>>> I heard a scream.
I actually think I heard two.
I was like, joel.
Where is joel?
And then -- they said that he
was dead.
>> we have these true crimes,
these murder mystery on every
week.
But you know what makes this one
different?
It was broken wide open by one
of our viewers just watching
"20/20" at home.
>> joel --
joel had been stabbed to death.
>> this would be joel's room
where he was sleeping.
This would be julie rea's room
where she was sleeping.
She encounters this dark figure.
They begin fighting.
>> there wasn't any overturn
furniture.
>> they decided that julie
decided to stage the crime scene
and had just not done it very
well.
>> what could be worse than
being wrongfully convicted?
Being wrongfully convicted of
the murder offure only child.
>> I didn't commit this imkroo.
I did not.
>> but if julie didn't do it,
who did?
>>> I'm at the home of
alan berkshire.
Alan, do I have your permission
to videotape your statement
today?
>> yes, you most certainly do.
I had encountered a person in
the lawrenceville drive-in on
Friday night, just a couple of
days before joel kirkpatrick was
murdered.
And he come in and he looked
around, and he kind of almost
seemed disoriented.
He sat down and started talking.
You know, is this your son?
I said, yes, this is my youngest
son.
And he tapped him on the
shoulder one time.
He said, I bet you're a pretty
good boy, or something.
He made a very unusual comment
that really upset me.
He said, I'll bet you're afraid
of me, aren't you?
And the guy did a funny --
[ laughs ]
you know, I guess maybe
everybody ought to be an afraid
of me.
>> that is about the happiest
face you have ever seen.
His plan was to be a programmer
and video-game tester, but, you
know, the intentions of a
10-year-old boy.
Joel was brilliant beyond my
wildest imagination.
I'm not saying that because he
is my kid.
Everybody loves their kid, but
every teacher told me that he
was the smartest student they
ever had.
What is your Sunday school
teacher's name?
>> carla.
>> carla?
Is she nice?
>> yep.
>> can you describe him to me?
What kind of kid was he?
What was he like?
>> the funniest kid in the
world, and I am not just saying
that because I am his mother.
Joel was sensitive and kind and
caring and perceptive, but he
was also a little boy.
He didn't like to have to take a
bath.
I mean, everybody kind of wanted
to be armed joel.
He was just really fun.
>> I do remember joel.
He's just a very nice kid.
He didn't have anything
malicious about him.
He's just a very happy and
smiley person.
>> I can remember the last time
I saw joel.
It was his weekend to be with
his mother.
>> julie and len were married
for eight years but divorced
when joel was 7.
>> but the one thing they both
were totally consistent on was
this was an exceptional boy,
a beautiful boy, and that they
both loved him more than
anything else.
>> it was a long weekend.
Columbus day, I think.
Since he was going to be out of
school on Monday, julie asked if
she could have an extra day.
I said yes, and I go in to say
good-bye to joel.
He gave me that -- that bear hug
that he liked to do.
I kissed him good-bye.
>> joel said he wanted to be
with me that day and we had a
blast.
We went to a park with a blanket
look at the clouds and -- see
that?
That's a this or that's a that.
Do you see this?
Do you see that?
>> they were very affectionate.
Lots of hugs and just good
communication.
He loved being with her and
doing things with her.
>> we had gotten a milkshake and
went home.
>> julie had a house in
lawrenceville.
It was a tiny, little
ranch-style home in kind of a
subdivision there in town.
And this is where she would
be when joel would come for his
visits.
>> I remember being at their
house that evening actually.
>> touch nothing but the lamp.
>> I remember watching "aladdin"
while the moms were talking,
doing their thing over at the
dinner table.
>> julie was always a wonderful
hostess and, you know, made you
feel really comfortable in her
house.
We sat down at the table and
worked on our scrapbooks and
talked about hopes and dreams
normally talked about.
>> after a while, joel said that
he wanted to go to bed.
He didn't feel good.
I went and tucked him in and
prayed with him and --
told him I loved him and we
said good night like always.
>> she made sure she locked the
front door.
She has never been able to say
for sure whether she locked the
door from the garage into the
kitchen.
>> around midnight, I crashed.
I was exhausted.
>> she was asleep, and at some
point, she was awakened.
>> I heard a scream.
The scream didn't really sound
like joel because it sounded so
horrible.
>> I was really groggy, and I
really don't want to talk about
this.
>> but it's kind of important
for us to have it in your own
words.
>> I know.
It's just really hard.
I didn't say I wouldn't.
I'm just having a hard time.
I just remember thinking, oh, my
god, I wonder if it's joel.
>> he was not in his bed.
>> I know I screamed his name.
I was like, joel.
>> and the next thing she knows,
a man jumps across the bed
toward her.
>> the person had on a ski mask.
>> they scuffle.
She's trying to stop him from
getting away.
>> he was obviously trying to
get out of there.
He broke out the door.
>> she's hanging onto his legs.
>> the person was hitting my
face into the ground.
>> she said that he removed his
mask, and then just sauntered
off into the night.
>> I -- I was scared.
I didn't know what to do.
I thought, oh, my god, they've
kidnapped joel, because the
person was walking away.
It's like, where is joel?
I ran to the closest house and
started pounding on the door and
screaming to get let in to call
the police.
>> she was in shock.
Her eyes were big.
She had a big knot over her eye.
>> julie said, somebody has
taken joel.
And then she said, will you
please go find him?
>> about 4:30 in the morning,
a call went in from a neighbor's
home, and the lawrenceville
police arrived.
>> two officers that came to the
scene.
One stayed with julie.
And then the deputy went into
the house.
>> when he did so, he made his
way to the back bedroom and
found joel lying in a pool of
blood next to his bed.
>> between the bed and the wall.
>> he had a t-shirt on.
And it was covered with blood.
That's when I saw a big hole in
his chest.
He was already gone.
It was just a real bad scene.
>> and then they said that he
was dead.
And I said, no.
He wasn't in the house.
He would have heard me.
I screamed for him.
He would have come.
I said --
maybe they were wrong.
Maybe he was still alive.
>> when 10-year-old joel
kirkpatrick was found stabbed to
death, his mother told police
both she and her son were
attacked by a knife-wielding
intruder, but a search for this
suspect turned up no leads.
>> one of the things that made
police begin to focus on
julie rea was a series of odd
observations made the night of
the crime.
>> and I looked at her knees,
and she pulled her knees up like
a little child and said, I have
a boo-boo on my knees.
