All language subtitles for Dateline.Secrets.Uncovered.S11E07.720p.WEB.h264-BAE.[eng]

- I'm kate snow, and this is
"dateline: Secrets uncovered."

Deep in the woods,
a family lives in fear.

- "what are you gonna do
if they come back?"

- Of a threat from strangers.

- "daddy will protect us.

"daddy won't let anything bad
happen to you."

- So, when the strangers arrive,

A father takes matters
into his own hands.

- I hear a crack, crack, crack,
gunfire.

- The terror, the bullets--

This was, like,
shooting fish in a barrel.

- Glass is exploding--
just complete chaos.

- The crime scene
caught on camera.

- Anybody in the vehicle,
let me see your hands!

- It was bad.

Worse than anything
you would see in a movie.

- Sometimes I've cried
for my dad.

- Was this a murder?

- Every day,
I think of that.

- Alls I could think of,
is my kids.

What about my kids?

♪♪

- Hello, and welcome to
"dateline: Secrets uncovered."

It was supposed to be
a relaxing 4th of July

In the sierra nevada mountains,
but one fateful night,

A family getaway
turned into a holiday horror.

A father,
determined to defend his home,

Chased down
a carload of strangers.

The deadly showdown
that followed

Would divide a town

Until one man's
battle for justice

Exposed a stunning secret.

Here's keith morrison
with "miles from nowhere."

♪♪

- It was in the dark
that the fear began,

In the dark, with the sounds
of the black night around them

That had grew and grew.

- They terrorized our family,
our friends.

- Who was out there
in the dark,

Here, miles and miles
into primeval woods,

So far from safety,
from civilized protection?

- They could just
come onto our property

And invade our lives.

- But on a summer night
deep in the california sierra,

The terror
came out of the dark,

Came after them,
to take everything.

[crying, whimpering]

- The terrible,
desperate chase,

Its awful end,
and now the question--

What really happened
out there in the dark?

- Stand up!

- I still feel like
I need to go help him.

- It looks so innocent now,
closed up, dead quiet, empty,

Here in its place at the end
of a 100-yard dirt track

That snakes off
this lonely country road

Deep in the sierra nevada,

But this was not how it was
or was ever meant to be.

No...
Before it happened,

Before that summer night
in July 2011,

This was...
Well, let them tell it.

- She said, "magical place."
- very-- it's fun.

It's awesome.
It's fun.

- Mostly, at winter,

We would do
a snowball-ball fight,

And then we would
come inside and eat

And have some hot cocoa.

- These are
the wallin-reed children.

Darlin is the eldest,
then georgia,

And little gregory.

Mostly, they lived
in reno, nevada,

But this-this at the end of
a two-hour drive into the woods,

This was the place
they lived.

- We'd go on hikes,
and there is, like, a lake

That was very close.
- And we would fish.

- And we'd swim.
- And we'd fish,

And we'd go up there,
and we'd fish and swim.

It was pretty much awesome.

- Here, they discovered
a world far more magical

Than any city
could ever be.

It was their father's cabin,
really-- chad wallin-reed.

Chad's grandparents
built the cabin the '70s

When he was just a baby.

- My children were definitely,
"daddy, we love the place."

They've all grown up,
in diapers,

All the way through,
goin' up there.

- Mind you,
this was truly remote.

Their only electricity
came from a generator.

There was no cell phone service,
no phone at all,

Which was just fine
with chad's wife, kerri.

- It was very enjoyable
to be away from the phones,

And traffic,
and, you know, work.

[laughing]
- yeah.

This is where chad taught
his children how to exist

In the natural world,
how to catch a fish,

Swim in a mountain lake,
feel safe in the dark.

- He's an amazing father.
He loves his children so much.

- The children saw the world

And certainly their retreat
here in the country

As a safe place for them,
just as it should be,

And keeping it that way was
chad's particular preoccupation.

Chad worried a lot
about safety, about security,

Which may have come,
in part at least,

From his time
in the military.

He was, he said,
an army ranger,

One of the elite few.

Though, like a lot of vets,

He seemed to carry
some baggage.

- There's just some things
I'd rather not talk about

And-and things that
I've tried to, uh, get over.

I guess.
- Right.

Kerri didn't pry.

Let him deal with it
his own way.

- Between himself
and the lord.

He loves this country.
- Mm-hmm.

- He, you know,
fought for our freedom,

And it means a lot to him.

- And now,
between the children

And whatever was out there
in the woods

Were only their parents.

The nearest sheriff's office
almost an hour's drive away.

Had to be your own policeman.

That was how you felt?
- Yes.

We had to protect ourselves.

There was nobody else there
to protect us.

- And out here,
that was no idle worry.

Break-ins are not uncommon
in the isolated cabins

Up here in the wilderness.
And theirs?

- Oh, the cabin
has been broken in,

You know, numerous times.

- There's something very
invasive about that, too,

When somebody goes into
property that's yours

And takes something of yours.

- It is.
It's not just invasive.

It robs you of security.

- Security was why chad
gave kerri a revolver,

Taught her how to use it,

And stocked the cabin
with guns,

Including a favorite,
his ar-15,

A lot like
his military weapon,

Security and pleasure.

What's the attraction
of those?

- I think it's just the fun
in shooting 'em.

It's just...
[laughing]

You know, being able to put
a-a 30-round magazine

And then set up a target
and just go at it.

- Chad planted signs
at the edge of his property

Out by the road,

Stern warnings to would-be
vandals and thieves,

And he watched, vigilant,
didn't rest easy,

Especially because
one of those break-ins

Had been
just that very year.

- And if-if you did fall asleep,
it was very lightly,

And every-every noise
would wake you up very easily.

- Then, the 4th of July
weekend, 2011,

The wallin-reeds
were joined by some friends

Who set up a little campsite
on the property

Near the road.

- Just enjoying
each other's company

And hanging out.

- But early on
the Saturday morning,

About 2 a.M.,
chad was jolted awake.

- All of a sudden, I heard
all this yelling and commotion,

And it sounded like
somebody was fighting,

And I looked out,
and I saw this spotlight

Being shined
all over the place,

And I was like,
what the heck is goin' on?

And then I walk out, and, uh,
as I'm lookin' down,

This car goes speeding away.

- Chad hopped in his truck.

Drove to the end
of the driveway.

- And that's when I noticed
one of the solar lights

Had been taken.

- A solar light,

One of several
attached to metal poles

Marking the edge
of the property,

A cheap item, but still...

Why would somebody
want one of those?

- I don't know.

- When morning came,

Chad inspected
his friend's campsite

Near the bottom
of the property.

Were those footprints
of strangers

Around their trailer?

- It put us on-on edge,
you know, basically high alert.

- I remember asking
my dad and mom,

"what are you gonna do
if they come back,

"and what would happen
if somebody got hurt?"

- To witness your children
scared like that and insecure,

And you, as a parent,
have failed,

You know,
and that's how I felt was,

As a father, as a--
as a person that,

You know, supposed
to protect your family,

And alls I could do
was offer words.

"honey, if they come back,
daddy will--

"daddy will protect you.
Daddy will take care of it."

- A promise
he intended to keep.

- What happened
the next night

Would change
their lives forever.

- I picked up the pistol
that was in my cup holder

And pointed it
out the window.

- When "dateline:
Secrets uncovered" continues.

♪♪

- Saturday morning,
July 4th weekend, 2011--

Chad wallin-reed
and his family were on edge.

Strangers had come very close,
middle of the night,

Strangers who stole
a solar light

And may have been
tramping around

On their property.

And suddenly,
the cabin felt more remote,

The woods less like home,
and the children...

- They asked,
"what if they come back

And come all the way up
to the cabin? What if...?"

- So, what did you say?
- "daddy will protect us.

"daddy, you know, daddy won't
let anything bad happen to you."

It was-- it was scary.
It was scary to me.

- Then, that afternoon,

While chad was away
on an errand,

Kerri looked out
the window,

And there was a jeep
heading up the long driveway

Driven by a young man
she did not know.

- He sat there for a while

And like he was
lookin' around for somethin'.

I had the kids stay down,
out of sight,

So-so they wouldn't be seen.

- Was he lost?
Looking for help?

She took no chances.

She reached for the gun
chad had taught her how to use.

- I had my revolver,

And I was headed
towards the door.

- And then whoever it was
backed up and drove away.

