is just like sarah's. so it' like sarah growing up all over again so -- i believe sarah, you know, left us this gift. she's our other little angel that was given to us from sara so her spirit can live on. >> give me a kiss. thank you can i have another kiss? ♪ ♪ ♪ >> i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales >> and this is dateline.

>> she was a phenomenal, amazing person she loved those girls. they were sweet, little twins. her pride and joy. it's really hard >> pretty, poised, perfect her twins were her world >> the three of them were tight unit she was all they had, they wer all she had. >> and then came that awfu day. >> these two, beautiful 16 -year-old girls had come hom from school and found thei mother murdered. >> they were rocking back an forth, traumatized, disturbed. >> what had the girls seen tha day? could they provide a clue to help crack this case >> the twins said nikki had second boyfriend >> two boyfriends?

>> two boyfriends. >> jealousy, passion, revenge. >> she was fearful she contacted the police >> what's secrets might th twins reveal >> terrifying. is it possible that this could happen >> i was shaking, oh my gosh oh my gosh >> ♪ ♪ ♪ >> hello, and welcome to dateline nikki whitehead was a single mom working towards a brighter future but that dream died when nikki was viciously murdered her teenage girls seemingl inconsolable, and investigator were committed to solving he murder the answer would prove elusive in the end, difficult for even the veteran detectives t believe. here is keith morrison with ba blood. >> once in a while, in a complicated life, a woman ca get lucky.

which is why you are looking a the sweet little town called conyers, georgia and deep downtown, with gate communities, and schools, it was pure luck that brought nikki whitehead to this house, in this quiet, saf neighborhood just far enough away fro atlanta, that capital of overheated ambition down the drive. here in conyers, she could giv her beautiful twin daughters a better life than hers. but of course, look, fortune and faith can go either way. sometimes, in ways very hard t comprehend >> everything about this goe against nature >> how can somebody do that? >> it was definitely the bloodiest crime scene i ha ever been to >> in the next few minutes you will know exactly when i happened, where it happened, how it happened. but of course, the rea question is why it happened. and the answer to that, as you

will see, is kind of complicated. that is how nikki whitehead' life was >> i love everything about her >> debra harris grew up with nikki, she was a wild child, pretty, fun and irresistible >> nikki, to me, she was a phenomenal, amazing person >> she says she wa effervescent, said nikki's mother, linda. bigger than life >> she was the kind of person, when she comes in a room, sh just takes over the space, you know, with her personality, he laughter >> but when nikki was 12, sh was a handful. linda was a single mom wit kids at the time, so she agree to have her move in with her grandmother. but she let the girl run wild. boys, parties. >> we grew up kind of fast and later, she became pregnant at the age of 18, or 19. so we moved kind of fast >> pregnant with identical twins, who she named jasmiya and tasmiyah, jazz and tazz, born in 1993 the twin's dad was aroun

briefly, then gone and their mother figure, nikki's grandmother, della nike's mother linda did no like that. >> i wanted nikki to get her own place, establish her own life, and my mom would discourage that. you know, she would find way to tell her no, you are better off here >> that is how it went fou years. but nikki had learned how to style hair, and was doing well at it. and the possibility of independence >> she eventually wanted to ge out of the control of della, right? >> she wanted to, as the girls got older, she definitel wanted to take control of he life >> then one day, in 2000, nikk was shopping at the mall and robert head just happene to be in exactly the right spot >> i was sitting on th fountain one afternoon at abou 6:00 and they're walks in nikki coming into the mall >> and your eye caught her >> yes, i just could not let her get away, she wa

outstanding. >> that he was old enough to b her father did not matter, robert was in love so we persuaded her to go to dinner that very night, took her dancing. he bought her nice things, treated her like a lady. >> she was my movie star that's what i called, or m movie star >> this movie star with tw sweet daughters. he also sue love them as i they were his own. and that is how nikki came here, to safe, secure conyers. this is robert's house, an here they made a family. unusual in some ways as it

