DID A MINISTER'S SON MURDER HIS FATHER, STEP MOTHER AND
YOUNG STEP SISTERS SO HE COULD ATTEND HIS PROM?
Will a Jury Find Jeff Pelley, a Minister's Son, Guilty 17 Years After the Horrific Crime Occurred?
Jim Avila Reports on ABC News' "20/20," Friday, June 8
Plus: Tina Brown on Her Highly Anticipated Book, The Diana Chronicles
And: Brian Ross Reports on the Controversy Surrounding the Doctor Behind the Heimlich Maneuver
Could a minister's son have murdered his father, step mother and two young step sisters just so he could attend his prom and after-prom party? Seventeen years after a horrific murder spree that took four innocent lives in a small Indiana town, the fate of Jeff Pelley was in the hands of a jury. Pelley, who was often in trouble with his father, was charged with murdering his family members on prom night in 1989, when he was a high school senior. Without much physical evidence, it took prosecutors almost two decades to finally try a case against the minister's son. ABC News Senior Law and Justice Correspondent Jim Avila reports on a night of murder and a community determined never to forget the minister, his wife and two daughters. Avila speaks to the Pelley's prom date, Darla, the surviving sisters, members of the jury, the defense attorney and the prosecutor. The report airs on "20/20," FRIDAY, JUNE 8 (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network.
Plus: Tina Brown, the renowned former magazine editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, talks to ABC News Contributing Correspondent Chris Connelly about her highly anticipated book, The Diana Chronicles. Brown claims her book releases new insights and information about Princess Diana's private life and loves, from the night before she was to marry Prince Charles to an analysis of the final hours of Diana's life � a complete picture of the tragic, beloved Princess of Wales. "I felt that Diana had been obscured by all the stuff about her rather than illuminated," she tells Connelly. Connelly also speaks with Diana's close friend, James Colthurst, Diana's royal protection officer, Ken Wharfe, royal photographer Arthur Edwards, as well as Mary Robertson, the woman Diana nannied for when she started dating Prince Charles.
And: ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross reports on the controversy surrounding the doctor behind the Heimlich maneuver. Even at the age of 87, Dr. Henry Heimlich continues to be praised as the man who invented the simple, effective technique to save choking victims. But amidst all the honors and fame, Dr. Heimlich, in the last few years, has become the subject of a series of anonymous and surprisingly hostile attacks on his integrity and reputation as a medical savior. As Ross reports, his son, Peter Heimlich, was found to be the man behind the vicious campaign, obsessed with investigating and denouncing his father. He says his father is behind some very serious public health issues, including Dr. Heimlich's efforts to expand the use of the Heimlich maneuver beyond choking victims as a potential treatment for asthma and cystic fibrosis, and to use it as the first response on near-drowning victims. Peter is also concerned about Dr. Heimlich's other widely disparaged theory, that patients with AIDS could be cured if they were exposed to malaria.
In his first ever television interview, Peter tells ABC News: "� I wasn't going to stand by while my dad put other people at risk� And what I found was that, for the last 30 years, my father had devoted himself to promoting a whole series of discredited, experimental dubious medical theories, which every medical expert says are either useless, dangerous or crack-pot."
Ross also speaks to Dr. Heimlich's son Phil and daughter Jan, who are standing by their father.
"20/20" is anchored by Elizabeth Vargas and John Stossel. David Sloan is the executive producer.
|