these doctors communicate with the dead. >> she was looking towards the gun. >> medical examiners -- their job is to uncover clues from the bodies that speak to them. clues that can solve crimes. >> i think we're going to recover the bullet from right under there. >> this time, the case that breaks the mold. >> not seen one like it. >> a young man is missing. his parents are frantic. it's a tragic story of love, jealousy and a shallow grave. >> there's a hand.

>> and there's also a shocking confession. >> i looked away. and i shot. >> but is this alleged murderer telling the whole story? >> but if you lie -- >> it's a question only the dead man can answer. "dead men talking: the case of the buried man." it's pre-dawn on a farm in central kentucky. it's dark and bitterly cold and our camera is waiting for the start of a grim mission. >> what's going on here? >> trying to find a body. >> long-time hardin county coroner bill lee has been called to the scene by police. >> start digging. >> normally he's part of the

investigative team only after a dead body's been found, but this time there's no body. only the suspicion of one. >> 20 years, that's the first time i've had to uncover a buried body. >> after coroner lee got the call at 3:00 a.m. to join the hunt, by pre-arrangement, he immediately notified nbc news. we were in kentucky with exclusive access to cover life in the death business. cases being handled by louisville's medical examiners and the area's coroners. >> every month we have something unusual. the fourth largest county in kentucky. we have some odd things happen. >> and this case, a man possibly buried on this property, is as odd as it gets. >> and do you know where his body is located?

>> yes, i do. >> and where is that? >> in the one behind my mother and father's home. >> the man in this videotape, 20-year-old clayton kerr, is now leading police deep into those woods to where he has told them there's a makeshift grave site. coroner lee explains what's going on. >> he's going to the site and they'll mark it off with flags and so forth and get him out of here. >> minutes later, clayton kerr appears again. he's quickly ushered off his parents' property. cloaking his face from our camera. handcuffed and clinging to a bible as he's placed into a police cruiser and taken to jail. >> gloves, body bag, camera. >> is anyone really buried at the site? now it's up to coroner lee, his deputy and two detectives, to dig up the answer. >> i had nothing other than a small shovel i keep in the trunk of my car, but the police had nothing at their headquarters.

they had to go actually to walmart. >> and the 24-hour walmart proved to be fully stocked. police bought two shovand a pick ax. as you might imagine, such tools are not standard issue for the kentucky state police. >> close this back. >> and the tough task of digging through frozen ground looking for a body is not standard procedure for police or coroners either. >> i might shoot a couple of pictures on the way down. >> i think at one time all four of us were on our hands and knees. >> most of the time bodies are discovered. most of the time, you don't have the situation where someone involved actually takes the investigators to the body. >> last name, c-o-r-e-y. >> c-o-r-e-y? >> yes, sir. >> dr. tracey corey, chief medical examiner for the state of kentucky, was instrumental in arranging for nbc news to come to louisville to learn about the different jobs that medical examiners and coroners do.

coroners in kentucky, like bill lee, are elected law enforcement officials. they go to death scenes, take charge of the bodies, then try to help the families cope. medical examiners are forensic pathologists who perform autopsies to determine cause of death. possibly providing answers to grieving family members and criminal investigators alike. >> we're there to try to answer the questions of, how did this person die? when did this person die? what was happening during the death? >> dr. corey never could have imagined we'd be here for a one of a kind whodunit. with her office playing a unique starring role. that's because, as you'll see, the autopsy in this case will do much more than determine cause of death. in the end, forensic science utilized by the medical examiner, the real csi, will decide the fate of a killer and reveal if he's telling the truth.