appeared, but -- >> it was nice, really nice. everything clicked just right. >> and she wanted her life t be even better, so while she kept her job as a hairstylist, she enrolled in atlanta' bauder college, to study fashion design >> that's what i really learne that she was a hairstylist >> rhonda taught a couple of her classes, she thought nikki had a sense of purpose whether it was about her kids, passion for other people's hai -- >> i came into the class early one day, as i normally do, loo appearance at, miss anderson what is going on with your hair? [laughs] i said what? excuse me? and then she asked me this question, do you have hairstylist, does she know tha you have your hair looking lik that today >> i said yes, and no. she said, miss anderson, i a giving her one more chance one more chance, and if it i not right, i am taking over. >> rhonda loved nikki, and

nikki loved her girls. she put the twins in dance music classes, and at school they won awards. >> their teachers describe them as almost angelic, sweet, happy and engaged. and there are pictures of them one on each of nicky's arms. >> catie beck, a reporter at a nbc affiliate in - >> he just described to that way she had a sweet demeanor i their classrooms, and with their classmates they were almost timid then, as they reached thei teens, they changed, somehow and in the ways children often do, in the way that nikk herself one did. and just like nikki, the twins were sent to live for a couple of years with a rather permissive family matriarch, della. until 2010, when nikki welcome tasmiyah and jasmiyah back all together again at robert's house. a fresh start and nikki turned up at school being >> yes, she was in a very good move she looked great, a new look i her, she had braids in and she was happy. >> as if the braids in her hai

or a kind of announcement. her girls were back. >> they were pretty much her pride and joy. >> oh, you started to thin about her? >> it's hard, it is really hard >> january 13th, 2010. a sheriff's deputy happened to be in the neighborhood, th girls had just come home fro school the deputy saw the look of hoarder on their faces, hear their screams as they came pounding on his car. >> one of the twins ran up, an really beat on the side of the car and told them, they ha come home from school to fin their mother murdered. >> coming up, two distraught daughters are about to reveal clue >> we are told by the twin that nikki and a secon boyfriend -- >> - to boyfriends? >> to boyfriends >> when dateline continues

>> we are told by the twin that nikki and a secon boyfriend -- >> - to boyfriends? >> to boyfriends >> when dateline continues just leaving you a voicemail. my number is 618-437-7425. okay. can anyone tell me what julie did wrong there? you got to repeat the number. i mean, no one's ever gonna get it the first time. -nope. -didn't leave her last name. no, the -- the phone tells you who called. she didn't mention a good time to call her back. how am i supposed to know when to call her back? no. she just shouldn't have left a voicemail. 9 out of 10 times, a text will do. progressive can't save you from becoming your parents, but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto with us. [ music playing ] when we first arrived at st. jude, it was just claire and i. she was still recovering from her brain surgery. and side effects of that surgery meant that she had to relearn how to walk and how to speak. ♪♪ [ male announcer ] you can join the battle to save lives by supporting st. jude children's research hospital.

two months after we arrived, my three-year-old came to visit, and claire lit up. she was quiet before. and i thought it was just because cancer's hard, but she was really missing her siblings, and i didn't realize how much. all right, young lady. we're going to see how much you weigh, and how tall you are real quick. ♪♪ mama. hey, claire. [ laughter ] ♪♪ [ male announcer ] families never receive a bill from st. jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food, so they can focus on helping their child live. when you call or go online with your credit or debit card right now, we'll send you this st. jude t-shirt you can wear to show your support to help st. jude save the lives of these children. i experienced life at st. jude.

