on an all new "20/20" -- the story of two wildly different women on two opposite sides of a murder. one a nurse and mother, convicted of killing her boyfriend. >> my whole [ bleep ] life is over. he was my life. >> the other a lawyer, obsessed with proving her innocence. >> if it can happen to someone like kim, it can happen to any one of us. >> tonight "20/20" taking you into that case, from the inside out. with 13 years fighting a murder charge, her life passing her by. >> what did you miss most? >> everything. my kids, my mom and dad. >> will this be her last chance at freedom? >> you're going away for life,

and you're coming out in a pine box. good evening. i'm david muir, and thanks for spending your saturday night right here with us. >> and i'm elizabeth vargas. tonight the waiting game for a woman who has already spent 13 years convicted of a murder she insists she did not commit. seven of those years behind bars for the murder of the man she called her first love. >> some people say she was caught in the classic bind of the person who finds the body, becoming the main suspect. but right here tonight the california innocence project has now joined her team to try to overturn what they say was not just one inadequate trial but two. here's matt gutman. >> reporter: it's 10:00 at night, and while most of us are at home elsa buerkel is at the office. >> my motto is i'm never going to give up. i will find a way. >> reporter: an attorney with the california innocence project, buerkel is so devoted to crusading for her clients' release from prison that their cases literally move her to tears. >> how do you tell someone that

even with that evidence of innocence they're going to die in prison? >> reporter: in this case that someone is kim long, a southern california emergency room nurse, a mother of two little ones, found guilty of savagely killing her live-in boyfriend 13 years ago. >> if it can happen to someone like kim, who is a nurse in the community, who is a mother, who is just your average american family, it could happen to any one of us. and that's what's scary. >> reporter: nurse, mom, daughter, that's the portrait of kim long her attorneys want you to have. but the prosecution has painted long as a drunk, an aspiring biker chick, and brutally violent. >> i'm not that person. i'm not a mean malicious person. >> reporter: so who's the real kim? she agreed to talk to us. so tonight you can form your own opinion. >> now it's about being natural and about conversation and about being you. >> i never care how i look. >> really? >> no. >> reporter: the affable demeanor and self--assured voice of the former nurse a far cry

from the frantic tone you hear in her 911 call from october 6th, 2003. >> oh, my god. i can't look, i can't look-u i can't look, i can't look -- >> reporter: screams of disbelief as kim describes the body of her boyfriend, ozzy kondi, brutally bludgeoned to death on their living room sofa. >> i always have to relive it and it's so hard to do. after 13 years it's just not any easier. to explain what happened. >> reporter: she's certainly seen him in happier times. they first met in the late '80s when she was in middle school in sunny orange county, california. the two shared a passion for a new band called guns n' roses. ♪ whoa, oh, sweet child o'mine >> what drew you to him? >> he was very sweet, very genuine. kindhearted. just loved everybody, loved life. he was the first person i've ever loved. so i think that always sticks with you for the rest of your life. >> reporter: they lost touch

when kim's family moved to corona, an l.a. bedroom community about 25 miles away. it would be nearly a decade before the two lovebirds locked eyes again. it happened out of the blue on a hunch kim says she appeared at ozzy's front door. >> and he had he changed much since you met him first in middle school? >> we just got older. i think it was love at first sight again. we both felt the same way. >> reporter: except for one big difference. when they last saw each other, they were kids. now kim had kids of her own. a 5-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter. ozzy was also a dad and had become something of an artist. his muse, motorcycles. his canvas, polished chrome. and while he dreamed of opening roads, kim fantasize bd a biker wedding. >> now it sounds really stupid. you know. biker wedding. all i wanted was a couple bikes there. i thought it would be cool. >> reporter: october 5th, 2003. a lazy fall sunday. kim's kids are away.

