Transcripts For MSNBCW Dateline Extra 20181029

The anger just surged through me. Now, a mother turns detective. Her words to me, ill never forget were, i just want to know what happened to my daughter. Join in as she hunts for a killer and searches for the truth. I wanted to put my fists through the tv. Still brings my the hair up on my neck. The confession. 18 years old, amy dodge was eager to live life on her own terms finding a job, a new apartment, and then she was stabbed to death in her bedroom, within months, a local named christopher admitted to be one of the killers. A grizzly murder captured on videotape, but for her mom, the details on tape did not give her answers. In fact, they raised more questions. Heres keith morrison. They kept him here. Deep inside the multiple walls and the armed doors, the rolls and rolls of razor wire, the confessed stabber, convicted killer that stabbed a sweet woman all those years ago. Lucky to be alive, probably, given the nature of the crime and the appeal from the girls mother for the death sentence which made what he said later on very puzzling indeed. Its the only thing his mother has. Its her only child, let him go. Thats carol dodge, and the amazing story she told us began on the worst day of her life. It was a thursday, june 13th, scene of this accident. Midmorning. She placed a call to a beauty salon to talk to her daughter, angie. I dialled angies number at work, and a lady answered, and i said, this is carol dodge, angies mom, and she said, angies been found dead. I remember saying, god, no, please, no. This cant be real. It happened, turned out, the night before in the tiny second floor walkup where the independent 18yearold just started to live her life, stabbed to death, throat cut, and she was haunted with a conversation she had with angie that very week. She said, mom, i did something really stupid. Did you say, what did you do . No, i didnt want to pry. What was it that stupid . Did it lead to murder . Idaho falls, idaho, dazzling white Mormon Temple to anchor the town and signal the beacon, moral core of american virtue, great place to raise a family, three dodge boys, a girl named angie, whose birth occasion, brother brent remembers, the biggest celebration of all. That was a pinnacle of all for my parents to have a baby girl. She learned about independence early on. Who grew up busy and strong and stubborn. Nobody got in her face because she would take care of you. She was 511 and strong. But, of course, big could be a problem for a girl. As a teenager, she was too tall, too awkward. She struggled. To make it worse, her parents marriage fell apart. Thats when angie went and just made friends with whoever accepted her. Among her new friends, jessica martinez. We both had very poor image because we had weight problems, and we wanted to be accepted not for what we looked like, but for the people that we were. Reporter jessica has since turned out fine, of course, but back then, carol worried a lot about the new friends, didnt know they, like angie, had big plans. She wanted to go to college and just be the best person she could be. Reporter now, this this little apartment, angies life was over, and grief stricken and dazed endured a murder investigation. We clearly knew there was a relationship there because it was a crime of passion. Jared and ken brown were, back then, detectives in the idaho falls p. D. , and angies boyfriend was out of town. Her other friends . Seemed to have alibis too. So they turned to the physical evidence, like this bloody hand print on her stomach, must have been left after she was dead, they figured, when the killer did something that was beyond safe, pulled down the pants, shirt, and left a deposit of see men on her body, his mark, and dna. A lot of anger and humiliation involved in this. And frustration for the cops because that dna did not match any of their possible suspects. Month after month, they chased leads into disappointing dead ends, and all the while, carol dodge haunted the investigation, practically stalking the detectives, desperate for information, begging them to find the killer. I drove to the Police Department every day that they were open. And then one day, seven months later, dead of winter, january 97, an arrest next door in nevada broke the case open. In custody was one of the less savoring friends, there he is in the funeral, carrying flowers. Now she was charged with sexually assaulting a woman at knife point. Sound familiar . While detective ken brown rushed off to question him, the other detective spoke to his friends. Why do you think your down here . Honestly, i have no idea. One of whom was a 20yearold named Christopher Taft. He was no felon, but he was an admitted druggy and, what do you know, he had a bit of a history with exSchool Resource officer, now detective. He was in trouble a time or two . He was. Just trying to help him out. I trust you, and hopefully you trust me, okay . Yes, he said, trusted him, but didnt know anything about the murder. I didnt know anything about this. But i do not know, thats the truth. Making the statement, christopher went home in the clear, apparently. Days later, the detectives asked him to come downtown again. I told him, i says, what are you doing . I says this is a murder case. His mother, vera, understood what he did not, that her son was quite possibly talking himself into big trouble. He said, mom, i dont have