will never go away. i m never going to have my son back. i don t get to go to his high school graduation. or see him go to college. i had no idea what had happened! it was like a meteor hitting. potsdam rescue, need an ambulance. a 12-year-old kid. loved to ride his scooter everywhere. lost his life at the hands of a killer. he s a soccer coach! great person on and off the field, a great role model. there is absolutely nothing connecting him to this case. they don t have the fingerprint. they don t have blood. they don t have the witness. there s a darkness that s at work here. you believe nick hillary killed your boy? yes. people call me a murderer. i m 100% innocent. you could have heard a pin drop in that courtroom. way upstate new york. a small speck on the map on the road to the canadian border. that they like to joke up there that there s more cows than people, and i don t think they re joking. in this sleepy place, with a main street from th
what happened between tandy and nick would tip the balance in a political campaign, give rise to a controversial lawsuit, and lure high-profile, big city attorneys to confront each other in a murder trial that attracted national attention. this has become a story that kind of echoes beyond st. lawrence county, and even beyond new york. except, when you drill down, it s as local as it gets, all about a small-town boy. this one. 12-year-old garrett phillips, tandy s son. garrett was a blur of a kid, perpetually set on fast-forward, according to his mom. he was very energetic. always on the go. always had to have something to do. people here remember him tearing around town on his ripstick, a little bit skateboard, a little bit snowboard, all hip action and balance. there goes garrett sidewalk-surfing his way home
you could hear running or roughhousing sometimes, or something rolling down the hallway like a skateboard. but that afternoon, as sean and marissa were watching the drama dexter on tv, the sounds coming from next door were different, scary different. i heard a loud crash, and after that it was silence for a few seconds, and then in a low voice i heard what sounded like moaning, help, ow, or no. at that moment i didn t think it was two little boys roughhousing anymore. it felt more dangerous. it felt wrong. concerned, marissa walked down the hallway and listened in. i knocked on the door and waited a moment, and then i definitely heard a click, like a lock. i had the feeling that there was somebody on the other side of that door. she called potsdam pd. i live in 3a, and they live across the hall. it just made me a little nervous that i thought i heard
second-floor apartment at 100 market street. he apparently arrived just before 5:00 pm. it s on a very busy street. market street is basically the right off the main drag. right, it is the main drag. it s a kind of rundown apartment building. sean hall and marissa vogel, engaged then and now married, didn t know tandy cyrus or her sons, but they were very familiar with the boys-will-be-boys activities across the hall. you could hear running or roughhousing sometimes, or something rolling down the hallway like a skateboard. but that afternoon, as sean and marissa were watching the drama dexter on tv, the sounds coming from next door were different, scary different. i heard a loud crash, and after that it was silence for a few seconds, and then in a low voice i heard what sounded like moaning, help, ow, or no. at that moment i didn t think it was two little boys roughhousing anymore. it felt more dangerous. it felt wrong. concerned, marissa walked down the h
perpetually set on fast-forward, according to his mom. f he was very energetic. always on the go. always had to have something to do. reporter: people here remember him tearing around town on his ripstick, a little bit skateboard, a little bit snowboard, all hip action and a balance. there goes garrett sidewalk-surfing his way home in 2011. did you think, wow, my kid is really an awesome little athlete ? yes. soccer, lacrosse, football, hockey. he was very good at everything. reporter: his bedroom wall a poster shrine to his sports heroes, including new england patriots quarterback tom brady. he s never really inside. wasn t much for video games. reporter: so it s got to be pitch black before he s ready t come in for the night? yes. reporter: but when he was still a toddler, garrett was dealt a devastating blow. the death of his father, robbiea garrett was nine months old