"dateline nbc." something about an iraq war veteran who had supposedly murdered a young girl in a parking lot. i kept waiting to see the evidence that he was guilty and it just never came. i couldn't sit by. >> stunning new developments tonight, in a 15-year long search for justice. >> you can't ever forget me, okay? >> reporter: their daughter was found murdered inside her new blue mustang. >> is this a domestic dispute. >> you gotta get this thing solved. >> reporter: the key witness. >> multiple shots rang out. >> reporter: was soon the prime suspect. >> i was convinced this guy did it. >> he just knew too much. >> they believe i killed this

girl. >> reporter: did he, or did he just not know when to stop talking? >> there's nothing i can say to defend it. i'm at a loss. >> reporter: a head-spinning new twist, thanks to an unlikely "dateline" viewer. >> either this was an innocent man or a sociopath who deserved an academy award. >> reporter: the remarkable story from those who lived it. >> something came over me. i just had a weird feeling. >> you're not innocent until proven guilty. you're guilty until proven innocent. >> after 15 years, is the search for answers finally over? or just beginning? >> i think, "here we are again. weren't we done with this? >> that's what i thought. >> i'm lester holt, and this is "dateline." here's keith morrison with "the man who knew too much." >> reporter: oh how she loved that car. the style, the speed, the way it glided along the open road in

california's antelope valley, north of los angeles. and the color, atlantic blue. it was february, a cool, crisp morning in the year 2000. it was the day of michelle o'keefe's big adventure, the day she and a friend were going to l.a. to be in a kid rock music video. such a happy spark in her eye as she replied to her mother pat's reminder of her night class at community college. >> yeah, i'll be back in time. might be running a little late, but i'll be back in time. "don't worry, mom." and that was the last time i talked to her. >> translator: would she still be here, still vibrant, still alive, had she driven the mustang to l.a.? academic now. facts are facts. she left it at the park n ride, rode in her friend jennifer's car.

history is so capricious and so confusing. how strange it is, how utterly unpredictable, that we'd be telling this story again, except, it isn't the same story at all? because everything we thought we knew about that february day, that dark, cold night, is different now. but that day, when they arrived at the studio in l.a., the girls changed into the sexy club clothes required for the music video and took their places as kid rock hit the stage. >> my name is kiiiid. rock! ♪ >> reporter: performing his hit song, "bawitdaba." ♪ >> reporter: and there they were, michelle and jennifer, front and center. ♪ >> reporter: the shoot ran long, of course. don't they always? and the two girls raced back to the antelope valley. michelle thought it would save some time to change out of the provocative club clothes and into her school clothes back at

the mustang, in the park n ride. by now, a cold wind was howling across the high desert, storm on the way. it was almost 9:30 when they arived at the mustang, dark, quiet, not a soul in sight. jennifer dropped off michelle, and as she drove away, she looked back, thought she saw her friend leaving, too. but, michelle o'keefe did not leave the park n ride. [ gunshots ] >> reporter: jennifer didn't hear the gunshots. didn't know, michelle o'keefe was dead. by 10:00, sheriff's deputies were scouring the remote parking lot hoping to find the killer. they did not. and so, around 11:00pm, two hours away, homicide detective richard longshore was awakened by a phone call. >> it's, like, 170 miles from my

house. it's, like, the back side of the moon. >> reporter: by the time longshore arrived, michelle had been dead just over three hours. >> it appears that she had sustained some trauma. uh, this is obviously a homicide investigation. there is several gunshots. we didn't know how many at that time. she was leaned in her car with her head over to one side. there was not a lot of blood. >> reporter: there was also a gash on her forehead. what happened? a rape attempt turned deadly? maybe it didn't look like robbery. >> her purse was there containing well over $100. the only thing missing was her cell phone, and the purse was in plain view in her car. was this a carjacking? it's not logical that a person would just sit there and then not take the car. it -- it doesn't fit. >> reporter: in the purse was an id. michelle therese o'keefe, and an address, where, at that moment,

her parents were wide awake. >> something came over me. my body, and i just had a weird feeling. i couldn't really place it or visualize what had happened to michelle, but i know something happened. >> reporter: and then there were deputies at the door, asking to come inside. >> they go, "well, we gotta tell you that something's happened." and i go, "well, has there been an accident? and has michelle been hurt in an accident?" they go, "well, no. there's been a shooting." i go, "oh, michelle's shot? so she's alive?" and they go, "well, no." you sort of feel a piece of you sorta dies, right, at real-time when somebody tells you something like that, it's your own kid. it was horrible. >> reporter: michelle's brother jason was awakened by the commotion. he was 12 then. >> i look up at the top of the stairs, and there's jason up there, looking down, you know? and he's, like, completely confused and scared. and so, i thought, "well, the

best thing to do is, you know, let him know what's going on." to see the look on his face, you know? and telling him he lost his sister, it was just really bad. ♪ >> i saw both my parents in tears. and that's when they told me what exactly happened. >> there's no way to prepare yourself for news like that. >> no. no, never, in wildest dream, could you imagine that -- about 20 hours before that, i was, you know, working on a science project with her. and the, she's gone until the day i get to heaven. >> reporter: back at the parking lot, detective longshore had very little to go on. no weapon. no fingerprints. no footprints. though, there was one possible witness, a security guard had been on duty at the lot. but, he wasn't much of a witness. he said he didn't see who fired the shots, or anyone running away. the guard's name was ray jennings. >> he was very cordial. he didn't appear all that

nervous at all. we spoke for about -- about 10 minutes that night. the shooting happened around 9:30., and i'm interviewing him about 1:30. i wanted to get him home, get rested, and i could interview him again at another time. >> reporter: longshore could see this wasn't going to be easy. but, of course he couldn't know, could he? on this cold, windy night, that the case of michelle o'keefe would consume a decade of his life. or, that a simple case of insomnia would undo everything. >> reporter: why would an 18-year old girl believe she was going to die? when we return. >> she goes, "i just had a feeling i'm not gonna live much longer." >> reporter: and, a first-person account of michelle's murder. >> you could see the taillights come into view, and then multiple shots rang out after that. ah, i'd love your help.

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>> it was a brand-new ford mustang. it was bright blue -- real pretty car. >> reporter: and now it was a kind of coffin for its 18-year-old owner, michelle o'keefe. ♪ >> reporter: the car had been a christmas present, and why not? >> number 60, this is michelle o'keefe. >> reporter: michelle had done everything right in life, star student, cheerleader. extremely popular, religious, supportive big sister to jason.

