proud of. >> jimmy: mitt romney, everybody. thanks to ray romano. apologies to matt damon. we're out of time. "nightli for watching. good night! [ cheers and applause ] htline." >> tonight, cold-blooded killer or confused teen? made famous by the "making a murderer," this confession helped put 16-year-old brendan dassey behind bars for life. his lawyers now saying it wasre on our way to meet -- >> tonight we investigate why someone could confess tommit. plus, wings and waves. we're taking you on an airborne mission into enemy territory. >> it is an intense rush, and atyes can play all dark. and out at sea aboard a massive aircraft carrier, home

line in the fight against isis. and the world of melania. before her the donald, there was this guy -- >> wow. who was in girl? >> a look back at the small town beginnings ofl with huge ambition.

good evening. thanks for joining us. one teenager admits to taking part in a gruesome murder, landing him in jail for the rest of his life.aying that his confession was coerced. it's the lynchpin in brendan dassey's controversial case. tonight my "nightline" dan harris investigates. >> come on, brendan, be honest. you can do it. just tell us the truth. >> i grabbed her arm, put it on the side, and tied her up.r: are we looking at a killer reluctantly unspoolg the details of his crime? >> then we shot her. >> why don't you draw what the blood stains looked like?e looking at a confused intellectually challenged teenager being manipulated into falsely confessing? the case ot into the national consciousness as a result of the netflix documentary series

>> they>> reporter: this controversial confession tape was the centerpiece of dassey's trial. he's been in prison now for nearly ten years, convicted of raping and halback. but he and his family have maintained his innocence. >> they interrogated him and made him say what they wanted to hear.ow has a new legal team and they've filed a new federal appeal based in large measure on the argument that was coerced. so we went out to explore these questions. if dassey didn't commit the crime, why would he confess? and if this shows dassey falsely confessing, what made the jury convict? first stop -- >> we're going to laura's ter: laura nirider, one of dassey's lead attorneys and fiercest defenders. >> come on, buddy. let's get this out.ou have here are police officers who are using psychological interrogation

seasoned adult criminals on with intellectual limitations. >> reporter: the interrogators aren't banging the table. they're not threatening him. does it fit into the sc model of coercive interrogations? >> absolutely it does. >> reporter: at the time of his arrest brendan dassey was a high school sophomore in manitowoc counhe had a low i.q. and was enrolled in several special ed classes. he lived on the family's salvage yard right next to his >> i'm free. >> reporter: who'd been released from prison after serving 18 years for a rape he didn't just glad you're home, honey. >> reporter: but then avery was arrested and charged with the murder of teresa halbach.ave a seat, brend snn. >> reporter: several months later brendan was brought in for questioning.ut her where? >> on her throat. >> it appeared hard to argue that it was coerced.

he says when he watched the confession tape he became convinced there was no way a jury would believe dassey was innocent. get dassey's confession thrown out. >> the defendant's motion to denied. >> what are your thoughts after we're disappointed in in -- start over. deal. he even set up another interview with his client and the police. >> you and steve had yeah? yes or no? >> yeah. >> reporter: an interview kachinsky actually skipped because he says he had army reserve duty. >> how on out of that? >> with 20-20 hindsight, yeah, it was a mistake. >> reporter: for his failure to attend that meeting -- >> why don't you sign r: the judge removed kachinsky from dassey's case. >> do you have a clear conscience? >> yes, i do. i did what i thought was in sts.

any impact at all on the verdict in dassey's case. >> reporter: several months later dassey went to trial with and his confession dominated the proceedings. >> your job at the end of this case will decide whether thatht to be believed. >> when you watch the videos carefully, they'll be exposed for what they are. and i think they're just sey himself took the stand. >> you made it up. >> yeah. >> reporter: sticking to his story even under tough cross-examination. >> and you lied to the police. >> yes. >>'re lying today? >> no. >> reporter: the prosecutor at dassey's trial made this confident assertion. >> people who are innocent don'tndant confessed because he was guilty. because he did it. >> reporter: but the fact is innocent people do confess. richard ofshe is one of these experts on interrogation tactics. he worked on the infamous case of the central park five. >> i grabbed her ne arm and her legs and stuff.

