we shall not be moved, just like the trees planted by the waters. we shall not be moved ♪ by the wate waters ♪ ♪ we shall not be moved >> i have pictures in my head that will never go away. i'm never going to have my son back. i don't get to go to his high school graduation or see him go to college. i have no idea what happened. >> it was like a meteor hitting. 12-year-old kid loved to ride his scooter everywhere. lost his life at the hands of a killer. >> he is a soccer coach. >> great person. on and off the field. a great role model. >> there's absolutely nothing connecting him to this case. >> they don't have the fingerprint. they don't have blood. they don't have the witness. >> there is a darkness that's at work here. >> you believe nick hillary killed your boy.

>> yes. >> people call me a murderer. i'm 100% innocent. >> you could have heard a pin drop in that courtroom. potsdam. way upstate new york. a small speck on the map on the road to the canadian border. >> they like to joke up there that there is more cows than people and i don't think they're joking. >> in this sleepy place with a main street from the 1950s, you'd think nothing happens that could possibly interest the outside world. but an epic story has unfolded here. a murder case, for sure. but so much more than that. >> it's a little bit fargo. >> it is a little bit fargo. >> jesse mckinley, a reporter for "the new york times," was drawn to it. >> it's got a small town. it's got love triangles. it's got faded love.

and those elements, for a writer, are irresistible. >> the woman in the middle of it all, tandy cyrus. >> very pretty woman in a town where pretty women stand out. >> one of her lovers stood out, too. nick hillary, as a black man in predominantly white town. >> you still have people who will not accept interracial relationship. >> what happened between tandy and nick would tip the balance in a political campaign, give rise to a controversial lawsuit, and lure high-profile, big city attorneys to confront each other in a murder trial that attracted national attention. >> this has become a story that kind of echoes beyond st. lawrence county and even beyond new york. >> except whether you drill down, it's as local as it gets. all about a small town boy. this one. 12-year-old garrett phillips. tandy's son. garrett was a blur of a kid,

perpetually set on fast forward, according to his mom. >> he was very energetic. always on the go. always had to have something to do. >> people here remember him tearing around town on his rip stick. a little bit skate board, a little bit snowboard. all hip action and balance. there goes garrett sidewalk surfing his way home in 2011. >> did you think, wow, my kid is really an awesome, little athlete? >> yes. soccer, lacrosse, football, hockey. he was very good at everything. >> his bedroom wall, a poster shrine to his sports heroes. including new england patriots quarterback tom brady. >> he wasn't much for video games. >> so it's got to be pitch black before he's ready to come in for the night. huh? >> yes. >> but when he was still a toddler, garrett was dealt a devastating blow. the death of his father robbie.

>> garrett was nine months old when his dad had a brain aneurysm that ruptured and then he was two when robbie passed away. >> tandy, a single mom, picked up the pieces as best she could. she studied at the police academy but eventually gave up law enforcement for a job in a credit union where she became a loan officer. she also had a brief marriage, which gave garrett a kid brother, aaron. >> did garrett like to mess with him? >> all the time. >> he liked to play jokes, didn't he? >> april fools was his favorite day of the year. >> then tandy moved in with a sheriff deputy named john jones but it didn't last. >> how did the breakup go? >> not well. at one point, she said that john shoved her during an argument and that that was the last straw in that relationship. >> so in 2010, tandy was alone

again. making ends meet as a bartender. that's when nick hillary walked in and pulled up a stool. >> so he's just a customer who comes in? >> yes. he came in on evenings after he was done work and coaching. >> they came from different worlds. she was local. the frozen north. he was from lush jamaica. >> what's a happy memory from jamaica for you, nick? >> going to the rivers. just swimming all day. coming back home. mom has a great home-cooked meal waiting for you. i mean, that's a fantastic day. >> he moved to brooklyn as a teenager and found his niche as a soccer star, earning a scholarship to nyu. but the kid from jamaica was still searching. so he ditched school for the army. just as the first gulf war was winding down. >> i said let me serve a greater purpose for a while. >> three years in the army, all stateside, forced nick to grow

up. and now, he was ready for college. soccer was his ticket to st. lawrence university near the canadian border. >> here's a ja mmaican guy usedo swim all day. and you're going to be in fields of snow for six months of the year. >> exactly. but in the summertime, it brings me right back to jamaica again. >> weirdly, had you found something in upstate new york that worked out very well for you? a good fit? >> yeah, it sure was. >> he felt most comfortable on the soccer field, where his respectful teammates gave him a nickname. >> nick was the general. the leader. the general. >> so that was a tip of the hat to his career as a vet. >> yeah. his leadership traits for sure. >> in 1999, nick led st. lawrence to an undefeated season and a national championship. cementing bonds of friendship that remain tight today. >> just great person, on and off the field. a great role model. >> he was our brother. he was our big brother. >> he was the glue that kept us

all together. he brought us together. he arranged dinners at his house. cooked for the whole team. it was a staple of who we were as a group. >> after the championship season and graduation, nick kept leading. he became a coach and, in 2009, landed a plum job. head soccer coach at clarkson, just minutes from his alma mater. it got even better when nick, a father of three, met tandy at that bar. him, drinking guinness and diagraming plays on a cocktail napkin. >> what do you think the attraction was? >> conversation just -- it was easy. >> the one thing that i liked about tandy, she had goals and ambition. >> things between the two heated up quickly as these e-mails attest. from nick. i miss you millions. have a great work day. from tandy, i can't wait to get home to you, ily, i love you. they were sharing a house,

blending families, and going on vacations as a couple. nick took her to jamaica. but as they say in the islands, it wasn't a cool breeze being an interracial couple in potsdam, which is over 90% white. and he said it was particularly hard on garrett, tandy's boy. >> garrett was being teased at school because his mom is dating a black man. >> so he's getting schoolyard aggravation, huh? >> exactly. >> but whatever tensions garrett was feeling, it didn't keep him from his sports. they were always a welcome distraction. even on the fateful afternoon of october 24th, 2011. >> he was playing basketball with his friends in the gym but i got upset with him because he knew the rule was he had to go home and do his homework first. >> do your homework and then go play with your pals. >> right. so i made him go home. >> garrett blasted home on his rip stick on what seemed like a

nothing-special, rain-dreary monday in potsdam where community safety was a given. so no worries he'd be home first. home alone. what could possibly go wrong? as it turned out, a lot. a little after 5:00 p.m., a neighbor called police. >> hi. i live in an apartment house and the folks next to us, i thought i heard screaming like no and help a couple of times. so i knocked on their door and i heard the lock click. >> coming up. what had happened in that apartment? >> they get the key. they open the door. and they go inside. >> potsdam rescue and ambulance. >> someone had been in my apartment. i had no idea what had happened. >> when "dateline" continues. d . >> when "dateline" continues who've got their eczema under control. with less eczema, you can show more skin. so roll up those sleeves. and help heal your skin from within with dupixent. dupixent is the first treatment of its kind that continuously treats moderate-to-severe eczema,

