there was a whole double life. a secret life your son was leading. >> tonight on an all-new "20/20." the secret world of college you've never seen. how her honor student son went from using drugs to becoming a snitch on campus that everyone knew about. to ending up dead. >> i thought, you killed my son. you killed my son. >> his mom, only finding out the truth when a student started snooping around. secret society. plus, campus sexual assaults

are all over the news. but how hard is it when the attacker is your boyfriend? >> how could he do that? >> it's crazy. i can't believe it happened. >> how she lured him back to get his confession on-tape. >> what are your college kids doing? tonight, campus confidential. here now, elizabeth vargas and david muir. >> good evening. tonight, we dive right into an explosive debate. every parent's fear, what really happens in the dorms at college and at night after classes? >> call it campus confidential. what happens when you realize someone did something horrible

to you while you were sleeping? the girlfriend that records the boyfriend to catch him. here's cecilia vega. >> reporter: twenty-two-year-old niki genthe is used to expressing her emotions through music. >> if i'm upset, i can play an angry piece. or, if i'm sad, then i can play something more sad. music has always been there for me. >> reporter: but tonight, she's coming forward with a story you rarely hear. talking with us about the most painful experience of her life. >> what's it feel like for you to be at this campus still? >> it's sad, because i have so many memories of him and being here. >> reporter: these majestic mountains surround ashland, oregon. just north of the california border, this small town with a hippie vibe prides itself on beer brewed locally, and a shakespeare festival known around the world. and right in the heart of town sits southern oregon university -- with its 6,000 students and prominent theater and music programs.

>> s.o.u. has a beautiful campus. it's very much a part of the life of the town. >> reporter: but recently, this little known college campus is making a name for itself for the way it's handling a nationwide problem. >> accusations of campus rape. >> into sexual assault. >> are increasing nationwide. >> reporter: coming at a time when nearly 100 universities across the country are under federal investigation for mishandling allegations of sexual assault by students. >> an estimated one in five women has been sexually assaulted during her college years. >> reporter: a startling statistic that for niki is more than just a number -- it's her story. as a sophomore music major, she meets vocalist luke smith, also in the program. >> we met when luke was a freshman and i was a sophomore here, at s.o.u. and we just -- we clicked right away. we had similar personalities, being dorky, loud and silly and maybe a little misunderstood.

our friendship blossomed, and we became best friends very quickly. >> reporter: and then, it became romantic? you started dating -- >> yeah. yes, it did. it was a surprise, i think, for both of us. >> reporter: months passed. the relationship progressed and became sexual. but soon luke was pressing niki to engage in a type of sex that she wasn't comfortable with. and one night last spring, she's sleeping over at luke's apartment. tell me what you remember about that night. >> we had tried watching a movie. i wasn't able to fall asleep. and so i decided to take a sleeping pill. and he knew i was taking it. it wasn't working, and it was getting really late. and i had class early in the morning. so i took a second one, and i fell asleep really quickly. but i -- i remember dozing off, and he was still awake, and he had started giving me a massage, which he did sometimes, because it helped me relax. i can remember hearing the rustling of his bedsheets. >> reporter: niki says she remembers drifting in and out of

consciousness. >> i remember being groggy and waking up once. and he was sort of sitting up, and it looked like he had just moved away really quickly or something. but i was still so groggy, and i was so out of it. and i just asked him, you know, "what's going on?" and he immediately said, "you were having a night terror. you can go back to sleep. it's okay." >> reporter: her memories are foggy, but niki does recall one thing clearly. the feeling of luke pulling down on the waistband of her sweatpants. what he did next woke her abruptly. >> he flew off the bed. and he jumped into the corner of his room. i was still so groggy and confused. and i just -- i said, "did something happen? i'm sorry. i'm really confused. i feel like something happened." and he immediately denied it. it was visceral, his response. he said, "no, and how dare you accuse me of something like that?" >> reporter: luke had sodomized her. but under the cloud of those

sleeping pills, niki wasn't sure exactly what had taken place. she even apologized to luke. >> i felt guilty for accusing him of something which he was so convincing in saying he hadn't done. >> reporter: in the weeks that followed, their relationship fell apart. after four months of dating, the couple broke up. but niki still struggled with unexplained and mounting anxiety whenever she was around luke. not having yet known what had happened to you. what was that time like for you? >> my brain and my body were processing a trauma that i didn't even fully realize had happened yet. so it was not good. >> reporter: niki says she was suffering from depression. her grades dropped. and she couldn't sleep. hoping to reconcile some of her feelings, niki wrote luke a letter. and she says after reading it to him, luke dropped a bombshell. >> he said, "do you remember that night that you took the sleeping medication," and he said, "well, i lied to you that night.

