>> announcer: tonight on "20/20" -- the people next door, this week justin bieber, is he a rotten egg of a neighbor for egging the mansion next door, leading his own house to be searched. when neighbors collide it's all out war. ever want to take a bulldozer to the entire neighborhood? this guy did when a battle over a property line turns ballistic. >> he's totally nuts. >> holy jesus. >> announcer: home wrecker. but who needs a bulldozer when you have got her on tape. >> you've been called america's

nastiest neighbor. >> why do i have to live my life to make them happy. >> announcer: she's not just acting out. she's cursing out. >> she told me i was a [ bleep ]. i said is it illegal to be a [ bleep ]? do you like to watch? these neighborhoods do. it's the latest surveillance on neighborhoods. catching robberies and raccoons. >> is it sort of big brother? >> announcer: the people next door. >> i got to watch all this. >> here's barbara walters. >> good evening. the neighbor from hell, this week according to some, justin bieber, allegedly tossing eggs at a neighbor's house. but the man you are about to meet went straight to a bulldozer to attack the people next door and everything in his path. jay schadler has the unbelievable video to prove it of a one-man derby.

watch for yourself. >> reporter: in the annells mayhem it doesn't get better than this. >> i can't understand you when you are screaming. >> he's smashing my house. >> it's your neighbor? >> neighbors terrorized. >> i'm gladder we're both alive. >> why did you want to move here? >> it's a beautiful place to live. >> we like to fish and the water is right here. >> clinging to the northern shore of the peninsula this is a pit stop for giant oil tankers and a port of call for lumbermen and fishermen.

recently it served as a setting for the mega hit movie twilight. but even if you blended a drop of vampire blood with a dose of that old cut classic, kill dozer, where a bulldozer is possessed by a demon, you would have to see this story. we begin with a vacant modular home dan had. >> he went through the fence, collapsed both their storage buildings. >> it was way over there and it ended up here. that's my house there. >> he's headed towards this small here house and it looks to me like he destroyed that house. >> to say nothing of dan's pick-up truck which in the end could have been carried away with a spatula.

all of this courtesy of a bulldozer driven by an angry logger, their neighbor, barry swegle. i talked with his brother jeff. >> he's actually an easy going guy. >> i'm almost smiling because i'm picturing him up on the dozer knocking down houses as an easy going guy. i'm trying to wrap my head around that. >> well, i guess things change, you know. if somebody makes you mad enough you snap and do things you probably regret. >> yeah. >> i think that's what happened here. he snapped. >> long before barry snapped, crackled and popped his way through this neighborhood -- we have a dozer! >> a man in colorado climbed in an armor clad bulldozer in 2004 and laid waste a good chunk of town of grandby. the man killed himself.

miraculously here, no one was injured. but what set him off? >> it boils down to one of the neighbors and that's dan davis. barry kept telling me that dan was pissing him off doing little things to get him mad. >> they say good fences make good neighbors. not in this case. mr. davis was trying to build a fence between his property and barry swegle's property. >> how far back does that go? >> for years over that fence up there. >> i think he wanted something that didn't belong to him and he was mad because we were fixing it. >> property lines are the most heated dispute between neighbors because people believe in lines and yet both believe the line is different. >> real estate mogul barbara corcoran has seen so many of these situations spin out of control. >> it takes two to fight and if either of them had been

intelligent, the whole thing could have not happened. >> taking the longview, as inou property and barry's driveway. you can see how barry's trucks and heavy equipment bore a path across dan's property. >> his only way in and out was through this road. you need a pretty good sized entrance to make the turn. >> my place was surveyed when i bought it. then i had it surveyed again so i could put a fence up. i thought i'm going to put my fence up there. >> barry didn't want that. with the fence up you're going to have to drive a little slower. you can do it just fine but you got to go slower. >> he would knock it down and we would put it back. he would knock it down and we would go put it back. >> dan davis was not about to be intimidated, but he's 75 with a bum knee and bad eyesight. by contrast barry swegle is a 245 pound paul bunion in love