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be the first one home to his second-floor apartment at 100 market street. he, apparently, arrived just before 5:00 p.m. >> it's on a very busy street. market street is -- >> right off the main drag. >> it is the main drag. kind of rundown apartment building. >> now married, didn't know tandy cyrus or her sons but they were very familiar with the boys will be boys activities across the hall. >> you could hear running or roughhousing sometimes or something rolling down the hallway like a skateboard. >> but that afternoon, as shawn and marissa were watching the drama "dexter" on tv, the sounds coming from next door were different. scary different. >> i heard a loud crash. and after that, it was silence for a few seconds. and then in a low voice, i heard sound like moaning help, ow, or no. >> at that moment, i didn't think it was two little boys roughhousing anymore. it felt more dangerous. it felt wrong.

>> concerned, marissa walked down the hallway and listened in. >> i knocked on the door and waited a moment. and then i definitely heard a click. like a lock. i had the feeling that there was somebody on the other side of that door. >> she called potsdam pd. >> i live in 3a and they live across the hall. it just made me a little nervous that i thought i heard yelling. and then i knocked to see if they're okay, and then it was silent. i'm sorry if it's not anything. it was a weird situation that it makes me uncomfortable. >> okay. i'll have somebody check on it. >> a patrol officer arrived at the second-floor apartment around 5:15 p.m. no one answered his knock. so he waited for the building manager to bring a key. >> a patrolman hears what he thinks is footsteps moving inside. >> inside? >> inside the apartment. and then they get the key. they open the door. and they go inside. >> everything appeared to be in order. the living room was tidy.

garrett's stuff, all in place. rip stick, propped against a wall. backpack in a corner. >> they walk to the back. they turn a corner there and then they find garrett. he is lying there. they think, at first, he's sleeping. perhaps he's fallen. perhaps he's knocked himself out. but at that point, he's pretty much in physical distress. >> potsdam rescue. i need an ambulance to respond to 100 market street, expedite. >> the patrol officer called in the distressing details. >> unresponsive male. no pulse. the mother is tandy cyrus. >> isn't she john jones' ex-girlfriend? >> jones was a sheriff's deputy so police knew tandy and tracked her down. she raced to the canton potsdam hospital. >> and garrett's in a very bad way in the hospital. >> yes. >> what has happened? is there any information about this? >> when i got there, the doctor told me he was in full cardiac arrest when they brought him in.

i had no idea what had happened. and couldn't understand how my 12-year-old had a heart attack. >> did you think, at first, that maybe this had something to do with his dad's problem? maybe there was something genetic? an aneurysm or something that had happened to him? >> i, honestly, was in shock and couldn't wrap my head around anything. >> and i don't really want to take you back there. but you're there when he finally gives up. >> yes. >> they can't bring him back. >> no. >> how awful for you? >> garrett phillips, unstoppable in life, was dead at age 12. >> what happens in the next few hours, tandy? >> it was kind of a blur. we were at the hospital for a while. we got sent home. and i slept in aaron's room with him. >> at the hospital, tandy had been joined by some of the men in her life. her ex-husband, casey collins, and john jones, the sheriff's

deputy. but no one notified nick hillary. turns out, he and tandy had split up the month before. and he was no longer in her loop. so lieutenant mark murray of the potsdam pd called nick. >> mr. hillary speaking. >> mark murray at the potsdam police department. we had an incident occur this evening and we'd like to speak with you in regards to it. >> minutes later, lieutenant murray and two other investigators were at nick's door. a courtesy notification, they said. >> it's we're going to reach out to all the people who are connected to this kid. what do they know? do they know anything about where he was? or who he might have been with? >> attorney tom mortati represented the potsdam police. >> so, mr. hillary, we have some bad news for you. >> yes. mr. hillary expresses shock. i can't believe this. oh my goodness. puts his hands on his head. >> nick hillary says he remembers the moment well. >> i'm still broken up over the situation. he has lived with me. how could i not be affected by

what has happened to garrett? >> nick wasn't dating tandy anymore. and he told police he hadn't been in her apartment since she moved in two months earlier. the officers didn't stay long. an autopsy was scheduled for the next day. but police didn't wait for the results to reveal their suspicions to tandy. >> when was it that you started to get this awful news that there might be foul play? >> the next morning. >> how'd that happen? >> we had gone down to the police station and that's when they had made a comment that someone had been in my apartment. >> somehow garrett's made it home, and there's somebody there or follows him or something's happened. and he's attacked. >> yes. >> is it now a homicide investigation? >> yes. >> coming up. >> this is a crime that does not happen in a place like this. >> a small town in fear. >> is there a break-in maniac around there? >> yeah. someone who is going to kill again. >> an urgent hunt for suspects begins. >> who are the people connected

to his life? >> tandy's partners and husbands. >> absolutely. >> when "dateline" continues. from your allergy pills? flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. most pills only block one. flonase. unlike ordinary memory wsupplements-neuriva? has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. try neuriva for 30 days and see the difference.

