she made calls and was eventually put in touch with a new york federal public defender named lisa peeblesdy who had ties to the defense lawyers who had worked on thibodeau's failed appeals. >> tonya felt as though things were on this by the time she called our office. >> lisa, the lawyer, listened to that secretly recorded phone call between tonya and her childhood pal and came away with different takes than the da. >> i would never open a can of worms like that. god almighty. >> that was like, jaw-dropping. >> what do you hear on that to? >> a woman confiding that it took her a long time to get the images out of her head. i heard her say they made her in the van. she also said that she would never go to police. >> did you believe tonya priest when she came forward? >> i absolutely did. i said we cannot let this. >> lisa called up her friend john o'brien, then a reporter with syracuse. com. >> she says, you have always told me to call you when i have good case and i've got one. >> lisa had a morsel that intrigued him. >> this was the first time in 20 years that anyone said they knew anyth