Dateline : MSNBCW : January 8, 2022 10:00pm-11:00pm PST : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet Archive (2024)

i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> this is dateline. >> they were party girls. >> they were fierce in our phone. >> beauty queen, the troublemaker, and the girl next door. >> she was really, really keen. >> one met the guy voudri ms., look at first sight. but at second glance, trouble. pregnant at 16. >> you wanted to be married, you don't want to do that. >> then, one night, an ambush. someone shot on the bedroom floor. a teenage mom at the center of

the murder mystery. >> fingers were pointed everywhere at everybody. >> who had a motive to kill? hello, and welcome to dateline. a teenage mom and her close circle of friends find themselves at the center of an emotional situation. they were carefree, california girls, still in high school. but soon, their lives would change in a way that few could have predicted. here is keith morrison, with mean girls. >> an interesting species, teenage girls. summer sweet, some were not. we call them, mean girls. and some in particular, as you're about to see, can be very mean, indeed.

it was 1997 when their story began. here in the high desert, north of l.a.. lancaster, california. there was sara -- a cheerleader and local beauty queen. you are pretty popular kid in high school? >> i wasn't really popular, but i was a cheerleader. >> which helps? >> yes. >> amy priess meyer, 16, sporty, and ap student who look like a girl next door. >> amy and i were just to give walls. we had a lot of fun. we partied, but things didn't get a serious until jennifer came in the picture. jennifer and amy became good friends. >> jennifer kellogg, 18. a little dangerous. catalyst for mischief, or worse. >> jennifer was a wild child. she was on the dance team in high school, and she always --

she was a boulder one of any of us. she was always there for you if you needed her, especially if you got in trouble. she helped you get in trouble. >> she was the one your parents warn you? about >> yes. >> then there was shaylyn scowls, 16, less streets more than the others, but drawn in by at all to. even though some of the others warrant that nice. >> they were fun girls, but they always had an agenda on their mind of everyone knowing them something. parents knew what to do, and they just wanted to be free. >> the girls just wanted to have fun, stay up late, meet guys, drink, do drugs. that was the type of freedom they were looking for. which they found, in the summer of 97. along with the rest of what happened. >> 9-1-1, what's your? emergency >> help.

>> so, what did happen? it began just after christmas, the previous winter, 1996. there was this house party. >> amy's parents went out of town, and amy said, let's invite some people over, have a good time. >> sheldon came along, of course. >> they were drinking, acting a little bit outrageous. you know, smoking, drinking, party in. >> sara was there, and amy. jennifer to. >> they were party girls. >> on the wild? side >> yeah. they wanted to be adults before their time. they wanted to grow up, they don't want anybody telling them what to do. >> but, one of the people at the party actually was an adult. or close to it. shaylyn's rather, ricky, came to the party. ricky was almost 21. he was done with school, and working full-time at his family's electricity business. high voltage lines, dangerous stuff, which paid very well. in fact, ricky was the proud

owner of a bmw. though he still of down home, -- which matter not a bit to the girls at the house party. to them, he was tall and good-looking. what else mattered besides that? >> amy, one of our other friends were fighting over him. they both had a thing for him. >> right away, boom. she wanted? him >> when you're a teenage girl, and you see a cute guy, of course. everything falls into place. >> well, it certainly did. >> was he crazy about her? >> yeah. he met her and it was instantly. >> they were together from the very first night. it didn't seem to matter that amy was still in high school, just a sophom*ore. they were in love. he took her away on trips, he bauder lots of gifts. but, when we introduce you to his parents, debbie and rick senior, they were not so bold over by amy. >> she just manipulated him. she was really cute, really

petite, long hair. >> wrapped him around a little finger. >> yeah. >> you saw that happen? >> yes. >> but then we found ahold she was. that changed a little bit. >> where were you worried about? >> at that point we are worried as you get pregnant. she was a minor that if he didn't want to be with her, he'd go to jail for rape. >> rape? jill? what >> a place to go. looking back, debbie calluses it was just some gut instinct that holden amy was up to something. whatever it was, it wouldn't be good for her son, ricky. so debbie tried to put a wedge between the two young lovers. ricky was living in his parents guesthouse. his mom made a firm rule. amy could not stay over. >> she sat there and try to hide in the closet. you can't live here, we can have this. >> what did you try to? do >> i try to break them up. i would say, okay, you are 16, and i don't want to move out, because i'm living with my