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halloween was less than a week away. but the good folks of potsdam, young and old, were learning that a monster had arrived early. a child killer was in their midst. >> can you tell me if it was an

adult that hurt him? or children? >> we don't. it's still all under investigation. >> news this bad traveled fast in a town where so many people knew the emts, the nurses and doctors at the hospital, the cops. >> at the hospital, someone said he looked like he had been beat up or he had -- he had injuries on his body. >> the boy had a rug burn on his knee. what did that tell you? >> the injury on his knee, along with all the other injuries, there was a violent struggle. this boy fought for his life. it's a combination of being sa s upon and smothered and asphyxiated. so it was a long process. >> boy's death is ruled a homicide. police tell family 12-year-old garrett phillips was strangled. no suspects listed. >> no every indication, there was a very tense scene. this is a crime that does not happen in a place like this. >> is there a break-in maniac out there?

an intruder who kills children? >> absolutely. is there someone who is going to kill again, god forbid? >> in the vacuum of hard information, rumor took flight. >> is it true about some guy riding down on a bicycle molesting children? >> that one, i haven't heard. hang on, though. >> but in the fog, a story that was gaining traction early on. an unsubstantiated report that garrett had been killed by one or more kids. attorney for the potsdam police, tom mortati. >> who was he with recently? did he have any issues with other kids? who was he playing with that afternoon? >> calls continued coming into the police hotline. townspeople begging for reassurance from a school principal. >> we're meeting with our staff right now. the news that a student died last night, was possibly beaten to death. >> back at the crime scene, police were beginning to pick up clues that suggested another possibility. that the killer had to be an adult. >> the police kind of descend en masse. and one of the things they say

is in a back bedroom, there is a window that's apparently been pushed outward. the screen is ajar. >> so whoever's in there has to leave and there's only one way out. that is the second story window. there's no fire escape. >> the developing theory was when a cop knocked at the door, that window became the killer's only exit. police surmise only a fit adult, not a kid, could make the dangerous leap. >> about ten feet down. not an easy jump. >> a cracked tile was a big clue that the killer ricocheted off the shed on his way down to the ground, where police picked up another clue. >> they find a skid of kind of a gash in the -- in the grass below. and keep in mind, it was a little bit muddy down there. >> so this was describing whoever the intruder was exit from the property. >> yeah, they're arguing that he jumped out of the window, on to the shed, off the shed, into the grass, and ran off. >> police wondered if the killer had injured himself on the way down. possibly, limping away from the

crime scene. but no one reported seeing someone flee. so police combed the area looking for fingerprints, shoe prints, dna. evidence was collected and sent to the crime lab. meanwhile, investigators began talking to those who knew garrett best. >> who were the people connected to his life? >> so tandy's partners and husbands. >> absolutely. yep. >> the list included ex-husband casey collins, former boyfriend john jones, and her most-recent ex-lover, nick hillary. collins and jones had been with tandy at the hospital. and they even sat next to her during her interview at the potsdam pd the next morning. john jones is to tandy's left holding her hand. casey collins was quickly eliminated as a suspect because he had a solid alibi that placed him nowhere near garrett's apartment at 5:00 p.m. on october 24th. but john jones, the local sheriff's deputy, got a deeper look. >> so it's early hours but something might be going on with john jones. you just don't know what it is, huh? >> potentially, yes.

>> he told police he got home about 5:00, and he lives just

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zoom in on the license plate or let's zoom in on the eyeglasses or that's so and s doesn't work that way. so the number one question at that time was, is that nick hillary in his car in that parking lot? >> so tom asked a series of questions. and, to his surprise, nick readily answered them. >> mr. hillary, at any point on october 24th of 2011, were you at potsdam high school? yes. how did you get there? i drove. did you drive the honda? yes. and why was nick at the high school on that rainy day? he said it was to watch a soccer game. but notice the yellow school bus. it's blocking his view. >> his vision of the soccer field's obscured by a giant,

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attorney tom mortati was defending the potsdam police department in a civil lawsuit brought by nick hillary. at a preliminary hearing nick had just confirmed that it was him in this car, seen on security camera video at the high school. nick said he was there to watch a game. but in the footage a school bus seems to block his view. the honda slowly moves, settling into this parking spot, red

taillights on. but from there nick still can't see the game. nor does he try to get a closer look. >> he never gets out of his car. he never shuts the vehicle off. >> reporter: so why was he really there? the answer, according to tom, was about to skate in to view. at 4:52 p.m., here comes garrett at the bottom of the screen. cruising down the sidewalk on his ripstik, blissfully unaware that in just a few minutes he'll be viciously attacked and left for dead. after about 16 seconds on camera he skates out of frame, turning left on his way home. >> nick's brake lights come on within a second of garrett going out of view. and he backs his vehicle out. >> reporter: but nick did not admit to following garrett. he didn't admit to even seeing garrett. instead he told tom -- >> "i went home. i went straight home. i didn't stop anywhere else." >> reporter: which, nick acknowledged, should be with a right turn out of the parking lot. but when his honda reached the t-intersection, a crossroads for

this case, nick didn't go right. instead, he turned left, going in the same direction as garrett. six months after garrett's death, this civil lawyer had breathed new life into a dormant murder investigation, extracting what seemed like powerful new evidence from the prime suspect. >> he didn't take the fifth and the police were ecstatic with what they got. >> reporter: but the person he needed to convince was nicole duve, the then district attorney for st. lawrence county. so he sent her the transcript of nick's deposition where he admits to being in the high school parking lot and which seemed to be tailing garrett before he was killed. but the d.a. said it still wasn't enough. >> she believed there was not enough evidenced to convict nick hillary let alone arrest him. >> not a winnable case. >> not a winnable case. >> reporter: the d.a. met with tandy and told her the same thing. >> she used like a scale as example and it was one little

pebble at a time and they just didn't have enough yet. >> she couldn't get enough pebbles to tilt it this way. >> right. >> the case went into a deep freeze and it seemed like it might stay there. >> in that town, this sort of crime is so out of the ordinary, so unheard of, that the fact that they were not able to find someone quickly and make a case quickly and convict them quickly and put this behind them has been enormously frustrating. >> tandy, frustration. what is your word about how you feel? >> i don't know if i can say it on camera. just the level of frustration is -- there's no words really. >> reporter: out of frustration and sorrow, garrett's family, led by his uncle brian, put up "justice for garrett" signs all over the county. the message from a smiling garrett was both subtle and direct -- do the right thing. >> brian was very close with his brother robbie, garrett's dad.

so we lost robbie. and then losing garrett the way that we did, brian's never stopped. >> he wouldn't let this become a cold case. >> never. >> reporter: and then in 2013 mary rain, a former cop and public defender, decided to run for district attorney. >> politics has raised its head here. >> absolutely. and her prime campaign theme if you will is there's a murderer running around and nobody's done anything about it. >> the only thing i would promise is that would be my top agenda as soon as i got into office. so i spoke with tandy the next day and we talked for about two hours. >> you didn't promise her results. you promised her your professional interest. >> exactly. i promised her i would put a lot of work and energy into it. >> reporter: tandy took to the stump to campaign for mary. >> she was interested in your case? >> yes. >> passionate about it? >> very. she was going to do everything she could to bring justice for garrett.

