this is "nightline." >> tonight, the cold medicine defense? a seemingly happy newlywed couple now at the center of a shocking murder. a once aspiring pastor calling 911 -- >> i have blood all over me and there's a bloody knife on the bed. and i think i did it. >> but he claims he doesn't remember anything. pointing to an overdose of cold medicine. >> listen, this ain't the cold and flu season. >> could the drug get him off the hook? plus whatever it takes. a family rescued from their flooded home in houston returning with our michael strahan to see what is left. now after the storm still waiting for fema assistance, how their struggles are just beginning. >> we're going to get through this. whatever it takes. >> mama's protecting her family.

>> that's all i can do. and the road to 9/11. a port authority detective on a team charged with hunting down the terrorists who would go on to mastermind the 9/11 attacks. >> i live with a lot of guilt. i could get it done. >> now returning to the site of the buildings he vowed to protect. but first here, the "nightline" 5. and number 1 is coming up in just 6

good evening and thank you for joining us tonight. an unexpected killing with a bewildering claim. a once aspiring pastor calls 911 reporting that he woke from a dream and found his wife dead. he says he remembers nothing, pointing to a large dose of cold medicine he took. now legal experts are weighing in, could his bizarre story actually hold up in court? they looked like the picture of marital bliss. lauren and matt phelps, newlyweds, married for barely ten months. lauren, 29, a sunday school teacher and auditor who ran an online business on the side. >> so thank you guys so much for watching, and i will talk to you guys later. bye. >> reporter: matt, 28, worked at a lawn service in north carolina and once attended a bible college. but that image of what seemed from the outside like the

perfect all-american couple shattered as caught in a dramatic call to 911. >> where is the knife right now? >> reporter: matt phelps now stands accused of murdering his wife. he hasn't yet entered a plea, and what we don't know is whether or not cold medication he took will play a role in this case. >> sir, you could receive the death penalty or life without the possibility of parole. >> reporter: just after 1:00 a.m. on friday a man called authorities with this startling revelation. >> i had a dream, and then i turned on the lights and she's dead on the floor. >> how? how? >> i have blood all over me, and there's a bloody knife on the bed. and i think i did it. >> reporter: the raleigh police department says it has altered the recording to disguise the caller's voice. the man said he took over-the-counter medication to help him sleep just hours before. >> i took more medicine than i

should have. >> what medicine did you take? >> i took -- i took coricidin cough and cold because i know it can make you feel good. so a lot of times i can't sleep at night. >> is she breathing at all? is her chest moving? is anything going on with her? >> no. >> okay. we're going to -- >> the blood is dried on me. >> it's dried? >> the blood is not wet on me. the blood is dry. >> when officers arrived at the phelps home in raleigh, they found lauren with stab wounds. they rushed her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. lauren's heartbroken family said in a statement, "she was all about her family. her four nephews were her whole world and church was a priority for her." matt phelps' defense attorney is asking the public to wait for more information before judging his client. >> be patient with everybody so

that we can all together get to the bottom of this really significant tragedy. >> reporter: bayer, the manufacturer of coricidin, defended its product in a statement, saying "patient safety is our top priority and we continually monitor adverse events regarding all of our products. there is no evidence to suggest that coricidin is associated with violent behavior." what phelps said in that 911 call already raising questions. >> listen, this ain't the cold and flu season. okay? so there's no evidence he had the cold or a flu. he also said he takes coricidin because it makes him feel good and helps him go to sleep. he said nothing about being ill. >> if there was literature, proof, evidence that this particular cough syrup has led to violent episodes in the past, could there be a defense? maybe. particularly if there was no warning. but there is no evidence that we

know of. ambien's a different story. >> reporter: one of the best-known cases of what's become known as the ambien defense is that of carrie kennedy. >> i have no memory. until i was stopped at a traffic light. >> reporter: in 2012 kennedy, the daughter of robert kennedy, sideswiped a tractor-trailer and allegedly left the scene. police found her slumped over the wheel of her car. she faced a single misdemeanor count of driving while impaired. her defense argued that she unnothingly took a generic form of ambien, mistaking it for her thyroid drug, and one of the expert witnesses in the trial, dr. david benjamin, said the medication can cause an automatic type of behavior or zombieism and that people might become impaired but not know it. >> had she had her faculties about her she would have pulled over and called aa. >> reporter: sanofi, the maker of ambien, said in a statement that it stands behind the robust clinical data that have demonstrated the safety and efficacy of ambien since its approval in the u.s. in 1992. kennedy was found not guilty.

