can't say that. i honestly feel like he lost himself as a human he's a shell. he has no moral he's completely off. he's not a person anymore. he's not a human being >> anything you want to say to him if he's watching this? >> i just want to ask why. why? what was he thinking? did he not think this would affect me and jeanette? i mean, i want to know why he thought it was okay for him to do this. i feel like money and power is what got to him. >> and he cared more about money and power than he did about -- >> his own family. ♪ ♪ ♪ that's all for this edition of dateline thank you for watching dateline thank you for watching dateline thank you for watchin hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline." hello, i'm craig melvin. and this is dateline!

>> i called my mom and she didn't answer. i pretty much knew in my heart that something was wrong. >> a mother vanished. >> i cried myself to sleep. it was awful realizing your worst nightmare had come true. >> a family anguished. >> she's gone. do you have any idea how hard that was? >> now, the questions begin in a southern gothic mystery. >> the case is puzzling. we did not really know what had happened. >> who would everett manage and you would have a murder in the family. >> soon there would be secrets. >> we were dealing with a person that was leading a double life. >> and one of them, would prove deadly. >> have you ever said, i know you did this? >> it hurts too much for me to say it out loud. ♪ ♪ ♪

>> hello. and welcome to dateline. it's a case that centers on the mother who had gone missing in a small town secret, that led to a very big surprise. here's keith morrison. >> suppose for a minute you are sitting in your car. smacked up in the middle of tuscaloosa alabama. and you pointed southwest down highway 69 and kept a sharp eye sharp eye out after half an hour or so. you would roll into a sweet little place called moundville. one stop play, one main street, one general store. been around for a long time has moundville. but it's a sad truth as the sheriff says, even here, where everybody used to know everybody. >> it's not that way anymore. so many different people moving in from around the world. trying to escape the crowds.

well, escape the crowd or running from something. yes. >> where have you gone? mayberry has up and left us. sheriff ken ellis fights real crime these days. >> the crime you see here you will see in any city, just a smaller version. >> still moundville is moundville in neighbors tend to know more about each other's business, then they might up in tuscaloosa, for example. which can be a bit of a nuisance as you are about to see if you need to keep a secret. especially, for example, if your secret is about murder. to begin with, this thoughtful young woman was just a girl of 17 back in 2007 when things started coming apart. in a way things do when parents don't talk about it. kelsey mayfield saw that troubled look at her mom's eyes mostly. her mom teresa. >> i could tell she was very stressed.

>> ever clear what it was she was stressed about? >> money would be the main thing. she wanted to be sure she had enough money to take care of her family. >> a lot of that going around of course, moundville no exception. like so many americans, kelsey's dad scott had to work two jobs, just to keep his head above water. >> a very hardworking man. it took two jobs to take care of our family. >> but money trouble is side, to resist seem to have a happy life is anybody could see, including trees as mother reba. >> i'll teresa ever wanted was to have a husband that cared for her. somebody she cared for and to have a family. >> and it was cui, kind of corny, and even after kelsey's two little brothers arrived, she could see the signs of her parents affection for each other. >> every night before he got ready to go to work he would give her a kiss on the cheek and say goodnight, and i love you. >> to the town to recent was the softball mom, the trunk of

her car always a muddle of bats and balls. she shuttling kids back and forth. >> i remember there was a time where, i had a softball game and they had a baseball game all at the same time. she would stay 30 minutes at their games in 30 minutes and my game. >> just watching the clock and making sure. >> she was just an amazing mother. there was nothing she would not do for myself or my two brothers. >> then there was that sweltering morning, june 2007, teresa drove off to run errands it did not come back. kelsey was babysitting the boys then eight and 11. hours ticked by. she called her mom. where are you? and she did not answer. >> then i called her back around lunch. and she did not answer. i called her pretty much all day long. >> her dad was at work, her mom was who knew where. just was not like her to do this. is she the sort of person who would take herself on with her?

