and i know now ♪ ♪ this is "nightline." tonight, the family man. he played the eternal figure in "mrs. doubtfire," but to his family, they were grieving. tonight, what we now know about his battle as we investigate the dark side of comedy. plus, pretty little liar? she is a beauty pageant contestant and also authorities say, a con artist, why did

strutting around in heels get this glamour queen arrested? the scam that cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. and mystery solved. did they fly the flags that caused the nationwide flap? coming up now, as investigators still unravel the stunt of the summer. but first, the night line 5.

good evening, thank you for joining us. tonight, as fans mourn the death of comedy icon robin williams, nowhere is the loss more keenly felt than at home by his beloved family. but why would on-line bullies target one of his children? all three bravely stepping forward today sharing their pain. and the way his daughter, zelda williams responded, will make you smile. they were often in the background for a man whose shadow was larger than life itself. there they are playing at robin williams's side. for robin williams, his three children were the greatest gift he ever received. >> if you could go back and relive any day in your life? >> just the birth of my children, each one. those are all great days. and they have all turned out amazing.

that is the ultimate production deal. that is the gift that keeps on giving and that is the thing that makes life worth living. >> reporter: today, zelda, now 25, offered a rare look on a post. my family has always been private about our time spent together, it was our way of keeping one thing that was ours with a man who we shared with the entire world. but now that is gone and i feel stripped bare. >> i am robin williams, this is my daughter, zelda ray williams. >> reporter: though they were close, it was obvious they shared a loving bond. robin tells the story how he named his little girl. it is zelda for the legend of zelda. >> reporter: they even starred in a commercial for her namesake. >> i saved your kingdom. >> dad? >> zelda. >> are you mixing me up with the princess again? >> hard to say, you're both

pretty magical? >> indeed, while the world is still grieving, the question is still harder to bear. while i will never understand how he could be loved so deeply and not find it in his heart to stay, there is some comfort in knowing that so many share his love. >> there is a lot of anger, shame, blame, if i had been a better friend, wife, mother, sister, would this still have happened? and today, zelda had even more to deal with taking herself off twitter after on-line bullies baited her with disturbing doctored images of her father. but she responded with her father's good humor. as for those who send negativity you know that some small part of my dad is sending a flock of pigeon to poop on your car,

after all, he loved to laugh. >> you know, that is out of line. >> her brothers, zach, 31, and 22-year-old cody shared their grief publicly as well. the world got a little grayer, i will carry him with me every day and will look forward forever to the moment when i get to see him again. his struggles were theirs, too, living with a genius father fighting addiction. in 2006, he spoke to diane sawyer about going home to his family after he was finally sober. >> what have they said to you through this? >> that they love me, simply, the bottom line, and then the rest is up to me, and god, and you got to keep working it every day. that is the drill. humiliations give you humility, really.

>> is there a sadness about the past two years? >> yes, there is a sadness and also hope. sadness, you wish they hadn't happened but they did and the purpose is to make you different. it is what you call a buddhist gift. i would call it a christian gift, it's your back, the thing you realize what matters are others way beyond yourself. >> but today we learned that just days before williams' death, his biking partner was scared for his friend. >> our last ride ten days ago was very different. he barely spoke on the ride. he was very distracted and stressed. we didn't play around much before and we didn't play around much after or on the ride. >> he went so far to alert williams' manager. >> they were aware of it and doing everything they possibly could. but yeah, that was the robin williams i had never seen before in all the years i had known him, and probably not too many had seen him. skippy, lo y rkpy -- skinny, lo

weight, i was very worried. >> we wanted you to choose us based on your age. >> just two months later, robin williams was back in rehab. the sadness and depression that plagued robin williams is all too common in hollywood. >> there is a pressure put on stars 24 hours a day that people who were famous in previous generations just didn't have to deal with. >> i went to rehab in wine country just to keep my options open. >> stand-up comics have a lot of struggles in particular, they are out there, not playing a character and that comes with a lot of pressure. >> when you're a celebrity, everybody wants a piece of you. >> in a chilling scene in his break-out role of mork and mindy. >> some are victims of their own fame, very special and talented people, people like elvis

