j.j. velazquez's chances of getting a second look were dimming. >> i needed to be heard.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 vindicated after our broadcast. >> 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 eyewitnesseses who identified velazquez at trial, drug dealer augustus brown, philip and robert jones and heroin addict lorenzo woodford. with hidden cameras rolling we found woodford in hartford, connecticut. he's one of those witnesses that 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 him until five days later when he was brought