with machinery. rusting carcasses of his old toys line his driveway. >> if you knew barry, he's a big boy. >> auto glass repairman, jason bondy. >> i'm 300 pounds and i would be kind of scared of him if he went sideways. >> jason says there was something else that made barry dangerous. >> he didn't know me from adam and flat out said that he had a meth problem and he was trying to get help and nobody would help him. >> both barry's brother and local authorities confirmed barry had a history of drug use and a penchant for paranoia. >> he said we were the leaders of a gang that was coming through our property and -- >> stealing his fuel, his batteries. >> stealing fuel and batteries. >> he thought that this mobile home had been surveying him in there, somebody was watching him. >> even law enforcement had a

growing file on the odd fellow living at 2313 east ryan drive. >> he was out here with his backhoe and excavator digging up his yard, digging 20 foot holes in his driveway behind us. >> just digging holes? >> just digging holes. >> barry's bizarre acts of pa paranoia came to a full boil when he turned his attention back to his neighbor dan and that fence of his. >> he was bouncing up and down giving me the finger. the first time in my life i ever did it, i gave him the finger back and he drove off. then i called the sheriff. >> communications, susan. >> my name is dan davis. >> i said something is going to happen here. i said barry has been tearing our fence down for 10 to 12 years and i think he's going to do it again. >> he just drove by here and

harassed the hell out of me. >> two and a half hours later basically things hit the fan. >> he's smashing my house. >> smashing your house? >> when we come back, forget the fence. he's going to try to take out the whole neighborhood. >> now he's starting the neighbor's place now. >> holy jesus, i got to watch all of this. >> you will, too. next. that it's given me time toabout reflect on some of life'seen biggest questions. like, if you could save hundreds on car insurance by making one simple call, why wouldn't you make that call? see, the only thing i can think of is that you can't get any... bars. ah, that's better. it's a beautiful view. i wonder if i can see mt. rushmore from here. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. when ordering a bottomless root beer float at red robin, sometimes it's fun to say something like, "and keep them coming!"

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>> announcer: "20/20" returns. once again jay schadler. >> reporter: dan davis and his neighbor barry swegle have been skirmishing over this fence for years. >> he'd knock it down. we'd go put it back. he'd knock it down and we'd go put it back. >> reporter: so like a run-up to a miniature war, dan drew his red line in the sand, literally, with spray paint. rightly guessing the squabble was about to turn nuclear -- >> so i drove down to rite aid, got two disposable cameras, came back, because i just had the feeling he was going to do something.

>> reporter: dan's no photographer, in fact he's all thumbs, but still managed to fired off these shots just as barry's dozer is about to take its first bite. >> and, i heard the bulldozer start. he was coming up our fence line. and, immediately he took and started tearing out my retainer wall, he took my fence out up to this point. and i thought that's exactly where he's going to stop, but he didn't. ♪ >> reporter: oh no -- barry is just getting started. >> what shocked me was when that house started moving. it was -- and i look -- something like that gets my curiosity and i'm interested. >> reporter: who wouldn't be? and thanks to a neighbor"s cell phone video, we have your exclusive ring side seats to barry rumble in the rubble. watch this --- >> he's smashing my house. >> operator: smashing your house? >> my house. he's trashing -- >> reporter: and listen to this

911 call, dan's doing play-by-play of his own catastrophe. >> now he's back and running over my truck. right over my new diesel pickup. right over the top of it. >> it was a hell of a nice pickup. and, when i seen him go over that truck i -- holy jesus! i gotta watch all of this, you know? >> reporter: the method to this madness suggests barry is nothing if not thorough, demolish house-check, crush pickup-check, up next, the power poles. >> you better get some cops up here with some guns because this son of a gun is crazy. >> operator: 911 emergency. >> somebody hit the post. >> operator: somebody did what, i'm sorry, to the power line? >> there's people walking around it. >> what a crazy -- they should shoot that [ bleep ]. >> somebody's gonna shoot him. >> where's the [ bleep ] cops? >> reporter: by the time sheriff's deputies scream onto ryan drive, the electric lines have been flash dancing with

