it's one way to honor those two little girls. to innocence. riding their bikes through a park. on a sunny day. >> that's all for this edition of dateline, i'm natalie morales. thank you for watching. >>you for watching >>, i'm craig melvin and i'm not a morale us, and this is dateline. >> your party >> girl they were fierce and out for fun, a beauty queen, the troublemaker, and the girl next door. >> she was really, really cute, blond hair. >> she won met the guy who dreams love it for sight, but at second glance, trouble. pregnant at 16. >> you will want to be married, heated more to do that? >> awe. >> and one night in ambush someone shot on the bedroom

floor. >> my god help me please. >> a teenage mom at the center of a murder mystery. >> fingers were pointed everywhere at everybody. >> who had a motive to kill? hello and welcome to dateline. a teenage mom and her close circle of friends find themselves at the center of an emotional situation. they were carefree california girl still in high school, but soon their lives would change in a way that if you could've predicted. here's keith morrison with mean girls. >> an interesting species a teenage girls. some are sweet. some are not. we call them mean girls. and some in particular as you

are about to see have been very mean indeed. i was 1997 when their story began here in the high desert north of l.a.. lancaster, california. there was sara chapin, than 18, a cheerleader and local beauty queen. >> you are pretty popular kid in high school? >> i was fairly popular but i was a cheerleader. >> which helps? >> yes. >> amy priest myre, 16, sporty, and ap student who looked like the girl next door. >> amy and i were just too goof balls. we had a lot of fun. then we parted, but things didn't get a serious and till jennifer came into the picture and jennifer and amy became good friends. >> jennifer kellogg, 18 a little dangerous, capitalist for mischief or worse. >> jennifer was the wild child.

she was on the dance team in high school and she was the boulder one of any of us and she was always there for you if you needed her, and especially if you got into trouble, she helped you get into trouble. [laughs] >> she was the one that your parents warn you? about >> yes. >> then there was shame powell 16, perhaps a little less street smart than the others but drawn into it all too, even though some of the others weren't so. nice >> they were fundamentals but they just always had an agenda on their mind, their parents were gonna tell them what to do and they just wanted to just be free. >> the girls just wanted to have fun, stay up late, need guys, drink and do drugs. that was the type of freedom they were looking for, and which they found in the summer of 97 on along with the rest of what happened.

>> 9-1-1 with your emergency? >> so what did happen? it began just after christmas the previous winter, 1996. there was this house party. >> amy's parents went out of town and so aimee said let's just invite some people over, have a good time. >> shannon came along of course. >> they were drinking, acting a bit outrageous, smoking, drinking partying. >> sara was there and amy. jennifer too. >> they were party girls. >> little on the wildes? >> yeah. they wanted to be adults before their time. they wanted to grow up. they didn't want anyone telling them what to do. >> but one of the people at the party actually was an adult or close to it. shaman's brother ricky came to the party. ricky was almost 21. he was done with school and it was working full-time at his family's electricity business, high voltage lines, dangerous

stuff which paid very well. in fact, ricky was the proud owner of a new bmw, and though he's still lived at home he was if anything mature for his ears. this didn't matter a bit to the girls of the house sporty. to to them he, was tall and good-looking and what else matter besides? that >> amy and one of our other friends was fighting over him because they had a little thing for him. >> right away, boom she wanted? him >> well, when you are a teenage girl and you see a cute guy of course, everything falls into place. >> well, it's certainly did. >> was he crazy about her to begin? with >> yeah, he matter and i was like instantly. >> they were together from that very first night. it didn't seem to matter to ricky than aimee was still in high school, she was a sophomore, they were in love. he took her away on trips, he butter lots of gifts. but when he introduced her to his parents, debbie and rick senior, they were not quite so bold over by amy.

