♪ ♪ how will i know don't trust your feelings ♪ ♪ how will i know how will i k good evening. let's just take a moment to listen to that voice. ♪ and i will always love you ♪ >> that's why we're here tonight, to tell the story of the talented and troubled woman who graced us with that extraordinary voice, whitney houston. ♪ whatever you want ♪ >> that voice, oh, my god. >> her life was as big as her music.

>> she is the birth of the modern pop diva. >> she was the first superstar that you didn't see color. she made us forget about color. >> soaring heights. >> singing the national anthem, you remember that moment? just gives you goose bumps ♪ bombs bursting in air ♪ >> she's on the top of the mountain, and she becomes the mountain herself. ♪ where do broken hearts go ♪ >> and then the darkest shadows. >> she struggled with drugs and struggled with bad relationships. >> i would watch from afar and then say, please, let this stop. >> tonight, poignant words from whitney houston herself. >> he looked at me. he said that you have surpassed some of the greatest entertainers of all time. >> her final in depth interview. >> i've got some good saints out there that pray for me constantly. >> and her final performance. >> she danced. she sang.

she laughed. >> what happened during her final days? >> oh, my god, someone needs to get her out of here. >> the latest on the mystery and her singular legacy. >> you could dance to her just like you could cry to her, get married to her, make babies to her. you could do it all. ♪ the greatest love of all is easy to achieve ♪ >> "remembering white any." thanks for joining us. though she was blessed with cover model looks and a perfect powerhouse voice, for years people worried that whitney houston would die young. yet despite a history of drug use, a rocky marriage and erratic behavior, she always found a way to bounce back, so what was different about yesterday? tonight, some exclusive insights, beginning with those who were up close and personal with the superstar just before her death.

what did they see? here's josh mankiewicz. ♪ >> whitney! >> maybe she no longer had the voice that once touched america's heart. ♪ i'll do it naturally ♪ >> but on thursday, two days before she died, whitney houston took to the stage of a hollywood club. you're watching her sing the duet that turned out to be the final performance of a singing career that was in equal measure soaring. and shocking. less than 48 hours later, a 911

call brought police and paramedics to this lavish hotel only a day before the grammy awards would celebrate some of the biggest names of the recording industry. whitney houston had been found unresponsive in her fourth floor suite. >> about 3:43 this afternoon a 911 call came into the beverly hills police department. the fire department was already on scene for the pre-grammy party. they responded up with hotel security. found miss houston unresponsive in her hotel room. they attempted to start resuscitation measures. they were not successful, and at 3:55 p.m. approximately whitney houston was pronounced dead in her hotel room. >> investigators say they saw no obvious signs of what they called criminal intent, and one police source said the singer's cause of death was simply unknown at this point raising the possibility that houston had finally lost her well-known battle with drug use.

but whatever the cause of her death, the singer died just as some of those bold-faced names in the music business were arriving for a huge pre-grammy party at the same hotel, and their evening went on, even while the body of one of the best known recording artists in the world still lay just a few floors above them. some nine hours after her death houston's body was taken to the l.a. county coroner's office. >> we'll be doing a full autopsy, along with toxicology to try to determine if there were any substances in her body at the time of her death. >> tracing the cause of houston's death could take weeks. those who saw her over the last few days have been turning over in their minds the behavior and the appearance of a star who no one knew was in her last hours. >> bye. >> i was excited. i mean, it was great, like, you know, an honor and a pleasure

and a lifelong dream to be with that pop icon. >> you saw her on thursday? >> yeah, thursday night. >> reggie dowdily is a makeup artist who worked on whitney houston before that final performance. she liked his work, he says, and was happy to have a few pictures taken as he was applying houston's makeup. this was on thursday when many who saw houston thought she looked bloated, dressing in clothes that didn't make and acting distracted and erratic. she was also, said witnesses, perspiring freely. she's been described that day as basically looking and sounding terrible, that she seemed drunk. she smelled of alcohol. she smelled of cigarettes. she didn't have her act together that day. did you see any of that? >> no, not when i was there, not at all. >> i'm guessing you may have at different times in your life seen people under the influence of alcohol or drugs. >> right. >> did she seem to be? >> not at all.

she was like cheerful and joyful with the gospel music playing in the background. it seemed like she was on track and ready to take the world and ready for the weekend to come. >> not the train wreck that you've sort of seen described in the press. >> not at all. >> photographer gabe olsen went to the party for which reggie had applied houston's makeup but olson also says as he took the photographs he noticed nothing unusual, certainly no sign that houston was in any kind of distress. >> most people see the photos of her coming out of the club and her her being, you know, moist, her looking disheveled, but you have to realize she was moving through the club, it was a press of people. >> so she may not have been the only person there sweating. >> i was sweating my level. >> did she look as someone under the influence of drugs or alcohol? >> no, when she came, when she first arrived she looked radiant radiant, absolutely beautiful. that's one of the first things i noticed.

>> she was speaking to microphones and you're right in there with them. was she slurring her speech? >> no, not slurring her speech that i noticed at all. when she got up and sang, she was loose, having a good time, could have had a couple of drinks. is this somebody under the influence of some major narcotic? didn't appear to be at all. >> singer kelly price was on the same stage with houston. she spoke exclusively with "dateline" about that last performance. >> we had a ball. i actually wasn't expecting her to sing. she walked up on stage. she wanted to sing a little bit, and so it just kind of, you know, she started and i fell in line, like a little sister is supposed to. she danced. she sang. she laughed. bobbi kris was there. they dance, laughed together and now it's a great moment. >> now look at these photographs taken by a freelance photographer who was waiting for houston outside of that event. >> in my opinion she seemed like she was under the influence of something, be it drugs or be it alcohol, i don't know.

but she certainly seemed not to be all there. >> those are not flattering pictures of her. >> they are not at all, and those images in hindsight, it's one of those things that rings alarm bells. >> "los angeles times" reporter garrett kennedy saw houston at a pretty event on thursday. >> it was a little bit embarrassing, to be completely honest, and it was more, i guess, the shock of seeing whitney. it started to wear off as the day went on because now you're just seeing kind of this woman who might be intoxicated you know, might have had one or two many drinks. >> sounds like were you embarrassed for her? >> i was lime i'm exbearsed for her. someone needs to get her out of here. she needs to go take a nap or something. >> little is known about what houston did the next day, friday, the last full day of her life. all of it has sparked a discussion about what the recording industry owes its stars in a business where frequently no one ever says no to the artists who make

managers, producers and record companies rich. veteran publicist ken sunshine. >> in the end, these are adults we're talking about, and they are going to make decisions on their own. are there enablers around celebrities? of course there are. there are -- and there are worse than enablers that often lead to the more aberrant behavior. >> the ribles caused by the singer's death are only just beginning. earlier today houston's only child, bobbi kristina, was taken by plans from the same hotel where her mother died. she was treated for stress and released. tonight whitney houston's death is doing for her career what her life could not, return her to the top of the music charts. her albums are suddenly topping the list of best-sellers on amazon at itunes and houston will return larger than life on the silver screen in "sparkle." it will be whitney houston's

first appearance on film in 16 years. it will also be her last. this evening, a constellation of stars that came together to celebrate the best of the music business will instead gather to mourn. tonight, they will be focusing on not the latest or loudest voice, but on one that rang so true and then was stilled so soon. ♪ the greatest love of all ♪ >> when we come back, retracing whitney houston's path from a little girl singing gospel to the queen of pop. nighttime n as al c, i couldn't breathe right. i couldn't sleep right. next day it took forever to get going. night after night, i sat up. sprayed up. took a shower... or took a pill. then i tried drug-free breathe right advanced. and instantly i breathed better! i slept better. it felt...better. thank you, breathe right! [ male announcer ] breathe better, sleep better feel better. try breathe

right advanced for free... at breatheright.com. [ woman ] it's my right to breathe right. isn't it your right, too? one of the best things about state farm is our accessibility. oh, yeah? [ chris ] you can call us 24-7 get quotes online, start a claim with our smartphone app. you name it, we're here anytime, anywhere, any way you want it. that's the way i need it. any way you want it. [ man ] all night? all night. every night? any way you want it. that's the way i need it. we just had ourselves a little journey moment there. yep. [ man ] saw 'em in '83 in fresno. place was crawling with chicks. i got to go. ♪ any way you want it ♪ ♪ that's the way you need it ♪ ♪ any way you want it ♪ ♪ ♪ sweet nutty crunchy nut. [ sighs ] i can't wait till morning. wait! it's morning in china! ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] it's sweet, it's nutty... it's absolutely delicious. kellogg's crunchy nut. it's morning somewhere. ♪ ♪ love your pandora bracelet. oh, thanks. he went to jared. the ballet slippers? i used to dance.

suitcase? anniversary trip. hearts? it's called the red hot love bead... ♪ ♪ oh. ...i've said too much. [ female announcer ] celebrate life's unforgettable moments with a fabulous selection of pandora charms and bracelets at jared. telling her life's story with just a turn of the wrist. soccer ball? soccer mom. [ female announcer ] that's why he went to jared, the galleria of jewelry. [ female announcer ] to get a professional cleaning system you could spend as much as $200. olay says challenge that with an instrument that cleanses as effectively as what's sold by skin professionals for a whole lot less. new olay pro x advanced cleaning system. [ female announcer ] this is not a prescription. this is mary. who thinks it might be time to listen to her heart. so she talked to her walgreens pharmacist who gave her a free blood pressure test and showed her how easy it is to do it herself at home. get a free blood pressure test any day in february at any walgreens pharmacy or take care clinic location. and we'll donate $1 to the american

heart association as part of the walgreens way to well commitment. walgreens. there's a way to stay well.

