detective bliss put bill in his car, drove to the beach. then, in handcuffs and leg irons, he shuffled down the long path to a place in the sand where he had often sat with sabine. this is where he brought her body. >> a spot where they used to set up all the time, right off the road from haley's motel. buried in the beach right there. >> right here, where he and sabine came to watch the sunset. >> which way to put her in? >> her head is here. her feet is down there. >> you detective bliss mapped the area with tiny yellow flag. >> four, five feet. >> and then, the detective gave bill an opportunity, whether he deserved it or not. >> go ahead. >> i told him, if you wanted to say a prayer, you could. that's when he got teary eyed and emotional, and he >> >> well i'm craig melvin, and this is dateline. >> she was an 18 year old girl it broke my heart, it destroyed

me, what do you do? you just keep fighting. >> heidi allen was sweet, spirited and supersmart. she took a job here to earn cash for college. >> she wanted to be responsible. >> she was working the early shift on easter sunday and that's when she vanished. >> i go to the store and i say i can't find heidi. >> they notice someone wrestling with someone in a van. >> it became the two brothers did it together. >> mystery solved? maybe not. years later during a chance encounter -- >> they said to us do you really want to know what happened to her? >> a horrifying story. >> he said i grabbed her like this -- >> and old case blown wide open. >> i said we can't let this go. >> two women teaming up for the truth. >> if you think i'm going to walk away, you are mistaken. >> uncovering an astonishing twist. >> attach was a photograph from

heidi allen it had a code name julia roberts. >> a teen with a secret identity, did she also have the secret enemy. >> they wanted to shut her up, permanently. >> welcome to dateline. secrets, everybody has them, but some are more dangerous and take longer to be revealed and others. like the curious case of how the allen, why did she disappear one fateful easter morning and how would it come to be that years later to women heidi never knew would help uncover her secret and tried to bust a case wide open? now here's dennis murphy with rear window. >> tanya priess never wanted to be a star witness least of all a murder investigation, but after that guy blurted out what he did she felt she had to come

forward. >> would you live with it? could you live with all of that? >> and she found herself on the phone talking to a district attorney in upstate new york. tanya believed she knew who had done it, who had done the terrible thing at the convenience store on easter sunday many years ago. the store clerk abducted and never seen again. >> they probably only took maybe 60 seconds to do what they needed to do. >> what tanya reopened was a wound that had never healed in new york. >> i can't let it go. i won't let it go. >> i will die trying and fighting for her. >> if they think i'm going to walk away, they are mistaken, i will not. >> even today, just say the name heidi allen and swirl of memory come back, some of them fuzzy now, it was 1994 that missing girl, the van, was it

blue or was it white? and did they get the guy that did it and sent him away? tanya was a teenager back then. did you follow it in the news, did the kids talk about it in school? >> i knew that they were looking for a van that is basically all i knew at that point. >> here is what's not in dispute about that snowy easter sunday morning. 18 year old heidi allen taking the early shift for a worker open the convenience store about 5:45 am, it was a part-time job for her, a way to defray some of her college freshman bill. lisa was heidi's sister. >> she was sassy and energetic and a risk taker. >> did she like school? >> she likes school because she was smart, she didn't have to study, she was one of those kids. >> she was one of those kids, really? >> one of those kids. >> what was her job? >> it was our friends, her mom and dad felt safe. >> before they bird started

showing up for the newspaper, a few gallon of gas at the pump i.d.s boyfriend was there with her to help her get things running for the day. >> he would take her so that she wasn't alone until people, you know the traffic was picking up and then he would go. >> that's what happened that day? >> right. >> richard thibodaux original or lived a few miles down the road and saw heidi that morning. >> i asked her for two packs of basic cigarettes, paid her, i said have a nice day. >> a few more cars pulled up to the m w, reporter covered the case for syracuse.com. >> some customers had come in and didn't realize she wasn't there until they had been there for a while, flag down a deputy and know heidi. >> heidi's sister lee so woke up that morning to very bad news. >> in my aunt was on the machine and she said, heidi is missing. >> missing. >> we saw her the night before. when she delivered our easter baskets and she had her usual