>> reporter: ten days before election day, mary knew she still had ground to make up if she had any hope of becoming the new d.a. >> and you needed something. >> you know, help from up above, that never hurts. >> reporter: she calls it her "campaign miracle." >> i was in church one morning. i sat there and i said, "you know, god, i need some help." >> reporter: and help came that same day, when according to tandy the incumbent d.a., while out campaigning, unwittingly walked up to her house. >> she had no idea that she was doorbelling -- >> well, she looked -- >> -- the mother of the boy. >> yeah, she saw my sign in the, in the yard. and she was trying to change their minds or their opinions to vote for her. and then she realized where she was. and she left. >> reporter: tandy was incensed because she says the d.a. refused an invitation to speak with her, and instead just walked away. tandy took to facebook to vent -- "someone just paid a visit to my house that left me feeling like my family is very unimportant!" >> how did it feel to hit send? >> good and a little scary. i'm not the type to rant on facebook.

i generally stay away from the -- the drama side of it. but i was angry. >> and once i read that facebook post, i thought, "who does that?" and i immediately private messaged tandy, and i said, "this just makes me cry." and she said, "there is no crying." but that's hard to get past. >> reporter: tandy let mary re-post the incident to her facebook friends, and from there it went viral. >> it was the thing i had prayed for. >> reporter: a big news splash in the county. >> kind of a political stumble. you know, it makes nicole duve look like she didn't have a handle on things. that if she didn't even know where the victim's mother lived, how could she find the victim's killer? >> reporter: on election night the voters spoke. mary rain came from behind to win the d.a.'s job 52% to 48%. the two potsdam voters with perhaps the greatest rooting interest in the outcome had opposite reactions. >> i felt relief.

i felt like something was finally going to happen. >> i was alarmed a little bit, not surprised. >> reporter: the new d.a., as promised, immediately plunged into this confounding case, and she'd soon get lucky again and come up with something her predecessor never had, the prime suspect under oath but this time on video. coming up -- nick hillary's hazy memory. >> i can't recall. >> i cannot recall. >> i cannot recall. >> if people remember why they broke up with their high school girlfriend, you can't remember why this relationship broke up? >> investigators wanted to know, did he have something to hide? a >> can you describe your relationship with garrett up until the point you and she ms. cyrus broke up? did garrett like you? >> he never said he disliked me. >> when "dateline" continues. fo. and it's the only chew, fda approved to prevent infections

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(sensei) a live bookkeeper quickbooks for me.tomize (live bookkeeper) okay, you're all set up. (sensei) thanks! that was my business gi, this one's casual. (vo) get set up right with a live bookkeeper with intuit quickbooks. reporter: mary rain took office as the county's new d.a. in january 2014, and the first file she cracked open, as she had promised in the campaign, was the garrett phillips case.

>> and i'm disheartened to see a folder, a lone folder, sitting in the office, which is about this thick. and i realize this is a murder investigation. it's deficient. >> reporter: but the file was about to get a huge addition. tom mortati was just weeks away from putting nick hillary under oath again in the civil lawsuit nick brought against police. >> i prayed, honestly, for -- for some guidance and to -- to just to be able to do my job and to help in whatever way that i can. >> reporter: this time lieutenant murray and his chief, who both happen to be defendants in the lawsuit, would be sitting in on the deposition, taking notes for their criminal investigation. and nick would be on video. >> reporter: how are you gonna advance your story? what's the strategy? >> well, i want him to reaffirm all of the things that he's previously told me under oath. >> reporter: "yes, that is my car. i'm driving it." >> right. i want him to be saying it on camera because the whole purpose of videotaping this had nothing to do with the civil case at all. this is totally about -- this video is going to be played in front of a grand jury someday and a criminal jury someday. >> reporter: acting as de-facto

prosecutor, tom would be mary rain's best chance to get justice for garrett. >> good morning, mr. hillary. >> reporter: tom, heard off-camera, asked the questions. nick hillary's attorney, mani tafari, also off-camera, was raising objections to protect an appeal. still nick did go on to answer almost everything. >> at some point, did that relationship that you had with miss cyrus end? >> objection. relevance. >> yes. >> reporter: but when the questions turned personal, nick seemed to get a case of amnesia. >> did you approach miss cyrus and discuss with her the possibility of breaking up? >> i cannot recall. >> did miss cyrus ever discuss with you her two boys' relationship with you as a basis for ending the relationship? >> i cannot recall. >> if she had told you that that's why she wanted to end the -- the relationship, is that something you think you would have remembered? >> objection. >> i cannot recall. >> people remember why they broke up with their high school girlfriend. you know, you can't remember why this relationship with a woman you lived with for seven or eight months broke up?