♪ i decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadow ♪ ♪ if i fail, if i succeed ♪ >> it's a story that has become all too familiar, a sad path taken by so many other talented artists. a meteoric rise, a harrowing and heartbreaking fall. dennis murphy traces the arc of a life found, and lost. ♪ how will i know if he really

loves me ♪ >> for most of us she came out of nowhere in 1985. a video in constant rotation on mtv. ♪ it's all bitterbeat ♪ >> cover model looks and good girl sexy with an astonishing voice so powerful that at the top of her range you would certain she would levitate. ♪ oh, how will i know ♪ >> she only needed one name from that moment on, whitney. she came. we saw. she conquered. >> she could do anything you asked of the singer, and it -- if you like singing, you have to love whitney houston because she is the epitome of great singing. >> she was belting pop, but if fans heard a little churchiness in her, they were right. ♪ >> the bell clear voice of little whitney houston had filled the churches around newark, new jersey since she was a child.

the soloist in a youth gospel choir there. after all, she was her mother's daughter. the youngest of three for the great gospel singer sissy houston, her aunt dionne warwick and goddmother aretha franklin. >> white any wasn't learning from her records the way that other people do. she was learning from her goddmother. >> with the pedigree like that and the gift of a mezzo soprano voice like few others, by her late teens she was in recording studios singing backup vocals for artists like chaka khan and for her mom siscissy in new york clubs, a mother who taught her daughter how to cultivate her talent and also saw her on the path to show business. >> i didn't want her in the music business because i know what it was like it. could build you up to tear her

down. >> it was while she was singing backup to her mom cissy that her essential elements got her noticed. her beauty got her the cover of "seventeen" and she had a meeting with clive davis, a meeting that changed her life. >> clive davis kept with her until she became the star because he had it in his head she was a star and he made it come true. >> the result in, february 1985, the release of the cd "whitney houston." it was like recorded "sergeant pepper" or "thriller" in your first at-bat. the album was "billboard's" number one for 13 weeks and the hits kept coming. ♪ the greatest love of all ♪ >> captivating an international audience, seven singles in a row went straight to number one.

the album sold 25 million copies worldwide. >> she opened the door for a certain sound of music, very, very pop. very jazzy, very sophisticated, very bourgeois. ♪ but no other man is going to do ♪ >> and out there watching whitney's every confident move on their tv screens at home, dancing along with her, mimicking her phrasing, were future divas of one name, mariah, christina, gaga. she would spawn her own legacy of idols in her image. >> she is the birth of the modern pop diva. i mean, whitney houston is sort of the mother of all of these women who just stand on stage and sing really well from mariah, to adele, to mary j blige. >> she owned the 1996 grammys

with six wins. ♪ and the rockets red glare ♪ >> and who else by whitney houston singing the national anthem at the super bowl ten days after the first gulf war had started could turn the "star spangled banner" into a top ten single. >> she really killed it because you know what? she knows how to make you feel it. that's the gospel training that she comes from, how to make you feel the song in your bones and she really nailed that one. >> there wasn't much doubt that the beautiful princess of pop videos would glide effortlessly into the movies. >> and you're ready to die for me? >> that's the job. >> in her first outing, "the bodyguard" with kevin costner, she played no, surprise, an international pop star in peril. the reviews were so-so, but the box office was great. a more than $400 million gross worldwide.

♪ and i will always love you ♪ >> and the soundtrack for the film featured what would become her signature song and the first dance probably for hundreds and thousands of young brides and grooms. >> that song begins, i think it's something like 45 seconds before the music even comes in, and you're just listening to whitney houston sing. i mean, you never hear anything like that on the radio. >> she was making millions and millions of dollars, sell out stadiums around the world, but there was something gnawing at her despite the phenomenal success. there was ongoing carping in african-american circles, the black music industry, what whitney houston was just a beauty passing the color line, watering down her soulfulness for adoring white audiences. she was even jeered at a televised soul train awards show. >> must be horrible. >> it is horrible, and i'm going are they booing me, and you say yeah, how nice. >> too perfect, too polished. those images were scuffed up by

the 1990s when miss goody goody took up with r & b singer bobby brown, an artist with a bad boy reputation and a rap sheet to match. their turbulent marriage resulted in a daughter and enough bad ink to fill a year's worth of scandal sheets. whitney had become a soap opera, a no show, a difficult star. >> i would watch from afar and say please, let this stop. >> and she couldn't hit those effortless high notes anymore. audiences walked out on off-key off-kilter performances. the rumor mill had her reeling out of control, doing drugs and booze with her bad boy husband. >> addiction is powerful, and her struggles with it were immensely painful because they played out in public. >> in a major interview with abc's "primetime" in 2002, whitney was asked directly if she was doing drugs. her answer made headlines. >> is it alcohol?

is it marijuana? is it cocaine? is it pills? >> it has been at times. >> all? >> at times. >> if there was any doubt that whitney houston's personal life had become a mess, the evidence was as near as a cringeworthy episode of her husband's reality show on bravo, "being bobby brown." >> kiss my ass. >> all right. that's what i mean. >> in 2003 whitney called the cops on her husband. he was charged with battery. the case went to court, but ultimately she asked the authorities not to pursue it. they divorced in april of 1997. she tried a comeback al couples of sorts but america seems to have fallen out of love with their one-time pop diva, so on a day when the medical examiner removed the body from a beverly hills hotel, the marquee said a final good-bye. we're left with the videos and memories of a once incendiary

talent, and fans who, despite her sad unraveling, will always love her. ♪ i will always love you ♪ >> when we come back, diana ross, gladys knight, george clooney and other stars react to the news of whitney houston's death. ♪ ♪ or has never been hacked. an online virus has never attacked a corkboard. ♪ ♪ give your customers the added feeling of security a printed statement or receipt provides... ...with mail. it's good for your business. ♪ ♪ and even better for your customers. ♪ ♪ for safe and secure ways to stay connected, visit usps.com/mail

our new ocean spray cran-cherry juice drinks are made with sweet cherries and the crisp, clean taste of our cranberries. i cannot tell a lie. 'tis tasty. okay, george washington, did you take my truck out last night? 'tis tasty. [ male announcer ] technology accelerates at a relentless pace. anything not moving forward is moving backward. [ tires screech ] [ engine turns over tires squeal ] introducing the 2013 gs. with the lexus enform app suite the most connected information and communication technology available in an automobile. [ tires screeching ] the all-new 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back.

if you want less, you can always have less but i like having a lot more a lot more than having a lot less. and the more more i have, the more i like having more. and that's exactly what i get at embassy suites. more post-meeting celebrations, more complimentary drinks, more for my money... mmm, more bar snacks... ♪ ♪ more olives. definitely. i

want so much more it's more more than a mortal man can handle. now, that's more like it. [ female announcer ] complimentary drinks. free breakfast. more room. embassy suites. get more.