>> she was really, really cute, really petite, blond hair. >> wrapped him around referring or. >>. >> and you saw that happen? >> but then we found out how old she was. that changed a little bit. >> but were you worried about? >> at that point we were worried she would get pregnant. she was a minor that if he didn't want to be with her or something, maybe go to jail for rape or whatever. >> rape? jail? what a place for a man to go. looking back, debbie said it was just some gut instinct that older debbie was up to something, and whatever it was wouldn't be good for her son ricky. so debbie tried to put a wedge between the two young lovers. ricky was living in his parents guesthouse. his mom made a firm rule. amy could not stay over. >> she would get there and she would try to hide in the closet and stuff like that. that's when it finally got to you can't live here, we can have. this >> would happen? >> i thought he would say okay,

you are 16, and i don't want to move out because i'm living here with my parents. >> it's a story as old as young love. ricky's parents thought free rent would trump lights with. amy ricky didn't drop amy, he left home instead, rented an apartment in the sketchy part of town. then amy who just finished her sophomore year at high school moved in with him. but would it be happily ever after? no, no would not be. because now act to, the hard part was about to begin. >> coming up. the bffs move in with amy and ricky and that's when things turned deadly. >> she turned on the light in the bedroom, stands there for a second, and then she looks down and falls against the door screaming. >> when dateline continues. n dateline continues [sfx: ding]

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of 97, blooming here in the california desert. but in lancaster, like everywhere, else the unstoppable desire of young adults can bring out polar opposites in parenting styles. well ricky cowles parents struggled to prevent what looked to them like a big mistake, amy's parents, georgia

and larry preasmyer had a different perspective. >> i didn't think about it very much because i was 17 when i met larry. >> how old were you? larry >> 24! >> oh, okay. >> so there were six years of difference. >> and that worked out, so -- >> 34 years! >> so, the age difference didn't worry them. they liked ricky. he was good to their daughter. and amy's parents knew they didn't have much say in what they needed anyway. >> she always pushed. >> amy pushed the envelope? >> yes, always. >> of course, rickie's mom didn't know that when she called amy's mom looking for an ally in her effort to put the brakes on the love affair. >> i called her mother when i knew that ricky had her pregnant. i, said she was 16, she needs to stay home with you. >> she needs to stay home with you, she said. and what response did you get? >> she said, well we don't have any plans with their moving, and we just left. it on a couple of days later, she moved. and then it wasn't even a week later until she moved her friend in. >> did the parents have any

control on all? >> oh, no. >> no? >> but, could you guess this? there was something else going on. big news! about which ricky's parents knew nothing. amy was pregnant. it was her parents, georgia and larry who got the news first. >> i was disappointed to be honest with you. my kids knew about contraceptive, even though they were raised to be abstinence until they were married. >> he tried to raise your kids to do the right thing, sometimes they don't. now, amy was going to have to grow fast, pregnant at 16, moving in with her boyfriend. was she ready for all of this? >> maybe not. >> she was always very outgoing and liked having her independence. >> and girls just want to have fun. >> exactly. >> -- at that stage. right, away amy invited her to best friends, while jennifer and her -- to move into. neither one of them wanted to

be stuck at home under parental watch. and pregnant or no, there was fun to be had. they went to parties, jennifer stirring up trouble as usual, brought her drugging friends over to visit. though, amy insisted that because she was pregnant she wasn't using. >> did she seem at all resentful about the idea that she couldn't do the fun things anymore? >> well, a particle becoming pregnant, it's kind of hard because everything stops. >> yeah. >> especially when you're 16, you're still in high school. you're not going up yet. >> but, ricky, biden was 21. he had different ideas about moving in together. he wanted amy home, when he got back from his long day at work from those high -- he wanted amy home, alone. >> at some point, they began to have some very serious problems. and rickie, for example, complain that these girls had moved in. and he didn't want them there. >> ricky decided to, you, know that he was done and he needed

