tonight the young ex-marine mom in a murder for hire plot. did she have a darker side? plus the mud of controversy around the new noah's arc, the replica rising in kentucky. the debate tonight on the science and on whether tax dollars should be providing for an attraction. >> and ben does it again. so [ bleep ] stupid. >> what sent ben affleck on this rant, and what is he saying about it tonight? >> it's a [ bleep ] ridiculous smear campaign. >> if you take multiple

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>> good evening, we start here tonight with the breaking news out of london that could have serious economic and political reverberations for the rest of us. the cliff hanger vote on whether britain will stay in the european union. with the latest on what they're calling brexit. >> in one of the most

days in politics, this country has seen in decades, the people in britain have spoken with still a number of votes to be counted. leave is leading the country. the country is heading toward a british exit dubbed brexit to leave the european union. immigration at the forefront making the argument for britain to take control of the borders and economy. taking back the identity and culture. this referendum is huge. this result to leave is mo monument monumental. the financial and economic implications are uncertain. the leave campaign hailing june 23rd at britain's independence day. dan? >> thank you. and for the latest on the fallout in brexit, tune in to gma first thing in the morning. now to the criminal case in the midwest that is raising a lot of questions tonight. the young all american mom, a local celebrity entrepreneur.

now accused in a murder for hire plot. abc is on the story. >> one question, the only thing i'd want to know, why. >> reporter: for months bradley southerland that be wondering why the mother of his child allegedly tried to hire a hitman to kill him. >> still in a little bit of shock over the thing. >> reporter: she certainly didn't look like the type, seen here in this video. >> all my employees are gifted and creative. >> reporter: laura buckingham at one time ran this bakery on this small town of indiana. >> she was well-liked because she gave back to the community after she came home from serving. giving, always really nice. and she was respected for her service. >> reporter: those services included two tours in iraq as a marine. >> after my last deployment, i moved out to new albany, indiana, and i started selling breads on the side of the highway.

southerland when she came back and they had a son. she opened her own store and became a local celebrity. >> i started selling at local farmer's market. >> reporter: even rolling doh with her three-year-old child. police say she had a darker side. after breaking up with southerland and taking their son to tennessee, according to place, she attempted to have him murdered. >> i thought it was a joke. in all honesty, we all thought we were being punked for a short period of time. >> reporter: according to police documents, buckingham started to become restless with the custody agreement, requiring her to drive her son 4 1/2 hours to see her father once a week. she was also fearful southerland would get full custody they say a marine sniper seen in this military video tol

asked him to make southerland go away and that since he was in the military, maybe he had some friends that could do this for him. authorities set up an undercover sing where buckingham allegedly paid a $300 deposit for the murder. the total cost would be about $3,000. >> by having an undercover agent pose as a hitman, they're trying to minimize her saying she didn't mean it. >> reporter: locals are in shock. >> we were in shock. disbelief. >> reporter: they may have been surprised in indiana, but it certainly isn't the first time law enforcement has allegedly foiled an outrageous murder for hire plot. >> something bad, gunshots, is that how you want me toot it? you want me to shoot him? >> unless you can do it painlessly, you're not breaking his back. >> reporter:

discusses the details of how her husband should be killed a couple years ago. >> i would prefer to use a knife or a gun. it's quick and easy. >> one of her other concerns, the mess it might make in her house. >> do you have a gun in the house? >> it would be messy in the house. >> and why not just divorce her husband? well, there was insurance money to be had if he were dead, and then there were his feelings to consider. >> it's not that we weren't getting along, but i was just -- it was easier -- as terrible as it sounds, it's easier than divorcing him. i didn't have to worry about judgment of my family or breaking his heart. it's kind of like a clean get away. >> reporter: but it couldn't be a clean get away, that supposed hitman she's speaking to, well, he's an undercover cop. she pled guilty to policeation to murder and is serving a sentence behind bars. >> the challenge

