tonight on "nightline," the hunt for holly. a beautiful young nursing student, a budding country music star and a brother's story of a mysterious stranger. new clues emerge in the disappearance of holly bow bbo. did she know her alleged abductor? death in libya. moammar gadhafi escalates his war on civilians. a colleague is killed in the battle. tim hetherington's final message to the world, no sign of nato. the story about america in libya that he died trying to tell. and, chairman of the board. does this man have the coolest job on earth? he almost single handedly created an olympic sport and a way of life. we catch up with him.

>> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," april 20th, 2011. >> good evening, i'm terry moran. we're going to begin with the urgent search for a young woman gone missing. the tennessee sheriff's association has added $5,000 to the reward fund for holly bobo, the 20-year-old nursing student who reportedly was abducted from her home a week ago today. it brings the reward total to $80,000. investigators say the abductor is likely a local figure. no suspect yet, though. the small town of parsons, meanwhile, is hoping, praying, that any minute now, holly will be found safe. here's linsey davis. >> we're going to go and divide up into groups. >> reporter: time is of the essence. every hour that passes is crucial.

any tip could be the key. >> y'all go ahead and spread out. >> reporter: that's why authorities are turning to the public in the disappearance of holly bobo, a beautiful 20-year-old nursing student who hasn't been seen in a week. just before 8:00 last wednesday morning, holly's 25-year-old brother told police he watched from inside the family home as a man in camouflage led holly into the woods. at first clint thought he was going off with a friend, but when he went outside, he found blood in the driveway and immediately called 911. the police went into high gear, searching for the man. >> we feel that she knew that she was in fear of her life so, she was compliant with his command. >> reporter: the family begged for help. >> holly, i love you so much. please try to get home to us and if anybody knows anything about her, please. please help us find her. >> reporter: the close-knit community rallied. hundreds volunteered to comb the

woods for clues. >> that's the last phone call you ever expect to get. and it's a close family, so, we're just trying to hold it together. >> reporter: until now, the town of parsons's main claim to feign was country music whitney duncan. she's holly's cousin. >> she's beautiful. kind of shy. quiet. until you get to know her. and then she's just funny and sweet and she's amazing. >> reporter: and whitney's had to defend holly's brother. bloggers and tweeters immediately began to question his story and tweets like this one appeared. "i think the authorities should focus more on the brother clint. very strange, contradicting story from him." whitney duncan fired back with a tweet of her own, writing, my cousin clint, holly's brother, is not a suspect. and i'm sick of people saying that he is. he has been cleared for good reason. shut up. investigators say they're not following any individual suspect but have not ruled anyone out.

in the mean time, the days are ticking by. >> this is where our virtual command center is. it's a way to argue nice the information that's coming into us and a way to disperse that information out to investigators. >> reporter: so, right here, tips are coming in and she's verifying that everything has been followed up on? >> reporte >> right. >> reporter: they're constantly checking the map, trying to connect the dots. so far, invest gators have found several items, including holly's lunch bag. >> we've really been concentrating from hold littly'e up to i-40. >> reporter: and for some scale here this is a distance of eight miles? >> yes. >> reporter: how long can you sustain a massive search? >> when the leads stop coming in and you stop having things to follow up on, then that's when you may begin to scale back. >> reporter: it has now been a week since holly was last seen.

>> if someone is not discovered within the first day or two, it's unlikely they'll be discovered alive. >> when children are abducted, james fox says the abductor is most likely someone a child knows. perhaps not so in this case. >> when it is an adult who is abducted, it's usually a stranger. it is often times a sex crime and murder is used as a way to cover up the evidence of that crime. but still, there is hope that occasionally a case like this does end up with good news even after a long period of time. >> reporter: kind of feel like you're looking for a needle in a hay stack? >> yes, ma'am. >> reporter: volunteers were not deterred. one group found this duct tape that they said had hair stuck to it. >> i sure hope everybody brings her back. >> reporter: there were so many volunteers at one point, dozens had to be turned away. >> 2,000 signed in and another 1,500 show up. >> reporter: and this is a

community of 2,500 people. >> right. >> reporter: have you ever experienced something like this? the community being so helpful? >> no, never. >> reporter: when someone goes missing in a town of just 2,500, the whole town becomes one family. ♪ >> reporter: hundreds of pink ribbons dot the streets, signs of support and love everywhere. community with one common goal. finding holly. for "nightline," i'm linsey davis in parsons, tennessee. >> and tonight, in parsons, neighbors and friends there holding a candle light vigil for holly bobo. thanks to linsey davis for that report. just ahead, as the war in libya rages on, a cherished colleague is killed in battle. the story of filmmaker tim hetherington. [ male announcer ] the magnificent veatrice henson