through -- ♪ >> of all the tributes to whitney houston pouring in from around the world, there are none more heartfelt than the people who worked with her in the music industry, especially those of fellow performers who understood her remarkable achievements better than anyone. ♪ i wanna dance with somebody ♪ >> whitney is the girl we all wanted to be like. she was the first black superstar that you didn't see color. she made us forget about color. ♪ i'm every woman ♪ >> one of the great singers of all time. whitney set the bar awfully hard. it's sad. it's a very sad day. >> her voice, you know, her voice. just -- we're really sad. >> oh, that voice, oh, my god. no one has ever come close to that voice. ♪ find your strength in love ♪ >> you knew when that first note came out, that's whitney

houston. >> she sings effortlessly, and i remember being in the studio with whitney. we were doing a song called "i'm your baby tonight." ♪ i'm your baby tonight ♪ >> she said, baby, okay, let's go in and knock this out and in 20 minutes she sang the song top to bottom three times, did her vocal harmonies, the whole nine yards. sessions last for hours and days, right, to create what whitney houston did just in minutes. that record became a number one record. i want whitney to be remembered as the greatest voice of all time. ♪ but it's okay ♪ >> she invented a particular kind of american pop soul singing. what happened was she became so successful and her work so powerful in this chosen medium, there was a genre that coalesced

around that kind of singing. the two greatest moments in her career are very specifically crossover moments in very interesting ways. ♪ and i will always love you ♪ >> "i will always love you" is a country song. it is a dolly parton song. ♪ will always love you ♪ >> it becomes a number one hit for 14 straight weeks, a record at the time. it is inescapable, and it's inescapable what she did with it. she made a country song into something else, and then she does the same thing in 1991 with "the star spangled banner". >> and the♪ and the rockets red glare ♪ ♪ the bombs bursting in air ♪ >> and can you say remaking this song, this national anthem into

a dream of what america can be. >> just gives you goose bumps just to think about it, yeah. ♪ and the home of the brave ♪ >> when you mention whitney houston songs, one of the first ones that really come to mind is "didn't we almost have it all?" ♪ didn't we almost have it all ♪ ♪ when love was all we had worth giving ♪ >> it was most important to me that she knew that i was there for her as an individual, and i'm more proud to be able to know that -- sorry. that i was there for her. for her personal hurts more so

than her musical celebration. ♪ ♪ >> thursday night was the whitney that kelly knew, and the whitney that kelly knew was a big sister who was prospective, loving, supportive. we were celebrating my grammy nominations, and she walked up on stage, and she wanted to sing a little bit, and so it just kind of, you know, she started and i fell in line, like a little sister is supposed to. she was one of the best voices that ever touched the microphone, and that will be my last memory of her. i will remember her that way because she deserves to be remembered that way. >> before the glamour, the sequinned gowns and the glare of stardom, she was the girl next door. tonight, among the memories of those of childhood friends who knew whitney houston as a regular kid, who never forgot

her new jersey roots. this morning whitney houston was remembered in the place so important to her, church. they paid tribute in los angeles where she died. >> our hearts are broken. >> and in newark where she got her musical start. >> everyone knew her. whitney was bigger than life. >> in her hometown church, new hope baptist, parishoners lost someone besides the queen of pop. they lost one of their own, a jersey girl. >> i remember seeing her as a young girl. i remember her singing in the church. she rocked the church. >> anthony decurtis, a longtime music writer for "rolling stone" said being in the church choir taught whitney that she could move people with her voice. >> whitney houston grew up thinking about being a teacher, and she thought about being a veterinarian, but then she told me that at about 11 or 12, you know, she opened her mouth and

then she goes then i heard that thing, and at that point she knew what it was that she had to do. it was like a calling. >> after the newark riots in the late '60s, the houston family moved to a more suburban neighborhood, dodd street in east orange. there was a young girl neighborhood whitney that grew up on dodd street but you didn't know her by that name. >> i knew her at nippy. >> nip? >> yes. >> where did that come from? >> a nickname, i don't know how she picked it up. >> one of her childhood friends, michelle richardson, remembers whitney best as the girl next door. the houston house was a meeting place for all the kids in the neighborhood. >> we'd have cookouts that everybody was welcome to. it was like family. it was just like an extended family. who shoe she was going to become whitney. >> that's because whitney sang a little, like kids always do, to the radio, but michelle never managed where her voice would take her until she saw nip no one of her most famous music videos. ♪ oh, i wanna dance with somebody ♪

>> i remember the first time i turned on the television, and her video was there, and i was like, whoa. oh, my god, nippy is on tv. across the street. she's my neighbor. it was like a -- i was floored. >> but she always liked to sing. >> she liked to sing. >> but you hadn't heard her belt it out until you heard it on tv? >> i heard her sing, but like sing, i was like, wow, who knew that such a small person has such a powerful voice. >> how did her voice sound to her? >> her songs would make you want to get up and dance and at the same time bring tears to your eyes. >> another thing that impressed michelle and her aunt, tina johnson, was how whitney remembered her jersey roots. tina had her own beauty salon, and whitney often returned to get her hair done by tina herself. >> we talked a little, mainly about her family. >> she would come back to east orange. >> yes, absolutely. that's what touched me the most. she didn't forget where she came from. >> later, whitney houston's last in-depth interview.

and when we come back, exclusive video from a strange and troubling trip we took with the singer to the holy land. what was she searching for? ♪ ♪ [ male announced be shocked how much data you use in a month. e-mail, status updates finding your way uploading photos downloading an app an app, and another app. kilobytes, megabytes gigabytes... all stacking up until you reach your limit. and what happens if you go over? with sprint, you don't have to worry. only sprint offers truly unlimited data. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com. megapixels.mememe it's easy to use. it's got a huge viewfinder. takes video.

and right now you can have it for free. free? [ man announcing ] imagine if you could get the best for free. free. i'm just pulling your leg. why would we give our best stuff away for free? at h&r block, we're serious. we believe you deserve the best tax preparation available for free. so for a limited time, we'll prepare simple federal tax returns for free... at one of our 10,000 offices. call 1-800-hrblock. anncr: no matter who you are. no matter where you're from... every family... ... everywhere should have the financial security they need. not just the ones who can figure it out.

not just the most fortunate. everyone. metlife i can do this.

♪ sometimes you laugh, sometimes you cry ♪3 f1 >> whitney houston grew up singing gospel. she spent a lot of her childhood in church, so it wasn't surprising that as her life spiraled downward she turned to religion, making a grammage to the holy land, but the trip itself was full of surprises. we're airing it again tonight, because although it shows the singer at her most vulnerable, it also shows just how far she was willing to go to try to beat her demons. here's hoda kotb. >> by 2003, whitney houston's spectacular unraveling had become a tabloid staple. so in may of that year she packed up her troubles, her husband, her daughter and about 30 suitcases and went halfway around the world. "dateline" followed her journey

as she flew from the desert city of lights, las vegas, to the desert town of desmona in israel. >> we love you. we love you. >> we love you. >> we love you. >> is desmona a place that israelis go and visit? >> guy was the host of israel's local news show at the time and an eyewitness to whitney houston's visit. >> why was whitney houston going to this tiny desert town in the middle of nowhere? >> it's funny. we were asking the same thing. >> whitney, what's the reason for your visit? >> hello. >> what's the reason for your visit? >> her hosts were the african hebrew israelites, a group of african-americans who in the '60s left chicago, detroit and d.c. to follow this man, carter ben ami, a former bus driver from chicago. >> if i were to ask the people in this community about you, is he the messiah, they would say?

>> yes, because to them i am the messiah. >> the african hebrew israelite community in israel prided itself on clean healthy living, even reforming addicts by mixing spirituality with mandatory exercise and a strict vegetarian diet. >> six, seven, eight. >> so who is whitney here for religion or rehab? >> back up, back up. you can get your shot. just back up. >> whitney's hosts were extremely protective of their guest. this made it even more of a mystery. >> the god is going to bless you. >> yes, he is. >> with the help of god. >> with the help of god, that's me. >> how do you like the desert? >> i love it? >> really? >> love it, going to flourish, going to bloom very soon like a rose. that's right. >> their hosts took whitney and bob toe tour the desert by bus, heading to spiritual moments,

tense moments, strange moments, on the occasional mandatory stop along any scenic route. >> you got it? got the background? >> make sure you get the background. >> in a little town in the middle of the desert in israel, a family watched one of the world's most famous singers performing a concert in the backyard. >> i wanted to make myself and the community accessible to her husband and her family. >> the prince is the african hebrew israelites' liaison to the states and two years earlier he had approached the star. >> one of the things we decided to do is not let there be any more billy hole la days or john coltrane, these genius entertainers who have to go out because they are isolated, and the whole question of drug abuse comes up. >> can you, and this community, really rehabilitate somebody who has a drug problem?

>> i would like to respo to that in the affirmative, and in the absolute. >> the african israelites took whitney to be baptized in a river where tradition has it john baptized christ himself. >> a spiritually rooted person dipping in this historical body of water, it touches them to realize they are now standing in the water that jesus stood in. >> her african israelite host says she was so moved by the experience that she called her mom, gospel singer cissy houston. >> hallelujah. i want to call my momma. cissy, you ain't going to believe this. i'm in the jordan river. hallelujah. >> perhaps only whitney houston knew of her sojourn in the desert had brought her a spiritual rebirth. three months later, in august of 2003, whitney celebrated her

40th birthday, still one step removed from her best years, and as we now know eight years away from the abyss. >> when we come back, whitney houston's last in-depth interview.