anything to hide, and i want to tell them that i dont know anything. That did not quite work out that way. Before long, chris wrote a statement for police saying, ben hobbs said he killed her, and i laughed it off like he was just telling me a joke. Oh, but that was just the beginning. Over the next several weeks, he was in nine times, questioning him 20 hours. Even gave him an immunity deal, and thats when his story began to evolve. Yes, he admitted to being there when ben killed angie and held her down, he admitted, when ben stabbed her, and finally, he said, he stabbed her one himself. The motive . Revenge. Supposedly angie was meddling in bens marriage, and christopher did not like that one bit, so detectives confronted ben, who denied any part of the murder, and asked them a question about angie. Was she raped . Tell me. I dont know, if she was, we could figure it out. And low and behold, he was right. That dna result came back, and the semen on her body did not belong to ben or chris. Neither one of them. What went through your heads when the dna results came back showing the attacker was not ben hobbs . If youre going to nail it down to a word, its frustration. Detectives decided that did not mean chris was lying or theory of the crime was wrong. It could only mean, they decided, they had to expand the theory. Ben and chris were guilty. They were sure of it. That mystery dna had to come from a third man, third attacker, so they put chris back in the Interrogation Room asking, was a third man involved in the crime . And sure enough, chris said, yes, there was a third man. But no matter how many times detectives asked, he couldnt or wouldnt tell them who it was. So prosecutors made a decision. If he was not going to tell them the whole truth, he would not get his deal. Chris was charged with murder, but only chris. Not enough evidence to go after hobbs or anyone else. The announcement caught carol by surprise. Detectives kept her in the dark until now. One look at christopher in court, and she knew she wanted him dead. I mean, it was finally looking somebody in the eye, i thought was the devil who had taken my daughters life. Chris was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for angies murder and 20 years for rape. Which is when carols search began. Her own investigation filled with danger and surprise and troubling discoveries. One discovery so disturbing that angies mother reached out for help. Coming up the anger just serged through me. The search for the truth would hold some chilling surprises. Still brings the hair up on the back of my neck. When the confession continues. T, just hit me on the old horn. Man toms my best friend, but ever since he bought a new house. Tom its a 10 cover . Oh, okay. Didnt see that on the website. Hes been acting more and more like his dad. Come on, guys jump in the waters fine tom pritchard. How we doin . Hi, there. Tom pritchard. Can we get a round of jalapeno poppers for me and the boys, please . Ive been saving a lot of money with progressive lately, so. Progressive cant protect you from becoming your parents. But we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. But we can protect your home and auto when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie thats amore when the world seems to shine like youve had too much wine thats amore bells will ring ting a ling a ling ting a ling a ling more to love. Applebees new neighborhood pastas. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. I am a techie dad. N. I believe the best technology should feel effortless. Like magic. At comcast, its my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. My name is mike, im in Product Development at comcast. Were working to make things simple, easy and awesome. In the years after angie dodges murder, the man who confessed to taking part in the killing, Christopher Taft, was tucked away in state prison, az accomplice, tucked in prison for another felony was never charged with the murder, and Idaho Falls Police told the mother, carol, they still couldnt find the third man, the one who left dna on her body. Thats when carol become, her word, obsessed. If the police could not track down the daughters killer, well, then, she would. The anger just surged through me. And thats when i went to the streets, and i lit literally put 60,000 miles on my truck searches for the killer. Putting yourself in harms way. Zblo absolutely. I remember going to a place, you need to leave already somebody hurts you. I had gun put to my head one right. Leads that never worked out, but ended up in front of the apartment where she was murdered. I stared at that house, stared at windows, and tried to figure out how scared she must have been. Something else she couldnt stop doing . Reading police reports, practically memorizing them. I dont sleep, and i get up, and i just felt, what part of this dont i understand . Didnt make sense . None of it made sense. In one of the reports, she found a phrase, which, the more she read it, sounded out of play in the dna world. It was about pubic hairs, which, in addition to the semen was found on her body. It was written in the report as its similar or the same as the victim. I said its angies or its not. Its not either or. Not in todays scientific world. She read an arable about an internationally known dna expert that happened to live and work right in idaho. How does it feel to be recognized dna