away from you. just imagine having more time for you, for your family, and having complete control of your financial destiny. that's the gift that i want to give to you. >> i'm so excited. i left my job a few months ago, so i've been pursuing this full-time, and it's awesome. and this event couldn't have come at a more perfect time. >> folks, it's scary right now. less than 5% of people who reach age 65 have enough money to retire on or are financially secure. and this is according to the u.s. census bureau. so, if you've ever worried about money, or you're not where you want to be financially right now, then you have to make a change. you have to step outside of your comfort zone, learn something new that can help you get to your financial goals and help you live a life you've always dreamed of. the reality is, if you keep doing what you're doing right now, you're gonna have another

year. if you want a different year, a better year, more time for your family, more time for yourself, just a better life overall, then you need a specific plan and system to get you there. that's why you have to pick up the phone. make your guaranteed reservation for this educational event and attend so you can better understand this opportunity. put the power in your hands and start taking control of your own life financially. >> if you really want to have a game changer and do something different and you want to have a financial freedom in your life and be able to provide for your family and for yourself and do things differently than what you've been able to do before, take this vehicle and ride it all the way. >> at the event, we will also teach you the second way i flip properties. and that's by fixing the property up and then selling it,

for example, this is one of the 31 properties i'm working on right now. here are the profits i made in two months alone just on properties i've rehabbed. [ cash register dings ] [ cash register dings ] [ cash register dings ] just imagine how doing just one deal like this would impact your entire life. i love this aspect of real estate because you can make even bigger profits, while, at the same time, you're improving neighborhoods. however, it's not as easy as it looks on tv. that's why you have to learn how to do it the right way. you see, a lot people who end up fixing up properties without a system -- they end up spending way too much time working on the houses themselves. at the event, we teach you our hands-off system for rehabbing properties and how to get these properties fixed up without you ever having to pick up a single paintbrush. >> as soon as i found out about this opportunity, i immediately called my dad,

this was gonna be our way out. i'd been looking for a way to retire him, 'cause i know he's been the hardest worker i've ever been around. >> and at the time, i was saying i was a little too busy to come. so he called me a week later and said, "no, dad, you have to come to this." and then when he said to me, "i don't want you swinging a hammer anymore," i decided that i would come and see what it was about. got to tell ya, i was skeptical about it when i went to that meeting. but afterwards, i was amazed at the information, the knowledge, the systems. that's what i really liked about it. that's the things i was lacking when i was building and selling real estate years earlier. >> we educate you on the process so you know the steps, who you have doing what, and in what time line. we also teach you exactly how to get the money for these types of projects. in fact, one source we show you is an absolute gold mine. r

source to get millions of dollars for deals they've rehabbed. just listen to some of these stories. >> i've been in construction as a residential home builder and side contractor for over 40 years. i even sit on the board of directors for the national association of home builders. i'm here to tell you that the systems that than, paul, and j.d. have put together are the most extensive and conclusive systems that exist anywhere. they make it so easy to flip houses and make money. >> i thought i knew what i was doing. i've been investing in real estate for 30 years. it's so refreshing to learn from someone that's doing the business at such a high level in today's market. >> i bought five properties. i've wholesaled three of those properties. i've just finished my last -- my first flip, and i'm holding onto one piece of property as a long-term strategy. go ahead. take this step. it's a leap of faith, and you will not look back. it will change your life forever. >> announcer: if you're lookin

to make more money and take control of your personal and financial future, then get ready, because than merrill, the star of a&e's hit tv show "flip this house," one of the most successful real-estate investors in the country and america's number-one real-estate-investing expert has one heck of an opportunity for you. than is hosting a one-of-a-kind free two-hour real-estate wealth-building workshop where you will learn his three-step system for getting started flipping homes and buying and holding income properties. at this event, you will learn exactly how you can do this without needing money, credit, or any prior experience. than's system has created thousands of success stories around the country and helped numerous people make money and change their financial futures forever. when you attend this live event, you will discover five untapped and consistent sources of properties than and his students have been buying for significantly under-market value that the general public doesn't know about. you'll also learn about a nationwide source of wealthy cash buyers than and his students flip thes

