tonight, look at this face. who do you see? an innocent american girl? or a cold and savage killer? a spirited girl who loves her family, who had never been in trouble before? or the mastermind behind a sex game gone wrong? >> did you kill meredith kercher? >> amanda knox the mystery of her behavior that ignited a global obsession. >> for all intents and purposes, i was a murderer. >> and what brings her to tears. for over five years as abc news has covered this story, looking for answers, from perugia to seattle, amanda knox says she's

been waiting for this night to be heard. >> do you know anything you have not told police? >> here, now, diane sawyer. >> good evening. and welcome. tonight, after nearly six year, you're about to enter a murder a mystery and kind of maze that is the story of amanda knox. show she is the american student in italy who was accused of murdering her roommate in a sex game gone awry. she would spend 1,490 nights in prison and be acquitted, set free. tonight, a third italian court wants her to go on trial again. as she talks to us, she knows every word of this interview could affect her freedom. but she says in the title of her book, she spent a long time waiting to be heard. in a medieval college town in italy, thousands of miles away,

two young women arrive for a year abroad, seeking new horizons. 21-year-old meredith kercher, who wants to be a journalist like her dad back home in england. 20-year-old amanda knox, who has never lived far from her family in the suburbs of seattle. six weeks later, one will come home in a coffin. the other will begin a long fight against charges she is a sex-crazed killer, as headlines label her an erotic thrill-seeker, seductress, murderess. "american temptress," "she-devil with an angel face." "heartless manipulator," "concertante of sex." "sphinx of perugia." >> i haven't heard those. i mean, i've heard the gist of them. and they're wrong.

i mean, i was in the courtroom when they were calling me a devil. i mean, it's -- it's one thing to be called certain things in the media. and then it's another thing to be sitting in a courtroom, fighting for your life, while people are calling you a devil. it's not true. for all intents and purposes, i was a murderer, whether i was or not. and i had to live with the idea that that would be my life. >> reporter: and now, even as we start to talk, the italian supreme court has just ruled she will go back on trial for the third time. >> it was incredibly painful. i felt like, after crawling through a field of barbed wire and finally reaching what i thought was the end, it just

turned out that it was the horizon. and i had another field of barbed wire that i had ahead of me to crawl through. >> reporter: what's the first thing you want people to know about you? >> i want the truth to come out. i'd like to be reconsidered as a person. >> reporter: of all the people watching, i keep thinking about meredith kercher's family. >> yeah. me, too. >> reporter: what is it you want them to hear tonight? >> i'm thinking about them, too. hey, it's amanda knox from seattle. >> reporter: amanda knox says, imagine it was your daughter. growing up in a middle-class suburb of seattle. her divorced parents still living within walking distance of each other. above all, she says she loves her family. >> the wonderful thing about my family is that we need each other always.

all of us. and whatever happens to one of us happens to us all. >> reporter: you can see her, the girl there in the school production of "annie" belting out a song, doing a backflip. she describes herself as quirky, often too loud, uncensored. strange, like the eccentric heroine in the french film "amelie." but she's still living in seattle, a junior year in college, on the dean's list, when she decides it's time to leave home and venture out. an adventure of -- fill in the blank. >> an adventure of -- an adventure of selfhood, i'd say. i mean, i was -- i was at an age where i was -- where, you know, you're -- you're both insecure, but you're confident at the same time. >> reporter: you wrote a sentence in the book that surprised me. you said, "what if i had not gone on a campaign for casual sex?" >> it was irresponsible.

a child's going about a very adult thing. >> reporter: you thought that's what the liberated -- >> yes, that's -- >> reporter: -- free-spirited girls did? >> i thought that's what all self-confident, free-spirited women did. and at that point, i still felt like -- felt like a clueless girl. >> reporter: like so many girls with websites that might come back to haunt them, her screen name seemed flirtatious. she says it was given to her by her middle school soccer team. foxy knoxy? >> yeah. there was also a lot of me talking about my mom being my hero and how i liked rock climbing and rollercoasters and my sisters. >> reporter: naive? >> i was naive enough that i didn't understand the way bad things can happen to regular people for no reason.

>> reporter: you were going to say good people. >> well, i -- all people are good. but i -- i mean, we also are all regular. >> reporter: she worked three separate jobs to earn the money for her year abroad. her sister deanna dropping her off in italy, making a video as they head there, teasing her about her new life and the boys she'll meet. first up, that naked michelangelo statue of david. >> are you excited to see david? >> david? >> david, the statue of david. >> oh, good one. well, dude, i swear to god. i don't know what it is about people who think that guys are not attractive physically but -- >> reporter: though amanda's real crush, harry potter. >> and how you're in love with harry potter. >> i am. i'm reading it in german. and i'm going to get the second one in italian.

and i'm not even going to be able to read it because i can't even do italian yet. but it's going to happen, baby. >> reporter: and you look at the picture of the girl who arrived there. what would you want to say? >> i want to tell her not to be afraid of what's gonna happen because what happened to me hit -- hit me like a -- a train. and there was nothing i could do to stop it. i was really afraid. when we come back, what happened the night of the murder? and the morning after? what about that video? and did she really do a cartwheel? >> where is the grief? where is the anguish? >> announcer: next. [ man ] on december 17, 1903 the wright brothers became the first in flight. [ goodall ] i think the most amazing thing is how like us these chimpanzees are. [ laughing ] [ woman ] can you

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you are looking at a surveillance camera in perugia, italy as day turns into night. november 1st, 2007, 8:41 p.m. there is a small dot there, hard to see, something moving. in court they will say this is probably the last image of meredith kercher alive, heading toward her home about 100 feet away. she will be brutally attacked in her bedroom. and we warn you this police video is graphic. there are 47 cuts and bruises on her neck, legs, face, inside her mouth. her clothes ripped off. and around her body etched in blood, a shoe print, a handprint on the wall, a footprint on the bathmat in the bathroom. drops of blood on the faucet. meredith kercher had studied karate. it's clear she fought hard for her life. a life filled with possibilities. this is her acting in a music

video back home in england. she's studying politics in perugia, has lots of british friends. six weeks before her death she meets her new roommate in the house, the american amanda knox. what was the first thing you thought when you saw meredith? >> i was putting away my things in the room when she came to my door and introduced herself and was immediately very nice. just this -- this immediate exchange of, wow, this is -- this is someone who -- who i can get along with. >> reporter: knox says she and meredith and their two italian roommates became easy friends, happy. though at the trial meredith's friends will testify she was annoyed by amanda's loudness and lack of inhibition. were you ever jealous of her? >> no. >> reporter: were you ever angry at her? >> no. >> reporter: when we take a camera break, she's looking down. i ask what she's thinking. >> it bothers me when people suggest that she wasn't my