>> yes. it was attached to her. up. >> you could always easily get a hold of her? and you couldn't? >> no. >> by nightfall still no word, kelsey was in a panic, she called her dad who had now gone from his day job to the night shift at a local factory. >> i'm sure you told your dad you are worried. >> we kept in touch during the day to see if one of us had talked to her. >> did he seem to be? worried? >> he did. and we can never get in touch with her. >> at midnight, it was clear, something was terribly wrong. scott left work to file a missing persons report with the moundville. and then they all waited. was it like for you that night? >> it was awful. i was very scared when she did not come home. and i pretty much knew in my heart that something was wrong. >> the next morning said kelsey, she woke up in a house that no longer felt like home. she called her grandmother reba, at her home in pratt bill, a town two hours away. >> she said is mama down there

at your house? >> i said no, she's not. and she said mama did not come home last night. >> so what was going on in here? >> i'm just turning upside down. you know, i'm just tied in a knot. >> reboot called teresa's younger sister ashley at her office, at the local circuit court. >> mama called me and said trees is missing. i said let me make some phone calls. >> right away, actually called the sheriff of her town in he called sheriff ellis. >> to see if they knew anything. his response to me was it's bad. it's bad. >> it certainly was. they had found to resist truck on a dirt road less than a mile from home. she was slumped behind the wheel and she was dead. in this much was perfectly clear. it was not an accident.

coming up. the investigation begins. >> we had to ask ourselves, who would get to herd this location and why was she murdered? >> when dateline continues. before you decide... with the freestyle libre 3 system... know your glucose and where it's headed. no fingersticks needed. now the world's smallest and thinnest sensor... sends your glucose levels directly to your smartphone. manage your diabetes with more confidence, and lower your a1c. the number one cgm prescribed in the us. try it for free at freestylelibre.us. ♪♪

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miralax works naturally with the water in your body to help you go... ...free your gut. and your mood will follow. for 8 grams of fiber, try new mirafiber gummies. why give your family just any eggs when they can enjoy the best? eggland's best. the only eggs with more fresh and delicious taste. plus, superior nutrition. which is now more important than ever. only eggland's best. it was a lovers lane. keith morrison: (voiceover) it was a lover's lane, a quiet, dusty, dead end road miles from main street, moundville.

a quiet, dusty, dead end road miles from mean streak moundville. a spot so uncommon lee traversed, a car with engine running tail lights blazingly, into the night, could go unnoticed. it was here, they found teresa mayfield struck, body inside, gunshot wound to the head. teresa's younger sister broke the terrible news to their mother. >> when i went to the house, mama was sitting in the recliner. i knelt down on my knees and i grabbed her and i said mama, she's gone. she's gone. >> do you have any idea how hard that was? >> trees is daughter, kelsey, had spent a sleepless night waiting in vain for her mother to come home.

>> how did you find? out >> my dad came and told my brothers and i. it was just awful, realizing that your worst nightmare had come true. >> for a brief second, i thought she had committed suicide, just because i knew how stressed out she was. but then i also knew how much she loved her family. >> everybody who knew teresa knew that. even sheriff ken ellis, who drove out to the crime scene, if that's what it was. corporal mark boyd alabama bureau of investigation, met him there. this case was kind of personal for you, sheriff. yes. my daughter and miss teresa

ensconced daughter played softball together. >> so you would see teresa out at the ballpark. >> every game. it felt like part of my family was gone to. >> they had a look around the truck. no sign of a struggle. dusting revealed no viable fingerprints. there were no footprints, not even a lose hair. puzzling. was there any thought, once you saw this scene, that this was a suicide? >> there was things missing that prevented the suicide theory. >> like? what? >> if you're gonna commit suicide with a gun, it's usually at the scene. >> it was clear, teresa had been murdered. shot with a gun which was now missing. in what was more, herself phone, the one that was always attached to her hip, was nowhere to be found. did it look like it could've been a robbery? >> the wallet was not taken. the purse was on the console.

but the contents of the purse had been dumped out in her lap. a clumsy attempt at staging, you might say? >> yes. >> but there was one important clue, the killer left behind. >> we noticed that the owned a window down was the driver's window. so we figured that she had to have known the person, because she had let her window down. we had to ask ourselves, who could get her to this location and why was she murdered? >> someone in moundville had to know, something. from there the investigation went where? >> investigating her inner circle, trying to find a motive. >> usually, so i'm told, in cases like this the husband has got to be the person of interest. >> yes. >> so as the family gathered to mourn the loss of their beloved teresa, scott could not be with them. he was down at the sheriff's office answering questions. >> he came willingly, no? issue >> did he ask for an attorney or anything? >> no he did. not >> corpulent boyd chatted with scott for three long hours. and during the whole time he was cooperative and helpful. >> you know, the standard questions that we would ask is, is anyone having an affair. are you having an affair. no. we she having an affair? no. >> good happy marriage, happy marriage christian marriage? right.

