Transcripts For WPVI Nightline 20151010

Im jerry bell the first. And im jerry bell the second. Theres no deepcouch sitting. Whats that . Its a swiffer wetjet. That comes from my floor . Ah. This is deepcouch sitting. Number one in us good evening. We begin with a woman who says a hollywood acting coach sexually assaulted her when she was only 13 years old. And for years afterwards, she kept that painful secret. But tonight well see what happened when she finally went to police. Heres my nightline coanchor, juju chang. Reporter the man being escorted away is being arrested for sexually assaulting a 13 year old girl. The voice of the woman on the tape is his teenaged victim and her father, videotaping from across the street. What a creepy piece of [ bleep ]. Reporter the suspect played big parts in hollywood blockbusters like jurassic park. Hes also known as a highprofile abilicting coach. But in june of last year he was charged with 13 counts, including sexual penetration. He pled guilty to all charges. It was here six years agatha jordan says her childhood was shattered. This is where he assaulted her when she was in the 8th grade. This is always going to be with me. Reporter now 20, it took years for jordan to report the assault to police. But when she d she was determined to get justice. She worked closely with detectives in a series of sting operations that involved audio recordings like this one. She says it all started when she was 12, about to turn 13. Her parents fell on hard times. It was hard. I knew we had no money. My dad would walk two miles to bring us lunch at pool that day. Hed have to find money to get us lunch. Reporter on top of that, her mom patty was a struggling alcoholic. Did you feel vulnerable . Yes. Reporter how so . My parents fought a lot. It was like me and josh. Reporter patty started going to these aa meetings at this bank. Thats where they met thor for the first time, a flashy hollywood acting coach who claims to have taught big names like cameron diaz and madonna. What did you think of him . Hes very wellspoken, and he comes across very charismatic. Reporter jordan says he enticed her by saying she could earn money as an actress, offering free lessons and something more attractive. He told me he would buy my braces, because i had a bad gap in the front teeth. People really made fun of me about it. Reporter thor never followed up with that alleged promise. Was there ever a time when you were suspicious of his motives . No. I thought he liked her and thought she was a great kid and was trying to help her. Reporter instead of going to a studio, thor insisted that they go to her home so other students would find out he was doing the classes for free. He was very touchy. Hand on my shoulder, hand on my leg. Reporter jordan said the lessons continued at his house. The third time we went upstairs and he locked the door, and he was even creepier, way more touchy. Weird, and before i left, he thought id give him a hug. He pressed his penis up against me and whispered in my ear, you make me so hard. Reporter why didnt you tell your parents you didnt want to do it anymore . Because i didnt want to tell them why. Reporter she says thor picked her up from her home and took her to this park. He talked about inappropriate things and asked me a lot of questions, and like had i ever given head before and had i had sex. And i answered no to all the questions. Reporter she said he then suggested they go for a drive. He turned towards mulholland and then towards encino canyon and parked the car. He pulled out a vial of marijuana. Reporter what happened . He told me to get in the back seat. Reporter why did you do it . Because i was terrified. Reporter she didnt see a single car drive by. Theres a mountain on this side and a cliff on this side. Reporter no escape. He got on top of me and was kissing me. And he took a choker i had on off. And he put his fingers in my pants. Reporter when she got home, jordan said she kept quiet about what allegedly happened at the canyon. He told me that no one would believe me and my mom would start drinking again. Reporter she said she believed the adult. She saw thor one more time after that but then quilt tt the less. She finally confided in her cousin. And jordan was adamant she didnt want to go to police. And her silence lasted for years until she worked up the courage to go to the authorities and be part of the sting operations designed to get thor to incriminate himself. He had me text message him and send him a hey, do you remember me text. And he responded oh, of course i remember you. Reporter eventually, detectives got her to arrange for a meeting inside the starbucks at this barnes noble. Detectives bugged the table with a recording device. He mentioned that we could go to the canyon on his motorcycle. And i took that opportunity. [ bleep ]. He said we smoked weed. And i said were you really bad and stuff like that. And he got this weird look