so she and ozzy join some friends for a day of biking and boozing. >> alcohol played a huge role in every aspect of a bad decision that i ever made. >> reporter: by nightfall kim says she's downed as many as 22 drinks. she's lit up like the fourth of july. and ozzy is aggravated as he watches his girlfriend flirt with other guys here at mavericks, a local bar. >> were you a flirt? >> yeah. he just said i was moving about too much, talking to other people, not paying attention to him. >> reporter: the timeline of what follows, much of it hotly contested, will be the key to the case. but all sides agree that once home in the couple's driveway the jealousy and resentment proved to be explosive. >> do you remember the kinds of things you were saying to him? >> you're not working. get out. i could have said deadbeat. i said some pretty mean things to him. he was in between jobs. so i just had a lot of ammunition. >> reporter: fed up, she told him to pack up and get out. there's a witness to all this.

jeff dilz, a friend who'd hung out with them throughout the day. he watches as kim becomes violent, not only hurling insults but anything she can get her hands on. >> yeah. i start throwing my purse at him. i think i swung my helmet. >> reporter: you were having a physical altercation in public with a man who a couple of hours later would wind up dead. looks bad. >> yeah. it does. >> reporter: fearing neighbors might call police, jeff steps in and offers to take kim to his place to cool off. but after they arrive there, things only get hotter. >> kim had another drink. and they decided to get into the hot tub. started fooling around, kissing. then they took things to the bedroom. >> reporter: after their tryst jeff drives kim back home. he says he watched her go inside. >> it's like the hardest part. the door was unlocked. and i walked into the house. and i can -- man. so i can see ozzy laying on the couch. and i called his name.

and i saw a big blood stain on the couch. >> reporter: she says when she sees a gaping gash on his head she freaks out. >> i ran outside for some reason thinking i can catch jeff. and i remember going into the kitchen, getting the phone and calling 911. >> reporter: the call was made at 2:09. >> i just came home. he's bloody. i don't know what's going on. he's still breathing. something's wrong. >> do you think you can give him medical attention? >> i can't give him medical attention. something's wrong with him! >> did you think of rendering first aid, doing anything? >> i'm just panicked and i need somebody to come and help me. >> reporter: after being cooped up in the interrogation room for hours, cops begin to question nurse long. she's still drunk from her 12-hour bender, but she's clearheaded enough to demand some answers. >> what the [ bleep ] happened? >> that's what we're trying to figure out, kim. >> oh, god. i don't understand any of this. >> reporter: she describes that

day's events but is oddly reluctant to specify who she was with. >> who were you riding with? >> friends. >> friends? >> mm-hmm. >> what are their names? >> that doesn't matter. >> reporter: when the interrogation resumes, kim is inconsolable. ozzy's lost his life. she's lost her love. >> do you know how [ bleep ] my life is now? he was it. he was it. i have nothing. we were going to have a biker wedding. everything was perfect. he was my match. >> reporter: well, that depends on your definition of perfect. police are putting the squeeze on kim for killing her mr. right. but were they looking in the wrong place? coming up, the tale of the angry

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>> announcer: "20/20" saturday continues with more of "her last chance." the party is over for kim long, but her quality time with corona police is just getting started. >> my whole [ bleep ] life is over. he was my life. >> reporter: as she bounces off the walls of this interrogation room, her belly still full of booze, she's not just under the influence but under suspicion.

is this the case of if you find the body you're automatically a suspect? >> that's almost automatic in law enforcement. you have to put that person as a potential suspect until you can rule them out. >> reporter: former fbi agent and abc consultant steve gomez has studied the police file. >> they get the autopsy back, and what does it tell them? >> the object that was used to strike ozzy was some type of long object such as a bat or a golf club. >> could a relatively petite, 5'3", 4 woman who weighs 130 pounds contradiction she have done that? >> if she was angry enough, absolutely she could have done this. >> reporter: we return to the house with bill sylvester, an investigator for kim's defense team. >> the crime that occurred was in this room. >> reporter: the current residents allowed us inside. >> so this is very similar to the way it was. and the argument is this is where the suspect was. doing something like this. there were blood spatters found