>>> lawrenceville is, I would
say, a quintessential midwestern
town.
It's a rural community.
It's a farming community.
>> miles and miles of
cornfields.
Less than 5,000 people.
I think at that time we probably
had three stop lights.
>> it has a small town square,
coffee shops and an occasional
bar, a grocery store and it's
a friendly little quiet little
place.
>> 10-year-old joel kirkpatrick
was found murdered here in his
lawrenceville home early the
morning of October 13th.
>> I could see them drive up
plain as day.
You can tell by the look on
their face that they didn't come
here with good news.
They sat down with me and told
me --
that joel had been stabbed to
death.
>> julie and len married very
young.
They were both children of
missionaries.
>> we met when we were 16 years
old.
We got married when I was --
one month after think 18th
birthday.
She was 17.
Her parents sign for her.
>> joel came along very quickly
after they got married, less
than a year.
Julie was pursuing a ph.D in
educational psychology, and len
was pursuing law enforcement.
But they divorced by the time he
was 7 or 8.
>> it was a pretty bitter
divorce, and they had joint
custody of joel, but len had
just won physical custody.
>> there was a long battle of
custody of joel, and the final
decision was that August, two
months before his death.
>> the difference came down to
the fact that julie was single,
while len kirkpatrick had
remarried.
And so his home would be a
two-parent home.
>> julie was not happy about
that, to say the least.
>> I'm john miller, deputy
commissioner of the
new york city police department
for intelligence and
counterterrorism.
And at the time this happened,
I was with "20/20".
I was the co-anchor with
barbara walters, and this was
the story that I was assigned
to.
Investigators were looking at
the crime scene and they're
looking for the story the crime
scene will tell.
>> the police didn't have a lot
of experience investigating
cases of this magnitude.
So, pretty quickly, they called
in the illinois state police.
>> what the officers found in
her house did not fit their
mental image of what they would
find had there been an intruder.
>> julie had claimed that there
had been this terrible struggle
with an intruder, and yet the
house was not in the kind of
condition where you would expect
a house to be after that.
>> this is a scale model
representing the house where
julie rea and joel were the
night of the crime.
This would be joel's room where
he was sleeping.
This would be julie rea's
bedroom where she was sleeping.
In this vestibule in between the
two, she encounters this dark
figure.
They begin fighting.
That fight, according to her,
through the dining area,
towards -- there's a door that
leads to the garage.
It goes through the garage to
another door.
And that is where the struggle
in the rear yard starts.
>> the house itself was very
neat inside.
There wasn't any overturned
furniture.
There wasn't any pictures on the
wall that had been knocked
askew.
There wasn't any broken chairs.
>> there were no signs of
anything stolen and no apparent
forced entry.
>> she became a suspect the very
morning of October 13, 1997,
because the crime scene
technicians that arrived saw
that the scene did not fit her
story.
>> I went up to the funeral
home.
I wanted to be alone.
And see him for myself.
I went to the table, pulled back
his cover.
And it just suddenly hit me, he
was killed with a knife that
came from the last gift I ever
gave her as husband and wife at
christmas.
>> they would discover that the
murder weapon was a steak knife
that was in the butcher block in
the kitchen.
So, in other words, the story
becomes he came into the house
without even a weapon.
>> the murder weapon was found
on the floor in the hallway
between the two bedrooms.
>> the knife is found on the
carpet.
The evidence seemed to suggest
that it had been placed there
as opposed to thrown down.
You don't see any blood spatter
around on the knife.
>> when she ran next door
barefooted and in her underwear
and t-shirt, even to the
neighbor, she made strange
comments.
>> here was this lady who's just
been distraught, and I'm looking
at her arm and she says, you
don't have to worry about me.
I don't have aids.
Almost a total change of
personality there for that brief
moment.
Then I looked at her knees and
she pulled her knees up like a
little child and said, "I have a
boo-boo on my knees."
>> these were just comments made
within minutes of this woman
supposedly discovering that her
child had been abducted from her
home.
>> julie's shirt had traces of
blood on it.
>> on the back of her shirt,
that appeared to have been a
spatter.
>> dna testing would later
reveal that it was joel's blood
on the shoulder and back of
julie's shirt.
>> her account doesn't have her
in contact with joel at any time
during that crime.
She thinks he's been kidnapped.
So how would blood from him have
transferred onto her when she
didn't have that contact?
>> the more investigators looked
into it, the more they became
convinced that julie was the
suspect and nobody else.
>> the question that the police
officers immediately had was,
who does this?
Who breaks into a home for no
reason, kills a kid for no
reason, and then leaves an
adult essentially unharmed?
It doesn't make any sense to
them.
>> they told me to meet them at
the police station.
I thought they were trying to do
their job.
They said they thought I did it.
They said that they were sure I
did it.
I said you're wrong.
I didn't commit this crime.
>>> 10-year-old joel kirkpatrick
was found murdered.
His mother told police she was
awakened by hearing her son
screaming.
>> people woke up and were just
stunned.
The shock of an ugly murder like
this in a small town.
>> you think everybody's safe,
and then something like that
happens, it's frightening.
>> just 'cause it's a small
town, that's no sign it's not
gonna happen here.
>> she says she was then
attacked by an intruder.
A lawrence county sheriff's
deputy found 10-year-old joel
dead a short time later.
>> julie had seen the intruder's
face without a mask.
She sees him for just a few
seconds, and then he takes off
after that.
>> I looked over my right
shoulder and saw the person
walking away, and they had the
mask off at that time.
>> julie worked with a sketch
artist, and they came up with a
sketch.
>> she described the assailant
as thin, about 5'9" to 5'11",
wearing camouflage pants.
>> and this was circulated in
the hopes of finding who she was
talking about.
>> as for the people of
lawrenceville, it's the
community rumor mill that's
fueling their own stores as to
just what may have happened to
joel kirkpatrick.
>> there was a woman who sold
a greyhound bus ticket to
somebody who she felt matched
the description based on this
sketch.
>> the woman called the police
and said, that man was at the
bus station.
>> someone else said that they
saw a man over by the railroad
track wearing camo fatigues.
>> there were a group of kids at
a party who said that some kids
had shown up at the party saying
we just killed somebody.
And some of them said that those
kids had blood on their clothes.
>> supposed to have been three
teenagers, I guess, broke in
there.
>> a kid that we went to school
with killed joel.
>> to a group of boys tripping
on methamphetamine.
>> none of this checked out.
