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. . hi, i'm craig melvin, and what did you find? this is dateline. >> all of a sudden i realize, why are they late? there's something definitely wrong. he said your family was in an accident. and my world just dropped down underneath me. >> the scene told the story -- >> why did you find? >> somebody hit them. >> a deadly crash on a dark road. two gone, one barely alive. to a tragic accident. but look closer. can all of the broken glass and twisted metal, was there a clue to a crime? >> the last thing i wanted to have was to have to take a double fatality and not treat it as a homicide. >> murder. and no one saw coming. >> i couldn't deal with it. >> two families in torment. >> we were both just --

>> a small town trial with big emotions. >> you took it. you did it. >> and the verdict that would shake them all. >> hello, and welcome to dateline. a dangerous highway in big sky country. that was a setting for a deadly crash that would seem to unite two families in shock and heartbreak. except they were about to find out that the truth about what happened on that fateful night might be darker than anyone knew. here is keith morrison. >> march 19th, 2009. night fell heavy in montana's flathead valley. something off that night. something wrong. at mary and randy winters house, anxiety spiked. where was she?

>> it just felt like something was not right. >> it's hard to explain. that there's something not normal. >> you could set your clocks by their daughter justine, that reliable. but the new driver of two just 16. a home from a date from her boyfriends house. the feelings seeped in with poison. something wrong. >> i called her starting about five after eight and no answer. >> called the house where she was at and they said she had left 15 minutes before that. >> i was thinking she had went off the road between their house and us. not far away another family the other half of our story was on the road. erin thompson was driving her son home. he played the drums. >> i was attending concerts and this was the first time -- >> this is kate instep father, jason thompson. >> my car was in the shop and i

finally faced and drop me off and that's why wasn't with them. >> soon the poison, the anxiety, seeped to under jason sports through these windows. onto his nerve endings. >> just all of a sudden i realized, what's going on? why are they late? i just struck to me that something definitely was wrong. >> justine winters, the fear would deepen. justine's dad randy was a volunteer firefighter. he was trying to keep his head. knew what he had to do. randi got in his truck, drove out of town to the road coming home for he knew he she would take coming home from her boyfriends house. and then he saw it, a new construction zone on the highway 93 overpass. >> what did you find? >> something i don't want to see again. you could say it's a fireman's worst nightmare. >> someone tried to hold him back. he kept on. >> and then, i saw her over at the side.

his perfect daughter is just seen. obscenely broken. but amazingly still alive. how did she look? >> i didn't really see a lot of her on the gurney there. but i got to see her at the hospital. >> she was pretty bad? >> you know, you don't want to ever see your kid in the hospital. >> every bit of her was damaged horribly. broken bones, brain damage, ruptured organs. the chance she would survive, slim said the doctors. oh but the winter's news could have been worse. and a few miles away, where the phone rang in jason thompson's house, the news was much worse. the caller was the county coroner. >> he said, jason your family

was in an accident. and he said i'm sorry to have to tell you this on the phone, but they were just killed. and my world just dropped down from underneath me. >> jason's wife, 35-year-old aaron thompson was four months pregnant. her son caden, the boy who just play the drums in his school concert, was just 13. and just like that they were gone. the crash was head on. and his school counselor, the lights went out. >> that night of realization, i will never forget that news. >> norah of course will erin's mother. >> we were birth jess bunkers. just -- >> or her sister amber, who with david her husband, missed erin so much that they plan to move to montana to be close.

not possible now. >> that was the hardest week piece of news we could fathom. >> and to lose both of them and the baby, it just didn't even seem like it could be real. >> and here in the little house he shared with the love of his life. where he had been waiting with such excitement for their baby to arrive, jason, like job of old, was overcome by the heaviest of sorrow. a whole life of service. >> it's like, i'm nine years old and in 79 when my sister dies. and then in 19 years old, in 89 when my mother dies of cancer. and now i'm 39, and oh nine, when my family -- >> missing that concert, you lived? how is that been to wrap your head around? >> it's just embracing of life,

right? it there's times where i would've welcome death. >> but the dreadful truth of it is that accidents just like the one here had all happened all around america every day and night. still, the permanence of loss began to sink in, just before anyone had given a thought to a now diminished future, there was another piece of news. this time, on this road. the fatal accident might not have been an accident at all. >> coming up. >> the last thing i wanted was to have to treat it as a homicide. >> a prosecutor's stunning decision 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,