115,000 volts, sparking this exchange. >> he actually ran on top of it. >> that's excellent! >> reporter: when we showed three county linemen our exclusive video -- >> oh, oh! he's got the blade up! >> the blade's up! >> your honor, holy crap!! oh, there's the sparks! >> wow!! >> very dangerous. extremely dangerous. >> reporter: by now the whole neighborhood is in a panic and with very good reason. >> [unintelligible] >> operator: i can't understand you when you're screaming. >> reporter: like a crazed storm trooper, barry has suddenly changed targets, blasting through several back yards and fences. on his way to demolishing, two more neighborhood homes. >> yeah, now he's tearing the neighbor's place down. >> reporter: after punching a hole in the side of a third house he takes aim at the main residence of dan and mary davis. where mary is napping, dozing as it were, on a sofa. >> i was inside, right behind this window almost.

>> what was once a window. >> yeah, and i kept hearing the noise, louder and louder, but i was, you know, about half-asleep. and my dog was acting funny. >> reporter: ernie had every right to feel a little peculiar all hell's breaking lose out there. mary's bedroom takes a direct litment. >> and i see a lady standing in the doorway, and i'm just, like screaming on the top of my lungs, like freaking out, "get out of the house! get out of the house!" >> reporter: next barry takes out mary's office then the living room where she'd been sleeping. on foot now, the deputies race to catch up. >> we were ramped up. there's no two ways about it. >> and the information we're getting of what we're potentially dealing with - - >> yeah. everybody's screaming, screaming at us -- at us to shoot him. >> did you have your guns up on him? >> i had my gun aimed at him, and i got his attention by waving my other, my free hand. he looked, and he immediately surrendered. >> reporter: barry was booked on charges of malicious mischief,

burglary and assault with a bulldozer, which by the way sits in a chain-link jail of its own, seized in evidence but a tad too big for the sheriff's weapons lockup. >> i think this was my first-ever bulldozer-as-weapon-of-choice case. >> reporter: jeff swegle has no doubt his brother is to blame for all this havoc, but wonders if deep down, the temptation to put a bulldozer between you and your troubles isn't something of a universal fantasy. >> you know, sort of in an imaginary way, i think we'd all at times like to have a bulldozer at our disposal. >> well, sure. he did something that a lot of people wanted to do, that just didn't do it because of better judgment. >> yeah. what's it like up there? >> if you've never done it before, it's exciting. >> it's gotta be. >> 'cause nothing can stop you in the right piece of equipment. >> could i learn to operate something like that fairly quickly?

>> sure. yeah. >> reporter: oh, you shouldn't have told me that! we found an old trailer home suitable for demolition, and i took the first few whacks. my technique needs a little work, but i'd be lying if i said it wasn't fun. of course, that's because no one's property or life was on the line, unlike say, sherman's march on atlanta or barry swegle's trek through port angeles. >> the bizarre behavior with the bulldozer, the threat that that poses to public safety. >> reporter: mr. swegle has been in custody since the may melee. he recently was deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial, so the final judgment on his fate is on hold. as for the final tally of damages, it runs like this -- pickup truck $40,000. tractor $16,000.

boat, $8,000. various homes and buildings -- $300,000. images of barry's neighborhood block party -- priceless. >> announcer: next, is this america's most notorious neighbor. >> she told me i was a [ bleep ]. i said is it illegal to be a [ bleep ]. >> are you a [ bleep ]. >> it's not just the neighbor she's turning on. it's us, too. >> you need to move on. that happened in 2010. i've already paid my dues for it. >> announcer: when we return. our 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.

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citi, with you every step of the way. >> announcer: more of the people next door. here's amy robach. reporter: if there were a nasty neighbors hall of fame,

this woman would be a shoo-in. and these videos part of a highlight reel that's earned lori christensen an enduring if unflattering nickname. >> they've called her the neighbor from hell. tonight she is behind bars. >> the nastiest neighbor >> you've been called the neighbor from hell. >> i have. >> are you? >> i don't think so. i think i've just been trying to protect myself of being stalked and being bullied. >> reporter: bullied, she says, by her neighbors greg and kim hoffman, but you won't be surprised to hear that the hoffmans, and the courts, see things quite differently. >> actions speak louder than words. her actions have shown, very simply, that she is the aggressor. >> reporter: flash back to 1999, when lori christensen and her daughter moved into this four bedroom house just across the street from the hoffman family they say things went from cordial to combative six years ago because of a spat between their daughters.