So, what did that do
to your level of anxiety

That weekend?
- Oh, it-it was high.

- Ramped it up some more.
- Oh, yes.

- That evening,
still on edge,

Kerri and the kids
watched a movie

And fell asleep
on the couch.

Chad sat outside
with his visiting friends,

Who had set up camp
on his property.

- We were just sittin' there
on the porch,

Kickin' back, relaxin',
bsin'.

- The story
of what happened next

Is both complex
and, as you'll see, disputed,

Which is why we have shot
our own video

To help us
illustrate events.

It was 9 or 10 p.M.,
said chad,

When his friends
noticed a car.

- And then they said,

"it just shut
off his headlights

"and pulled up
into the driveway."

- What was going on?
That car the night before,

The jeep that came up
the drive that very afternoon,

And now strangers
were out there, again.

- I picked up the ar
that was sittin'--

It was sittin' right there
next to me.

- His ar-15 bushmaster.

[gunshot]
he fired a warning shot.

- And then, uh,

I just remember seein'
some guy runnin' away.

- But would a warning
be enough?

These had to be the same men
who came the night before.

Now, here they were
a second time.

These guys were bad news.

I said, "I'm gonna try
and catch up to these guys.

"you know, go get 'em.
You know, catch 'em."

Get their license plate
or get their information

Or somethin', you know,

Because it was apparent
that this was more than

Just we're here to play
and joke around with you.

- Chad jumped in his truck
and gave chase,

Barreling up
the twisty mountain road

At up to 50 miles an hour.

- As I was comin' up behind 'em,
somebody leaned out the, uh,

The passenger side
of the vehicle

And was shining
a million power spotlight.

I mean,
it was just blinding.

And then, uh, next thing
I know, as I'm lookin' up,

I see these three flashes,

And then I hear crack,
crack, crack, crack.

It was, uh, the sound of,
you know, gunfire.

- A sound chad knew
very well.

He'd been in the army,
remember.

So, what'd you do?

- I, uh, picked up the pistol
that was in my cupholder,

Chambered a round,

And pointed it
out the window,

And let, you know,
let off a few rounds and...

- Did you hit anything?
- Not that I could tell, no.

- Someone in the car ahead threw
solar lights out the window,

Then waved something.

- Like a piece of plastic,
somethin' shiny flyin' out,

You know,
or hanging out a window,

And, uh,
we kept on proceeding.

- Back in the cabin,
kerri lay tense on the couch.

Her three kids
sleeping beside her.

- I was just, like,
in my mind, thinkin',

Where are you?

[laughing]
come home.

You know, is everything okay?
I hope everything is okay.

- Chad was still
in hot pursuit.

Seven point six miles
they went,

Careening up
the windy country road,

Until the car
took a quick turn

Onto a remote dirt road.
Chad right behind.

- They did some fishtails,

You know, like they had
slid the car,

And at one point,
the passenger door

Just started to open up,

And I thought, you know,
these guys are gonna get out.

They're gonna, you know,
they're gonna come at me.

- The dirt road
emptied into a meadow,

And the car
suddenly made a 180.

And it looked like they were
comin' straight at you.

- Yeah, I mean--
- like an--

Looking like an assault.
- Right.

- Were they gonna shoot him?
Ram him? What?

- In military and in police,

That's what we call
an escalation of tactics

Until somebody, you know,
either backs down,

Or the threat
is neutralized.

- The other car kept coming.
Chad grabbed the ar-15.

- And I just shoved it out
the window and fired off.

- Where were they
compared to you?

So, they were coming
this way.

- They were right--
- right beside you.

- Right, right.

- How many shots did you--

- I don't recall.
I just--

- Just let it go.
- Right.

- Chad watched his enemies'
driver's side window blow out.

Glass rained down
on the meadow.

The strangers' car
veered across the grass

And came to rest
on the dirt road.

- I just drove over to 'em,
and I was yelling at them,

And, uh, I just remember
this-this young voice saying,

Uh, "I give up. I give up.
I give up.

"we're sorry, but, you know,
please don't kill me."

It, uh, it doesn't make you
feel very good

"to have somebody pleading
and begging for their life."

- Chad's protective fury
lessened for a moment

And then...
- I remember him yelling,

Um, "I have
a three-month-old daughter."

And alls I could think of
was my kids.

Thinking you're-you're yelling
at me about your daughter

And look what you just did.

You know,
what about my kids?

Did you ever consider
my kids?

- Who were these men
in the car?

What did they want?

Here in the dark,
miles from nowhere,

What had just happened,
and what was about to?

- Back home, chad faces
the reality of what's happened.

- I just remember
this lost look on her face,

And I was just saying,
"I'm sorry."

- When "dateline:
Secrets uncovered" continues.

♪♪

- Late evening,
a remote mountain meadow

In california's high sierra,

His ar-15 at the ready,

Chad wallin-reed
approached the car

Full of men he believed
had been terrorizing him--

Him, and his wife,
and his children,

And his peace.

He carried his rifle
just like the army trained him.

- I was at the ready.

Hey, if-if they
came out of that vehicle

And made any-any movements,

You know, I could see
their hands, and, you know,

I'd approach the vehicle.

- This is the car
chad shot at.

As he checked out
the inside, clearing it,

As they say
in the military,

He saw the driver
had been hit.

- He was hunched over
the steering wheel,

And then, uh,

When I got into the
driver's side of the vehicle,

He was laid back, and, uh,
his head was-was down.

I mean, I didn't check
for a pulse

Or anything like that,

But, uh, there was a bullet,
you know, wound in his neck.

- Were they--
some of the others

Were wounded, also, right?

- At that point in time,
I didn't know.

- Nor did chad know
any of the men in the car,

Who they were,

Why they'd
approached his home,

But once he saw
they no longer posed a threat,

He said, he told the men

He'd do what he could
to find help for them.

- I said, "I'm gonna go call
the sheriff."

- And he drove
the seven and a half miles

Back to his cabin.

As you're driving back,

As you're now
trying to figure out

What the hell you've done,

What was going on
in your heart,

Your mind, your soul?

- An assessment.
- Uh-huh.

- Somebody is either dead
or dying.

Something very serious
has happened here.

What steps do we go through?

- None of that drive
was occupied with the,

"oh, my god, what the hell
have I done?"

- No, no, uh-uh.

- When he pulled
into the driveway,

Chad was greeted
by his friends.

They had seen him race off
into the night.

Now, he told them
what happened.

- And I said,
"I caught up to 'em.

You know, they shot at me,
I shot back,

And I think
I killed one of 'em."

And at first, everybody
was like, ahh, you know,

Just laughin'
and stuff like that.

And I said, "no, I-I-I think
I killed one of 'em."

- Chad's wife, kerri,
up in the cabin with the kids,

Couldn't tell
what chad was saying outside.

- It felt like much longer
than it actually was

For him to get out
of the truck

And to-to come inside
the cabin,

And then he came inside.

- And she's like, "well, what,
you know, what happened?"

I said, "you know,
I took off after 'em,

"and, uh, I think I killed
one of 'em."

- He was so upset.

He-he looked as if
he continued to talk,

That he would just not
be able to maintain

Any composure whatsoever.

- And I just remember-- I just
remember her looking at me,

And, uh, I couldn't tell
what the look was about,

Whether, you know,
it was a relief from her,

Or it was a, uh,
who are you?

I mean, it was some kind of
look of accusation, I guess,

And, you know, I just remember
just this lost look on her face

I've never, ever seen
in my entire life,

And I was just sayin',
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

- But what should he do?
Chad wasn't exactly sure.

He turned
to his friend, jason.

- I was thinking,
well, maybe I could go back,

And one of us could go
and make a phone call,

And one of us
could go back and help,

But jason was like,

"no. Going back
would be a terrible idea."

And he said,
"we need to go and call 911."

- Remember, their cabin
didn't have a telephone.

So, kerri got dressed,
and then she, and chad,

And their friend drove the
winding road down the mountain

Toward the main highway,
perhaps nine miles down,

Hunting for a spot
with cell phone reception.

- I called out,
and I'd gotten through,

And right as, you know,
I was talking to the lady,

The call dropped,

And then I had to drive down
a little bit farther.

We were able to make a call
out there.

- He was concerned,
he said,

About getting help
for the wounded.

- In my mind, was
how are they gonna find

These, you know,
individuals?

