♪ you know, in the end, mark, the most important thing about that pitch is, we were right, and you were wrong. end of story. on that pitch, i'll give you that one, kevin. wow. that's a first. yep. (barbara) that is a first. steve jobs said, "stay hungry, stay foolish." and that's exactly what we're planning to do. we're hungry and foolish. (chuckles)

tonight on "20/20" -- the imposter. they fell for a man who was a complete mystery. >> i have a guy that uses me. he said he'd been accepted by nasa. he was a cia agent. >> but his top secret mission involved dates, drinks and what the women claimed were drugs. >> i took a sip of the drink and that was the last thing i remember. >> how many of you believe you were drugged? >> so, why do they keep going back to him? >> if i had just gone to the police sooner, then -- i'm so sorry. >> the devil doesn't look like the devil all the time. he can look like a normal human being. >> tonight, how they joined forces to crack his web of lies. >> mr. marsalis had kept a list

of names on his computer. a yearly calendar of women. >> and how this woman's secret weapon would finally stop the cross country con man. >> if i'm such a god awful person, why do you keep on hanging out for me? >> would you be taken in by the imposter? >> who are you? >> here now, david muir and elizabeth vargas. >> good evening. he looked great on paper and his photos weren't bad, either. good enough to have a lot of women cheque out his match.com dating profile. but it's what happened afterward that turned those dream dates into nightmares. >> in fact, it's the big question everyone at home will be asking themselves, especially if you have gone online looking for love. how could more than 20 smart, sophisticated women be fooled by the same charming imposter who called himself dr. jeff? he was hardly a doctor, and as they would painfully learn, he was something else. >> i love being a lawyer so much, you know, the cases, it's always different. >> reporter: jessika rovell has

an impressive resume. she's an attorney in our nation's capital, a naval reservist, a former beauty queen. she's devoted to her career. >> there's always something that's, that's going to challenge you. >> reporter: devoted to her health and her pets. so, it's not surprising when one of jessika's friends tried to set her up on a date, she made sure the man was just as impressive. >> my girlfriend said to me one night, oh, i have a guy that you should meet. he's a doctor, he's a navy officer. and i said, wow, he sounds great. >> reporter: at the time, jessika was in law school and living in the philadelphia area. the dream date was 28-year-old jeffery marsalis, apparently quite the catch. >> he said that he was a resident through a special program at three of the hospitals in the area in philadelphia. he worked primarily in the emergency room. >> reporter: the two met for drinks. marsalis, an aspiring model as a teen, an accomplished athlete and a former emt, had the clean cut good looks and personal charm to match his own impressive resume.

>> he was nice enough. he seemed very interesting, very ambitious. >> reporter: it seemed they had a lot in common. and their relationship, their passion for one another was immediate. >> it got pretty serious, pretty quickly. you know, we went on a trip to bermuda within the first two months that we were dating. >> reporter: but behind the snapshot snils, there was something strange and increasingly disturbing about their relationship. >> things just started getting weird. just bizarre behavior, you know, he would disappear for awhile at a time. >> reporter: she says jeff's explanation for his time away was even more bizarre. >> he told me that he was a cia agent. that the whole doctor thing was a cover. and he would come back and say well, you know, i was on a mission, and -- >> reporter: on a cia mission? >> yes. yeah, i know. >> reporter: and you believed it at the time? >> i did. >> reporter: a lot of people are going to watch and say, come on. >> and i understand that. but it was convincing. >> reporter: convincing, says

jessika, because marsalis had gone out of his way to make it so. >> he had a cia screensaver with the seal on his computer. he had a fingerprint reader. he had guns, he had a bullet proof vest. >> reporter: jessika went along with his explanation, but as time passed, those stories grew even more outrageous. >> how he killed people for a living, and he would say, well, do you remember that khalid sheikh mohammed guy? well, yeah, i was interrogating him the other day. he was on air force one regularly. i mean, president bush apparently wanted him to date one of his daughters. >> reporter: and incredibly, it might have worked, had the relationship remained loving and warm. but it would soon turn. >> he would do things that, they were just mean. he'd just pick this fight with me, it ended up with him trying to choke me. >> reporter: you couldn't get out of the relationship, why? >> because anytime i tried to get out of the relationship, he would threaten me with something. >> reporter: what would he say? >> he was going to kill a member of my family or one of my

