>> announcer: tonight's "48 hours" mystery will continin (announcer) we all want to stay active. we don't want anything... ...to slow us down. but even in your 30s... ...your bones can begin to change. overtime, you can begin to have bone loss. calcium and vitamin d work together to help keep your bones strong. and yoplait gives you... ...20% of your daily calcium... ...and is the only leading yogurt with vitamin d in every cup. keep your bones strong every day... ...with yoplait. >> reporter: two long months passed after the court hearing. josh kezer sat in prison, afraid to get his hopes up. and then, late on february 17, 2009, judge richard callahan finally issued his ruling. >> i've spent my life in the justice system, and so i was-- i was embarrassed for our system. >> reporter: did the system make a mistake in the case of josh kezer? >> the system made a big mistake in the case of josh kezer. >> reporter: judge callahan, now the u.s. attorney for the eastern district of missouri, was so disturbed by what he saw, that he did something very unusual-- instead of ordering a new trial, he went ahead and declared josh kezer an innocent man. as you sit here today, do you believe that josh kezer had anything to do with the murder of mischelle lawless? >> absolutely not. i believe he's innocent, and i so found. >> i let out this just roar. i mean, i just let it out. i yelled. i shouted with everything i had in me. ( cheering ) >> reporter: the very next day, kezer walked out of prison, a free man for the first time in 16 years. he hugged his mother. he hugged jane williams, the social worker who had championed his case. >> for years he had had to carry that he was a monster killer who brutally killed someone which was not true. >> reporter: and then, he turned to sheriff rick walter. >> i wanted to thank him personally for what he'd done. >> reporter: both the prosecutor, kenneth hulshof, and former sheriff bill ferrell, have declined our requests for interviews. but in court documents, ferrell denies any wrongdoing. >> here we go, take care. >> reporter: and hulshof has said publicly he still thinks kezer's guilty. what do you think of that? >> i think we done the right thing and we move on and try to find out who done this. >> reporter: sheriff walter is now determined to find the killer of mischelle lawless. still deeply mourned by her family and friends. what do you miss about her? >> just her friendship. just being able... you could tell her anything, and she wouldn't judge you. and if she loved you, she loved you. >> reporter: but someone hated her enough to kill her. sheriff walter still believes it was someone mischelle knew. >> there's people of suspicion. we have right now about six or seven different people that, you know, we're definitely interested in and we're looking at. >> reporter: on that list... >> still today, i'm the number one suspect in this murder, am i, or am i not? >> reporter: that's right-- mark abbott. once a star witness for the prosecution. now, abbott's account that night raises questions. questions starting with what he says he did when he found mischelle in her car. >> i just reached in the window and i grabbed her and she came up. >> reporter: what's wrong with that story? the side window was only partly open, not wide enough, says the sheriff, to fit mark's story. >> you could reach through the window and grab somebody and set them up not the way he said. >> reporter: did you kill mischelle lawless? >> no. >> reporter: but there are a lot of people in this town who think you did. >> a lot. a lot of people think i did. >> reporter: i've also spoken to a number of people who said you bragged about it. one of them was ron burton, a gun shop owner and longtime friend of abbott's family. burton remembers one chilling conversation with abbott soon after kezer was convicted. >> he said-- and i quote-- "i took care of the bitch". and that's what he said, and he kind of had a smirky little grin on his face, and i'll never forget it because it shocked me. >> reporter: do you think he was kidding? >> no. no, i don't. >> reporter: abbott denies ever saying that. you're saying that ron burton is lying? >> lying. >> reporter: there's also an affidavit from a narcotic's detective who says abbott told him that he didn't kill mischelle, but watched another man do it. were you there when someone else killed her? >> no. he's full of ( bleep ). >> reporter: why would so many people think you're capable of something like this that they'd point the finger? >> i don't know what i did to them to anger them like that. >> reporter: they're pointing the finger at you. why? >> i do not have an answer to that. i do not. >> reporter: abbott says he never met mischelle, but her close friend melissa gaines has a different recollection. did mischelle ever mention a mark abbot? >> yes, yes, she did. she had said she had met mark abbott, one of the abbott boys, and thought he was a good- looking guy. and i told her, "mischelle, you know, don't mess with either one of the abbott boys. you know better than that." >> reporter: in fact there are two abbott boys. they're identical twins. >> those boys, they