♪ so i'm saving all my love for you ♪ >> just three months ago in november, whitney houston sat down with our nbc colleague sean robinson of "access hollywood" for what would turn out to be her last extended interview. at the time she was in detroit shooting a new movie. she looked and sounded great. no sign of the bad times or just how little time she had left. >> i always play the arenas when i came here. >> we met on the set of her first film in 15 years. it was a remake of the 1976 movie "sparkle." whitney herself seemed to sparkle, too, with enthusiasm for what she clearly saw as a labor of love. >> it was a film that i loved as a young girl. >> you used to watch it at the theater all the time, right? >> in my theater in east orange, new jersey. >> how many times have you seen it? >> countless, countless, a number of times.

we could fulfill our dreams. we could be glamourous. >> it was like our generation "dreamgirls," wouldn't you say? >> it was for us, yeah. >> in the movie which she executive produced whitney plays the mother of "american idol" winner jordin sparks. it hadn't originally been her role, and it's a little eerie now to hear her talk about the woman first cast for the part, the singer aliya who died a decade earlier in a plane crash at age 22. >> this is a movie. we brought it to her. she was so enthusiastic about it, and she wanted to do it so badly. >> wow. >> she was our sparkle. >> wow. >> unfortunately it just didn't go that way. >> right. >> i put it down. i didn't -- i said my sparkle has gone to a better place. >> wow. >> and we just left it alone. >> but then sony showed an interest and asked whitney herself to move in front of the camera, not as a starlet, but as

a mother, a role she embraced in real life. >> what convinced you to actually take this role? >> i have an 18-year-old doubter. >> yeah. >> when it was suggested that i play the mother. >> yeah. >> i felt it i felt the role. i felt the love. >> mm-hmm. >> a woman has for her children in the '60s, late '60s, trying to keep her family together, single mother. hi. i just felt that passion for it. >> yeah. >> you know, and when it was suggested that i play the mother, i said okay. i think i can do this. i've had a lot of practice. >> and my daughter is my greatest inspiration, my greatest, my greatest. she supports me. she loves me. she gives me good mommy hugs. >> one of the most famous people in the world, she admitted to being intimidated. >> and you're ready to die for me? >> when she got her first movie

role opposite kevin costner in 1992. >> i can remember doing "the bodyguard," i was petrified. i was working with kevin costner, the hottest star in hollywood. just won the academy for "dances with wolves." i was petrified. i put him off for two years, no no, no, no. i am a singer. this is what i do. >> right. >> this is not something really, you know, my ambition was not to be a movie star. i even told my agent i do not want to be a movie star, and she said you might not be able to help it, you know what i'm saying and things like that. i -- i just know that there is, you know, some sort of, you know, trepidation, you know what i'm saying? >> yeah. >> and there's some -- i'm nervous. >> now, after the triumphs and troubles of the last year she seemed hopeful and appreciative of her fans. your fan base is so huge, and they have been without throughout the years.

>> thank you. >> what -- >> yeah. >> i'm humbled. i'm truly humbled. i've got 30 years under my belt now. >> you do? >> yeah, yeah, 30 years this year. 30 years in the music industry, in the industry itself. i can just give my, you know, just influence as best i can, you know. there will be the ups, and there will be the downs, and there will be the all-arounds, you know what i'm saying? but, you know, your belief in your faith and your determination. >> you look absolutely amazing. >> thanks. >> and you feel that, too, don't you? >> i do. i'm older. i'm matured. >> but you still look good. >> thank you, but that doesn't mean -- that has nothing to do with me feeling i'm not old. i feel older. i'm matured. i'm maturated right now and looking forward to the years, good years. >> sony pictures has announced it will still release "sparkle"

in august. when we return, a look back at the gift that made whitney houston great, a triumphant legacy of a pop superstar. that was me trying to be discreet with my vial and syringe. me, drawing my insulin dose. and me the day i discovered novolog flexpen. flexpen is pre-filled with your mealtime insulin. dial the exact dose, inject by pushing a button. no vials, syringes or coolers to carry. flexpen is insulin delivery my way. novolog is a fast-acting insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults and children with diabetes. do not inject if you do not plan to eat within five to ten minutes after injection to avoid low blood sugar. tell your healthcare provider about all medicines you take and all of your medical conditions including if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. the most common side effect is low blood sugar. other possible side effects include reactions at the injection site. get medical help right away if you experience serious allergic reactions body rash, trouble with breathing fast heartbeat or sweating.

with flexpen, vial and syringe are in the past. ask your doctor about novolog flexpen, covered by 90% of insurance plans, including medicare. oh will you grab us some yoplait? sure. what flavor? mm, one of each. lemon burst, hm, cherry orchard, blackberry harvest... my daughter's grabbing some yoplait. pina colada, orange creme. i can't imagine where she is... strawberry cheesecake. [ grocery store pa ] clean up in aisle eight. found her! [ female announcer ] yoplait original. 25 flavors for you to love. it is so good. - oh, we miss you, honey. - i'll be home soon. until then, i have my wingman helping me out. tommy? - i helped dad pick it out. - it's beautiful. - behind every open heart is a story. tell yours with my open heart collection at kay jewelers, the number one jewelry store in america. there are millions of reasons to give one,

but the message is always the same: keep your heart open and love will always find its way in. - i love you. - i love you too. with a selec-terrain dial that adjusts the jeep grand cherokee's performance for specific weather and road conditions, even heavy snowstorms won't keep you from getting to work... our apologies.

♪ didn't we almost have it all ♪ >> whitney houston has left us a legacy of performances, music

videos and memories spanning nearly three decades. let's listen to her one more time giving everything she had as always struggling, reaching out, to make a connection. ♪ if i should stay i would only be in your way ♪ ♪ if tomorrow is judgment day and i'm standing on the front line ♪ ♪ and the lord asks me what i did with my life ♪ ♪ i will say i spent it with you ♪ ♪ your love is my love ♪ ♪ my love is your love ♪

♪ it would take an event to break us ♪ ♪ it's my love, and my love is your love ♪ ♪ it would take an eternity to break us ♪ ♪ so when one of us is gone ♪ ♪ and one of us is left alone to carry on ♪ ♪ and the remembering we'll have to do ♪ ♪ our memories alone can get us through ♪

♪ didn't we almost have it all ♪ >> more on whitney houston tomorrow morning on "today" on "nightly news" with brian williams, on cable on msnbc, and on the web at msnbc.com. and now our second hour of "dateline." captions paid for by nbc-universal television a jury found these two men guilty of murder. a judge sent them away for life but we proved they were innocent.

>> mr. lemus, your motion to vacate your convictions is granted. >> this prisoner heard about that case and asked us to investigate his case. >> i needed somebody to prove i didn't do this. >> yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. >> it was a murder in harlem. he had an alibi. >> my son was not where they say he was. >> police had witnesses. what they told detectives changed his life. >> they said show us the murderer, and they pointed their fingers at you. >> what those witnesses told us could change it again. >> i don't know if i really picked out the right person. >> one man's story. >> he is living everyone's worst nightmare. >> of conviction. it was one of the first murders of the year at a time when new york's homicide rate was plunging, but that wasn't why police were all over this case. this one was personal. the victim was a retired cop,

and it didn't take long for an arrest. the young man who was convicted of that murder has now spent almost half his life behind bars, yet many say he shouldn't have spent a single day. it's a story we've been working on for the past ten years. tonight, luke russert with a "dateline" hidden camera investigation. >> you know what i am? i'm buried alive. i'm dead to society. i don't exist in society. >> if you walk through any maximum security prison, you're likely to hear the same thing over and over again. i'm innocent. but every once in a while, you hear an inmate's story that makes you wonder. maybe this time it's true

>> i should not be here, because i didn't commit this crime. i wasn't at the scene of the crime or anything. >> meet new york state inmate number aa2303 jon-adrian velazquez, also known as j.j., convicted of killing a retired new york city police officer during a botched robbery in harlem, a conviction he's always claimed is unjust. >> an innocent man has done over 14 years incarcerated while another man who is a killer may be on a train with you when you go to work. >> "dateline" first heard from velazquez ten years ago when he began writing us letters telling us i don't belong here. >> i don't belong here, and my children should not be denied the presence of a loving and capable father. seeing my son struggling for attention is killing me softly. >> his letters made us curious to know more, and what began as a one-day prison visit by a "dateline" producer in 2002. >> how you doing, dan?