every dollar that goes to st. jude goes to a good place. it's keeping families together during the hardest thing they'll ever face. ♪♪ the first thing i'm going to do when i get home is pet my dog. ♪♪ [ woman ] st. jude saved my daughter's life. [ claire ] i love st. jude. [ male announcer ] please call or go online right now and become a st. jude partner in hope today. when you're through with powering through, it's time for theraflu hot liquid medicine. powerful relief so you can restore and recover. theraflu hot beats cold. when cold symptoms keep you up, try vicks nyquil severe. just one dose starts to relieve 9 of your worst cold and flu symptoms, to help take you from 9 to none. for max-strength nighttime relief,

nyquil severe. >> wednesday afternoon, januar 13, 2010 in a gated community in th town of conyers, just east o atlanta, 16-year-old twins jasmiyah and tasmiyah, arrived home from school, walked in th front door, followed a blood trail and there she was. in the bathtub their mother 34 year old nikki whitehead, very, very dead. >> as we walked in - >> the mess that greeted arriv in conyers police detectiv chris moon, told a terribl

story. >> this was a long drawn out fight. nikki was fighting for her lif for several minutes. this was not a quick attack an over with. she fought here. she was struck in the back o the head she had a laceration at th back of her. head there was a blood on th door, the door handle. as if -- >> as if she was trying to get out? >> trying to get out and then along this will, yo can see a bloody imprint o here breeds. nikki had her here in breeds where she fell, split down the wall with the most severe blood cam when she was face down in this area it's clearly where the assailant got on top of he from behind and starte stabbing her at the base of he neck >> this huge amount of blood >> yes, this was the largest pool of blood in this area right here >> she was dead, ordinary dead when her assailant dragged her to the bathroom. that's where she was in the tu of water when her daughter saw her. before they ran to the stree screaming. >> as we get there, you have

these two beautiful, young 1 -year-old girl's, that saw their mother murdered. >> conyers police captai jackie dunn wanted to get ja and tas away from the house. and that's when he noticed the were hurting themselves. >> one of them was biting thei arm. and we were like why are you biting your arm? she said i'm so upset, and i d that when i'm upset. >> this was the worst kind o case detective needed information fast but how do you get it from children who have just lef their dead mother? >> i hurt. >> they were going in and ou of fits of tears, crying >> i want my grandma >> asking for their mom. >> i want my mama. >> they both seem to be walkin back and forth cotton plaintive, traumatize disturbed. >> it will be okay i want grandma >> it will be okay >> i can remember thinking, man, i hope there is a family membe to adopt these girls because they really need somebody to reach out and th good parents for them. >> word spread through the lat

afternoon gloom. a friend called harris >> she had asked me when was a lost time i talk to nikki said i talked to nikki saturday she told me may want to go ove to her house because she sai the helicopters were there and the news reporters >> tell me, when you heard that, what did you think >> i don't know, it is lik tunnel isn't i guess it was slow motion you could call nicky's mothe linda and told her something bad was going on over at nicki 's >> i was so nervous i don' know what to do. i was like, oh my gosh oh my gosh i was just shaking i could hardly drive >> linda pulled into her daughters neighborhood and saw a police officer >> he said ma'am, could yo pull over there? i said no, i need to go to m daughter's house

he said ma'am, will you just pull over their pleas? >> i pulled to the side and said what is going on? he said man the only thing i can tell you is that you daughter has expired >> there is no getting ove something like that. as nikki's try to take it in investigator set to work tryin to figure out who did this the girl said their mother was still in a room with the doo locked when they left the hous for school at 7:30 >> we missed the bus, so we ha to walk. >> perhaps the crime scene revealed more clues than the girls could. lieutenant chris moon headed back there >> there is no getting ove something like that. as nikki's try to take it in investigator set to work tryin to figure out who did this the girl said their mother was still in a room with the doo locked when they left the hous for school at 7:30 >> we missed the bus, so we ha to walk. >> perhaps the crime scene revealed more clues than the girls could. lieutenant chris moon headed back there >> looking for cellphones, computers. typically victims are gonn

have cold are spoken with thei assailants just before the murder around the time of th murder >> the attack did not look random it was not met - but it was so violent. >> that suggested rage and when you look at a rag murder, it's usually somebod very, very close to th deceased >> so naturally, the first person they want to dock to wa the man of the house, robert head, nikki's boyfriend. but robert was in around >> well is the last time you saw robert >> yesterday he left, he came in on sunday. he stayed for a day. he left. >> here's the thing, robert wa a long haul truck driver, whic explained his absence. but not where he was especially when nikki wa murdered >> we had to find robert and w had to check on his gps. >> that takes a while, right >> yes sir >> meanwhile, detective spread out through the neighborhood knocking on doors. did anyone see anything unusual? >> a couple a neighbor sai

