reporter: there s a light, oh, there s a it s just too easy. but there it was. it was there. i think one thing i knew pretty much right at the beginning was i could visibly see blood on the outside of the flashlight. we knew that had to be involved. reporter: but then a real breakthrough. a newspaper carrier called in to report that he and his girlfriend saw something. they d been driving down this country road middle of the night about a mile from the stock farmhouse down there. and just here outside this cemetery, they saw a car just parked here. strange cars just don t get parked on country roads outside murdock, nebraska, at 3:00 in the morning. it was tan or light brown, four-door sedan said the young man. and what really stuck out was that this car later passed them in the same area that same night. this time driving 60 or 70 miles an hour. it was in a rush, it appeared, to get away.
strange cars just don t get parked on country roads outside murdock, nebraska, at 3:00 in the morning. keith morrison: it was a tan or light brown four door sedan, said the young man. and what really stuck out was this car later passed them in the same area that same night, this time driving 60 or 70 miles an hour. it was in a rush, it appeared, to get away. investigators now had a number of clues. that car, seen by the newspaper carrier, the flashlight, with what appeared to be blood on it. the marijuana pipe, and detectives were probably looking for more than one killer. but a motive? who knew? not a thing was missing. wallets, purses, gun collections, even a safe hidden in the bedroom floor, all untouched. but all that evidence, and asking questions of those closest to the stocks, would soon pay off.
sampson, a cousin of matt s on another branch of the family tree. my husband had given me the phone. i was sitting up in bed and, and i said andy should i be shaken, he says that s normal. the shock. keith morrison: but matt livers had been with them at easter dinner just a few hours before. now he said he and nick had returned to kill his aunt and uncle. our first reaction was somebody needs to tell our grandma. she had just lost her only son, and her grandson is being arrested for this. and just like us, she s like i don t understand. and i said grandma, none of us understand and of this. did it give you any sense of oh, well at least somebody has been found responsible? did it make you feel any better? i was like, well at least they re moving on to the next phase of this. we re not going to wonder for the rest of our lives. i was relieved, i guess, to know that they had somebody. keith morrison: with livers already in jail, police descended on murdock to arrest nick sampson. sampson
grandma, she had just lost her only son and her grandson is being arrested for this. and just like us, she s like, i don t understand. and i said, grandma, none of us understand any of this. narrator: did it give you any sense of at least somebody has been found responsible? did it make you feel any better? we move on to the next phase of this. we re not going to wonder for the rest of our lives. i was relieve to know they had somebody. narrator: with livers already in jail, police descended on murdock to arrest nick sampson. he was a cook at bulldog s bar in murdock. he was a guy by his own admission liked to drive too fast, had a problem with marijuana as a teenager, had done two separate stints in boys homes, now he had been printed and processed, then like livers, questioned on videotape. i guess i ll just ask you flat out. why do you think you re here? i think they think that i m involved with the murders.
i don t want to move. i love murdock. that s my home. narrator: but if it seems strange to you that an innocent man could remain so long under suspicion, imagine how bizarre it was about to become as the accused and the accuser play out a truly disturbing drama we ll call trading places. coming up troubling accusations about one of the lead investigators. so you wake up one morning and they say you re a criminal.