>> there were other leads coming
in and other leads being looked
at, but in the end, they kept
coming back to her.
>> julie cooperated with the
investigation.
She was interviewed by the state
police three times.
>> conducting this test, there
are a couple of issues I have to
explore.
One is that everything happened
exactly the way you said it
happened.
Another is that you harmed joel.
>> I remember julie took a
polygraph test to prove she had
nothing to do with it.
>> what I would like to do now
is to get you attached to the
instrument.
>> okay.
>> I have to put this around
behind you.
During the early morning hours
of 13 October, 1997, were you
assaulted by a masked intruder
you did not know?
>> yes.
>> julie took two polygraph
tests from -- not from the state
police, but from independent
polygraph examiners.
>> did you deliberately cause
any of joel's injuries?
>> no.
>> julie passed both of them.
>> after really a small number
of leads, the police ran out of
other suspects.
The case went cold.
Julie was still suspect number
one.
>> I said, well, do you still
think I'm a suspect?
You know, are you wasting your
time on that?
And he said, well, yeah, you're
a suspect.
You were there.
And I said, okay.
And so who else are you looking
at?
And he said, you're our main
suspect.
>> they didn't have enough
evidence to indict her, and so
the case kind of just languished
for a few years.
>> no one has been identified as
the suspect or -- and there's
not enough evidence that we've
evaluated for us to make that
decision at this time.
>> the case just went nowhere
almost immediately.
I -- I pity the investigators
just because this -- this would
happen every time I called them.
And they had to have got sick of
it.
For years, nothing happened.
♪ how do you keep your head
above the water when you never
learned to swim ♪
>> julie tried to move on with
her life.
She remarried to a man named
mark harper.
She moved to
bloomington, indiana.
>> julie's family put up a
reward on the one-year
anniversary of joel's death
for any information leading to
the killer, and the reward was
never paid out.
>> she continues working on her
ph.D, but all the time she kind
of knows that this could crop up
again.
>> it's now 2000.
An appellate prosecutor gets the
case.
He is convinced that julie rea
is guilty.
So he takes the case to the
grand jury, and he gets an
indictment.
>> ed parkinson is appointed to
prosecute this case.
>> the fact that this is a
circumstantial case for the most
part doesn't make it any less
the case.
Very few murders are witnessed.
This was a strong circumstantial
case.
>> this is not the first time
julie kirkpatrick has been
rumored to be involved in her
son's murder, but it is the
first time she has been
officially labeled as a suspect.
>> I was shocked, going to
appoint a grand jury for her.
I can't imagine a mother doing
something like that to a child.
>> to believe her, you would
have to believe that this
assailant came into her home
in the middle of the night,
forgot to bring a murder weapon
along, and after he accomplished
his result, he then pulled off
the mask to reveal his identity
to her.
Total nonsense.
>> she had invited me to spend
the night there, and why would
she invite me to be there if she
had planned on killing joel?
It didn't make any sense at all.
>>> the grand jury handed down
two counts of first-degree
murder against julie.
There hadn't been any movement
on the case in three years, so
it was, wow, we couldn't believe
this was happening.
>> it just feels so surreal.
Like, how in the world did this
even happen?
She surrendered.
She hugged each one of us and
then was taken away into the
jail.
>> when she was arrested, she
still had a belief that the
truth would come out, that the
legal system would prove her to
be innocent.
>> I didn't commit this crime.
I said, I could not.
I'm not capable.
I would not.
I have no reason to, and I did
not.
>> attorneys tell news 25 she is
anxious to now have her case go
to trial so a jury can hear the
truth.
>> julie's trial took place in
wayne county, illinois.
The judge granted a change of
venue case because of all the
pretrial publicity.
>> the courtroom was small.
It had benches in it that looked
like pews.
Julie had a public defender
because she couldn't afford
anything else.
And you had the whole entire
resources of the state against
her.
>> and so it's a total mismatch
in the courtroom.
>> the prosecution's case is
there was no other explanation.
They reject her explanation that
there was a masked intruder who
entered her house and killed her
son with a knife that he found
in the butcher block.
It sounds too preposterous.
>> to believe her, you would
have to believe that this
assailant came into her home
in the middle of the night
in dark clothes, hiding his
identity by the use of a mask
for the sole purpose of killing
a 10-year-old boy.
And yet he took such care to
hide his identity by wearing a
mask, he also forgot to bring a
murder weapon along and used her
kitchen knife to do it with.
And after he accomplished his
result, according to her, he
then pulled off the mask to
reveal his identity to her.
Total nonsense.
>> the best evidence against
julie was that she survived.
>> during the trial, prosecutors
presented to the jury that julie
had, essentially, setup, staged,
the whole scene.
>> they look at the two doors
where there were breaks, and
there's glass broken, but it's
fallen on the outside.
So the prosecution made an issue
of this, which is if the person
broke the glass to break into
the house, the glass would be on
the inside.
>> they decided that julie had
tried to stage the crime scene
and just not done it very well.
>> the house was in complete
neatness.
And if there was a struggle
throughout a long hallway,
out through the kitchen, past
furniture, past plaques on the
wall, as she described fighting
and wrestling with this
intruder, there would have been
some disturbance, some blood
trail, something knocked ajar.
There was none.
>> they want a jury to believe
that because the furniture
wasn't torn up, there must not
have been a struggle.
>> I keep coming back to,
where's the blood?
Where's the bloody clothing?
Where's the blood on her?
They want to say that she had
blood on her, she got rid of it.
Where is it?
They dug up the septic tank the
drains are dry, the traps have
no blood in it.
>> she stabbed him, threw a
quilt, threw blanket threw a
sheet down, into his shirt and
into his chest.
So each time the knife was
brought back, it was being wiped
by the cover.
>> the case against julie rae
was entirely circumstantial, and
a big part of it was based on
expert testimony about blood
spatter.
>> I'm matt steiner.
I'm a certified senior crime
scene analyst.
>> we're going to cover the
container of animal blood.
And now we're going to take the
knife and put it through the
sheet and comforter to see what
happens.
>> so it did wipe it off
somewhat, but there's still
visible blood on that blade.
As you see from photographs
at the crime scene, we have
bloodstain patterns on the
headboard, the wall, and the
carpeting.
So I think the whole theory of
not getting blood on julie
because of this wiping action
here is false.
If she had killed joel, we'd
expect to see a lot more blood
on the shirt, and there is not.
>> julie's shirt had traces of
blood on it.
