>> deborah: tonight, blaze bernstein, the name in the headlines so many of you will recognize. the massive search triggered by celebrities and social media. >> david: but now the chilling new details you may not have heard about this missing college student. the all new "20/20" starts right now. >> who leaves their house without any of their items, at night, and doesn't show back up

again? >> this isn't just anybody, this is an ivy league college student with his whole life in front of him. >> did he run away? was he injured? >> blaze bernstein disappeared one week ago. >> missing while home for winter break. >> my dad was like, we have each other, it's going to be okay. >> and there was an immediate firestorm of attention to this case. >> charlie puth put it out there, kareem abdul-jabbar. >> this is the period in which begins your amateur investigation. >> trying to figure out what's going on. >> you become a sleuth. >> we would not be able to have figured it out without kids his age. >> blake bernstein's home at that point in time turned off and had no more records. >> they'd been together, together, together, and suddenly blaze goes dark. >> i heard voices raised in the distance somewhere. screaming, like aahh! >> blaze's best friend received a text message, "i did something really horrible for the story.

no one can ever know." >> so you know you're dealing with a situation like this, you don't want the person who you're hunting to know that you're on to them. >> just help us find my brother. with the search wrapping up today for a lake forest teen who disappeared while visiting his family over the holidays -- >> blaze bernstein has been missing since tuesday night. >> police searching by ground with. >>9s and by air with helicopters. >> we're hoping that he's just incapacitated and in need of medical assistance. >> anyone with information should contact the orange county sheriff's department. >> blaze bernstein. >> blaze bernstein. >> blaze bernstein. ♪ >> what are your favorite pictures here? >> the kids like to goof off a lot, and we would -- he would dress up. they loved to dress up, they loved to do puppet shows, and

this is him in his school play when he was little. and, uh, we spent a lot of time at disneyland, 'cause it's right here in our backyard. >> oh, yeah. >> that's us sitting there. it was a great day. >> memories of much happier times for parents gideon and jeanne bernstein, married in 1992. they moved from los angeles to orange county to raise a family. they have three kids, the youngest is daughter beaue, jay, in the middle, and blaze, the oldest. >> we had a lot of fun raising the kids together. it was fun. and no one can take that away from us. we still own that. >> blaze bernstein grew up here in the city of lake forest. it's an upper middle class bedroom community, about an hour south of los angeles, home to about 90,000 people. >> growing up in lake forest was really nice.

it was kind of inland from the coast, like 30-minute drive from the beach. >> it was actually a pretty, really quiet residential area. houses were beautiful. lot of families there. >> when we wanted to start a family, we left los angeles with the idea that we'd be moving to a safe suburbia. one of the safest places in the country. >> and by all accounts blaze is this bright, gifted teenager with a sharp wit and warm heart. >> i've known blaze since we were babies. blaze as a kid, besides being very high energy, he was really creative. he was very thoughtful. >> blaze was incredibly bright, curious. he was really a renaissance young man. i mean, he was interested in everything. >> surrounded by family and friends, blaze was bar mitzvah'd in 2011.

that's a jewish celebration of adulthood on a boy's 13th birthday. it was an occasion especially meaningful to his grandmother. >> i did know that his grandmother was from romania and survived the holocaust. >> i really think that blaze got it. he was proud to be a jew, humanistic philosophy, caring about the world, and understanding the world's only going to change if human beings change it. >> but even though blaze possessed that understanding, it offered no protection from becoming a target of frequent bullying. >> growing up in lake forest was not super easy for him. he was bullied every single day on the bus. he just wanted to get out of the public school system. >> and it wasn't just the bullying. even though blaze is a good student, he longs for something more. >> go man, go! >> something that challenges him not just intellectually, but creatively.

and he would find it at ocsa. >> ocsa is the orange county school of the arts. it is a 7th through 12th charter art school. >> in order to get into that school you have to audition, and about one in ten students who audition actually get into this school, so it's very competitive. >> blaze auditioned for ocsa. he was artistic in every single way possible. he was very creative. >> his talents going in were performing arts and writing, and he wanted to move into the creative writing department. >> we've had students who wound up professional actors, designers, you know, writers, the whole thing, musicians. >> among the more famous ocsa alumni are actors pedro pascal, class of 1993, who starred in the hbo hit, "the last of us" and matthew morrison, a 1997 graduate, and star in fox's popular tv series, "glee." >> now i want you to listen very closely to the lyrics because i really mean what i'm singing. >> once blaze got to ocsa, he felt like there was a community there for him. he had a lot of friends.

he was very social. >> i met blaze when he was a senior in high school. he shared some of his writing with me, and i wrote a letter of advocacy for his application when he applied early decision to penn, because he was a brilliant writer. >> blaze's exceptional talents got him into the university of pennsylvania, and he moved across the country to philadelphia as a pre-med freshman in the class of 2020. >> was he homesick at the start? >> i think that the first semester at school was difficult for him in terms of the social life there. he was used to being in a small school. you know, now he's -- he's a little fish in a big sea. i think that he had to come to grips with that. >> when i found out that he was going to an ivy league, i was like, "oh, you know, that makes sense." >> at penn, blaze very quickly got involved in "penn appetit." >> "penn appetit" is a

student-run magazine for people who are interested in writing and also interested in food. >> he knew that those would be his people. >> our photographer for "penn appetit" he held a photoshoot where we dressed up in our chef's whites and aprons, we brought whisks and knives. we have photos of him, you know, holding the whisk, being surprised. i mean, he was so helpful and we're so fortunate to have these photos of him. >> it was a tuesday in january, 19-year-old blaze was home for winter break. he was in a really good place and looking forward to second semester of his sophomore year, but not before he treated his family to a special meal. >> he was baking butternut squash with, you know, sprigs of thyme that were inside them. >> he made a turkey. he took over my job more or less. i was on vacation and he was here. >> so dinner broke up, i guess, absolutely normally? >> it was a quiet night.

i didn't hear anything unusual. you know, woke up the next day, it was a normal morning. >> a normal day. until it wasn't. >> i got up and blaze's door was closed and the housekeeper said, "oh, don't wake him, let him sleep in." and i said, "okay, that makes sense. let him sleep in." i knew i had a dental appointment with him that day, so, i decided i'd wait until my yoga class was over to try to contact him so i wouldn't wake him. and i tried getting hold of him and i -- he wasn't picking up. he wasn't returning my texts. i went to the dental appointment thinking he would show up. and i immediately called gideon and i said, "he never showed up for his appointment." and you said, "well, are you sure he slept at the house last night?" and that's when i -- >> that's when we both kinda freaked out. >> i yelled, "oh, my god!" >> 19-year-old blaze bernstein was last seen tuesday night. >> we're hoping to find him and bring him home safely. covid-19? i'm not waiting. if it's covid,

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♪ my dad called me and was like, "hey, have you heard anything from blaze? he's not picking up the phone. it's really weird. just let us know if you hear anything." and i'm like, that doesn't sound right. >> i was at work. so i basically run out of my office and jump in the car and drive home as quickly as i can.