to. when you register and attend, you'll also get than merrill's "money resource guide" that shows you the seven best sources of money you can utilize to flip real estate using little or none of your own money or credit. this resource guide addresses the number-one problem most people have, which is how to get the money for your deals, and it's yours, free, when you attend. plus, you'll also get than's vip success package for free, which details out how than finds his deals and buyers and is full of other valuable resources that every real-estate investor needs to be successful. don't let this opportunity for you and a guest to attend this powerful live training event in your backyard pass you by. seating is extremely limited, so you must call the number at the bottom of your screen or go online right now to reserve your free tickets. make your guaranteed reservations right now, before it's too late. >> we'd been investing in real estate. we'd had some income properties, and we were tired of the rat race, the grind, so we decided

that, "yeah, let's go take a look at this." we went to the one night. it intrigued us. the things that they were telling us -- they're already things that we had in our mind. we were like, "yes, yes, yes," and so we wanted more. it's been a godsend ever since. >> it's important for you to know that, when you attend one of my live training events, you're gonna be learning from someone who is successfully doing this right now in today's market. over the years, i've flipped hundreds of properties. i built a sizeable rental portfolio, and i have 31 deals going on right now, like the one behind me. i also have a track record for teaching other regular, everyday people how to be successful in real estate. in fact, i have some of the most successful students in the country, who have done thousands of documented deals using my system. i've literally created a road map for you to achieve your financial goals. this event -- it's gonna be a turning point for many of you watching this show right now. but you have to pick up the phone

change. all you need to do is call the number at the bottom of the screen or go online right now to reserve your two free tickets to my upcoming two-hour educational event. >> i've been a stay-at-home mom for a few years now. >> i used to be in the air force. i still am in the air force. i'll be retiring in a few months. >> i've always wanted to rehab, and i didn't realize how much i didn't know. >> to put it into a whole system that creates a business for you. i know the value of that, being in a military environment. they don't just tell you what to do, they tell you how to do it and how to build your business. and for me, that's what set them apart for every other real-estate investment company out there. >> we have a lot of students who had zero real-estate experience who are now flipping multiple properties a month. however, learning how to flip is only part of what we teach you at the event. the second important step we teach you is how to build long-term wealth with real

estate. you see, the key to building true lifelong wealth is to learn how to acquire income-producing properties, like this one right here, that produce monthly checks for you whether you work or not. and if you think about it, no matter what you do for work right now, chances are you wake up, you leave your house, you leave your family, and you trade your time for money. however, there's only so many hours in a day that you can work. so, your ability to produce income is capped. just imagine owning real estate that produces money for you every single month, regardless of whether you're at work, on vacation, or asleep in your bed. this newfound financial freedom is gonna give you peace of mind, it's gonna give you more free time, and it's gonna allow you to give back to those that you care about the most. >> after having two masters

being laid off, and i was going to be looking for a job, and the same thing was likely to happen again in my life. i had actually maximized my earning potential with that education. and so i made the decision at that point that i was not gonna work for anybody else again. i never really thought about passive income before and what that meant. having some money coming in whether i'm actively renovating a property or not is now my main goal in life. >> now, i know some of you watching at home may have been to other trainings, or you're financially comfortable right now, or you're already in real estate in some shape or fashion. you might be wondering how i can help you. well, over the years, i've helped so many people grow and literally automate what they do by learning our system. >> the fact that they've taught me to build systems so i can run it like a business -- before, i was not running it like a business. i was just going for it. i wama

gonna make big-boy money. >> i've even had students who have attended our training events, who started using our systems, and are now so successful that other people started taking notice, and they now have their own tv shows and have been featured on shows like "flipping san diego" on a&e and "property wars" on discovery and "house hunters" on hgtv. in fact, here is one of those students. >> than, your system and what you teach is amazing. as you know, i was a realtor before becoming an investor, and i went to your seminar, and it all clicked. i started rehabbing properties and using your systems, and my business took off like wildfire. and as you know, the discovery channel started calling me when they found out what i was doing, and now i'm featured on "property wars." going to your seminar was the best decision i ever made. >> curt is a great guy who's become very successful using our three-step system. and what really blows me away is not only how well curt and our thousands of other students are doing financially, but, more

