You can never make amends for taking a life. And the jump before the fall. Before that infamous attack on nancy kerrigan, it was the triple axel that defined Tonya Hardings place in history. Her nowovershadowed moment. But first the nightline 5. Feel the power of theraflu express max. New power to fight back. Theraflus powerful new formula to defeat seven cold and flu symptoms fast. So you can play on. Theraflu express max. New power. We do whatever it takes to fight cancer. These are the specialists were proud to call our own. Experts from all over the world working closely together to deliver truly personalized cancer care. Expert medicine works here. Learn more at cancercenter. Com. Number one in just 60 seconds. There are two types of people in the world. Those who fear the future. And those who embrace it. The future is for the unafraid. All because of you good evening. Thanks for joining us. We begin with the urgent search and rescue efforts in california. Over a dozen people still missing after the deadly, catastrophic mudslides. Tonight we are with frantic family members braving the muddy ruins in search of their loved ones, hoping against hope that theyve not been swept away. Heres abcs matt gutman. Josie reporter calls of the desperate ringing out. Slogging through two feet of sludge, aidan gower and friends frantically search for his mother josie. I dont know why she didnt stay upstairs. Reporter josie gower was here in her home with her boyfriend when horror struck. The mud just came straight through. It was just it just happened too quick. And she couldnt hold on. Reporter josies friend, doug, has been searching too. You look at disaster, you watch it. Well, youre just watching it. And youre seeing it and feeling it, theres no comparison. No. Oh my god. I cant even imagine josie, what a horrific experience. Oh my god. Reporter in montecito, california, where mudslides have molded that tortured landscape, already there are 17 reported dead, including roy router, founder of the st. Augustines academy. Here comes a flash flood Reporter Video of one of the mudslides here. Oh my god, mom reporter tonight in the Santa Barbara county community, 17 people reported missing. 100 homes completely destroyed. 300 damaged. The only words i can really think of to describe what it looked like, it looked like a world war i battlefield. Reporter none of the boulders you see in this field of boulders was here 12 hours ago. They have literally submerged entire homes. You can see the chimney poking through. It doesnt feel real. Reporter last night we found Robert Risken searching for his mother, rebecca. T searching here now. I know they searched the houses, theyve been checked, but i dont get the sense that anyone looked downstream. Reporter light was fading and his hope was too. You know, its my mom. Im fighting with all my heart to find her. But like i cant focus too much on shes most likely dead out here, you know. Just push my way through. Reporter he felt theres no option but to keep searching. Just last month, the thomas fire, the biggest in california history, charred nearby hillsides. Scorching that hillside, burning the trees, shrubs, all the vegetation. Now you have basically a naked hill that has nothing to hold all that dirt and mud in place. When you get rain on top of that, its going to slide with gravity. Reporter today the skies have cleared. But montecitos plight only intensifying. The storm took out montecitos water main. Taps are dry. Power is out. Follow my treads, okay . Youve got six to 8 to 12 inches of mud out there reporter for many here the only option is to evacuate. At the 101 freeway, which was hacked up by debris flows, closed through monday over a 30mile section. Montecito is one of the nations most exclusive neighborhoods filled with multimillion dollar homes. But no one was shielded from the damage here, not even oprah winfrey. There used to an fence right here. Thats my neighbors house. Devastated. Reporter winfrey also sharing a video of a blazing gas fire and helicopters searching for the missing. Destroyed it looks like several vehicles and that rv there reporter with the hope of finding those swept away alive dimming, those search and rescue efforts are intensifying. Overnight the coast guard rushing to rescue a family of five. They carefully place the mother and her baby in a basket, then lift a child up to the roof away from that churning sludge. They even managed to save the family dog. In just the past 24 hours, the coast guard has assisted in 29 rescues. 14yearold Lauren Canton miraculously pulled from a pile of rubble. She was coated in mud but alive. Shes now recovering in the hospital. Her father and brother are believed to be missing. And also among the missing, sisters sawyer and morgan corey. A cousin of the family posting this photo. Their mother and sawyers twin sister, summer, currently in the icu. Summers heart reportedly stopping not once but twice. You can only see the scale of this from the air. This debris field goes down hundreds and hundreds of yards. Almost every house in its path obliterated. And what has made this recovery and rescue so difficult is the thickness of this mud. And right in there is an actual pool. Rescuers have fallen into it. There are so many pitfalls and traps here for them. A pitfall i experienced firsthand. These catastrophic mudslides and flash floods are not without precedent here. In 2005, a mudslide just south of here in la conchita, california, killed ten people. What you see immediately after a mudslide is basically mud that youre able to get through, able to dig out. Over the next few days as it dries out, its