it's hard to find a picture of kyron horman where he isn't smiling. >> kyron is one of the sweetest guys i've ever met. >> now these pictures may be all his parents have left. >> i got a phone call from the school, and she said being i have to notify you he's missing. >> this is it the last picture of the second grader taken by his stepmother terri horman, one of the last people he was seen with. >> there was an hour and a half time period that morning where terri horman was not located.

>> her friends believe she would never hurt kyron. >> but her husband says he's seen a different side of terri. tonight he's talking about it. a peek inside their home and a finger pointed at his wife. >> i have every reason to believe she had something to do with his disappearance. >> did she have anything to do with it? what happened to kyron. >> we'll never give up hope, as long as living. >> the search for answers, the search for truth. >> the search for answers, the search for truth. searching for kyron. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. welcome to "dateline." i'm ann curry. we want to bring you up to date on the story we're following closely. the investigation into the disappearance of kyron horman, the second grader who vanished from his school in oregon at the beginning of the summer. police haven't public identified any suspects yet, but kyron's parents have. here's kate snow with the latest. >> one, two, three --

♪ happy birthday to you >> it had everything a kid's birthday party needs. balloons, candles, cake. just one thing missing -- the birthday boy. kyron horman should have celebrated turning 8 years old this past september, but he's been missing since early june. >> we're not going to stop looking for him. we're going to keep going until we find him. >> the search has been going on in almost six months. in a new interview, his family says the wait for answers has been agonizing. >> some days are better than others. you live it almost hour pi hour. >> it's sickening. it's pain. . it's the worst torture. >> in these past months, "dateline" has also been searching for answers and tonight you'll hear what we've uncovered. >> i looked back, he wasn't there. >> new details from eyewitnesses about what they saw the day kyron went missing. >> terri just looked very

exhausted that day. >> and new allegations from kyron's father about his wife terri, kyron's stepmother. you'll learn why kyron's family has become convinced that the answer to what happened with their little boy lies with terri horman. >> come forward and tell us what you know. let us find kyron. it's that simple. >> but you'll also hear from terri's friends who are concerned that those who suspect terri may be jm ping to conclusions. >> i don't feel terri is table of harming a child, period. >> it's been nearly six long months of pain and frustration since that june day when a tearful second grader from portland, oregon, didn't get off the bus after school and seemed to vanish without a trace. he was a happy little boy, a 7 year old who loved legos, cars and camping. in school, math and science were favorite subjects.

his father, kaine, and mother desiree, by his side as he discovered his world. >> he has a great personality, and he's just so much fun to have around. the happy noises that come from him and the constant questioning that a 7 year old has, the curiosity. >> sense of humor? >> yeah. >> tell jokes a lot? >> yeah. he's funny. yeah. he catches things that you don't think he catches, and it comes out of his mouth and you just look at him, where did you get that? >> kay ron kyron's parents shared their memories and albums. it's hard to spot a single picture where he's not smiling as he traces life all the way back to day one. >> when he was born, he took quite a while. he just didn't want to come out. and when he finally came out, he peed. >> as boys do. >> yes. >> and the doctor said, okay,

well wit well, the plumbing works. >> do you remember that day, kaine? >> yeah. the birth beiing instructor encourage the dads to take off your shirt and hold your baby close. it's been that close of a bond ever since. >> it's a bond that stayed strong even as kaine and desiree parted ways. >> you two separated somewhere around the birth of kyron? >> uh-huh. >> kaine and desiree both remarried, kaine to terri horman and desiree to tony young. now kyron had two older brothers, desiree and terry's older sons from previous marriages. and then about two years ago kaine and terri had a little girl, kiara. >> like so many american families, you you have this stepmother, stepfather, mom,

dad, extended family. how did that all work in raising kyron? >> we just made sure that we got along and that we sacrificed things that needed to be sacrificed for the good of the kids. and just dedicated our emotional energy in that and not at each other. >> they got along as best they could. it helped that desiree by and large approved of terri's parenting. >> was she a good mother? >> i wouldn't say she would replace me, obviously, but she definitely gave him what he needed. >> around the age of 2, kyron began living with his father and terri full time in portland while spending kweek kends and holidays with his mom desiree and tony down in medford, five hours south. the years flew by and kyron grew up, flori flourishing with frie family at school.

this past june 4th, the little boy who loved science and math, had one more reason to smile. it was the day of skyline's annual science fair. kyron was excited, couldn't wait to show everyone his colorful die arama about the red-eyed treefrog. he worked really hard on it, and his dad knew it. >> i just told him i was really proud of all the effort he put in on his project. he did a really great job and gave him a big hug. >> did you tell him you loved him? >> i did. around 7:45, kaine said he left for his job as a software engineer at intel. kaine's wife terri took kyron to school. they went early to tour the science fair exhibits together with the other parents and kids before class began. it all seemed so very normal. but a few hours later at skyline school, everything would change. >> after lunch, i kept on looking back to see if he came back, but he never came back.

coming up -- the search for kyron begins and so does the investigation, as detectives take a hard look at terri horman. >> she couldn't explain to them for about two hours worth of time where wishe was or what sh was doing. >> when "searching for kyron" continues. smoo [ man ] ladies and gentlemen, the 57th president of the united states. ♪ ♪ ♪

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i remember the time like it was yesterday when i started walking down the driveway to go meet him at the bus. >> and he wasn't there. >> nope. >> 7-year-old kyron horman didn't get off the bus that day

last june, and when the bus driver called the school and learned that kyron had been marked absent hours before, it dawned on kyron's father kaine this wasn't just a temporary mix-up. his son was really missing. kaine raced to the school with his wife terri, kyron's stepmom. >> do you remember the words you exchanged? do you remember that moment? >> not really. i don't remember much of the conversation other than just, where could he be? what happened today? you dropped him off at school. >> five hours south in medford, oregon, kyron's mother desiree was about to get looped in to the nightmarish reality developing at her son's school. >> i got a phone call from the school, and she said, i have to notify you he's missing. and i said, what? she said, he's missing. i said, i don't understand. how could he be missing? i said, okay, where is terri and kaine?

well, terri's here. all right. thank you. and i hung up with her and immediately called terri, and i cussed a little bit, said, what the hell is going on? >> as desiree and her husband tony sped up to portland, word went out to skyline families. >> skyline second grader kyron horman did not arrive home from school today. >> and searchers combed the area. and within days certain members of the kyron horman family became suspicious of terri horman. kaine says he questioned his wife repeatedly about where kyron was wiand what she did th day and that terri either changed her story or wouldn't answer. and kyron's mother desiree and her husband tony, who happens to be a detective himself back in medford, noticed that portland detectives were spending a lot of time talking to terri.

>> i thought that something must not be right, something must not be allowing them to check her off their list. >> she couldn't explain to them for about two hours worth of time where she was or what she was doing. >> the family learned that authorities asked terri to take polygraph tests and that she reportedly walked out on one test and failed two others. not only that, terri's cell phone records apparently didn't match up with where she said she was on the morning of kyron's disappearan disappearance. >> that to me is strike two. that's huge. there's starting to be some structural problems with what she's saying at that point. and then it continues to stack up. >> and on the internet people questioned the authenticity of a photo terri supposedly took of kyron at school this morning. some speculated that it had been faked, photoshopped to look like kyron was there when he wasn't.