friends. >> reporter: were you scared? >> it was horrible. >> reporter: but her fear was not enough to keep her from saying yes. you were engaged to him? >> i would say that loosely, yes. this is the stone that we used for the engagement ring. >> reporter: how could you ever say yes, i'll marry you? >> he threatened me. and that's why i said yes, i had to. >> reporter: and jessika says, as her questions began to mount, there was something else haunting her. suspicions and fears about an incident that had happened way back, at the beginning of their relationship. >> it was our second date. he came to my apartment. i opened a bottle of wine, and i remember kissing him in my kitchen, after having had, i think, probably about the entire bottle of wine between the two of us. and that's the last thing that i remember before -- >> reporter: you don't remember anything else? >> no, and the next morning, i just woke up not feeling very well. >> reporter: did you know that there had been intercourse? >> yes. i could physically feel that it

had happened, but i didn't remember a moment of it. >> reporter: jessika found it strange that she'd blacked out from a relatively small amount of alcohol. but the morning after, she says jeffrey acted like everything was fine. >> oh, what a great night we had last night, how fantastic it was, and what a great experience it had been. >> reporter: but as time wore on, she says jeffrey wore out his welcome. how did you get out? >> i just frankly hit rock bottom. and i said, that's it, i'm done. i can't do this anymore. >> reporter: still fearful, jessika contacted police and began the process of getting a restraining order against jeffrey marsalis. but just as she thought she was going to get him out of her life, an unexpected phone call. >> i got a phone call saying you might want to call the philadelphia special victims unit, i think they need to talk to you. >> reporter: it turned out, plenty of other women had their own strange stories about jeffrey marsalis, and they'd begun sharing those stories with police. how many of you believe you

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>> reporter: in 2004, these three women signed up for the popular online dating service, match.com. and as they describe the horror story that followed, abc news agreed to change their names and disguise them with wigs and makeup. donna, at the time, a 37-year-old with a job in marketing, had grown tired of the bar scene. rachel, just 23, had just begun a graduate program in counseling. she didn't know many people in town. >> i was new to philadelphia at the time, i had just moved there six months prior. >> reporter: and natalie. a 28-year-old scientific researcher, who was just getting over a failed marriage. >> it was my new year's resolution to finally get out and date again after about a year. >> reporter: eventually, all three of these women came across the profile of a handsome and confident young man, who called himself dr. jeff. you've all seen this? >> yes. >> reporter: it turns out that jeffery marsalis, who'd been telling jessika rovell that he was out of town on cia missions,

was really on a mission of a different sort, to meet women online. many of them. what made you think this was a guy you wanted to date? >> maybe it was his profile was different than other profiles. >> he did have a lot of photographs. some doctor pictures, i think vacation pictures, things like that. a lot of them. >> reporter: after communicating through e-mail and by phone, the women agreed to a date. from there, events proceed with striking similarity. and you meet him and what do you think? >> i thought he was attractive. and he was like well groomed. >> he was very good looking, and very tall, and put together. >> we walked over to a bar, got in, sat down, and just continued having a nice conversation over a drink. >> reporter: marsalis comes across as affable and ambitious. curiously, he makes a point of showing his dates his medical ids. did you think, this guy's trying to impress me? >> yeah, i mean, normally you

don't pull out your i.d.s. >> reporter: and as if being a doctor wasn't impressive enough -- >> he said he'd been accepted by nasa to be the flight surgeon. >> two, one, zero and liftoff. >> at some point, would be going on a mission in the future. >> reporter: so, you thought he worked for nasa? that didn't seem weird. >> no, because he had the language, the way he presented it, it was so believable. >> reporter: but before long, things would turn hazy. >> the last thing i remember is walking down the street after leaving a bar, and complaining that i couldn't walk. >> walking out of a bar, and walking down the sidewalk, and that's the last thing i remember. >> reporter: donna recalls going back to marsalis' apartment for another drink. >> i took a sip of the drink, and that was the last thing i remember. >> reporter: and just like jessika had years before, these three women say they awoke the