on every wall in this room. ceiling, the floor. this door. and out this door into the garage. >> reporter: two things are noticeably absent at the scene. for one, the murder weapon, which to this day has never been recovered. and two, despite the bloody crime scene, not a speck of blood was found on the cops' prime suspect, kim long. not on those jeans, that black shirt, that belt. >> can you understand why police found that a little suspicious when you were so clean that something smelled rotten. >> that's just because i wasn't there when it happened. >> reporter: the cops begin to formulate a theory that kim came home still angry, beat ozzy to death, disposed of the murder weapon, and cleaned herself up before dialing 911. but she's got an alibi witness. at least she thought she did. jeff dills. the biker friend who brought her over to his house and into his hot tub that night. >> did anything happen in the jacuzzi? >> no. >> did you and jeff have

anything going on? >> no. no. >> reporter: well, that's not true. and when jeff dills comes in for questioning, his story isn't just different, it's damning. >> did she say anything about not to say anything about the night before? >> she says the cops are going to want to talk to you. i said that's fine, no problem. i said, did you tell them that we [ bleep ]? she says no, i didn't. she said please don't tell them that. >> why lie about having sex with jeff dills? you're possibly a suspect for murder. >> yeah, i was just embarrassed. like who wants to tell them, by the way, i ran off with some other dude. having sex with somebody doesn't make you a murderer. >> reporter: true. but your lover's statements just might. dills continues to bury kim, telling police she had a motive. >> she's man, i could just kick his [ bleep ]. you know, that kind of thing. or i want to kick his [ bleep ]. i don't remember the exact words. >> reporter: and worst of all, opportunity. dills tells cops he dropped kim off back at the house, much earlier than kim claimed. he says he knows because he

checked the clock when he got home. >> i remember noting the time is 1:36. going backwards from 1:36 i had to drop her off between 1:20 and 1:30. >> reporter: long didn't call 911 for help until 2:09 that morning, leaving up to 49 unaccounted minutes with ozzy and according to police giving her ample time to commit the crime and clean herself up. at that moment the cops are convinced they had their killer. did kim long ever give a reasonable explanation for what she may have been doing for 50 minutes in the house? >> she always denied that it was that long. >> reporter: but if kim's a killer, she's a cooperative one. agreeing to take a polygraph test. >> probability of you being deceptive is less than .01%. >> reporter: meaning according to that technician there's virtually no chance she's lying. that doesn't stop the cops from pressing her in a follow-up

interview during which she breaks into hysterics. >> no! >> didn't you tell him to move his stuff out that night? if you love him so much what r. why did you tell ozzy to leave? >> [ bleep ]. [ screaming ] >> did you crack his head open? >> no! no! >> reporter: one month after ozzy's murder a now stoic kim long finds herself under arrest for bludgeoning to death a man who was once her teenage crush. >> i'm going to remain silent. i'm not going to say anything at all until i have a lawyer or attorney with me. >> when you reviewed the police reports, did anything stand out? >> yeah. we were missing something. i remember going to the attorney and say this cannot possibly be the whole case. somebody did it. and the real problem that we have in this case is investigators and the d.a. developed tunnel vision on one suspect. >> reporter: kim's defense team insists that kim shouldn't have been the only suspect. that's because ozzy conde may

have been a great guy but he sure had his share of enemies. here's one of them. >> do you hate this guy? >> i did, yes. >> reporter: meet joe bugarski, i am ex-husband, the father of her son, the man she dropped like a bad habit the moment she got reacquainted with bozzy. >> she kicks you out of the house, brings him in to live with your kids. >> right. and within the same week he moves in. >> reporter: kim's attorneys claim this laid-back construction worker then became an obsessed ku eed cuckold who him after she dumped him. peeping in her windows. >> i was pissed. what kind of guy moves into some house and you're not even divorced? >> well, and if anybody in the world had a motive to kill the man, it's you. >> right. i mean, i'm not the violent type. to that extent to kill someone. but i did not like -- i didn't like the situation.