would change places with each other, you know, from little boys on. you can't tell them apart. >> reporter: which is why to this day the sheriff isn't absolutely sure which abbott brother came in to report finding mischelle. two people in the sheriff's office say it was matt. >> so was matt abbott involved? was mark involved? matt said he never was, but yet we've got two people that says he walked in and reported it. they have him down as matt abbott. so, you know, that could be a conspiracy, couldn't it? >> reporter: mark and matt abbott were later convicted on federal drug charges in 1997, making some people in town wonder if maybe mischelle lawless had something on them. >> there's a lot of theories out there. one of them was that she had information on their-- their drug dealing, and there's a lot of money, you know, involved in that, and that's motive enough for somebody to kill somebody. >> reporter: along with abbott, sheriff walter hasn't ruled out leon lamb, the last person to admit to seeing mischelle lawless alive. did you have anything to do with mischelle lawless' death? >> not at all. i loved her. >> reporter: you know that your d.n.a. was found under her fingernails. >> yes, ma'am. >> reporter: and how do you explain that? >> we had sex that night. and we were both pretty passionate people, so, you know, time and again, she did scratch me during sex. >> reporter: but leon confirms what mischelle wrote in her diary, that the couple had frequent arguments, especially when he saw her with other men. and in fact, the night of her murder, mischelle had run into leon while she was driving around with male friends. did that bother you? >> it did. you know, because we had been together for three years. >> reporter: did she leave the house upset with you or angry with you at all? >> no, not at all. i mean, like i said, we hugged, kissed, said our good nights, and that was it. >> reporter: these are only two of a half dozen suspects. >> looks like from pictures that there was some blood transfer. >> reporter: and sheriff walter needs more than theories and speculation. >> this is kind of behind the knee, right? >> reporter: he needs hard evidence. to find it, he went all the way to the netherlands, to a place known as the crime farm. ♪ [ jazz ] [ announcer ] cargo incognito. ♪ you give me fever introducing the accord crosstour. from honda. ♪ (announcer) right now, all over the country, discover card customers are getting five percent cashback bonus at grocery stores. it pays to get more, it pays to discover. >> reporter: halfway around the world from scott county, missouri, there's a rustic house in the netherlands known as the crime farm. >> i came here in hopes to find some d.n.a. we're looking to maybe get some skin cells off of some of the clothing. >> reporter: dutch forensic experts selma and richard eikelenboom, began the painstaking process of trying to find a killer's d.n.a. >> jeans, one pair. >> reporter: using techniques not widely available in the u.s., richard first examines the material with crime scopes. >> what we're looking for are small things. >> reporter: which emit different kinds of light to locate normally invisible spots of skin cells or other material. >> this is the fingers up here? >> like this. >> reporter: those spots will be tested for what's called "touch" or "grip" d.n.a. they'll compare what they find with d.n.a. samples from the people of interest on the sheriff's list. they didn't have mark abbott's d.n.a., so they're using a sample from his identical twin, matt. is the d.n.a. of identical twins identical, completely identical? >> normally, it is. >> reporter: the dutch team made an intriguing discovery that raises even more doubts about mark abbott's story. of how he pulled mischelle upright in her seat that night. where exactly did you grab her? >> on the shoulder, kind of-- might have been by the breast a little bit. i can't fully remember. but i know it wasn't too far, you know. >> reporter: if i were the driver-- >> your shoulder. >> reporter: this shoulder? >> yeah, on that side. >> reporter: but the dutch couple say they found what is likely abbott's d.n.a. in other places on lawless' clothes. i mean, did you just grab the shoulder? did you grab more of her body to pull her up? do you remember? >> i just grabbed her shoulder. >> i know what he said, where he touched her. if it's somewhere else that it was impossible for him to touch her, that's what we find, then he has a problem. >> reporter: last december, mark abbott was moved temporarily from the federal prison where he's doing time on those drug charges, to missouri for a hearing on an unrelated charge. >> walter? >> hey. he's got a lot of busy things going on. >> you're famous? >> yeah, ( bleep ), thanks. i can't thank nobody but you. >> reporter: abbott agreed to talk to sheriff walter about the lawless case, even offering his own d.n.a. sample, which was shipped off to the crime farm for additional testing. and what about leon lamb? the dutch confirmed that lamb's d.n.a. is mixed with mischelle's blood that was found under her fingernails. no surprise since lamb says he had sex with mischelle