they saw a red car in nicky' driveway that afternoon. a car they had never see before and a black car as well. they asked the girls who could've been there? >> does your mom have any othe friends or anybody else that come over? >> she talks a lot of men. she talks to cement. but the only one i've been hearing her talk to lately i joe. >> joe who was joe? >> we are also told by the twins that nikki had a secon boyfriend, joel carter >> to? boyfriends >> to boyfriends. >> now that got th investigators attention. time to dig a little deepe into the life of nikki whitehead. >> coming up >> jealousy or by bloo involved >> there clearly have an argument, the elegant streamin over the phone he was in the media person o interest >> when dateline continues

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we're getting a crash course i the short life of nikk whitehead, found stabbed t dead with her in the home over live in boyfriend, robert, and with her teenage daughters jazz, and tazz, who had each other for support. >> the rules put their arm around each other, and the said it will be okay, we wil find out who did this. they were clearly relying on each other to get through this >> but, they were able t

convey some real information >> any idea who she was talkin to >> it was joe. >> who is joe? >> her mother had a second boyfriend, a man named joe carter, a local barber, whos shop was right next to nikki's salon. a love triangle? veteran homicide detective said it sounded like a recip for murder first, they talk to robert boyfriend number one who is on the road in his long hau truck. how did he react to the news >> he was devastated >> easy enough to check in o robert, gps records put in a full days drive away when nikk was murdered and when they met him, as we did, they could plainly se that his grief was real. >> i mean, that was my bette half, and she is gone. it is a hard thing >> this was how detectives discovered the unusual natur of robert and nikki' relationship roberts that he knew about the other boyfriend, and he said h did not mind he said he wanted nikki to b happy when he was away on th road >> and he is a trucker when he was home, he expecte

for her and him to be a couple and when he was away, he realized she would have othe relationships. >> but what about joe? how did he feel about that he was upset about something says the twins the night before the murder, they said that joe and nikki had a nasty, loud argument o the phone. >> all she told joe is that he could not come over that night >> or they suggesting that the might have been jealousy, ba blood involve? >> that is what we initially thought. obviously, he was an immediate person of interest >> though he was, remember, th

neighbors spotted a black ca near nikki's house the day she was killed joe's car, perhaps >> do you know what joe drives >> no, i know the black car in the driveway and it is a black -- a black car. >> richard reid was th rockdale county district attorney >> we need to look at that car especially since nikki and joe had been in an argument. they were breaking up, and tha is a dangerous time in a relationship it can be a dangerous time in relationship >> it was not hard to track jo down he was in the barbershop where he worked. >> it was around closing time, ready to pack up and get out o their. and they approached me and m friends, and they basicall said that she has passed away, she is dead. i mean, i was shocked, i was i shock. >> how did he react when h came to see? >> he started to weep. >> did he claim not to know?

>> he claimed not to no >> but reactions do not always tell the real story >> they were basically askin about me, our relationship when the last time was that saw her. i started to realize that i wa a suspect. >> the detective did what an good detective would do. he looked for the sort of mark that nikki might have left o the assailants body. >> look at his hands, arms knees. he took off his shirt -- >> but joe was clean, not suspicious scratch on him. detectives learned that ca outside of nicky's house did not belong to him. still, they brought him in for questioning, hooked him up to polygraph and asked him poin blank if he killed nikki and the polygrapher determined that he was not deceptive in answering questions. >> i want to find the killer, want them to know that it wa not me >> so that was it for joe?

