She had such a zest for life. Young girls were being murdered. I cant imagine sending my daughter off to school and never seeing her again. And investigators needed help to get a confession. If anybody could pull it off, he probably would be the one to pull it off. But this snitch was different. He was already a convicted felon. If it worked, he could win his freedom. If it didnt, he could lose his life. They had your back . They had my back. Thats what you thought . At least thats what i thought. Hello. Welcome to dateline. Jimmy kean was a smoothtalking convict serving a tenyear sentence when he was offered an unusual deal. If he would help prosecutors pry a confession from a suspected serial killer, including the location of the victims body, he could walk away a free man. It was dangerous undercover work requiring jimmy to spend months behind bars of a federal prison for the criminally insane. Getting in was the easy part. Getting out alive would be much harder. Here is lester holt with the inside man. Two enemies who didnt trust each other faced off across a table. One of them in handcuffs, was a clever con named jimmy keen. The other, a hardcharging prosecutor. I was called the john gotti of kankakee. The prosecutor who just convicted keen that just put him behind bar wanted to talk. A secret meeting no less. What more could he do to jimmy . He was the last person i expected to fear from. It was my biggest fear. But keens fears went off the chart when the prosecutor slid a file to him, on top a grisly photo of a dead girl. I flipped to the next page and theres another young, dead, mutilated girl. Im thinking, wait a second. Hes probably thinking youre about to charge him with something else. Yes, because i was pretty rough on him in the prosecution. Jimmy was in the dark. He had no idea the crazy scheme beaumont had in mind. He said, listen, jimmy, this is something we have another person on, he has killed many, many women. I personally think youre the one that can help us with it. This turned out to be an investigation to try to catch a suspected serial killer. Beaumont, an outsidethebox thinker, believed this convict, jimmy kean, was the one that could crack the case, taking on a unique and deadly mission. I realized how serious it was, and i also realized the danger of it. But what he couldnt know was how such a Daring Mission would change his world and the person he was forever. If this all seems fodder for a hollywood movie, brad pitt would agree. The mega star who was benjamin button and then money balls billie bean considered playing none other than jimmy keene. Brad pitt likes the fact this guy, jimmy keene, risked his life to try to find what he could find. Clearly this guy is oneofakind, charismatic, conceited, courageous and complicated. From an early age he had the personality, charm and cockiness that made him dream that a Hollywood Star might one day want to play him in the movies. His first big brush with fame came on the football field. I hear they called you the assassin in football. That was a good thing, i take it . Yes. I was taught by my dad at a young age. He said, son, if you dont hit that guy first hes going to hit you first. A superstar athlete and mr. Popularity in high school, he seemed to have it all as a big fish in the city of kankakee, illinois, a blue collar town south of cli. I was most valuable player, i was captain of the Team Every Year i played. Jimmy grew up in the shadow of his father, big jim, a giant of a man who was a cop, fireman and hero to his son. He was my best friend, pretty much my backbone in everything i did. All of keans potential would be put in peril by a choice he made. As a teenager he began selling drugs. He started small, peddling bags of marijuana in this park. Then he expanded to cocaine and at the tender age of 17 he moved to chicago where the business and profits exploded. He was a big fish in a bigger pond, Lake Michigan to be exact. He was his own incrowd. Fast cars and soupedup living. All of the hot spots, all of the big night clubs, all of the owners i was in tight would. I would come in and have Carte Blanche in every place i went to. Did you feel invincible . There was a certain point i felt invincible. Did your pop suspect it . He didnt suspect it until much later. It would be a rude awakening for his dad and jimmy that day in 1996 when jimmy was relaxing at one of his chicago homes. All of a sudden the door blew off the hinges and came into the house. All of the fbi, dea came in in singlefile line with weapons pointed at me, freeze, get on the ground, get on the ground. He had been caught in a drug sting, spearheaded by Larry Beaumont. We scooped him up in an operation i ran. We called it operation snowplow. In court beaumont showed kean no mercy. He was coming at you on all fours, wasnt he . Oh, yes. He was a bug dog. Jimmy was convicted and slapped with a tenyear sentence. It was a pretty