next morning feeling terribly sick, scared and confused. and you were in his bed? >> i was in his bed, but i just didn't know where i was. >> reporter: and you had no clothes on? >> correct. >> i do recall waking up in his bed, naked, and i am not somebody that goes home with somebody and has sex on the first date. >> reporter: rachel claims to have a vague but terrifying recollection of what happened during the night. >> i could feel someone on me. i knew he was trying to have intercourse with me, and then i said, stop, and i said, no. and i couldn't move my body. >> reporter: were you horrified? >> i was panicking. i was so scared. >> reporter: but all of the women report the same thing, that marsalis was a complete gentleman come morning. >> he was trying to be, you know, really nice, and like caring and, i'm really into you. >> reporter: what happened next would prove critical. all the women told us, while they thought that something bad might have happened here at jeffrey marsalis' apartment, perhaps even criminal, they also told us he did a very good job convincing them that everything

was all right. and they said they wanted to convince themselves. after all, they thought they'd found a catch. none of them went to police. and some of them dated dr. jeff again. you had sex with him. >> yes. >> reporter: how long did this last, this relationship? >> probably about two months. >> we'd talk on the phone every once in a while, maybe get together once every three, four months. >> reporter: so why? >> i thought, i don't want to be traumatized by this. so, i kind of tried to smooth things over. and when you think, oh, he's a doctor, you know, like trying to rationalize it. >> reporter: it would go on like this for years. >> he would have never stopped. he would have continued to do what he was doing. >> reporter: lieutenant thomas mcdevitt runs the philadelphia special victims unit. >> i've seen so many different crimes that, you know, sometimes, it's very hard to sleep at night. >> reporter: detectives remember when this case all began, when another of jeff marsalis' ex-girlfriends came into this police interrogation room. she was there to report being date raped.

>> we started an investigation thinking that, you know, he had somehow drugged her, and sexually assaulted her. >> reporter: police then sear searched marsalis' apartment. and what they found, they said shed a whole new light on the real identity of dr. jeff, and his elaborate world of lies. this here says he was a medical student at drexel. >> yeah, he never was a medical student, he didn't -- >> reporter: it turned out that dr. jeff was no doctor. instead, a nursing school dropout. he never worked at that hospital? >> never worked there, but he would go in there, with the outfit on, and sometimes wave to the security and walk people in. >> reporter: police found a gun, a bulletproof vest, the fake top secret documents, that they say marsalis had used to buttress his cia story with jessika rovell. >> i mean, here you got him with a flight jacket and even here, he had a classified for your eyes only, like a proposal for terrorism. >> reporter: total fake. >> total fake. >> reporter: and, of course, there was the nasa photograph. >> but we found out that these are pictures you take when you

go down for your souvenirs at nasa. >> reporter: but authorities say the evidence that would break this case wide open was found right on marsalis' own computer. >> mr. marsalis had kept a list of names on his computer. >> reporter: and what did he call it? >> the yearly calendar of woman. >> reporter: and what did it detail? >> under each year, was a list of female names, each represented individual women that mr. marsalis had had sexual contact with. >> reporter: police would eventually contact almost everyone on that yearly calendar of woman. several said nothing had happened, but many others said the muddy memories they had about dr. jeff started coming into focus. >> things started to add up about that first night with him, that made no sense. >> the pieces fit. >> reporter: so, there's no question in your mind that there's truth to this? >> there's absolutely no question in my mind. he is the worst rapist that we've had in the city of philadelphia, number wise. >> reporter: after jessika rovell spoke with detectives, she believed she'd been raped by

marsalis and was overcome with guilt. >> if i had just gone to the police sooner, maybe i could have saved this from having happened to even one of them. and i'm so sorry. >> it was not your fault. >> no. >> it's not your fault. >> it was his fault. >> and i know that, but it doesn't -- doesn't help me sleep at night to know that. >> reporter: but many of these women said they did sleep better, when they learned that mar sal lisalis had been arrest charged with rape. >> he was quiet, seemed shocked that he was being arrested, and he never gave us any problem. >> reporter: but marsalis wasn't locked up for long. and in a move that would later prove critical in this case, marsalis posted bail and went to sun valley, idaho. meanwhile, back in philadelphia, prosecutor joe kahn was building his case. >> one of the things that we relied on was the overwhelming similarities, the victims who did not know each other, all relayed very, very similar

