in the back of my mind i was waiting to hear the verdict involving the murder either of ruby or stella harvey because i figured those were the lynchpin cases. whethergit was stella or ruby, but the second involved one of the girls, and that was death. reporter: ricky gray was sentenced to death for the murders of stella and ruby harvey. and immediately i have a sense of relief. a nanosecond later i had a sense of sorrow because although i had taken a very integral role in securing a death sentence for this monster i shouldn t say that. for this guy. i was now part of a process that was going to culminate in another death. reporter: prosecutors decided not to try ricky gray for the tucker-baskerville murders after he received a death sentence for the harvey killings. a month later, in september 2006, ray dandridge went on trial for the three tucker-baskerville murders. prosecutors held off trying him
walk, and we were best friends. they were a great family, and we all loved them so much. reporter: just three days after the harveys death, jittery friends and neighbors gathered for a candlelight vigil, not knowing if the killer was among them. the community was on edge. but one friend in particular who was noticeably absent from the vigil was about to become truly frightened. i felt scared, but i also felt like i wanted some answer. i wanted somebody to tell me something. bad or good. reporter: johnny hott was not among the many mourners because by then, hott says, he d been through quite an ordeal himself. i got a call from the detective, and he wanted to know if i could come down there. i said, sure, i ll come down there. reporter: hott says he d been talking to police to help them out. first at the crime scene, the day of the harvey killings. and again that night down at police headquarters. the next day he was summoned for a third interrogation. but this time, he say