them gone. >> which pleased the friends, jennifer especially, not one bit. >> amy wasn't happy either. and, so a couple of months into this romance that started so hot and fast, it seemed to be burning out. >> they had been fighting a, lot she had thought about ending their relationship but she was afraid that rickie's parents might take the child once it was born. and there was a point, one night, where she just broke down and cried and said i don't know what to do. i don't know if i should leave him. i don't know what to do. >> it was about then when ricky finally told his mom about his and amy's predicament. >> well, he came home one night from work and we were in the house and he said, i would like to talk to you in that. when he said, me and dad, i was like what about? well, i just wanted to sit down and i want to talk to you. he was really serious. i think it was some really bad thing, you know? and he tells me, well, amy is pregnant. and i said no, no, no she's

not. >> exactly what's she had worried about. and rickie was talking about breaking up with amy. >> he said, i want to take care of the baby, you, know i said you will. that's a responsibility. i just need a way to tell a need that we can't be what she wants us to be. i need a way to tell. or >> he didn't want to be married. he didn't want to do that. and now, he had this big problem. just the problem you're worried about, all along. >> yes. >> and then, turmoil. ricky and amy argued. he told, or she needed to leave, go back home to her parents. and, then after they spent a weekend apart, thinking it over, something changed. >> and i sat on the porch with them and we had a beer and the cigarette and he said, you know, i'm so excited for our life now. i just thought about everything. and everything is going to be fine. we're going to make it work. >> ricky was happy? >> ricky, really, was looking forward to being a daddy. >> because you know a lot of guys, 20 to 21 years old, who

just met a girl and got her pregnant right away would not be reacting that way. >> no, but ricky was a little different from everybody. >> he seemed more grown up. >> by, then amy had had a change of heart to. >> she, said i'm going to make this work. it's worth making work. i want my daughter to grow up with her dad here. >> which brings us to august 12th, 1997. rickie left for work early. amy lieutenant promising to be back by nine to spend time along with him. and then, that afternoon, she called him. as he worked out in the hot desert just to confirm their plans. and, later when his dad and he went to the county fair to set up the lights, the calls from aimee kept coming. when are you getting home? she asked him. of course, she had been out all day with friends. around 9 pm, sarah in tow, she headed home to see if ricky had arrived. >> and she goes pounding up at the stairs. she gets up to the top of the stairs, i'm looking, at her and she turns on the light in the

bedroom and she stands there for a second and then she looks down and falls against the door screaming. >> someone was lying on the floor. still alive. a twisted bloody mess. it was rickie. >> coming up -- >> oh my god, help me, please! >> how is amy? >> she's panicked. >> the new father to be, helpless on the floor. what had happened when dateline continues. elin continues. ♪ ♪ ♪♪ voltaren. the joy of movement. ♪♪ welcome to allstate where anyone who bundles their home and auto insurance saves. isn't that right phil? sorry, i'm a little busy. what in the world are you doing? i'm in the metaverse, bundling my home

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>> oh my god please hurry up. >> after a night of running around, sorry and amy finally went to the place and found rickie just 21 lying near death and his in amy's bedroom floor. >> but to look like on the floor? >> he was kind of twisted up on the floor. all i saw was blood and so i said let's get out of here. >> it is a duty to see something like that? >> it scares the crap out. to me >> 9-1-1 what's your emergency? >> and she was such a mess. >> she was hysterical? >> we came home and his blood everywhere. >> mom i can't hear what you're. saying >> i grabbed the phone from her, and i'm like hello? and she said this is like

