nbc's lee cowan starts us off tonight from l.a. lee, good evening. >> reporter: well, brian, this ends debate that lasted nearly a decade about auto pollution that started right here on the roads of california. now that these so-called clean car standards are going to be mandatory across the board, it makes it the first time ever the federal government limited greenhouse gas emissions. it was 1975 when the government first put fuel economy standards in place, back when cars looked like land boats and got 13 miles to the gallon. >> you get more power. >> reporter: technology made cars a lot less thirsty, but the average auto's appetite is too much for the white house. so by 2014, the government will mandate cars and light trucks bump their average up to over 35 miles a gallon it's projected over the lifetime of those newly-regulated vehicles, carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by 960

we'll talk to his sister in a moment, but first nbc's lee cowan has the details. >> reporter: it's picture postcard perfect. how could anything go wrong here? but behind the picket fences of ft. bragg, california, lay one town's dark secret. >> i had no yesterday that our neighbor was the kind of guy that would rape kids. >> reporter: mindy used to live next door to a boy scout leader named darryl mcneal. she trusted mcneal, just like her brother, aaron vargas, trusted him. but last february, aaron, now an adult, drove to this remote trailer and shot mcneal point-blank with a pistol. was there ever a time that you looked at your brother as a murderer? >> no. when i look at aaron, i see a sad little boy that needs help. >> reporter: the crime was shocking for his family. not as shocking as his motive. aaron alleged mcneal had molested him for years, starting when he was just 11 and continued stalking him even after he became a parent.

lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. >>> you got to love larry.or this saturday. i'm peter alexander reporting from new york for lester holt and everyone here at nbc news. from new york for lester holt and everyone here at nbc news. have a good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

lee cowan has that story. >> reporter: the waves were calm, the journey long.een catalina island and the california coast. with nothing but a board, a paddle and a purpose. >> i just wanted to go out there and do something that was big and a little bit overwhelming to think about. >> reporter: that was the point, for surfer jody nelson, to experience standing up to something scary, just the way her best friend is standing up to breast cancer. >> to see such an amazing friend risk her life like that for me, it's nothing but inspiring. >> reporter: her crossing was meant to raise money for cancer research. on her board, names of survivors, including jody's own mom. all the motivation she needed, she thought. but then, nearly 20 miles out, something truly extraordinary happened. that turned jody's inspirational odyssey to -- >> he joined in jody's marathon, for two hours. >> i was pretty certain that was not normal behavior and then when he would blow those bubbles up, i could smell his breath and it was like oh, this is disgusting. >> i love you, larry! >> she ni

but first, here's nbc's lee cowan. >> reporter: baby gabriel's first birthday is now less than two weeksand no one knows whether he is alive to celebrate it or not. his mother, elizabeth johnson, is behind bars, charged with gabriel's kidnapping. his father, logan, has been looking for gabriel for four long months but hasn't found a trace. >> i want to believe that he is alive. i just want her to tell the truth. >> reporter: police say it all started last december when johnson allegedly took gabriel from his home in tempe, arizona and drove all the way to san antonio, texas. it was there she offered bone-chilling news to gabriel's father. police say she told him that she had smothered gabriel and had thrown his body in a san antonio dumpster. investigators, along with a team of volunteers, sorted through more than 4,000 tons of trash looking for clues. >> we don't want to leave any of it uncovered. >> reporter: but after more than two weeks, found nothing that hinted of a homicide. that may have backed up gabriel's mom's other story. investigators say she toll them that she had actually

nbc news, lee cowan. >> mindy is aaron's sister. good morning. there was a point where the d.a.ur brother and wanted a murder trial. as lee just pointed out, he may get out with time served. you don't want him to serve one more day in jail though. why is that? >> it just doesn't make sense to punish someone who's been put through hell for 20 years. he's the victim and he's not a danger to the community, he's a very kind and caring person. why torture him anymore? why continue the abuse and put him in jail is continuing the abuse. >> he says the abuse began when he was 11 years old. you didn't know at the time what had happened to him except that he changed. >> right. i saw drastic changes in aaron when we were children. i didn't know what was wrong but i knew something was really wrong with him. he was in so much pain. >> he went from a happy kid to a very troubled, very troubled adult. >> yeah. he withdrew from his friends, from his family. he was just sad and angry. he could just see it in his eyes. he was in pain. >> you say that you think that he snapped and that's what led