How are they gonna
get there to help them?

I mean, they're out
in the middle of nowhere

On a dirt road.

- This northern stretch
of the sierra nevada

Is an up and down world
of river gorges

And mountain peaks,
difficult to forage,

And far from any towns
or resorts.

The few deputies on patrol

Are scattered
over a vast wilderness,

And so it's not
altogether surprising

That one of the first lawmen
to respond to chad's 911 call

Turned out to be
a game warden.

What is surprising,
is who was riding with him,

A photographer of all people,

One of the first to reach
the scene of the shooting,

And the images
he captured...

- It was bad.

Worse than anything
you would see in a movie,

I'll tell ya that.

- The horrifying
real life scene

That first responders found.

- I just remember seeing this
hand come up out of the grass.

- When "dateline:
Secrets uncovered" continues.

♪♪

- Welcome back to
"dateline: Secrets uncovered."

I'm kate snow.

Chad wallin-reed opened fire
on a car full of men

He believed
had been threatening

His wife and children.

Chad told family and friends
he may have killed one of them

And injured several others,

But officials were about
to find a crime scene

With its own secrets
to reveal.

Back to keith morrison
with "miles from nowhere."

- In the high sierra,

The life of a game warden
is a solitary one,

Hours of driving along
back country roads alone.

Wardens hunt everything from
bear poachers to pot farmers

And its prey that
sometimes shoots back.

That lone justice angle
attracted a reality show,

Which sent a photographer
named ben staley

To the little town of quincy,
here in plumas county.

- I'd been in-in the quincy area
for a couple months,

Gettin' into all kinds
of trouble

With the california
game wardens.

- It was
the 4th of July weekend,

Late on a Saturday night.

Staley had been taping with
the game warden since daybreak.

He was ready to pack it in.

Then an urgent call
went out over the radio.

Shots fired.

- We're speeding
to get there,

Um, to perhaps break it up,
perhaps stop it.

Perhaps save lives.
You don't really know.

- They didn't know,
in other words,

That they were responding
to the 911 call

From chad wallin-reed

After his armed confrontation
with six men

On a dark road
running through a meadow.

While racing to the scene,
staley and the warden

Met up with
a sheriff's deputy.

Then, over the radio,
came a new twist.

Two men, possibly wounded,
had been found wandering

Through a campground.

- So, we go
to this campground,

And, sure enough,
you know, we all hop out,

And then there's-there's,
like, two guys

In the middle of
this campground

With blood on 'em.

One of the sheriff
takes them.

They-they cuff 'em up
and take 'em right there.

And then these guys are like,
"look, our friends are hurt,"

And they give us
directions to where

The incident occurred.

- The meadow, that is,

The dirt road where
the shooting took place,

A place so remote
that without those directions,

They might never
have found it.

As they drove
through the night,

They listened to
the chatter on the two-way.

- It was very chaotic.

Nobody knew exactly
what was happening.

Nobody knew if
there was, you know,

Multiple people
shooting at each other,

If it was two people
shooting at each other.

There was all these
conflicting reports

Coming in over the radio.

It's really scary.

- Staley and the warden
were now joined

By a total
of three deputies.

The makeshift team
convoyed to the meadow,

Geared up for
a possible shootout.

They found a lone vehicle,
its windows blown out.

- I want you to stand up!
Stand up!

- Staley shot this footage
of the encounter,

Which later became part of
the official public record.

- Right away, there's
two guys comin' towards,

With their hands up.

One guy is limpin'
really bad.

Um, he was shot
through the leg.

They're both
bloody and cut up.

They both look
really freaked out.

- Then staley saw
something strange

Poking out of
the meadow floor.

- I just remember seeing
this hand come up

Out of the grass.

- I got one off to
the right here, one hand up.

- Okay.

- All right.
Keep your hands up!

- And everyone was like,
"whoa, we got a hand."

- Staley recorded everything,
the warden,

The deputies arresting
the wounded men,

The hand poking out
of the grass,

And then the young man
who was connected to that hand,

His right calf shredded
by a bullet.

- Had tourniqueted his leg,

But the sheriffs
and the wardens

Right away saw that
he had it on too tight,

And he'd had it on
too long,

And it was very painful,
and they took it off,

And, uh, he
was bleeding a lot.

- This badly wounded man
plus the others made five,

But there was one more.

- And then there was
another guy in the backseat,

Who was, I guess,
the driver.

Uh, he was a lot worse off.

But he was talking,
he was moving his mouth.

I could hear sounds.
I couldn't make--

I couldn't make
any words out, you know,

But it-it didn't look good.

- The driver had been shot
in the head.

- It was worse than anything
you would see in a movie.

This was so violent
and so gory.

- What happened here?

Sorting it out fell
to detective steve peay

And chris hendrickson.

- It was very confusing for
all the officers responding.

They were all under
the impression that

The suspects were
in the meadow,

In the car,
and maybe armed,

And officers treated 'em
as such.

- Adding to the confusion,
the remote location,

Multiple locations.

- We had two gentlemen
at the campground.

We have four gentlemen down at
this potential crime scene,

And then I had
mr. Wallin-reed

With another detective
at another spot.

Officers, ambulances,
helicopters comin' in.

It's very chaotic--
very chaotic that night.

- Deputies, led by
sergeant peay, met chad

A few miles from
the meadow,

Listened to his account
of the chase.

- But while sergeant peay
was talking to chad,

Some of the other detectives
were out here in the meadow

Looking for the weapon
or weapons

Those young men
must have fired at chad.

They searched the car,
they searched around the car.

They looked
all around the meadow.

They found nothing.

But then, it's a big meadow,

And those are very deep
and very dark woods.

Some of those
young men did run.

They could've dumped
a gun out there somewhere.

But they didn't all run.

- I got one off to
the right here, one hand up.

- Remember the one shot
in the leg,

The one cameraman
ben staley documented

With his hand sticking up,

Who was found bleeding out
in the meadow?

He didn't bleed out.
He survived.

His name is
justin lewis smyth,

Lewis, and he's about
to give us his account

Of a July 4th weekend
on a dark and lonely road

In the high sierra.

- Coming up...

Confusion and terror,
a very different story

Of those shots in the dark.

- The next thing I know,
glass is exploding.

It's just complete chaos.

- When "dateline:
Secrets uncovered" continues.

- This is where it ended,
in an ink black meadow

In the high sierra

Barely illuminated
by a pair of headlights.

Here is the actual video
of the sheriff's deputies,

Guns drawn,
approaching the car,

Preparing for a possible
shootout with gunmen.

Instead, they found
shooting victims,

Three of them,
severely wounded.

- Somebody makes their way over
towards the car and says...

- Let me see your hands!

- Lewis smyth can be seen
in the footage here,

Shot in the right leg,
bleeding profusely.

The belt he used
as a tourniquet

Placed just above his knee
possibly saved his life.

- At that point,
it's pretty obvious to me

That I'm gonna lose my leg.

I-I mean, I'm not sure
how long had gone by,

Maybe an hour and a half.

- And there were
other victims,

A bloody and baffling scene
for the deputies.

Who were these men?

How did they provoke
a violent confrontation

With army vet
chad wallin-reed.

Chad and his family said
they'd been terrorized,

But that was not the story
lewis smyth had to tell.

Lewis' version began

An hour's drive away
in susanville, california,

Population almost 18,000,

Home to two state prisons,
two movie theaters,

And, on July 4th weekend, 2011,

To restless young men
in search of fun.

There was lewis, of course,
and his very best friend,

A 20-year-old
junior college student

Named rory mcguire.

- He was the center of
attention wherever he went.

- All eyes were on rory,

In fact, right
from the start.

That amazing shock
of red hair at birth

Surprising even
his own mother, carol.

- His named was
gonna be colin,

And then he came out
with the red hair,

And I had to look
through a baby name book,

And I found the name rory,
which means red king in irish,

And so hence
rory colin mcguire.

- And that red hair came with
a personality to match.

- There was only one rory,
and everyone knew who it was.

He was vivacious.
He was creative.

He was exciting.
He was funny.

He was the life
of the party.

- We would talk every day.

I'd tell him
almost every detail,

Laugh about little things.

I told my mom
I wanted a brother,

And, uh, I felt like
I kinda got that with rory.

- Anyway, that Friday night,
July 1st,

Rory and lewis were joined
by four other young men

In search of a party
they'd heard about.