>> immediately she pretty much went off on me. she was yelling and screaming -- >> had she ever screamed at you before? >> no. and, uh, i turned around and started to walk away. >> reporter: but walking away from the wrath of lori christensen wouldn't be that simple, the hoffman's learned that the hard way after kim, a recovering alcoholic suffered a dangerous relapse. >> she collapsed in front of me. >> she collapsed in front of you. >> yeah, i had my son call 911. >> reporter: christensen expressed her condolences in her own special way. >> she starts swearing at me, "you should have died. why don't you drink some more scotch." >> reporter: as the tension escalated, police were called over 100 times to this once quiet neighborhood. >> it took quite a while for, uh, kim and greg hoffman to

convince me this wasn't a he said she said event. >> reporter: police chief lynn banks told them to start videotaping christensen's behavior. what their camera caught would prove to be the game changer in this conflict on the cull du sack. here's lori using a remote control car to simulate drunk driving during jake hoffmans 12th birthday party. >> she started calling me a son of an alcoholic in front of my friends, and it wasn't something my friends were aware of, so it was an embarrassing situation. >> reporter: then there were these giant signs covering christensen's garage with insulting messages. like i saw mommy kissing a breath allieser. but the video that got christensen the most attention was this bizarre mock strip tease. as you might imagine, the hoffmans got a restraining order that barred their neighbor from having any contact with them, but christensen repeatedly violated it -- it got so bad police even

stormed her home to arrest her and she landed in jail -- twice! she lost her government job and was eventually barred from returning to her own home. >> in the spirit of trying to get along with the people who you live across from why not just stop? >> i didn't wanna get -- why do i have to get along? why do i -- >> well, you've been behind bars now because of lot of this. >> why do i have to live my life to make them happy? >> reporter: after unsuccessfully attempting to withdraw her guilty plea on felony charges of violating that restraining order, lori christensen agreed to sit down with us and share her side of the story. >> you wanted to reverse your guilty plea. >> i did. >> why? >> reporter: she argued that the whole hoffman brew ha ha was mostly about jealousy. >> so -- and -- and in fact, that's part of what you assert, that other people were jealous

of you, thehoffmans specifically were jealous of what you had. >> absolutely. >> and you believe that's where this all stems from? >> well, that and greg wanting to have a relationship with me. >> reporter: a relationship? >> it is just another thing that lori creates in order to justify her behavior. it just never existed. >> reporter: did the so called neighbor-from-hell want to deny or at least apologize for some of her alleged behavior? nope. >> kim said that when you told her, "why don't you drink some more scotch," you prefaced it with, "you should have died." >> that was after her kid stole my bike and she came out drunk. and i looked -- >> so -- >> -- at her -- >> -- but is there ever an excuse to say that to someone? >> why not? why not? don't come out -- >> i think most people would say no, especially in front of children. >> you know what? she comes stumblin' out and she's, you know, all [ bleep ] at me. i go, "you know what, during -- it's -- kim. go and drink some more scotch. maybe you'll die." absolutely. >> and you don't feel bad about saying that? >> no. why? because that's was where she was headed. >> reporter: christensen also admits to those garage door signs, but says they weren't all directed at the hoffmans. >> "i saw mommy kissing a breathalyzer." >> no. that was new year's eve. and all the met council buses, that was the logo that year. i have pictures of every metropolitan council bus driving

down the street that said, "i saw mama kissing a breathalyzer." i'm a maad supporter. >> so it wasn't directed at kim hoffman? >> oh, absolutely not. >> i find it hard to believe that that advertising in such a manner is going to be very effective. >> reporter: as for that suggestive driveway dance, lori says she was fed up with greg hoffman constantly videotaping her. >> but that doesn't look bizarre or, as some people have said, crazy -- >> why should a guy that shaves his head be standing across the street video taping me every night? do you not find that bizarre? if the guy wants to sit home and watch me, i'll give you something to record and watch me. >> reporter: at that point, during a break, we got a taste of the chrstensen temper for ourselves. >> move on! it's [ bleep ] sick and tired of listening to the same thing over and over. let's talk about what happened in 2012. the hoffmans -- >> when you get back let's do it. >> reporter: after things settled down, we moved on.

