Friday October 8, 1999 From the Channel 4 newsroom, here's the transcript of today's top story...

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It's a story that has both torn this community apart and brought it together... the murder of 8-year old Maddie Clifton.

CBS' 48 Hours examines the crime.. one of the most shocking in recent Jacksonville history. In addition to exclusive interviews.... there is never before seen home video of Maddie and her sister Jessica... video shot by Joshua Phillips.

Virtually every parent shudders when they remember last November, when Maddie Clifton vanishe from her southside neighborhood. The eight-year-old went outside to play and never came back. Her disappearance mobilized a city-wide search before the community faced its second nightmare, almost as impossible as the first.

Seven days into the probe, a startling discovery was made right across the street. Neighbor Missy Phillips smelled something foul emanating from her 14-year-old son Josh s room and found his secret: the horribly decomposed body of Maddie Clifton was under his waterbed. Police were dispatched to the Phillips home and to Josh s school, where the boy was arrested and taken into custody.

Josh, a friend and playmate who had even joined in the search for Maddie, confessed to the crime. He told police he feared his father s wrath for disobeying the family rules of not having friends over when his parents were away. While playing baseball with Maddie in his yard, he claimed he accidently hit her in the head and she started screaming.

To quiet Maddie, Josh says hit her in the head and repeatedly stabbed her to death to silence her forever.

The news crushed both families and the entire community, but no one was more desperate to understand this tragedy than Steve and Missy Phillips. A child psychologist hired by the defense who interviewed Josh, corroborates the teenager's anxiety. Then in an exclusive interview with 48 Hours, Josh tells correspondent Van Sant that he cannot explain how the crime happened, but is deeply sorry.

Eight months after the murder, Josh faces a jury who will determine his fate. If convicted of second-degree murder, the teen-ager could get out of prison as a young man, but if found guilty of first-degree murder, he will face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. His fate hangs in the balance as he awaits trial. Then, after the trial, shocking new evidence surfaces that may have helped to explain how and why it happened.