hard story to tell but she hopes shearing it will help others. >> there are children in this world just like conroe did i can't even imagine anything like this happening again. that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm natalie morales. thank you for watching. k you for watching there was a party. there was a uk football player that have been shot. >> he's killed on his birthday. it's like a two? that can't happen. why him? >> that once a thing. >> they said it's dark. nobody noticeable comes from. >> nothing is making it easier. >> if you don't have amount of it's hard to know with the russians. ago >> we were just never going to know.

>> but someone you. >> she called me and said i think i know something about him. after six days of testimony both sides had their final say. >> would she also become the next victim? >> she was scared to death to confront him. she knew what he was capable of. and thus she was terrified. and that she was terrified. >> hello and welcome to dateline. -- was a force on the football field. popular and feels really loyal to his wide circle of friends. then late one night the charming athlete was shot dead. his killer left few clues and the case south cold until someone came forward with a stunning secret.

what police asked the tipster to do next for her a target. how much would she risk to right a wrong. here is keith morrison with a motive. >> her heart was on fire. lost to her. the music. some of other voices in the bar. there was only him. they were in the deep end. and as lovers in the flesh of new commitment sometimes they confess their sins of the abandoned past. the worst is that they had ever done. words. just words. just forgotten until they could no longer be ignored. lexington kentucky. one year before that night in the bar. the house where students live. and the music and laughter and chatter of a birthday party

swelled and ebbed and drifted into the evening air. >> it wasn't a huge priority. it's a low-key party with some good friends. >> there are about to be seniors. the young men who rented the place and host of the party. >> we had a group of guys. four guys who got along very well. >> they were big man on campus. they played football. yet the university of kentucky wildcats. antonio olvera was a quarterback. >> in lexington, kentucky, if you play for the catch your pretty much a well-known entity. >> the birthday boy, 21 years old, was a true rarity. a wildcats walk on. he had no invitation. he just showed up and try for the team. >> in over three years of hard work he had already starting position. the gentle giant. >> everybody called him the big teddy bear.

he was the group protector of all of our friends. >> the party was sweet and formal. friends snapped pictures and evening got into the night. it was after midnight when the party wound down. >> i think we turned in some more between 12 three 1:00. >> antonio and his girlfriend went to bed. outside trenton some of the others settled into the light on the front porch. out there was impenetrable dark. >> we were in a faint sleep and we heard a loud bang. >> one of them found the screen door. but no. >> within ten seconds, you could start to hear the chaos inside. >> the screaming, the yelling, the crying. there was trent. >> slumped to one side of the light. >> he was bleeding out of his ears, nose, mouth, it was a horrific scene. >> horrific and confusing.

that loud bang had been a gunshot. but from where? some are out there in the dark? had someone intentionally fired a gun at their gentle giant. their teddy bear. in their panic and distrust, they didn't understand. how could they. the jury launched here. who in the hands of love may have learned the answer? >> it was just so senseless. we found out why it was even worse. >> just who was front degenerate? the target. >> peyton turner and sharalea were his lifelong friends. >> if you are his friend you are his friend. that's all that matters. >> there wasn't a group for him. >> everyone who treated the same. >> trump was in fourth grade when he start playing football in kentucky.

in high school he was captain of the team. had lots of friends. so popular trend was homecoming king. with sharalea his queen. >> it was pretty special. >> oh my gosh yeah. >> to be voted for that especially with trent. >> when you went to college he set his sights high. he turned down football scholarships to smaller schools. >> at one point he says i've just got to know if i can play in the big time. at a division one school. >> mike digiuro is trans dad. >> so we went out to kentucky which is in the southeast and sure. he worked real hard to get to where he was. >> trans teammates saw the hard work. >> try to have ability to perform. so while he might have been a walk on. his performance allowed him to endure himself to others pretty quickly. >> not july as trent practiced football and prepared for his

senior year his burns went to lexington to see him and to talk about his future. >> he was trying to decide what he wanted to do with his life. you want to talk about going to law school. business school. >> did he talk about his birthday celebration? >> we knew he was going to have some sort of think and then celebrate with us the next day. never made it. >> no. and a creeping fear washed over the university of kentucky football team. was a killer targeting them? if so, who would be next? >> coming up. i couldn't believe it. i don't understand it. how who could murder someone so wonderful? >> the investigation begins. >> everyone talked but they don't see anything. >> and was there more terror to come? >> we were so nervous driving home from practice thinking there would be someone in the