spouses and families are of what they've done and what they've accomplished and just how happy they are now. >> i have a business that my wife and children are proud of. we're going into neighborhoods and being paid to fix up properties. i'm building a legacy for my wife, my children, and my grandchildren, and i'm doing something that i absolutely love. >> we introduced you to three powerful and little-known strategies for investing in real estate passively and earning high rates of return. in fact, one of those strategies you're gonna be introduced to, you can earn up to 16% to 18% interest on your money, supported by united states state law and backed by real estate. this is a little-known, passive real-estate-investment vehicle that's been around for over 100 years. we're also gonna show you how to use this strategy and other strategies to flip properties 100% tax-free.

in real estate and possibly build a retirement account for you and your family, because your money's gonna be growing so much faster in a tax-free or a tax-deferred environment. you see, working a job and just saving money alone may not get you to your long-term financial and retirement goals, and that's why it's so critical for you to learn these powerful, long-term wealth-building strategies. >> than's event gave me the confidence that i needed to succeed. since then, i have completed 15 real-estate deals, and i'm in the current process of completing two more. >> it completely turned my life around from "a" to "z." that is, by far, the best thing that could have happened to me. >> this house behind me -- i got it under contract. and using the strategies that you taught me at your event, i was able to sell that contract, and i made over $9,000. >> as you're watching at home --

so pick up the phone and call the number right now to make your guaranteed reservation. this event is an opportunity many people will jump on in this area and change their lives forever. i really hope that you're one of them. if you want a better year this year, compared to last year, you have to do and learn something different. regardless of your financial situation or your background, you can do this successfully. real estate has changed my life, and i know it can change yours. i hope today is a day that you mark on your calendar, one where you can put a mark of an event where you and your financial future and your life took a giant leap forward. thanks for watching. i look forward to having you at the event.

disturbed. >> it will be okay. >> i want grandma. >> it will be ok. >> i remember thinking, man, i hope there is a civil family member to adopt these girls because they really need somebody to reach out and be good parents for them. >> reporter: word spread through the late afternoon gloom. a friend called yucca harris. >> she asked me when is the last time i talked to nikki. i said saturday. you may want to go over to her house becse the helicopters were there and the news reporters. >> reporter: tell me when you heard that, what did you think? >> i don't know. it was like television. i was just like in slow motion. >> reporter: yucca called her mother linda. told her something bad was going on over at nikki's. >> i was so nervous, i didn't know what to do. i was like, oh, m

god. i was just shaking. >> reporter: linda pulled into her daughter's neighborhood and saw a police officer. >> okay. pull over there. i said, no, i need to go to my daughter's house. he said, ma'am, will you just pull over there, please. and i pulled up to the side. i said, what is going on? i said, the only thing i can tell you is your daughter has expired. >> reporter: there is no getting over news like that. as nikki's family tried to take it in, investigators set to work figuring out who did this. the girls said their mother was still in her room with the door locked when they left the house for school at 7:30. >> we missed the bus, so we had to walk. >> reporter: perhaps the crime scene would yield more clues than the

lieutenant chris moon headed back there. >> they were looking for cell phones, computers, indications typically the victims have called for spoken with their assailant just before the murder or around the time of the murder. >> reporter: the attack did not look random. it was not rape, but it was so violent. >> that suggested rage, and when you look at a rage murder, it's usually somebody very, very close to the deceased. >> reporter: so naturally, the first person they wanted to talk to was the man of the house, robert head, nikki's boyfriend, but robert wasn't around. >> when is the last time you saw robert? >> yesterday. he left. he came in on sunday. he stayed for a day. he left. >> reporter: here's the thing. robert was a long haul truck driver which explains his absence but not where he was, especially when nikki was murdered. >> we had to find robert, and w

>> reporter: that takes a while, right? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: meanwhile, detectives spread out through the neighborhood, knocking on doors. had anyone seen anything unusual? a couple of neighbors said they saw a red car in nikki's driveway that afternoon, a car they had never seen before. and a black car on the street, too. they asked the girls who could have been there? >> does your mom have any other friends or anybody else that come over that you know of. >> she talks to a lot of men. >> she talks to some men. but the only one i've been hearing her talk lately is joe. >> reporter: joe? who was joe? >> we were also told by the twins that nikki had a second boyfriend, joe carter. >> reporter: two boyfriends? >> two boyfriends. >> reporter: now that got the investigators' attention. time to dig a little deeper into the life of nikki whitehead. coming up -- two boyfriends, two