going to become more or less cement. Must have much more difficult to remove. If you think things are ba bad now for people affected by this mudslide, its only going to get worse the next few days. Reporter this search and rescue team going house to house, relying on zeros nose to sniff out survivors. Some of the spaces they navigated were so tricky that zero needed a ride. Theyre taking zero in through the window. Reporter for hours, some family members like teresa tried to flag down professional rescuers. Finally she found a sheriffs deputy. He saw her go in, we know shes down there. Reporter as she continues her search, she comes across doug scott, who is still looking for josie gower. Thats all you can do. Is close your mind off to pain and anguish. Reporter josies son hayden in anguish over what he says could have been prevented. Voluntary evacuation. If only she was in the mandatory, she would have left. They screwed up. They screwed up bigtime. They should have they should have said anyone in the floodplain should get the hell out. They should have said Something Like that. You know . Reporter later, hayden gower would tell us his mothers body was found. But for those two families, a fleeting respite from their grief with that shared embrace. For nightline, im matt gutman in montecito, california. Up next, a Cartel Hitman confessing his crimes after using his story to put highlevel traffickers behind bars. Raffickers behind bars. Easy booger man. Take mucinex dm. Itll take care of your cough. Fine ill text you in 4 hours when your cough returns. One pill lasts 12 hours, so. Looks like im good all night. Ah david, please, listen. Still not coughing. Not fair you guys waffles are my favorite ah why take 4hour cough medicine . Just one mucinex lasts 12 hours. Start the relief. Ditch the misery. Lets end this. My friend susie cracks and hello sensitive bladder. Ring a bell . 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The future is for the unafraid. All because of you start the car start the car the ikea winter sale. Wooooooo get up to 50 off select items. Now through january 10th. Ikea. Youre about to meet a man who spent most of his life committing horrendous crimes. A former hitman for a Mexican Drug Cartel, brutally killing strangers on command. Now hes asking his victims families for forgiveness. Is redemption even possible . His answer may surprise you. Heres abcs nick watt. The suspects drove up on first avenue, parked just out of eyesight. The victims were out in the middle of the street talking to a subject in a car. Reporter the Mexican Drug Cartel hit on an l. A. Street. This man, the assassin. Broad daylight, 9 00, 10 00 in the morning. They had no anticipation of what was going to happen. Reporter Martin Corona, a hitman for a Mexican Cartel in this Rare Television interview tries to explain what its like to kill for a living. Ive seen the worst that you can see. Reporter he insisted we speak to him in shadow and Martin Corona is not his real name. This was revenge . This was revenge. Thats why they carried it out with so much drama and aggression. You didnt get away with anything. Know what i mean . Reporter steve duncan was a probation officer who started working with dea on crossborder drug cases. One of them tried to get back home into the house, and he was shot as he was walking up the steps towards the front door. Reporter revenge for an attempted hit on his cartel bosses, the arellano brothers. Youve got a guy on the ground whos injured, begging not to be killed. Right. Yeah, hes begging for his life. Dont kill me. When he was begging for his life i did say, this is for ramon arellano. I later talked to the wife who said she was at the front door i wanted him to know why he was dying. Hes an assassin, a multiple murderer. Reporter steve duncan had no idea corona would later become part of his life. Would you say the two of you are now friends . We share a fondness. I have known martin since i wanted to kill him in 1997. Reporter corona admits to eight murders. There may be more. Did you end up actually killing people in prison . While i was in prison id rather not speak about that. Reporter he was born and raised on the beautiful socal coastline just outside san diego. I dont believe anybody is just born a natural gangster. Nobodys born a charles manson. Reporter corona says he ran away from home at 12 and joined a street gang. And that became my family. Are you involved in violence at this point . Uhhuh, absolutely. Reporter in and out of prison, he almost inevitably fell in with the Mexican Mafia and eventually the cartels. You either accept that life, or you end up on the side of a curb somewhere. The third subject ran down the alley this way their number came up. And unfortunately, it was time for them to go. Reporter this was his first hit for the socalled Arellano Felix cartel. Inspiration for the movie traffic. They controlled the cocaine smuggled through tijuana, locked in a turf war with the notorious Joaquin El Chapo guzman. Chapo guzman was killing their family members, they were killing chapos family members, it was a bloody battle. The fbi has added a new name to its ten most wanted list, ramon Arellano Felix. As the gangs enforcer, ramon decided to got whacked, as one official put it. Its said he once tested a new gun killing a pedestrian he happened to pass in his car. Reporter ramon led a death squad for rahhim. Something ramon used to constantly say, were already damned, were going to hell anyways, so theres no sense having a conscience about it. Reporter in san diego he shot a pregnant woman suspected of talking to the cops. Along with her