goofiness. >> it was shocking that an 18 year old girl could just disappear like that on easter morning. >> the convenience store was strong with tape by the time how the sister arrived. >> i just felt like i was watching a movie. >> inside the store, not promising, they found heidi's purse, her car keys, money undisturbed in the register, no signs of a struggle and her car was parked in the law be. >> i just remember sitting and watching. i didn't know what to do. >> the community made a find highly volunteer command center at the old firehouse while the authorities readied their first new's order. >> we have an 18 year old girl by the name of heidi allen who lives here in new haven who was the clerk. >> someone listening to that bulletin was richard thibodaux who of course recognize heidi from the convenience store where he had shot earlier. he turned to his girlfriend

teresa and said as much. >> and richard said oh my god i was there, about two packs of cigarettes. so he picked up the phone he called. >> called the sheriff and set in motion a sequence of life-changing events he could not stop. other callers that morning offered tips about a suspicious van at the store. he was sheriff at the time. >> they noticed somebody driving very radically, wrestling are struggling with someone in a man. >> this ban, sheriff, did you get a model? >> different color, white, light blue. >> but in those early hours in the days before smartphones and ubiquitous security cameras, nothing was coming together. well in tears searched, national guard was cold out, but heidi was gone and stayed gone. >> we followed up on every lead we had no major people. >> weeks went by without an arrest, without answers and

then a couple of months past, they had brought in a criminal profiler with the fbi behavioral science unit, someone who would litter correctly profiled the oklahoma city bomber. but in this instance, clint van zandt was the agent of the unit who was assigned to the heidi allen case in upside new york, his case look for someone with a history of violence and someone obsessed with the case. >> the person who committed this is somebody who was really interested the community was interested in the case but this is more interest -- >> obsessed. >> could not let it go. this is somebody who would be saving newspaper articles. >> and there would be many newspaper articles decades of them at that, the case of heidi allen was just getting started. >> coming up -- a stunning twist, the killer seems to out-himself. >> he says yes, i killed this girl. >> he gives it up? >> he gives it up. >> when dateline continues. when dateline continues

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dennis murphy: heidi, the teenager. >> i knew the teenager behind behind the convenience store counter selling the convenience store counter settle selling papers and cigarettes advantage that easter morning sheriff rule todd, what was your working theater who would grab an 18 year old girl? >> our theory than was probably a sex crime. >> abducting and after weeks of fruitless searching presumed murder. >> she's the 18 year old girl

that had her life taken from her. she was a good kid. with goals. >> but the sheriff's department was pursuing a promising lead and it concerns the guy who had bought cigarettes from heidi thought morning. richard thibodaux. did the cops on the phone start to ask you questions? >> they said to someone over to the house and asked me a bunch of questions. >> investigators had turned out or suspicious of him from the get-go. they'd even put him under surveillance. the reason? thibodaux's was the last transaction recorded on the register that morning. and richer tip it also drove a white fan. what seemed to match a vehicle described by a witness at the scene. >> at first it was blue, a change to white but he did say in the end that van, the thibodaux van that was the fan. >> the witness reporting more than one man, so investigators also brought in richard's brother gary for questioning. the brother said he was home to sleep that morning and his girlfriend vouched for him. but gary thibodaux didn't have

a spotless record he had an outstanding warrant on a minor drug charge in neighboring massachusetts. >> they extradited him to massachusetts which was an odd thing on a drug charge. in >> the county jail truck up a conversation with a fellow prisoner. >> him and gary are sitting there shooting the breeze and they get talking about something and he says yes i kill this girl. >> he gives it up? >> he gives it up. >> brother gary is eventually said to have told to prisoners about his involvement in the crime. that he and heidi used trucks together, that she feared gary was going to screw her over in a drug deal. >> and with that jailhouse confession investigators now believed they had their case. the two brothers drugs and abduction and murder. >> i was waiting for my school bus to come -- >> this is richard tiptoes stepdaughter amanda. she was just 11 at the time. and police cars came pulling into my driveway, i do not know how many. but they came shooting right in

