A terror case involving a man from Morganton will be profiled in a major ABC News investigation that airs Friday on Channel 9.
ABC News correspondent Diane Sawyer spent one year investigating how ISIS targets vulnerable, young Americans online and recruits them to join the terror group.
Sawyer looks at three cases, including Justin Sullivan’s.
Channel 9's coverage on Justin Sullivan case:
- Morganton teen accused of planning attacks to support ISIS, DOJ says
- 911 CALL: Justin Sullivan's father called 2 months before arrest
- Teen accused of supporting ISIS, killing neighbor faces death penalty
- Morganton teen talked with Syria-based ISIS member, indictment says
- Judge says Morganton man tied to ISIS is 'cold, calculated, cowardly'
- Channel 9 speaks to Justin Sullivan's attorney about mindset, ISIS relationship
Sullivan, who was 19 years old when he was first arrested in 2015, pleaded guilty in November 2016 to one count of attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries.
Sullivan, the son of a retired Marine captain, grew up in a Catholic home with trophies and friends. But in high school, administrators reported to the parents that Sullivan had violent fantasies in his writing and suspended him. They said he needed serious help.
His parents had no idea their son had reached out to ISIS recruiters on his computer. In less than 24 hours, a top captain of ISIS, 6,184 miles away, responded to Sullivan, according to ABC News.
According to the ABC News report, ISIS recruiters welcomed Sullivan as a brother and promised him that he could marry up to four women and told him if he took violent action, he would be made into a hero.
Sullivan was arrested after his father called 911 when he discovered a package containing a gun silencer was sent to the home.
During the investigation, Sullivan told the FBI he was a converted Muslim and wanted to kill 1,000 people by using cyanide-laced bullets and vehicles filled with bombs. Sullivan wanted to get an AR-15 from a gun show in Hickory to kill a large number of U.S. citizens, according to court documents.
He was sentenced to life in prison in July 2017.
[READ: Department of Justice on Justin Sullivan sentencing]
Sullivan is also accused of murdering his 74-year-old neighbor John Clark, who was found in a shallow grave next to his home after being shot three times in the head in December 2014.
The district attorney plans to seek the death penalty in that case.
Sawyer’s investigation includes an exclusive interview with Sullivan and other teenager American recruits, their parents and even former ISIS members. Her investigation airs at 10 p.m. Friday on 20/20, followed by Eyewitness News at 11 p.m.