Keith Morrison

So he picked up the phone and made his pitch to lead detective Richard Longshore.

He wanted in.

With Longshore's blessing, Jeffra dug in.

His theory?

That investigators had zeroed in on the wrong man.

It was a sunny winter day when I met Jeffra at the park and ride.

We walked the hillside, where it looked like Michelle's killer might have escaped, and we stopped in front of a sturdy cross that marked the spot where Michelle's blue Mustang was found.

Jeffra reached out, touched the cross, and felt as if she was speaking to him.

And on her behalf, he got busy.

Looked at the physical evidence, of course, and read the police reports with his detective's eye for details.

Might tell a different story than the one he'd heard from Longshore.

But mostly, he wanted to hear from Ray Jennings himself.

Not in person, didn't need to do that.

No, he had all those videotaped interviews.

Ray Jennings, own words to Longshore, and civil attorney Rex Parris.

Jaffer wasn't any good at computer gadgets, but he did have a dusty old VHS cassette player.

No, I did not.

Jeffra listened, and he watched every minute of the dozens of hours of videotaped interviews with Jennings.

And as he did, his mind began to do a U-turn.

So...