>> they were clearly having an argument, yelling screaming over the phone. he was an immediate person of interest.

detectives in conyers, georgia, were getting a crash course in the short life of nikki whitehead, found stabbed to death in the home she shared with her live-in boyfriend, robert, and her twin teenage daughters, jas and tas, who, at least, had each other for support. >> the girls put their arms around each other and, it's going to be okay. we're going to find out who did this. they were clearly relying on each other to get through this. >> reporter: but they were able to convey some real information. >> any idea who she was talking to? >> it was joe. >> it was joe? >> reporter: their mother had a second boyfriend, a man named joe carter, a local barber whose shop was right next to nikki's salon. love triangle? now the

thought was a potential recipe for murder. they talked to robert who was on the road in his long haul truck. how does he react to any of this? >> he was devastated. >> reporter: easy enough to check on roberts. gps records put him a full day's drive away when nikki was murdered. when they met him, as we did, they could plainly see his grief was real. >> because that was my better half, and she's gone, you know. it's a hard thing. >> reporter: this was how detectives discovered the unusual nature of robert and nikki's relationship. robert told them he knew about the other boyfriend, wasn't a secret. he didn't mind. he said he wanted nikki to be happy when he was away on the road. >> he's a truck driver and when he was home he expected for her her and him to be a couple. and when he was away, he realized that she was going to have other relationships.

how did he feel about that? he was upset about something, said the twins. night before the murder, they said, joe and nikki had a nasty, loud argument on the phone. >> all she told joe was that he couldn't come over there last night. >> reporter: was there some suggestion that there might have been, you know, jealousy or bad blood involved? >> well, and that's what we immediately thought. and so, obviously, he was a immediate person of interest. >> reporter: so he was. and remember, a neighbor spotted a black car near nikki's house the day she was killed. joe's car perhaps? >> you know what joe drives? >> no. i know the black car in that driveway. and it's a black car. >> reporter: rockdale county district attorney richard reed. >> we need to look at joe carter. especially since nikki and joe had been in an argument. they were breaking up. >> reporter: that's a dangerous time in a relationship. >> it can be a dangerous time in

>> reporter: it wasn't hard to track joe down. he was at the barber shop where he worked. >> it was around closing time. we was ready to pack up and get out of there, and they approached me and my friends. then they basically said that she passed away. i mean, she's dead. i was shocked. i was just in shock. >> reporter: how did he react when you came to see him? >> he immediately started weeping. >> reporter: he didn't know about the -- or claimed not to know? >> he claimed not to know. >> reporter: but reactions don't always tell the real story. >> they was basically asking about our relationship. when the last time i seen her. i started to realize i was a suspect. >> reporter: detective moon did what any good detective would do. he looked for the sort of marks nikki might have left on her assailant's body. >> looked at his hands, his arms. he took off his shirt. >> reporter: but joe was clean. not a suspicious scratch on him. and detectives learned that black car outside nikki's house didn't belong to him. st t

questioning and hooked him up to a polygraph and asked him point blank if he killed nikki. >> and the polygrapher determined that he was not deceptive in answering questions. >> i wanted them to find the killer, and i wanted them to know that it wasn't me. >> reporter: so that's it for joe? >> it appeared that joe was not involved in the death of nikki whitehead. >> reporter: so two boyfriends and two dead ends. you know, in addition to robert head and joe carter, there could have been a stranger. could have been another -- did you look into that possibility? >> we did. >> reporter: yes. and they still wanted to know who owned another car, a red one, that was also seen in nikki's driveway the day of the killing. it didn't take long to find out. it belonged not to a murderer at all, but a friend. >> nikki had missed a hair appointment with this friend and the friend had come by, knocked on the door and not been able to make contact with nikki and left.

