secluded. this was his playground. this was the place that we have been searching for. >> it was the still of the night when the killings started. >> i've been shot, me my mother had been shot. >> you can feel and hear the feeling in her voice. >> a single mother, and her teenage daughter, ambushed in their bedrooms. >> here is a monster into your house. >> i just broke down. i could not imagine who would want to do this. >> then, it happened again to another mother, another daughter. >> somebody is killing mothers and daughters. that is about as scary as it gets. >> scary as it gets. >> who was out there? and who would be next? >> something you would never imagined what happened. >> the clues that lie here, and abandoned manchin. erie, hunted, where was this killer? >> cold, calculating eyes. lifeless. he was almost a ghost. >> could they catch him? could they stop him? >> i'm on the edge of my seat. >> he truly thought that he could outsmart us. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> hello and welcome to dateline. would you recognize danger if it was lurking nearby. this story that you are about to hear is a tale of true terror. a killer was stalking residents in a neighborhood. leaving residents panic that they would be next. police determined to catch him, unaware that he was hiding in plain sight. soon a stolen pair of k's would help investigators unlock the story and unmask a murder. here is dennis murphy with the unusual suspect. >> consider for a moment, that cozy where, it home, and all it evokes. warmth, family, shelter, security. got it? and now reflect on what happens when those four walls are breached. when nightmares crossed through the window and kicks through the doors. when a haven becomes a house of horrors. so how does that feel? just ask lloyd irvin. >> laying on the couch. i wake up, two gunmen over top of me, holding guns, saying, hold on, here being robbed, don't move. >> years have passed since the night in august, 2008. in the nation's capital, in the nice neighborhood in princess georges county, maryland. but lloyd and nikki irving and their son just for at the time, are still haunted by the image of the gunman. two masked intruders. >> talk about worst nightmares. this is it? >> yes, something you would never imagine would happen. >> what the roberts did not count on is that lloyd is a nationally renowned martial arts expert. and when one of the gunman walked away to scope out the rest a house, lloyd was suddenly one-on-one with his accomplice. >> gunman is right in the corner? >> in the corner. no one to backup at all. i go, i got that, i try to get the cartridge out. once i get the cartridge out. it drops. i hit the ground. >> where is the intruder going? ran out the room. he said. he has that, get out of here, he has the gun. >> by the time that lloyd managed to reload the wrestled away gun and give chase. both home invaders had escaped. >> i'm calling 9-1-1, and my son is on top of, me and he is shaking, not saying a word. not crying. just shaking. and i often think, you, know where they're gonna kill us that night? >> the irving family would not be the first, or the last to ask that awful question. >> i'd like to report an armed robbery. >> 9-1-1. >> broke into my house. >> in the months that followed, the area was hit with a wave of home invasions, each, time two masked men, meticulous about not leaving fingerprints or evidence behind. the prince george's county police were baffled and the community was understandably on edge and then on january 26th 2009, on a quiet street in upper marboral, the county, anxiety turned on to full on both the doors panic. >> this is prince george's county, 9-1-1, center,. >> ma'am i've been shot. i'm bleeding to death. >> where are you? [crying] >> a desperate cry for help from a dying girl. on the phone? 16 year old student, clarissa. police rushed to the scene, but it was too late. they found clarissa, and her mom, karen, in their bedrooms. each killed execution style with a shot straight to the head. >> crimes quickly become statistics, but this just stands out, doesn't it? >> it stands out, it makes the hair on the back of her neck. >> federal prince george's county homicide detectives bernie nelson was in charge of the case. the first arriving officers told him, they found the main door locks shut from the inside. the killer, they thought, had likely entered the house through an unlocked side window. >> this bedroom on the second floor that is facing us. that is where caruso is found. >> detective nelson wondered, did the murders have anything to do with the plague of recent home invasion robbery's? if so then why was nothing stolen from the house. >> the vehicle was still in the driveway and nothing appeared disturbed. >> investigators did not find any useful evidence. just six spent bullet casings that it killed teresa and karen. fired from a handgun. >> we did find out two doors just down the street, someone had seen a blue vehicle parked on the right side of the road. and right now, at this point, that is all that i have. >> so detective nelson set out to find out more about his victims. lofton turned out to be a devoted mother and nurse with no enemies. she was divorced from courses father, who now lived in atlanta. the daughter, chris, that was in private school, good grades, and still very attached to her father. >> clarissa was a special girl from a because at a young age she had open heart surgery and she