stiff sentence and i knew he didnt expect to get ten years. Your father was in the courtroom. Right. I knew il let him down shall probably in one of the biggest ways you could let somebody down. Keans future was bleak. He faced ten years away from his glamorous life, the fancy cars, the big bucks. In 1998 when all hope seemed lost, his old nemesis, beaumont, came to him with an offer of freedom attached to the accordion file he slid across the table. In return kean would have to agree to risk everything and become an undercover informant in one of the roughest prisons in the country, the maximum security lockup in springfield, missouri. It was a psychiatric prison with both hard core killers and the criminally insane. These people all have life sentences. Theyre all in there in their crazy rooms and they have Nothing Better to try to do but hurt you or kill you for some fun. If he accepted beaumonts offer, keans target would be the suspected serial killer, the mysterious man in a van. Reporter coming up, every picture tells a story. When i put the picture down he flinched, raised his arm up and refused to look at the picture. When dateline continues. Youre doing whats right, to protect your dog from fleas and ticks for a full month. Its the 1 vet recommended protection. And its safe for puppies. Nexgard. What one little chew can do. When they bundle home and auto with progressive. Wow, thats. And now the progressive commercial halftime show, featuring smash mouth. Hey now, youre an all star get your game on, go play thank you goodnight [ cheers and applause ] now enjoy the second half of the commercial even renters can bundle and save where did that come from . The kitchen. It was halftime. Where did that come from . Unlike ordinary wmemory supplementsr . Neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. Memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. Try neuriva for 30 days and see the difference. And i like to question your im yoevery move. N law. Like this left turn. Its the next one. You always drive this slow . How did you make someone i love . That must be why youre always so late. I do not speed. And thats saving me cash with drivewise. My son, he did say that you were the safe option. And thats the nicest thing you ever said to me. So get allstate. Stop bossing. Where good drivers save 40 for avoiding mayhem, like me. This is my sons favorite color, you should try it. [mayhem] you always drive like an old lady . [tina] youre an old lady. If he accepted beau several years before jimmy keenes arrest and conviction, his drug business was booming. And his personal life as he tells it was nonstop fun and games. There are a lot of hot clubs here in the 90s. This is a place you were doing business as well . Lived, worked and played right here, yes. It was a good time. Back then, he had no idea about the danger lurking 150 miles south and a lifestyle away that would change his life forever. Rural, tranquil georgetown, illinois, is where teri roach and husband loren were raising their 15yearold daughter jessie and two other children, far removed from bigcity crime. Everybody knew who everybody was, so they were more conscious of what was going on usually. You could count on somebody to get after your kids if they needed it. In 1993, jessie was a High School Sophomore devoted to home and family. Jessie was really very much of a home body. So one bike ride up the road and back, she was done. Then she would be watching gone with the wind. One monday in september, jessie went out for a bike ride. But just minutes later, her sister noticed jessies beloved bike down on its side in the middle of the road. Not on the side of the road, middle of the road. Yeah. She would have put the kick stand down, stood the bicycle up. She would never lay the bicycle down. I immediately went down there theres the bicycle. Its like i knew something was wrong. Gary miller was the Deputy Sheriff dispatched to the scene. The more we learned about the family and the girls background, we just didnt feel that she was staying away by choice. The haunting image of a bike tipped over and abandoned terrified all the investigators and of course jessies family. I mean, you never lose the hope for them not to come walking in, you know. You still hope that. But we knew she was just not going to walk away. After six weeks, jessies parents worst fears were realized. Her body, beaten and sexually violated, was discovered in a cornfield. It can never be easy telling a parent that their child is dead. No, it wasnt, but at least we were able to tell them, this is her, shes gone. We were able to erase all doubts. Gary miller had a murder case to solve, and it was now a federal case involving prosecutor Larry Beaumont as well, since jessies body had actually been found across the Illinois State line. For the next year, miller did lots of leg work, but to no avail. Every day you get up, are you thinking