>> this is "nightline." tonight we are deep inside the investigation three years after the boston marathon attacks. the new dramatic details of one of the most massive man hunts. the night police took down two fuj live brothers and here the 9-1-1 call that helped end a city's nightmare. plus they were disciples of a madman. now decades later, a former mansen flower is up for parole. tonight the victim's families fight back. plus chris brown going raw

in a new film, welcome to my world. will his fans stay royal. but first the "nightline" five. your heart loves omega-3s, but there's a difference between the omega 3 z in fish oil and these in mega red kril oil. it's easy absorbed by your body which makes your heart mega happy. happier still, mega red is proven to improve mega levels in 30 days. the difference is easy to absorb. >> number one, in just sixty-seconds.

good evening. thank you for joining us. as more than 30,000 runners made

their way through boston. moments of hope and victory seen different. tonight deep inside the investigation with dramatic video and new details about how the man hunt ended in a massive shoot out in one man's backyard. here's brian ross. >> reporter: it was a joyous day in boston until that first blast at 2:49. >> what the hell was that? >> reporter: heads turned at the sound of the explosion. >> oh, my god. something blew up. something happened. >> reporter: over the next 12 seconds some will decide to leave the restaurant area, but most will stay, including the richard family, unaware of the second bomb that's planted in a backpack at their feet. [ explosion ]

>> reporter: among the dead, eight-year-old martin richard. >> what should have been joy turned into panic and heart wrenching fear of the worst. >> i saw the fear in people's face. i seen people crying and leaving the scene very much terrorized. i could see it in their face. >> reporter: it was the beginning of five days of terror. and tonight three years later, the fbi and boston police reveal how over the next 102 hours they would trek down those responsible for an attack that scarred the nation. >> i was like, oh my god, we got to get who is responsible for this. it was a puzzle at that point, and we had to slowly piece by piece put it together. >> reporter: the most important piece of the puzzle came from what's called the cart lab at the boston fbi head quarters where agents collected video

from along the race route. this is the man they were looking for, but during that first day, could not spot. first slow down, zoom in, play again, no luck. >> he was hidden in plain sight. >> reporter: only after a spectator sent in this photo on day two did it all come together when agents were able to see the backpack that held the bomb. >> right there. >> reporter: that's the first time? >> that's the first time we saw the pack. we said that's got to be the bomb. we start to look around the bag of who could have been responsible or who it belonged to. >> the man in the white hat. >> reporter: they sent out to backtrack and find the bomber in the white hat. going backwards picked up by the cameras at wall greens. >> we see him coming here. >> reporter: and by the camera by the bank of america. >> the next piece we get is here

at whisky's restaurant. >> reporter: white hat seen with another man wearing a black hat. >> when you saw them here, you knew that was the second person. >> that's where we have black hat and white hat. >> reporter: over the next two days the case stalled. they didn't know what the men were until day four when the fbi made the fateful decision to go public with the surveillance photos. and the bombers rushed to strike again. >> oh, my goodness. all units respond. officer down. officer down. all units. >> there was a radio call that there's an officer down and it turns out it's an mit brother. >> reporter: the brothers approached the officer's squad car. >> they assassinated him in hopes of getting his gun. >> reporter: after failing to get his gun, they run away.

carjacking a vehicle and driving toward watertown. >> the vehicle is moving now, units. they're pinging the vehicle. the vehicle is being pinged. >> reporter: they moved in toward dexter. >> the bad guy is out. arms fully stretched out. >> shots fired at officers. >> i stood here and said this is what i'm going to do. i jumped up, threw it in drive and i just jumped downright here and i was following it. >> reporter: the car is moving? >> the car is moving and i'm following it and shooting between here and using the car as cover. >> i emptied my pistol and his pistol ran out of ammunition. he turned and ran down back onto the street, took a left. i chased after him, and i probably left about four or five feet in the air and came down on my shoulders and tackled him. he had eight bullets in him and

