>> it was a summer morning in the heart of georgia. heat rose thick and damp among macon's grand old antebellum mansions as the slow, heavy traffic crawled by. something in the air that morning, something off. maybe just the trash truck. >> this was a 90-degree day, toward the end of june. there was a hot wind blowing that day. >> joe kovac was down at the local paper, crime reporter there. and all of a sudden -- >> i can remember the buzz in the newsroom. >> oh, this would be big, big and disturbing, like sometimes things can be in the south, said joe. >> it was a shock. >> a shock to the system, yeah. ♪♪ >> but there's something else about the south, something sweet, magnetic. it draws people in. and macon, with its storied