experiences. >> reporter: but as the trial moved forward, inside that courtroom the women said it became clear that dr. jeff was still operating. >> and he had this smile on his face, this horribly smug smile on his face, and i immediately got up and ran as fast as i could to the ladies room and lost it. >> reporter: when we come back, what he was smiling about. and later, dr. jeff himself, breaking his silence to us. ♪ hanes. a perfect fit for every body. now in colorful new styles. ♪

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"20/20's" the imposter continues. once again, david muir. >> reporter: defense attorney kevin hextall would represent jeffrey marsalis and he knew it wouldn't be easy. >> these were adult women who were articulate, who were polished, and they swore under oath this is what your client did to me. >> reporter: to make matters worse, he knew his own client's credibility was seriously in question. >> he's claiming to be the head trauma surgeon at an area hospital, he's claiming to be an astronaut, he's confiding in somebody that he just met that he's involved in the cia.

>> reporter: but prosecutor joe kahn had problems of his own. no physical evidence. >> or other evidence that would corroborate victim testimony about their assaults. >> reporter: so, the case against jeffrey marsalis would hinge on the credibility of his accusers. another three women from marsalis' calendar of woman pressed charges. as the defense attorney reviewed their sworn statements, he began to see reason for hope. >> bottom line is that the stories don't make sense, they don't hold water. >> reporter: there was the first accuser. >> her statement to the police was that she didn't have any contact with jeffrey after the night that she claimed that she was raped. >> reporter: but her phone records told a different story. >> after the third date, she called jeffrey 24 times. they had conversations that lasted up to 40 minutes. >> reporter: how do you explain the discrepancy then? >> it's a lie. >> reporter: the two other accusers were also problematic. >> one of the girls, after she was raped, she helped him get an apartment in her building, where she's an apartment manager, and

the third girl claimed that after she was raped, she continued to have a consensual sexual relationship with him on a regular basis. >> reporter: it was a fundamental question that wouldn't go away. why would these women continue not only to date him, but to have sex with him? >> there are lots of reasons. one of them is an attempt to control the situation. >> reporter: sex crime experts jennifer long and dr. barbara ziv say it's common for victims to deny a date rape ever occurred. they also say many victims do go back and date the men again, as they try to convince themselves it never happened. >> it's much easier to believe that i made an error in judgment if i'm a woman, or i had a misperception of something that happened, than to believe that the world is as unsafe a place as it is. >> reporter: dr. ziv says that denial is much easier when the alleged attacker looks respectable and behaves like a gentleman afterward, even sending gifts.

>> jeff marsalis gave me this giraffe, but i kept it. for some reason, couldn't get rid of it. >> reporter: the >> the devil doesn't look like the devil all the time, he can look like a normal human being. >> reporter: but the jury never heard anything about the psychology behind why a rape victim would go back, because at the time, pennsylvania law prohiblted that kind of expert testimony. if an expert had been able to take the stand and look straight into these jurors' faces and said, it is common for a woman to go back -- >> it would have made it fair. it would have given the jury the proper context to then judge the victims. >> reporter: without that expert testimony, the prosecution's case collapsed. jeffery marsalis was acquitted on all counts of rape. >> and he had this smile on his face, this horribly smug smile on his face, when they announced the acquittal. >> reporter: but authorities had a surprise in store for marsalis. since his initial arrest, investigators had found several more women ready to press charges against dr. jeff,

ultimately including donna, rachel and natalie. just as marsalis was preparing to walk out of court a free man, he was arrested again. >> it's not a prosecution, that's a persecution. >> reporter: for that second trial, a second attorney would join the team. defense attorney kathleen martin. >> they had jeffrey, and they thought he was a criminal, so they go and try to find victims to make him that criminal. that's not the way it should go down. >> reporter: this time, the prosecution was more careful about which women they would put on the stand. the case would be limited to seven women who swore they did not have consensual sex with marsalis after the alleged rape. but the defense points out, if these women were so convinced that they could never have blacked out from just a few drinks, why weren't they more alarmed the next morning? >> we have total of seven women, all of which had contact with him afterwards, from weekends to movies to lunches, to dinners,