>> she was always looking out for him. you know, if we weren't around or pat wasn't around, it was almost like he had a second mother with her, you know? >> well you can just put the camera on me for a while. >> she hung out with different types of groups all over. so she was very friendly, very outgoing. >> it's new years, 1999. >> reporter: so it was strange, the premonition she'd been having, the one she told her dad about. >> and she goes, "you know, i just had a feeling i'm not gonna live much longer." and i asked her, i go, "has somebody been bothering you or" -- she goes, "no, i just had this feeling i'm not gonna live much longer. i had this strange feeling for a while." >> reporter: only natural what her mother told her. >> i said, "michelle, be careful at night." >> what would she say? >> she said, "i -- i'm okay, mom. i can handle myself." "i'm strong. i can fight -- fight them off. i'll be okay." ♪ >> reporter: and now, middle of the night, looking at her body,

detective longshore developed a theory about what happened. >> her tube top had been dislodged, exp -- exposing >> so, this may have been an attempt at a sexual assault. >> yes. >> reporter: but nobody saw anything, not even the security guard, ray jennings. >> i just stayed up there towards my car the whole time, and then waited for the next shift guy to come on. >> reporter: two nights later, when jennings went back on patrol, the detectives talked to him again. that's him right there, filmed by a local news photographer. >> he was very cordial. he had just moved to california from north carolina. >> reporter: jennings was a national guardsman, 25 years old, father of three. he had just started working for the security company as an unarmed guard. walking the lot around 9:00, he said, he saw the blue mustang, parked and empty. then, a half hour later -- >> i heard a car alarm going off. as i made my way to that particular area, you heard a

single gunshot. and after that single gunshot, i stopped. i was basically beside my car. and i took a few steps over and i just knelt down. >> you were hiding behind the car. >> yeah, absolutely. you know, that's the first thing we're trained to do when you hear gunfire. >> reporter: trained, he said, to take cover, to wait, and listen. >> the car alarm was still going off. the engine, revved up, meaning that it -- it appeared that somebody had pushed the gas. >> reporter: and that's when jennings said he caught of a glimpse the mustang rolling backwards. >> you could see the -- the taillights come into view, just the taillights, and then multiple shots rang out after that. >> so, there's a gap between the first shot and the multiple shots? >> yes, maybe 15 to 20-second gap. >> reporter: jennings said he was "fearful," stayed behind his car, and never saw the shooter. but, he did radio his supervisor. >> and, told them that i had shots fired and i needed

assistance. and, at that time, the car was rolling backwards further, and it became -- came into complete view. and, it just rolled all the way back until it landed on that planter. >> did you see anybody else leaving the parking lot or hear anybody leaving? >> not immediately after the shooting, no. >> reporter: when his supervisor arrived, said jennings, she urged him to go with her as she checked out the mustang. jennings declined, told her, he said, she should wait for the police. but, a few minutes later she ordered him to join her and he walked over to the car. >> you could see that there was a person slumped over with, you know, gunshot wounds inflicted upon them. >> did you approach the person? did you -- >> no, i just observed. i just looked. >> from how far away? >> probably as close as you and i are. >> reporter: but jennings told the police he didn't see the shooter, had no idea who it was. so, the detectives found the last person who saw michelle o'keefe alive, jennifer peterson, who dropped michelle at the mustang just before she was murdered.

>> so we drove her out to the scene and asked her to show us exactly where she had been and what she had done. >> reporter: and that's when detective longshore got a surprise. >> i said, "okay, this is where michelle's car was." she says, "well, no it wasn't." i said, "are you sure?" and she says, "yeah, we parked it under a light, deliberately because -- she was concerned about her vehicle's safety." >> reporter: according to jennifer, when michelle parked her car in the afternoon, she left it under a light post, for safety. when they returned that evening, said jennifer, michelle got in her mustang under the light post and started backing out. jennifer drove away, assuming that michelle was leaving, too. but, michelle didn't leave. and, when longshore showed her where the car wound up, jennifer felt sure the mustang must have been moved from its original parking spot to this darker place several spaces away, hidden between a van and another car. so, maybe michelle had driven to this more discreet place to

change her clothes? but, jennings insisted the car had been here all along. and, this was the space where he saw the mustang back at 9:00, 20 minutes before michelle and jennifer got back from l.a. >> so, it wasn't moved? >> from what i know, no, it was not moved. it -- when i walked past it, that's where it was at. it was not parked underneath a light structure of any sort. this is where the car was at. >> reporter: somebody was either lying or simply mistaken. ♪ >> reporter: three days after his conversation with the cops, ray jennings quit. he wanted time off, he said, and also wasn't comfortable around that crime scene. when jennings went to get paid, the company told him. >> in order to receive the paycheck, you had to turn your uniform in first. so, i went back to the house and grabbed my uniform, and i brought it back to them.

>> a few days later the detectives ran some tests on his uniform. it was dirty, but clean of any evidence. there was no blood or gunshot residue, nothing like that. in fact, detectives found very little physical evidence of any kind, and no obvious leads. >> we talked to the parents and looked at all the usual suspects, if you will. you know, is this a domestic dispute or a lover's quarrel? well, she had no boyfriends. >> reporter: weeks passed. the investigation cooled. but then, an unexpected lead. a second eyewitness turned up, said she was in the parking the night of the murder. and, she just may have seen michelle's killer. >> reporter: coming up, detectives have a possible suspect. >> it just started to ring off some alarm bells. >> reporter: and, raymond jennings sure seemed to know a lot about michelle's murder. >> it was just close range. it was very close range. >> for a layperson to come up with that, it just defied logic. >> reporter: when dateline

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spring 2000, as the weather warmed in the high desert, the case of the girl in the blue mustang went cold. no suspect, no new clues. no solid leads. and then, a few weeks after the murder of michelle o'keefe, a young woman arrested on juvenile charges said she had a story to tell. her name was victoria richardson. she was there, in the parking lot, she said. and she saw something. >> she was not very far from where the shooting occurred. she heard a tapping sound, which we've determined was probably the gunshots. she saw another car just drive by, a random car

in the parking lot. and she saw the security guard walk by just moments before the shooting. >> reporter: the only guard on duty that night was raymond jennings. >> after the shooting, they left the parking lot, went right through the crime scene and end up -- stopping and talking mr. jennings and saying, "wait, what happened? and is there shooting?" he's, "i don't know," or words to that effect. and -- but he never told us that initially. >> reporter: but that wasn't all victoria said she saw. after what sounded like a shooting, she said, she saw a black two door toyota drive by. detectives got nowhere on that lead. but they sure did wonder why ray jennings didn't mention his encounter with victoria richardson. so a month after the murder, detective longshore went to jennings' house to ask him again. and -- >> he goes, "oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that. it was an african-american

lady." it just started to ring off some alarm bells. >> reporter: jennings said he wasn't trying to hide anything, he just misunderstood the question, that first time he was asked. >> detective longshore asked me, "immediately after the shooting, did you see anybody leave?" so my interpretation of the word "immediately" means shots fired, somebody leaves? not shots fired, five, seven, ten minutes later, somebody leaves. >> reporter: but, victoria's story changed things. maybe ray jennings wasn't a witness trying to be helpful as detectives originally thought. maybe he was a suspect. >> her coming forward, we could put jennings at the scene just moments before the shooting. >> reporter: so now the detectives re-thought what jennings had told them about what he saw and who he talked to

