this is "nightline." tonight -- >> you're in violation of the state-imposed curfew. >> don't shoot! >> 48 hours on the front lines of ferguson. an american city under siege. >> -- immediately or you'll be subject to arrest. >> don't shoot! >> we've got extraordinary access to people on both sides of the clashes. risking their lives in the streets. from the cops to the protesters. >> they're gassing already, wasn't doing nothing but having a peaceful walk. it burned like hell. a new twist in an already strange crime caper unfolding tonight. >> welcome to my closet.

>> wow! >> it began with a woman who showed off her million-dollar closet on television. >> how much did the closet alone cost you? >> and thegy who says her took her stuff is now making a shocking accusation. first, the "nightline 5." >> in the fraction of time we spend driving in reverse, about 500,000 accidents occur each year, which is why the infinity qx60 has technology available like backup collision intervention which can brake even before you do. to help keep everyone safe. lease the infinity qx60 for $459 a month. visit your local infinity dealer. >> number one in just 60 (vo) ours is a world of passengers. the red-eyes. (daughter) i'm really tired. (vo) the transfers. well, that's kid number three. (vo) the co-pilots. all sitting...

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tonight the national guard has taken control of ferguson, missouri, a city so torn, so tense, it is now essentially militarized. we'll give you an extra look at what it's really like on the front lines in ferguson. abc news correspondent alex peres and "nightline" producer chris james spent 48 hours out on the streets with both police and protesters and here's what they saw. >> you are subject to arrest. >> reporter: midnight in ferguson. an entire city bracing for lockdown. >> really like, you know, the last battle. because we've been done unfair. >> reporter: protesters gearing up for another night in his hometown, a city under siege. >> why are you wearing a band a bandana? >> tear gas. >> it's not going to do anything but help me breathe. i won't be able to see.

i won't be able to see what i'm doing. >> you must leave immediately! >> reporter: on the other side, police in full force. >> you are violating the state-imposed curfew! >> reporter: armed to the teeth. prepared to do what it takes to enforce a state-mandated curfew. for the protesters, it isn't just about the right to free speech and assembly. they say they're here fighting for their freedom. >> i'm here because i feel like the constitution doesn't have this. >> let the police know that we want justice for this trial. >> reporter: justice they say for 18-year-old michael brown, the unarmed teenager fatally shot six times, twice in the head, by ferguson police officer darren wilson. he has not been charged with any wrongdoing. but this morning michael brown's mother told our robin roberts she wants charges brought. >> how can peace be restored? >> with justice.

>> and what is justice to you? >> being fair. arresting this man. and making him accountable for his actions. >> reporter: these protests have spread globally. you' our cameras had access to both sides of the front. with the s.w.a.t. team struggling to maintain order -- >> i want everybody behind the vehicles, they're lighting cocktails right now. >> reporter: and the protesters. "nightline" producer chris james is there on the front lines as shots ring out and tear gas rips through the air. >> it was an awful experience. hurt my nose, my throat. i couldn't really think straight. just kind of ran for the lights. it was scary. >> reporter: state senator maria chappelle-nadal knows what it feels like. >> i was subjected to tear gas

two of three days. i was scared. a lot of intimidation by police officers. >> reporter: born and raised in st. louis, ferguson is one of her districts. she's at the quick trip gas station which has become a symbol of the movement. >> behind us is the result of looting last sunday where a bunch of people were angry and upset and decided to just raid the store and then they set it on fire. >> reporter: her goal tonight is to keep things peaceful in a town where peace seems a long and distant hope. >> there was more people in iraq in 2010 than in st. louis, missouri, in 2014. >> reporter: she thinks the police have failed in their heavy-handed approach and have created more violence than they have stopped. in this st. louis suburb, tensions with police have long run high. in a town where 68% of the

population is black, there are only three black police officers. >> this group of people represent the victims. because any one them could have been michael brown depending on the day and time. >> reporter: their frustration led them to the streets and to social media where an explosion of tweets thrust the case to national attention. haiku is one of the most active on social media. a rapper, his real name is brian l lowman, and he made a name for himself. >> shots fired, a man got hit in the stomach twice -- >> reporter: by documenting all the injustices he says he has seen. >> just marching and they tear gas you. it burns. as soon as the sun goes down, man, it's like a third world country that's fighting for liberation once again. because it really is like that. >> reporter: he feels it's his duty. in the past week he's gone from having 300 instagram followers to more than 7,500.

he takes us to the spot where brown was shot down. here supporters have built a makeshift memorial. a hand made tomb stone. signs calling for justice. above all, love. >> they executed that young man. >> reporter: sherry and melo live across the street. >> they left his body out close to five hours. they covered him up after a while. nobody wanted them to plant something on the young man to try to justify why they shot him. you know, so everybody was watching. >> reporter: when tensions flared they sent their son and daughter too stay with grandparents out of safety concerns. >> for them to see somebody lying on the street, you know, they got questions. >> they want to know right now, because our kids are not home, why they can't come home. we can't allow them to come home. >> reporter: why can't you? >> because looters do stupid stuff like blow up a gas station. you know. gas. what happens if something like that explodes?