to dates, to gifts. >> reporter: so, you think none of them ever thought they were drugged until it was suggested to them? >> yes. yes. >> reporter: that would be the essence of marsalis' defense. that the sex was all consensual, and this idea of being drugged and date raped never occurred to these women until investigators came calling. looking for victims. >> we did reach out to the women, and kind of wanted to talk about their date with him. >> reporter: the defense team believes that when these women learned that dr. jeff was no doctor, they got angry. >> hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. no one's going to make a fool out of me. they jump on that bandwagon to say, i usually don't have a one night stand, but i did in that circumstance, and i feel uncomfortable with it. but now i know why i did it, because maybe it was drugs. >> reporter: so, you think police, in effect, gave them an excuse? >> exactly. >> reporter: for behavior -- >> that wasn't typical to them. >> but there's no truth to the fact that we planted any seed or convinced anyone to come forward. >> reporter: the defense arked

that all of you simply regret being taken by a smooth-talking pl playboy. >> what would be in it for us? i'm sitting here in a disguise today because i don't -- it's so embarra embarrassing. and i wouldn't be here just to be here. >> reporter: but despiting that willingness to go public with something so personal, once again, the jury found the accusers hard to believe. >> after deliberating for five contentious days -- >> reporter: the jury acquits marsalis of all rape charges. >> this is a 100% victory. the jury verdict showed that they rejected the commonwealth's theory in total. >> reporter: marsalis was found guilty on two lesser counts of sexual assault. it offered little solace for his accusers. >> i was crushed because i was hoping for more from the jury. >> 24 people in philadelphia had an opportunity to listen to all the evidence, all agreed that jeffrey's not a rapist. >> reporter: maybe a jerk, but not a rapist. >> not a rapist. >> not a rapist.

>> reporter: but there was still one woman a jury hadn't heard from. she says there was no way she could ever have consented to sex with jeffery marsalis. and she says she told him the reason why. >> he kept looking at me. i said, i'm wondering how i'm going to tell you i'm a lesbian. this labor day weekend. save 20% on home, fine jewelry, accessories, shoes, and apparel when you use your jcp credit card and coupon. 4 days. plenty of time to shop between badminton and boogie boarding. jcpenney.

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>> reporter: in the summer of 2005, after jeffery marsalis was charged with multiple rapes in philadelphia, he came here to sun valley, idaho. >> he posted bond, came up here, and supposedly just to kind of get away from the philadelphia scene. >> reporter: sun valley was a familiar sanctuary for marsalis. since childhood, his family had owned property here. marsalis moved into this apartment, and despite being an accused rapist, facing trial back in philadelphia, he landed a job working security at an employees dorm at the sun valley resort. >> he was a security guard. he had all the keys to the rooms, and that's when i met him. >> reporter: this woman arrived in town a few months later. she asked us that we call her jody and put her in disguise.

21 years old at the time, she'd moved here to be closer to her sister, who worked at the resort. jody got a job here, too, and her sister soon introduced her to jeffery marsalis. what was your first impression of him? >> he came off as being very full of himself. >> reporter: this time, marsalis does not claim to be an astronaut or a surgeon, though he does omit something important. did he mention anything about the charges against him? >> no. >> reporter: the trial that was impending? >> no. >> reporter: having just moved here, jody hasn't been out on the town. and she says when the two of them talked about going out that saturday night, she thought, sure. >> we kind of just made casual plans to go get a drink. >> reporter: the two go to a popular bar, they begin drinking beers, talking and listening to the live band. was it a date? >> no. >> reporter: do you think for him it was a date? >> he kept looking at me kind of funny, and i said, i'm wondering how i'm going to tell you i'm a lesbian. >> reporter: when you told him