presley, marilyn monroe, janis joplin, jimmy hendrix, and john lennon. >> in all his roles, to the cross-dressing nanny, there was also pain behind the laughter, he spoke openly to npr in 2006. >> in the process of comedy you have to look at it completely honestly, and then, on the other side you will be looking under the rock occasionally for the laughter, so there is a depressed side, but is it always? no. >> the radio host asked if he was depressed? >> not clinically, no. >> the sadness is one that many seem to share, richard pryor, john belushi, also hid sadness

behind the joke. >> a lot of human experience can be very painful. and laughing about it, joking about it is a coping mechanism, it is just not a very good one. because it can mask it but it doesn't really heal it. >> two days after williams' death the outpouring of love and grief continues, tonight, a tribute for the man who made it his mission to bring us laughter and tears. >> a fitting memorial. next up for us, a beauty pageant contestant under arrest, how she got tripped up by more than just her heels. [ terri ] my antidepressant worked hard to help with my depression. but sometimes, i still struggled to get going, even get through the day. so i was honest with my doctor. i told him i'd been feeling stuck for a long time. he said that for some people, an antidepressant alone only helps so much and suggested we add abilify (aripiprazole). he said that by taking both,

some people had symptom improvement as early as 1 to 2 weeks. i wish i'd talked to my doctor sooner. [ female announcer ] 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 and in extreme cases can lead to coma or death. other risks include increased cholesterol, weight gain, decreases in white blood cells, which can be serious, dizziness on standing, seizures, trouble swallowing and impaired judgment or motor skills. [ terri ] since adding abilify, i feel better. abilify and my antidepressant make a pretty good team. [ female announcer ] ask your doctor about a free trial of abilify and go to addabilify.com.

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. so just how did a beauty pageant contestant rule the stage while taking in payments? today, we're examining the fraud that took away hundreds of millions from people who really needed it. these people are defrauding the system. >> reporter: at this year's ms. toyota long beach grand prix beauty contest if there was an award for being a shameless con artist, california insurance officials say 22-year-old shawna palmer would take the crown, because while she was strutting the stage wearing high heels, investigators say she was taking

in worker's comp, saying she couldn't wear a shoe for any length of time after fracturing a toe in march. >> she was illegally collecting worker's comp claims and benefits for a period of several months that totalled $24,000 for an injury she said occurred at work. >> reporter: to claim the comp benefits she claimed the foot injury kept her from working at this store, a claim they believed until pictures showed up in social media and she was arrested. >> this young lady certainly possessed a certain amount of beauty, obviously she had a certain amount of bravado to pull off this scam. but when it came to the brains department i think she is a little lacking. >> man described as her father said this when confronted with the allegations in los angeles.

>> all we'll say is it is absolute crap. >> reporter: investigators describe the case of just a slice of a multi-billion dollar drag on the economy, cases often uncovered in the most bizarre ways. investigators say dancing hamster leroy barnes, we're not sure which one he is, pulled this out of his hat in costume while claiming $51,000 in benefits. he claimed part of a ceiling fell on him in a previous job stopping him from working. this woman, kathy cashwell was raking in three grand a month, claiming a shoulder injury left her from being able to stand, grab, or run. but when she suddenly ended up on "the price is right" boy, did she spin that wheel.

>> last month, they arrested 260 individuals, from those arrests we found out they defrauded the state of $4 million. >> it is not just comp, but disability being scammed every year. every year, social security pays out more than $175 billion to people on disability. most in dire need of help. but in the last fiscal year alone nearly 72,000 allegations of fraud were reported to social security's office of inspector general. >> when people that don't need it or abusing it i think everybody becomes outraged. >> again and again, cameras are the enemy of the disability scammer. this man driving off on his motorcycle. investigators tell us he claimed he could not drive or even go out alone. and the guy tossing the football, he said he had shoulder problems and needed an electric cart to run errands. this woman running the motorized