>> it appeared that joe was no involved in the death of nikki whitehead. so, two boyfriends and two dea ends >> you know, in addition t robert head and carter, coul it have been a stranger? did you look into that >> we did. >> they still wanted to know who owned another car, a red one that was also seen in nikk 's the day of the killing. it did not take long to find out, it belonged not to murderer at all, but a friend. >> nikki had missed a hair appointment with this friend the friend had come by, knocke on the door and had not been able to make contact with nikki, and left >> imagine had she opened that door, such a grizzly scene, so full of rage and passion so, who killed nikki somebody close then, as they struggle t figure it out, investigators encountered, in their ow police files something rathe stunning >> coming up, family secrets - there were a few yet to be revealed >> it turned into a fight. >> a physical fight? >> a physical fight, and she contacted police >> when dateline continues >> welcome back to dateline.

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right now. a monster storm is wreakin havoc across much of the u.s., but it unleashed its ful theory on buffalo, new york. where hurricane winds caused whiteout condition several people died in the area, and right now many more ar without power. and ukrainian president, volodymyr zelenskyy, delivered a defiant speech on saturday urging his people to persevere in the face of deadly russia attacks, as the countr celebrates christmas i'm jessica layton in new york now back to dateline >> welcome back to dateline. i'm craig melvin miss nikki whitehead for tha

fiercely during the attack tha ended her life the blood, trailing from her dining room to the bathroom, revealed just how savage i was. but with little evidence pointing to a killer, th investigation seemed to stall. until that is, a secret emerge from nikki's past. once again, here's keith morri with bad blood >> the investigation into th murder of nikki whitehead wa not offering up any usua suspects the two men in her life, rober head and joe carter had been eliminated and a home invasion seem ver unlikely in her gate community. >> there was no histories of any peeping tom's. no histories of any unsolved i the neighborhood so we just kept coming to dead ends >> the thing is, they felt sur this had to be a rage murder so violent, so protracted. which made it very likely it was someone nikki new. even possibly, a family member

>> we started getting into som of the family dynamics >> that's when they've turne up in police files, this remarkable incident back i 2007 one brief snippet of famil history, but an event that changed everything that came t after. >> conyers 9-1-1, yes ma'am just woke up and my daughter i gone at the house. >> that was the voice of nikki whitehead. >> meaning your daughter was abducted >> i don't know, man i woke up the door was unlocked, and she's gone i have twin girls. nightmare. >> do you think maybe somebody came and got her >> i don't know if somebod came and got her, ma'am. she doesn't do stuff like this i don't know >> a few hours later, nikk learned that her daughters did do stuff like that jas had not been kidnapped she snuck out to fool around with a boy >> up until that day, i believ in nikki's mine she had perfec girls. nikki realize that they were

necessarily the girl that sh thought they were. >> nikki was determined to hel her girls avoid the mistake sh made at their age. so, she crackdown. a curfew on boys, cell phone use. the following months would b familiar to many parents o teenagers. screaming, slammed doors, ston silences >> and then one summer night i 2008, a year after jas sneak out of the house >> a big argument and it turne into a fight >> a physical fight? >> a physical fight. it was tas and jas against their mother at the time, i think she fel fearful and she contacted th police >> was it the right decision t call the police? that ensured the family ende up in juvenile court nikki asking the judge to help her teach her daughters lesson instead, the judge was blaming nikki. >> i guess the judge thought they were too cute and too smart. that no, they couldn't be doin you -- know he did not take it serious >> what did he decide to do? >> well, he asked my daughte -- he said, do you want your kids

to come back home? as she said, no, your honor. not unless they understand i'm not going to tolerate that kin of behavior. as so, he was like, you mean t tell me you don't want you kids to come home? >> nikki what if you want was coach and couldn't demand that her daughters obey the rules but that is not what she got instead, the juvenile cour judge sent the girls to live with della, their grea grandmother. >> what they were doing what were they doing while they wer in dallas house? >> pretty much whatever they want they kind of when wild and got >> in troubl repeatedly in school and out shoplifting,