parents for nothing in this house of my. on >> it's a story as old as young love. ricky's parents thought free rent would trump nights with amy. they were wrong. ricky didn't drop a me. he left home instead. rented an apartment, in a sketchy part of town. and amy, who had just finished sophom*ore year in high school, moved in with him. but, would it be happily ever after? no. no it would not be. because, now, act to. the hard part. that was about to begin. >> coming up, the bff's move in with amy and ricky, and that's when things turned deadly. she turns on the light in the bedroom, stands there for a second, and then she looks down and falls against the door screaming. >> when dateline continues. ♪ birds flyin' high, you know how i feel. ♪

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spring of 97. booming here in the california desert. but in lancaster, like everywhere else, the unstoppable desire of young adults can bring out polar opposites in parenting styles. well, ricky cowl's parents struggled to prevent what looked to them a big mistake. amy's parents, georgia, and larry priest meyer, had a different perspective.

i >> don't think about it much, because i was 17 when i met larry. how old were you? larry >> 24. >> there was a six year difference. >> that worked out? >> 34 years. >> the age difference didn't worry them. they like to ricky. he was good to their daughter. and amy's parents knew they didn't have much say in whatever he did, anyway. >> she always pushed. >> and we push the envelope? >> yes. >> always. >> of course, rickie's mom didn't know that when she called amy's mom, looking for an ally in her effort to put the brakes on the love affair. >> i called her mother when i knew working was at the apartment. saying, ricky 16 -- she needs to say on. with >> usually say? with you >> or responses you get? >> she said while we don't have any plans with or moving in. their couple days later, she's moved in. and then, it wasn't even a week later, so she moved her friends. didn't >> deter parents have any control at all? >> no. >> could you guess this?

there was something else going on. big news about which ricky's parents knew nothing. amy was pregnant. it was her parents, georgia and larry, who got the news first. >> i was disappointed, to be honest with you. my kids know about contraceptives, even though they were raised to be absent in until marriage. >> you try to raise your kids to do the right thing, sometimes they don't. now, amy was going to have to go a fast. pregnant at 16, moving in with her boyfriend, was she ready for all of this? maybe not. >> she was always very outgoing, and liked having her independence. >> and girls just want to have? fun >> exactly. >> in fact, right away, amy invited her best friends, jennifer and sarah, local pageant queen, to move into. either one of them wanted to be stuck at home under parental watch. and, pregnant or no, there was

fun to be had. jennifer stirring up trouble, as usual. broader jogging funds over to visit, though amy insisted that because she was pregnant, she wasn't using. >> did she seem at all resentful about the idea that she couldn't do the fun things anymore? >> well, a party girl becoming pregnant, it's kind of hard, because everything stops. especially when you're 16, you're still in high school. you haven't grown up yet. >> but, ricky by then, was 21. he had different ideas about moving in together. he wanted a me home, when he got back from his long day at work, on those high voltage electrical lines. he wanted amy home alone. at >> some point, they start have their lead serious problems. ricky for example, complain of these girls have moved in, and he don't want them there. >> ricky decided that he was done and one of them. john >> which pleased. a friends jennifer especially,

not one bit. amy wasn't having either. so, a couple months into this romance that started so hot and fast, it seems to be burning out. >> they had been fighting a lot, she thought about ending the relationship and she was afraid that rickie's parents might take the child once was born. there is a point when one night she broke down and cried, and she said i don't know what i should do i don't know what i should do. >> it was about then when ricky finally told his mom about his and amy's predicament. >> well, he came home one night from work, and we were in the house. and he goes, i have to talk to you and dad. when he said me and dad, i'm, like, what about? well, i just want you to sit down. i want you to talk to you. he was really serious. i'm thinking some really bad thing. he tells me, amy's pregnant. and i said, no, no, no. he goes, yeah. >> exactly what she had worried about. and riky was

talking about breaking up with amy. >> he says, i want to ke care of the baby. i says, you will. that's your responsibility. but he says, i need a way to tell amy that we can't be what she wants us to be. i need a way to tell her. >> she wanted to be married. he didn't want to do that. now he had this big problem. just the problem you worried about all along. >> uh-huh. >> and then turmoil. rick wy and amy ared. he told her to leave, go back hometo her parents. then, after they spent a weekend apart, thinking it over, something changed. i sat on the porch with him, and we had a beer and cigarette. and he said, you know, i'm so excited for our life now, i've just thought about everything, and everything is just going to be fine, we're going to make it work. >> ricky was happy. >> ricky really was looking we forward to being a daddy. >> because a lot of guys 20 or 21 years old who just met a girl and got her pregnant right away would not