expert . Its fun. No, no, its fun, i did fruit flies and nobody invited me to talk on television. This is the expert, dr. Gray, a fruit fly study who now spreads his excitement to the university. The work is not all in the classroom, and, in fact, his path changed in 2004 when she was asked to test dna that led to an innocent man being freed from prison in georgia. The doctor wrote a book, and just like that, the doctor found a new calling. Hes now in high demand. In 2011, he was part of the team credited with freeing amanda knox, an American College student imprisoned in italy, and in his spare time, hes the founder and director of idahos Innocence Project. Its an unfortunate thing our name is innocence because, honestly, ive worked on, i think, 13 exonerations now, four of the ones in georgia, they found the actual perpetrator, so to those four guys, im the guilty project. So, now, the coincidence you just couldnt make up. The very week she left a phone message for the doctor asking for help, idaho Innocence Project had just taken on a new case. The case of the man convicted of killing carols daughter, and the doctor called her back. Her words to me, ill never forget were, i just want to know what happened to my daughter. And, you know, still brings the hair up on the back of my neck. Curiosity surprise you . The knowledge surprised me. Shes turned all of that love and devotion for her daughter into a very careful record of this case. So she read that report to him, the one that said the pubic hairs found were similar to or same as the victim. He goes, they are hers or they are not. Just as you thought. Well, where are the hairs . I said, i assume they are still in evidence. She called the idaho falls Police Department finding the hairs in the envelope in the Evidence Room where they were stored for years. They said the hairs were sent to the crime lab where state of the art dna tests could show that chris was there or ben was there at the crime scene, or that the entirety of the physical evidence was left by an unknown third man. That was the fundamental question that was huge, and the answer from the dna left no doubt. Its all one person who did this, in terms of the dna. One, killer. The science said there was no evidence there were three attackers in her apartment that night as the police said, but just one. And that remarkable news could be meaning only one thing according to the idaho Innocence Project. Chriss story was a false confession. He was not there. He was an innocent man. The theory of multiple killers . Ridiculous, he said. To imagine that there is a group of criminals who know about dna and are so careful, what did they do . Planted somebody elses semen and pubic hair and cleaned up their own dna . That conclusion that the killer was never caught came down like a hammer to the head on angies mother. I was extremely angry when they have dna, not once, but twice, that belongs to the same person and its not chris, something cease wrong. So what did you do . I met with the chief. I asked for copies. The videotapes, in which christopher confessed to taking part of the murder, in most accounts, she knew more about the case than anyone, but what she had not done was watch the more than 20 hours of the interrogati interrogation. Now, she did. Watched every minute. When she was done, she was a changed woman. Looking at a brand new case. Coming up theres times i wanted to put my fists through the tv. The tale of the tapes. What exactly had she found . When the confession continues. I switched to geico and saved hundreds. Excuse me. Winner thats a win. But its not the only reason i switched. Hi geico has licensed agents who i can reach 24 7. Great savings and round the Clock Service . Now thats a winwin. Winner. Winner. Yay me oh, hi good luck. Switch to geico®. Its a winwin. Experience the lexus rx with advanced safety, standard. Lease the 2018 rx 350 for 439 a month for 36 months. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. door bell rings its ohey. This is amazing. With moderate to severe ulcerative colitis, are you okay . Even when i was there, i never knew when my symptoms would keep us apart. So i talked to my doctor about humira. I learned humira can help get, and keep uc under control when other medications havent worked well enough. And it helps people achieve control that lasts. So you can experience few or no symptoms. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Be there for you, and them. Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, control is possible. That skills like teamwork, attention to detail, and Customer Service are critical to business success. Like the ones we teach here, every day. Welcome back to dateline extra. In the eyes of the doctor of the idaho Innocence Project, the dna evidence in the murder of angie dodge spoke loud and clear. There was just one killer. It was not Christopher Taft. Why, then, would chris confess to the crime . Police had no doubt he had told the truth, but did the interrogation tapes tell a different story . Here, again, is keith morrison. More than a dozen years after her daughters murder, the ground beyond her feet were quaking. Dna tests revealed none of imp kated confessed murder of christopher kaft, but pointed to a mystery man still at large. And the woman who relentlessly prodded the police to find her daughters killer began to doubt everything the detectives had been telling