- We were looking for
a friend of ours' brother

Who was having a gathering
up by antelope lake.

- Girls up there,
somebody said.

So, here's what the did.

And once again,
we prepared special video,

This time to illustrate
lewis' story

In which they all squeezed
into rory's sebring,

Drove to the lake,
but couldn't find the party.

So, they got up to
a little mischief

Up there by the lake

With a spotlight
one of them brought,

The kind that plugs into
a cigarette lighter.

- We stopped
at the top of a canyon,

And we're shining the light
down on a campsite,

And a bunch of people
came out yellin'.

They were mad,
and anyways, uh...

Everybody kinda got
a kick out of that.

- Then, one of them remembered
some crazy warning signs

They'd seen by the roadside,
wanted to show his buddies.

They found them,
trained the spotlight on them.

- And one of 'em says "warning:
You are entering r.O.C.,"

The r.O.C.,
something to do with

This red-blooded
christians only.

Others will be--

Deadly force,
uh, will be used.

- Deadly force?
Red-blooded christians only?

Were they kidding?

Seemed almost like
a dare.

One of them
hopped out of the car.

- He grabs a solar light

And ripped down one of
the smaller of the two signs

And comes runnin' back in,

And then we-we
took off from there.

- Cheap light, maybe
four or five bucks,

Still...

Why did he take
the solar light, did he say?

- No, I think it was
assumed it was just

Some sort of random
act of vandalism

That, I guess,
young kids would do.

- And then the noisy car
full of young men

Rolled back home,

And they all went to bed.

The following evening
was Saturday, July 2nd,

And, sure enough,
there was a second chance,

Same lake, new party.

So, again, a bunch
of young men

Piled into rory mcguire's
chrysler sebring.

- And went and met up
with two others

At the chevron gas station

Where we bought, I think,
a bottle of blueberry vodka

And a couple 40-ounces
of beer to take with us.

- Okay.

- And we get about
halfway up the grade,

And we approach
the property, again.

- The wallin-reed property.

Suddenly, rory
stopped the car.

And again, one of the group
jumped out and stole

Two more solar lights.

- Ten seconds passed or so,

And right as caesar
was getting into the car,

I heard a-- what sounded
like a gunshot.

- Rory hit the gas.

"was somebody shooting at us?"
they asked each other.

Lewis, a little freaked out,
looked out the back window.

- I turned around
just to see

A truck behind us.

- Gaining on you.

- Yeah, I could
pretty much tell that

That meant business.

And right after that,
I remember seeing

A green laser traveling around
in the car with us.

- A green laser?

A laser from a gun?

- We assumed, yes.

It's like you-you
can't believe it.

No, they're not
gonna shoot us.

Uh, that's absurd.

- People don't shoot
other people, yeah.

- No, not for this.

And right after that,
I hear pow-pow-pow,

And then, every once
in a while,

You'd hear a ding on the trunk
or somethin' like that.

- It's hitting the car.
- Yes.

- They tried blinding
the shooter

With their spotlight.

Didn't seem to help.

- Meanwhile, this whole time,
we've been trying to call 911,

And there's no service,

And somebody suggests
we wave

My white tee shirt
out the window.

- Let's wave this.
Maybe he'll stop.

- Exactly, yeah.

We were trying
every technique we could

To have them stop.
- Yeah.

- So, he was--
- and this guy just kept firing.

- Oh, throughout
the whole rest of this trip,

There's flurries of shots
being taken at us.

- Desperate now, rushing along
a road he did not know,

Rory suddenly took
a wrong turn.

- So, we were on this dirt road,
still taking fire

At different points in time,

And he's still chasing us,
and, uh...

Eventually what I hear
rory say is,

"this road just came
to an abrupt stop."

And so, he's trying
to flip around.

- Trying to get away,
said lewis,

Get around the truck.

Get out of the meadow
they were trapped in.

- The next thing I know,

Glass is exploding
everywhere,

Hitting us in the head.

- Was the car still moving,
at that point?

- Yes, and it's
just complete chaos.

At that point,

That was when, uh,
when I got shot.

It felt like a heat
kinda came over my leg.

- When the car
finally came to a stop,

Those who could ran.

- I said, "come on, rory.
Let's go."

And I looked up, and rory
had his face in his chest,

And I'm pretty sure
he said, "I can't."

And right at that moment,
I saw the laser light again.

And at that point,
the gunman approached.

- Coming up...

Was the shooter coming
to finish the job?

- He starts to circle
around the car.

The whole while,
he's pointing the gun at us.

- When "dateline:
Secrets uncovered" continues.

- In a remote forest meadow,
in the dark,

A tiny green dot
probed the interior

Of rory mcguire's immobilized
chrysler sebring.

The laser site was back,

Its green dot
a roving bullseye.

Lewis smyth, crouched,
wounded and immobile

In the backseat,

Watched the green dot
move across his body,

Waited for the gunman
to finish him off.

- He kinda starts
to circle around the car.

The whole while,
he's pointing the gun at us.

Lookin' like a swat team

Or somethin' like
that had come in.

When he comes up, he says,

"you mother----ers
shoot at my house.

I got kids,"
or somethin' like that.

And we said, "we didn't
shoot at your house.

We wouldn't do that."

So, the gunman points
the gun right at me,

And I said, "look, we didn't
shoot at your house.

Please just call
an ambulance."

And he took off.

- Suddenly, relief.

Some of the friends
had run for cover

During the shooting.

Now, they returned
to the car,

But to what?

They were alone
in the dark,

And their friend,
the driver, rory

Was clearly in bad shape.

- My friend has just
been shot in his head.

I'm shot.

We just assume we're
gonna get back in the car.

We're gonna get outta here
and go get help.

- Somehow, they managed
to move rory

To the backseat
of the car,

But when one of them
turned the key...

- The car wouldn't start.

It just kept getting
worse and worse.

- No car, no cell service,

No idea exactly
where they were,

No idea where
help might be,

No idea if they'd
survive the night

Or if the gunman
was gonna come back.

Two of them volunteered
to run out

Into the blackness for help,

See if they could find
a cabin or a ranch house

Where they might find
a working landline.

Question was, would
their friends still be alive

When and if they got back?

- So, I decided it's time
probably to check on my leg.

When I pulled
my pantleg down,

It sounded like
somebody had poured

A ton of water
on the ground, just splat.

My calf was
basically exploded

In a few-- like,
numerous pieces.

- Stuck in place, easy targets,
if the gunman returned.

- We had fear that
he was gonna come back

And finish the job.

- Some of the young men
decided the car

Was more target than refuge

And hid in the tall grass
of the meadow.

- They didn't feel comfortable
staying at the car,

And I don't blame 'em.

- And now, the two best friends,
lewis and rory,

Were trapped in the dark.

Lewis laid down
on the ground,

Propped his wounded leg
against the car,

Tried to keep
talking to rory,

Who was lying
in the backseat.

- Rory was shot in his head.

He could barely talk,
but when he did,

It was jumbled,
it was horrible.

He would call out
my name a lot.

Um, I told him--

I guess, uh, just naively,

That I feel your pain.

He was able to reply, uh,
something, "you have no idea."

My whole leg had become numb
from my knee down.

And then shortly
after that,

My left leg
started going numb

And then the rest
of my extremities

Until eventually
it reached my lips,

And then it got to the point
where I was like,

Well, maybe-maybe
I'll die.

- And just about then,

Lewis saw headlights
appear in the distance.

- And eventually,
somebody makes their way

Over towards the car
and says...

- Let me see your hands!

- It was
the sheriff's deputy,

And you can see
in ben staley's video

Documenting the scene,
that's when lewis

Weakly stuck
his left hand up

Out of the meadow grass.

- I laid there
on the ground for a while,

And somebody was
holding onto my leg,

Trying to stop
the bleeding,

And so they were sticking
their hand in my wound,

And I'm surprised
I could still feel pain

Because my leg
had gone numb so long ago.

All that remained,
was the pain.

So, what I remember was,
I got loaded into a paramedic.

And at this point,
it's just major relief.

- Rory was airlifted out
to a hospital in reno.

He was barely alive,
no longer conscious.

Telling the story
was not easy for lewis.

- Give me a minute.
Sorry if that was--

- It's okay.

- His anxiety was
not hard to understand.