friend. i was stunned by her death. she was my friend. >> reporter: amanda knox has now been in italy five weeks, going to school in the morning, working for a bar at night. and as far as her experiment with casual sexual encounters -- there have been two italian men. then, she goes to a classical music concert and sees a young man who reminds her of harry potter. a graduate student in computer science. nerdy, very inexperienced with girls, raffaelle sollecito says he can't believe the beautiful uninhibited american is looking at him. colpe de fumine. >> colpe de fumine. that's a lightning strike. yeah, he writes about how taken he was with me. and i really liked him, as well. >> reporter: they have known

each other just seven days before they enter the 24 hours at the center of this mystery and debate. the night of november 1st, when meredith kercher is murdered. amanda knox says she and her new boyfriend have been spending nights at his apartment. what are you doing the night of november 1st? >> november 1st we stayed in, and we had dinner. we watched a movie. >> reporter: his computer confirms that someone had ordered that movie, "amelie." a witness confirms she and raffaele were there in his apartment as late as 8:40 p.m. >> we smoked. we had sex. we were together. we just hung out together. we talked. he talked to me about his mom. we made faces at each other. we were being silly and together. >> reporter: she says in the college town of perugia, marijuana was as common as pasta. and mostly it makes her goofy and sleepy. how high were you? >> i'd smoked a joint with raffaele.

and what that did to my memories was it made them less concrete. but it didn't black them out, and it didn't change them. >> reporter: you remember with clarity that you did not go out that night? you stayed in the whole night? >> we stayed in the whole night. >> reporter: the next morning it is undisputed that knox is the first person in the house where a murder has taken place. she says she made the five-minute walk from her boyfriend's apartment to take a shower, get fresh clothes. she says she noticed the front door standing open, thought it was odd, but the latch didn't always work. and even though she saw some blood on the sink, she says she took the shower thinking maybe meredith hadn't cleaned up. or was it her own newly pierced ears? >> at the sink when i was taking out my earrings that i noticed that there were speckles of blood. but speckles. a few drops. >> reporter: did you see the bathmat? did you see -- >> not yet.

>> reporter: the footprint -- >> not yet. i saw that when i was getting out of the shower. and i thought it was strange. >> reporter: but you know people look at this and they say, door open, blood in the bathroom. those are red alarms. >> well, i had never before experienced anything in my life that was drastic. >> reporter: people think you would be automatically concerned. >> indeed, i was. that's why i called my mom. >> reporter: she woke her mother in the middle of the night in seattle. also phoned one of her roommates. but when she got back to raffaelle's apartment she didn't even mention what she had seen until after they'd had breakfast. she says still telling herself -- >> don't freak out because it could really be nothing. >> reporter: she says, ultimately raffaelle will call police, and her roommate filomena is there when the door to meredith's bedroom is knocked down. amanda knox phones her mother again, and says with her beginner's italian, she's trying to understand the torrent of words. >> and someone was screaming, "a

foot." and i remember very distinctly telling her, because she was like, "what do you mean a foot? a foot? what does that mean? is there -- what -- and i said, i don't know. i don't understand. then filomena was crying out, "meredith." and so i heard that it must be meredith. and that there was a body and that there was an armoire, and there was blood, and there was a blanket. >> reporter: from this point on, amanda knox and her behavior will be a kind of kaleidoscope of shifting shapes depending on what you see. is inappropriate behavior evidence of guilt? or as she says, was she just a tone deaf girl in a trauma? she sits on raffaelle's lap at the police station, playfully making faces. she tells meredith's grieving friends that meredith must have suffered -- "she had her effing throat cut." sorry about that now? >> i could have been more sensitive. >> reporter: not knowing police are studying her every move. a female officer later testifies

that amanda knox is doing cartwheels in the waiting area. she says she was just stretching after a long wait. >> as far as cartwheels or splits, i never did a cartwheel. i did do the splits. and then later on she claimed that i was doing a whole number of gymnastics -- cartwheels, back walk-overs. i did the splits. and that's once. >> reporter: but do you see how strange -- >> well, what's strange is why these things got mischaracterized. >> reporter: but again, you can see that this does not look like grief? does not read as grief. >> i think everyone's reaction to something horrible is different. >> reporter: and perhaps most startling, this video, the first time much of the world will see amanda knox on newscasts. she's outside the house where the body's been discovered. and people kept saying, where is

the anguish? where is what we think we would do if this happened to our friend? >> i've seen the same picture, like the kissing just can't stop. and that's not what that was. >> reporter: kissing shown over and over again on the news. but when you look at the tape, there are three quick kisses and then, the rest of the time, she stares into space. she says thinking about how random fate because she lived in that house, too. >> my friend had been murdered. and it could just have easily been me. somehow she had died in the house where we were living. and it could have been me. >> reporter: but watching her, police are sure they have the killer. that american girl. when we come back -- did you kill meredith kercher?

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it is now the fourth night after meredith kercher was murdered. amanda knox and her new boyfriend, at the police station, unaware police are now certain they have their killers. to get to it. did you kill meredith kercher?

>> no. >> reporter: were you there that night? >> no. >> reporter: do you know anything you have not told police, that you have not said in this book? do you know anything? >> no. i don't. i wasn't there. >> reporter: she says she has already undergone 24 hours of questioning in the days since the murder. she is now alone with police. no lawyer. >> i asked them if i should have a lawyer. and they said it would be worse for me. they knew what they were doing. and that is something that is unforgivable to me. >> reporter: what happens next is a stunning turn of events. but you confessed. >> well, i didn't confess. i was interrogated. they acted like my answers were wrong. they told me i was wrong, that i didn't remember correctly.

that i had to remember correctly. and if i didn't, i would never see my family. >> reporter: she says, suddenly, police start hectoring her, yelling in impenetrable italian. she has only been in italy five weeks. and at one point, they bring in an interpreter who says maybe she had amnesia from the trauma of being at the murder scene. >> when they told me i had amnesia, it was the only reason i could think of, of why they were treating me that way. i trusted them. >> reporter: in another interrogation room, her boyfriend, raffaelle is unraveling. police say they can prove his nike shoes match the bloody shoe print in meredith's bedroom. he says fearfully, frantically, he tells them maybe amanda did leave his apartment that night. police hammer amanda knox about a text she sent the night of the murder to her boss at that bar

where she worked. his name is patrick lumumba. she writes in italian, see you later, not aware she says, that unlike in english, it suggests you actually plan to meet. >> and so, when they pushed me about patrick's message, and told me to think, told me to remember that i had met him, i -- i can only describe it as breaking down. i didn't know what i remembered and what i didn't remember anymore. >> reporter: three hours in, police begin writing a statement in italian, in which she acknowledges she was there at the house as patrick lumumba killed meredith kercher. it's so detailed. "i heard meredith screaming and i was scared and i covered my ears."

