tonight on "20/20" -- are you on a road to ruin? reckless truckers, driving when they're dead tired. sometimes killing because of it. the incredible new video of a bus careening through cars, glass and metal flying. tonight, sleeping drivers and speeding truckers. >> this guy is go so fast. we are flying right now trying to catch up. >> see what this trucker caught. >> i'm telling you i'm not safe to drive at the moment. >> we don't have a choice on this. are we clear on that? >> a driver pressured to keep on trucking when he's almost asleep at the wheel.

and think those guardrails are keeping you safe? >> i've lost my legs. >> tonight exposing the controversial design change a company made. did the loss of just one inch lead to the loss of limbs and lives? >> this failed. this is a classic failure. >> met plus a sniper on the loose during rush hour. your life in your hands and his just by getting in your car. the frantic manhunt, but what they found couldn't have been more shocking. license to kill. tonight, are you driving on a road to ruin? >> oh, damn! >> here's david muir and elizabeth vargas. >> good evening on this saturday. as you head out this weekend with your family perhaps running some errands, will you be driving down a road to ruin because of the trucks barrelling past you, the speeding drivers, or drivers asleep at the wheel?

>> in fact, sleepy drivers are to blame for one out of every five car accidents, killing 7500 people and seriously injuring 50,000 every year. we saw it in a stunning video in a trial weeks ago. a bus driver in michigan nodding off and then plowing into several cars. here's melvin gordatt gutman on >> it's harrowing to watch. this bus driver falling asleep and then wakening to a nightmare. it's trucks, not buses we're chasing on this day. out with the ohio state highway patrol using air power to declare war on reckless truckers. at 3500 feet above i-70, sergeant george king uses a stop watch and white marks on the road to spot violators. >> following too close. it's going too fast. it looks like an oversized load. >> king zeros in on this 18-wheeler barrelling down the

highway at 77 miles per hour and tailgating a car. >> that's a real dark blue white box. following too close, .34 seconds. >> reporter: i'm with the ground unit as the sergeant gets his crews into gear. >> this guy is go so far. we are flying trying to catch up. you can see how fast we're following these trucks. >> the trucker pulls over. he's not happy. >> i'm matt from abc news. >> i don't need to be in the news. >> they caught you going 77 miles per hour and tailgating behind a car. do you think it's hazardous? >> yeah. >> we're trying to catch up with a semitrailer up ahead. the cops nailed this trucker for tailgating. he's pulled over and cited. >> did you notice that you were too close to someone? >> sometimes you have to do it when you're passing another car. >> reporter: tracking down on potentially dangerous truckers is a top priority. in 2012 alone there were more than 330,000 large truck crashes

in the u.s., nearly 4,000 fatalities and more than 100,000 injuries. in most cases, it's the truck driver who survivors. you have a truck that weighs 80,000 pounds. what happens when it collides with anything else? >> it's controversyic. >> looks like a bomb went off. >> pretty much. >> a terrible accident, two vehicles in a walmart truck. >> it was this horrifying crash in june that turned the national spotlight on a leading cause of truck crashes, tired drivers. at 1:00 a.m. on the new jersey turnpike, a walmart truck sped through a construction zone going 20 miles over the limit and plowing into the back of three vehicles, including a limo bus carrying a group of comedians. >> comedian tracy morgan in critical condition -- >> superstar comedian tracy morgan and two others were critically injured. another comedian was killed in the crash. 62-year-old james mcnair, long-time friend and mentor to

morgan. >> my dad was big on pictures. you see him with that signature smile in almost every picture. >> reporter: news of the crash ripped a hole in the lives of mcnair's kids. >> it's hard to sometimes even find the words. >> the fact that he's not here anymore, i feel like i lost my best friend. >> reporter: the family was shocked by what they learned about the walmart driver, kevin roper, who has pleaded not guilty to charges related to the crash. turns out that roper had commuted over 700 miles from his home in georgia to the walmart facility in delaware before he even punched in. police say roper had been awake for a full 24 hours when he slammed into morgan's limo, allegedly fueled on a deadly combination of fatigue and velocity. >> he's responsible for it, to be held accountable for it. >> reporter: the question the mcnairs are now asking, walmart,