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trent's front porch. his friends stood over the body and start out into the dark with a kind of anticipating her. it >> the concern that there is more to come. you know? that was one shot. this was someone who is going to shoot again. >> trent was officially pronounced dead at 3 am. just about the time don evans

of arrived. evidence was arrive now but it was a rookie detective. this was his first home oxide. case what did you find when you got? here >> there were three young men in this very yard. they look distraught and they were consoling each other. >> on the porch, trent chair was turned over. evidence could see blood and debris left by the ambulance crew. >> what was your first idea of what happened here? >> when i first walked up, i went with what appeared to be the obvious. that someone had simply walked from the site of the house, fired the shot and then exited back toward the rear of the house. this is like an alley here, so it would provide concealment. >> take advantage of surprise. >> yeah, if someone is going to take a shot. that made the most sense. >> believing the shot came from a handgun, police looks for shell casing. yet, for all they look there were none. nor any other evidence. still, detective evans figured

there was a party that night, through the rebound to be people who saw something. >> my thought was, as soon as i get to headquarters and going to separate them and someone is gonna tell me what happened. >> did they? top >> everyone talked, but with each and every person that i talked to, they didn't see anything. >> 80 miles away, at 5 am, the digiuro's phone rang. >> it's numbing. it's hard to imagine the feeling. >> suddenly your life doesn't make sense anymore. >> it absolutely stops and pivots in an instant. and then it was, now what? >> and soon, everybody knew. >> i couldn't even believe it. i didn't understand it. who would murder somebody so wonderful? >> it was about then that the first really useful evidence came back from the medical examiner. bullet fragments were recovered in the autopsy. and the ballistics showed it

was an a handgun at all that killed trent. it was a rifle. which turned detectives evidence first theory upside down. >> well, the theory about walking up the side of the house and trying to -- >> that goes out. whether >> that's probably out the window. it's not designed for close range shot. >> officers canvassed the neighborhood. a woman who lived across the street said she awoke to a loud noise. and it sounded like it was right outside her house. >> so, based on that, we actually took one of our marksman from the police department and asked him, could this shot be made from here? from this angle? and we literally reenacted that possibility. did >> did it make sense? the location you found? >> it didn't make sense. we didn't eliminate the possibility something else could occur. but this looked pretty strong to us. >> so, a working theory that trent was shot from across the street. ballistic suggested it was a rifle with a particular and uncommon type of barrel.

but who wound it? why did he or she shoot trend? with some heater targeting the team? was one of them next? >> we were so nervous. we were so uncertain of what happened that night, that a affected our daily lives. driving down the street. at practice think thing thinking there might be someone in the woods who wants to take you out. >> but days and weeks and months went by. nothing happened. [inaudible] -- >> did you ever get to a place where you thought, we'll just have to live with this and third certainty for the rest of our lives? >> i would say four years into it. it's like, it doesn't make any difference. >> it's not going to bring him back. >> it's not going to bring trend back.

but still it's, why did this happen? >> your four years in, five years in, and really no closer to solving it than from the first case. >> day one. that will make you doubt yourself. >> and then one day a particular woman happened to see an anniversary story about the unsolved murder of the football player back in kentucky. a woman who was set in a bar, in a fog of love. and though, was quite terrified. >> a break in the case from out of the blue. an ex lover reveals all, including a motive for murder. that was hard to. believe coming -- up >> this could be the reason that we never could find out why trent was killed. it was because it was something this weird. >> when dateline continues.

