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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 this is going to 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 or interviews or explanations of how this ha...

In? why would i make mistakes that point the finger at me. >> reporter: a federal jury in omaha heard the case and took just a few hours to acquit kofoed of all counts. but the state of nebraska wasn't satisfied. appointed a special prosecutor and charged kofoed with evidence tampering. and this time, after a week-long trial before a cass county judge on what one headline called "a dark day for law enforcement" kofoed was found guilty. >> you understand what you were convicted of? >> yes, your honor.

Nick sampson struggled with the bitterness the long jail-bound nightmare had planted in his soul while the children of wane and sharmon stock tried to make sense of the release of the man they had been told had killed their parents. >> it's a difficult situation. none of us are attorneys. none of us are in law enforcement. and you're just sitting there trying to take it all in, trying to figure out, okay, how does this work? why does this happen? >> reporter: hadn't their cousin matt livers confessed? at least he was still in custody. as were those two teens from wisconsin. so it wasn't as if ...

Swiped under the dashboard of the car. a second search of the car, by the way. the first by an officer under kofoed turned up nothing. this was blood from the murder victim, wayne stock. how would it get there? it was the fbi that started asking that question. not of livers or sampson. the fbi's investigation was aimed at the local investigators who handled the case. in fact, at csi chief david kofoed himself. and after months of digging, the fbi concluded that kofoed must have planted that swipe of blood himself. phony evidence to nail down a shaky case. it was a bombshell. david kofoed, divi...

They had arrested 28-year-old matt livers. he'd confessed. and he'd named an accomplice, his cousin, 22-year-old nick sampson. so the cass county sheriff's department called in the press and announced that one of the most shocking crimes in this part of nebraska in decades was solved. >> people ask us is this closure on the case. it's not. it's another chapter, turning a page. still re -- still a lot of work to be done. >> reporter: though he was right, the sheriff had no clue just how much work there was yet to be done. but for the stocks' children, the arrest brought a small measure of relie...