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i thought it was over here... ♪ [car horn honks] our outback always gets us there... ... sometimes it just takes us a little longer to get back. ♪ >> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with terry moran. >> the war in libya has reached a desperate point as moammar gadhafi's troops bombard civilians, especially in the city of misrata. and president obama and other nato leaders struggle to respond effectively.

it's the journalists' job to help us see, to help us understand, to help us feel the reality of war. and the common humanity we share with its victims. but today, news came that two american journalists covering this war were killed. chris hondros, a photographer for getty images, and british-born tim hetherrington, who's worked with us here at "nightline." here's brian ross with the story. >> reporter: if there is a front in the conflict in libya, it is misrata. a western rebel-held town besieged by gadhafi forces for two months. now facing a humanitarian crisis, with civilians and rebels trapped, one fighter said, like rats in a cage, as gadhafi's men shell from three sides. as always, that's where renowned war photographer tim hetherington was, attracted to conflict and danger, mindful of the risks, but determined to

capture the truth of what he saw. >> i need to get close to the action. that's as a cameraman in combat, you need to be close to where it's at. >> reporter: it was in yet another war zone, afghanistan, where hetherington did his most memorable work, on assignment for "nightline" and "vanity fair." along with reporter sebastian younger, neither flinched under fire. younger spoke with us today, exclusively, about his dear friend and colleague. >> for him, working wasn't just about collecting images. it really was a way of existing in the world, a way of relating to people, a way of understanding the world and maybe improving it. >> reporter: on and off over 15 months in the summers of 2007 and 2008, younger and hetherington followed one u.s. army unit, company b, battle company, 2nd platoon in the korengal valley, the setting for some of the most brutal combat in the war so far. >> one of the questions i asked

everybody, obvious question but i wanted to hear what they said, are you scared to go in there? >> reporter: if hetherington was scared, he never showed it. on this mission in the summer of 2007, battle company 2nd platoon got word that the taliban are tracking them as they pull back to their base. >> it was a sense that we were now going to be hunted. and that was not a great feeling. >> reporter: there's chaos as the shooting begins. and the adrenaline flows. but hetherington keeps rolling, steady as always. >> this is what we get paid to do. this is it right here. >> reporter: then comes word that the advance scouts have been hit. >> and we ran up to the ridge, expecting there to be fighting, and instead we came across the scene of the scouts and of part of 2nd platoon that had suffered casualties. >> reporter: and a grim discovery involving a beloved company leader, sergeant larry rubin. the men were distraught. and as close as he was to them,

hetherington did not hesitate to do his job as a journalist, while the platoon lieutenant got his men back into the battle. >> i was really amazed by the maturity and the way he just grabbed this guy, he suddenly became alert, he suddenly started ordering people around. >> reporter: no time to grieve or cry. >> no. >> reporter: hetherington and younger's footage and reporting from "nightline" won the overseas press club award and a dupont award from columbia university. hetherington seemed almost embarrassed to accept an award that documented the heroism of others. dismissing those who called him a hero too. >> he worked in the world where people risk their lives and died regularly and i don't think it even crossed his mind that he was brave. you know? but he was an image maker and he was dedicated to that calling. it was something he felt had to be done by somebody and he knew he was good at it. he was really good at it. >> reporter: major dan kerney was a company commander at the time as a captain. he talked tonight with abc news.