and while you were sleeping, i took advantage of you." i was touching you inappropriately while you were sleeping. >> reporter: the words were searing, but now niki finally knew what happened that night. it may have explained her feelings of trauma, but it wasn't helping her cope. >> hi. so, that's why i came here to the women's resource center. i walked in and verbatim told them what he told me and they said yes, this is assault, you've been raped. >> reporter: and this is where niki genthe's story is different from those countless other survivors of campus sexual assault. she's referred to angela fleischer -- a confidential advisor, part of an innovative program here called "you have options." >> no person the told about the report. >> reporter: the program lets

the victim make all the choices. will she pursue an investigation? will she help police id and apprehend her attacker? and most importantly, will she play an active role in proving his guilt? >> she was almost immediately ready to seek out support from the police. most survivors are not so quick to say, "yes, i want to seek out the police" as, as nikki was. >> reporter: detective carrie hull met niki and angela at the ashland police department, ushering them into a specially designed interview room decorated to put victims at ease. what was it like walking into the police department to have this conversation? >> so surreal. my hands are sweating. angela went with me, and i met detective carrie hull. and i was so scared, i thought that she was going to start bombarding me with questions. >> so, where do you think would be the best place to start? >> i was really afraid, and then we just had a very natural conversation. and it was slow, and i was in control. >> reporter: but detective hull

knew this would be a challenging case. >> she doesn't even have the memory fully of the assault. you know, there wasn't anybody else in that room except her and luke. >> reporter: that was the key -- luke's earlier admission to nikki would never be enough, so detective hull makes a bold suggestion. >> i instantly thought of a spy movie. and i thought, "this is the weirdest thing i've ever been asked to do." >> reporter: niki was asked to lure her ex-boyfriend back to her apartment to get another confession -- but this time on tape. when we come back -- >> oh, my gosh. don't mess this up. >> watch how niki sets the trap to get him to admit his >> come in. >> next. ♪ ah, push it.

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that's why our plans start at just $35 bucks, after $5 auto pay credit, all in. taxes and fees included. cricket. something to smile about. "20/20" continues. once again, cecilia vega. >> reporter: southern oregon university is known for its theater program, but no one could have written the drama that was about to unfold here in an off-campus apartment.

niki genthe's college boyfriend luke smith admitted to raping her in his bed after she had taken sleeping pills. >> i even don't believe it sometimes, like how could he do that, you know, so, i'm sorry. it's crazy, i can't believe it happened. >> reporter: the music major went to angela fleischer. fleischer is behind a program that is bucking a trend in how colleges deal with campus sexual assault. fleischer says it gives the survivors the control, and it appears to be working. >> the reports for the campus have doubled and i imagine will double yet again this year. students are having the sense that they can trust the system. >> reporter: a system niki says she turned to when she no longer felt safe taking classes with luke, who was still on campus. fleischer brought niki to ashland police detective carrie hull who knew there was one way that could prove what

her ex-boyfriend had done. the police ask you to secretly record luke, and you think what? >> they gave me two options. they said, "we could do this over the phone, we could do it in person. knowing him as well as i did, i -- i had a feeling that he would be suspicious or would be unwilling to -- to talk about those sorts of things over the phone. i knew i had to do it in person. >> sitting down when you're wired is hard. >> reporter: were you scared something could go wrong? >> a little bit. they coached me beforehand. you know, "what if this happens? what if this device goes off? what if he asks if you've gone to the cops? we went through all of it. >> reporter: detective hull says getting a confession on tape avoids the all-too-often "he said, she said" scenario. >> there's no such thing as a he said, she said. a he said, she said case is a poor investigation. >> reporter: two weeks later, and with niki on board, detective hull arrives to set the trap.