about this case . Oh, every day. What have i missed . Exactly. I know this case shook him from the beginning. He would check any and all leads that would involve young girls and kind of run them down. Then in late 1994, millers persistence finally paid off. A man in a van had been reported chasing two teenager girls in jessies hometown of georgetown. Miller traced the van to a man named larry hall from wabash, indiana, a threehour drive from georgetown. Your heartbeat starting to pick up a little bit now . Oh, yeah. Thinking, this has got to be checked out. Miller learned that hall was a gung ho civil war reenactor, a pretend Union Soldier who traveled the midwest to fight fantasy battles. Miller immediately drove to wabash to interview hall, who wasnt saying much. So miller showed him a photo of jessie roach. When i put the picture down, he flinched, raised his arm up, turned in his chair. And refused to look at the picture. Convinced larry hall was hiding something, miller became obsessed with making a case against him. Days later, back in illinois, miller turned up a huge lead. He found witnesses who vividly remember hall from a revolutionary war reenactment in the georgetown area the very weekend before jessie was abducted. To them, hall stood out for his bushy muttonchops sideburns, but also for playing a soldier who was fighting the wrong war. He was wearing a civil war uniform, and he had a civil war hat. At a revolutionary war reenactment. Exactly. Armed with this new information, Deputy Sheriff miller returned to wabash for a second crack at hall. This time, he pressed his suspect harder, stressing that halls fellow reenactors had seen him near georgetown. He came along to the point he said, well, you know, i go to so many reenactments, i could have been there and i just dont remember because i go to a lot of them. He was giving a little more ground. Right, yeah. Miller seized the opening and kept at it. Finally he said hall came clean and confessed that he abducted, sexually violated, and strangled jessie roach to death. How much detail did he give you about the killing of Jessica Roach . Very good detail, what he actually did and what took place. Not only that, miller says larry hall confessed to other killings, including a coed from Indiana Wesleyan University in nearby marion, indiana, named Tricia Reitler. He did say he was there. Deputy miller didnt know much about tricia, he called on the local Indiana Police handling that case. But when marion detective jay kay and other indiana cops arrived, hall was suddenly telling a much different story. He denied confessing to any killing, including jessies and tricias. Whats more, he claimed it was all a misunderstanding about disturbing dreams he had. He takes us out to a location where in my dreams i strangled here and left her lay here. We searched the woods and searched the area and never really found anything. The indiana cops familiar with hall were not at all surprised by his actions. Some of them like jay kay thought hall might be a wannabe, a pretender who gets his kicks from confessing to crimes he didnt commit. Is it possible hes simply obsessed with these cases but not involved . Theres no doubt in my mind he does follow these cases, that he does read and is attracted to cases all over the country, you know, so the question does come is he a wannabe . Deputy sheriff miller and prosecutor beaumont, however, felt certain they had a real killer on their hands, a serial killer with a unique m. O. He would drive Cross Country to reenactments where hed play fantasy soldier, then prey on young women and kill for real. The fbi started discovering girl that were in fact missing at these various areas at the time larry hall would have been there. But the only case for which prosecutors had sufficient evidence was jessie roachs. Larry hall was arrested in connection with her death, even though he denied making that confession to miller. Hall went on trial in 1995. As a prosecutor, whats the best card youre holding . We had a statement, his confession, said he did it. Beaumont called Deputy Sheriff miller to the stand to testify that hall had indeed admitted that he abducted and killed jessie after he spotted her with her bicycle. She was walking her bike at that point. Miller testified that in his confession, hall gave him a detail that only the killer would know, that jessie was not riding her bike but walking it, a safety precaution the roaches insisted she follow when she was on their narrow road. That was never in the press, that she was walking her bike that day. Right. When you heard that, did that give more credence to the story . Oh, yeah, that just sealed it for me. I knew. I knew that he was the one. A jury unanimously agreed. It took just three hours to convict larry hall. But prosecutor beaumont believed this was just the tip of the iceberg. He felt certain hall was a serial killer, and now he had to find a way to prove it. So he began investigating Tricia Reitlers abduction, a case that wasnt his for a family he didnt know. I cant imagine sending my daughter to school and never seeing her again. And he came up with an outside the box scheme to get hall, which would risk the life of that charismatic convict he had just put away for dealing drugs. Jimmy keene. What happens when ive got to deal with these crazy killers and stuff . What if i get shanked, what if i get killed . Am i going to survive this . Jimmys getoutofjailfree card comes with a hefty price. They had your back . They had my back. Thats what you thought . 