confessed in gruesome detail to attacking and raping a 28-year-old woman in the spring of ld smack her and say shut up. kept smacking. >> reporter: but these confessions were all false. >> they came to believe that they would only be able to minimizet if they cooperated with the police. >> reporter: turns out 1 out of 4 people wrongfully convicted and later exonerated by made a false confession or incriminating statement. >> so when you look at brendan dassey's confession, what do you see in. >> i see something thas one ashamed to be an american. it's that bad. they get him to say anything that they want him to say. >> i faced by cops accusing me of a crime i did not commit that i would confess to it. >> what would you do? >> i would say give me a lawyer. >> andce. those are the people i never see.

i've got to get myself out of and probably your income is a bit higher than the average person. >> reporter: if she can get her client a new trial, laura demonstrate how she says the interrogators railroaded dassey. >> we just need to see the whole story from you. >> they reduce him over time to a place where hee can convince these officers of his innocence. and when he's at that position of hopelessness, then the way out. >> your mom said you'd be honest with us. >> she's behind you 100% no matter what happens here. >> that's what she said.nks you know more too. >> we're in your corner. >> and what you see is brendan begin to believe the officers and think, okay, i have to say these things that they want me to say.n when dass wree breaks down and confesses any nirider says by her analysis he offers no information that was reported in the media. >> the 25-year-old photographer disappeared last halloween. >> was last seen taking pictures at the avery salvage yard.

him >> all right. i'm just going to come out and ask you. who shot her in the head? >> he did. >> why didn't you tell us that? couldn't think of it. >> any fair reading of that sequence is that brendan is guessing in an attempt to placate his intee reached out to the detectives in this video for comment, but our efforts were not successful. even now that i understand that false confessions are a real ce system, when it comes to the case of brendan dassey there are still so many open questions. if he didn't do it, is it just a total coincidencet a bonfire that night with his uncle and in that bonfire they found the remains of a murder victim? >> look, what happened that night is exactly whataid all along. the family had bonfires all the time to burn their garbage. same thing with cleaning up the garage with his uncle. again, this was an auto salvage e constantly tinkering around with cars and having to clean up after the fact. >> reporter: even though two

his appeal, brendan dasseyight holding out hope that a federal judge will answer his prayers. >> i wish i could have a familyorter: toward the end of "making a murderer" he can be heard reading a letter with an emotional plea. >> i am innocent of the rape and murder of teresa ease help me if you can. sincerely, brendan dassey. >> so do you think brendanssion was coerced? head to the "nightline" facebook page to weigh in. and next -- we're with the men attacking on board an aircraft carrier with massive firepower. but first, your voice, your s of couldn't's tonight's heated primary contests. republican donald trump once again trouncing histed to win in michigan. although a strong showing from

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what do you think it takes to land a fighter jet on a moving ship in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the h the country's top fighter pilots risking their lives in the campaign to wipe out isis. abc's chief global affairs

gives us a rare look aboard the mother ship that these aces call home. >> do you have any rituals before you go out in. >> i go to the bathroom, say a >> reporter: lieutenant commander john hilts, call sign johnny kittens, is calm on the surface, but he is about to be hurtled off an to attack isis. lieutenant charles wickware, call sign wingnut, rolling as he embarks on this risky mission, flying in the dead of night over enemy territory, crossing iraq into syria through a >> whatever you can do to avoid some of the weather. >> reporter: we joined the mission hours before on the "uss harry s. truman,"e persian gulf, the truman is home to more than 5,000 sailors and a jaw-dropping amount of