wheelchair claimed she had difficulty running, bending or squatting. all three had their claims denied. but it takes a lot of work. we got a look at the washington state's remote san juan islands with the cooperation disability investigations program, a sort of csi unit for sniffing out social security disability fraud. armed with hidden cameras and posing as cell phone company workers, agents found their targets on one recent case working in a coffee shop. ramona and hayes and corey eglash, owners of the shamelessly named "the place to come when you're on the run." both claimed they couldn't work in some cases, and even the property manager suspected something was not right. what were these two likes? >> he was crooked as a dog's bag

leg, neither one could tell them the truth if their life depended on it but other than that. >> the agent ran the investigation. both were incredibly chatty and seemingly perfectly able-bodied. a far cry from their applications for disability payment payments. >> she wrote here i can't work, due to anxiety, ptsd. there are days i can't leave my home. >> corey is on record in her application to support her claim. >> i dououbt that today she cld work in a retail store on a part-time basis or actually put gas in a car. >> i mean, that is pretty extreme, she can't even put gas in a car. >> i'm driving. >> that is a stupid question. >> princesses do not walk. >> the government was paying ramona a thousand dollars a month for disability based on your application, and that was not all. >> she received over $42,000 in

social security and another $50,000 from the state of washington. so about $50,000 total. >> corey was not receiving disability yet. his application is what helped set off the red flag that brought agents to their door. >> he has difficulty bending, squatting, sitting, kneeling, completing tasks, concentration, understanding, using hands, getting along with others. pretty inclusive. >> the investigators dug up records that corey had a second job at a nearby aquarium, volunteered at a senior center and even volunteered at the home. >> when we looked at him, we discovered her already on. >> both are now doing time in federal prison. ramona eventually pled guilty to mail fraud. >> most everything we bake is

gluten-free. [ convictedç[ñwo/ of mail fraud and recently sentenced to ten months in prison and a $10,000 fine. >> people are brazen, there is an element that is looking for any way to defraud v÷he government and they will do it. >> meanwhile, the latest poster child in the fight against disability fraud is free on bail, facing $42,000 in restitution and up to a year in jail if convicted. "nightline," in seattle. up next, don't look down, two artists say they're the ones who had nyc waving the white flag. abc news "nightline," brought to you by macy's ñoñí

. authorities may finally have solved the mystery tonight that baffled and transfixed the world's largest metropolis this summer, just who rode up and stole the flag? here is lindsey davis. >> reporter: two artists have now come forward taking responsibility for the flashiy t est stunts, replacing the flags with white ones, they say they sewed the flags themselves sharing a cryptic video that triggered a social media firestorm as well as an investigation. >> a mystery on top of one of the most famous landmarks.

>> reporter: was it a harmless joke or something more sinister, according to the artists they say it was not an anti-american statement. they were shocked and considered their swap a work of art, celebri celebrating the german who designed it. >> i want to make the dream the reality. >> reporter: apparently this is not their first rodeo. this video from a german broadcasting company highlights provocative projects from the daring duo. >> it is not about making it look dangerous, it is about seeing and feeling what we are exposed to and there are no limits for us. >> except perhaps, the limits of the law. for "nightline," i'm lindsey davis in new york. >> thank you for joining us on abc news, world news now is coming up soon with overnight

breaking news. tune in to good morning america tomorrow, and as always, we're on line. okay, ma, here you go. happy birthday. oh! this one's from me, robert, and dad. oh, a present from my sweet, sweet boys. and frank. ( gasps ) oh!

my mother had figurines like these, and i used to stare at them, hoping that maybe, when i grew up, they could be mine. but one day, they all broke. my mother fell into them when i told her i was marrying franknk. but now i have my very own set. oh, thank you so much. ah, you're welcome. oh, thank you. come here, frank. let's not ruin the moment. oh, my... you spent so much. ma, don't worry about that, all ght? but $240? those things cosost $240? it's fine, robert. no, no, no. well, wait a minute-- how me you told me and dad that we only had to pay $30 each, while you paid one-- one hundred--- while you paid the rest?