>> reporter: could joe, kim's ex-husband, be the killer? no way he says. he was home that night with witnesses to prove it. but he's not the only suspect kim floated. >> you had a theory of who did it. >> yes. >> that you said during the interrogation. >> yeah. there was only one person that didn't like us. >> reporter: didn't like? try burning hatred. >> do you have any idea who would have done something to you? who? >> his ex. >> reporter: she's talking about this woman. we've agreed to change her name. we're calling her cynthia. kim's defense team has dubbed her ozzy's jealous ex, a woman scorned. and she calls kim -- >> that woman is the devil's child herself. >> devil's child? >> devil's child. there's no doubt in my mind. i know she killed him. and i know she doesn't even [ bleep ] care. and it makes me sick. >> reporter: cynthia and ozzy were together for eight years. they raised two kids together, one theirs, one hers from a previous relationship. she says those were the good times. >> he liked to spend time with

his family. a lot. he was a wonderful father. >> reporter: but when kim came on the scene, she says the situation turned sour. >> my son had come home, and he told me that he saw kimberly punch ozzy in the face. that was not okay with me. so i stopped ozzy's visitation. >> reporter: from there the drama only escalated. >> she had just made our lives a living hell. >> what did she do? >> she called, she harassed, she threatened. she wanted money from ozzy. it was a constant battle. >> i mean, yeah, i wasn't happy with her. i was pretty pissed off at kim. >> reporter: in the polygraph interview after the murder the cops wanted to know if her hatred for kim extended to ozzy. >> have you made any comments that hey, i wish ozzy were dead? >> i did say thing like that for his girlfriend kim. i said i wish i could kill her. >> reporter: you heard that right. kill kim. but was ozzy also in the crosshairs?

coming up, cynthia takes things into her own hands. into her own hands. how far did she go ♪ strummed guitar you can't experience the canadian rockies through a screen. you have to be here, with us. there's only one way to travel through this natural wonder and get a glimpse of amazing. and that's with a glass of wine in one hand, and a camera in the other, aboard rocky mountaineer. canada's rocky mountains await. call your travel agent or rocky mountaineer for special offers now.

>> announcer: "20/20 saturday" continues with more of "her last chance." just how furious was ozzy's former girlfriend cynthia? well, furious enough that after an argument with ozzy on the phone she'd taken matters into her own hands and headed to their home armed with a sharpie. >> he wasn't even there. i got upset, wrote "deadbeat" across the side of his truck with a permanent marker. >> and you put glue in the door, too, right? >> i did. mm-hmm. sure. >> they didn't think it was very funny. >> not funny on their end, no. >> reporter: but she's not through. after that episode she pens this profanity-laced letter. >> girl, i hope you really love

this guy even though he cheats on you because i promise when i get done with him you'll be supporting his ass forever. you were angry. >> reporter: after that letter ozzy had had enough of her. he filed for a restraining order which included a child custody request. they were not expecting cynthia to take it well. >> we had bats by the door. >> you kept baseball bats by the door. >> yeah. we were ready. >> reporter: did one of those bats become the missing murder weapon in cynthia's hands? ozzy's own family thought it was possible. >> my brother was telling me -- >> reporter: listen to what ozzy's brother told cops the day he was killed. >> she had threatened to kill him and kill kim. she wanted to slice their throats. >> and why did she want to slash his throat, or their throats? >> they were having conflicts. i think she was jealous of kim. >> so you did not yourself take a bat to ozzy's head that night

nor, you're saying, did you hire someone else to do it? >> absolutely not. >> you had nothing to do with -- >> i didn't want ozzy dead. >> did you want her dead? >> no. she's not dead. >> that doesn't mean it succeeded. >> i don't want anybody dead. >> reporter: so whodunit? cynthia the bitter ex-girlfriend? joe the humiliated husband. or kim, the hard-partying nurse and the only one who's been charged. it fell to the jury in judge patrick major's courtroom to sort it all out. >> were you confident that you would get off? >> yeah. >> did you think there's no way they're going to convict me? >> absolutely. >> what gave you most confidence? >> because i was innocent. >> reporter: by the time the trial begins, the prosecution's key witness, biker jeff dills, has died at the helm of his beloved harley. but judge majors rules his testimony from a pretrial hearing can be read to the jury. >> this is a case that literally hinges on the testimony of a guy who actually didn't testify at