>> i asked them to they? argues scott said. no >> sky answered all their questions about what's reused was supposed to be doing that morning. he told them he phoned her, a wake up call, then about two hours later she called him. but the call faded out he could not hear a thing. >> scott said that it sounded like she was on the road. >> he thought nothing of it, then he said. but now, was it a distress call? no way to know. but there was one thing that calls certainly cleared up for investigators. scott could not have killed teresa. he was something like 30 miles away, up near tuscaloosa, had a breast first receipt to prove. it he had stopped at a hearties and had a receipt showing he was there. >> so scott rejoined his

family. caught up in the terrible business of grieving. >> i kept wondering, why was this happening to our family. it was awful. >> who would ever imagine you would have a murder in your family? >> investigators tried with the help of friends to fill in the gaps of tourist as last hours. they talked to scott interest's friend on lavender. she had plans to go shopping with juries the morning of the murder. >> i'm sure don was shocked and upset by what had happened. >> she did cry during the interview. she was at her house waiting on teresa to come pick her up because she was going to ride with her. she finally had the chance to talk to history around seven. and after that call, nothing. >> don told the investigator she phoned over and over, each time the phone went to a recording. just to be sure of all this, they pulled teresa cell phone records and began plotting out a timeline of her whereabouts. but the picture, the records painted, was not quite what they expected. that morning called to scott, the one he could not hear, teresa did not call from moundville. cell >> tower shows that it's pinging from up in tuscaloosa. >> wait a minute. how could it be pinging from tuscaloosa. that's miles and miles away. >> right.

there is no way she could have made the call and been back to the location where she was murdered at. >> so courtesy of the cell towers, you are able to show that teresa could not have made that call. i had to be someone else using her phone and what do you know? her phone is missing from the crime scene. >> correct. >> so, the person who very likely killed teresa mayfield must have used her cell phone to call her husband, scott. what could that mean? did the killer know scott? we did scott knows something he was not sharing? >> coming up, we were dealing with a person that was leading a double life. secrets and lies. this was betrayal. >> that's a very good word. >> when dateline continues.

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craig melvin: (voiceover) -- welcome to "dateline."es do you? even though teresa mayfield's husband scott had been very cooperative with investigators, they wondered if there was something even though teresa mayfield's husband, scott, had been very cooperative with investigators, they wondered if there was something he was not telling them. here again, with secrets and a small town, is keith morrison. >> it's a funny thing about secrets. they can only stay hidden for so long. especially in a little place lake moundville. and it did not take very long for sheriff ellison corporal boyd to stumble on a secret sky had been keeping.

>> while we was out at the crime scene, scott had had a young lady come pick up the boys. it was only later when the fog of grief had lifted, that one of teresa's relatives wonder to police, who was that woman, hanging around the day trees that died? ellis and boyd tracked her down. and what they discovered, well that changed everything. or seems to. the person they were talking to was scott's mistress. >> she was under the impression that scott was not married at that time. >> what did you make of that when you heard? >> we knew that was not correct. >> a love triangle, jealous home wrecker kills wave claims husband? no, not even close. scott's girlfriend thought his marriage was over, his divorce finalized. what was her reaction to getting the real story? she must have been upset. >> more hurt probably than upset, because i think she had

fallen in love. >> he had been lying like a sidewalk. >> that's right. >> and you had no idea that woman was associated with him that way, either, did you? >> i had met her once or twice. but i just thought they were friends. i did not think it was anything else. >> this was betrayal in all capital letters. >> that's a very good word. >> you were betrayed. >> lied to. yeah. taken advantage of in a way. >> kelsey may have been surprised, but teresa's mom and sister they knew better. because this was not scott's first dance within fidelity. no, no, there had been others. in fact, scott and teresa divorced during one of his affairs. that was just after kelsey was born and then three years later, teresa remarried him. >> she wanted to have her family back together. that was her whole thing, family.