>> we are going to continue this investigation on a criminal level. >> authorities soon classified kyron's case a crime. investigators never named terri horman a suspect, but they began handing out questionnaires with terri's picture on them and portland detectives dug to uncover everything they could about terri and the morning kyron went missing. and now, for the first time, eyewitnesses who were at the skyline school science fair tell "dateline" what they saw. >> i remember getting ready for the science fair and showing up early that day. >> the science fair was always a real treat for kyron and his classmat classmates, says pta president gina zimmerman. >> it's a big deal. every grade does it. they put up their science projecteds and then you walk from class to class. >> gina has gotten to know kyron well over the years.

>> kyron is one of the sweetest, most loveable, happy guys i've ever met. just always has a smile on his face, and he makes people laugh and he has many, many friends. there's not anyone in that school that isn't a friend of kyron's. >> also at the fair that morning was carson lopez, who is one of kyron's best buddies. >> i was in first grade and he was in kindergarten. i is a good friend. he's a fast runner. he likes lego star wars like me. >> carson's mom thought it would be therapeutic for her son to talk about kyron. >> he was having a hard time sleeping because he misses kyron. >> a special friend who was there one day and gone the next. >> we were going to have a play date because i was asking him, and then he was gone. >> must have made you kind of sad. what were you going to do at that play date? >> i was going to bring some of

my legos, but we didn't have time because he got missing. >> carson remembers that the morning of the science fair he saw kyron with his project. how was he feeling about that project? >> he was happy, and he loves to learn about the red-eyed tree frog because he wants to know what lots of stuff. >> gina zimmerman also has a distinct recollection of seeing both kyron and his stepmom terri at the science fair, and this is important. she places terri and kyron at the school around 8:30 a.m., which starts the time line of terri's day. gina even remembers chatting with with ter ry about school t-shirts. >> i let her know they weren't ready yet. they would be ready the next week. she said, oh, that's okay. kyron is going down to his medford family and we ordered some for desiree.

>> she was planning ahead. >> right. she was planning on sending the t-shirts down with kyron. >> gina's account dispels the rumors that terri and her stepson never made it to school that day and that terri somehow faked the now-famous photo of kyron with his science project. >> i remember seeing kyron in front of his project, and terri took a picture of him. took one with him in front of it and then one just the project alone. >> you saw her take that picture? >> i saw her take the picture. >> how happy was kyron? >> really happy and very excited, proud of his project. >> in that moment, gina couldn't know that that photo of kyron would soon be posted all over portland and across the u.s. as part of a nationwide effort to find him and bring him home. she saw nothing amiss that morning as kyron and terri horman wrapped up their tour of the science fair, then it was time for terri to say good-bye

to kyron and leave the school. terri horman said around 8:45 in the morning, the last time she saw her stepson kyron, he was walking down this hallway in his school on his way to his second grade classroom. it's unclear exactly who, if anyone, saw kyron after that point or where. but ms. porter started class at 10:00 a.m., time for kids to return to their homerooms and take their seats. it's at this point that carson remembers noticing that something wasn't right. >> i went to sit to my seat. i looked back. he wasn't there. and then a couple more minutes, i looked back and then after lunch i kept on looking back to see if he came back, but he never came back. what happened to kyron? and what did terri horman do after she left his school? >> when i saw terri on friday, she looked really, really exhausted and tired, but she looks like that every day.

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this is it the last known sighting of kyron horman, the photo his stepmom snapped of him almost six you months ago, that happy moment was captured around 8:30 that morning.

by 1:30 that afternoon, the photo appeared on terri's facebook page. for months,s investigators have been pain steakingly piecing together just what happened that day between those critical hours. where did terri go after leaving the school? and did she have kyron with him? >> i didn't just drop him off. i spent time with him. >> now we know a lot more from terri herself about that fateful day. >> took pictures and he was in safe hands i thought as i watched him walk down the hall. >> what you're hearing is not terri's voice but it is text from e-mails obtained by a local tv station which terri wrote the day after kyron went missing. in one she complains that people are already suspecting her. >> they are blaming me in the blogs. i just want to scream. >> but terri also gives a detailed account in those e-mails of what she did the day kyron disappeared. >> off to the gym at 11:20.

out at 12:20, home at 12:45. >> while he's not part of the investigation, former prosecutor jim mcintyre is very familiar with the details of the kyron horman kaes. he helped us analyze terri horman's e-mails, her movements that day and what they may mean for finding kyron. let's take a look at her day. what we know. the one thing we know is that she dropped off kyron at the school science fair. she was seen in the building. they were at the skyline elementary school. police have said she told them she left around 8:45 in the monk, right? >> right. we're never going to get an actual minute she left the school, but i think that's a reasonable estimate of when she would have left. >> the key thing is we don't know if she left alone or left with kyron. >> whether she left with kyron, whether or not somebody was with her and kyron. >> here's the next potential clue. in her e-mails she said after she left the school, she drove to this grocery store nearby.

she says she can prove she was there writing, i have a receipt showing i was checking out at fred meyer seven miles away at 9:12 a.m. >> she goes from a fairly rural area where the school is, she drives maybe five to ten minutes and gets to this first fred meyer somewhere around 9:00. >> that would with all fit. about a 15-minute drive probably. >> so leave the at 8:45, having a receipt at 9:12 pretty well fits together. >> that would fit. that would be getting to the store, walking around and getting through the checkout line. >> is it possible kyron is with terri horman in the car and she just leaves him in the car while she goes in? >> obviously anything is possible. the only issue that i would have with that is one would think that someone would have spotted kyron within the car or with her at the same time. >> is it possible in the 15-minute drive from the school to the first store where investigators really believe she went, is it possible she somehow gets rid of kyron?

she gives him to a friend? she drops him off? >> again, how much time does it take to transfer a child from one car to another? is it also conceivable kyron was in the car but not in an area where he could be seen. was he laying down on the floor? was he on the floor? was he laying on the seat? >> was he hurt? >> so anything -- you could put a number of scenarios in place. >> but we also know where terri says she headed next. she writes about going to a second store with her daughter kiara also known as kitty. >> i went to another fred meyer looking for meds for kit country th kitty they didn't have at the first fred meyer. >> she says she went to a different location in a different town in beaverton. that's where a key encounter occurred. she ran into someone who would with later become an eyewitness. >> somewhere with between 9:30 and 10:00 she ran into terri. she said terri horman made a

point of showing her kyron's picture from the science fair, which she thought was a little odd. >> witness says that now as she thinks about it she struck that as very odd, the timing of that seemed awkward or just different. >> that she would take the time to pull out a photo of right then and there under those circumstances. >> the eyewitness says she saw kyron in terri's photo but she didn't say that she saw kyron himself with terri at the store. nor is kyron spotted with terri at the next place she's reportedly seen, her gym around 11:30 a.m. gwen rabe is a friend of terri's from the gym. she talked to terri that day and noticed that terri seemed spent. >> when i saw terri on friday she looked really, really exhausted and tired, but she looks like that every day. she asked me how am i doing and i said i was good. i said, are you okay? she said, i'm just tired. terri -- she just looked really exhausted that day. >> terri's demeanor is important, of course, but even

