♪ and the flames went higher and it burns, burns, burns this ring of fire this ring of fire ♪ ♪ the taste of love is sweet when hearts like ours meet i fell for you like a child oh but the fire went wild ♪ ♪ i fell into a burning ring of fire i went down, down, down and the flames went higher ♪ ♪ and it burns burns, burns this ring of fire this ring of fire ♪

♪ i fell into a burning ring of fire i went down, down, down and the flames went higher ♪ ♪ and it burns burns, burns this ring of fire this ring of fire ♪ ♪ and it burns burns, burns this ring of fire this ring of fire ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: hi. that sounded great. thank you very much. jewel, you can see her play june carter cash in the lifetime movie "ring of fire" on may 27th. on lifetime. thanks to ed helms. i want to apologize to matt damon, we ran out of time for him. tomorrow night ethan hawke, the

bachelorette and music from 30 seconds to mars. thanks for watching. nightline is next. thanks for watching. goodnight! tonight on "nightline," it's the most profitable, illegal colombian enterprise after drugs and guns. and these animals are right at the center of it. inside the underworld of trafficking cute creatures. our undercover mission reveals the surprising truth about selling sloths. a christian rock star accused of paying to have his wife killed. tonight he faces justice and we go inside the strange business of murders for hire. and no touching. beyonce slapped by a fan aft after -- during her concert.

>> hello, everyone, thanks for joining us tonight. guns and drug sales are the two most profitable illegal industries in columbia. number three, selling animals. tonight, we go undercover and inside an underground trading ring, where the mysterious sloth is being illegal sold to the highest bidders. here's abc's john schriffen who's journey to colombia to find out more about this popular enterprise. >> after driving for hours through this rural part of colombia, we arrived. that man, eyeing us suspiciously, an alleged animal trafficker. inside this house, we were told he has illegal exotic animals

for sale. >> all right. i'm rolling. >> zool ift lucy okay and i are about to pose as curious customers, armed with only our hidden cameras rolling, we want to see how easy to buy rare and wild animals. he's skeptical but agrees to unveil one of the hottest selling animals in these parts. >> wow, what is this? >> it's a sloth. >> inside a small crate on this dirt floor, a rare species of cloth and her two babies, all for sale. >> the two babies are clearly clutching the mother, and they don't want to let go. they're all for sell, but they're willing to sell them separately. as you can see, it's -- >> what do i need to do to take care of them? >> the local guide translates as we start asking questions. their knowledge of sloth care

taking seems limited at best. >> cow's milk for these animals. >> all the ones that are raised in captivity -- >> lucy says the prospects for this family are bleak. >> just fed them cow's milk. >> reporter: when they sell them, do they sell a lot? but the more questions we ask, the more suspicious they become. people from the village are gathering around us. our guide is now worried about his safety. >> that guy is suspicious. >> reporter: it's a shocking scene for us but one that's playing out all across colombia. >> how much is the sloth? >> $30. sloths sold as pets. there's just one problem.

they did not evolve to be somebody's house pet. sloths make lousy pets. lucy describes it as the curse of cute. they're notoriously difficult to keep alive in captivity. that perpetual smile, highly specialized biology that leaves them unable to survive outside the rainforest. their diet provides 40 different species of plants, not easy to provide at home. yet business is booming. animal trafficking now the third most lucrative criminal enterprise after drugs and guns. these men would sell them openly to any passer by. along with birds. >> you cut the wings so they can't fly away. >> $50 for a monkey. very fragile. >> suddenly a car pulls up next to us and the traffickers

scatter. they return when they realize it's just a passer by looking for a photoop. >> they got scared when they saw anyone approach because they know what they're doing is illegal. >> this thing here has been rescued from the traffickers. this sanctuary is just outside med yeen. >> when people buy them, they don't want want claws. so the traffickers cut the claws. >> the mission here is to introduce baby sloths back into the wild. >> this is forageing behavior, it encouraging them to search for their own food. if i just fed you like that, you'd be a pet and never go back in the wild again, would you, mister? >> lucy considers herself a sloth advocate. he's behind the viral hits like bucket of sloths and meet the sloths. and her new book, the little bit of sloths, is a thoughtful reflection on her slow-moving friends, sort of. >> basically the book is just