>> we came over and put the recording devices, multiple recording devices in the living area that she was the most comfortable with. >> reporter: niki invites luke over to her apartment, telling him she needs closure and wants to talk things out. with the detective sitting in her car outside, niki waits for luke to arrive. >> worried that i would fumble my words. worried that i might just blurt out, "the police are outside!" >> come in. the first thought i had as he walked through the door was, "oh my gosh, don't mess this up!" >> reporter: only five minutes into the conversation niki launches into her script, asking luke to describe what happened the night of the attack. we were in bed together, and what happened after that, because i kind of -- >> you passed out. i wound up getting out the lotion that we had been using. >> the vanilla one? >> yeah. >> i remember that.

>> i rubbed your butt with it for a while. i remember pulling the sweatpants down. >> i remember that. >> reporter: once again luke lays out the graphic details of how he sodomized niki while she slept. >> i remember at first when you woke up being able to convince you it was just like you were having more night terrors. >> i just felt so sick being told exactly what he had done to my body against my will. >> reporter: but this time it didn't end there. during this confession luke revealed something even more horrific, he'd attempted to rape her a second time. >> when i tried again -- >> twice? that was a huge shock to me. because i had only thought that he had raped me once. but, when i fell back to sleep, he raped me again. which is brutal. >> after, you really woke up.

i got freaked out and i was ashamed and also -- >> afraid of being caught. >> yeah, i was afraid. >> reporter: during that conversation that was secretly recorded, we can hear luke apologizing to you. >> with every fiber i have, i am sorry. >> reporter: what do you make of that? >> it's so cruel in a way to hear him say, "i'm sorry," puts this burden on me to forgive someone for something unforgivable. >> reporter: you get all of this information. and you see him walk out the door. is there a sense of -- a part of you that says, "that's the confession. i got it." >> no. no. it was just sad. just sad for this person who has caused me so much pain and has, in that moment, it felt like he had ruined his life in a way. >> reporter: police have what they need, and bring luke down to the ashland police

department, where detective hull is waiting for him. >> do you know the person who would have come forward to me? >> i do. >> and who would that be? >> niki genthe. >> he knew -- he knew what was going on -- very quickly. >> reporter: what was his demeanor like? >> he never tried to act like he didn't do it, which i will say is very rare. this was not a typical interview with somebody that's accused of one of these crimes. >> i sort of lied to her about what was happening to sort of cover my own self and also because i didn't really want to believe that i had really done anything like that to another person. sorry. >> reporter: police arrested luke that day. >> you're under arrest for several things. sodomy one. >> reporter: charging him with three counts of sexual assault. charges that, in the state of oregon, had him facing serious time in prison. >> he would've been looking at 25 years. you know, that was additionally something we talked to niki about in the beginning because she felt very strongly that, you know, this was somebody that she

still cared about. >> reporter: once again, it was niki's call. >> reporter: what did you want to see happen to him? >> i met the d.a., and he asked me what i was thinking. and i looked him right in the eyes and i said, "i don't want to ruin his life, even though he's ruined mine in a way." i decided to request that he not be put in prison. >> reporter: instead he pleaded guilty to one charge of sexual abuse, got three years probation and had to register as a sex offender. he was also expelled from southern oregon university. >> reporter: was that justice for you? >> to be empowered, yes. what's most important is that i got to do what i felt, at the time, was the best thing in my heart of hearts for myself and also for him. >> reporter: but there was an all-too-familiar backlash. after luke's arrest and expulsion, niki says some members of the music program, her friends and classmates, wanted nothing to do with her. >> it was really disheartening and frustrating, because luke

had made a confession. however, no one wanted to admit that it happened. no one wants to admit rape happens. especially when it's someone that you have known and trusted. >> reporter: we reached out to luke through his probation officer, but he did not respond. for niki, this chapter is now closed. she's moving forward and getting back to what brought her to this university in the first place. what do you think music has given you through all of this experience? >> music has given me my life back. because i have been through so much pain. and luke has taken so much away from me, and music has given it back. >> music helping her. if you've been the victim of sexual assault, go to our web page. we have resources to help you.

>> and join the conversation on facebook and #abc2020. next, we go campus. >> when we come back, a hockey star turned campus snitch. >> it was a whole double life he was leading. >> but when he turns up dead, why does his mother hold the college accountable? >> don't you know more about what's going on on campus? >> next. ♪ how cool is that? ♪ the 2015 corolla. ♪ toyota. let's go places.

