it's the place where lies unravel, andal buys crumble. >> why wouldn't you abduct -- tell me that. >> the interrogation room, or as cops call it, the box. >> remember, he doesn't like you, he doesn't trust you, and hi doesn't respect you. and you've got to overcome those three things before you're going to get a confession. in california, a seasoned detective takes us along for a psychological showdown with a suspected serial rapist. >> what was it that pushed you into the idea of forcing sex on women? and in arkansas, a boy tells

us about being 12 and on the other side of the table. >> you killed your sister? >> i didn't kill her. i didn't. they automatically assumed i was this demonic little kid. >> i didn't kill my sister. i wouldn't kill her. [ crying ] >> leave me alone. go where cases can be made or broken. ♪ msnbc takes you "inside the box: interrogation." april 21st, 1999. homicide investigator larry hobson leads rex crebbs, a 33-year-old sex offender into the box or the interview room,

at police headquarters in san luis obispo, a college town just off california's central coast. >> it's been my experience that many, many investigators that go into to do an investigation they don't have a plan set up ahead of time. they sit down, they start talking. they wing it. the first thing you have to do is develop some type of rapport or that person is not going to talk to you at all. >> hobson, assistant chief investigator for the san luis obispo district attorney's office makes sure crebs' handcuffs immediately come off. >> when you sit down to talk to someone about a serious crime, the worst thing you can do is keep reminding him of possible consequences. handcuffs are consequences. having a gun exposed where he can see it is a consequence, a badge, a badge on your belt,

they all represent confinement, he's going to go to prison. you don't want that. have you ever met rachel and andrea? >> krebs has been in custody for some 30 days, since please found a bebe gun at his job, a violation of his parole. but both krebs and his interrogator know that's not why they're here. two young women, students at nearby colleges, have gone missing. one taken off the street, the other from her home in the middle of the night. police suspect the women have fallen victim to a sexual predator. >> san luis obispo county had a lot of people that have been convicted of sex offenses. just about any one of them could have done something like this. >> rex krebs is one of the dozens of sex offenders

interviewed by police. he and hobson have been talking for weeks informally at the county jail. since krebs parole agent david zarogoza notifies the task force there's a parallel between the way the women vanished and the suspect's past. >> back in may 1987, he committed a rape. he had broken through the bathroom window and at the end of that crime he hog-tied the victim and left the residence, and i'll never forget this. he said to the victim, have a nice day. >> krebs serves ten years for the rape as well as another sexual assault. now investigator hobson believes it's time to interview krebs on camera, hoping to extract a confession and find the college students. rachel newhouse and andrea

crawford. >> if you were going to do that crime, and you saw somebody you wanted to abduct, you know, bear with me here, this is a hypothetical -- that you wanted to abduct, take someplace, how would you do it? >> i haven't even thought about that. thinking like that is dangerous. >> at this point he's evaluating me as much as i'm evaluating him. i'm watching rex's nonverbal behavior. it's very open and outgoing. he's having no problem answering my question. he's very animated with his hands, he's leaning forward on occasion talking. >> hobson realizes it won't be easy to get krebs to confess, but with 28 years of experience, the investigator believes he knows the criminal mind. >> why didn't you be the person that's responsible for rachel and andrea's disappearance? >> why couldn't i be?

>> yeah, why wouldn't you abduct them. tell me that. >> because it's not in my makeup. >> hobson appears to take krex at his word, asking the suspect for help understanding the mentality that led to his past crimes. >> you're not a bad-looking guy, well put together. you were young at the time, 21, probably could have -- in fact you were engaged, weren't you? what was it at that young age, especially 21, pushed you into the idea of forcing sex on women? >> mama. >> how is that? >> um, you want the whole story? >> yeah. i'm not a psychiatrist, psychologist, i just want to get him to talk, keep that rapport going, because in an hour or less, i'm going to confront him. >> mom and dad divorced when i was 5, because mom decided she wanted to drink and [ bleep ].