smoking marijuana, seeing th wrong type of boys >> well, she didn't want that. she knew she was going back to when she was their age and i her grandmother's custody. she didn't want that for her kids >> it seemed that della wa undermining her. and had somehow stolen away th daughters who matter to he more than anything else in her life >> she really wanted them back really wanted them back. >> how did you know this how did she express this >> she said every day. i want my girls. i'm gonna fight for my girls >> and in january 2010, nikk finally won. the judge ordered the girl back to nicky's. and jas and tas, did not lik it not one bit. >> so they start screaming and hollering, i don't want to g back with her! why would you make us go back? >> in court they were doin this >> yes >> nikki told her mother not t worry. >> she said i'll be fine phil come around >> a few days after the court' decision, on a saturday night,

foot nikki on a welcome home party for the girls. >> they hugged me. they kissed me >> and that was the last tim yucca saw nikki. for a nicer they were, jas and tas answering the increasingly pointed questions of a coupl detectives >> can you tell me wha happened when you go on that day? >> it seems the girls were still wearing outdoor gloves the tech decorative asked coul you take them off please >> it's just procedure since your here. let me see your arms i need to see your arms. >> when we did that, we did se a cut on one of them is hand we saw bruising on the knuckles, skin marks bite marks >> bite marks? >> when we asked them to explain those -- >> the bite marks could have been self inflicted. remember the girls were so upset on the way to the station? they were biting themselves. and the other cuts and scratches? the twins told the cops they had been fighting with eac other. >> you were fighting >> yeah, we don't get alon yesterday. >> it was as they told their story detective dunn took good look at jas and tas and a disturbing idea settle down somewhere in his brain. >> i haven't made up my mind but i'm suspicious >> coming up suspicious

were there reasons to be suspicious >> we watch the high schoo video surveillance ads we se the twins showing up two and a half hours after they should'v for school >> when dateline continues >> there's a look, a way of >> i haven't made up my mind, but i'm suspicious >> coming up suspicious were there reasons to be suspicious >> we watch the high schoo video surveillance ads we se the twins showing up two and a half hours after they should'v for school >> when dateline continues ter, the urge to protect means staying on the lookout to help keep others from harm. at pfizer, we're driven by this impulse. we've reached hundreds of millions of lives with our covid-19 response. and we keep innovating. whatever comes next, we will respond fiercely.

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[ laughter ] ♪♪ [ male announcer ] families never receive a bill from st. jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food, so they can focus on helping their child live. when you call or go online with your credit or debit card right now, we'll send you this st. jude t-shirt you can wear to show your support to help st. jude save the lives of these children. i experienced life at st. jude. every dollar that goes to st. jude goes to a good place. it's keeping families together during the hardest thing they'll ever face. ♪♪ the first thing i'm going to do when i get home is pet my dog. ♪♪ [ woman ] st. jude saved my daughter's life. [ claire ] i love st. jude. [ male announcer ] please call or go online right now

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or, $1,500 total cash allowance on this silverado with a 2.7l engine. find new roads at your local chevy dealer. >> there's a look, a way o talking, suggesting spoken words most early do not. say as nikki whitehead's a teenage daughters told their stories of how they discover their mutters bodies, ou horrified there were the detectives watch their eyes their tireless sobs. saw their bruises and cuts and just knew. >> they are not behaving consistent with somebody tha found their mother murde murdered >> mind you, there's a hurdle person has to overcome t imagine that these two sweet teenagers might have bee involved somehow, a lot coul only be called a slaughter the nikki's mother linda remembers clearly how angry th twins were just a week earlier when the court send them bac to nikki >> when jas came out, sh looked over my daughter an

said if i have to go back home with you i'm going to kill you >> you heard that? >> i heard that. and it stunned me. >> but teenager sometimes do talk that we it is a mean they actually would do anything about it so the detective set about fac checking the twins version o events on the day of their mother's death starting with their claim that they had to walk to school tha morning. >> they told us that they ha overslept a little bit that they had missed the bus and had walked to school >> it was a rush, said the girls, but they did get to school on time >> made all your classes today >> yes >> so, the cops did what the cops do. they checked surveillance tape from businesses along the rout to school. and what do you know >> law enforcement had observe the girls walking down the