be reacting that way. >> no. but ricky was a little different from everybody. he seemed more grown up. >> by then, amy had a change of heart, too. >> she said, i'm going to make this work. it's worth making work. want my daughter to grow awe up with her daddy here. >> which brings us to august awe rickie left for work early, amy left a note promising to get back by nine, to spend time alone with him. and then afternoon, she called him, as he worked out in the hot desert, just to confirm their plans. and later, when it his dad and he went to the county fair to set up flights, the call from aimee kept coming, when are you getting home she, asked him of course she'd been out all day with friends. around 9 pm, sarah in tow, she went home to see if ricky had arrived. she goes pounding up the stairs, gets up to the top of the stairs i'm looking at her she turns on the light in a bedroom, stands there for a second, and

then she looks down and falls against the door screen. >> someone was lying on the floor still alive at, a twisted bloody mess, it was rickie. >> coming up. >> how is amy? >> she was panicked. >> the new father to be, help us on the floor. what had happened, when dateline continues. d, whe dateline continues dateline continues how bout sushi? i just had sushi for lunch yesterday. indian? ehh, maybe... how bout seafood? you know i don't like seafood. [collision beeping warning] [silence] how bout tacos? tacos. automatic emergency braking — one of six advanced safety features standard on every 2022 chevy equinox. find new technology. find new roads. chevrolet. for people living with h-i-v, keep being you.

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>> oh my god, help me. >> after a night of running around, sara and amy finally went to amy's place, and finding him just -- line near death on his in amy's bedroom floor. >> they're on the floor. >> he was kind of twisted up on the floor, and all i saw was blood? so i said let's get out of here. >> it is a? do >> it scares a crap. let me >>. and she was such a mess. >> she was just terrible. >> and i grabbed the phone from her, and i'm like hello? she is like, this is 9-1-1, so i start freaking out. >> what's going on? can you tell me what's happening? >> we

just got back here to the apartment and we've been gone all night long. we haven't be able to get ahold of her boyfriend. we walked upstairs. he's like on the ground and he's all bleeding. >> he's bleeding? >> he's not movi or anything. we just turned on the ght. we saw him and came downstairs to call you. >> okay. hold on. i'm trying to reach the paramedics, okay? >> by now, jenner and another friend were there, too. >> jennifer started screaming to me, ricky, i want to see ricky, i want to see ricky. >> no! get downstairs, now with amy. you don't need to see this, honey. i can't even stand to look at it. get downstairs. >> okay. how's he doing now? >> he's twitching, convulsing a little bit it looks like. something went through his head. >> paramedics and law enforcement showed up. what happened then was hard to watch, intense, as sheriff's video camera recorrded a man struggling to survive. could he tell them what happened? >> when they came to the house, the next thing i know, shoving all of us

into the kitchen. carried him downstairs on his bed sheet and worked on him in the living oom. >> did you shoot yourself? >> no. >> who did it? what did it? >> my neck hurts. >> who shot you in the head? did you do it? >> as police try desperately to get information from him, ricky became too weak to respond. >> get him out of here. >> how was amy at this stage? >> she just panicke >> beside herself. >> yes. >> and sara called ricky's parents, come quick. something had happened. >> well, by the time we got there, there was so many people, i was screaming, ricky, ricky. i knew he had been shot but we had no idea where or anything. >> or how bad it was with. >> or how bad it was or anything until they brought him downstairs. then i knew, i

knew. i thought, oh, no, no no. >> like your whole life is disintegrating right unr your hand. >> it did. >> then the paramedics brought ricky to a waiting helicopter. rick senior rode to the hospital with his son. >> he was comprehending what we were talking about a little bit, but he was hurting pretty hard. i tried to tell him, we'll get okay. we'll get the doctors to try to fix this. >> and they did try. as the doctors worked on ricky, his family gathered. amy was there, too, of course. but whoever attacked him had done so much damage to his head, to his brain. by august 14th, two days in intensive care, it was clear there was no fixing ricky. he was comatose now, only the machines kept him alive. his family went to his bedside to say their good-byes. amy was beside herself, hardly made sense. >> and she said, why did you have to go ahead and die? you were supposed to buy me a car for my birthday. i'm

