anything. they hadn t even been allowed into trial by the judge. lots more when pravin was found he had his wallet on him. he had $24 in cash in his wallet. then the defense attorney made a bold move. he called gaege to the stand. it didn t go well. gaege is, first day of prime cross-examination was. off it was tough. shocked. miracle. dream come true. because gaege did something monica had never imagined. he admitted punching pravin and demonstrated to the jurors just how he d done. lovely said, he s said it. he finally said. i hit him right here. and she s like, that s all i need. lovely had fought for years to get her son s case heard inside a courtroom. after nine days of testimony, it was in the hands of the jury. but what happens next surprised everyone. coming up the jury comes in, several of the jurors were visibly shaking. like they have been crying. a verdict. i could hear crying from the other side.
it, but lovely had questions to. when she got back to chicago, the funeral director, handling pravin s had disturbing news. he said, lovely, you are a nurse, right? i said yes. he said, you need to see him, this is not a frostbitten body. lovely had seen several dead bodies during her career as a nurse, but she never expected to see her own sons. she was shocked by what she saw. a massive bruise on pravin s and other bruises on his thigh. his lip was busted up. if a civilian had seen the body, would they say, i have seen an injury? yes. reporter: but lovely wanted and expert opinion and she wanted one and so she hired her own pathologist, dr. ben margolis. he noted injuries that were not seen, including a injury all the way to the bone, possibly a defensive injury. if you are stumbling around the woods in the dark, and you trip, and had a, rocket that
no child is perfect. so, there could ve been a little beer in the car? i wouldn t be shocked. you know? gaege she, says, we just like any other teenager. that explained his life to police, to. he thought he was going to get in trouble for the drinking and driving. the different stories he told the authorities? exactly. we ve all been 19. whether or not you ve been in trouble or not or in that situation, you ve fibbed about something. in one way or another. penny said gaege had been honest when it mattered. he told that state trooper pravin was in the woods. penny wondered why that uber had gone to look for him. so you put some blame on the officer? i put most of the blame on the officer. why didn t he look for the kids in the woods? right, like he had been cold. gaege whatever his mother says he was not responsible for pravin dying in the woods. if he had done nothing wrong besides got into a scuffle. gave a kid a right. the special prosecutor
they had been crying. and we sat down, i just touched my sense picture and i always tell him what s going on. and i hear him say, in my heart, mommy, we ve got it. the jury didn t believe that prosecutors theory that a robbery was behind pravin s death. so, he was acquitted on that count. that they did believe gaege s blows had caused pravin s death. and for that, they convicted him a felony murder. i remember seeing my son hit his hand on the table. and then he started throwing up. he yelled, mom. as he was throwing up. and all i was wanted to do is get to him. i just wanted to hold him. and i wasn t allowed to. even touch him. i could hear crying from the other side. i could hear crying from our
matter. the documents appeared to be related to biden s time as vice president and senator. the presidents lawyers and the white house counsel s office say they compete continue to cooperate with the doj. now back to dateline. reporter: welcome back to dateline , i m natalie morales. authorities concluded that pravin varughese s death was an accident, saying he was drunk, got lost in the woods and froze to death. but an autopsy found no alcohol in his blood and pravin s mother lovely was convinced there had to be another explanation. and police did not hear a key detail about the night pravin disappeared. here s dennis murphy with at the edge of town . reporter: in the town where her son had lost his life, tiny, softspoken lovely was finding a voice. i am not trying to point fingers or assign blame. we just want answers.