9-1-1. i start freaking out. >> can you tell me what's happening? >> just got back into the apartment and be calling all night long and we have mabel to get a hold of her boyfriend and we walked upstairs. he's lying on the ground and he's all leading. >> he's bleeding? >> he's not moving or anything. >> we just turn on the light and we saw him >> okay hold on i'm -- i'm sending -- i'm transferring you to paramedics okay? >> by now, jennifer and another friend were there to. >> jennifer started screaming to me, rickie, i want to see ricky, i want to see ricky. >> no get downstairs. now amy you don't need to see this honey. i can't even stand to look at it. >> get downstairs. >> okay how doing? now >> he, he's twitching and convulsing a little, but it looks like something went through his head. >> what happened then was hard to watch. the sheriffs video camera recording a man struggling to

survive. could he tell him what happened? >> when they came in the house, the next thing you know they shoving all of us into the kitchen. they carried him downstairs on his bed sheet and worked on him in the living room. >> did you do this yourself? >> no. >> who did it? >> my my best friend. >> who shot you in the head? did you do? it >> as police tried desperately to get information from him, ricky began became too weak to respond. how is amy at the stage? >> just panicked. >> beside herself? >> yes. >> and sarah called wrecker rickie's parents to tell them something it happened. >> by the time we got there there were so many people, i was screaming rookie, we knew he had been shot but we had no idea where. >> or how about a? was >> or how bad it was or

anything until the broader downstairs. that i knew. i thought, oh no, no, no, no. >> like your whole life is disintegrating right there under -- >> it did. >> then the paramedics brought ricky to a waiting helicopter. rick sooner road to the hospital with his son. >> he was comprehending what we were talking about a little bit. he was hurt pretty hard. i tried to tell them it's gonna be okay, we'll get the doctors to fix it. >> and they did try. as the doctors worked on ricky, his family gathered. amy was there to of course. but whoever had attacked him i've done so much damage to his head, his brain, by august 14th, two days in intensive care it was clear. there was no fixing ricky. he was comatose now. only the machines kept him alive. his family went to his bedside to say their goodbyes. amy was beside herself. it hardly made.

sense >> and she said, why did you have to go ahead and die? he was supposed to buy me a car for my birthday? >> you are supposed to buy me a? car >> and in my mind i couldn't even fathom that. >> of course, but they were too distraught to try to comprehend what was going on in the mind of amy 16 years old. who soon after that the rookie died. his heart, kidney's, liver were donated to people in need. amy moved back in with her parents to get ready to have ricky's baby. and debbie and rick senior vowed to find out who did this. and that's when the long journey began, long and as you will see very strange. >> coming up. on the trail of a killer. >> he actually told people when he saw those helicopters, he said that was me, i did that. >> when dateline continues.

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large out-of-state corporations have set go triple. go trelegy. their sights on california. they've written prop 27, to allow online sports betting. they tell us it will fund programs for the homeless. but read prop 27's fine print. 90% of profits go to out-of-state corporations, leaving almost nothing for the homeless. no real jobs are created here. but the promise between our state and our sovereign tribes would be broken forever. these out-of-state corporations don't care about california. but we do. hello i'm dara brown, here's stand with us.

what's happening, senator lindsey graham testimony in the georgia investigation with the former president trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election has been put on hold. an appeals court has given graham and your chance to challenge the subpoena based on protection for lawmakers on the constitution speech or debate clause. and first lady, jill biden, has ended her isolation after two negative tests. she will join the president in delaware sunday afternoon. now, back to dateline. now, back to dateline. ricky kelles was dead. but why? the cops went through the apartment but there was little evidence to go on. >> we found a shell casing. >> a shell casing, no prints,

nothing is for dna. nothing missing and nothing in particular about ricky cowles that would lead you to think that he'd be a murder victim. he's not the sort of person who would normally be a victim of that kind of crime. unless, maybe, he owed money, drug field or hadn't paid a gambling that. >> that wasn't anything that was out there. >> tom harrison and detectives with los angeles county sheriff's homicide worked on the case. >> we also know the victims lifestyle because that's usually what's going to tell you where to go. and rickie worked all the time with this father. he drink some beer when he'd get done working. and he probably smoked some weed every once in a while. but beyond that -- >> pretty standard middle class guy. >> the. >> he was a hardworking kid. >> so he wasn't the type of kid who would have some big drug that. >> but, if the cops didn't have much to go. on that group of girls seems to have some rather shocking ideas. though, of course, reporting this to the cops would be about