>> has turned into a ten-year odyssey in the search for the truth. >> yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. >> his story begins in january 1998. that's j.j. velazquez at 22 years old. >> great. >> when he was living with his longtime girlfriend vanessa sapero and their two young sons. what kind of guy is j.j.? >> lovable, friendly, family-oriented. >> vanessa says velazquez was studying to be a computer programmer and was taking a short break from school to help with their newborn. that's when the call came that changed everything. >> it was a saturday morning, and i received a phone call that the police were looking for me, you know, and that came to me as a shock, but what came to me is even more of a shock is the tact that they said i was a suspect for shooting a police officer. >> and why was that so shocking to you? >> because i never shot anybody in my life. i mean, shooting a police officer?

my father was a cop. >> his father jon-adrian sr. was a police officer for amtrak and had recently passed away. the death of your father had a tremendous affect on you? >> absolutely. he was more than my father. he was my best friend. >> he went to catholic school. he was very socioable. >> velazquez's mother maria, a union labor organizer, says her son was a typical all-american boy. >> he had a lot of friends. i used to feel like a taxi driver, driving them to the movies, taking them bowling, doing all kinds of things. >> only child? >> my only child, yes. >> maria says she was stunned when she heard that her son was wanted for killing a retired cop. >> i called my son, and i said what's going on? he didn't know what was going on. >> velazquez says he had nothing to fear, so he turned himself in and agreed to appear in a lineup, but it was at that lineup that eyewitnesses

identified him as the shooter, and jon-adrian velazquez was charged with first-degree murder. you say you had nothing to do with the crime. you were nowhere close to the scene. why is it that you were picked out? >> that's probably the best question in the world because i don't know the answer. >> regardless, in october 1999, velazquez was convicted of murder and sent to prison. he says his situation has left him angry, bitter and determined to prove his innocence. >> actions speak louder than words, and what i would say to anybody who doesn't believe me right now is go out there and prove that i did it. >> so with no idea what we'd find, we agreed to take him up on this challenge, and for years we've been gathering the long-forgotten files, thousands of pages that make up his case. from the beginning velazquez knew we weren't making any promises. >> you're not lying to us in any way, right?

>> not at all. >> we're going to go back through this, pore over this stuff. there's no lies in there that there blow up in. we had to go back to the beginning. we relived the trial and tracked down long forgotten witnesses all to see if jon-adrian velazquez is an innocent man locked up for a crime he didn't commit. >> what really happened the day of the crime? >> all hell breaks loose. >> he takes out the gun. >> i heard all these shots, boom, boom, boom. >> when "conviction" continues. plenda® essentials™ no calorie sweeteners. this bowl of strawberrieth vitamin c. and now, b vitamins to boot. coffee doesn't have fiber. unless you want it to. splenda® essentials™ are the first and only line of sweeteners with a small boost of fiber, or antioxidants, or b vitamins in every packet. mmm. same great taste with an added "way

to go, me" feeling. splenda® essentials™. get more out of what you put in. [ male announcer ] new vicks nature fusion cold & flu syrup. flavored with real honey. powerful cold medicine that leaves out artificial flavors and dyes and instead uses something more natural, honey. new nature fusion cold & flu from vicks. hey you. so you think chocolate's gonna make up for everything, huh? oh, actually it's hot chocolate... with caramel. caramel, huh? [ male announcer ] nothing says "i really love you" like rich chocolate, mixed with decadent caramel. new caramel hot chocolate from mccafé. available for a limited time only. ok. happy belated anniversary baby! it was my birthday. [ male announcer ] the simple joy of the sweetest thing. i'm just playing. [ male

announcer ] for another sweet move try caramel mocha. ♪ ♪ so, this is delicious okay... is this where we're at now we just eat whatever tastes good? like these sweet honey clusters... actually there's a half a day's worth of fiber in every ... why stop at cereal? bring on the pork chops and the hot fudge. fantastic. are you done sweetie? yea [ male announcer ] fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. hey, i love your cereal there-- it's got that sweet honey taste. but no way it's 80 calories, right? no way. lady, i just drive the truck. right, there's no way right, right? have a nice day. [ male announcer ] 80 delicious calories. fiber one.

jon-adrian velazquez is 3 f1 could go doing hard time at sing sing. he's convicted of killing a retired new york city police officer. >> to this day it's still a mystery why out of millions of people i was the one chosen. if i knew the answer, i'd be a step closer to society right now. >> to find out, we went back to the day of the crime. >> it was a tuesday, january 27th in 1998. >> attorneys bob gottlieb and celia gordon have represented velazquez for the past two years. >> there was a number spot, an illegal gambling joint in harlem owned by a retired police officer by the name of albert

ward. >> and there were plenty of people inside. >> the people we're talking about were all drug dealers, drug users. >> peel like lorenzo woodford. >> i started using drugs when i was about 10, something like that. >> woodford came to the numbers spot that day about noon to buy heroin. with two minutes later two men barged in. it was a robbery. >> i heard somebody said give it up [ bleep ], and had this in my face. oh, man. >> one man had a gun and another had duct tape and began tying people up. >> all hell breaks loose. al ward takes out a gun, the retired police officer. >> there was a struggle and then gunfire. >> i heard a shot, boom, boom, boom. >> 59-year-old albert ward was killed, shot once in the head. >> immediately upon albert ward dropping to the floor, the two individuals take off. >> the robbers weren't the only ones who fled. >> before i got a chance to even think anything, i jumped up and ran. >> lorenzo woodford and yore

eyewitness, woodford's heroin dealer took off. that drug dealer, a man named agustus brown, would turn out to be critical to the case. in the meantime, a retired cop was down. the nypd responded swiftly and with force. >> there's captains. there's lieutenants. there's an enormous police presence. >> the eyewitnesses, the ones who didn't run, gave detectives similar descriptions of the shooter and his accomplice. >> the gunman was a light-skinned male black with braids, and the other individual was a dark-skinned male black. >> at the precinct, eyewitnesses were shown books with hundreds of mug shots, none recognized the shooter, but one eyewitness did pick out a photo of the dark-skinned male, the killer's accomplice. >> the dark-skinned black male was identified as derry daniels who had a long criminal history. >> derry daniels was picked up, placed in a lineup, and after being identified by three eyewitnesses he was charged with murder.

next, police focused on finding his accomplice. >> the police artist sketch eds a drawing of what the gunman purportedly looked like. >> this sketch was plastered all over harlem, a place where the streets talk and the cops were listening. tips came in from all directions, but one name kept coming up over and over again. mustafa. >> they find out from three separate sources that a guy by the name of mustafa may have been the gunman. >> and those tipsters said mustafa fit the exact description of that sketch. >> he's a light-skeined male back, he's got braids. there's a police memo that is written where it specifically states primary target mustafa. >> while detectives search for mustafa, they were also looking for the two eyewitnesses who fled from the club. heroin addict lorenzo woodford and drug dealer agustus brown.

they found woodford first. he told detectives the shooter was a black man with corn rows, and then woodford led detectives to agustus brown. >> agustus brown is selling heroin on the street, and they bring him to the police precinct. they then take him to where they have photographs on a computer. he looked at hundreds of photographs. >> after more than eight hours, brown picked out a photo, but it wasn't a man who fit the description given by eyewitnesses. >> he picks out the photograph of jon-adrian velazquez and said that's -- that's the man or that's your guy. >> and that's when the search for mustafa ended, but for jon-adrian velazquez, it was only the beginning. >> once agustus brown picks out jon-adrian velazquez, there is no need to look for mustafa. >> why were you in the photo that agustus brown selected? >> i've done some things that i regret, not proud of no more. i realize that had they were wrong.

>> months earlier velazquez had been arrested for drug possession, and while he was never convicted that have or any other crime, police still had his mug shot in their files. remember, when velazquez heard he was wanted he turned himself in and volunteered to appear in a lineup, even though he said his attorney was against it >> i said, well, whose choice is it? i'm willing to volunteer. i have nothing to hide. >> you're pretty confident. >> i had every right to be confident. >> he didn't run. he didn't flee. he didn't go and try to hop a plane. >> it was velazquez's mother maria who dropped her son off at the precinct. the last time she saw him as a free man. >> i drove to the corner, and i -- i can't forget how i felt. >> i let out this scream. it was such a -- a loud scream.