>> we're there to solve the puzzle. we're there to figure out what happened. >> but first, a killer's gruesome bargain. he'll trade the victim's body for leniency. >> how did the body come to be there? >> i dug a hole, threw him down in it.

every month we have something unusual in hardin county. >> as the coroner in this central kentucky county, bill lee has learned that sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction, and this current case easily fits that description. >> back there with the

perpetrator just trying to locate the grave site. >> while he and other investigators are on this small farm wondering if they will find a body, another search has been going on for days all over the county. a 29-year-old fast-food worker named roy jeffries is missing, leaving in his wake two distraught parents. >> somebody beat him up, hit him with a car and he's laying there and he's freezing and he's going to die from exposure. >> fearing the worst, roy's parents looked high and low, in ditches along the road. even in area dumpsters. >> i thought, man, i don't want to find no bodies in this thing. that's the last thing i want to find. >> the police said, you've got to stop. quit knocking on doors, you know. we don't know what's happened. could be dangerous. we'll be looking for you next. >> at first police thought jeffries might have taken time off. perhaps gone on a trip without telling anyone. state trooper steve peavy. >> this gentleman's 29 years old. if he wants to take off for a

day or two, he can. he can leave for as long as he wants. >> but now with no word from roy for nearly a week, police have begun to take a more active interest. >> once the detectives got to look it it, hadn't showed up to work, hadn't contacted anybody, hadn't picked his paycheck up. those are all red flags to our detectives and they start to investigate further. >> in the past, missing work would not have been so surprising, but it was now. roy's parents say their son finally seemed to be getting his act together. >> he just had so many brains. he just -- it was like, oh, he's finally growing up, you know. ♪ jesus lead me >> on this sunday, eight days after roy's disappearance, a man apparently racked with remorse arrived at this church for a heart-to-heart talk with his minister. he said he knew what happened to roy jeffries because he was the one responsible for the disappearance.

>> talking to him, he said the best thing to do is turn yourself in. >> the man, clayton kerr, told his minister exactly what happened to roy jeffries. his minister then convinced him to tell the police, which he did in this videotape interview. >> i went to my minister first, and -- because i wanted to let him know what i done. >> did you tell him what you had done? >> i told him that i killed -- and that i was a bad man and i needed to pay. >> but before 20-year-old kerr went to police to confess, he told his family what he'd done. his parents hired an attorney. and that's when this strange story took an even more unusual turn. prosecutor chris shaw. >> since my time in this office as well as working as a practicing lawyer around this county, i've not seen one like it. >> unique because, at the time, there was no evidence of foul

play. no suspects. not even a body. >> we're being approached before there technically was a case. >> prosecutor shaw says the attorney talked to him in somewhat vague terms, holding back information, hoping to cut a deal for his client. >> at this stage, the defense attorney's not telling us who his client is. he's telling us the type of information he has. but he is telling us this is the person who committed the homicide. >> and most important, he's not telling investigators where to find the body. >> we knew we had a family out there who was missing their family member. there was a body out there that we needed to try to recover, if we could, in a timely manner. >> the prosecutor wanted to make a deal, but first, as a courtesy he made sure roy's parents did not object. >> i was not going to make an offer unless i had the support of the family in it. >> the proposed deal was that confessed killer clayton kerr would plead guilty to manslaughter instead of facing a murder charge.

he'd receive a 20-year sentence of which he must serve 17 1/2 years. reluctantly, roy jeffries' parents agreed. >> this is our best chance. you know. and it is. 17 1/2 years ain't much for killing somebody. >> in return for the reduced charges, kerr would take police to where he'd hidden the body, and also tell them everything he knew about the shooting and burial. and if a body is uncovered, coroner bill lee and the medical examiner, dr. tracey corey, will take action. do what professionals in the business of death do. help the departed speak. >> you have the right to remain silent. anything you do say may be used against you in court. >> late monday night with his attorney at his side, clayton kerr sat in a small room in a police station and confessed to the killing, chapter and verse. answering questions from a homicide detective who was off camera. >> did you kill roy marshall

jeffries? >> i did. >> how many times did you shoot him? >> i only shot him once. >> how did it make you feel after you killed roy? >> i was just shocked. and then i tried to cover my tracks. >> did he make any sounds or anything? >> no. he was just -- completely silent. >> kerr told police that his girlfriend worked with jeffries at a fast-food restaurant and jeffries made no secret of his desires. >> in the past he had made moves towards my fiancee, and it was openly in front of my face. >> so he flirted with her? is that what you would call it? >> he tried to hit on her. he had said that he had had dreams about her and they were good dreams, and i thought that was referring to a sexual thing. >> on the day of the murder, kerr says, he lured jeffries into the woods near his house. and that his impulses suddenly took over.