>> reporter: sherry says this day was bound to come. >> the community as a whole is just tired of being harassed by the police. in its entirety. this is just like -- this is it. this is the last -- this is the straw that broke the camel's back, this is it. everybody's standing up. they don't want to take any more. >> reporter: the hopelessness she feels echoed by so many black americans across this country. ♪ >> reporter: including rapper j-cole who released his emotions through song, a poignant tribute to brown called "be free." ♪ ♪ all i want to do is break the chains off ♪ ♪ all i want to do is be free all i want to do is be free ♪ >> reporter: he says he's not here as a celebrity. >> i'm saying that we ask for equality. it's still a struggle, it's

insane. my baby, your baby, everybody's baby could be the next mike. >> no matter what he was or what he did. look at how he died. i don't care if he killed somebody, you don't kill a man like that. >> reporter: but reports of shooting have both police and civilians have led to a large police presence. the missouri state patrol has been on watch for days. they're led by the charismatic captain ron johnson, a native of ferguson. his approach is a stark contrast from the ferguson police. >> thankful to be here to protect you. >> reporter: he's determined to change public perceptions. >> when you hear that from the community what are your thoughts? >> allow the cameras. we grieve with each other, hug each other, slap hands. we do that all the time. >> reporter: changing perception won't come easily. riot scenes play over and over like bad dreams. over the past two days these

streets looked like war zones. we followed haiku as he picked up a friend fresh from the standoff with police forces. he's just been tear gassed. >> been shot at every night by the cops. man. this is [ bleep ] crazy. >> reporter: but he's hunkering down for a fight. tonight as the national guard takes their position, haiku says until there's an arrest, quiet will come no time soon. >> i'm staying with the people. it basically is going to boil down to the police who are being excessive and they don't care about me because they've already gassed me. they've already shot people standing next to me. so if it comes down to choosing sides i'm choosing the people. >> reporter: for "nightline" i'm alex peres, ferguson, missouri. >> thanks to alex peres and chris james for that xroor material. coming up, you are looking at a man who is burglarizing a woman's million-dollar closet. tonight the thief coming forward with a shocking allegation against the victim. because there's nothing more exhilarating

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from the annals of stranger than fiction crime stories we have a doozy. it involves a woman who went on television to show off her 3 that you square foot, three story, $1 million closet. and a thief who then robbed the aforementioned which is set. that thief has come forward to publicly complain the contents were actually cheap and fake. and of course this all happened in texas. here's abc's geo benitez. >> welcome to my closet. >> reporter: it's on the way to becoming the most famous closet in america. first for what was in it. >> first floor is just handbags

and jewelry. >> wow! >> reporter: then for what wasn't in it. >> to watch someone on film take everything out of your closet -- this is wrong. >> reporter: it all began when 52-year-old former beauty queen turned self-made millionaire teresa romer decided to build a closet big enough to hold her texas-sized ambition. >> i've always had this fascination of beautiful closets. my closet is my retreat. men have their man cave, i look at mine as a she cave. >> reporter: her she cave? a closet that took a full year to build, three floors, 3,000 square feet, and the price tag? >> roughly around $500,000. >> reporter: yep, half a million bucks. that's just the closet itself. >> bags and shoes and jewelry. how much does the merchandise alone in this closet cost? >> probably close to about $2 million. >> we don't want to say. >> reporter: if her husband don't want to see this segment

shown on "good morning america" -- >> a texas woman cloeg off her closet -- >> reporter: perhaps someone else did. a week after romer gave abc news a tour of her closet this guy broke in. police say video from inside the home shows a solo burglar entering the three-story mega-closet through a bathroom window on the first floor while romer and her husband were having dinner at the neighborhood country club. >> it's unexplainable. just unexplainable. >> reporter: watch as the intruder enters the 3,000 square foot closet as if a aa shopping spree heading directly for designer handbags, carelessly tossing papers on the floor, at one point climbing shelves to get to the pricey items on the top before leaving with what police say is nearly $1 million worth of merchandise. including three hermes travel bags at around $60,000 each, 12 rolex watches, chanel and

cartier watches. >> all this stuff i'll probably never see again. sad. sentimental value. >> reporter: in a bizarre twist the alleged crook actually contacted teresa, demanding she pay $500,000 in exchange for the items. >> it's one thing to be robbed. now it's another for someone to hold me for ransom for my belongings. >> reporter: if she doesn't pay up, he'll let a few skeletons out of the closet, telling the media the items are allegedly fake. >> who is this man to tell me i'm a fake? you know, if this crook really knew me and did the research on me, he would know i am as authentic as they come. >> reporter: when she doesn't comply, the man claiming to be the thief makes good on his threat. >> many of the items that were taken were fake. >> reporter: disguising his voice and using a burner phone to call a houston press writer. >> i asked this person, how can they prove they really were the

