it s a virtual given in legal circles when it comes to cuting cutting a deal for a lighter prison sentence first criminal to the courthouse wins. first to the courthouse was jessica reid. she agreed to plead guilty to second degree murder charges in exchange for testimony against her accomplice. when it came to him it seemed prosecutors were certain to seek the death penalty. wayne and sharmon stock were roused, terrified from their sleep, sanctity of their own bedroom, easter sunday night and shot to death in cold blood. if any case warranted that punishment this was it. a judge ruled the county attorney actually missed a deadline to announce his intention to seek the death penalty. so first degree murder for greg
at a loss of why my own cousin could do this to me. why would he do it to you if it wasn t true? to make himself look better. just using me as a scapegoat. nick samson was now off the hook, but what about matt? coming up, true, he confessed to the murders. but was there more to the story? a tape surfaces of what he said to investigators. i ve been just making things up to satisfy you guys. when dateline continues. i me
da had let matt and nick go, dropped the charges, which to a suspicious county and stock family was both upsetting and bu puzzling. after all, hadn t the head of csi found a blood sample that tied them to the crime? it must have seemed to be they were letting two murders back on the street. it did seem they were letting them go, but, guess nobody knew any different. in fact, some of the investigators remained convinced samson or livers or both had to be involved somehow. they didn t buy the notion that two drug addled teenagers happened to stumble upon it in the dark. after all they said the guy who led them to the farm was a local named thomas. but detectives could find no evidence whatsoever against this
while the children of wayne and sharmon stock tried to make sense of a release of a man they d been told killed their parents. it s a difficult situation. none of us are attorneys or law enforcement. and you re just sitting there trying to take it all in, trying to figure out, okay, how does this work? why does this happen. hadn t their cousin confessed? is at least he was still in custody. as for those two teens in wisconsin, so it wasn t as if the whole case was falling apart. at least not yet. but if anyone did not feel confused in the october chill, it was defense attorneys who were as sure as the summer day that both nick and matt were innocent, despite what matt told police during the interrogation. it was just screaming to me, false confession. there was every indication in
taken them. and that, a few weeks later, is where the ring came in. that s when roarer got a call from nebraska, heard how that ling turned up at the scene of a double murder, heard how they tracked it back to the walmart in beaver dam and then to cori and ryan and the stolen truck. that must have been a shocker to get that information, to have it cross your desk. a huge shocker. that pretty much sends a chill down your spine. reporter: what was going on? how were these two teenagers, reid and fester, tied to the murders of wayne and sharmon stock? or were they at all? coming up an interrogation of one of the teens provides a chilling first glimpse of what may have happened inside that farm house. i freaked out and left because obviously that guy s up there killing somebody. hi, can i help you?