>> inside the precinct, three eyewitnesses from the numbers spot identified velazquez, and he was charged with furtherer. >> what's going through your mind? >> i wouldn't be able to tell you what was going through my mind. all i know is i'm stuck in a cage, laying on a cold slab. >> soon, derry daniels, his alleged accomplice, would plead guilty to robbery in return for a ten-year sentence, but velazquez claimed he did not know derry daniels, that he was innocent and told his lawyers no deals. >> i don't want to hear anything about a plea bargain. we're going all the way. there's no way i'm going to concede to any of this. >> velazquez would be held at new york's infamous ryker's island jail for a year before a jury would hear his story. >> i was feeling confident, feeling confident, that you know, the truth will set me free. >> coming up, a showdown in court. a prosecutor versus a mom. >> when the d.a. said that i'm

just a mother who would do anything to save my son, that felt like a rock that hit my chest and blew the wind out of me because i told the truth. >> when "dateline" continues. ce the early 50s. my dad and grandfather spent their whole careers here. [ charlie ] we're the heartbeas place, the people on the line. we take pride in what we do. when that refrigerator ships out the door it's us that work out here. [ michael ] we're on the forefront of revitalizing manufacturing. we're proving that it can be done here and it can be done well. [ ilona ] i come to ge after the plant i was working at closed after 33 years. ge's giving me the chance to start back over. [ cindy ] there's construction workers everywhere. so what does that mean? it means work. it means work for more people. [ brian ] there's a bright future here, and there's a chance to get on the ground floor of something big, something that will bring us back. not only this company, but this country. ♪ ♪

lisa's new normal hi jamie. here's my activia video. love this stuff. i'm starting to feel a change no longer feeling slow. i can't believe i thought irregularity was my normal. now i don't miss a beat. activia helps with occasional irregularity, when eaten 3 times a day. i knew lisa would love her new normal. ♪ activia ♪ love your new normal and discover the deliciously fruity taste and silky smooth texture of new activia harvest picks. [ male announcer ] where exactly is your road to happiness? ♪ ♪ on a beach? on a mountain? or wherever you happen to be... the first step on that road may well be... a bowl of soup. delicious campbell's soups fill you with vegetable nutrition

farm-grown ingredients energy and can help you keep a healthy weight. putting you on the road to happiness. bon voyage. campbell's -- it's amazing what soup can do. i'd race down that hill without a helmet. i took some steep risks in my teens. i'd never ride without one now. and since my doctor prescribed lipitor i won't go without it for my high cholesterol. why kid myself? diet and exercise weren't lowering my cholesterol enough. now i'm eating healthier, exercising more, taking lipitor. numbers don't lie. my cholesterol has stayed down. and here's another number you might be interested in. lipitor may be available for as little as $4 a month with the lipitor co-pay card. terms and conditions apply. visit lipitor.com for details. [ female announcer ] lipitor is not for everyone including people with liver problems and women who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. you need simple blood tests to check for liver problems. tell your doctor if you are taking other medications or if you have any muscle pain or weakness. this may be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. [ man ] still love that wind in my

face! talk to your doctor. if lipitor has been working for you, stay with it. don't wait. lipitor may be available for as little as $4 a month. get your lipitor co-pay card today at lipitor.com.

>> in october 1999 the people of new york versus jon-adrian velazquez was called to order. has there ever been any physical evidence to link you to this crime? >> none whatsoever. >> there is no dna, no fingerprints, no blood, no weapon introduced at trial. the district attorney's case was based solely on eyewitness testimony. who is the first main eyewitness that they called to implicate you? >> i believe it was agustus brown. >> agustus brown, that drug dealer who first linked velazquez to the crime by picking him out from hundreds of mug shots. >> he is the reason why we're here right now. he is the reason why i am in jail. >> brown testified there is no doubt velazquez was the shooter that he'd seen him on the streets sometime before the crime. after brown, three more witnesses testified that velazquez was the killer. heroin addict lorenzo woodford

and two other men who were there that day, brothers robert and philip jones. people walked into that courtroom, and they said show us the murderer, and they pointed their fingers at you. >> it felt like a slap in the face, a stab in the gut. >> but when one of the prosecution witnesses testified an 88-year-old woman named dorothy canady, something very unusual happen. bob gottlieb and celia gordon are velazquez's current lawyers. >> dorothy testified before the jury that she looked directly into the eyes of the gunman and that she would never forget his face, and she's asked while she's on the stand do you see the person who shot and killed albert ward in the courtroom, and she says yes. >> and you know what happens? you know who she points out, juror number six. the jury is there laughing, but this ain't a joke. this is my life on the line. >> it was funny in a sense. >> 14 years later we found juror number six. his name is ramon aviles.

>> i saw the other jurors looking at me, and when i realized, whoa, did she just pick me out? >> the defense then presented its case beginning by pointing out that velazquez did not match the original description of the shooter. >> we have every eyewitness saying the persons involved were male blacksk lo and behold when they have the lineup, you have jon-adrian velazquez who is hispanic. >> did you ever have dread locks? >> absolutely not. >> how long was your hair back then? >> shorter than yours. >> the defense introduced this photo showing velazquez with short hair just one month before the crime, and the defense made another argument, velazquez had an alibi. >> the minute that they spoke about that day, january 27th, itistic out like a sore thumb. that was the day before my father's birthday. >> his father had passed away six month earlier. >> if you can see on the tombstone, it's january 28th is his birthday.

>> so this would be the first time that my father's birthday would come around, and we wouldn't spend it with him. >> and that's why velazquez, who testified in his own defense, says he remembers being on the phone with his mother that day. >> that was the day when i spoke about going to the cemetery to see my father's grave. >> this phone bill shows a 74-minute phone call from maria's home to her son's apartment in the bronx, exactly when the crime was unfolding in harlem. >> if jon-adrian was on the phone with his mother, there is no way that jon-adrian could have been at the numbers spot in harlem shooting and killing albert ward. >> velazquez's mother maria took the stand, testifying she remembered that phone call. >> my son was not where they say he was.áq a al estrado y he was on the phone with me. >> next to testify was velazquez's girlfriend vanessa. >> i know where he was at. he was on the phone. >> vanessa remembers going out to buy milk for their newborn that morning. >> i came back from the store, i

walked in, and he was on the phone. >> so you physically saw him holding the phone? >> yes. >> but in his closing statement the prosecutor argued they were all lying and that it was actually vanessa who was on the phone with maria. >> did you ever get on the phone with his mom that day? >> no. >> when the d.a. said that i'm just a mother who would do anything to save my son, that felt like a rock that hit my chest and blew the wind out of me because i told the truth. i told the truth. >> the jury was sequestered for three days. >> three days? obviously they were doubting something. what takes so long? >> we were all tired and frustrated. we were also, i mean, it was heated. >> juror number six, ramon

aviles centered on the girlfriend's testimony. >> it seemed like she was planned, scripted actually. that's the perfect word. >> he says the jury wrote her off as a girlfriend trying to cover for her boyfriend. >> every time sheújx)r'g it seemed further from the truth and she was covering a lie with another lie. >> within the next three days the deliberations became stressful and intense. >> you can see the toll it was taking on especially some of the older jurors. people talking about they need to get back into their life. can you see that it was getting to them. wow, we're going to get sequestered one more night. >> the verdict comes back. what are you feeling right then? >> the first verdict was not guilty. >> of first-degree murder? >> and i felt great, and i knew i was walking out. >> but in the end the jury believed the eyewitnesses who were at the numbers parlor. slez velazquez was found guilty of

second-degree murder. >> and then i remember a sharp pain, a real sharp pain in my heart because i found out that i may never see the streets again. >> this whole thing has been a very painful experience for me, very painful. >> i heard my mother, i heard her scream. i don't think i looked back. i don't think i had the heart to look back in my family's eyes. >> my son is not a murderer. he is not. >> velazquez's sentence, 25 years to life, and soon the life he knew on the outside, the things that made up his world, faded away. >> hi, christmas tree. i love you. >> vanessa, the mother of his two sons, moved on to a new relationship a few years after velazquez went to prison. >> so you've separated yourself. >> separated completely. hi to let him know it was too much as a single mother with two

young kids to do this. >> i understood where she was coming from. when i got arrested, i was 22 years old. how can i expect a woman that wasn't even 25 years old to wait for me to come home 25 years? was that realistic? >> years passed. two appeals were filed. both were denied. he was now on his own. >> i had to create my own future. i needed to learn the language that they used to destroy my life. >> so you go and study the law. >> so i go and i study the law. >> from behind bars velazquez went to work trying to prove his innocence, and that's when he started writing us those emotional letters. >> that is all that i want, the truth. >> when we come back, a witness recants. >> that's all true? >> yes. >> and new questions about the

real identity of the shooter. >> was there any evidence that they knew each other, that they ever hung out on the corner together? there's nothing. >> zero. >> when "conviction" continues. you're late again. . always late.hoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. nine o'clock. nine o'clock. nine shh! don't stare. you're just -- i'm not. took a quick look. you're ogling her. watch me. ♪ ♪ hey! look who's early for once. look what the cat dragged in. you can't stare at her dressed like that. come on. shape up a little. oh, don't bother me. ♪ ♪ whoa. look at you. [ chuckles ] something landed on your head. you are a laugh riot aren't you? she's here again. she must have a reason. it's a bad idea to get a toupee from mail order. it cost a lot of money. excuse me. it's so crowded here. would you mind terribly if i sat down? [ woman ] oh, no. go right ahead. glad to meet you. doesn't even know her. ♪ ♪ she must like beards. you should've put that thing on your chin instead

of your head. [ male announcer ] the simple joy of mcdonald's. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ uhh! [ alyson ] just keep walking... ♪ ♪ oh come on! ♪ ♪ ugh, again! [ sniffs ] that's what i'm talkin' about. [ female announcer ] new head & shoulders green apple with an enticing scent. works on the scalp for up to 100% flake-free hair that's irresistibly fragrant. [ both laugh ] [ female announcer ] new head & shoulders green apple. [ male announcer ] new 5 rpm gum. choose your energy. ♪ ♪ an energizing fruit or relaxing mint flavor. new 5 rpm gum.