the night of michelle's murder. longshore asked him to submit to something he called a "cognitive interview." an attempt to jog his memory, the detective said. and jennings, ever cooperative, agreed. >> why in heaven's name, when you realize that they were pushing you, probing, and kinda suspicious -- >> yeah. >> -- why didn't you ask for an attorney? >> i've never been involved with anything like this before. i'm just being as helpful as i can. so, it never -- it never dawned on me to ask for an attorney. >> i have to tell you what i seen. >> reporter: tape rolled as three different detectives questioned jennings. >> it bothers me every day, to know that i didn't see anything. >> reporter: why didn't he? because his view was blocked, he said, by a van parked next to michelle's mustang. but he did recall what he witnessed after the shooting, when he saw michelle's body. >> when i first seen her, the gunshot in her chest -- that to me, looked like the very

first shot that was fired. it was just close range, it was very close range. >> reporter: thing was, he was right. he was right about a lot. which, only increased longshore's suspicions. >> we don't make those determinations before you go to an autopsy. and for a lay person come up with that it just defied -- defied logic. >> reporter: jennings also offered opinions about the sequence of shots, including how one must have struck the pavement near michelle's car. >> he said that he saw a projectile laying on the pavement and that he speculated that -- projectile was there because the shooter accidentally shot into the ground as he approached michelle. it took us hours to determine that's what occurred. and yet he had it, in a matter of minutes. >> reporter: jennings served in the national guard, so he knew something about guns. but -- >> these are things that i shoulda never spoke on because i didn't know. i'm not an expert. >> you were guessing? >> -- at these things. oh, absolutely. just based upon what i observed.

>> it's like nerves still. >> reporter: but then jennings said something to those detectives that made them all but jump. about seeing michelle's body. >> like her hand was twitching, just shaking like that. >> mm-hmm. >> or just popping up and down. >> okay. >> and then like, uh, uh -- i seen a, you could see a slight pulse in her neck, just a real, it's real light. i thought she was still alive. >> reporter: but remember, jennings said he didn't rush to the crime scene right after the shooting. said it was several minutes before he saw michelle's body. by which time, the detectives felt sure, she must have been dead. >> i think that you saw the pulse and i think that you saw the hand twitching and the reason you -- you saw all that is 'cuz you were there. >> i said, "i believe that you saw that movement. but it wasn't 15 minutes later. it was when you shot her." >> reporter: there it was. a straight-out accusation. jennings denied it. >> i swear to you, man, that i was not down there at that time. >> reporter: jennings submitted to a polygraph, during which he

suggested a possible motive for michelle's murder. >> she looked to be a prostitute in my eye because of the way she was dressed. so i thought it might have been a prostitution deal that went bad. >> okay. >> reporter: thing is, jennings failed the polygraph. so if he was lying, maybe the truth was he propositioned her, thought the detectives. maybe michelle, who was known to be a fighter, resisted and the encounter quickly escalated. turned deadly. >> something went wrong ray. >> there's nothing i can say to defend it. i'm at a loss. >> reporter: the questioning went on for nine hours. all recorded on videotape. detectives believed it was their best evidence yet. and jennings? >> i went home and my wife at the time had came. and she asked me, was i okay? and i said, "i think -- that they believe i killed this girl." >> reporter: coming up. a prime suspect but no arrest.

>> you want closure and then when you don't it gets frustrating. >> reporter: so michelle's family looks for justice, elsewhere. >> i mean, seriously, he just knew too much. i just see a black screen. what are you looking at? crazy stuff, man. you've gotta see this. what--what is this? it's like some 3d virtual world. can i see? oh yai yai yai yai yai yai. look at the moon. whoot.

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>> i just want to know why, why they picked michelle. i just want to know the motive. somebody out there knows what happened, so. >> reporter: the o'keefe family appealed to the local media to help solve their daughter's murder. and lead detective richard longshore thought maybe he had. >> we're going to close this case. it's not going to be an easy task. and murder cases never are. >> detective longshore had made it very clear that he was gunnin' for me. that i was his number one man. >> reporter: but with no physical evidence, no murder weapon or eyewitnesses, he couldn't arrest jennings. so spring melted into a sweltering summer of suspicion. then in october of 2000, on what would have been michelle's 19th birthday. >> please welcome mike and pat to the show. >> reporter: the o'keefes went on the "montel williams show", and told their story to psychic sylvia browne.

>> about eight months ago, our daughter was murdered in a park n' ride. what we'd like to know is, the police haven't got a name yet or anything. do you know who killed her? >> he's very large build. um, but his name is lee or leon. >> lee as in raymond lee jennings? >> he had on some kind of a blue uniform with a pocket and a badge thing. >> reporter: which, of course, ramped up suspicion, but not much else. >> you want closure. and then when you don't, it gets frustrating. and it eats at you. you've gotta get this thing solved. and so one thing led to another. we got hooked up with rex. >> reporter: rex parris, that is, a prominent antelope valley civil attorney, renowned for handling personal injury cases and winning big settlements. >> i turned the case down initially. i didn't think it was winnable. >> reporter: but the o'keefes thought that filing a civil case against the city, the security company, and jennings himself for negligence, might jump-start a criminal case.

>> and he agreed. and he goes, "yeah -- i think through the civil, civil process we can get you some answers." >> reporter: parris hired his own investigator. >> we invested $90,000 in investigation costs. >> you were really into this thing. >> well, i was convinced that he murdered her. >> reporter: and, just maybe, he could pry it out of him. jennings was one of the targets of the civil case, giving parris a chance to have a go at him. >> i was hoping i got to take his deposition. >> i do. >> a deposition is just like courtroom testimony. >> mr. jennings, do you remember the night ms. o'keefe was killed? >> i do. >> so, two and a half years after the murder, there was jennings. he showed up alone, no lawyer, to face down a highly skilled litigation attorney. >> there's no evidence whatsoever. if that was the case it's almost going on three years. why am i sitting here talking to

you? how come i'm not in jail? >> i remember at one point during the deposition thinking, "you know, i could walk into that courtroom and he could win, without a lawyer." he was that glib, that charming. >> i pray everyday, i say if they're going to come and arrest me, and charge me for this crime, come and do it. >> reporter: jennings sat for not one, but two depositions. even as parris hammered him on what he saw and when he saw it. parris had the cell phone records that confirmed michelle and her friend entered the park n' ride around 9:23 pm, the same time jennings was on patrol. so, demanded parris, why didn't jennings see them when they pulled into the lot? >> it's obvious that someone dropped her off. i don't know what time they dropped her off. >> but it's your testimony that you never saw that? >> yeah, i never seen it. to this day i can't remember seeing any kind of car ride by me, or if they did, i didn't pay any attention to it. >> he denied ever seeing her. but he's standing right at the entrance to the park n' ride. he would have had to have seen

her. it was impossible for him not to have seen her. >> unless he was looking away. >> he's the security guard. he's supposed to be looking for people as they come in. okay, i'll give it to you. maybe, maybe. but how many maybes do you accept before you say, no? like, for example, jennings once again describing how he saw feeble signs of life in michelle. >> so you have a very clear recollection of seeing a slight pulse in her neck? >> to my memory i -- honestly do. i honestly do. >> did you actually see her fingers twitching? >> i'm just going to go by what i remember that night, and i'm just going to answer yes. >> if he saw her hand twitch, the -- the medical science behind that is, he was there when the shot was fired. that's just science. i mean seriously, he just knew too much.