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People typically dont admit murder, sexual assaults and murders, to Police Officers unless in fact they probably have done it, so it was clear we felt he was responsible for the Tricia Reitler disappearance. She had such a zest for life, and shed walk in the room and everybody knew she was there. Tricia reitler, a 19yearold psych major at Indiana Wesleyan University, was on the way to becoming a family counselor. Her goal was to be able to put families back together again. Then in march 1993, donna and gary reitler receive that latenight phone call every parent dreads. A cop from marion, indiana, was on the line. He said, do you know where tricia is . In my heart i knew something was drastically wrong. Tricia walked to an offcampus supermarket and never returned to her dorm. More than 25 years later, her parents are still waiting. And we have no answers, and somebody out there, thats what eats at me, somebody out there has that answer for us. Tricia reitler wasnt even prosecutor beaumonts case, but he was deeply moved by her parents. That was always a horrible crime to me. I knew about the facts of the case, i knew about the family. I never met them, but i read all the newspaper articles and the accounts of them, you know, asking for help. Beaumont felt certain that suspected serial killer larry hall was responsible. Not only did hall live 25 minutes from indiana wesleyan, he had been identified chasing two coeds there just a week after tricia went missing. So in the summer of 1995, a month after convicting hall for jessie roachs murder, beaumont was leading a search for tricia. It was in those same indiana backwoods where hall had told indiana authorities he dreamt he killed and buried tricia. I wanted to feel like i did everything i could to see if we could find her body. But after two days searching in sweltering heat and humidity, tricias body didnt turn up. We couldnt find anything. Doesnt mean it wasnt there. Then beaumont decided to try something completely different. I came up with the idea of putting somebody in the prison cell with him to see if we can get him to tell us what he did with Tricia Reitler. They didnt think you were crazy . Most people did think we were crazy, yeah. But i was able to convince them we should do it anyway. Enter jimmy keene, the drug dealer beaumont had just convicted and sent to a low security prison. Why did he stick out in your mind . Because i knew he was kind of a con man. He was smart. I knew if anybody could pull it off, he would probably be the one to be able to pull it off. He said, youve been trained in martial arts. He said, you can go into a dangerous environment where a lot of people cant. You can maintain and protect yourself in an environment like that. In return, beaumont offered jimmy freedom. But first, jimmy would have to exact more than a confession. I told him unless we found a body, he would get no credit. No body, you get nothing. Jimmy was skeptical, he was a drug dealer, not a criminal profiler. He knew this was a mission impossible. He said no. But then fate intervened. Jimmys dad suffered a stroke. Weeks later, frail and sickly, he came to visit jimmy. My dad was in a wheelchair. Now this is big jim, the guy who had been superman to me my whole entire life. We cried through the window to each other and we talked for a while. He didnt know about the offer. Nobody knew about it. Jimmy realized he had a one time only opportunity to fix the mess he made for himself and get out while his dad was still alive. As soon as we were done with the visit, i called my lawyer, said, tell beaumont im going to take him up on his offer. The mission was on. So on august 3rd, 1998, federal marshals escorted jimmy into the psychiatric prison. Once they stepped out the door, i was on my own. Jimmys cover story was that he was a convicted weapons runner whose 40year sentence pushed him over the edge and landed him in the psych prison. A psych prison filled with killers. His one inside contact, the chief psychiatrist, couldnt protect him, nor could his outside lifeline, a female fbi agent who visited as his girlfriend to monitor his progress. I did have a hotline to her, too, if i got caught in a dangerous situation, i could get a hold of her. The deal