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i don't care if you're in the wild west or the hood, there's no honor in shooting someone in the back. >> do you see it as murder or accidental shooting. >> murder. >> murder in. tonight, an all-new "20/20." a parents' nightmare, the story that shocked everyone, a good son experimenting were drinking, climbing through the window of the wrong house. tonight, new details, "20/20" inside the investigation, as a heartbroken father retraces his son's last steps. if you were that neighbor, what would have done sf. the breaking story, after a 14-year-old sneak out the window to a party, claiming she had supplied with alcohol and

sexually assaulted. >> everything after that was black. >> but that was just the start. was it consensual? what the prosecutor is saying now. they urinated in every single drawer in my house. >> tonight, the parents who thought, not my kid. as "20/20" rides along with the police unit out to crash the party. and tonight, we're there, too. >> announcer: tonight, under age and under the influence. this evening the two ingredients that are part of so many friday nice for teenagers across this country, partying and alcohol. tonight, an hour every parent wants to see. every parent these stories, thinking not my child.

with all of that alcohol, he was uniquing into the wrong house and what happened next, only two people will ever know for sure. and one of them is dead. here's abc's deborah roberts. >> reporter: it was a late saturday night last spring. 16-year-old caleb gordley had a secret plan, to sneak out of his house to go party with some friends. a popular, three-sport athlete at parkview high school in virginia, caleb was also an aspiring rapper seeing himself as the next jay-z. ♪ ♪ time moves slow >> he was a self-proclaimed rapper, going by the name of "prince george." the core was his music, was his lyrics, was his -- poetry. i have 85 songs that i've collected. >> reporter: a good kid? >> great kid. he was very respectful, very polite.

>> reporter: partier? >> no. he did not drink. and that's what makes that night even more peculiar, even more odd. >> reporter: and out of character for caleb. >> he's not much of a drinker, but, i guess, he wanted to try for that night. >> reporter: yet, the one-time caleb decided to let loose. he would wind up dead in a stranger's home. it all began with a typical teen punishment. >> he had been grounded because he went to the park on a sunday afternoon after i told him to clean his room. i said, "one week, you cannot go anywhere. you go to school. you go to practice, whatever. you're coming straight home. and he accepted it. he doesn't get up in my face. he said, "all right, dad." >> reporter: by the end of the week, caleb is itching to get out of the house. ♪ >> reporter: tweeting throughout the day, "honestly, who's throwing a party tonight. i'm trying to have fun tonight, no lie." caleb and sister eden are living with their dad, their parents shawn and jennea are divorced. their first born was a natural

ham, caleb, here at 6, busting a move to 'n sync's song "girlfriend." ♪ >> he just had that energy that really attracted lot of people to him. because he was so fun and good-hearted. >> reporter: to give their kids a better life, the gordleys left behind the tough, crime-ridden streets of dayton, ohio, for the tranquil suburbs of sterling, virginia, where shawn is a corporate i.t. manager. >> i was happy with the area, i was happy with the school. the community seemed to be very active and social and kind of close-knit. >> reporter: after the split, jennae moved back to ohio to go to school, but never missed a beat with her kids. how much did you monitor his social media accounts? >> a lot. and that was the one time i didn't in that particular day. i would have saw the signs if i would have just looked that day. >> about the parties and talking to friends about it. >> he was looking for someplace to go that night.

>> reporter: so, at the stroke of midnight, caleb slips out the window of his two-story home. he would never return. caleb's first mistake would happen just after arriving at a buddy's house a few blocks away. some of the boys begin tossing back vodka shots. by 2:00 a.m., a woozy caleb decides it's time to go home before his dad notices he's gone. good friend kory carico was with caleb. >> i took him back to my house and i was going to make him stay there, but he knew he had to get home. i knew that for sure. he kept bothering us about it, >> reporter: staggering now, caleb needs his sober friend to walk him the few blocks home to his quiet cul-de-sac where many of the houses in the development look nearly identical. >> we crossed this fence because all the houses are similar, and once we crossed we came up to this window over here. >> you thought this was the window? >> yes. we thought this was the window, and i just opened it up. i've never come in the back way before. it looks different from the back. i always come from the front when i come pick him up in the morning, so i figured it was his house because he thought it was

his house, too. >> reporter: did you just sort of like shove caleb in? >> no, he went in himself. the alarm went off and then i saw the light come on and then i heard yelling, which i thought was his dad, so then i ran because i thought i was going to get in trouble. >> reporter: turns out it's not caleb's dad, in fact it's not even caleb's house. it's the neighbor's home two doors down. the startled homeowner grabs his 40-caliber pistol that he kept next to his bed thinking a burglar has broken in at 2:30 in the morning. in the chilling moments that follow -- gunshots. how many times was caleb actually physically shot? >> once. out of four shots, he was hit once. >> a developing story now out of sterling. >> responded to burglary. >> reporter: the next morning news of a shooting quickly spreads through the neighborhood. at caleb's home, there is panic. his sister eden realizes her brother isn't in his bed.