>> i wasn't providing a lot of the detail. they were asking me if i had heard meredith scream. and when i said i didn't remember, they said, how could you not remember that she screamed? and i said, "okay, i guess i remember that she screamed." it was all like that. >> reporter: but you signed it? >> and i signed it, because i was incredibly vulnerable at that time. >> reporter: this is audio from her first hearing as she tries to describe that night. >> they said they were going to take me to jail and because of all this confusion they kept saying, "you sent this thing to patrick. we know that you left the house. we know." i just said his name. >> reporter: the next day, she will send police a letter in english saying she's in a state of confusion, but thinks what she said about lumumba, maybe was wrong. she asks them not to yell at her anymore.

we have contacted experts across the country who tell us, hard as it is to believe, hundreds and hundreds of people do give false and coerced confessions. some of them seen here in these pictures. though they tell us it is less common to name an innocent bystander, innocent like patrick lumumba. lumumba had 11 people who could give him an alibi and says she ruined his reputation and his life that night. this is inconceivable to people, that you lose yourself and then you talk about being there. you talk about someone else doing it. >> i can try to explain what happened. and that's all i can do. i am still sorry, to this day, that i named patrick lumumba. but i was demolished in that interrogation.

>> reporter: and something curious. police say they failed to make a recording of that night. >> this is what i'm up against. >> reporter: and she is also up against a formidable adversary. the prosecutor who has been watching her. giuliano mignini, a kind of celebrity expert in italy on sex rituals and murder, believes he has another tantalizing case with a decadent american girl. >> and when they finally told me they had to take me to the jail, i did not understand why. and they said, "it's for your protection. we're protecting you." >> reporter: but the prosecution alerts the press. the global obsession has begun. an angel-faced killer has been apprehended. and soon, police will introduce

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as we return, the trial is about to begin. there are two central questions for you to consider.

does the behavior of amanda knox prove she's a killer? and is the prosecutor about to present evidence beyond a reasonable doubt? the italian justice system is different from ours here at home. the kind of personal character evidence you can introduce, and also what the jurors can hear. by now, a year has passed. the jury and everyone in italy has been steeped in lurid headlines. the trial is ready to begin. amanda knox says because she's staying in prison, she doesn't grasp that to italians she's become a pariah, the presumptuous, promiscuous american. in court, everyone see her at times smiling, at times stoic, other times not seeming to pay attention. once wearing a t-shirt from the beatles song, "all you need is love." it was another one of my naive immaturity. i didn't realize how very intensely i was being scrutinized. >> reporter: when she makes a

statement about meredith kercher, it seems strange, callous. >> more than anything i am thinking of how to move forward with my life. >> i'm not the best speaker. >> reporter: does it look hard -- hardened, unfeeling? >> i can see how it does. >> reporter: she said the whole proceeding just seemed surreal. you thought you were going to be acquitted? >> how could i be convicted? that's what i was thinking. >> reporter: but the prosecutor mignini is ready with his case, arguing what happened that night was a sex game, targeting meredith and spiraling out of control. police have created a kind of avatar cartoon for the trial, showing how amanda knox might have wielded a knife, while raffaele held meredith down. mignini argues they could have been on drugs like cocaine, though police did not do a drug test. and then, mignini produces a murder weapon -- a knife taken

from raffaele's kitchen drawer, which knox says they used for cooking. but mignini says it has meredith's dna on the blade and amanda's on the handle. i can't go over all the evidence. but just to hit -- they testified it was her dna. >> and it was proven that they were wrong. >> reporter: later, independent experts will say a credible lab would be skeptical about identifying dna from such a small sample. and that other speck on the blade is rye bread. next, they produce a small piece of meredith kercher's bra clasp claiming that it bears raffale's dna. but one problem, they admit -- police accidentally left the clasp at the crime scene for 47 days, only discovering it at a different place on the floor. in the police video, you can see them passing it around, dirt on their gloves, raising questions of contamination. and among the prosecution witnesses, the star would be this man, rudy guede.

he was known to perugian police as a thief, a drug user, who had threatened people with a knife. he told friends he had strange episodes in the night, sometimes blacking out. he fled perugia the day after the murder. a friend got him on tape saying he was at the house the night, but just going to the bathroom. and amanda knox was not there. a year later, his story had changed. he says he did see her through a window. but here is the issue that is at the center of the trial and the question of reasonable doubt. rudy guede's dna is everywhere in meredith's room, on her purse, where her cell phones and money are missing. the bloody shoe print they once said was raffaele's, was his. and the handprint matched his exactly. also inside meredith's naked body, rudy guede's dna. so, how could police explain the fact that at the crime scene there is not once trace of

dna from amanda knox? the prosecutors will say she must have cleaned hers off. they have said that you cleaned the room somehow or you cleaned the premises of your dna. >> well, that's impossible. it's impossible to see dna, much less identify whose dna it is. >> reporter: the trial will continue for 318 days. every day watching, her parents who believe in her, and fight their way through the press to be in the courtroom. also watching, another family who believe she is involved in the death of their child. she says she tried to send a request to the kerchers to approach them. but their lawyer refused. >> i remember being both humbled and mortified by that, because

in my mind it was still all a big mistake and it would be shown to be a big mistake. >> reporter: on december 5th, 2009, two years after the murder amanda knox is called back into the courtroom and here's the word -- >> colpevole. >> guilty? >> colpevole. and it was a roar in the courtroom. people exclaiming. my mom and my sister crying. and i couldn't breathe. my family. my family was there. and i couldn't -- i couldn't reach them.

and i lost it. everything that i thought i knew about the way justice and life worked was gone. >> reporter: outside, italians rejoice. amanda knox is sentenced to 26 years in prison. when her boyfriend of seven days refuses to turn on her, his sentence is 25 years. and rudy guede gets just 16 because of his cooperation. he could be released, as early as next year. and we want you to know, we're aware there's so much detail in this case, so many specific questions you may have. we hope you go online to see more of our interview, going moment-by-moment, over the case. but next, when we come back

here, what the doctors told amanda knox in prison. >> the doctor told me that i had tested positive for hiv. and i was stunned. it's strange, i'm getting gray but kate -- still looks like...kate. nice'n easy with colorblend technology gives expert highlights and lowlights. for color that's true to you. i don't know how she does it. with nice'n easy all they see is you. a handsome man will deliver good news.

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capanne prison. 500 prisoners. in a tiny room, a 22-year-old american girl sentenced to 26 years has only a small window on to a cypress tree. she says day and night she could hear women wailing in their cells. you wrote, "i felt as if i were being sealed into a tomb." >> yeah. and the tomb was my life. it wasn't the prison. it was my life. >> reporter: did you think about suicide? >> i did. >> reporter: she writes she considered cutting her wrists in the shower or swallowing bleach. she says she had panic attacks, began to lose her hair. and one day a doctor called her to say he had more bad news. they had analyzed the blood sample from the day she arrived. >> and the doctor told me that i had tested positive for hiv. i was stunned. and i went back to my room with

one of the prison officials telling me, "well, you should have thought about it before you had sex with all those people." >> reporter: she writes in her book this is the whole truth about her sexual encounters. four boys in seattle. three in italy, including raffaele. back in her cell, she made a list of them. and it was confiscated. and they leak it? >> they leaked it to the media. often with mistranslations of what i had actually written in english. >> reporter: another round of headlines. and then, incredibly, they tell knox it was all just a mistake. she was not hiv-positive at all. she writes that what will save her in prison are small acts of humanity. a cellmate from america. >> she was great. we would sing "the star-spangled banner" every morning. >> reporter: and most saving of all, someone still in her life today, the chaplain of the prison, don saulo, who taught her this prayer.