>> reporter: parris pushed back. jennings bridled. >> you're doin' a very good job about irritating me and you're getting underneath my skin. i'm trying to stay nice and calm. because i know what you want me to do is blow up in front of this camera, so you can take it and use it against me. it's not going to happen, my friend, okay? >> so why don't you just try to tell the truth? >> i am telling the truth. >> let's start again. >> let's not start again! >> i got into a -- contest with rex parris that i should not have indulged in. >> bit of a pissing match? >> it was a -- serious pissing match. >> i'm not your scapegoat. the real killer is out there some place and i'm not the one. >> reporter: jennings left parris's office, confident that neither he nor the detectives had a case. >> i figured, "well, i didn't kill her. there's no evidence to suggest that i did do it." it was just more or less they're using -- the statements that i had made as far as knowing too much. "the man who knew too much." >> reporter: which is exactly what detective longshore believed.

jennings must have done it. but proving it was another matter. and longshore was bogged down on other cases. and another year passed. and then three years after michelle's murder, longshore finally presented the case against jennings to then l.a. county deputy district attorney robert foltz. and -- >> i was convinced this guy did it. but i saw, there were some serious problems with -- the physical evidence in the case. >> just wasn't any. >> right. and so, i thought well, let's wait on this one. we've got other ones more -- more urgent at this point. >> reporter: the o'keefes were crushed. parris settled the civil lawsuit against the city and the family received a substantial payment. the claim against jennings was dropped, but what the o'keefes really wanted was justice for michelle. which, to them, meant getting jennings charged. >> as long as there's breath in

my lungs, we aren't gonna give up until -- >> yeah. >> til this thing's resolved. >> reporter: but they were running out of options. >> reporter: coming >> reporter: coming up, michelle's parents take their case directly to the d.a. >> i thought it was compelling. >> reporter: and, the best call me tomorrow? i'm gonna send a vague text in a couple of days,

>> guess i'll talk to you later. >>. >> reporter: there's a vois /* /*. >> okay. good-bye. >> that voice, it wouldn't stop. >> on the night of february 22nd, our daughter, michelle was

murdered at the park n ride lot. they erected billboards in the desert, and they despaired. and still, that little voice. >> we really miss you. >> reporter: and then, as the fourth anniversary of michelle's murder approached, they got a phone call. >> i had just gotten my private investigator's license. i decided i was gonna branch out a little bit, and maybe a fresh pair a eyes wouldn't hurt. >> reporter: his name was jim jeffra, a retired sheriff's deputy who lived in the antelope valley. he asked the o'keefes if he could conduct his own investigaton from an entirely new perspective. >> maybe raymond lee jennings did not kill her. i was gonna do what i could do to prove that he didn't kill this girl. and if we could get past that, then we could move forward and go after the person that did kill her. >> reporter: and with the blessing of lead detective richard longshore, jeffra went to work. for months, on his own time and

own dime. he cris-crossed the antelope valley looking for people who knew jennings and could eliminate him as a suspect. he pored over the police report and frequented the park 'n ride lot to get jennings' perspective on the shooting. and he huddled with mike o'keefe to ferret through every frame of those videotaped interviews with jennings. >> you did not see or talk to any human being. >> no, i did not. >> reporter: but as jeffra analyzed all those police reports and the hours and hours of videotape, he noticed what seemed like the same inconsistencies in ray jennings' story, and came to the very same conclusion as all the other investigators. that jennings didn't see things he should have seen, but knew things an innocent man shouldn't have known. >> he is telling a story that just doesn't add up in these videos. >> it looked like a small casing of a .9 millimeter or a .45, or even a .22. >> he had to have been there.

>> he just knew too much. >> he knew what the top forensic investigator in the united states took over a month to figure out. >> reporter: and after completing their investigation. >> there was no doubt in my mind, just no doubt. i think he killed michelle. ♪ >> reporter: but jeffra's analysis wasn't much different from what homicide detectives were already thinking. yet, another opinion fingering jennings wasn't going to persuade the d.a. to file charges, unless there was some new evidence. but then they had an idea. maybe they could build a compelling case against jennings using his very own words. >> i didn't see anybody come in during that time. i didn't see anybody drop anybody off. >> so we put together a powerpoint. there were actually about 35 key points that showed that this guy had to have some involvement in it. >> reporter: bits of answers. >> that to me looked like the very first shot that was fired. >> reporter: and body language. >> i have no motive. she had

nothing i wanted. i didn't kill her. >> reporter: all assembled in one tight package. >> there's nothing i can say to defend it. >> if you start picking out the pieces, he's telling the story that he killed this girl. >> translator: just maybe the show and tell of sound bytes was the best way "sell" the case to the d.a. so in october, 2005, mike o'keefe met with d.a. robert foltz, and brought along his powerpoint presentation, featuring all those edited clips of jennings' statements. >> they had everything very carefully kind of sifted down to what they felt was the important things to consider. >> so they goosed it? >> they goosed it. i thought it was compelling. >> reporter: and, several days later -- >> i decided that as problematic as the case was, it was not an impossible feat to get this case appropriately prosecuted.

so, i filed it. >> reporter: by then, though, the man at the center of it all, ray jennings, was nowhere near the antelope valley. jennings, the national guardsman, was halfway around the world. >> i was selected to go to iraq. and -- and that's how i ended up in iraq. >> did you have any idea while you were in iraq that you were still a suspect? >> as far as actually looking to -- press charges or issue any type of warrants for anything, i -- i was -- you know, unaware of these things. >> reporter: but his hitch was up in just a few weeks. he'd soon be back in the antelope valley, altogether unaware of the big surprise that awaited him. coming up, an arrest. >> i look up in my rearview mirror, and there's maybe a good five or six sheriff deputy cars. >> reporter: a trial. >> we had a very strong circumstantial case. >> reporter: and a twist. >> why is this happening to me? to be me, be me ♪

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>> reporter: he was home now, back in the antelope valley, after serving 11 months in iraq. ray jennings was adjusting, looking forward to the holidays with his kids, unaware that detective richard longshore had a green light to arrest him.