and stop quickly. >> both brothers were arrested and charged with kidnapping in the first degree. >> a major break in the -- allen case. >> what's the motive sheriff, what's the theory that goes with them being in their van in the convenience store? >> you know what the motive is? opportunity. they stepped in there to get the cigarettes and that was the opportunity. >> to abduct this young cute girl? >> there will be two separate trials for the brothers, two separate areas to decide their face and in the summer of 1995, at the first of the two, gary, went on trial. -- now a retired judge was gary's defense attorney. he said the case was a friendly and circumstantially light. >> there's no indication that gary had ever been to the end of me that morning. >> gary testified that he was asleep that morning and that the jailhouse snitches got to him indicted for flat out lying. he figured they must of been angry with the prosecution. >> the only thing that they had

to contend with the fed that gary kind of boasted about, they were looking -- but they were statements the jury apparently believed. and in just four hours. >> how do you find the defendant -- ? >> guilty. . >> brother richard, owner of the, vandoorne who bought the cigarettes and placed himself at the store went on trial if you weeks later. his stepdaughter, amanda, was certain that he'd be found guilty as well. >> it did not make sense for them not to find him guilty because they found the jury guilty and they say that gary did it with him. >> richard was without a doubt i.d.s last customer, and witnesses testified that they had seen a van like is at the scene. richards van, however, showed no trace of blood or anything connected to heidi. this, time the jury deliberated eight hours. >> we find him not guilty. >> two trials, two opposite

results. >> so here is the strange thing about the two brothers, it seems share of, you have got richard who is acquitted, and yet he is when he says i was in the shot. the one who does not put himself in the shop is the one who goes down for. it don't they have to be included together for this to make sense? >> i would say so, but is still is not matter. do you believe good rested conviction? >> absolutely. >> heidi's family was not quite sure what to make of the two trials. heidi's first cousin is -- >> it was confusing to have, basically, the same evidence, just a different jury and you end up with two different murders. >> and there was something that always bothered cousin missing about the trial. the jailhouse informants testified that it was a drug deal gone bad, which did not make sense. >> she was not a drug user herself, she did not participate in that. >> --

the fbi profiler is also left scratching his head. his profile predicted that the person responsible would be an obsessive, stalker type. >> did you think that you may be missed something in your evaluation? >> the brothers did not add up to my profile, so i was trying to figure out what i missed. was it something that i did not know about that i did not have a handle on? >> the years went by. a fading sign of the center of town was the lingering reminder that once there had been a girl named heidi allen was taken from her. >> heidi allen has been huge in everyone's mind for years. i, mean because she is never been found. >> and there was a lingering feeling in the town on some people, that just, maybe there was more to the story. >> i did not know what to do. it broke my heart. it destroyed me. >> coming up. a chance encounter and the shock of a lifetime. >> he said to us, do you really want to know what happened to

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it was an odd conclusion to the

ask your doctor about ondennis murphy: it was an odd- conclusion to the heidi allen heidi allen case. one brother convicted, the other brother, the one who admitted to being at the store, acquitted. and, even though richard cabanal was not found guilty, in some people's minds, he simply had a lucky day in court.

stepdaughter amanda -- >> growing up we are known as the kidnappers kids. the murderer's kids. >> for the alan family, it wasn't unsatisfying result. they still did not know what had happened to heidi and her body had never been found. >> she's out there somewhere in somebody knows? >> that's right. and sunday we are going to know. you cannot give up hope. >> even after the dust settled the case a state in the news for years to come. some young people like tanya priest never really forgot. >> nothing like that had ever happened in our area before, so it stood out. >> a full decade rolled by. tanya was now in her mid twenties and one day while visiting a friend named vicky, up popped a story about the ideology case, an anniversary report. >> when the news flashed about heidi, i said to her i wonder what happened to heidi and she said me too. >> it was not really a question, just an out loud thought. but someone in the room decided