Joel's blood.
The prosecution claimed that the
blood traces on her shirt
spattered there directly while
she was killing her son.
>> how did the little boy's
blood get on her shirt?
>> well, if julie did scuffle
with this intruder, who would
have had blood on him from
stabbing this child, it's
entirely plausible that she
would have a little transfer
stain on her.
>> also there was the question
of the knife.
>> the knife was found on the
floor between the two bedrooms
and the investigators said there
were no signs that the knife had
been dropped or the knife had
been tossed.
>> we say it was placed because
there was no evidence that there
was blood spatters immediately
around the blade of the knife.
>> but what they didn't realize
is that often in crime scenes
killers that use a knife will
wipe the knife off on their
clothing.
And then if I take that knife
and I just drop at our scene,
we're not going to see spatter
from that knife.
>> even in the backyard,
investigators said there didn't
seem to be any indication of a
struggle.
>> they had an officer testify
that that there were no
footprints in the grass because
they would have been seen in the
dew of the grass.
I can remember most clearly
about the trial are some of the
autopsy pictures they showed of
joel.
I mean, he was just a kid.
It was just awful.
>> one of them was joel's body
lying between the bed and the
wall.
I've been a reporter for
decades, and that was the only
picture that stuck with me in a
really bad way.
>> the prosecution made julie's
character the central argument
in their case.
Julie, herself, never testified.
Her lawyer did not want her to
testify.
>> brad told me absolutely not
to.
I argued with him about it.
And I said, brad, I want to.
This jury has not had a chance
to hear me talk.
And he's like, no, no.
Our experts have said that
parkinson will use everything
you say and try to twist it
around.
And I'm thinking, well, that's
different than what he's done so
far how?
Because he's done that with
everything.
Would bear up well under
cross-examination.
Not because she wouldn't be
telling the truth, but because
her demeanor, the way she
answers questions, she doesn't
answer them directly.
>> I was asked to testify in
julie's trial that she had
invited me to spend the night
there, and why would she invite
me to be there if she had
planned on killing joel?
It didn't make any sense at all.
>> why would a mother kill her
child?
We don't know.
We do know, though, that there
was a long battle for custody of
joel, and she disliked her
ex-husband so much that whether
this was to punish him or
whether, in her own twisted way,
she thought joel would be better
off than growing up with her
ex-husband.
>> I know it's an
oversimplification, but I
believe it's as simple as if I
can't have him, you can't
either.
>> when they announce the
verdict, it was just so
unbelievable.
>> I don't think mr. Parkinson
or I either one knew what the
result would be.
>> I literally cried in my
chair.
>>> the jury didn't seem to
deliberate that long.
I think they were only out five
hours, maybe a little more, and
they came back with a verdict
that same day.
>> the verdict, julie rea was
guilty of first-degree murder of
her son, joel.
>> julie turned around, started
crying and was looking at all of
us.
It was just so unbelievable.
>> I don't know how they came up
with a guilty verdict.
I really have no clue.
>> there was really an
overwhelming sense of -- of
anger, shock, disbelief.
>> she was found guilty of
murder and was sentenced to
65 years in prison.
>> this is julie rae moments
after a jury found her guilty of
stabbing her son, joel, to death
in his bed.
>> I can't tell you there's any
science as to how juries come to
the decisions they come to.
Stronger people win out, and
people who aren't so strong in
their convictions or in their
persistence will give in.
>> the more I talked, I really
felt like she was guilty.
There was no logical explanation
on how she couldn't have done
it.
>> she said he just stopped
beating her head on the ground,
he walked off and pulled his
mask off.
>> under a security light.
>> calmly, too.
>> and it just didn't have the
ring of truth?
>> no.
>> and my thought was, why
didn't he kill her?
>> to me, it was the fact in her
statement, she says that she
wrestled in the backyard with
this man and he beat her head
violently in the ground.
Deputy york testified that there
was not dew disturbed in the
backyard.
>> the fact that they said that
there was no sign of forced
entry, no blood trail, all of it
added together.
>> and the prosecution said the
murderer came in the house and
he throwed up his hands and say,
oh, I forgot a murder weapon.
If he had intentions to kill
somebody, you would think he
would have brought his own
weapon.
>> julie had this story that --
I mean, honestly it doesn't make
sense, and parkinson said she
was convicted by her own
ridiculous story.
>> in talking to those jurors,
the key difference, according to
the people who were on the
fence, was she didn't get up on
the stand.
>> I looked at her for two
weeks, stared her in her eyes
for two weeks.
I wanted her to tell me that
story, what happened, see if
she -- how upset she was, how
she felt.
>> the prosecution didn't have
to move any motive, but the
jurors were convinced that julie
wanted to do anything to keep
her son, joel, away from her
ex-husband, len.
>> I feel it was hatred toward
her husband.
>> you know, if I can't have
him, no one will.
>> I just felt she snapped.
I truly do.
>> I'm very satisfied that this
jury spent two weeks listening
to the evidence and they didn't
take very long to find her
guilty unanimously.
>> not for one second do I
believe that she could've ever
even thought about murdering her
son.
She loved that child so much.
>> not long after she's
convicted, we get to the town
in illinois and we arrange the
interview.
>> julie was allowed out
briefly.
She had a very moving reunion
with her new husband and with
her parents.
It is genuine love.
It is relief, if only for a
short period.
They hug.
She's in tears.
It's quite a moment.
>> the kind of reunion she was
having with her loved ones
really got her over the top
emotionally, and you can kind of
almost see her recovery occur on
the video before the interview
starts.
The woman who had not testified
at trial was about to testify
to the whole world through
"20/20" for the first time.
>> tonight on "20/20"
john miller with a story that
turned up lots of leads.
>> did you kill your son joel?
>> no.
No, no, no.
Why would I?
I wouldn't hurt anyone.
The last person in the world I
would hurt is my son.
>> I have interviewed every kind
and form of criminal.
You can't tell who's telling the
truth and who's a very good
liar.
There's no human lie detector,
but she gave every sign of
someone who was willing to
answer every question and didn't
seem to have trouble coming up
or constructing those answers.
Are you hoping people will hear
this, that something will
change?
>> yes, I do hope that.
At a very survival-oriented
level, I am praying to god.
My son knows I didn't hurt him.
My son knows I would have never
hurt him.
>> it was a desperate call, one
that was just made of hope.
You know, can someone hear this?
And what happens next is truly
remarkable.