bounced right back for it. >> kirkland said that he had watched clarissa launch into a gregarious teenager, of fashionista, and a knack for selfies. >> -- by kyle, it's called butterfly kisses. told the story of her and the daughter. i used to sing that song to her, and she looked up to, me and she loved me singing that song to her. she was my butterfly, that's what i called her. >> now, kirkland butterfly was dead and prefer detective nelson recorded some of pg county's finest help him solve the case. including, then detective, anthony. >> this is a, mother hardworking, and her daughter, both think that they're safely inside their home. >> and here comes the guy out of your worst streams? >> here comes a monster, into your house. >> and he has a glock. >> as the hunt for this brutal killer went into full gear, detectives started as they always do with the usual suspects. >> no rhyme or reason that you could come up with, you have to look at family members. >> and one family member in particular. courses 20 year old brother. he lived in the house to but he was not there when cops arrived. police stopped him near the crime scene several hours after the murders. craig's son, a brother, have done such a monstrous thing? >> the investigation begins with some tough questions for him. >> coming up! >> would you have hurt your mom and sister? >> no. >> one of the detectives played me and said everyone in that room thinks it was you. >> was? that what happened next would launch the whole new wave of fear. when dateline continues! s suffering from pain caused by migraine nurtec odt may help. it's the only medication that can treat a migraine when it strikes and prevent migraine attacks. treat and prevent, all in one. don't take if allergic to nurtec. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. we're in this together. talk to a doctor about nurtec odt. new emergen-c crystals pop and fizz when you throw them back. and who doesn't love a good throwback? 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>> yes. >> all the time? >> every day every time. one of the detectives plainly said everyone in the room thinks it was, you you are the only one who had access to the pin code. >> would you ever hurt your mom and sister? >> no. >> you would never hurt them? >> no. i said it wasn't me, you can do anything you want to do, it's not gonna be me. >> he told investigators he had been spending the night at his fiancée's house. when her mom woke, him and said that she heard on the news that two women on the street had been murdered. >> i ran out the house. my heart is racing. i hopped in my car. i am running lights, i'm speeding, still calling at the same time. when i got there they'll ask me for my name. and i said i am --, police officer looked in and said we've got the sun here. and i just broke down. >> his alibi checked out. it was not him. investigators also interviewed kirkland, the ex husband, and karissa lofton father. he too had an alibi he had been at atlanta at the time of the murders. next time on the list was karen's former boyfriend, michael, he refused to take a lie detector test. so police interviewed him seven different times. >> [inaudible] you couldn't walk over and walk in? >> he some of that we ruled out completely, and we did. >> you would think in your way of work, the usual suspects were not going to figure in this one. >> not really. >> the detectives realized they had on their hands what homicide cops hate. a true mystery. >> first 48 hours of the case you usually get a break here. something that says chase this. >> normally you would get something. within the first 48 hours. >> so this thing was as baffling as it was cruel. >> exactly. it did not make any sense. >> then, came march 16th, 2009. six week after the lofton killings. went to unsolved murders became for. it began with the reports of a stolen nissan maxima. just a couple of blocks from where the lofton had been killed. >> what is the nature of your emergency? >> i just left my house maybe an hour ago. my car is missing out of the car ports. >> detective schartner was uncalled at night. >> she is on the phone with a car taker. she notices that her car comes zooming by from up here on the street, and comes by her at a fast rate of speed. >> that is my car. okay, it just zoomed past me. wow. >> she sees it while she's on the phone with dispatch? >> here it comes, there it goes. >> absolutely. >> police warned the neighborhood, hoping to nab the car thief. he was nowhere to be found. but police soon discovered the stolen car. captured here on the cruisers dash camera. it was parked in the driveway of a vacant house. engulfed in flames. firefighters called to the scene to extinguish the fire made a grisly discovery. two bodies burned beyond recognition. and the victims? another mother and her teenage daughter. >> dental records confirmed the identities of the two female bodies found monday in the trunk of the stolen car. 42-year-old dolores dewitt and her daughter, 19-year-old ebony dewitt. >> she worked at a nursing home. and she loved taking care of the elderly population. she loved those people, and they loved her. >> but trisha smith remembers her sister delores as a mother and nurse who worked hard to provide a good life for her two daughters. but always saved a little time for herself. >> she liked to go places, every year she would treat herself on vacation. she felt like she worked, hard she should play hard. >> and