>> there was the moment when police had to break into your home. tap were you thinking -- >> do you know what -- >> -- "worth it." >> -- that was? >> but you were engaging with and you weren't supposed to. and if you weren't -- >> no, i wasn't -- >> -- engaging -- >> [ bleep ] engaging. >> reporter: christensen insists the local police, including chief lynn banks, have had it out for her from the start. >> lynn banks and i have never talked. i have a conversation recorded with lynn banks where she called me a monster. and -- lynn banks never -- >> why do you think she thinks that of you, though? >> why? >> uh-huh. >> because i was a single gal and i was assertive. and she told me i was a [ bleep ]. i says, "is it illegal to be a [ bleep ]?" >> are you a [ bleep ]? >> i can be. i'm assertive. i hold my own. but i'm also very compassionate person. >> sitting in my office, across from me, i said, "lori, why? why can't you just stop this? she looked me right in the eye and said, "it's my lifelong goal to make these people's life miserable." if you are a bully, we are not

going to let you act like that in this community. if you're just plain mean there's going to be consequences. >> reporter: and for christensen those consequences meant 5 more years of probation and 50 hours of community service. she remains barred from her home. it's on the market in case you're interested, but lori's sure not giving it the hard sell. >> how do you describe that neighborhood? >> ghetto. pretty low class. i guess, you know, it's social classes. we were just maybe at a different wrung than the rest of the neighborhood. >> if you could say anything to the hoffmans right now, what would you say to them? >> get a life. leave me alone. move on. move on, greg. it's never gonna happen between us. >> reporter: luckily the hoffmans seem eager to do just that. >> knowing that she is not gonna be back in this neighborhood, it's unbelievable. >> so your long, hard fight, does it feel worth it now? >> absolutely. people shouldn't have to get up

and move, or relocate, because you have a neighbor that is making your life miserable. so, we took our neighborhood back. >> announcer: next -- >> this is not home sweet home. >> announcer: when all else fails, he's the guy who can get a neighborhood peace treaty. >> why is he threatening your dog? >> announcer: most of the time. >> if we could sit down together -- >> absolutely not. >> announcer: can we work his magic here? this is the quicksilver cash back card from capital one. it's not the "limit the cash i earn every month" card. it's not the "i only earn decent rewards at the gas station" card. it's the no-games, no-signing up, everyday-rewarding, kung-fu-fighting, silver-lightning-in-a-bottle, bringing-home-the-bacon cash back card. this is the quicksilver card from capital one. unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere, every single day. so ask yourself, what's in your wallet?

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because of a pre-existing condition. welcome to a new state of health. welcome to covered california. we are your health insurance marketplace. enroll today at coveredca.com. toxic neighbors, to put it politely. so is there any way to get them to change their behavior? one man says he can but it will have to be a miracle worker when you see this neighborhood feuds. hi, jamie, it's bob borzotta

calling, neighbors from hell, how are you? >> reporter: that's bob borzotta, working the phones at the national headquarters of neighbors from hell. >> and, what is it that has brought them to throw things over into your yard? >> reporter: don't tell his wife, she thinks it's just their house. >> why is he threatening your dog? >> reporter: borzotta wrote the book on neighbors from hell. >> what kinds of things qualify somebody to be a, quote, neighbor from hell? >> it starts out with noise. >> is that the number one complaint? >> that is the number one complaint. >> reporter: like these noisy neighbors shouting from the rooftops on the local news in st. louis. >> you're talking out your [ bleep ] kid. >> okay. uh-huh. >> and it's a big one. >> yeah. >> it is a biggie. >> nut job. >> reporter: nuts to soup -- or some kind of grass killing poison brew spewing out the window of that truck. neighbor versus neighbor miami style. rock paper scissors? this one got settled with rocks, eggs, and nails. borzotta agreed to take us on a guided tour of two fresh neighbor from hell hot spots.