>> maybe i'm missing something. how does this tie into forcing yourself on other women? >> hated women. >> okay. all women or just certainly women? >> i think it was pretty much all women. no respect. >> maybe tomorrow, next week, next year, ten years from now, i don't know, we're going to find the person that's responsible for both andrea and rachel's disappearance. what do you think should happen to him when we find him? >> kill him. >> kill him. well, that's a question i ask almost in any interview or interrogation i do, because it tells you a lot in the answer. most people look at themselves and think, what should happen to me for doing this? >> kill him. >> kill him. >> rex kind of surprised me with

this answer, coming off right away and saying, whoever did this should be put to death, but at the same time, he, i think, at that point was believing that we didn't think he did it. >> but police have been to krebs house and found items he thinks he's hidden. investigators hobson is waiting for his mom to turn the interview into an interrogation, revealing the secret, and taking the unusual step of bringing the woman krebs loves into the interrogation room. hands that feel soft and silky smooth! ooh...she's got the look. what's her secret? the gloves? dawn? i don't believe it. [ male announcer ] it's a dishwashing sensation... dawn hand renewal with olay beauty. it contains revitalizing proteins to help smooth skin on hands -- improving their look and feel in just five uses. [ sponge ] soft, smooth... fabulous! you're quite the trendsetter. [ male announcer ] dawn does more...

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with snapshot from progressive. you tell us what you want to pay, and we give you a range of coverages to choose from. who is she? that's flobot. she's this new robot we're trying out, mostly for, like, small stuff. wow! look at her go! she's pretty good. she's pretty good. hey, flobot, great job. oops. [ powers down ] uh-oh, flobot is broken. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. call or click today. san luis obispo, california, a april 21st, 1999. >> i've never disagreed with you guys investigating me.

i haven't. >> investigator hobson interviews rex krebs. krebs says he knows nothing about the whereabouts of missing college coeds, rachel newhouse and andrea crawford, but the investigator is about to reveal evident he thinks ties krebs to the disappearances. >> appear a 2, 2 1/2 hour interview, i confronted him for the very first time. then it became an interrogation. >> you want me to touch that, put my fingerprints on it? >> my fingerprints are all over it. >> krebs has kept the trinket in a wooden box in his house. task force members watching from an adjoining room have been told andrea crawford always carried the same keychain.

rapists will sometimes take items from victims. it keeps the memory of the rape and the domination and everything that goes with a rape fresh in their mind so they can relive it. >> he handed it back to me and acted like he didn't know who it belonged to. he was still pretty loose and open. >> one other thing, really jumps out, is you only have one jump seat in the back of that truck, right? >> uh-huh. >> what happened to the other one? we found that his truck had a jump seat that was missing. eventually we found a jump seat underneath his house way back in a corner. it was obvious somebody had scrubbed on it, trying to clean things up. so we didn't even fool with it. we packaged it up, sent it off

to the crime lab. >> you're familiar with dna, i'm sure, the results and so forth. and guess whose blood that is? rachel newhouse. at that point rex stopped being animated, he stopped big open, he stopped being talkative. >> it was out of control, right? rex, look at me. you got out of control? rex, tell me what you're thinking. tell me what's going through your head. >> at that point i got concerned, because once rex said he wants an attorney, that means the interview was done, we wouldn't be able to try to recovered their bodies or do any follow-up. it was over. i did not want him to invoke his

right to remain silent. so you have to kind of treat him with kid gloves. >> talk to me. look at me. it's not easy. it's not easy, i know that. he shuts me off verbally, but when i touch him, that brings me back into i'm talking to him. he can feel the touch, but with rex, it still didn't work. >> you beat on me? >> huh? >> i said if you sit there and try keep beating on me. >> i'm not beating on you. >> yeah, you are. i'm not going to say nothing. >> i was afraid if i pushed it any further, he would invoke. so i made the decision to shut the interrogation down, and hopefully be able to resume it the next day.

>> oh, we were mad, but we trusted him. he was weigh more seasoned than i was at the time. i was like, okay, he's doing this for a reason. what follows is a long, sleepless night for both the interrogator and the suspect, followed by a stunning decision to let the sex offender tell his story directly to his pregnant girlfriend. >> rex, please.

after questioning rex cribs for more than three hours, investigator hobson notices the suspect retreating into himself. >> i agreed to take him back to his cell. he's in the backseat telling me he's a dead man walking. the next morning i went out to the jail, 6:00 a.m. i want, rex, this isn't going to go away, we need to talk. he says, all right.