the largest truck operator in the country, keep proper track of roper's hours. >> they have to make sure they're doing so in a responsible matter and that making sur your drivers are not driving in a way that they're dangerous. >> reporter: walmart says it is cooperating fully in the investigation and if it's determined that our truck caused the accident, walmart will take full responsibility. in fact, just weeks ago, walmart reached an out of court settlement with the mcnair family. dollar amount unknown. the industry trade group maintains that safety is a top priority. >> two-thirds of accidents involving commercial vehicles are actually caused by a vehicle other than the commercial vehicle. >> driving a semi tractor-trailer like this, any small mistake we can take a life. >> reporter: out here on the road, trucker abe says so many

companies put unrelenting pressure on drivers to deliver in time. >> companies will put money ahead of safety. >> reporter: he says he found that out first hand on a frigid february night. the trucker with a spotless record was in the middle of a 400-mile run to wisconsin hauling a load of tomatoes for his company. all of a sudden he says he notices himself drifting dangerously to a type of unconsciousness that truckers call micro sleeping. >> basically your eyes are open. your hands are on the wheel. but your brain shuts off for three to five seconds. >> reporter: he says he was so worried he might cause an accident, he pulled into a truck stop and called the k and b dispatchers. >> we got a bit of a problem, dude. i'm starting to fall asleep going down the road here. >> reporter: get aload of this. the dispatchers, instead of telling him to get some rest, hot potato abe from one dispatcher to another, each of them with the same advice.

>> drink some coffee and then let's -- we don't have a choice on this. get a cup of coffee, walk around the truck, do something. >> i already did that earlier. >> reporter: the last dispatcher is relentless, even refusing to listen to him. >> get out and get some fresh air. what is it, about ten degrees outside? >> yeah. >> that will wake you right up, right? i can get you all fired up. if you want me to make you angry, i can get you woke up that way. >> i knew before i made the phone call i was not moving the truck until i got some sleep. >> i'm telling you i'm not safe to drive. >> we don't have a choice on this. that's -- >> i say i'm not going to hurt somebody. >> you don't need to jump to that. that's dramatic [mute]. >> it was clear at that point he just cared about that load and making that money. >> reporter: the dispatcher still isn't through. listening as he threatens to dock his pay?

>> you wonder where your paycheck went this week? came down to where it went tonight. are we clear? >> yes, we are clear. >> you have a wife at home and she's going to ask you what happened this week. >> reporter: finally they agree to send another driver to rescue the load of tomatoes so this driver can get some sleep. >> you wonder where your paycheck went this week? >> reporter: ultimately they didn't dock the pay. we got a very clear response from the head of the trucking lobby. >> the driver was obviously doing the right thing and the dispatcher was obviously doing the wrong thing. there's just too much at stake when you have a commercial vehicle going down the nation's highways with a fatigued driver. >> reporter: atell la decided to quit k and b. he's still driving a truck. hauling loads between the booming oil shale fields of western pennsylvania. he says he's proud of exposing one of the industry's biggest

dangers and of keeping his record and conscience clean. >> this is the side of trucking that people never see. this is the kind of treatment that drivers have been putting up with with for so long because we know that our jobs are on the line here. next, guardrails on the side of most highways, but are they truly guarding your safety in crashes? >> it essentially was a spear that came through my car. >> did a little known design change cause people to lose their legs? a story we've been reporting for months, tonight, all new developments when road to ruin returns. cottonelle cleanripple texture gets you cleaner, but will it make people confident enough to go commando? how was your wiping experience? ok. why do you think ripples are so great? probably ripples would just clean better. yeah, why? just...would pick up more layers. do you feel confident enough to go commando? go commando...uh...yeah sure. congratulations! i did it! how do you feel? fresh!