more essential for investigators is where terri went in between visiting the second store and checking in to that gym. >> the next place terri horman claims to have gone in e wi-mai to friends is her gym, which is very close to that fred meyer, store number two, probably only a five-minute drive at most. >> not even five minutes. that's come out the door, head down the road and turn right, you're there. >> yet an hour and a half passes between 10:00 a.m. we think she's at the store and 11:30-ish when she checks in at the gym. >> it's a very significant time period that is missing. absolutely. and it appears at this point anyway that that missing time period is unexplained. >> in the e-mails terri does give an explanation for the missing chunk of time. she says that after going to the second fred meyer -- >> then i was trying to get k

kitty to sleep in the truck. but no go. >> she explained her daughter wasn't feeling well. she had to drive around, which any parent can relate to. you drive around trying to get your kid to calm down. >> sure. there's no reason to say that's not true. it is very clear, however, there is an hour and a half time period that morning where terri horman is lot located. >> there may be an answer to where she was. cell phone records seem to provide some clues. pings from terri's phone the day kyron went missing were reportedly traced to a cell tower near a rural island outside downtown portland. the question for investigators, if terri horman came here on the day kyron went missing, what was she doing? did she have her stepson with her? and do the clues to his disappearance lie somewhere in these fields? search teams descended on this pastural scene several times on the chance that this beautiful island may have been the site of something very ugly. coming up --

could ter high horman have made it to this island and back in about an hour and a half, the time period in question? so we're 23 minutes in, and we are making the turn on to sauvie island.

sauvie island, oregon. it's a place not far from bustling downtown portland and yet it's a world away. a bocolic area of pumpkin patches, waterways and beaches, sauvie island also features thousands of acres of undeveloped wildlife preserve. authorities have been searching here for months, as recently as this fall, reportedly because terri horman's cell phone can be traced to sauvie island on the day kyron went missing. former prosecutor jim mcintyre. what possible reason could terri horman have for driving to that island? >> one argument would be because she had a small child that was sick and it's wide open. she can drive around and just kill the time. one other speculation is, if she was involved with anything with kyron, that would be an area that some people would think where she could be disposing of

kyron. >> do something terrible and no one would see her. >> it's an area that a lot of people would think that was a good place to get that done if you knew the island and where to go. >> but the theory that terri horman may have done something to kyron does have holes. mcintyre says the pings placing terri's cell phone on sauvie island may not mean terri went there herself. >> one of the things you have to be careful of is phones get handed off. whether they're admitted to being handed off or not admitted to, you can't just dive into the fact -- >> you can't assume she's got the cell phone. >> where the pings are is where the cell phone is. >> another factor is whether terri horman could have driven to sauvie island and back in an hour and a half. remember terri's whereabouts that day have been questioned from about 10:00 a.m. at fred meyer to 11:30 a.m. when she arrives at the gym. we wanted to find out just how long the drive to sauvie island takes so we did it ourselves. it's just after 10:00 in the

morning, about the same time terri would with have been leha this grocery store. we're just about 15 minutes into the drive now, and we're in a pretty forested area. winding our way uphill. we are 23 minutes in, and we are making the turn on to sauvie island. okay. we're pulling in on sauvie island, pulling into a you pick your own berries and fruit place. we are on sauvie island now surrounded by fields. 26 minutes in. so it would take terri roughly an hour to make the round trip from town to sauvie island and back. that doesn't leave a lot of extra time for terri to somehow spirit kyron away or worse. but perhaps there's a reason terri didn't need much time. investigators have explored the possibility that terri had help. there have been reports that on the morning of june 4th at least

one person saw someone inside the hormans' white pickup truck here at skyline school while terri was inside with kyron. >> they developed a lead that they thought there was another individual in the pickup truck. there was speculation that maybe that was dedespiker. >> dede spicher, on that day, she was working as a gardener on a 40-acre private property kyro. it was reported that dede was unaccounted for at her job during the same time frame as terri's missing window of time. the question investigates have been considering, could dede have helped terri do something with or to kyron in those minutes? dede spicher's attorney says dede was never missing during her workday. >> dede did not leave the property on june 4th. >> and she had nothing to do

with kyron's disappearance. >> i think what's important for people to know is she has no involvement in kyron horman's disappearance, that she has been cooperative with investigators in this case and she will remain cooperative. >> whether terri horman had help or not, so far officials who have searched dede's work property and sauvie island have apparently unearthed no evidenced to solve the criminal case. >> how you doing right now, kaine? >> while the search for kyron continues, a battle in civil court between terri and kaine horman is heating up and kaine's allegations about terri are shocking. >> we've been informed that she was trying to hire someone to murder you? [ male announcer ] what's cooking at applebee's?

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as news about the missing boy from portland, oregon, first spread around the nation, viewers tuned in to see an emotional terri horman standing side by side with the rest of kyron horman's family. at press conferences where they pleaded for his safe return. >> please help us bring kyron home. >> and all the while that authorities were getting the word out about kyron, they were were also scrutinizing his family. former portland prosecutor jim mcintyre says detectives know that all too often the motive for a crime against a child lies close to home. >> in adult crimes, it's sex,

drugs or money. oftentimes with children it's some kind of passion revenge, something within a relationship that's causing this to go south. >> and less than a month into the investigation, detectives hit on a bombshell. in court documents, kaine horman says police informed him that about six months before his son went missing his wife terri had tried to pay someone to kill him. you've been informed that she was trying to hire someone to murder you? >> uh-huh. i didn't believe it at first. it was something that i couldn't even wrap my head around at the time. >> the news was earthshattering for kaine. he quickly left the house with their daughter kiara and filed for divorce and a restraining order. >> there had been no indication in your marriage that things were that bad? >> no. >> or that she was upset with you? >> no. nothing so far wynne one way or the other that would have even put that on my radar screen as something to worry about. >> after a hearing last july, terri horman agreed to move out

of the horman home. she's now living with her parents in roseburg, oregon. terri horman has denied the murder-for-hire plot to law enforcement. meanwhile, detectives are still investigating the incident as part of the broader probe into kyron's disappearance. last july when we first spoke to kaine about the alleged plot, he was still trying to process the idea that his wife might have had something to do with his son's disappearance. do you think she is capable of hurting a child? >> if you asked me before this situation, my answer is no. based on what i know now, i don't know. >> but in a new interview with "dateline" just days ago, kaine is now saying a lot more about terri and their relationship. >> i have every reason to believe that she had something to do with his disappearance, and i want answers. we all want answers. >> in recent divorce-related court documents, kaine describes the situation inside their home before terri homoved out as muc

more difficult than he first revealed. he states that terri was previously convicted of drunk driving and alleges that more recently it was common for terri to be visibly impaired from alcohol, i.e., slurring speech, staggering gait, et cetera, several nights a week. kaine says terri would wipass o on the couch and allow their daughter to watch tv or play until late at night. yesterday kyron's mother desiree said those allegations are highly upsetting. >> without a doubt i wish i would have known it before. i wouldn't tolerate it. and if i would have known, i would have taken him out of that house in a second. >> kaine and terri lived right up the street from me. >> there's another detailed allegation about terri's behavior. it involves this man, michael cook, an old high school friend of kaine's. >> then, of course, we've all seen these. >> kaine alleges that after kyron disappeared and he and terri separated, michael cook

and terri struck up a relationship, which involved sending each other sexual text messages and photos. the messages ranged from "i want you so bad" and "i will show you what pleasure is" to far more explicit language. >> you take all these things and put them all together and they just continue to show actions of someone who's not remotely concerned with what's going on. no concern. again, no remorse. no anxiety about how do we get him home. nothing. >> terri, how can you stay silent when kyron's missing? >> for her part, terri has responded to kaine's allegations as vicious, not in k i ara's best interest and calculated to inflame and poison public opinion against her, putting the he said, she said aside, frepds are now shedding light on terri's feelings about her major and her frame of mind at the time kyron went missing. >> terri would actually wear her emotions reitz on her sleeve. like, terri looked a wreck.