>> she was interested in getting
this story out there and hoping
that someone might be able to
corroborate it.
And as it turns out someone
could.
>> the "20/20" show becomes a
pivotal turning point.
>> I sat down to watch "20/20."
I didn't expect that I would
blow a case apart.
>> a serial murderer sitting on
death row says, "I did it."
>>> it was a horrifying story
that rocked this tiny town in
southern, illinois.
The intruder breaking in without
any apparent motive, killing her
son and running away, which
sounded unlikely enough she was
convicted.
>> but who could ever imagine a
"20/20" view e a true crime
writer watching one night would
make a complete u-turn in.
>> I had justice in my hands and
I had to do something.
>> did you commit the murder of
the boy in lawrenceville?
Yes, this is another one of my
murders.
>> that guy would confess to
anything.
>> the prosecutor completely
dismisses the tommy lynn sells
confession.
He calls it fiction.
They have a serial murder
sitting on death row who says, I
did it.
>> you think that would get
julie rea out of prison, but not
so fast.
♪ how do you keep your head
above the water? ♪
>>> tonight, on "20/20" with
barbara walters and john
miller --
>> abc "20/20" does the story of
julie's case.
Within a few months after she's
convicted, and for the first
time, julie tells what happened
in her own words.
>> somebody jumped on me or at
me, um, and I didn't know what
was going on.
>> one of the people watching
that night was diane fanning,
who's a crime writer.
>> did you kill your son joel?
>> no.
No, no, no.
>> I think julie agreed to talk
to us because she was out of
options.
>> at the time, dianne fanning
is working on her first book,
which is about a serial killer
named tommy lynn sells.
>> tommy lynn sells is on death
row for attempting to murder two
small girls.
I mean, these girls are not much
older than joel.
>> tommy lynn sells is on death
row for the slashing murder of
13-year-old kayleen harris.
Also attacked with a knife, a
10-year-old girl sleeping in the
same room.
>> I woke this girl up.
She tried to come over here, and
I stabbed her, and this little
girl up here, I walked over
here, and I went like this.
>> after he slit my throat, I
just laid there, and then he
left.
>> I decided to write about
tommy lynn sells because of the
last little girl he tried to
murder.
She survived and she became my
hero.
>> I got up and went down to the
neighbors.
I just went as fast as I could.
>> diane fanning was sort of pen
pals.
She'd gone and interviewed
tommy lynn sells many times but
in between, she wrote letters.
>> I was almost finished writing
my book, when I sat down to
watch "20/20."
so I'm listening to julie rea
herself talking about how she
did not kill her 10-year-old
boy.
And then the prosecutor came on.
>> to believe her, you would
have to believe that this
assailant came into her home
for the sole purpose of killing
a 10-year-old boy.
And yet he also forgot to bring
a murder weapon along and used
her kitchen knife to do it with.
Total nonsense.
>> sells had done that on more
than one occasion.
He often didn't bring weapons
with him.
>> so after watching "20/20,"
diane sits down and writes sells
a letter.
>> the other night I was
watching a story on tv about a
woman who claimed someone broke
into her house.
And listen to the prosecuting
attorney, a person does not come
into someone else's home without
a weapon and then pull a knife
out of the kitchen drawer in the
house and use it.
I thought that the crime could
have been committed by somebody
who was very much like tommy
lynn sells.
And I did not tell him the name
of the prosecutor, the name of
the case, the town where it
occurred, the time when it
occurred, nothing like that.
>> tommy lynn sells writes back,
and diane fanning is just
absolutely blown away.
>> tommy responded by writing,
about that woman claimed someone
broke into her house, was that,
like, maybe two days before my
springfield, missouri murder?
Maybe on a 13th?
I was shocked.
Joel was murdered on the 13th.
And stephanie mahaney in
springfield, missouri on
the 15th of that month.
>> this serial killer on death
row nails the exact date of
joel's murder, October the 13th.
That's two days before he's
believed to have kidnapped,
sexually assaulted, and killed
stephanie mahaney.
>> he described
stephanie mahaney had a
bugs bunny night shirt.
The texas rangers consider that
a corroborated confession
because he had given details
that only the killer would know.
>> when I read that letter, my
hands started shaking.
I felt I had justice in my hands
and I had to do something.
The first thing I did was call
texas ranger johnny allen.
He knew sells well, and he said
that what I was telling him made
it sound like it was very
possible that sells killed joel.
I thought, maybe someone who had
more ability to get information
than I did would be able to
track this down.
>> so she just kind of eludes to
it in her book.
>> anger drove him.
He picked up a knife and headed
straight for the first bedroom
door.
There, 10-year-old
joel kirkpatrick dreamed his
last dream.
>> diane fanning publishes her
book, and clearly "20/20" had to
go back and look into the story
again.
Clearly, I was going to
interview tommy lynn sells.
Did you commit the murder of the
boy in lawrenceville?
>>> it's never pleasant to
interview someone in jail.
People who are incarcerated are
difficult sometimes.
It's not the kind of assignment
I've ever looked forward to.
I'm lynn scherr, and I was a
"20/20" correspondent, and I
covered julie rea's story.
The idea of a mother and a
father losing his child is as
sad as it gets.
I walked into this interview,
a maximum security prison in
texas ---
she me where you want me.
And there I was facing serial
murderer tommy lynn sells.
>> an ex-con and a known
drifter, sells is linked to
murders in at least 11 states.
>> his victims died from
gunshots, blunt trauma, throats
being cut, strangulation.
>> he preferred, he's told me,
strangulation because then he
could watch the light leave
their eyes.
>> I was very grateful for that
barrier between us.
This is a man who was pure evil.
Tommy, you know why we're here.
>> mm-hmm.
>> so, let's get right to it.
He seemed mild-mannered.
He seemed a little coy.
He was playing with me.
What were you wearing on your
feet, do you remember?
[ laughs ]
>> what was you wearing three
years ago, four years ago?
>> but he essentially confessed.
Did you murder --
>> yes.
>> a child in lawrenceville,
illinois.
>> yes.
This is another one of my
murders.
>> so much of what
day sounded exactly like what
julie rea had described.
>> it was around midnight.
I checked on him.
He was sleeping.
He was fine.
>> I know it was late, and
that's the time I -- I -- I
mostly strike, is late.
>> why would you go to a house
intent on killing someone and
not bring your own weapon?
>> I guess you ain't never seen
me kill with my bare hands then.
>> do you remember the actual
moment that you killed this
other person and how you did it?