>> reporter: tandy had said she broke up with nick because garrett hated his rules. and this is the heart of the theory of motivation in this crime. >> exactly. >> reporter: that garrett is dead because nick hillary believes that he was an obstacle in the way of him ever being with tandy, that the boy had caused the breakup. >> right. it goes to motive. it goes to what's his underlying state of mind. >> can you describe for me your relationship with garrett up until the point in time where you and miss cyrus broke up? >> objection. relevance. >> we had a positive relationship. >> do you know if garrett liked you? >> he never said he disliked me. >> reporter: tom also probed nick about his behavior after tandy moved out. >> did you ever show up in ms. cyrus' apartment in the late evening hours letting yourself in on your own? >> no. >> if ms. cyrus has provided a sworn deposition to the police indicating that that did in fact, occur, was she lying when she gave that testimony? >> yes. >> reporter: police had a theory that the killer was injured in the escape leap, and they

claimed they had video of nick limping at the soccer game the next night. when tom asked him about it, nick admitted he had injured his ankle. but said it happened before garrett was killed. >> mr. hillary, at any point prior to october 24th of 2011, did you suffer an injury to either one of your lower legs? >> objection. relevance. >> yes. >> can you tell me the circumstances under which that occurred? >> i was moving furniture around in my new apartment. >> approximately when did that occur? >> objection. relevance. >> i cannot recall. >> what kind of piece of furniture was it? >> objection. relevance. >> i cannot recall. >> did you trip over the piece of furniture, or drop something on you or something else? >> objection. relevance, asked and answered. >> i cannot recall. >> reporter: mani tafari maintains nick's ankle injury had no connection to the crime or the crime scene. >> if there were abrasions, we should have some dna that's linking mr. hillary to this. and we do not. >> reporter: as in the first deposition, tom asked nick to describe his route home on the

day of garrett's murder. but this time, nick suggested that if he turned left it would have been to visit his assistant coach. >> typically if i make a left out the parking lot, i would be checking in with my assistant coach who lived on garden street, which is what i would normally do. >> is that what you did that afternoon? >> i cannot recall. >> you don't recall whether or not you stopped in to mr. fairlie's apartment on garden street that afternoon? >> that is correct. >> and i interrupt him and say, "well, wait a minute, you've already told me previously under oath a year and a half ago you didn't go anywhere else." >> you didn't make any stops anywhere on your way between leaving potsdam high school and going to your apartment that afternoon. do you recall giving that testimony at your 50-h examination? >> if that's what i said, that's what i said. >> if you turned left out of the parking lot to go home to your apartment, what route did you take? >> objection. >> i cannot recall. >> reporter: when it was over, tom mortati had a gift for the new d.a., mary rain, more than six hours of nick on tape, under

oath. everything he said. everything he couldn't recall. so rare from a prime suspect who was not talking to police. >> i've always described this as the o.j. case backwards. you know, in o.j. you had a criminal trial and then there was a civil case. and here, it -- the exact opposite happened. >> reporter: you have regrets about going the civil route in the midst of this criminal case? >> i regret that mr. hillary was targeted due to his race. and i have no control over that. that is the only regret i have in this entire situation. >> reporter: d.a. rain, who had campaigned on getting "justice for garrett," now believed she had enough evidence to take to a grand jury. but in a perplexing case that still had gaping holes, no dna, no forensics, no eyewitnesses, this road to indictment would hit an unexpected pothole. coming up -- a bold new strategy. >> you take samples of dna that previously would have been cast

aside and attempt to make sense of them. >> reporter: prosecutors wondered, could nick's dna really be at the crime scene after all? when "dateline" continues. welcome to portabella's. this guy looks like he's ready for some scampi bites. wait a sec i feel like i know you? oh! have you dined with us before? no, you're -- you're that insurance guy, aren't you? the pasty one? oh, yeah. as if! like i'm gonna go into some spiel about how you can get options based on your budget with the name your price tool. hey, robbie, you tell them about the mushroom puffers? just about to, pam. wait, are we in a progressive commercial? ♪ come on down to portabella's ♪ it's food, family, and fun what is happening? how do we make a scented oil plug-in that doesn't smell fake?

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hi, i'm richard lui with the hour's top stories. there are now 544 cases of coronavirus deciding in the united states. also the death toll now up to 22, 19 have come from washington state alone. ten states have now declared emergencies. with a massive haul of delegates coming tuesday, joe biden and bernie sanders spent sunday on the campaign trail. biden celebrated an endorsement from senator kamala harris while sanders campaigned in michigan with jesse jackson, who announced his support this weekend. for now, back to "dateline." may 2014. 2 1/2 years after garrett

phillips skated home for the last time, d.a. mary rain was finally putting the case before a grand jury. her key piece of evidence? >> if i make a left out the parking lot -- >> reporter: nick hillary's own words from his video deposition for his lawsuit against the potsdam police. no one can talk about grand jury arguments but the civil deposition, safe to say, was very important. >> extremely important. we couldn't have put him in the places where he put himself. >> reporter: on may 15th nick hillary was indicted and arrested. >> 100% innocent. >> reporter: charged with second degree murder, he was led away in handcuffs by lead investigator mark murray. >> reporter: no ruckus? no to-do? >> no ruckus, no to-do. just us walking nick into the station. >> reporter: nothing, however, has been ordinary in this extraordinary case. five months later, a judge threw out that indictment on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct. >> the judge in the case decides that mary rain acted inappropriately.

that she injected opinion. that she obviously was not pursuing justice per se but was pursuing nick. >> reporter: the judge read transcripts of the proceedings and determined that the d.a. bullied nick's daughter, an alibi witness, asking her the same question 13 times. >> it's cross-examination. there was no bullying. he's not there. he doesn't know my tone of voice. so he's surmising something that just didn't occur. >> reporter: mary rain had taken a legal roundhouse blow to the chin, but she got up to fight again. there was no question you were going to re-file it? >> absolutely no question at all. >> reporter: using the same evidence, but toning it down, the d.a. won another indictment, and this one stuck. tandy felt finally vindicated. you believe nick hillary killed your boy? >> yes. >> reporter: for what reason, tandy? >> i mean, for whatever reason, he did not like my son.

