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And conviction, and that prompted ream to allegedly declare to an accomplice, "if i ever do this again, i'll kill the next victim." two rulings from the bench that were two strikes against the prosecution. >> the case is diminished. it would be like entering a gunfight with only part of your arsenal. >> the prosecutor began his case by knocking down the runaway theory. older sister connie testified that cindy would never have done a runner without packing a bag. >> i have a photographic memory and i know her stuff was still there. she didn't take makeup or clothes or anything. >> what was her ...

Have with the victim's family and you tell them we're going to pick up their case, you see the relief, you see the tears come -- at that point, it almost doesn't matter to them what the end result is, just the fact that we're going back and trying to get justice. >> trial prosecutor steve kaplan had successfully handled every cold case, gaining convictions or plea bargains in all 21 of them, but he knew case number 22, the cindy case, was full of holes. >> we did not have a body, we did not have an eyewitness to her being with anybody, kidnapped or ambushed, we had no physical evidence against...

Buried on our own terms than some killer like in the middle of the night. >> detective mclaughlin was also arguing for a deal. after all, he'd promised the family he'd bring cindy home. >> well, from the time i got this case, i had a daughter that was 13. the same aged daughter that cindy was when she disappeared. >> now it was up to prosecutor smith. >> it was a lot of heated discussions about this. >> and you've got this delicate situation of trying to broker the people's interests versus the family's passionate desire. >> and you can't say no. they've lived this for more than 20 years. so w...

Jewelry. >> prosecutor eric smith whose cold case unit had put ream away for the rest of his life was made crazy by ream's casual banter. to the point where i just said, stop, just shut up. the fact that he could stand out there knowing full well the last time, maybe the last time he was here he's burying cindy zarzycki and he's walking around as though he doesn't have a care in the world. maybe it was that i'm a father, but that got to me in a hurry. >> ream was then hustled back to prison, but not before mac took him to a suspicious spot that earlier the detective had had a cadaver dog sniff...

Deal, though. >> the defense lawyer needed mac as a negotiating ally to prod eric smith, the elected county prosecutor, to make a deal. >> my first inclination was, hell, no, i'm going to make sure he goes to prison for the rest of his life. the idea that the defendant thinks he can take control of this process and use this poor 13-year-old girl's body as a bargaining chip, may be the lowest thing i've ever seen in a criminal case. >> ream held one trump card, cindy's body. and the zarzyckis wanted that above anything else, even a conviction. the family found itself taking art ream's side in t...