>> and just go run upstairs and his glasses are there, his wallet's there, his keys are there. >> panicked and confused, the bernsteins were calling everyone they could think of to see whether anyone had seen or heard from blaze in the last twelve hours. what were they saying? >> they didn't know anything. >> nobody knew where his location was. >> i found out that blaze was missing, and it was just really shocking to me. i was like, there's no way that he could have, like, run away. he wasn't that kind of person. >> so, this is the period in which begins your amateur investigation. >> we were trying to figure out what was going on. >> you become a sleuth. >> well, we had no idea what was going on. >> he hadn't slept in the bed. >> and his bags for going back to school were already packed. >> you think, well, hanging out with some kids, other teenagers, and forgot to call home. you just, you have to believe that. that's a defense against the most awful. >> when it became dark outside,

i think that's when we started to really be super concerned. >> one of the first things the bernstein's thought of using is the "find my" app, which allows users to share their location with others. so, did you have, like, a follow my friend on the iphone? >> yes. yes, we did. we had that. and i saw that the location services were turned off. >> so, we called the sheriff's department. >> they came, and they were really downplaying it like, "oh, you know 19-year-olds, they run away sometimes, but they'll be back." >> he was adamant that a hundred percent of the time, that these kids are out on a booty call -- >> a hundred percent of the time? >> yeah, or doing something -- >> why, that's what he told me. >> of course, we explained that there were some, you know, unique circumstances with regards to, you know, his personal belongings still being here. and um, so they offered to do a missing person's report. >> so, a kid disappears without his glasses, his wallet, or his keys. there are people who actually

told me about it in the couple of days after he went missing who suggested that maybe this was suicide. did you ever contemplate that? >> never. >> not even close, he was so happy. he was in a great place. >> he was in one of the best places i had ever seen him before. that week, he was so happy, he was so excited to go back to school. he was so excited to just have the rest of his life. and so, at that point, there was no doubt in my mind, like, he would never have done that. >> gideon and jeanne confirmed with verizon that blaze hadn't made any recent phone calls. a quick check with his computer revealed no exchanges on imessage or facebook dms. and so, with virtually no solid information to go on, the bernsteins, along with help from their 14-year-old daughter, beaue, began dipping deeper into blaze's social media. >> we would not have been able to figure it out without the help of kids his age -- >> yeah, like our daughter. >> -- that he grew up with, you know, and our daughter. yes.

>> i told my parents, i'm like, "i can try and help you find everything that you need. i am really good with snapchat." i knew the names of a lot of his friends, so i was able to, like, text them and ask them if they knew what was going on. >> and that's when the whole evening changed. >> yeah. >> when they said, "well, what about snapchat?", that's when the lightbulb went on. i mean, we were exhausted, but i said, "okay, let's try and figure out how to get in." >> snapchat is a free, mobile messaging application used to share photos, videos, texts. but what's different about the app is that whatever is shared, including text messages, disappears from the recipient's screen after just a few seconds. >> we were lucky because we knew his username because he was connected with our daughter. and the password ended up being one of the ones that we had on our icloud keychain. so, we type the username, and then we typed that password in and, boom, we're in. >> still, getting into blaze's

snapchat account was only half the battle. yes, it might contain a critical record of who blaze may have been in contact with the night he disappeared, but, as the bernsteins discovered, simply viewing the message might also trigger it to vanish. >> at the time, snapchat worked -- if you sent a message, it could only be saved if you purposefully saved it, and it could be deleted by the person who sent it. and it only lasts 24 hours if you don't save it. >> and there were so many other pitfalls with this. i mean, if you take a screenshot of these communications because you think you're saving them, well, that alerts the person that sent it to you. >> the sender gets an alert. >> so, if you know you're dealing with a situation like this, you don't want the person who you're hunting to know that you're on to them. >> what you're describing is basically dealing with this digital nitroglycerin. >> yes. >> that at any moment -- >> yes, absolutely.

>> -- it could just blow up in your faces. and this is the most important thing in your lives right now. >> i had my daughter next to me. and i said, "okay, i need you to save, 'cause i know there's a way that you can save it," but i didn't really know how. >> what time is it by now, by the way? >> i don't know. it's like, close to 10:00 at night. like 9:30/10:00, and we saw that blaze gave our address out to somebody. >> did you know who? >> we didn't know at the time who it was. we saw the name. >> i had absolutely no idea who he was. i was so happy that there was somebody who we could talk to that could just help us find my brother. >> the bernsteins didn't know the person blaze sent his address to, but, in the hours ahead, the discovery of that person's identity would turn the desperate search for their son upside down. >> "hi, this is blaze's dad. we really need to know what you know. we can't find him." >> "this is becoming an urgent issue with trying to figure out what really happened to him, and we're going to really need your help on this because you're the last person that probably saw him." >> that was not the person that i really expected him to be with.

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>> hours had passed since anyone had heard or seen blaze. did he run away? was he injured? had he been abducted? there was no sign of him anywhere. now, as darkness fell, there was finally a glimmer of hope. >> we wanted to make sure that, if there was any chance that blaze was still alive, that we took it. i wanted to ensure that not one second was wasted. >> and the bernsteins discovered something else. it was a final text message sent to blaze at 3:00 pm from his best friend, "hey i'm really worried about you, please text me." there was no reply. >> the bernsteins frantically reached out to that best friend, who told them blaze did exchange messages with someone else overnight. now it seemed that person was their best hope of finding blaze. >> we don't know what the conversations were that led up to his disappearance.

so, we want that information. >> gideon bernstein, through his own investigation, found out that there was communication on the snapchat application. and so he was able to message through direct messaging, sam woodward. >> we didn't know who he was. i was like, "oh we should call him, he definitely knows what's going on." and so i encouraged my dad to call him, and we recorded a call. >> we haven't heard from him all day. he missed an appointment today and then we started getting concerned, and i've been trying to figure things out. so you're the first real clue to the puzzle here. >> yeah, i -- [ bleep ] feel like -- honestly i, y'know i'm sorry.