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and now, one mother discovering her son had a double life, and the program that's on many campuses now, maybe even your own children's. but this mother claims this program helped destroy her son. >> reporter: it's parents' weekend at the university of massachusetts amherst. parents reunited with their kids on the quad, tailgating and tours. francesca, a realtor and single mom, is gearing up cooking her

only son's favorite meal, eager for their visit. what were these weekends like? >> a lot of fun. a lot of bonding -- lot of things going on on campus. >> reporter: logan, we're not using his real name, is a junior and the recipient of the prestigious chancellor's scholarship at his dream school. a sprawling mini metropolis of 28,000 students nestled in the hills of new england. >> it was a really nice weekend normally. >> reporter: and by all accounts, this weekend was poised to be on par with those others -- logan even phones his mother the night before her visit to make sure she's keeping a tradition alive. he had a request? >> it was close to 11:30. it was really late. and he said, "mom, can you make lasagna? he told me he couldn't wait to see us. >> reporter: and he sounded absolutely normal? >> yes. >> reporter: the next morning, logan's dad, francesca's ex-husband, is also on his way to amherst. francesca spends the morning

cooking in the kitchen before embarking on the four-hour drive. >> i was about a half hour into the drive and his dad was supposed to meet him after his last class and take him to lunch. and he called me and he said he wasn't where he was supposed to meet him. and i said, "well, did you go over to his job?" he went there. he said, "nobody's seen him." and i told him i just had an awful feeling. and i told him to knock the door down. something's got to be wrong. >> reporter: logan's father knocks down the door. delivers francesca unimaginable news. >> he said, "he's not breathing." he -- that's all he was telling me is he's not breathing. he's blue. he's dead." >> reporter: what did you think had happened to your son?

>> i didn't know. >> reporter: he's a fit, young man, you had just spoken to him. what did you dream had happened to him? >> i had no idea. no clue. did somebody come in? was there an altercation or something? i was sure i was not hearing this right and was hoping it was a nightmare. all i remember is screaming, punching the dashboard and screaming. i was not stopping. all i kept saying is "i have to hug him and let him know that everything's gonna be okay." that's all i kept saying. >> reporter: she is trapped in her car on a seemingly endless drive, the same car that had taken logan to countless sporting events, playdates and pool parties. were there any clues in his past that would have led to this moment? he had been a high school honor student and hockey star. were you one of those proud moms who's always in the stands? >> hockey mom. >> reporter: hockey mom? >> all the way. yeah.

whenever he scored, i'd scream out, "that's my boy. that's my boy." >> reporter: his future so bright at his high school graduation, he's the only boy wearing shades. >> of course he's wearing sunglasses, he has to look cool. >> he was the type that he could go into a test for calculus, not study the night before, and come out with an a-plus. >> reporter: john neuwirth knew logan since elementary school. >> he was beyond personable, he was somebody that you're naturally just drawn to. >> he was the life of the party, he really was. >> reporter: but francesca says she wasn't naïve. she knew her former boy scout son occasionally engaged in typical teenage misbehavior, drinking beer, even smoking pot, now and then. was logan much into partying in high school? >> i'm not sitting there behind rose-colored glasses. i know he's drinking. but that's what teenagers do, not all of 'em, but -- >> reporter: and you never saw anything -- any signs of any problem that would make you more concerned? >> no.

>> reporter: just like so many parents, francesca sent her only child off to college with trepidation, but she could have no idea what lay in store. were you nervous? >> you know, you go from a parent who's completely involved to nothing. because college, they will tell you nothing. you're paying for the college, but you're not part of it. i told him to choose wisely. and i trusted him wholeheartedly. >> reporter: one test of that trust came on winter break freshman year, police arrest logan at a traffic stop after finding a pen with cocaine residue in the trunk of his car. so did you ask him, "are you doing cocaine?" >> yeah. >> reporter: what did he say? >> he said he tried it. >> reporter: and is that when the mom drug lecture came out? >> oh, more than just a lecture, >> reporter: francesca thinks, "problem solved." what she doesn't know is logan's drug use is escalating. and he's gone from doing drugs to actually dealing them.

she has no idea. he's writing notes like this just three months before his untimely death. >> he made a list of what he's grateful for. school, being smart, my good looks, my knowledge, sounds like he was somebody who really knew how lucky he was in life. >> he did. he had it all. >> reporter: so that's why, back on that highway through hell, francesca is left dumbfounded by her son's death, replaying that final conversation in her head, the one where logan is asking for lasagna. little did she know that while they're planning that visit, logan was also expecting a visit from someone else -- and it would be the last person logan would ever see. >> he was waiting. at the exact same time i was talking to him on the phone. >> reporter: next, dirty little secrets of campus life that no parent would ever expect. there was a whole double life that your son was leading.