once again, the pair entering the interrogation room. very quickly hobson senses that his gamble has paid off. >> are you responsible for the disappearance of both girls? are we going to find either girl alive? that was a no? okay. >> krebs begins describing the events of november 12th, 1998, driving through town and spotting 28-year-old rachel newhouse just after she leaves a bar popular with cal poly students. >> i got a -- premonition where she was going. >> a premonition? okay. where did you think she was going. >> up on the bridge. >> krebs says he parks below the jennifer street bridge, a pedestrian walkway over the

railroad tracks. >> he put on a mask, one thanz -- you've probably seen in the "scream" movie. he puts this mask on, and he steps off to the side so she can't see him as she comes up the ramp. >> what happens next? >> i attacked her. >> when you say you attacked her, what do you mean you attacked her? >> i turn around and hit her. >> where did you hit her? >> across the jaw, i believe. >> okay. now she's unconscious laying on the bridge. what happens? >> i think i drug her down to my truck. >> okay. you say you drug her? what do you mean by that? >> i drug her down the stairs. >> you didn't carry her down? >> no. >> how did you drag her? >> by her hair.

>> krebs recalls tying up rachel and driving toward his home beyond the city limits. >> what happens in there is it >> i raped her. >> he had a very sophisticated system of knot tying ex rex claims that during the night rachel had struggled with the ropes, being around her neck and her feet, and she actually strangled herself and she died. >> took the shovel with me. >> all right. and -- >> dug a grave and i buried her. >> so far the interrogation is going exactly as hobson hoped. krebs talks about sinking back into normal life, working at a lumberyard, where he's regarded as a star employee. but just a few months later, he

says he's driving around and becomes fixated on andrea crawford, when he spots her returning to her off-camp pit home after classes at cuesta college. >> then one night he was at home drinking, and he decided this was the night he was going to abduct andrea? he drove into town, parked his vehicle right in front of her duplex. trying all doors, all the windows, and they were all locked. >> then, krebs says, he notices a small bathroom window, and lowers himself into the shower. >> what happens? >> i hit her. >> you punched her? >> yeah. >> where? >> in the mouth. >> how many times did you punch her? >> three or four times. >> what happens to her? >> she goes unconscious. >> krebs says he hog-ties his

victim and wraps a pill ocase around her head with duct tape. >> i put her on the bed, untied her, took her clothes off, raped and sodomized her. >> what's she saying? >> she didn't say nothing. >> what did you do? >> strangle her. >> what happened? >> she died. >> after covering the body with hogwire, krebs digs a grave. ironically he thens buys flowers for his pregnant girlfriend rosalind. >> does rosalind know anything about this? >> no one knows anything about

them. >> just you and i? >> just you and me. >> despite cribs' confession, police are anxious to find the victims' bodies. krebs agrees to lead the authorities to his graves, but first he would like a favor. >> he loved rosalind very much, obviously. he says, larry, he says, is it possible i can sit down and talk with rosalind and my boss, and tell them what i did, rather than have them see it on the news. i felt that was a fair request, based on what he had just confessed to. plus it was another chance for us to hear his confession to somebody other than me. >> how are you doing? >> in a barely audible voice, krebs gently tells the future mother of his child that he's

the one who raped and killed the two college students. >> oh, my god, no. [ crying ] rex, please. >> it was emotional, yeah, it really was. >> why did you do this? >> she had a serial killer for a boyfriend and didn't know it. >> no, leave me alone. god -- >> calm down. >> she was at that time i think about seven months pregnant, immediately started hyper ventilating, to the point we finally had to call a paramedic to come and treat her. >> what's going on? >> she just got some bad news. >> with the interrogation over, krebs brings investigatoring to the crime scene, keeping his promise to larry hobson. >> he liked larry. it's a weird relationship, but it's a relationship. >> despite that relationship, hobson testifies at cribs' 2001

trial, persuading the jury to send the killer to death row for raping and killing the students. from san quentin, krebs writing christmas cards to hobson, grateful for the way the investigator questioned him, with decency and kindness. >> it just shows that he respected me for the job i had to do. it's just business. coming up -- what's it like to be 12 years old and sitting in the interrogation chair? >> i didn't do it. i didn't kill my sister. i wouldn't kill her. try bayer advanced aspirin. it's not the bayer aspirin you know. it's different. first, it's been re-engineered with micro-particles. second, it enters the bloodstream fast, and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain.