"god, if you exist, i really need you to help right now." >> i didn't have that same faith. but he convinced me that it wouldn't hurt to pray that if there's a god to please help because -- because we're all helpless. >> reporter: as her lawyers began to filing appeals court briefs, she says she began searching for a purpose. studying italian literature. living for the days her family could come. they have mortgaged homes, traveled 6,000 miles to be near her. parents, stepparents, aunts, uncles, friends. >> i saw them 1% of the time. and yet, they were always there. they were there 100% of the time. >> reporter: did you think what it was costing them spiritually? actually? >> i felt incredibly guilty for

what they were having to sacrifice for me. and there was a certain point in my -- in my thinking in prison that if it didn't work out and i never was free again, i was trying to figure out how i could ask them to move on with their life without me because i was tired of them having to sacrifice everything for me. everything. >> reporter: after 1,427 days, the appeals court is about to render a new verdict. in her now-fluent italian, she talks about meredith in a new way. >> she was always kind to me. >> reporter: and on october 3rd,

2011, the appeals court judge issues a scathing criticism of that first trial. he cites the "dubious reliability of a key witness, the non-existence of prosecution evidence" and a motive he said prosecutors couldn't prove. >> can i have a moment, please? >> reporter: our elizabeth vargas had tracked down mignini to ask about that motive. >> at the beginning of this case, you had said you thought this was part of some satanic ritual. do you still believe that to be true? >> reporter: he denied ever saying it was satanic. inside the courtroom, amanda knox is finally acquitted and goes free. outside, italians outraged at her acquittal jeer, "shame, shame." coming up right here, what amanda knox says she wants to tell the kercher family tonight. and her life, back in seattle today.

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as soon as you feel it, try miralax. it works differently than other laxatives. it draws water into your colon to unblock your system naturally. don't wait to feel great. miralax. an american girl, home in seattle, back with her sisters, now grown-up.

and sometimes she says she's just that daughter who never left and wanted to be near her parents. >> she was always, you know, home and -- yeah. >> eating your food. >> yeah, yes. >> reporter: she's studying creative writing at the university of washington, playing the guitar. this is a song pi cat power taught to her by the prison chaplain. ♪ the dream i see ♪ ♪ look at the land ♪ she's also back with an old boyfriend who wrote her in prison. and sent her his handprint, to hold her hand. but for all that seems the same, she says everything underneath is different forever. >> my family was expecting the old amanda back, which is the old -- amanda back. and i'm not quite as chirpy anymore. >> reporter: and now, the crushing blow that after all these years, the italian supreme court wants her case to go back on trial again. i can't be afraid right now.

i have to be ready to fight and defend herself. >> reporter: she has a reported $4 million advance for her book, which her family says will mostly pay debts and legal bills. they thank everyone giving them support. >> millions of people who have supported her say, don't give up. keep fighting. >> reporter: and tonight, her former boyfriend, raffaele sollecito, is also facing another trial. he is studying robotics. came to visit her in seattle, still her friend. >> he was faced with the prospect of not having a sentence, if he just blamed me. and he didn't. because he couldn't live with a decision like that. >> reporter: you had known him seven days. >> yeah. i had known him for seven days. >> reporter: and patrick lumumba, he sued her for slander and won. he says you're a great actress. >> i understand that anger.

and i do not hold that anger against him. >> reporter: and there is that family, for whom this story will never be over. meredith kercher's father said, everyone always talks about amanda, instead of celebrating the beautiful girl they lost. i'd like to end where we begin, with the kercher family. >> i can only imagine having lost my daughter and the pain that they're going through is unimaginable. >> reporter: her parents say they hope someday to see the kerchers when the kerchers understand amanda is not involved. amanda knox says she doesn't want to add to their grief, hoping someday -- >> that eventually i can have their permission to pay my respects at her grave. and i'd also like them to know that she talked about them, to me. and she talked about how she wanted to be a journalist, like her dad. and she talked about her sister.

and if that mean -- it's all i can give them is this memory that i have of her, to add to their -- to all of theirs that they can carry with them when she's gone. >> amanda knox's book is in stores now. i'm dooip sawyer. for all of us at abc news, who have been reporting this story for five years, we thank you for watching. and good night.

tonight from "boiling point" tails from suburbia going disturbia. we're opening the blind on nasty neighborhoods. >> i said stop right now our i'll shoot you. >> a video camera a gun and a neighbor steaming maybe over a birthday party. >> i'm in fear for my life. >> i kill that son of a bitch. >> planning his defense before the crime? >> i wasn't known for violence. >> yes you were. >> i'm not a monster. >> the tale of the tape. and, what about this tape? a neighbor's bizarre behavior part of her all-out warfare

against parents across the street. using the mother's past as ammunition. >> why don't you drink more scotch? you should have died? >> why go on the attack. >> it's my lifelong goal to make these people's lives miserable. >> showdown. fun to share your street with a superstar. >> think again. >> the music and the parties and paparazzi. it's like living in lebanon. >> from kick car dashiakardashian to madonna. even justin bieber. ♪ baby baby ♪ >> could these famous neighbors send you over the boiling point? here's barbara walters. >> good evening. perhaps nothing can make you reach your boiling point faster than living next door to some nasty neighbors. it's a subject we can probably all relate to. but you have a hard time having a story to beat this one. a single mother who decided to go on a one-woman harassment

campaign from the driveway her target? the family across the street. you'll see the tape and no denying what she did, but why? that's the question. here's amy robach. >> reporter: the friendly sights and sounds of a neighborhood block party may seem typical, but make no mistake, what's happening here is nothing short of miraculous. >> this is a great group of people in this neighborhood. but it's been a ghost town for years. >> reporter: a close knit community to a ghost town, all because of this woman. lori christensen, a local government employee. greg and kim hoffman call her the neighbor from hell. but life in this minneapolis suburb hasn't always been so toxic. >> we were all very friendly. kids would play with each other. she was a single mom. we would help her out with blowing her snow in the winter. things like that.