cute. i'm not going to lie and go it's a really serious book about sloths. >> reporter: but don't let the cuteness fool you. keeping a sloth alive and healthy is hard, even for professionals. >> you don't find them in zoos in the states because they're so difficult to keep. so the idea that anyone can keep one as a pet is a bit of a fantasy really. >> reporter: but that hasn't stopped some people in the united states from trying. and the results can be grim. this undercover video shows how poorly they're treated as a distributor in arlington, texas. they were kept in small, fiblthy cages without heat lamps and humid fires. which might explain why the bodies of several sloths were found in the freezer. back in colombia, the sanctuary

owner knows caring for sloths is serious business. here she is feeding her newest arrival. she is fiercely protective of her babies, hushing anyone who disrupts nap time. even developing this homemade incense ritual which she says helps them destress from the trauma of being trafficked. >> that warms her chest and she likes it. >> reporter: she welcomes new arriva arrivals, but says the key for keeping sloths in the wild is for authorities to crack down on trafficking in the first place. which is why we traveled to cordoba, our guide tells us traffickers operate in the area with impunity, because paramilitary groups are still in control, and the police stay clear. >> we're looking for sloths. >> reporter: to find the traffickers, which man points us to the main road just outside

town. we head a few miles past the empty police station, past the giant, no trafficking sign, and find ourselves at that house with the sloths for sale in the crate. right now, we have a decision to make. it's a dicey situation. the traffickers are surrounding us, and they are expecting a sale. >> i'm not joking that he threatened me when i first come and he saw you guys and everything. >> reporter: samuel says the best decision for our safety and the sloths safety is to buy them, the whole family for $125. we load them into our van and leave the area quickly. we head to a nearby farm that tanka says is a perfect location for the sloths to be released. or as she describes it,

liberated. she checks their condition one more time. they are healthy enough to survive on their own. no need to take them back to her sanctuary. >> they look fine. she look fine. the baby looks fine. she finds an area with plenty of tall trees and branches for them to hang on. their emotional journey comes full circle. we watch as this little family slowly makes its way back into the wild, right where it belongs. for "nightline," i'm john schriffen in colombia. >> john, thanks for that. next up, murderers for hire, and the rock star accused of paying to have his wife killed. [ male announcer ] ok, here's the way the system works. let's say you pay your guy around 2% to manage your money.

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murder plots birthed in rainy back alleys and solidified with an exchange of cash between a hit man and a person who knows the person best. this is the stuff of hollywood, maybe not reality, right? not necessarily. murders for hire really do happen, quite a bit. and a famous rock star is now at the center of the latest near deadly deal on tonight's "crime and punishment." >> reporter: they're a grammy nominated chart-topping rock band that has sold more than one million albums.

as i lay dying is known for the head banging, the screaming, and the lyrics. ♪ >> reporter: this is heavy metal with a christian twist. frontman tim lambesis bangs out lyrics like, i must be reborn. ♪ >> reporter: but what a quick fall from grace it has been. that's lambesis in a prison jumpsuit, accused of doing something very much against his religion. hiring a hitman to kill his estranged wife. >> i find it very sad that somebody professes to be a christian, then allegedly does something like this, they don't have those values or they've gone astray. >> reporter: what could have led him astray? his lawyer says it was roid rage. >> his thought processes were dramatically impacted by it is steroid use.