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we're going to turn now to those guardrails on highways across the country. they're supposed to help you

surveillaniveillancive a crash little known change severely injured and even killed their loved ones. tonight brand new developments and here's brian ross whose investigation helped put this on the national radar. >> reporter: just after midnight on interstate 40 in north carolina where a guardrail meant to protect almost killed. >> we need to get somebody out here quick. i'm starting to bleed. >> all right, sir. i'm trying to locate you. >> reporter: the motorist hit the guardrail head on after nodding off and was trapped in his car bleeding out. >> i'm going to die. >> we're trying to get you some help. >> reporter: the long steel rail seen in this photo from behind the driver and passenger seats sliced through the suv like a thick, sharp spear, and then cut off his legs. >> i've lost my legs in a wreck. >> are you saying you've lost both your legs, sir? >> yeah. >> reporter: 36-year-old jay tray lore did survive, available

to save his life with a tourniquet but not his legs. >> this one was gone and i had a chance to lose that one, too. >> reporter: it wasn't supposed to happen. this test film from 15 years ago shows how a guardrail is supposed to absorb the impact in a head-on crash at 60 miles per hour. the truck hits a terminal, moves along the guardrail, absorbs the impact and deflecting and spewing the rail off to the side. that's not what happened with jay tray lore. >> if the guardrails done their job, i probably would have walked away gone, damn, i'm an idiot. >> reporter: trailer and others across the country are suing the company who makes the guardrails, trinity of texas. among the allegations, that the company tried to save a few dollars by quietly making some slight changes in the design of what's called the trinity e.t.

plus. >> this is the original five-inch e.t. plus, and this is the modified four-inch e.t. plus. >> and that one you're saying makes a significant difference? >> it makes all the difference in the world. >> this animation shows what lawyers suing trinity say what happened with the original, gliding along the rail and diverting it to the side and what they say can happen with the modified version. the thinner terminal jams up, breaks off, and the rail drives through the vehicle. >> the impact is the guardrail does not have the room to expand like it needs to to save your life. >> a single mom from pennsylvania says she, too, was a victim of the change in the guardrail design which pierced her car and cut off her right leg. >> i didn't understand exactly what had happened. i didn't realize that it essentially was a spear that came through my car. >> reporter: rebecca, among those now suing trinity, became angry and upset as she looked at

the photos from her accident the first time she had seen them. >> i very well could have not walked away from that. wow. that's me. >> reporter: by government estimates, there are some 200,000 of the redesigned guardrail and terminals on highways across the country found in almost every state. >> this rail, this is a classic failure. >> reporter: but trinity never told the federal highway administration about the changes until this man came along, josh herman, the owner of a small competing guardrail company who became entangled in a patent lawsuit with trinity and had access to internal documents. >> you looked at the highway specks submitted to the federal government? >> yes, sir. >> were they in there? >> no, sir. >> reporter: trinity officials call herman a liar by bringing another lawsuit against the company. he says she's trying to prove a

rash of accidents are tied to the changes. >> they call you a sleazy lawyer. >> it's killing people. that's the most important thing here. what i am has no bearing whatsoever. the fact that i found it, let's address that. >> reporter: the company says the changes harmen is talking about were inadvertently omitted when it submitted documents. but an internal company e-mail obtained by abc news shows trinity engineers actually discussed keeping the change secret. quote, i'm feeling that we could make this change with no announcement, end quote. >> even that one-inch change should have been reported? >> absolutely. you have to ask the question, why would you change it? what's the motivation for changing the one inch? >> harmen says it's all about the bottom line, trying to increase profits at trinity, something the company denies. but according to the same internal trinity e-mail, the

engineers calculated that shaving off an inch would save about $2 for each end terminal. that's $50,000 a year and $250,000 in five years by using the four-inch channel, the memo reads. >> that's one of the motivations. the other is reusability and these changes, no question, ruin the terminal where it's not reusable and that means millions to them. >> if you have an accident the highway department has to buy a new one? >> you have to buy a new one. >> reporter: late last year a federal jury in texas found in his favor, agreeing that trinity defrauded the u.s. government when it failed to disclose those modifications. the company was ordered to pay $175 million, an amount that could be tripled. the company president, greg mitchell, left the courthouse refusing to comment. >> nothing at all? >> no. >> reporter: trinity says it will appeal the verdict. in the wake of the verdict, the

number of states which suspended the use, trinity guardrail system, rose to 42. questions were raised in congress about whether the federal highway administration had been toop lenient with trinity. >> i'd like a commitment from you, mr. secretary, that you will work with us on eliminating the all too cozy relationship frankly that exists right now between the federal highway administration and this manufacturer. >> reporter: despite the gruesome accidents, the government had ruled the guardrail system met all federal safety standards. >> brian ross from abc news. >> this is the official who made that decision, nick ar tim vich who had declined to talk with us until we showed up at an industry conference last year. >> why did you make that decision? >> based on the evidence that was presented to us. >> you think they're safe now on the highways? >> as i said, talk to our office of public affairs. >> you can't answer that question? >> no, sir. >> whether they're safe?

