on the on "nightline" -- cyberstalk. he was just a college classmate till he became a fan. threatening her life on twitter and youtube. to live in terror. tonight, one woman's nightmare. and why she says even his prison sentence can't protect her. the real horse whisperer. he says they're actually sensitive and scared. robert redford played him in the movie. now bill weir meets the man behind the he jepd. and oh, say, can't you sing? every school kid in america can do it, so why can't stars? from roseanne barr to christina

aguilera. and now steven tyler. get it right. what makes our national anthem so easy to botch? good evening. i'm cynthia mcfadden. we begin tonight with the dark side of social media and one woman's nightmarish struggle over several years to elude her stalker. hers is a chilling case. starting with the way she was approached with a friend request on facebook from a former college classmate. their interaction quickly took a disturbing turn and then as the ominous tweets and youtube posts piled up, it took over her life. here's abc's andrea canning. >> please just listen to me and

let me be nice! we need to talk face-to-face! >> reporter: the videos are disturbing and terrifying. >> that's a very, very unwise decision. it's up to you now. save your own life. >> reporter: patrick posted dozens of threatening tirades on youtube. >> you stupid, ungrateful -- >> reporter: all directed at one woman. >> in sickness and in health, until the day you die. >> reporter: his obsession, former college student kristin prat. >> it stops you in your tracks. kills you emotionally. >> reporter: for three years, patrick machonie used social media as his weapon. cyber talking through youtube. messages like these. i want to tie your wrists together. i'm going to follow you from work. and tweets like this one. it is up to you now to save your life. i have no options. not to mention dozens of phone calls a day. pratt worried for her life.

describe what that's like, to be paranoid 24 hours a day. >> makes you question the world around you and it instills fear. >> reporter: would you check the shower? would you check the closet? >> oh, yeah, i would check all the time. i used to have dreams he found out where i lived and broke into my house and waited till i went to sleep and would kill me. >> reporter: it all began out of the blue in 2008 when machonie contacted pratt, then 19 years old. reminding her they had taken a class together at a community college. they never even officially met. she says it was initially polite. you were innocently responding to him thinking this could be a friend. >> yeah, exactly. >> reporter: about a half dozen messages later, things quickly turned frightening. >> they were more sexually oriented and a little bit more deranged. stuff about how he wanted to kill me before i kill him or he would break my neck, my

boyfriend's neck. >> reporter: the stalking only escalated. >> you're still playing games! >> reporter: you can see him videotaping himself in front of pratt's work. she then drives by not even knowing he's there. he chases her. pratt was told, outside of a restraining order, there was little she could do. till a police officer arrested machonie for prowling at another apartment complex. >> asked if they would check his backpack and in it was a sexual device, condoms, porn and a video camera. >> reporter: he was finally charged with cyberstalking. last week, pratt faced him in court. >> i was always nervous, frightened, at any moment i could walk out of a building and nobody would ever see me again. >> reporter: what was it like having to be face-to-face with this man? >> you're still playing game! >> really scary. i was breathless. it took my breath away.

i couldn't breathe. >> you can't keep ignoring me, you can't. >> reporter: he was convicted of cyberstalking. he took a plea deal. the prosecution asked for 15 years, arguing machonie is a dapger to society if released too soon from prison. >> i know what's going to happen. he will kill her. >> reporter: the defense painted a picture of a once bright student with a college scholarship who went on a downward spiral. a man who needs medical help, not prison time. now 24 years old, admitted in court he has problems. >> i want to apologize to her definitely for scaring her. i honestly don't even remember any of those e-mails. >> reporter: the judge gave him four years. he will be out in just two for time served. >> he made it a point to say it's because this is patrick's first offense. he hasn't harmed me. i'm still alive. but i'm not alive because patrick didn't want to hurt me.

i'm alive because i made sure i stayed alive. >> reporter: why do you think the judge didn't side with the prosecution, only giving four years versus 15 which is what they wanted? it's just a fraction. >> stalking cases and cyberstalking cases still airport treated in the same way by the law as an actual assault. but in this case, the judge would say, i've taken away his weapon, and that is access to a computer. because for 15 years, he's on probaegs. uses that computer in that 15 year period, he's going to have to serve the whole sentence. >> please, this isn't a game! >> reporter: as for cystp pratt, her biggest fear is when machonie is released from prison in two years. >> don't tell me i shouldn't be angry. >> reporter: a judge has ordered his medicine will be forcibly injected because of his lack of cooperation but she says the nightmare will never be over. are you going to live the rest of your life looking overour

shoulder in fear? >> of course, always. there will never be a day i can walk down the street without worrying he's behind me. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm andrea canning in new york. >> deeply disturbing indeed. just ahead, a trip to wyoming. over forty-percent of adults don't meet the recommended daily intake for many vitamins and minerals through diet alone. try... each serving... with 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d. and available in... boost® is so confident you'll prefer their taste to ensure they're offering a... details on the boost® great taste guarantee @ boost.com helping you buy better. [ male announcer ] you never know

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well, tomorrow's the big day. the oscar nominees will be announced. one film generating an awful lot of buzz is a documentary about a man whose co-stars move on four legs. "buck" is the story of the

real-life horse whisperer. he's had the rare distinction of having robert redford play him on screen. now my co-anchor, bill weir, heads to his ranch in wyoming for an extraordinary meeting with the man behind the legend. >> reporter: if we are to believe all the pretty horses and countless other westerns, in order to use this animal, you must first break this animal. hollywood didn't invent the idea. brute domination known as bronco busting. it's older than the old west. but what if you didn't have to break a horse or -- >> see there, where she went to run me over? >> reporter: what if you only had to start a colt into a life of mutual respect? >> when i get done, i will not have to close my hand on the end of this rope. >> reporter: instead of using leather and stress to mold a show animal -- >> nobody's here to hurt you. >> reporter: what if you could get the same result with empathy

and affection? you can call it horse whispering, you can call it zen, you can call it magic. but if you ever want to learn it, you probably call buck branaman. >> you know, so some people will refer to this style of horsemanship as natural horsemanship. there isn't anything natural about it. >> reporter: as one of the most respected cowboys in america, he was both inspiration and consultant to robert redford on the set of "the horse whisperer." as the star of the documentary "buck," he could soon find his boots on oscar's red carpet. and while he spends most of the year teaching soldout clinics across the country -- >> okay so close your hand on that or it's going to come away from you. >> reporter: we caught up with him on his ranch just outside of sheraton, wyoming. i thought i'd get a lesson in riding. i had no idea they were talking to me. instead, i got a lesson in life. >> peace and comfort, that's all

they want. >> reporter: this species has spent tens of thousands of years as prey. >> these guys are wired to be scared, right? >> yeah, yeah. >> reporter: and that's sort of the first understanding, to reach them. >> they're keenly suspicious of things. that's how they've survived for thousands of years, is to recognize danger and be able to flee. >> reporter: buck understands he pe perpetual fear because he spent most of his childhood terrified of his own father. >> me and my brother at 11, 12 years old, we talked about dying every day. >> reporter: when buck was 6, his dad decided the boys would be professional trick ropers. after enough rodeo shows, they earned their own cereal commercial and even a shot on "what's my line." >> they call me buckshot and i'm 7 years old. >> reporter: if they weren't perfect, the beatings were relentless. and the abuse didn't stop till one day in a pe locker room when a benevolent coach saw the

stripes on buck's little back and called the sheriff. the boys were taken away. and their old man was livid. >> he actually sent us birthday cards for the next two or three years telling us when we turned 18, he was going to hunt us down and kill us. >> reporter: his foster parents provided safety and love. >> god bless and watch over you. >> reporter: and they taught him how to be a real cowboy. over the years, he discovered a kinder gentler approach works just as well on horses as it did on him. >> the horse needs to respect you but sometimes people confuse respect and fear. they're not the same at all. >> reporter: as a child reflects the parents, a horse can often reflect the best and worst in its owner. >> he could hurt me or you or anybody else just in being spoiled or if he doesn't want to be that way. >> reporter: case in point, the scary yellow stallion owned by a woman with a pasture full of dangerous studs and the scars to prove it. >> he's extremely dangerous and he attacks cars.

>> reporter: after one session, buck makes amazing progress. >> he's different. >> reporter: but the animal was brain damaged at birth. buck fears it is too dangerous to ever train. >> this horse tells me quite a bit about you, if i think maybe you'd do something to get yourself hurt and you don't even see it coming. if i see it coming, you know, i have a moral obligation to say you're in big trouble here. why don't you learn how to enjoy your life? >> he's right. and i'm not. it's not just the horse. he's right about my life. >> reporter: after the therapy session, the fears are confirmed. the yellow stallion pounces like a predator, gashing the skull of a sponsor and sealing the decision to put this horse down. as buck leaves this apparent monster to the trailer, there is no anger toward, the horse. just disappointment in the human. >> you would have raised a horse like that, more with the idea of

what you would have if you were raising a handyp kaed child. handicapped child. you still have to teach him right from wrong. >> reporter: infused with a newfound respect, a sometimes rider hauls himself atop a sweetheart named pete. and for the first time in his life feels what it's like to ride a horse without fighting a horse. and that's just like a transaction. >> you bet. >> reporter: it gives to me, i give back. >> you bet, exactly. >> reporter: even if i or you never gets back in the saddle, the gospel of buck still works. gentle in what you do. firm in how you do it. >> thought i was just going to get a chance to help people get along better with their horses. >> reporter: and get to ride every day. >> yeah, yeah, and it turns out to be something -- something totally different. >> reporter: i'm bill weir for "nightline." in sheraton, wyoming. >> beautiful story, bill. just ahead, there's a long line of celebrities who have mangled the star spapgled banner. you know the good folks over at prilosec otc

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today my journey continues bacross the golden state, where everyone has been unbelievably nice. mornin'. i guess i'm helping them save hundreds ocar insurance. it probably also doesn't hurt that i'm a world-famous advertising icon.

cheers! i mean, who wouldn't want a piece of that? geico. ah... fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent oh dear... or more on car insurance. the star spangled banner was written in 1814 and became the national anthem in 1931. now, singing it before major sporting events has become a hallowed tradition. but it is not an easy song to sing. and has been mangled by some very famous people. here's abc's david wright with

tonight's "sign of the times." >> reporter: if steven tyler were a contestant, not a judge, on "american idol," -- >> please rise for the singing of our national anthem. >> reporter: his performance last night would likely mean he would not be invited back. ♪ by the dawn's early light >> reporter: like christina aguilera who sang the wrong lyric, at the super bowl one year. ♪ at the twilight's last ringing ♪ >> reporter: like anita baker who just couldn't hit the high notes at the nba finals. >> rocket's red glare ♪ >> reporter: tyler has now joined a select group of star mangled screwups. they say there are just two possible outcomes when you sign up to sing our national anthem. ♪ oh say can you see >> reporter: either you do it right and it's quickly forgotten.

♪ over the ramparts we watched >> reporter: or you sing so badly they'll watch it on youtube for years. just ask carl lewis, who sang at a nets game in 1993. ♪ and the rockets red glare i'll make up for it now. >> reporter: clearly, he did not win a gold medal for vocal range. or r. kelly at a title fight in 2005. ♪ oh say does clap your hands, ya'll. ♪ that star >> reporter: maybe he should have just gone with "i believe i can fly." but the worst most memorable of them all? well, that title belongs to roseanne barr. ♪ by the dawn's early light ♪ what so proudly we hailed ♪ at the >> reporter: she had the number one show on television before she sang at a san diego padres

game. >> it was horrifying. i knew i started too high about the fifth note in. >> and you're smiling through the whole thing. >> i felt like crying. >> reporter: maybe all this is unfair. the song is notoriously difficult to master. ♪ oh say can you see >> reporter: just ask new york vocal coach maitland peters. >> you should be prepared, trained, able to do it easily, and with excitement and energy and freedom. >> reporter: steven tyler is in good company. the thing is, the nfl should have known better. tyler sang the anthem before at the indy 500 almost ten years ago. and, yet, there he was last night, regrettably, back in the saddle again. ♪ free