>> gwen rabe, terri's friend from the gym, paints a picture of her as someone so troubled that it showed. >> terri was often emotional, you know. unstable a little bit, you know. tired, lonely. >> gwen says terri shared with her how unhappy she was in her marriage. >> it wasn't an easy situation. it was very difficult for her. she was struggling to try to make things work out, you know. and it just -- obviously it just wasn't working out. >> our relationship had issues, yes. would that lead her to harm kyron? there's nothing that i saw that would lead anybody that i know to harm a child because they're having a difficult time with their spouse and maybe thinking about getting a divorce. how you take that out on a child i don't know. >> meanwhile, terri is now raising questions about kyron's behavior before he december appeared. e-mails terri horman sent to a friend the day after kyron went

messing have recently been made public. in one e-mail she describes some very odd behavior she said kyron had been exhibiting. >> the past two weeks he's been acting really weird, staring off into space, can't remember anything, walks into the room and then back out, stopping to stare and then move on. the doc thinks he's having mini seizures. i made an appointment on thursday for next friday to have him checked out. >> no one else in kyron's family says they knew anything about seizures or a doctor's appointment, but with the heat on terri horman as intense as ever, there are some who wonder whether investigators are looking in the wrong direction are. coming up -- desiree vows to never stop searching for kyron. >> we'll never give up hope. as long as i'm living. >> and another side of terri horman as her friends speak out in public for the first time. and later in our second hour -- mean girls.

>> they were party girls. >> they were fierce and out for fun. the beauty queen and troublemaker and the girl next door. >> she was really, really cute. the girl next door. >> one met the guy of her dreams. love at first sight. but at second glance, trouble. pregnant at 16. she wanted to be married. she didn't want to do that. >> uh-huh. >> then one night an ambush. someone shot on the bedroom floor. >> help me! >> a teenage mom at the center of a murder mystery. >> fingers were pointed everywhere at everybody. >> who had a motive to kill? swanson chicken broth has no added msg. so for a perfect holiday meal, the secret is swanson, 100% natural chicken broth. stuffing. the side dish that makes people take sides.

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when you see terri horman in old home movies and photos, it's not hard to guess why her nickname has always been red squirrel, the striking woman with the bright hair and playful nature seems to enjoy the camera. >> other family members want to know. can we talk about them? >> but terri horman has mostly avoided the cameras ever since the day her stepson kyron went missing and suspicion was raised about her. >> terri, how can you stay silent when kyron's messing? >> now friends of terri's are speaking out for the first time to "date line owe". they want to tell people if you've made up your mind about terri horman, you should think again. >> there's two opinions i see. there's a public opinion and a friends' opinion. people who really know her.

and they don't mesh together. >> tom gunzenhauser county counts himself as one with of those friends of terri's. he said there are others but they're reluctant to speak out. tom thought it was important. >> i want terri to know we're supporting her, that she's cared for and we're looking after her better half. >> tom knew terri in high school. when he recently linked back up with her on facebook, he was glad to be in touch with the same warm and caring person he always remembered. >> she was really personable. she's really kind and giving. super, super nice. that's what pretty much attracted me as far as being friends with her. she was so open. >> back then, terri was fun, outgoing, a highly competitive athlete in their hometown of roseburg, oregon. tom says he and the old gang from roseburg agree that the terri they knew just couldn't

have another darker side that no one knew about. >> we know how she is, and it's all the same. she's nothing but caring and loving and being a really good mom. >> after high school, terri was married twice before meeting kyron's father kaine. here she is in an old home movie with her son james who's now 16. >> i'm a tv star. >> and gwen rabe says it's clear just how much terri loves children. gwen is terri's friend from the jim. they would work out together almost daily and terri would share stories about the daughter she has with kaine, 2-year-old kiara or kitty for short. >> she's fantastic with kitty. she loves that little girl. when she talked about kitty, her eyes just light up. you can just see this positive energy just flowing out of her when she's talking about kitty. it was amazing. >> gwen says terri would also talk fondly about kyron.

a former teacher, gwen says terri was hoping to get back into the classroom. >> she was passionate about children. she talked about children a lot, that that's what she likes doing. you know, she likes taking care of kids. >> skyline second grader kyron horman did not arrive home from school today. >> so when terri horman's stepson went missing, friends of terri's just couldn't believe it. >> i just didn't feel like there was enough there to even consider that she would even have anything involved with kyron. >> i don't feel terri is capable of harming a child, period. she's just not the type of woman that would do it, that i can see. >> at the same time her friends are defending her, terri herself has not publicly spoken out about her possible involvement in kyron's disappearance, and legal professionals caution against rushing to judgment in this case. do you think the meet area has

gone overboard in zeroing in on terri horman? >> i'm always concerned when one person gets stuck out in the middle of an investigation. you know, years ago there was the poor security guard from atlanta who was lamb pasted by the media and the fbi for being involved in that bombing and he had nothing to do with it. just because you can draw lots of similarities and circumstances doesn't necessarily mean anyone is involved in the criminal case until you get the evidence and they're charged. >> just because you can map it out on a map. >> realistically, what did we map out? i can give you a hundred different explanations that that also shows terri horman isn't involved. >> here's just one aspect of the case that gives people pause. terri supposedly had her little girl kiara with her through the entire day that kyron went missing. some find it it inconceivable that this mother who loved children and who doted on her young daughter would ever put kiara in danger or allow her to witness a crime against her brother. so could it be that terri horman

has been under the magnifying glass for so long not because she's guilty but only because her behavior seems hard to understand? portland defense attorney lisa ludwig has seen cases like this before. >> if a client is sexting, you know, another person during the course of a criminal investigation, what does that really have to do with the crime they're you accused of? >> it draws the attention of investigators to that person. >> they draw the attention of police and investigators because they act weird, not because in the end they're guilty but because their behavior is odd or bizarre or misdecided. >> so it's entirely possible that terri horman did not commit a crime but is guilty of bad judgment. >> certainly. that happens a lot. >> and remember, as far as we know, authorities have found zero physical evidence to tie terri horman to any crime involving kyron. nobody who in to terri that day came forward to say that this outgoing mother and teacher and