>> safety is a relative matter. >> reporter: he's the same official who once expressed concern that it is hard to ignore the fatal results. but after trinity officials asked for what they called an intimate meeting with him, he decided there was no problem with the new guardrail terminals. >> and you feel they're safe? >> they have met the crash testing as required. >> what about the fatal accidents that you have been talking about? >> i really ask you to -- >> can you explain those? >> reporter: all the attention and the verdict in texas led the federal highway administration to order a new set of safety crash tests for the guardrail heads. just this week the government said the trinity system passed all 8 of its tests, even though the 8th and final test appeared to show much more damage to the vehicle than any of the others. >> there is no way this device can be considered to have passed. >> reporter: senator richard blumenthal says he believes the

testing itself was flawed. >> the fact of the matter is that the testing of this device author authored by the federal highway administration has been a sham. >> reporter: trinity said the results vicinity kate its position, that the guardrail system has been and continues to be safe on american roads. but federal officials say even with the new test results, they will continue to investigate what has happened in real world situations, like what happened to rebecca drier, still dealing with the loss of her leg from a guardrail accident. >> they know what's wrong with them. change the heads back to the ones that were safe, the ones that weren't failing, that weren't having these problems. how many more people do you want to lose limbs and go through all of this? next, cars wiped out playing chicken with speeding trains. their close calls and crashes posted online. but what about the train they

never saw coming because their signals and warnings were obscured. >> how can you see a train? >> you can't. >> killer crossing when we come back.

we're going to turn now to what can sometimes be another danger an america's roadways, train crossings. a month ago a commuter train here in new york crashed into a stalled suv on the tracks and killed six people. deborah roberts is here tonight with one family's story that will have us all thinking about the next time we cross the tracks. >> reporter: admit it, you've probably thought about it, maybe even done it. despite the changing bells and those gates and barriers, an inner speed demon can take over, rushing, scrambling, dodging, all with one reckless idea, beating the oncoming train. >> most common thing i see that they hesitate, they don't want to wait, they go around the gates. >> reporter: allen smith has seen it all. a fanatic for trains, he posts some of those daredevils on his youtube site mill len yum force.

all too often, the curious end up like this. though these drivers survived, videos all over the internet paint a dark picture. when a train hits a car, it's like a car hitting a soda can, and it happened again this week. >> oh, my goodness! >> reporter: the third major collision in six weeks in the u.s. when an amtrak train in north carolina spliced a tractor-trailer stuck on the tracks. incredibly no one was killed. government statistics say trains collided with vehicles more than 2,000 times last year. more than 260 killed, another 800 injured. many involving freight trains. >> oh, damn! >> reporter: check out this car chase in utah. >> she's going to hit a train. >> reporter: police couldn't stop this woman, but 8,000 tons of train did. twice. down in houston, this daring

driver makes a last-ditch attempt to cross. and in florida this frantic conductor does his best to stop, to no avail. the driver got out just in time. >> your heart starts beating as the engineer throws the train into emergency and you just know there's going to be a collision and you sit there wondering, why didn't you pay attention to the gates? >> reporter: it's an obvious question, but before you lay the blame on clueless drivers, hit the brakes. just ask betsy duvall. >> it's just full of traffic, just full. >> still haunted by her accident. though you would never miss these tracks during daylight, at night here's what betsy saw. lost and confused, she got stuck on a crossing in rural south carolina. no idea that a train was barrelling down on her. with only seconds to flee, she froze. >> when a realized that there was just no way my car was going to make it off those tracks, i

think i panicked and went into shock. >> reporter: betsy was gripped by what's called the freeze response, a natural reaction where a person under duress is literally paralyzed by fear. thankfully a nearby police officer jumped into action. >> ma'am, get back, ma'am, get back. >> he said you need to get ought now. there's no time, a train is on its way. all i could do is turn and watch it hit my car and shove it down the tracks. just to think in an instant my life could have been taken without any warning. >> thank you! thank you for saving me. >> reporter: here in tempe, arizona, a train had just passed when brandon started to drive across the tracks. he didn't see the second train coming. >> it's just like if somebody were to walk next to your car and hit you with a baseball bat in the head. >> reporter: he was cited for crossing before the arm was fully raised. but the real issue?

