brought to you by guthy-renker. ♪ there was of no way you could look at this and say this of a person who ran away. the mystery had this sinister side to it. oh, my god. oh, my god. this is really happening. it's happening right now. >> in the dark waters off miami miles out to sea, a federal agent hunting for drug smugglers spots a suspicious boat. >> i noticed the passenger rolled a large duffel bag off the side of the boat. >> drugs, the agents never found any. and back on shore, no one could find the missing young mother

either. was there a connection? >> i was afraid for her. >> lynn was months away from her wedding when she vanished leaving been a young son and a mystery. >> reporter: any sign that someone had broken in and abducted her? >> no. >> the search continued on land and at sea. no body no case? >> i didn't have anything that would show she was actually dead. >> decades go by and the mystery is almost forgotten. not by everyone. >> they knew he was the bad guy. they just couldn't put him in jail. >> all they needed was a miracle or a witness. >> wasn't april fool's. it was a body. >> i'm lester holt and this is "dateline "dateline: what lies beneath." >> reporter: the skyline reflected by biscayne bay will

do just fine. but it's not for everyone. >> i am so, so worried about you. >> reporter: some people are scared by the dark water, afraid of the creatures that lurk down below. afraid of the creatures above who scuttle through the night on secret errands. >> i have no idea where you are. >> reporter: you just may share those fears after you hear the story of a woman named lynn friend. >> none of this makes sense to anyone who knows lynn friend. >> reporter: local newscasts told the story of this good neighbor. >> she really was of that all-american girl. you know blue eyes, beautiful smile from here to california. >> reporter: the good momp. >> she adored her son. they were inseparate rabble. >> reporter: little did anyone suspect that for the next 20 years the story of lynn friend would haunt a young boy's life and a secret would remain locked away for decades that will explain everything. >> the investigation into what may have happened to lynn friend continued today -- >> she hasn't been seen in days -- >> reporter: what happened to lynn friend that put her in the

cross hairs of miami tv news was that she was missing. just flat-out gone. no one could imagine lynn friend, a responsible hospital administrative aide just snapping and walking out on her life. least of all on her 5-year-old son, christian. >> reporter: one thing is certain, lynn friend -- >> reporter: jennifer snell, then a miami reporter covered the disappearance. >> for her to disappear without leaving word for her son was just something that everyone knew would never happen. >> reporter: esther sanchez met lynn when she came to work at parkway hospital in ft. lauderdale. at the time, lynn was still living with her fiance. a business owner named clifford friend. when the two married in 1989 esther was made of honor. >> she wanted what every girl dreams of -- getting married and having a beautiful wedding and looking ford having children. the goal -- looking forward to having children. the goal of the white picket

fence. >> reporter: when baby christian came along, lynn the proud mom, made her son one of the most photographed children in south florida. over the moon with being a mom, less so at being mrs. clifford friend. >> i thought they were a poor match. >> reporter: within a year of christian's birth, the marriage was floundering. lynn and her husband parted ways and later divorced. >> she was upset that her dreams had fallen apart, but she was very happy with the fact that she was a mom. >> reporter: so disappointment abounded, but baby christian was not part of it. >> he was her number-one priority in life. i mean, she lived for him. >> reporter: consumed with being a mom meant men were out of the picture for the foreseeable future. but then along came ed odell. he was a consultant from nashville working on a construction project at her hospital. >> he set eyes on her right away. he was a southern gentleman, and he will walk in and would say hi, and then he'll leave.

that went on for, i think a year. and then one day she said "i think i'm going to go on a date with ed." >> reporter: and that one date turned into a whirlwind romance. within months lynn and ed got the engaged and mapped out a future together in nashville. he was very fond of the boy and looked for to them all being a family together. lynn had been awarded custody of the child, although she ensured that christian's father clifford, had generous visitation rights. >> he had agreed to everything that clifford wanted. to try to play nice she said if this is what you want, we'll do that. >> reporter: in august 1994, the clock was counting down to moving day. lynn was home packing when ed called from nashville about 8:00 on a sunday night. she told him she'll be running out for a few minutes but would call him back soon she returned home. two hours went by and no lynn phone call. the fiance left a message on her answering machine. >> hello, it's me.

it's about 9:15 and i'm a little worried about you. and hope everything's okay. >> reporter: close friend esther lived in the same condo complex as lynn. when esther noticed her friend's car was gone late at night, she became concerned. esther started calling too. >> i'm very -- really very worried. you didn't tell me you were going anywhere. >> reporter: unanswered messages piled up through the night. >> hello, hello. it's 10:30 and i had hoped i would hear from you by now. >> i am so so worried about you. i have no idea where you are. call me. bye. >> reporter: the next day a neighbor spotted lynn's car abandoned about a half mile from her home. a front tire was flat. soon the cops arrived, and esther let them in lynn's condo. >> what i noticed that was very odd -- she's very meticulous and neat and very frugal.

