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those items where there. >> what was that like? >> i mean, only those involved would know these details, where the instruments were used to kill someone. >> so that was that they had their story and their culprit. except, there was one more very significant detail, offered up by both jessica and rocky. something the towns rumor mill failed to catch. by the time kevin and robert went out for the evening, a couple of days later -- >> we went bowling. we went out to eat, just had a grand old time. >> by that time, it was after midnight. time to go home, to bed. >> sitting in the parking lot, talking, just laughing. and all of the sudden, multiple police cars pulled up. they get out, guns drawn. they get out the vehicle first, they get me walking backwards, with my hands up. >> then, through all of the terror and confusion, it dawned on kevin marsh. it was not him they had come for. >> so then i see them getting robert out, kicking him down, knocking him to the ground, ramming his face into the asphalt, putting him in handcuffs.
somebody else first, and then at some point, she put herself there. >> it was supposed to be routine, we go in, we find her purse, we take her money, and then we leave that was all that was supposed to happen. >> then, rocky went way off script, said jessica. tied ann to a bed with duct tape, and turned it into murder. >> broke in. >> okay >> who cut ann's throat? >> rocky. >> who stabbed her in the back? >> rocky. >> okay. >> jessica told detective giles, the murder weapons were a kitchen knife and a metal rod for bludgeoning, which they stashed in a hole outside of anns house >> she said they could not find it without her, we drove her out there, and we walked the entire path until we got to the hole. she said, that is it right there. lo and behold, we had some evidence folks with, us and
>> if you push hard enough to find out, whether or not he was actually telling you the truth? >> i take with the client tells me. i do an independent evaluation, based on what i learned. >> so, he watched the tape of robert confession, and it did not look right to him. besides -- >> there was no physical evidence at the crime scene to tie robert to the crime. >> but just as intriguing, was this question. >> why would rocky and jessica include a kid like robert? >> the fugett siblings, as the kids at school and the neighborhood knew, bullied robert mercilessly. he was terrified of them. surely, he would not help them murder a neighbor? yet, rocky fugett was going to tell the court just that. >> his lawyer had advised me that rocky wanted to get a favorable sentencing, and was going to be testifying against robert.
>> attorney steve rosenfield was in for a big surprise when he arrived at rocky few gets prison. >> it was shocking. >> it certainly was. rocky wanted to sign a sworn affidavit, saying robert davis was innocent, had nothing to do with the murders. >> that was pretty powerful for him to do that, considering his circumstances. nothing to gain. >> but, rockies admission wasn't enough to undo roberts confession. and then, seven years into roberts prison sentence, rosen field answered a phone call. there was she was. laura nirider, the director of the center of wrongful convictions and northwestern university school of law. she's a leading expert in false confession by young people. nirider heard about robbers case and offered to help. and help us understand what's happened to robert.
high school. >> people were afraid of them. they come through the hallway, people would just move out of the way, try not to be around them. >> kevin's friend, a shy and awkward robert seemed to be a favorite target. >> the used to pick on him all the time. they call them retarded, fat, ugly, stupid. >> robert said he tried to ignore it, but they knew his vulnerabilities. >> i tried to keep my distance when i could, and stay cordial wherever we were, in close proximity to each other >> safer that way, said robert. at any case, the detectives paid a visit to the fugett's house, where they learned enough to march the pair down to police headquarters for questioning. rocky admitted he was there, to rob the place. >> i was in the house, i started downstairs, jessica was there, i was supposed to just watch. >> detective phil giles interviewed jessica. >> she eventually acknowledged that, she tried to say it was
>> yes, sir. >> anne charles and her three -year-old thomas were dead. horribly. and larry claytor, the forensic man got a better look at it than anybody. >> this was probably one of the more horrendous cases i had worked in my career. >> larry could not give investigators much to go on. a few small footprints in the snow out back. but forget dna. any possibility of finding that was flushed away by fire hoses. >> then i got word from the medical examiners office, they had recovered a knife that was sticking in the woman's back >> what did you think when you heard that? >> i went back to my photographs sure enough, in the middle of the back was the knife. >> so someone stabbed her, but who? >> firefighters tipped police that a brother sister duo across the street, rocky and jessica fugett had been watching the fire, claimed to know the victims. robert davis and his friend kevin marsh knew them as aggressive troublemakers in
hopefully, the truth will come out that i was not there. >> the fugett's avoided the death penalty, but they got what amounted to life without parole. and steve rosenfield faithfully drove out to meet robert in prison, knowing the only way to get him out was to persuade the virginia governor to issue a pardon. fat chance of that. >> it's a pretty big long shot, of getting him out before the 23 years from which he was sentenced. >> but then, two years after robert went to prison, rosenfield opened the mail and found a letter from, of all people, rocky fugett. >> dear mr. rosenfield, i have some information about robert that i think could be awfully beneficial. you are welcome to come visit me. >> snail mail. rest assured, steve rosenfield's drive to the prison was much quicker. >> coming up. >> this is one of the most
chief ins and other officers. that suspect is in police custody. thousands of flights have been delayed or canceled as a record number of americans fly for the 4th of july holiday. tsa says nearly two and a half million from friday. that's a new pandemic record. now, back to dateline. back to dateline. >> attorney steve rosen field was in for a big surprise when he arrived at rocky few gets prison. >> it was shocking. >> it certainly was. rocky wanted to sign a sworn affidavit, saying robert david was innocent, had nothing to do with the murders. >> that was pretty powerful for him to do that, considering his circumstances. nothing to gain. >> but, rockies admission wasn't enough to undo roberts confession. and then, seven years into
to police headquarters for questioning. rocky admitted he was there, to rob the place. >> i was in the house, i started downstairs, jessica was there, i was supposed to just watch. >> detective phil giles interviewed jessica. >> she eventually acknowledged that, she tried to say it was somebody else first, and then at some point, she put herself there. >> it was supposed to be routine, we go in, we find her purse, we take her money, and then we leave that was all that was supposed to happen. >> then, rocky went way off script, said jessica. tied her to a bed with duct tape, and turned it into murder. >> broke in. >> okay >> who cut ann's throat? >> rocky. >> who stabbed her in the back? >> rocky. >> okay. >> jessica told detective giles, the murder weapons were a kitchen knife and a metal rod for bludgeoning, which they
stashed in a hole outside of her house. >> she said they could not find it without her, we drove her out there, and we walked the entire path until we got to the hole. she said, that is it right there. lo and behold, we had some evidence folks with, us and those items where there >> what was that like? >> i mean, only those involved would know these details, where the instruments were used to kill someone. >> so that was that they had their story and their corporate. except, there was one more very significant detail, offered up by both jessica and rocky. something the towns rumor mill failed to catch. by the time kevin and robert went out for the evening, a couple of days later -- >> we went bowling. we went out to eat, just had a grand old time. >> but that time, it was after midnight. time to go home, to bed. >> sitting in the parking lot, talking, just laughing. and all of the sudden, multiple police cars pulled up.