>> reporter: imagine had she opened that door. such a grisly scene. so full of rage and passion. so who killed nikki? someone close? then, as they struggled to figure it out, investigators encountered in their own police file something rather stunning. coming up -- >> i just woke up and my daughter's gone. >> your daughter was abducted? >> i don't know, ma'am. she's just gone. >> family secrets. there were a few yet to be revealed. >> it turned into a fight. >> a physical fight? >> a physical fight. and she contacted police. the worst thing about toilet germs? they don't stay in the toilet. disinfect your bathroom with lysol bathroom trigger... ...lysol power foamer...

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been eliminated. and a home invasion seemed very unlikely in her gated community. >> there was no histories of any peeping toms. no histories of assaults in the neighborhood. so we just kept coming up to dead ends. >> reporter: thing is, they felt sure this had to be a rage murder. so violent. so protracted. which made it very likely it was someone nikki knew, even possibly a family member. >> so we started getting into some of the family dynamics. >> reporter: and that's when they turned up, in police files, this remarkable incident back in 2007. one brief snippet of family history, but an event that changed everything that came after it. >> conyers, 911. >> yes, ma'am. i just woke up and my daughter's gone at the house. >> meaning your daughter was abducted? >> i don't know ma'am. i woke up. the door was unlocked.

i have twin girls. one of them is gone. >> how old is your daughter? >> oh, lord, 13. >> reporter: you can hear her terror. >> oh lord, my worst nightmare. >> do you think that maybe somebody came and got her? or do you think -- >> i don't know. i don't know if somebody came and got her, ma'am. she don't do stuff like this. i don't know. >> reporter: but a few hours later, nikki learned that her daughters did do stuff like that. jas had not been kidnapped. she'd snuck out to fool around with a boy. >> up until that day, i believe in nikki's mind she had perfect girls. nikki realized they weren't necessarily the girls that she thought they were. >> reporter: nikki was determined to help her girls avoid the mistakes she made at their age. so she cracked down on curfew, on boys, on cell phone use. the following months would be familiar to many parents of teenagers. screaming, slammed doors, stony silences. and then one summer night in 2008, a year after jazz sneaked

>> big argument. and it turned into a fight. >> reporter: a physical fight? >> a physical fight. it was tas and jas against their mother. and at that time i think she felt fearful and she contacted police. >> reporter: was it the right decision to call the police? that ensured the family ended up in juvenile court, nikki asking the judge to help her teach her daughters a lesson. instead, seemed to linda, the judge was blaming nikki. >> i guess the judge thought they were too cute and too smart that, nah, they couldn't be doing, you know -- he did not take it serious. >> reporter: what did he decide to do? >> well, he asked my daughter, he said, would -- do you want your kids to come back home? and she said, no, your honor, not unless they understand that i'm not going to tolerate that kind of behavior. and so he was

to come home? >> reporter: what nikki wanted was a court-sanctioned demand that her daughters obey the rules. but that's not what she got. instead, the juvenile court judge sent the girls to live with della, their great-grandmother. what were they doing while they were at della's house? >> pretty much whatever they want. they kind of ran wild. >> reporter: and got in trouble repeatedly, in school and out. >> shoplifting, smoking marijuana, seeing the wrong type of boys. >> well, she didn't want that. she knew, you know, she was going back to when she was their age in her grandmother's custody. she didn't want that for her kids. >> reporter: seemed to nikki that della was undermining her and had somehow stolen away the daughters who mattered to her more than anything else in her life. >> she really wanted them back. really wanted them back. >> reporter: how did you know this? how did she express it? >> she said it every day. i want my girls. i'm going to fight for my girls. >> reporter: and in january

2010, nikki finally won. the judge ordered the girls back to nikki. and jas and tas did not like it not one bit. >> so they started screaming and hollering, we don't want to go back. why would you make us go back? >> reporter: in court they were doing this? >> yeah. >> reporter: nikki told her mother not to worry. >> she said, they'll be fine. they'll mellow out. they'll come around. >> reporter: a few days after the court's decision, on a saturday night, nikki put on a welcome home party for the girls. >> they hugged me. you know, they kissed me. >> reporter: and that was the last time yucca saw nikki. four nights later, there they were, jas and tas, answering the increasingly pointed questions of a couple of detectives. >> can you tell me what happened when you got home today? >> reporter: seemed a little odd that the girls were still wearing outdoor gloves. the detective asked, could you take them off, please? >> i need to seeou

