it's the place where lies unravel. and alibis crumble. >> the room itself is very small, but there are a number of different microphones in the room. >> the interrogation room or, as cops call it, the box. >> she was horrified by the possibility he was responsible for these ugly, terrible crimes. in the casino town of reno, nevada, an accused killer is confronted by his girlfriend while detectives listen to every word. >> she was horrified for the

possibility that he was responsible for these ugly crimes. >> and in mississippi, a mother bursts in as her 13-year-old son confesses to murder. >> sometimes it feels surreal. >> stand up and talk to me, son. >> now, go where are cases can be made or broken. >> announcer: msnbc takes you "inside the box." >> i don't think mr. biela was stupid. in fact, just the opposite. i think that he is a strange duck.

>> november 25, 2008, 26-year-old james biela paces a reno, nevada, interrogation room, charged with the murder of brianna denison, a 19-year-old college student, kidnapped while sleeping on a friend's couch. from an adjoining room, police watch him lick and bite his hands. >> i remember looking at that and i have no idea what he was doing. it was unusual. >> the whole time he's just biting his nails, he's biting the cuticles on his fingers, and he's actually making himself bleed. he's bleeding around his fingernails and his cuticles. >> biela also covers an electrical socket with his coat. suspicious a recording device may be hidden there. >> the room itself is very small, but there are a number of different microphones in the room. there's a one in a false wall bin that for some reason catches his attention and he goes and

pulls it forward and looked behind it. >> the burly pipefitter already told police he wants an attorney and has no interest in cooperating in their investigation. still detectives continue monitoring the suspect's unusual behavior. >> everything okay? >> when biela asks to speak to his girlfriend, police keep the cameras rolling as she joins him inside the box and begins conducting her own interrogation. it's a creative and completely legal antidote to biela's refusal to tell his story to authorities. >> it is a very good tool to allow a loved one in there and see how that plays out. maybe they will not, quote unquote, confess to the crime, but the totality of that entire contact could be your entire case. you get their feelings. you get the emotions. you can't get that in a detective/suspect interview.

>> detective adam wigmanski has been waiting for this chance for ten months. since the morning of january 19, 2008, when brianna denison's friends wake up to find an empty couch. >> hi, i need the police at my house. my friend spent the night last night on my couch. she's gone, and there's something that looks like blood on the pillow. >> police suspect that brianna's been snatched by a mysterious stalker. >> my theory is he came in through the back door, which was unlocked. i think he rendered her unconscious by putting her face into that pillow. >> we were lifting sewer lids,

anyplace you could fit a human being was looked at. there was not an inch of that neighborhood that was not covered. >> narrator: investigators soon realized the person who took brianna is a sex predator who's targeted other young women in reno. >> we were able to forensically link two prior sexual assaults in two prior months, all within a 400-yard radius, of where ms. denison had been abducted. >> narrator: both sexual assault victims attend the university of nevada at reno. one reports seeing a baby shoe in her attacker's vehicle, suggesting he's the father of a small child. the other helps police compose this sketch. >> one of the things that was significant during this investigation is that each of the two college coeds had their underwear removed at the conclusion of the sexual assault.

>> narrator: does the attacker have a panty fetish? police are sure of it. when brianna's body is finally located in a south reno lot, discarded in just her orange socks, on a heap of christmas decorations, with two pairs of thong underwear crammed beneath her. >> we ultimately learn that one of those pairs of thong underwear had very likely been used as the instrument to fatally strangle ms. denison. >> narrator: james biela learns about the discovery of the body from his girlfriend who happens to work in the office building overlooking the crime scene. and cause to inform him about the development in the high-profile case. when she finds a collection of panties in her own truck, she

confided to friends. could he be the monster depicted in the police sketch? investigators contact biela and he agrees to an informal meeting on the way home from work. in detective wygnanski's car in a wendy's parking lot. >> he was jovial, no issues or stuff like that. it's really not interrogation of sort -- i mean, the guy, he's free to leave, he could tell me to f.o. he doesn't have to answer anything. it's basically just a chitchat question and answer session. then i said, i'm investigating the murder of brianna denison. he automatically, instead of having the eye-to-eye contact, he would look out that window. it was pretty chilly out, and you could see sweat beads forming on him. everything just changed, and this was the reaction we were looking for. he goes, you can call my girlfriend. she'll be my alibi. and that struck me as, what