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investigation could somehow undo what happened at digiuro. and yet the lack of any answer year after year. they looked at all that was good. and they just had to accept. >> i think we kind of resigned ourselves as every year passed we would never know. >> then it was about five years after the shooting a local

attorney named tom heard from a woman, tentative, asked him on the phone could she reveal who what she knew about a crime without seeing how she was? >> she was extremely evasive. she didn't really want to tell me really anything. >> but she kept calling. finally she revealed it. she was calling about a murder. >> did she tell you what murder? >> she eventually came around to say it was a very high murder. >> did you want to go near that? >> a new which one it was. >> she was falling apart for a guy. [noise] let's just get to it,

you know. that sort of point in the relationship where you say let me hear the worst. and her boyfriend said? i killed frank digiuro. >> at first she just flew lofted off. sure you did. >> didn't believe him. >> now of course not. >> then she decided started describing it exactly the way he did it. >> but she still didn't want to believe it after all she had fallen in love with the guy. so she said she buried. it stayed with them up for another year. now years later. [inaudible]

the woman's ex-boyfriend, but who was he? it didn't take long to find. our jen was the son of a wealthy businessman. just so happened that shane

attended the university of kentucky. at the very same time as trent digiuro but after college he didn't do so well. you run up at least a dozen convictions. drug charges. multiple duis and so on. so detective evans went back to return ability. >> mr. anymore? can you get me anymore? ultimately he started talking about a motive. that's when the whole story took a turn into the twilight zone. >> he told me it was concerning sheena ragland being blackballed from the -- fraternity. >> the detective evans looked through their records. and there was. a pledge list with machines name crossed off. >> and then it hit. this could be the reason that we never could find out why

trent was killed. because it was something this weird. >> evans went to one of trans closest friends and asked had he heard of the sky? shane roland. >> he said sharon roland. i could sort of see it at that point on his face. i let him tell the story. >> a story about a unpleasant little incident. elaine is among the freshman alleging the sae fraternity and one day when they were on campus. >> they want a trans door. and trump was there. and on the wall was a calendar of some sorority girls. >> when shane saw the calendar right away he pointed to one of the girls pictures and bragged that he had had sex with her. >> watching did not know is that that girl was the girlfriend of the president of the fraternity. >> trent didn't like that one.

best got word of the sae president and that is when she was blackballed. >> so at that point chains opportunity to be in that fraternity is pretty much over. >> the motive for murder are many and varied. but this seemed absurd. it was three years after the slight when front was murdered in cold blood. >> and i had another problem. [inaudible] what's going to keep him -- >> for now evans understood

they were trying to the brave but was quite reasonably frightened. how would she become fans to take the ultimate risk? >> he was hasn't to do it. she was scared to confront. >> coming up. setting a trap. >> who's going to get caught? when dateline continues. dateline continues. more about the moms. they want healthy, affordable options. moms want to save that dough. hold onto that green. enough with the puns! land o'frost premium. fresh look. same great taste. pain? yeah. here. aspercreme with max-strength* lidocaine. works fast and lasts. keep it. you're gonna need it. kick pain in the aspercreme do we really need a sign to live, laugh, and love?

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as officials continue to investigate, over 150 people remain unaccounted. for now back to dateline. >> >> welcome back to dateline, i'm natalie morales. it had been five years since trent digiuro's murder. the case was ice-cold. but detectives had just been tipped off by a woman who said her ex boyfriend, shane ragland, had killed trained as payback for having him blackballed from a fraternity. but the woman was insisting she remain anonymous. so, to prove their case, investigators would need to earn her trust. once again keith morrison with "the motive". >> detective evans knew he had to meet this mystery woman. the woman who is claiming she knew what happened to trent digiuro, that was too frightened to talk about it. >> where they made a deal to at

least meet face to face. busts anymore than that, maybe not. >> there was like, listen built, get me involved in. this this guy is changed dangerous. so until you get handcuffs on him, you can't involve me. >> but evans knew, even if you did arrests the guy, a mystery woman testifying about something and ex-boyfriend told her. wouldn't be enough. >> i can imagine a prosecutor saying, well i can't just put her on the stand. his attorney will come along and say she's full of. it >> yeah, and in this particular case it's, that in itself is not gonna do it. nor should. we're still in a situation where this has to come from him. >> him meaning shane ragland. evidence told her they had to find a way to get shane to admit on tape what he did. otherwise which jury would buy such a ludicrous motive for murder? there was only one way, he told her. she'd have to wear a wire.

