>> tonight on "nightline." breaking news, a malaysia aircraft boeing 777 with 239 people onboard has gone missing. among the passengers, at least four americans, including an infant. losing contact with air traffic control about two hours after takeoff is seen here on this flight path. right now, an urgent search under way. we have the latest. and cowboy crime wave. they're on the run and we're on hunt. it's straight out of the old west. two cowboys who allegedly turned to a life of time. >> in the old days when they found someone stealing cattle and horses they just strung them up. >> the sheriff is on the trail of these suspected cattle rustlers. tonig

tonight the case of snag and wallace.

from new york city, this is "nightline" with cynthia mcfadden. good evening. we begin with breaking news tonight. a malaysia airlines flight with 239 people onboard, including four americans, has gone missing. at this hour, a desperate search is under way for mh flight 370 which departed kuala lumur at 12:41 a.m. local time and was due to land in beijing at 6:30 a.m. air traffic control lost contact with the plane two hours after takeoff. whether the disappearance is due to mechanical problems, pilot error, or even terrorism is yet to be determined. abc's gloria riviera is at the beijing airport with the latest.

>> here at beijing international airport, it was more than four hours before officials announced anyone awaiting word on flight 370 should head back to beijing to meet with representatives from malaysia airlines. we saw many chinese police here dispatched to keep control, as so many wanted answers when they were none. the boeing 777 aircraft, similar to the one pictured here was carrying 239 people from malaysia's capital to beijing. chinese state media reports radar contact with the plane was lost in vietnamese air space. the airline confirms four americans onboard, one of them a child. in total there were 14 different nationalities on the flight. as the day wore on, families in tears, lacking information. the beijing-bound flight departed kuala lumpur was scheduled to land in beijing at 6:30 a.m. it went missing two hours into the flight. at the airport in beijing the

arrivals board listed the flight as delayed. >> this is very rare. for an airplane to disappear is not normal. i think we have at this hour every reason to expect that this is not going to be a good outcome. a big airplane like this, losing radar contact, it usually ends up in tragedy. it would be over water for most of its trip. so there's a chance that this aircraft went down in the water, which is going to make rescue or make the recovery efforts that much harder. >> reporter: malaysian airlines announced the tragedy on its facebook page. the airline's ceo saying, "we deeply regret that we have lost all contact with flight mh 370." this type of jet, the boeing 777 has a nearly spotless safety record since it began flying in 1995. though last summer, it was an asiana airlines boeing 777 that crashed while landing in san francisco, killing three passengers. for"nightline," gloria rivera, abc news, beijing. >> our thanks to gloria rivera.

because flight 370 was a boeing aircraft, it is likely that american aviation authorities and the manufacturer will be involved in some way in the investigation going forward. abc news will of course stay on this developing story and keep you updated with all the latest. now we're moving closer to home, the american west, where things are still more wild than you might realize. police say fugitive cowboys are stealing cattle because, well, they're valuable. and we're there for a bust straight out of a hollywood western, as two suspected crime rings collide. here's abc's nick watt. >> reporter: chief gary flowers is his name, catching cattle thieves is his game. with big eddie, gritty patrick and the boys, they are the cowboy cops. tonight in the case of mccoy's

missing cattle, they are on the hunt for snag and wallace, two cowboys they say have crossed to the dark side. flowers and his men leave no stone unturned in their hunt for the perpetrators of this crime now blighting the west. >> large domestic animal, which is cattle theft. >> reporter: we're talking cattle rustling. a crime straight out of a john wayne western. >> i i don't expect to get there with one single head of beef. >> reporter: and a crime back on the rise in 21st century america. the west is still wild. we're talking "rawhide" meets "breaking bad." >> these outlaws stealing the farm equipment, cattle and stuff are using drugs. >> reporter: yep, he's saying meth addicts are stealing cattle worth around $1,000 each to finance their habits. cattle rustling is a crime now dirtying up what i though was no longer the wild west.