>> many friend's mother called her and told her that someone two doors away from us had gotten shot. she said somebody was trying to break in. i told my dad and then maybe like an hour later, he was like, "i woke up this morning and caleb's not home. i don't know where he is." >> i ran over to the neighbors' house, knocked on the door and didn't find out any information. >> reporter: what's going through your mind at this point? >> i know my son's dead. i know he's dead. cory dropped caleb off at my house at 2:30 in the morning, and there was a shooting in my neighborhood at 2:30 and i can't find my son. i knew it instantly. >> reporter: his 16-year-old son shot dead. >> i could barely talk. and i was so lost. i couldn't fathom surviving this. i just -- no. i was like, "what -- there's no -- no -- there's no going beyond this." >> reporter: eden and shawn break the unbearable news to jennea in ohio. overcome with grief, she heads to virginia. >> i wept in the airport, i wept

on the plane in front of strangers, and it didn't even matter. >> reporter: you lost your son. did you understand at all what had happened? >> i did. i understood that, you know, he made a mistake. and it cost him his life. yeah, my handsome man. >> reporter: a life even caleb realized was fragile. >> this is a new microphone. trust me, i'm going to have six songs i'm going to put out today. sfwlr and one of those songs he wrote just months before dying is oddly prophetic. ♪ >> reporter: called "wreckless," the sound of gunshots in the background, caleb. ♪ your life can be done like that like that, like that ♪ >> reporter: his own life cut heartbreakingly short in what seemed a classic case of self-defense.

>> this person going up the stairs, i guess he felt in fear for their lives. >> i mean, i put all on me at first. i thought it was all my fault, because i took him to the wrong house. >> reporter: but then you realized it was a tragic mistake. >> yeah. >> reporter: both shawn and jennea believed it an awful accident, until they got the police report. what it revealed would change everything for caleb's parents. >> once i got the details, i was absolutely outraged. >> reporter: was it self-defense or something else? >> murder. >> reporter: stay with us.

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"20/20" continues. once again, deborah roberts. ♪ >> reporter: after a night of drinking 16-year-old caleb gordley mistakenly entered the wrong house and was shot dead by his neighbor just two doors down.

in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, caleb's father, shawn, was on a mission. >> and that was to let the world know my son made a mistake. he was not there to harm anybody. he was not there to rob anybody. that's all i cared about. letting everybody know he went to the wrong house. >> reporter: you said right after this happened that you felt forgiving towards your neighbor? >> correct. >> reporter: do you still? >> no, not 1% forgiving. i'll tell him right here and right now. i apologize for my son entering your house. i will take that. beyond that, there is no forgiveness. once i got the details, i was outraged. >> this is a horrible, horrible set of circumstances for the family, horrible set of circumstances for the shooter. >> reporter: but five months after donald west wilder, seen here, and identified to us by neighbors, shot and killed their teen son. >> my son is gone. >> reporter: shawn and jennea are no longer conciliatory.

it sounded like a mistaken identity. someone thinks there's a burglar in their home and they're trying to defend themselves. >> at no point, during the homeowner's account of the events, did he ever describe caleb in any way as being aggressive, ill intent. he did not approach him. he did not come after him in a violent way. >> reporter: in fact, kory carico says his friend caleb was visibly impaired when he tried getting him home. >> he was stumbling a lot. he fell down on the sidewalk a couple times. i probably should have kept him at my house or waited a little bit longer. >> reporter: shawn is convinced that his son was confused, since his home has a nearly identical floor plan to the neighbors. from the vantage point of wilder upstairs, shawn showed us what he thinks happened according to the police report. he was crawling into his window? >> correct. >> reporter: where do you think the homeowners saw him first? >> according to the police report, the homeowner came down this hall, immediately saw caleb