>> there was a sensor on the track that stopped working which allowed the arms to raise up when the train was coming through the intersection and it should have been down. >> reporter: a deadly yet common complaint. gates should work like clock work and stay down when trains are approaching, but this man has proved that doesn't always happen. take a look at this video he shot two weeks later. gates down, the train passes. but as soon as the gate raises again, get this, another train. malfunctioning signals are one thing, but in other places, they're out of commission. >> they've installed a set of gates and lights, but there's bags on top of the lights. >> reporter: new lights that aren't activated? unbelievable to vicki and denny moore who are determined to blow the whistle on faulty train crossings. >> as you can see, we've got all this vegetation, all these trees blocking a driver's view. and you're not required to stop at this crossing. >> it only says yield.

>> our contention has always been how can you yield to something that you can't see. >> reporter: which is exactly what happened to vicki moore's 17-year-old son ryan, killed at this crossing, the second such death that month. the moores were awarded $5 million from the train company which later put up these barriers and new signals. >> when you look at these tracks and you look at it today, it looks perfectly safe. >> i get angry. i get angry when i come here now and i see these gates. >> why? >> because had there been gates there the day that our kids came down that hill, the accident would never have happened. >> reporter: their millions went to a foundation, angels on track which hopes to prevent other devastating train collisions. an uphill battle, given that only 35% of crossings have flashing lights and gates according to the government. >> i think it's to the railroad company's advantage to have

these things. >> what they're thinking is they have to handle maintenance on the gates, on the signal systems. they're making less money. >> are you saying the railroad companies would probably just as soon not have to have all this? >> correct. >> the railroad's share own ownersh ownership. why aren't they sharing responsibility for making sure these crossings are safe and protected with gates? >> reporter: a tangled web of bureaucracy that infewer yates the moores. when there's a problem, who's to blame? the railroad or the government? you may not like what this government safety advocate has to say. >> at every crossing there's a blue and white sign and it has a 1-800 number on it. >> if that gate malfunctioned and you were the one driving, it's kind of a little late to make a call. >> no, it isn't. get away from the car and then find a way to contact the railroad or your local police. >> if you make it. >> yes, if you make it. >> reporter: ultimately, your

safety is up to you, so drive carefully and look both ways so you don't end up like this. next, the town that dreaded their commute home because that's when a sniper was picking off cars and drivers. >> no pattern to the victims. >> so how do you get inside the mind of a madman? to catch him. when road to ruin continues. you are loved in so many different ways that's why you're wrapped in the comfort of pampers swaddlers with blanket-like softness and up to 12 hours of protection so all you feel is love. wishing you love, sleep and play. pampers

when you're on the highway it's likely the last thing you're really thinking about is whether someone is targeting your car with a gun looking to do you harm. entire cities, communities, have been terrorized by this. tonight the newest case, a sniper using a highway for target practice. here's jim avila. >> reporter: beneath the bright lights of kansas city, a different kind of neon is about to scare drivers in this large

midwe midwestern off the streets. it's march of last year and a green dodge like this one is gearing up for three weeks mayhem. the car is headed for the highway, and that's bad news for anyone in its way because someone is driving around kansas city who thinks he's got a license to kill. >> drivers on edge tonight after gunfire on two highways. >> reporter: 8:30 on a wednesday evening and a car is headed down interstate 70, the heartland's central east/west artery. the driver hears two loud pops and doesn't think much of it, until blood starts gushing from his leg. >> ten short minutes later it happened again. >> reporter: when it happens again it's 37-year-old salesman tom mcfarland who's under attack. >> and i hear what sounds like would be a rock hit the car.