thinking, did i just hear that? >> you were supposed to buy me a car? odd, of course, but the cowless were with far too distraught to try to figure out what was going on in the mind of amy, 16 and pregnant. it was soon after that ricky died. his heart, kidneys and liver were donated to people in need. amy moved back in with her parents to get ready to have ricky's baby. and debbie and rick senior vowed to find out who did this. that's when a long journey began. long, and as you'll see, very strange. >> coming up, on this trail of a killer. >> he said, that was me. i did that. >> when dateline continues. i did that >> when dateline continues

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variant the coronavirus spreads, hospitals are seeing the growing trend. patients a minute for other elements are also testing positive for covid-19. doctors say, it may need more people -- asymptomatic or iron diagnoses, then the data shows. in india, several million covid-19 deaths have most likely gone unreported. according to a series of recent studies -- from the virus is far higher than it has been tallied by the government. for now, back to dateline. >> ricky cabals was dead. but why? the cops went to the apartment, but there was little evidence to go on. >> they found a shell casing. 25 auto i believe.

>> a shell casing, no print trail, no useful dna. nothing missing and nothing in particular about ricky fouls that would lead you to think that he's been a murder victim. he's not the sort of person who would normally be a victim of that kind of crime? >> unless, maybe he owed money to drug dealers >> or he hadn't paid a gambling debt? >> that wasn't anything that was out. there >> tom harrison larry brandenburg, then detectives with los angeles county sheriff's homicide, worked on the. case >> you always look at your victims lifestyle, because that's probably gonna tell you where to go. ricky worked all the time with his father, he drank some beer when he wasn't working, and probably smoke some weed every once in a while, but beyond. that >> pretty standard middle class? guy >> yeah, he was a hardworking kid. so, he was in the type of kid that would have some big drug debt. >> but, if the cops don't have much to go on, that group of girls seemed to have some rather shocking ideas. though, of course, reporting

this to the cops would be about the last thing any of them would do. >> from the beginning, it was finger-pointing here in there. jennifer, involved shell is involved -- amy was involved, you or somebody else was involved. it was this, or was home invasion. it was just -- fingers were pointed at everybody. >> bye? >> everybody else. >> months passed. the paranoia was palpable. amy and best friend, jennifer, weren't talking. sara and jennifer weren't talking. ricky's family was just staying away from the mall. convinced, somehow, they all knew something. but, there was a price to pay for rickie's family staying away from me. >> when she was in the hospital having the baby, a friend of ours calls from the hospital and said, her names on the board, your babies coming today. sometime today. i cried all day. here's his baby, i'm never going to see, because you -- know, my son's gone. >> about a month later, the cow was, and patient with the

progress of the case, decided to post a reward. ricky sister went to amy's house to give them some flyers. amy's dad answer the door. >> i asked her father, if you wanted any fires. he said, why don't you come on in. so your little niece. >> there she was >> i just call my mom instantly, and told her, i'm holding your little grandbaby. >> kayleigh lyn cowl's was born january 23rd, 1998. >> she was precious. i just knew that i wanted a relationship with her, and that through her pregnancy, we weren't able to let things go between each other, our families. so, i knew that, something had to give. and, that the baby would make it that it was easier to deal with each other. >> it was. then, grandma debbie got to meet the baby. couple days later i went to see her, and i held her and cried

my eyes out. because, here she is. this gift, but i, don't have him anymore. >> and a break in the case came soon, to. a 19 year old, who lived on the street from amy and ricky's place. billy hough man was arrested for ricky's murder. turns out he bragged to loads of friends about what he had done. >> he was proud of. it he actually told people, there was a girl that he would carpool with -- for instance -- to go to work and came our. he said, you saw those? helicopters >> she goes yeah, that was me. he says, i did that. >> so, he denied to the authorities. >> several people. he had one person who helped him get the gun. another person who helped him get rid of the gun. he would tell people that he did this. which obviously, was his demise, because he got arrested shortly. >> billy huffman was a drug

user, and small time dealer. it turned out there was some sort of connection between billy and wild jennifer. >> cops came in and said, -- showed me a picture of the guy, and said do you know this guy? well, i met him once before a jennifer's birthday this year. they said, this is who did. it >> sarah even say that this photo -- smoking pot together. which the cops were happy to have. chalian recognized him too. it was the weekend before he died. ricky was away, deciding what to do about amy. chalian went out to the apartment to hang out with the girls. sitting on the living room for, was a quiet guy, named billy. jennifer was high on acid. she told shaylyn, that she should try some too. it was billy who had the drugs >> do you remember how billy came to be there? >> jennifer kellogg brought him over. >> a friend of jennifer? 's >> yes. >> she introduced him, the killer, into the scene?