he was fighting us. i had my empty gun. i was trying to knock him out. i hit him as hard as i could, couldn't knock him out. >> the younger tsarnaev runs over his brother just missing the officers. >> all officers respond. we have one body pinned down and another one on the run. shots fired. >> we saw tail lights at that point. >> reporter: with the younger terrorist on the loose, the entire city was shut down on day five. >> that applies here in watertown where we are right now, and at this point all of boston. all of boston. >> everybody off street. let's go. >> we were going to house after house clearing them. people were hearing footsteps in their homes. people were running scared. >> reporter: after a long day the lockdown was called off and boston police officers were about to head home until this.

>> what's the address of your emergency? >> 67 franklin, watertown. >> reporter: the home of 66-year-old david hen berry. a 9-1-1 call being heard here for the first time tonight. >> i have a boat in my yard. there's blood all over the inside. there's a person in the boat. >> are you sure? >> i just looked in the boat. >> hello? >> yeah. >> can you look at the boat without making yourself noticeable? >> i can look at it right now. i'm outside. >> go back inside. >> i can hear -- >> don't put yourself in harm's away. stay away from the boat. >> i'm not going near the boat. i'm absolutely not going near the boat. >> and we were literally the first ones on the boat. i went and said we're already here. >> i'm in the rear of the yard. i got eyes on the boat. >> we got the guy. someone is broken holes in the

roof of the house. >> it looked like he was poking with a gun. >> reporter: on their own hundreds of agents and police responded to the scene, guns drawn. [ gunfire ] >> and i'm like oh, my god. >> shots fired. shots fired. >> reporter: more than 250 shots into the boat itself and dozens more into surrounding homes. this one missed a child's bed. other rounds smashed into walls. vases, furniture at the homes of neighbors. >> hold fire. hold fire. >> i knew we had to stop that firing right away. and right away i'm yelling on my radio and i'm yelling to my guys. hold your fire, hold your fire. >> reporter: only later did police learn that the man in the boat did not have a gun. who fired the first shot? >> we don't know.

i can honestly say, none of our boston guys fired. i have good control over my guys at the scene. >> reporter: they finally surrounded the boat waiting for an fbi hostage rescue team to take over. >> we threw flash gangs and smoke grenades and eventually they negotiated. >> we have movement in the boat. he just sat up. he is moving, flailing about, quite a bit movement. >> they were able to talk him and get him to it up in the boat. and then he was taken into custody 100%, that's our guy. >> reporter: the younger tsarnaev was injured but survived as medics treated him, he asked what happened to his brother who had since died of his injuries. they told him you'll find out soon enough. >> job well done. >> it was the best feeling i've ever had to be out there and to

actually see people clapping for police. it was something that i've never seen. >> reporter: our thanks to brian ross for that report. the full episodes of five days, the hunt for the boston marathon bombers willing released daily across abc news digital platforms. with a mansen murder possibly going through, sharon tate's sister is fighting back. ♪ take on the unexpected. the new 2016 nissan altima. built to stand out. but so we don't have tormin wad to get clean. charmin ultra soft gets you clean without the wasteful wadding. it has comfort cushions you can see that are softer...

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crunch! crave those crazy squares. cinna-milk! four decades after charles manson orchestrated a murder spree, one of his followers is hoping to be released from prison. a look at the cult that shocked the nation, and we hear from the

family of one victim who vows they never will give up the >> reporter: a spree of murders in the summer of ee 69 following charles manson now back in the news again. >> the manson family member is a step closer to being free. >> reporter: because last week a california parole board recommended the release of one convicted of taking part in the murders that marked the unofficial end of the summer of love. >> it's been my impression that the manson family killed the end of the 60s. >> the romance of the hippy era was over. >> it shocked the world. >> reporter: tate's sister sharon was the most famous of the victims, an actress being groomed to be the next merylen