>> reporter: his ford fusion struck on the passenger side with a bullet lodging in the metal. >> i guess i don't want to say shock but over time it definitely hits you, someone shot a bullet at me as i'm driving down the road. >> reporter: and the bullets keep flying. >> the investigation into that terror fieg rash of highway shootings around kansas city. police saying the number of cars shot is at least up to 20. >> reporter: as motorists are peppered with gunfire, the nation takes notice and the locals take cover. >> i'm driving around this town all the time. my family is. my kids, my grandkids. they got to stop these folks. >> now i'm just like really mad. like who drives by somebody and just shoots at their car? >> people were very afraid because these shootings were happening on suburban highways during rush hour. >> reporter: as the former crime reporter for the kansas city star, christine vendle says this story changed driving patterns

and perceptions. >> people started altering their behavior and avoiding highways. >> these were not targeting shootings, right? >> right. that heightened the fear factor, the randomness with no pattern to the victims. they were different vehicles, different genders of victims, different ages. >> reporter: with a city in panic and a police force baffled, speculation rules the day. >> did detectives feel the pressure? >> in this case it's just so lacking initially with information i think that it would become very frustrating. >> reporter: criminalologist jon hamm illton knows from what he speaks. he spent 27 years with the kansas city police department. he says job one is to find a pattern. >> commonalities of victims and locations, anything where you might be able to see where there's something that you can kind of hone in on. >> i don't travel this road very often. >> reporter: that pattern started to emerge with cases like jenny bowers.

just like tom, she heard that telltale noise. >> it sounded like a giant rock. a bullet dislodged and rolled down into the door panel. >> reporter: like the other victims, this mother of two did not see the shooter, but some eye witnesses say they saw a green dodge neon lurking in the next lane. >> police described the behavior as pacing, like he would pace and loiter in their blind spot so he could see them and get his plan together. >> that's when he's made his decision where he gets the gun ready. >> reporter: after the shots are fired, the gunman uses a low tech but ingenious get away plan. >> in many cases it was also near an exit ramp, right? >> a couple of victims said i was committed to the ramp so i can't very well slow down and maybe chase you because i'm committed to the ramp. >> reporter: that's how the next pattern emerges. >> most of these cases did occur in a pretty similar geographic

area. kansas city used to be called the grand view triangle. >> reporter: the grand view triangle, the a twisted pretzel of a roadway with on ramps and exits glor, the perfect spot for a shooting to play his deadly game, and now the city is on the edge of panic. >> there was a lot of fear. there were people that wouldn't go through the triangle. they would take alternate routs. >> when you find out that it was not isolated, part of a pattern, what is that like? >> then it was a little scarier because i remember the days of the d.c. sniper. >> reporter: that was the teen who terrorized the capital beltway for three weeks back in 2002, shooting from the trunk of a chevy customized to kill. everyone's got questions now and no one has answers. with three drivers wounded and potential targets everywhere, the feds are called in to join the hunt.

>> we had talked to some experts who had speculate that the gunman would end up being a lone male in his 20s. >> reporter: when we return, inside the mind of a highway shooter, a twisted road for sure and where it leads will shock everyone. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ba-da-ba-ba-ba

reward is up and so are the number of cases linked to the roadway shooting investigation. >> reporter: as the mystery of the kansas city highway shooter

deepens, the city's motorts are looking over their shoulders. >> it's been nerve-racking. >> reporter: the shooting is still on the loose and why he is terrorizing this quiet city remains a mystery. >> oftentimes offenders will do some of these kinds of things for a sense of power. these people fear me but they don't know me. until they stop me i'll continue to do this. >> they get a thrill over it by driving around and choosing who will live and who will die. >> reporter: while cops are making some progress, they decide to depth ties an entire community and ask for the public's help. the reward money is up to 10 grand and apparently money does talk. the tips start pouring in. witnesses paint a creepy mysterious description of the shooter. >> the shooter was described as wearing a black hoodie, a grey hoodie, a cloth covering his face and a ski mask at times. >> reporter: a woman calls in

saying she saw that green dodge and she adds a crucial detail. >> she was able to get a full license number and this was a huge break in the case. >> i can imagine there's joy in the squad room. >> reporter: police run down that license number, illinois plate g 865203. it comes back to edward whittaker of illinois, a divorced father of four who claims he recently paid for the plate for a white buick he gave to his son. that's confusing to tops who are searching for a green neon. never theless, they finally have a name. cops say he's 27-year-old mohammed whittaker. this is his profile picture on facebook, cell phone in one hand, energy drink in another. could he also be carrying a 38? >> his high school classmates said he was laid back and decent. >> people have good things to say about him. >> as the profilers predicted,