he pulled out a .22 caliber gun he'd taken from his parents' home. >> what happened next? >> snapped. and i looked away, and i shot, and as soon as he went down, i started throwing brush on him, and then i took off. >> later, he says, he returned to the woods to get rid of the gun and to hide the body. >> how did the body become buried? >> i dug a hole and threw him down in it. >> so why did kerr wait eight days to come forward? eight days of anguish for jeffrey's family. because, kerr told police, that's when he saw one of the fliers roy jeffries' parents had posted all over the county, with the face of his victim staring at him. and he could no longer tolerate his guilty conscience. >> i'd seen a missing photo of him and people caring about him. >> the posters, lovingly designed and distributed by desperate parents, had worked in

a way even they could not have anticipated. >> made him realize that he killed somebody's child. somebody's son. that's what he said. >> but police still were skeptical about kerr's confession. they couldn't be sure he was telling the truth about the crime and the buried body. until they found it. and that's what police and coroner bill lee are now preparing to do. dig up a body. >> the first inch or so of the covering was fairly hard.

just shot like this and he went down and i started throwing brush on him and i took off. >> 20-year-old clayton kerr confessed to his minister and then to police that he shot to death 29-year-old roy jeffries. just because, kerr said, jeffries had made a pass at his girlfriend. >> he tried to hit on her, and

he said that he had had dreams about her and they were good dreams. >> go and get a body bag and take this down there. >> it's early tuesday morning, and kerr already has shown police where he says he buried roy's body. in the woods behind his family's home. then he was led off the property to go to jail. moving in one direction while coroner bill lee, his deputy and two detectives, are now marching the other way. back into the woods. if kerr is telling the truth, the investigators will provide some answers for roy's anxious parents, and help build the criminal case. after they finish their grisly mission, uncovering whatever is in this shallow grave. >> we knew we had a job to do. and just wanted to do it in a proper, respectful manner. >> deep in the woods, the tranquil sounds of nature seem out of sync with the off-key clank of shovels hitting frozen ground. >> doesn't appear to be very deep.

>> our video camera was not allowed on the property to shoot in the woods. so it's police photographs at the excavation you're seeing, our microphone is capturing the actual sounds of the digging as it's happening. >> the first inch or so of the covering was fairly hard. then we were able to get on our hands and knees with our gloved hands and rake the loose dirt. 90% of recovery was by hand. >> police make an important discovery. a .22 caliber gun hidden under the leaves. after more digging, searchers uncover a sneaker. >> the shoe was off. there was a white sock. >> then some clothing. >> he was face down, and the first thing that showed on the back, was the university of michigan jacket. >> according to kerr's

confession, that jacket is what made him snap on the day of the murder. >> he was wearing the same clothes he was wearing whenever he made those comments. >> the same clothes jeffries had worn weeks before when he supposedly flirted with kerr's girlfriend. >> there's a hand. >> and finally, a body. >> right here. >> roy jeffries' body. >> we're just careful going around the perimeter not to disturb the body itself. >> tell roy to get the body bag out of the truck. >> so far, the evidence on the scene suggests kerr is telling the truth about the shooting and the burial. but key forensic questions remain unanswered. kentucky chief medical examiner tracey corey will try to figure them out in autopsy.

was jeffries killed instantly, as kerr claimed, or did the killer leave him gasping for life, dying a slow, agonizing death in these lonely woods? >> so we were concerned to know from the medical examiner, was there any sign of whether he would have still been breathing at the time he was put in the ground? >> it's a key issue. because if he buried jeffries alive, kerr's deal with the prosecutor would be null and void. >> but if he lies, they said we just throw it all out and still got all the evidence. >> how unusual is it that a medical examiner's findings in autopsy would affect a plea agreement? >> i'd say that's not common. that that's a pretty rare event. >> forensic science will serve as the lie detector for other questions as well. the number of gunshots, and whether kerr fired from behind without even looking, as he demonstrated in his confession. the autopsy will help investigators solve a crime and answer questions that will

determine punishment for a killer. and it will provide important answers to roy's family. whether he was buried alive and suffered a prolonged death. >> i think that would be the worst thing in the world. i just can't imagine that kind of fear. >> before roy's body can be transported off the property, coroner bill lee gets a phone call from a county dispatcher. >> nelson county. yes. oh, my gosh. eight people burnt up in a house fire. man. gosh. >> it's the nature of the business. working on one death, getting news of another. this time, it's a massive tragedy. a house fire. coroners from all over the area will help with that large-scale recovery effort, but bill lee will remain focused on roy jeffries' tragic case, an impulsive murder, parents' grief, so much sorrow. all part of a day's work.