ebony? she was the live one at family get togethers. >> we would just make the party live, and, just act crazy until the end of the day. i mean, she loved life. >> the last person known to have seen ebony alive with her boyfriend. he told detectives that the previous night they had had a late dinner, she was wearing her favorite blue sweater and then he drove her home, watched her go inside her house. the killer may have been waiting. and now, when police once again made no arrests within 48 hours of the murders. waiting too was a devastating attrition. >> i started going back to my sister's house late at night, i would go and sit in the yard. just hoping that he would come back. i was sitting there with a knife in my hand. and, i was holding it real tight. just in case he came up on me or something because they would be him or me. either him or me. i told the detectives what i did. >> she could not sit still and do nothing. she wanted to be involved in the investigation from day one. she would actually go door to door in the neighborhood and talk to neighbors. try to ask them questions. but i had to repeatedly explain to her that we can't have her interrupting my case. >> she's a thorn in your side? >> she is, but i understood. because if my sister were killed, it would be hard for me to sit still to. >> so detective shartner made patricia a promise. >> we were sitting in the car and i remembered just crying and crying, and crying. and then he promised me. he said i will get them. if it is the last thing i do. i want to get them. >> to do that, detective shartner and nelson had to confront a terrifying question. >> you've got two murdered mother daughters within crossed the fence, virtually. so you're thinking are these things related? >> you have to think that. and if they are related, you have a serial murderer on your hands. and you don't know when he's gonna hit next, or who he's going to hit next. >> coming up! and neighborhood on edge. police, under pressure. and the question everyone feared. would there be another victim? >> it was wide open. we had nothing. and that's when it gets scary. >> when dateline continues! nues i go to spin classes with my coworkers. good for you, shingles doesn't care. because no matter how healthy you feel, your risk of shingles sharply increases after age 50. but shingrix protects. proven over 90% effective, shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. an increased risk of guillain-barré syndrome was observed after getting shingrix. fainting can also happen. the most common side effects are pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache, shivering, fever, and upset stomach. shingles doesn't care but, shingrix protects. shingrix is now zero dollars for almost everyone. ask your doctor about shingrix today. you deserve better than that. i'm hungry, i'm in a hurry, i don't have time to make anything healthy. you could if you had a blendjet. blendjet? 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>> it seem that the killer took immense risks to get rid of the bodies. >> you're talking about taking two women out of their house, transporting them to another location and then stealing a car, putting those dead bodies in the car, driving past the house that you just stole the car from. and then parking it in a driveway and setting that car on fire, and walking away. >> and the autopsy also revealed that dolores and ebony were strangled, not shot, as the lofton's had been. it was a puzzle, where they dealing with a serial killer or not? >> did you think that one guy was responsible for both of these crimes? >> my mind would go back and forth, one day i was all in that this is the same person in the next day i thought it was not. because both crimes are so different. >> then, finally, the detectives caught a break. they learned that a month before the dewitt murders, the owner of the stolen nissan maxima had been the victim of a break in. she reported it, at the time, told police that nothing had been taken. now she noticed her spare set of car keys had been missing. >> tony, as i understand, the detective logic goes something like this. if i can find the person who broke in, who stole the key, who then use the vehicle to transport the bodies, i am getting close to my killer? >> exactly. it would give me a direction whether that person then could direct me to the killer. >> 200 police officers blanketed the area and brought in more than 80 people for questioning. all to no avail. for many prince george's county residents, a home invasion victims vicky and lloyd irvin, that meant only one thing. panic. >> it was crazy, i could not sleep at night, any sound i, had there were alarms put up throughout the tire house, plus we have the dog. >> and bars on the window. >> yes. >> the house was turned into fort knox, a, barking crazy dog who claws at the windows when he hears a doorbell ring and no peace in the house. i said you have to turn some of this down i can't live like this. he said i don't care, this is going to save our life. and just the fear that spread was absolutely amazing. >> by july of 2009, four months after the dewitt murders and six months after the lofton murders, detectives were stumped. >> we kept calling them, they were not giving us any answers so that kind of his mouth because i felt like we deserve to know something. >> it was wide open, we had nothing. >> you are out of your investigative playbook. >> that's when it gets