hundreds of precision guided weapons, millions and millions of dollars' worth of ordnance ready to be loaded onto thercraft. landing on a moving target the length of a football field is a delicate maneuver. but to the pilots it's routine. >> l the basics tonight. this is a pretty standard mission for us. we should be able to execute it flawlessly. >> let me start commander, because you outrank him, you know, so we should do that. >> i'm taller too. >> not by much and not by much. >> reporter: the duo jokes, but navy's best pilots. wickware has been in the navy 11 years. growing up in hawaii, he startedhen he was just 14. john hilts played basketball for notre dame before joining the navy, where he would bee blue angels demonstration team. it takes a crew of 5,000 to get

miles of passageways. life below the deck is bustling. the ship's barber shop doles out 20,000er year. and the kitchen dishes up 18,000 day. they worship on board as well.ing from voodoo to roman catholic services,rvices, anything you can imagine we have. voodoo? >> that's true. >> reporter: these creature comforts are true on a ship that launches or lands an every 60 to 90 seconds when flight operations are under way. it is the rainbow warriors who make it happen, the maintainerste launch and recovery, and the red bombs. >> a lot of ordnance has been dropped. >> a lot more than my last three. >> reporter: all that teamwork leads to this.

a detailed mission brief where we were allowed towhat the night would hold. >> we're going after that oil infrastructure in syria. there will also be that may impact tanking and then possibly into the execution. we've got a 30-minute window to ter: the pilots head for their jets just as the sun goes down. >> most naval aviators will say i do this job for freebut you have to pay me to do it at night. >> you've been in afghanistan and iraq before. is it different going after this kind of enemy? >> i think it is. you don't the ground to develop those targets. >> have a safe flight. >> reporter: the mission is a go. lieutenant wickware givesffic controllers, and he's off. catapulted from 0 to 160 miles an hour in seconds. >> that's one elementu're almost completely out of control. those few seconds as it accelerates you down that catapult stroke.

no stars no, horizon, you're into darkness. >> reporter: that target an oil pipeline in a remote area of eastern syria. an effort to cripple isis's financial but before they hit their target the jets must refuel, mid-air. connecting with a tanker to gas up. joining. >> reporter: the pilots guiding their probe into the tanker's basket. >> you're over hostile territory so you need to get that gas. and if you don't, then we can't complete our mission. >> whatever you can do to avoid some of the weather would be reporter: an intense storm develops. lightning strikes illuminate wickware's nightvision. but finally, the target is in three, two, one. tickle. >> reporter: the two pilots hit the target with a quick, intense the mission is not over yet. >> we still have to come back

carrier deck at se around the world operates at night the way america's navy does. >> expect the approach. >> it is an intense rush.r eyes can play all sorts of tricks on you in the dark. >> final bearings. >> while you're doing it you don't realize how amped up you are. your ith adrenaline. >> reporter: we met up with the pilots seconds after landing safely on deck again. >> it was not exactly routine. we had to climbrstorm and then to employ we had to drop down below it. but we got the results we wanted. >> reporter: but as the military moves closer to trying to help take back major cities control, the danger will only increase. >> every time we take the sky there's risks that are us throughout the world. >> reporter: for "nightline" i'm martha raddatz on the ""uss

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from a small town in slovenia to ritzy fifth avenue,

so did the man who says he's her hometown ex see it coming?sava river, sevnica, slovenia, a modest factory toamous export. melania trump. >> two words. grace kelly. >> reporter: before the paparazzi and that very public marriage, she was melania knauss and this was her home.he first time. >> reporter: before the donald there was the jure, who says he's melania's ex-boyfriend. >> she was never a typicalrl. very, very classy. >> reporter: from sevnica to manhattan to perhaps next the white house. ahe fairy tale. you can watch much more of abc's digital shorts like this one by

tune in to "gma" for a full wrap-up of election results in the morning. and as always, we're online 24/7 on our "nightline"and at abcnews.com.

ou from hollywood it's "comics unleashed." hot chocolate, your host byron ellis. tonight byron welcomes kim whitly, vince morris,