>> yes. >> was jennifer somehow involved? remember, after she and sara moved in with amy, ricky wanted her out. and she was mad at ricky for. that she was known for stirring up trouble, but murder? the idea seemed preposterous. in any way, it was billy huffman who went on trial, not jennifer. and, he just climbed up, denying everything. no matter, he was convicted. he got a life without the possibility of parole. so, story over. not by a long shot. >> coming up, a conversation with the killer. he has a little secret he wants to share. >> she also knew about this? >> yes. >> when dateline continues.

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starting at age 45, instead of 50, since colon cancer is increasing in younger adults. i'm cologuard®. i'm convenient and find 92% of colon cancers... ...even in early stages. i'm for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider if cologuard is right for you. welcome back to dateline, i'm natalie morales, billy huffman was serving time in prison, convicted of killing ricky kyle's. but it wasn't case closed. often was about to spillage filling secret, that would set off a new investigation. here again is keith morrison, with mean girls. >> lancaster, california, tipped into the new millennium, nearly three years after ricky cows was dispatched from all knowledge of time, and two

families who might have gone completely off the rails, stayed intact because of an amazing gift he helped create and left behind, her name is kayleigh. name is kaly. the man who we killed her father before she was born was in prison. the teenager who gave birth to her grew into womanhood and even ricky's parents, the cowles, who didn't like amy from the start, grew respect for her. >> she is a great mother of kaly. >> she was perfect mother. >> that might have been the end of the story. life does have to go on and their hours with kaly were some of the sweetest theyever had. but they couldn't just erase their one nagging belief, that billy hoffman did not act alone when he killed their son. even though billy was convicted, that wasn't the whole story. >> no. in billy's trial, he didn't confess. he wasonvicted on circ*mstantial evidence. >> he kept saying, i

dn't do it, i didn't do it. >> then in 2002 he wrote us a letter. >> ah, yes, the letter. the key to the whole thing really. without that letter, well -- it was 2002 and billy hoffman had been in prison for three years. when he wrote to the cowless that he was remorseful. he had found god, he said, and with that a sense of obligation to say he was sorry. >> and i'm reading it and reading it. then i'm crying, reading it, crying, reading it. i'm by myself -- >> what did it say? >> that he was sorry, that he had done things he shouldn't have, that he hoped that we would forgive him someday. >> and then she wentback to the beginning and read this one curious phrase. he wrote, "i would like to begin by confessing my part in the murder of richard" as the one who took his life. "my part. "

when rickys parents saw this letter and saw apologizing for his part, that spoke volumes to them, i guess, huh in. >> oh, yeah. thetook the letter to the d. a.'s office immediately and in turn the d. a. contacted our office. and it went on from there. >> and so five years after ricky's murder, the dormant investigation was revived. >> we're on tape now. the time is 1400 hours, the date is september 12, 2002. >> sheriff's homicide detectives went to billy's prison to ask him, what did you mean by "your part"? >> you were with conviconvicted murdering richard cowles? >> yes. >> tell me from the beginning how thehing hapned. >> and finally billy hoffman, grappling himself over what he had done, stopped denying anything and told theops his long-secret story. and for the very first time, a certain name came popping out of his mouth. >> i can't remember exact days or

anything like that, but i'd say a couple of weeks before the murder happened i was at my house and jennifer kol for example akellogg if i would kil somebody. i said, yes, i would. >> it was that easy. jennifer askedhim to kill and he said yes. but listen carefully as billy gives his monotone. you'll hear another name. mean girls don't tend to scheme alone. who was with jennifer when she arranged the murder? >> amy preasmyer took me to the apartment and showed me how the layout was. >> amy preasmyer. now, amy is -- >> was cowles'boyfriend, mother of this kid. >> she also knew about it? >> yes. >> amy knew about it. along with jennifer, she apparently the loving girlfriend said billy had arranged everything. he recalled how they gave him a photo of ricky, told them to