to answer. it was the friends boyfriend, a guy nicknamed thumper. >> he said to us, do you really want to know what happened to her? we were like okay, yeah. >> this next version on that easter morning need close attention. because it did not involve the typical players at all, but what thumper himself and what two young buddies at the epicenter of i.d.s abduction. >> he said they were pulled in right over by the doors with a vehicle running, they left of the back doors open. they said i grabbed her like this, we dragged her out of the store, and then he left and he said when we hit that van, we hit that van hard with her. >> could he be serious. >> isn't this guy just sort of flexing his biceps for the girls? >> the more we did not believe him, the angrier he became. he said okay, how did the white then get involved? he said we just got lucky, one showed up before we did. i said thumper, there's an innocent man in prison. he said, not my problem.

>> so did she run to the police then and there, scream out anyone who would listen? it was not that simple. >> tanya, why didn't you go to the sheriff's office at that point and i had a story to tell? you >> while he lived a mile down the road from my house. >> tanya says she was paralyzed by fear of somber. >> i went home and cried, i did not want to know what to do. >> but she never forgot about that chilling conversation. she tried to cut off contact with her friend vicky and the boyfriend, and eventually tanya moved out of state. >> she was an 18 year old girl, and it broke my heart. it destroyed me. >> the turning point came in 2010, three years later. that is when tanya learned some sickening news. in a domestic dispute, thumper had shot and killed her former friend. >> did you then think he was capable to have done that to heidi? >> of course. >> the domestic and -- then >> of course. >> thumper, real name james steed, was convicted and

sentenced to life in prison. tanya says that conviction and the tragedy in her own life of the death of her husband galvanized her to finally speak up. she picked up the phone and call the county prosecutor, a guy she once knew. >> this is tanya from high school? >> this is tony from high school. >> gregg oakes had risen through the ranks to become a -- district attorney. now running that same office that had gotten the garry gibbs no conviction years earlier. of course, you remember the case of the missing girl. >> i was home for easter and remember that being on the news. >> when tanya priest called him about a story that implicated three news and suspects in heidi ellen's abduction, he listened carefully. >> i know the truth, sir. i have nothing to lose and nothing to gain from. this -- >> absolutely. >> the dea flew tanya up to new york to hear more details. and, together, they discussed how to verify their story. one detail seemed promising. in the story told by some for that today, he said that they

had taken heidi in the van to the home of a young woman named jennifer westcott. >> he screamed if you do not believe me, go ask jennifer. >> what we want to do is try to follow up to see if there's any truth to that. >> jennifer westcott was a girl tanya new from high school. the dea encouraged her to get in touch by facebook, they exchanged telephone numbers, and then it was time for a phone call. >> they plugged into my phone, tape the whole conversation. >> hopefully she will answer. >> hello? >> it had been years since they last spoke. tanya made small talk at first. and then eased into the story that she had heard. the murder of heidi all those years ago. >> he just told me that they grabbed her from the store and they brought her to your house. >> i really, in my own head, i dropped that. >> right. >> i don't know, probably about ten years ago. >> jennifer did not deny anything, but she was not saying much either. >> why did they even involve

you? or even do this? >> i don't know. >> you don't know even which one of her killed there? >> no idea. >> i had to keep throwing stuff at her, and seeing if she would bite. >> did you even know that this was heidi that they brought their? you had no clue? they just showed up with our? >> yeah, they didn't even bring her in the house. >> yeah that's -- >> a major sit in the van. >> it sounded as though jennifer had real information and just delivered the dea the goods. >> it bothers me to talk about it. i won't lie to you. >> tanya had just one more question. how did jennifer ever considered go into the police? >> i would never open a can of worms like that, he called almighty. i'm not, i'm not doing the investigators job. i don't get paid enough. >> at first i felt sorry for her because the more talked were on the phone, and the more i realized that she had no remorse. >> based on the conversation that takes place, we have concerns that maybe there was some truth to tony's claim. >> 20 years, 20 easter's had

come and gone since heidi's disappearance. and now with johnny's story, everything was new again. >> the dea starts looking into the evidence, tanya helped gather. but, what will it mean for the case? coming up. >> when the investigator talked to jennifer westcott she explained that, look, my statement to tanya were not true. >> when dateline continues. ne continues this is a cranberry. full of ancient, antioxidant, taste bud blasting power.