>> she was very happy with that, obviously. >> i should think not. >> she asked me if i could spell congress. >> but, he said, she came around. >> she wanted to do what was right all along. she would just like to do that without getting herself kill doing it. >> but she would only proceed on one condition. >> i had to prove that she would be safe. i had proof how we are going to do this. it was enough for me to say oh don't worry, will have a gun, he will look for. bulges >> so, they came up with a plan. gave her a cover story to protect. a fictitious job, a phony address. and then, casually, she resumed contact with shane. a few emails, a little flirty at times on both ends. >> people sometimes hear from there exes. right? that happens. >> -- [inaudible] [inaudible]

[inaudible] >> and then she went for it. >> [inaudible] [inaudible] >> he knew exactly what she was talking about. >> you do, now? >> you didn't before. >> and you know, the thing about it is -- not knowing what was his name. trent? not knowing it and just kind of ignoring it all the time. >> saying trans name was deliberately. >> we talk to her about that. let's make sure we know what you're talking about.

when we play this for a jury later. >> and she brought up will appear to be the motive. that fraternity blackballing. >> how could you be mad -- that mad at somebody to do that? over something so [bleep] stupid? do you ever think of that? >> of course i do. you're making the uncomfortable now. >> i'm sorry, but this is something i have to get off my chest. because i have to live with it, to. you know? do you plan on telling irony buddy? >> no. i mean, of course. not >> let's see something something? >> the cops, knowing they didn't have quite what they needed it yet held, their breath and listened. >> let me ask your question, you're not setting me up, are you? >> i'm not talking to. anybody >> i know. i'm just i swear to, me that you're not setting me up. because i'm scared to death right now. >> he said, are you setting me up? and that's when things got really scary. >> but she kept her cool. >> okay, then we'll stop talking about. how is that? >> and they did.

and then, about ten minutes later. shane came back with just what the detectives needed to hear. >> transfer your question, i am very, very remorseful. very. i -- can't i can't tell you. >> you're so stupid. >> i know. i was angry at him. i made -- i made the wrong decision. there's nothing you can do about it now, you know? >> she made him so confident and comfortable, that he came back to the subject and left us with what we really needed at that point. it came out of his own mouth. >> they picked him up the next day. took him downtown. asked him, was it true what an old girlfriend was telling us? >> so, she tells us you sat there you talked about the murder. she's a liar, basically. because it never. happen >> she just me that up -- to think she's mad at you? >> 100 percent. absolutely. >> shane denied all. denied knowing trade. it didn't even know where he lived. deny talking about trade with.

her >> i never mentioned his name once. and she never mentioned his name once. nothing about that. >> nothing about the murder, or anything? >> so that, his inquisitors fetch the airport recording. >> i literally something here for you, and i want you to listen to, it okay? >> something big bothering me. something that you told me a long time ago and i wish you never had... >> well, you're telling me you didn't talk about trent. that's not sure is? it >> she might have said trent. but we were talking about stuff. i did hear her say trent. i swear to you guys, i did not do this. >> but his denials were to no avail. shane ragland was charged with murder. bill was set and xin's wealthy father paid. it i million dollars cash. so shane let's free printing trial. which was a very big problem for the ex girlfriend who turned him in. police moved her to a secure location. kept an eye on her. and then, strange things started happening. >> we got information from our

state police intelligence section that there was a hit out on this girl. there were phone calls to her friends are asking have you seen her? do you know where she is? all these police trying to locate her. >> and with all that going on, she had to do precisely what she didn't want to do. go public, show herself. testify. and the world would know that her name was aimee lloyd. and that she was truly terrified. >> aimee goes public for the first time, facing her fears and shane. coming up -- >> he told me that he shot him. >> the defense hits back hard. >> if in fact, someone had actually told you they had engaged in the killing of one of the person and you continued a romantic relationship with them, that seems a bit odd. >> when dateline continues.

