought he might be in witness protection somewhere enter witness protection? >> yeah. >> so maybe he is living somewhere else in the country? >> yeah. >> reporter: dinner conversation. maybe he was dead, had an accident. maybe worse. one night jeremy was having dinner with stephanie and dave and threw out his own theory. just as a joke. >> i mentioned what if deb did it and buried him in the backyard? and, at that very moment that i said that, the whole demeanor of steph completely changed. and, it got really awkward. and you could see that darkness

in her eyes. i remember just feeling i stepped somewhere wrong. coming up. >> i jus kind of froze. and i just said is that what i think it is? >> a frightening discovery. followed by a terrifying threat. >> she just looked at me and said you know you can't ever leave now. right? >> reporter: when dateline continues. >> reporter: when dateline continues. if you have wet amd, you never want to lose sight of the things you love. some things should stand the test of time. long lasting eylea hd could significantly improve your vision and can help you go up to 4 months between treatments. if you have an eye infection, eye pain or redness, or allergies to eylea hd, don't use.

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ready to execute a search warrant at the 7/11 ranch. she had listened to jake's friends, gathered her evidence and waited for the colorado sun to melt the frozen ground. and there was one more event wagner had waited for. an annual convention of dogs. but not just any dogs. these dogs have a particular set of skills. skills that make them a nightmare for some people. >> so every year, a bunch of cadaver dogs will come out and get certified for fema, by going to these old mining towns and doing these searches for the old grave sites. >> reporter: that's right. it's a gathering of some of the top cadaver search dogs in the country. in, of all places, gunnison. >> and you thought what better time to look for a body than when there are a lot of cadaver dog team ins town. >> exactly. >> reporter: lisa higgins was

there. a dog trainer for more than 30 years. her dogs have helped solve all kinds of cases. from missing children to serial killers. >> the sheriff asked that i become the liaison between the canine group and the agencies working with this case. >> reporter: so early on july 17th, the cadaver dogs formed up with dozens of investigators about a mile from the 7-11 ranch. a small group of investigators went ahead to serve the warrant. jeremy mcdonald was asleep in a trailer in front of the main house. >> it was fairly early. 7:00 in the morning. all of a sudden, pounding on my door. please open up. police. come out. your hands up. >> reporter: jeremy wasn't wondering far moment why they were there. because it turned out he had seen something. >> so let's talk about what

happened with your accidentally witnessing something that i'm guessing you wish you could unsee. >> yeah. >> reporter: it was two months before the day of the raid. jeremy says david jackson was operating a backhoe. >> and, as i walked around the corner, i see dave and steph standing, looking at a rib cage. >> reporter: you heard that right. a rib cage. >> and i just kind of froze. and i said, is that what i think it is? and at that moment, steph and dave both turned around and dave had shock in his eyes and steph turned and threw her arms up in the air. i don't know what it is. i'm going to go call mom. and took off running to the house. you could see the rib cage and you could see the top part of what looked like a part of jeans. steph came back and said it is a bear or some wild game that

jake shot. illegally. just cover it back up. >> you have to be thinking is that jake? >> i definitely was thinking that it was jake. and in my heart, i knew it was jake. it had to be. >> did you say anything? >> so, i guess, i didn't know what to think. and i know a lot of people outside looking in think why didn't you just call the police? you have to understand at that moment, that was my family. even though it wasn't the most functional family in the world, that was who i ate dinner with every day. so a lot of it was i didn't want their boy to be drug into all of this. >> reporter: that boy was stephanie and dave's nine-year- old son. and, jeremy said, any thought of contacting the police evaporated in the name of self-

preservation. >> steph looked at me and said you know you can't ever leave now. right? and, at that point, i didn't know what to do. >> that sound like a threat to you because it sounds like a threat to me. >> it did sound like a threat. >> you sleep with one eye open? or both eyes open? >> i don't think i slept for a couple of night. >> and you never told law enforcement? >> i didn't. i just blocked it all out. i didn't want to be involved. >> and yet, you were a part of it. >> yep. >> reporter: now, there they were. the prosecutor, the police, and the dogs. the search for jake millison was about to get very focused, very fast. coming up, an answer no one wanted. >> i think at that point, we

felt tapped out. do you mind if we take a break? >> reporter: and question nos one can answer. >> we are all scratching our heads saying why and how and asking ourselves all the questions. but still no arrest. >> when dateline continues. >> when dateline continues. eye disease a long time ago. and year after year, you weathered the storm and just lived with the damage that was left behind. but even after all this time your thyroid eye disease could still change. restoration is still possible. learn how you could give your eyes a fresh start at tedhelp.com. when enamel is gone, you cannot get it back. but you can repair it with pronamel repair. it penetrates deep into the tooth to actively repair acid weakened enamel. i recommend pronamel repair. with new pronamel repair mouthwash