the last thing any of them would do. >> from the beginning it was fair pointing here and here. well, jennifer is, all while she lands involved, she was pissed at her brother. or amy was involved, or somebody else was involved or it was a home invasion. fingers were pointed everywhere and everybody. >> by? >> everybody else. >> months passed, the paranoia was palpable. amy and best friend jennifer weren't talking. sara and jennifer weren't talking. and, ricky's family was just staying away from them all. convinced, somehow, they all knew something. but, there was a price to pay for rickie's family staying away from amy. >> when she was at the hospital having the baby, a friend of us called us from the hospital and said her name is up on the, board your baby's going to come today. sometime today, you know. and i cried all day. because i, thought here is this baby i'm never going to see because, you know my son's gone. >> about a month later, the cows impatient with the progress of the case decided to

post a reward. shaylyn, ricky sister when to give them some. flower >> in these that antidote. or >> i, asked if they wanted any. flyers and, he said why don't you come on in. and see your little niece. >> there she was. >> i just called my mom instantly and told her that i'm holding your little grandbaby. >> kayleigh lin cowles was born january 3rd, 1998. >> she was just prestigious. >> i just knew that i wanted a relationship with her. and, that you, know through her pregnancy we weren't able to kind of let things go between each other and our families. so, i just knew that something had to kind of give. and the baby would make it towards where was easier to deal with each other for going to. >> it was. then, grandma debbie got to meet the baby. >> a couple of days went and i held her and i just cried my eyes out because, here she is.

this gift. but i don't have him anymore. >> and the break in the case came soon to. a 19-year-old who lived down the street from amy and ricky's place. billy hoffman was arrested for ricky's murder. >> turns out he bragged to loads of friends about what he's done. >> he was proud of it. he actually told people there was a girl that he would carpool with, for instance to go to work i came. aren't he, said you saw those helicopters? they were over there. >> she said yeah. he said, that was. me i did that. >> so, he did not to the authorities but he already told a number of several people? >> several people. he had one person who actually helped him get the gun. and another person that helped him get rid of the gun. i mean, he would tell people that he did. this i, mean which was obviously his demise because he got arrested shortly thereafter. >> billy hoffman was a drug user and small time dealers.

and, it turned out there was some sort of connection between billy and wild jennifer. >> the cops came in and said, showed me a picture of the guy and said, do you know this guy? and i said, well i met him once before. at jennifer's birthday this year. and i, said while this is who did it. >> sarah even snapped this photo of billy and jennifer their smoking pot together. which, the cops were happy to have. shaylyn recognized him too. it was the weekend before he died. ricky was away deciding what to do about any. shaylyn went to the apartment to hang out with the girls. and sitting on the living room floor, was the quiet guy named billy. jennifer was high on acid. she told shaylyn she should try some to. it was billy who had the drugs. >> do you remember how billy came to be? >> jennifer, jennifer kellogg, brought him over. >> a friend of jennifer? >> she handed him, the killer at the end of the scene. >> yes.

>> was jennifer somehow involved? remember, after she and sara moved in with ricky and amy, ricky wanted her out. and she was mad at ricky for that. she was known for stirring up trouble. but murder? the idea seemed preposterous. in any way, it was billy hoffman who went on trial, not jennifer. and, he just climbed up. denying everything. no matter, he was convicted and got life without the possibility of parole. so, story over? not by a long shot. >> coming up -- >> a conversation with the killer. he has a little secret he wants to share. >> okay, she had also knew about this? >> yes. >> when dateline continues. hen dateline continues icy hot pro. ♪ ice works fast... to freeze your pain and your doubt. ♪ heat makes it last. so you'll never sit this one out.