>> i don't know if my dad told me to record it or if i just had the thought that maybe having any sort of evidence that we could hold on to would be able to help us. >> i don't mean to put any pressure on you. i know you're a nice young man, but i am asking you for help on this if you can, if you've got the ability to do that. >> absolutely. this is -- you know, i want to find blaze as much as you do. >> during that call, sam woodward told gideon that blaze suggested, they drive to a nearby park to meet yet another one of his friends, but never mentioned that friend by name. >> he said he invited a third friend to come along, so i said, okay. >> i didn't want to speak because i didn't want to get involved, but i was listening to my dad just asking questions and go back and forth. >> and then did he get out the car, or what happened? >> yeah, he got out of the car and i got out the car too, and i just asked him you know, "who is this guy?" and he was just like you know,

you know -- "you'll find out in a little bit, you know, he's a friend of mine." and then so i was just like, "okay, blaze." and i just waited there by the bathroom, and he -- i didn't see where he went. >> i was just thinking to myself, this is the maybe weirdest situation that we could be in at this moment. and i remember that phone call went on for a while, too. >> i guess i realized, you know, did something happen to him? so i went back, i searched all over for him where i was at the library. i couldn't find him anywhere. and i guess i just figured he might just call me in the morning or he was just pranking me. but -- this is -- now i'm -- i'm scared now. >> it's a disturbing phone conversation which now raises more questions for the bernsteins than it answers. >> we were curious to know who this person was, but then we did find out he was a student at

ocsa. >> 20-year-old sam woodward and blaze were former high school classmates at ocsa. >> i have known sam since he was born, kind of grew up alongside of him. i remember excitement during sam telling me that he was going to ocsa. >> woodward grew up only 30 minutes away in the wealthy, coastal town of newport beach. >> sam was joyful. he was a really happy, special, special kid. >> he lived in this house with his parents and a brother, who by all accounts were devout catholics and attended church regularly. >> everything we did, all the families we spent time with, were from our church. >> i did teach sam woodward in acting for the camera in his tenth grade, and i had him for the one semester. >> for ten years, phil schwadron taught drama and directing for grades nine through eleven at ocsa. >> he was definitely serious. he didn't crack jokes, didn't laugh a lot as to my memory.

>> sam went to ocsa with me from seventh grade to sent grade. i would say that he did not necessarily fit into the general ocsa artsy vibe. >> we came back for what would've been sam's 11th grade year. and i said "who have i got this year?" and my boss said, "yeah, you're going to get them all back except one left the school." "who left the school?" "sam woodward left the school." >> i wasn't really surprised that he left. i kinda just thought that he left because he just didn't like it there. >> after leaving ocsa, sam enrolled in corona del mar high school. during that time, he became an eagle scout, graduating in 2016. >> now, two years later, nothing seemed to explain how, or why, this unlikely pair, with seemingly nothing in common, ended up together, in this park.

and now -- one safely home, the other nowhere to be found. so now you have this critical piece of information. >> yeah. >> do we immediately call the sheriffs and say, we have something? >> yes, yeah, we did. >> yeah, right away. >> and what's their response? >> they come over, right away. >> they came over. and now it was serious. >> we just gave 'em the lead of the last person who we knew that he had seen. >> i remember taking that call and showing the police, like, "look what i have. we talked to somebody who said that they know where my brother is." >> when i first saw the missing persons report and i was reading the details, some of those details definitely stuck out. so something told me just deep within me that this was unusual. >> so my then partner, investigator jack ackerman and i, went to the park probably right around lunchtime on january 4th. >> i had a feeling as a mother,

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on january 3rd, 2018, the day blaze bernstein's family realized he was missing, blaze's sister beaue recorded a phone call between her father and 20-year-old sam woodward, a former high school classmate who says he was one of two people with blaze the night he disappeared. >> i'm sorry, mr. bernstein, but your guess is as good as mine. >> woodward said blaze made plans for a third person to meet up with them in a neighborhood park that night. >> blaze didn't tell me anything about this guy except that he was from ocsa like us. >> i really appreciate you calling me and sharing the info. and is it okay if i reach back out to you if i need some help? >> absolutely. i want to find blaze as much as you do. >> when they were talking about meeting another person, i was like, what other person? who else would my brother, like, be with?

>> so you want a water? i got a water. what kind of monster you want? >> the next day, orange county sheriff's investigators bring in sam woodward to ask some questions of their own. >> you can leave at any time. you're not under arrest or anything like that. okay? we're just trying to -- >> find blaze. >> -- find blaze. that's it. >> as investigators get to know sam woodward, they learn that he was living with his parents and working odd jobs. >> my goals in life are just -- i just want to start a family. i just want to have enough money to support my kids. i just want to have a wife who loves me and get a good job and go to college. >> woodward says he recently reconnected with blaze on social media. >> he said something like, "sam woodward, now that's a face i haven't seen in a while." >> i'm looking for eye contact. i'm looking for his general comfortability to try to gain a sense whether somebody i feel is telling me the truth or telling me a lie. at some point during the

conversation on snapchat, you decided to meet up? >> that is correct. >> for blaze's family, the fact that he went out at all that night was a revelation. >> we had dinner actually at the dining room table, with everybody. >> right here. >> he was supposed to fly back to school. so it was gonna be the last time my parents were gonna see him for quite a while. there was no indication from him that he was going out that night. >> during his interview with police, woodward said that after he picked blaze up at his house, they drove around for a while, eventually stopping at borrego park. >> borrego park is in the city of lake forest. it's a place where you can take your kids. it also has remote hiking trails that stretch for miles. >> at some point somebody exits the car, right? >> mm-hmm. >> did he tell you where he was going? >> he said he was going to meet the friend that he was talking about.

>> just like in that call with blaze's father, woodward told officers that blaze was meeting another friend at the park that night. woodward says he stayed behind as blaze walked away and disappeared out of sight. >> at one point i heard voices raised in the distance somewhere, but i mean, that happens to my neighborhood all the time. you hear girls screaming like "ahh" and all that [ bleep ]. and so i didn't really pay much mind to it. >> i wanted him to feel comfortable talking to me, and he was. >> woodward says he looked for blaze, but eventually gave up and went home. >> i mean, i don't know what happened to him, but something must have. >> all that matters is that we find him and we get him back to his family safe. >> yeah, absolutely. it's especially hard talking to his parents because his parents are really nice people. >> after several hours of questioning, sam woodward left.

but police, they remained suspicious. so they decided to put him under surveillance. >> i'm trying to record it right now. >> there was a large team that was deployed into the field, and we followed him anywhere that he went. >> and with this growing cause of concern for blaze bernstein comes the glare of the media spotlight. the blaze bernstein missing persons case is now big news. >> the orange county sheriff's department searched the park, but they haven't seen any signs of blaze. >> blaze was supposed to be in school this morning. >> he was supposed to fly back sunday, go to class today, but instead he's missing. >> i remember going with my dog to borrego park before and kind of just like walking around to see, what in i find him here? >> beaue documented that desperate period of time with pictures and videos posted on her snapchat. >> our congregation went into high gear.

we printed flyers with his name and picture, and the facts, and who to call. and we put them up on bulletin boards and poles all around the city. >> at this point it's now in the hands of the police. >> mm-hmm. >> but you continue to work. now you take to social media. >> round the clock. it looked like war games in this house. we had terminals all over the dining room table and we were all just working. >> there was an immediate firestorm of attention to this case. we were absolutely inundated with tips from the public. there were hundreds within the first week and that grew exponentially. >> some of our contacts were friends with some of the celebrities that were willing to post it on their social media. so we had the missing flyer out for blaze on kobe bryant's facebook page and charlie puth who put it out there. kareem abdul-jabbar. so it started to catch a lot of attention.