the television was on, the lights were on, the air conditioning was on. >> reporter: lynn appeared to have closed the door of her townhouse north of miami on a sunday night and vanished into the thick night air. so this has become ominous for you. >> now it's very very scary. >> reporter: what in the world had happened to nice lynn friend? law enforcement all over south florida were looking for any trace of her. coming up empty. >> a wedding a move a new job. lynn was facing enormous changes and stress in the days ahead. is it possible she just took off? and if she was a runaway bride, had she run into trouble? >> reporter: did you think maybe she got cold feet and was taking a time-out somewhere? >> without her son? never. he's always hanging out with his friends. you've got to be prepared to sit at the edge of your seat and be ready to get up. there's no "deep couch sitting." definitely not good for my back. this is the part i really don't like right here.

(doorbell) what's that? a package! it's a swiffer wetjet. it almost feels like it's moving itself. this is kind of fun. that comes from my floor? eww! this is deep couch sitting. [jerry bell iii] deep couch sitting! ♪ dove men+care body wash has hydrating micromoisture for healthier stronger skin. no matter what you put it through. care makes a man stronger. we've got three beautiful kids and they're not home right now ky yours and mine i love the way this one feels and this one does wonders for me and when they combine (kid screams) mom! ky yours and mine keep life sexy

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ great rates for great rides. geico motorcycle see how much you could save. lipton fresh brewed ice tea is the naturally refreshing way to enjoy your meals. it's the flavour we all savour does any food a favor... you gotta be (ah) more (ah) tea! tea-riffic! lipton. be more tea. and now try iced tea in a squeeze. colourists know roots take colour one way, and previously coloured hair another. new vidal sassoon salonist. first, brush roots then, blend through lengths. our most advanced system outside the salon. it's more than colour. it's a work of art.

you are loved in so many different ways that's why you're wrapped in the comfort of pampers swaddlers with blanket-like softness and up to 12 hours of protection so all you feel is love. is it possible she just took wishing you love sleep and play. pampers is it possible she just took

>> reporter: days passed, and clues were few in the disappearance of lynn friend. the missing mother of a 5-year-old boy seemed to have gotten in her car on rainy sunday night and never come home. lynn's friends and fiance, ed odell, pleaded for help. >> all i want is lynn back. i just want to marry her and take her away and live happily ever after. >> missing friend of ours -- >> reporter: they handed out flyers and searched the residential area where her car was found abandoned.

>> honestly i was very afraid. >> reporter: a townhouse she left with the tv still on. ed royal, an investigator assigned by the florida department of law enforcement was perplexed by what he didn't find at the condo. >> there was no sign of struggle at lynn's house. lynn's house was exactly as you would expect it. she was two days from moving. she boxes ceiling to floor. >> reporter: any sign that someone had broken in and abducted her? >> no. >> reporter: cops also came up empty when they searched her abandoned car with a flat tire. inside they found a waste pouch with her driver's license. >> there was no evidence, no fingerprints, no foreign dna in it. >> reporter: forensically you're not coming up with this aha kind of clue. >> no we're not. >> reporter: that says this explains everything. >> no. >> reporter: so what did happen to the 35-year-old single mother? with all too few forensic clues to examine, the investigators became biographers, learning

just who this missing woman was. when they peeled back the layers of lynn's life, what they saw right away were big stressful changes on her horizon. a new marriage and a new city a new life altogether. it had t all become too much? her best friend, esther sanchez. did she think she got cold feet sight unseen and was of taking time out somewhere? >> without her son? never. lynn would have to be dead to not have christian. >> reporter: and what about her son, christian? could he help fill in any pieces of the puzzle? sensitive thing. the child here is 5 years old. maybe he has a story to tell. >> no i don't know how much a 5-year-old child could provide at that time. >> reporter: in truth, precious little, the night lynn disappeared christian had been with his father for the weekend. like lynn her ex clifford friend, had also met someone since his divorce two years before.