beyond all reasonable doubt. that's why the authorities went under cover. >> reporter: that means law enforcement often uses tactics to catch these folks nature like this woman in jail accused of killing someone. the key witness against her, her friend who she confessed to. >> that was dead? >> yes. >> reporter: my colleague matt gutman first reported the story last year. maria headed to police and jackie was soon arrested. once behind bars, jackie allegedly begins plotting to have maria killed. >> does anyone have anyone who could help me remove the witness? >> reporter: it may sound kind of ridiculous, but it's really hard to find a legitimate hitman, someone who is actually going to take a few thousand bucks to go kill someone. in a lot of these murder for hire cases, we see som

they think might be willing to do it, and often that's the reason the first gets caught. >> reporter: authorities plan a sting and give us behind the scenes access to it all. >> this is a free call from an inmate at north broward detention center. they put her on the phone with a man she thinks is a hitman named kne neil who is actually an undercover cop. half up front and half when it's done. we talked about two and two. i thought it was four. >> the exact amount is $3900. >> reporter: to help authorities file charges, the hitman offers one final touch. >> when it's done, i was going to show you pictures so you know it's done. >> okay. >> you're not going to see it on the news, so i'll take pictures and you see the see the pictures. >> okay. >> reporter: once the deal is

she agrees to help them stage her death. >> want a black eye or bruises? >> reporter: with the help of a makeup artist, the police set up the elaborate shot. >> do her hands. she'll have duct tape under her mouth. >> reporter: is that a specific color meant to be blood? >> it's called real blood. >> reporter: it's kind of a crazy thing to have to do, right? >> yeah. >> reporter: stage your own death? once the photo shoot is over, the police send this guy posing as the hitman's lawyer with the photos to jkie in prison so she can sign out of an this, this in an effort to assure the police have a case beyond a. >> reporter: doubt. >> verify that you saw the pictures. can you help me out? >> yeah. >> reporter: two weeks later, jackie is hit with new attempted murder charges. >> solicitation to commit murder

>> jackie's fate hasn't been decided in court yet. as more laura bucking hamm, she's out of jail on $150,000 bail. for her ex, it's still hard to comprehend. >> i don't feel angry. i feel kind of sad that she felt that she had to do that, to try to take my son from me. >> reporter: for "nightline," we're in new york. >> up next, noah and his arc never fail to fascinate. a new rising tide of controversy over a religious theme park. plus ben affleck's profanity laced rant. 1 f bombs on a new tv show. what set him off? ... this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage. this is humira helping me go further. humira works for many adults.

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deep in the heart of kentucky, a man is building an arc. he doesn't think he's the new noah, but he thinks the bible story may be factual, and he wants to open a theme park to make the case. is there science and should taxpayers be funding it? here's david wright. >> reporter: it's every kid's favorite bible story, genesis, chapter 6 to nine, the story of noah and the flood and the ark he built to save all the animals two by two. an apocalypse renders kid friendly for sunday school. ♪ i'm father noah >> reporter: this story like so many stories in the bible has big elementl things that are still

world today. after jesus and moses, noah probably has more hollywood block busters than anyone else in the bible, which is why we found ourselves in an unlikely place. we're in williamstown, kentucky. population, not much by the looks of things, and where we're headed is supposed to be there. we turned a corner and low and behold. there she blows. off in the distance is a large, wooden ship still under construction. oh, my gosh. noah's ark, right here in the american south. 510 feet long. 95 feet wide. 51 feet high. the dimensions set out cube it by cube it. the noah of this ark -- >> it's huge. the closer you get -- >> it gets bigger and bigger. >> reporter: his mission, to turn this bible story into a

out of the old testament. >> the message, it's making the bible come alive by building noah's ark, we're saying this really happened. >> reporter: when finished, he says his ark will be seven stories high and a football field and a half long. the longest timber frame structure in the world. among the trconstruction worker building the ark, allish construction workers. the artists are believers. they are tasked with creating two of ere kind. life like creatures, even if you might not remember them from sunday school. >> this is not one that i recognize. >> yeah. >> reporter: is this -- >> what are you making here? >> this is the hyena. >> this is the grandparent of modern apes. >> reporter: he calls it answers in genesis. his creation museum a few miles away attracts nearly half a mi

