CLEVELAND CO., NC -- Mary McSwain has never forgotten that it was her turn to walk her little sister to school on a July morning in 1966. Instead it was her older sister, Brenda Sue Brown who walked out only to be dragged away, stripped and killed.

Now, 43 years later, a judge will decide if there's enough evidence to try 80-year-old Thurman Price for her murder.

The decision may hinge on the testimony of a stranger. Lori Lail told the judge she hadn't heard the name Brenda Sue Brown until eight years ago when her dying grandfather told her he had something to confess.

“His exact words were, ‘Sis, I've done some bad things in my life,’” Lail said.

Lail retold in chilling detail what she said her grandfather told her, that after a night of drinking, he and Price, the friend he called "Soupy," had grabbed a little girl and pulled her off into the woods.

She said he admitted to try and undress the girl, hold her down, but that she fought him, kicked, and screamed.

The little girl's grown sisters fought back tears as the listened to Lail describe how her grandfather held the Brenda Sue's feet while Soupy crushed her skull with a rock.

Lail testified that Soupy said he had to kill her because otherwise, “they would go away and do real time this time.”

Price showed no emotion as Lail told her story. But his attorney wasted no time in raising serious questions about it.

David Teddy pointed out that Lail has changed her story several times and that it took her four years after her grandfather's confession to tell anyone what she'd heard.