roadway next to the gas station, a little after 10 am tha morning. >> nowhere near on time as the school surveillance camera would confirm. >> we watch the high schoo video surveillance and you see the twins showing up around tw and a half hours after the should have, for school. >> so, the twins were caught i eli. and it was a big one and it was in proof of murder, they flatly denied any involvement. even when they were put in separate rooms, they presented a united, twin front >> they wouldn't sway. there was never any disloyalty to each other. they never said any negative comment about each other >> getting want to flip on the other was not gonna happen >> no. >> after those interviews they release the girls to the juvenile court farm them out a family in. france and the police had thei dna, photos of their injurie like those self inflicted by marks off to the labs. but and then they waited pretty sure science would tell them that the sweet little girls were anything but. >> did they appear manipulativ to you >> absolutely.

>> i'll give you for instance, jasmiyah is in one room, tasmiyah it's taken to a similar interview room it's apparent that tasmiya knows there is a recording system in that room. and she starts to pray >> i really want them to catch this person. please, god. >> she knew that some points that somebody would watch that video and would see, young innocent sweet girl. asking god to help law enforcement find the person wh did this >> meanwhile, that the glacial place these things occur, th crime lad worked on the dna. and poured over those photos o the bite marks one on tas's arm was the impression of a big ugly by. they compared the top contours of that by two a mold of nicky 's mouth the similarity was uncanny >> nikki was the most likely source >> had their mother betwee them trying to fight off the attack >> the bite mark on tas's arm,

it was as if she had her mothe and a chokehold from behind. and her mother, nikki, i biting her trying to get away. >> and when when detectives sa themselves biting themselves right after the murder maybe that was an attempt to cover-up that. then the dna results came. back they knew they'd find nicky's blood. but remember, one of the twins had fresh cuts on her hands. and sure enough for nike's blood mixed with, her likely assailants a, match. it belonged to one of th twins. but which one? >> they're identical twins they have identical dna, so we couldn't tell for sure which twin the blood came from >> by this time, the twins had been out in the world, without a word from the police for fiv months wsda reporter katie back >> i think those months buil their confidence built on most an arrogance tha

we're going to get away with this >> so, you can really imagin how it was, may 21st, 2010 just after school. >> how did they react when the were arrested? >> shocked they thought it was over with. five months. >> the arrest was big news i atlanta. two sweet little girls charged with the murder of their mother who would have thought >> i mean, people were riveted by this story. >> oh yes they were. and when the twins finally tol their version of events that unfolded on january, the cit was riveted all over again >> coming up the fatal struggle did their mom started all? >> i kept telling her to stop. just stop. >> when dateline continues th rybelsus®.

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if your prosecutor preparing a murder case against pretty twi teenagers. and so, the a richard reed was interested when, one day defense attorney suggested they wanted to make a deal >> my response is, it's grea to hear from you but i want to hear from them so i'd like to talk to you clients. at like to ask him questions >> that's how dea reed met jas and tas. now 19 years old

and heard them confess they di kill their mother. but was a clean confession really in fact, said the twins, i wasn't their fault she started it >> she started cursing and stuff. i think she was mad about us being late >> that morning they said, nikki was furious they wer late for school and picked up pot in the kitchen, they said, and swung at them. >> she still calling us hors and slots and everything lik that and stupid and everything like that and she threatened us. like, you know, we all gonna die today. >> that's jas. then tas picked up the story >> so, you took the -- awa from your mom. what happened then >> she kind of charged forward not at me though, at jas >> now nikki had a knife, said the. girls tumbled room to room trying to get away from he before she cut one of them and in fact, said tas, that'