he was engaged to a woman named janet miriam. she lived in texas and learned of lynn's disappearance long distance. >> cliff had call and said that he had -- i believe had received a phone call stating that lynn had disappeared. they found lynn's car, and they didn't know where she was of. >> reporter: this is a very traumatic thing that's gone. on he's lost his mother. did you she'll him from it -- >> okay the news we shielded christian as much as possible. >> this area -- >> reporter: meanwhile the massive investigation into lynn friend's disappearance had one goal -- to find her or at least her body if she was, in fact dead. >> are you prepared to deal with the worst? >> no. no. i cannot think that. i will not think that. lynn is -- lynn is the woman that i'm going to marry. she is my life. >> i think he really wanted to hold it together and to be dignified. >> reporter: jennifer snell was

a reporter for miami's nbc station wtvj. >> i thought that as the word would come out of his mouth, he will realize what he was saying what that the love of his life was dead. >> i have to believe for christian's sake that she's still alive because he's just a 5-year-old child, and he needs his mother. and he loves his mother so much. >> reporter: ed odell was driven. he would not give up trying to find the love of his life. he called on everyone even the president, to ask for help. >> ed odell started a campaign writing to president clinton, and lo and behold we get a call from the fbi that said they would now like to join the investigation. >> reporter: but even with the top law enforcement agency in the country in on the search for lynn friend there was still no break in the case. then out of the blue the deep dark blue, a chance encounter produced a lead from a most unlikely place in the case of a missing woman.

coming up a federal agent on the lookout for drug runners runs into something strange. >> i tell one of my crew members, "light 'em up." as soon as he

>> reporter: the waters off miami beach are where the valley view bridge land agents of the u.s. customs and border control agents go to work every night. and here the cat-and-mouse game of law enforcement pursuing cocaine cowboys and their go-fast boats was the reality back in the 1990s. customs agent, tim stellhorn, remembers it well. >> in 1994 drug smuggling of very prevalent. >> reporter: on that long-ago sunday night lynn friend disappeared, agent stellhorn and crew left their dock at dusk. they knew nothing of the missing person case. their focus was intercepting drugs and smugglers. they headed outside into the dark, open ocean waters that lead to the bahamas, a hotbed of smuggling. about three miles out, they i'ded and doused their run -- idled and doused their running lights. >> it was a beautiful night. the ocean was calm. we had the engine shut off and were listening for boats in the area. so i hear this boat coming out,

and through night vision goggles, i could see that there was two people on board. that two people on board were in dark clothing goggles, bandanas around their heads. >> reporter: it around 11:00. stellhorn and crew running dark tailed the boat surreptitiously, but quickly the element was surprise was lost. >> i watched the passenger turn around and he spots us i think. i tell one of my crew members, "light 'em up with a spotlight." as soon as he lights up the boat i notice the passenger roll a large duffel bag off the side of the boat. the chase is on. [ sirens ] >> i think we have a narcotics case a smuggling case that went bad. and at some point, they just stopped their boat and both put their hands straight up in the air. >> reporter: the two were zipped up during the questioning that followed. agents returned to the spot where the bag was dumped but it had already sunk. and with no drugs found on the boat, agents released the two. their boat was seized for a

followup investigation. just another night in the office in the war on drugs, or so agent stellhorn thought. >> so a week goes by. sitting on the couch reading the newspaperment on newspaper. on one of the back pages is a story of a missing woman, lynn friend. friend is an unusual last name, so of course it registered that i just stopped a boat a week prior with a guy named friend on board. >> reporter: it was clifford friend lynn's ex-husband. with him was a miami beach man named alan gold co-owner of the boat. >> the bottom of the article was the detective's name and phone number. i called the number. at first he didn't believe me. he thought it was a prank call. >> reporter: hardly. light bulbs clicked, missing pieces fell into place. a missing ex-wife, a former husband busted dumping something off shore on the very night. leslie deambrosia is an agriculture with the florida department of law enforcement. that's a fortuitous match-up in

this case. >> the customs officers in this case did such an amazing job. >> is there anything that you want to say? >> reporter: now ten days after lynn's disappearance, investigators and the media laser focused on clifford friend. janet miriam still his fiancee at the time, was caught in the whirlwind that followed. >> there was cameras wherever cliff went. >> do you expect to be charged in the murder of your ex-wife? >> trying to tell cliff in front of his child that he was guilty of the disappearance of his ex-wife. >> reporter: and then there was this investigative nugget. ed odell reported to the cops that the night lynn disappeared she told him that she was going to clifford's house to pick up a child support payment. when detectives heard that they got a search warrant for clifford's place. they seized some items and his car but found no evidence of foul play anywhere. >> i never gave thought that he had anything to do with lynn's