But what didn't make sense?

How his account differed
on some very key points

From that of
chad wallin-reed,

The man who confronted them.

For example,
chad accused the young men

Of firing first
during the car chase.

- Next thing I know,
as I'm lookin' up,

I see these three flashes,

And then I hear
crack, crack, crack, crack.

- But according to lewis,
that never happened.

What's more, he said,
chad didn't seem worried

They had a gun when he
approached their car.

Did he, at any point,
say, "are you armed,"

Or, "do you have a gun,"
or, "throw your weapon away,"

Or anything like that?
- Nothing like that,

Which is kinda confusing

Seeing as he accused us
of shooting at his house,

But he was pointing
the gun at us

Like we were armed.

- So, he came up
to the car and said,

"were you the one shooting
at my house?"

- Yes.

- He didn't say,
"shoot at me in the car."

- No.

- Odd.

Remember, chad told
the police

The young men shot at him
during the chase.

Did he ever,
that night, say,

"why were you shooting
at me in the car,"

Or, "you shot at me
in the car,"

Or anything like that?

- Nothing like that, no.

- Did you have a gun?
- No.

- Did anybody in
the car have a gun?

- No.

- Did you own a gun?
- No.

- The police were looking
for a gun, of course,

Couldn't just take
somebody's word for it,

But neither could they,
nor could we,

Ignore one more
big discrepancy

Between lewis' story
and chad's.

Remember, in his interview,
chad said he told

Lewis and his friends
when he left 'em in the meadow

That he was
going to get help.

- I said, um, "I'm gonna
go call the sheriff."

- But that's not
what lewis heard.

No, he said, he remembered
quite clearly

What their assailant said

Just before he got
into his truck to leave.

- He said, "if I ever see

Any of you mother----ers
up here again,

I'm gonna kill
all you guys.

- Coming up...

Police try to figure out
who is telling the truth

About the confrontation,

And they soon find
chad's account is changing.

- I think it finally
sunk in

That he was gonna
get caught in his story.

- When "dateline:
Secrets uncovered" continues.

- Welcome back to
"dateline: Secrets uncovered."

Here again is
keith morrison.

- There is, safe to say,
no way on this earth

A mother can be
adequately prepared

For the news carol starzer
was about to receive.

It was Sunday morning,
July 3rd.

She had just gotten
a message.

"call back, now."

- I knew something was wrong.
Something was wrong.

And I call back immediately,

And I just
couldn't believe it.

- "come quickly," they said,
"to the hospital."

- All we knew was, he was
in critical condition,

And we needed to get there
as soon as possible,

And that's all
they would tell us.

- So, carol, heart
in her mouth,

Raced along
the highway to reno

And her son, rory.

That same Sunday morning,

Chad and kerri's children
woke up to the sound

Of strangers rummaging
through the cabinet.

- And, like, searched
through our stuff,

And, like, they took
all of the guns.

- They are police.
- And I was--

I was crying
when I woke up.

- Yeah.

- Because I didn't know
who they were.

- Must have been terrifying.

- Yeah.

- And then the strangers
told them

Their parents were explaining
things to the police

And...

- I knew my dad had it
under control.

He is very smart
and thoughtful.

- In fact, all night,

Chad had been in deep
conversation with detectives

From the plumas county
sheriff's office.

- I told 'em.
I explained to 'em,

You know,
what had happened,

And he was very upset.

- Going over again and again
what happened at the cabin,

On the road,
in the meadow.

Here, chad explained
what was in his mind

When those men seemed to be
terrorizing his family,

How he decided he had to do
something to protect his kids.

- Chad told detective steve peay

How the men in the car
had fired at him,

How, in self-defense,
he fired back.

- He talked about
that was training

That he had received
from the military,

To continue
to follow the threat,

To neutralize the threat.
Got into a zone

And needed to neutralize
the threat, he felt.

- Got into a zone.
- A zone.

- Like a military term.
- Yes.

- Then detective peay
decided to take chad on a tour

To recreate the almost
eight-mile chase

And the shooting on location
and on videotape.

- You come out
of your driveway.

And we drove with
mr. Wallin-reed

From his cabin in my vehicle,
uh, videotaping,

And he took us right back here
to the meadow here.

- Chad made it quite clear

He used a small pistol,
.380 caliber,

To return fire
during the chase.

- And he told us he knew
exactly where he shot from.

Um, so, we-- I'd get out,
and I'd mark that area,

So we could back and search
that area for casings.

- Then the cops took chad
down that dirt road,

Which led into the meadow,
and there they could plainly see

That other officers
had already marked

Several shell casings
in the meadow.

And abruptly,
chad's story changed.

- I had spent many hours
with him that night,

Questioning him,

Asking him if any other
firearms had been used,

And he continually said, "no."

And then, at the very end
of the-the interview

And the drive,
then he finally did tell us

That there was another gun used.

- That's when he saw
on the ground,

As they all did,
.223 caliber casings,

The kind that would come from
an ar-15 assault rifle,

Which chad finally admitted
he used here in the meadow.

- But then his
story changed, again.

He admitted he fired the ar-15

Just before
he got to the meadow.

- I think it finally sunk in

That-that it was all gonna
come back to him,

And he was gonna get caught
in his story.

- Chad isn't the only one
feeling the heat.

Rory mcguire's friends face
tough questions from the police.

Coming up...

- Oh, I-I pushed them.
I said, "listen.

If there was a gun, uh,
you need to tell us."

- When "dateline:
Secrets uncovered" continues.

♪♪

- As rory mcguire
clung to life in the hospital,

Detective steve peay
had chad wallin-reed

Take him on a tour,

Following the path of
the car chase from the cabin,

Down the dirt road,

Into the meadow
where the hot pursuit ended.

With a video camera rolling,
chad recounted every detail.

- Problem was,
his story kept shifting.

At first, he said
he only used a small pistol

During the confrontation.

But after driving through
an area littered with

.223 caliber shell casings,
chad admitted

He had also fired
his ar-15 assault rifle.

- Why the initial reluctance?

Well, perhaps because
the ar-15,

Which chad bought legally
in nevada,

Was illegal in california.

Though chad said
he didn't know that.

At any rate, now chad detailed
how he used the rifle again

When he saw rory's car
make a sudden u-turn.

- So, perhaps still
in self-defense mode.

- And so, there it was,
chad's story.

But as detective peay listened,
something seemed off.

- Just somewhat odd,
the-the story,

And as it unfolded,

Each-each time
we talked to him, it kind--

It somewhat changed.

- Then, that morning,
detective peay heard from

His colleague,
chris hendrickson,

Who had spent his night
talking to those young men.

Rory mcguire, now in surgery,
wasn't able to talk,

But the other five,
said detective hendrickson,

He talked to them separately,
told exactly the same story,

How they stole the solar lights,
were chased,

Tried to surrender,
and then made a wrong turn.

- Rory mcguire didn't know
this area that well,

And the kids realized
after they passed it

That they'd missed this turn
right here

That goes-goes down to, um,
antelope lake.

- Why antelope lake?

Because, the men told
detective hendrickson,

There were cabins there,
people, safety.

But the main thing

Those young men
told detective hendrickson

Was they did not shoot at
chad wallin-reed.

In fact, they assured him,
they didn't have a gun.

Did you ask them?
Did you push them on that?

- Oh, I-I pushed them.
I said, "listen.

If there was a gun, uh,
you need to tell us.

I mean, if you had a gun
and were shooting back,

You would be in your right
as defending yourself

'cause you're being shot at."

They would always say,
"no, no, there was no gun.

I guarantee you."

- Later that morning,
detectives went out

To the meadow and discovered
some fascinating evidence,

For one thing,
shards of broken glass

Which clearly marked precisely
where the car was

When chad blew out the windows.

Curious, it wasn't exactly
where chad said it was.

And something else--
rory's car must have hit a rock

During its rush
through the meadow

Just after it made the u-turn
farther out in the meadow.

- And it started, uh,
draining the oil out of the car.

- And left,
clear as a giant magic marker,

A brownish-black trail

Through the long grass
of the meadow.

Interesting.

By now, it was something like
12 hours

Since chad ran off
to chase those men.

He was exhausted.
Had been, he said,

Entirely cooperative
with the cops,

Told them everything he knew.

He was ready now to go home
to his wife, kerri,

And their three kids.