and it would take a fellow student to uncover them, all buried in hidden texts in logan's phone, revealing how logan gets drawn into a dangerous underworld. what logan would do that would make him an outcast on campus and what would cost him his life. it was literally a voice from the grave. were you shocked by anything that you read in there? >> i was. >> reporter: stay with us. lingering over four coursesn s in florence, celebrating the evening, and in naples, there's always time for dessert introducing the new four course festa italiana starting at $13.99 from olive garden salad and breadsticks, an individual appetizer, one of six irresistible entrees, and a dolcini for dessert four courses starting at just $13.99 as they say in rome, georgia, florence, south carolina, and naples florida we're all family here. at olive garden. the hooverwashes.ate deluxe.

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we return to "20/20"'s campus confidential. once again, elizabeth vargas. >> reporter: it's parents' weekend. strolls on the quad, fall foliage on the bucolic campus, an idyllic scene. but nearby in off-campus housing, a dark scene is unfolding. college junior logan is discovered dead in his apartment. the campus of umass amherst is reeling. vice chancellor for university relations john kennedy remembers the day. to have a death happen, what was that like? >> it's incredibly shocking, it's heartbreaking. logan himself was incredibly well liked. he was a good student. it's stunning when something like this happens. >> reporter: the news spreads like wildfire, and piques the interest of fellow students like

eric bosco, an earnest 21-year-old journalism major who dreams of a career at a big city newspaper. >> there was an e-mail sent out to the campus community telling us that a student had died in his off-campus apartment. but there was no information about how exactly he had died. i had been asking around and began to hear rumors. >> this story published -- >> reporter: eric is taking a class in investigative journalism with professor steve fox. eric and another classmate make the curious case of logan's death their class project. so you started sniffing around. how long did it take to start getting information? >> well, i went down to umass police and requested all documents relevant to his name. >> reporter: did they just hand them over? >> after a few days. you know, they made the copies and they turned everything over, yeah. >> reporter: they are public documents. but it's only this enterprising young reporter who asks to see them. easy to obtain, and impossible to forget. were you shocked by anything that you read in there? >> i was.

>> reporter: in those police records, secrets of a turning point in logan's life. details of a night ten months before his death. at the time, logan is a sophomore living in a dorm. he is dealing drugs and campus police have noticed. so one cold winter's night logan unwittingly sells an undercover officer two tabs of lsd for $20. the gig is up. so an undercover police officer comes in here. >> yep. >> reporter: at night, buys some lsd. >> yep. >> reporter: and they search his room at that point? >> correct. >> reporter: and what do they find? >> they find $700 in cash, an assortment of drugs, and a hypodermic needle. >> reporter: at umass amherst, a discovery like this one would typically lead to arrest, suspension. and according to school policy, a phone call to his parents. but on this night, for logan, campus police choose to do something different, very different. and they made him an offer. what was the offer? >> the offer was they'll drop all charges and they won't

charge him with distributing lsd and for the possession of drugs in his room if he wears a wire and goes, makes a controlled buy from a higher-level dealer on campus. >> reporter: at another dormitory? >> correct. >> reporter: to logan it's not much of a decision. not only does he face charges, he faces having to pay back $40,000 in scholarship money. he takes the deal. police identify him as "confidential informant number eight." that same night, police direct him to contact his former roommate, a friend called "sleepy dan" and arrange to buy $70 worth of lsd. this is where logan then comes. >> yes. >> reporter: after texting sleepy dan. >> yes. >> reporter: and he's wearing a wire. >> when he gets up into the room, he's wearing a wire. he makes the buy. he leaves the room. and detectives swoop in and make the arrest. >> reporter: what timeframe are we talking about? like, how quickly after logan goes in and makes the buy from sleepy dan, in this dormitory -- >> matter of minutes. >> reporter: in a matter of minutes the police are in there right away. >> right.