her. For 13 years, they had me confessed chris was the murder. They said, he confessed, he confessed. But, was it a real confession . She asked for, and got, a complete set of the videotape confessions. What she saw amazed her. By this time, she knew more than she did a decade before, knew, for example, the then detective, who ran the interviews, was a School Resource officer, wellknown to a young chris. I trust you, and hopefully you trust me, okay . Ferman told chris, trust me, chris, you got to trust me, okay, we go way back, chris. And i think that it was tied to respect adult, and he was a follower. He watched as chris insisted he knew nothing, and then she saw detectives as they are trained to do subtly make him an active apartment. Listen, for example, hypothetically, chris, you were there, okay . Okay. Hypothetically, chris, how do you think it happened . I remember chris saying, you mean, like a tv show . Next, police administered polygraph after polygraph with the same result, saying he was deseptemb decepti deceptive, and when promised immunity, the story about ben hobbs changed. Got a knife. Then just cut her. But, perhaps, what troubled her the most was seeing how confused taft was, even ten days after the first interviews, he still seemed not to know what house she lived in. Lived on the corner . On the block. Police kept correcting him. For a guy who took part in a murder, he seemed not to know much about the layout of her apartment. Its easier to draw it out. When asked to draw it, he couldnt do it. Detectives even showed him where the murder occurred. Happened here in the bedroom. Thats back here. Oh, yes, and there was more. Police had always told her that chris did things only a killer would know, location and position of angies body, the clothes she was wearing. Now, she could see for herself, on tape, the reason chris would know those things. She was stunned to see police had shown taft photos of the crime scene. If you dont remember it, this jogs your memory and well go from there. Theres times i wanted to put my fist through the tv. Finally, remember that the Police Theory of the crime, after dna did not match taft or hobbs was that three people committed the murder together. Detectives spent hours, literally, trying to drag the name of that third man out of taft, and when carol saw the tape, well, you watch it. The name doesnt come to my head. Im just going to say jeff. By the time you went through all the tapes, what did you think about chris taft, the man you believed all the years how did they do this to me . Managed to keep someone in prison for all these years, and its a responsibility its not there. After that moment, she made a decision. She would do more than search to find her daughters killer. She would actively work to free Christopher Taft, the only man convicted of the murder. I think that chriss case truly got taken seriously after i made my contact with boise state. She was the first victims Family Member who came forward to work with the Innocence Project on a case. I mean, shes the leading edge of a group of people who have come forward and said, you know, we just want to know what happened. No matter who was now on his side, chris taft was facetoface with two very uncomfortable truths. One, years of appeals had done nothing to overturn his conviction and prison sentence. And, two, the detective who put him behind bars went on to a much more powerful position in idaho falls, and he was still absolutely certain that chris taft was as guilty as sin. The former detective reveals what makes him so sure of the guilt. Coming up he took us into the bedroom and relived that night. You could see it on his face. He was reliving it. When the confession continues. Know what goes great with steak and shrimp . More shrimp. And you know what goes great with that shrimp . You guessed it. More shrimp. Steak and unlimited shrimp, starting at 15. 99. Only at outback. At dewars, all our whiskies are aged, blended and aged again. Its the reason our whisky is so extraordinarily smooth. Dewars. Double aged for extra smoothness. A search and rescue effort has been launched for the boeing plane, and they report at least one ship in the area saw debris believed to be from the plane, but no sign of surviving passengers and crew. We should note, though, this is preliminary information; and its not yet been confirmed by nbc news. Well continue to follow this story as we get new information. Now, back to dateline. Welcome back to dateline extra, im craig melvin. It was more than a dozen years since angie dodge was murdered, and in that time, her mother believed Christopher Taft was innocent, pouring over the interrogation tapes and stunned to see a confused young man grasps for details. She now believed chriss confession was coerced, not true, the investigators told us, but why were they so certain . Listen for yourself. Here, again, is keith morrison. By the time we visited the city of idaho falls in march 2012, the angie dodge murder case was to some, a piece of city history, but no idahos Innocence Project and the founder, it was a misjustice and a cause. If theres dna, for gods sakes, believe the science, people are not that accurate. The dna is very precise. And 15 years after the murder of her daughter, angies own mother did what was once unthinkable. She had joined forces with the Innocence Project. The city of idaho has got it wrong. Wanted somebody