legalzoom has your back. for your business, our trusted network of attorneys has provided guidance to over 100,000 people just like you. visit legalzoom today. the legal help you can count on. legalzoom. legal help is here. 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 police call it, the box. >> okay. >> every police investigation involves not necessarily an attempt to get a confession but search for the truth. >> in the casino town of reno, nevada, an accused killer is confronted by his girlfriend while detectives listen to every word. >> and if i told you you did it,

you'd still love me, be with me. >> she was horrified by the possibility that he was responsible for these ugly terrible 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 cases can be made or broken. msnbc takes you "inside the box." i don't think mr. beelor was stupid. in fact, just the opposite. i think that he is a strange

duck. november 25th, 2008, 26-year-old james beila paces a reno, nevada, interrogation room, charged with the murder of brianna dennison, 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 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 one in a false wall for some reason it catches his attention. and when he's by himself he goes over there and pulls it forward and looks behind it. >> the burly pipe fitter has 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. >> anything for me? >> when he asks to speak to his girlfriend, police keep the cameras rolling as she joins him inside the box and beginning conducting her own interrogation. it's a creative and completely legal antidote, 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 our

entire case. you get their feelings. you get the emotions. you can't get that in a detective-suspect interview. >> detective has been waiting for this chance for ten months. since the morning of january 19th, 2008, when brianna dennison'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 the 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, any place that you could fit a human being was looked at. there was not an inch of that neighborhood that was not covered. >> investigators soon realize 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 miss dennison had been abducted. >> both sexual assault victims attend the university of nevada at reno. one report 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 co-eds had their underwear removed at the conclusion of the sexual assault. >> 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 learned that one of those pairs of thong underwear had very likely been used as the instrument to fatally strangle miss dennison. >> james beila learns about the discovery of the body of his girlfriend who happens to work in the office building overlooking the crime scene and calls to inform him about the development in the high profile case. but when she finds a collection of panties in beila's own truck,

she confides to a friend. the woman phones detectives telling them he might be the monster depicted in the police sketch. investigators contact him and he agrees to an informal meeting on the way home from work. and the detective's car in a wendy's parking lot. >> he was jovial and no issues and stuff like that. it's really not interrogation of sorts. i mean, the guy, he's free to leave. he could tell me to -- 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 dennison. he automatically instead of having the eye-to-eye contact he would look out that window. and it was pretty chilly out. it was pretty chilly out. and you could see little sweat beads forming on him. everything just changed. and this was the reaction that

we were looking for. and he goes you can call my girlfriend, she'll be my alibi. and that struck me as what would you need an alibi if you didn't do anything wrong. >> regardless, police followed the advice. but instead of covering for him, his girlfriend secretly allows their son to provide a dna sample. when it matches the genetic material found at the crime scenes, james beila is arrested and then taken into the interrogation room. >> mr. beila 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 miss dennison's murder was completely irrelevant. >> and 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 a 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 asked can you give me the score of the wake forest game? we closed the door and was thinking, wait a minute, this guy is accused of murder, sexual assaults and he's worried about a score of a wake forest game. what's his mentality? >> we're going to be right outside this door. >> but police will get another opportunity to explore beila'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. >> i don't need this right now.

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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 in trying to figure out what is my next move going to be. >> 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 dennison, 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? >> by court order we're required to disguise her face and voice. >> i don't know if i should hit you or hold you. did you do this? >> 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? i hope 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, they have a child together. she had at one point loved him and perhaps that day didn't know what to do. >> police believe 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 life. your birthday card's in my truck, but 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 that's where my concerns would have been right then either. >> detective david jenkins isn't the only one bewildered by biela's behavior. his partner is convinced the suspect qualifies as a true psychopath. he's managed to keep his loved ones in the dark about his crimes. >> they want to have a sense of normalcy on this side, and on this side they want to have ta deviant behavior. they literally have two separate lives. and they cannot have these interfere. >> did you? >> now, you know what the time is. i was going to shoot myself. >> what? what? why? >> i don't know. i love you.

>> oh. >> 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 there's just something fundamentally wrong with him. >> how is it that your dna is -- >> matches? >> 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 probably the same response he would give us, i don't know. >> they're listening right now. let them listen.

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

>> you dumped her in the trash. >> do you want the truth? >> 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 ] up. >> 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 that

i've done. >> but could a jury watching the same footage be persuaded to convict james biela of murder? take viagra when they need it. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension. your blood pressure could drop to an unsafe level. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. ask your doctor about viagra single packs. if you'try clarispray.emes to escape your nasal allergies. new, from the makers of claritin. and nothing is more effective at relieving your sneezing, runny nose and nasal congestion. return to the world. try clarispray today.