>> i had him under surveillance. every time we'd see him, he'd be with his children, and i didn't want to arrest him in front of his kids. >> reporter: and then, on a cool december morning, two weeks before christmas, jennings left his house to mail some gifts. this time he was alone. >> i look up in my rearview mirror, and there's maybe a good five or six sheriff deputy cars. and i pulled over and i was like, "what in the hell is this?" >> and we took him down at a traffic stop and was ordered out at gunpoint and, his statement said, "i've been in iraq. is this about michelle o'keefe?" and, yes, it was. ♪ >> reporter: they booked him for first degree murder. it was almost six years after

michelle's death. >> i almost felt like god or jesus just reached down and touched me. i just sort of got a chill down my spine. >> bail will be set at $1 million. >> reporter: with no way to make bail, jennings remained in the l.a. county jail. >> i didn't kill anybody. why is this happening to me?" >> i've got the transcript here. >> reporter: his case was assigned to deputy d.a. michael blake, a no-nonsense, detail-oriented prosecutor. >> this one was a very difficult one to find a clear path, and we have thousands and thousands of pages of evidence in this case. and, one of the real challenges was to understand how it fit together because we have all these little pieces. >> well, and you didn't have dna. you didn't have fingerprints. you didn't even have a weapon. >> that's true. we had a very strong circumstantial case. >> reporter: based largely on raymond jennings very own words. >> he's standing at an angle, at the car and just shooting that

way, the bullets. >> reporter: which d.a. blake would now carefully use to construct his case. >> you have a man who is making statements and observations that he is saying are true that puts him there at the time the trigger's being pulled. >> his attorney would say, "in fact, he told you he didn't see a damn thing. and he was merely speculating." >> right. would an innocent person really go that far out on a limb in utter speculation in the middle of a murder investigation? >> reporter: one year passed, and then another, as the trial date slowly inched closer. and jennings, in his jail cell, spent many hours reflecting on the things he'd said about michelle's murder. >> i didn't kill michelle o'keefe. what i did is gave too much information to the police on being sherlock holmes, and i should have never did that. >> this is what got me in trouble in the very beginning. i should have just said, "okay, this is -- this is what i've heard. this is what i saw. that's it."

♪ >> reporter: then in 2008, three years after jennings' arrest and eight, since michelle's murder, the trial finally began, in a downtown l.a. courtroom. the state's theory? jennings, by his own admission, mistook michelle for a prostitute, because of the way she was dressed for the kid rock video shoot. he tried to initiate a sexual encounter, she resisted. and he shot her. the defense, though, countered that there was no evidence to connect jennings to the crime, no dna, no weapon, no witnesses. the trial lasted six weeks. the jury was out for over a week. and it hung. on a 9-3 vote in favor of conviction.

so in january, 2009, a second trial. this time, cameras rolled in the courtroom. >> the evidence in this case will absolutely show that raymond lee jennings is telling a series of lies. you will see that they are mixed in with grains of truth, that we know only the killer would know. >> reporter: again, jennings' defense attorney argued he was merely trying to help, that there was no evidence against him. >> no finger print evidence, gun shot residue. none. there exists no blood evidence connects mr. jennings to this crime. >> reporter: several more weeks of trial. ♪ >> reporter: then the jury took the case, and once again, they hung! 11 to 1 for guilt this time. >> it's horrible. you know, 11 to 1, you know, i think the answer was obvious

across the jury. you just had one wild card juror in there. >> reporter: and jennings -- >> i was waiting to see what the judge was gonna do about a third trial. >> reporter: would there be one, or would jennings go free? the o'keefe family headed home to the antelope valley, where they'd await the decision, hoping, praying that their daughter would finally get justice. coming up, almost ten years after michelle's murder, her family waits for an answer. >> i'm both nervous and anxious. >> reporter: and so, does her accused killer. >> what happens now? >> reporter: when dateline continues. h back

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>> continuing our story -- >> they believe i killed this woman. >> tonight, the stunning, new developments in a family's long search for justice. why can't they tell us? >> reporter: it was so cruel, what happened to that beautiful

young woman in this lonely parking lot at the start of the new millenium. the theft of a promising life. >> i love you! >> reporter: and here they were. nine years, two trials, two hung juries later, confronting a looming question. would ray jennings be tried a third time for the murder of michelle o'keefe? the decision was the judge's to make. and here it was: >> there will be a third trial. it will undoubtedly be the final trial. >> reporter: the final trial. meaning if this jury hangs, ray jennings walks. the judge also made one more decision. he transferred the trial from downtown l.a. to the antelope valley, where michelle was murdered. home turf for the o'keefe family, which worried ray jennings. >> it is a very well-known case in the, the area. and the family is a very predominant family in the community. >> so you felt like you were goin' back into the enemy camp, essentially? >> i did.

>> reporter: it was the fall of 2009. prosecutor michael blake carefully laid out his case, arguing that jennings approached michelle in the parking lot, thinking she was a prostitute. she would have resisted. and then, things must have spiralled out of control. and he shot her. >> he took that girl's life to preserve his own. after making a grave mistake with her. >> reporter: as for the lack of gunshot residue on raymond jennings' uniform. blake implied that jennings might have cleaned it before turning it into the crime lab. and there was that witness, victoria richardson, who was in the park and ride lot the night of the murder. her testimony from the first trial was read, and it seemed to place jennings near the crime scene, right around the time when the fatal shots were fired. >> bottom line, the truth will come out. >> reporter: and then of course there were those hours and hours of interviews with ray jennings.

interviews in which, blake insisted, jennings seemed to know so much. too much, things only the killer would know. jennings seemed to have informed opinions about everything from a stray bullet fired into the asphalt, to very specific details about the fatal shots. >> he knows all this stuff because he's the shooter. >> reporter: or, maybe not. defense attorney david houchin argued that jennings was simply speculating; trying to help the cops. just opinions and observations, which were later used against him. >> everything he says, everything, is gonna be analyzed in a way that suits a prosecution who wants to convict mr. jennings. >> reporter: besides, insisted the defense, there was no physical evidence linking jennings to the murder. there was of course blood, on michelle, but also a speck of blood under one of her fingernails; mixed with the dna from another person.

>> one donor being ms. o'keefe. one donor being an unknown male. not mr. jennings. >> reporter: not mr. jennings, but maybe the real killer, said the defense. but no, said the prosecution. that speck of blood was irrelevant, could have come from anybody quite innocently, before the murder. perhaps even at that kid rock shoot. >> the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. >> the trial went on for weeks. and then, it went to the jury for the third time. michelle's parents could only wait. >> i'm nervous and anxious, both. yeah, well, very nervous. but i feel confident in the jurors. >> reporter: days passed, a week. thanksgiving came and went. two weeks now.

what was the jury doing in there? >> it gave me a lotta hope. you know, no jury is gonna deliberate for that long and come back with a guilty verdict. >> reporter: all jennings needed was one holdout. then, just before christmas. a verdict. as everyone settled into the packed courtroom, ray jennings sat quietly. expressionless. but inside his head -- >> the still, small voice told me to prepare myself because, "you will be found guilty." >> we, the jury in the above entitled action, find the defendant, raymond jennings, not guilty of crime of willful, deliberate and premeditated first degree murder. >> you kind of think, "this can't be happening again." >> reporter: but this time, the jury wasn't finished. >> we, the jury in the above entitled action, find the defendant, raymond jennings, guilty of the crime of second degree murder. >> absolute devastation. ruined. >> how hard was that, given where you were in that sense of

despair? >> it was difficult because, i just got found guilty for a murder i didn't commit. what happens now? what happens to my children, you know? what happens to my mom? >> reporter: outside the courtroom, a sense of calm for the o'keefe family, who had also heard a voice during their 10-year quest for justice. >> there was always this little voice that was always kinda active in there, you know, that, that, justice needed to be served. and i think now, that part of it can go to rest, that justice is served. >> mm-hmm. and michelle can rest in peace. >> reporter: two months later and almost 10 years to the day that michelle o'keefe was murdered, raymond jennings was back in court for sentencing. but first he'd hear from the o'keefe family, expressing 10 years of pent-up rage and sorrow. >> i have to ask what kind of demon lives within you to have done such a dastardly act? >> reporter: they wanted him to