So, what happened next was
something he did not expect.

- He was arrested for
attempted murder

And also, um, assault
with a deadly weapon.

- As the 4th of July approached,

Chad wallin-reed
was booked in the local jail.

Could any outcome be worse?
Well, yes, it could

And was about to be,
for everyone.

- Coming up...

Grief and shock
as a mother finally finds out

What happened to her son.

- It's horrible.
The nurse immediately--

Her face--
she looked at me.

I knew.

- When "dateline:
Secrets uncovered" continues.

♪♪

- Here's why people
move to the high sierra,

To get away from the city,
its constant pressures,

Its regular explosions
of violent crime,

Or at least that's how it was
for plumas county

District attorney
david hollister,

Who moved to his new job
in the county seat

Of little quincy, california
after years of prosecuting

The worst
that oakland had to offer.

He came for the quiet,
the family values.

And now,
here he was fielding calls

From the local sheriff's office
about an extremely violent act,

Which the shooter himself
freely admitted to.

- We're small enough where
any type of homicide that occurs

I get called right away.

- So, how much
did you have to do

With the decision to charge him?
- Everything.

- And from what
the detectives told him,

What happened
seemed pretty clear

To d.A. Hollister.

- He chased those boys
7.6 miles,

And he shot to kill.

- And so, before Sunday,
July 3rd was half gone,

Chad wallin-reed was booked,
and strip searched,

And locked up
in the plumas county jail.

The charge?
Attempted murder.

What was that like
when they took him?

- It's very, very hard for them
to take my husband away.

- Didn't expect it?
- No.

I never envisioned
being away from my husband.

- Back in the woods
at chad's cabin,

The detectives who arrested him
prowled the property

Still decorated in
4th of July bunting,

Looking for evidence.

- The ar-15 was inside on the--
on the gunrack.

There was also a closet
inside the cabin that contained,

Uh, large amounts of ammunition
for various guns, shotguns.

- And out on the edge
of chad's property,

Out near the road,
the detectives found

That unusual
no trespassing sign.

You are entering the r.O.C.,
the sign said,

Which meant
the republic of chad.

This is a restricted area.

Only red-blooded patriotic
christian americans

Are authorized for access.

The use of deadly force
is authorized for use

On those found
in non-compliance.

The young men in the car
thought it was

Some kind of joke.
Doesn't seem that way now.

At the very same time,
still July 3rd,

The driver of the shot up car,
rory mcguire,

Was in a reno hospital.

His mother, carol starzer,
by his bedside in the icu

As he lay with
a bullet in his brain.

- It was horrible.

I didn't know what
critical condition meant,

So I really didn't know

Critical meant
probably not gonna make it.

And the nurse immediately--
her face--

She looked at me.
I knew.

- But it was weird,
said carol,

When she saw rory lying there
unconscious.

- And he actually
looked perfect.

I was very shocked.

Except for the plate that
they placed over his head

Where the bullet went in, um,

I-I just remember him
as looking like he was asleep.

- It's a sight you can't
probably get outta your head.

- Every day, I think of that.

I think of that
every single day.

- Rory's father,
carol's ex-husband,

Dave mcguire, came, too.

Tried not successfully
to hold back his soaring rage.

A soldier did this?

- I put myself
in that same scenario,

And-and if I needed to,
I would defend myself,

But once it's over,
it's my responsibility

To-to render aid.

This is not a battle zone.

This isn't some hick town
in-in california.

- Around the same time,
at the jail in quincy,

An hour and a half away,

Chad placed
a telephone call to his father.

The call, of course,
was recorded.

- But as the hours
stretched through the night

Into July 4th,

Chad began to see more
and more clearly

That he was not to blame.
Those men shot at him,

And he never set out
to hurt anyone.

- I can honestly
sit there and say

I didn't get in my vehicle.

I didn't sit there at the moment
I had the ar-15 sayin',

"I'm gonna pick this weapon,
and I'm gonna go down there,

And I'm gonna
kill these guys."

Heck no. No way.
- Yeah.

- There ain't no way.

- In fact, thought chad,
it was really he and his family

Who were the victims here.

- If they had never shot at me--
- uh-huh.

- There would be no reason
for a gun.

There would have been
no reason for me to fire,

To shoot,
to use the firearm.

You know, in my mind frame,

These people are
trying to kill me.

- Kerri visited her husband
in jail to tell him that

She was in his corner and
would always be, no matter what.

Do you wish that
he'd just kind of stopped

Along the way somewhere and
said, "oh, to hell with it,"

And just let them go
and come back?"

- No.

- 'cause you wouldn't
have this problem now.

- Yeah.
I guess, to a point,

As far as a problem being
that my husband is not at home,

But we would still be in fear

That these people
would come back to our--

To terrorize us more.
He was protecting us.

He was making sure
that we were safe.

- And then, as the long
holiday weekend wound down,

It got even worse
for all of them.

Rory mcguire died.

- He hemorrhaged a couple hours
after we got there,

And that was--
that was the end.

He was gone.

He was brain dead,
at that point.

- How do you get used to a thing
like that happening to ya?

- I still feel like
he's in the meadow,

In the car,
in the meadow.

I still feel like
I need to go help him.

- It changes life forever.
- Forever.

We'll never be the same.

- And a few hours later,
the loving husband,

Doting father,
army ranger chad wallin-reed

Was now an accused...
- Murderer.

They took me back down
to the booking area.

"you're being charged with
first degree murder."

- What did that feel like?
- I can't describe it.

When you look at
the word "murder,"

And it describes heinous,
premeditated, malicious,

Aforethought,
that's pretty, uh,

That's pretty grotesque.

- Bail was set at
a million dollar,

Money chad and his family
did not have.

But out there,
out in the wider world,

A new issue was emerging
called "stand your ground,"

And, also,
a certain attorney discovered,

There were some tiny specks
of evidence

At the crime scene
that just might set chad free.

- Coming up...

The evidence that chad's
attorney says backs him up.

- They found
the three .380 casings

That were
not from chad's gun.

- When "dateline:
Secrets uncovered" continues.

♪♪

Welcome back.
Rory mcguire was dead,

And chad wallin-reed was
now charged with his murder.

The army vet
continued to insist

He pulled the trigger
in self-defense,

And an unexpected ally
was about to

Help him make his case.

When it was time for the trial,
the defense would be

Armed with evidence they said
showed chad's accusers

Were not as innocent
as it seemed.

Here again is keith morrison
with "miles from nowhere."

- For most of two years,
often twice a week,

Kerri wallin-reed
drove back and forth

Through the high sierra

To visit her husband
in the plumas county lockup.

Not easy, any of it.
- It's horrible.

It's just the worst, um,
being without my husband,

And-and, um, the children
being without their father

Is just--
it's-it's unimaginable.

- And the children stayed home
and worried mostly.

- Sometimes I've been frightened
and cried for my dad.

And when he's sick,
I cry hard

Because I don't know
if-if he might die

From if he's sick
or if he'll be okay.

- At the very same time,
rory mcguire's mother, carol,

Cried for a son, the future,
an expectation gone forever.

What do you think
is the appropriate thing

That should happen to this man?

- Never step foot
outside of prison ever again,

Not be able to see-- have--

Not have conjugal visits
with his wife,

Not-not be able to
see his children

Go through birthdays
and marriages and--

'cause I now am cut short of
all of that with my son.

- And in little quincy,
stuck in his cell,

Chad had all the time
in the world

To think about what he did.

- There's this triple effect of,
well, if you never had a gun,

This never--
woulda never happened.

But then I--
somethin' just drives me inside

To say they were wrong.

They scared your family.

- Chad found himself
fuming about

The first degree murder charge
against him--

Felt his alleged victims
were the ones in the wrong.

- Did they deserve
to be stopped?

Absolutely.

They don't deserve the right
to do that to people.

- Fuming is possibly
all chad might have done

Except a prominent
defense attorney

Named john ohlson
heard about chad's predicament

And saw a way, he believed,
to set him free.

This sort of
stand your ground idea?

- Yeah, yeah.

- California doesn't have
a stand your ground law per se

Like some states do,

But there is a state
jury instruction that says

A person under threat
has a right

To stand his or her ground
and even pursue an assailant.

Chad wallin-reed,
said attorney ohlson,

Is just the sort of person

For whom
that defense was intended.

- He's not a gangbanger.