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i'm sorry for everything i've done. november 25th, 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 dennison, 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 let's 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. he's sitting there chitchatting with strangers about innocuous things. he's talking about to some of the cops 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. >> in 2010, biela goes on trial for the sexual assault and murder of brianna dennison, 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 was 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. >> but it's the exchange in the interrogation room between biela and his girlfriend that resonates loudest. >> i need to know the truth. >> know the truth. >> 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 got to go pee. when i was talking to you about the psychopath part, i mean, there's no feelings in it. >> or a rum and coke. >> the fact he's so dismissive about everything really gives the jury some great insight into

him. >> did you do it? please tell 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. >> with what? dna, 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. >> on may 27th, 2010, a jury convicts biela of raping and strangling brianna dennison 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 sor sorry -- >> but rather than address the families of brianna dennison directly, biela despairs about his fractured relationship of his son. >> i just wanted my son to know this might not be the time or place, but i love you. >> that just kind of got back to the whole thing that 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 at all with the jury deliberation as far as the penalty went. >> 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. 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? ♪ using 60,000 points from my chase ink card i bought all the framework... wire... and plants

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hi, i'm richard lui in new york with breaking news out of texas, ntsb investigators probing the cause of the deadliest hot air balloon accident in history speaking moments ago near austin, texas. they are confirming detectives

will interview the balloon's ground crew tomorrow. they also say a number of cell phones from the 16 victims were found at the crash site and may reveal more about yesterday's crash. while an official cause has not been determined, it's believed the balloon hit a power line before catching fire and crashing into a field. 'll continue to follow that. for now, back to "caught on camera." starkville, mississippi, may 12th, 2003. sharon clay bursts into the sheriff's office where deputies are taping their interrogation with their 13-year-old son tyler. >> he's been in here for 45 minutes now. they've been in here talking to him for 45 minutes now. >> in the south we say don't

start any and it won't be any. i don't start conflict, but i don't take anything either. i will stand up for myself and for my children. >> tyler has come to the sheriff's department voluntarily. after his sister's husband, joey, is found dead at this house just west of town. >> tyler, 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? >> 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. >> you know, in a matter of

hours i went from being a 13-year-old to being an adult. i felt completely lost. it's a baffling scenario for the obedient kid who attends bible baptist church and fifth street junior high school in westpoint, mississippi. >> i never had any problems with tyler. he was an honor student. he was in the gifted program. he played the trumpet in the band. >> tyler's parents are divorced. and sharon has full custody. he's also close with his half sister, kristi, a daughter from his father's previous marriage. >> 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. >> tyler regularly stays with kristi and her husband, joey.

>> it was never a healthy relationship. >> joey blames kristi for a relationship she had with his best friend, a romance that produced her youngest child. and even discusses it on the montel williams show. >> you want to stay married, correct? >> yes. >> but you're going to make her pay? >> i'm going to remind her of every moment i get. >> according to tyler, on the night of may 10th, 2003, he's sitting in the car outside his sister's home when he hears a loud noise. >> to me it sounded like, you know, you take a textbook and you drop it on the floor and you get that, you know, that pop, slam, slap, whatever you want to call it. and i didn't think anything of it. >> but 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 never been sent to the principal's office much less anything like this. and i didn't know what trouble was, to be honest. and i believed her. >> 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 him 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, and the

sheriff instructed the deputies you need to get the mother out of the room. >> 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 assumed that if they pressured him enough he'd change his story and tell the truth. what he did was change his story to tell another lie to protect his sister. >> you give us this statement that you're telling the truth, cause we want you to tell it just like it happened, okay? okay? >> yes, sir. >> i think at that point i think 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. >> 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 -- and i put my hand -- >> 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'd work. >> can you show me what you mean? >> i had the gun like this. >> i'm thinking, well, maybe if i say 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 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, um, i was sitting right there and she had her hand on mine. >> okay. was she reaching around in front of you? >> she had her hand, i know it was in front of me somehow.

and then i just closed my eyes and did it and it went off. >> seemed 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's hidden? >> well, there was like -- i saw some blood, 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 can't take it back, i'm going to go ahead and pay for what i've done. >> 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. and 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've told a lie. >> have y'all been talking to you? i mean, are y'all going to do it so we can go home? i mean, what time -- >> 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. >> 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? . making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on all of my purchasing. and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means

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or building the best houses in town. or becoming the next highly-unlikely dotcom superstar. and us, we'll be right there with you, helping with the questions you need answered to get your brand new business started. we're legalzoom and we've already partnered with over a million new business owners to do just that. check us out today to see how you can become one of them. legalzoom. legal help is here. we're with the county sheriff's department and your name is tyler edmonds.