fitness buff was acting lying anything other than her normal self. above all, terri horman has told law enforcement she had nothing to do with kyron's disappearance and authorities have never named her a suspect or a person of interest. until a true break in the case comes, the hunt for kyron will continue. >> oh, i believe that he's alive every minute of every day. >> we'll never give up hope, as long as i'm living. >> kyron's parents kaine and desiree say they still believe terri horman had something to do with kyron's disappearance and they will never stop looking for their son. >> i want to hear from everybody. just get the flyers out. get then rekan vsed. put them in new areas. buy shirts. we'll send things out as best we can. it could be ten months before he's found, two years before he's found. we just can't stop. we with just can't. >> meanwhile, the collection of cards, letters, and poems that became kyron's wall of hope

grows bigger and bigger with each passing month. >> dear jesus, thank you for this day. just protect kyron. >> in the home of kyron's friend carson, there are nightly prayers that a missing little boy will be found alive. >> dear jesus, amen. >> every night at dinner he always asks to be the one to pray, and he always prays for kyron and always prays that he'll come home. >> you do that at dinner every night? >> yep. >> what do you say? >> i say, let kyron be safe and just let him get home soon and let him get home safely and we say amen. our next story is also an emotional case. it centers on a teenage mom and her close circle of friends. they were california girls still in high school, used to living

s sun country, carefree lives. but soon their lives change. here's keith morrison. >> an interesting species, teenage girls. some are sweet. some are not. we call them mean girls. and some in particular, as you're about to see, can be very mean indeed. it was 1997 when their story began here in the high desert north of l.a. lancaster, california. there was sara chapin, 18 and cheerleader and local beauty queen. >> the winner of 1997 miss lancaster pageant is sara chapin. >> you were a pretty popular kid in high school. >> i wasn't really popular, but i was a cheerleader.

>> which helps. >> yes. >> yes. amy preasmyer, 16, sporty, an a.p. student who looked like a girl next door. >> amy and i were just two goofballs. we had a lot of fun. yeah, we partied. but things didn't get as serious until jennifer came in the picture and jennifer and amy became good friends. >> jennifer kellogg, 18, a little dangerous, catalyst for mischief or worse. >> jennifer was the wild child. she was on the dance team in high school, and she always -- she was the bolder one with of f of. she was always there if you needed her or especially if you got in trouble. she helped you get in trouble. >> she was the one your parents warn you about. >> yes. >> then there was shealynn cowles, 16, perhaps a little less street smart than the others but drawn in by it all,

too. even if some of the others weren't that nice. >> they were fun girls, but they just always had an agenda on their mind of everyone owing them something kind of. their patierents weren't going ll them what to do, and they just wanted to just be free. >> the girls just wanted to have fun, stay up late, meet guys, drink, do drugs. that was the type of freedom they were looking for. and which they found in the summer of '97, along with the rest of what happened. >> 911, what's your emergency? >> help me. >> so what did happen? it began just after christmas the previous winter, 1996. there was this house party. >> amy's parents went out of town, and so amy said, let's just invite some people over, have a good time. >> shealynn came along, of course. >> they were drinking, just kind of acting a little bit outrageous, you know, smoking,

drinking, partying. >> sara was there and amy, jennifer, too. >> they were party girls. >> little on the wild side, huh? >> yeah. they wanted to be adults before their time. they wanted to grow up. they didn't want anyone telling them what to do. >> but one of the people at that party actually was an adult. or close to it. shealynn's brother ricky came to the party. ricky was almost 21 , done with school and working full-time on high-voltage lines. dangerous stuff which paid very well. in fact, ricky was the proud owner of a new bmw. though he still lived at home, he was if anything mature for his years, which mattered not a bit to the girls at the house party. to them, he was tall and good-looking, and what else mattered besides that? >> amy one of our other friends were kind of fighting over him. they both had something for him.

>> boom, she wanted him. >> well, when you're a teenage gerl and you see a cute guy, of course everything falls into place. >> well, it certainly did. >> was he crazy about her to begin with? >> yeah. he met her, and it was like instantly. >> they were together from that very first night. it didn't seem to it matter to ricky that amy was still in high xol school, just a sophomore. he took her away on trips, bought her lots of gifts. when he introduced her to his parents, they were not quite so bowled over by amy. >> she just manipulated him. she was really, really cute, really petite, blonde hair. >> wrapped him around her little finger. >> yep. >> and you saw that happening? >> yep. but then we found out how old she was. and that changed it a little bit. >> we worried about it. >> at that point we were worried she would get pregnant and she was a minor. you know, maybe he'd go to jail for rape or whatever.

>> rape? jail? what a place. looking back, debbie cowles said some gut instinct told her amy was up to something and whatever it was wouldn't be good for her son ricky. so debbie tried to put a wedge between the two young lovers. ricky with was living in his parents' guesthouse. his mom made a firm rule. amy could not stay over. >> she would be out there and she'd like try to hide in the closet and stuff like that. that's when it finally got to, you can't live here. you we can't have this. >> what were with you trying to do? >> i thought he would say, okay, you are 16 and i don't want to move out because i'm living here for nothing in this house of my own. >> it's a story as old as young love. ricky's parents thought free rent would trump nights with amy. they were wrong. ricky didn't drop amy. he left home, rented an apartment in a sketchy part of town. and amy who just finished her sophomore year of high school

moved in with him. but with it be happily ever after? no. no, it would not be. because now act ii, the hard part was about to begin. coming up -- the bffs move in with aim country and ricky. that's when things turn deadly. >> she looks down and falls against the door screaming.

it was a love story that spring of '97, blooming here in the california desert. but in lancaster, like everywhere are else, the unstoppable desire of young adults can can bring out polar opposites in parenting styles. well, ricky cowles' parents struggled to prevent what looked

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

or so she moved her friends in. >> did the parents have any control at all over what she was doing? >> oh, no. >> no. >> but, could you guess this? there was something else going on. big news about which ricky's parents knew nothing. amy was pregnant. it was her parents, georgia and larry, who got the news first. >> i was disappointed, to be honest with you. my kids knew about contraceptives. they were raised to be abstinent until they were with married. >> you raise your kids to do the right thing. sometimes they don't. now amy was going to have to grow up fast. pregnant at 16, moving in with her boyfriend? was shed ready for all this? maybe not. >> she was always very outgoing and liked having her independence. >> and girls just want to have fun at that stage. >> exactly. >> in fact, right away amy inviteded her two best friends, wild jennifer and sara, the

local pageant queen, to move in, too. neither one of them wanted to be stuck at home under parental watch and pregnant or no there was fun to be had. they went to parties. jennifer stirring up trouble as usual, brought her druggy friends over to visit, though amy insisted that because she was pregnant she wasn't using. >> did she seem at all resentful about the idea that she couldn't do the fun things anymore? >> well, a party girl becoming pregnant, it's kind of hard because everything stops. >> yeah. >> especially when you're 16. you're still in high school. you're not grown up yet. >> but yricky by then was 21. he had different ideas about moving in together. he wanted amy home when he got back from his long day at work those high-voltage electrical lines. he wanted amy home alone. >> at some point they began to have some fairly serious problems, and ricky, for example, complained to these girls had moved in. he didn't want them there. >> ricky decided to, you know --

that he was done. that he needed them gone. >> which pleased the friends, jennifer especially, not one bit. amy wasn't happy either. and so a couple of months into this romance that started so hot and fast it seemed to be burning out. >> they had been fighting a lot. she had thought about ending the relationship, but she was afraid that ricky's parents might take the child once it was born. there was a point where one night she just ybroke down and rye cried. i don't know what to do. i don't know if i should leave him. >> it was about then when ricky finally told his mom about his and amy's predicament. >> well, he came home one night from work, and we were in the house. and he goes, i have to talk to you and dad. when he said me and dad, i'm, like, what about? well, i just want you to sit down. i want you to talk to you. he was really serious. i'm thinking some really bad thing. he tells me, amy's pregnant.