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york with a look at what is happening. less than 48 hours after the expiration of title 42, thousands of migrants are still waiting in limbo at the southern border. the covid era policy allowed officials to turn away migrants at a much faster pace to cut down on processing time. the race to 2024 is well underway, former president donald trump and florida governor ron desantis are holding dueling rallies tonight in iowa ahead of the republican parties which are now less than a year away.

trump's rally in des moines will be the second campaign event that he has held since launching his official bid. and now back to dateline. back to dateline dennis murphy: greg oakes had grown up not far from where gregg oakes had grown up not heidi allen disappeared. far from where heidi ellen disappeared. and now, as district attorney of the county, he was tentatively giving the case a fresh look. >> when somebody comes forward with a claim that potentially exonerates a convicted man, we have to take it seriously. >> inside the walls of the clinton correctional facility in new york we met the convict who is the subject of all this reconsideration. it was 2015, gary -- was an old 61 with a candle -- and a bad long. >> did you object heidi allen? >> i did not. >> and then killer? >> no i never objected or killed anyone.

>> he says those jailhouse snitches lied and their testimony was the only real evidence against him. >> did you tell those -- >> >> no. >> you're not doing drugs with i.d.? >> no. >> he had been inside for 20 years, he had always proclaimed his innocence, but -- >> do you say why me? >> i've gone through all of them feelings and emotions and thoughts over the years. but i've got to believe that you are what you are in life. that's what you're supposed to be, whether it has anything to do with the innocent and guilty. >> but yours is more than 20 years now in the new york state correctional system. for a crime you say you did not commit. >> i did not. >> back in 2013, when tanya stepped forward, gary had no idea the case was being given another look. he had exhausted his appeals. the other brother, richard, the

one acquitted of a hardee's kidnapping it says that his life has been filled with anxiety. >> i've been afraid for the past 20 years. actually, going anywhere by myself. >> you have been traumatized by all of this? >> yeah. >> and he is also regretted coming forward as the -- who told investigators that he had been in the convenience store that morning. >> the worst mistake of your life picking up that phone and calling your cops? >> they had to convict somebody. why us? because we had a van? >> are the two brothers self pitying saying why me? >> they're together as one saying why did it happen to us. >> neither brother was aware that a woman unknown to them were beg banging on authorities store to get the case reopened. the investigator asked tom's old friend, the woman on the phone who seemed to know more than she should. >> they didn't even bring her in the house. made her sit in the van. >> to come down to the station fort to talk. >> i don't know anything about the heidi allen case.

>> the investigator asked about that recent phone call with tanya, and the fact that they had it all on tape. >> did you make reference saying that they brought -- and that you stayed she -- kept her out of the van. >> no, i never said anything to her about a van. >> well, in fact, she had. that is when they told her that the call was recorded. >> oh my god, i really don't -- i mean i was. this -- lady. where does she even come up -- ? what is about? i said i don't know anything about them taking -- i just thought i was shutting her up. i don't. i guess i was confessing i had heidi allen at my house. >> when the investigator talked to jennifer westcott she explained that, look, my statement were simply not true. i was trying to get her off the phone, i was trying to appease her. >> the dea tracked down -- thumper, aka james dean and the

other two. many said that the -- investigators also contacted the jailhouse snitches from back in the day and they stood by their testimony. more importantly, gregg oakes said they got nothing for testimony. >> so as you reviewed them you found them credible? >> i did. >> why do you believe some people and not others. >> we have to look beyond we believe someday or not. is their information that they can provide that could be backed off by independent evidence? >> the dea did not think he could believe anything that jennifer westcott had to say. he came to question tony's credibility to. >> i do not believe tania and her story. she said she had heard this back in 2006 and i asked her, why didn't you immediately come forward to the police? and her response was, i simply didn't believe him. >> after reviewing all the evidence, he decided that there was no there there. >> i was convinced that they had had the right person. >> what would the motive before these two brothers?