>> and i'm out there to do my job and find out what the circumstances are and relay that to the family and assist them in any way i can. >> he is a parent and a grandparent himself. and must deal with crushing grief almost on a daily basis. >> i don't really think about that could be my kid laying there or whatever. it does seem, especially when kids are involved, i can feel my eyes getting a little wet, teary-eyed. but i feel like i'm stout enough after 20 years of business, i've been able to cope with it. >> and later that very same day -- >> the body is received in a black plastic body bag. the body is received wearing soiled and wet clothing as follows, a pair of white socks. >> an autopsy. the search for forensic clues and the fate of a killer. [announcer] sunday's your last chance to save big

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"dead men talking: the case of the buried man." did you tell him what you'd done? >> no. i just told him i'd killed, and that i was a bad man, and i needed to pay.

>> clayton kerr confessed to police that he shot and buried roy jeffries because, he said, jeffries had made a pass at his girlfriend. he then led police to the shallow grave where the two detectives on the case, as well as county coroner bill lee, battled frigid temperatures and frozen ground to dig up the body. >> there's a hand. >> yes. >> right lung, 600. >> in kentucky, dr. tracey corey, the chief medical examiner, and her staff, do autopsies to determine the cause for all suspicious and unexplained deaths. but except for mass disasters, they generally don't go to death scenes. >> the very first day i see them is the day that i'm doing their examination. >> it's up to bill lee and other kentucky coroners to go into the field day or night, hot or cold, to take care of the bodies.

>> my role is to recover the body and get them back to the medical examiner's office and make notification to the next of kin that we have found their loved one. let me give you my cell phone number, if you want to jot this down. >> the coroner acts as a kind of social worker, showing compassion and keeping the families involved. >> i've been knocked down to the ground by mothers before, giving them the bad news. i've been told by a lot in this community i'm part counselor. i'm not sure i'm qualified to be a counselor but i do take pride in being able to answer questions for families. >> bill lee arrived at his job as coroner by steps, after graduating from the university of louisville dental school in 1969 he went to the navy and got additional training as a forensic dentist, learning to make death identification through dental remains. his fascination with the science led him to full-scale death investigations, and then to his current job as a coroner.

in the 20 years he's served as the elected coroner for hardin county, he's learned how to handle death. one of the toughest aspects, notifying the families. because he was at the digging scene and then in charge of roy jeffries' body, coroner lee was spared that grim task. a state trooper was dispatched instead. >> he said were you kind of expecting me? and i said i was hoping i wouldn't have to see him. you know? and tell me that they found the body. and i knew -- that it was true. >> once roy's parents learned officially he had been shot and buried they wanted to rush over to the county morgue to see their son's body. >> they said there's a lot of snow and leaves. the two rocks, the first one on the head end and the back one

over the foot end of the body. >> roy jeffries' body is now in the morgue and coroner lee remains in charge of it. he wants to protect roy's grieving parents and hopes to discourage them from viewing their son. >> this is after the body has been uncovered a little bit more -- >> he says he knows about the emotional and psychological damage that can happen after seeing a loved one who suffered a violent death. >> because of the week-long situation with him being in the ground, and being covered by dirt and so forth that he would not look quite the same, and that may be a little traumatic for families to have to see that. >> his advice will be to wait a day or so until the funeral home can prepare the body properly, and that's what he tells them. >> this is dr. lee, the coroner over in hardin county. first of all, i want to extend my sympathies to you for the loss of roy. have you got a moment i can talk with you right now, or is this a bad time to catch you? >> dr. lee is still a practicing dentist when he's not serving as the county's plain folks coroner has a soothing bedside manner. >> it's tough to talk to you