was, they would have me out in 24 hours. They had your back. They had my back. At least you thought. Thats what i thought. When keenes mission began, it was all about him, his shot at freedom. He had few feelings, if any, about Tricia Reitler or her family. All he wanted was to get in and out with tricias location, and as fast as possible. Day one, breakfast in the mess hall. Jimmy zeroed in on larry hall. I was waiting with my tray, and i look over, and there he is. 20, 25 feet away from me. Sitting there all by himself. It felt like a magnet was compelling me to come to him. Finally i bumped shoulders with him on purpose. Jimmy explained he was a brandnew inmate needing directions to the library. Hall obliged. I kind of slapped him on the shoulder, i said, thanks a lot, i appreciate that from a cool guy like you. After that, they occasionally talked. But the next step came when jimmy was invited to join halls breakfast club. Which in the prison system, its a big thing of who youre invited to have your breakfast with. Keene thought he was making progress. But then prison politics got in the way. I left out of the chow hall one morning and a few really big, muscular guys came up to me, hey, the old man wants to talk to you right now, right now he wants to talk to you. The old man was celebrity mafioso vincent the chin, known as the oddfather, who used to wander new york city in his bathrobe, pretending to be nuts. He goes hey, boy, whats wrong with you, whats wrong with you. What are you hanging around them baby killers for . He goes you hang with us from now on. He goes you hang around those people, maybe somebody comes up, puts a knife in your back. He would be at my cell early morning, jimmy, get up, get up, were going to play bocci. I said what about breakfast . He said we will play first. All very nice about the youre trying to get out of prison. Exactly. The chin was taking up jimmys valuable time, making it harder to even talk to hall. Then he learned halls favorite show was americas most wanted. So one saturday night in the tv room, jimmy would make a daring move, putting his body on the line, just to gain larrys trust. Coming up, jimmys new best friend shares a nightmare. It was probably the hardest thing ive ever done in my life, to listen to this kind of stuff and not just rip him apart. When dateline continues. safe drivers save 40 guys guys check it out. Safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 thats safe drivers save 40 . It is, thats safe drivers save 40 . Hes right there. Its him hes here. Hes right here. Hi hi. Hey thats totally him. Its him thats totally the guy. Safe drivers do save 40 . Click or call for a quote today. But when allergies and congestion strike, take allegrad. A nondrowsy antihistamine plus a powerful decongestant. So you can always say yes to putting your true colors on display. Say yes to allegrad. Your cells. Trillions of them. To putting your true colors on display. Thats why centrum contains 14 key nutrients to help feed your cells, nourishing your body inside and out so you can focus on what matters most. Centrum. Feed your cells. Fuel your life. Hello. Im dara brown. Here is what is happening. More than 36,000 americans have died of covid19 as the total number of coronavirus cases continues to rise in the united states, reaching an estimated 700,000. The hardesthit areas continue to be places like Nursing Homes and va hospitals with current hot spots concentrated in the northeast. Tonight at 8 00, join musicians lady gaga, stevie wonder, elton john, lizzo for a starstudded event on msnbc and nbc to raise money for the world health organization. Now back to dateline. Welcome back to dateline. Im craig melvin. Convicted drug dealer jimmy keene was on a mission. After making a deal with a federal prosecutor, he had infiltrated a psychiatric prison. His goal, to get suspected serial killer larry hall to ood might to the murder of 19yearold Tricia Reitler and reveal the location of her body. If successful, jimmy would end his prison sentence. Here is lester holt with inside man. By the fall of 1998, after several months in missouris toughest federal prison, jimmy keene could have won a popularity contest. He charmed everyone, just as beaumont knew he would. He even won over some convicts with his Lending Library of pornographic magazines. And hes managed to placate the chin and the mob fak son by day, while circling his pray, suspected serial killer larry hall, with oneonone bull sessions at night. We just talked about a lot of normal things, hung out. Made him feel like i was wanting to be his friend. But it wasnt fast enough for keene, who feared someone might recognize him and blow his cover. If you went by the fbis technical terms, i was pretty much staying right on pace. But from my point of view of being in this place, it was starting to get very hard. On the outside, the mission mastermind, Larry Beaumont, could