Aftermath with William Shatner

In this episode of Aftermath, William Shatner sits down with Bernard Goetz, known to many as the Subway Vigilante. After years of silence on the subject, Goetz now talks openly of the day in 1984 when he shot four African American teenagers on the New York City subway -- but with a bizarre emphasis on the mechanics of how he was able to fire off five shots at four people in such a short burst of time. Hero or criminal? Victim or perpetrator? Goetz wonders whether he would have lived a normal life of marriage and family if fate and notoriety hadn't intervened.

In this episode of Aftermath, William Shatner sits down with Jessica Lynch, ambushed in Iraq before becoming the first US POW to be successfully rescued since World War II. While recovering from her injuries, Jessica learns that the military PR machine has spun her into a Rambo-like character, glorified her as a hero and embellished her actions. Unable to lie, Jessica decides to set the record straight, even in the face of the harshest criticism.

Ed Smart lived every parent's worst nightmare--the abduction of a child. But when Smart's 14-year-old daughter Elizabeth was kidnapped at knifepoint in 2002, the nightmare turned even more horrible when suspicion fell on Smart and his family themselves. Smart talks with William Shatner about the kidnapping, and the many bizarre twists and turns that the case took until Smart seized control and took over the investigation.

When 18-month-old "Baby Jessica" fell down an abandoned well in 1987, the world was riveted by the efforts of the rescue team that included fireman Robert O'Donnell. But the overwhelming media attention left O'Donnell feeling hollowed-out and betrayed, and his life spiraled downward. In an emotionally-charged interview, O'Donnell's former wife and son tell William Shatner about the man they loved and then lost.

When defense expert Daniel Ellsberg worked on a secret government study in 1969 about the Vietnam War, he realized that American leaders were lying to the public--they knew it was not a winnable war. Ellsberg decided to secretly copy the study and give it the nation's top newspapers. The "Pentagon Papers" became a national scandal. Ellsberg talks to William Shatner about his reasons for breaching top-secret confidentialities, and the remarkable aftermath of the groundbreaking media and legal battles over the "Pentagon Papers.