Page 7 - Told Thomas News Today

>> thomas now waits for police to bring his mother into the interrogation room. he tells his investigators hell confess to her, too, under one condition. he wants to do it privately. the investigators leave the room, but the camera continues to roll. >> mom -- >> i whispered in her ear, dont worry about what im about to tell you. its not true. theyll find out tomorrow my prints are not on the bags or anything. >> the officer testified he told thomas that the fingerprints from the person who with...

Two walmart shopping bags. hours later, her 12-year-old brother, thomas cogdell, sits in an interrogation room ready to confess. if thomas seems calm, he says theres a reason. hes convinced investigators will soon clear him in the death of his sister, kaylee. >> im thinking if i just get through this and tell them what they want to hear that i can go home, get done with this. >> were going to go over the rights with you, make sure you understand what your rights are. >> police read thomas his ri...

When i asked the medical examiner if the cause of death was consistent with a large person straddling kaylee and holding her head in the pillow, he said yes, that was consistent with her suffocation. not saying it was the only way, but he said that was certainly consistent. >> i approach her bed, get down on her bed and put the bags over her head. >> nonetheless, thomas words in the interrogation room are too powerful for the judge overseeing the case. and thomas is convicted of second-degree mu...

Surrounding kaylees death. thomas recalls being woken up by his mother some time before noon and told to accompany her to kaylees room to deliver a letter from a friend. >> my mom woke me up and said, lets go surprise kaylee. went in there. she was like that. >> like what? >> she was tied up, with bags over her head. my mom ripped off the bags. i went around to her other side. and she was all cold and blue. her hands and her feet were tied. >> how were they tied? >> i dont know. in a knot. i cou...

Paternal grandfather steve harris has come to assist him. >> i said id like to see my grandson. and they said, well, were interrogating him. and i said, does he have a lawyer or a child advocate? they said no. and the strangest thing they said was, since 9/11 thats all changed. >> officers point out that thomas mother, melody jones, is also in the building and has given them permission to interview the boy. >> i said shes bipolar. she has just lost her daughter. shes in a destroyed state. shes n...

Do it because thats the truth. kaylees dead. >> unlike rex krebs, thomas is a complete stranger to the criminal justice system. >> here hes 12. his sisters dead. hes emotionally an infant at this point. >> if emotional wounds were visible, this child would have bled to death before the first interview was over. >> in the summer of 2006, thomas is about to enter the eighth grade while living here with kaylee and their mother, melody jones. she suffers from mental illness and has attempted suicide...

Playing and we got too loud or anything, my mom would flip out and start yelling and screaming and grab something and maybe hit one of us. i stayed away from her, because i didnt know how she would act. >> on august 7th, shortly after they find kaylees body in her bedroom, thomas and his mother are asked to come to camden police headquarters. thomas enters the box or interview room. what follows is a remarkable window into the interrogation process from the suspects point of view. >> did you arg...

Might do it again. wed have to be in fear for anybody else hes around, any other child or young person or even you. >> at a certain point, detectives excuse themselves and leave melody alone. when they do, a camera picks up a faint sound from another room. >> you hear the words from a male voice, thomas, im not going to ask you -- and it fades off and i think the next word is "again." and its about at that point that thomas says that he decided that it was time to go ahead and tell them what the...

Kaylees face come from walmart. >> i didnt know she was dead yet. i feared that there was something wrong, but i wasnt aware fully. >> thomas? >> yeah. >> thomas, im with the state police. >> yes. >> and ive been kind of listening to some of the story that youve been telling. and im going to tell it to you just like it is. youre an intelligent boy, arent you? >> yeah. >> well, were pretty intelligent, too. >> okay. >> and the bottom line is nobody broke in that house last night. so your sister d...

John merman looks at what happened to this eighth grader. >> reporter: its being called the saddest moment in "jeopardy!" history. an eighth grader loses "final jeopardy" during kids week for misspelling a word. >> emancipation -- well, because he misspelled it badly, emancipati emancipation, you put a "t" in there, thats unfortunate. the judges are ruling against you. >> reporter: 12-year-old thomas hurley iii held back tears after his loss. he later told his local newspaper, i was pretty upset...