only sit and wait for secondhand news on how this crazy scheme of his was going. Now were you pacing the floors, waiting for updates, during all this . I dont know if i paced the floors, but i was eager to get updates. I had information they were starting to trust him, they were talking, that kind of thing. But beaumont had absolutely no idea that a breakthrough moment had arrived. It was a saturday night. Keene and hall were in the prisons tv room, watching americas most wanted again. And here comes this big prisoner. Hes a big, muscular, buff guy. He walked over to the tv, he turned the channel. Hall looks at me, quietly mumbles under his breath, hey, thats not right, i was watching that. I thought, you know what, this is a prime opportunity for me. Jimmy, a martial arts expert who had continued working out in prison, was ready for this moment. He got up and changed the channel back. He jumped up, slobbering all over the place. You turn that channel again ill rip your hand off, you dont touch that tv, blah blah blah, going on all crazy and stuff, he turns the channel, sits back down. I just looked at him, i turned the channel again. He jumped up, starts cussing at me. I finally threw a particular cuss word at him that i knew was going to set him off. As soon as i did, he took a wild haymaker swing at me and i come up with an uppercut, nailed him. Kicked him through three rows of chairs, jumped on him, and i beat him to a pulp. Hall had a ringside view of saturday nights main event. Afterward he staunchly defended his friend as a retaliator, not an instigator, in the brawl. Youre larry halls new hero . Yes, i became his new best friend and hero, too. Jimmy could sense his heroics brought him closer to hall. And now he was ready to make a bold move. In the prison library, jimmy had figured out a strategy to draw hall out on Tricia Reitler. I noticed he was reading his hometown newspaper. And that was really important eventually for me to start cracking into his psyche. Even though the goal was tricias body, jimmy decided to ask first about something already public knowledge. Halls conviction in the jessie roach case. Jimmy fibbed that his mother lived near wabash and read about jessies case and other stories involving hall. She gets that newspaper from that hometown where youre from, i said, and all the newspaper stories said youve killed multiple women. That was a big risk though. It all was a big risk. I said larry, i dont care what youre in here for, be honest to me, thats all. Just tell me what happened, man, im still going to be your friend no matter what. I said, ive had girls do me wrong in my life, i understand how girls can get under your skin and how they can be bothersome to you. Jimmy pressed hall about jessie roach. At last, hall began to open up, recalling that september day in 1993. He was driving a back country road and he seen her walking her bicycle. Hall then told jimmy exactly how he abducted and killed jessie. You must have been revolted. Oh, god, lester, it was probably the hardest thing ive ever done in my life, to have to sit there and pretend to be his friend, to listen to this kind of stuff, and not just rip him apart. But i knew what the mission involved, i knew what was at stake for me, i knew what was at stake for the peoples families, you know that were still, you know, trying to find their daughters. A major transformation was taking place. Jimmy was starting to care about more than just himself. And now he was determined to squeeze the most crucial confession out of larry hall. And not just for himself, but for the family of Tricia Reitler. I started thinking, i dont know where this is still going to lead, how long this is going to take, but something is now happening. Coming up a disturbing discovery. Has jimmy keene solved the mystery of the missing girls. I said, what are these things . He said, they watch over the dead, jimmy, they do. When dateline continues. Your occasional digestive upsets 24 7. So where you go the pro goes. Go with align, the pros in digestive health. Jimmy keenes five months of heel had all paid off. Hall described in gruesome detail how he murdered jessie roach. Ive opened the door and he felt he could trust me now. But jimmy felt he had to wait until going for the goal line. How did you approach him. I tried the hometown newspaper employ again. I said, what happened there. He plotted the next move. Days later, he thought the time was right. He tried that hometown newspaper ploy again. He said he tried to kiss her and when he did she started fighting very violently. He said she was a very strong girl and she fought stronger than anybody had ever fought before. And did he admit it . He said that he had killed her and he knew he had done it again and these are his words, that he knew he had done it again. And he said he went way out in the woods and he buried her way out in the woods. Hall gave a general location