tonight on "nightline," murder for hire? a celebrity chef accused of a disturbing crime. the plan, according to police, offer homeless men $1,000 to kill his wife. and police say he's caught on tape. it's the inside story of an alleged hit you won't believe. plus, formula for love. a match maker that claims more than 230 marriages a day, and over 100,000 babies. so, do they have the secret formula for finding your perfect match? we put it to the test. and, tame the amazon. mysterious people, deadly animals. it's an exotic and remote place where everything, it seems is trying to kill you. bill weir goes where the wild things are. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, martin bashir and cynthia mcfadden in new york city, this is "nightline," may 21st, 2010.

>> good evening, i'm cynthia mcfadden. we begin tonight with crime, and a celebrity chef police say wanted his wife dead. he allegedly devised a plot in which he would hire homeless men to carry out the murder, but there was one big problem. the would-be hitmen went to the authorities. what followed was a setup by police and his arrest for attempted murder. now, he's claiming innocence, and the woman he allegedly wanted dead seems to be on his side. david wright has the twisted tale. >> kissing off the calories. >> reporter: until this week, juan carlos cruz was best known as the calorie commando, cooking up heart healthy recipes for the food net work. >> i'm showing you how to lose the calories without losing the flavor. >> reporter: but heart healthy is now just about the last phrase that comes to mind. >> juan carlos cruz. >> tv chef juan carlos cruz was

arrested yesterday. >> reporter: cruz stands accused of cooking up a bizarre plan to kill his wife. arraigned this week for attempted murder, a charge cruz adamantly denies. but police say earlier this month, cruz cruised the busy santa monica promenade, approaching homeless men. >> this guy comes up to me and was like, i have a job. i was like, what kind of job? he was like, dirty things done dirt cheap. >> reporter: one of the men told the tmz website he had a most unusual proposition. >> he took out of his black backpack all the gear he wanted me to use, which was a box cutter, throw away, prepaid cell phone. two $100 bills cut up. he said he would give me half up front and give me the other half of it when the job was done. >> reporter: the homeless guys say they promptly called the

cops, who weren't willing just to take their word for it. they wanted proof. >> we texted him, called him up. i talked to him. they got recordings of it. >> you were wired at this point? >> yeah. >> reporter: big dave told tmz that police watched as cruz gave him the security code for the door and pointed out cameras to avoid. >> he showed me photos of the door, the alarm, everything. >> reporter: the santa monica police promptly arrested cruz. >> it was a murder for hire. that was the intended -- there was a victim that was intended to be killed, as a result of, as soon as we found out who that person was, he notified them. >> reporter: the alleged victim, police believe, was cruz's wife, jennifer campbell, his grade school sweetheart. they've been together 33 years. oddly, cruz was working on a forthcoming book, dedicated to

her. a book called "the love diet," co-authored by amy reiley. >> i don't know what to make of it. it's still sinking in. >> reporter: she's known cruz for six years and in all that time, he's never had a bad word to say about his wife. >> there's a lot of anecdotal term in "the love diet" and he speaks very fondly in the book of his wife and she's very much, you know, he referred to her as an inspiration. >> reporter: quite a story. this is unusual stuff. >> this is the only story tmz has ever done that i could call truly shakespeare-ian. >> reporter: harvey levin finds the case baffling. >> he tried to kill his wife. okay, i've heard that before. and then you start hearing the layers. wow, it just becomes this tortured horrible tragic story.

>> reporter: the twist is that at least for now, jennifer campbell seems to be standing by her man. people who know her insist she was deeply despondent over their inability to have children. they say she has in the past, expressed a desire to end her life, but her faith prevented that, because she sees suicide as a mortal sin. >> we don't know if insurance was recently purchased or if there's another woman in his life. there could be a wide variety of scenarios and right now it's very unclear. but to just simply say they were having fertility problems, that's why i wanted to solicit people to kill her, makes no sense. >> reporter: even if it were true that he was acting on her behalf, would that be a legitimate defense? >> no, it's not a defense at all. one spouse cannot tell the other spouse, go find two people to put a bullet in my head or slit

my throat. that's not permitted under our laws. >> reporter: but it would make it more difficult for prosecutors to charge him with attempted murder. >> if she backs him up and says yes, we talked about a suicide pact, and i don't blame him for anything, i feel bad for my husband, i think the district attorney is going to listen to that and ultimately work some sort of resolution. >> reporter: all of which would seem to point to the likelihood of a plea paragain, perhaps to the lesser charge of solicitation, which does not carry a life sentence. oldest of all is the fact that legally, jennifer campbell has to walk a very fine line. if she's too supportive of her husband, she could be put in legal jeopardy, herself. >> the crazy thing in california law is that you can be prosecuted for attempted murder for having somebody try to kill you. it's a crazy quirk in the law. >> reporter: friends of the couple aren't sure what to think. >> it is definitely a mystery to

me. it keeps me up every night. it keeps me up every night wondering why. >> reporter: and if the case does end up in a plea bargain, it may remain a mystery. the truth, known only to husband and wife. i'm david wright for "nightline" in santa monica. >> very strange case in southern california. when we come back, a turn towards matters of the heart. is there a secret formula to finding your soul mate? one match maker says that they've cracked the code. oatmeal cookies! bar bell! hey, hey, hey... what's the problem? we're shipping a package to andy but we can't send everything. it'd be too heavy. bar bell! cookies! never fear civilians! a postal carrier!! you guys need a priority mail flat rate box. only from the postal service. wha.. it's all over the tv. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service, if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. thanks, mr. postal carrier!

hey, fellas! shouldn't that dog be on a leash? disney pixar's toy story 3 only in theaters. priority mail flat rate boxes only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. so how come i still feel depressed?