stimulate your senses. people really love snapshot from progressive, but don't just listen to me. listen to these happy progressive customers. i plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance. i was worried it would be hard to install. but it's really easy. the better i drive the more i save. i wish our company had something this cool. yeah. you're not... filming this, are you? aw! camera shy. snapshot from progressive. plug into the savings you deserve with snapshot from progressive. man: delivering a 200-pound ice sculpture means i don't have any margin for error. one wrong turn and i could end up unloading a puddle of water. female voice: turn right ahead. so i make sure i have the right guidance to get me exactly where i need to be. it's the same with taxes. turbotax has a unique gps feature that guides me step by step, so i know it's done right. they even offer representation in case of an audit, and calculations are guaranteed accurate, which helps me reach my maximum refund, guaranteed.

man #2: try turbotax online now. you don't pay unless you're satisfied. his trial was over. >> justice is hard to earn once you have been convicted in this country.

>> time was passing, and j.j. velazquez's chances of getting a second look were dimming. >> i needed to be heard. i needed somebody to look into this. i needed somebody to prove what i've been trying to prove all along. i didn't do this. >> from inside prison walls he had heard about another "dateline" investigation involving two other lifers who were later vindicated after our broadcast. >> mr. lemus, your motion to vacate your convictions is granted. >> and that's when he began sending us those letters. since then we've gathered all we could on his case, thousands of documents, police reports, trial transcripts, court filings, piecing the story together for ourselves. it all comes down to those four eyewitnesses who identify velazquez at trial, drum dealer agustus brown, brothers philip

and robert jones, and heroin addict lorenzo woodford. with hidden cameras rolling, we found woodford in hartford, connecticut. he was one of those witnesses who fled right after the shooting. >> i went to another friend of mine's house. i stayed there. i was just so scared. >> police did not locate woodford until five days later when he was brought in to view a lineup. at that lineup he did not identify velazquez. in fact, police reports quote woodford as not positive about anyone, and there was more. woodford also admitted he was high on heroin during the crime. >> i've been going to jail all my life. >> but then it all changed. at trial woodford testified he was sure velazquez was the gunman. today woodford says he sticks to what he said in court. >> was the kid that i said did it, that's who did it. >> but he seemed surprised his testimony was all that important. >> i didn't turn him in. somebody else turned him in, all right? they had to have some kind of evidence. they didn't just take my word for it.

>> in fact, detectives did not take his word for it. there were several other eyewitnesses. >> we have investigators looking too it. >> velazquez's new lawyers, celia gordon and bob gottlieb have been conducting their own investigation into the case. >> our investigator located philip jones and spoke with philip jones. >> eyewitness philip jones gave the lawyers a swan affidavit where he recanted all of his testimony, raising serious doubts about who actually committed the murder. >> you know philip jones? >> we wanted to confirm jones' story for ourselves, so we went looking for him. >> i'm looking for philip jones. >> no. >> philip jones? >> no. >> what's up? >> eventually we found him outside his home in queens, new york. >> show me this. he asked us to come inside where we read his affidavit back to him. >> on 2/2/98 i viewed a lineup in which i picked out an individual as being the shooter. >> in the affidavit jones said police pressured him to make an identification.

>> i told police this was the guy and i was sure this was not the truth. i felt pressure because police were threatening to arrest me and my brother robert. >> by the time the trial started jones was in jail convibtd on drug charges, but the d.a.'s office promised it would send a letter to the parole board saying he cooperated as a witness. today philip jones says he always knew velazquez was the wrong man. >> when i saw the guy in court, i knew i picked out the wrong guy and the guy on trial hi never seen before. >> there you go. there you go. >> so that's all true? >> that's all true. >> according to velazquez's lawyers philip's brother robert, another eyewitness, told them he also has doubts that slaz kweds was was the shooter. >> he's a witness to the crime and now there's even more reason to doubt their client's guilt, because they said there's no proof that velazquez even knew the man he's accused of committing the crime with. >> was there any evidence before

that day that they hung out each other, knew each other? >> nothing, zero. >> but in the plea deal he says he was the accomplice but velazquez says he was lying. >> did you know derry daniels? >> no, absolutely not. >> you never met him before? >> no. >> he served his ten years in prison and today he's a free man. a producer caught up with him in newark, new jersey. he tried to show him a photo of velazquez. he would not look at it and said he did not want to talk about the case. that left one critical eyewitness we needed to find, the first person who bring j.j. velazquez into the case, drug dealer agustus brown. >> everything changes with agustus brown. >> coming up, 14 years ago what this man told police changed his life. what he told us could change it again. >> somebody is doing life

because i said it was them and it possibly might not have been him. >> when "dateline" conditions. [ auctioneer calling ] sixty fiv [ callint. in. ue. s. go lower, fifty five! [ calling ] can you go lower? fifty five. fifty five. now i'm gonna go forty five. forty five. got forty five, right there, thank you sir, forty five. now we're going to go thirty five! [ calling ] how about it, ma'm, thirty five! i got thirty five. [ calling ] now i'm going to bid twenty! now i'm going to bid twenty! got twenty. yes, twenty! [ calling ] sold! twenty dollars. my contacts are so annoying. i can't wait to take 'em out. [ male announcer ] know the feeling? try acuvue® oasys® brand contact lenses with hydraclear® plus for exceptional comfort. it feels like it disappeared on my eye! [ male announcer ] discover why it's the brand eye doctors trust most for comfort. acuvue® oasys® brand.

[ male announcer ] this is the reinvented police officer. he's also a masseuse. ♪ ♪ these are reinvented curtains. they are made of pizza. the reinvented dmv. it's a little nicer. next! [ male announcer ] and this is the reinvented camry. with available streaming music, a newly refined interior and class leading mpg. from toyota.

jon-adrian velazquez was lived in a cramped x 9 prison cell for most of his life. >> you can touch both sides of the wall. >> over the years he's learned how to survive in prison. >> most people sleep with their head to the back because it's dangerous to keep your head there not knowing who can come

by and do something to you. >> my kids. the main question they ask, when you coming home, dad? and daddy tells them i don't know. >> he's only gotten to know his sons in their short time together in the prison's visiting room. >> my sons know that i love them. my sons know that i'm innocent. >> for years the weekend ritual for j.j. jr. and jakecob has been the same, going to the prison with grandma. >> this is the jail that my dad is in. >> jacob only knows his dad because i've taken him to visit his dad. he was a baby. i would put him in his arms so he would know his father, and his father would know him. >> but as his solder son became a teenager, he'd sometimes go months without visiting his father. >> i love my father. i do want to see my father. i have nothing against him, not at all.

it's just jail and stuff like that. >> how does it make you feel not being able to be there for him? >> i've been dehumanized. i never took my children to a ball game. i wasn't there at my children's graduation graduation. when my children needed to ask a question that they felt a woman couldn't answer, i wasn't there to answer it. how do i feel? i feel like less of a man. >> velazquez and his lawyers know the only chance they have to free him is to successfully challenge the credibility of the only evidence that exists, the eyewitnesses. so far, one is sticking to his story. this eyewitness has recanted, and a third eyewitness told the lawyers he was never certain that velazquez was the shooter, but there's still that key

eyewitness, the one who first linked velazquez to the crime, drug dealer agustus brown. did you ever know agustus brown? >> no, i didn't. >> you had no relationship with him prior? >> absolutely not. >> velazquez's lawyer says finding out why brown picked him out in the first place may be the only way to know if velazquez got justice. >> agustus brown, the 20-year-old heroin dealer, is this case. >> we're on our way to elmyra prison right now to go see agustus brown. >> we found agustus brown in state prison where he was serving time for forgery. we were led into a conference room and turned on our hidden camera. >> thanks for meeting with us, appreciate it. he told us about the day of the crime, how he met lorenzo woodford at the club. brown says he fled right after the shooting, but two mornings later detectives tracked him down. >> they snatched me up off the

streets earlier. >> he said he was in the precinct all day, that police sat him in front of a computer screen and instructed him to look at hundreds of mug shots. a police report backs that up. it says brown was shown a total of 230 pages, eight photos per page. that's more than 1,800 photographs. finally he says he spotted someone. you just picked out the one that you recognized. >> that i thought that might be him. >> but it turns out there's more to what happened in the precinct that day. he told us that detectives were pointing the finger at him as a suspect. >> they threatened to charge me with conspiracy. >> so the police were going to say you were part of this robbery? >> yes. >> saying that -- that i set this up for them to come in and rob them. >> right. which you didn't do? >> no. >> and they had that on my record, a young black man, i ain't got no job, not in school, no nothing. >> right. >> so that's what came about me pointing the finger at somebody.