>> reporter: videos show his startling transformation. here he is thin in 2008 showing his love of tattoos. and here he is buff. in just a few years, he put on 50 pounds. his lawyers say the steroid made lambesis mentally unstable. they say he lost god and that's why, last month, he asked a man at his gym if he knew anyone who could pull off a murder for hire. >> specifically asked, do you want her dead, he said yes, that's exactly what i want. >> reporter: but lambesis is just one in a long line of people accused of hiring killers. in 2009, dalia dip leto thought she was paying a gunman to kill her husband. the man she was talking to was an undercover cop. the entire crime was caught on tape. she had no idea police were involved and recording her every

word. former fbi agent brad garrett says that amateurs don't know what they're getting into. >> people believe in their sort of naive state, that they can step to somebody else, have them commit can the murder. and what happens in the vast majority of the time, the person they step to goes to law enforcement. >> reporter: in this case, police faked it by saying her husband had been shot dead. >> sorry to tell you, ma'am, he's been shot dead. he's been killed. [ sobbing and crying ] >> reporter: then police confronted her with the videotape. >> i didn't do anything. >> listen to me. >> i didn't do anything. >> you're going to jail. >> reporter: and the bad news, she was going to jail. she's still under house arrest and last month filed an appeal to throw out her 20-year sentence. in 2010, three separate gunman trialed to kill yvonne stern. the third time, the gunman also succeeded. >> i see him coming towards me

with a gun. pointed to me. i jump in my car. he came to the car, pointed the gun to my head. >> reporter: she was shot in the stomach. in the hospital, she learned that her husband, jeffrey stern, and his alleged former lover, were behind the >> we believe that the evidence shows he's guilty of solicitation of capital murder. >> reporter: but yvonne who had planned to leave her husband, doesn't buy that he would ever try to kill her. >> there's no way. the affair, okay, i'll give you that one. but to plot my murder, absolutely not. >> reporter: and while yvonne seems to have forgiven her husband, gazer hasn't. from jail she allegedly tried to hire someone to kill him. as for the christian rock singer accused of plotting a hit on his estranged wife, he pleaded not guilty. he's due back in court later today. but what about the roid rage defense? can steroid use alter the mind so much that it could make

someone want to kill? >> anabolic steroids increase the test oft tron in the blood, but it's not a direct cause and effect scenario. >> reporter: prosecutors say lambesis knew exactly what he was doing. while his estranged wife remains in hiding, this christian singer remains behind bars. >> there's a lesson in that story. thanks to cecilia vega for that. next up, stunning footage from inside a tornado. it's the storm stunt you should never try at home. [ stewart ] this is the kind of food i love to cook. i'm very excited about making the shrimp and lobster pot pie. we've never cooked anything like this before. [ male announcer ] introducing red lobster's seaside mix & match. combine any 2 of 7 exciting choices on one plate for just $12.99! like new cheddar bay shrimp & lobster pot pie, and new parmesan crunch shrimp. plus salad and unlimited cheddar bay biscuits. combine any 2 for just $12.99. [ stewart ] for the seaside mix & match,

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the town cryer may be gone, but between your laptop, smart phone, tablet, and tv, news is more easily accessible than ever before. that doesn't mean you have the time to check it all. that's why "nightline" is debuting a segment called feed frenzy. every night we're going to give you our take on the hottest stories of the day. so you can get your fill of the buzz worthy headlines. we keep up with the day's latest, so you don't have to. inside a twister, the clip you're watching right now, is not taken from the movie "twister." it's actually footage filmed by two storm chasers inside a real tornado. this car is specially engineered to hold up against what you're witnesses here. watch the sky turn from gray to black and monster winds spiral

out of control. a word to the wise, leave tornado driving to the pros. >> a fan slaps beyonce. perhaps this concert goer hadn't heard that song, because he both looked at it and slapped yons yay's dairy air, and the superstar diva had no songs about interrupting her song to teach him a lesson. spoken like a true independent woman. and to the graby fan, probably wise to steer clear of front row seats at any jay-z concerts. in sanford florida, a local pizza owner got a rant from one of his driver, for what he considered a bad tip. the driver had mistakenly pocket dialled the customer. he then