would you need an alibi for if you didn't do anything wrong? >> narrator: regardless, police follow the advice. but instead of covering for biela, his girlfriend secretly allows their son to provide a dna sample. when it matches the genetic material found at the crime scenes, james biela is arrested, then taken into the interrogation room. >> mr. biela asserted that he didn't believe in the science of dna technology and, therefore, our claims to him that we had dna evidence linking him to ms. denison's murder was completely irrelevant. >> so i'm actually watching the interview in another room while they're doing what they're trained to do. and in this case i could tell that they were frustrated because pretty quickly in the interview, a couple minutes into it, he invoked his right to remain silent. and the minute he says, i want to talk to an attorney, that's just a stop sign and they have to stop talking to him

immediately about the case. >> i remember as we were walking out of the room he asked, can you give me the score of the wake forest game? we closed the door and we're sitting there thinking, wait a minute, this guy is accused of murder, sexual assaults, and he's worried about the score of a wake forest game? i mean, what's his mentality? >> we're going to be right outside this door. understand that. >> but police will get another opportunity to explore biela's mind when he's left alone with his girlfriend in the interrogation room. >> i think she came down because she wanted to get to the bottom of it, and i think she had a vested interest to know. >> they're listening right now. >> oh, hold me. please.

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>> narrator: reno, nevada, 2008. police leave accused killer james biela by himself in an interrogation room. as always, they watch closely on a nearby monitor, analyzing his body language. >> somebody that's innocent is going to act in a different manner. we've had people, you know, pound on the doors, let me out of here! you know, i didn't do anything. he was just self-absorbed and trying to figure out, what is my next move going to be? >> narrator: after refusing to speak to police about his case, biela asks to see his girlfriend, who previously provided authorities with a dna sample from their 3-year-old son. she comes in, aware that the genetic material links her boyfriend to the rape and murder

of 19-year-old brianna denison as well as the sexual attacks on two female students from the university of nevada's reno campus. >> did you do this? oh, my god, did you? did you? >> narrator: by court order, we're required to disguise her face and voice. >> i don't know if i can hit you or hug you. did you do this? >> narrator: despite his girlfriend's distress, biela glances at the wall where he believes detectives have hidden a microphone. >> he knows that it's being recorded. i've seen cases in the past where defendants ask to use the telephone and the defendant will call somebody and actually confess. >> did you? look me in the face. did you?

tell me you didn't do it. >> i'm sure she was conflicted. she was horrified by the possibility that he was responsible for these ugly, terrible crimes. yet, at the same time, i mean, you have a child together. she had at one point loved him and perhaps that day didn't know what to do. >> narrator: police believed biela has a panty fetish. after his sexual assaults detectives say he steals underwear from his victims. they also accuse him of strangling brianna with a pair of thong panties. >> sorry i ruined your running and your thanksgiving and your birthday and your birthday card is in my truck you'll probably never get it. >> mr. biela didn't always respond in a way that i could relate to, although thanksgiving is important. i'm not sure that's where my

concerns would be either. >> narrator: detective david jenkins isn't the only one bewildered by biela's behavior. his partner adam wynanski is convinced the suspect qualifies as a true psychopath whose managed to keep his loved ones in the dark about his krieps. >> they want a sense of normalcy on this side and on this side they want that deviant behavior. >> they literally have two separate lives and they cannot have these interfere. >> did you? >> now is not the time. well, i don't know what the time is. i was going to shoot myself. >> what? what? why? >> i don't know. i love you. >> i think he's just trying to

manipulate her emotions. >> what is your problem? >> i don't know what my problem is. >> when he made that comment, it was almost like an admission and he's acknowledging to her that there's just fundamentally wrong with him. >> how does the dna match? >> whose? >> the killer. >> she's pretty much asking him some of the questions that we were going to ask him during the interrogation. and he's giving her response probe the same response that he could give us, i don't know. >> they're listening right now. >> i don't care. >> huh? >> i don't care. let them listen. >> why can't you tell me you didn't do it? >> i've said for a long time what i've needed to say, and it doesn't matter.