that you were a lesbian, he said what? >> he said, oh, that's cool, i've got a lot of gay friends in philadelphia. >> reporter: so, you're thinking, it's out on the table, he gets it. >> yes. >> they were obviously hanging out together, but they didn't look, appear as a couple. >> reporter: the drinking continues and jeff buys jody a shot called a kamikaze. >> and when i looked in the bottom of the glass, there was some granular substance in it. >> i've made thousands of kamikazes, and none of them have a granular substance. >> reporter: shortly thereafter, jody steps outside for a cigarette. do you remember anything else about the night? >> no. >> reporter: what was the next memory that you have? >> waking up the next morning on a bare mattress, and asking him where the bathroom was, because i was going to throw up. >> reporter: that morning, jody says she could feel it, that the two of them had had sex and that

some of her clothing was on backwards. >> the whole time, i was thinking how -- what happened? you know? because i wouldn't have let this happen. >> reporter: and how did he act? >> he acted like nothing happened. he threw his arm around me, and said, my little gay buddy, we'll have to hang out again. and then he walked me back to my dorm room. >> reporter: after telling her sister and then her mother what happened, jody does what none of the philadelphia women did. she calls police that day, and goes to the hospital for a rape kit. it would later prove there had been sex. back in philadelphia, the prosecutor already building his case against marsalis, couldn't believe what he was about to hear. >> they had arrested him for raping a woman in idaho. >> reporter: on the other side of the country. >> less than two weeks before his rape trial. >> reporter: what does that tell you? >> tells me that sexual offenders have a predilection to

continue to offend. you know, it's exciting for them, actually, sometimes, to be threatened with being caught. >> reporter: jody must silently wait for years for the philadelphia trials to conclude. two trials in which marsalis is acquitted on all rape charges. in both of these trials in philadelphia, did either of these juries have any idea that jeffrey marsalis had been arrested on the other side of the country for rape? >> no idea. we were not allowed to present that evidence. >> reporter: the law doesn't allow for it. and for the women who came forward in philadelphia, the idaho trial for them is one more chance at justice. are you looking forward to that third trial? >> with anticipation. >> yes. >> hopefully he'll be found guilty of everything this time. >> hear ye, hear ye, hear ye, the district court -- >> reporter: as the case begins, the idaho prosecutor, jim thomas, likes his chances, even though he's not allowed to bring up anything from philadelphia. >> ladies and gentlemen, the defendant is accused of having sexual intercourse with a female

who was unconscious due to an intoxicating substance, that is not consensual sex. it's rape. >> reporter: jody is about to testify. it's a huge, huge deal, i know, to testify, because you're putting yourself out there. >> i just -- i knew that i needed to do it. >> reporte >> do you recall having any kind of discussion with the defendant about having any type of sexual contact? >> no. >> while you were out at the bar, were you flirtatious with him? >> no. >> reporter: the most emotional moment comes when jody's sister takes the stand. the sister who introduced jody to jeffery marsalis. >> i know this is hard for you, but can you tell us why you wanted to introduce him to your sister? >> he seemed very trustworthy. >> it's hard to see her go through the emotions, too. she already feels guilty for introducing us.

>> reporter: but the defense team is ready to dig in. >> clear that they make arrangements to go out -- >> reporter: as for jody's claim she'd been drugged, date raped, marsalis' attorney turned to the prosecution's own toxicology expert who admitted there were no tests that proved it. >> the police really, really wanted this case to be about a date rape drug. but let's once and for all, right now, take that situation, that possibility, off the table. >> reporter: and then there was the amount of alcohol. the defense team said jody willingly drank beer after beer, and the receipt showed 20 beers between the two of them. marsalis' attorney asked the jurors to consider whether it was possible that jody was so drunk, she didn't remember wanting to have sex. >> just because you can't remember, doesn't mean that you were doing something against your will, or non-consensually. what it means is, you can't remember it.

>> reporter: perhaps you could have been so drink that you don't remember having sex, but that you went along with it. >> no. i don't believe i was conscious. >> reporter: and jody had an eyewitness to back up her story. prosecutors called the taxi driver who took marsalis and jody back to his apartment. >> were you able to observe the defendant escorting the female towards the condominium complex? >> yes. >> how were they moving along? >> he had her up under her arm, and he was half dragging her. her toes were pointed backward, her right leg toe was pointed backward as he was walking her because it was dragging -- >> that's what i believe dieter hammond brought to the table, was to show that the victim was so intoxicated that there's no way that she could have had consensual sex with marsalis. >> you have the right to remain silent. >> reporter: and finally, there was this. an audiotape of sun valley detective mike crawford questioning marsalis after jody first called police. at first, marsalis says he never slept with her.

