moriarty was encouraged by comparison scans of erica's brain.ullet and brain fragments in the pre-op image were gone. despite the repair, brain injuries are unpredictable and dr. moriarty urged caution. >> next few days in the icu would be critical. >> panning in now. another shell casing. >> at the crime scene, detective arnold continued to sift through clues. more leads came in to focus. a bloody footprint. three big red soda cans and two cigarette butts by the bed. >> the second one had an ash about an inch long. someone had left that cigarette and rushed out of there. >> detective arnold ordered dna testing on the cigarettes and cans. the detective was also learning about earon and the more he found out, the more he was drawn in. mostly by herself, earon was raising four children, including erica, the only one home the night of the shooting and ebony, the oldest at 16. >> instead of like mother and daughter, we're more like sisters. >> you're like friends, huh? >> yeah. we did everything together. she was the best mom. >> and fun to be aroun

taking it all in, surgeon thomas moriarty, proud and pleased that he could give his miracle patient ath. no brain damage whatsoever. >> she's wonderful. she's perfect. she is this little flower that has grown. >> he left her with a good brain and that's very important. >> smart cookie. >> yeah. she's going to need it throughout life. >> when you look at erica, do you see any of your mom in erica? >> what parts? >> main thing it her loud mouth. >> is that right? >> erica is loud and she's got the raspy voice like my mama had. >> where is your mom right now? >> up in heaven. >> do you think about her a lot? . what kind of things do you think about? >> think about her coming down. >> what happens? >> she will still be my mama. >> it's a constant reminder your mom is with you. >> yeah. >> there's one other shared trait. that kept erica alive in her darkest hours. her mom's fighting spirit. >> to battle what she had to battle. she had her fighting spirit to pull through all that. thank god tore that sniefrmgts that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watch

and i think liane moriarty, who wrote the novel and e.>> got together, they were like, "well, is there -- could is there something we -- a a great story? >> jimmy: yeah >> i think it was important to everyone involved that it -- you have to warrant making another season so you don't milk it for no reason just because it was a success come up with something great >> jimmy: yeah, but the door kicks in and meryl streep walks in you're like "whaaat? >> yeah. [ ughter ] >> jimmy: yes, there's a season two all right! >> yeah. >> jimmy: she's like "what happened to my son?" >> yeah. >> jimmy: yeah >> i thought that was pretty smart. when they -- so, yeah. i think we can reveal that meryl streep plays my character's mom and she shows up >> jimmy: that's how yeah >> and she kind of realizes that something's fishy >> jimmy: something's fishy. >> yeah. >> jimmy: and that's all we can really say about that. >> yeah. >> jimmy: but we can talk about "long shot", which you're in n.th rogen, charlize thero >> i'm actually not in that. [ light laughter ]