under these circumstances but i wanted to give you the opportunity, if there's any questions you have, anything i can try to help you with. >> first off, roy's mother wants to know details of the shooting. >> yes, ma'am, probably a single shot. probably. >> then the coroner does his best to convince her to delay seeing her son. >> you know, he laid under the ground there for about a week or so. so he's -- it's going to be tough to view him. i'll just be frank with you. >> he finishes with his standard but sincere offer. >> if anything comes up i don't care if it's 2:00 in the morning, if there's something you've got on your mind, don't hesitate to holler at me, okay? >> roy's parents have reconsidered. they'll wait for the medical examiner and then the funeral director to do their work before they view their son. it's time for the body to be transported to louisville where dr. lee will transfer control to the office of chief medical examiner tracey corey for autopsy.

remember, the key forensic finding will be whether or not roy was buried alive. so what will the medical examiner be looking for? >> depending on the soil, the nature of the substance they were buried in, you would find that substance perhaps inhaled and/or swallowed. >> the autopsy of roy jeffries. what would they find? >> i really don't feel a projectile. i would think that i would. because it's right there. did you see it?

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forensic pathologists are the only group of physicians trained exclusively to analyze document and interpret traumatic injuries to try to answer investigative questions. is it okay to run two tables? >> the crucial forensic question for chief medical examiner tracey corey will be whether the shooting victim, roy jeffries, was dead when he was buried by his killer. after roy's body arrives for autopsy in louisville, it's first taken from the cooler to the radiology suite for x-rays of his skull. just hours removed from his shallow grave, signs of roy's undignified burial remain. dirt and debris on his soiled socks and a leaf dangling from his left heel. x-rays will help the medical examiner find the bullet that

killed roy. but they won't help determine whether or not he was buried alive. that will require visual examination for evidence of dirt and debris in the upper airways, windpipe and the mouth. >> i need a picture of that too. we need the first one over here. >> after the x-rays, roy's body is wheeled into dr. corey's bustling autopsy room, filled to overflowing with tragedy. >> oh, my gosh. >> that catastrophic fire coroner bill lee heard about earlier in the day turned out to be the worst fire in kentucky in 30 years. ten deaths in one small house. six of the fatalities, children. >> some are -- >> number five. >> we don't even have him yet. we got up to number four i think. >> dr. corey and her team of

medical examiners are sharing the massive work load performing autopsies on the fire victims. then when a table opens up for roy jeffries. >> we're ready for him. rock and roll. >> it's medical examiner dr. donna hunsaker, a nine-year veteran of the louisville office, who handles the case. >> this is 070116. >> roy jeffries gets his own number. 070116. he's the medical examiner's 116th case of 2007. >> do we have the detective somewhere for this gentleman? >> in fact, there are two detectives. they've had a long couple of days beginning with the questioning of killer clayton kerr the night before. >> how many times did you shoot him? >> digging up the body early tuesday morning. and now, autopsy room duty to continue the investigation and answer questions. >> how long had he been down in the ground? >> a week and a half -- a week since last saturday. >> i'm so happy it's been cold. >> with the frigid temperatures of january and february, roy's

body was not as decomposed as it might have been. that makes an autopsy easier and will be better for the funeral home director, too. >> today's date is the 6th. we're starting this case at 1:24 p.m. the body's received in a black plastic body bag. the body is reserved wearing soiled and wet clothing as follows. a pair of white socks, a black pair of jeans, underwear. want to check and see if he's got any underwear on? >> no detail is spared. even his underwear, which dr. hunsaker asks about, could turn out to be important evidence one day. >> a nylon navy and hooded jacket. >> the detectives will retain the clothing, potential evidence at trial, if the plea bargain falls through. it will be placed in paper bags for safe keeping. >> black and white tennis shoes

accompanied the body in the body bag. >> everything must be documented with photographs and diagrams and recorded in dictation. careful steps befitting a medical examiner's office that has a glowing reputation within the profession. then dr. hunsaker turns her full attention to the victim. >> the body is that of a well developed thin white male appearing the stated age of -- he must be about 30. the body has a measured height of 69 3/4 inches and 125 pounds, period. >> the detectives are photographing, observing and gathering evidence. >> you've got everything you need, is that right, as far as pictures are concerned at this point? >> as the medical examination begins in earnest. >> we're set. you ready? >> coroner lee listens intently for any information he can report back to the family. dr. hunsaker, meanwhile, is searching for a bullet. >> i really don't feel a projectile. i would think that i would