>> reporter: the family says cordial turns to combative one day five years ago, because of a spat over nail polish between their young daughters. >> i didn't think it was that big a deal. so, i just went over to lori's and i said, this is what had gone on. and immediately she pretty much went off on me. she was yelling and -- >> reporter: screaming at you? had she ever before? >> no, she had not. and i turned around and started to walk away. >> reporter: but the hoffmans were about to learn walking away from her wrath wouldn't be that simple. and just how vicious her attacks could get became clear when kim, a recovering alcoholic, suffered a dangerous relapse. >> greg and my kids didn't know whether i was going to live. >> she collapsed in front of me. >> reporter: she collapsed in front of you? >> yeah. i had my son call 911. and i still remember standing in the garage and i heard that paramedic say, you know, we can't get a pulse. so --

>> reporter: the commotion that day did not go unnoticed by christensen, who soon used the traumatic incident against kim. during another outburst in front of her children. >> she starts swearing at me, you know, you fat whatever, you should have died. why don't you drink some more scotch? and i had my two girls' hands and i just squeezed them and we kept walking. >> reporter: she saw that you had a weakness. >> yeah. >> reporter: and she went for it? >> uh-huh. >> absolutely. >> yeah. and it never stopped after that. >> never stopped. >> reporter: tensions got so high that police were now regular visitors to the once quiet neighborhood. and, at first, apprehensive authorities didn't know who to believe. >> it took quite awhile for kim and greg to convince me that this was not a he said/she said event.

>> reporter: police chief lynn bankes needed proof of the ongoing harassment. so, pressing record proved to be a game-changer in this conflict. >> as they say, a picture is worth 1,000 words. >> the videotapes supported what we were telling the police. >> reporter: and that changed everything? >> it started changing everything. >> way to go, jake. >> reporter: when jake had a birthday party at home, the camera caught all of christensen's antics. >> the kids are out there shooting baskets and lori took out the remote control cars and, swerving, "i'm took drunk to drive." >> calling me a son of an alcoholic in front of my friends, and my friends weren't aware of that. so, it was an embarrassing situation. >> 911, what is your emergency. >> reporter: 911 was called, but christensen continued to thumb her nose at law enforcement. >> it was obvious that lori wasn't going to stop on our request and going to have to be more serious consequences for her. >> reporter: in early 2010, the hoffmans stopped engaging their

nasty neighbor, and went to court to prohibit christensen from having any contact with them. >> to not respond to her when she was going after my kids was excruciatingly difficult. >> reporter: did you feel like you were trapped? >> absolutely. we were trapped. >> that's just inexcusable. you're not allowed to drive another family into seclusion. >> reporter: by the end of 2010, the hoffmans say they were virtual prisoners in their own home. relegated to the backyard out of fear of what lori christensen might do next. and as it turns out, they were right to be concerned. because just across the street, she was already devising a new and very public way to torment them. >> every time i turned the corner to come down our street, i knew there was going to be something. >> reporter: and something soon became 25-foot signs covering christensen's garage, with humiliating messages aimed directly at the hoffmans. like, "i saw mommy kissing a breathalyzer." how often did she have signs up?

>> she would put them up for a week, maybe they'd be down the following day. and then somebody came over to her house, they go back up. >> reporter: that continued harassment, including this bizarre mock striptease was a clear violation of the restraining order. escalating christensen's charges to a felony and landing her in a county workhouse for 30 days. did you think, this is it? finally ends now. >> absolutely. finally this is put to rest. this is over. >> reporter: it wasn't? >> not even close. >> do you have anything at all to say? >> reporter: if getting locked up didn't get christensen's attention, local news media were about to. >> i had a psychological evaluation, they said that if you were to have been a man, that this would not have been happening, but because i'm a single female, i have a very good job, i have the biggest house in the neighborhood -- >> reporter: did you or your officers ever ask her why? >> i'm sitting across from her, and i said, why can't you just stop this?

and she looked me right in the eye and she said, it's my life long goal to make these people's life miserable. >> reporter: but miserable seemed to better describe christensen's life. after continuing to disregard a judge's order to have no contact with the hoffmans, she was arrested again and charged with three more felony counts. >> the so-called nightmare neighbor. >> this isn't her first offense. >> she's accused of serial harassment. >> reporter: before she could face those charges, though, a fed-up judge threw her in jail for 90 days for violating her probation. and she lost her government job. but most importantly, christensen was banned from returning to her home. >> she had to stay a mile and a half away from her house. if you're a bully we're not going to let you act like that in this community. if you are just plain mean, there's going to be consequences. >> reporter: consequences that have left christensen facing a

trial. she has pleaded not guilty. after five years, over 80 calls to police, almost 50 citations and enough mug shots to fill a photo album, finally, a victory for one family unwilling to be harassed at home. so, your long, hard fight, does it feel worth it now? >> absolutely. >> oh, yes. >> people shouldn't have to get up and move or relocate because you have a neighbor that is making your life miserable. we took our neighborhood back. >> since we first aired this story possible bad news for the hoffman family. lori kristen seen took her house off the market and the hoffmans think that she's planning on returning. good luck. we'll be right back. next -- a birthday party that got too loud. and an uninvited guest. >> i said stop right now, or i will shoot you.

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>> announcer: "boiling point" continues. >> the commandment is love thy

neighbor but that's hard to do when thy neighbor is a knuckle knucklehead. turns out we can't all get along and revenge is as easy as uploadinged video. as we see on youtube every knock down is played worldwide. suburbia becomes disturbia, where no trespass is forgiven and no fence is high enough. >> are you seriously doing that? >> pick that up. >> reporter: getting into it over what the dog did. >> come on, baby. >> reporter: would you believe this brawl, which has entertained thousands online, is over branches? >> you know, you've been blocking the -- >> here's the judge next door caught keying the car and then passing sentence on himself. >> what do you think the penalty for that is? >> maybe $1,500, misdemeanor. >> reporter: neighbors complain. neighbors quarrel. and sometimes neighbors do much, much worse. >> get away from me!

i said stop right now or i will shoot you. stop! >> reporter: huffman, texas. close to houston, but a little bit more country. the kind of place where neighbors borrow tools and bring covered dishes when there's a death in the family. tell me about it. nice place? >> yes. we loved huffman. we loved living there. >> reporter: mindy danaher grew up here and returned to her family home with her husband, kelly, a teacher and their 3-year-old daughter, peri. >> and i would always describe huffman to all my friends there as just a sweet little town. >> reporter: this is their neighborhood on oak noll drive in huffman. that's peter fornols. he lives next door, with his wife. across the road, it's terri hackathorn and her family. and her prized german shepherds. then, across from them, donna and raul rodriguez. he's a former firefighter. they have a blended family of six kids.

