Son. It could be me. Reporter was daniel innocent . Daniel villegas is a convicted murderer. Reporter could this survivor solve the mystery . I cant let this happen. I i gotta do something. Reporter everyone told him he was crazy. The case a longshot. Zero to five percent chance. Reporter and there was always the chance he was wrong. Everybody was holding their breath. Reporter im lester holt, and this is dateline. Heres Keith Morrison with the confession. Reporter it was good friday night. Late. Too late. Too dark. Too deep into gang territory in the border town of el paso, texas, the boys, teenagers, hurried down a side street toward home. Going to the party had been a bad idea. I was like, we gotta get home. And then there it was out of nowhere, the car, the screaming, the sudden burst of gunfire. I was just like, am i living a nightmare . This a nightmare . Im gonna wake up soon reporter in a bad neighborhood in a town in west texas, two innocent lives were snuffed in one violent moment and a strange story went into deep hibernation as much in the grave as those poor boys. For 12 long years. And then one day in 2005, in sunny el paso a place where a person could look ahead, build a business, fall in love a man walked into a bank and, that old story began its unlikely resurrection. You were a teller . I was a bank teller, yes. Reporter her name was lucy and for some time, as she couldnt help but notice, a particular customer turned up at almost all the teller windows except hers. He was a very, very attractive man. We knew he had a business, so he was in there frequently. Reporter and then one february morning in 2005 there he was. Standing in front of her. He just happened to be at my window. And i did have pictures in our teller windows of me and the girls. And i remember him asking, oh, those are your daughters . Reporter his name, she learned, was john mimbela, single, divorced father of two and one of el pasos most successful and respected Building Contractors. And just making conversation, i asked her, wheres the dad . And shes like im not married, and the dads not involved. Hes moved to california five years ago. Well, what did you think . I said, well, theres my chance. Reporter hed noticed her all along of course. And that morning, finally, he plucked up the courage and i just took a chance and i asked her out. And she accepted. And right off the bat we fell in love. And that changed everything. We ended up marrying reporter it was a Second Chance for both of them. But as we all know, Second Chances, wonderful as they are, generally come with baggage. Complications. She came with other people. Correct. I told her i know im not just marrying you and i will take the responsibility for your daughters. Reporter oh, but thats not the complication we had in mind. Lucy came with Something Else too. Though the father of her daughters had long ago left for good, lucy remained very close to the mans family, which included a young man named Daniel Villegas. Who was in prison. For murder. So, thats curious. This is a family youd wanna avoid, youd think. At first i kinda had my doubts. Well, if hes in prison, its probably because hes guilty. But they would always say he was innocent. Reporter mind you, john was busy running his Construction Company, didnt think much about the Daniel Villegas story. How he was locked up for life. How appeal after appeal had been turned down. I would give him details on daniel. Being convicted, i just kind of knew that they didnt have good representation and he lost his case, and john was like, really . Wow. Like, that happens. Reporter then one night, lucy and john stopped by daniels parents house. By then daniel had been in prison for more than 10 years. We walk into the house and its kinda dark. I mean, its in the evening and theyre just sitting there. Crying. I mean, cries of desperation. Reporter daniels parents had been trying to find some legal group or agency that would attempt, at least, to prove their son was innocent. And theyd just received their final rejection. Daniels sister michelle was there, too. And that was our last hope. It just seemed there was nothing we could do. Reporter these are his parents chano and yolanda. And i fell apart. I was just like, what did i do to my baby . I thought i was gonna protect him and i did nothing in the slightest. So they were telling you, just forget it. No. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Reporter john mimbela knew as well as anyone no parent would want to accept the probability that a son was exactly where he belonged, a guilty man in prison. But daniels appeals had failed. There didnt seem to be any way out. But then there, in the midst of all that gloom, john mimbela said something naive. Foolish, perhaps. I felt very, very bad for that family at that moment, so i told them, let me take the information they just returned from you and let me look at it and let me see what i can do, but please stop crying, and dont worry. And we were all like, well, yeah. Yes. Of course. Please. Reporter but really what could he do . He didnt have a clue about the case that put daniel in prison in the first place. Or about the workings of the law. Oh, these sudden impulses. If john mimbela had known what was coming what it would do to him and everybody else would he have been a little more prudent . Would he have kept his mouth shut . 3 f2 su familia insistio que el even though a jury found him guilty. If it wasnt daniel, who was it . When we come back here you have this person who killed these two boys and was out there with a weapon. Who else could this person kill . And john mimbela takes on the biggest challenge of his life. I said wow, hes serious. Er. Morning fare right . Well mcdonalds has thrown away those rules and opened a new world of possibilities. Now, youre free to start enjoying the breakfast you love any time you wish. No way. Yes way. Introducing mcdonalds new all Day Breakfast menu. Once, you changed how you ate breakfast. Its time to start changing when. Just about anywhere you can use splenda®. No calorie sweetener. Splenda® lets you experience. The joy of sugar. Without all the calories. Think sugar, say splenda® you can do it duck. Lets go duck you can do it duck. Hey, why the name duck . mom hey buddy. This is duke. Hi duck. Iams. Ideal nutrition to help keep your dog healthy and active at every stage of life. Go to iams. Com for your 5 trial offer. And see a visible difference in your dog. Tick, tock. 25 years old and youre still playing in the mud. 15 feet in the air, thats where you feel most alive. 