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welcome back. jake millison had vanished. prosecutor jessica wagoner suspected foul play. she suspected members of his family had killed him and buried his body somewhere on their sprawling ranch. a property search was delayed allowing the frozen winter ground time to thaw. now with the summer sun above, detectives were hoping to discover the ice cold truth behind jake's disappearance. here is josh mankiewicz with the conclusion of trouble at the 7-11 ranch. >> reporter: july 17th, 2017, jake millison had been missing more than two years. while a convoy of law enforcement and a pack of cadaver dogs waited down the road, an investigator questioned deb rudibaugh about her missing son. she was evasive at first. and then, when deb heard about the cadaver dogs, she coolly

and calmly dropped a bomb shell. >> deb rudibaugh said while jake was asleep, in the upstairs area of the lodge, she went up and she shot him in the head. >> reporter: the confession was almost casual. as a mother described murdering her own son. she said she was able to drag the body out and then she took the backhoe and buried him in a manure pile. >> reporter: deb had pointed them to the corral. so that is where dog handler lisa higgins sent jack. a german shepherd from west virginia. >> jack went in and performed his trained final response which is a passive sit in the area he was most concerned with. >> reporter: investigators brought in a backhoe. and the 7-11 ranch slowly gave up its secrets. jake millison was no longer

missing. his remains were found wrapped in a trash bag. >> i think at that point, we felt tapped out. i felt tapped out. and reliving it right now. i'm reliving that aspect of it as well. do you mind if we take a break? >> reporter: jake's friends had long accepted the truth that they would never see him alive again. so when they got the word, it was no shock. >> it is closure, but it sucks. >> now it was time to get some convictions. find out the truth. find out who was involved. >> reporter: if this feels to you as if it should be the end of the story of what happened to jake millison, listen to this. no one was arrested that day.

the news spread quickly around gunnison. >> we learn had deb had confessed and we are all scratching our heads saying why and how and asking ourselves all the questions. but still no arrests. >> you got a body. you got a confession. why are aren't you puting the handcuffs on people? >> there was a lot of people on scene that wanted that to happen and i heard a lot of screaming when i said no. but nothing was matching up yet. >> reporter: it was hard to believe. as tough as deb was, she was five feet tall. 97 pounds. and remember. suffering from stage 4 cancer. about a week before jake was murdered, she'd had surgery. >> she admitted she couldn't lift a gallon of milk all the way into july or august from the surgery. without help. >> reporter: investigator didn't think there was any way she had dragged jake's 180- pound body down the stairs

outside, and then buried him all by herself. they were certain she had help. >> the suspect needle is sort of pointing away from deb and toward stephanie. >> this entire case, the suspect needle was pointing at stephanie. >> reporter: the motive? this was all about the 7-11. millions of dollars of valuable ranch land. stephanie wanted it. but jake stood to inherit it. >> jake was murdered so that he wouldn't inherit the ranch. >> we believe so. >> and had manipulate third- degree into happening. >> if it was not for stephanie jackson, he would be here today. >> reporter: the prosecutor believed stephanie had persuaded her husband dave to help with the cover-up. >> finally, seven months after jake's body wases does covered,

deputies arrested deb. and stephanie. and dave. he was never charged with any crime. after initially denying any involvement, dave jackson pleaded guilty to tampering with the deceased boyd di and received ten years. by then, forensics left little doubt who actually pulled the trigger. at jake's autopsy, they found the slug that killed him. >> deb's gun. with deb's dna on the handle. >> you certainly have the right to make a statement.

>> reporter: in may of 2019, four years after she had killed her son, deb pleaded to second degree murder. even then, deb maintained she alone did the crime and the cover-up. >> my daughter stephanie had nothing to do with jake's death or subsequent cover-up. >> reporter: she was sentenced to 40 years. >> i would like to start out by saying thank you for the opportunity to speak. she pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting and to tampering with the deceased body. >> what i'm guilty of is believing the stories and lies my mother told everyone for over two years. >> reporter: all of it, she said, was her mom's idea.

>> i would like to apologize to my father, my grandparents. my extended family and anyone else who it affected. by my mother's heinous action. >> reporter: the judge didn't buy it and gave stephanie 24 years in prison. it all seemed to flow from homespun greed and the river that ran through it was green with money. and maybe, a drop of jealousy. november of 2019, deb rudibaugh died of cancer in prison at the age of 70. >> so what really happened, rudibaugh took it to the grave. >> i don't think stephanie will be telling us any time soon. >> reporter: we know this. all the stories, jake taking off, jake abusing drugs, the idea that there were two jakes. those were all lies.

and his friends never believed them. >> you know, if it weren't for you and jake's other friends, this case would possibly have never been solved. >> i believe that jake's several buddies and his friends outside, we were the ones that pushed this to get this solved. >> reporter: his family kind of underestimated the second family. >> absolutely. >> now it is the end of the story of what happened to jake. his friends fought for him. his family fought against him. in the end, it's hard to tell who won. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm andrea canning. thank you for watching. i'm greg. >> and i'm natalie. >> and this is dateline.