>> we were spending every minute talking about it. people were filming in our house, interviewing my parents, nothing like this ever happened where we were. >> any sign of him, any clothing, obviously, we're hoping to find him, hoping that he's just incapacitated and in need of some medical assistance so that we can get him and bring him home safely. >> there was like this team of people with drones, and they were going throughout whiting ranch wilderness park where we were concerned maybe my brother was back there and maybe there was a mountain lion or maybe like something happened to him and he was missing or lost. >> for the fourth night in a row, the bernstein family will go to sleep without their oldest son at home. >> it was clear as the week wore on that it was more and more dire. >> there was a lot of pressure, immense pressure to perform.

>> then on january 9th, with blaze missing for seven days now, a discovery which upends the case. >> jack and i were teamed up. jack said, "dylan." >> you heard it in his voice. >> i could hear it in his voice. ♪ did you take your vitamin today? that's my job. ♪ nature made. made with quality ingredients. (glasses clink) made to care for you, every day. ♪ from nature made, the #1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand. ♪ the #1 pharmacist recommended ♪ ♪ ♪ whether your phone's broken or old, we've got you.

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we're going to turn now to those new developments in the mysterious disappearance of an ivy league student. >> 19-year-old blaze bernstein missing while home for winter break. >> the sheriff's department launched an extensive search with help from the community. >> days had passed since blaze vanished into the night. the relentless search by police and volunteers turned up nothing, just more anguish for the bernsteins and frustration for authorities. >> the orange county sheriff's department searched the park, but they haven't seen any signs of blaze. >> we utilized cadaver dogs, we utilized drones. we had been to borrego park and searched that park over and over again with a fine-tooth comb. >> on january 9th, a week after blaze went missing, investigators decided to go back

to borrego park one more time after obtaining cell phone data showing blaze and sam woodward were there together. this is a week after blaze went missing. >> yeah, it led us to this particular area when all of a sudden blaze bernstein's phone at that point in time turned off. >> so they'd been together, together, together. and suddenly blaze goes dark. >> blaze goes dark and then saw woodward's phone continues. there was a torrential downpour. it was cold, it was raining, everything was wet, everything was muddy. we searched all this area, all this area, until my partner jack and i came to this area right here. >> i saw a spot that looked unusual. so i walked down, there was a large tree branch covering an area. it looked a little odd like the rain had kind of settled some dirt around something.

i moved the tree branch, and you could see the left hip and upper left leg area of a human body. >> and you knew, had to be him. >> instantly. in my gut. without even seeing the face. and i knew what it was blaze bernstein. >> they must have found his cell phone as well. >> we located a broken cell phone about probably six inches, eight inches below where the body was found. >> i was sitting in my english class in eighth grade and the teacher got a call and he was like, "beaue, you're going to go to the office. they need you for something." and i was like, "oh good, maybe some good news." they took me into this room and i saw my godmother, she was crying. and i looked at her and she just hugged me and she said, "they found him. he is dead. blaze is gone."

>> to "the index," and the body of a college student found in lake forest, california. blaze bernstein had disappeared one week ago. the case now a homicide. >> that was the end of hope for me. >> we started off this journey over a week ago looking for our son and asking everyone to help us find blaze bernstein. and we have just learned that they have positively identified our son blaze's body today. >> i just felt so numb. nothing that had happened in my life had mattered anymore. when i got home, my dad was just like, he was just defeated, but he just said, "it's going to be okay.

we have each other. it's going to be okay." sorry. >> the specific details of what occurred at borrego park are part of the ongoing investigation. >> the autopsy revealed injuries which i believe were a result of an extremely violent encounter. blaze was stabbed 14 times in the left side of his neck, five times in the right side of his neck. he was stabbed in the knee. he had defensive wounds all over his fingers. he was fighting for his life and probably a surprise attack. >> you hear about that many stab wounds. what does that tell you about the person or the mindset of the person who did that? >> hate and rage. intimate, it is an intimate

killing. >> it was devastating news for the family and for the community. >> my reaction when i heard it was fury, anger, disbelief. i haven't felt those feelings in my life. >> as the investigation into blaze's murder began, hundreds gathered for a vigil in his honor. >> we lost one of our sons. i hope that we can all join together and support the bernstein family. ♪ >> the funeral was incredibly painful. we had to ask for rsvps because

we could only accommodate here in the building about 1,100 or 1,200 people. ♪ and then there was a public service at the largest space we have in orange county a few weeks after the funeral in the 3,000 seats that was full. ♪ i believe most people are good ♪ >> students from blaze's performing arts high school chose to sing luke bryan's song "most people are good." >> i see a lot of goodness here. i hope that we can bring more tolerance, more peace, understanding, and love to everything that we do and make a better world for our children. thank you. >> the community wrapped its arms around the bernstein family. the park near their house where blaze played as a child and where his body was found turned into a makeshift memorial, with messages of love and support from all over the world.