and i said, no, no, no. he goes, yeah. >> exactly what she had worried about. and ricky was talking about breaking up with amy. >> he says, i want to take care of the baby. i says, you will. that's your responsibility. but he says, i need a way to tell amy that we can't be what she wants us to be. i need a way to tell her. >> she wanted to be married. he didn't want to do that. now he had this big problem. just the problem you worried about all along. >> uh-huh. >> and then turmoil. rick wy and amy argued. he told her to leave, go back home to her parents. then, after they spent a weekend apart, thinking it over, something changed. >> i sat on the porch with him and we had a beer and cigarette, and he said, you know, i'm so excited for our life now, i've just thought about everything and everything is just going to be fine. we're going to make it work. >> ricky was happy. >> ricky really was looking forward to being a daddy.

>> because a lot of guys 20 or 21 years old who just met a girl and got her pregnant right away would not be reacting that way. >> no. but ricky was a little different from everybody. he seemed more grown up. >> by then, amy had a change of heart, too. >> she said, i'm going to make this work. it's worth making work. i want my daughter to grow up with her daddy here. >> which brings us to august 12, 1997. rick yy left for work early. amy left a note promising to be back by 9:00 to spend time alone with him. then that afternoon she called him as he worked out in the hot desert just to confirm their plans. and later when his dad and he went to the county fair to set up you lights, the calls from amy kept coming. when are you getting home, she asked him. of course she had been out all day with friends. around 9:00 p.m., sara in tow, she headed home to see if ricky had arrived. >> she goes pounding up the stairs, gets up to the top of

the stairs. i'm looking at her. she turns on the light in the bedroom, she stands there for a second. then she looks down and falls against the door screaming. >> someone was lying on the floor still alive, a twisted bloody mess. it was ricky. coming up -- >> help me! >> how was amy? >> panicked. >> the new father-to-be helpless on the floor. what had happened? and who was behind it? ity-flab or mumbo-jumbo. sounds like you need to name your price. no gobbledy-gook? never. do i still get all the dagnabbit coverage i need? sure. we give you a quote and you can adjust your price up and down to find something that works for you. ♪ this thing is okey-mcsmokey skiddly-doo. great! i think. diggity. oh! still not sure. the "name your price" tool. only from progressive. call or click today.

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911, what's your emergency? >> help me, please! >> after a night of running around, sara and amy finally went to amy's place and found ricky cowles, just 21 wit, lyin near death on his and amy's bedroom floor. >> what did he look like there on the floor? >> he was kind of twisted up on the floor. au all i saw was blood. so i said, let's get ott of here. >> what does it do to you to see something like that? >> scares the crap out of me. >> 911, what's your emergency? >> help me! >> she was such a mess. >> she was hysterical. >> he's bleeding eve ining ever! >> i grabbed the phone from her, and i'm, like, hello? she's, like, this is 911. so i start freaking out. >> what's going on? can you tell me what's happening? >> we just got back here to the apartment and we've been gone all night long. we haven't been able to get

ahold of her boyfriend. we walked upstairs. he's like on the ground and he's all bleeding. >> he's bleeding? >> he's not moving or anything. we just turned on the light. we saw him and came downstairs to call you. >> okay. hold on. i'm trying to reach the paramedics, okay? >> by now, jennifer and another friend were there, too. >> jennifer started screaming to me, ricky, i want to see ricky, i want to see ricky. >> no! get downstairs, now with amy. you don't need to see this, honey. i can't even stand to look at it. get downstairs. >> okay. how's he doing now? >> he's twitching, convulsing a little bit it looks like. something went through his head. >> paramedics and law enforcement showed up. what happened then was hard to watch, intense, as sheriff's video camera recorded a man struggling to survive. could he tell them what happened? >> when they came to the house, the next thing i know, shoving all of us into the kitchen.

carried him downstairs on his bed sheet and worked on him in the living room. >> did you shoot yourself? >> no. >> who did it? what did it? >> my neck hurts. >> who shot you in the head? did you do it? >> as police try desperately to get information from him, ricky became too weak to respond. >> get him out of here. >> how was amy at this stage? >> she just panicked. >> beside herself. >> yes. >> and sara called ricky's parents, come quick. something had happened. >> well, by the time we got there, there was so many people, i was screaming, ricky, ricky. i knew he had been shot but we had no idea where or anything. >> or how bad it was with. >> or how bad it was or anything until they brought him downstairs. then i knew, i knew. i thought, oh, no, no, no. >> like your whole life is

disintegrating right under your hand. >> it did. >> then the paramedics brought ricky to a waiting helicopter. rick senior rode to the hospital with his son. >> he was comprehending what we were talking about a little bit, but he was hurting pretty hard. i tried to tell him, we'll get okay. we'll get the doctors to try to fix this. >> and they did try. as the doctors worked on ricky, his family gathered. amy was there, too, of course. but whoever attacked him had done so much damage to his head, to his brain. by august 14th, two days in intensive care, it was clear there was no fixing ricky. he was comatose now, only the machines kept him alive. his family went to his bedside to say their good-byes. amy was beside herself, hardly made sense. >> and she said, why did you have to go ahead and die? you were supposed to buy me a car for my birthday.

i'm thinking, did i just hear that? >> you were supposed to buy me a car? odd, of course, but the cowless were with far too distraught to try to figure out what was going on in the mind of amy, 16 and pregnant. it was soon after that ricky died. his heart, kidneys and liver were donated to people in need. amy moved back in with her parents to get ready to have ricky's baby. and debbie and rick senior vowed to find out who did this. that's when a long journey began. long, and as you'll see, very strange. coming up -- who would want ricky cowles dead? police get a break in the case. >> the cops showed me a picture of the guy and said, do you know this guy? >> on the trail of a killer. cora

county executive and his wife hauled off to jail.. we'll have the latebreaking details ... and we're following breaking news of a shooting in anne arundel county at this hour... .. a live report.. ahead... those stories.. plus.. the investigation into a rape in laurel intensifies...