because it's right there. did you see it? oh, there it is. i bet you that's it right there. >> each minute they come closer to finding out if the killer told the truth about the shooting and burial. >> a circular penetrating gunshot wound entrance measures 0.1 inches in diameter. >> first she finds one wound from only one bullet. so that part of confessed killer clayton kerr's story checks out. >> abrasion measures 0.05 inches, period. there is no grossly obvious evidence of soot about the wound, period. >> if soot had been present around the wound that would indicate that the gun had been fired at close enough range to cause small burns on the skin called stippling or tattooing. dr. hunsaker then determines that the bullet entered above his right ear, seemingly supporting kerr's claim he was walking behind jeffries when he says he looked away and fired the gun.

>> face shows asymmetry with collapse of the right globe of the eye. there's skull fractures causing the swelling and the discoloration of his eye. >> but the dictation about an injury to the eye prompts one of the detectives to ask about some swelling to jeffries' face. >> are you saying he was hit? >> he wonders if it could have been caused by a fight or a blow to the head which might indicate the killer lied about the incident. >> no, it's probably secondary to the projectile. >> meaning it was the bullet and nothing else that produced skull fractures. >> you can turn him now. thank you. >> even though the bullet to the head caused the death, dr. hunsaker extracts and examines the major internal organs, including the heart, lungs and liver. standard procedure. >> the liver weighs one gram. no stones are noted, period. >> it's all part of the

extensive documentation process required by the chief medical examiner, dr. corey. they assume nothing, because they know they won't get a second chance to examine the body. >> and i have only one opportunity to document the findings as i see them that day. >> they have to be prepared for anything that could happen with the case in the future. for example, if it does go to trial. what if a defense attorney suggests that natural disease contributed to roy's death? dr. corey's office looks for evidence of natural disease. answering that question, even if it never comes up. >> no obvious natural disease processes noted, period. >> the more thoroughly we can document our case, the better off we are, because we don't know where the case will be, or what questions will be asked next week, next month, next year. >> this position of evidence, we'll call it the handbag, labeled right and left, comma. >> as the autopsy continues, the observers in the room are watching it play out like an

episode of "csi" building up to the climax, the answer to the all-important forensic question. was jeffries buried alive? when it comes, there's no swelling tv music, no dramatic declaration, only a steady stream of diagnostic jargon. >> red, pink skin discoloration multilocally and areas of rigor mortis, next. no foreign debris in the upper or lower airways. next. >> that takes care of the voice box and windpipe area. as for the mouth. >> no dirt or foreign debris is present, period. >> no foreign debris anywhere. translation, he did not inhale or swallow any dirt. so jeffries was not buried alive. just to be sure, coroner bill lee asks a follow-up question. >> he was dead. well, he wasn't respiring. so yes, i would say he was dead when he was buried.

>> but did he suffer? it's a question his family is desperate to have answered. dr. hunsaker, a mother of two sons and a flight surgeon with the national guard, understands their concern. >> i can tell you that he died extremely rapidly, because the bullet hit a vital portion of the brain. for relief purposes, he probably didn't feel the bullet hit him. >> as liaison to the victim's family, coroner lee is eager to phone jeffries' parents to share this latest information. >> i tell them the autopsy's been completed. i don't get into a lot of detail unless the family quizzes me. i try to cover my bases and i back off, and just let them ask me the next question. looks like the cause of death will be that single gunshot wound to the head. that was pretty much instantaneous. sometimes the gunshot may leave you unconscious, and it may be a few minutes before you actually are classified as deceased, but fairly quickly i would say.