the suspect is a le in his 20s but he has no violent criminal past. he has a job doing medical billing and collections. according to family members, he's never even fired a gun, much less owned one. >> normal kid, no problems. just like all kids, he wanted a car and his daddy bought him a car. >> reporter: but this normal kid is proving to be a bit of a chameleon. he likes to be called pedro. he signed up for cell phone service using the name mo by the time the cops come up with his address, he's already moved out. yes, dodge seems to be taking on a whole new meaning, as whittaker continues to elude police. but authorities now realize they'll find their man when they can find that car. >> when they got that license plate from the witness from the erratic driver, they plugged it into the system and were able to

get a match in several different areas of the city that eventually led them to mohammed whittaker's residents. >> reporter: so they go high tech, a license plate reader which uses cameras mounted on a patrol car to scan every single license plate it passes. the license plate reader can also be used to go back in time. every time a plate has been captured, the data is stored. license plate g 865203 had been picked up by police about 8 months earlier on a street where whittaker used to live. >> when they were able to drive by they did see that that plate was on another type of car. >> reporter: once on a white buick. a week earlier on a silver chevy. and now, the discovery that breaks the case. the plate is on a third car and bingo, it's a green dodge neon. the suspicious plate is being moved from car to car, and there's another disturbing detail.

>> the officer who worked that area remembered a shooting about six months prior and they remembered that the trajectory of the bullet that ended up in a neighbor's house came from the area of the home where mohammed had lived. >> reporter: the 380 caliber bullet from that crime matched 11 bullets recovered from victims of the highway shooting. more bullets turn up. a motorcyclist who dropped a cell phone is searching for it along a roadway. he kicks a walmart bag and uncovers empty ammo boxes and spent shell casings. >> the fingerprint matches whittaker. >> reporter: the suspect's next destination, the parking lot of a bass pro shop to meet a private gun dealer. plee police say he was out to improve his aim. >> while the police were watching him they saw him trying to buy apparently some better weaponry with a laser site. >> reporter: police watch as he

allegedly stalks potential motorists and then suddenly crosses three lanes of traffic and nearly runs someone off the road. >> they did see him in engaging in increasingly brazen behavior. i don't think they were ready to arrest him but they felt like they had to. >> reporter: in the end there is no struggle, no shoot-out. >> that suspected gunman who terrorized drivers for weeks is now in custody. >> today mohammed whittaker is charged as a criminal defendant in 18 felony charges. >> well, just from looking at him, the first time we all saw him, he seemed very humble and confused and just cast his eyes downward. >> reporter: whittaker denies all charges and in fact says he, too, was a victim of the kansas city highway shooter. inside his home cops say they find drawers holding live rounds of ammo like these, a 380 caliber handgun similar to this one, and in a closet, sunglasses

and black hoodies. what remains a miles an hoysters the shooter are did this in the first place. for tom mcfarland and the others, a sense of relief. they're no longer moving targets, and a sense of pride in the community which demonstrated grace under fire to help nab so-called kansas city highway shooter. i have great credit. how do you know? duh. you know those change, right? tattoos don't change. try credit karma. it's free and you can see what your score is right now. aren't you a little bit curious? i just got my free credit score! credit karma. really free credit scores. really free. i have got to update my ink. did you use the loo paperi did.ere? how was it?

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and that's our program for tonight. thanks so much for watching. i'm elizabeth vargas. >> i'm david muir. for all of us here at "20/20," enjoy the rest of your weekend. we'll see you next week. good night.

jenna: for, like, a graduation trip, i decided i wanted to go hiking. we had no reason to be thinking anything was gonna happen. johan: your kid is in danger... and you have to step in front of it. [ screams ] dr. iwersen: when a grizzly attacks a human, they bite and release, bite and release. jenna, jump! macdonald: it was one of the worst places in the park, they said, that a bear attack could have occurred. [ screaming ] i have never heard screams like that before or since. jenna: i was beyond scared. i just kind of accepted that i was going to die. captions by vitac --