but in another case, one not involving a traditional pharmaceutical, the outcome was tragically different. >> report of a domestic violence in prort. >> reporter: in april 2014 christine kirk called 911 saying her husband had taken some marijuana and was talking like it was the end of the world and wanted her to shoot him. telling the 911 operator that he was totally hallucinating. >> he grabbed the gun and she's screaming. the line disconnected. >> reporter: richard kirk was charged with first-degree murder of his wife and he pled not guilty by reason of insanity. researchers suggesting the pot-laced candy which is legal in colorado may have contributed to his psychotic break. the guardians of kirk's children filed a wrongful death suit against the maker and distributor of the chewy candy alleging they negligently, recklessly and purposefully concealed vital dosage and labeling information claiming the package doesn't warn buyers that the high in edibles could lead to paranoia, psychosis and hallucinatio

hallucinations. >> we don't have a lot of literature on what the side effects would be on a person who has ingested recreational marijuana. so a manufacturer could potentially be held liable for that. >> an attorney for the makers of the candy told abc that they were complying with all state labeling requirements at the time that said marijuana could have adverse health effects and called the suit's claims preposterous and baseless. kirk later changed his plea, agreeing to serve 25 to 30 years in prison for second-degree murder. as for matt phelps, he will be back in court later this month. until more answers are uncovered -- >> hi, everybody. it's lauren. >> reporter: -- lauren's family is left waiting and wondering what went so wrong. a story we will continue to follow right here on abc. but we turn now to the devastation in texas, where abc's michael strahan met with just one of so many families who have lost everything but their

lives. >> do you stay in here and possibly drown? >> reporter: mindy benjamin's family is one of the thousands in houston with no place to call home. >> one of the worst feelings as a parent is feeling helpless. you know, you're supposed to be there to protect them. >> my mom was crying. i just gave her a big hug. and i just told her i love her. >> reporter: the water rising, stranded for 14 hours before help finally arrived. >> so this is home. what's left of it. >> i mean, this is your life. >> everything. >> reporter: trying to salvage what they can. but they can't stay here. >> it's been day to day, changing hotels, calling, hoping you find a place like it was just maybe 35 minutes ago i finally found somewhere i'm going to stay tonight. >> reporter: 550,000 victims have now applied for financial assistance from fema, including benjamin. she was approved for a one-time $500 payment but still hasn't

received it. so no assistance so far in any of this, and you're renting this house. >> right. >> reporter: you had renter's insurance. >> i had renter's insurance. >> reporter: but did it cover flooding? >> not a thing. >> reporter: but one thing's clear. this mom's love for her family is strong enough to weather any storm. >> i vowed to them, we're going to get through this. >> whatever it takes. >> whatever it takes. >> mama's protecting her family. >> that's all i can do. and when we come back here on "nightline," the detective who played a key role on the road to 9/11. my friend susie crs me up. but one laugh, and hello sensitive bladder. ring a bell? then you have to try always discreet. i didn't think protection this thin could work. but the super absorbent core turns liquid to gel. for incredible protection... ...that's surprisingly thin. so it's out of sight... ...and out of mind. always discreet. for bladder leaks. also in liners.

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us, but we're now approaching the 16th anniversary of the september 11th attacks. the motto that sprang up in the aftermath was never forget. while memories may be fading for some, tonight you're going to meet a man who remembers it all like it was yesterday and who wishes he could have done more to stop it. former port authority detective matthew baa shaer is heading down new york city's west side highway on a trip he swore he would never make. >> it's not going to be easy. >> reporter: the skyline now dominated by the freedom tower, not bashear's beloved twin towers. >> they're my buildings. i was port authority. i thought they were just stunningly beautiful. >> reporter: bashear has not been to manhattan since he helped at ground zero in 2001. >> the last time i was here this was nothing more than 15 stories of rubble. >> reporter: he's here confronting his darkest demons, sharing his story for the first

time on network television. >> it doesn't get any easier. it's 16 years, and it doesn't get any easier. because this should never have happened. this should never have happened. >> reporter: his story one of the many pieces of the september 11th puzzle put together in history's new documentary "road to 9/11." >> i was hunting the guy that did this. and i didn't get him. my life has been forever changed. >> reporter: for bashear the road to 9/11 started in the 1970s when the world trade center was being built. >> as a child i would take my allowance and i would jump on the lirr local and i would watch them blasting and digging a whole for the foundation of the trade center. >> sow really had a connection to these buildings. >> yeah. i watched them being built, i worked there, and i sifted through the rubble for my 37 guys that i lost that day. >> reporter: his losses on september 11th were deeply personal. working in the port authority's intelligence unit, he says he knew a decade earlier that the