on his facial like a smirk. I got to go to work. Lets stay in touch. You can always text to that number. And you and i will always be reporter but investigators didnt feel theyd gathered enough evidence yet to arrest thor, so they asked jordan to call him and prepped her on what to say while they secretly taped the conversation. They were just having me ask him things and trying to get him to admit to him. You know, i am legal now, and obviously we had fun back then, so i think we could probably have some fun now. Id love that. You know. I do. So. Clear as a bell. I can think of a lot of things we could do. [ bleep ]. You have . Yeah, which is a really direct way to put it. Reporter and so what was that conversation like . Gross. I sobbed when it was over. Reporter shortly thereafter, that arrest. Jordan was utterly relieved. Oh, they got him you did it reporter the case went to trial. After just one day of jury clib rations, thor was convicted of performing a lewd act on a minor. He faces up to eight years in state prison. In a comment to abc news, thors new attorney, mark geragos says weve been retained to get relief at the next hearing. Its been a difficult process for jordan. Its by far the hardest thing ive ever done in my entire life. Wine never tell somebody its easy. Its the most challenging thing youve ever had to do but its worth it. You have to go from being a victim to a survivor. Reporter im juju chang in agora hills, california. Next, how a facebook feud quickly spiralled out of control and ended with a young tennessee couple killed in cold blood. Was all i was doing. Y ss so when i finally told my doctor, he said humira is for adults like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohns disease. And that in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. And many achieved remission. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. If youre still just managing your symptoms, ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, remission is possible. The radiant glow of being capture it with new stay luminous makeup. Stay luminous has allday hydration plus luminosity for a longlasting natural glow new stay luminous makeup from easy, breezy, beautiful covergirl whats the worst thing youve ever done after someone unfriended you on facebook . Personally, i dont know id notice let alone care. But one woman is accused of an elaborate plot and ultimately the double murder of her two former friends. Heres matt gutman. 911. Reporter a young couple is murdered. Theyre white, theyre dead. It looked like a hit. Reporter the clues, a raging facebook feud between neighbors. All leading back to this young womans secret. Why are you crying right now . What makes you so sad. Are you done . Yeah, im done. Reporter she was a sheltered young woman, still living with her parents. What were the rules . Dont be out past 12 00 at night. No smoking, no drinking, no partying, stuff like that. Reporter and no boys. But she had a vibrant life online. Your social world became the computer. Yes. I had a lot of family pictures on there, random pictures of dogs. Reporter selfies . Mmhm. Reporter did your parents have access to your Facebook Page . Did they monitor it . Yes, yes. Reporter a woman in your late it 20s, and your parents have access to your Facebook Page . Yes. Reporter she says she becomes the victim of cyber bullying. Reporter what kind r kis of things were people saying about you . That i was a bad person, horrible, i should get raped. Reporter she suspects two facebook friends, billy payne and his fiance, billie jean. Reporter who confronted who first . I did bill first and billy did me, and i unfriended her. Reporter a move that surprised some of her friends who thought janel had a crush on billy. Her parents believed the harassment was only worsening because of emails they began receiving from a mysterious figure named kris who seems to have come to town to watch out for janel. A cia agent. Reporter what type of stuff did he do . He said he was here to protect me, my parents. Reporter chris was doing surveillance work. He said he was. Reporter werent you a little worried about this cia agent writing your daughter . He said he couldnt use his real name and identity. Reporter but emails were full of convincing things about janel and her family. He would tell me what i was wearing, what i was doing, how my hair was. Reporter chris told janels parents in those email exchanges he was carefully watching the couple who was allegedly making threats against their daughter. In one, jenelle doesnt need this. He was watching these people that he said were harassing her on the computer. Reporter but instead of calming them down he seems to be riling them up. So when billie jean and billy, the young couple who were feuding with jenelle were found murdered, her overprotective dad becomes a prime suspect. Ever since all this crap started, ive been, ive had my life threatened. My wife has been