so get a snack and make a night of it. ♪ this is "nightline." tonight, who killed jam master jay? inside the mysterious murder of the dj behind run dmc. the rap master pioneer butting up lyrics like "it's tricky." but did he earn enemies along the way? cracking nearly two decade old cold case. who police are now saying pulled the trigger. i want plus, fitoff, a new message for veterans trying to find success after the military. >> brutal. my transition back to civilian life was very rough. >> finding purpose through fitness. >> if it wouldn't be forfeit fi

ops, i wouldn't be here talking to you. >> transforming their lives and others. >> "nightline" will be right back. dawn antibacterial cuts through tough grease with 50% less scrubbing. it also removes 99% of bacteria from your hands. dawn antibacterial. an easy way to clean your dishes... a smart way to wash your hands. what's the #1 retinol brand used most by dermatologists? it's neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair® smooths the look of fine lines in 1-week, deep wrinkles in 4. so you can kiss wrinkles goodbye! neutrogena®

thanks for joining us. tonight it's a cold case involving a rap master, a trailblazing record executive

best known as run dmc's dj, jam master jay. his murder went unsolved for decades. who did the police now say pulled the trigger? here is "nightline's" ashen singh. >> we begin with the fatal shooting of a rap music legend, taking the life of a man known as jam master jay. >> it was a brazen murder on a fall evening in new york city. >> jam master jay knew the absolute heights of the hip-hop world as a member of the pioneering rap group run dmc. >> a music pioneer gunned down in a recording studio, a crime that shocked not only the city, but altered the course of hip-hop history. >> run dmc one of the first hip-hop groups to cross over into mainstream popularity. >> i saw jay being brought out the studio in the black bag. and it was heartbreaking. >> now a crack in the case that remained cold for nearly 20 years. two men police say both known to jay have been charged for the shooting. police alleging all over a drug

deal gone wrong. >> you want the know who crazy person would want to shoot and kill a person as nice as jam master jay. >> now as a trial looms, a new documentary by wabc tv and executive produced by reporter darla miles takes a look at the hunt for the killers and the life and day of jay maizo, set the record straight, the jam master jay case. >> i really started to connect with a lot of people involved with the case and people who knew and grew up with jam master jay. and that really yielded a lot of new information. >> as hip-hop began to break into the mainstream in the 1980, run dmc was leading the charge. tracks like "it's tricky" ♪ it's tricky ♪ >> or "walk this way" brought a once underground to new heights. and their sound, jam master jay. jay was also an aspiring mogul who discovered talent like

curtis jackson, ak 50 cent, known for classics like in da club. guided by myles' interviews, dissecting the life of jam master jay and his humble beginnings. >> i never thought he would grow up to be a dj. not when he was little when i was with him. his mother and my mom were sisters. we did everything together as a unit, everything. >> throughout it seems like jam master jay and the other members of run dmc really gave back to the new york community. >> archival interviews with jam master jay being an active member of the community, he stayed close to queens. he was just the guy who stayed close to his roots, wanted to uplift as many people as he could along the way. >> not at any other concerts, but run dmc concerts you can come to get a job, to register to vote. we know we're trying to help our kids. >> before run and d actually

came on stage, it was jam master jay that did the scratching. and, you know, he would cut that, run, run, run, and then run would walk on the stage and get the crowd hyped. >> jay now was the centerpiece of the stage. before run dmc hits the stage, there is jam master jay. and then he going ♪ jam master jay ♪ >> who was jam master jay, and what did he mean note just to the hip-hop community, but to music as a whole? >> he was the kind of person who would give you the shirt off of his back. he is the kind of person who tried to uplift everyone along the way. when the renaissance of hip-hop started in the '80s, it was a really natural matriculation for him, because he was already so creatively inclined. >> africat putting to the limelight and carving out a place for hip-hop in the modern music world with the first ever platinum record in the genre, jay eventually pivoted to behind

the soundboard, running his own record label as an executive. >> he was such a creative visionary when it came to run dmc. so becoming a producer was, again, a natural matriculation, was a natural progression for him to kind of evolve with the industry. that's another reason why this documentary really wanted to chronicle not only what happened with the murder investigation, but just with his career, because he was such a high impact figure. >> then on october 30th, 2002, jam master jay was at work in this recording studio in queens, new york when two men arrived. >> they had to be buzzed into the studio. you have to understand, these two initials were known to jay. there was trust there. >> jam master jay was in the studio in the back. he was playing video games with tony rincon. lydia was at the front desk when she got buzzed. she buzzed two people in that she knew. >> the killer passed a total of four security cameras on the way

