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And the only reason i picked him out of that crowd was i heard through the grapevine that his brother's car was used. >> what are you telling me this now for? what do you think will accomplish now? >> nothing. i'm just trying to come clean, i mean. >> reporter: now, that was a bombshell. livers' own attorney had never been told by authorities that he'd recanted his confession. so basically from the official story, his recantation simply disappeared? >> right. >> reporter: the cass county sheriff's department declined "dateline's" request for interviews or explanations of how this happened or, ...

So basically from the official story, his recantation simply disappeared? >> right. >> reporter: the cass county sheriff's department declined "dateline's" request for interviews or explanations of how this happened or, for that matter, anything else about the case, but in december, 2006, seven months after the murders, prosecution experts finally agreed, too, livers' confessions were deemed unreliable. >> i went over to the jail and matt was in his cell and we told him, you know, it's over. you're going home. and, you know, i probably had the biggest hug from a man that i've ever had in my li...

Second tape withheld? and by whom? months and months and months after because he said those things the day after his confession. >> right. >> i don't know that nick is involved in this because we never -- i mean, you can check my phone records. we never talked on thursday or friday about this. and the only reason i picked him out of that crowd was i heard through the grapevine that his brother's car was used. >> what are you telling me this now for? what do you think will accomplish now? >> nothing. i'm just trying to come clean, i mean. >> reporter: now, that was a bombshell. livers' own atto...

Thomas was agreeing to being an accessory after the fact. >> thomas, do you make this plea freely and voluntarily? >> i do. >> if you'd gone to trial against peggy thomas, do you think you would have won? >> uh -- >> if you say yes, my next question is why didn't you? >> my take on it was we had a 50/50 chance of guilty versus not guilty and so it was a rolf the dice. >> a few weeks later peggy thomas was sentenced to four weeks in prison. >> i would still love to see her come forward and say, look, i really did make a mistake. i've got to own up to this, that i really did set it in motion but...

All the facts would indicate that this was, i think, a rush to judgment. >> reporter: the former coroner says there was no rush to judgment he didn't remember the case, but reread the coroner's report at "dateline's" request and says, quote, hindsight is a wonderful thing, but at the time everything fit there were no suspicions raised and no reason to drag our feet nevertheless, after toni's death and mccormick's review, the douglas county coroner changed the manner of lynn's death from accidental to undetermined still, harold henthorn hadn't been charged with anything not in toni's death or h...