trial. are zbl and a man who's dead. >> a man who had died before trial. >> reporter: and despite the defense's attempts to cast suspicion on kim's ex-husband joe bugarski the prosecution calls on him to establish that kim had a history of violence. >> we had some heated arguments when we were together that weren't so pleasant where i went to bed thinking, man, after that argument am i even going to be alive when i wake up? you know. it got pretty bad. >> so you honestly thought that maybe she could -- >> yeah. >> -- kill you in your sleep? >> yeah. >> reporter: kim testifies on her own behalf well enough for that trial to end with a hung jury. nine believed her, but three didn't. so the prosecution comes back a second time. once again bringing up kim's lies to the cops, jeff dills' timeline, and the questions about her clothing. >> and what happened when you got in? >> i seen him on the couch. >> reporter: this time kim's defense pivots to the cynthia theory. but it's an uphill battle.

for one thing, jurors never learned that the results of cynthia's polygraph were inconclusive. >> regarding ozzy, did you plan or arrange with anyone to have him killed? >> no. >> reporter: and then on the stand she said she's got an alibi. she was on a date the night of the murder. dinner and 90 minutes in a room at this days inn. >> the man that i was with testified in court to my whereabouts. i was with him. i was with him until well over midnight. >> reporter: in the end jurors rejected kim's lawyers' efforts to pin ozzy's murder on cynthia. instead on december 31st, 2005 -- >> three, two -- >> reporter: as the ball dropped on 2006 -- >> happy 2006! >> reporter: -- the gavel dropped on kim long. she was found guilty of second-degree murder. >> so when they said that -- found guilty, i hate that image.

i had to get it right. i had to get it right in my head real quick. you know, they're going to put handcuffs on me. you've got to get stoic. you've got to get strong. >> reporter: at sentencing judge patrick majors, who'd also presided over her first trial, delivered two surprise announcements. first, something that would leave even courtroom veterans dumfounded. >> what did the judge said? >> basically that if it had been a bench trial he would have found her not guilty, or acquitted her. >> reporter: and then another stunner. sentencing came to 15 years to life. but allowing her to remain free on bail during her appeal. >> he said i never had a case like kimberly long. and that's when he he let me go, pending my appeal. so i went home. >> reporter: the process takes years. finally, in february 2009 the california supreme court denies kim's final appeal and she's ordered to turn herself in. but nothing in this case is

simple. on the day kim is due to report into prison she disappears. >> how do you turn yourself over to a life sentence? 15 to life means you're going away for life and you're coming out in a pine box. >> reporter: next, kim long

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>> announcer: "20/20" saturday continues, with more of "her last chance." it's time for kim long to go to prison. but instead she's gone camping. ten days later she finally surfaces to face the music. >> why ten days late? >> how do you do it? >> i don't know. i've never done it. >> i know. i didn't know how to give up everything. how do you walk away from your children, your mom, your dad? >> reporter: she swaps those jeans and bikini tops for prison blues, with little white lies to help her grieving parents, roger and darlene, cope.

>> i always reassured my parents i was okay, even if i wasn't. because you know, when your child's not okay, you're not okay. >> right. >> so i faked it a lot. >> we saw her every weekend. so she would be just smiling. and she always, always at the end of each visit, she'd say mom, i'm coming home. i said i know you are. >> did you always believe her, though? >> yes. yes. yes. >> reporter: but right after she arrives she lobs a legal long shot. >> the only thing i do remember was making that first phone call to my mom and asking her if the california innocence project knew i was in prison. >> that was the first thing you said to your mother in your first call? >> do they know i'm here? and are they coming to get me? >> reporter: the california innocence project is a clinic based out of the california western school of law in downtown san diego. its mission, to free wrongfully convicted inmates while training law students. >> this is our war room.