>> the family finds a measure of comfort in the news. >> it was very important to us to know that, because as parents, you don't want to think your child's out there injured, and you know, freezing. it was cold weather. we were so grateful to hear that he wasn't buried alive. >> but their real comfort, they say, is their faith. >> last year, roy had found the lord. that kind of helps and i think it's unfair that maybe god thought he would have him. i don't know. >> the autopsy answered important questions. but others remained. what about the girl who triggered a killer's jealous rage? did she play more of a role than just girlfriend in a deadly triangle? >> did you talk about calling the police or anything like that?

i need to be punished for what i did and be taken away from my loved ones, the way -- not the way he was taken away from his loved ones but i need to be taken away from them so i can kind of feel that same pain. >> please raise your right hand, sir. do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god? >> yes, i do. >> clayton kerr is in court a month after confessing to the murder of roy jeffries. >> all right, am i saying your last name correctly, k-e-r-r? >> yes, your honor. >> the medical examiner's office determined he did not bury jeffries alive. so kerr was telling the truth,

and now a judge will have to sign off on his plea bargain. >> does that sound like the agreement that you think you have, mr. kerr? >> yes. >> are you pleading guilty because you are guilty and you make no claim of innocence? >> yes, your honor. >> his guilty plea for manslaughter will get him a 20-year sentence. >> 20 years is not enough. 50 years wouldn't be enough. we can't get him back. i mean, there's nothing we can do bad enough to him for what he's done to us. there's nothing. >> the victim's parents sit in the front row, wearing badges honoring their son. >> and we wanted to make a show to the judge that, you know, just because our son's gone doesn't mean people didn't care about him, enough about him to come and see to it that justice is served. >> it's some small consolation that their relentless effort to find their son paid off. remember, it was the missing posters they handed out with roy's picture that made his murderer feel guilt and turn

himself in. >> i'm glad that it did, and you know, when the police say, no, we don't think that's a good idea, just go with your gut. it's your child out there. do what you feel like you need to do. >> but roy's mother isn't ready to turn the other cheek. even though she and her husband agree to the plea bargain that reduced the charge against kerr from murder to manslaughter. >> he wants forgiveness from us. i can't give him forgiveness. for one thing, he said that's the only way he can get through this is if he has our forgiveness. well, i can't give him forgiveness. i don't want him to get through this. it's hard for me to get through this. >> and there's someone else in court. a 20-year-old girl. the object of both kerr's and jeffries' affections. savannah meeks. and she's not here as a spectator. >> so is your full name savannah marie meeks? >> yes, ma'am.

>> it turns out kerr's confession also revealed meeks had a role in the crime. >> are you the same person named in the indictment in this case? >> yes, ma'am. >> kerr told police he picked up meeks from work after the murder and she went back to the woods with him to help bury the body. >> did savannah ever touch the body? >> she didn't want to get close to it. she was afraid. >> in her own videotaped confession meeks acknowledged she assisted in the nighttime burial. >> i held the flashlight while he started digging the hole. >> by holding the flashlight, she was helping conceal roy jeffries' body. so she faces a charge of tampering with evidence -- the body. >> you ever think about calling the police or anything like that? >> part of me wanted to, because i knew it was wrong, but the other part of me that was stronger didn't want to lose clayton. didn't want to get in trouble. >> tampering with physical

evidence. how do you plea? >> guilty. >> the court gives meeks a three-year sentence, but it could have been worse. >> stomach contains approximately -- >> if the medical examiner had determined jeffries had been buried alive, kerr would have faced murder charges and meeks complicity to murder. >> the upper airway is clear of foreign debris. >> but that's not what she found. >> because of the autopsy, i can tell you that he was dead before he went into the shallow grave. >> inside that grave, the freezing temperatures slowed decomposition as the medical examiner had discovered at autopsy. so roy's body was in better condition than would have been expected after ten days under ground. that made it easier for the funeral home to do its cosmetic work and allowed for an open casket viewing on friday, february 9th. three days after his body was recovered. although mourners tried to keep

it upbeat and share fond remembrances, there was no escaping the cruel fact that a 29-year-old man was murdered senselessly. >> i mean, it's hard enough to bury a parent, but when you out live your kid, that's really hard. >> a fatal shooting fueled by a jealous rage over something so small as a possible flirtation. >> i want to know what makes him think he's god? why would you do such a stupid thing? what puts it in a person's head that just because you don't get what you want, that you just go kill somebody? >> it's what medical examiners like dr. tracy corey face all too often, the consequences of human nature at its worst. >> end of dictation. thank you. humans can be quite creative in the ways they can think to hurt each other and in the ways they can actually end up causing the death of someone else