>> at no time was her clothes off. >> reporter: but when authorities told marsalis that they had tested for dna, that there was a rape kit involved -- >> if we find this out later through the dna, how is that going to look for you? >> reporter: his story began to change. >> well, i'm not going to rule out, you know, this, this and that at the time. >> this is not adding up, okay? i think you had sex with her in that room. >> i'm not going to confirm or deny what your statement is. >> reporter: and as marsalis' version of the truth changes, the jury is left to decide which version they believe. because marsalis never took the stand, nor did he in either trial in philadelphia. but he is about to break his silence, with us. authorities that i've spoken with have called you the worst date rapist in the nation's history. when we come back.

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testified in court. he's never spoken publicly. until now. did you date rape any of these women? >> let me make something very, very clear to you. i have never drugged anybody, i have never raped anybody. i've never forced myself on anybody ever. >> reporter: authorities that i've spoken with have called you the worst date rapist in the nation's history. >> i just shake my head in disbelief. i'm a -- you got to be kidding me. >> reporter: who are you? >> i'm the, the guy that the girls kept on hanging out with, and that's the guy with a great personality. that's who i am. >> reporter: at various times, you told them that you were a surgeon. are you? >> you know, based on legal advice, i can't, there's certain areas that i just can't touch, and that's one of them. >> reporter: well, you can tell me whether you're a surgeon or

not. >> still, based on legal advice i can't. >> reporter: are you an astronaut? >> once again, that's an area that i can't touch. >> reporter: did you lie in any way on your resume on match.com? >> i have to say that there were some discrepancies in my profile. about 90% of these profiles, and getting to know these people, were multiple lies in their profile as well. >> reporter: matching the scope of yours? >> i -- there was a couple matching the scope of mine. but you know, let's get over the profile, and eventually we're going to see me, is who i am. the person who i am inside, the caring and the loving, the nurturing, the easy going, the great guy. >> reporter: marsalis points to what he calls the inconsistencies and credibility issues with his accusers from philadelph philadelphia. jessika rovell, that girlfriend he was engaged to, initially told authorities in this statement, she'd never been raped. he says she, like many of the women, were upset and wanted attention and revenge for his lies.

>> jessika rovell changed her story many times. >> reporter: so, when she tells us that she believes that she was date raped, you say? >> i have to almost laugh at that. it's a clear example of the depths of, that she'll go to try to, still try to demean me, still try to bash me. >> reporter: and marsalis says it just doesn't make sense, to believe he raped natalie, rachel, and many of the other accusers, since they willingly continued a sexual relationship with him for months. >> the truth is simple. we had a great time, had consensual sex numerous times with one another. if i'm such a god-awful person, why you keep on hanging out with me for? >> reporter: and when we asked about donna -- >> for her, i just -- i can't recall. >> reporter: were there that many women that you can't remember? >> no, absolutely not. it's just, i can't -- i can't recall. >> reporter: when you look at the sheer number of women who've come forward with similar

stories, can you see why the public would look at that and might have a hard time believing that there might not be at least just an ounce of truth there? >> i think the public needs to know how it started, how they were interrogated. i believe these girls were manipulated, so they want some sort of retribution, because they think maybe they might have been duped. they think maybe that based on this picture that -- >> reporter: that you created, on the internet. >> that the detectives gave them, that they got to be angry. but does that justify you trying to seek retribution on felony criminal charges against me? [ bleep ]. it's exactly that simple. >> reporter: if that's the case, then how do you describe this woman, who had no idea that this was even going on back in philadelphia, this idaho woman, and yet she came forward and said she'd been raped. >> you know, i'm still trying to reflect -- i can't explain it. >> reporter: but what marsalis did point to was that jody, who