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hello, i'm milissa rehberger. xfs exactly one year ago today that a deranged gunman opened fired, killing six, wounding

several others, including gabby giffords. she led the pledge of allegiance tonight. and republican candidates faced off today in new hampshire. there were just two days left under the stays holds its primary. now back to our msnbc special. camden, arkansas, august 2006. >> okay. you know i didn't do it. i don't know who did. >> 12 years old thomas codville becomes talking to himself alone in an interrogation room after police tell him he's responsible for the murder of his 11-year-old sister caylee. finches i didn't do it. i didn't do it.

i swear to god that's the truth. >> unlike rex krebs, thomas is a complete stranger to the criminal justice system. >> here he's 12. his sister's dead. he's emotionally an infant at this point. if emotional wounds were visible, this child would have bled to death before the first interview was over. >> in the summer of 20 0u6, thomas is about to enter the eighth grade. while lives here with caylee and their mother melody jones. melody is on disability. she tells authorities she suffers from mental illness and has attempted suicide at least once. >> she could go from one emotion to the other in a snap. if we -- me and my sister were playing, we got too loud or anything, my mom would flip out,

start yelling, screaming, maybe grab something, hit one of us, so i stayed away from her. i didn't know how she would act. >> on august 7th, shortly after they find caylee's body in her bedroom, both thomas and her mother are asked to come to camden headquarters. thomas enters the box, or interview room. what follows is a remarkable window into the interrogation process from the suspect's point of view. >> did you argue with your sister? >> every now and then, maybe once a day. >> i was just answering the question. this is what happened this is how our house functions. >> just after the 30-minute mark, detectives get more

specific. questioning thomas about the circumstances surrounding caylee's death. thomas recalls being woken up by his mother sometime before noon, and told to 'company her to caylee's room to deliver a letter from a friend. >> my mom woke me up and said let's go find caylee. she was like that. >> just like what? >> she was tied up with bags over her head, and my mom ripped off the bags, and i went around to her other side, and she was all cold and blue. >> her hands and feet her tied. >> how were they tied? >> i don't know. a knot? i couldn't get it undone, neat could my mom. >> the apparent murder weapons are the family's personal items. both thomas and his mother say caylee's hands are tied with the dog's leash, while her feet are bound with cloth measuring tape.

two shopping bags on her face come from walmart. >> i didn't know she was dead yet. i feared that there was something wrong, but i wasn't aware 23u8ly. fully. >> thomas? >> yeah. >> thomas, i'm with the state police. >> okay. >> and i've been kind of listening to some of the story that you've been telling, and i'm going to tell it to you just like it is. you're an intelligent boy, aren't you? >> yeah. >> well, we're pretty intelligent, too. >> okay. the bottom line is nobody broke broke into that house last night. so your sister died, and there was only two people in the house that could have killed her. >> okay. >> you or your mother. >> but police apparently don't believe melody jones murdered caylee. >> now, all i want to know, i

really want to know why. >> why what? >> why you would kill year sister. >> i wouldn't. >> but you had to have. if your mother didn't, that just leaves you. >> well, i didn't kill her. i know i didn't. >> i'm finally starting to realize that she was dead. i'm scared, i'm getting a business frustrated at the police for asking me all these questions. it pushes me over the edge. i start to break down. >> you killed your sister. >> no, i didn't kill her. i didn't. >> it will feel a whole lot better if you just tell me. >> i didn't. god. i didn't kill her. i did not. >> then who killed her? >> i don't know. >> it had to have been you, son. >> i didn't do it. i didn't kill my sister. i wouldn't kill her. >> is there any way i can prove that to you? >> it's going to be difficult.

>> i'm going in circles. there's nothing else i can think about, but there had to be somebody else that had to get in there. but the cops kept saying that wasn't the case. >> let me ask you this, could it have been an accident? i'm not saying that you killed her. >> look, it's a possibility that it could have been an accident and i don't remember it, okay? >> okay. >> i don't remember killing her. >> the interrogation is taking a critical turn. >> i'm starting to be convinced that maybe i just don't remember, maybe i'm wrong. i'm getting to the point where i'm starting to maybe accept what they're telling me. >> is there a possibility? you two playing around and you tied her up? >> it's a possibility, because i don't remember whether i did or not. i just don't remember. like amnesia or something. >> sure, sure. >> thomas is beginning to change his story. before the day is over, he'll tell husband mother he doesn't