>> when we did that, we did see a cut on one of their hands, we saw bruising on the knuckles and the skin marks and bite marks. >> reporter: bite mark. >> and we asked them to explain those. >> reporter: the bite marks could have been self-inflicted. remember the girls were so upset on the way to the station. they were biting themselves. and the other cuts and scratches? the twins told the cops they had been fighting with each other. >> we didn't get along yesterday. >> reporter: it was, as they told their story, detective dunn took a good look at jazz and taz and a disturbing idea settled down somewhere in his brain. >> i haven't made up my mind, but i'm suspicious. coming up -- suspicious? were there reason to be suspicious? >> we watched the high school video surveillance. you see the twins showing up about/2

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thanks for tnorfolk!around and i just wanted to say, geico is proud to have served the military for over 75 years! roger that. captain's waiting to give you a tour of the wisconsin now. could've parked a little bit closer... it's gonna be dark by the time i get there. geico®. proudly serving the military for over 75 years. there's a look, a way of talking, that suggests a thing the spoken words most certainly do not say. as nikki whitehead's petite teenage daughters told their story, how they discovered their

mother's body, how horrified they were, the detectives watched their eyes, their tearless sobs, saw their bruises and cuts and just knew. >> they're not behaving consistent with somebody that found their mother murdered. >> reporter: mind you, there's a hurdle a person has to overcome to imagine that these two sweet teenagers might have been involved somehow in what could only be called a slaughter. though nikki's mother, linda, remembered clearly how angry the twins were just a week earlier when the court sent them back to nikki. >> when jas came out, she looked over at my daughter and she said, if i got to go back home with you, i'm gooding to kill you. >> reporter: you heard this? >> i heard this. and it stunned me. >> reporter: but teenagers sometimes do talk that way. doesn't mean they actually do anything about it. so the detectives set about fact-checking the twin's version of events on the day of their mother's death. starting with their claim that they had to walk to school that morning.

>> they told us that they had overslept a little bit, that they had missed the bus and had walked to school. >> reporter: it was a rush, said the girls, but they did get to school on time. >> made all your classes today? >> yes. >> reporter: so the cops did what the cops do. they checked surveillance tape from businesses along the route to school. and what do you know? >> law enforcement had observed the girls walking down the roadway next to the gas station a little after 10:00 a.m. that morning. >> reporter: nowhere near on time, as the school surveillance camera confirmed. >> we watched the high school video surveillance, and you see the twins showing up about 2 1/2 hours after they should have for school. >> reporter: so the twins were caught in a lie. and it was a big one. but it wasn't proof of murder. they flatly denied any involvement in that. even when they were put in

separate rooms they presented a united twin front. >> they wouldn't sway. there was never any disloyalty to each other. they never said a negative comment about each other. >> reporter: getting one to flip on the other was not going to happen? >> no. >> reporter: after those interviews they released the girls. the juvenile court farmed them out to family and friends. and police sent their dna and photos of their injuries like those apparently self-inflicted bite marks off to the lab. and then they waited pretty sure science would tell them that these sweet little girls were anything but. did they appear manipulative to you? >> absolutely. i'll give you a for instance. jasmiyah is in one room. tasmiyah is taken to a smaller interview room. it's apparent that tasmiyah knows there's a camera and there's a recording system in that room. and she starts to pray. >> i really want them to catch this person. please, god. >> she knew at some point in time somebody would watch that

young, innocent, sweet girl asking god to help law enforcement find the person who did this. >> reporter: and meanwhile, at the glacial pace these things occur, the crime lab worked on the dna and pored over those photos of the bite marks. one on taz's arm was the impression of a big, ugly bite. they compared the contours of that bite to a mold of nikki's mouth. the similarity was uncanny. >> nikki was most likely the source. >> reporter: had their mother bitten them trying to fight off an attack? >> the bite marks on taz's arm would be consistent as if she had her mother in a chokehold from behind. and that her mother, nikki, is biting her, trying to get away. >> reporter: and when detectives saw the twins biting themselves right after the murder? maybe that was an attempt to cover up evidence. then the dna results came back. they knew they'd find nikki's blood.