>> what was it like for you and scott came into your house? what is happening here, as he walked in the door. >> i tried to be social, mutual is scott. but i always had that thought in the back of my mind, he hurt my sister and i would not forget it. >> for a wild things as were trees that had always hoped. but wishes do not always come true. sun scott was back to his old ways with the girl, cops are talking about in tuscaloosa. and you know how gossip can be. scott went from sympathetic figure, bereaved widow or, to cat. and maybe worse. >> he must have been aware of the fact that people were suspicious of him. >> it bothered me, hearing the bad things people had to say about him. and i knew my dad was never capable of doing something like that. i was going to have his back, regardless. >> but, to investigators, scouts affair in the fact he lied about it to police,

certainly was suspicious. ellis and boyd asked the girlfriend to help them out, by recording her conversations with scott. maybe he would let something slip. >> hello. >> hi. >> are you okay? >> yes. i'm okay. they just left. look, all i want to know, did you do it? >> of course not. they told me on the get-go, i would be the number one prime suspect. >> i know. >> because on the husband. >> do you still love? me >> yes i do. >> if you did have anything to do with her dying was it because you love me? >> i did not have anything to do with, it no, no, no. i had nothing. my hands are clean as they can be. >> so infidelity? yes. murder? . it did not sound like it. >> we could prove that he was an adulterer. but we was trying to prove murder. >> yes there's no crime of

being a lying sack of you know what. >> it's not against the law to have a mistress. >> so now the corporal in the sheriff reverted to standard procedure. they followed up every tip, track down every tenuously, knocked down rumors. somebody called scott from teresa cell phone that morning. whether he heard it or not. the investigation dragged. on weeks and months went by and there was nothing. >> we had no idea. how that anger will get the best of you, not knowing who done this law and you want the person that done this to be punished for. >> kelsey took an most difficult job of her life. at 17 she stepped into her mother's shoes, defended her father, try to maintain something of a normal life for her little brothers. >> me trying to fill my mother

's shoes. those are big shoes to fill. i just felt like it was my responsibility to help my dear dad take care of our family. >> so you are able to continue to have a relationship of trust with your father? >> right. >> he was there for you guys. >> yes. he tried to be strong for us so we would have not have a breakdown. >> by the first anniversary of to resist death, there was still no arrest in this story was old news. so teresa's mother plastered this poster on doors and windows and telephone poles all around moundville, hoping it would help kids large some clue. and the weirdest thing happened. >> we found out that just about as quick as we were putting posters, up they were being taken down. >> taken down by someone who did not want to release this killer found, she presumed. and a dark thought crystallized in her mind. was it scott? >> you know, he never acted

like a grieving husband. if he had, i would not have had these thoughts. >> so your thoughts actually increased over the course of the time that you are with him? >> yes. >> but you know what they say about assumptions. it wasn't scott. >> me and my brothers took them down. at first, i was okay with it. but once they put the posters up and everywhere i went i saw my mother's face, it just drove me crazy, it broke my heart seeing her face splattered all over these pictures. >> and so, expectations faded again. a couple more months went by and then a girl who knew kelsey, heard a strange little story. overheard actually. a guy saying he was someone won with a gun on a dirt road about the time to reset was killed. did she associate it with this crime? haut >> she knew that theresa

was killed down that way, so she just reported. it >> was this the break, they were looking for? well, we can tell you this. the tip led to real flesh and blood. in fact, to a quite literal snake in the grass. a curious incident from teresa 's past. >> could it shed light on the crime? coming up. >> i looked at her, and i said you need to stay away from that woman. she is no friend of yours. >> when dateline continues. hen dateline continues for long-lasting cough and sore throat relief. try new robitussin lozenges with real medicine and find your voice. you know? we really need to work on your people skills.

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nines. it comes after the chunk of the aircraft detached from it alaska airlines plane midair. now back to dateline. w back t o dateline ♪ ♪ ♪ welcome back to dateline. i'm craig melvin. years after teresa mayfield's murder, a casual conversation, overheard in a bar, gave authorities their first break. a break which would lead them to the chilling tale of teresa 's murder. once again keith morrison. >> under a setting sun a sweltering summer night, two years after her death, teresa mayfield's family and friends gathered to remember. >> i talked to her almost every day and i miss those talks are. >> they took turns talking about the loving daughter, the softball mom, the sweet woman gunned down in that lonely country road. a murder that was still a mystery.