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i'm natalie morales. billy hoffman was serving time in prison, convicting of killing ricky cowles. but it wasn't case closed. hoffman was about to bill a chilling secret that would set off a new investigation. here again is keith morrison with mean girls. >> lancaster, california kicked into the new millennium, nearly three years after ricky cowles was dispatched from all of college of time.

two families that might have gone off the rails stayed intact because of an amazing gift he helped create and left behind. her name is kayleigh the man who killed her father before she was born was in prison. the teenager who gave birth to her grew into womanhood, and even ricky's parents the cowles who hadn't liked amy from the start, developed a grudging respect. for >> amy was really good a catch handing out. a beer >> with kayleigh? >> that's right she's great. >> and that might be in the end of the story. life has to go on and they're hours with kayleigh were some of the sweet never had. but they couldn't just erased or one nagging belief that billy hoffman did not act alone when he killed their son. >> even though philippe billy was convicted, that was in the whole story? >> he was convicted on circumstantial evidence. >> i didn't do, and i didn't do

it. >> yeah. but in 2002 he wrote us a letter. >> i.s., a letter. the key to the whole thing really. without that letter, it was 2002 and billy hoffman had been in prison for three years when he wrote to the cowles that he was remorseful. he had found god he said and with that a sense of obligation to say he was sorry. >> i'm reading it, i'm reading it, and crying, and i'm reading, and i'm crying. that he was sorry that he had done things that he shouldn't have. he hoped that we would forgive him someday. >> then she went back to the beginning and won't read this one curious phrase. i would he wrote i would like to begin by confessing my part in the murder of richard as the one who took his life. my part. >> when ricky's parents saw

this letter and they saw apologizing for his part, that spoke volumes to them i guess? >> they took the letter to the da's office immediately and in turn didier contacted our office and went on from there. >> so, five years after ricky's murder, the dormant investigation was revived. >> we are on tape. now the time is 1400 hours. the date is september the 12th, 2000. two >> sheriff's homicide detectives went to belize prison to ask him, what did you mean by your part? >> okay, you were convicted of murdering richard cowles? when you tell me from the beginning how that went. >> and finally billy offman over what he had done stopped annoying editing and told the cops the long secret story for the very first time a certain name came popping out of his mouth. >> i can't remember exact days

or anything like that, but a, i'd say a couple of weeks before the murder happened, i was at my house and jennifer kellogg asked me if i would kill somebody and i said, yes i would. >> astonishingly, it was that easy. well jennifer simply asked him to kill and he said yes. listen carefully to belize monotone. as you hear his story you will hear another name. after all, mean girls adults tend to scheme alone. so who is with jennifer when he she ranged the murder? >> amy priess meyer took me to the apartment and showed me how the law was. >> amy prism i know amy was >> was khalil's girlfriend. >> okay she had also knew about? this >> yes. >> amy knew about it. but not just knew about it, right along with jennifer, she as apparently loving girl from had arranged everything. you recall how he gave a form

of ricky hide in the bedroom and so we could see ricky coming up the stairs. the murder of ricky cowles was all set to go, but then came the day. august 12th, 1997, late in the day. jennifer and amy drove the two tenths of a mile up the road to belize house to pick him up. >> they drop me off, let me in and then the left. >> billy sat there he said, with a hammer, a knife, a gun, a pillow to use as a silencer. but remember, ricky ended up working late that night, fixing lights at the county fair. waiting the house, billy started get sleepy. he started having second. thoughts >> you know, i got tired of waiting to see he ended up staying late for work or wherever he was and i didn't know what was going on, and i just kind of you know what? i'm gone. and i left. >> thus the murder of ricky cowles was prevented. almost. billy left the apartment, shut