to take you seriously. Yes. And in the years since the murder, finding the killer was her reason for living, through three heart attacks. The death of an estranged husband, off on on battles with the Idaho Falls Police, and now she had to fight that power in a whole new way because . Remember the detective who befriended chris in a previous position as a School Resources officer . The fellow got that confession as planning to be the mayor of the town . True. Does that anything to do with it as far as you can tell . People have to protect their story without looking any deeper and saying, you know, is this really accurate . The Idaho Falls Police had taken a false confession, put the wrong man if prison, and failed to find the real killer . We spoke to the former detective and then mayor, and he said, no, just not true. How did he know . It was ferman who took taft to visit the crime scene in the many interviews all those years ago. Let me tell you, they were not in the room with me when he took us up the stairs, into the bedroom, and relived that night. You could see it on his face, he was reliving it. Of course, the critics would not be able to see that because it was one of the only times during the investigation when the police did not videotape chris. But i have no doubts in my mind that chris taft is part of a homicide itself. Right. You cant fake that. You cant because, what is it, 25 of all dna resolved cases, where someone is released from prison, turns out theres a false confession. People confess to things they do not do. When know that, but they dont know the details of the case. Chris knew and knows the minute details of that case. He, of course, claims he knows them because he was fed them. We politely disagree with that. Is it possible, at least, there was suggestion involved in these things before he actually said them . For us to say theres no possibility, anything could have happened, we cant say that, but we can say we reviewed the tapes over and over, and we had a jury who reviewed those tapes the two guys who interviewed this person over and over again, and found that the first interview, the second interview, the third interview, the fourth interview, the fifth interview, he lied like a sidewalk, and you get to the seventh, and thats the gospel truth . No. Each interview, he brought out information he absolutely knew, was not fed to, the color clothes she was wearing, the position of the clothes, how many stabbings, the diagram where she was at in the room. Interesting. Many times, as the interviews progressed, chris claimed to know nothing about the clothes angie dodge was wearing. Do you know what she had on . No. Recall any clothes . I dont know. But some details in the interview could be interpreted to back up the claims by the police. Once, for example, before christopher was shown the photos, he seems to, in a guessing way, know what she was wearing. I have in mind a tshirt and sweats. Although, hes wrong about the color of the clothes, after being asked many times, if the clothes were half on or half off, pulled up, pushed down, he does correctly say this about her pants. One leg, like the detectives said chris talked about ben hobbs hitting angie behind the ear. We have evidence to back it, bruising where he says that ben hit her. So, detectives insisted they were right. Ben hobbs was the ring leader, chris taft was involved in the attack, an an unknown third man left the dna in the form of semen. Three attackers, identity of the third a secret, unrevealed by the other two all those years later, and the fact that dodge disagreed with the theory and support the chris taft, the only man in prison for the murder . Whats it like to know that carol is actively campaigning for release and believe hes an innocent man. I think its part of the process in some respects, her heart has been broken. Shes convinced its the wrong guy. When i heard that, was surprised. Its been a roller coaster ride for 16 years, she needs closure, tomorrow, the next day, chris could be guilty in her mind again. So, perhaps now would be a good time to talk to the man in the middle of all of this. The serial confessor, Christopher Taft. Coming up i didnt kill nobody. So why would he confess . Tackling the biggest mystery of all. When the confession continues. So its no wonder we announced our new 9grain wheat sub in the middle of a wheat field. When youve got news this big, its not enough to just add it to the menu. Wheres the freak yeah in that . To celebrate a new sandwich with a taste so inspired, we introduced it in the place that inspired it. The new jimmy johns 9grain wheat sub, now available at a jimmy johns much, much, much closer to you. Wheat yeah freak yeah™ ha have. Welcome back. Chris tafts supporters insisted dna evidence proved he was not involved in the murders of angie dodge, but police were convinced he was the killer. According to the detectives, he shared grizzly details of the crime only the killer could know. What did chris have to say about that confession so many years ago . Youre about to hear his side of the story. Here, again, is keith morrison. There comes a time in every tale to meet the man in the center of the story, and here he is. Christopher taft. No longer the endless pot head seen in the videotapes in sne19. When we met, he had done a decade of hard time. When people look at you, what do you want them to know about you . Ive been so