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shane ragland was headed to trial for the murder of trent digiuro. despite being terrified of the defend it, she's ex-girlfriend agreed to testify against him. she police had moved her to a secure location. but now she had to face him in court, where her cross-examination would take an x return. here again is keith morrison

with "the motive". >> if there was any doubt how seriously police took perceived threats to aimee lloyd's security. this put it. duress this put -- >> but trent digiuro's mike knew, if she brave the danger in told her story. -- >> i don't know how a jury could not convict him. but when it came time for trial. then prosecutor lou anna red corn was all too aware she was alleging a very hard to believe motive. >> i think i was like everybody else. a little incredulous, that somebody would let the fact that they have been blackballed from a fraternity fester for years and culminate and killing the person they blamed on blackballing them. >> they found what they believed was the murder weapon. the 2:43 weather be rifle. a chain smothers house. and at his father's place, they

found bullets like these. an fbi expert said testing had linked those bullets to the fragments from the fetal bullet. the defense argued the tests were not reliable silence. >> collier next quickness. >> aimee lloyd. >> and now a nearly eight years after trent was killed, here is the one person who could tell the story, aimee lloyd. she finally received herself publicly. though because she remains frightened, even though, we've obscured her image in this video recorded by the court. the prosecution's star witness talk about that night in a bar. and shane, according to her, street out confessing to murder. >> he said something about how he had, if i remembered the football player who had been killed. and told me his liam, trent. told me that he shot him. >> but prosecutor red corn new

's story had a weakness. and so, no choice but to confront him. you did not break off the relationship after he said this to? you >> know. >> you didn't go to the police or anything? >> no, i would -- i just ignored it. >> just ignored what he had said to you? >> right, i forgot about it. i didn't want to listen to it. i didn't want to hear it. i didn't want to believe. it >> why? because she was in love with him, she said. during's testimony, the prosecutors played that tape of the sting meeting at the airport. >> i was angry at him. i made the wrong decision. >> that, said the prosecutor, clear as day was a mission that he did indeed commit the crime. -- [inaudible] >> if someone had actually told

you that they engaged in the killing of another person and you continue their relationship, that seems a bit odd. >> and the defense cross-examination she knew it was coming. had to. an attack on her credibility. [inaudible] -- after he talked about killing someone. >> were too concerned about spending the night with somebody who had admitting to you that he had killed someone else? >> i blocked it from my mind. i didn't want to -- i didn't want to hear that. >> and then, a kind of nervous embarrassment filled the courtroom. the defense had gotten to aimee's personal, very explicit diary. and confronted her with her injuries. one by x-rated one. >> we are trying to challenge

the credibility of the prosecution's case. sometimes that gets uncomfortable. >> this is what aimee wrote the day after she said shane confessed to her to murder. >> april the 30th, the very next day. you make a statement, made love an afternoon. great day. >> for the sake of decency, we left out the most explicit centrists and trees made public by the defense that. >> and then, may the 3rd was the date that you recorded you took a bath together and we love. >> yes. >> but then it was on may the 7th, you noted, great love, decided i would move in with him in july. perfect. >> yes. >> so, this man who had told you that he had killed -- you made the decision that you were going to move in with him

come july? >> yes. >> so, was her credibility harmed? there were still, after all, that incriminating airport recording. or was it incriminating? >> you never did ask him though if he had shot and killed trent, did you? >> why would i, when he had already told me? if i said to him, did you kill trent? when he already knew he told me five years ago, he would've known that i was -- there, in fact, too -- >> to set him up? >> to get him to admit it. >> how do you reverse that? >> rehearsed what? >> with detective evans and others. don't give him an opportunity to deny that he had shot trent. >> no. >> had the defense planted a seed of reasonable doubt? maybe. the jury adjourned to think about it. and trans friends waited.

>> i've never been so terrified and so scared in my life. >> hearts going 100 miles an hour. >> 100 miles an hour. >> and five hours later, -- >> we did a jury to find the defendant guilty of intentional murder. >> guilty of intentional murder. the sentence? 30 years. >> to know that he was guilty. know this guy who is sitting there smug and not remorseful is guilty. and boom, you feel good about that. >> mike digiuro thought it was done. >> okay, this is it. he's going to jail. it's over. >> but aimee? she had vanished. >> aimee was afraid of shane ragland. and we told her that if she testified, we would do what we could to let her have a new identity. and law enforcement helped her get a new identity. >> and that new identity would be a problem.