hide in the bedroom where he could peek through the crack in the door and see ricky comes up the stairs. the murder of ricky cowles was all set to go. and then came the day. august 12, 1997, late in the day. jennifer and amy. >> dill billy said there, he said, with a hammer, a knife, a gun, a pillow to use as a silencer. but, remember, ricky ended up working late that night, fixing lights at the county fair. waiting in the house, billy started to get sleepy. he started having second thoughts. >> i got tired of waiting. he ended up staying late for work or wherever he was. i didn't know what was going on and i just kind of, you know what? i'm gone. so i left. >> and thus the murder of ricky cowles was prevented. almost. billy left the apartment, shut the door, walked down the street toward

his own house, had given up on the whole idea. but then -- >> i got to that corner, sure enough amy and jennifer drive by. they're, like, what are you doing? where are you going? >> remember amy had been calling ricky all evening trying to pin him down on when he'd be home. >> they told me, go back. he called said he'd be back la. he told cops he went back immediately to sit behind the door armed with his tools of murder. around 9:00 ricky came home, needed a shower, went upstairs, entered the bedroom. he never saw it coming. billy hoffman attacked him with the claw hammer straight to the skull. ricky fought back. >> he showed up, came inside, into the house. i hit him and it didn't knock him out. he turnedround and nail yelled at me. i panicked and i just shot.

he went down. i was afraid that the gunshot made too much noise. and i didn't know what to do so i hit him with the hammer again. then i left the house. >> then billy gathered his things, walked home and paged jennifer. the signal that it was done. after the page, jennifer and amy split up. jennifer took pot to billy. amy asked sara to go home with her. sara, who didn't know anything about the plan, who was used as an alibi stooge, was used as the fool who would find ricky. why did billy do it? >> there was just a glamorous kind of picture in your mind, you know, to be that person and cruising with your friends and just -- at that time i think -- i pursued that. i wanted to be that guy. and when people knew that it was kind of like having a notch on my belt, you know? >> but in real life, of course,

murder is not glamorous. not at all. that night billy went home scared. soon enough, he was arrested, consigned to life in prison. and now it looked like two more arrests were called for. coming up -- amy involved in the murder of ricky? do you have some dark nights and said, she must have done? was a when dateline continues. a when dateline continues dateline continues

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tends not to roll out so quickly, as the movies would have you believe. in the case of ricky cowl,'s murdered in 1997, it had rolled slow in need. billy huffman had his heart to heart with homicide detectives, in 2002. but a case needs more than the words of a convicted killer. more investigation was needed, so, they waited. everybody waited. >> we knew, after 2000 into that something would happen. that all we ever told him was, if it comes to the point where they arrest amy, please let us know, because we don't want kayleigh -- in her little brain. that her mother was taken by police. just let us know. we'll take care of her, and you

do what you have to do. >> months and months and months of? and by >> years. here's one by. >> and during those years, the cowl is held their breath, and their tongues every week. when they went to pick up their granddaughter. the woman they had come to believe had arranged their sons murder. >> we knew, but you know, what there's one more thing more important -- that was kayleigh. she superseded all of that. because i wanted her to have a happy life. >> it was easter, 2005, levels in the air again. amy priess meyer was just about to be married. maybe kayleigh was seven years old, they were only showing baby pictures of her, one ricky's parents got the call, an arrest was imminent. that set into motion a case that would be a completely -- >> we called her and said, we need to go tomorrow, -- >> the family court judge gave the cows temporary custody. thus beginning a five-year battle between two sets of

loving grandparents. >> there was so much turmoil between our families that we couldn't grant everything. >> turmoil between our families? >> there was no talking between either weather must, they blamed us, >> they blamed you? >> yes, they blamed us. if we hadn't been persistent >> than aimee wouldn't have been arrested? >> >> but she was. she was charged with murder. taken to jail to await trial. amy's parents stood by, and still do. do you have some dark nights where you look at each other and say, she must of done it? >> no. >> never. >> never ever. we have never looked at each other and said, she has to be guilty of something. >> but the jury did not agree. nearly ten years to the day after the murder of ricky cowl, july 30th 2007, ricky's parents got the news they had been waiting for. guilty.