scary. >> the detective had made a promise to patricia that he would take down her sister's killer. would that turn out now to be an empty promise? at this point, what he needed was luck. luck was about to come his way from the most unexpected source. >> coming up! an unassuming neighbor comes forward with some unbelievable information. >> at that point, we realize that our investigation just took a drastic turn. >> when dateline continues! teline continues you know, people always ask me, "kevin, what does being the ceo of cashbacking mean to you?" it means cashbacking every opportunity. did you cashback on this? like i wouldn't cashback? cashbacking by the basket, i see you. ugh. i dreamt you didn't cashback this flight. oh good. if you're buying it, flying it, or wining n' dining it, then you gotta be cashbacking it. come on now. >> i am frances rivera with the cashback on everything you buy with chase freedom unlimited with no annual fee. how do you cashback? chase. make more of what's yours. hours of stories. governor gavin wilson has appointed lance butler, to the senate seat by diane feinstein. she is a group of emily's list, that elect female democrats. and trump is expected to be in a new york city courtroom today, as the multi civil trial in this business is kicks off. trump and his children remain witnesses in the case last week. now back to dateline! dateline >> welcome back to dateline. i am craig melvin. to double murders in one maryland neighborhood said the community into a full blown panic. investigators had cleared the usual suspects and that is where both cases seem to stall. then, detectives length in nearby break into one of the crimes. all roads to find that thief led them nowhere but a big break was just around the bend. here again is dennis murphy with the unusual suspect. >> prince george's county detectives tony schartner and bernie nelson theorize the home burglar who stole the spare key to a nissan maxima might lead them to a serial killer. but how to find him? >> we chased down all those leads and focused several weeks with nothing. we came up with. nothing. >> then in july, 2009. an unexpected tip. federal agents from the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms had arrested two men for selling stolen weapons. they suspected that one of them had also been involved in several burglaries in the area and his name was jason scott. >> jason scott lived two weeks away from the house. that's somebody that i want to go talk to. >> the detective silly and thief held in a holding room. he was quick to deny that he had -- >> it was a small guy, he was make. his voice was very low. he would not speak to me as you and i are speaking he would actually come up in mr. in my ear. >> do you tell me at that point i've got a suspect? here >> i don't know. >> atf agents john and dave led a an investigation and they too were having a tough time trying to re-jason scott. >> where pursuing the most violent criminals in the united states. for lack of a better words, this guy was not a thug. >> in, fact jason turned out to be a college graduate and a valued employee at u.p.s.. >> we did a background check on him and he had no criminal history. >> jason and his accomplish charged with weapons theft and -- but neither had a criminal record and a judge really some pending trial. >> she basically made a decision, you're not a flight, risk or danger to the community. both are at least minor. >> so they were good to go? >> court is telling them. go into the, where don't be stupid. >> yes. >> but the atf agents weren't allowed to let jason scott walk away so easily. they thought that he might be involved. and instead suggested he might be a petty criminals to throw others under the bus in terms of a deal. so they offered a proffer session. king for a day. it monopoly it's known as a get out of jail free card. it is an agreement between the prosecutor and suspect that says essentially, you tell us everything you know. we will go easy on you. >> and the stuff that i spelled out. he will not come after me? that's the agreement? >> if we cannot prove that any other way besides him telling us. then there's nothing we can do. we can't use his statements against him when that statement is given in that proper session. >> agents -- had been on the job for a long time. but what happened next stunned even them. >> we come into the room to conduct the proper session with jason scott. my side where on the table. and him and his attorney are sitting across from us. we see that jason has three pieces of paper in front of him on the table. we take a look on the papers and c 40 different addresses. suddenly jason admitted breaking into the houses. none of the houses he says he breaks into, wakes people up, points guns on their heads, and rob them of their valuables. at that point we realize we're not dealing with a guy selling and stealing guns. our investigation just took a drastic turn. >> jason had rocked the federal agents off their script. the king for a day deal was about copping to the firearms charge. and here when he was, telling them instead, that he and his accomplice, marcus hunter. made a living by pointing guns at so many people's heads. including, during that botched home invasion, of the irving family. >> but he has cut his deal, john. you cannot go after him on those burglaries, the home invasions. >> at that point you are correct. >> he is home, he's off scot-free. >> humphrey. >> even