>> this is a note somebody left us, "dear lord, please watch over the bernstein family and give them strength at this time. please guide our police department to find the person or persons who took blaze away." we still needed answers 'cause we didn't have anybody in custody. in my mind, the hunt was still on. >> but for investigators, the hunt would become far more complex because they've discovered that the night of the murder, blaze's best friend received a text message from blaze's phone saying quote, "i did something really horrible for the story. but also no one can ever know." end quote. blaze's friend responds, "what story?" but gets nothing back. >> that was the last text message that was sent from his phone. >> the last text message from the phone of a murder victim is always going to be of critical importance to a homicide

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we are 6 1/2 years since my son was killed. >> blaze is ready, blaze a trail. >> we are all going through our own personal hell right now. >> blaze bernstein was found with 28 stab wounds. >> you hear about that many stab wounds, what does it tell you

about the person or the mindset of the person who did that? >> a lot of anger. somewhere from within. he took it out on blaze bernstein. >> did i introduce him to something that later on came back to haunt us all? >> not only was this just a murder, now we're starting to see a bigger picture. >> what do you make of the fact that it's very possible that a neo-nazi killed blaze? in the united states? >> he's the grandson of a holocaust survivor. this could happen anywhere. >> there was almost like a gasp from some people. >> police believe they know who killed blaze bernstein. >> were you planning to kill him that night? ♪ i hope that we can all join together and support the bernstein family. >> we were hoping for better results, but yesterday afternoon sheriff's investigators did find the body of blaze bernstein. >> 19-year-old blaze bernstein was first reported missing by

his family on january 3rd, 2018. but after a week long search, he was found dead in a park near his parents' orange county california home. >> as this investigation moves from search and rescue to a homicide investigation, we ask for your continued support to providing tips and information to the orange county sheriff's department. >> as investigators search for answers about who had killed blaze and why his parents jeanne and gideon flew east to philadelphia to begin a grim task. cleaning out blaze's apartment on the campus of the university of pennsylvania. the grief-stricken bernstein family invited us to go with them for this emotional and difficult journey. >> this is the apartment building that my son moved into. >> let's first take a look at his mail. >> five days before he came home to california. >> it's been hard for,

especially for jeannie to come here, having to basically clean up your child's life after they're gone. >> the kitchen was meticulous. he had every appliance and everything. i loved his apartment. it was so beautiful. it was so blaze. >> this is the whisk sweatshirt that my brother got. he was an editor for the "penn appetit" magazine. we were going through his closet and we found it and i was like, "i'm going to take that." >> we had an opportunity to meet blaze's friends. >> we'll be here for you forever, and we appreciate your friendship. >> i'm delighted that blaze had them in his life, because i know they all made him very happy. >> he would have loved this. he used to wear this all the time. >> i know.

blaze was someone that you can trust with anything. i trusted him with my life. it was apparent that blaze was figuring out himself, whether it be religion, or sexuality, or experience. >> at what point as parents did you realize that blaze was gay? >> i had an idea about it when he was probably early high school. i saw something on a phone or -- that he didn't want me to see. and it kinda confirmed a suspicion that i had and i think he knew that i had seen it. >> we actually had a conversation while he was back at college. and he was telling us essentially, you know, yeah, i am gay, but i just don't wanna talk about it. >> did people at school know -- was he -- >> i think so, yeah. >> i think his friends knew at school. >> because blaze was so open

about his sexuality with me, i feel like that definitely gave him a better foundation. so if he was to go to his parents and his family and open up about that part of his life, he would've known that we were all there for him. >> you noticed that too? yeah, i took a picture of it. >> as the mother of a gay man, i am proud to be that. >> blaze is ready. blaze a trail. >> you feel like, you know, like an artist that you have spent your lifetime sculpting this amazing piece of artwork, and then it gets destroyed. and so here we are, our artwork is gone. hard to accept. >> back home in california, the investigation continued, and the focus remained on blaze's former high school classmate,

sam woodward. the person who admitted to driving with him to borrego park. >> we have interviewed that friend several times, that person is not in custody and we are not prepared to comment on a persons of interest at this time. >> when orange county sheriff's investigator dylan jantzen first spoke with woodward the day after blaze was reported missing, he says woodward seemed nervous and told different versions of where at borrego park he and blaze went that night. and jantzen says woodward had what appeared to be injuries on his hands. >> those cuts on your hands look pretty gnarly. how do you think you got those? from the fight club? >> sam said he was involved with a fight club. he said that he sustained these cuts to his hands after somebody was clawing at him during one of the fights. >> when i swung at him, i kind of fell on my ass. and i usually try and have my

hands to break my fall from it, and so i landed on some rocks. >> i've heard of fight clubs, but i just, i didn't believe it. anytime that sam woodward was walking around the station, when he touched the doorknob, he would cover his hands with the sleeves of his sweatshirt. is he attempting to cover up fingerprints? is he attempting to cover up dna? it was definitely something that stood out. >> nearly a week after that interview with police, when blaze's body was found, investigators went looking for sam woodward once again. >> investigators said when they searched woodward's bedroom, there was some damning evidence. they found a knife with blood on the handle and on the tip of the blade. they also found blood stains on a sleeping bag outside his window and on the driver's side of his car. >> the knife that was found in sam woodward's room, the areas of the vehicle that had apparent blood on it, the sleeping bag that was found on the side of

sam woodward's home. they were all tested for dna, and those results concluded to be the blood from blaze bernstein. >> with this new evidence, police are now ready to make an arrest. >> under arrest, 20-year-old samuel lincoln woodward, suspected of killing of blaze bernstein. >> police say dna evidence led them to arrest the 19-year-old's former high school classmate. >> i remember thinking to myself, "that's the guy that was on the phone." >> i want to find blaze as much as you do. >> at the time i thought, i wonder what my brother was thinking before he died? i wonder if he was in pain, or, i wonder if there was any way he could have saved himself. i think once sam was arrested, i knew that my brother didn't have a chance. >> but something authorities were playing pretty close to the vest was motive. why would sam woodward want to kill blaze bernstein? as the days unfolded, investigators would confront a possibility they hadn't even originally contemplated. >> not only was this murder,

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this morning, the orange county district attorney's office filed one felony count of murder against 20-year-old newport beach resident samuel woodward. >> before joining abc news, i spent 26 years as a deputy district attorney in the orange county d.a.'s office. for a time, i was one of the prosecutors skulling on this case. sam woodward was taken into custody ten days after blaze went missing and three days after his body was found. >> there was the victim's dna on property that was in control of the defendant. >> well, i remember that moment well. i was sitting in my room, i was watching it on television, and i just thought to myself, "it's finally happened. now what?"

>> with the knowledge of how blaze was murdered now an excruciating reality for the bernsteins, the focus turned to why. >> blaze was stabbed nearly 20 times in the neck. using a knife to kill is particularly violent, because you have to be up so close. that many wounds says this was likely a crime of rage or passion, more personal than a typical murder. so as a prosecutor, my next question would be, "who is sam woodward and what was his relationship with blaze?" >> i had no clue why blaze would be meeting with sam, you know. they were never really friends in school. i just know that everybody else got bad vibes from him. >> woodward grew up in newport beach, the wealthy suburb south of l.a. in orange county. he was a cub scout and eagle scout. and as we know, woodward spent part of his high school years at ocsa, the same elite arts school where blaze had also been a student.