know that the pain was still deep. >> i never felt such incredible pain in my heart. you will have to live with that image of her dying and taking her last breath. >> reporter: and here was michelle's younger brother, jason, pleading with jennings, to finally tell the truth. >> ask god for forgiveness, ask all of us for forgiveness. and if you ask me, i will forgive you. >> reporter: then raymond lee jennings, the man who perhaps had already said too much, had one more thing to say.. >> i sit here as an innocent man. and i've heard you speak on god. and as christ is my lord and savior, i will stand before god and this is one sin that i will not be judged for. i'm at peace in my life. and i laugh and i smile because i hold no remorse because i didn't kill your sister. jesus is my lord and savior and i will stand before him. and i'll stand before him with you, with you, and with you, and

we'll answer to this question. >> reporter: you could, as they say, hear a pin drop as jennings turned to the judge for one last profession of his innocence. >> i will take my time, and i will hold my head up as a man. my five children will know who their father is, and they will know he is not a murderer. >> the sentence i'm about to pass. >> reporter: but the judge showed no mercy, gave jennings the maximum. >> for a total sentence of 40 years to life. >> reporter: it had taken the o'keefe family a decade to get here. finally they thought michelle had justice. and raymond jennings? father of five, iraq war vet, was now a convicted killer, likely to die in prison. and the awful tragedy that had haunted the antelope valley for so long, was finally over. or was it ?

we thought so. we absolutely thought so. >> reporter: coming up. some force compelled me to go watch this episode of dateline nbc. >> reporter: it was our earlier report, on this very case. and by the time dateline was over, this case, wasn't. >> wanted to find out. what was the story. . why the phelps face? old computer slowing you down? you know... i know. new computers are super-fast.

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>> reporter: winter 2010, a time

to heal in the antelope valley. it had taken nearly a decade to solve the mystery of who murdered michelle o'keefe. but now justice had finally been served. the killer was in prison. the case was closed. later that spring, "dateline" broadcast a two-hour report on the case. we called it, "the girl with the blue mustang." it ended with the guilty verdict and ray jennings' sentencing. >> at least some justice was done. i mean, it didn't bring michelle back, certainly, but it at least gave you a little bit of a feeling of closure. >> reporter: raymond jennings was installed in a maximum security prison, far away from antelope valley... >> i'd be in the cell by myself, "why me?" >> reporter: 40 years to ponder that question. >> i, i'd just tell everybody, "i'm a short-timer." at no point did i tell anybody that, you know, "i got life in prison and that's it. that's it. i'm done.

>> but you were done. >> no, i wasn't. there was no way i was spendin' 40 years plus incarcerated for a murder i didn't commit. >> isn't that exactly what everybody in prison says? jennings appealed. he lost. four years passed. it was now 2014. the o'keefe family was still living in the antelope valley. and then in november of that year it happened. something terrible. again. >> ask all of us for forgiveness. and if you ask me, i will forgive you. >> reporter: jason o'keefe, who missed his sister so much. had become a star baseball player. he'd been "scouted" by the dodgers and the cardinals. but a few years earlier there had been a freak accident. in an elevator. and for his injuries. jason had been taking powerful pain medications. and then. as so often happens. >> unfortunately-- prescription drugs took its toll. and the drugs had basically

taken over his life. you saw this kid go from an all american kid to kind of a recluse who just kinda hung out in his room most of the time. i found him on-- found him dead on the floor, and that i mean. >> unimaginable, really. >> it-- i can't tell you. it takes you to a low-- no one can characterize what low is until you go through something like that. >> reporter: both gone. michelle at 18, jason at 27. >> you must sort of look up at the sky and say, "why me, god?" a lot. >> oh my gosh. you know, people say, "do you pray?" and i go, "well, i don't really pray but i end up -- havin' some loud discussions with jesus, when i do pray. >> reporter: the o'keefes are divorced now, and this is all they share. two children, side by side, in the ground. their only real solace. knowing that the man convicted

of murdering michelle would be behind bars for decades. ♪ >> reporter: and in corcoran state prison, raymond lee jeenings stared at the walls and asked for help. from the california innocence project. which promised to look into his case. >> oh, it was very exciting because at that point. my appeals had been exhausted. and so, the light at that tunnel was gettin' very dim. >> but there is a fairly long distance between being accepted and ever getting redress. i mean, it. >> oh, absolutely. >> can take decades. >> years. >> if he was lucky. >> reporter: and that's where things stood in 2014. when an easily bored young man was casting around for something to occupy his mind. >> i'm an autodidactic polymath. >> reporter: autodidactic polymath? >> you could look it up. it's greek for "self taught expert in many fields." >> reporter: his name is clint ehrlich. >> you're kind of an odd duck,

if i may say so. but you're different. >> i am different, yes. right now, i'm a visiting researcher at the moscow state institute of international relations where i'm writing my dissertation on nuclear game theory. >> why are you doing that? >> because it interests me, and because i can. >> reporter: but his continuing interest, said clint, is the law. clint's dad jeffrey is a civil appeals attorney in la. >> reporter: you didn't go to college? >> oh, i dropped out of high school, and then i didn't go to college. i had the privilege of having my dad be one of the top lawyers in the country. and so being able to be his apprentice and get my leg-- legal education that way, hands on, was very appealing. >> reporter: clearly clint doesn't lack for self confidence. or self promotion for that matter. anyway. he was at home one night. something kind of odd happened. >> some force compelled me to go

watch this episode of "dateline nbc." i don't watch tv, i certainly don't watch shows about crime. >> the stage at which the last moments of michelle o'keefe's life. >> but why that story, "the girl with the blue mustang"? >> because what i saw was something about an iraq war veteran who had supposedly murdered a young girl in a parking lot in california. and i couldn't understand why would he do that? and i-- i wanted to find out, what was the story? >> and it now it was a crime scene. >> my, my, my. new set of eyes as they say. >> coming up: a second chance for raymond jennings? >> i realized that either this was an innocent man or this was a sociopath who deserved an academy award. >> when "dateline" continues.