better for jason, he believed that his accomplice, marcus hunter alone, would be left to take the fall for the crime spree. >> he figures, if i'm the one who's willing to testify against marcus, that will be his opportunity to lessen his sentence. >> smarts, cunning. how good was this guy? >> he certainly had a plan. and he had an idea of what he was trying to get away with. it really was a real life cat-and-mouse game for him. >> back at the county, detective sharp nerve was floored when he heard from a colleague that the pipsqueak he had interviewed and dismissed the week before had fest of to a majority of the insults home invasions and burglaries, as well to do neighborhoods of prince george's county. including one his colleague had been investigating. >> i thought, good for you. you've got your case closed out. but i'm still here with four dead women that we have it not solved. and just out of curiosity, can you give me that list? >> when the detective plotted the addresses that jason had pushed across the table on to a map, he could not believe the picture that emerged. >> is this an aha moment in the investigation? >> this is the aha moments. this is the first break in the case. >> coming up! >> we do not know if we have our guy. but we certainly have now something to investigate. >> the investigation was about to lead them here. something called the spooky house, and, a federal officer of the case would soon be spooked himself. when dateline continues! when dateline continues! dancing is my passion. but with my moderate-to-severe eczema, it hasn't been easy. now, i'm staying ahead of it. dupixent helps heal your skin from within. so, you can clearer skin and noticeably less itch serious allergic reactions can occur, that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems, such as eye pain or vision changes, including blurred vision, joint aches and pains, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines without talking to your doctor. ask your doctor about dupixent attention hearing loss sufferers! do you struggle to hear loved ones? 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what are the other dots? >> these dots up here are the locations where jason scott admitted to breaking into the cases and houses here. >> and here is what is strange. jason had admitted to every unsolved burglary on the block. all but one. the house from where the nissan spare cues were stolen. >> for me the most important part of the puzzle was to find out who broke into this house right here. >> the interrogation. he did not give you that address? >> he did not. >> an anomaly? sharpen or wondered. or did jason know-how important the car keys were and deliberately keep it off the list. >> we don't see guys that break into houses and steal the tv then morph into a serial killer. we do not know if we have our guy. but we certainly have now something to investigate. >> detective sharpening, and, nelson teamed up with atf agents to create a task force to solve the riddle of jason scott. >> when you guys talk to friends and family trying to figure out who he was, did anybody tell you that he was a nice guy. i can't believe that you got him in the frame for this? >> nobody had anything like that to say about him. as a matter of fact, most people knew nothing about him. he was almost a ghost. >> a ghost, indeed. when investigators examined items seized at jason's home they found this. disturbing videos that he apparently shot as he snuck around the neighborhood. it turns out that jason scott was a scary a peeping tom as investigators had ever seen. >> video of someone walking through the woods. videotaping people through their homes, and various states of dress and undress. getting ready for, work are getting ready to go to bed. >> deeply creepy stuff? >> absolutely. >> the person who knew him best was marcus hunter, the accomplice first arrested with jason scott. but marcus was not talking. investigators wondered what he afraid of jason? another former coconspirator was telling investigators that jason was no want to cross. >> he's sensitive. you have to watch how you talk to him. >> these guys would say, if i ever got into a fight with jason. he would not fight me back, but two weeks later he would be the type to come back and burn my house down. >> he was crazy. >> three weeks after his king for a day deal, jason scott was still walking the streets. and investigators know enough about him to worry for their own safety. >> his m o was he would specifically go and cut the power to these homes. so when that, sleeping, i kind of become aware that all of a sudden the powers of in my house. knowing that jason knew my name, and thinking that he could figure out where i lived, i actually grabbed my gun and proceeded to tactically clear my house,. just to make sure that he wasn't the reason for the power being out. as i work my way through the house, and into the kitchen, i finally come up and i notice that in the backyard, the entire neighborhood is dark. at that point in time i take a sigh of relief. and i realize it is not him. but that is how concerned i was. he is that dangerous of a guy that i recognize he needed to be in jail. >> if jason scott was smart, the task force simply had to be smarter. and investigators notice that jason did not seem to understand an important legal nuance. his proffer did not guarantee him complete immunity. the cops could not use his own words against him. but they could