earlier the night she was killed, but they don't find anyone else's d.n.a., and that is something of a surprise. since it appears mischelle fought her attacker. >> she wouldn't take anything off anybody. she would fight if she needed to. and, you know, i believe she fought for her life that night. >> reporter: a reason to continue looking at leon, says sheriff walter, although he points out mischelle may not have made contact with her assailant. >> if she grabbed their clothing, she's not going to get any of their skin cells. unless she got them in the face, there's a good chance that we're not going to get anything. >> reporter: so far, none of the team's findings point conclusively to any one suspect, but selma eikelenboom, believes the findings can help the sheriff get someone to talk. >> now, it's now up to him. the ball is in his territory now. this d.n.a. result, it can become a leverage for the sheriff to get things starting up again. people might start talking after all that time. >> reporter: sheriff walter is hoping those d.n.a. results and further investigation, will allow him to go to a grand jury later this year. >> a lot of people are really scared about this case. >> reporter: who are they afraid of, or what are they afraid of? >> maybe they're afraid of the people that done this. >> reporter: six months after josh kezer was released, we took him back to the now-closed prison where he served most of his nearly 16 years in custody. it's now being redeveloped as a museum and office park. i mean, the fact that you lived here, do you think it makes you appreciate the things that a lot of us just take for granted? >> yeah. in a nutshell, yes. i think i see things through a different set of eyes. >> reporter: what's it like to be in here? >> strangely way too familiar. >> reporter: and where did you sleep? >> right here. i lived in this cell. swept this cell, mopped this cell. >> reporter: when you look around here, how would you describe your life now? >> oh, i am blessed. i'm highly favored. i'm living a dream. >> reporter: josh now has a job working construction. >> i would like... >> reporter: his own apartment. and he often speaks about his experience, advocating for judicial reform. he remains close with jane williams and enjoys strong support from his church community. he insists he is not bitter. >> i don't look back at my 16 years in prison and get hateful and angry about all of it. it does not excuse what was done to me. there is no excuse for that. it was wrong. it was evil. >> reporter: which may explain why he's now so eager to assist with the prison renovation. do you believe that mischelle's death will be solved, that you will find out who killed her? >> i have to believe that. >> yeah. >> i really do. >> reporter: to this day, mischelle lawless' family remains tormented by the mystery of her senseless murder. >> whoever took her life needs to pay for what they did. it's not going to bring her back, i know that. but it will help all of us rest a little easier. >> i owe that to her family to find out who done it, and i owe it to this community to find out because if there's somebody that got away with murder they need to pay for their crime. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> i am accused of some unspeakable things. >> august 17, 2005, a gruesome discovery was made. >> police discovered the body of 21-year-old jennifer cave. >> a guy i had been involved with murdered someone, and he cut up the body. >> it was the post-murder behavior that made it so grotesque. >> the cops decided that they should charge me with the mutilation. >> laura hall is a convicted felon. >> people thought that i was some kind of monster. >> she's a psychopath. >> i'm out of jail. the state is going to try to send me back to jail. i'm not going to go. i would rather be shot. it's going to be bloody. we're going to war. ,,,, captions by: caption colorado, llc (800) 775-7838 e- mail: weather woes, a combination of winds and drenching rains caused problems across maryland. good evening and thanks for joining us, everyone. i'm adam may. wild weather across the region today. several inches of rain falling very heavy at times caused all kinds of standing water on streets. this was here in northeast baltimore today. take a look at the scene with gushing water in north baltimore. the trash caused some rains to back up causing standing water in a lot of intersections. wjz is live with the latest. bernadette woods is tracking it in first doppler radar. bern? >> reporter: we want to show you that the heaviest has now pushed off to the north. there are still bands of solid rain to the south. this one right in here is about to make its way into maryland. it will continue tracking northward as we head through the overnight. so one more round of solid to heavy rain before the heaviest really starts to wind down. the storm will go on for a while longer. this is as of 10:00 tonight. bwi marshal 3.28 inches worth of rain. this is starting overnight thursday. science center nearly 3 inches of rain. frederick 2. ocean city 2.31, and the list continues down. because of all of the rain that's come down