he was a problem for him. he was in his way. >> reporter: meanwhile, nick hillary was gearing up for his biggest match ever. his very freedom was at stake. >> i have stated that since day one i'm 100% innocent. >> reporter: nick's old friends and supporters had helped him make bail, although in potsdam he faced visible reminders of the strong feelings against him at every turn. lawn signs are everywhere in your town, "justice for garrett." what do you think? they're everywhere. >> they're everywhere. i mean, for my own sanity, i have told myself "justice for garrett" sign is a good thing because i need justice for garrett. >> reporter: but justice of any kind was grinding slowly. and the case was attracting attention. two legal heavyweights from new york city joined nick's team. norman siegel, a civil rights lawyer, and earl ward, a

celebrated criminal defense attorney. >> for people like that to be involved in the case shows you that the case is echoing beyond. >> reporter: is this shaping up as another test of racial justice in the criminal justice system? >> i think for the defense team they don't believe that nick did this and they think he's being railroaded. and they feel that part of that has to do with his race. i think for mary rain and the prosecution team that is the last thing that they want. they want this to be a murder trial. and they want this to be about a 12-year-old boy who lost his life at the hands of a killer. >> reporter: nick's supporters, including his former teammates, remained adamant that their friend was innocent. >> it's not possible. i mean he's just -- he's such a caring and compassionate, loving person. he's been around kids his entire life. >> reporter: even on the worst day of his life, something happened, you can't get there, huh? >> not a chance. >> reporter: these teammates are among countless friends and supporters behind the website

"truth for nick hillary." they dipped into their pockets and helped fund his defense and also paid his everyday bills once he was fired as soccer coach after his arrest. and you're now putting your money where your sentiments are? >> uh, yeah, all these guys are. >> yeah, we've had hundreds of people on the donation site itself contribute whatever they can. >> reporter: a trial date was set for september 2016. nick's teammates would stand by him in open court. so it's the championship season again. >> this is -- >> reporter: this is more than a ring now. >> this is more than a ring. you know, this is, this is, this is life and death. >> reporter: but first, both sides braced for a summertime fight that could tilt the balance. it was over dna. did it exist? was it nick's? and whatever it was, was it even admissible? no hair, tissue or fingerprint belonging to nick was found at the crime scene. and testing on that tiny mix of dna under one of garrett's fingernails had been inconclusive. >> the initial sampling of this, the initial testing of this,

showed that it could neither include nor exclude nick hillary. >> reporter: so with traditional dna chemistry not implicating nick, prosecutors opted for something revolutionary, a new kind of computer-driven dna analysis from a company in new zealand. >> whereby you take samples of dna that previously would have been cast aside because they were too small, they were too difficult to analyze properly. you take those samples and attempt to make sense of them using a computer algorithm. >> reporter: prosecutors said the new tests came back a match for nick. not so fast, argued the defense. too unorthodox. too unreliable. >> after every reputable, organization or testing sites told them, "look, there's nothing connecting this guy," they went to a different continent, to new zealand to try to get something to stick. and it didn't stick. >> reporter: in the end, the judge agreed with the defense. pretrial he ruled that the prosecution could not use the

newfangled dna analysis. a major setback. do you still have a case, absent that science? >> we still can do it based on the other evidence that we have. >> reporter: to be determined, as they say, setting the stage for nick hillary to, at last, have his day in court. the trial, finally, was about to get underway. >> i think that it has taken so long to find justice for garrett, as it were, that this has become one of those stories that people will talk about for a very long time, regardless of how the verdict turns out. >> reporter: coming up -- >> i will continue to fight until i don't have anything left. inside of me to fight. >> reporter: nick and tandy face to face. you're going to be going up to the stand, and inside the rail will be nick hillary. are you ready for that moment? >> i am. >> reporter: the showdown begins. >> every single fact in this case points to him. >> i'm 100% innocent. of the accusations that i'm facing.

>> you could have heard a pin drop in that courtroom. >> when "dateline" continues. saturdays happen. pain happens. aleve it. aleve is proven stronger and longer on pain than tylenol. when pain happens, aleve it. all day strong.

>> reporter: five long years after garrett phillips was killed, the case of new york state v. nick hillary went to trial. nick and tandy, former lovers, would be together in the same courtroom. you're going to be going up to the stand. and inside the rail will be nick hillary. are you ready for that moment? >> i am. >> reporter: as tandy readied to face her ex-boyfriend in court, nick came face to face with the possibility of a conviction. then you'll be given another jumpsuit, put in a van and taken away. >> i would fight and i will continue to fight until i don't have anything left inside of me to fight just the same way i'm fighting right now. >> reporter: the trial was

shaping up as a battle between seasoned, successful attorneys. the venerable team of earl ward and norman siegel for the defense. for the state, d.a. mary rain asked bill fitzpatrick, a renowned prosecutor from another county, to take the lead in court. so you bring in fitzpatrick from down in syracuse for what reason? >> well, bill fitzpatrick has over 75 homicide prosecutions himself. he's been a prosecutor for over 24 years, and i've been a prosecutor for over two. >> reporter: almost immediately, a courtroom bombshell. ten jurors had been quickly selected, all white, when nick and his defense team made a shocking announcement. they were opting for a bench trial, letting judge felix catena decide nick's future. "new york times" reporter jesse mckinley. >> i think their calculation was, "we're better off going with a legal mind, someone that knows the law." >> reporter: so they're arguing it to the judge? he will be the judge and the jury in this? >> absolutely.

>> good morning, everyone. please be seated. mr. fitzpatrick, your opening statement. >> thank you very much, your honor. >> reporter: bill fitzpatrick laid out the state's case, painting a portrait of nick hillary as a scorned lover and a liar. he said nick's own words from his video deposition given under oath would nail him. >> the only reason he has to lie is because he was killing garrett. >> reporter: but longtime civil rights attorney siegel said nick is an innocent man and could prove he was home at the exact time garrett was being attacked. >> you can't be in two places at the same time. and nick hillary went home. >> reporter: it was all part of a rush to judgment by police, argued siegel. >> there is naturally a cry for justice. a cry for someone to be held accountable. but it must be the right person. nick hillary is not the right person.