>> you talk about something that just blows you away. i mean, i couldn't even grasp that. >> because this case wasn't over. not even close. >> coming up -- a stunning reversal. i >> know i'm innocent. >> where there will ever be justice for trent? >> it's, oh wow, here we go all over again. >> when dateline continues. ontinues ntrol? hide our skin? not us. because dupixent targets a root cause of eczema, it helps heal your skin from within, keeping you one step ahead of it. and for kids ages 6 and up, that means clearer skin, and noticeably less itch. hide my skin? not me. by helping to control eczema with dupixent, you can change how their skin looks and feels. and that's the kind of change you notice. hide my skin? not me. don't use if you're allergic to dupixent. serious allergic reactions can occur, including anaphylaxis, which is severe.

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back [inaudible] but aimee it was still afraid, so law enforcement gave her a new life and new identity. then the story took a turn no one saw coming. here's keith morrison with the conclusion of "the motive". >> it was early spring in kentucky when justice was done for the murder of trent digiuro. thanks his friends knew, to a woman who faced up to fear and told her story. >> we've never met aimee and i am eternally grateful to aimee, for everything that she's done for not only trent and his family, but for us. >> except, there was an appeal, of course there was. standard procedure. but what happened was not standard at all. a court reversed the jury's decision.

and shane ragland went home on 1 million dollars bail, paid by his that, to wait for a whole new trial. >> it's been a long time, shane. >> i don't really look at it like that, i'm looking at the long term girl goal of fighting a case against me that is fake. false, and i know i'm innocent. so all worry about my feelings and creature comforts. >> why was the verdict thrown out? >> it had nothing to do with aimee lloyd or her explosive testimony, or the sting tape recorded at the airport. all that was fine. so, what was the issue? the bullet that killed trent. the an fbi expert had linked the fragments of that bullet foundry the autopsy two bullets like these that were found in's father's house. but after shane's conviction, the fbi realize the test they used was in fact bad science, and stopped using. it >> these are things that we have been arguing for years. frankly, shouldn't have been

admitted. >> and the court agreed with the defense. >> when this reversal happened, what was that like? >> well, it was a blow. i mean, it was a real blow. >> kind of an irony, isn't it? >> it was one of the smaller pieces of evidence. >> in my mind, yes. >> when you thought what was done, gets undone. what does it do? to you >> it's, oh wow, here we go all over again. we have to go through this yet another time. and yet another time, we realized pretty quickly it is going to be without some key evidence. aimee lloyd was it coming back. >> no, aimee lloyd was not going to testify a second time. that was the deal she made. testify wants, then disappear. >> there was no way to bring her back. because once someone has that level of cover, you can't undo it, bringing them back and then do it again. >> no option but to make a deal.

shane got to plead guilty to second degree manslaughter. >> and did you in fact commit the crime your pleading guilty to? >> yes, i did. >> which meant that at least he now admitted to firing the fatal shot. >> i thought, well a plea bargain, spends in other ten years in get jail. i'm not too bad with. that >> will, but it wasn't ten more years. it was into any more years. he got the time he had already served. five years, plus three days of -- >> three more days? >> he walked out of the courtroom. >> [inaudible] -- [inaudible] [inaudible]

and was back in court on an unrelated case. -- and what about amy? [inaudible] how is she doing now? >> she is living a new life. -- [inaudible] [inaudible] >> well, what has come from all of this is we consider very positive. >> -- [inaudible] .

, but you can make sense of his life? >> we can make sense of what we've done to commemorate trent. to remember trent. and giving these young folks and opportunity each opportunity that trend will have. >> and remarkably, trans friends remain exceedingly close, even 25 years after that shot in the dark. they feel like family? now >> we'll, they are. i think it says so much -- what trump meant to these kids. young adults, now. and what they mean to us. >> they all get together and laugh, tell stories. and imagine -- >> who would he have become as an adult? i'm sure it would've been magnificent? just as he was as a teenager. >> i'm kind of annoyed i don't

get to meet his wife or his kids. oh gosh, share all the adult things that we've had the opportunity to share with each. other but i think when i get rid of those based feelings, the underlying feeling is just gratitude that he was in my life. even for a brief moment in time. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm natalie morales. thank you for watching. >>les. thank you for watching i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline". how do you explain why yuccas has become so important? >> this is the same thing that thousands of minorities are going through. they just don't have anybody to speak on their behalf. now they do. >> hashtag symbol mcneill squared a movement