use the words of others. so when investigators found that other accomplished of jasons, they grilled him. >> do you know of him to break into a houston take car case? >> he talked about one job. a couple jobs that he might go in and take the case and just have them. >> these details eerily mirrored what happened in the dewitt murders. >> he likes to steal car keys. spare case. and he likes to come back later and get that car. >> that was exactly the case with the nissan. >> first chance. he liked to park cars at vacant houses. preferably houses that were for sale. >> again, the torched car. with the bodies. >> it was a vacant house that was for sale. >> the detective nailed down several connections between jason scott and the first mother daughter murder. the most important of those, jason's car. a dark blue, toyota camry. it matched the description of the mysterious car one of the lofton neighbors had seen. >> that could have very well been the vehicle that the neighbor had seen that night? >> yes. >> then investigators discovered another sickening piece of evidence. a video that jason made of the victims of one of his home invasions. a mother and her teenage daughter. >> brought her into her bedroom and set up a video camera. and in the process of setting up the video camera, which he was going to film him self sexually assaulted her. the camera just tap in the pan right by his base. that screenshot showed us this. >> wow. >> this is what a lot of jason 's victims saw. it is called calculating eyes. lifeless. >> investigators were shocked. even more so when they dug up the old police report, and notice what the perpetrator they now knew to be jason had blurted out to the mother and daughter just before he left. >> okay, here it is. he said he didn't want to hurt us, but he said, he was supposed to kill us. >> yet all the evidence was purely circumstantial. not enough to charge, let alone convicted jason of murder. but that was about to change, and i had to do with the one case police had plenty of evidence for. the weapons theft. when the atf agents talk to jason about it he mentioned the spooky house. some kind of an abandoned old property off the beaten path in upper marlborough. the place where he said he and his accomplish used to go to divvy up the loot. detective schartner had a spooky feeling that they brought more than comps there. >> we're still trying to find a place or house or wherever where the dewitt's were stored. or kept for those 20 something odd hours. >> the spooky house, whatever it is. could be the place. >> absolutely. >> according to jason's proffer. it's his case had led to new evidence it was good to prosecute. >> i thought it would be an, old rickety house, falling apart. >> doesn't feel like we're heading to the spooky house. >> no. >> it wasn't until we came here until we realize that there was a long driveway here that did not make sense. >> there it is? >> the spooky house was a georgian mansion up for sale and like the property where the nissan was set on fire, vacant. >> what a hideaway to do whatever you want to do away from prying eyes. >> absolutely, at night it's pitch dark. it's a playground that jason scott had. >> the task force called in the forensic team. >> we walked out here, to the walks here, that is when i first saw the sweater which was actually way down here in the rocks. >> it was the charred remains of a blue sweater. that kind that ebony dewitt had when the last time she had been seen alive. >> once we saw, that we said, this is it. this is finally something. and we're talking about a high five moment. we walked on the rocks, and scattered within the leaves over here where the gene pieces. >> jeans that seem to match the fragments recovered from dolores dewitt's body. leaves cover the ground there and the task force wondered whether they were beach tree leaves. the tie found attached to dolores jeans. detective sharpen are brought an expert to the spooky house to identify the foliage. >> hold up here he said this is the jackpot of beach trees. >> where ebony and her mom? or >> without a doubt. >> but investigators needed more. in the meantime they had eliminated his accomplice as a murder suspect. so they hit him up again and they said jason is talking if you don't you will be the one to take the fall. that did. it marcus hunter finally agreed to cooperate. right away he dropped a bombshell about jason. >> the specter of him becoming a monster grows with each and every storm that we overturn. >> coming up,. i >> think you truly thought he could outsmart us. >> could he? what would it take to put jason scott behind bars. when dateline continues! dateline continues! rsv is in for a surprise. meet arexvy. 