disappearance. >> reporter: but investigators weren't so sure so they turned their attentions to the area where customs stopped clifford's boat. with waters 1,000 feet deep agent ed royal asked the u.s. navy for help but there was a little problem. >> the u.s. navy is precluded from providing assistance to law enforcement without reimbursement reimbursement. so they were willing to provide us three days of searching for $48,000. >> reporter: you were going to get a bill at the end of it. >> we had to pay up front actually. >> reporter: two months later, the fee covered, the u.s. navy was ready to join in the search. the ship was fitted out with side scan sonar that could image the ocean floor. no gym bag? >> no. >> no bag no body. the experts told us that it was beyond a needle in a haystack. >> yeah. >> reporter: the navy said it had to pull the plug when the money ran out. but lynn's fiance, ed odell, stepped in. >> and ed odell wrote a check to the navy for another $13,000 to

extend the search one more day. >> reporter: the extra day bought one promising sighting. >> we saw what we thought of a black bag on the ocean floor. >> reporter: grappling hooks were sent down. searchers deck held their breath, but it wasn't what they were looking for. >> a plastic garbage bag. >> reporter: what was in the garbage bag? >> it turned out to be beer cans. garbage. >> reporter: the navy search had fizzled out. detectives were back at square one, and they amy already ruled out one of the people closest to lynn. what about ed odell? do you have to suspect the fiance? >> not at all. he was in tennessee at the time all of this occurred. we have the phone records. >> reporter: so after months detectives were no closer to solving the case. they had no dna, no forensics, no blood spatter, nothing to help them. and despite their suspicions about clifford friend law enforcement coop say definitively what happened to

his ex-wife, lynn. >> we didn't have the body and we didn't have any eyewitnesses. >> reporter: back in 1994 katherine fender-rundel had been the miami-dade state attorney for two years when the case came into her office. she was determined lynn friend was name would not end up -- lynn friend's name will not end up in some cold case file. >> this was not the -- >> reporter: couldn't say if she was dead. she might have metaphorically taken the midnight train to georgia. nobody knew. >> that's correct. we didn't know she was missing. we believed it. we had a little boy. we didn't have access to him. really what you had was very little. so you had to really build it you had to stay tenacious. >> reporter: tenacious indeed. because clifford friend actually had an alibi. [ sirens ] >> reporter: one he wasn't proud of perhaps, but it described what he was doing that night and why there were two men in a boat. coming up an undercover sting that didn't quite go as planned. >> he said, "oh, i took the

recording device and dropped it in her diaper." ♪i leave a story untold... ♪ he just keeps sending more pictures... if you're a free-range chicken you roam free. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance you switch to geico. it's what you do. ♪ two wheels a turnin'... ♪ [woman] who is this guy? and why is he not sweating? he must be a secret agent. new axe dry spray. goes on dry and keeps you dry with no visible residue. the first ever dry spray antiperspirant from axe.

curing a yeast infection can take days. relieving the itch... can happen instantly. vagisil max strength anti-itch wipes relieve itch and odor instantly as they cleanse. so why wait to feel comfortable? trust vagisil. the number one wipe for itch. imagine if razors could move up and down, and all around. hugging tight, swirling left and turning right. behold, new venus swirl. the only razor with five contour blades and a flexiball. to contour to your tricky places, bones, bends and all. smooth and steady, going this way and that. bumps and grooves, curvy and flat. for skin as flawless as flawless can be. new venus swirl, try it and see.

start the interview with a firm handshake. ay,no! don't do that! try new head & shoulders instant relief. it cools on contact, and also keeps you 100% flake free. try new head & shoulders instant relief. for cooling relief in a snap.

>> reporter: monthsed passed and with no success in finding lynne's body, police appeal to the public for help. they put together a crime stoppers re-enactment video that aired on local tv showing two men dumping a bag in the ocean, then trying to evade customs agents. a reward was offered, but the tip line stayed mostly silent. neither clifford friend nor alan gold would tell police directly what they were doing on the boat that night. customs agent tim stellhorn thought he knew when he ran a background check and found clifford's priors. >> through the negaative findings, we -- investigative findings, we learned that clifford friend did have a criminal history.

part of that criminal history was in drug smuggling. >> reporter: while the other man, alan gold, had no history of drug arrests, was clifford friend a known smuggler, dumping drugs into the ocean that night? his attorney said clifford friend was committing a crime that night, but it wasn't murder. >> they were running drug deals together. >> reporter: attorney peter heller says that's what was in the bag clifford dumped. drugs. you're saying he was dirty. he had a diry history -- >> he did, and they knew that. >> reporter: clifford also owned a pawn shop in the miami area. according to his lawyer clifford's drug-running career ended when lynne disappeared. he wanted to turn his life around. he had a little boy to take care of. >> husband and wife -- >> reporter: and he would take care of christian with his new bride. a year and a half after lynne disappeared, clifford and janet married. alan gold, with the waist-length braid, was there, too. the investigators never really go away. you're putting together your new life with this man, and yet you've got to deal with all that stuff.