for tricias body, near a river in indiana. But jimmy needed more specific information. Luckily, he seemed to stumble into it a few nights later when he spotted hall inside the prison woodshop, a restricted area. Theres nobody at the door, no guards or anything. I went in there, and as i came up from behind him, he had all these little different statues lined up, 10, 15 of them maybe. I couldnt tell what they were at first. As i got closer, i noticed he had a big map laid out. He dove on that map and folded it up really fast and slid it off the side of the table. I go, what are these things anyway . He said theyre these little falcons, they watch over the dead, jimmy, they do. And they look like . A goodsize chess piece. Jimmy had a strong feeling his woodcarved falcons and map were journal keeping by a serial killer. That map had little red dots over it of illinois, indiana, wisconsin. Youd look down at this map, you could see all of those little spots are burial spots where hes got somebody. All those months of dangerous, painstaking work paid off. Jimmy had cracked the case. Mission accomplished. Once you see the map, the falcons, you want to tell the fbi about it, right . I did. I went to the hotline i had for the fbi girl. I called. I got some type of voice recording, it was after hours. So jimmy left a message for his fbi contact to come get him, the map, and the falcons. His freedom and the answers to tricias parents prayers were now just hours away. I was elated. I felt i wrapped this up. Youre expecting troops to come marching in. Expecting the troops to come marching in. And didnt quite work that way. What he couldnt know was his fbi contact didnt get his voice mail, and his one inside contact, the chief psychiatrist, was on vacation. Then you get a little full of yourself, didnt you . I did. I went back to my cell, was really happy. I thought, you know what . 24 hours they said theyd have me out of here, i got what they need, this is it. So i went across so his cell over there. Impulsively, jimmy decided he couldnt leave prison without giving his fake friend a piece of his mind. The repulsiveness i felt about him throughout the whole time i had to stay being his friend and the disdain and dislike i had for him, that i thought it was good for me to unload on him and tell him what i really thought of him and who he really was. I said, you know, im going to be going home tomorrow, larry. Id said, youre a crazy killer. I started calling him everything you could think with that, jimmy returned to his cell and waited to be released. Youre going home the next day, you think, and things take another turn. About 5 30 in the morning, hear some little lady in a white doctor smock come walking in. It was halls psychologist, and she was furious that jimmy had blasted her patient, turning him into an emotional wreck. She told the guards, grab him, take him, throw him in the hole. They put me in the hole, keep me in there. Im not really worried. So what . Fbis going to be here, they told me 24 hours, theyll have me out of here. Morning turned into afternoon turned into evening. The cavalry hadnt arrived. This was hard time at its hardest. You cant see if its day or night because youre in the hole. But you can tell what time of the day or night it is by the meals coming in the slot. Heres coming breakfast, lunch, dinner. Here is coming breakfast again and here is coming lunch again. Im like, where are these guys . My thoughts were they did me wrong. They got what they needed, they pulled the info and they pulled the rug out from under me. Beaumont was looking for him, too. We were like, where could he be . Hes in the prison, for gods sakes. Coming up they lost you. Yeah, they lost me. But had they also lost their best chance at finding the body of trisha reitler. When dateline continues. Happen every day. People are surprising themselves the moment they realize they can du more with less asthma. Thanks to dupixent, the addon treatment for specific types of moderatetosevere asthma. 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We buy a new home, and we turn into our parents. What i do is help new homeowners overcome this. What is that, an adjustable spanner . Good choice, steve. Okay, dont forget youre not assisting him. You hired him. If you have nowhere to sit, you have too many. Who else reads books about submarines . My dad. Yeah. Oh, those are progressive cant protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. Look at that. Hold on one second. Sure. Okay. Okay safe drivers save 40 guys guys check it out. Safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 thats safe drivers save 40 . It is, thats safe drivers save 40 . Hes right there. Its him hes here. Hes right here. Hi hi. Hey thats totally him. Its him thats totally the guy. Safe drivers do save 40 . Click or call for a quote today. Larry beaumont snuck jimmy in prison in 1998. He just didnt expect