we're down in the trenches. this is the place where the students are making phone calls, tracking down witnesses. this is where it all happens. >> reporter: alyssa bjerkhoel was just a law student when she started shoveling through the endless documents in kim's case. >> when you have a judge saying i don't think the evidence is enough to convict. so there were all these interesting factors that put up a red flag for us that this could be a case of a wrongful conviction. >> reporter: alyssa was on a mission. >> in the beginning when i would visit kim she was very distraught. she was -- i don't know how better to describe this than just like a caged animal trying to get out. i tracked down every single lead i could come up with to figure out who did this crime because a lot of these wrongful convictions people want to know, well, if she didn't do it then who did? >> reporter: alissa hoped the answer might lie at the tip of this cigarette butt found near ozzy's body. >> the cigarette butt revealed unknown male dna. likely male hispanic dna. it doesn't match the victim. it doesn't match kim.

it doesn't match anyone that we know of in this case. >> reporter: looks promising. but alissa can't establish when that butt was left there. could have been days or even weeks before. >> and so i tried as hard as i could to find out who really did this. and never could definitively say it was one person or another. but i did in that process gather enough evidence to show that kim definitively could not have done it. >> reporter: she started with the core of the prosecution's case, the credibility of jeff dills. remember, he's the dead man talking, the biker friend kim hooked up with that fateful night. >> a man who had died before trial. a man who had never been cross-examined thoroughly about this timeline. about how much he drank. about his motivation to distance himself from kim because he was afraid the tops were going to blame the murder on him. >> reporter: dills told the cops he dropped kim off between 1:20 and 1:30 a.m.

the 911 call came in at 2:09. prosecutors asserted that ozzy was killed during that window. but in death ozzy's body held clues which might refute that. details that suggest he may have been killed before kim could have gotten there. when paramedics arrived, they already saw signs that the body was decomposing? >> yeah. >> which means he was dead for how long? >> at least over an hour. at the minimum over app hour. >> and nobody puts her back at the house, the scene of the crime, before 1:20. >> exactly. >> reporter: but get this. no time of death expert was called to testify for the defense. >> why is that? >> it was just an oversight by the defense team at the time. >> reporter: oversight is being polite. alissa thought inept lawyering had done kim in at every turn. for example, the issue of her clothing. experts believe the scene was so bloody the murderer would have

been spattered with blood. at trial prosecutors suggested kim may have changed out of bloody clothing and cleaned up, that's why there wasn't a speck of blood on those jeans, shirt, or belt. but alissa says she can prove kim never changed because jeff dills told the cops she was wearing that same outfit when he dropped her off earlier that night. >> she was wearing a black t-shirt that had some designs on it, and she was wearing blue jeans, kind of low rider blue jeans. and i think she had a black belt on. >> he describes exactly what she's wearing. and it matches exactly what she has on that night. in her police interrogation videos that were collected by the police, that were examined for dna. >> reporter: compiling evidence like that to prove kim's wrongful conviction would take years for alyssa to build. years kim would never get back. >> what did you miss most? >> everything. my life. my kids. my mom and dad.

being a nurse. my patients. going places. the desert. everything. ice. a refrigerator. you miss everything. >> reporter: outside the innocence project starts making noise, organizing this march. 712 miles from san diego to sacramento, to draw attention to kim's case and others like it. >> we're doing a 20-miler through camp pendleton. >> we visit her many times. it's very difficult because i can't bring her home. >> reporter: alissa's first efforts go nowhere, but the long walk to freedom eventually leads all the way up to the california supreme court, and in august 2015 her motion for a new hearing is finally accepted. >> when i got the order which says we think your case has merit, i was elated. >> reporter: next, after a lost decade, her 30s and 40s stuck in

legal purgatory, judgment day for kim. she takes the stand. what will she make of her last chance? - gr"wow" means you savehome of "wo50% or more. there are three stages of wow: denial... - is this price right? - acceptance... and "boooyah." wait for it... "boooyah" has three os.