threatened. Theyve threatened to take jenelle, cut her head off. Initially, his body language, you could tell he wasnt being truthful. Reporter and police induce him into what they call a confession during a taped phone call to his wife. Barbara. Yes. Before you find out from somebody else, i want you to know i was involved in it. I did it. What . Some of it. And he told barbara, i did it. And thats as close to a confession as we got from him. Reporter late other, jenelles father is convicted. But wheres this chris . The shadowy cia agent who seemed to whip up jenelles father to that rage . In one email, her mother writes, weve had enough. No one wants to kill anyone, but we will. Barbara will take this information and take it to buddy. Look what theyre trying to do to jenelle. Finally they pushed him to his limit where he couldnt take it anymore. Reporter when police take a close look at the computer they seized from the house, they had an eureka moment. Those emails from mr. Cia man came from an ip address that came from wait for it jenelle. It was barbaras home address. Reporter detectives were left to do one thing. There is no chris from the cia. He was a creation, concocted by Jenelle Potter to convince her parents she was in danger. Social media allowed Jenelle Potter to be someone she wasnt. Reporter she invented this character. Exactly. Exactly. When she created chris, she could be as hateful as she wanted to be. Reporter even though she didnt pull the trigger, jenelle could be the mastermind behind this scheme. Thats what authorities call at that when people are used to manipulate people. In this instance, with deadly consequences. So shes catfishing her mom from the same house, from the same computer. She bought it hook, line and sinker. Reporter how is that possible . She was feeding barbaras delusions. So barbara ignores the signs that something is amis here. Reporter its beyond absurd. In all catfish cases, the victim of a catfishing is guilty to some degree of being naive. Reporter her motive . According to the prosecutors who put her on trial for murder, it was jealousy. Jenelle potter had a crush or some kind of good feelings towards bill payne. An epic crush on him. And when he moved on with billie jean hey worth and they had a child, that was it. She went berserk. Billie Jean Hayworth moved in and became pregnant. Thats when the chris emails he start the. That baby needs to die. No one talks about an infant other than a woman whos jealous that thats not her infant. Reporter but the prosecutors have a problem. Their evidence against jenelle is entirely circumstantial. There is nothing directly linking jenelle to the crime scene. Even if a jury believes they are involved with this, do they take that leap and call it first degree murder . Reporter the jury jumped in with both feet. We the jury find the defendant, jenel lchle potter gy of first degree murder. Reporter she chose not to testify at trial but sat down with us and put to her the questions she never had to answer in court. Chris was you. You are chris. You invented him like you invented other characters. No, i didnt. Reporter it was from your ip address, from your email address. I dont think were going to get into that. Reporter everything leads back to chris. Chris created the scenario. Shes not chris. And thats what she maintains. Were done. Were done, were done. Reporter jenelle got exactly what she took away from billie jean and billy hayworth, life, for her, behind bars. Im matt gutman in tennessee. And next, the injured bear whos becoming something of a mascot for one new jersey town, and why theyre rallying to help him. Abc news nightline, brought to you by geico. Its the final countdown the final countdown if youre the band europe, you love a final countdown. Its what you do. If you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. 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Its not overrun with rodents or kids causing trouble, its, well, youll see. Back up. Meet peddles. The bipedal bear causing a stir in a new jersey neighborhood. Its not someone schlepping around in a bear suit. He walks like that because his front paws are injured. Residents have raised over 19,000 to get him off the streets, away from their trash cans and into a wildlife center. Good for that community. It was gandhi who said the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. Thank you for watching abc news. Tune in to good morning america. And as always, were on 24 7 at our Facebook Page and at abc news. Com. Have a great weekend, america. There are some people in this world with the attitude, hey, its only money. You will not be seeing any of those people on our show today. Its time to play who wants to be a millionaire. [cheers and applause] [dramatic music] hey, everybody. Im chris harrison. Welcome to the show. Are you guys ready to play who wants to be a millionaire . [cheers and applause] all right, lets do it. Our fi