>> reporter: after opening arguments, cameras were removed for all testimony. the prosecution called the victim's mother to the stand as its lead-off witness. tandy told the judge what she'd told us, that nick was unhappy about her breaking up their relationship. >> she was absolutely cool as a cucumber. she rarely let emotion get to her. she was a very controlled, very competent witness. >> reporter: and she testified about the times, she said, nick let himself into her apartment uninvited. >> i was getting very annoyed with the fact that he wouldn't leave me alone. >> he obsessed about the breakup. >> reporter: next, the prosecution presented evidence that garrett died from a choke hold, a ghastly combination of strangulation and asphyxiation. rug burns on garrett's legs and red marks on his neck pointed to a desperate struggle. it was a crime of passion, insisted fitzpatrick, pointing to nick as the only person hostile to garrett. >> this is somebody that chokes

the life with a high degree of hatred of a 12-year-old boy. >> reporter: he talks about an amicable breakup. >> it was not amicable at that point, because he was not happy. tandy was amicable, but he was not. he was very, very angry. >> reporter: prosecutors used video to try to prove their case, a one-two punch of nick hillary on camera. they played for the judge the security video of nick's honda in the high school parking lot, as they saw it, stalking garrett. >> that's the most important witness in this case. a neutral camera sitting on top of a school. >> reporter: the state also presented that critical video of nick, under oath, from his deposition in his civil case. >> something happens, which i will affectionately refer to as the gift that keeps on giving. that person is telling lies, frankly, too numerous to catalogue. >> reporter: one lie, according

to the state, involved nick's damaged ankle. remember, during his deposition nick said he hurt it before garrett's death. >> mr. hillary, at any point prior to october 24th of 2011, did you suffer an injury to either one of your lower legs? >> objection, relevance. >> yes. >> can you tell me the circumstances under which that occurred? >> i was moving furniture around in my new apartment. >> reporter: prosecutors attacked that story when the medical examiner took the stand. he commented on photos police took of nick's ankle just two days after garrett was killed. >> his ankle is swollen. it's got a very fresh cut. dr. sikirica, our m.e., said the cut is 24 to 48 hours old. >> reporter: a fresh cut, prosecutors theorized, caused by nick's desperate escape leap from garrett's second floor apartment. and then what prosecutors called another lie, the big one at the heart of their case, when nick talked about where he went after driving out of the school parking lot just minutes before garrett was choked to death. >> according to him, at least a

dozen times under oath, "i went straight home back to my daughter. straight home." >> you went straight home after you left the potsdam high school that afternoon, correct? >> yes. >> reporter: straight home would have meant turning right. but nick turned left just like garrett. prosecutors laid it out with dramatic flair. here was nick, under oath, caught in a lie confirmed by the video. >> mr. hillary doesn't turn right. he turns left because he's hunting garrett phillips. >> reporter: maybe the prosecution's best evidence is this videotape, the journey to the field to look at the soccer team. >> yeah. prosecution says it's their most conclusive piece of evidence. >> reporter: rainy day in potsdam. the last few minutes of garrett's life. >> yes. and when they were playing that tape, which is about five minutes long in that courtroom, you could've have heard a pin drop.

>> reporter: the state argued that when nick wasn't lying he had very suspicious lapses in memory about the day garrett was killed, a convenient forgetfulness, said prosecutors, highlighted by three simple words. >> i cannot recall. >> i cannot recall. >> i cannot recall. >> watch him as he answers "i cannot recall" without even the slightest reflection or effort to try to recall. >> if you start to take these things in sum, in toto, that you have a guy who is not telling the truth. you have a guy that does not have an ironclad alibi. >> and the proof is beyond compelling. it approaches mathematical certainty. every single fact in this case points to him. and at some point coincidences stop being coincidences and they start being proof of guilt. >> reporter: it was a circumstantial case, but prosecutors were confident. now the defense would get its turn and they would aggressively make the case in court that nick hillary had been making for himself from day one.

>> i'm 100% innocent of the accusations that i'm facing. >> coming up -- >> you searched his house twice. what did you find? nothing. you searched his car, what you did you find? nothing. you searched his office. what did you find? nothing. >> no evidence, no case? >> this theory is simply not credible on its face. >> the defense comes on strong. >> nick hillary is not a murderer. >> when "dateline" continues. just like your fingertips, your lips have a unique print and unique needs your lips are like no others, and need a lip routine that's just right for you chapstick has you covered chapstick. put your lips first.

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>> reporter: nick hillary's high-powered legal team of norman siegel and earl ward began their defense by aggressively cross-examining the prosecution's witnesses, starting with tandy cyrus. the defense now acknowledged nick had in fact visited tandy twice in her new apartment, but they got tandy to admit those visits weren't so scary after all.

>> those two episodes, prosecutors tried to portray as some type of nefarious behavior on nick's part. but tandy made it clear that these episodes were nothing more than an inconvenience. she testified that on one occasion they slept together. >> reporter: the defense's argument, tandy's break-up with nick was hardly the drama she made it out to be. >> they tried to portray it as if nick was this, you know, demon, this -- this awful person who snuck into this woman's bedroom, as i said on my summation, like something out of a horror movie, and hovered above her in the dark as if he was about to do something, you know, evil. when during the cross-examination it came out that that wasn't the case. >> reporter: and tandy and other family members also conceded that nick had never laid a hand on garrett while they lived together. >> there was nothing between the two that could be considered hatred. nothing between the two that

would lead or could lead to murder. >> they have kind of picked away at the prosecution's witnesses enough, it would seem, for them to try to create reasonable doubt, which is all they want to do. that's the game. they want -- >> reporter: reasonable doubt? >> reasonable doubt wins their case. >> nick hillary is not a murderer. he is not a violent man. violence is inconsistent with who he is and what he has done in his life. >> reporter: now the defense started to paint a different picture of nick hillary -- not the man accused of a heinous crime but the army vet, adored soccer captain, and loving father who could never ever harm a 12-year-old, let alone kill him. >> he's been around kids his entire life. i've seen him interact with 12-year-olds constantly. >> reporter: brendan murphy, the goalie on nick's championship soccer team, was one of the character witnesses who testified about the nick he knew. >> he was always there to pick me up and never blame me.

and never, you know, yelled at me or made me feel bad about letting a goal in. >> reporter: and his lawyers dismissed the prosecution's suggested motive that he killed for revenge. >> this theory is simply not credible on its face. >> there has always been this question as to what this would possibly gain for him. what would be the upside of hurting this kid? >> reporter: the defense's biggest point was very simple -- there was no physical evidence, none, linking nick hillary to the crime. >> there was no hair. there were no fibers. there was no fingerprints linking nick to this crime. >> reporter: and there was testimony from investigators about those unknown fingerprints that were found around that pushed-out window screen. >> you have to ask yourself whose print was on that window. whose print was on the window that that perpetrator climbed out of to escape the building? again, it wasn't nick hillary's.