>> after the first couple of years, the first two years, it really disappeared. >> reporter: as the case receded from the public eye, clifford and janet friend focused on raising young christian. does he remember his mother? >> i never wanted him to forget who his mother was. so i always made sure that he had pictures of his mother in his room and he was allowed to ask any question that he ever wanted. >> reporter: you had become the only mom he knew in his life. you are mom. >> i am mom, and he calls me mom. he understands i am not his biological mother. >> reporter: what kind of dad was cliff to christian? >> he was a great dad. they went and played ball together. they went fishing together. they went on travels together. cliff is a phenomenal father. >> reporter: meanwhile up in tennessee, lynne's one-time

fiance, ed odell, had moved on with his life too. married now with children. the begin dlingdwindleing friends of lynne thought they would never see an end to the case of the missing woman. there was one person in particular who didn't like to see the dusty jacket of unsolved cases in his files new york stock exchange 2010, one of miami's most -- files. in 2001, one of miami's prosecutors, michael vanzamft took over the case. what did you think the biggest problem was? >> i had no body no witnesses. his nothing to indicate she was actually dead. >> i think that especially now in 2014 juries with -- have high expectations. >> reporter: the "csi" speech that so many prosecutions give in jury selection -- >> they expect physical evidence. they want to see a body. >> reporter: the two re-examined the 16-year-old file and took a fresh look at a lead from back then that had never panned out. an acquaintance of clifford's someone named robert misy told

police about a disturbing conversation he had with the ex-husband not long before lynne went missing. he said it happened over breakfast at this ihop. >> clifford told them well, she's never leaving the state with my child. she's going for a boat ride and she's never coming back. >> reporter: this is dynamite for an investigator. >> it was great. we managed to convince missy that he should become our ally. >> reporter: in other words, a snitch. missy, a convicted felon on pro- probation at the time agreed to meet clifford with a wire weeks later. there was something worrying the pawnbroker about their earlier breakfast meeting. >> my biggest concern is the conversation that we had at on, hop. i want to make sure -- >> oh no. >> i had no conversations. >> okay. >> ever. >> and that to us gave us confirmation that there had been an actual conversation at the ihop. and there was probably a discussion about the disposing of lynne friend.

>> reporter: missy turned out to be a hapless, technologically challenged informant. at another meeting, missy wanted to make sure clifford didn't discover his concealed wire so he used his own baby as cover. >> we asked him, what was wrong with the baby? we couldn't hear the baby was screaming. he said, oh i took the recording device and i dropped it in her diaper. >> reporter: you're kidding. >> the reason she was screaming is because those things get kind of hot. and we were just all appalled that he had done that. >> reporter: investigators did believe the initial ihop story, but after missy was called out in a lie on something else he was quietly retired from the investigation. now 18 years after lynne friend went missing, prosecutor von zamft decided to tell the ihop story to a grand jury absent missy himself. >> we used that as part of the basis for the indictmentment. >> reporter: marginal evidence maybe, but nonetheless a good prosecutorial strategy. the grand jury indicted. >> you clifford friend? >> yes, ma'am.

>> reporter: in 2012 prosecutors charged clifford friend with first-degree murder. his attorney was flabbergasted that prosecutors would dare to build a circumstantial case with no body, mind you, on the expected star witness testimony of a very shaky informant. >> our investigators had done tremendous amount of work on robert missy. we had boxes of files of dirt on robert missy. >> reporter: but what the defense didn't know was that prosecutors were putting up a straw man. missy wouldn't be their star witness at all. >> we were never going to use him at trial. our whole intent was to use him and have the defense running around looking for him and everything they could find on him. >> reporter: and while the defense did just that spinning its wheels prosecutors were quietly working on reeling in another prize -- another better witness. one clifford friend could only hope he'll never see again. coming up the other person on the boat that night brakes a

promise and 20 years of silence. >> he said, "we have to dump the bag." amazing this one feels fantastic for me... and combined ah it's a completely new sensation for us both it's opened up a whole new door for us i've come to clean your pool but we dont have a pool i'll come in anyway next week i'm going to be a maid ky yours and mine now discover our exclusive line at k-y.com winter is hard on your face. the start of sneeze season. and the wind-blown watery eyes. that's why puffs plus lotion is gentle on sensitive skin. so you can always put your best face forward. a face in need deserves puffs indeed. and try puffs softpack today. only dove men+care antiperspirant has 48 hour sweat protection plus 1/4 moisturizer technology. it keeps your under arms dry without irritation. tough on sweat not on skin.