>> it does matter to me. >> it doesn't matter. >> it matters to me. >> and if i told you i did it, you'd still love me, be with me? what the [ bleep ] does it matter? and you get an attorney? oh, yeah, yeah, that will work. that will still work. i'm [ bleep ]. >> because if you didn't do it, i will fight to prove your innocence. >> with what? dna, dna. >> he refutes the fact that dna evidence is useful. he kind of mocks the fact that his dna is found on this victim's body. he does a number of things that are simply contrary to being innocent. >> narrator: still, his girlfriend makes one more appeal for biela to explain how brianna denison went from sleeping on her friend's couch to having her body abandoned on a pile of trash in this lot. >> i need to know the truth. >> you'll know the truth. >> why won't you tell me the truth?

>> narrator: biela realizes his girlfriend, the one who's furnished police with their son's dna, and has been unrelenting in the interrogation room, is about to step out of his life. he shares a hug with her, along with a disclosure that seizes the investigators' attention. >> i'm sorry for everything i've done. i'm sorry for being a [ bleep ]. >> that's powerful. that's as close as he comes, i believe, to actually accepting responsibility for his actions. >> people say, well, he didn't actually confess to her. well, in fact, he did. >> i'm sorry for everything i've done. >> narrator: but could a jury, watching the same footage, be persuaded to convict james biela of murder?

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i'm sorry for everything i've done. >> narrator: november 25, 2008. 26-year-old james biela apologizes one last time to his girlfriend in a reno police department interrogation room. she's been questioning him for close to a half hour about his arrest for the murder of 19-year-old brianna denison and the sexual assaults of two female students from the university of nevada's reno campus. >> she goes over and over and over again, tell me if you did it, tell me, did you do this? and he never really comes out and lets her know that he didn't do it. >> can i go to the bathroom? >> biela and his girlfriend now go their separate ways. >> that's when he starts having these conversations with the people who come by, and he's sitting there chitchatting with

strangers about innocuous things. he's talking to some of the cops about, are they salaried or hourly, about how much they make. he's just very calm. he's not crying. he's not distraught. he's just kind of there. >> narrator: in 2010, biela goes on trial for the sexual assault and murder of brianna denison as well as the other attacks. if convicted, he could face the death penalty. jurors are riveted by surveillance footage of brianna in a diner, just hours before she's kidnapped off a friend's couch and strangled with a pair of thong underwear. >> what was heart wrenching about it is just the mundane nature of it. at one point she just kind of yawns. everybody has kind of been in that situation. she was out, she was just going home, she was with her friends.

and so i think that really had an effect on the jurors. >> narrator: but if's the exchange in the interrogation room between biela and his girlfriend that resonates loudest. >> i need to know the truth. >> you'll know the truth. >> tell me. tell me the truth. please. >> i have to pee. >> she's legitimately trying everything possible to get the person that she loves to tell her what happened. and he ends the answer with saying, i've got to go pee. when i was talking to you about the psychopath part, i mean, there's no feelings in it. >> i want a rum and coke. >> the fact he's so dismissive about everything really gives the jury some great insight to him. >> will you still love me? >> yes. >> no, you won't.

>> how many more times can this guy confess during this thing? he's basically admitted half a dozen times or more that he is the killer. without actually coming out and saying that "i am." if you didn't do it, i'll fight to prove your innocence. >> with what? dna. they have dna. >> the dna evidence in this case was so statistically overwhelming. >> did you do this! >> the interview with the girlfriend was so emotionally powerful, that it affected the jury in a very different way. >> narrator: on may 27, 2010, a jury convicts biela of raping and strangling brianna denison and sexually assaulting the two other students. a week later, he returns to court for his sentencing. with the exception of the tape from inside the interrogation room, this is the first opportunity the jurors have to hear biela speak.