>> my family will not stop searching, or doing whatever it takes, to find out who took teresa's life. >> when scott got up to speak, you could bet people were paying special close attention. >> yes, she was a loving wife, loving mother, loving friend to the community. yes, she would do anything for anybody at any time. >> having discovered he was not exactly husband of the year, some people still nursed a lingering suspicion. and yet here he was devoted to the care of his children. and full of praise for his dead wife. >> she did a wonderful job raising these kids. she was the one who got them to practice on time. got them to ball games on. time >> when sheriff alice walked up to the podium, he looked at teresa's mother reba, and vowed he would get justice yet. >> miss reba, i will not quit until we find out what happened to miss teresa.

>> and in fact, even as you spoke, the sheriff along with the corporal we're facing down their first honest to god league, in over a year. it did not seem like much, really not at first, just an overheard story from a guy in a bar, something about how he in a friend ran into someone with a gun. not so terribly uncommon around here, mind you. except it happened around the same time, and not very far away from where the murder occurred. so ellison boyd strike the kid down, and he repeated the story for them. >> they were on a dirt road and they came up on a snake, a rattlesnake, and they was trying to kill it, find something to kill it with. trouble was they were plum out of rattlesnake killing tools. and that's when an suv just happened to pull up on the dirt road behind them. the driver was a woman in her forties, or thereabouts, who said the young man offered him a surefire way to dispatch the live rattlesnake. lady in the car had a gun.

right. it was a hand good, inside a plastic ziplock bag. >> i think she handed him the plastic bag for him to take it out. and that was a little weird. why would it be in the bag? >> right. >> a peculiar story for sure. certain details were a little fuzzy. kid could not remember the exact date for example. but he did recall with absolute clarity, who the driver was, because he knew her. knew her name. in here was the most curious thing of all. it was a name you have heard before. dawn lavender. small town moundville suddenly got even smaller. dawn lavender, you will recall is teresa's friend, the one who said she waited in vain for theresa to pick her up on the morning of the murder. great buddies according to don. but maybe not so much, said kelsey. >> if our mom saw each other eight games, or wherever they would speak, they were not best

friends or anything. >> they did go out together a couple of times. >> i think my mother did it because she was bored wanted to get out of the house. >> but when they did get together, at least on one occasion said kelsey, it was certainly memorable. and not in a good way. they went out to a local casino, one night she said, and her mother came home stumbling. >> i thought she was drunk. and i knew that couldn't be right because she did not drink. she didn't even know where she was at. you could hardly understand a word she was saying. she came in in my dad and i got her and put her in bed. how long did she? sleep >> she slept for two days. two straight days. what did you think about that? >> it was very strange. she did not really remember what happened. she just knew that she had taken some pills, i believe. >> how does she get them? >> i believe dawn them to give them to. her >> remember how teresa was

stressed out those cat last weeks of her life. the night of the casino trip teresa told kelsey, don gave her xanax, the anti anxiety medication, just to calm her down. dawn told her. it is certainly did that. out like a light calm, for two whole days. >> i looked at her, i said teresa, you need to stay away from that woman, she is no friend of yours. >> how did she respond to that? >> she said i've learned my lesson. >> or maybe she did not. because the morning of the murder, teresa had arranged to run errands with dawn, or at least that's what dawn said. and then it all click together. dawn on the dirt road, a gun in a plastic bag, teresa's car window down as though she knew her killer. sheriff alice and corporate boyd, picked apart dawns early interview with a suspicious i. they pulled her phone records and there it was plain as day. dawns lies caught by selling phone technology. >> it painted a clearer picture, that don was in the location of

teresa that morning that she had murdered. >> but why in heaven's name would a woman who claimed to be teresa's friend want to kill her? good question. which perhaps they would get answered once they accused dawn lavender of murder. which they did. she however, had one thing to say to police. >> she just kept saying that it was wrong, that we made a mistake. >> coming up. as far as physical evidence, we really did not have any. >> but they did have a plan. an undercover sting could get the evidence they. need when dateline continues. something more. that gritty feeling can't be brushed away. even a little blurry vision can distort things. and something serious may be behind those itchy eyes.