but, remember, one of the twins had fresh cuts on her hand. and, sure enough in a smear of nikki's blood, mixed with her likely assailants, a match. it belonged to one of the twins. but which one? >> they were identical twins. they have identical dna so we don't know. couldn't tell for sure which twin the blood came from. >> reporter: by this time, the twins had been out in the world without a word from the police for five months. wxia reporter katie beck. >> i think those months built their confidence, built almost an arrogance that we're going to get away with this. >> reporter: so, you can only imagine how it was, may 21st, 2010, just after school. how did they react to being arrested? >> shocked. though thut it was over with. it had been five months since they had heard from us. >> reporter: the arrest was big news in atlanta. two sweet little girls charged with the murder of their mother. who would have thought? i

>> reporter: oh, yes, they were. and when the twins finally told their version of events that cold morning in january, the city was riveted all over again. coming up -- >> she threatened us. >> the fatal struggle. did their mom start it all. >> she like charged forward. >> i kept telling her to stop. just stop.

it's a complicated thing. lots to do if you're a prosecutor preparing a murder case against pretty twin teenagers. and so d.a. richard reed was interested when, one day, defense attorneys suggesth

>> my response is it's great to hear it from you, but i want to hear it from them. and so i'd like to talk to your clients. i'd like to ask them questions. >> reporter: and that's how d.a. reed met the 19-year-old jazz and taz and heard them confess they did kill their mother. but was it a confession, really? in fact, said the twins, it wasn't their fault. she started it. >> she's starts cursing and stuff. i think she was mad about us being late. >> reporter: that morning, they said, nikki was furious that they were late for school and picked up a pot in the kitchen, they said, and swung it at them. >> she still calling us whores and sluts and everything like that and stupid and everything like that and she threatened us. i don't know. we're all going to die today. >> reporter: that's ja

and then taz picked up the story. >> all right, so you took the pot away from your mom. what happened then? >> she kind of just like charged forward, not at me though, at jazz. >> reporter: now, nikki had a knife, said the girls. they tumbled, room to room, trying to get it away from her before she cut one of them. and in fact, said taz, that's how her finger got cut. >> i kept telling her to stop. just stop, just stop, just stop. >> reporter: but she didn't, they said. >> so, im trying to punch her, i guess, and i think taz stabbed her. she stabbed her. and -- >> at this point in time, how many times did taz stab her? >> it was once. >> reporter: at some point, exhausted, the twins said they all called a truce. it didn't last long. >> and they both describe mom lunges for the knife. and when she does, it's on again. >> reporter: finally, said the girls, they overpowered their mother who stopped struggling and moaned tsh

so, they put her in a warm tub, tried to soothe her even though, they said, she was still spitting mad and threatening them. >> kill me now or i'll kill you all. >> reporter: eventually, they said, she stopped talking, drifted off in the warm water and died. so, what did the d.a. think after listening to the girls' tale of self-defense against a mother gone berserk? did you believe them? did you believe everything they said? >> no. still don't. >> reporter: the idea that nikki launched an attack on her own daughters? difficult to believe, said the d.a. sheer nonsense, is what nikki's mother called it. >> my daughter never have hit her kids. they never had a spanking more or less. anybody that knows nikki knows that wasn't her behavior. >> reporter: it was very clear, said the detectives who worked the case, that, in fact, nikki was the victim of an unprovoked attack. she had at least 45 stab wounds. her spinal cord was almost

we think she fought defensively. you can see where she's on her back some of the time fighting off people that are attacking her from above with knives. >> reporter: as for the girls' claim that they put their dying mother in the tub to keep her warm as she watched her fade away, fiction through and there, said the police. >> we think she was dead before she was placed in the tub. or she would have bled into the water and the water would have been bloody. they were putting her in the water trying to wash off the crime scene, wash off the evidence. >> reporter: in truth, said the detectives, these girls were remorseless, defiant, brilliant little actresses. remember how they sounded just after their mother's death. >> i want my mommy. >> i want them to catch this person, please god. >> reporter: listen to the little darlings when they didn't know they were playing for the cameras.