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things happen. it was pure chance, really, that clint ehrlich, grazing on his computer late at night. just happened on an old episode of dateline. >> the mystery of the girl with the blue mustang. but clint watched carefully. keyed in on jennings, on his interviews, his trial his statement during sentencing. >> jesus is my lord and savior, i will stand before him. >> when i saw him speak at his sentencing about christ. >> and this is one sin that i will not be judged for. >> it touched me. i realized that either this was an innocent man, or this was a sociopath who deserved an academy award. and i just had to know which one was it? >> reporter: 'cause there are sociopaths who are able to do that. >> absolutely. >> reporter: on a regular basis. >> sure. but when he spoke about his faith and being judged by god, that it struck a chord with me. >> reporter: you a religious person? >> not at all. >> reporter: the next day clint dug up the court's ruling on

jennings' appeal. >> i immediately decided to read it, desperately hoping that i would find evidence that would convince me that -- >> reporter: that he was guilty. >> that he was guilty. because then i could forget about this and i could go on with my life. and instead, i found the opposite. i found an absence of evidence there wasn't evidence that proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty. >> reporter: where was the mustang through all these events where was michelle?" prosecutor michael blake always acknowledged there was little or no physical evidence against jennings. the case was primarily circumstantial, comprised mainly of all those incriminating interviews he gave. >> the gunshot in her chest, that to me looked like the very first shot that was fired. >> reporter: but clint wasn't so sure that jennings' statements made him the shooter. he consulted his father. >> i asked him, "if there were an innocent man in prison, would you be willing to try to help

him?" >> and i said, "okay! like, maybe what have you got?" and he e-mailed me a copy of the court of appeal opinion in ray's case. and i read that case, the opinion. and i walked into his office and i said, "i'm very troubled." >> reporter: so the ehrlich's pored through the trial transcripts, and the more they read, the more they were convinced that jennings had been wrongfully convicted. >> because they start off the opinion by essentially saying, "we recognize that there is no witness that saw this man commit the crime. there's no physical evidence to tie him to the crime and very quickly i said, "okay. let's do this." >> reporter: so now this father and son team, the autodidactic polymath and the civil attorney, neither of whom had virtually no experience in criminal law, would try to free a convicted killer. really? what would possess you to do such a thing?

>> this man needed help. >> reporter: we watch these things go through the courts. and it takes sometimes -- >> years. >> reporter: decades. >> yes. >> reporter: and you knew it, and you were prepared to go for it anyway? >> yes. i didn't see a choice. >> reporter: they got word to the prison asking jennings to contact them. >> i called jeff and i've never heard attorney speak the way that he did, very passionate. made it very clear that his intention was to get me out of prison by all means necessary. >> reporter: but wait. jennings had the california innocence project working for him. but if he agreed to let the ehrichs' help him, he'd had have to say goodbye to the innocence project. after 10 years in prison with 30 more to go ray jennings faced a huge decision. >> the decision was very difficult because the innocence

project in essence was a lifeline. and now i have an attorney who speaks a very good game. >> reporter: jennings was skittish about the ehrichs, even though they told him they would take his case for free. >> he actually had been rather worried that maybe we had ulterior motives. he had mentioned this to other inmates, and that they had told him, "don't get involved with these people. they must be tryin' to make a buck off of you." >> reporter: so jennings sat in his cell and thought for a few days and then he called the ehrlichs again. >> he decided to put his fate in our hands. >> reporter: but, seriously. could a civil appeals attorney and his young apprentice really prove ray jennings didn't murder michelle o'keefe all those years ago? good luck with that. coming up. the case against the jennings

case. >> i call it a cascade of errors if they had swabbed ray's hands for gunshot residue, or searched him or his car then there wouldn't have been a case. you bought a wig, a jersey, and overpriced nachos...

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ask your dermatologist about cosentyx. >> reporter: jeffrey ehrlich, as we said, is not a criminal attorney. he handles mostly insurance cases. never once a murder. but, layer by layer, he peeled open the case of the murder of michelle o'keefe, and found inside, problems. >> the problem with this case, i've called it a cascade of errors. you've got bad investigative work, to start with. >> reporter: which began, he said, soon after detectives arrived at the crime scene. >> did they do a gunshot residue

test on your hands, that night? >> no, there was no test done that night on myself or my clothing or anything. >> they didn't, sequester you and put you in a police car? >> they did not. >> reporter: in fairness to the cops, jennings was initially considered a witness, not a suspect. and that's why he wasn't immediately checked for gunshot residue. but in retrospect, according to jeffrey ehrlich, that was a crucial mistake. >> if they had swabbed ray's hands for gunshot residue, or searched him or his car and found that there was no gun. then there wouldn't have been a case. >> reporter: they didn't take possession of ray's uniform, either. or test it for the gunshot residue until several days after the shooting. when it tested negative. at the trial, prosecutor michael blake implied jennings may have cleaned the uniform before turning it in. >> we don't know where it was. we don't know what he did with

it. but we do know the type of evidence that was being searched for is the type of evidence that could be washed away or even brushed away. >> reporter: that comment, said the ehrlichs, was seriously misleading, because it invited the jury to think jennings destroyed incriminating evidence to cover up the crime. but, said the ehrichs, the case file showed that jennings did not wash his uniform. >> i found evidence in the record from the notes within the crime lab that the uniform that was brought in was dirty at the time that it was tested for gunshot residue. and that therefore, the prosecution's excuse about the negative result in that test was bogus. >> reporter: meaning according to clint ehrlich. >> mr. jennings could not have fired a gun the night of the murder. >> reporter: whether or not ballistics experts would agree, clint's conclusion was quite certain. and then there was the curious issue of that bullet the killer fired into the pavement. jennings seemed to know way too much about that, said the detectives, who concluded that he must have fired it just before the fatal shots.

but that wasn't possible, said clint. >> we also found out that, if you fire into asphalt, and you're wearing pants, that there's something called pseudo stippling. there's little pieces of the asphalt that go and they create small holes in your pants. and there was no pseudo stippling on his pants. and so it meant that he couldn't have been the man who fired that shot into the ground. >> reporter: but what about that key witness, victoria richardson? remember her? according to detectives victoria said she saw a security guard walk by her car and then moments later heard some strange tapping noises, which they deduced must have been gunshots. victoria testified in the 1st trial, but not in trial number three. instead, prosecutor blake read back her testimony and also told the jury. >> one other thing victoria richardson supplies in her testimony is a statement that

the security guard walked by her car, parked 13 spaces from michele o'keefe right before the shots were fired. >> reporter: but, when the ehrlichs read victoria's testimony. they could clearly see, that when pushed, that's not what she said. >> all that she was able to say was that at some point that night, at an unspecified time, she saw mr. jennings walk by. >> but then how long was she in the parking lot, sitting in a car? >> well, she was smoking marijuana and she said that that distorted her sense of time. >> reporter: so again, the ehrlichs contended, the prosecutor misled the jury. then? well, this might be the true headline. remember how detective longshore said victoria richardson was with a group of acquaintances in her car that night? turns out, there were three of them. the ehrlichs checked to see if the police also investigated them. >> they never ran a background check on those people. and the essence of the

prosecution case is that ray must have been guilty because there was no one else there who could have committed the crime. >> reporter: which was clearly not true, said the ehrlichs. and yet the jury never heard from any of those other people or if they were capable of such a crime. and when ray's attorney complained about that, prosecutor blake blamed, not the police, or the state, but the defense attorney himself. >> the prosecution is being criticized for not interviewing all adults in the car. well, remember, the defense has the same access to witnesses that we do. >> reporter: in fact, said the ehrlichs, about defense attorney david houchin, jennings was also a victim of inneffective assistance of counsel. >> i found evidence that mr. houchin had not presented. and he simply didn't care enough to find it, or wasn't competent enough to find it. >> reporter: houchin told us he had "no response" to the ehrlichs allegations.