wronged all these years. How could individuals do something to another human being like theyve done no me. Innocent man . Yes, sir, i am. Of course everybody in prison is, innocent, right . If you look at the entire case, the dna, none of it points to me. On that point, theres little dispute, of course, but how did chris taft get here . Thats a familiar story to many families. The sweet little boy shown in all the pictures of a typical childhood, carefully kept by his mom, vera, smoked marijuana at 13, and then at 16, turned to meth. Chris dropped out of high school, got and stayed high every minute he could. He says, hanging out down by the river in idaho falls with all the kids his mother warned him about. And that, he says, is how the name came up after the murder of angie dodge when police scoured the city for suspects who could match the dna left behind after the murder. So, too, he was asked to submit dna. Did you think anything of it . No. I had no reason to be scared. Reporter but then, not a word, for months, until, youll recall, january of 1997, when taft was brought in for questioning after his friend, ben hobbs was arrested for a nevada sexual attack, police said was similar to the murder of angie dodge. I didnt know what i was brought in for. Didnt connect with the angie thing at all . No. I thought i was going in for drugs. Reporter as you saw over the course of several weeks, he went from saying he knew nothing about angies murder to being the only man charged in the case, just as his mother warned him. Where was your mother during this . Frantic. I was honest, i had nothing to do with this, mom, and i tried to explain to her, i didnt really confess. It took days to get to a story where i actually made a confession. One of the difficulties was your story kept changing, right . Very much, it did. I mean, you went from saying, i dont know anything about this to then saying, well, maybe ben had something to do with it to then, well, maybe theres a third guy involved, to, wait, i was there, and, oh, yeah, and i cut her. Where did that come from . Trying to give them what they wanted to hear just to appease them. Wait a minute. Why would you say you cut her . During the time, mr. Ferman, he said, hip thetically, even if you did cut her, it doesnt matter, well get you a deal and help you. You just need to help us. And, indeed, here it is, on tape, with then detective jared fermen in charge of the interview. Hypothetical, if holding on to angie or if chris took part a hold of the knife in cutting her, okay but i didnt. Would you listen . Im sorry. Okay. Hypothetical hypothetically. Okay. If you took part in any of that, thats okay because youre still here, youre still showing some good faith if you want to cooperate and a prosecutor will reconsider another possible deal. Do you believe that story . Hook, line, and sinker. Whats going on inside your stomach and brain . Scared. Trying to figure out what they want, just for them to leave me alone. Why . I didnt kill nobody. I was never there the night the murder happened. They kept focusing on if you were there, if you did do it, if you held the knife, if you did, okay, well help. I was an idiot, i believed them. And you were charged with murder . Yes. Fighting to clear his name, with the support of his mother and Innocence Project, but now the victims mother. Carol dodge came around to your side. What was that like . Amazing feeling. I appreciate her finally understanding. Im innocent. And as we spoke, for the first time in years, chris taft had reason to feel one spark of possibility. Someone in a position to change his future was going to listen. Coming up a new chance at freedom. Could that controversial confession get thrown out of court . With this confession goes, the state has lalmost no evidence. A high stakes trial with carol dodge front and center when we continue. An autonomousthinking vehicle protecting those inside and out. And its the mercedesbenz of today that will help us get there. The 2019 eclass, with innovations that will change the way we drive from this day forward. Lease the e 300 for 599 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. Do you want the same tools and seamless experience across web and tablet . Yes . Great then youre ready for power e trade. The platform, price and service that gives you the edge you need. Sweet e trade. The original place to invest online. Big corporations are making and just got a huge tax break. But the middle class is struggling. Prop c is a commonsense plan. The top 1 of businesses pay their fair share to tackle homelessness for all of us. Companies with revenue greater than 50 million pay, not Small Businesses or homeowners. The prop c plan is supported by the democratic party, teachers, and mentalhealth professionals. Vote yes on c. Big corporations pay for it, not you. Welcome back. Chris taft had spent a decade behind bars convicted of a murder he now said he did not commit. He was scared he said and confessed only to end the interrogation. Now all these years later chris was headed back to court in an attempt to have the confession thrown out. If successful it might mean a new trial, but there was another possible path to freedom, one with a very steep price. Hear what the conclusion of our story is with keith morrisson. On a quiet street in idaho falls, something was about to change in the case of her confessed killer Christopher Taft. For