in the kitchen area, he saw his face. he did not recognize him, and he yelled at him to get out of the house. >> reporter: he suspects his intoxicated son believed he was hearing his dad's angry voice. caleb would have continued on thinking he's going to his bedroom, you think? >> yes. correct. >> reporter: but remember, the 6' tall boy is in wilder's home and headed toward the bedrooms of wilder's fiance and her son. >> the homeowner said he made eye contact with caleb and there was a dazed look on his face. so, he knew he was on drugs, alcohol, whatever the case may be, and as he came up the steps, he said he saw no weapon. >> reporter: wilder then yells out and fires a warning shot, fearing the unknown intruder who's making his way upstairs near his family. >> caleb, then, according to a statement, turned around, didn't attack the person shooting at him and simply said, according to the statement, "you just shot me." >> reporter: then the end for caleb, an ending shawn finds unconscionable.

the autopsy report revealing the cold hard fact that caleb was shot in the back. >> the homeowner angled against the wall and fired, through his chest, and then fourth shot at his head, then he aimed at his head, missed, and then caleb took two more steps and fell face down on the floor, right in front of what he thought was his own bedroom. i don't care if you're in the wild west. i don't care if you're in the hood. there is no honor in shooting somebody in the back. >> reporter: so why would the homeowner fire multiple times when this person didn't appear to have a weapon? >> it's 2:30 in the morning. you have a person that actually comes in through a window. the alarm sounds off. he was 6' tall, unknownst to the homeowner, wearing dark clothing. the homeowner advised him to stop, you know, and that he would shoot, and caleb continued to come forward. >> he lined himself up at the perfect angle to shoot a hollow-point bullet through my

son's lung and explode his chest and then a fourth shot at his head for good measure. that's what he did. >> reporter: do you see it as murder or accidental shooting? >> murder. >> reporter: murder? >> yes. he shot him in the back. if you're really in fear of danger of your life and your family's life, why would you allow a person that you -- that appeared to be dazed to you, walk right past you and then you shoot him in the back? >> if caleb would have crossed that street right there and get hit by a car, i would have nobody to blame but caleb. i have somebody else to blame for my son's death. i just do. >> reporter: this kid is a kid of color, black kid. did that have any impact on this case? >> i can't see that it would. the entire situation was just bad all the way around. somebody coming into your house. somebody, you know, not stopping

when you're giving them commands to stop. somebody continue to advance on you. somebody going up the stairs where your family is. >> reporter: the homeowner has not spoken out publicly, have you had any sense of how this has impacted him? >> in the conversations with my detectives, i understand that he was devastating -- devastated by what had happened. so much so that he had to take a couple weeks off. >> reporter: after an investigation, no charges were filed against donald west wilder, a volunteer firefighter who owns a consulting company. though his attorney he declined our request for an interview, saying, "the incident was an unfortunate tragedy on every level. but as we are not confident that participating in your program would contribute to the healing process. we are unwilling to so participate." ten months after their son's death, shawn and jennea gordley, still can't understand how a teenage mistake can end so tragically. the man who took her son's life did reach out to the gordleys, through his attorney, saying he was sad about what happened, but shawn threw out the note, offended by its formal tone.

>> do i hate him? no. do i want him put away? no. i don't think that's going to solve anything. >> reporter: do you want to hear from him personally? >> i would love to. >> reporter: he's two doors down? >> two doors down. >> reporter: do you still see this neighbor? >> i never saw him before. i haven't seen him since. >> reporter: some people would have packed up and moved right away, but yet you've somehow managed to stay here. >> the first few months, there was no way i was leaving. i keep the door closed because it smells like him in here still, after all these months. i can smell him right now. i can smell him, on his blanket, on his pillow. we haven't washed anything. we haven't vacuumed. i come in here, sometimes, i'd -- i'll take a nap on his bed. >> reporter: and he awakens to a wall of emotional memories, scrawled by caleb's classmates who were shattered by their friends sudden death. >> i don't know anyone who didn't like him for any reason. >> he just put a smile on your face. >> absolutely great kid.

>> this was his 16th birthday. so this is his last birthday. >> reporter: his son would be 17 now, a high school senior making college plans with his friend kory. >> he's such a good friend. it's a shame you never knew him. he was such a funny person. >> i truly believe that my son was a gift. >> we had 16 and half awesome years. i will hold onto that. >> a sad and complicated case for sure. was that homeowner justified in taking action that night or do those parents deserve an apology in person? tweet. next -- the cheerleader. varsity football player. and a hazy night of blackout boozing. was the worse still to come? the surprising outcome, just yesterday. [ female announcer ] hands were made for playing. ♪ legs, for crossing.