10 meter maids waiting to wallpaper your truck. Better get out of town. 5, 4, 3. The allnew tacoma. Toyota. Lets go places. No worries. To age faster than other skin. Now, theres new chapstick® total hydration. Its 100 natural, age defying formula is clinically proven to provide healthier, more youthful looking lips. Chapstick® put your lips first® you get used to sweaty odors you think it smells fine, but your passengers smell this. Eliminate odors youve gone noseblind to for up to 30 days with the febreze car vent clip break out the febreze, and [inhale exhale mnemonic] breathe happy. Well, right now you can get 15 gigs for the price of 10. Thats 5 extra gigs for the same price. So five more gigs for the same price . Yea, allow me to demonstrate. You like that pretzel . Yea. 50 more data for the same price. I like this metaphor. Oh, its even better with funnel cakes. But very sticky. Get 15 gigs for the price of 10. And now get 300 credit for every line you switch. Now at at t reporter he was a Building Contractor by trade, knew less about a convicted killer named Daniel Villegas. But now here was john mimbela, a man far more comfortable with blueprints than legal briefs, poring through the massive case file of a 12 year old double murder, trying to make sense of all the intricate details of the case. It was a trial transcripts, it was some Police Reports. Reporter who knew there would be so much . But, a promise is a promise. So mimbela treated the task a little like a second job. By day, he ran his company. By night he played amateur detective. A lot of the stuff was incomplete. But i read it over and over. Reporter this went on for weeks. Lucy barely saw him. He would not drop it. As soon as he got home from work, eat dinner and start reading. And i said, wow, hes serious. [ laughter ] reporter it was like opening a time capsule, in a way. And certainly mimbelas memories came flooding back. It was a troubled period for el paso. Now, this is among americas safest cities. But then . Reporter in fact, gang trouble got so bad back in the early 90s that these El Paso Policemen made a rap video, intentionally hokey, but with purpose that was dead serious. Reporter to warn young wouldbe toughs stay away from gangs. Especially in the neighborhood where those two boys were killed. Reporter here was the story mimbela pieced together from those court files. It was good friday, 1993. A warm spring evening. Around midnight, four teenage boys were walking home from a party in a ganginfected neighborhood known as northeast. As mimbela read in the case file, two of the boys survived the shooting. One was Jesse Hernandez, who told the police what happened. How, out of the night, a 70sera maroon colored american car looked Something Like this one rolled up beside them. But whatever model the car was, it was trouble. And my heart started racing. I was like, oh man. Were gonna get in an altercation. So the car was doing this kind of catandmouse. And it would back up. And it would take off a little further. And then back up, and it just stopped. The adrenaline was pumping. I was like, we gotta get home. Reporter then, relief. The car left. The boys kept walking. But 15 minutes later, and several blocks away, the car appeared again, slowed to a crawl, turned off its lights, then stopped. And i was like, oh, oh, oh. I just went like that. I was like, guys, lets just please lets go. Lets go. Lets go. Reporter but, as jesse told the police back then, those boys didnt listen. Instead, his friends mando lazo and bobby england approached the car, started yelling. Before i know it, i just started hearing gunshots. I could swear that i saw a light flash towards me and hit the fence. And it was just tottottot. Reporter well, its terrifying. Yes. Reporter was this the same car that had bothered you before yeah. Yeah. All i kept thinking was i want to go home. I want to be in a safe place. Reporter so he and his other friend ran. Ran for their lives, didnt look back. But when bobby and mando failed to turn up behind them, the two went back to find them. I could already see flashing lights, red and blue. I knew something was wrong. Reporter it was. Jesses best friends, mando lazo and bobby england, were dead. I was like, am i living a nightmare . Is this a nightmare . Im gonna wake up soon. Im gonna wake up right now. And the more and more i tried, you know, i didnt wake up. Reporter the murder was big news in el paso. Mimbela dug up dozens of Old Newspaper clippings, reporting on what looked at first like a gang shooting. And yet the victims were not gangbangers, just innocent kids caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Tv reporter maria garcia has been covering the case for years. People were on edge about it. Because here you had this person who killed these two boys for no good reason and was out there with a weapon. And if he killed armando lazo and robert england, who were popular, good kids, who else could this person kill . So it was an alarming case. Reporter alarming and puzzling. Who would want to kill these kids, and why . Mimbela looked up what he could of their backgrounds, their personal stories. Bobby england was from a military family, by all accounts a kind and friendly young man. Mando lazo was extremely popular, funloving, and cared deeply about his friends. He was always watching out for me. He was always very protective of me. Reporter a true friend and yeah, exactly. I would feel mandos hand on me. I would still feel that warm touch. I hope i never lose that feeling. And i could still remember him. Reporter mando and bobbys murder got a lot of attention from the cops. But ten days passed. No arrests. And then a break a tip. Someone in the neighborhood was boasting that