first stop, a subdivision in warrenton, missouri. in this corner -- karman and mike lucas and tracy and robert nichols. and just across the cul de sac, their neighbors and sworn enemies, beth and mike kendall. >> okay if i step on your driveway? >> i don't care. >> nosy. >> very un-neighborly. >> very nosy. >> reporter: they say nosy, she says noisy. hear that? beth kendall says it's mike lucas in a high decibel drive-by. assault with a sub-woofer. >> apparently our radio was too loud, and she called the police. >> who exactly gets ticketed here? it's not me. >> reporter: neighbors by chance enemies by choice. >> they don't like the fact that i have called the police on them for things that i know are ordinance violations. >> reporter: to hear the kendalls tell it, their neighbors are a band of suburban outlaws -- billy the kid of the cul de sac. their misdeeds?

a car up on blocks, parking over the sidewalk, and disturbing the peace. not a hanging crime, even in missouri, but it could get you a ticket. >> this sounds like junior high school. >> it is to us on the outside, it is not like that to them, it is very serious business. >> reporter: the kendalls adversaries say they suspect there's a reason tickets are handed out like skittles on halloween. beth kendall is a former town alderman. >> you say you do not wield any political influence over the local authorities. >> no, absolutely not. >> reporter: these neighbors say kendall is the lone ranger when it comes to the law or the lawn. >> she comes to our yard if the grass is so tall with a measuring tape, and has called the police because our grass has been so many inches high. >> reporter: kendall denies she ever measured grass in the neighbors' yards. and even though there are signs in their garage that they might not be big on compromise, they say they're not the bad guys. >> it's all about respecting the law. it's the loud music, it's the --

the speeding up and down the street, it's the loud cars waking me up on saturday mornings. um, it's their dogs running loose. >> reporter: and then the lucas and nichols say, in spite of everything, they're willing to give peace if not quiet a chance -- could there be a missouri compromise? >> if they would communicate with you? >> yes. >> would you be willing to communicate with them? >> yeah. >> and if we could all sit down together i think that would be - >> no absolutely not. i respect these people, but they'll never be on my property or in my home. >> reporter: meanwhile -- >> lets go to ohio. >> reporter: borzotta is off to troy, ohio. where they still talk about this youtube classic -- >> you think you got something on me? my lawyer's got a thing on you! >> reporter: of course most of troy is civilized, even scenic, but those life-like statues could be stand-ins for another pitched neighbor battle over on mayfield drive. >> this is not home sweet home.

it's been horrible. melissa zimmerman says her neighbor from hell lives right across the street. >> that's the neighbor's house, right there? >> this one right here across the street. >> reporter: that is mitch whalen's house. borzotta was polite about the shrubbery. >> very pretty, it's just a little overgrown. >> reporter: zimmerman was not. >> that house reminds me of a haunted house. >> reporter: before and after pictures show over the years whalen's house has undergone some kind of miracle gro transformation. zimmerman could overlook the jack and the beanstalk landscaping, she says, if it weren't for all the other antics she's documented over the years. she says whalen threatened her with a real knife and a pretend gun. >> he's out there. it's threatening. >> reporter: she says her surveillance cameras show whalen has also been shooting a laser beam into her house at night. but what really hurt, a few years ago, she says he began questioning her son's paternity.