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ricky cowles was dead, but why? the cops went through the apartment, but there was little evidence to go on. >> they found a shell casing. >> a shell casing. no print traibl, no useful dna. nothing missing and nothing in particular about ricky cowles that would lead you to think he would be a murder victim. he's not the sort of person who would normally be a victim of that kind of crime. unless maybe he owed money to drug dealers or he hadn't paid a gambling debt. >> that wasn't anything that was out there. >> detectives tom harris and

larry brandenburg with los angeles county sheriff's homicide work on the case. >> you always look at the victim's lifestyle because that's going to tell you where you go. ricky worked all the time with his father. he drank some beer when he got done drinking and probably smoked some weed every once in a while. but beyond that -- >> pretty standard middle-class guy. >> yeah. hardworking kid. not the type of kid that would have some big drug debt. >> but if the cops didn't have much to go on, that group of girls seemed to have some shocking ideas, though, of course, reporting this to the cops would be about the last thing any of them would do. >> from the beginning it was finger pointing here and here and here. well, jennifer's, always, shealynn is involved. she was pissed at her brother or amy was involved or somebody else was involved or it was this or a home invasion. just fingers were pointed everywhere at everybody. >> by? >> everybody else. >> months passed. the paranoia was palpable.

amy and best friend wild jennifer weren't talking. sara and jennifer weren't talking. and ricky's family was just staying away from them all, convinced somehow they all knew something. but there was a price to pay for ricky's family staying away from amy. >> when she was in the hospital having the baby, a friend of ours called us from the hospital and said, her name is up on the board. your baby is going to come sometime today. i cried all day because i thought, here is this baby i'm never going to get to see because my son's gone and -- >> about a month later, the cowleses, impatient with the case, decided to post a reward. shealynn went to amy's house to give them some flyers. amy's dad answered the door. >> i asked her father when he answered the door if they wanted any flairs, he said, why don't you come on in and see your little niece. >> there she was. >> i just called my mom instantly and just told her, you know, i'm holding your little grandbaby.

>> kaly lynn cowles was born january 23, 1998. >> she's just precious. i just knew that i wanted a relationship with her and that, you know, through her pregnancy we weren't able to kind of let things go between each other, our families. so i just knew that something had to kind of give and that the baby would make it to where it was easier to deal with each other if we were going to. >> it was. then grandma debbie got to meet the baby. >> couple of days later i went up to their house to see her and i held her and just cried my eyes out because here she is, this gift, but i don't have him anymore. >> and a break in the case came soon, too. a 19-year-old who lived down the street from amy and ricky's place, billy hoffman, was arrested for ricky's murder. turns out he had bragged to loads of friends about what he had done. >> he was proud of it. he actually told people there

was a girl that he would carpool with, for instance, to go to work with at kmart. he said, you saw those helicopters? that were over there? she goes, yeah. he says, that was me. i did that. >> so he denied it to the authorities but he had already told several people? >> several people. he had one person that actually helped him get the gun. he had another person that helped him get rid of the gun. i mean, he would tell people that he did this, which obviously was his demise because, i mean, he got arrested shortly thereafter. >> billy hoffman was a drug user and small-time dealer. as it turns out, there was some sort of connection between billy and wild jennifer. >> the cops came in and said, showed me a picture of guy and said, do you know this guy? i said, i've met him once before at jennifer's birthday this year. they said, this is who did it. >> sara even snapped this photo of billy and jennifer there smoking pot together. which the cops were happy to have. shealynn recognized him, too.

it was the weekend before he died. ricky was away deciding what to do about amy. shealynn went to the apartment to hang out with the girls. and sitting on the living room floor was a quiet guy name ed billy. jennifer was high on acid. she told shealynn she should try some, too. it was billy who had the drugs. >> do you remember how billy came to be in that condo? >> jennifer kellogg brought him over. >> a friend of jennifer's. >> uh-huh. >> she introduced him, the killer, into the scene. >> uh-huh. yes. >> was jennifer somehow involved? remember, after she and sara moved in with ricky and amy, ricky wanted her out and she was mad at ricky for that. she was known for stirring up trouble. but murder? the idea seemed preposterous. anyway, it was billy hoffman who went on trial, not jennifer. and he just clammed up, denying

everything. no matter. he was convicted and got life without the possibility of parole. so story over? not by a long shot. coming up -- >> why don't you tell me from the beginning how everything happened. >> a conversation with withe killer. he has a little secret he wants to share. >> she also knew about this? >> yes.

lancaster, california, kicked into the new me len yum nearly three years after ricky cowles was dispatched from all knowledge of time and two families that might have otherwise gone completely off the rails stayed intact because of an amazing gift he helped create and left behind. her name is kaly. the man who killed her father before she was born was in prison. the teenager who gave birth to her grew into womanhood and even ricky's parents, the cowless, who didn't like amy from the start, grew respect for her. >> she is a great mother of kaly. >> she was perfect mother. >> that might have been the end of the story.

life does have to go on and their hours with kaly were some of the sweetest they ever had. but they couldn't just erase their one nagging belief, that billy hoffman did not act alone when he killed their son. even though billy was convicted, that wasn't the whole story. >> no. in billy's trial, he didn't confess. he was convicted on circumstantial evidence. >> he kept saying, i didn't do it, i didn't do it. >> then in 2002 he wrote us a letter. >> ah, yes, the letter. the key to the whole thing really. without that letter, well -- it was 2002 and billy hoffman had been in prison for three years. when he wrote to the cowless that he was remorseful. he had found god, he said, and with that a sense of obligation to say he was sorry. >> and i'm reading it and reading it. then i'm crying, reading it, crying, reading it. i'm by myself -- >> what did it say? >> that he was sorry, that he

had done things he shouldn't have, that he hoped that we would forgive him someday. >> and then she went back to the beginning and read this one curious phrase. he wrote, "i would like to begin by confessing my part in the murder of richard" as the one who took his life. "my part." when ricky parents saw this letter and saw apologizing for his part, that spoke volumes to them, i guess, huh in. >> oh, yeah. they took the letter to the d.a.'s office immediately and in turn the d.a. contacted our office. and it went on from there. >> and so five years after ricky's murder, the dormant investigation was revived. >> we're on tape now. the time is 1400 hours, the date is september 12, 2002. >> sheriff's homicide detectives went to billy's prison to ask him, what did you mean by "your part"?

>> you were with conviconvicted murdering richard cowles? >> yes. >> tell me from the beginning how the thing happened. >> and finally billy hoffman, grappling himself over what he had done, stopped denying anything and told the cops his long-secret story. and for the very first time, a certain name came popping out of his mouth. >> i can't remember exact days or anything like that, but i'd say a couple of weeks before the murder happened i was at my house and jennifer kol for example akellogg if i would kil somebody. i said, yes, i would. >> it was that easy. jennifer asked him to kill and he said yes. but listen carefully as billy gives his monotone. you'll hear another name. mean girls don't tend to scheme alone. who was with jennifer when he arranged the murder? >> amy preasmyer took me to the apartment and showed me how the

layout was. >> amy preasmyer. now, amy is -- >> was cowles' boyfriend, mother of this kid. >> she also knew about it? >> yes. >> not only knew about it. along with jennifer, she apparently the loving girlfriend said billy had arranged everything. he recalled how they gave him a photo of ricky, told them to hide through the bedroom where he could peek through the crack in the door and see ricky comes up the stairs. the murder of ricky cowles was all set to go. and then came the day. august 12, 1997, late in the day. jennifer and amy. >> dill billy said there, he said, with a hammer, a knife, a gun, a pillow to use as a silencer. but, remember, ricky ended up working late that night, fixing lights at the county fair. waiting in the house, billy started to get sleepy. he started having second thoughts. >> i got tired of waiting.