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alleged rain. te teenage daughter and high school football. today, matt gutman in maryville where that prosecutor's decision is rippling through the town tonight. >> reporter: today, dazy coleman is the latest face. >> the sexual assault case. is making headlines once again. >> the teenage victim shedding anonymity to speak out about what happened to her. >> i really wish more girls would tell their story. >> reporter: and what she says is happening to young girls all over the country. >> you had a lot of young people that made a lot of bad decisions, and they ended up getting caught. >> reporter: her story is set in maryville, missouri, an all-american town where football is king and its players royalty.

here the fairy tale on these plains is that the football champs date the cute cheerleaders. but not for daisy. at 14, a beaming, and back then blond cheerleader new to maryville. she had already survived one tragedy when she was 9, a car accident that killed her father, a physician. for daisy, her three brothers and veterinarian mom, melinda, the move to maryville with its cows and cornfields was meant to be a fresh start. so, when you moved to maryville, what was it like? >> maryville was great. we were anonymous. we were starting over fresh, we didn't have to be the tragic family. we were just us. >> reporter: but that fresh start and anonymity would soon end so bitterly. trouble began harmlessly enough on a frigid january evening. a sleepover with her friend paige who was in the eighth grade. >> she just came over, we started watching scary movies. >> reporter: they also started drinking. daisy says it was one of the

first times she and 13-year-old paige had consumed alcohol. >> i was in high school and everyone was already doing it. so i was like "oh, i might as well try this." >> reporter: weeks before, daisy had already begun texting with a high school senior. a tall and broad-shouldered defensive end named matthew barnett. he was in the cool crowd of athletes along with her oldest brother charlie. here they are together at the prom. but charlie wasn't exactly pleased with all that flirty texting. >> i told him, i was like, "stop texting my sister." >> reporter: you told him to stop texting? >> yeah. and i told her stop. and i was like, "listen, he was a senior. you're a freshman. you're my little sister. he hangs out with me. that's so messed up. you can't be talkin' to him." and she's like, "oh, okay, okay, okay." well, she didn't listen. >> he was really popular, he was a senior football player, he was friends with everyone. and he asked to hang out. so we snuck out of my house around 1:00, and he drove us to his house, and he had to sneak us through his basement window.

>> reporter: at the house some of the town's most popular teens and athletes. barnett, the grandson of a former longtime missouri state representative. junior jordan zech, a standout wrestler. a senior whose family owned the biggest restaurant in town. a junior star running back and a 15-year-old. >> those were the guys i was with every single day. >> reporter: you could've trusted them like a brother and you hope that you could've trusted them with your sister. >> yeah. i hoped. >> they kind of egged me on to drink from this really tall shot glass. >> reporter: daisy says the boys called it the "bitch cup." and she drank from it. >> everything after that was just black. and that's all i remember. >> reporter: paige says she does remember what happened next. >> they just automatically separated us. and another guy took me to a different room and sexually assaulted me. and we went back out into the

living room and we had to wait until matt was done. he opened the door and i went in there and she was, couldn't talk at all, and they were trying to get her to stand up, and they realized that she wasn't going to be able to, so they proceeded to drag her out of the window. >> reporter: in police reports, barnett admits having sex with daisy but it was consensual. the biggest question, was she incapacitated by her drunkenness? that would soon become a critical legal detail. barnett claims she was buzzed when they had sex but didn't get truly drunk until after they had sex. one boy told police that she drank five to ten shots of vodka in less than 15 minutes after sex with barnett. that same boy shot a short iphone video of daisy and

barnett, "dry humping." less than an hour after they had arrived, paige says the boys dragged daisy to the car. she was crying. en route barnett and the boy who had sex with paige chucked their used condoms out the window. >> they just started panicking a lot, saying "how are we gonna get her dropped off, without her brothers waking up, without them hearing us." and so they brought us back to the house and dropped her off. well, they dropped her off. >> reporter: all the while, melinda thought that she was safely asleep in bed all night. it was 5:00 a.m. when daisy was discovered. >> the dogs started barking which woke mom up and my youngest brother. and they went to the door and she was coming toward the porch. like probably on the porch at this point. >> she had just sweat pants and