why are all these people so asleep yet i'm so awake? did you know your brain has two systems? one helps keep you awake- the other helps you sleep. science suggests when you have insomnia, the wake system in your brain may be too strong and your neurotransmitters remain too active as you try to sleep, which could be leading to your insomnia. ohh...maybe that's what's preventing me from getting the sleep i need! talk to your doctor about ways to manage your insomnia. imagine if razors could move up and down, and all around. hugging tight, swirling left and turning right. behold, new venus swirl. the only razor with five contour blades and a flexiball. to contour to your tricky places, bones, bends and all. smooth and steady, going this way and that. bumps and grooves, curvy and flat. for skin as flawless as flawless can be. new venus swirl, try it and see.

♪ ah, push it. ♪ ♪ ♪ push it. ♪ ♪ p...push it real good! ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ow! ♪ ♪ oooh baby baby...baby baby. ♪ if you're salt-n-pepa, you tell people to push it. ♪ push it real good. ♪ it's what you do. ♪ ah. push it. ♪ if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance you switch to geico. it's what you do. ♪ ah. push it. ♪ i'm pushing. i'm pushing it real good! your kids get used to sweaty odors in their room. they think it smells fine, but you smell this... eliminate all the odors you've gone noseblind to with febreze fabric refresher. mmmm... so you and your guests can breathe happy.

i started playing rugby when i was about 12... and pretty much haven't stopped since. i don't really think about my hair too much... but, i started going gray kind of early... and it's just not me. only just for men easily targets gray with a comb-in applicator. so you get a natural gray-free look. guaranteed. just you and the look you want. just for men. >> reporter: 20 years after lynn friend's disappearance, clifford friend looking more jowly banker than killer was on trial for his ex-wife's murder.

the motivers prosecutors say -- motive, prosecutors say, was sitting directly behind him. the son, christian, now 25. clifford, the prosecutors theorized, killed lynne to stop her from taking the boy out of state to nashville where she was to remarry. for the last 20 years, christian had always been in that place, right behind his father, never questioning his innocence. in court, it showed the jury his continuing support of his father even as he was about to hear until now untold family stories. >> the truth, the whole truth -- >> reporter: among the first witnesses was ed o'dell lynne's one-time fiance. o'dell described his last call with lynne. her call waiting beeped and she put him on hold. she said it was her ex-husband, clifford, on the other line asking her to come to his house and pick up some money he owed. >> when you hung up with her, that was the last time you ever spoke to her? >> that is correct. >> what did you do when you

didn't hear from her? >> i tried to call her and did not get through. and -- >> did you call her -- >> excuse me a minute. >> mr. o'dell, would you like to take a break? >> no, i would like to get finished. >> all right, sir. >> reporter: to prove clifford killed lynne to stop her from taking their son away, prosecutors called her divorce attorney. he testified that one week before her disappearance, clifford went ballistic in a family law court when a judge approved the boy's move to nashville. >> he was angrily yelling at his lawyer that nobody -- nobody will take christian away from me. >> reporter: but these outbursts were at best purely circumstantial evidence. the prosecution would need a lot more than that. remember, lynne's body had never been found. however, the night his ex disappeared, clifford and his pal, alan gold, were spotted in

a speedboats dumping a bag overboard. the state believed lynne's remains were in that bag. alan gold had kept his mouth shut all these years. >> the key was finding a way to force alan gold to cooperate. >> reporter: prosecute michael von zamft made the other man in the boat an offer he couldn't refuse. he was subpoenaed to testify and given a grant of immunity with it. if he didn't testify, the hammer would come down hard. >> then i'll have the judge order you to testify, and then i'll let you sit in jail until the trial's over. >> reporter: at age 68 gold didn't like the prospect of years in jail. he chose the door marked "cooperation." stetson in hand alan gold limped into court with a certain bravado. he passed by his former friend clifford, moments away from telling his version of that fateful night 20 years before. he testified that when he went to clifford's house, the son, christian, who was supposed to be spending the weekend with his father wasn't there.