he ended up staying late for work or wherever he was. i didn't know what was going on and i just kind of, you know what? i'm gone. so i left. >> and thus the murder of ricky cowless was prevented. almost. billy left the apartment, shut the door, walked down the street toward his own house, had given up on the whole idea. but then -- >> i got to that corner, sure enough amy and jennifer drive by. they're, like, what are you doing? where are you going? >> remember amy had been calling ricky all evening trying to pin him down on when he'd be home. >> they told me, go back. he called said he'd be back late. he told cops he went back immediately to sit behind the door armed with his tools of murder. around 9:00 ricky came home, needed a shower, went upstairs, entered the bedroom. he never saw it coming. billy hoffman attacked him with the claw hammer straight to the

skull. ricky fought back. >> he showed up, came inside, into the house. i hit him and it didn't knock him out. he turned around and nail yelled at me. i panicked aand i just shot. i went down. i was afraid that the gunshot made too much noise. and i didn't know what to do so i hit him with the hammer again. then i left the house. >> then billy gathered his things, walked home and paged jennifer. the signal that it was done. after the page, jennifer and amy split up. jennifer took pot to billy. amy asked sara to go home with her. sara, who didn't know anything about the plan, who was used as an alibi stooge, was used as the fool who would find ricky. why did belly do it? >> there was just a glamorous kind of picture in your mind,

you know, to be that person and cruising with your friends and just -- at that time i think -- i pursued that. i wanted to be that guy. and when people knew that, it was kind of like having a notch on my belt, you know? >> but in real life, of course, murder is not glamorous. not at all. that night billy went home scared. soon enough, he was arrested, consigned to life in prison. and now it looked like two more arrests were wicalled for. coming up -- amy involved in the murder of ricky? do you have some dark nights and said, she must have done? was a killer's word to be trusted? that would be a question for a jury. and coming up next friday, the man who will be king.

prince charles speaking out about the environment his children and the prospects of yet another royal wedding. >> i feel for him deeply. in my day it was difficult enough. >> brian williams in an extraordinary conversation with prince charles. [ waves crashing ] ♪ call me ishmael! [ man ] moby dick. [ voice command ] "searching for moby dick." ♪ ♪

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justice, as everybody knows,

tends not to roll quite so quickly as the movies would have you believe. in the case of ricky cowles, murdered in 1997, it rolled slow indeed. billy hoffman had his hart to heart with homicide detectives in 2002, but a case needs more than the words of a convicted killer. more investigation was needed. so they waited. everybody waited. >> we knew after 2002 something would happen, but all we every ever told them is, if it comes to the point where you're going to arrest amy, please let you us know because we don't want kaly to be with her. i don't want that in her friend the rest of her life, her mother being taken away. just let us know. we'll take care of her. >> months and months and months went by. >> oh, years went by. >> and during those years, the cowless held their breath and their tongues every week when they went to pick up their granddaughter from the woman they had come to believe had

arranged their son's murder. >> we knew, but, you know what? sometimes there's one more thing more important than that. it was kaly. she superceded all that because i wanted her to have a happy life. >> it was easter 2005. love was in the air again. amy preasmyer was just about to be married. baby kaly was 7 years old, though we're only showing baby pictures of her, when ricky's patie parents got the call. an arrest was imminent. that set case in a completely different court. >> we had an attorney for kaly. we called in and said, we need to go tomorrow and get custody of this little girl. >> the family court gave the cowless temporary custody. there began a battle over two sets of loving grandparents. >> there was so much turmoil between the families there was no talking between either one of us. they blamed us for everything. >> they blamed you? >> they blamed us for it, that if we hadn't been persistent

that -- >> that amy wouldn't have been arrested. but she was. she was charged with murder, taken to jail to await trial. amy's parents stood by her then. still do. do you have some dark nights of the soul where you look at each other and say, she must have done it? >> no. >> never? >> we never, ever looked at each other and said, she has to be guilty of something. >> no. >> but the jury did not agree. nearly ten years to the day after the murder of ricky cowles you, july 30, 2007, ricky's parents got the news they had been waiting for. guilty. >> just finally -- >> quiet crying, just every emotion. you want to scream but you can't. so we just quietly cried to ourself. >> amy's family has cried, too, of course. just not for the same reason.

>> everybody looks at us now like we're the bad people, you know. we're bad because of what your daughter did. we go, i did nothing wrong. >> in fact, the judge gave you both a lecture. >> oh, she did that. she did that. >> at sentencing, the judge looked straight at amy's parents and said there was a total breakdown of parenting, of moral leadership, of any kind of sense of responsibility. what was it like for you, jordan, to hear that? >> that was very hard. because as a parent i knew in my heart that we had done the best that we could do. >> amy preasmyer got life without parole, and jennifer, wild jennifer, the girl who loved to make trouble? she lucked out. the prosecutor, having seen the toll the trial took on ricky's mother to avoid yet another trial, offered jennifer a deal. she pleaded guilty to manslaughter and solicitation to commit murder, got 17 years.

but still it remains, the unanswered question. why did all of this happen? at jennifer's sentencing, the judge blamed her for puspurring amy on. but what made amy preasmyer want to kill rick country? they fought about her hanging out with friends. they did talk about breaking up. but that hardly seems a reason to kill. even billy hoffman, who so casually agreed to murder a man, did not seem to have any real idea why. >> did amy tell you exactly why she wanted him dead. >> i didn't get a specific reason. she mentioned something once with, but it seemed so petty. she said he wet the bed. i don't know why that would warrant murder. >> was she so immature, is that possible, that she just -- the idea of killing somebody was like playtime? >> that's what i wonder sometimes. how do you go from living with somebody to thinking, okay, it's

okay, we'll just have somebody else do it and then it's fine. they're gone. they're dead. maybe it was being too young and immature to really fathom what was going on, the fact that you were really going to take somebody's life. and you were really going to ruin other people's lives. >> and it did. sara deeply scarred by the betray yal of the girls she thought were her friends still struggles to make since of her life. shealynn admits she's often frankly a mess. >> do you wonder what would have happened to you if that hant interceded? you'd be a different person. >> yeah. i wonder. but the most thing i wonder is who my brother would be. >> yeah. >> you know, seeing people his age, you know, now i'm thinking, oh, how would my brother be in his life? >> and then there was kaly, the only good thing about the story. she is 12 now. >> a wonderful little kid.

she's not little anymore, but she's wonderful. >> does she get sad sometimes? >> kaly can hide her emotions very easily, and that's not a part that she will let me see very often. but, yeah, she does get sad. >> the face she presents to the world is a happy little girl? >> yep. >> happy, happy, happy. >> that's exactly what she does. because she doesn't want to disappoint anybody. >> shealynn sees that quality, too. it reminds her of her brother. >> because my brother was the kind of person that didn't really talk about things that bothered him, you know. he just was happy like her and that's the part that i get, that she's a lot like my brother. she has his heart. >> after years in court, the two families agreed to share custody, though kaly spends a little more time with ricky's parents. they've also agreed, if unofficially, to leave the past behind. for her. >> we both love her. there's no doubt about it.

we just -- we love her in different ways. we want the best for her. they want the best for her. that's our goal, to be the best for her. this is her life. >> of course, amy's parents, ricky's parents wanted the best once before, as all parents do. could anyone have seen into the mean girls' minds before two families paid the price? >> that's all for this edition of "dateline" friday. we're back next friday at 9/8 central. i'm ann curry. for all of us here at nbc news, i'm ann curry. for all of us here at nbc news, good night. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >>