tonight on "nightline," it's one of the fastest growing crimes nationwide, and now a cellphone crack down -- photos, passwords, even bank info. they're using your phone to get personal. tonight, the new way you can stop it from happening to you. first they claim they found jesus's bones. now meet the people who say they have incredible w evidence that could re-write the history of christianity. man down, he said it was a campaign of miracles, but tonight, rick santorum, the ultimate underdog on what finally made him step aside and

what it means for obama now that romney is the one. good evening. i'm juju chang. tonight it's the age of the super smart phone, where one device can carry your private information and even act as as a credit card. it makes everyday life more convenient, but also makes theft a much graver target. today there's a whole new way to fight back and made your phone lest tempting for thieves. >> reporter: in los angeles, a thieve sneaks up on his victim, knocks her over, punching her. she fights back. he slams her against the wall and beats her down, all this to steal her cellphone. >> it could happen to anybody. you just need to be careful. >> reporter: in san francisco, this unsuspecting woman has her

cellphone snatched right out of her hands. in baltimore, thieves knocked this victim out. among the items stolen, the cellphone. they even stripped him naked as onlookers revel at the inhumanity. sometimes they're desperate to walk into a and take phones at gunpoint. >> this has become such a money-maker for the criminals and they're using all types of violence to get these phones. we had a woman pushing a baby stroller, middle of the day, capitol hill, nice neighborhood. suspect comes up, punches her in the face, breaks her jaw, and takes the phone. >> reporter: even has as the crime rate has been falling, phone theft has been rising. roughly one out of every three robberies nationwide have involved the theft of a

cellphone. >> hundreds of cellphones, thousands? >> thousands, nationwide. i just tried surveying other major city chiefs around the country. the numbers are really staggering. >> reporter: in the last four years in washington, d.c. alone, 6,611 cellphones reported stolen. the numbers last year, jumped 54% compared to 2007. thieves love stealing cellphones because they can be quickly resold on the street. to be blunt, when thieves see your cellphone, they see dollars. >> people are walking down the street with 5 or $600 cash in your hand. >> you walk around and don't think anything of showing it to anyone, but would you walk down the street with a wad of 20s right up by your face? i don't think so. >> reporter: police say they're being sold on the street, in pawn shops or on craigslist from

50 to $600 a pop. "nightline" spent a week with detectives and they say the sbrt is providing a new gateway to fence stolen items, including cellphones. >> the majority of people are legitimate and people are trying to buy and sell, but it's given the criminal element a pawn shop where they can poach things and it's anonymous. they arrange to meet you, somewhere in a parking lot somewhere. >> reporter: today the fcc, along with major carriers, verizon, sprint, t-mobile, and at&t, announced plans to slow the epidemic. they want to create a database to track the theft and block the reactivation. >> what we're announcing here today will make a stolen cellphone about as worthless as an empty wallet. >> reporter: but will it really work? >> the idea that the cellphone companies can remotely brick a phone that's been stolen, that's huge in deterring the crime of

cellphone theft that's growing rapidly. >> reporter: you'll still have to buy a new phone if yours is stolen, the idea is thieves will eventually quit robbing people of their phones if they become inoperable. your phone is a treasure trove for identity theft. there are things you can do to protect yourself and your phone. >> three main things you want to do. number one, you want to have a pass code to unlock your screen. that will slow down the thieve. next, you want to install an app before you lose the phone that allows you to track it remotely via gps and erase all of the sensitive data on there if you find out it's fallen into the wrong hands. >> reporter: remember, you and your phone are a target. you don't want this to happen to you. for "nightline," i'm pierre thomas in washington. up next, the discovery that could change the way we view the

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"nightline" continues from new york city with juju chang. on the heels of easter weekend, we bring you a controversial claim that challenges what most historians believe happened after jesus's death. it's indiana jones meets the da vinci code with the help of csi forensics, this team believes they've discovered something in an ancient burial tomb in the holy land that could change our understanding of christianity. this our series faith matters. >> reporter: it looks like they're just fixing pluming, but

what they're actually doing could change what we know about the birth of christianity. >> this is where we're going. it's crist cryptic. >> reporter: this is a dig in jerusalem. >> right where he thinks we can put our probe. >> a film maker who made headlines five years ago. >> this is very much the talk of jerusalem. >> reporter: with his controversial claims that he discovered jesus's bones in a tomb 200 feet from where they're digging now. >> we'll have to carry this at the end of three or four meter arm. >> reporter: the team designed this robotic arm to mount a tiny camera that could snake through the floor of this apartment building, in order to protect the sanctity of the site. >> we're there, but not there. we're there at the controls, watching, looking, yet we're not touching anything. >> biblical scholar james and the team watch anxiously as the lens travels back centuries to

the time of jesus. where they're hoping to enearth another startling find as seen here in a new documentary for the discovery channel. >> i haven't seen anything look similar to this. >> reporter: what they're looking at is an ancient burial tomb, full of limestone boxes that contain human bones. >> it's almost like a moon scape feeling of something eerie. these people died 2,000 years ago, and now we are investigating how they buried their dead, what they left behind. and in the excitement of, will there it be something we find or will we find just another jewish tomb? >> look here very carefully. >> yeah, yeah, yeah! it's a whale. >> reporter: they think what they're seeing could change our views of early christianity. >> that is a symbol of christian resurrection. >> i met up with him in new york

city. he showed me a replica of the art work they saw on their latest treasure. >> what we're understanding, is the jonah image, the tale, the body of the fish and this funny human stick figure coming out with the seaweed wroopd around its head -- >> reporter: for many christians, the story of jonah and the whale has come to symbolize the resurrection of jesus. >> if that's the case, this is the earliest christian symbol of resurrection ever found. >> you're looking at it right here. >> or maybe you're not. many scholars don't see that as well. >> when is a fish not a fish? the answer is when it has handles. >> reporter: mark says there are other far more likely explanations of what that image is. it's a thesel, a vase, that looks like many of the ones that you'll find in this period in the early roman period. >> wow. >> reporter: good acre says

there could be the power of suggestion. take a look. do you see a vase, or do you see the fish? then there's this. >> whoa, stop. that's an inscription. >> reporter: he and his colleagues also believe that these greek letters found a few feet away refer to resurrection. >> from the dead. >> whether they were saying he oz or he will rise, we can argue about it. but the finds themselves are hard archaeology that shed new light on the big bang of christianity. >> reporter: religious scholars say it's nor like the big bust. >> he is seeing things that simpgly roont there. his head is so full of things like the da vinci code that he

sees flimt f-- flimt for his ow desires. >> reporter: five years ago he made the claim he'd found jesus's family tomb, holding the bones of jesus, his mother, marry magdalene and jesus's love child, as in the da vinci code. >> that's jesus, son of joseph. >> this says mara, meaning the lourdes or the female for lord. >> reporter: now they believe these two tombs are related and have written a book about it, the jesus discovery. >> reporter: you're saying that the bones traveling in that box are the bones of jesus christ? >> that's right. we have one tomb that has the bones of jesus, and 200 feet away, people celebrating his resurrection. they're able to put this together in a way that maybe

people today haven't considered. >> there's no question in my mind that this tomb has nothing to do with early christians, nor does the tomb next door have anything to do with jesus's family. >> can you drop down a bit? >> i think we're being distracted by some scholars who are in theological trauma. what's important is what light do these finds shed on the origins of christianity? >> there! the cross. >> oh, yeah, yeah. >> these finds take us back to the time of jesus and put it back into historical context of jerusalem, where he lived. >> reporter: what it all means well be debated for the next 2,000 years. >> separating historical fact from fiction. see for yourself on thursday april 12 on discovery.

just ahead for us, one candidate bows out after nearly stealing the show. why he thinks mitt romney is the worst republican in the country to run against president obama. and it's very affordable. it was very delicious. could you please taste car insurance y? this one is much more expensive. ugh. it's really bad. let's see what you picked. oh, geico! over their competitor. you are a magician right? no., oh. you're not?, no., oh, well, give it a shot. i am so, so sorry. it was this close. .. economically, it seems like a good choice now. we need environmental protection. we've got more than 100 years worth of energy, right here. [announcer:] who's right? they all are. visit powerincooperation.com.

. it's official. rick santorum, the unexpected star of the gop primary that no one saw coming, quit the race today. which means that barring a political earthquake, mitt romney will be running against president obama. so how did this man even get this far? abc's jonathan karl brings us a brief history of his surprising success. >> reporter: today rick santorum pulled the plug on what he called a campaign of miracles. >> miracle after miracle, this race was as improbable as any race you'll see for president. >> reporter: improbable? more like impossible. it all started last year with an announcement on "good morning america." >> we're going to be in this race and we're in it to win. >> reporter: yeah, right. he was the underdog, rick. nobody thought he had a chance. afterall, this was the guy who in 2006, lost his pennsylvania senate seat by a staggering

17-plus points. nobody paying much attention as he waged a lonely but tireless campaign around iowa. his top aide, his oldest daughter. >> make sure he gets rest and isn't working. he'll stay up and do e-mails and keep working. >> reporter: it was the ultimate no-frills campaign. >> you're in the middle of a speech, but please feel free to come on in. >> reporter: with his signature sweater vest and a heart-felt appeal to evangelicals, he caught fire. becoming miracle rick. it was like david versus gol ith. santorum was outspent and outorganized by romney who savaged him with attack ad in state after state. >> rick santorum is called the ultimate washington insider. >> reporter: santorum never got his own campaign bus.

sometimes events were so badly lit but against all odds, he won iowa. >> game on. >> reporter: and went on to win nine other states throughout the heartland. as he gained steam, he often looked like pious rick, forced to explain his personal opposition to birth control. not exactly the most popular position. >> i don't think it works. i think it's harmful to women and our society. >> reporter: and the way he described john kennedy's famous speech on church and state. >> i believe that america and neither cat lick, profit assistant or jewish. >> i had the opportunity to read the speech and i almost threw up. >> to say people have no roll, you bet that makes you throw up. >> reporter: he continued to win a handful of states, but it was becoming clear that romney had a lock on the nomination. enter, angry rick. >> he is the worst republican in

the country to put up against barack obama. angry at a "new york times" reporter who dared ask him why he said that. >> is that true? >> what speech did you listen to? stop lying. quit distorting my words. if i see it, it's bull [ bleep ]. >> reporter: his passion drove his campaign further than anybody expected, but today with ailing 3-year-old daughter bella just out of the hospital, facing a possible embarrassing loss in his home state under a barrage of attack ads. >> we fired him as senator. why promote him to president? >> reporter: today it was goodbye, rick. though he leaves the race with one of the most conservative voices in the country and the guy who gave mitt romney and the