to the murder, at the door, up the stairs and in the hallway leading to the studio before he entered the lounge, the shooter pulled a 40 caliber gun, put on a ski mask, and knocked over a woman as he opened the door. >> before jay could know what happened to him, they shot him. >> and in that sudden moment, jay would join the ranks of hip-hop royalty taken out too soon by gun violence. >> despite his celebrity, he wasn't immune to the high levels of homicide and lack of regard for life within our communities, especially young black male life that took his life and took tupac, that took biggie, that tooks nipseyhussle it goes on and on. >> we needed the community to come forward. the district attorneys, they need witnesses. they want people to talk to us. >> but the case finally reopened. >> we kept asking about it.

we kept debriefing prisoners and continued to inquire about any information intel we could get about the case. and then we got someone in 2015. that's when it started getting legs. >> and in august 2020, charges were finally filed against two men, ronald tenard washington and karl jordan jr. >> returning an indictment here in the eastern district of new york, charging two defendants for their involvement in the murder of jason mizell, who i think you all known was known as jam master jay. >> patiently tennard washington was buzzed in. at that point, he pulled out a gun. karl jordan went in and walked right over to jay and fired a round immediately, without any conversation at all. >> karl jordan jr. and ronald washington are both said to have known jay prior to his murder. police believe the shooting may have revolved around a botched drug deal. a point some in jay's family still take issue with.

>> with never do drugs. he never had to do that. he never had that image. >> we talked to people in his life, good people to his life. they were telling us that he was complaining about his financial, that his debt to the irs, the troubles that he was having paying things. >> both washington and jordan are facing life in prison and possibly the death penalty. they've plead not guilty. >> and now we're simply waiting for them to go on trial. and as spectacular as jam master jay was in life, in death, a death connected to a drug deal has really ended with a whimper. in the end, there was no big mystery. these were two guys, prosecutors allege, wanted a piece of illegal action when jam master jay cut them out, they turned a gun on him. >> is there any closure with this news? >> closure is a very tricky word. but if you would want to characterize it as closing the gap on the investigation, there are just as many questions today as there were 18 years ago.

>> the documentary set the record straight. the jam master jay case is now on hulu. coming up, finding a new sense of purpose through fitness. getting fit with a group of veterans helping veterans. experience clean in a whole new way. now roomba vacuums exactly where you need it. alexa, tell roomba to vacuum in front of the couch. and offers personalized cleaning suggestions for a clean unique to you and your home. roomba and the irobot home app. only from irobot. we do it every night. roomba and like clockwork. home app. do it! run your dishwasher with cascade platinum. and save water. did you know certified dishwashers... ...use less than four gallons per cycle, while a running sink uses that, every two minutes. so, do it with cascade. the surprising way to save water. people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible with rybelsus®. ♪ you are my sunshine ♪ ♪ my only sunshine... ♪ rybelsus® works differently than any other diabetes pill

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who is also a major in the u.s. army reserve with a story we've been following since before the pandemic. >> i always knew i was meant for something different and something that was bigger than me, and i wanted to serve. >> reporter: at age 17, rachel regado enlisted in the marine corps. it was a calling that gave her life purpose. >> they had a warrior mentality and a fighting spirit that i resonated with so deeply. >> reporter: how important was serving to your identity? >> it was everything. >> reporter: in 2011, she deployed to afghanistan as a radio operator. but as the pentagon began to downsize troops, rachel says she was discharged after four years of service. what was the transition like for you back to civilian life once you got out? >> brutal. it was immediate loss very quickly of everything. i had lost my career, my marriage had suffered.

>> reporter: rachel hit rock bottom. she was homeless, living out of her car. she then started bodybuilding, which gave her a boost. >> fitness was my outlet for everything. i started getting endorphins back. i had a sense of camaraderie again. i was in a gym among other people who were going towards the same goal. >> reporter: but it was something called fit ops that ultimately helped her find a new sense of purpose. >> it's not just coming in and sweating and your muscles hurting. it's the mental aspect of it. it's the emotional aspect of it. those things are challenging. and they're things that i haven't had to face. >> three, two, one, and go! >> reporter: it's a high intensity program that turns the best in the battlefield into personal trainers. offering our nation's heroes another chance to serve. >> they're trained to lead. they're trained to serve other people. if you're going to go after something as important as