>> well, with a knife.
>> um, I heard a scream.
>> and, uh, I hear someone in
the house.
>> and I jumped up and ran in
there.
>> and I get up and that's when
I noticed it was a woman.
>> somebody jumped on me or at
me.
>> I went to cut her but I
didn't have the knife no more.
I'm not sure what in the hell
happened to it.
>> he broke out the door.
>> she tried to follow me.
>> the person seemed really
angry with me at this point.
>> I finally just hit her.
>> hitting my face into the
ground.
>> and that's when it stopped,
and I went ahead and
disappeared.
>> I've met awful people.
I've met awful people who don't
necessarily murder children.
Do you, in fact, recall that it
was a young child?
>> uh, maybe I just don't like
to say that.
>> why not?
>> living with what I done is a
hell of a lot harder than doing
it.
>> he just had a calmness about
his body and a look in his eyes
that I found terrifying.
Sells confession sparked new
interest in julie's story.
>> all of this publicity caught
the attention of the illinois
innocence project, and they took
up julie rea's case.
>> to find what other evidence
there may be to connect
tommy lynn sells to this case.
Turns out there's a lot.
>> sells described that the
house, it was brick, and so that
was one of the details he knew
and was accurate about.
My name is bill clutter.
I'm a private investigator that
investigates wrongful conviction
cases.
I am in lawrenceville looking
north on highway 1.
>> when clutter goes down to
lawrenceville and starts asking
around, little pieces were
starting to add up to
corroboration with julie's
story.
>> one of the key pieces of
investigation was the sighting
of tommy lynn sells both in
lawrenceville and then across
the border in indiana.
>> jane rea, julie's mother,
told me that I should pay
particular attention to the
greyhound bus ticket agent.
>> sandra, would you please
state your full name?
>> my name is sandra June wirth.
>> sandra wirth was a greyhound
ticket agent in princeton,
indiana, who sold the ticket to
the person she felt matched the
description of the assailant
after seeing that she contacted
the illinois state police.
>> it was just odd.
Someone coming in like that and
being nervous and needing a
ticket right away.
>> he wanted to buy a bus ticket
to winnemucca, nevada.
>> the reason it stood out to me
is we don't see very many
tickets to winnemucca, nevada.
>> had you ever heard of
winnemucca, nevada, before that?
>> no.
>> I got thinking about that.
Where have I seen winnemucca,
nevada?
I went to diane fanning's book,
I read it once, and I reread it
and there it was.
On December 13, 1997, the texas
rangers put tommy lynn sells in
winnemucca.
And of course the bus transfers
at st. Louis.
>> where do you think of when
you think of home?
>> st. Louis.
>> st. Louis?
>> yeah.
>> we know that sells lived in
st. Louis.
That's where his mother lived.
>> what do you remember him
saying about his mother?
>> he said his mother was sick
and he had to get to her.
>> the state police had
detectives board the bus, but
the person that bought the
ticket wasn't on the bus.
>> sells probably got off at
st. Louis, traveled on to
springfield, missouri, where he
killed stephanie mahaney two
days after joel kirkpatrick was
killed.
>> and it turns out there was
something in sells' criminal
history that sheds some light on
a part of julie's story that
baffled police.
Why would someone break into a
house and target a kid instead
of an adult?
>> my name is
fabienne witherspoon, and I'm a
survivor of tommy lynn sells.
>>> I had encountered a person
in the lawrenceville drive-in
on Friday night.
Just a couple of days before
joel kirkpatrick was murdered.
>> I follow up on this tip that
came in from alan berkshire.
I conducted the video interview
in his home.
So he has about a 45-minute
opportunity to lay eyes on this
guy.
He matched the description of
the assailant that julie gave.
>> he was 145 pounds, maybe
155 pounds.
About my height, about 5'9",
5'10."
there was something definitely
wrong with him.
He was either drunk or high.
He was telling me that he wasn't
from around here, and that he'd
been living in st. Louis.
>> and he says that this drifter
seems to be preoccupied with his
son.
>> tapped him on the shoulder
one time.
You know -- he said, I'll bet
you're afraid after me, aren't
you?
And the guy did a funny
[ laughs ]
I guess maybe everybody ought to
be afraid of me.
>> he sees this drifter walking
south toward the railroad
tracks.
If you keep walking it would be
in the direction of the
neighborhood where julie rea was
living at the time.
>> 10-year-old joel kirkpatrick
found murdered here in his
lawrenceville, illinois home.
The boy had been stabbed
multiple times.
>> on the morning that I heard
there has been a little boy
brutally murdered, I kept
thinking, wow, maybe it was him.
>> the remarkable thing about
this is that alan berkshire went
to the sheriff to report
encountering this drifter at the
lawrenceville diner.
I said, I have a possible
suspect that I think you should
try to find out.
He said, okay, I'll have
deputies and stuff check into
this.
>> he takes alan berkshire's
statement but never documents
it.
>> he never took any written
information.
>> and did any deputy contact
you?
>> nothing.
>> bill clutter begins to
compare julie's statements with
the interview tommy lynn sells
gave to the state police, and
many of those details match up
perfectly.
>> sells described getting the
knife from a butcher block.
>> I remember the knife I
pulled.
I want to say butcher block,
but a swear thing.
>> julie described the
assailant backhanded her.
>> tommy lynn sells was
interviewed six years later.
>> there wasn't no punching.
I backhanded her.
>> julie describes following the
intruder out into the backyard,
where he turns and again knocks
her to the ground.
>> I hit her at the back of the
house.
>> those are details that sells
couldn't fabricate.
>> and it turns out there was
something in sells' criminal
history that sheds some light on
a part of julie's story that
baffled police and the
prosecutor.
Why would someone break into a
house and target a kid instead
of an adult?
>> tommy lynn sells had sort of
shifted away from attacking
adults after he attacked a woman
named fabienne witherspoon.
>> I was 19 years old.
Walking back to the house over
the bridge, and I saw a man
holding a sign that said
"hungry, will work for food."
he had showed me a picture of
three small children.
And he said, we are very hungry.
He didn't look scary.
I felt more sorry for him than
anything.
>> she brought him home.
She filled up a bag of food and
another of clothing.
>> I had him wait on the porch
outside and asked him to stay
there.
While I was doing that --
he had come in the house and
gotten a knife from the kitchen.
He took me to the bathroom, and
he closed the door.
He held a knife and started
telling me things to do.
That was, I think, the point
where I said, no, I am not going
to do anything anymore.