>> first off, i'm sorry, this is very difficult for me. i just wanted to say i'm sorry about this incident because this hurt several families. >> narrator: but, rather than address the family of brianna denison directly, biela despairs about his fractured relationship with his son. >> i won't see my son grow up and be a father to him, but i just wanted you to know, this might not be the time or place, but i love you. >> that just kind of got back to the whole thing he's so focused on himself that he's not realizing what he's supposed to be talking about. and i certainly don't think it helped him with the jury deliberation as far as the penalty went. >> narrator: moments after he finishes, jurors hand down the ultimate penalty -- death by lethal injection. biela appeals, but this time there's no girlfriend offering a lifeline. instead, she works on repairing her own life, heartened by the

role she played in assisting the victims with her tenacious questions in the interrogation room. >> the exciting parts of law enforcement is, sometimes it turns out so much better than you could have hoped for, and sometimes it doesn't turn out very well at all. so every case is a new opportunity. >> did you? look me in the face! >> narrator: coming up -- a mother storms into the box to learn her son has confessed to murder. >> did you for real do that, or did you just tell them that? [ male announcer ] some things are designed to draw crowds. ♪ ♪ others are designed to leave them behind. ♪ the all-new 2014 lexus is.

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hi there, i'm veronica de la cruz. new video connected to syria. we do want to warn you some of 2 is graphic. the new video is showing the after math believed to be launched by the syrian government.

nbc news is not authorizing the auth then this of these videos. an actual intruder managed to break in this past week. i'm veronica de la cruz. starkville, mississippi, may 12th, 2003. sharon clay bursts into the oktibbeha county sheriff's office where deputies are taping their interrogation with her 13-year-old son tyler. >> he's been in here for 45 minutes. they've been in here talking for 45 minutes without me. >> in the south we say, don't start any and there won't be any. >> i don't start conflict, but i don't take anything either. i will stand up for myself and my children. >> tyler has come to the sheriff's department voluntarily

after his sister's husband, joey fulgham, is found dead at this house just west of town. >> tyler, do you know -- you're telling the truth, right? they're not making you say stuff that you don't want to say? look at me. look at me. are you having problems? well, what's wrong? >> narrator: as with james biela, the camera keeps rolling while a loved one confronts a suspect inside the box. but, unlike biela who remains evasive even with his girlfriend, tyler has spoken to investigators at length, confessing to joey's murder. a costly assertion he'd spend much of the next decade denying. >> in a matter of hours i went from being a 13-year-old to being an adult. i felt completely lost. >> narrator: it's a baffling scenario for the obedient kid

who attends bible baptist church and fifth street junior high school in west point, mississippi. >> i never have had problems with tyler. he was in the gifted program, an honors student. he play the trumpet in the band. >> narrator: tyler's parents are divorced and sharon has full custody. he's also close with his half-sister, kristi fulgham, a daughter from his father's previous marriage. >> i never really grew up around my dad. and my sister was the only person in my dad's entire family who ever really had anything to do with me. and i just thought she was the coolest person in the entire world. >> narrator: tyler regularly stays with her and her husband joey. >> it was never a healthy relationship. >> narrator: joey blames kristi for a relationship she had with

his best friend, a romance that provided her youngest child. even discusses it on "the montel williams show." >> you want to stay together but you're going to make her pay. >> i'm going to remind her of it every moment i get. >> narrator: according to tyler, on the night of may 10, 2003, he's sitting in the car outside his sister's home when he hears a loud noise. >> to me, it sounded like you, you know, take a textbook and you drop it on the floor and you get that pop, slam, slap, whatever you want to call it. and i didn't think anything of it. >> narrator: tyler says kristi soon shares a secret and a request. >> she was telling me, you know, that she killed him, that she did it because, you know, he was being mean to her. and that's when she started telling me that i should take the blame for it because i was 13, nothing would happen to me.

i'd never been sent to the principal's office, much less do anything like this. i didn't know what trouble was, to be honest. and i believed her. >> narrator: joey's brother eventually finds him, shot once in the head with a .22-caliber rifle. police contact tyler's mother, requesting an interview with the boy. >> i wasn't really scared about taking tyler over there because i was never told that he was a suspect. i told them that they could talk to tyler as long as i was present. when they separated us is when the problems started. >> the deputies were reporting to the sheriff that he had to have been present around the time joey was killed. the sheriff instructed the deputy that you say need to get the mother out of the room.

