![]() ![]() his step-daughter, amanda, was certain he'd be found guilty as well. ![]() > reporter: brother richard, owner of the van, the one who bought the cigarettes and placed himself at the store, went on trial a few weeks later. > how do you find the defendant on count one kidnapping in the first degree? > guilty. it took just four hours to render a verdict. > reporter: but they were statements a jury apparently believed. they said gary kind of boasted about they were looking for me, but they'll never find her. > the only thing they really had to contend with were the two guys from massachusetts. he figured they must have beenĪngling for favors from the prosecution. and the jailhouse snitches who got him indicted were flat-out lying. > reporter: gary testified that he was home asleep that morning. > there was no indication that gary had ever been near the d&w that morning. he says the case was forensically and circumstantially light. ![]() joe fahey, now a retired judge, was gary's defense attorney. and in the summer of 1995, the first of the two, gary, went on trial. two separate juries to decide their fates. > reporter: there would be two separate trials for the brothers. > reporter: it's about abduct this young, cute girl, huh? > appears to me. they stopped in there to get the cigarettes, and that was the opportunity. > reporter: what's the motive, sheriff? what's the theory that goes with them in their van and being at the convenience store? > do you know what the motive is? opportunity. > reporter: both brothers were arrested and charged with kidnapping in the first degree. I don't know how many, but they just came shooting right in and stopped quickly. > and police cars came pulling into my driveway. > reporter: this is richard thibodeau's step-daughter, amanda. > i was waiting for my school bus to come. the two brothers, drugs, an abduction and murder. and with that jailhouse confession, investigators now believed they had their case. that he and heidi used drugs together and that she feared gary was going to screw her over in a drug deal. > reporter: brother gary is eventually said to have told two prisoners about his involvement in the crime. > reporter: he gives it up, though? > he gives it up. he says, yeah, i killed this girl from oswego. > him and gary are sitting in there shooting the breeze, and they get talking about something like all of them do. > reporter: in the county jail, thibodeau struck up a conversation with a fellow prisoner. > they extradited him to massachusetts, which was an odd thing on a drug charge. ![]() he had an outstanding warrant on a minor drug charge in neighboring massachusetts. the brother said he was home asleep that morning and his girlfriend vouched for him.īut gary thibodeau didn't have a spotless record. > reporter: the witness reported seeing more than one man, so investigators also brought in richard's brother, gary, for questioning. but he did say in the end that van, the thibodeau van, that was the van. the reason? thibodeau's was the last transaction recorded on the register that morning and richard thibodeau also drove a white van, one that seemed to match a vehicle described by a witness at the scene. > reporter: investigators, it turned out, were suspicious of him from the get-go. did the cops on the phone start to ask you questions? > they sent someone over to the house and asked me a bunch of questions. and it concerned a guy who had bought cigarettes from heidi that morning, richard thibodeau. > reporter: but the sheriff's department was pursuing a promising lead. > she's the 18-year-old girl that had her life taken from her. Weeks of fruitless searching, presumed murdered. ![]()
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