and with more still expected, we have numerous flash flood warnings and watches in effect. the eastern shore watch continues until tomorrow morning. the warnings are for various times. we have coastal flood warnings over the bay and the beaches and even urban and small stream advisories and warnings in effect for frederick, montgomery and washington county. so there's a lot going on. we're not finished yet. we'll have that forecast coming up. adam? >> the wind and rain caused havoc across the state flooding roads, basements and even bringing down trees. coverage continues right now with suzanne collins who's explaining it's been a dangerous day for some and a nuisance for others. >> reporter: families in the western part of our state had to be evacuated from their homes when melting snow and heavy rains caused severe flooding. in western maryland, emergency management officials watched the rivers swell beyond their banks, and a decision is made early saturday to get people out. >> there were some evacuations suggested for those areas out there. shelters were opened up. >> reporter: 75 were taken to higher ground. state forest rangers had to evacuate their post. in baltimore, 3 inches of rain filled city streets with water. first responders are closed all day as they help people pump out flooded houses. >> a disaster. it's like a swimming pool. >> reporter: the baltimore county firefighters went from one home to another. >> they said they could only pump for about 15 minutes that they are getting a call every 15 minutes to go to houses to pump water from basements. they are just overwhelmed. >> reporter: trees already beaten by maryland's twin snowstorms seemed to give up with this weekend's strong winds and rain. >> the ground was so saturated, the little bind of wind we've been having is bringing a lot of trees over, especially like the spruce trees and ever greens. >> reporter: on cold spring lane, a big tree falls on an awning. a crew cuts it and shredded it even though the rain is still falling. adding to the problems, debree left around the storm trains. also, people had broken gutters back then and have yet to get them fixed. >> the melt and rain from western maryland and pennsylvania will now surge towards baltimore. that could cause more flooding. wjz 13 is always on. check in for first warning weather coverage for instant updates. live doppler radar at any time if you log on to wjz.com. the crime shocked the entire mid-atlantic region. a pennsylvania couple convicted of killing and dismembering another couple in ocean city. now benjamin sifrit has filed for divorce from his wife erika. the two were convicted of killing a couple in 2002. benjamin sifrit cites a maryland law that says a court can grant the divorce on the grounds his wife is now a convicted felon. both were sentenced to decades in prison. 12 volume up tier firefighters are suspended for allegedly breaking into two buildings. three were arrested after breaking into a fire department warehouse to take equipment and nine others were arrested for breaking into a community room apartment complex to play a game of pool. despite the dreary weather, baltimore city firefighters were in the montclair area talking to residents about a new law that mandates all residential dwellings have carbon monoxide detectors. >> going door-to-door performing a neighborhood sweep checking with our residents to make certain that they have carbon monoxide detectors installed in their home. there has been a slight increase in illnesses, and we want to make sure everyone is safe. >> the maryland association of justice donated $2,000 for the purchase of carbon monoxide detectors to be installed in homes across baltimore city. in d.c., the one thing everyone in washington can agree on when it cops to health care reform is that it's extremely divisive. democrats are still trying to get enough votes to approve it. tonight as karen brown reports for wjz, it's causing regular people to come together. >> reporter: as the political divide over health care grows ever deeper -- >> to ram through a health care bill. >> we're not ramming through anything. >> reporter: around the country, folks came together for a couple coffee and conversation on how to solve the divisiveness in washington. >> i would like to see the people actually be heard. >> reporter: and what is it that you want them to hear? >> i would like them to hear that we are in pain as a country. >> reporter: the liberal coffee party movement was created in part after the health care debate degenerated into severe partisanship. >> when we saw that happen, we just lost a lot of confidence in our government. >> reporter: but democrats are still promising to pass health care legislation within the next two weeks without any republican support. >> i'm more optimistic in the last 48, 72 hours than any time recently. >> reporter: while regular folks debated the issue, republicans served up their big health care guns. senator scott brown called the legislation bitter and destructive. >> they pledged a true bipartisan effort. instead, they have resorted to bending the rules and now they intend to seize control