a t-shirt on, it was 22 degrees, her hair was wet and frozen, and i could see that she had frostbite on her feet. >> and then i was woken up to, "charlie, wake up. wake up, charlie. there's something wrong." and that's when i got up and came upstairs. and that's probably when my life changed quite a bit. >> reporter: daisy had been abandoned on the lawn for almost three hours wearing no shoes or socks. >> it was terrifying. i couldn't understand why she was outside. we pulled her and wrapped her in blankets and start, started warming her up. >> reporter: she thought that maybe daisy may have been sleepwalking. but when she put daisy in the bathtub to warm her up, she noticed marks on her body. >> i asked if she was hurting and she kind of said yes and started crying. and that when i was pretty certain that something had happened. >> she said, "okay, there's -- something's been seriously wrong. i need you to find her phone." so my brother and i went in the yard and found a phone, started reading these messages from

matty. >> reporter: you read that text message that said matty on the phone and you saw your sister. did you instantly know what happened? >> i knew there was something was going on. and i -- the last message on there was, "i'll be there in a minute." and i was -- i was so mad. >> and i, i called the police and, and they came out. and then i took her in to the emergency room. the doctor said, she had been raped. and, i was, we were both crying. i think that's when it really hit us. it was definitely my worst fears. i, as a mom i just, it just hurt so much and you want to take the pain away, and i think i knew what she was gonna go through. >> reporter: the night that began with the girls watching horror movies quickly became a real life nightmare for daisy. >> like, they would yell liar or the "s" word. >> we thought it was bad then, it got even worse. >> reporter: next, a suicide attempt and one final bombshell. >> i think it's a just result. it's the right result.

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we continue with underage and under the influence. once again, matt gutman. >> reporter: daisy coleman

doesn't remember much about the night that changed her life. she remembers sneaking out of her house to meet a group of older boys, that brimming shot glass. but what came after, including, she says, losing her virginity with senior matt barnett, that is a blank. a blood-alcohol test of daisy, taken seven hours after the encounter, showed her still nearly twice the legal limit. but her mother is convinced she knows what happened. >> there's no way that it could have been consensual with her being that drunk. >> reporter: at the the hospital a doctor's report cited -- "alleged or suspected sexual assault." at first, authorities seemed to agree. >> we were able to pretty quickly put together names of people that we needed to talk to, and subsequently some folks were detained and ultimately charges were filed. >> reporter: barnett was charged with sexual assault, a felony, and endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, for leaving daisy on her lawn in 21-degree weather. that's not all. >> there was a video taken.

we were told that immediately after they did that, that they deleted it, and when that phone was forensically examined, there was nothing on the phone. >> i had a couple good friends tell me about it. they had seen it firsthand, and they instantly text me and told me. >> reporter: charlie coleman is daisy's oldest brother. was the girl in that video saying anything? was she saying no? >> they just said that it started with my sister and him kissing with their pants off. >> reporter: whatever happened the close-knit farming community of maryville was now reeling. for melinda, a terrifying realization that the boys who melinda thought could have been her daughter's protectors may have been her tormentors. >> i trusted them. i thought they were good kids. they were at my house all the time. and you know, i really thought these boys not only would not hurt my daughter, i thought they would've protected my daughter if she did something stupid like this and snuck out and drank. >> reporter: some of your friends even turned on you guys and your brothers. >> uh-huh. i had a buddy inform me that

there was a twitter chain going on about a couple of guys waiting for me out in the parking lot after school. >> reporter: melinda says she watched her daughter's life unravel. daisy was suspended from the cheerleading team after admitting to drinking and was bullied at school. >> people would generally just yell stuff. like, they would yell, "liar," or the "s" word, or they would call me the "w" word. >> she would sometimes, if i took her to walmart or the grocery store, start having an anxiety attack, and i'd have to take her home. >> reporter: daisy's friend paige, the 13-year-old with her that night, says her personality also changed after the incident. >> i don't really go out anymore. i just don't like being around a lot of people. and i don't do very much anymore. >> reporter: paige's 15-year-old assailant's case was handled in juvenile court, and those records are sealed. but soon after the incident, melinda says she heard speculation that the charges