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it is with comcast business. powering all your devices with gig-speed wifi. and you get fast downloads and uploads. pick it up! pick it up! oh we got this! because it's powered by the next generation 10g network. more speed for your business? it's not just possible. it's happening. get started for $59.99 a month for 12 months. plus, ask how to get an $800 prepaid card with a qualifying internet bundle. comcast business, powering possibilities. c'mon, we're right there. c'mon baby. it's the only we need. go, go, go, go! ah! touchdown baby! -touchdown! are your neighbors watching the same game? yeah, my 5g home internet delays the game a bit. but you get used to it. try these. they're noise cancelling earmuffs. i stole them from an airport. it's always something with you, man. great! solid! -greek salad? exactly! don't delay the game with verizon or t-mobile 5g >> almost six weeks after jason home internet. catch it on the xfinity 10g network. scott walked out of the prosecutors office with a potential stay out of jail deal in hand. the persuaded marcus hunter to cooperate. the king for a day was about to be dethroned. >> so, marcus tells us that about a month prior to the dewitt being killed that he and jason are running through the backyards. because they had done a job. and jason stops and looks into the white house and he notices ebony and he starts to stare. and marcus gets uncomfortable, says hey, we cannot stay here all night. you need to go. >> much more damaging. the accomplice told the task force that after yet another robbery, approximately an hour before dolores and ebony were killed, he had given jason a right to his car. part just a block or so from the dewitt. and the accomplice had more. >> he said that there was at one point, there was a window of time that the lofton's were murder that he had seen jason scott for a short timeframe, with a glock 17. >> a glock 17. the very weapon he used to murder karen and karissa lofton. >> i had one of our investigators try to find out who purchased glock 17's over the last two years and contact those people and find out if they can account for their handgun. and he found out that a home was broken into 13 days before the lofton were killed. and during that break in their glock 17 handgun was stolen. >> and here is where detective nelson got lucky. the state of maryland requires handguns to be test fired before they are sold. so it can archive each gun shell casings to help identify or trace the weapon should be later used in a crime. >> immediately took out shell casings and had them compared to the known shell casing from that known handgun, during that testing they were able to testify that all six shell casings came from that one particular glock 17. that was the weapon that was used to kill both of my victims. >> plus we found out where the murder weapon came from that was used to kill the lofton's. we need to find out if jason scott ever had a gun in his hands. so we asked his accomplice, marcus hunter, if they ever broke into a house in this one particular neighborhood. he said they did, it was only one house. never told him which one it was and he took us directly to it. the house that the glock was stolen from that killed the lofton. >> as far as the handgun goes, i think it was the nail in jason scott in, we know that he stole that weapon. >> did that solve the murders? >> it got as close as we were going to get. >> detective sharp near and nelson arrested jason scott at his home on september 2nd, 2009. >> i just think and remember telling him chase and take a look at your, house this is the last time you will see it. >> he did not have a response, he just gave some type of noise smacking his lips. as if i will be back. >> i think he truly thought that he could outsmart us. and fortunately, between bernie and i the two agents from atf we outsmarted him. >> and personally, the takedown of jason scott made the detective a promise keeper. >> he said, i will get him. it is the last thing i do. he said i will get him. and he got him. >> in exchange for his cooperation, marcus hunter got a reduced seven year sentence for weapons possession. it would be another three years before the atf and county police analyzed all the evidence against jason scott. when all was said and done, he was sentenced to 85 years in prison. >> one of the things that the judge said and i will never forget this. he said, it's not even a crime wave here, a tsunami of crime. >> a takedown like this? >> extreme. >> it was a proud moment of my career. >> but jason did cut one final deal. in exchange for acknowledging that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him for the dewitt murders. the state agreed not to prosecute him for the lofton. it did not sit well with the lofton family but it was the best the investigators thought they could do. >> the bottom line is we know that jason is gone forever. he only has one life to give. we cannot punish him anymore than what he has already been punished. >> the serial killer, the master robert and burglar will likely die behind bars. the neighborhoods that he terrorized are safe again. but under some roofs there has been damaged to that concept of home as a sanctuary. take vicky and lloyd irvin. they have kept their burglar bars, their home alarm system, they did not know how much they need that stuff until we filled him in. >> let me tell you something that will probably break you out. it will come from guy number two in your house. he said after the home invasion they came back. >> are you serious? >> he wanted another round. they parked in front of your place. they had a little surveillance. kept it out. and jason scott wanted to come back in and even the score. >> i did not know that. that is scary. >> it could've been your picture on the 11:00 news. >> that's right. how does one person cause so much damage and so hurt and so much loss for so many people? it still blows my mind. >> that is all for this edition of dateline. i am craig melvin. thank you for watching. kevin mccarthy mansion the balance after democrats bailed him out to avoid a shutdown. congressman matt gaetz said today that he'll file a motion