donna rodriguez says the community really came together when disaster struck in 2008. >> if we needed something or they needed something, we worked with each other. i mean, during hurricane ike, everybody came together out there and got the tree out of our house. >> reporter: but two years after ike, on a saturday night may 2010, a man-made catastrophe is about to hit the neighborhood. that dark night began as a sunny day with cupcakes and candles. a double birthday party for mindy and peri danaher. >> the party was really fun. everybody was there that we love so much. and we were just eating and opening presents and just hanging out with all of our friends and family. >> reporter: as it got late, there was some drinking and karaoke, and, according to raul and donna rodriguez, the birthday party becomes a nuisance. >> why don't y'all turn that down? >> my husband called the

constable's office to come and have them turn it down because it was so loud. >> reporter: the police come and go. but the karaoke continues past midnight. "hit me with your best shot." ♪ fire away ♪ >> reporter: fire away. words that will become much more than lyrics as rodriguez begins to boil. >> stupid idiots. people are stupid and they're drunk. ♪ come on baby ♪ >> reporter: how was he when the constable left? >> irritated. very frustrated with him that they did not do crap to take care of the noise. >> ken, my fiance, came and woke me up and said that, "i think there may be trouble fixing to happen. i just saw raul leave his house and he's walking down the street." >> it's a little after midnight, >> reporter: that is the voice of raul rodriguez, still speed dialing the police. now he's also marching toward

the danahers', with a video camera in his hand, a handgun on his hip and 28 rounds of ammunition. >> i wish these cops would hurry up and come out here. these people are drunk, drunk, drunk. >> reporter: rodriguez encounters mindy's dad, james storm. >> why don't y'all turn that down, please? >> hey. hey, well, who are you? >> i live over here. turn it down. >> hey, don't go hollering at me, buddy. >> i'm hollering because you can't hear me. i've told y'all and told y'all, repeatedly. >> what do you mean i can't hear you? i can hear you screaming. >> well, why don't you turn that garbage down, please? some of us are trying to sleep. >> reporter: then, kelly danaher appears out of the darkness with some others from the party. rodriguez pulls his gun. >> don't come any closer, please. i said stop right now or i will shoot you. stop! get back! get back. i'm in fear for my life. get away from me. get away from me. >> pull a gun on me? >> yeah, i told you to stop. and my life is in danger. you got weapons on you -- >> reporter: danaher's friend jamie tyler was there.

was kelly approaching him, like, with his hands out, like he was ready to fight? >> no, not at all. >> reporter: was he yelling? >> he was asking, "what are you doing down here? what's the problem?" so he threw his hands in the air and he backed up immediately. >> reporter: tyler and the others call 911. >> yeah, there's a guy in the street with a gun. he's pointing it at us. >> reporter: rodriguez, still recording with his video camera, holsters his gun and also calls police. >> i've got about 15 people here. they're wanting to kick my ass. they want to beat me down. i had to draw my weapon to stop them to keep them from coming to me. i felt my life was in danger. i drew my weapon and then they stopped. >> reporter: rodriguez says he's scared and in danger. yet he doesn't try to leave. >> okay. they're going to escalate this. okay, look, i'm going to defend myself. i'm going to have to defend myself. i'm going to have to defend myself. >> reporter: then comes the moment everyone would regret. kelly's friend ricky johnson makes a move. >> laughing at him, approaching him, you know, like being silly or goofy to the camera.

>> that's when the shooting begins. >> look, i'm not losing to these people any more. i'm just going to just tell them to stay back. they're drunk. they're swearing. [ gunshot ] >> rodriguez shoots johnson in the stomach. >> marshall stetson is shot, and then kelly danaher at some point, is shot also. >> harris county 911. >> there are gunshots being fired. >> shooting off his gun. >> three people -- >> so many people shot here. >> reporter: three shots from rodriguez. three men down. johnson and stetson are wounded. they will survive. but steps from the party celebrating his wife and daughter's birthdays, 36-year-old kelly danaher, husband, father, schoolteacher, lies bleeding to death. his friend jamie tyler takes danaher's hand and hears his last words. >> i was holding pressure on his arm and talking to him and holding his hand.

just telling him that, you know, help was on the way. and he just -- i mean, he talked back and forth to me a little bit and telling me that it hurt. it hurt. and he just faded away. let go. >> i just immediately felt the absence of him, because i needed the comfort -- someone to comfort me. and it would have been him. i mean, i just -- i needed him. >> reporter: deputies arrest raul rodriguez and put him in jail. but he is confident he'll beat the charges. when we come back, you'll find out why. we'll also hear what his neighbors know. the secret life of raul rodriguez that could change everything. >> as soon as he stepped foot out that house, he made a choice on what he was going to do that night. and he did it.

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this man is guilty of murder. not one thing that he did out there that night is self-defense. >> reporter: in houston this

past june, raul rodriguez is on trial for shooting his neighbor and two other men. >> i guess the state's theory is that somehow raul rodriguez went next door because he wanted to kill somebody. >> reporter: but he may have the law on his side. texas' self-defense law, which does not require citizens to retreat from trouble before using deadly force. >> anybody that knows the law would have thought that they had a right under those circumstances to stand their ground. >> reporter: rodriguez says he followed that law. but what he and his lawyers call justified, prosecutors call murder. at some point, someone seems to rush him. he keeps saying he's afraid. he uses the gun. why wasn't it a justifiable shooting? >> this was not a case where raul rodriguez was standing his ground, but where a neighborhood bully was approaching unarmed individuals and looking for a

reason and a circumstance where he could shoot his gun. >> it wasn't murder. >> reporter: what was it? >> it was -- it wasn't murder. i mean, i -- i had to defend myself. yes, sir. this is raul rodriguez again. i called earlier, about 20 minutes ago, 25 minutes ago. i'm still standing out here on the middle of the road. i'm videotaping everything. >> reporter: rodriguez says he simply went to the end of danaher's driveway at midnight because their karaoke singing was too loud. ♪ the next thing he knew, as he told the police dispatcher, a drunken mob was threatening his life. >> you know, it's just me against everybody. i've got -- i've got -- look. there's about 15 people here. look, i'm in fear for my life right now. i am in very -- that's why i drew my weapon. i'm in fear for my life. please help me now. >> reporter: was there any part of you that was looking for a confrontation that night?

>> no. >> reporter: so, to him, his reaction was reasonable and justified. and according to him, the video he recorded that night proves it. proves he tried to get the police to handle things. >> i brought my video camera because i really believed that, that if i had documentation of this that we could take this to court. >> reporter: you also brought a handgun and a lot of ammo. >> yes. but i had a concealed handgun license and it was perfectly legal for me to carry that weapon. >> reporter: did you need to bring a handgun and ammo to that situation? >> i carried a firearm everywhere i went. >> reporter: important to note, he had a license to carry that gun. and he certainly doesn't seem like a murderer. rodriguez is a former firefighter, former navy man, military policeman, husband with six kids. he has no criminal record. and his version is that he pulled his gun on kelly danaher and some others from the

birthday party, the first time, only after danaher came at him. >> you need to stop right there. don't come any closer, please. he walks right to -- right towards -- right up to me. >> reporter: and? >> and i tell him to stop. and he still keeps coming. i'm telling you, i'm telling you to stop. i said stop right now, or i will shoot you! i tell him to stop. and i said stop one more time. and i drew my weapon, i said, "if you don't stop right now i'll shoot." and so he "whoa, whoa, hey, hey, whoa." and so, he backs up. >> reporter: why did you need to draw the weapon? >> because i'm not going to sit there and fight with somebody. >> reporter: where was the fight? what was he saying that made you think there was going to be a fight? >> the man walked up to me and to me i perceived it as threatening. >> reporter: still, he would put his gun away, but draw it a second time when he says one of danaher's friends, ricky johnson attacked. what did you think was going to happen? >> and i thought to myself, this guy's going to kill me. and i seen the look in his eyes and just -- hatred.