claimed she told him she was a lesbian that night they went out, had been with other men. in fact, the prosecution never brought up her sexuality at trial. >> so, the whole lesbian thing, gone. >> reporter: and all of the women who say there was some sort of date rape drug, marsalis says there were never any test results that proved that. not even in idaho. did they ever find any evidence of any kind of drug in this idaho case? >> no, they did not. the whole entire night, she was dressed, i mean -- >> reporter: but perhaps most damaging in i.d. i, that recording. that conversation with police. >> she was clothed, and i was taking care of her the whole entire night. >> reporter: why did you tell place at first that there was no sex? >> you know, at that time, i felt cornered, and so i took more of a defensive stance of -- >> reporter: a defensive stance, though, is one thing. a lot of people look at this and say that's a flat out lie. >> you know, you have to understand that i was intoxicated, too.

so, there was a lot of gray areas in between -- did we have sex? well, you know, how did this all happen? >> reporter: which is precisely the question the idaho jury was about to answer. >> we the jury, find the defendant, jeffery marsalis -- >> reporter: w ♪ ♪ hanes. a perfect fit for every body. now in colorful new styles. ♪

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that's powerful. verizon. get the nokia lumia 928 for free. >> reporter: as an idaho jury deliberates whether jeff little marsalis is guilty of rape, jody, the woman at the center of the third trial, begins to worry. >> knowing that he'd gotten off so many times before, thinking it could have been an impossibility for me after being so confident, was upsetting. >> reporter: but after just three and a half hours of

deliberations, the jury returns, and the idaho prosecutor, who hopes he's the one to get a rape conviction, scans the jurors faces for some sort of sign. >> you try to watch the jurors, you try to look at them, see if they make eye contact with you, nobody does, and all of a sudden, you're concerned and worried that it may be a defense verdict. >> mr. marsalis, would you stand for the reading of the verdict, please. >> reporter: after three and a half years of wait, through those two philadelphia trials, for jody, it finally comes down to this. >> as to the offense of rape, we the jury find the defendant, jeffrey marsalis guilty. >> yes! >> reporter: somebody in that courtroom shouted yes. >> yes, i remember it. it was my girlfriend who was sitting next to me, was very relieved to hear that guilty verdict. >> reporter: half sal list stood stoically in the courtroom, and for that idaho jury, it turns out, it wasn't even close. >> the evidence was very substantial and overwhelming in finding him guilty. >> reporter: another juror said it all came down to that description, that cab driver who

saw jody essentially being dragged into the apartment. >> i have to say that was really a turning point whether she could consciously make the consent, you know, to have intercourse with him. >> reporter: and because it couldn't be brought up at trial, these jurors for the first time, learn of the multiple women who have accused marsalis back in philadelphia. 21 in all. >> i was completely floored. i think my mouth just dropped. >> reporter: four years after marsalis was first arrested, the philadelphia prosecutor and jessika rovell, who nearly married marsalis, both fly to idaho, to see marsalis finally sentenced for rape. >> for the court, and for her, i am sorry. >> reporter: for sentencing, the judge can now consider marsalis' history back in philadelphia. and now, only now, marsalis tries to sound apologetic. >> i take responsibility for my actions. and i am truly sorry. i leave my fate in your hands, your honor.

>> finding that you're a violent sexual predator, facts of the other cases in pennsylvania, indicate to me that the only protection is a sentence of imprisonment. therefore, i will sentence you to a term of life imprisonment in the idaho state penitentiary. >> reporter: life in prison. >> wouldn't have been possible without you. >> thank you for never giving up. >> i'm just so grateful to you, i can't even explain it. >> reporter: so many of these other women who came forward now consider you a hero. they think you're the woman who finally stopped this. >> i felt like i needed to follow through with it. and at no point did i ever not want to. i don't think people that do these kinds of things to people should get away with it. >> reporter: do you see a day when you'll be free? >> yes, i do see a day that i would be free. >> reporter: if and when that day comes, will you date any

differently? >> yes, absolutely. >> reporter: would you call yourself dr. jeff in the future? >> i have no comment on that. >> tonight, jeffrey marsalis is still in prison, serving out what will become that life sentence, all of his appeals have been denied. >> and by the way, if you are a city cutoff.

what san francisco is leak tonight and why so many stayed away.