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you may have already been vaccinated against the flu, but don't forget this season's updated covid-19 shot too. >> for decades montanans have keith morrison (voiceover): for decades montanans have almost morbidly intoned the words "pray for me. morbidly said the words pray for me i drive highway 93, they say because of nights like march 19th 2009, but as everybody would soon know this crash on this crash, might have been no accident. a revelation which in jason thompson's devastated mine

would register later. just now his whole life was a bomb creator. >> erin was like my heart, my soul mates, i waited all these years but i had an ideal and i was searching for her. >> and she as she told everybody has been looking for him. aaron was a single mom when he met her brilliant smile, she was a hairdresser who love to dance, and she was a secret in all matters spiritual. her mother, diana. >> she was single and a young mother and she was wondering what she was going to do with her life. she answered her own question just said, as long as i'm about the business of spreading love, it doesn't matter. >> erin married jason in the summer of 2006 in the glorious montana sunshine. and young cadence scenes as pleased as she was. caid and who shared his mother and use stepfathers craving for outdoors adventures. >> backpacking on the coast and in the mountains, river rafting,

it was all about sharing that time together. >> yes and there was that planned aaron had with her sister amber. >> we always had a dream of growing up and living right next door to each other, and raising up our families. >> suing the plan expanded beautifully, when aaron and jason announced that they were expecting a child of their own. >> every day i would praise my wife and my little baby that i was finally going to have and it all made sense. >> and then came march 19th 2009. but as the news and the grief spread there was still hope, remember, for one of the victims of the crash. justine winter was alive, though barely with a broken neck and broken legs and internal injuries. doctors told the family that they did not think that she would live through the airlift.

>> what did they tell you? >> they told us that you wouldn't live. >> i said -- she is flying in that airplane and don't even give me any grief. >> and she did survive the flight to seattle and the emergency operation that stitch together the broken pieces of her body. she was unconscious when she arrived, the doctors kept it that way, induced a coma so she could avoid the pain or any recognition of her desperate condition. while her body slowly, slowly, began to knit itself back together. until, more than a month later -- >> and her eyes, just went boom. that was just like the most incredible feeling, she's there, she's in there. in your heart. >> it was days later before

justine could understand what was going on around her, but the news had to be faced eventually. and so, when she seemed ready, they told her. when you told her what happened and the accident and how those other people had died, how did you react to that? >> it was very emotional for her. it was very devastating. >> and then what was discovered was quite frankly unimaginable, for in the middle of that river of tears, relief on the one side, abject grief on the other side there was a tone no one saw coming. while justine spent 45 days in the hospital recuperating and months more at home in montana healing, it didn't take investigators long at all, matter of hours really, to solve the mystery of who and what caused this crash. in fact the first months, the highway patrol officers who rushed to this scene believe that justine winters cars

crossed the centerline and smashed into erin thompson's car, but the worst of it? the inconceivable part was, this was not an accident at all. what was your first reaction? >> nuts. it was the last thing i wanted was to have to take a double fatality and have to not treated as a homicide. >> homicide? yes, right there in justine's car officers found what amounted to a minute by minute narrative of the event leading to the events in text messages. in those text messages the prosecutor said, was the evidence. he believed require him to press criminal charges against that girl doctors had quite miraculously saved, justine winters, charged as a murder.

>> the prosecutor lays out its case as jason gets another shock. coming up. >> suing? >> for her pain and suffering. >> when dateline continues. vil targets pain at the source of inflammation. so for faster pain relief, advil the pain away. power e*trade's award-winning trading app makes trading easier. with its customizable options chain, easy-to-use tools and paper trading to help sharpen your skills, you can stay on top of the market from wherever you are. e*trade from morgan stanley power e*trade's easy-to-use tools make complex trading less complicated. custom scans help you find new trading opportunities, while an earnings tool helps you plan your trades and stay on top of the market. e*trade from morgan stanley

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it's my best skin yet. i think he's having a midlife crisis i'm not. you got us t-mobile home internet lite. after a week of streaming they knocked us down... ...to dial up speeds. like from the 90s. great times. all i can do say is that my life is pre-- i like watching the puddles gather rain. -hey, your mom and i procreated to that song. oh, ew! i think you've said enough. why don't we just switch to xfinity like everyone else? then you would know what year it was. >> investigators are convinced i know what year it is.

investigators are convinced that justine winter do you? intentionally crashed her car into erin thompson's, killing the pregnant mom that justine winter intentionally crashed her car into erin thompson killing the pregnant mom and her 13