[ male announcer ] approximately 2 out of 3 people being treated for depression still have unresolved symptoms. talk to your doctor. if an antidepressant alone isn't enough, one option your doctor may consider is adding abilify. abilify treats depression in adults when added to an antidepressant. some people had symptom improvement as early as 1 to 2 weeks after adding abilify. abilify is not for everyone. call your doctor if your depression worsens or you have unusual changes in behavior, or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens and young adults. elderly dementia patients taking abilify have an increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor if you have high fever, stiff muscles and confusion to address a possible life-threatening condition. or if you have uncontrollable muscle movements, as these could become permanent. high blood sugar has been reported with abilify and medicines like it. in some cases, extreme high blood sugar can lead to coma or death. other risks include decreases in white blood cells, which can be serious, dizziness upon standing, seizures, trouble swallowing,

and impaired judgment or motor skills. adding abilify has made a difference for me. [ male announcer ] talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits of adding abilify. thanks for your help. [ male announcer ] talk to your doctor

we turn now to love, and the big business of playing cupid. it's not easy to find a mate, hence, some 1500 match making services exist in the united states alone, all promising to find a person suited to your tastes. but in this big business, a few major players stand out, incl e including eharmony. as neal karlinsky discovered, there is science behind their success. >> reporter: let's face it. eavesdropping on a strange couple out on a date can be weirdly fascinating. >> he's going to have the hally butt. i'll have the macaroni and cheese. >> reporter: but in this case, we're not just eavesdropping. we're putting them under a microscope by spying on them from across the restaurant with a ph.d in relationship stud dips who conducts research for

eharmo eharmony. >> it's hard to tell right now how much that's going to mean. >> reporter: the couple has agreed to our strange setup. a test of eharmony's ability to match people. according to 320-question self-evaluation, hilarie, 28 years old, uses words like p perceptive, hard-nosed and skeptical. she's focused, curious and outgoing. tony, a 32-year-old, describes himself as fair, sensible, and rational. he's focused and flexible, very curious and outgoing. e harmony researcher john gonzaga studied their profiles on paper before tonight's date. what is your overall analysis? >> they seem to fit very well. there's a couple of things that are special highlights for them in terms of their personality that may indicate they may have some things in common that

really help drive getting more connected in a relationship. >> reporter: and now that computer profile is being put to the test. >> she shows a lot of gestures with the hands. sort of like moving in and out of leaning towards each other as the conversation goes on all all those things are indications of the emotional connection between the two of them. >> reporter: we'll check back in with them after dinner, but first, a look inside the eharmony love factory. a website they claim is responsible for 236 marriages a day. marriages that have given birth to 100,000 babies in this country already. ceo greg waldorf showed us some of the happy newly wemds plastered along a wall at the company's headquarters. relationships born of a secret computeral gor rhythm that matches people. >> what they get out of me and him and how they decide we're perfect, we don't know how they do it. >> reporter: there's an intangible quality about why a man is attracted or falling in

love with a woman or vice versa. how do you make that connection through a formula? >> i think of it as a starting point. it's a way to say to the user, here are a whole bunch of matches that you're compatible with. i wouldn't presume to tell anybody that i know exactly which user they're going to be interested in. we're giving them a really good set of users to start with. and then it flips to that very personal approach of, wow, i think i have something in common with this person. >> reporter: he says eharmony is different from other online services because it's not in the dating game, but the business of long-term relationships. >> we appreciate you. thank you for trying out our service and congratulations. >> reporter: waldorf says he believes the cheap's big brains, the group of ph.ds who write the formula to put people together, make all the difference between this place and just another dating service. >> the ph.ds are a special breed. they have expertise in everything from psychology, how

do relationships get formed? the computer science and mathematics, to really figure out the complexity of the massive scale of our testimony. >> reporter: what do you say to the skeptics who say, come on, you can't come up with a formula to tell me who i'm going to fall in love with. >> i would say to anyone who is skeptical, go talk to our success couples. >> reporter: it turns out, even the so-called success couples started as skeptics. >> to be perfectly honest, i thought it was kind of weird, like, to meet someone online. it's hard enough meeting people in real life. so, not at all a believer. >> reporter: three years into a happy marriage, they say it worked. researcher john gonzaga, who we took to the restaurant, studies couples like them in a room wired with cameras to find out more about what makes a healthy relationship. >> sometimes he can be a little bit of a know it all. >> this is xactually what we lok for, when they talk about the initial stages. you notice she isn't talking