of health care in america on a strict party line vote. >> reporter: president obama is staying in town to make sure enough democrats support the legislation, but key members of his own party are unhappy with his call to pull special state projects from the final bill. for many of these folks, they just want health care reform. >> as a wealthy country, we have people who are not getting health care coverage in obama nation. >> reporter: in new york karen brown, wjz "eyewitness news." >> the republicans and house and steat are unanimously opposed to the sweeping nation. maryland lawmakers are looking to protect people who buy individual health insurance policies. the house of delegates approve raising premiums on individual health plans more than once a year in most cases. more than 169,000 marylanders have individual health plans in 2009. as the economy slowly starts churping around, thousands of baltimore businesses and residents are looking for ways to save money pop tonight, gg barnett says one seminar gave them the help they needed free of charge. >> reporter: finding a way to earn, save and invest money comes at a small price for people at this city wide seminar. it's called money power day and it's free. but the payoff for spending a few hours on a weekend here is big. >> you can get something accomplished here today. you can get something you didn't think you were eligible for. you can get foreclosure counseling. >> reporter: joanna runs the baltimore cash campaign. it's a nonprofit group that hosts money power day. she says the slow economy increased attendance over the years. this year, a major focus at the seminar are workshops on foreclosures and boosting small businesses in the city. >> doing a workshop on how to start a small business and grow it. we see a lot of folks starting it then are like, how do i add on staff? how do i take it to the next level? >> reporter: another part of money power day is teaching kids about how to save it and how to make it. >> i learned that business is complicated but it's fun. >> reporter: it's why eighth grader shamone newman started her business selling hair clips and scarves. she has a plan to save. >> money doesn't fall off trees because once you get it, you shouldn't spend it automatically. you should save up for something that you know you'll need. >> reporter: vendors offered everything from free tax preparation to piggy banks for children, organizers say the goal is to take the guesswork out of money. in baltimore, i'm gigi barnett, wjz "eyewitness news. >> some good lessons there. 40 exhibitors and 1500 people attended the money power day. another area team is lacing up their dancing shoes tonight. morgan state university is going to the ncaa tournament. the bears won the mideastern championship beating south carolina state. you can see them very excited there. this is the second year in a row morgan is going to the big dance. you can find out how high and where morgan state and the university of maryland terps will be seated only on wjz 13. watch the ncaa selection show tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. and with the tournament starting they. week, wjz wants to invite to you try your hand at the infinity bracket challenge. you can challenge don, marty, mark, tim, mary, kai, jessica and myself by going to wjz.com. we've got a link at the top of our home page. it wants best day out there for a game of lacrosse but the weather didn't dampen the spirits at loyola where the team now has a new home field. >> reporter: a parade of ponchos and pumped up students filed into the brand new reverend riddley stadium at loyola university, maryland. archbishop o'brien blessed the new facility, which was years in the making, the cost, $62 million for the lacrosse and soccer teams. >> this day marks the beginning of a new era in the rich tradition of loyola's greyhounds athletic program and in the life of our university. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: the grandstand seats 6,000, features synthetic turf. a high-tech video scoreboard and four special locker rooms. >> the events will be much improved. we'll play at night and get better attendance, better opponents. and then ultimately recruiting. >> i want this to be a winning season, greyhounds! [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: the teams took to the field challenging rival duke for the inaugural games. >> reporter: unfortunately, loyola lost and stan will have the highlights coming up in sports. also still to come on wjz's "eyewitness news" tonight -- >> two vehicles involved. a rollover! >> a serious car crash involving a young baby. how an emergency responder was in the right place at the right time. and corey haim's death. we've got new information on prescriptions found in his car. the animals are awake and out of hibernation at the maryland zoo. they are ready to be seen rain or shine. we're here at the reopening of the maryland zoo coming up on wjz "eyewitness news." i'm meteorologist bernadette woods. after rounds of heavy rain, we're not quite finished with the storm yet. we'll have the details coming up when "eyewitness news" returns. ,,,,