she says whalen painted a message on one of his trees. >> it was on the side right facing our front window, in big orange letters, which my son has orange hair, it said, "dna," right on the front of the tree. >> reporter: and she says there's the name calling. >> calling me a [ bleep ], calling me a [ bleep ]. >> reporter: she says you can hear it in this home video from a number of years ago. >> [ bleep ] home. [ bleep ] home. >> what are you doing on my property? >> well, sir, we're on the sidewalk here. >> reporter: borzotta and our crew were shooting when mitch whalen himself emerged from behind the bushes. >> mr. whalen? >> yeah? hi. i'm bob borzotta. i sent you a letter. don't know if you happened to receive it yet. >> reporter: to interrupt for one second. instant replay please -- did you notice the hang time on that handshake? mitch finally did shake, but that was about the only progress. >> what is all this? >> this is for abc news. they follow me.

well mr. whalen i wonder, maybe you'd just want to talk to me by myself? >> yeah, come on up here. >> reporter: borzotta says, off-camera, whalen complained about zimmerman's floodlights, loud parties and even the fact that she's a single mother. >> why is that his business? >> exactly, but he felt that it would be appropriate for him to comment. >> reporter: borzotta says whalen told him he just wants it all to stop. >> mitch repeatedly says to me, all he wants is to be left alone. >> reporter: but, but take a look at this surveillance video, it shows the "20/20" camera view leaving melissa zimmerman's house. less than 60 seconds later, there goes that nasty red laser beam again, shooting from whalen's house into zimmerman's window. >> it's sad to say that i don't even like to come here. this is my home, and i dread having to come in and park in my driveway, and come in the front door. >> why does anybody want to live in that kind of a situation? why wouldn't you want to make

peace? >> it, it's a question for the ages. why people will actually enjoy conflict? >> reporter: borzotta is in touch with those neighbors willing to keep talking. these things can be resolved, he says, but only when both sides compromise or one side moves out. >> it's our single biggest asset, our home. you can't just decide to sell it and move because the person next door is being a pain in the neck. >> right. >> it removes all your escape options. >> it's a horrible thing to go through, having a neighbor from hell. >> oh, please god protect me. >> to find out the top ten ways of handling nasty neighbors, go to our website at abcnews.com/"20/20." we'll be right back. >> announcer: coming up, the neighborhood watch goes high tech, all online, from catching robbers to tossing raccoons. could this be the next facebook? >> there is a potentially slightly creepy aspect to this.

>> announcer: a place to post everyone's business and tell them yours, next, next door that is. hey, i'm headed to mcdonald's -- how do you take your coffee? [ sarah ] with an egg white delight mcmuffin. okay. [ cellphone rings ] [ jill ] 1 cream, 1 sugar, 1 egg white delight mcmuffin. uh-huh. [ jon ] a little sugar and an egg mcmuffin. [ cellphone rings ] [ sighs ] welcome to mcdonald's, how can i help you? [ sam ] large mccafe coffee -- and an egg white delight mcmuffin. [ male announcer ] mcdonald's fresh-brewed mccafe coffee and the freshly-grilled egg white delight mcmuffin. great apart, but amazing together. so, how do you take yours? [ cellphone rings ] there's something for everyone to love at mcdonald's. ♪ to do that, we first had to find the best orange growers.s.s. we logged the miles, put in the hours, tasted a lot of fruit, and shook a lot of hands. but we did it for a reason. so that here you'll find the best oranges we've ever had.

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>> announcer: "20/20" continues with nick watt. reporter: early one wednesday morning surveillance cameras capture the fedex guy dropping a package at cecil lawson's place in san jose, california. >> okay, so you've got fedex guy -- >> can't get the gate open. >> he drops it over -- >> lucky it wasn't fragile. >> inside that package, thermal underwear. now watch this.

seconds later, a guy pulls up in a porsche and purloins those underpants. >> that's pretty brazen. >> somebody driving a $70,000 porsche is stealing thermal underwear from your driveway? >> it was right there. the proof was in the pudding. >> a week later, replacement underwear arrives and, bang, the same guy snaffles it. cecil posted his video evidence on a new social network called nextdoor.com. >> so we have a video. everybody started actively looking for the guy. >> a neighborhood manhunt, triggered with the click of a mouse. >> this incident with, um, cecil's stolen, uh, thermal underwear, you broke the case. >> well, i guess. i guess. um. yeah. [ laughs ] i just followed him to, um, the light and took a picture of his license plate. >> reporter: the they are thermal underwear bandit is now facing hard time.