monroe. >> reporter: she starred in valley of the dolls. she was 8 1/2 months pregnant on that night. her husband, an oscar winning director was not at home when four of manson's followers stabbed her to death. one night later six followers slaughtered a wealthy grocery store owner and his wife in their home. the killers scrolling messages in blood on the walls. manson ordered the killings but he wasn't even there. when diane sawyer later asked him why. >> why did you leave, leave them there? >> i keep a close watch on this heart of mine. i walk a line. >> reporter: he quoted johnny cash. >> how old were you when your sister was murdered? >> just before any 17th birthday. >> reporter: so you remember it vividly? >> very vividly. my family never really recovered. >> reporter: at the murder trial, the young manson girls

smiled and giggled, sung songs. they had xs on their foreheads just like manson and showed no signs of remorse. less si van houten was the youngest woman condemned to death, but the death penalty was abolished and it was life in prison. >> reporter: would it have been easier if they were put to death? >> absolutely. you can breathe a sigh of relief and go about your life. >> reporter: instead they've been condemned to regular appearances at the california parole board whenever a member of the manson family comes up. deborah has attended every hearing. >> this has been a life sentence for you as much as for them. >> absolutely correct. >> reporter: every few years like clock work they have all asked for release. >> she was younger than i am now.

i took away all that life. >> reporter: in 1994 she spoke in diane sawyer too. >> reporter: the homecoming princess who sang in the church quire. remember her? >> yeah, a little. a little bit, yeah. >> reporter: they told diane manson brainwashed them, claiming he was inspired by coded messages in the beatles's white album. >> somewhere in one of the songs we were supposed to hear them saying his name or something, and we'd listen to it over and over and over. >> reporter: she was 19 years old at the time of the manson murders. >> that's correct. >> reporter: 22 at the time she was sentenced to death. she's now 66 and supposed to be a model prisoner. isn't it possible she's been reformed? >> i don't believe she's reformed. i sit in the room as close as you and i are, and you can get a

read on people's vibe. >> reporter: 20 times the parole board said no, then last thursday they relented. so it's now up to governor jerry brown. deborah tate has a petition, no parole for manson family.com. she believes the release would open the flood gates. >> they have a new rule in california that allows an inmate if they've done three years of whatever sentence they've been given, they can petition to move their parole day up. guess who that could apply to? >> reporter: when is he up? >> not until he's about 92, but he could apply under the same principles and have full rights to do exactly what they have done. >> reporter: even now there's a website dedicated to manson that posts rants from his phone calls from the state prison. >> i don't exist in good. i don't exist in bad. i've always been both.

>> reporter: she says charles manson is still in touch of the old followers and winning new ones. here's the question. almost 50 years later isn't it possible that some of these people have been reformed? >> i really doubt it. i would love to think that this is a perfect world. but humans are flawed. these are flawed more than others. >> reporter: governor brown's office tells "nightline" it's too early to comment at this time. >> if the same incident happened today, they would be tried and c convicted as domestic terrorists. should people like that be loose on the streets again? i don't think so. next, why forever finger chris brown says he nearly ended it all.

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critics of chris brown now have something knew to choose on. the often troubled entertainer getting personal in a new documentary. to how he thought about ending it all. >> if there was ever a doubt in your mind, chris brown was done and finished, i wouldn't bet on it. >> hoping his fans stay loyal. chris brown isn't running away from his complicated past. in an upcoming documentary, welcome to my life, the 26-year-old artist in a cast of characters dishing about his music, the fame that maybe came too fast. >> he had his kind of finger on the pulse of sound. >> and the incident that almost crushed his career. >> i went from being on top of the world to me -- >> work work. >> after a violent altercation with work singer rihanna, brown was arrested, pled guilty to

assault and was sentenced to probation. rihanna later forgave him. >> i don't hate him. i love and care for him. >> will opening up and being raw help people forgive the singer. >> thank you for watching. turn to abc news tomorrow and we're online at abc.com. good night, america.