it turned out, clifford had dropped the boy you off at a babysitter's. gold said he right away noticed a large canvas bag on the floor. >> when he pointed to the bag or told you about the bag, who did he tell you was in the bag? >> lynne. >> reporter: gold says clifford told him he and lynne had argued, and then things got out of control. >> the next thing he knew it was over. he had lost it. he knocked her down and choked her out. >> what did you take that to mean? >> it means that she was in the bag. she wasn't coming back, and that was of the end of lynne. >> reporter: clifford said he'd need the 30-foot go-fast boat they owned together. it was docked behind gold's condo on miami beach. >> he wanted to use the boat take her out, pretty deep water, and dump her. >> when he told you that did you immediately turn and run out the door? >> no. >> reporter: gold said "go figure." he decided to help his buddy out

of a jam because of his son, christian. >> i basically didn't want to see the kid fatherless and i figured it was the lesser of the evil. i figured it was just a tragic accident that happened, and why make it worse. >> reporter: first gold said they got rid of lynne's car. at the house, the two picked up the bag with lynne's body. >> did you as you tried to lift this bag, say anything to clifford about why did it weigh so much? >> i did. >> what did he tell you? >> it's weighted. >> reporter: once on the boat gold says clifford weighted it down even more. >> he disengaged the anchor from the anchor line and stuffed that in as well. >> reporter: customs agents who stopped them confirmed the boat anchor was missing. they also found cement blocks and rope. gold recalled the moment out at sea when he gave clifford a heads up that customs was following. >> he said we have to dump the

bag. he jumped in the back grabbed hold of the side of the bag. i grabbed the other, and it went over the side. [ sirens ] >> reporter: after a short chase with armed federal agents, goal said they had no choice now surrender. >> i peed my pants. other than that -- he basically wanted to know what went overboard. i told him that a towel blew over. >> basically you lied? >> oh yeah. i don't really want to tell anybody i just got done dumping a body in the atlantic. >> reporter: gold was asked why now, 20 years later, did he finally stop covering for his pal clifford? >> you had basically told me if i refused to answer that you would put me in jail. >> certainly you're not here out of the goodness of your heart. >> no. >> were there any other considerations that kept you from coming forward? >> i made a commitment to the guy 20 years ago. i didn't see any reason to break it. >> you broke it. >> only because you put me in a

box, and i don't have any choice. >> reporter: a compelling witness for sure but was he credible? >> he's a character. he is despicable but he's believable. >> reporter: prosecutors had one more witness to go. a jailhouse snitch named andre scarsia flores. the judge ordered us not to show his face. flores testified that one night he and clifford were watching a spanish tv soap opera when they were in the same jail. ironically, the plot was about a drug dealer who killed his wife by throwing her off a boat. [ splash ] >> do you remember in english what he said to you? >> wow. remind me of what i did. it's like deja vu. >> reporter: more damt mdamning testimony, or was it? >> you with absolutely certain you were watching that show? >> reporter: the defense was doing his homework and was ready to pounce. coming up the judge explodes at the prosecution --

>> you put on a jailhouse snitch and you didn't check any further to his credibility? i don't want a response to that. >> and a son defends the man accused of killing his mother. >> i

>> reporter: the defense was behind on points after alan gold, the state's star witness, spun a hypnotic story about helping his buddy clifford friend, dump his ex-wife's body in the ocean. but one person wasn't convinced. christian friend the boy who lost his mother at the age of 5, listened to two weeks of damning evidence that his father killed her. >> every night he came home feeling more and more confident that his father was innocent. >> reporter: was innocent, not going the other way? not getting shaky about -- >> oh, he wasn't shaky at all. >> reporter: did you have any moments where you wavered, janet? >> never. >> reporter: say maybe i've been married to a stranger maybe there's things i don't know about this? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: and the reason you stayed with him so four square behind him is what? >> we had a great relationship.

>> reporter: while his son and wife still believed in him, how would the defense get the jury to buy its case? an excellent place to started of the jailhouse snitch. he told the damaging story about him and clifford watching a soap opera together about an ocean-going wife-murdering drug dealer. clifford allegedly blurted out something like "that's what i did." >> the prosecution when she told me she says "peter, you can't make this up." i said "yes you can." it turned out he did. >> reporter: during cross-examination, attorney peter heller caught the snitch in a lie that send the whole trial reeling. private investigators working for the defense uncovered evidence the state didn't know about. it turned out clifford never did watch that spanish language tv program with the snitch. >> the problem with the story was i immediately pulled our phone records. and cliff and i were on the telephone when this episode was aired. >> reporter: the snitch's story

unraveled. to the prosecution's great humiliation and unhappiness. after that oops the judge ripped into the state. >> seriously. you put on a jailhouse snitch and you didn't check any further to his credibility? i don't want a response to that. >> you want an answer -- i made a mistake. maid a missi -- i made a mistake. a said "sometimes when it's too good to be true it probably is." >> reporter: the judge called in puzzled jurors and told him to disregard the snitch's testimony. >> he's under investigation for perjury -- >> reporter: here of the point of the defense's newly energized argument -- jurors, if the state would put on a big fat liar like the jailhouse snitch, what did that say about alan gold, the star witness? prosecutors were concerned. >> that was the key, to say if they put on one liar they'd put on the other. >> reporter: the defense tried to prove that like the snitch gold of a liar also. and that the reason he decided to tell prosecutors what they wanted to hear was that he was