"nightline" obtained this startling surveillance footage of a major cow heist up in missouri. thieves backed a big rig up to the cow pen and, one by one, coaxed the unsuspecting cattle onto the trailer. cows make for easy money. they snatched the whole herd except for this last guy, left mooing for his buddies. >> if it was up to me, i'd fix it so they wouldn't steal any more. cut a hand off or something. >> reporter: yep, that's jet mccoy of "amazing race" fame and a very recent victim of cattle rustlers. being a cowboy is what he is and his daddy before him. have you ever done anything else? >> no, i have never done anything else. i can't see myself doing anything else. >> you don't want to move to new york city and work in fashion? >> no. no. i mean, this is just what i do. >> reporter: it's his cattle

that are missing. they were taken gradually, about 100 head stolen in all. it took a while before mccoy even noticed they were gone. you can't be watching them all the time. >> yeah, you can't be. that's the thing. unless you have a shepherd on them 24/7. >> take a plane up to make sure they hadn't wandered onto neighboring property. to a man like mccoy, $100,000 worth of stolen cattle is serious business. >> it's no surprise to me in the old days when they found somebody stealing cattle and horses they just strung them up. >> reporter: just like in the movie "hang 'em high." these days the penalty is three to ten years in jail for each animal stolen. it's still a serious crime. jerry flowers and his nine agents make up a crack unit dedicated to tracking down cattle thieves. like modern day wyatt earps, these cowboy cops patrol oklahoma's vast prairies and

cattle ranches. >> we're not all hat and no cattle. we're the real deal. >> reporter: when mccoy's cows went missing, flowers and his cattle cops swung into action. >> the criminals that we are arresting out here in these rural crimes in the middle of nowhere are the same criminals they're arresting in cities like oklahoma city and tulsa and los angeles, even new york. they're all criminals. >> reporter: and based on the word around the campfire, they're on the trail of these guys. david wallace and larry smith, aka snag. both work as ranch hands in the area. >> if we can put the pressure on the outlaws down there, somebody will call us and tell us where snag is, get the pressure off of them. that will be the plan, buddy. we'll go and get in the hunt. >> i know both of them. one of the guys worked here on the ranch. >> snag and wallace have been around cattle all their life. and quite frankly, they're pretty good cowboys back in their days. but their downfall was they got strung out on dope. >> reporter: the cops say snag and wallace, known felons, have left a paper trail here at the stockyards. they used their own names to

sell the stolen cattle. chief flowers put his posse on their tails. >> we started to develop information about these two individuals taking cattle and billing them into the livestock market as a token. >> reporter: selling stolen cattle is easier than you might think. markets like this move thousands of head a week, and a lot of them aren't even branded. >> someone gets their cattle stolen, it's hard to identify. >> i've had people call and say, hey, jerry, i had a couple of my steer stolen. what do they look like? well, they're 500-pound black steers. >> special agent patrick. check the motels. >> my guys are putting in 12 to 14 hours a day on this. we're eating on the run. we're not getting any sleep. we're not seeing our families and of course, you know, that's what we get paid to do. >> reporter: finally, a break in the case.

>> apparently there was a blue car sitting there with a paper tag. it had the name david wallace on it. >> that's david wallace. >> take your feet out. do that. turn around right there. >> reporter: for wallace, the jig was up. >> i've been getting up every morning for over 40 years doing this. this right here today is the reason why. >> now david wallace, being in jail, that's excellent news. having a guy roaming the country that's capable of stealing that many cattle kind of makes a fellow nervous. >> we saw the pt cruiser, and he was running 80, 85 miles an hour. he was trying to get away. >> reporter: he could, they say, be cooling those heels in the joint for 25 years if he's convicted. flowers and his men caught up with wallace's rustling partner snag a week later. now both are awaiting trial and have yet to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. >> as long as there are cattle, are people going to try and steal them? >> yes. that's right.

it will never end. it's going to be something that's been here hundreds of years and it's going to stay here. i still enjoy every morning getting up and pulling my boots on and enjoy the thrill of the hunt, going out and chase these outlaws. >> reporter: modern day american heros with more than just a whiff of a bygone era. i'm nick watt for "nightline" in oklahoma. >> our thanks to nick watt for that report. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (bag shaking) (vo) bring the thrill of the catch... straight to their bowl, with friskies seafood sensations. now with new shrimp flavor. friskies. feed the senses.

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people have long been fascinated with the notion of returning from the dead. and abc's new program "resurrection" is giving the whole idea new life. "20/20" co-anchor elizabeth vargas has our story. >> a child mysterious turns up in a rice patty field in china. >> jacob? i'm agent jay martin bellamy. >> but this is no ordinary missing child's case.