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in a camden, arkansas, police station, 12 years old thomas is in big trouble. for more than an hour, police have been asking questions about his younger sister caylee. thomas and his mother say they found her that morning tied up with the dog's leash and measuring tape, and suffocated with two walmart shopping bags over her head. what thomas doesn't realize is that, on the other side of the interrogation room walls, his

paternal grandfather steve harris, has come to assist him. >> i said i would like to see my grandson, and they said, well, we're interrogating him. i said, does he have a lawyer or a child advocate? >> they said, no, and the strangest thing they said was, since 9/11, that's all changed. >> officers point out that thomas' mother melody jones is also in the building, and has given them permission to interview. boy. >> i said, she bipolar, she has just lost her daughter, she's in a destroyed state, she's not competent enough to help him or help herself, and they said, as long as she says we can talk to thomas, that's all we need. >> i just wanted, for the record, that you did allow us to talk to thomas. is that correct? >> yes. >> melody jones declined to be

interviewed by msnbc. >> a parent should not be able to give up your rights, especially when she's the only other person that could have done it. >> even worse for thomas, he's giving investigators information that's starting to work against him, like details of a game he played with caylee, using handcuffs made of yarn. >> could you have been in a room since mama was in bed and you all decided to play and tie each other up? >> no, i don't tie her up with leashes. >> buttic have been in there and say, come on, let's play prison break or whatever. i don't remember. >> and then tie her up. >> i don't remember. >> and that's fine, because here plays a game. >> i tied her up and did this by accident. i feel like they were trying to find some friction between us.

>> now, you want you have some anger problems? >> yes. >> who is your anger directed to most of the time? >> my sister. >> and why is that? >> because she argues with me. she bosses me around. she doesn't respect me because i'm older. she's supposed to respect me. >> i don't know what's going on. my sister's gone, why aren't we trying to find the person who did this. why are you asking me all these questions? >> do you know what time it is? because i'm getting very hungry. >> 90 minutes into the interrogation thomas is brought into another room to eat, law enforcement officials stay with him the entire time. >> they took that child off camera for three hours and 30, 40 minutes. i guess they didn't want us to know what was being said, because they certainly had the

ability to record it. >> while thomas eats, melody jones replaces her son in the interrogation room. >> were you in any way involved in the death of your daughter? >> know, sir. i wouldn't hurt her like that. i don't even like spank them. i wouldn't do that. i never would hurt thomas, either. >> when you watch that tape, whenever you get past thomas wouldn't hurt his sister, then generally speaking you get some tears followed by something derogatory or negative about thomas. that he blows up, he's on medication, he doesn't have friends, head doesn't like church, things of that nature. >> when you catch him doing something, is he good about going ahead and fessing up, or will he deny it to the end? >> he denies it.

>> they automatically assumed i was this violent socially withdrawn, pretty much demonic little kid where i black out and do crazy, violent things. >> how am i going to deal with this? >> i'm going to tell you. the good lord would be a good place to start. i don't feel like i should push him into church. if you don't, the devil may take him. >> he just doesn't -- he just sits there like -- >> it's better than sitting in hell. >> yes, i know. >> this is a very churchy city, i guess. everyone here believes in god, goes to church every sunday, and for a 12 years old kid to say i don't like going to church, it makes me feel uncomfortable, it's weird. >> if he would do this once, he might do it again. and to be in fear for anybody

he's around, any other child our young person. >> at a certain point, detectives excuse themselves and leave melody alone. when they do, the camera picks up a faint sound from another room. >> how are you doing? i'm not -- >> you heard the words from a male voice, thomas, i'm not going to ask you -- and it fades off, and i think the next word is "again." it's about at that point that thomas says that he decided that it was time to go ahead and tell them what they wanted to hear. >> after i get through eating, this other man comes in and we start talking. then he starts to get angry. he says if you do not confess, we will charge you with the

death penalty as an adult. they start telling me bits of information i could start working into a story. maybe i got angry because she wouldn't listen to me, or maybe we were playing around and it was an accident, or maybe i just blacked out and i don't remember any of it. i didn't want to die. so i told them i did it. >> yet thomas says he thinks he's going home that night, and he tells his mother, he knows the one fact he's sure will set him free. . it's not the bayer aspirin you know. it's different. first, it's been re-engineered with micro-particles. second, it enters the bloodstream fast, and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. the best part? it's proven to relieve pain twice as fast as before. bayer advanced aspirin. test how fast it works for you. love it, or get your money back.