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welcome back. after years of investigation, police said a suspect in the murder of teresa mayfield. it was her friend, dawn lavender. but what was dawn's motive for the murder? once again, here is keith morrison. >> on june 11, 2010, almost three years to the day that teresa mayfield was killed, sheriff alice and corporal boy, drove to the wire factory where dawn lavender worked. she was halfway through her day shift. and they told her she was under the arrest for the murder of her friend, teresa may field. she first wanted to know why we were arresting her and then she got to the jail, she said this was wrong, we made a mistake. >> the corporal in the sheriff, were only too happy to explain how one clue, had led to

another and eventually an inescapable conclusion. but prosecutor evans, had questions, pointed. ones >> you could tell it was going to be difficult. where was the smoking? gun where was the murder? weapon where was even one single plug fingerprints tying dawn to the crime? >> as far as physical evidence, we did not have any. it was truly circumstantial, because we didn't really know anything about what had happened. >> as far as evans could see, the case was maybe a best. she had no reason to kill teresa. so to bring a case against her, would be pretty tough, i would think. >> the case with dawn is puzzling. when you are working with a circumstantial case, every piece of evidence is definitely important. >> how could corporal boyd and sheriff ellis thought for second they were wrong. they believe dawn was the killer. they told the prosecutor not

only that dawn murdered teresa, but they were convinced she tried and failed to kill her with xanax overdose at the casino. >> the sheriff's department believe, that was an attempt on her life, that we had nothing that could really support that. >> but if tim evans was to get a conviction, he needed more, more evidence, some concrete proof that dawn had pulled the trigger. you can bet dawn was not about to tell them anything. but that does not mean she wasn't talking. >> we had another young lady that was going out of jail and she came to us and said that dawn had been talking about the murder. >> but that could have just been gossip, mind. you from a jailhouse snitch who could not backup. but dawn did have a cell mate. she was kind of in a jam herself. >> and she wanted us to try to help her. we can put a word into the da or word into the jail. >> that was enough to get some cooperation from. her >> right. >> the objective was simple.

get don talking, wrangle from her something that was sounded like a confession. ellis and boyd outfitted don cell mate with a digital recorder, no bigger than a matchbox. and on a friday afternoon, as an unsuspecting dawn sat in her cell reviewing her case file, her soulmate walked in and waiting for some incriminating tidbit. which she got instead was the whole sickening story. here's what dawn told her cell mate about the morning to release it was killed. around 7 am. dawn called teresa with a lie to set the plan in motion. >> no more vacation days. i told her my car was dead. >> she claims her car had broken down. could teresa pick her up. of course she said yes. finish drying her hair got into her car. made the short drive to the dirt road and they're standing

alongside the road was dawn. with calculated law with calculated, cold precision, dawn lavender lured theresa may failed to that dirt. road she then shot her in the back of the head and steered her car into the brush, hoping it would stay hidden for a while. >> you will have to lie on the stand. >> little poor innocent dawnie. not the cold blooded killer that i am. >> cold-blooded killer. >> yeah well if you think about, it that's exactly right. >> yeah. it's terrible to look at it

that way. though >> but it's the truth. >> it was all. there a prosecutor's dream confession. she even referred to herself as a cold blooded killer. but there was one question, anyone with a beating heart wanted to ask. why? they're just had to be an answer. of that they were sure. would they ever get out of her? why did you do it? >> coming up, at some point she was calling herself a hit man. what >> a hit man for whom? another painful revelation was in store for teresa's family. >> it hurts too much for me to say out loud. >> when dateline continues. rsv can severely affect the lungs and lower airways. but i'm protected with arexvy. arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. rsv can be serious for those over 60, including those with asthma, diabetes, copd,