against barnett, the grandson of a former missouri state representative, would be dropped. >> i thought with all the evidence that we had that there was no way that was even a possibility. >> reporter: and sure enough that felony charge was dismissed. >> i was just in disbelief. i tried for weeks to contact the prosecuting attorney and find out what had happened. what's going on, why'd you drop the charges? >> i was really upset. i felt like i lost a lot of faith in the justice system, especially in maryville. >> reporter: prosecutor robert rice said there wasn't enough evidence. and with that, melinda says the town turned on her daughter and sided with the popular high school football player. >> the stuff on facebook and twitter was just unbelievable, so horrible. things like, "why don't you slit your wrists." >> i saw the bathroom was closed. so i knocked on the door. and there was no answer. so i tried, like, opening the

door, and it was locked. and i just had this, like, weird feeling coming over me. like, "oh no, not this. not this. please don't let it be what it looks like." so i kicked in the door, and she was just, like, laying there unconscious. so -- >> reporter: melinda had seen enough. she moved her family out of maryville, 40 miles away, but the family's troubles followed them. eight months after leaving town, another blow, the house they were trying to sell burned down. an insurance company called it an electrical fire. and all the while daisy's depression deepened. >> i began self-harming, and i was very suicidal. and i really started to hate myself and who i was, and i felt like i was just an ugly person. >> i got to the point that i had her with me every single minute. it was almost like having an infant again. she was in such a dark place. >> reporter: daisy was down, but wouldn't be silenced. she went on a national media campaign. >> i felt really weak, worn down.

>> thank you, both of you, i know it's difficult. >> i think they need to pay at least some punishment, so he can learn. >> reporter: she ignited a firestorm back home. >> the local prosecutor bowed to public pressure. to take a fresh look at the case. after a ten-week investigation, yesterday, the final word. >> today, mr. barnett pled guilty to second-degree. it's a conviction, it will replain on his record. and it will never go away. >> reporter: that was for leaving dazy on her lawn in the cold. no evidence or sexual assault charge. >> there was insufficient evidence to go forward on a

sexual assault. >> prosecutors can only bring charges if they can prove the elements of that charge. so, in this case, prosecutors felt they had insufficient evidence to prove the charge of sexual assault. >> reporter: as for political favoritism? barnett's lawyers said there never was any. >> mr. barnett truly regrets to the actions to which he pled guilty. >> reporter: how did that make you feel if. >> of course, i'm sad and disappointed. but it's better than nothing. >> reporter: but for daisy things may never be resolved. as recently as last monday, she tried to take her own life again, and tonight, she is recovering in a psychiatric hopsital. despite her struggles, her message for other young girls like her remains the same. >> i really wish more girls would tell their story because i

have heard multiple stories. and they've come to me and they've told me their story, and they've told me that they're not brave enough to go through and tell someone about it. and i really wish they would, because they deserve justice just as much as anyone else does. next, party central in l.a. hundreds of strangers crashing and trashing. but tonight, "20/20" is riding with the cops. for all-new kind of party crashing. so, what's in those canisters? so what's better, bigger or smaller? [ all ] bigger! now let's say a friend invites you over and they have a really big, really fun pool. and then another friend invites you over who has a much smaller, less fun pool. which pool would you rather go to? does the big pool have piranhas? i believe so. does it have a dinosaur that can turn into a robot and chop the water like a karate ninja? yeah. wait, what? why would it not? [ male announcer ] it's not complicated. bigger is better. and at&t now covers more than 99% of all americans. ♪ and at&t now covers more than 99% of all americans.

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only at safeway. ingredients for life. tonight here there's a new threat for parents when it comes to teens and drinking and this one involves your home. some parents allow their kids to throw parties and drink when parties are there. but what happens when your teen throws a party and someone tweets about it or puts up a facebook post, hundreds might

show up. tonight, gio benitez at the front door with police, the new party crashers. >> reporter: remember in the movie "mean girls" when lindsay lohan threw a party for a few of her closest friends? >> i don't know you. >> reporter: whom she had never met. now, more than ever, "a few friends," takes on a whole new meaning. seems miley was right on the money. ♪ party in the usa >> reporter: coast to coast, parties have been going viral and spiraling out of control. fueled by facebook, infused by instagram and turbocharged by twitter. in colorado, when a few students gathered for a little pool party they texted their friends, and they texted their friends. and in no time -- >> this is the biggest party i've seen in my entire life. >> reporter: news of the party made a splash on the internet, and so did 500 kids. >> i didn't think it would get that big. >> reporter: as the booze started flowing, the pool