burglar? >> if you give me your address i will send you samples of items of hers. >> reporter: he says he received the items friday in a simple envelope. >> it was 10 or 15 pieces of jewelry and a watch. >> reporter: he turned that over to the houston police who say that romer has now confirmed that some of the contents are indeed hers. but they have no idea yet if they are real or what the thief's motives may be. >> we'll have to find out when we get the suspect information, whether it was from the television show that tipped off the individual that committed the crime or if it was an inside job. >> reporter: romer attesting the thief's clays have no weight. >> who is a crook to determine what is real, what is fake? >> reporter: she is confident that the thief will be caught. >> he thinks he's smart. but the prison is full of smart people. sooner or later, they mess up. >> reporter: if he is caught and convicted, one thing seems certain, his jail cell will be much smaller than her closet. for "nightline," i'm geo benitez

in new york. coming up next on "nightline," we turn from modern crimes to ancient survival tactics. what it's like to live with a tribe of people who for millennia have had almost zero contact with the outside world? save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.d everybody knows that. well, did you know pinocchio was a bad motivational speaker? i look around this room and i see nothing but untapped potential. you have potential. you have...oh boy. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. infinally, the purple pill, the #1 prescribed acid blocking brand, comes without a prescription for frequent heartburn. get complete protection.

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it is fascinating to think that even in this tech-saturated day and age there are places on this planet where tribes of people live with little or no contact with the outside world. tonight we get the rare opportunity to peer into their world.

just weeks ago, seven members of a previously uncontacted amazonian tribe emerged in brazil after threats from illegal loggers and drug traffickers forced them from their home in peru. several years ago a similar story prompted me to travel up the amazon to a place no reporter had been before. >> i was standing up there before, they could have come up -- >> yeah, you could have easily got with bitten there. >> how quickly will it kill you? >> he says very quickly. >> all right, great. >> reporter: we came to meet the alananuae indians. who for millennia had zero contact with the outside world. while in recent years they'd had limited outside contact, they still essentially lived in the same ways as their ancestors in the stone age. the pace of life here couldn't be more different than ours.

while they'd had a few modern tools like motor boats, swim trunks, and goggles, they seem to only take the parts of modernity that help them live their ancient lifestyle. in fact, they still live in large communal huts which led me to an imbetter nent question. >> this is an insensitive question. if you want to be alone with your wife, you want to be intimate with your wife, living in a room filled with people, how do you have privacy? >> reporter: they told me they get plenty of privacy at night when everybody's asleep. apparently so. at the time of this interview, this guy had seven children and his wife was pregnant with number eight. a new national geographic series called "survive the tribe" takes viewers inside remote cultures and asks the survivalist to live as the tribe lives for ten days. in the jungle survival skills are imperative. knowing how to find water and emergency calories like these

beetle larvae. >> i wouldn't say that insect grubs are my favorite. >> these people have evolved ways to be able to function. it is truly fabulous to see how these people can live in a seemingly inhospitable place. >> reporter: like the indians i visited, those hunters use hunting skills specific to their environment. their preferred target is the monkey, high in protein, which they hunt high in the canopy using poisoned darts. the most experienced hunters can accurately fire a dart over 100 feet. >> they're going for the kill right now. >> i consider them some of the most spectacular forest hunters of anyone in the world. when you start hunting with them, when you're actually in the action with them, you recognize that these people are truly the masters of the forest. >> reporter: despite their

isolation and lack of modern technology, it becomes clear on the show that these people mostly want the same things that we do. >> you can see how people are raising their families, how they're finding their food, what their activities are that they are so good at that enable them to live in these really remote locations. >> and "survive the tribe" airs thursdays on national geographic challenge. thank you for watching "nightline." tune in to "gma" first thing in the morning and online 24/7 at abcnews.com. thanks for watching and good night. >> hi, i'm your host, cedric the entertainer coming to you from madame tussauds new york. all this week, we're going back in time, 'cause it's millionaire by the decade. trivia on the biggest moments from the last 40 years. got my man jerry garcia right here. let's rock out. yeah. the '80s: the purveyor of purple rain, hello, prince. the '90s: clinton.

hi, president. [laughs] hashtag into the 2000s: gaga. hey, gaga, how 'bout a selfie? [camera shutter clicks] yeah, come on, y'all, let's hip-hop on that double dutch bus right back into the '70s. hit it! [cheers and applause] hey! how's it going? what--hey, let's go. [cheers and applause] whoo. [laughs] [cheers and applause] yeah. hello and welcome to millionaire by the decade. aw, yeah. yeah. i got to tell you, feels great to be back in the '70s. i mean, the fashion, the funk, the fros-- i mean, take a look at this set. i mean, come on, man. shag carpe