>> unfortunately, dennis, there is been no obvious motive for all of these years. >> one side gone by since tanya first called the d.a.'s office. then she got a phone call. >> i was told there would be no further investigations. >> case closed, we've got the -- for this night? >> yeah, i started crying. >> >> so is that it? had she given at her best shot? time to go home? you would think so. >> if they think i'm going to walk away, they are mistaken. i am not. >> coming up, a secret document and a stunning revelation. heidi allen was a young woman with an alternate identity. >> code name julia roberts. >> why this case might just be blown wide open. >> how did this not come out during the trial? >> when dateline continues. teline continues oh! excuse me! roll it back, everybody!! charmin ultra soft is so cushiony soft, you'll want more! but it's so absorbent, you can use less. enjoy the go with charmin.

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dennis murphy: tonya priest had gone to the authorities authorities with an explosive allegation. she said a man nicknamed thumper had confessed to her that he had two bodies had abducted and murdered heidi allen back in 1994. she was devastated when the prosecutor checked out her story and ultimately chose not a believer. >> i was doing it because i was a good person. and that is how i felt. >> but tony would not give it up. she was convinced that an innocent man, gary -- was in prison. she made kohl's and was eventually put in touch with a new york federal public defender named lisa -- somebody who had ties to the defense lawyers who had worked on his failed appeals. >> tanya felt as though things were on this by the time she called our office. >> lisa, the lawyer, listened

to that secretly recorded phone call between tonya and her childhood pal and came away with different takes in the dna. >> i would never open a can of worms like that. god almighty. >> that was like, jaw-dropping. >> what do you hear on that to? >> a woman confiding is that it took her a long time to get the images out of her head. i heard her say -- in the van. she also said that she would never go to police. >> did you believe it tanya when she came forward? >> i absolutely did. i said we cannot let this. >> go lisa called up her friend dawn o'brien, then a reporter with syracuse.com. >> she says, you have always told me to call you when i have good case and i've got one. >> lisa had a morsel that intrigued him. >> this was the first time in 20 years that anyone said they knew anything about what happened to heidi allen. >> one of the early doors reporter knocked on was richard, the brother who had been accused and acquitted. >> finally, it was unbelievable. >> finally somebody comes

forward to help my brother get out of prison. >> i was like if you have anything that might help here, let me know. so he had seven dogs -- boxes of documents in his garage. absolutely i'd like to see those where it away. >> for two decades, richard had kept every scrap of paper related to his trial. was there something buried in there that of the other lawyers had missed? something that might help his brother? fort lisa and the reporter, eagerly digging through those boxes was like opening presents at christmas. >> i thought, what is this stuff? it was so bizarre to me. >> there was something buried there, something forgotten that almost gloat it turned out to be so important for their quest. what they searched out wasn't in terms -- that put heidi allen in a whole new light. she was not just the bright faced smart girl selling papers, she had a secret arrangement with local law enforcement.

>> heidi allen was a confidential informant. >> telling us who is selling acid on school grounds, who's dealing dope? >> right. >> she had been issued a three by five informant index card. it had name, fingerprints, even a secret informant alias. >> it had the code name julia roberts. it had all or personal information on this current. >> saying this woman, code name julia roberts, is a drug informant for. >> i was thinking, how did this not come out during the trial? >> the discovery of hides informant status opened up a whole new series about her disappearance. >> it certainly would have opened up the field to many other possible suspects with a motive to harm her. >> it turns out some power had said as much to tanya. >> he said that is what happens to rats. she was a rat, she was going to turn some of the big guys in and that is why they did it. >> as thumper tells, if she is a snitch. >> she is a snitch. >> lisa immediately got on with his trial attorney from 1995.