to lose him there. He goes off your radar. Yeah. A couple of weeks. Two weeks later, only after keens psychiatrist contact returned from vacation did they finally find jimmy. By noon, the fbi was there. And she kept apologizing. Im really sorry. Something happened with the message. At last, investigators got to search the wood shop and halls cell. But by then, the map and the falcons, items jimmy believed could lead to trisha, were gone. What were you thinking telling larry hall youre out of here and dressing him down . You know, people probably wouldnt understand the mounting pressure, that kettle is ready to boil over at any time, you know . And it just felt good to unload on the guy. The problem is, as i see it, youve unloaded against him, nobody has that map. Im disappointed i didnt wait another day or two at least. I wish i could have done more for them, but i did all i could do and i feel in my being that i did all i could do. Meantime, the people whomd benefit the most from a successful mission, trishas parents, only learned about the secret operation ten years later in 2008 when the story came out in a Playboy Magazine article. The wrightlers are thankful for jimmys courage and the corroborating details they say he got from hall, but theyre furious he blew his cover before finding their daughter. Why would you have been so close and then give it up like you did . I try not to dwell on that at all. Because it eats at me and its very hard to deal with that he was that close. Jessie roachs parents find small consolation in that jessie was the victim who tripped up hall. If something good could possibly come out of losing jessie, its the fact that hes in prison and he will never get released. Hall remains in federal prison with no possibility of parole. Hes since made more murder confessions to reporters and investigators. I sincerely believe that there are young girls out there somewhere who are alive today because larry hall is in prison. Do you think he killed before . I think he killed before and i think he would kill again. Jimmy did tell beaumont that hall had killed again, but there was no documentation. It was just jimmys word. So to be sure, the prosecutor made him take a lie detector test. And jimmy passed with flying colors. He was telling us the truth. The bottom line is we had further information that larry was responsible for trisha. A grateful beaumont decided to reward him for his brave, undercover work, releasing him from prison and scrubbing his criminal record clean. From his perspective, he expected to get nothing. But from my perspective, of course, he spnt time in the looney bin with this guy and gone through this whole process. For 15 years, jimmy had been the only one to see those falcons that hall said watched over the dead. The problem is we never got them. They disappeared. So we dont know what happened to them. Youve never seen the falcons . No. Let me show you a picture. Thats one of the falcons. Dateline took pictures of a falcon when we met larrys brother. He said larry carved it in the prison and sent it to their mother. What is it like for you to see that after all these years . Well, its definitely bizarre, but its also reassuring to me, lester, and ill tell you why. Now these falcons backs everything ive said. It says exactly what it looked like. After becoming a free man in 1999, jimmy got to spent five more years with a father he idolized before big jim passed away. And he tried to make the most of his incredible opportunity. He sees the whole experience as something that gave him a Second Chance at life. When we last met with jimmy, he had done well in real estate and cowritten a book in with the devil which tells jimmys compelling story of redemption. He said he had several hollywood projects in the works, most notably, the movie version of his book. But jimmy is especially proud that his book reenergized some cold case investigations, several targeting hall in indiana and wisconsin. At least one near a civil war reenactment site. Investigators dug up locations where hall spent time over the years and found articles of Womens Clothing and a belt modified with wooden handles, all set out for dna testing. But cold case detectives following fresh leads still havent developed enough evidence to bring charges. I did a good deed and i did a lot of good things and thats where i feel the redemption comes in. Ive done something good for the things that i did wrong. Thats all for this edition of dateline. Im craig melvin. Thank you for watching. First up on msnbc, this morning, a tale of two americas. Some states are slowly trying to reopen, but what are the risks . Others still paralyzed by the virus. State by state, the rules are dizzying. From georgia to louisiana to arizona. Many have stay at home orders that expire on april 30th. Others, like new york and connecticut, have already extended theirs through at least may 15th. A new con