-year-old son, caden. their evidence, threatening text messages sent by justine just minutes before the fatal collusion. here again is keith morrison. >> the sorrow went deep in montana's flatten valley, that awful spring of 2009. deep and wide, the whole valley, in fact the country, heard about the crash that killed caden and erin and her unborn child, and her estranged and disturbing story that 16 year old justine winter-- oncoming car. cross the centerline and plowed right into them. on purpose. shocking? oh yes. as was the reason. justine said the police was trying to commit suicide. how did they know?

they found the evidence on justine's phone they said, text messages which she wrote herself and gave him no choice, he said, he charged her with deliberate homicides. montana's equivalent of murder. >> justine purposely went into traffic and smashed into another car and by doing so, she should've known her actions could've killed somebody and under those circumstances i think deliberately homicide was the only charge we could find. >> you decided to charge as an adult, why? she was 16. >> she was. the taking of two lives is not a delinquent act, it is a crime. it needs to be prosecuted as a crime and if convicted, it needs to be on her record for the rest of her life. >> perhaps because of her own massive injuries and continuing operations, her age, just been after pleading not guilty was

put on house arrest. she was allowed to attend class and at home her parents fumed. no matter what those text messages said, the idea justine would cause that crash on purpose just crazy. >> we were you angry by all of this? >> it builds up inside and it gets to a point where you can't take it anymore. >> turned out, and it was frankly hardly surprising, the two families actually knew each other. justine's mother and erin mother had worked at the same school. they made it perfectly clear that what they wanted from justine most of all was a heartfelt apology, and some sort of indication that you took responsibility for the actions she was charged. they saw that as a way for forgiveness, and most people around time thought that was a fine idea but from justine and her family it was just an awkward silence.

early one morning in the fall 2010, and entirely unexpected knock at the door took emotions to a whole new level. >> this private investigator just hands -- papers, he's serving me papers and it says they are suing. >> they're suing you? >> yes. for her pain and suffering. >> it was true, in a legal preemptive strike, they had filed a lawsuit on her behalf against erin's estate as well as the companies in charge of the construction zone where the crash occurred. the lawsuit claimed that aaron had negligently operated her car which had resulted in the collusion. and companies failed to adequately construct and maintain the vicinity. causing hazardous and confusing conditions. >> i can't even to begin to think what they were thinking when they file that lawsuit. they flames a whole town.

that wasn't just justine's decision it was made by the attorneys. >> yes, the attorneys. their names, maxwell battle and david stufft, and according to the winters, their attorneys assured them that the lawsuit, assuming justine was not guilty, would give them a better shot at a reimbursement later. >> there was no intent of going for the estate, making that family endure more than they've already endured. >> but the optics were awful? >> the timing could've been better. >> you pick up the newspaper, you look at the blogs, you hear the radio and what you got was those awful people. those disgusting, terrible people. what are they thinking? they're trying to sue the victims of this crime. >> that's how it was portrayed, but the intent was not that at all. >> all rise. >> misunderstood or not, by the time justines trial started on january 2011, the tide of

public opinion has turned as bitter as a winter of montana. and justine who showed up in an almost childlike polka dot hair band, didn't look the part of an accused killer facing as many as 200 years behind bars. but there she was. >> i can see the debris field. >> with the two families just a few feet away she watched investigators testify to a certainty that it was justine's pontiac car that crossed the centerline. >> here you can see all this debris from the initial impact of the crash. >> slamming into erin's subaru so hard that it was driven backward into the highway barrier and crash reconstructionist agree. >> justine winter's car approached the northbound lane, striking mrs. thompson's vehicle. >> but what evidence was there that justine had done it as the law says purposefully? investigators pulled the black

box out of justine's pontiac, analyze the data and found another sign that pointed to suicide. she'd taken off her seatbelt. black box also recorded speed, acceleration and braking and found -- that justine was accelerating, flooring it, so to speak in the five seconds before the crash, speeding up from 81 to 86 miles an hour's before hitting the brakes at the last second. >> she did not swerve, she drove head on into the other vehicle. >> back it up, prosecutors brought up this pedometer and their indicating 85 miles an hour found an orange mark it is known as a slap mark, made the expert testified when the needle smashes against the council of high-speed. and finally, prosecutors revealed the reason, they said, behind it all. justine, like many 16-year-old

girls had a boyfriend hers was named ryan, it was quite hot, this relationship. he was her world. but that day in march, there had been a tiff in their words, and so that night she rove ryan home asked him to get out of the car and he said that they were through. then justine drove north to clear her head and she was on her way home when detectives, testified, that she began texting ryan. apparently while behind the wheel. the first text half an hour before the crash. >> goodbye ryan, just live your life knowing you did change me. >> my last words, i love you, ryan. >> then her texas became threatening. >> if i won, i would have you. and i wouldn't crush my car. >> and ryan and serge. >> you kill yourself, i kill myself. so come on, don't be selfish. >> that is the only thing i want to live for, you, ryan, you keep me living.