about he met the things that i wanted in a partner. so, it is all reference towards, he was act trackive, he was intelligence, and couples who end up referring to the other person, and then to the diad more to themselves, that's an indicator they are focused on the relationship. >> reporter: back at the restaurant, dinner is over. they've put up with our cameras and say eharmony has worked for them. the question is, how well? i'm going to put you on the spot. is this relationship headed to marriage? >> yeah, i think -- hopefully. >> reporter: she's nodding yes. >> yeah, i know. i know. >> maybe i shouldn't be nodding yes. >> yeah, no, it's going great. i mean, i love her, and, yeah, i -- i can't imagine being with anybody else at this point, so, i would say definitely, yeah. >> reporter: they say love comes in many forms.

eharmony's version starts with a line of computer code, and doesn't always work. but when it does, it ends up looking just like this. i'm neal karlinsky for "nightline" in pasadena, california. >> hmm. of course, the secret formula comes at a cost. about $60 a month. finding a soulful mate is priceless. when we come back, we'll journey to the amazon where we join an explorer as he braves nature's most extreme elements. i was 7 the first ti found my best friend at 13. in college, i got caught up in a love triangle. and then i discovered what true love really is. experience the only ebook reader from the bookstore you've grown up with - nook, by barnes & noble. browse and download over a million titles wirelessly, and take your story wherever you want it to go. find nook at your local barnes & noble or nook.com.

also available at best buy.

>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with cynthia mcfadden.

>> it is one of the most unforgiving environments on the planet. the jungles surrounding the mighty amazon river. and it is along the banks of that 4,000-mile waterway that we met up with ed stafford. you see, no one has ever successfully walked from the source of the amazon to the sea. bill weir has the report for our series "into the wild." >> i swallowed a few. ow. ow. ow! >> reporter: it is hands down the worst place to take a long walk. but for one ed stafford that was the perfect reason to come. >> it was in fact a lot of people telling me that it was impossible to walk the entire length of the amazon that made

me want to prove them wrong. >> reporter: he set aside an entire year to hike and hack his way down the amazon. ed, i presume. but when i find him in eastern brazil, he's been walking more than two years and is still months away from the finish line. ed has agreed to drag my city softened hide along for a couple of days to get a sense of the grind. they have what, the blood sucking nats, the cyanide-squ t cyanide-squirting bugs -- >> and mosquitos. >> reporter: right. i can tell this is good bug spray because my lips are numb. ed is a product of posh london boarding schools, british military and a short career leading jungle expeditions. quite nice. like that. >> reporter: thanks to portable satellite internet, ed is also

the first walking video blogger. >> just explaining that it's not my responsibility if we die. >> reporter: science classrooms log in to revel in the wonder and hardship. >> it's shredded. ow. and of course they bite you, as well. >> reporter: after sponsors lost patience, and he refused to let his mom sell her house to fund him, it's student donations that keep it running. >> reporter: one native tribe invited him to watch an elaborate ritual. >> going so see a ceremony of a girl who is coming of age. and i have absolutely no idea what to expect whatsoever. introduce into te kwags and these people who are running around in costumes with that between their legs.

>> reporter: so what are we worried about more here? viper or eel? >> i would say eel is far more likely to be prevalent here. >> reporter: yeah. >> and they can grow to about two meters. and they are tenacious. if they want to, they can knock you out and then people can die, buttal of drowning in the water, rather than from the shock. >> reporter: right. they can put off something ridiculous, like 100 volts? i think 500. ridiculous. >> reporter: out of a six-foot electric eel. after a few hours of trudging, ed gives a lesson of setting up camp. the heat and bugs are relentless. that's refreshing. they normally survive on rice and beans and when that runs out, palm hearts and pir ran what meat. but since there are guests, they

cook up some salted meat and we hit the hammock. all right, not bad. if it wasn't a stifling 98 degrees. well, that was fun. let's never do it again. my stuff should be dry, right? and no. oh, yeah. nothing more delightful than putting on wet boots. first thing in the morning. >> i think day-to-day, getting up, putting the wet clothes on again and starting out is one of the toughest things of the whole expedition, that the endurance, both mental and physical, has been a thing that is the most wearing. i've been quite humbled by how much i've had to rely on other people and how i've had to rely

on the generosity and good nature of the locals who i've met on the way through, to help and the interest in the expedition has been overwhelming, really. >> reporter: sure you don't want to, i don't know, buy this bar and marry a local and put an end to this? >> i think we need to press on. >> reporter: how many miles to go? >> 700. >> reporter: best of luck, man. >> cheers, bill. thanks for coming down. >> reporter: good luck. see you on the other side. >> bye-bye. >> reporter: only seven good hours of walking before nightfa nightfall. i'm bill weir for "nightline" in brazil. >> oh, yeah. a real dream assignment, bill. and flood luck to ed on his remarkable adventure. we'll be right back. but first, jimmy kimmel with what's coming up next. >> jimmy: tonight, teri hatcher, music from massive attack, and "lost" produce