>> arcadia? >> 8-year-old jacob says he's from the small town of arcadia. >> my son died 32 years ago. >> but when he rooifs arrives a home of the langstons, there's an incredible twist. >> daddy! >> honey, who is it? jay sob? >> what if someone you lost returned. this is the provocative question at the heart of abc's drama "resurrection." >> they're seeing their own child who died 32 years before. you can imagine the mix, the sort of stew of emotions. you feels by belief, elation, fear. the show attempts to explore an

impossible phenomenon in an impossible way. >> part investigative mystery, part fliler, the thought provoking thriller turns out into a story line that turns chilling, heart warming and deeply philosophical. >> it's a deeply compelling theme because it is universal, it is wish fulfillment. you're constantly being asked to question your assumptions about the show. >> francis fisher plays jacob's mother. of. >> as a person who has lost another beloved, we've all wanted to have just one more day, one more moment to say the things that we wanted to say. >> critics and theologians alike say the buzz over resurrection is no surprise. >> we just want to be around. >> we don't really want to die. >> yes. it's just an avoid dance of the truth of mortality. >> the concept of bodily resurrection, life after death is at the heart of one of the world's oldest and most revered

stories of all time, the story of jesus christ. i traveled to jerusalem a beck cade ago to visit the place where christians believe this world changing phenomenon occurred. >> so this is where the bodies would be laid, basically fit first into -- >> yeah. and then once the body was inside, it would have been sealed up. >> the belief in jesus' resurrection is profound. >> lazareth rocks out of the tomb. >> they're shocked. >> reporter: elijah rose the people from the dead to the hindu concept of reincarnation to the islamic faith looking forward to the day of resurrecti resurrection. >> why are we so obsessed with the concept of resurrection? >> in every story that we tell practically, there's a moment the story leads to some kind of death. but we're not content to end it there.

no story end there. that's where hope looks. the most classic mythological figure is the phoenix. >> from the living board rising from the ashes in the fifth century b.c. to modern times in batman "the dark knight rises." we see resurrection played out in symbolic ways. >> he literally is brought down in kind of a near death experience and has to climb up, to be resurrected to come back and save gotham. >> resurrection even appears in beloved children's stories like harry potter. >> he has this death experience where he's given another chance. he's sort of given a second life. >> hollywood's fascination with the dead returning to life isn't always so redempive. >> there are characters like frankenstein about reanimation. >> it's alive! >> reporter: it's a physical event? >> yeah. however, might not be the same body we had.

there are differences. >> reporter: those differences lead to troubling questions for theologians and artists alike. are we resurrected as our best self with our wounds healed? as an 8-year-old, even if 32 years have passed. >> can i have another grilled cheese? >> of course you can. >> abc's "resurrection" is inspired by a best sells book by jason mott. >> jason had a dream his grandmother who had died years ago suddenly was sitting at the breakfast table when he came down. i was so moved by it i had to adapt it for television. >> i can only assumed he's been coach popped. >> of course he has. >> all i want is the truth. i will need to see records, reports, autopsies. >> even christian believers struggle to understand. >> not even john knew how he got here on this earth. >> the town's pastor endures a crisis of faith. >> we really tackle the nature

of beliefs in this show. what would you do if everything you believed turned out to be wrong. >> ultimately zellman says resurrection is a contempt place about loss, whether we let it heal us or destroy us. >> that boy is ours. >> our boy died 32 years ago. >> there's a lot of overlap between literature and art and film and story telling with bigger questions, spiritual questions. i do think it's healthy and important that we continue through our lives to ask these big questions. >> for "nightline," i'm elizabeth vargas in new york. >> our thanks to elizabeth. resurrection appears this sunday night at 9:00 p.m. eastern. we'll be right back.

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finally tonight, a recap of our top story. the desperate search under way for a malaysia airlines flight gone missing with 239 people on board. at least four americans, including an infant, among them. mh flight 370 departed ckuala lumpur at 12:41 a.m. local time,

due to land in beijing at 6:30 a.m. local time. but a spokesperson confirms the plane lost contact with air traffic control about two hours after takeoff. they now have been without contact for over ten hours. what caused the plane to disappear is still unclear. mechanical failure, pilot error, not even terrorism has yet been ruled out. "good morning america" will have all the latest on the search and rescue efforts in the morning. and as always we are online at abcnews.com. thanks for watching abc news. good night, america. uncle go one,two,one,two,one [uncle]thistwo,one.cotch,okay?

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