>> stop. you hurt yourself and i'll know, and i'll do the same. >> that is why i'm going to wreck my car, because all i can do is -- up. it shows you would rather me die because i want to kill myself. goodbye ryan. i love you. >> then, the final message from ryan. >> you killing yourself is just another way for you to run away. >> and just five or six minutes later prosecutors say justine winter drove her car into erin thompson lane of traffic to commit suicide but instead killed a mother, child and an unborn baby. the prosecution had made its case for murder. now the question was, what would justine winters attorneys possibly say to make a jury believe otherwise? >> coming up. the defense takes on the heart of the case. those texts. when dateline continues. throat relief. try new robitussin lozenges with real medicine and find your voice.

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stories. on sunday, congressional leaders announced a one and a half trillion dollar spending deal for 2024. the agreement does not immediately and the threat of government shutdown before the initial deadline on january 19th. deputy secretary of defense, kathleen hicks, was only informed about lloyd austin's hospitalization two days after she assumed his duties last week, according to a senior defense official. watson has been hospitalized since january 1st. now, that to dateline. january 1st. now, that to dateline. now, that to dateline. >> >> welcome back to dateline. could they convince the jury to see justine winter's text i'm craig melvin. the prosecution had made their case. now it was the defense's turn. could they convince the jury to seek justin winters text messages in a different light? once again keith morris. >> every day in this montana

courtroom, the family of, now 17 year old justine winters, dutifully shuffled to the front row seats directly behind the defense tables. their faces, by their attorneys decrees they say, was unintentional blank. emotionless. their parent demeanor, a spurn on the already angry town. with almost no one knew what was really going on. justine's mother mary who had been struggling with alcohol, caved into the stress. >> tell me how it's changed her life? >> i ran away from all of it. i couldn't deal with it. i just left the house. i didn't come back. >> justine's brother, kyle dropped out of college, to help keep things together and take justine turn medical

appointments. and randy her father, the strong and tall as a montana spruce firefighter, turned angry, bitter at the continuing prosecution of his little girl. >> i could be sitting in the living room watching tv and all of a sudden, i hear something. i just completely lose it. i just start crying. >> the whole world said justine 's dad seemed intent on misunderstanding, demonizing, his little girl. yet he said she'd always been so good, kind, thoughtful. and responsible. was getting almost three days in high school. but mostly wouldn't harm a bug, literally. and cared about people. would never, never want to hurt that sweet woman or her son. or baby. >> always had a smile. always wanted to help is, who she was. >> what kind of little girl is this? >> she was a good girl. >> but it might interest you to know that as the winters spokes was here, they were doing so against the express advice of their attorney. and when it was time for justine's defense team to make

his case in court, attorneys maxwell battle and david stufft told the jury that everything the prosecution told them, everything they knew about the case so far, was wrong. >> what happened out there was an accident. >> including where the crash occurred. remember the prosecutions expert testified there was in no doubt justine crossed the centerline and veered into erin thompson's lean column thing the crash. but referencing engineer hired by the defense said his research turned that finding on its head. he claimed it was erin who drove out of her lane in that construction zone and struck justine. and the defense went further. claiming that slap a mark near the 85 mile per hour mark on the edge -- was planted there by investigators. that the black box had measured speed and breaking was plain wrong.

that justine always wore her seatbelt. and finally, a psychologist said -- will actually a lot of experts said the spat with the boy wasn't enough to lead to suicide attempt. that those texts, they should not be considered a suicide note at all. >> it was a way of exercising power and control in the relationship. to make that kind of threat. but it was always clear that it was never meant. >> what would justine winters say about what happened here that night. about those texts? the jury would never know. she did not testify. the advice of her attorney said her families, and of course that was her perfect right. but there was another reason, too. justine suffered a brain injury in that crash. so her recollection of the last few days leading up to the crash, that night itself here, she doesn't remember. she is charged with a crime, about which her memory is a complete blank. >> so then, how could the jury

know that justine knowingly cross the centerline. having decided to commit suicide by hitting the other car. a question we put to the prosecutor. >> in order to draw that conclusion, you have to read her mind essentially. you've been a prosecutor for years. you know car accidents happen in the most bizarre ways. people do crazy things on the road. but you clearly said, this was a situation in which i know what somebody was thinking. when they drove across that lane of traffic and into the other car. >> no. >> i just don't know how you can know what she was thinking. >> we can't know what she was thinking. she doesn't know what she was thinking at the time. >> exactly. >> all i can do is base my decision on what the evidence shows. >> did the evidence clearly show that justine winters had made up her mind to commit suicide by driving into an oncoming car? up to the jury now. >> coming up. >> everyone just cried about it. >> a verdict comes quick. but the pain and one final