and this sleepy subdivision could be the blueprint for the neighborhood of our future. bristling with cameras -- united online -- guard dogs not required. >> i feel you are under less scrutiny if you were in north korea. >> yeah, no. [laughs] well, there is, again there's a tradeoff between, you know, keeping yourself safe and having a police state. you want to feel empowered. had. >> reporter: and this nextdoor.com thing is spreading like crabgrass. currently sprouting in nearly 20,000 neighborhoods, growing its membership by 500% in the past year. ok, so what is it exactly? well, think of nextdoor.com like a hyper local facebook for your 'hood. only locals can join. only locals can access the site. you post comments and videos, but unlike facebook's frivolity it's more local events and recommendations for dentists or electricians. this guy in san francisco posted video of a raccoon attacking his dog to warn neighbors.

another guy in alaska posted a video of a neighbor's house on fire. and as we've seen in san jose, a lot of people use nextdoor.com to talk about crime. >> the police no longer are responding to burglar alarms. >> dave coburn is what they call the 'lead' of the local nextdoor.com. he's eager to show off lots more surveillance video shared on the site. >> so this was a neighbor's house, 6:00 in the morning, you can see there's two suspects. one right there and another one coming through the bushes right there. >> bang, he's in the car. >> he's in the car, just like that. >> and so then this gets posted on next door, and then everyone in the neighborhood is wary to. >> is on the lookout. >> a jaw-dropping 64% of the people in this neighborhood have signed up. here they are yucking it up at a little soiree round at dave's house, advertised, of course, in the 'events' section on nextdoor.com. most folks here are loving the increased sociability. >> i think it gives you more

information, things that are happening in the neighborhood, so we can watch out for each other. >> i think we had a couple of people who just moved in, who are for whatever reason, reluctant to join. >> they may be carrying on an extramarital affair. >> i don't know -- [ laughs ] >> are there any aspects of it that you don't like? >> i think it feeds paranoia a little bit amongst some of the homeowners. >> we don't like the worry. but we like the preparation. >> nextdoor.com founder nirav tolia thinks he's going to make our world a better place. >> we look at today, where almost thirty percent of americans don't know a single neighbor by name, we ask ourselves, how did that happen? >> i'll tell you the how it happened. people have retreated indoors to watch tv and tool around on the internet. we're more suspicious, we assume our neighbors are weirdos. ironically, nextdoor.com wants to use the technology that drove us indoors to reverse that trend. and these guys have global ambitions. >> ultimately we think that nextdoor is for every neighborhood. >> every neighborhood. >> every single neighborhood. >> nextdoor.com wouldn't be the same without the glorious video sharing.

and it's cameras like this little baby, the dropcam, that are getting all the money shots. dropcam and nextdoor are totally separate companies. but it is the perfect marriage. >> there's a potentially slightly creepy aspect to this. [ laugh ] >> yeah, i supposed there is. >> you can rig a dropcam to be motion activated, to send you a text when it's triggered. you can watch, live, on your phone, from anywhere in the world, what's happening at your house. melissa from seattle was vacationing in idaho when she got a text from the camera in her garage. and this is what she saw, live. >> the first thing i thought was, oh my god, is this real? >> that's real. a real dude in a ski mask in her garage. and that's happening live. >> i immediately called my neighbor. >> reporter: a neighbor who immediately called 911. police arrived and the thief ran off, dropping everything he'd

taken. dropcam won't say how many cameras they sell, but they will say their servers are uploading more video every day than youtube. >> this country's gonna be bristling with cameras recording everything that any of us ever does. >> i think it's ultimately a good thing, because we put the video in control of each individual user. >> ever wondered what your pets get up to when you're not home? now you could know. ever wondered whose dog is pooping in your yard? now you can catch the little rascal. ever wondered why a package is damaged? that's pretty good evidence right there. >> do you have these cameras rolling constantly? >> all the time. >> reporter: this is our future. we could all end up like these good people of san jose. a virtual neighborhood watch. with video evidence of your every move.

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