may 12th, 2003. >> and you're age 13? >> yes, sir. >> okay. we're going to talk to you about the murder case of joey -- >> 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 saw that i actually hit him. >> 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, the victim's wife. >> they believed the confession. most people would believe the confession. >> to tyler's mother sharon clay though the police are acting unethically. >> they had obviously done this

behind my back. and that was a violation of my rights as tyler's parent. >> she accuses the 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 you 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 say anything. >> i let them know -- >> without me -- >> will y'all step outside? we'll call you when we get finished. >> but, i mean -- >> leave us alone. >> why can't i be in here with him? i don't understand. well, i mean, 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 exactly by the rules as they are in mississippi, it's just an absurd rule. >> 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. and y'all are sitting here doing stuff behind my back. >> under the mississippi statute, parents have a right to be present when their child is charged with a crime so long 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 -- do you have a problem talking to them without me? >> i was terrified that she was going to bend me over her knee right then 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? huh? >> i told the truth. >> what is the truth? >> that kristi did it. >> tyler? tyler? tyler, why? 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.

tyler, tyler, look at me. stand up and talk to me, son. >> i can't stand up, momma. i think that's just what popped in my head, sounded like a great excuse to not stand up and face her. >> could y'all leave us in here a minute by ourselves. i don't understand. >> mom, 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, son. 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. >> 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 a glass and your child on the other side screaming bloody murder. momma, 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 that was the most heart wrenching thing i've ever been through in my life. >> despite his age, prosecutors want to try tyler as an adult.

if convicted, he faces life behind bars. his only chance is personally contacting the sheriff and revealing what really transpired the night joey folgom was that'g to get out here, if he knows what really happened. >> i believe you're correct. healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension. your blood pressure could drop to an unsafe level. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. ask your doctor about viagra single packs. try phillips' fiber good gummies plus energy support. there's a more enjoyable way to get your fiber. it's a fiber supplement that helps support regularity, and includes b vitamins to help convert food to energy. mmm, these are good! nice work phillips'.

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starkville, mississippi, may 12th, 20 03. 13-year-old tyler edmonds tells the sheriff deputies a curious tale about helping his half sister, christie folger, fatally shoot her husband, joey, in his sleep. according to tyler, the siblings accomplished the task by holding a 22 caliber bolt action rifle

at the same time. >> right hand, like right here? >> tyler would later contend the story is false. and christie is the real killer. his concocted confession he says because he believes authorities will show her leniency if he's willing to share the blame. >> going to let you get with your mom, okay? >> as the interrogation ends, tyler expects to return home with his mother, and 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 come into the realization she had in fact done it on purpose. >> in order to remedy his mistake, tyler says he sends a letter to sheriff dolph brian. 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. if you would, start over, and go through the whole thing again, please. and talk to the camera. >> 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. >> tyler tells the sheriff about his final visit with his sister and joey, a volatile couple, who often clashed over christie's infidelities. on the night of may 10th, 2003, though, tyler says he notices few signs of marital strife. >> she ran up and gave him a big hug and christie and joe took a bath together and then after that they got out, she --

>> he was told to wait outside in the vehicle. >> i heard the pop as christie got in the car. >> she tell you she shot him? is that what she told you? she killed him? how did she say it? tell us -- >> it was an accident. go in there and say the gun wasn't supposed to go off and it did. and 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, you know, i never feel the same about her and this is something she got herself into and i can't save her from this one. >> i was just like, felt reli e relieved, like, okay, now everybody knows i didn't do anything and they're going to call my mom and say, hey, come get him and it will all be okay. >> everything you told us on this tape is the truth the best

you remember? >> best of my knowledge. >> i think 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 is 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. >> dolph brian 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 christie are tried separately for joey's murder. christie 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 telling them that? >> we both did.

>> what did you all do? >> without the confession there would not be a case. when you look at the confession, it seems very compelling, especially when his mother comes in and he essentially agrees that yes, i did it. >> in july 2004, tyler is convicted of murder. under mississippi state law, he receives 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 on a pillow, i guess. something white. >> would not have been any blood

that showed up that he could have seen, the pillow wasn't white. one of the points was there is no way any pathologist or anybody else could look at a bullet wound and say it was inflicted by two different people holding the gun. so there was one of the reasons i sent the case back for a new trial. >> on november 1st, 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. >> hopefully people can see by the mistake i made not to do the same things i had done. don't let anyone tell you take the blame for it, you won't get in trouble. personal experience, not a good

idea. it is the place where lies unravel, and alibis crumble. >> our job as homicide detectives are to speak for the dead. >> the interrogation room, or as police call it, the box. >> okay. sure. let's see the body in the bathtub. >> in the college town of austin, texas, a government major is grilled about mutilating a romantic rival. >> you're the jealous girlfriend. jealous girlfriends make great killers. >>