>> it took me a couple of minutes as i watched the footage. it started to dawn on me, "oh, my god, that's the sam i taught." every kid in my acting for the camera class, it was film work. so, i said, "everybody pick your favorite movie and bring me a scene or a monologue from that film." and he said, "i want to do something from the army." so, i gave him brad pitt's speech in "inglourious basterds." >> as a bushwhacking guerilla army, we're going to be doing one thing and one thing only, killing nazis. >> the provocative quentin tarantino world war ii thriller is about a plan to assassinate nazi leaders by a band of jewish soldiers. >> it weighs heavily on me. did i introduce him to something that later on came back to haunt us all? >> a.c. thompson, an investigative reporter for propublica, uncovered some disturbing information when

digging into woodward's background. >> when i started reporting on sam woodward, what really stuck out to me was this, sam woodward was a member of the atomwaffen division, which was a neo-nazi terrorist group that aimed to bring down the u.s. government and incite a race war. >> atomwaffen posted violent propaganda videos online to spread a message of hate and to help recruit new members. >> the atomwaffen division was a neo-nazi group that existed from about 2015 to 2020. they were inspired by charles manson. they were also inspired by tim mcveigh, the oklahoma city bomber. they weren't interested in protests or marching in the streets. they wanted to kill people. >> that organization was hell bent on destroying america within, taking down the system.

>> my reporting team and i got access to thousands and thousands of private chat messages that were between members of the atomwaffen group. sam woodward was one of the people in these chats. >> writing in the chats under the alias "sabeteur," woodward spewed anti-semitic, anti-gay, misogynist hate. >> when we executed the search warrants on several electronic devices, including computers and cell phones and laptops, there were thousands of images of white supremacist propaganda and hundreds and hundreds of images to include the atomwaffen division. >> but woodward's interest in atomwaffen apparently went beyond just talk in a chat room. also found on sam woodward's devices was a picture with james mason, a neo-nazi whose writings atomwaffen members describe as a main influence on the group, along with a photo of woodward in a skull mask giving the nazi salute.

>> now we're starting to see a bigger picture. not only was this just a murder, there's a high probability that sam woodward killed blaze bernstein because he was homosexual, possibly because he was jewish, or a combination of both. >> i'm here to announce the orange county district attorney's office will file an amended complaint, a hate crime enhancement, accusing woodward of intentionally committing first degree murder due in whole, or in part, to blaze's sexual orientation. we will prove that woodward killed blaze because blaze is gay. >> what do you make of the fact that, it's very possible that a neo-nazi killed blaze in the united states? >> if that's the case, that's going to be the biggest tragedy of this story. >> he's the grandson of a holocaust survivor. this can happen anywhere, you're not safe from this kind of hate. >> but something that is still

not adding up, how were blaze bernstein and sam woodward connected? they were both from orange county, but blaze, a young, gay, jewish man, and woodward, a member of a neo-nazi group, seemed to have nothing else in common. why were they together that night in the first place? sam woodward would have his day in court, with a stunning new in court, with a stunning new look and a surprising defense. you told mom to send her prescription to amazon pharmacy. she didn't. now, you're stuck behind this guy. as he uses the pharmacy line to purchase half the store. including a ceramic dolphin figurine. without a price. price check in pharmacy. all mom had to do was use amazon pharmacy. and her meds would get delivered right to her door.

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while sam woodward was arrested for killing blaze bernstein in january 2018, it would take six years for him to face a jury. woodward was charged with first-degree murder -- a hate crime. he plead not guilty. >> 19-year-old blaze bernstein was stabbed repeatedly and

killed back in 2018, and now, six years later, that trial finally begins today. >> by the time the trial was starting, i had already left the da's office, but i was watching the proceedings closely. >> still, no one seems prepared for the sam woodward that is led into judge kimberly menninger's courtroom. >> there was almost like a gasp from some people, just the kind of -- that visceral reaction to kind of seeing him. >> long, dark, stringy hair. long, dark beard covering his face. it's hard not to draw mental comparisons to charles manson. >> blaze bernstein was found with 28 stab wounds. >> senior deputy district attorney jennifer walker's opening statements tell the story of a young man who they say set out to murder 19-year-old blaze bernstein in cold blood. that hate crime charge, she explains, that was brought

because prosecutors believe the evidence showed sam woodward murdered blaze because he was gay, but not because he was jewish. >> you'll see the cell phone evidence, the defendant's words, the defendant's hate. >> but in his opening statements, defense attorney ken morrison did something we definitely don't see every day, by making a stunning admission. >> my client, sam woodward, was responsible for that death. the why is the single most important issue you will need to decide. >> this is no longer a trial about guilt or innocence. the question now becomes, did woodward plan the killing because of a hatred for gay people? was it pre-meditated? if the jury agrees, that could mean a first-degree murder conviction and most likely, a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. >> morrison argues for a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter

and an acquittal of the hate crime allegation, which would result in a reduced sentence, and a chance for parole. >> the evidence will show that blaze bernstein's sexual orientation had absolutely nothing to do with the reason he was killed. >> jennifer walker calls her first witnesses, blaze bernstein's parents. gideon bernstein now faces down the man who killed his son, as he recounts the painful moments when the family first realized that blaze was missing. >> you remember where you were when you got the phone call. >> i do remember that, yes. >> and why does that stand out in your mind? >> because it was the beginning of hell. >> jennifer walker then brings an orange county sheriff's deputy to the stand to describe

what he watched sam woodward do on january 5th, 2018, after police decided to put woodward under surveillance. >> what did you observe? >> i observed him would appear to be cleaning his vehicle, the interior and exterior. >> he had in his possession what looked like a spray bottle of cleaning product. >> he's now scrubbing the driver's side door. >> it was very strange to us. what was he cleaning? why? >> jennifer walker then digs into the heart of her hate-crime argument, portraying sam woodward as someone who changed from eagle scout to neo-nazi. >> he had developed his longstanding beliefs against jewish people and gay people and started joining groups that espoused the views that he had. >> this is where woodward's involvement in the extremist group atomwaffen becomes key for the prosecution. investigators say they found these images on woodward's personal devices.