>> what he saw through the lens, i don't think too many other people have the gift for seeing. tim wasn't just a friend, i mean, tim was my brother and i'd do anything for that man. >> reporter: the footage was later edited into a documentary called "restrepo," the name battle company gave the makeshift base from which they fought. >> really can't come down. you can't top that. >> reporter: an academy award nominee this year. >> "restrepo." >> reporter: but the awards and honors meant much less to hetherington than the work itself. it wasn't long until he was on to his next assignment. libya, where he was killed today. last night, he sent this final tweet. "in besieged libyan city of misrata. shelling by gadhafi forces. no sign of nato." tim hetherington was 40 years old. for "nightline" this is brian ross, abc news. >> and chris hondros also killed today was 41 years old.

our condolences and prayers go out to both his and to tim's loved ones. and to see pictures shot by tim in afghanistan and related material, visit our website, abcnews.com/nightline. thanks to brian ross for that. next up, we're going to turn to lighter fare. the story of an inventor. and the athlete who changed the face of winter fun. id you know c can stop frequent heartburn before it begins? heartburn happens when stomach acid refluxes into the esophagus. prilosec otc uses a unique delayed-release system that protects the medicine as it passes through the stomach's tough acid. then it gets absorbed into the body, turning off many acid-producing pumps at the source. with just one pill a day, you get 24-hour heartburn protection all day and all night. prilosec otc. heartburn gone. power on. [ male announcer ] i know what you're thinking --

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in 2009, forbes magazine estimated that snowboarding star shaun white earned $9 million in endorsements alone the year before. here's jeremy hubbard with the story of a man he should thank.

>> reporter: if the cruelest gig in the world had a job description, it would probably read like this. spend 100 days a year gooching off with your friends on a mountain. travel to the most exotic winter resorts in the world and call it research. make lots of money and get treated like a rock star. sadly, that's already been taken by a guy named jake burton. he's created an entire lifestyle, an olympic sport and a multibillion dollar industry basically by himself. all of it because of a simple $10 toy from his childhood. >> the minute i got on it, i was into it. and i thought there was a sport there. it was not marketed as a sport. >> reporter: the wood plank with a rope attached. searching downhill. back then, it was a passing fad to nearly everyone but burton. >> i graduated from college in '77. i had a pretty good job in new york city. i wasn't very happy. and that idea was still there

that there was a sport there. >> reporter: so, he dropped everything, moved to vermont, blew his $100,000 inheritance and created his first crude snowboard. just one problem. he had no idea what he was doing. >> i can only use the factory from, like, midnight until 4:00 in the morning, so, this was probably 3:30, i think. i had this little wood-working shop. i bought this powerful rou fufuo shape the board. twice the router shot boards out. >> reporter: nothing like nearly impaling yourself. >> yeah, to get a very clear message that you're out of your realm. >> reporter: his goal was to sell 50 snowboards a day that first year. a year later, he'd sold only 300. but the next year, sales doubled. and it took off from there. a craze was born. fast forward three decades and burton now helms a megabrand. his name known with some of the

most popular events at the winter olympics and x games. his gear worn aby celebrity athletes. >> where they've taken it is the biggest turn on. >> reporter: and of course the money doesn't hurt. while his company is private, by some estimates, sales are in the neighborhood of $700 million a year. serious cash for a not so serious company. at head quarters in vermont, dogs are welcome. suits aren't. and if there's fresh powder on the nearest mountain, no one is expected at work in the morning. snowboarding, it seems, has finally won over the masses. but decades later, it still hasn't won over all the critics. at least three resorts in the u.s. still ban it. this season, 16 snowboarders have died in the western u.s. alone. many of them buried in snow after curiosity led them dangerously off-trail.

it's the feeling of invincibility that brought people like craig kelly into the snowboarding fold. a legend, he's been called the heart and soul of snowboarding. eight years ago, he was riding in british columbia when an avalanche trapped and killed him and six others. he was one of burton's closest friends. >> it was just a very tragic winter. mother nature, i think, when you're out there in the elements, there's going to be some element of that. >> reporter: today, kelly's memory is ever present at burton, where the new snowboard pro to type center has been named in his honor. here, each new piece is carved, layered and bent. a new snowboard stamped out in just a few minutes. and each new board they make here goes straight to jake burton. he gets to try them out first. call it research, at some exotic resort somewhere around the globe. just one more benefit of having the coolest job in the world. i'm jeremy hubbard f