the First Time Since his trial a hearing on evidence was about to be held before a judge. As chris taft entered the courtroom he and his supporters finally had reason for hope. Not that the judge could review the evidence and just declare taft innocent. No, this would have to be based strictly on points of law. Idaho court of appeals had over the years thrown out all but one of tafts videotaped interviews, that being pone where he said he took part in the crime. But in this hearing it could be thrown out, too. If the court decided taft believed he was in custody when he said those incriminating things. If he thought he was unable to leave this little room. Because that would have violated his basic constitutional rights. Whats the best result from this . New trial or is it possible to have an exoneration . If this confession goes, the state has almost no evidence. I think theyd have to dismiss the case. The stakes could not have been higher for mr. Taft. His mother sat right behind him. Carol dodge was there, too. Two of her sons also. Theyve got a lot at stake. If chris taft walks free, then what . Then its who is the killer . The prosecution would rely on the word of the detective who later became idaho falls mayor. Reviewed the interviews and said chris taft was never technically in custody. Was chris taft free to leave . Yes. Thats funny his lawyers argued when it was their turn, how could a 20yearold leave as the door was barred during his interview . How could that young man who had been questioned on and off, had been spent more than a week locked up in jail watched as immunity deals were offered and later torn up, how could that kid, the lawyer asked, be expected to know he could leave whenever he wanted. Did you think if you decided not to talk to the police you would have been able to go home . No, i would not have been able to go home. But taft had to acknowledge he had indeed lied over the years, many times including in sworn affidavits used in past appeal. Youve admitted the fact that youve lied on any number of occasions. And if youve lied before, how can we believe you now . Well, of course youre going to say im a liar now. Hes just trying to save himself, but its the truth. Im innocent. Ive never committed this crime. When testimony was over, it was up to the judge. Would he order a new trial for chris taft or would he send him back to prison maybe for good . And then four months later a ruling. Chris taft was never threatened, restrained or handcuffed, said the judge. And thus was not in custody. Appeal denied. The truth will set me free someday. And youre pretty convinced of that . As the years go on, yeah. Tafts lawyers vowed to continue that fight for as long as they had to, and for the First Time Since the murder the two mothers at the center of the case could agree. You come home every day and you think i had a son. Sooner or later somethings got to break. Let him go. Its the only thing his mother has. Its her only child. Let him enjoy his mother. Let his mother enjoy him. Theres just two of them. Thats all they have. And chris case was far from over. There were more motions, more hearings. But all was the same result. Then two decades after his conviction in march 2017 a stunning twist. Prosecutors offered chris taft a plea deal downgrading his conviction to Second Degree murder and vacating his rape conviction. Chris had a decision to make. This was not an exoneration. Hed still be a killer in the eyes of it law, but hed be a free man. He accepted and was resnsed to time served, no probation or parole. After 20 years behind bars he left the hearing a free man. How are you feeling . Overwhelmed. Completely totally overwhelmed. As for van hobbs he still denies any involvement in angies murder. He declined datelines request for an interview. For the idaho innocent project the answer still lies not only in the machinery of law but in science. That dna left at the scene, it points, he says, to the simplest explanation. Not to a third man or even a second one but just one. What are the chances that a story could remain a secret for that many years if three people were involved . Secrets can be kept, but, you know, science reveals those secrets. Someone went in and committed a typical violent rape murder and left typical evidence. Theres no other person there by dna. Where is he . Where indeed. And carol dodge is still tortured, still pondering that last message from her angie, that she had done something stupid. Sounds to me that you believed she had crossed or double crossed somebody who was very dangerous. She had crossed the line and didnt have any clue of what she had gotten herself into. And neither did she, carol admits, when she setout on a quest to find a killer. Not finished, not yet. Im never going to stop looking. One day im going to look that man in the eye. One day he will be found. Hell be found. Thats all for this edition of dateline extra. Im craig melvin. Thank you for watching. Does the government have any compromising material on President Trump and his family . Does donald trump fear Vladimir Putin . Personally i believe he does. Why does he fear him . I dont know. He has loomed over the trump presidency. Theres no doubt among the american intelligence agencies the Cyber Attacks on the American Election in 2016 were ordered by Vladimir Putin. Here it comes, fake news. Here comes Cyber Attacks. It comes right out of an intelligence