>> narrator: tyler never considers asking for an attorney, and, despite his arrangement with kristi, he tells investigators he knows nothing about the crime. >> there's a deputy saying, you did this, your sister told us you did this. and i'm thinking, what? >> they assume that if they pressured him enough he'd change his story and tell the truth. but what he did is change his story to tell another lie to protect his sister. >> this is very important to you that you give us a statement and that you're telling the truth. because we want you to tell it just like it happened. okay? okay? >> i think at that point i felt stuck. i couldn't exactly get up and leave. i was thinking, okay, i'm going to tell them what they want to hear and then i'm going home and this is all over with. >> narrator: still, tyler is not ready to take the blame. >> i'm pretty much reading off of the script in my mind. but then i kind of chickened out. >> and she put her hand on the trigger and i put my hand on the trigger. >> narrator: in tyler's revised version of events, he and kristi are equally responsible for the

murder. >> and she kind of squeezed my hand because she didn't think it would work. >> okay. can you show me, show me what you mean by -- >> all right. i had the gun like this. i'm thinking, well, maybe if i say that i helped her do it, then she did half of it, i did half of it, then i still won't get in trouble because of how old i am and then she won't get in much trouble because it wasn't just her. and so i just kind of, you know, made things up as i went along. >> and i was sitting right there and she had her hand on mine. or -- >> okay. was she reaching around in front of you? >> she had her hands -- i know it was in front of me somehow. and then i just closed my eyes and did it and it went off. >> it may seem absurd to us to confess to a felony that you didn't commit, but it's not absurd to a 13-year-old child. last part of the brain to

develop is the portion of the brain that deals with judgment. and children have no judgment. >> how do you know that it killed him? i mean, you said -- >> there was, like -- i saw some blood, like, it was on a pillow, i guess. i thought i had done a great job, as sad as that sounds. i really thought i had just done my sister like the greatest service in the world. i wish i could take it back, but i done it and i may as well go ahead and pay for what i had done. >> narrator: as tyler speaks, his mother remains in another section of the building wondering why her son's interview is taking so long. >> i'm just sitting there waiting trying to find out where tyler's at. so i start walking from door to door looking for tyler. >> i knew there could only be one person knocking on that door, and that was my mom. i thought, i'm really in trouble now.

i am in trouble because mom's going to know that i have told a lie. >> have y'all done the statement yet? >> getting it now. >> y'all are typing it up now? i mean, are y'all going to do it so we can go home? i mean, we're tired. >> i think at first i honestly didn't realize whether she was just talking to them or whether that was directed at all of us, and it scared me. >> narrator: but will his mother's fervor be enough to save tyler from his own words? >> what did y'all do? oh, god, can you stop him? [ male announcer ] a doctor running late for a medical convention

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your name is tyler edmonds? >> narrator: may 12, 2003. >> and you're age 13? >> yes, sir. >> we're going to talk to you about the murder case of joey fulgham. >> narrator: with his mother waiting down the hall tyler edmonds is making a critical decision, telling sheriff's deputies he's responsible for killing his brother-in-law just west of starkville, mississippi. >> i was just holding the gun. i heard it go off, and i looked at him, and saw it actually hit him. >> narrator: but tyler will later insist the confession is false, a misguided effort to protect the person he calls the real killer, his half-sister kristi fulgham, the victim's wife. >> i believe the confession. most people would believe the confession. >> narrator: to tyler's mother sharon clay, though, the police acted unethically. >> they had obviously done this

behind my back and that was a violation of my rights as tyler's parent. >> narrator: she accuses a deputy of deliberately separating her from her son by maneuvering them to different parts of the building. >> he said, we just need to talk to him for a minute. well, 45 minutes later, i start looking for tyler. and that's when i got to the door where they had interrogated him and taped the confession. >> tyler, don't sign anything. >> i signed another one of those papers that i -- >> without me? >> will y'all step outside? we'll call you when we're finished. >> i mean, are y'all doing the statement now? are you all done? >> we're talking to him. leave us alone. >> why can't i be in here with him? this is what i don't understand. >> well, you can talk to him with me here. >> we're talking to him.