a squad car just after their arrest. sweet little girls? hardly. >> they got [ bleep ] evidence. they can't do anything with [ bleep ] evidence like this. man, get real. >> did they find a murder with my fingerprints on it? or something? i get if they said they found a murder weapon. please do that! please find a murder weapon. >> thank you! >> they are aggressive. they are angry. they are combative. >> these [ bleep ] rednecks, down dirty ass cops did this [ bleep ]. >> reporter: oh, and one more thing. tucked away in one of the girl's bedrooms, police found this journal. inside, in childish handwriting, a death sentence. they were notes to each other, said the d.a., written just before the killing -- "she don't care. she selfish. we got get rid of her." to which the other twin responds -- "that's what i think also.

she's got to go asap." >> it may be the most telling piece of evidence that the whole death of mom may have been premeditated. >> reporter: still, the d.a. worried maybe a good defense attorney could spin the family's turbulent history, the juvey court drama, nikki's two boyfriends, and somehow sell a jury on self-defense. >> it would've been an ugly trial. i think to some extent it would have been a misrepresentation of nikki's life. >> reporter: so he didn't like it much, but he let them plead guilty to the lesser charge -- voluntary manslaughter. 30 years for each. not enough, said nikki's mother linda. >> these children have killed my child brutally, and you are going to give them 30 years? they shouldn't even be able to walk the street. i know these are my grandkids, but come on now. i mean, if they can do this to their mom, god help us all. >> reporter: and the questions that go over and over in your head are like what? >> how everything about this goes against nature. ho

you and raises you and loves you and gives birth to you, how you could watch that person die in a bathtub and lie about it. >> reporter: it was wxia reporter katie beck's reports that brought the story to an atlanta both horrified and fascinated. she, who first secured access to all those police video tapes, exposing these pretty little liars for all the world to see. >> it suddenly becomes clear that these girls have multiple personalities, that they can be whoever they need to be for their own purposes, that they can morph between a fragile, disturbed, innocent teenager into sort of this demonized criminal. >> reporter: those girls you knew. those sweet little girls. >> yeah. >> reporter: what happened to them? >> it's hard for me to even -- i don't know.

linda whitehead, carries the helpless grief with her every day. every sleepless night without her daughter, without the granddaughters she thought she knew. >> i was so proud of them. and i knew -- and they would talk about what college they wanted to go to. >> reporter: that's okay. >> so i'm sitting here and everybody gone. >> reporter: that's an awful tough road. >> you can't even imagine. because every morning i wake up, i think about my daughter and my grandkids. it's just a tragedy. >> reporter: one about a mother who dared to dream that her sweet gemini twins would surpass her, who instead became their victim.

that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. divided, a week that began with the shooting of two african american men by police officers. >> i wanted everybody in the world to see what the police do. >> and this way. with the killing of five police officers at a black lives matter rally in dallas. >> the suspect stated he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers. >> and sparked protests across the country. >> black lives matter! black lives matter! >> from policing the politics, the season seems increasingly divided. i'll talk to the head of homeland security and two top senators, a republican and democrat, each a former mayor. plus a week of violence and the presidential campaign.

how can either of our decisive candidates heal the nation? joining me for insight and analysis, michael eric dyson of georgetown university and msnbc contributor and long-time republican strategists marry madeleine and washington post columnist michael gerson. welcome to sunday's "meet the press". >> this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good early sunday morning. too early to make comparisons but we live through a week that will stand out in vent history. headlines in the recent newspapers tell the story of a nation divided and at times feeling as if we're at war with itself. the shooting of two african american men and the subsequent deaths of police sparked

protest, most peaceful but there were tense confrontations. last night in st. paul, minnesota protesters clashed with police injuring two of them as marchers pushed past state troopers and closed a freeway. all of it exposed racial divisions in the u.s. and comes at a time of growing political polarization of it all with americans becoming more table separated by region, income, culture and race and the two candidates who themself are divisive and uniquely unseated to heal the country's wounds. the images are burned into the consciousness of a nation deeply polarized about race and policing. alton sterling killed by police officers while selling cds outside a baton rouge convenience store. philando castile shot dead in his car by a police officer in minnesota. >> he's licensed. he's carrying. >> the aftermath broadcast live to facebook by her fiancee,er