teaching a young earth theory of creation. the god created the earth in six days and on the seventh day he rested just like it says in genesis. one problem with that approach, where exactly do dinosaurs fit in? do you believe noah put one of those in? >> the bible said two of each other. >> reporter: it seemed like everything else might stay at home. >> if you ask me if his creation model is viable, i say no. >> reporter: that concept is a deal breaker for bill nigh. >> off my millions and millions of years. to teach young people were dinosaurs on the ark? no. they could not be on any boat anybody built 5,000 years ago. >> reporter: bottom line, nooi dismisses the exhibits as biblical

isn't alone in believing the noah story could be based in fact. almost every major religion has a flood story. and in this era of rising oceans and global warming, respected scientists search for evidence of an ancient flood. among them, an underwater archaeologist. >> it's not a crazy thing to think the flood stories of the various cultures, including ours, are based upon true events. >> reporter: it's why from the bottom of the sea to the top of a mountain, they search for r k wreck of the ark. >> it was written down 30 centuries ago and we're still talking about it today. >> reporter: this author follows the footsteps of relic hunters in his serious walking the bible. >> it gets at our deepest fears and hopes and

>> reporter: but for hamm it's not a cautionary tale. he sees it as fact, and so does everyone who works for him. it's ha part of the hiring policy. they have to sign a statement of faith agreeing that the great flood of genesis was a historic event worldwide in its extent and effect. they also have to be straight, anti-abortion, and christian. >> they have to be christian. >> reporter: why? the people who believe in the book of genesis also include jews and muslims. why couldn't they? -- >> well, we are a christian organization. >> reporter: because of the controversial hiring policy, the state trying to block him from receiving public funding, but hamm took his case to the state supreme court and won, and now his $100 million project takes advantage of millions of dollars in tax breaks and tourism benefits. >> c

we live in the world. >> reporter: hamm doesn't seem to be bothered by the critics. he has a mission like noah did, he says. >> and we have these people who are actually stopping. there's lots of people that stop, and we get a lot of attacks by some of the aggressive people, and sometimes i feel a bit like noah. >> reporter: hamm knows this ship can sail. he predicts it will attract 1 million to 2 million visitors in the first year alone. >> it has a field of dreams quality. if you build it, they will come. >> yes. we do believe that if we build it, they will come. >> reporter: david wright for "nightline" aboard noah's ark in kentucky. >> our thanks to david and the ark encounter opens next month. next on "nightline." tell us how you feel, ben. mr. affleck's passionate, profane rant.

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>> i talked to [ bleep ] pro football players across the board. they think it's [ bleep ]. >> on screen superhero and rapid patriots fan, ben affleck making headlines after giving a five minute curse-filled rant about deflate gate during the premier of an hbo talk show, any given wednesday. >> it's the ultimate [ bleep ] outrage of sports ever. it's so [ bleep ] stupid. >> reporter: he goes onto criticize the nfl and question the integrity of the commissioner. >> this is a conspiracy of people working inside the nfl who all come from organizations that tom brady whipped their [ bleep ] over the last ten or 15 years. it's a [ bleep ] ridiculous smear campaign, and goodell doesn't have the integrity, i would want to say, frankly. >> reporter: social media quick to respond. jenny johnson saying i hope to have someone love me as passionately as ben affleck

saying i'd be shocked with ben affleck was drunk while dropping f bombs and talking football. guys never do that. that man stands by his spirited appearance. firing back, for those of you keeping score at home, i gave exactly 18 fs about my pats. upon reflection, 12 would be sufficient. we boston fans have always been known for our subtlety. thank you for watching "nightline." as always, we're online 24/7 at hey. hi, honey. you want some eggs? don't listen to her. it's not eggs. it's that fake-egg crap. it tastes exactly the same. yes. exactly like crap.

well, your father and i went to the senior health fair yesterday. senior health fair? what are the rides there? the... complain-a-go-round? tunnel of gas? we had our cholesterol checked, and the both of us are very close to the danger zone. mine was lower than hers. one point lower. i'm still gonna live longer than you. what, 30 seconds? 30 seconds in paradise. all right, listen, romeo and juliet. i'm gonna... i'm gonna borrow a garbage bag. what do you mean "borrow"? you're gonna give it back? all right! i'm stealing a garbage bag. what the hell is that? it's milk for your coffee. that's not my milk. yeah, that's regular milk.