the door, walked down the street towards his own house, had given up on the whole idea but then. >> i got to that corner. sure enough. amy and jennifer drive-by and they're like where you're going? where you? going >> remember, amy had been calling ricky all evening trying to pin him down. >> and they told me, go back, he called this is he's gonna be there soon. >> so billie told the cops how he beautifully went back to the house and south minded or arm of this tools of murder. ricky came home, needed a shower went upstairs and into the bedroom. he never saw it coming, billy hoffman attacked him with the claw hammer straight to the skull. ricky fought back. >> he showed up and he came. inside and came up the house and i hit him. and it didn't knock him out. he turned around a yelled at me and then i panicked and i just shot. and then, he went down, and i

didn't know what to -- i was afraid that the gunshot made too much noise good didn't use the pillow or anything. and i did know what to do. so i hit him with a hammer again. and then out of the house. >> then, billy gathered his things, walked home and paged jennifer. the signal that it was done. after the page, jennifer and amy split up. jennifer took pot to billy. amy asked sarah to go home with her. sarah who didn't know anything about the plan was used as an alibi stooge was used as the fool who would find ricky. >> why did billy do it? >> i was just kind of glamorous kind of picture in your mind you know, to be that person and cruising with your friends. and i'm just at that, time i think i've pursued. that you, know i wanted to be that guy. and when people knew, that it was kind of like having a, a notch on my, bill in oh? >> but in real life of course,

murder is not glamorous, not at all. that night billy went home scared. soon enough he was arrested and sent to life in prison. and now it looked like two morris were called for. >> coming up. amy involved in the murder of ricky? >> did you have some dark nights where you looked at each other so she must of done? it >> when dateline continues. en dateline continues. the year ♪ claritin provides non-drowsy symptom relief from over 200 indoor and outdoor allergens, day after day. feel the clarity and make today the most wonderful time of the year. live claritin clear.

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tend not to roll quite so quickly as the movies have you believe. in the case of ricky cowles murdered in 1997, it rolled slow indeed. billy hoffman had his heart to heart with homicide detectives in 2002. but a case needs more than the words of a convicted killer. more investigation was needed. so, they waited. everybody waited. >> we knew, after 2000 and, to something would happen. but all we have are told them, was if it comes to the point we're going to arrest amy, please let us know because we don't want kelly to be with her. because i don't want that in her little brain in the rest of her life of her mother taken away by the police. just let us know. we'll take it of her. and you do what you have to do.

>> and then months, months, and months them by. >> oh, years! years won by. >> and during those years, the cowles held their breath and their tongues every week. when they want to pick up their granddaughter from the woman they had come to believe arranged their son's murder. >> we knew but, you know, what sometimes there's one more thing more important than that was to kayleigh. she superseded all of that because i wanted her to have a happy life. >> it was easter, 2000 and, five love was in the air again. amy lynn preasmyer what's just about to be married. baby kayleigh was seven years old, though they were showing baby pictures of her when ricky's parents got the call and arrest was imminent. and that's set into motion in a country -- >> we had an attorney for kayleigh. we called, and they said we need to go get custody of this little girl. >> the family court judge gave the cowles temporary custody. and thus, we got a five-year battle between two sets of loving grandparents.

>> there was so much turmoil between our families that we couldn't agree on anything. >> what's the trauma between the families? >> there was just no talking between either one of us. they blamed us for everything. >> they blamed you? >> they blamed us. if we hadn't been persistent. >> then amy wouldn't have been arrested? >> but she was. she was charged with the murder. taken to jail to await trial. >> amy's parents stood by then. still do. >> do you have some dark nights where you say -- >> no. >> no, we have never, ever looked at each other and said she has to be guilty of something. >> no. >> but the jury did not agree. nearly ten years till the day after the murder of ricky cowl, july 30th 2007, ricky's parents got the news they had been waiting for. guilty! >> what's it like to hear that?