>> if that's true velazquez's lawyer says his testimony cannot be believed. >> i don't care who is watching tonight. put yourself in that position. the police start pointing a threatening, accusing finger at you where suddenly you're worried you're going to be thrown in jail. >> so this 20-year-old is sitting by himself for hours in a police precinct thinking i better name someone or i am not going home tonight. >> he had reason to sweat. when police pulled brown in for questioning, they found ten bags of heroin hidden in his underwear. after he picked velazquez, brown says he was allowed to leave with the drugs. why didn't they charge you with that? >> i don't know why they didn't charge me. they had the -- the dope and everything. >> we asked the new york city police department to speak with us about brown's story and the velazquez case. they declined to comment. bottom line, augustus brown says he was never certain that jon-adrian velazquez was the shooter

>> you think the guy that's behind bars is the guy who did it? >> now, that's something i've been struggling with, like i don't know if i really picked out the right person. i don't know if it was him or not. somebody doing life because i said it was him and possibly could not have been. >> there it is. the most important eyewitness was now telling us it was possible he picked the wrong man. you think about this like when you go to bed at night? >> yeah. it always crosses my mind. >> after an admission like brown's, not to mention the statements of those other recanted witnesses, lawyers gottlieb and gordon say you can only come to one conclusion. >> he is as innocent of albert ward's murder as i am. >> he's innocent. >> i'm certain. >> they are about to take this investigation to the manhattan district attorney but some legal heavyweights in new york say this case is no slam dunk. >> once the defendant is convicted, it is an uphill battle, and the odds are against you.

>> coming up, j.j. doesn't just want the d.a. to believe him. there's someone else who may matter even more. >> i'm almost there, j. i'm almost there. people believe in me, and you need to believe in me, too. >> and coming up friday on "dateline," "mystery at moon palace." it was love at first sight. >> the latest on a sensational case of a power couple's romantic trip turned tragedy. he was a one-time producer of "survivor." she his glamorous wife who disappeared from this luxury resort among the palm trees and pools, a hunt for clues. >> security could tell something wasn't right. >> what really happened to this glamorous wife and mom? >> i'm not going to rest until justice is made.

what do you get when you combine the home depot with this weekend? the cure for cabin fever. because with... get-it-done savings on everything we need... ...we can turn this weekend into a fresh floor... ...or an updated bathroom... ...or a brand new look. so let's hit those orange aisles - and make today the day - we make a big difference - no matter how big our budget. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get more project for your money - like this valencia vanity, now just 199 bucks. [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] for a better-looking tomorrow. vicks nyquil cold & flu. the nighttime sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching fever, best sleep you ever got with a cold...medicine.

♪ ♪ sweet nutty crunchy nut. [ sighs ] i can't wait till morning. wait! it's morning in china! ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] it's sweet, it's nutty... it's absolutely delicious. kellogg's crunchy nut. it's morning somewhere. copd makes it hard to breathe, so i wasn't playing much of a role in my own life but with advair, i'm breathing better so now i can take the lead on a science adventure. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition

or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing take the lead. ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com.

>> he's living everyone's worst nightmare. >> lawyers celia gordon and bob gottlieb now say the witnesses who have changed their stories is proof that jon-adrian velazquez is an innocent man. >> everything about this case screams innocence, everything. >> and they say it underscores an even larger point, the proven unreliability of eyewitness testimony in general. >> since 1998 when this happened, there have been a legion of scientific studies that say that eyewitness

identification is the major cause of wrongful convictions. >> but it may be too little too late. >> this is an extremely difficult fight for any convicted defendant to undertake. >> steve coshean former federal prosecutor. >> once somebody goes to trial, 12 jurors say guilty, once you're in that place, it is extremely difficult to overturn a conviction. >> years ago cohen was also a defense attorney and helped in the exoneration of those two other men "dateline" profiled several years back. >> when you look at the totality of the evidence here, there's no question this is a thin case. that doesn't make it easier. in an odd way that makes it harder, and it makes it harder because without something very new, what you're really doing is attacking the same evidence that the jury based its conviction on.

>> and cohen says anything new velazquez's lawyers have might not be enough. >> i don't want to suggest the recantations are nothing, but they are not down. a they are not somebody who you now believe was the actual shooter. you don't have that here. >> the last two years j.j. has lived in sing sing's honor block, and he's been going to school at the prison. >> you want to see what the teacher graded me on? >> yeah, let me see it. >> see what the topic was? >> my incarceration's impact on my family. >> right. >> his youngest son jacob has never known his father as a free man. his oldest, j.j. jr., was 3 when his dad was sent away. today he's 17. because of his age, prison rules prohibited j.j. jr. from visiting with his father by himself. >> he's never had an individual time where it was just father and son. he doesn't know what that is.

i don't know what that is. >> but now that he's older father and son will finally have a visit alone for the first time. >> i really want to know how my incarceration has affected him, you know, what effect has that had to grow up without a father? >> what's up, kid? >> what up? >> love you. >> love you, too. >> definitely growing, man. glad to see you here today. my life has affected you. i know that what's happened to you is a product of what happened to me, and you have a right to be angry about it. >> i didn't always get what i was supposed to have when i was a child. >> you had a rough upbringing, man.

you spent five days a week during your childhood going to school, and on the sixth day you spent in the penitentiary with your father. >> i never hated you. i just hated coming to see you. >> i'm proud of who you are, and i love who you are. there's nothing you can do to change that. >> their visit lasted more than four hours. i'm almost there, j. i'm almost there. people believe in me, and you need to believe in me, too. >> if they are ever to meet outside prison walls. >> there you go, folks. >> it may be up to his next visitors visitors. >> nice to see you. >> his lawyers have come to sing sing with the 80-page brief they will be present together d.a. >> what we're asking the district attorney to do is investigate all of these leads. here it is on a silver platter. >> the witnesses have recanted their identifications and changed their trial testimony so at's the hook. that's the new information. we'll see.

>> all right. >> it's going to take time. >> all i know is time. that's all i know. i appreciate everything that you're doing, and i know there's a possibility i might spend the rest of my life in prison. this is the best i've ever had. i've never had a second chance, you know. this is it. thank you. thank you. >> in october 2011 velazquez's lawyers delivered their brief to the manhattan district attorney's office asking him to reinvestigate the case. >> we have no reason to believe that the d.a. is going to do anything else other than conduct an objective, thorough, independent investigation. >> we continue as an office -- >> in 2010 cyrus vance jr., the newly elected manhattan d.a., formed a team called the conviction integrity unit. its mission is to investigate claims of wrongful conviction, and while the manhattan's d.a.'s office declined to discuss details of the case, they told

us they are reviewing it. recently velasquez's story has begun to hit the press, and it's attracted hollywood actor and activist martin sheen. >> how you doing? >> jon-adrian velazquez. >> a pleasure to meet you. >> in december the actor went to the prison to meet velazquez. >> your statement at your sentencing, that there was a miscarriage of justice and that you trusted the system and you trusted your own innocence, you trusted god that you would be exonerated. >> right, i still do. >> yes, of course. that's why we're here. >> and then there's juror ramon aviles. he says he's always had his doubts about the verdict. >> what did i do? do i do something wrong here? i think i did something wrong. >> he told us he began to question his decision the moment the verdict was announced. >> once it was announced, i looked at the mother, and then i looked away. in other words, i didn't know where to put my face. i guess that's what i had to live with from that time on.

>> steve cohen says that admission by a juror will not necessarily help velazquez. >> he's already been convicted. 12 people said guilty, and now to come in and say i want you to look at it again. i want all of that work to be washed away because there's a grave injustice here, the system doesn't really work that way. >> in the meantime, one of the original defense lawyers on the case, norman reimer, has written the manhattan district attorney. he says he believes there's a substantial probability that velazquez was wrongly convicted. but for now all jon-adrian velazquez and his family can do is wait. >> in god we trust, because men make mistakes. i trust in god. >> do you have hope? >> i have too much hope.

i know he's coming home. >> when you walk out in that prison yard, you have one of the most beautiful views of the hudson river that anyone could ever see. what's that like? >> sweet torture. i see freedom before my eyes. it seems tangible, but it's not. i watch it at night with the bright lights. i watch it in the day. i see the ferry riding by. i see the sail boats sailing by. that's freedom. it's right there. it's sweet torture, that's what it is. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline" sunday. we'll see you again for "dateline" friday at 10:00, 9:00 central. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, good night.