started overflowing, police showed up, and made four arrests. 10 partiers were taken to the hospital. in a boston suburb, jill abbott's 18-year-old son was staying with a neighbor when they were on a vacation in paris. when he went home to feed the cat, police say a few classmates barged into the house, then went on facebook to announce a party. >> one of them put on facebook, call or text rager, for details this number. >> reporter: a hundred teens showed up and caused $40,000 in damage. >> they urinated in every single drawer in my house. >> reporter: but sometimes, it can go from disgusting, to deadly. in houston, texas, an invitation went viral on facebook and twitter, almost 1,000 people showed up at this empty mansion. when police were called to break it up, one partier started shooting, one was dead. so, how do you put a fire like this out? well, you look for the smoke

signals, online, and that's exactly what the los angeles county sheriff's department is doing, creating a specialized unit, the first and only one of its kind. dedicated to watching parties in real time, through social media. lieutenant rod armalin runs this unprecedented team. like the cia that listens for terrorists chatter, this unit listens for dangerous party buzz, hoping to break up the bashes before they get really bad. >> we're on facebook, we're on instagram, we're on twitter, >> reporter: and you're using search terms like "bring you own beer, party tonight, kick back tonight." its new age data mining with e-vites in hand. >> all these are all twitter parties. >> it looks like we got six locations, and we're going to six parties. >> reporter: acting on tips from twitter and facebook, the unit rolls out and we are along for the ride. first stop is advertised on facebook as a birthday party. like, many this invite boasts goodies. code for pot, pills. and the latest party drug of choice, nitrous oxide. the gas that you get in a

dentist office known as noz. we arrive with the team at 8:44. so this is the party that say massive backyard on this facebook post. officers are in there right now checking it out. seeing what's in there, who's in there. >> we found a couple of tanks back there. they basically fill the balloons with the gas, and a balloon will sell anywhere from 5 bucks to 10 bucks a balloon. and then the kids inhale the gas out of the balloons. >> reporter: you can feel the air escape the party when mom comes home and the lieutenant wants to talk. they didn't want to show their faces on national television. >> you have two empty nitrous oxide tanks, you have balloons, and i am telling you that we would be making arrests. >> yeah, i know. >> if those tanks were full. this has to stop, this can't go on. >> reporter: the night is still young. the team is ready to party on. tipped off by social media, the team drops in. nothing's a bigger buzz kill than a bunch of cops. 10:52, the lieutenant and his team arrive, partiers disperse, leaving a

trail of evidence. bottles, jello shots, and a noz tank. the police say they were selling these jello shots to minors inside that party. and it looks like the homeowners are coming here right now, and it looks like the party patrol is getting ready to talk to them. >> they are having a party in the back? yeah, yeah. >> they are selling nitrous oxide and -- >> no, no, no. >> reporter: she doesn't understand why what she thought was to be a small gathering, turned out to be a bash with much more than booze. the officers are telling her that there's nitrous oxide inside this party and she's saying, no, there's no way. >> i didn't believe it. that he showed the flier. >> reporter: the flier, and that's when you said, what it's on the internet. >> yes. he showed that that tank was >> reporter: and your address was on there for everyone to see. they could still come by, right? >> reporter: you might see some more people walking by. >> oh my goodness.

>> reporter: even some of the kids cant believe the party was online. >> it was on the internet. reporter: this party? last stop for the night, call it new age event planning. an invite for a blowout at a zumba studio. these kids paying admission to be out of their parents purview for the night. but they couldn't escape the long arm of lieutenant armalin and his posse. the lieutenant and his unit walked in, didn't like what they saw inside and kicked every body out. as partiers streamed out, they left behind remnants of the night. beer cans, balloons and those noz tanks. party hosts maria and kimberly underestimated the power of social media. did you expect it to get this big? >> um, no. we didn't expect it. >> because it was like 500 people? >> it was? >> oh, my god. >> reporter: and we saw that in each one of these parties so many people were there because

they saw it on social media. >> i mean, effective they invite the entire world, if they choose to. >> reporter: now, lieutenant armalin has an instant message for parents, property owners and party promoters. >> we need the parents to be educated on this. they had no idea that their of "looking for a good deal" and "sheesh, i should've looked some more." ♪ that's why walgreens makes it easy to save even more on your medicare part d prescriptions. ♪ just stop on by and leave all the legwork to us. switch to walgreens today where you could save with copays as low as zero dollars on select medicare part d plans. at the corner of happy and healthy.

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