he's talking to us. >> well, if i find out it's against the law, y'all are in trouble. >> they were playing by the rules in mississippi, it's just an absurd rule. >> do you want us to stop talking to him? >> like i told you before, i don't have a problem with him talking to you, but i would prefer to be in the room because he is a minor. y'all are doing stuff behind my back. >> narrator: under the mississippi statute, parents have a right to be present when their child is charged with a crime so long as it is not murder. no law was violated in excluding the mother from the room. >> he's not having any problem talking to us. >> well, that's fine, but, i mean, have you -- >> is that right? >> do you have a problem talking to them without me? >> i was terrified that she was going to bend me over her knee right there and just whoop me for telling a lie. she just got down on her knees and i'm crying then. i remember the moment. very clearly. >> what's wrong?

what's wrong, baby? tyler? >> i told them the truth. >> okay, what is the truth? >> that me and kristi did it. >> tyler? tyler wayne? son, look at me. did you for real do that, or are you just telling them that? >> we both did it. >> and at that point i just became sick. i was just sick. i said, tyler, do you know what this means? and he said, yes, ma'am. and i was, like, do you know that they can do anything they want to with you now? oh, god, come here.

>> i can't stand up, ma. >> tyler wayne, tyler, look at me. >> i can't stand up, ma. my legs are hurting. that's what popped into my head. it sounded like a great excuse to not stand up and not to face her. >> can you leave us here by ourselves? i don't understand. tyler wayne, please stand up. >> ma, i can't. >> i knew that if i could make him look me in the face that, if he was guilty of this, i would see it. and i would feel it. and he knew it, too. >> okay, tyler, your mom went back outside. you want to stop talking now? >> i went out to get a phone so i could get ahold of an attorney. that's where i was headed. i thought that maybe if i had an attorney present they could work it out, do whatever they do, and we could go home.

>> narrator: but deputies now move tyler from an interrogation room to a jail cell. >> it wasn't until they put tyler behind the glass and gave him the phone to talk to me through the glass that he realized what was going on. >> there is nothing more horrible on this earth than to be sitting on this side of the glass and your child on the other side screaming bloody murder, mama, please don't leave me here, i didn't do anything! please don't leave me here. >> i was begging her not to leave me. i don't think i fully comprehended that she couldn't take me with her. and i thought that she was abandoning me. my mom was pretty much all i had. and i think that was the most heart wrenching thing i've ever been through in my life. >> narrator: despite his age, prosecutors want to try tyler as an adult. if convicted, he faces life

behind bars. his only chance, he'll conclude, is personally contacting the sheriff and revealing what really transpired the night joey fulgham was killed. >> that's the only way i can get out of here is if i let you know what really happened. >> i believe you're correct. guys! [ female announcer ] ...it can. introducing swiffer steamboost powered by bissell. it gets the dirt that mops can leave behind with steam-activated cleaning pads that break down dirt and lock it away. how did you get this floor so clean? ♪ steamboost, sir! [ female announcer ] new swiffer steamboost powered by bissell. not just clean, steamboost clean.