I am going to fight.
I saw on the back of the toilet
was a ceramic duck.
And I picked the duck up and --
>> smashed it into his head.
>> I'm thinking in the movies
you get hit over the head with
something, they pass out.
And he was still standing.
>> she managed to get control of
the knife, and she stabbed him,
and stabbed him, and stabbed
him.
>> and then, I felt something
come crashing down over my head.
And that's the last thing I
remember until I came to.
I remember the detective asking
me, who did this to you?
And I said, he had told me his
whole name.
Tommy lynn sells.
>> they had tracked him down.
He had a nicked kidney, a nicked
liver.
His testicle was sliced.
He was cut up and bleeding
profusely internally.
>> so that attack didn't just
injure him physically.
He also ended up in prison for
about five years.
>> he decided, never again will
I attack a man or a woman who is
my size.
>> when he's released in the
spring of 1997, just a few
months before joel kirkpatrick
was killed, he starts targeting
the most vulnerable of victims,
children.
>> there had been corroborating
evidence to place him in
lawrenceville.
>> these corroborations, these
eyewitnesses, that description
of tommy lynn sells -- to us,
that's pretty strong evidence.
>> with mounting evidence of
tommy lynn sells' connection to
joel's murder, julie's
supporters are hoping this might
prove her innocence.
>> you really don't buy into any
of the tommy lynn sells argument
at all.
>> no, I quit reading fairy
tales when I was about 9.
>> but a surprise no one could
have predicted might give julie
a second chance, and it has
nothing to do with
tommy lynn sells.
>>> julie rae has been in prison
for two years when,
surprisingly, a technicality
sets aside her conviction.
>> it just couldn't be true.
Are you sure?
Pinch.
Yeah.
Are you sure?
Okay.
This is real.
But then it was, like, too good
to be true.
>> prosecutor ed parkinson
refiles charges.
Julie will have to face a second
trial.
>> her family thought this day
may never come, but after
receiving the bond last week,
today they raised the
necessary $75,000 to bail julie
rea harper out of jail.
>> she's let out on bail and
then she reacts pretty much the
way you would expect anyone to
react who's just gotten out.
>> I'm a little embarrassed.
I -- I guess I wanted to feel
the grass on my feet.
Oh, it felt so good.
Yeah.
Incredible.
It fell like, um -- like I was
home.
>> she will still face charges
on the murder of her 10-year-old
son, joel kirkpatrick, a crime
she contends she did not commit.
>> her second trial was moved
because of publicity surrounding
her case.
>> this trial happened in
carlyle, illinois.
Another very small town.
>> I spent two years -- eager
for a new trial.
Pent up, nervous, scared.
You know, just all these
emotions all at the same time.
>> in this case, a literal dream
team was formed.
Starting with the innocence
project, leading to the center
for wrongful convictions.
>> and they put together, I
called it, the best defense team
money couldn't possibly buy.
>> she had a defense team that
was really extraordinary.
The lead person on that defense
team, ron safer, had actually at
one point been a federal
prosecutor working with one of
the most prestigious law firms
in chicago.
>> I had not been nervous
leading up to the trial.
I was not nervous at all.
And then I heard parkinson
stand up in front of the jury.
And he put up the crime scene
photo of joel, which is
horrific.
And I looked at the jury, and I
saw these people are angry.
And she's the only one in this
courtroom to vent their anger.
>> the prosecutors in the case
had not changed their minds at
all.
They still believed that they
had the killer, that the killer
was julie rea.
>> the evidence was virtually
the same from the prosecution's
standpoint.
We had a 10-year-old boy stabbed
in his own bed with his mother's
knife in the middle of the night
with no forced entry and for no
reason.
>> the defense in the second
trial called attention to shoddy
police work.
That the police decided so
quickly that they already had
their killer that they didn't
have to go to any lengths
whatsoever to rule out the
possibility that she was telling
the truth.
>> there were lots of questions
raised about, um, the
fingerprinting process and what
was and was not fingerprinted.
>> this was a house that was,
you know, the suspect herself
lived in.
This was not a fingerprint case.
>> and then they said, well,
there's no evidence of an
intruder.
Of course.
You didn't investigate the
evidence of the intruder.
>> the classic example of what
we call tunnel vision in the
innocence movement.
>> they dusted around the
doorway and on fragments of
glass, and I think they made
efforts at that.
I don't believe they had tunnel
vision.
>> I remember pictures of the
officers holding up the bed
linens to display the rips that
had been made by the stabbing.
To a crime scene investigator,
they were pictures of officers
destroying evidence, because any
kind of hair or other fibers
were just falling off.
>> our police investigators said
that the bottom part of that
was, which isn't shown in the
picture, was still folded, was
still there, and after which
they folded it up.
>> one of the things that comes
out later, is that one of the
officers claims that there were
no footprints in the dew on the
grass.
Therefore julie's story about
the intruder walking off
couldn't be true.
Both our students and julie's
second husband, mark harper,
did a very clear investigation
and found out meteorologically
there could not have been dew on
the ground.
So one has to ask themselves,
how do you explain that?
>> the glass was broken from the
kitchen outwards to the garage
in a way that appeared to our
expert that this was -- appeared
to be staged.
>> other experts counter that by
saying you can break the glass
but it's actually the door
swinging open and hitting the
apex that causes the glass to
fall.
>> the blood spatter becomes
very critical.
When we get to the second
trial --
>> there is blood spatter on the
walls, on posters, on pictures,
on the floor, on shoes all the
way across the room.
Julie, not one single bit of
projected blood from joel.
>> there was some of joel's
blood on her t-shirt, which
could have included joel
fighting for his life, pushing
back.
And in fact, our expert says
that's what it was.
It was like a handprint.
>> I remember very vividly where
he holds up this nightshirt to
the jury, and he points at it
and he says, see?
Can't you see the imprint of a
hand on this nightshirt?
That was joel's hand trying to
she was stabbing him.
And the fact of the matter is,
you couldn't even begin to see
that.
>> she has transfer stains of
joel's blood on her back.
Transfer stains.
How does that get on her back?
A third person.
Innocent beyond any doubt.
>> both the sheriff's office and
the illinois state police
declined to comment on the case.
>> of course, the biggest
difference between this trial
and the first trial is someone
has confessed.
They have a serial murderer
sitting on death row who says,
I did it.
>> tommy lynn sells recanted.
I think it was a made-up
distraction, fabrication,
complete b.S.