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keith morrison (voiceover): as a montana jury prepared to decide the fate of 17-year-old justine winter, the members of erin decide the fate of 17 year old justine winters, the members of erin and caden's family struggle to hand on to their good would. they had tried so hard not to be angry at justine.

that is until they were served with that lawsuit, blaming the crash on aaron. and then watch defense attorneys battle and stufft, twist their facts of the case. you are unusual as victims because of this willingness to forgive justine. it's the adults in her life that are steering her in this direction. is not her decisions. it's these adults. so i had plenty of anger towards them. >> but for justine's family,, there was considerable strain. there was so much that justine 's father randy buckled under the pressure and was rushed to the hospital and not in the courtroom. >> i will ask the court to file the verdict and read it please. >> when after just four hours of deliberation, the jury came back.

>> we the jury enter the following unanimous verdict to the charge of deliberate homicide for the death of erin thompson, guilty. for the death of caden odel, guilty. >> this was absolutely horrible, numbing experience. i put my head into my knees. >> it was like the whole courtroom, i felt like everyone just cried about it. >> how did she look, mary? when she was going off to jail? your little girl? >> she looked very stunned. she did not look back. >> just a week after that verdict, justine winters marks her 18th birthday in a jail cell. and then came sentencing day. and everyone wondered, would justine finally tell erin's husband, her family, while they desperately wanted to hear. in your ideal world, what would you like to hear from justine?

>> to be sorry for what she took from us. because it was huge. >> just before sentencing, the family received this. a statement written by justine. and it wasn't even close to what they were looking for. in a she called herself a miracle who was wrongly convicted of a horrific crime. she wrote that she would never, ever, in 1 million years take her own life or anyone elses. that this was an accident that had been blown out of proportion. that she didn't need time behind bars. just a chance to turn a horrific situation into a positive one. and so with a statement in mind, the family of erin and caden, took their stand to have their own say. >> i want for you to make something positive of your life through this. but you still have yet to grasp the truth. >> caden's father the same message, more anger.

>> you took him. you did it. and you need to own it. you killed my boy. you need to own it. >> and finally caden's stepfather, the elementary school counselor, first displaying compassion. then a rear stream of venom towards justine's attorney, thank david stufft and maxwell battle. >> i've chosen to not believe that you wanted to think about harming them. but it has been very, very, very, very difficult to hold on to that thought. given that you've been led by these two men and influenced by them to not do what was most important in all of this. and to show and demonstrate to us you are sorry for haven't taken them. >> then finally the moment when justine winters herself took the stand to speak to the first time. >> i wanted to speak with you for two years now.

i want to let you guys know that my heart goes out to you. and as every single one of you came up here today, my heart was breaking. but i just hope that you guys will be able to forgive that i will never be able to say that i intentionally crossed the centerline, wanting to take three lives from all of you. >> but before the judge allowed justine to leave the witness stand, the prosecutor stepped to the podium and asked a question on behalf of the victims families. a question that froze the courtroom. >> what they wanted to hear from you for a long, long time also, is i'm sorry. can you tell them that? >> i'm sorry for your loss.

but i cannot -- i don't know what your meaning by you want me to say that i'm sorry. >> as so the hammer came down. >> it is the order of the court, defendant is committed for a period of 30 years. with 15 years suspended. >> justine was sentenced to 15 years in prison. and her father, back on his feet and in court for sentencing day, began his own prison term. the one deep inside his own soul. >> the system betrayed me. you see a certain country, you feel betrayed about it. >> you feel betrayed by the country fought for? >> yes. about the judicial part of the system. >> they took her, this once promising college bound honor student, to a cell in the montana women's prison. where she instantly became the youngest inmate in the place. and two months later, those attorneys stufft and battle,

who declined our request for interviews, were off the case. that civil lawsuit was dropped. and that's when justine winters decided to tell us her side of the whole, sad story. >> coming up. an exclusive interview with justine. >> you say he probably calls accident. are you able to say i take responsibility? >> when dateline continues. d 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, and certain other conditions. but i'm protected. arexvy is proven to be over 82% effective in preventing lower respiratory disease from rsv and over 94% effective in those with these health conditions. arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those