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the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine. all seems beautiful to me. anything with a screen is a tv. stream 130 live channels, plus 40,000 on demand tv shows and movies, all on the go. you can even download from your x1 dvr and watch it offline.

only xfinity gives you more to stream to any screen. download the xfinity tv app today. >> announcer: "20/20" saturday continues, with more of "her last chance." the stakes couldn't be higher. alissa bjerkhoel is headed to court for a face-off with lady justice. after seven years kim long is getting her shot at freedom. >> what are you thinking going into it? >> i knew we were going to win. i knew the evidence we had was powerful. >> failure number one. failure to consult a time of death expert and present that

defense. >> reporter: this time no jury, just judge patrick majors, who presided over kim's previous two trials. >> good morning, ladies and gentlemen. >> reporter: and two desperate mothers packing the court with emotion. kim's mom is cautious but optimistic. >> this is what we've been waiting for. so i believe she will come home. that's a good victory. for justice. >> reporter: but over the years ozzy's family has converted its suspicions about cynthia to absolute certainty that kim is guilty. >> she killed my son. she killed my child. i have to go to the cement ry and put him in the ground. >> reporter: now for the third time kim puts her hand on the bible and swears to tell the whole truth, something she struggled with. >> what lost this case for the defendant was her credibility. the jury didn't believe her. >> how are you? >> i'm good. >> have you ever threatened to kill ozzy? >> no. >> did he ever threaten to kill

you? >> no. >> did you kill ozzy? >> no, i did not kill him. >> reporter: the prosecution fires straight at kim's achilles heel, her inconsistencies. her lies about among other things hooking up with jeff dills. >> i try to always tell the truth. >> you try always to tell the truth but you lied to the police about your conduct with mr. drills? >> yeah. the sexual conduct, yes. >> reporter: but the defense has an ace to play. that new evidence alissa discovered about the time of ozzy's death and the proof that kim never changed her clothes. >> this attire comes from the jeff dills interview where he describes what miss long was wearing. >> what you were wearing that day? >> i was wearing large sandals that matched my black belt. blue jeans. black shirt with ringlets on it that matched my necklace and my purse. >> reporter: and then the bombshell no one saw coming. the prosecution torpedoing its own case, backing away from its core theory that kim long ditched her bloody clothing

after killing ozzy. >> she never had any blood on her. i'm going to tell you right now, it's not the people's position that she changed her clothing. the people have seen additional evidence here that we weren't aware of before. >> what's amazing about this is it seems the perry mason moment didn't come from the defense, it came from the prosecution itself. >> yeah. in their closing argument they conceded that she did not change her clothes. if she didn't have blood on her clothes, the only reasonable inference is she didn't do it. >> reporter: after a seven-year quest to bring kim home, alissa bjerkhoel is so close she can taste it. >> i am feeling pretty good right now. we've done a ton of work on this case. and it's all coming together and wrapping up tomorrow. >> reporter: the next day, in a crowded courtroom, kim hugs the innocence project lawyers as she steels herself for the judgment. >> in the matter of kimberly long -- >> i was like squeezing kim's arm or her leg or something every time the judge would say something positive.

i think we were both sitting there shaking a little bit. >> reporter: alissa translating the legalese. >> when it actually happened i remember kim being a little confused and being like wait, what's going on? what happened? >> reporter: the judge continues. >> the judgment of conviction is vacated and a new trial will be ordered. >> you're thinking is vacated good or bad? >> i didn't even hear it. i just was waiting for that, and that was never said. and then that's when i was like what is happening? i think even the judge laughed. i'm like, what just happened? >> you're getting a new trial, miss long. >> okay. >> reporter: alissa, hanky in hand, makes up for any shortage of emotion. >> her room is ready. i've always believed that in my heart she would come home. >> everything we uncovered during the case pointed toward her innocence. and this case also demonstrates just a total failure of the criminal justice system. >> reporter: as a small crowd waits outside while kim posts bail, an innocence project

intern has ironically brought a change of clothes. >> we're waiting for kim to get out. i got her these shoes. and got her these jeans. >> it was weird because they brought me clothes and they had bought me heels. and i'm very grateful that they left me in a holding tank for a while because i had to walk back and forth. >> because you hadn't walked in heels in years. >> yes. yeah. >> reporter: ten hours after her moment in court kim walks out of jail and into the arms of her parents. >> i saw my mom and dad through the glass, and i remember the doors opened -- the doors opened and i went out. and nobody said anything. like nobody said anything. like i was looking at them and they were looking at me and finally i just threw my hands in the air, i made it. >> i made it! i made it! >> how are you feeling right now? >> just a lot of emotions right now. i have a lot of gratitude. i'm very humbled by this experience. very humbled.