>> reporter: that must have caused a lot of commotion. it's a crowded dormitory, filled with students. not so confidential. >> i guess not. >> reporter: no secret on campus but a huge secret to logan's mom francesca. she's kept entirely in the dark about just how dark her son's college experience had become. you were the one who told logan's mom that logan had worked as a confidential informant? >> correct. >> reporter: how hard was that to do? >> that was probably the hardest thing i've ever done. she started to cry. it was just a powerful, tragic moment. >> reporter: i'm not sure "j" school, journalism school, actually prepares you for tasks like that. >> i'm not sure anything can prepare you for that. >> i miss him. really miss him. >> reporter: francesca is now determined to help eric. she sends him logan's cracked iphone. what did you find? >> we found a lot. this kid hadn't deleted any text messages for a year and a half or two years that he had the phone. he was able to essentially speak from the grave. >> reporter: logan's texts make clear, taking the deal has taken a toll. the life of the party has become

a campus pariah, a guilt-ridden logan writes a friend -- "kind of hard to live with myself. that was honestly the worst day of my life." he was paying a big price as that rumor got around campus about his role in the arrest of a fellow drug dealer. >> right. >> reporter: a friend texts "you're just a really really selfish [ bleep ]. logan writes "don't hate me, hate the system for making me an offer i couldn't refuse." to another friend, "i'm thinking transfer out of umass though. everyone hates me now." logan confides in his childhood friend john neuwirth. >> he wasn't happy about what he did. he was ashamed. he felt bad. as anybody would. he gets labeled as a snitch, labeled as a rat. it's basically ostracizing him from the community. one month after logan is made confidential informant 8, the police are in touch with logan him again.

they are returning that $700 they took from his dorm room. the news seems to brighten logan's dark mood. in a text logan writes "cops r giving me my money back! and we're in business!" and that he then went and used that money to buy drugs. >> right. >> reporter: money that, had he been arrested and had you been called, he would never have been able to use to purchase drugs. >> no, he wouldn't have been. >> reporter: instead, logan stays at umass, and soon comes the most dire of all of his texts. "i'm a heroin addict," he confesses to a friend. school's out." but he keeps all of this a secret from his mother. at the same time he is asking his mother for lasagna, the night before parents' weekend, ten months after he went undercover, he sends a message to a dealer desperate for a fix -- "my veins are crying. is the traffic going to be bad?" the dealer responds "you will very soon be in the loving

comforting arms of miss h." by the next morning, logan, just 20 years old, is dead. >> reporter: where was logan found? >> in the bathroom. >> reporter: on the floor? >> yes. nearby, there was a spoon and a needle. >> reporter: it is a fate francesca is certain could have been avoided if only she had been given a chance. >> we should have been called, under the policies and procedures of the university. i would have been up there in the middle of the night, bringing him home and finding him help. just knowing there was a syringe, i would have just automatically made an assumption it was heroin. >> reporter: so, do you think he died because he was a confidential informant? >> yes. >> reporter: not because he was a drug addict? >> no. >> reporter: why? it's ten months that passed.

>> if the policies and procedures were adhered to, i would have been alerted to this. he would have gotten help. >> reporter: next, a hockey mom with a power play, on a mission pitting herself against a prestigious university. you don't think these parents have a right to know that their child is being used as a confidential informant? >> well -- >> reporter: while on a college campus? and, who was logan's dealer who dealt him that lethal dose of heroin? the answer is the last thing umass wants to hear tonight. stay with us. go away on its own. so let's do something about it. premarin vaginal cream can help it provides estrogens to help rebuild vaginal tissue and make intercourse more comfortable. premarin vaginal cream treats vaginal changes due to menopause and moderate-to-severe painful intercourse caused by these changes. don't use it if you've had unusual bleeding, breast or uterine cancer, blood clots, liver problems, stroke or heart attack, are allergic to any of its ingredients or think you're pregnant.

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and closeout inventory. the year end clearance sale ends sunday at sleep train. ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ "20/20" continues with campus confidential. here again, elizabeth vargas. >> reporter: the headline, "hooked, terrified, trapped." 21-year-old journalism student eric bosco has scored a major

scoop, his school project is on the front of "the boston globe," blowing the lid off a secret world that few students, or their parents, know exists. >> umass student reportedly used as a drug informant. >> reporter: one hell of a first story for you. >> that's what i've been hearing, yeah. >> reporter: the article leads prosecutors to reopen the investigation into the death of fellow student logan, whose own mother is shocked by what eric's reporting has revealed. agonizing text messages about his descent into drug addiction and his despair about being labeled a snitch and ostracized by his friends. >> the stuff that i read, the things i didn't know, are all in print now for me to see for the first time. >> reporter: and francesca wasn't the only one surprised. while umass amherst has employed a confidential informant program for over a decade, vice chancellor of university relations john kennedy told us, the administration had no idea that logan had been used in such a way.