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directly at the source. welcome back. teenager justine winter was convicted

of deliberate homicide in the car crash death of a mother and son. teenager justine winters was convicted of deliberate homicide from a car crash that killed a mother and son. would the victims family finally get the apology they have been waiting for? here is keith morrison with the conclusion of our story. >> shortly after justine winters walked out of this courtroom in montana, she landed here, more than 450 miles east across the state, at the women's prison in buildings. she sat down with us, quite well aware of how all of this time, she had been the target of so much curiosity and anger. >> i am curious to know what your thought process was, as you went about saying, yes, i think i will talk now.

>> i do not know, i guess it is probably that, i was being shown in a different light than what i wanted to be shown in. >> when you read accounts of your case, when you see the comments that people write, what is that like? >> they are really hard to read. i heard one that said, i needed to hang from a noose on a tree. >> what does it feel, like inside, when you saw that comment, for example? >> i am really weird. and with my brain injury, i feel it in a second, but it is hard to recall it afterwards. >> that brain injury is the reason she says she sometimes smiles when she does not mean to, why everything came out wrong, she says, when she took the stand and spoke at sentencing, and why she says -- and even the prosecutor says he believes this, that she recalls nothing about the crash. >> i do not remember the night of the accident, but i remember events that i know has had to have happened right before the

accident happened. >> what events would those be? >> i remember doing stuff to get ready for prom, because prom was supposed to be two days after when the accident happened, but other than that, i don't really remember a whole lot about march. >> what do you remember, the last time you saw your boyfriend? >> i have no idea. i remember that we spent some time together. >> you are inseparable? >> pretty much. >> in love? >> kid love. >> well, that is pretty strong love, that kid love, isn't it? >> yes, i remember, if i was not with him, i was texting him all of the time. >> as for those texts, following the argument with ryan just before the crash, justine says despite what many believe, she would never, ever have tried to commit suicide. knowing if she does, her grandmother, randi's mother, killed herself when her dad was just a boy. in fact, she says the most likely explanation is that she

was just playing a game of sorts with ryan. >> he liked controlling everything, having to do with my life. he had threatened suicide twice, that's what i think was happening, i was playing his own card back at him. >> oh, i better kill myself then? >> yes. i do not think that they were text messages that were to be taken seriously. >> well when you look at them through justine's eyes, they don't look seriously, but the jury did not look at it through your eyes? >> no. >> despite her conviction, and all of that evidence and the fact that she has no memory of that night, justine still claims that she must have been wearing her seatbelt, and cannot imagine driving her car at 85 miles an hour, just not the sort of thing she ever did, she says. >> something happened. you swerved across, hit that other car. does that sound about right?

>> yes. >> it is probably you who caused the accident, that is fair to say? >> yes. >> and if you say it was probably you who caused that accident, are you able to say that yes, you know, if i did it, and i probably did cause it, i just feel horrible about that. >> yes. >> and i take responsibility for that. is it possible for you to say that? >> i mean, if i knew, then i would take responsibility for it. you know, if it was me, i take complete, utter responsibility for it. and i do. >> and now, finally, having said the words almost that aaron and cadence's family longed to hear, justin says that she is finally through with what she calls a pity party she held for herself. >> all i would change about that accident is that they lived. and if it had to be, so be that they lived and i did not, i would be okay with that.

because i do not, i do not like seeing anybody else in pain. i know that my family was put in a lot of pain because of the accident. but they've got to see me grow up. >> and the other family can't see that. >> yes. and i don't want to put them in any more pain than they have already had to have be put through. and i want to make everything okay for them. >> after serving a little more than four years of her 15 years sentence in prison, in 2015 justine winters was granted parole. for aaron's widower, jason, his dream is gone. only an empty chair, and an

empty ache remain, as he and so many in the family, as if climbing those montana mountains, tried to keep putting one foot in front of the other. >> it is a dance between the grief of their loss to the joy and blessing of having experienced them. >> it is like seeing a meteor. you wouldn't curse your luck that you saw this meteor, just be thankful you were blessed to see it. so we just have to cling to that, like, wow. how amazing that we got to spend a good part of our life with two of the most precious people on the planet. >> that is all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin, thank you for watching. >> hello, i'm craig melvin and hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline." this is dateline.