he blew away mando and bobby with a shotgun. The boaster . The young man hed accepted as a kind of unofficial brother in law Daniel Villegas. And, as mimbela was about to discover, daniel did more than boast about the murder. A lot more. Is. 3 f2 daniel hizo mas que solo who was invested that was my first thought. I didnt believe it. He was a kid. Just always having fun. When dateline continues. [ male announcer ] even ragu users a. Chose prego traditional over ragu traditional. Prego . but i buy ragu. [ thinking ] i wonder what other questionable choices ive made. [ pop muzak plays ] [ sigh of relief ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. Choose prego. [ sigh of relief ] get your favorite apps 1 2 price twice a day. Every weekday and late night. Yeah. Things are definitely looking up. Get 1 2 price apps late afternoons, and as always, late night. New and only at applebees. The citi double cash® card comes in very handy with cash back twice on purchases. Earn once when you buy, and again as you pay. Thats cash back now, and cash back again later. Its cash back deja vu. The citi double cash card. The only card that lets you earn cash back twice on every purchase with 1 when you buy and 1 as you pay. With two ways to earn, it makes a lot of other cards seem one sided. I was about to head to thecheck. Bank, but out of nowhere it just started to rain. Like really rain. [clap of thunder] i did not want to go out. [clap of thunder] but then i was like duh, just use your phone. Mobiledeposittechnothingy to the rescue. Im rayna. And i bank human at td bank. Reporter it was not like john mimbela to make rash promises, especially a promise to undertake a task that was way and he was already a very busy mimbela construction was booming, doing business all around the southwest. We do a lot of contracts from anywhere to three to a thousand homes. Reporter how many guys do you have working for you . 200. Reporter so yes, he was busy. But his lucy was so determined that the Daniel Villegas she knew was no murderer. I didnt believe it. I mean, he was a kid, just always having fun. Reporter did he seem like the sort of person who was capable of that . No. Not at all. He was a clown. He liked to joke around a lot. Just a kindhearted guy. Reporter mind you, kindhearted or not, daniel wasnt a choir boy. He belonged to a gang, had a rap sheet for a few misdemeanors. He had been expelled from school. He liked to party maybe too much. But boast about murder . That sounded to mimbela like more than a party prank. But daniels parents said thats just how daniel was immature, a jokester, they said, trying to navigate life in a dangerous neighborhood. And i think he was tryin to be tough, because we were in a tough area. Theres a lot of gangs so if he figured if they feared him, then hed have a better chance of survival. Reporter but if thats what it was, he figured wrong. Because it certainly caught the attention of detectives at the El Paso Police department, detectives under increasing public pressure to solve the case. So not surprising, late one night, they showed up at the villegas front door and took 16yearold daniel downtown for questioning. I was really scared. It was late at night. And my mom kept telling him not to say anything, that she would get him a lawyer in the morning. But he didnt make it till the morning. Reporter no, he didnt. Sometime before the morning came, daniel confessed that he killed those two boys. And there, all these years later, mimbela saw what was daniels indelible signature. He signed his own statement, swearing it was true. Thats kind of what made it hard for me to understand that daniel might be innocent, because he confessed. Reporter sure, who would confess to committing a crime they didnt commit, right . That was my first thought. Reporter that signed confession got daniel charged with capital murder. John williams was an assistant d. A. Then. The confession really was the the centerpiece of the case. That along with the fact that the alibi he gave didnt quite make sense. Reporter and daniels confession was backed up by two other neighborhood boys who gave El Paso Police signed statements stating that they were in the car with daniel when he fired the fatal shots. Word of daniels arrest spread. Jesse hernandez was relieved. And that was, like, wow, you know . They did their work. Im glad they got this guy. I want him to feel he pain, and i want him to be punished for what he did. Reporter but you wanted to punish him yourself . Yeah. Yeah. Reporter for what he did to your friends . Exactly. You know . Exactly. Reporter when daniel went on trial in 1994, the new d. A. , Jaime Esparza, decided to personally prosecute the case. And youre going to have to sort through all of the evidence. Youre going to have to sort through all of the lies. Reporter John Williams was esparzas cocounsel. This was the first case that he tried as the District Attorney. Reporter so he got pretty invested in this case . Yes. We were passionate about it. And if the truth is there somewhere, then you convict. I say, based on the evidence, the truth is there. I think he really wanted to show the community that he was serious about bringing justice to these young boys who were killed in such a coldblooded way. Reporter daniels defense attorney argued his confession was coerced. That he had an alibi he was babysitting and watching a movie at this apartment with friends. In the end, 11 jurors voted to convict, but one held out for an acquittal. A hung jury. A relief for daniels family, who, despite his confession, still insisted he was innocent. Daniel had just become a father, seemed to think he might be able to stay with his infant daughter. Ill be able to support her now forever. Reporter but Jesse Hernandez, a witness for the prosecution, was very unhappy with that hung jury. And i remember the d. A. Said, dont worry. Were gonna keep pushing. Were gonna get him. And thats what he would tell me. I was like, well, i hope so. Hes like, no, were were gonna get him. Dont worry about it. Reporter and, sure enough, the d. A. Tried daniel again. The villegas family was out of money, so the Court Appointed