He doesn't have
a criminal record.

He has a-a good,
clean military record.

- Chad began looking forward to
a trial--

Turned down a deal
from the d.A.

- There's a story to be told.

There's thing that
need to come out.

I think that a trial will, um,
be a rather awakening.

- But first,
they had to choose a jury,

Which would be a fight
in pretty little quincy,

A place composed of
gun-owning country folk

And liberal
big city transplants.

- There were a lot of letters
to the editor

Of the local paper,

And I think they were
pretty evenly divided

Between people saying that

The state ought to
reimburse chad

The cost of his ammunition
and people saying, you know,

I moved up here
from the bay area

To get away from all this,
and people shouldn't have guns,

And they shouldn't shoot guns.

- When the trial began,
ohlson seemed satisfied

With the jury he got.
Could go either way but...

- My desire is to walk him
out of that courtroom.

Take him by the elbow and
lead him out of the courtroom.

Turn him over to his family.

- Here is how ohlson presented
his stand your ground defense

In his opening to the jury.

- Ohlson told the jury
his client was

A protective family man
doing what he felt

He had to do as a father

After those menacing visits
to his house.

- After this
Friday night incident,

They were afraid,
and I think it sets the tone

For his state of mind.

- He wanted to protect those
two sweet little girls.

- Yes.

- And you wanna show the jury
the sweet little girls

He wanted to protect.
- Sure.

Fair enough, huh?

- And some of the jury wept
as 12-year-old darlin

Repeated the story she told us
about the night

The men came to their property.

- And I remember
asking my dad and mom,

"what are you gonna do
if they come back,

And what would happen
if somebody got hurt?"

- What'd they say?

- They said that everything
was going to be okay

And that, um, my dad is here
to protect us.

He can protect us.

- Then kerri,
chad's devoted wife,

Took the stand determined
to protect her husband

Just as she believed
he protected her that night.

- It scared us
tr-tremendously.

- "and that's the reason
chad chased those men,"

Said kerri.
"he was no monster."

- Distraught.

No.

He was.

- The whole case, of course,
would boil down

To whether chad was fired upon
and shot back in self-defense.

Ohlson said the evidence
backed chad up.

- I think
we'll pretty well prove

That there was a gun
in the victim's car

And that they fired
at chad.

- "the young men in that car
not exactly boy scouts,"

Said ohlson.

- Well, the police asked
these people if they had guns.

- Mm-hmm.
- And they said, "no,

"we wouldn't carry guns.
We would never carry guns."

And one of 'em we have
a facebook page

Displaying a--
both a gun and a knife.

- "and they must have had a gun
that night," said ohlson,

Because on the route
of the chase,

Investigators found
three shell casings,

Casings that did not match
any of chad's guns.

- The interesting thing now
is, he said,

"they shot at me
three times,"

And they found the three
.380 casings

That were, um, together
that were not from chad's gun.

- Mm-hmm.

- Corresponding
with the three shots.

- And there was another
truly stunning clue

Collected on the night
of the shooting, said ohlson.

According to
his forensic expert,

There was gun residue
inside the young men's car

And even on
some of their hands.

- Somebody shot
out of that car.

- Because?

- Because of the gunshot
residue in the car,

The lack of bullet strikes
on that side of the car,

And the gunshot residue
on the hand

Of the person who was riding
shotgun, if you will.

- And why did chad
keep shooting at the car

After it made a u-turn?

"very good reason,"
said his attorney.

- If they turn around

And were coming back
out of there,

Those two cars would be
on the same track

With the car
coming right at him,

And he's been fired on
already coming back on--

Back towards him.

He thinks they're firing
on him, again.

- Chad declined to take
the stand in his own defense,

So the jury
didn't get to hear him say

He did the right thing.

He did what he had to do
when he squeezed the trigger.

Is it possible
you were wrong, though?

- No.

- So, a case
for self-defense

Any jury
would have to take seriously,

And thus prosecutor
david hollister's

Big challenge.

Time to bring out
a little ammunition,

A literal trail of evidence
through the grass,

A sticky,
brownish-black mess

That told
a fascinating story.

- Rory's best friend
comes face-to-face

With the man who shot him.

- When I looked at him,
my heart kinda jumped.

- When "dateline:
Secrets uncovered" continues.

♪♪

- The old
plumas county courthouse,

Solid and lovely
in the autumn sun,

Has pride of place here
on main street

In quincy, california.

Inside, up on the top floor,
is an overworked d.A.'s office,

All too accustomed to
the limited funding abilities

Of a small county,

A fact of life
david hollister had to consider

Very carefully as he prepared
to prosecute chad wallin-reed

For first degree murder.

- We better do this case right,
and we'd better do it once

Because that's about, uh,
our-our only shot at it.

- Trouble was...

- This was a difficult case,
uh, from the start.

- The defendant, after all,
was not just a family man,

The father of these
three adorable children.

He was, as he told
the detectives, ex-military,

Once an army ranger.

You don't get to be
one of those

Without good judgment
and real character.

And on top of that,
there was that wild card jury,

People who needed
to be persuaded

That chad showed
bad judgment

And very poor character.

- Ladies and gentlemen
of the jury,

The evidence is gonna show

The defendant was not
in imminent danger

When he fired those shots.

He was angry,

And he was mad that they were
trying to get away.

- To set the scene,
so to speak,

Prosecutor hollister
showed the jury the video

Shot by that
reality show cameraman

Now part of
the public record.

- I'll cover this guy here.
- This was graphic stuff.

Right there, in living color,
the bloodied bodies

Of injured and apparently
terrified young men.

The officers trying to attend
to their medical needs.

- Breathe through your nose.

- How important
was that video?

- It gave the jury
a true understanding

Of the horror that happened
that night.

I mean, you've got lewis smyth
with, uh, his leg propped up

And the tourniquet there,

And you've got
rory mcguire in the backseat

With-with a horrible
head injury.

I mean, that's something
I can't capture in words.

- Lewis smyth, the young man
you met earlier,

Was a key witness
for the state.

Remember, that bullet
from chad's ar-15

Shredded lewis' leg.

He was frankly
lucky to keep the leg

And survive the night.

Did you see the defendant

Sitting over there
in the courtroom?

- I only looked at him
once or twice.

My heart kinda jumped,
and I knew it was him.

- Lewis had been
a nervous wreck

Since all this happened
he told us,

And in court
he was no less nervous

As he told the jury

About seeing
the green lasered gunsight,

About the flurries of shots
fired by the defendant,

About the young men's efforts
to end the car chase.

- First of all, they fled.

They drove as fast
as they could.

They threw out
the solar lights.

They held a white t-shirt
out the window.

If you wanna look
at a textbook definition

For doing everything you can
in your power to withdraw,

To say, "no more,
we're done," they did it.

- "but yet,"
said the prosecutor,

"chad kept right on shooting."

- He told the detectives,
"you know, I-I think

"that might have been
a white flag."

I don't think there's
any question those kids

Did everything they could
to give up.

- But here's the thing.

If the young men
fired at chad first,

As the defense went to
a lot of trouble to prove,

Then maybe chad's reaction
was reasonable.

But did they fire a gun?
Did they even have one?

Remember those three
non-chad shell casings

Found on the road

That the defense made
such a big fuss about?

"couldn't have been
from the young men,"

Said the prosecutor.
And how did he know?

Simple law of speed
versus gravity.

- You're telling me--

These kids are fleeing
at 50 miles an hour.

You're telling me
that they fired three shots.

The casings are a foot
and a half apart.

At 50 miles an hour,
that's outrageous.

That's crazy.

- But remember, the defense
forensic expert was clear

There was gunshot residue
in the young men's car

And on some of their hands

Proving they must have
fired a gun, must have,

To which david hollister
replied, "nonsense."

That defense expert
must not have been privy

To all the evidence.

- The gunshot residue
really wasn't gunshot residue.

Uh, it was elements that could
make up gunshot residue.

Any time a car is hit with
that many high velocity rounds

From-from an ar-15,

You're gonna expect
to see lead.

- Ahh, yes,
but expert versus expert?

Matter of opinion?
How would a jury know?

What the state needed,
was something that would prove

Beyond a reasonable doubt
that chad was lying

About what happened
out there in the night.

And seemed like maybe
they had just exactly that.

Remember chad's insistence

That the car
came straight at him

Through the meadow,
as if for a final showdown?