world trade center would be a terrorist target. >> 1991 leading into 1992 i was asked by the commanding officer of the world trade center to do a vulnerability study. my report that i submitted was that the building was vulnerable to attack in the parking garages. >> reporter: were your warnings heeded? >> you complete the report and you pass it up the chain. what they do with it after that is their business, not mine. >> reporter: but just a year after basheer's report -- >> watch out, watch out. >> one, two, three. >> reporter: more than 1,000 people were hurt and six killed when a bomb went off inside a van parked at the world trade center garage. >> it was an eye opener at that time. but of course as we get further down the road and other things have happened, it was really a huge warning sign. >> reporter: basheer would then team up with the fbi, eventually helping track down and capture the mastermind of the 1993 attack, ramzi yusuf, who gave law enforcement his own grim prediction about the twin towers

the night they took him into custody in new york. >> it was february 7th, 1995, about 9:30 at night when we came around lower manhattan. and we took the blindfold off of him and said see, ramzi, they're still standing. and he took the time to look us each in the eye in the helicopter. and he said, "next time we'll have more money and we will bring them down." >> reporter: it would be yusuf's uncle, khalid shaikh mohammed, or ksm, who would fulfill that promise six years later, working at the behest of al qaeda leader osama bin laden. >> we knew in the mid 1990s that khalid shaikh mohammed was trouble. >> reporter: richard clarke was the chief counterterrorism adviser on the national security council at the time, overseeing the growing threat from al qaeda operatives like ksm. >> we were looking for him. and we had an indictment, a sealed indictment against him from a federal grand jury. >> reporter: he was wanted for his role in planning an attack on the pope and an elaborate plot to bring down planes over the pacific ocean.

both of those plots were foiled. >> to many of the people that knew him he was the boss. so when you're looking at somebody who's thought of that way you've got to put more effort into him. >> reporter: basheer along with his partner frank pellegrino crisscrossed the globe in the 1990s hunting terrorists including ksm. the u.s. government tracked him to qatar in 1996 but clarke says when he requested help in capturing ksm he was turned down. >> we asked the fbi. we asked the cia. we asked the pentagon. can any of you mount a snatch operation to go into doha and pick him up and fly him out? and all of them said that was not within their capacity. >> reporter: ksm would go on to hand-pick the 19 terrorists who hijacked the planes on september 11th. but trying to stop terrorists before they acted was not the

only frustration in the years leading up to 9/11. >> since there had never been a major foreign terrorist attack, a catastrophic attack, in the u.s., even though the evidence suggested it could happen, a lot of people didn't believe, truly believe that it would happen. >> oh, my god! >> we just got a report in that there's been some sort of explosion at the world trade center in new york city. >> reporter: basheer had retired from the port authority in 2000. but he says when the first plane hit that morning in 2001 he knew exactly what was happening and who was responsible. >> and i felt my entire insides just fall out. and as i was standing there watching it i saw the second plane come in and hit. and i knew they came back. at that point i lost it. i just sank to the floor and i just started bawling. and as i was doing that, my phone rang. and it was my partner.

he was crying too. and he said, bash, look what they did to us. >> reporter: basheer says he grabbed his gear, got in his car, and drove through the night to ground zero. >> what did you do? >> initially, i didn't know what to do. i just -- i just knew i needed to do something. >> reporter: and you were allowed to do this kind of work even though you were already retired? >> yes. the people from the port authority knew i was back. actually, they told one of the range officers to sign out my old weapon and give it to me. >> reporter: he stayed for two weeks. >> when i drove out of manhattan that day, i've never been back. >> reporter: why not? >> it's too painful a memory for me. i live with a lot of guilt, that i let those guys down. that i lost a lot of good friends because i didn't get it done. >> reporter: khalid shaikh mohammed would finally be captured in pakistan on march 1st, 2003, and he is still imprisoned at guantanamo bay. for matthew basheer the lists of names at the 9/11 memorial are

filled with stories he does not want the world to forget. >> bruce reynolds. there wasn't a kinder, nicer guy than bruce reynolds. >> i need to keep their memory alive. that's what's important for me. >> but they still did what they needed to do. they still needed to be god's warriors to get those people out of that building. but i never wanted to see their names etched like this. >> and "road to 9/11" is currently airing on history, which is owned in part by our parent company, disney. next here on "nightline," the state of emergency in florida. how people there are preparing for a collision with another major hurricane. ["love is all around" by joan jett & the blackhearts]

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