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you tell us what you want to pay, and we give you a range of coverages to choose from. who is she? that's flobot. she's this new robot we're trying out, mostly for, like, small stuff. wow! look at her go! she's pretty good. she's pretty good. hey, flobot, great job. oops. [ powers down ] uh-oh, flobot is broken. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. call or click today. august 7th, 2006. police rush to some small mouse in camden, arkansas, after receiving the report of a

11-year-old girl bound and smothered in her bedroom with two walmart shopping bags. hours later her 12 years old brother thomas sits in a interrogation room ready to confess. if he says calm, there's a reason. he's convinced investigators will soon clear him in the death of his sister caylee. >> all i'm thinking of is if i just get through this, tell them what they said to here, i can go home, get done with this. >> they'll go over your rights. police read thomas his rights. >> i hereby voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently waive them and agree to answer questions. you understand the waiver? huh-uh. what's a waiver? >> it simply cease what you're

saying is you're doing of your own free will. >> okay. >> the definition they game was incorrect. he's 12 years old. he does not comprehend what it means to give up a right to an attorney. >> what happened last night? at your house between you and your sister that let up to where we are today. >> she was asleep, so i put the trash bags over her head and held them there for a few minutes. >> what do you call a trash bag? >> the walmart bag, over the head. and she just -- i tied her wrists and feet after pulling her arms out from under her. then i went back down. >> he comes back and he's a robot. he is not the same person he was 3 1/2 hours ago.

>> thomas now waits to bring his mother into the investigation room. he tells he'll confess under one condition. he wants to do it privately. the investigators leave the room, but the camera continues to roll. >> mom -- [ whispering. ] >> i when i terr they'll find out tomorrow my prints are not on the bag or anything. >> the officer testified he told thomas that the fingerprints from the person who killed caylee would be on the bag at a certain angle. well, thomas was smart enough to know that he had never touched those bags. he had not held those bags to

caylee's face. >> do you understand? i did it. i'm the one who did that to caylee. >> why? >> it was an accident. i'm sorry. okay? it was an accident. >> were you mad at her? >> yeah, because she kept on disrespecting me. >> okay. let's go. >> we can't. sit down. we'll see what they want to do. okay? >> okay. remember, don't tell nobody. >> okay. >> i think thomas was afraid if she told them, that he was going to be taken out in another room and interrogated some more. >> what did you whisper to you? >> he said that just go along with what he said, because he doesn't -- he said he didn't -- he said he didn't do it, and you

all wouldn't find his fingerprints. >> his statement was very detailed in my opinion. but he's wanting to hold back on you because he doesn't want you mad, i think. that's probably what it amounts to. >> thomas doesn't return home. on march 18th, 2008, he goes on trial for the murder of his younger sister. >> there was absolutely no evidence to connect thomas to this crime except his confession. my theory at the trial was that someone, not thomas, had held caylee's head into the pillow. when i asked the medical

examiner if the cause of death was consistent with a large person straddling caylee and holding her head in the pillow, he said, yes, that was consistent with her suffocation. i'm not saying it was the only way, but he said that was certainly consistent. >> i kneeled down on the bag and put the bags over her head. >> nonetheless thomas' words in the interrogation room are too powerful for the judge overseeing the case, and thomas is convicted of second-degree murder. >> i was shocked. i figured how could it come to that verdict when it's so obvious that i didn't do it? >> during nearly three years in

juvenile detention, thomas is a model inmate, while his lawyer fights to have the verdict overturned. >> it simply says what you're saying you're doing of your own free will. >> the decision will come down to an error made in the interrogation room. in 2010, the arkansas supreme court unanimously throws out the confession. based on police giving thomas the wrong definition of the word "waiver." his battle with the legal system ends when prosecutors take no further action. the case is dismissed. >> it's very hard for me to wrap my head around the belief of the police that thomas actually committed this murder. >> i didn't kill her. >> and that the only reason he's free is because they made a mistake in telling him what a

waiver is. >> authorities say thomas' juvenile status at the time of the murder prevents them from discussing the case. in a statement to msnbc, prosecutor robin carroll did say a prosecutor is the only one in a criminal action who is responsible for the presentation of the truth. through our efforts in this case, we believe we have achieved that goal. >> someone killed my sister and they just dropped the case. justice has not been done. >> back in camden, thomas moves in with his grandparents. he says he rarely communicates with his mother and hopes to study astrophysics. this is the first time he's ever spoken about his interrogation. >> what the cops did was not right. i believe they were unprofessional. they thought they knew something, they failed to do their job in investigating it