>> the prosecution calls an ex-member to the stand whose voice has been altered and his face obscured at the request of the court. he's also using an alias. >> good morning, "mr. murphy." >> good morning. >> prosecutors allege that woodward sought out the group, and once there, the fires of his hatred were further stoked as he attended multiple meetings. >> so this summer of 2017, austin, texas, tell us what you and sam woodward did? >> we took propaganda photos, uh, that involved us throwing up nazi salutes, put the atomwaffen logo on the photos, you know, for propaganda purposes. >> the prosecution also presents what woodward himself labels "sam's diary of hate," emails he sent to himself over a seven month period in 2017. >> the prey that the defendant

had chosen was gay people and he kept a diary of his feelings and intentions. >> and who did the prosecution allege that he was "hunting"? well, they say that sam woodward had been visiting online dating sites to connect with gay men. >> downloaded grindr so i could send [ bleep ] photos of their fellow sodomites getting killed and tell them they're going to be next. they're [ bleep ]ing terrified, lol, this is too much fun. they think they're going to get hate-crimed and it scares the [ bleep ] out of them. >> and this is how the prosecution claims sam woodward targeted blaze -- while he was hunting for victims on the dating app tinder. the two men first connected on the app in june of 2017, three years after they had been classmates at ocsa, and then again the night blaze disappeared. the last exchange is allegedly what led to their encounter in

borrego park. >> and then here is where the luring starts. the defendant says, "is anyone near you right now, because i just wanted to say --" and blaze says, "nope. no, what? no one is near me." the defendant says, "i might make an exception for you." the defendant says, "look, do you have snap?" and then we have blaze snapping his address to the defendant at 10:37 p.m. on january 2nd, 2018. >> according to prosecutors, the trap had been set, and blaze stumbled right into it that night when he agreed to meet up with sam woodward. >> but when it's the defense's turn to present its case, jaws will drop in the courtroom. because the star witness will be the defendant himself, sam woodward. and the crux of the defense's case? that sam had a secret, and would go to any lengths to hide it. even if he had to kill.

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another day of court. it's definitely a challenge emotionally and mentally to get up and just have to go and do this. >> we are six and a half years since my son was killed. we are all going through our own personal hell right now. the prosecution rested last week, and we're now listening to defense witnesses. >> sam woodward's defense attorney, ken morrison, is making his case. >> sam did not hate blaze for any reason. >> remember, the defense has acknowledged that 26-year-old sam woodward killed blaze bernstein, but they insist that it was neither a

premeditated murder nor a hate crime. >> you will also hear lots of additional evidence that helps to explain why this homicide was committed. >> but just as morrison starts laying out his case, the defense team is dealt a blow. the judge rules that some evidence is inadmissible, including that mysterious last text message sent from blaze's phone the night of the murder. "i did something really horrible for the story. but also, no one can ever know." >> the jury then hears how sam wood ward was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, which the defense says hindered his ability to make and maintain friendships and contributed to sam's acute sense of isolation and loneliness. >> this helps to explain how starved sam was for the camaraderie, the brotherhood and acceptance, and how profoundly vulnerable he was to recruitment into groups like atomwaffen.

>> the defense claims sam woodward's participation in atomwaffen wasn't as much about ideology as it was about connecting with others and just having a good time. morrison calls former atomwaffen member, tyler wiesing, to the stand. >> so, would you characterize the camp as very serious, in terms of the ideology, goals, training, that sort of thing? >> um, that was the intent and the image. in the reality, it was a bunch of people getting drunk and not taking things seriously. >> as for those tinder messages -- while the prosecution argued that sam woodward was online to "hunt and terrorize victims," morrison says that never happened. and he argues that in this case, it was blaze who pursued sam. >> june 15th, 2017, blaze bernstein saw sam's profile on tinder and blaze bernstein initiated the

first contact with sam woodward, not the other way around. and then sam says, "thing is, you're not too shabby looking yourself, blaze." blaze says, "oh, well, thanks, sam, that's sweet of you. emoji." sam says, "yeah, you're cute, tbh," to be honest. >> according to the defense, sam woodward's repressed feelings of homosexuality, which could help explain the reason behind "sam's diary of hate." >> he's trying to kind of keep this as this hidden-away part of his life, that these hate diary entries are simply narrative constructs to cover up that part of him should atomwaffen members get suspicious. >> morrison argues that sam woodward was tortured by his sexual identity because of what he claims he heard at home. he calls woodward's mother, michele, to the witness stand. >> ms. woodward, was it ever

communicated to your children that homosexuality is a sin? >> yes. >> and who communicated that? >> my husband. >> the defense calls james markel to the stand, please. >> family friend, james markel, tells the court about an incident he says michelle recounted to him about sam's father, blake. >> was there any particular word that michele woodward told you that she would hear blake call sam? umm, he would say [ bleep ], he would say gay. >> but when called to the stand, sam woodward's father, blake, denies using any homophobic slurs. >> would you make derogatory remarks about home section wall people in sam's presence? >> no. >> but ultimately, the case

would hinge on the testimony of the one person who was there the night blaze bernstein was killed, sam woodward. >> the defense is calling up samuel woodward. >> for the defense, calling their client to testify is a risky move. it can be viewed as a hail mary, or a very shrewd tactic to play on the jury's sympathies. >> mr. woodward, can i ask you if you're able to move the hair out of your face a little bit? >> woodward's defense attorney ken morrison takes woodward through the story of his life, arriving at a key question. >> sam, was there ever a time in your life that you can recall where you wondered whether you might be gay? >> no. no, i can't say really there was. no. >> this may have just blown up ken morrison's defense, which hinges on the argument that sam woodward was struggling with his sexual identity.

and that will become hugely important because of what morrison is about to argue blaze did that night, which he says provoked the attack. >> you will learn that blaze bernstein was not killed because of who he was, but because of what he did to sam woodward after they met up. >> what will sam woodward say happened that night? >> when you drove to blaze bernstein's house to pick him up, sam, were you planning to kill him that night? with dr, you may be at risk for developing geographic atrophy, or ga. ga can be unpredictable—and progress rapidly—leading to irreversible vision loss. now there's something you can do to... ♪ ( slow. it. down.) ♪ ♪ ( get it goin' slower.)♪ ask your doctor about izervay. ♪ (i. zer. vay.) ♪ ♪ ( gets ga goin' slower.) ♪ izervay is an eye injection. don't take it if you have an infection or active

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it's day 28 in the trial of sam woodward and defense attorney ken morrison is questioning his client about the night he and blaze ended up in borrego park. >> i am pretty sure i said, "we

should hang out at some point or other, it'd be cool if you wanted to." and so, right after that, he said to me that he was actually free this night, right now. and at that point, i basically -- i said, "all right, cool." >> sam woodward testifies that after picking up blaze near his house, the two men eventually arrived at the park. there, on a bench, woodward claims the night took a dark turn. >> woodward said he smoked some marijuana, was starting to kind of get drowsy, kind of nod off, feels something and opens his eyes. >> i saw a hand right on my crotch, with my pants unbuckled. i looked right up, and i saw him, and he had his phone in his hand.