>> reporter: in an unusual move, the defense called to the stand mark murray, the lead cop on the case, getting him to admit his nearly five-year investigation had failed to turn up any physical evidence against nick in any place. >> brought him forward and said, you searched his house twice. what did you find?" nothing. you searched his car. what did you find? nothing. you searched his office two times. what did you find? nothing. >> reporter: which made it clear, the defense argued, that police had tunnel vision, starting with the night of the murder, when lieutenant murray and two state cops came to nick's house. >> within hours, as you've heard, i was targeted. would it be fair to say there's a rush to judgment? yes. >> i cannot recall. >> reporter: the most damning prosecution evidence against nick had been those videotapes. first, his deposition in the civil suit. >> i cannot recall. >> reporter: the defense argued that his inability to answer questions then was just a memory lapse, nothing more.

>> the statements he made at that deposition were made 27 months after the death of garrett phillips. it is true he often said "i can't recall." but does that make him a murderer? >> reporter: and as for the state's centerpiece evidence -- that security camera video where nick appeared to follow garrett out of the high school parking lot, it didn't actually show much of anything, argued the defense. >> the prosecution wants you to make much of this video. but the prosecution wants you to jump to conclusions. >> reporter: the camera doesn't record the end of this. >> yeah. there is no videotape that exists anywhere that shows nick hillary pulling up to 100 market street, getting out of his car and walking up those stairs. >> reporter: nick's assertion that he went to his home -- and not garrett's -- was bolstered at trial by two alibi witnesses. >> the focus was to show that nick was somewhere else from the

period of 5:00 to at least 5:23 and have two alibi witnesses that would hold up. >> reporter: the first was assistant soccer coach ian fairlie. he testified that nick stopped by his house at 5:21 pm., about

test.

we're talking murder two. you know, we're talking 25 years to life. this is not shoplifting.

this is a very serious charge. >> reporter: the awful question before the court was this -- had nick hillary choked the life out of a 12-year-old boy? >> he's been lying about it ever since. >> reporter: lead prosecutor bill fitzpatrick had thundered outrage during his closing argument, channeling the emotion of tandy and her family. >> garrett phillips wasn't killed by someone passing through town who hates little boys. he was killed by nick hillary. he wanted to be 12 years old and not be dictated to. and that cost him his life. >> convicting someone because -- >> reporter: the defense team had spent three weeks arguing there was simply no evidence against nick. >> i know, judge, that you'll get it right. i know, judge, that after considering all the evidence in this case you will find mr. hillary not guilty. >> reporter: the defense had wagered an unusual high stakes

gamble bypassing a jury and asking the judge to decide. judge and jury in one man, felix catena. a week went by with no decision, an excruciating wait for both sides. then the judge called everyone back to the courthouse to hear his verdict. for 42-year old nick hillary, and his unwavering legion of "truth for nick hillary" supporters, it's been a five-year long slog to clear his name. >> we've been here since day one supporting nick. and, you know, staying in his corner. we're not gonna stop standing by him now. >> reporter: for tandy cyrus, cocooned in a huddle of supportive friends and family, the agonizing wait with all its fits and starts, was finally over. the moment was at hand. >> as to the charge of murder in the second degree as charged in the indictment, the defendant,

oral nicholas hillary, is found not guilty. [ applause ] >> reporter: not guilty. a quick burst of applause and a cry from nick's side of the room. >> thank you, jesus. >> reporter: garrett's uncle shouted out in nick's direction, "karma will get you." nick hugged his attorneys, then dissolved in a flood of tears. tandy, a bundle of nerves while waiting for the verdict, was inconsolable. >> reporter: d.a. mary rain said she was devastated, and spoke of tandy's pain. >> i just simply expressed my condolences. and that was about it. and she said, "i know you guys tried." >> reporter: tom mortati, the attorney for the potsdam police, addressed the issue of race, which had been hanging over the case from the start. >> race had nothing to do with this investigation. and if any of you actually had an opportunity to meet with some of the investigators involved, you'd know that. but i can tell you, affirmatively, that race had nothing to do with this from the get-go. >> reporter: defense attorney earl ward.

>> there is a family that, even after five years, still grieves. so we're not oblivious to that. but nick hillary did not kill garrett phillips. nick hillary is an innocent man. >> love you, man, all right? >> reporter: just a few hours after the verdict, nick told us he felt a sense of relief, but would feel the scars of his ordeal for years to come. >> i'm very happy. don't get me wrong. but for five years my family and i have been living underneath this cloud, and the focus right now is to start putting this in the rear view mirror. >> reporter: maybe the people in potsdam will try, too, to put this case behind them. but it won't be easy. nick's civil suit against the police is still pending. and small towns don't pivot so easily to normal after an epic drama like this one. >> this case has had a lot of the great elements of fiction. and at the heart of it you have this terrible, terrible tragedy,

which is the death of a child. >> reporter: and that raw hurt never goes away. not to a mother with a broken heart. >> i have pictures in my head that will never go away. i had to watch as people tried to resuscitate my son and failed. i'm never gonna have my son back. >> had he lived, had he gotten extra years, who do you think he would have been? >> still the fun-loving kid that he was. and joking and teasing. and i think he would be looking to have a very bright future somewhere as an athlete. >> reporter: but the boy is buried now with the artifacts of his brief childhood, including that ripstik. garrett exits forever frame left.

the mystery surrounding his killing still abides. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> i caught something out of the corner of my eye. it was my mom. she was laying on the ground. i went over expecting her to get up or to say something. i put my hand on her shoulder. i kinda turned her. and i could see blood everywhere. >> reporter: their family always made the best of bad times. >> my mom always looked for the good in everything. >> reporter: but no one could fix this. >> autopsy showed a total of five shots. >> she didn't deserve to die that way. >> reporter: detectives had a suspect. but not much of a case. >> i was told, "unless they can