>> really -- >> just, quiet, crying, every emotion you want to scream but you can. you just quietly cry to ourselves. >> amy's family has cried to, of course. just not for the same reason. >> everybody looks at us now like we are the bad people. you, know we are bad because of what your daughter did. i did nothing wrong. >> in fact, the judge gave you folks a lecture. >> oh, she did that. she did that. >> that sentencing, the judge looked straight at amy's parents and said, there was a total breakdown of parenting of moral leadership, of any kind of sense of responsibility. >> what was that like for you to hear that? >> that was very hard. because as a parent, i knew in my heart that we had done the best that we can do. >> amy preasmyer got life without parole. and jennifer, wild jennifer, the girl who love to make

trouble, she looked out. the prosecutor had seen the toll the child took on ricky's mother to avoid yet another trial offered jennifer a deal. >> she pleaded guilty to manslaughter and solicit jason to commit murder. she got 15 years and four months. jennifer sentencing, the judge blamed her for spurring amy on. but what made amy preasmyer want to kill ricky? they didn't fight about her hanging out with friends when he wanted her home. they did talk about breaking up. but the hardly seemed a reason to kill. even billy hoffman, who so casually agreed to murder a man did not seem to have any real reason why. >> did amy tell you exactly why she wanted him dead? >> i never got any specific reasons. she mentioned something once, but it -- it seems so petty. though they said he wet the bed. i don't know why that would warrant murder. >> serving life without the possibility of parole. billy hoffman had plenty of time to think about his own

role in the murder. after more than 18 years in prison, he asked the governor of california to get their clemency. -- and his exemplary conduct in prison. governor jerry brown reduced hoffman sentenced to 20 years to life. and two years later, he was paroled. the cowles aren't happy that bilious free. and, still it remains the unanswered question, why did amy want ricky dead? >> was she so immature? was that possible? was she just the idea of killing someone was just playtime? >> that's what i wonder sometimes. how do you go from living to somebody to thinking, okay, it's okay we'll just have somebody else do it and then it's fine, they're gone, they're dead. maybe it was being too young and immature to really fathom what was going on. the fact that you are really going to take somebody's life. and you're really going to ruin other peoples lives. >> and it did.

sarah, deeply scarred by the betrayal of the girl she thought was her friend, still struggles to make sense of her life. shaylyn admits that she was often frankly a mess. >> do you wonder what would've happened to him? i mean, would you have been a different person? >> yes, i wonder, what i wonder is who my brother would be. you, know seeing people his age and none thinking how would my brother be in his life. >> and then there was kayleigh. the only good thing about the story. she is a wonderful little kid. she is not a little anymore, but she's wonderful. >> does she get set sometimes? >> kayleigh can hide her emotions very easily and that is not a part that she will let me see very often. but yes, she does get said. >> the fishy presents to the

world is -- >> yes. >> happy, happy, happy? >> that's exactly what she does. because she doesn't want to disappoint anybody. >> sheila and sees that quality to, it reminds her of her brother. >> because my brother was the kind of person who didn't really talk about things that bothered him. he was just happy and that's the part that i get. that she's a lot like my brother. after years in court the two families agreed to share custody. though, kelly spent a little bit more time with ricky's parents. they also agreed if, unofficially, to leave the pass behind for her. we both love, or there is no doubt about it and we just lover in different ways. we want the best for her. they want the best for. her that cycle. it's to be the best for her. this is her life. of course amy's parents, ricky's parents wanted the best once before as all parents do.

could anyone have seen into those mean girl warned before two families paid the price? >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm natalie morales. thank you for watching. thank you for watching it's like a sadness you can't sleep. it just kind of consumes you. and even when you can move on, you just never forget. as someone who's really left >> it's like a sadness. you can't sleep. such an impact on your it just kind of consumes you. and even when you can move on, you just never forget. life. someone who has really left such an impact on your life. >> she was a really good man mom. she was good to her kids. >> she was just 20 steps from her front doors, she never made it. >> we can't explain what happened in those 20 steps. >> it just didn't make sense to me. >> a working mom, murdered. >> it's hard to imagine that anybody would be capable of something like that.