and i seen him pull a weapon, and just as he was doing that, he started to cackle. >> ha, ha, ha! >> and brought it to bear like this, and that's when i grabbed my weapon and i fired. >> reporter: rodriguez shoots ricky johnson, then he says kelly danaher, father of 3-year-old peri, the host of the birthday party, and some others rush him. so he shoots them, too. >> and kelly danaher, he comes running at me with everything he's got. and i've seen an object in his hand too, it looked like a knife. and it's just like, this running at me, "look what you did [ bleep ], [ bleep ], i'm going to kill you." and i was, "no, no, no, stop, stop, stop." pow pow. >> i think shame on him. and no, his life was not in danger. i think that he thought that he was above the law, just a little bit smarter than everybody else and i think he was waiting for the opportunity to do that. i do. >> reporter: prosecutors agree. in court, they ridicule the

image of a now-remorseful man supposedly reluctant to shoot. >> on that particular day he didn't have glasses on, he wasn't wearing a suit, he had guns strapped on him like gun smoke. "i am the law in these here parts, this is my neighborhood." >> reporter: neighbor after neighbor takes the stand, unmasking a deeply disturbing side of raul rodriguez. >> i label him like the schoolyard bully. he always had a problem with somebody. >> oh, he -- he thought he ran this neighborhood. the neighbors actually would alter their lifestyle to appease this man. >> he would wear his weapon down to the bus stop. neighbors had even called the police about that, that he had his gun on when they're taking their kids down to the bus stop, and there was just no reason for that. >> reporter: rodriguez, they say, always armed, confronting anyone he believed was driving too fast or playing their music too loud.

talked to that he had called the police on them more than 200 times. >> he poisoned cats. he would walk onto someone else's property and shoot the dog because he knew that dog had trespassed. >> reporter: rodriguez does admit he once shot a neighbor's dog that strayed onto his property. >> and so i shot him. i shot him twice. >> reporter: did you think about calling animal control or the police? >> it would take them an hour, two hours to get there. >> reporter: so, your answer was just to shoot the dog? >> that dog was in my yard. that dog was threatening and yes, i shot him. >> reporter: the neighbor from hell? maybe. but does that make raul rodriguez a murderer? >> i'm not cold in any human and i'm not a monster. they made me out to be some evil person and -- that did all kinds of horrible things and it breaks my heart.

to know that people said that about me, because i'm not like that. >> reporter: raul rodriguez says he is a good man. and more importantly, he says, that video will show he's an innocent man. but listen closely and prosecutors say you'll hear his true intention. when our story continues, the words, the secret code, that could sink rodriguez in court. >> i don't want to do this. >> reporter: "i'm in fear of my life. i have the right to stand my ground." why were you using those phrases? make you smarter about insurance. because what you don't know can hurt you. what if you didn't know that weeping willows have invasive roots? what if you didn't know that a trampoline... could affect your liability? and what if you didn't know that most cars... get broken into when the weather warms up? here, buddy. the more you know, the better you can plan for what's ahead. get smarter about your insurance. ♪ we are farmers bum - pa -dum, bum

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>> announcer: "boiling point" continues. >> reporter: in a quiet country town, huffman, texas, a story as old as cain and abel -- neighbor killing neighbor. was it justified or was it murder?

>> it was an unjustified and unreasonable killing. >> reporter: at a trial in houston in june, prosecutors argue the answer is right here in the video raul rodriguez recorded the night he shot his neighbor. we see kelly danaher, hand on his heart in the last minutes of his life. the video rodriguez thought would clear him. >> look, i'm not losing to these people anymore. i'm just going to tell them to stay back. they're drunk. >> who on earth in the history of the world takes a video camera to tape themselves when they think they're going to murder somebody? >> reporter: do you believe that raul rodriguez went down there that night to quiet the party or to get into a confrontation? >> to quiet the party. i have no doubt in my mind. >> reporter: why did he bring so much ammo? >> well, he's the kind of guy that -- that when he steps out of his house, he has his gun and an extra clip. that's just his mentality. >> reporter: his attorneys say rodriguez was afraid of kelly danaher that night. >> he has the right to pull a weapon if he feels like he's in

fear of his life. this guy was not going up to raul to shake his hand or pat him on the back. >> reporter: kelly danaher was going up to him, why? in your estimation? >> in raul's mind, he was going up there to -- whip his ass. >> reporter: where does that come from? he's the one who whoops ass, not kelly danaher. >> there are a whole series of questions before that action when he pulls the gun. >> you need to keep it down. you need to keep it down. >> when i go in that house and i come back, don't think i want be equal to you, baby. >> reporter: they say the loud laugh from ricky johnson signaled danger. >> it wasn't just the laughter. it was a cackle. and he was hellbent on attacking raul. it wasn't a huh-huh -- an attack. >> reporter: how do you know that he was hellbent on attacking raul? >> you can hear the cackle on video, and you can hear it get very loud. >> reporter: and what does that cackle mean? >> it's a maniacal laughter. like i'm coming at you. he's hellbent on attacking him and seriously beating him up.

that's what would have happened. >> reporter: rodriguez says the men were armed, just like he was. were any of the people who came from the party armed? >> no. >> reporter: did they recover any weapons from the scene, other than yours? >> i don't know. >> reporter: you know the answer. >> i don't know. >> reporter: the answer is no. >> okay, i don't know. >> reporter: his lawyer says he may have mistaken a flashlight on danaher's belt for a gun. they didn't find any weapon from him that night, and he was not known to be a man who carried a weapon. he was not having a reputation for violence. he was a p.e. teacher in an elementary school. >> i'm not -- i wasn't known for violence myself. >> reporter: yes, you were. you have a reputation in that neighborhood. you don't have a criminal record. >> it's all talk. >> reporter: you don't have the police report -- >> it's all talk. >> reporter: you got a lot of talk. >> it's all -- it's talk. >> reporter: rodriguez did have a concealed handgun license and knew all about the texas stand your ground law, which allows you to use deadly force if you are in fear for your life, with no obligation to retreat. >> i am in fear for my life. >> reporter: and so the most

damning part of the video, prosecutors say, is the sound of rodriguez repeating that phrase like a mantra. >> look, i'm in fear for my life right now. i'm in fear for my life. i'm in fear for my life. i'm in fear for my life. >> he thought those buzzwords, the parroting of the statute, would save him. >> what we have to know about this case, ladies and gentlemen, is that, to this man, those words are rhetoric. those words are rehearsed. and those words are fiction. >> he has instructed me before on what to say if i ever had to drop somebody, to ensure that i wouldn't get in trouble. and go to jail. >> reporter: neighbor terri hackathorn. what did he tell you? >> to tell the authorities that i was in fear for my life. >> if somebody messes with you, all you got to say is you're in fear for your life and you can kill that son of a bitch. >> he would try to convince anyone he came in contact with, hey, listen, if anyone sets foot on your property, you can blow them away. >> look, i'm in fear for my life right now.