>> i could stare at you. >> we all started crying and hugging. god, it's a good feeling. >> reporter: cynthia, ozzy's ex and kim's arch-enemy, takes the news badly. >> it was like a slap in the face. a slap in the face. when kimberly was released and my son saw it on television, he called me and he said, mom, he was like please be careful, she's crazy. she killed my dad, and i'm scared she's going to do something to you. >> reporter: kim's ex-husband joe bugarski isn't so sure what he thinks anymore. >> my mind is so scrambled from our history that i'm thinking she's capable of doing it. maybe she didn't do it. >> maybe the evidence doesn't point to her actually doing it even though you think that she's capable of it. >> right. right. but then i think who did it, then? >> reporter: so many questions remain. and coming up, the only one that kim refuses to answer. >> don't do that.

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there's no playbook on what to do on your second day out of prison. so after beating a wrongful

conviction for murder kim long and her supporters are celebrating with a freedom breakfast. >> i've been watching the internet -- or what do you say? >> online. >> yeah. >> facebook. >> i don't know how to deal with that. >> reporter: she may not be social media savvy but she's had nearly eight years to dream of reconnecting with the outside world. >> thank you for everything. every day. i knew i was going going home. i just didn't know when. i didn't know how long it was going to take. >> she always told me, i'm coming home, mom. >> reporter: aside from spending time with family it's the simple pleasures she most appreciates. >> there's nobody checking on me every hour with a light in my eyes. >> reporter: today she has eight years of sobriety under her belt. that's no small undertaking for the former hell raiser with the quick temper and a soft spot for hard liquor. >> in some ways i suppose prison say great place to sober up. you don't really have a choice. can you drink in prison? >> absolutely. everything is in prison. >> so even in prison you had to practice abstinence? >> absolutely. it's a choice.

and i chose not to drink and not to use drugs in prison. >> reporter: healthy living now replacing some of those old vices. >> sometimes i come out here a little negative and i leave it all here. so when i walk back off the trail, all my negativity is left out here. so i just come back positive, refreshed, and just, you know, ready to, you know, go about my day. >> reporter: but it may take more than a nature walk to stop prosecutors from appealing the judge's decision. they want to send kim long right back to prison. >> we are 100% positive that that appeal will go nowhere. she is out in the community. she is living her life. she is enjoying her freedom. and hopefully, these legal proceedings will end soon. >> do we even think it's possible that kim could be convicted again and go back to prison? >> no. i just cannot see that happening.

>> but the prosecution was dug in. >> yeah. >> they weren't willing to give up. >> i've thought about this a lot. one of the tragedies about this case is because they have dug their heels in we may never know who killed the victim in this case. >> but so many are haunted by the knowledge that whoever murdered ozzy is still out there. kim tries not to think about ozzy too much these days. 13 years later those wounds are still raw. >> if ozzy could hear you now, what would you say to him? >> don't do that. i won't answer that. >> why was that so hard to answer? >> it still hurts to know the last words i said to him were -- they weren't loving or kind. and i never had a chance to say anything kind to him.

will disturb me for the rest of my life. >> since kim long got out of prison, she's been living with her parents. she's back in school and trying to get her nursing license reinstated. and she's become a regular speaker at events about wrongful convictions. but her future is still far from certain with the possibility of a retrial. >> in fact, the prosecution has just filed another brief describing why they're appealing the judge's decision. based on what you've seen here tonight, do you think she's innocent? let us know on facebook and twitter. and in the meantime, thanks for watching. i'm david muir. >> and i'm elizabeth vargas. for all of us here at "20/20" and abc news, have a great night and a wonderful weekend. breaking news, the justice

department has filed an appeal calling for an i [ alarm weather.eping ] ♪ [ laughter ] cartoons. wait for it. [ cat screech ] [ laughter ] ♪ [ screaming ] [ laughter ] make everyday awesome with the power of xfinity x1... hi grandma! and the fastest internet. [ girl screaming ]