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welcome back. dawn lavender told her cell mate, she killed teresa mayfield in a murder for hire scheme. but who did the hiring? here is keith morrison, with the conclusion to secrets in a small town. >> i have to just look like pour little innocent dawnny. not the cold blooded killer that i am. >> dawn lavender sounded for all the world, like she was boasting, as she confessed to her cell mate that she murdered teresa mayfield in cold blood. in fact, in recorded conversations with her cell

mate, dawn not only admitted to shooting teresa but she said that she had tried once before. that strange night the casino, when teresa came home stumbling, that was her first attempted murder. but why? but why? why would she want to kill her friend? because, listen to this, the answer to the whole puzzle really comes down to one little word. dawn uses it when telling her cell mate what she did. >> i mean, we tried. we? dawn was not acting alone. she had a co-conspirator. >> i don't know if she was trying to be a show off, because she was calling herself a hit man. dawn was a hired gun, for, you

guessed it, scott mayfield. >> she was a loving wife, loving mother. >> the man who heaped praise on his dead wife, his grieving children by his side, was according to don, the architect who designed her death, a revelation finally made sense of a trial of disturbing stories the investigators had been running down for months. >> we had one guy that worked around and scott had offered him $500 to kill his wife. a little while later, we got a call from another guy's son saying his daddy wanted to talk to me. skott had approached him about killing his wife. >> his response to scott was get a divorce. that's where divorces are for. >> and then a third man, told him a story. >> he had told us that scott mayfield had hired him, had given him $15,000 to kill his wife. if he did not have any intention on killing her. he just wanted the man's money.

>> what's the old saying? two is a coincidence, three is a pattern. which is why, even before dawn told her grisly tale on tape, in fact on the same day dawn was arrested, a war was also issued for scott. kelsey was outside mowing the lawn when she saw a cop car whiz by and another and another. she called her dad on his cell phone. >> i asked him where he was at. and he said the cops have me pulled over. >> your dad, for heaven's sake, was being arrested. it had to be a shock. >> i was very confused. so i asked the arresting officer, why are you arresting my dad? and he said it was solicit and and conspiracy. >> to commit. murder to commit murder, yes. >> in other words, he said your father was responsible for the death of your mother. >> still, as he sat behind bars awaiting his day in court, he assured his children that it was a mistake. that he was innocent.

what did you expect would happen? >> i thought he would be found not guilty and be able to come home. >> but at that point, the case against scott was entirely circumstantial. that was until dawn got to talking to that cell mate, the one with the little recording device. and sure enough, as the whole story spilled out, there was scott's name on tape, proof at last. >> did scott give you the gun? >> he stole it from his daddy. once the job was done, -- once the job was done, the car half hidden by the brush on said, she drove to tuscaloosa and dialed a familiar number from to resist cell phone, to let her boss know his wife was dead. >> did you call scott and tell him would it was done. >> the only thing left was to

collect the 20,000 scott had promised her and go. except. >> scott never gave you no money? >> but of course dawn didn't keep her mouth shut about why she and scott had done. do >> from what i can tell, he was just a coward. he wanted a divorce, but he did not want to live with the responsibilities that accompany a divorce. in other words, he did not want to pay her alimony, or child support. >> evil as the only thing you can use to describe that man. evil. >> in on may 19th 2011, almost four years after teresa mayfield was gunned down on that lonely dirt road. her mother, sister, and daughter sat in a courtroom in listened as dawn and scott,

having pleaded guilty to both murder and attempted murder, were each sentenced two consecutive consecutive life sentences. >> he looks at me, like he was looking at a tree or something. there was no emotion. and neither weathers anything from dawn. it was like they were empty inside. >> but for kelsey, it was simply overwhelming. at the moment of sentencing, for the very first time, she saw her dad, not as the loving father who took her shopping for her senior prom dress, but is the man who orchestrated the death of her mother. >> have you ever brought up the issue with him? said i know that you did? this >> one day i will. i don't have it in me right now to confront him. and tell him what i know. it hurts too much, for me to say it out loud, for me to tell my dad i know what he did and that i i hate what he did. but he is still my father. and i will always love him.

>> her mother loved him too. loved him through infidelity and trouble, loved him always. even as she loved her children, her family. as she tried her best to make life good, well he plotted to kill her. a couple years earlier you had a great, full, lovely family life. >> there's really not a word that you can use to describe what our family has been through. and since you got such a nice sunny distribution. how do you do that? >> i get my strength from my. mother sunny disposition. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. thank you for watching. >> it has been