that's why i drew my weapon. i'm in fear for my life. >> reporter: you know those are phrases that have meaning in the law, right? >> now i do, yes. >> reporter: you didn't then? >> well, i did, but that's just what came out of my mouth. i was truly afraid. >> reporter: but the jury doesn't buy it. at the end of his trial in june, rodriguez is found guilty of murder. >> you shall be confined for 40 years -- >> daddy colored this picture with you. >> reporter: kelly danaher's widow, mindy, now raising their daughter on her own, tries to keep his memory alive. she says the verdict is a victory for the whole neighborhood. >> all of the children can have a life now that he's gone and

their children can enjoy living in that neighborhood like we did when we grew up. >> reporter: donna rodriguez and her children moved away from huffman soon after the shooting. she said they didn't feel safe. mindy and peri are gone, too. they moved to a different house in town. mindy says she's satisfied rodriguez got what he deserved. but she can't picture a future without her husband. >> and that hole that i'm missing in my life, i mean -- no one can ever fill that. how can you replace that? he's not replaceable. >> reporter: the neighbors who remain say rodriguez would have nothing to complain about anymore. it is quiet. nothing to bother them, except the painful memory of a life that was lost. next -- take a seat on the tour of hollywood stars.

that was then. this is now. when some people want to live as far away from the stars as possible. >> the music and the parties and the paparazzi. >> look what's happening to the neighborhood. when "boiling point" returns.e windex touc cle o clean it... done. it's a one-handed clean from windex... ♪ ♪ ...that stays out to kill 99.9% of bacteria... ♪ ♪ ...and quickly clean so you keep moving. what do we call this new dance move? the windex tush-up. [ female announcer ] the all-new windex touch-up cleaner. sc johnson. a family company. employee: i have great news. we can help people get term life insurance for as low as $16 a month. lucy: i think it should be five cents. charlie: yeah, it should be five cents. employee: everything can't be five cents. anncr: call 1-888-metlife to apply and buy today.

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>> announcer: "boiling point" continues. here's nick watt. >> reporter: used to be that beverly hills was a cool place to visit with dream neighborhoods and beautiful people. >> ava gardner. >> look, you can see the laundry on the line.

>> reporter: or, if you're really lucky, a genteel place to live amongst the stars. but today, instead of nice buses filled with smiling faces, you're more likely to see a different type of bus. trolling for dirt. and the neighbors, well, instead of ozzie and harriet -- >> have a coke and cheer up. >> best idea yet. >> reporter: you're more likely to run into ozzie and sharon. lobbing a hall over the fence on "the osbournes." >> i think they called the cops. >> reporter: that's a lot of fun for us to watch from afar. >> if you are the neighbor living next door, i think you feel differently. ♪ >> reporter: madonna's nyc neighbors sued and got an out of court settle. over their claim of stomping and, quote, unreasonably high decibel amplified music. things can get so bad that celebrities are driven to complain about each other. dax shepard and kristen bell

were "beliebers" until he moved in next door. and they turn up on "the view." >> the music and the parties and the paparazzi, i mean, it's like living in lebanon now. ♪ >> reporter: so far, no public comment from the canadian phenom. and, during that whole tiger blood phase? charlie sheen declared his beverly hills pad a rehab. >> i am on a drug, it's called charlie sheen. >> reporter: um, okay. and the neighbors? you got to explain to your kids why nice mr. sheen has his arms around six ladies at once? >> exactly. and try to shield the eyes from the cleavage bouncing out of the house. it's true, right? >> reporter: on halloween, by 2:00 a.m., most trick or treaters are tucked in bed and the neighborhood is quiet. that's when christina aguilera decides to feed the paparazzi beast with a curb-side photo op as a pirate with drag queens. >> she was working it. working it on the curb, right,

in this sexy pirate outfit. lipstick was kind of smeared. >> reporter: bizarre. >> totally bizarre. but this is what happens. i mean -- these aren't your regular people, nick. >> reporter: and what's a celebrity to do if he's the one who feels victimized by his neighbor's construction crew at the crack of dawn? well, if you are ashton kutcher, you could tweet a video rant to your followers like he did in 2009. >> it's 7:30 a.m. and i get to wake up in my bedroom to my jackass neighbor pounding on steel and welding, right next to my freaking house. i'm going to lose it on this guy. i'm going to -- i'm going to lose it. i'm going to lose it. >> reporter: later, he apologized. >> you know -- you're very vulnerable at 7:00 a.m. >> reporter: the recent rash of reality shows is only making things worse. putting the "jersey shore" people into a neighborhood, i mean, my goodness. >> neighborhoods are like, no. so, they were like, giving gifts

to neighbors. but then, the contents of the gift bag came out and they were like -- >> reporter: and be honest. would you want to live next to octomom? so, you live -- right across the cul-de-sac from octomom. >> yeah. >> reporter: she complained to tmz about the noise from 14 kids. their mother's loud cackling. >> it's -- maniacal. i don't know how else to say it. >> reporter: well, there's also the porn movie production. really? and, the security. >> we were told neighbors were complaining that they were going through random i.d. checks. octomom moves in and you want to come home with your groceries and they're like, do you live here? why would you be carrying dproesrydproes ry groceries if you don't live here? >> reporter: and when kim's moved on, when sharon and ozzie are gone, it's not over. the house is still important. >> people go, oh, that's the house. >> reporter: after that left?

>> yes. >> reporter: i'm trying to make a serious point. this guy was filmed flinging a bag of dog poop into his neighbor's yard every day for a month. every day. if he had been a celebrity, he would have been front page of the national hyperventilator, if he had done it only once. celebrities, in fact, get away with almost nothing. leo builds a basketball court, his neighbors take him to court. case dismissed. ♪ i dreamed a dream of time gone by ♪ >> reporter: over in my homeland, scotland, susan boyle's neighbors are raising hell, claiming she's singing along at full volume to her own cds late at night. you know, i've often thought i'd like to live next to a celebrity. you know, shooting the breeze with cher over the fence, poker nights with pacino. spot of tennis with mila kunis. but now i'm not so sure. if you buy a house in l.a., you know, not only do you have to worry that maybe they're going to build, like, sewage works next to you, you have to worry

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mateo bridge. how traffic is being affected right now. >> and signs of rain already on live doppler 7hd. the being weather change is ahead in your forecast.