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>> narrator: starkville, mississippi, may 12, 2003. 13-year-old tyler edmonds tells sheriff's deputies a curious tale about helping his half- sister kristi fulgham fatally shoot her husband joey in his sleep. according to tyler, the siblings

accomplish the task by holding a .22-caliber bolt-action rifle at the same time. >> i had the right hand right here at my stomach and we did it. >> narrator: tyler would later contend the story is false and kristi is the real killer. he's concocted the confession, he says, because he believes the authorities will show her leniency if he's willing to share the blame. >> we'll get your mom. >> narrator: as the interrogation ends, tyler expects to return home with his mother. instead, he's taken to a jail cell, his mind racing. >> why are they doing this to me? my sister said nothing would happen to me. surely she didn't do this on purpose, you know. and then finally coming to the realization that she had, in fact, done it on purpose. >> narrator: in order to remedy his mistake, tyler says he sends a letter to sheriff dolph bryan. four days after the confession, the sheriff invites the boy into his office. >> we're very interested in the

truth as to what happened the night joey got killed. so if you would, would you just start over, go through the whole thing, please? and talk to the camera. if you don't mind. >> yes, sir. i thought i was about to fix everything. i was being honest. i had nothing to be ashamed of. i was saying exactly what happened. >> narrator: tyler tells the sheriff about his final visit with his sister and joey, a volatile couple who often clash over kristi's infidelities. on the night of may 10, 2003, though, tyler says he notices few signs of marital strife. >> she ran up and gave him a big hug and then kristi and joe went and took a bath together. and then after that, they got out, she rubbed his back for a little while.

>> narrator: but in the middle of the night, tyler says he's awoken by kristi, told to wait for her outside in her vehicle. >> i just heard that pop and kristi got in the car. >> did she tell you she shot him? is that what she said, that she killed him? what did she say? >> she said, tell them it's an accident. tell them it wasn't supposed to go off and it did. if she really cared about me, she wouldn't have put me in the situation she put me in. >> i believe you're correct. >> i love her to death but i'll never feel the same about her. this is something she got herself into and i can't save her from this one. i was just like -- whew, felt relieved. okay, now everybody knows that i didn't do anything and they're going to call my mom and say, hey, come get him. and then will all be okay. >> everything you've told us on this tape is the truth to the

best you remember? >> to the best of my knowledge. >> i think that he believed me but he essentially said, well, i want to do more, i'm still going to try to help you, but at this point the district attorney has picked it up and it's out of my hands. and i'm thinking, okay, what does that mean? he said, what that means is i can't just let you go home. >> narrator: dolph bryan has since retired and declined our interview request. so did the current sheriff's department as well as the county district attorney's office. tyler and kristi are tried separately for joey fulgham's murder. kristi is convicted, never relenting from her story that tyler is the actual shooter. in 2004, 14-year-old tyler is prosecuted as an adult. >> did you for real do that, or are you just telling them that? >> we both did. >> what did y'all do. >> without the confession, there would not have been a case.

when you look at the confession, it seems very compelling, especially when his mother comes in and he essentially agrees, yes, i did it. >> in july 2004, tyler is convicted of murder. under mississippi state law, he received a mandatory life sentence. >> prison is not a fun place. there are rules of that world that are not rules of this world. there are things that you see that no person should have to see. >> tyler serves his time in an adult prison. then, in 2007, the mississippi supreme court revisits the case. >> there were a few details in the confession that were just not true. >> i saw some blood. it was on a pillow, i guess, something white. >> there would not have been any blood that would have shown up

he could have seen. >> she put her hand on the trigger and i put my hand on the trigger. >> one of the points was there is no way a pathologist could look at a bullet wound and say it was inflicted by two different people holding the gun. that was one of the reasons they sent the case back for a new trial. >> on november 1, 2008, a second jury clears tyler. he briefly moves out of state, then returns to mississippi to be close to his mother and run a small shop less than 30 minutes from the crime scene, still haunted by what he calls the most destructive choice of his life. >> i'll go ahead and pay for what i've done. >> hopefully people can see the mistake i made and not do the same things i have done. don't let anyone tell you, take the blame for it, you won't get in trouble. personal experience, not a good idea.

surrounded. let's play "hardball." ♪ good evening, i'm chris matthews in new york. let me open tonight with this. you know what it looks like when a team is on its own 1 yard line. you know, just a yard from being tackled in its own end zone. it would be generous to say that's where president obama now stands in his fight to win congressional approval on the attack on syria. telling a grimmer story. 240 are now