sister, a fashion model. When i shot the two people, i heard a scream in the back. And i looked back there and i seen a little girl back there in the back seat. Reporter the girl was okay. But a month later, across the border in tijuana, corona and his partner killed her father. We hogtied him with his hands and feet behind his back, covered him with a sheet. All of a sudden we hear this gruesome sound. It was just like a watermelon being smashed, you know. They laugh about it. You hear them on the radios talking about the murders that they do. They get off on it. Reporter a life portrayed in the 2015 movie sicario. Thats hitman in spanish. Did the movies get it wrong . Absolutely, theres no loyalty. Youre sacrificed at any given moment. Reporter his friend and mentor was killed on the job. Corona was tired of the violence. The day i walked away from mexico was the day my daughter was born. I held her in my arms. And i told my wife right then and there, were done. Reporter not so easy. I wasnt in california very long before i got arrested. Reporter after a weapons conviction, corona found himself in an Interview Room opposite the affable but calculating steve duncan. He had just gotten back from camping near where i go camping. We talked about fishing. You know, we hit it off. Reporter corona was potentially facing murder charges. Life in prison. One of the things that they instill on you is, dont talk, dont talk, dont rat. And i decided, im going to do the best for me and for my children. Reporter corona ratted. We used him among with many other witnesses to indict the Upper Echelon of the tijuana cartel. Reporter Martin Corona served 13 years for a weapons charge and dealing cocaine. Got out in 2014. He should have got the death penalty. Martins the poster child for the death penalty. Reporter instead, he tours the country with steve duncan from time to time, schooling Law Enforcement on latino gangs. I want to be able to get my message out there. Reporter and corona just wrote a book, confessions of a Cartel Hitman. He lives in a secret location but declines witness protection. When my time comes, my times going to come, you know . I know how to defend myself. Reporter Martin Corona claims to be reformed. Claims remorse. For those he hurt. I tried reaching out to them and apologizing. Reporter that former model he shot point blank in the head survived. Corona reads from a letter he wrote to her. I can never find the words to apologize for my acts. Nor can i ever expect any emotion other than hate from you. But i truly am sorry. Reporter she says she does not forgive him. Apparently others do. You hear somebody tell you that they didnt blame you for doing the things that you did, its its a little overwhelming. Still hurts, still bothers me. Reporter as far as i can tell, martin is one of the worst of the worst. Yeah. Yeah. He was. Not anymore. And lets hope that, you know, he stays that way, you know . Reporter after our interview, corona violated his probation, tested positive for cocaine and meth. After a short stint in jail, hes about to be released again. Theres mornings i wake up and i wash my face and look in the mirror. And i can still see the monster that i once was. You can never make amends for taking a life. You can never pay that back. Reporter im nick watt for nightline in las vegas. Up next, Tonya Hardings triumphant figure skating moment before that other figure skating moment. You wont believe how much is new at red lobster. That is, until you taste our new menu. Discover more ways to enjoy seafood with new tasting plates small plates, with big flavor like yucatan shrimp in chililime butter and caramelized pineapple. And if you like hot, buttery maine lobster, check out this petite red lobster roll. For new entrees, explore globallyinspired dishes like spicy dragon shrimp. And now, when you order any two new or classic entrees, you get a free tasting plate. 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Maybe you should ask your doctor . Go to eczemaexposed. Com to learn more. Coming at you with my brandnew vlog. Just making some ice in my freezer here. So check back for that followup vid. This is my cashew guy bruno. Holler at em, brun. Kicking it live and direct here at the fountain. Should i go habanero or maui onion . Should i buy a chinchilla . Comment below. Did i mention i save people 620 for switching . Chinchilla update got that chinchilla after all. Say what up, rocco. Finally tonight, before her name was attached to scandal, Tonya Harding was known in the figure skating world for something quite different. Heres abcs amy robach. Reporter for Tonya Harding theres one jump thats synonymous with her name and it gave her the edge over her competition. What is a triple axel . It is a jump that takes off in a forward position, on a left forward leg that comes down with 420 pounds of pressure on one foot. What ever made you think that you could do that . What makes people think i cant . Reporter after perfecting the triple axel in practice, tonya took it to competition for the 1991 u. S. Championships. And it was like, bam. I was like, yes reporter with the triple axel, tonya secured her place in the history books and was now ready for the olympics. Tell me what you were thinking. Holy [ bleep ], i just did it. Nobody else did it. Nobody helped me. Nobody helped me land that triple axel right there in that moment. You made history. I did. I did. Truth and lies the Tonya Harding story, a twohour documentary, airs tomorrow at 9 00 8 00 central here on abc. Thanks for watching nightline. As always were online 24 7 at our Nightline Facebook page. Good night, america