how her finger got hurt. >> i kept telling her to stop. just stop, just stop, just stop >> but she didn't. they said this >> so i'm trying to punch. or i guess i think it tas stabbed her she stabbed her. >> at this point in time, ho many times did tas stab her? >> at some point, exhausted, the twins said they all called a truce. it didn't last long. >> they both describe how mo lunges for the knife and whe she does it's on again >> finally, said the girls they overpowered their mother. who stopped struggling and mood that she was cold so they put her in a warm tu to try to soothe her even though they said she sh was still spinning mad and threatening. them >> kill me now, and o i'll kill you all. >> eventually, they said she stop talking rifted off in the warm water and died >> so, what did the da think after listening to the girls tale of self-defense against their mother gone berserk? >> did you believe them? did you believe everything h

said >> no. >> still don't >> the idea that nikki launche an attack on her own daughters difficult to believe, said the da cher nonsense is what nikki' mother called it >> my daughter never hit her kids they never had a spanking, o less anybody knows nikki, knows tha was in her behavior. >> it was very clear to th detectives who were the case that in fact nikki was the victim of an unprovoked attack she had at least 45 stab ruins her spinal cord was almost severed. >> nikki fought for her life we think she fough defensively. you can see where she's on her back, some of those times, fighting off people that are attacking her from above, with knives >> as for the girls claim that they put their dying mother in

the tub to keep her warm, as they watched her fade away fiction through and throug said, the police >> we think she was dead befor she was placed in the tub. or she would've blood into the water. the water would've been bloody they put her in the blood wate trying to wash off the crime scene. wash off the evidence. >> the true said the detectives, the girls were remorseless defiant. remember how they sounded just after their mother's death >> i want my money >> i really want them to catch this person. please, god. >> listen to the little little darlings when they didn't know they were playing for th cameras. >> are you available 59, 34? >> this was recorded in th back of the squad car just after their arrests. >> sweet little girls? >> they got -- evidence they can do nothing with - evidence

>> man, get real did you find a murder with m fingerprints on it or something man, it be different if they said i did it. please do that please find a murder weapon. thank you. >> they are aggressive they are angry they are combative these -- -- dumb, dirty cops did this -- >> oh, and one more thing. tucked away in one of the girl bedrooms police found this journal. inside childish handwritin with a death sentence. there were notes to each other said the da, written jus before the killing she don't care she selfish. we got to get rid of her to which the other twi responds, that's what i thin also she gotta go, asap >> it may be the most tellin piece of evidence that the whole death of the mom may hav been premeditated. >> still, the da worried may b a good offense attorney coul spend the family serving tha history. the juvenile court drama

in a case to boyfriends, and somehow sell a jury on self-defense >> it would've been an ugl trial. and i think to some extent i would've been misrepresentation of nicky's life >> so, he didn't like it much. but he let them plead guilty t the lesser charge. voluntary manslaughter 30 years for each. not enough said nicky's mother linda. >> these children have kille my child brutally. and you're going to give the 30 years they shouldn't even be able to walk the street. and i know these are m grandkids, but come on now i mean, if they can do this to their mom, god help us all >> the question is over an over again - >> how everything about this goes against nature. how the person that provides for you and raises you and loves you, and gives birth you how you could watch that perso die in the bathtub and lie about it >> and meronek - >> it was the x-ray reporter katie beck that brought th story to and atlanta bot horrified and fascinated she first secured access to al those police videotapes, exposing these pretty little liars for all the world to see >> islam becomes clear tha these girls have multipl personalities. that they can be whoever the need to be for their own purposes that they can morph betwee fragile, disturbed, innocent teenager into sort of this demonize

criminal >> those girls you know. the sweet little girls what happened? to them? >> it's hard for me to even -- i don't know >> and nikki's mother, lynda whitehead, carries the helples grief with her every day every sleepless night. without her daughter, withou the granddaughters she thought she knew >> i was so proud of them. and they would talk about what college they wanted to go to and sorry. >> it's okay >> so i'm sitting here and everybody is gone. >> that's an awful tough road. >> you can't even imagine.

because every morning i wake u and think about my daughter an my grandkids it's just a tragedy. >> one of a mother who dared dream that her sweet gemin twins would surpass her. who instead became their victim >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin thank you for watching