>>> one of the huge differences
between the first trial and the
second trial is that julie's
story all of a sudden made
sense.
>> looking back on it, if
somebody's going to invent a
story of an intruder, you would
think she would've also invented
a burglary or something to make
it more believable.
Instead she stuck with this
unlikely story that just
happened to be the exact m.O. Of
a serial killer.
>> they introduce a who and
that's tommy lynn sells.
So that, in the reasonable doubt
world is an alternative suspect.
>> the same prosecutor from the
first time around, ed parkinson,
isn't buying any of the new
evidence from tommy lynn sells.
He still believes she did it,
that she murdered her son.
>> the defense interjected the
myth, in my opinion, of
tommy lynn sells, a serial
killer out of texas, and they
threw that in there to derail
the jury's focus on julie rea.
>> she has rug burns on her
knees.
She has scrapes and cuts on the
top of her feet, where she was
dragged through the grass.
She has a big black eye when he
slammed her head into the
ground.
These wounds perfectly matched
what sells says happened and
what she says happened.
>> one of the key pieces of
evidence introduced at the trial
is part of the transcript of my
interview with tommy lynn sells,
where tommy lynn sells confesses
to me, to our audience, is now
heard by the jury.
Did you murder a child in
lawrenceville, illinois?
>> yes.
This is another one of my
murders.
>> the defense team tried to
convince the jury by playing his
videoed interviews that he did
it, and that's smoke and
mirrors.
It's a fairy tale.
>> the prosecution maintained
repeatedly that tommy lynn sells
had nothing to do with this.
>> that guy would confess to
anything just to get out of a
cell on death row, in my
opinion.
And besides, he was 33 years old
at the time, and julie described
the assailant as a young kid.
It doesn't even match that.
>> the person julie described
was thin build.
14 to 17 years old.
Look at the driver's license.
Although sells is in his early
30s, his weight is 130 pounds.
He could have easily been
mistaken for a much younger
person with that low weight.
>> a lot of the work that
bill clutter did on
tommy lynn sells becomes the
basis for the evidence that gets
used in the second trial.
>> there was independent
evidence that somebody like
tommy lynn sells was there in
the town.
>> tommy lynn sells did not have
a pristine memory of this
murder.
There's plenty of reasons that
he got some things wrong.
Um, but he got a lot of things
right.
>> I mean, when you kill that
many people, it's hard to keep
all the details straight.
They kind of mingle together in
your head, I would think.
>> tommy lynn sells later
recanted.
I think it was a made-up
distraction, fabrication and
complete bs.
>> he did recant certain parts
of his story.
He told different details at
different times.
But it would almost be more
suspicious if he had every
detail exact.
>> tommy lynn sells confessed.
He recanted.
Tommy lynn sells is a
psychopath.
You do not have to reach
tommy lynn sells or his
confession to know that julie is
innocent beyond any doubt.
But tommy lynn sells is the
embodiment of reasonable doubt.
>> in the second trial, the
lawyers going in know some
things that the first jury said
we needed to hear from her, and
she does testify.
>> they got to hear her
explanation of events, and, uh,
they got to hear how much she
loved joel.
>> it seemed to go quick.
>> how do you think you did?
>> I told the truth.
>> again and again I remember
she began sentences sort of
calmly and then would gradually
sort of break down into crying
then have to compose herself.
>> I don't know if it was an
act, but it didn't appear -- we
didn't see tears like that in
the first trial.
>> if I were that talented,
surely, I would have done it
during the first trial.
>> even though it was a
circumstantial case, I was still
confident, because from my view,
I thought that this tommy lynn
sells nonsense was so out there
that I thought the jury wouldn't
buy that.
>> I prayed that they would see
the truth.
>> there was no worse moment in
my life professionally than
waiting for that verdict.
>> and I saw julie just go down
to the ground.
>>> the jury took about
12 hours, twice as long as the
first time to deliberate.
>> ed parkinson, he had been
there the entire time, and then
just moments before the verdict,
he left.
>> the other prosecutor went in.
I had a bad feeling about it.
>> the foreman handed the
envelope over to someone who
took it to the judge.
And I heard ---his words.
♪
>> jury came back, they said,
not guilty.
Julie collapsed.
>> it was over.
Finally.
>> she cried out, literally fell
to the ground.
I've covered a lot of trials,
but I've never quite seen
anything like that.
>> and I just felt like joel was
right there with me and he was
just so happy.
It was incredible.
>> tears fell from the eyes of
julie rea harper minutes after
she heard the jury's not guilty
verdict.
>> I almost wanted to cry with
her.
I mean, my heart was just
beating a mile a minute, and I
just -- it just -- we freed this
woman.
>> this has been a nightmare
that nobody should have to live
through.
>> legally, she's not just
acquitted, she's not just not
guilty.
The state of illinois gave julie
rea a certificate of innocence.
>> the special prosecutor, such
as the one in my case, need to
be held accountable.
>> if someone like julie, who
led an exemplary life, can be
swept up and accused of a crime
she did not commit, that means
all of us are vulnerable.
>> when the wrong person is
arrested, tried, and ultimately
convicted, the real perpetrator
is allowed to remain free.
And the consequences of that
are predictably awful.
>> my son deserves to be
respected.
He deserves justice to be
sought.
>> a serial killer,
tommy lynn sells, has been
executed.
>> tommy lynn sells was never
convicted of joel's murder.
He was however, executed.
There are those who will say,
justice has been served.
♪ we could be together again ♪
>> now, I freely admit that this
has broken me.
Nobody teaches you how to be --
to survive this.
I miss him so bad to this day.
He was just truly, truly
special.
>> this was a mother who went
through the worst thing any
parent could go through, losing
a child and then actually serve
prison time for that and
essentially prove your
innocence.
That's as much a definition of
hell as I think anyone could
come up with.
Will it cause future
prosecutions to perhaps be a
little more diligent about at
least considering what sound
like unlikely alibis?
It should.
>> even though her strong faith
has sustained her, she is still
and will continue to suffer for
his murder.
>> joel's always going to be a
part of my life, and he's with
me every day.
Wherever I am.
♪ and hooked up to your life
support, so don't let me go ♪
>> we should note since her
exoneration, julie rea has
become an advocate for women who
feel they have been wrongly
convicted.
>> she is working with
organizations who are fighting
to prove their innocence.
That's our program for tonight.
I'm amy robach.
>> I'm dm david muir.
For all of us here, thanks for
watching.
Good night.