when did you learn that logan had been a confidential informant? >> we learned through the reporting process. >> reporter: so you didn't know either until a couple students who were in your own journalism school -- says a lot about your journalism school -- started digging around. >> absolutely. >> reporter: but shouldn't you know more about what's going on in your own campus and campus police department? >> this is a campus of 28,000 students. despite anyone's best intentions there are gonna be things that we're just not gonna know until they come to light like this. >> reporter: c.i.s are a surprisingly common and unregulated practice, and umass amherst is not alone in using student c.i.s, but what about that umass policy that parents are supposed to be notified if a student has a drug or alcohol violation? why weren't logan's parents notified? >> the confidentiality of the actual informant was critical to ensuring the safety of the student. >> reporter: you don't think these parents have a right to know that their child is being used as a confidential informant -- >> well --

>> reporter: while on a college campus? >> you make a very good point, elizabeth. and that's why when news of this tragedy came to light we immediately suspended the policy. >> reporter: a lot of people were frankly shocked to hear that this kind of practice went on. it would seem that these kinds of students would be very vulnerable to threats or manipulation. >> you make some very good points. and those points are brought up in the campus review. they make some of the same points that you're making. >> reporter: that these students are vulnerable to manipulation and threat? >> absolutely. >> reporter: the most high-profile example of that manipulation? the case of rachel hoffman. one so shocking it would change the law. "20/20" covered her story in 2008. rachel was a recent graduate of florida state university, when police busted her for selling small amounts of marijuana. just like logan, they made her an offer. your 23-year-old daughter was told, "here's your choice -- five years in prison or be a confidential informant." >> correct.

>> reporter: i don't know who would pick five years in prison. sure enough, rachel agrees to be a c.i. police then send her to meet two big-time drug dealers to buy cocaine, ecstasy and believe it or not a handgun, all while wearing a hidden microphone. it was a major sting. >> rachel had never ever had any training for this. >> reporter: as rachel drove down this deserted road, the targets of the sting discover her wire. they then shoot and kill her with the gun she was supposed to buy. >> it was a tragedy of errors. >> reporter: attorney lance block worked with the hoffmans to pass a florida state law that puts restrictions on c.i. use. it's called rachel's law. and now because of logan's case, they filed a bill to expand the law to include college campuses. >> what happened to rachel and logan was wrong. it's morally wrong. and the system needs to change. >> reporter: in fact, during our interview, vice chancellor john kennedy told us the system is

changing permanently at umass amherst. >> we decided to do away with the use of student confidential informants on this campus. >> reporter: do you think logan would be alive today if he hadn't been used as a confidential informant? >> look, i can't get into the specifics of this case. the district attorney has instructed us not to talk about the specifics of this case because the investigation is an ongoing and pending investigation. >> reporter: but you're changing university policy as a result of this. you must think there's a link between the use of logan as a confidential informant and his death ten months later. >> no, what i would tell you is that the incident that you described, this tragic incident caused us to reexamine the confidential informant policy on campus. >> reporter: as the college re-writes campus policy, a mother is left to wonder what was it all for? a college junior forced to make an agonizing choice lost his life. the charges against sleepy dan, logan's former roommate who he helped the police bust, have since been dismissed.

and the alleged heroin dealer who sold logan that lethal dose remains at large. francesca would use her dead son's phone one last time to text that anonymous dealer a message. you texted that boy, didn't you, that young man? >> yes. >> reporter: what did you say? >> you killed my son. and i hope -- i hope you rot in hell. >> reporter: just this week, "20/20" has learned that phone number belonged to a paid teacher's assistant at umass according to a university directory. he is no longer at the school, and the open investigation is now in the hands of the local district attorney. the dealer, what has happened to him? >> nothing happened to him, as far as i know, nothing. >> reporter: he hasn't been arrested? >> no. >> reporter: why wouldn't they go after a dealer who gave another student a deadly dose of heroin? >> maybe they made him a confidential informant.

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middle of the street. tonight the manhunt for the hit-and-run driver. >> next, a live report for what happene