back when he did hear rumblings that heidi might have been working with the sheriff's office, but said there is no file and that simply it was not true. >> i don't know anything with the card, i don't know anything about julia roberts. >> so who did no? as it turns out, heidi allen's i.d. card was not walked away in a surest filing cabinet somewhere. a deputy actually carried it around with him. one day, two years before she disappeared, he lost. dropped it in the parking lot of the d and w convenience store where heidi would one day become a cashier. the idea was later found. >> it is essentially like outing an undercover officer or protected witness. >> yes. the idea that it is out there, that they believe she is an informant, is a problem. >> what was important for lisa buske about the heidi identity card was that, even though it was in the brothers case, while it apparently had never been given to gary thibodeau defense

team. she argued that is something called a brady violation, prosecutors are required to turn over any evidence that might help the defense. lisa filed a motion to have gary's convictions thrown out. john o'brien broke the news, writing the first of many heidi stories to come. >> it just took off and people or devouring it. >> a rock had been kicked over. the reporter is now getting hundreds of tips and leads. he even tracked down one of the jailhouse informants from the trial. robert bald sorrow and recorded the interview. the man's story had changed somewhat. >> your testimony came out that he confessed to it. >> i never said he confessed to anything. i just said, you know, he never came flat out and told me that he killed anyone. >> any coworker of i.d.s said in a statement that shortly before heidi went missing, she had been afraid because the sheriff's department wanted her to nail people for dealing coke. but, i.d.s sister, lisa, was having nothing to do with a new series. >> do you believe that the

conviction of when those brothers explains everything i do think there's more? >> this means that we trust are on forsman's, we trust cartier. >> you had confidence in their professional-ism and you do now you're saying? >> of course we. do >> the judge looked at the new evidence decided to hold the hearing. >> you are seeing to the court, there is no evidence. given the new trial cut them loose? >> yes, i think there's been a huge injustice and it's been a huge mistake. >> are you in a better place now? >> i feel relieved, i finally got somewhere. >> but, all of the fervent interest outside of the walls of the faith of gary thibodeau seem to watch right over the man himself. >> can you imagine life on the outside? >> no. i'd like to go fishing with a can of beer. that would be nights, sitting on the bank, fishing, having a can of beer. >> coming up, the question that provoked this response. >> are you out of your ever loving mind? why in god's name would we ever

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when pain comes for you, welcome back to "dateline." welcome back to dateline, i'm i'm craig melvin. craig melvin. it was a clue hidden for more than 20 years. a secret identity accidentally revealed and someone out arguing that may have resulted in i.d. ellen's murder and a man admits to investigators that he has been obsessed with

the case, but is he connected. here's didn't murphy with the conclusion of the informant. >> in january 2015, a judge granted a hearing in the manner of gary thibodeau, the man convicted of kidnapping heidi allen in 1994. his brother, richard thibodeau, was also in the court with his family. heidi's family was there but not expecting munch. >> there's nothing new today, it's just sensationalized. the narrow issue at this hearing was whether or not prosecutors years ago unfairly and illegally failed to turn over a key document to the defense. that i.d. card of sorts indicating that heidi had been recruited as a drug enforcer. district attorney greg oaks out in fact turned over the confidential informant markets before trial. >> they did receive this information, they did know about this. but, beyond the issue of who saw what discovery evidence when, was another layer. prosecutors said it did not

really matter. >> really her activity was limited to giving some high school information to the deputy. >> it was not a contemporary us investigation about to go? down >> around the time of her disappearance, no investigation that she was involved. with involved. with killso far he was not namis -- that bad guys had killed her in revenge for being a snitch. by then the sheriff vehemently denied the defense in the window that the deputies were somehow responsible for getting out he killed. >> did you guys carelessly bust her identity sheriff? >> are you out of your ever loving mind? why in god's name why would we ever do something like that and jeopardize a girl's life or career or anything? why? >> accidentally. this resulted in a girl being vulnerable. >> how did she be vulnerable? >> the sheriff said yes her i.d. card was dropped in a