afraid of being charged with murder, too. >> no statute of limitations on first-degree murder is, there -- >> i didn't whack the broad, so i didn't care. >> is that what it was, whack the broad? is that what she is? >> i watch "the sopranos" a lot. >> reporter: it didn't take much prodding to show the court how little respect gold had for the entire proceeding. >> when their whole thing to be comical? >> absolutely. >> why is that sir? >> took 20 years to get here. >> so that's -- it's funny? >> a sense of humor is different than mine. >> reporter: the judge limited the defense from offering its drug-smuggling alibi, and the suggestion that it was drugs, not lynne's body in the bag clifford dumped. still, the defense was able to shoehorn in the thought that gold and clifford were on a drug run that night. >> isn't this t truerue that you needed to meet him to get drugs, isn't that true? [ bleep ] >> reporter: with no body found, no dna and no physical evidence

in clifford friend's house to prove lynne was murdered there, gold admitted he couldn't with absolute certainty say that lynne's body was in that bag. >> could you tell from your own sense that there was a body in there, yes or no? >> it wasn't april fools. there was a body. >> you didn't look in there? >> no no. >> reporter: with the state and defense resting their cases closing arguments boiled down to one thing -- would jurors believe alan gold. >> you know alan gold was about as unrepentant a sinner as you're ever going to see. the state put him on because only he knew things that he would know. >> you cannot believe what alan gold says. he has an agenda. he fabricated because of his agenda to save his own life. >> reporter: the 20-year-old murder case was now in the hands of the jury. jurors deliberated late into the evening. around :30, they announced -- 9:30, they announced a verdict. >> christian and i were together

holding hands. i had told him no matter what happened, we would hold our heads high. >> we, the jury, find the defendant, clifford bret friend guilty of second-degree murder -- >> reporter: second-degree murder. the jury apparently believed gold's story but not that the crime was premeditated. at sentencing a few weeks later, lynne's long-ago fiance ed o'dell, spoke directly to christian, reminding him of what he missed in life. >> you will not be able to understand lynne's love for you until you have your own child. when you will know a love that you never knew possible before. >> reporter: christian, who'd sat silently throughout the trial, finally spoke. and he was still four square behind his father. >> i'm not going to go into the frustration i feel in hearing that i missed out on growing up with my mother. i'm not going to go into how

frustrating it is to hear how i've become a good person in spite of my father because he is the best person i know. i've been asked why i never questioned my dad about any of this many times by many people. and i never felt the need to. he raised me and taught me right from wrong. you've heard it said many times that my dad loved me too much to let me go. but i know that he loves me too much to hurt me by taking my mother from me. >> reporter: in court, judge teresa pooler had the final word. >> you treated lynne friend with unspeakable -- sir, look at me. with unspeakable cruelty. your actions left your 5-year-old child to grow up without knowing his mother. the manner in which you disposed of her body sir, was despicable. by so cavalierly dumping her in the ocean. clifford bret friend for these reasons i'm sentencing you to life in prison. >> reporter: 20 years ago, state

attorney katherine fernandez-rund fernandez-rundel you vowed that lynne friend's story would not end up in some cold case file. now she says there is justice both for the young mother and for her son, even though he disagrees with the outcome of the case. um three's all about a boy, isn't it? >> it's all about the boy. >> totalug-of-war between the two parents. >> i would beg to say i don't think a father who would deprive a boy of the love of a mother really loves the boy. he loved himself more, it seems to me. >> reporter: markers. out west there's the great open sky. in south florida, the ocean. always the ocean. the vast churning tropical waters. for the aging friends, still remembering it is lynn's marker too. after a violent death the place where they prayed she might finally rest in peace.

that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thning us. this sunday, letter to the ay a. why did 47 republicans write to iran's supreme leader? and why some of them now regret it. >> i'm embarrassed for them. plus is hillary clinton too big to fail? >> i opted for convenience to use my personal e-mail account. >> what the roefrscontroversy over her e-mails could mean for the presidential bid and why there is no plan b. and the class divide. we asked americans where they think they belong. are you really middle class? and in the endgame, lindsey graham started it here on "meet the press." >> i don't e-mail -- no you can have every e-mail i've ever sent. i've never sent one. >> now the other washington politicians who admit never taking that bridge to the 21st century. i'm chuck todd. joining me to provide insight and