most like to hear that? >> quiet crying, every emotion you want to screen, but you can't. so you quietly cry to yourself. >> amy's family has cried to, of course. just not for the same reason. >> everybody looks at is now, like where the bad people. we are bad because of what your daughter did. i did nothing wrong. >> in fact, the judge gave you folks a lecture. >> she did that. >> at sentencing, the judge looked straight at amy's parents and said, there was a total breakdown of parenting, of moral leadership, of any kind of sense of responsibility. well is that like for you? >> that was very hard. as a parent, i knew in my heart that we had done the best that we can do. >> amy priess meyer got life without parole. and jennifer, while jennifer,

the girl i love to make trouble walked out. the prosecutor having seen the toll of the trial took on ricky's mother to avoid getting another, trial offered jennifer a deal. she pleaded guilty to manslaughter and solicitation to commit murder, getting 15 years in four months. jennifer sentencing, the judge blamed her for spring amy on. but, what made amy priess myre want to kill ricky? they did fight about her hanging out with friends when he wanted her home. they did talk about breaking up, but that hardly seems a reason to kill. even billy offman, who so casually agreed to murder a man, did not seem to have any real reason. >> did amy tell you exactly why she wanted him dead? >> i never got any specific reasons. she mentioned something once, but it seemed so petito. they said they were wet the bed, i don't know why that would warren murder. >> serving life without the possibility of parole, billy hough minute plenty of time to

think about his role in the murder. after more than 18 years in prison, he asked the governor of california to grant him clemency. citing his youth when he committed the crime, and his exemplary conduct in president. governor reduced his sentence the 20 is the. life two years later, he was paroled. the councils are unhappy that billy is free, and still it remains that unanswered question, why did amy want to ricky dead. where she so in mature, is that possible? that she just -- the idea of dealing somebody was like playtime? >> that's what i wonder sometimes. how do you go from living with somebody to thinking, it's okay, we'll just have somebody else do it, and that is fine, they're gone, they're dead. and he was being too young and immature to fatima was going on. the fact that you are really going to take somebody's life, and you're really going to ruin other peoples lives. >> and it did.

sara, deeply scarred by the betrayal of the girls she thought were her friends. still struggles to make sense of her life. shane admits she was frankly a mess. do you wonder what would've happened if that hadn't interceded? would you be a different person? >> yes, i wonder -- what i wonder moses who my brother would be. you know, seeing people his age now, i'm thinking, how would my brother be in his life. >> and then there was kayleigh. the only good thing about the story. >> she's a wonderful little kid. she's a little anymore, but she's wonderful. >> does she get sometimes? >> kayleigh can hide her emotions very easily, and that's not a part that she will let me see very often. but yes, she does get set. >> the face she presents to the

world is happy? >> yes. >> happy, happy, happy? >> that's exactly where she does. because she doesn't want to disappoint anybody. >> shane lynn sees that quality, to. it reminds her of her brother. because, my brother was the type of person who didn't really talk about things that bothered him. he was just happy, like her. that's the part that i get that, she's a lot like her brother. she has his heart. >> after years in court, the two families agreed to share custody, though kayleigh spent a little more time with ricky's parents. they also agreed that if, unofficially, to leave the fast behind, for her. >> we both love her. there's no doubt about it. we just loved her in different ways. >> we want the best for her, they want to best for her, that's our goal. it's to be the best for her. this is her life. >> of course, amy's parents, ricky's parents, wanted the best ones before, as all

parents do. could anyone have seen into those mean girl minds before two families pay the price? that's all for this edition of that's all for this edition of dateline i'm natalie morales, dateline, i'm natalie morales, thank you for watching. thank you for watching. >> i'm craig melvin, and i'm notably morales. >> and this is dateline. >> a doctor's wife dies after a minor fender bender. so why do or brothers believe, this was no accident? >> i pulled my brother out, and i told him, you will not believe what i just heard. >> the startling news came from their sister's friend. >> she just kept insisting, promised we'll get a full autopsy. >> the brothers kept it a secret,.

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A teenage mom and her friends get caught up in a bizarre murder case.

TOPIC FREQUENCY

Ricky 51, Jennifer 28, Billy 17, Us 9, Amy 6, Kayleigh 6, California 5, Sara 5, Debbie 5, Natalie Morales 4, Rickie 4, Burke 4, Billy Huffman 4, Billy Hoffman 4, Larry 3, Biktarvy 3, Kevin 3, Medicare 3, Walgreens 2, Allstate 2

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