parking lot, but was returned to the office right away. only the store owner sought. but, something else was going on in the hearing. lisa, the defense attorney, was also acting a little bit like a prosecutor. she was about to introduce evidence about those three men identified as the so-called of doctors and killers. >> all i have to do is say hey, there is new evidence and had it been available, it would've created reasonable doubt for a jury to acquit him. >> the attorney called other witnesses who, like tony, i had heard stories about of these three men killing heidi and disposing of her body. >> he would tell us several times that he would do us like he did heidi. >> and, that girl from the phone call, jennifer westcott, she changed her story again. telling authorities on tape that she did not know what happened. >> the only thing you said to me is that body was burned in a -- in a wood stove and taken care of in a van. >> and then the men themselves. first, there was some, her real name james steinauer doing life for murder. >> i have nothing that i can tell you about that man over

there. nothing. >> he claim not to know about how these abduction. nor did potential suspect number two, his buddy roger breckenridge, another guy with a record. and then there was the third guy from tanya's story. his name was michael -- he lived a mile from the convenience store and had heidi make him a sandwich most days she was working. what made him stand out among the three was his admitted obsession with the heidi allen case. and told investigators as much months earlier. >> i knew one day -- i'm gonna pop in the picture somewhere. >> you seemed so preoccupied with the case. >> i was obsessed with it because, it just freaks me out. >> it turns out he had a shoe box full of old news clippings he had kept for two decades. in court, his testimony was not videoed, but he admitted ears back that he had been a drug dealer and that he became very emotional. >> he started crying when it came to questions concerning

his obsession with the case and he kept driving by the sign that said where is heidi and he thought about her six times a day. >> strange. and remember that profile drawn up by the fbi agent -- the contributor to msnbc. back then he predicted tidy had been killed by someone who would later appeared to be obsessed with the case. >> it is going to be someone who knew the victim and somebody who will follow this crime very closely, who will gather newspaper clippings, articles, -- >> and there is something else the fbi profiler had predicted. >> i suggested that this is so bold, they are going to have another type of offense in their background. you may see stalking, you may see other types of kidnappings. >> holy cow, he just profiled michael. >> the attorney tracked down this woman, kathryn schmidt, who said she was attract by -- she told us he tried to push her into a car. what >> he was dragging me

backwards with its hand over my mouth and i could not breathe. >> she managed to run away with minor injuries. he pleaded guilty to unlawful imprisonment. but the judge would not allow kathleen schmidt to testify at this hearing. ruling her story about michael was not relevant. >> he is obviously very curious, i think he's mentally unstable. >> or knows what happened to heidi and feels remorseful these years later? >> i don't believe that's the case. >> so, the judge took it all under consideration. dismissed the hearing and said he would have a ruling in due time on whether thibodeau she get a new trial. weeks went by, and then months. >> it is giving me a reason to live now. >> and when it finally came, the ruling was dropped with little fanfare. just an entry in the documents. the judge ruled that first there had been no so-called brady violation. no proof that the state did not handle the documents related to how these drug informant status. and he agreed with the dea that it was not legally relevant

anyways. >> it's all speculation, it's irrelevant. hearsay. >> and as for those alternative suspects put on by the defense, interesting, but in his opinion, to speculative and remote to warrant overturning the jury's verdict. none of the three has been charged with anything related to the i.d. allen case. >> i cannot let it go, and i will not let it go. >> at least -- john o'brien e lisa peebles -- lost that day. >> as long as gary saliva gonna keep fighting for him. >> and she did, into august 2017, new york state's highest court agreed to one more review of the case. >> i hope gary lives to see the day. >> but in june 2018, the court of appeals rejected thibodeau request for a new trial. 's lawyer petitioned the court to reconsider. gary thibodeau was awaiting the decision until august 12th 2018 he died in prison. his decades old battle to clear

his name had finally come to an end. now, all of these new years later, the two families, the thibodeau and islands are left with the same questions. what did happen to heidi and will we ever find a shallow grave? >> i think eventually something is going to happen. >> someone's going to say something. >> i might not know, i might have to wait. but i will die trying and fighting for her. >> she went to work early on on easter sunday morning and was never seen again. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin, thank you for. warren for. warren hello i'm gregg melvin and this is dateline. >> i'm in bed with my imagination and i would play out possibilities of what happened that night.