he kept saying something that i can only remember as, "i got you already. i got you. i got you. i got you. i got you, [ bleep ] hypocrite." i heard him maybe use the word outed in the same sentence, i couldn't exactly remember. i -- >> if sam woodward is to be believed, blaze was threatening him, and that's what made woodward snap. >> what, if anything, did you think he was doing with his cellphone? >> i thought he might photograph me. i thought he might send text messages. i thought he might be trying to record me. >> so, at any point in time, did you see blaze actually appear as though he was texting any messages? >> yes. >> sam woodward says his fear was that there had been an image

or video taken and that his family would learn about it. >> i grew up in a home with my mother and my father and my brother, i love them more than i can almost speak about. my father, though, if he'd heard about something like that that got out somehow, i couldn't fathom that. >> sam woodward then describes how he says things escalated. >> i found one of the knives that i had used to open up the container of marijuana. i just kept driving and driving and driving and driving the knife down. >> when you say driving the knife down, sam, were you stabbing blaze? >> at that point, yes, i was. >> in an effort to try to dispel any argument that this was a hate crime, morrison asks sam woodward two final questions. >> when you drove to

blaze bernstein's house to pick him up, sam, were you planning to kill him that night? >> no. no, not at all. >> did you hate him because he was gay? >> no, not at all. >> but now, here's where the gamble of putting woodward on the stand could either pay off or lose big. >> okay. so, walk me through it, sir. >> on cross examination, jennifer walker attacks woodward's credibility. >> the left side of his neck was closest to you, right, if he's sitting to your right? >> everything was a blur. >> well, how did you stab him 14 separate times on the left side of his neck when he was sitting right next to you? >> i can't remember. >> and how did you stab him five separate times on the right side of his neck when he was sitting to your right? >> i can't remember. >> after a trial full of fits

and starts, spanning almost three months, the closing case goes to the jury. the jury deliberates for about eight hours. >> we, the jury in the above-entitled action find the defendant, samuel woodward, guilty of the crime of first-degree murder. >> thank god. >> it's an emotional moment even for the court clerk. >> just a sec. >> sure. >> i've prosecuted a lot of murder cases, and i can't say i've ever seen a court clerk react like that. >> we, the jury in the above-entitled action, find it to be true that the defendant, samuel woodward, committed hate crime first-degree murder. >> we are thrilled with the verdict, which holds samuel woodward accountable for the brutal, violent, painful murder of our son. justice has been served.

thank you! >> breaking news now, an emotional afternoon in an orange county courtroom, the sentencing has just been handed down for the man convicted of the hate crime murder of blaze bernstein. >> at this time, the court does sentence the defendant to state prison for the term prescribed by law, which is life without the possibility of parole. >> the jury said that they saw this as a hate crime and that hate was not going to get you anywhere in this world. >> in the seven years since blaze bernsteins's murder, the family of sam woodward has never spoken out beyond their court testimony. but the bernsteins say the woodwards did leave something for them back in 2018. have they reached out to you, by the way? >> yeah. >> we found a note under our doormat. >> what did it say, this note?

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investigation, how many hours would you say you spent at this park? >> countless. i spent a lot of time over here just looking, thinking, analyzing, what was the truth? what's not the truth? >> we may never know exactly what happened the night blaze was murdered or what that last text message meant. but sergeant jantzen can answer one question based on the evidence. >> that cell phone, even though it was damaged, we were able to send it to various companies, to restructure the cell phone and extract any and all information on there. >> were there any pictures of that night? >> no. >> so, this park is pretty meaningful for you. >> so we stop here and go check out the garden of rocks that are now over in the corner. >> do you feel that you get a

little bit of closure each time you put one more rock down? >> i don't even know what closure is when you lose a child. i think maybe closure for me will be just being able to look at all of these things and be happy. >> almost seven years after i walked in borrego park with the bernsteins, the memorial of painted stones honoring their son has blossomed. jeanne and gideon have moved away from foothill ranch, but they tell me they still find solace in this place. >> in the jewish tradition, it is a thing that you put rocks at a grave site. >> and there's a permanence to it. >> it gives us some feeling of connection, connection to people. the people that will hear our story and understand the importance of eradicating hate in this world. this is about love. >> since 2018, the bernsteins

have been building a movement. they call it "blaze it forward." >> the blaze it forward campaign was based off the idea that, as a community, we can make a difference, and we can change the way that this world works. we were able to take that in my brother's honor, to try and encourage people to just do one good thing every day. >> they participate in local pride parades, and jeanne hosts a podcast featuring people doing good in the world. sam woodward's parents, blake and michelle woodward, never responded to an interview request with abc news, but they did write a letter to the court, submitted at sentencing. it reads, in part -- "in the past, you could look into sam's eyes and be surprised at the level of sensitivity and warmth. it's one of his best traits. now, he's too vulnerable to let you look him in the eyes. he committed a crime, but he is not a person without value,

unworthy of respect." speaking about the woodward parents, they left a note at your house in 2018, right? >> they did, they did. at the time, i thought it was infuriating. because one of the things that they said in that letter was that -- that both families are going through a hard time right now. i don't think that she had any idea how hard of a time we were having. >> but there's another letter that holds more meaning for jeanne and gideon, discovered after the trial, tucked among the colorful painted stones of blaze's memorial. >> this is a copy of a note that was left for us in the park by one of the jurors. she basically says in this letter to blaze, that she's really sorry that she didn't get to know him. >> thank you, everyone, for coming to class today. >> so, blaze would be 27. do you ever think about what he would be like today had he lived? >> he'd be doing something fantastic. i know that about blaze.

and he'd be making people happy, because that's what he did. blaze is always on my mind. i think about him from the minute i wake up until i go to bed at night. he was my person. >> he was a piece of me. he's gone. but i'm still here, and whatever he's done to make an impact on this world is what we're going to leverage and try to make sure that people never forget about our son and what happened. >> deborah: sam woodward's defense lawyer, ken morrison, david, says his client didn't get a fair trial. woodward has appealed. >> david: morrison claims there are several appellate issues because of evidence the jury was not allowed to see. in the meantime, that is our program for tonight. thanks so much for watching. i'm david muir. >> deborah: and i'm deborah roberts. for all of us here at "20/20"

and abc news, good night. pure, unadulterated hatred. and that was on on the lake's walking path. totally unchecked. >> a celebration marred by the inexplicable and the unacceptable. but one east bay community is doing to fight hate. and the latest storm leaves its mark on the bay area, where these giant trees came crashing down. the pots are ready. the fishermen are ready. are you ready for some locally caught crab? the season is finally almost here. >> always live. abc seven news ar