changing your life through fitness, who do you want to help you do it? somebody that has that mentality that will run through a wall for you. >> reporter: army veteran matt hezbollahy founded fit ops in 2017 after seeing the difficulties many service members face with their transitions to civilian life. >> the real macro issue is a loss of purpose. we help that transition with the power of fitness and give them a career serving people again as trainers. and so these fit ops camps are as much about teaching them to be personal trainers as they are about teaching them to decompartmentalize, open up, share the things that are holding them down. >> reporter: while in-person camps were put on hold during the pandemic, they have begun to enroll participants for their next trains. now in a climate with an even greater need. the pandemic has been very hard on everyone because of the social isolation as well as the

other stressors. and then when someone is already struggling, it just increases their inability to cope. >> reporter: a survey from the cohen veterans network shows nearly seven in ten veterans who served after 9/11 said they were concern about their mental health because of social distancing. six in ten said they were concerned about their employment status. chief clinical officer dr. tracey neale waldon says risk of suicide is also an ongoing concern. >> suicide is much higher within the veteran population. when you couple additional stressors and that loss of community, then decrease sense of purpose, those can add on additional risk factors for a veteran. >> reporter: fit ops became a lifeline for army combat veteran bobby summers. >> if it wouldn't be for fit ops, i would not be sitting here talking to you.

it was january 12th, 2004, 9:00 in the morning. anni ed hit me. i took shrapnel to my leg. i received the purple heart while i was over there, and they sent me to the wounded transition battalion, and from there somebody told me that i could no longer continue being a soldier. and that was like the way i grew up, that was the only thing i ever did. it was devastating. and that's when all of the feelings came out. >> reporter: after 13 years, bobby medically retired from the army as a disabled veteran. around the same time, his wife, also in the military, received orders to deploy, leaving bobby at home with their infant daughter. >> that was the first time i attempted suicide. i didn't know what i was thinking. she would have been alone the

whole night until the next day until i woke up from what i did to myself. what was i doing when she could have died? i just gave up on myself. i lost purpose. i was just -- i didn't know what i was going to do. and it seemed like i was more of a problem to everybody than a solution. i was a ft. bragg soldier, you know. you're supposed to be the toughest thing in the world. you're supposed to be the best of the best, you know. and i just kept it all in. >> reporter: it was shortly after that bobby found out about fit ops. >> my life changed. it completely changed when i went to fit ops. i was not going to fail no more missions anymore. >> was going get it done. >> reporter: but now you're on a different mission. >> i'm a total different mission. my mission now is to help find bobby, get these tough guys who think there is a hard piece of metal. but if everybody know, you get enough fire to metal, you're going to bend it. i want to be the fire to bend

them and show that it's okay. >> reporter: bobby went to culinary school and became the head chef and director of nutrition at fit ops. >> my message when i speak now is just love. no matter what you're doing, you just got to love it. in the kitchen, you taste love. in the gym, you know if you worked out with love. >> right up there. you go. >> reporter: it's that love for working out. >> just move your hips a little bit back. >> reporter: and sharing it with others that motives rachel. >> what's happening here is a circuit course. everything that you need to really feel a good pump with a very minimal amount of weight. >> reporter: having been through army boot camp myself, rachel put my skills to the test. >> make sure you get that nice good stance. core is strong, your chest is up. >> guiding me through a full training routine. >> hit it, hit. >> hit it! go, go, go! juik at,>>ea i'm feeling?

good. ready to take on the world. >> thank you, sister. >> of course. >> you did it. good for you. >> thanks. >> what do you hope to take away fom this experience here at fit ops? >> a new sense of self. from fit ops, i've been completely inspired to take on a new level of educational training so that can help all these other veterans. if i can give them that experience and they don't have to go through that hardship, or they don't have to go through it alone, it would be worth everything. >> for "nightline," i'm stephanie ramos in clayton, georgia. up next, one dad's last military flight and the special visitors helping him pull it off. does scrubbing grease and food feel like a workout? scrub less with dawn platinum. its superior formula breaks down and removes up to 99% of tough grease and food residue faster. so you can scrub less. dawn platinum is also a go-to grease cleaner for your sink, your kitchen and to pre-treat grease on laundry.

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and finally tonight, the grand finale. 8-year-old gabrielle damron marshalling her dad's final military flight. you see, gabrielle's dad john has served 20 years as a pilot in the u.s. air force. and when his last flight landed at charleston air force base in south carolina, a big welcome from his family.

>> spray him! get him! congrats on a well-deserved retirement. that's "nightline" for tonight. you can watch all our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here same time tomorrow. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.