and as for all those statements jennings made to the police? >> it just was close range, very close range. >> reporter: this was the sort of thing, said the prosecuter, >> reporter: this was the sort thing, said the prosecutor, that only the killer would know. >> that was kind of the, the headline on their case. >> right. it's just demonstrably false. it's ridiculous. >> really? >> the things that only the killer would know were things that a witness at the scene, like ray jennings, who was paying attention, would have been able to either know, see, or deduce. >> reporter: jennings had always maintained he was trying to be helpful to the police. >> you could see she had a pulse, it was a very light. >> reporter: but here, years later, talking to us.. he said he was eager to show off to the cops back then. and wound up saying he saw things that maybe he didn't see. maybe he was just wrong. that's a far cry from the certainty he once expressed. >> i don't know what i saw that

night, as far as why i was able to see that or whether it was true or not true. you and i can look at the same thing and you can see something totally different than what i see. >> reporter: in short, said clint and jeffrey ehrlich, police and prosecutors simply arranged the facts to fit their theory, to make ray jennings a murderer. >> it has a name. tunnel vision. they just locked in on him, and they just couldn't bring themselves to consider anyone else. it's a tragedy. >> reporter: convinced they now had a compelling case, the ehlrichs planned to file a writ of habeas corpus. an argument that jennings had been wrongfully convicted. but that process can take years. is rarely successful. and then, imagine this. help from the most unlikely place, the los angeles county district attorneys office. >> reporter: coming up. once an ally to the o'keefes, the d.a. now has second thoughts. >> they realized, we don't have the killer.

we have a witness to the crime, and we convicted him. but the o'keefe's still want justice. >> why haven't they got somebody else in handcuffs now? and ray jennings is still in prison. >> i literally just started prayin'. "don't send me back there. don't send me back." >> reporter: when dateline continues. collision. [burke] it happened. december 14th, 2015. and we covered it. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ there's no one i'd rather hit the road with. no one i'd rather have dinner and a movie with. no one i'd rather lean on. being in love is an amazing thing. being in love with your best friend... ...is everything.

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>> i really, really, really, really, really, really miss you. >> reporter: by 2015, michelle o'keefe would have been 34 years old, and her father wondered every day what might she have been. >> she had the world on a string, basically. very sad that that had to happen to somebody who had the potential to be a great citizen, and really do positive things. >> reporter: her convicted killer ray jennings was middle-aged by then. here are a few snap shots of him behind bars, fully institutionalized, and still 30 years from his first shot at parole. the ehrlichs were working on a long-shot appeal. >> we knew that it was gonna take a very long time in the

courts to try to achieve anything. >> reporter: and then that summer. >> my father saw an article about the creation of the cru in the newspaper. >> reporter: the cru? shorthand for the conviction review unit, established by los angeles county district attorney jackie lacey. >> this was her brainchild. >> reporter: laurie levenson is a professor at loyola law school in los angeles. >> they were having to admit that there were guilty people who were not guilty, actually innocent. and i think she said, "let's take a look." >> we had been hoping that there was some way to reach out and to explain, "look, we think" -- "you've made a really, really bad mistake." and so the idea that we could go directly to the d.a.'s office and say -- "please, take a look at this." that was very appealing. >> reporter: the cru asked the ehrichs to submit a detailed report about the case.

>> so we put together this critique, but it took us months to craft. so, it's a 34-page single-spaced letter. >> reporter: 50 miles away in the antelope valley, pat and mike o'keefe had no idea what the ehrlichs were up to. all they knew was that ray jennings had exhausted his appeals and would therefore remain behind bars for three more decades. >> and everybody said, "hey, at this point there's really" -- >> slim to none that he'll -- >> nothing's gonna happen. >> reporter: autumn came and went, then the holidays, and then new years' 2016. >> on february 29th, i got a call. >> reporter: the cru wanted to hear their pitch in person. >> there are three lawyers and the senior investigator. and they just, for 90 minutes, grilled me. it was, like, the most intense oral argument, an -- an appellate argument i'd ever had. >> reporter: then, a few weeks

later, they heard from the cru again. >> and they started to develop theories that they realized very quickly that we'd convicted a witness. we don't have the killer. we have a witness to the crime, and we convicted him. >> reporter: out of something like 700 cases they reviewed, the jennings case was the first one that the cru decided to actually re-investigate. >> so, there's a lot of pressure here to get it right. >> enormous pressure on this unit to get it right because it's a test case for this unit, and frankly there are a lot of people who would like this unit to continue. >> reporter: so, as the cru pondered its decision. the ehrichs finally went to meet ray jennings face to face for the very first time. >> i'd never visited a prison before. but, to see this man, what the reality of his day-to-day existence was, and what the stakes were for me in trying to -- i had to win his case. >> reporter: ehrlich could only

guess what was going on at the da's office, what hard feelings may have been stirred up by the cru's investigation. >> the only reasonable conclusion is that raymond lee jennings murdered michelle o'keefe. >> reporter: we'd been told prosecutor michael blake stands by the case and the convcition. we wanted to interview him about the ehrlichs' allegations that he purposely withheld exculpatory evidence from the jury. but blake declined at the d.a.'s request, he said. and now, everyone waited. ♪ >> reporter: and then one morning, back in the antelope valley, a representative from the district attorney's office paid a visit to the o'keefes. >> he's knocking and knocking, and i thought, "who in the heck is banging on my door?" finally, after about 20 or 30 knocks, he says, "i need to talk to you about raymond lee jennings." and he handed me a letter, saying that i needed to go to the d.a.'s office in the morning

to tell us in person. >> reporter: the o'keefes didn't know the details until they showed up for their meeting at the d.a.'s office where, they said, they were blindsided. >> "we're gonna release mr. jennings." and i go, "well, is -- is he exonerated?" "well, no, not yet." and i said, "oh." i go, "well, you -- are you arresting somebody else?" and they go, "well, we don't have enough information to make an arrest yet." and if they've got something that's that compelling, why haven't they got somebody else in handcuffs now? >> reporter: actually, the decision, whether or not to release raymond jenings, wasn't the d.a.'s to make. the ehrlichs and the cru could only file a joint petition with a judge, who would ultimately decide whether or not to set him free. so in june of 2016, the o'keefes, and jennings, and the ehrlichs, and attorneys from the cru gathered in the very same courthouse where jennings had been tried twice before.

>> everybody was telling me that i would be sent back to state prison. i'd -- i literally just started praying as hard as i could and just asking, you know, asking the father, th -- th -- "don't send me back there. don't send me back. release me from here." >> reporter: freedom?. or finish his prison term? ray jennings and the o'keefes were about to find out. coming up, three trials, and 15 years after michelle's murder, a final twist. >> it was surreal. >> we're the parents. why can't they tell us? with the cleaning power of tide. so you can actually clean your clothes and still... ...do your part. new tide purclean. the first bio-based detergent with the cleaning power of tide.

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