And it looked like they were
coming straight at you.

- Yeah. I mean, yeah.
- Like an--

Lookin' like an assault.
- Right.

- Looked like
they were attacking you.

- Right.
It was just... My...

My frame of mind
was that these people

Were coming back
to shoot at me.

I had swerved my vehicle
out of the way of their vehicle.

I mean, they were
coming straight back at me.

We were nose-to-nose.

- But, as the prosecutor
told the jury,

Evidence found in the meadow
told a very different story.

The detectives
took us there to show us.

Remember how
the young men's car hit a rock,

Cracked open the oil pan?

The dripping oil
left a distinctive trail.

- And then we could see
the oil

That had been laid down
by rory mcguire's car.

- Using that trial of oil,

The prosecutor
had an animation created,

Which showed the car was not
heading toward chad's truck

But instead
was heading around it,

Away from chad.

- And where
detective hendrickson
is standing,

Is about where they
traveled past,

And then he started shooting
at their car.

- How do they know
where the car was

When it was hit?

By the shattered glass
of its window,

Some of it still here
marking the spot,

And the glass told the story,
too, they said,

About the true intentions
of chad wallin-reed.

- His shot placement
was very, very well-placed.

It was head height,

Shooting at the windows
of the vehicle.

One went low into
the rear passenger door,

Which then went into
justin smyth's leg,

But most of
the shot placement

Was all high,
head height.

- "in other words, chad wasn't
shooting to disable the car,"

Said the prosecutor.

"the evidence suggested

"he was shooting
to kill the occupants,

"even as they were
trying to get away."

- Was the defendant
in imminent fear

Of death
or great bodily injury,

So that he immediately
had to use deadly force?

Unequivocally,
the answer is no.

- So, what attitude, uh,
in your mind, did he have

When the-- when he took out
after those kids?

- The last words he said
before he got in the truck

Was, "I'm gonna go get
those sons of bitches."

And I think he meant it.

- The prosecutor
felt confident.

But in a town divided
over guns and self-protection,

Who could be sure
what the jury would decide?

This is exactly the kinda case
that leads to hung juries.

- Absolutely. Absolutely,
and that's a fear.

- In that case,
chad could walk

Since little quincy couldn't
afford to try him again.

And then just as the trial
came to its end,

A long sought
bit of information

Finally landed
in d.A. Hollister's mailbox.

Oh, my...

- I was shocked.

I don't think there's
any other way to put it.

- Coming up,
the twist no one saw coming.

- It was very clear
the defendant had lied

About something
you just don't lie about.

- When "dateline:
Secrets uncovered" continues.

- It's not often that a gift
drops in a person's lap,

Manna from heaven,
exactly when it's most needed,

Which, in this case,

Just as the trial
was wrapping up,

Was a carefully sealed
official looking package

Addressed to plumas county
d.A. David hollister.

- Candidly, I give credit
to the detectives.

- He'd asked them
to track down

Chad wallin-reed's
military records,

Just to confirm
his background.

- It was something
that we simply felt like

We had to follow through on.

- Remember, throughout
chad's interview with police,

He talked again and again
about his army career.

- Implying that what he did
in that meadow

He had first done
under enemy fire overseas.

- Maybe even that he'd been
having some sort of flashback.

- It took nine months,

Many of them ensnarled
in military red tape,

But now
here were the records,

And what they revealed
was nothing short of shocking.

In here was conformation that
chad was in the army all right,

But that's about
all that was true.

- He was not a ranger.

He had not fulfilled
his commitment.

He had not served overseas.

He had not been
in combat overseas.

He had not killed people
on the other side of the world.

He had not done
any of those things.

- In fact, the army
asked chad to leave.

Discharged him for
forging sick leave papers

And bringing a personal firearm
into the barracks.

And this was perhaps
the worst--

For wearing a combat infantry
badge and a ranger tab

And other such badges,
when all of those things,

Which the jury
had been made to believe

About chad's military service

Based on his own statements
to police,

Were all lies.

- It was very clear
the defendant had lied

About something
you just don't lie about.

- Sure. And if he's gonna
lie about that...

- Absolutely.

His talk about,
"I only fired three shots,

I used the pistol,"
all these other lies added up.

- "the liar," said hollister,
"who shot those young men

"out of anger,
pure and simple."

- You don't get to chase
a person down and kill 'em.

That's not self-defense.

- But defense attorneys stuck
to the heart of their case.

"it was,"
said john ohlson's partner

In his closing argument,

"a clear case
of self-defense."

- He was placed in reasonable
fear of imminent danger

Or death by the actions
of the occupants

Of the mcguire vehicle

On the road
when they were shooting at him

And then when they turned
in the meadow

And came back at him.

- Self-defense or murder?

To wait
for a jury's decision,

Is a kind of agony
for both sides.

Rory mcguire's dad
still struggling

With an inexpressible anger.

- The justice system
can't give him

What I feel he has coming.
And...

No amount of jail time
will-will fix it.

- Those sweet, sad,
innocent little kids...

- I like that
he is always funny

And, um, uh,
he's always loving.

He protects us a lot and--
- okay.

And you miss him.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

That part is pretty obvious.

Before the jury even got
the case, chad's wife, kerri,

Told us she already knew
what the outcome would be.

I mean, in your
heart of hearts,

Do you think the jury
will say, "not guilty?"

- I know that
the lord has told me

That chad will be home.

- But then any other thought?

- Can I imagine him
being away from us for-- no.

No. It hurts.

It-- that-that-that thought,
those words, hurt my heart.

- Surprising then when
kerri heard what chad told us

When we interviewed him
before the trial.

What do you think?

Are you going to be,
uh, acquitted?

- No.
- No?

- I'll end up spending
the rest of my life in prison.

- You believe that?
- Absolutely.

- Why?
- I think that, uh...

[sighs]
I don't--

My faith
in the legal system

Has seriously been shaken.

I think the majority
of the people

Have a negative opinion
about me.

- Of course, no one could know
the way the jury would go,

Especially in a town
divided like quincy.

- You're holding your breath
the whole time,

Whether it's your-your
first trial or your 50th.

- They didn't have to
hold their breath very long,

Less than a day.

- We, the jury,
in the above entitled cause,

Find the defendant,

Gregory chad wallin-reed,
guilty of a felony

To whit murder first degree
of rory mcguire.

- Guilty
of first degree murder.

Out of the cameras reach
in the gallery,

Rory's mom began sobbing,

Two years
of pent up heartbreak.

- I knew we couldn't fix
what had happened,

But maybe we give her
just a little sense of justice.

- I'll never have a friend
like that again

Or somebody I considered
a brother.

- That's a sweet picture.

- Lewis told us
it's his duty now

To keep rory's memory alive
for himself and for carol,

Who is in his life now
for good.

- This might be the last.
Yeah.

- I love carol, and I-I think
she-she loves me back.

There's always a place
for me in her home,

And we can't stop
talkin' about him.

She's happy that I was
a front row seat

To rory's life,

And I'm able
to tell her about it.

- At his sentencing hearing,
chad addressed rory's family.

- We had already asked kerri
what she would do

Without her chad,
if she had to,

And now his sentence,
84 years to life.

You know, I mean, there are,
god knows, countless families

Of people who are in prison
who wait, and wait, and wait,

And then, it's,
oh, I can't wait anymore,

And they have to go on
with their lives,

And they kinda make
a new plan.

Would you ever think
about doing that?

- No.
- Not a chance.

- No.

- Why is it
so important to you?

- 'cause he's my husband.

He's my soulmate,
the love of my life.

- Their little cabin,

That piece of paradise,
was sold to pay legal bills.

- We have fond memories.

We do.

And now, there's-there's
no good memories to be had,

But we can hold onto
the ones that we have.

- And 7.6 miles away,

Out there in the mountains,
snow blanketed the meadow,

Hiding the only remnants
of what happened,

A few shards of glass,

And a little rock
to mark the spot

Where a young man with
so much potential was wasted.

- Part of me
feels that rory is fine.

- Why do you say,
"rory is fine?"

- He's not in the meadow,

And he's not
in that hospital bed,

And he's not on that road

Trying to get away
from the shooter.

He's not afraid anymore.

So, he's-he's fine.

- That's all
for this edition

Of "dateline:
Secrets uncovered."

I'm kate snow.
Thank you for watching.