having received those answers. it was clear when we left spoke that there will always be a hole in his heart. >> god, she was my lifeline. i loved her so much. i love her now. i feel with her, her essence and presence was so strong, that she is still with us today. but, i cannot talk to her. i cannot hold her. i cannot kiss her. that is what saddens me the most. >> that is all for this edition of dateline. i am andrea canning, thank you for watching! for watching >> hello, i'm andrea canning. and this is dateline. >> i felt like it was a hollywood movie. >> it was of all the executive and a doting dad. >> he was very loving and concerned about his kids. >> in the midst of a nasty divorce with a bitter

acts. >> he just said that his wife was putting him there's so much. >> but soon, he bounce back. a new life with a gorgeous, new fiancee. that is when it started. he felt threatened. >> he says, i'm afraid for my life. >> haunted. >> i said, you're being melodramatic. he said, no, this is really happening. >> ambush from inside his million dollar dream house. >> suddenly, he started to scrape. >> shot to death. a crime of passion, said police. >> somebody wanted this man dead very, very badly. >> the question was, who? his ex? >> she was losing everything. >> or someone else? >> the arrest was startling. >> the strategy in the courtroom, that was the biggest surprise of all. >> he was overweight, but if shape, to that, too sick. >> yes. ♪ ♪ ♪

>> hello, welcome to dateline. a devoted father got down in his own home by someone on the stairs. it was a case that made national news because of its unusual defense. the accused argued he was simply too obese to carry out the killing. what that arguments with the jury? here's dennis murphy with a novel defense. >> the world of pills, prescription medicines, pharmaceuticals is where he made it big. >> it was walking up water, everyone loved him. >> paul dunn sack went from a college in turn job behind trump's counter, to the big money lifestyle of a pharmaceutical executive. on the way up, he struck so many bosses as a natural, making money out of medicine. >> he could do almost anything. >> for years, this hard charging golden boy seem to have all the perks and executive could want. mid six figures paycheck, the million dollar house in a suburb, the wife and kids. then, just like, that it all slipped away. there wasn't a pill on

the shelf to reverse the dizzying decline. >> he did say everything that i have worked for is gone. my reputation is -- you know, i'm struggling to hold on to that. >> someone was sinking industry watchdogs on him, slurring his name with innuendo about shady deals and kickbacks. as it turns out, those would be the least of paul's problems. something far more sinister was waiting for him. inside that million dollar home in the safe, new jersey suburbs. >> the theory that developed is that the killer is on the stairs. the first shot is up. that is consistent with that shot. >> paul had been ambushed and killed in his own home. the shooter had escaped.

now, friends of pullover wondering, seriously, if they might be next. >> i didn't know if i was on some kind of hit list. i felt like it was a hollywood movie more than it being reality. >> how had paul's abbreviated life ended in murder? well, you need to understand the marriage. he met his bride to be, stacey, in 1998, at a pharmaceutical conference. he did consulting for the industry. she was a sales rep. friends say they were instantly mad about each other. paul's brother, john, didn't quite know what to make of her. she was nothing, if not direct. >> the first thing out of her mouth was, i'm going to marry paul. and she said something about he's the best lever i've ever had. i'm like, well, this is the first thing out of your mouth. that shocked me. >> then, her people weren't

all that thrilled with a young hot shot pharmaceutical exec either. stacey's brother, at, what did you think? >> i thought he was arrogant, and reasonably. obnoxious, but i was admiring him. >> so, both families bit their tongues and crossed their fingers as the to walk down the aisle in may 1999, after meeting only once before. the wedding was a lavish to do, held on a yacht in new york harbor. >> she got pregnant raided the honeymoon, pretty much blocking paul down. >> that would have been fine, says brother, john, except paul suddenly found himself settled with another much hungrier mouth to feed. stacey's father, ed, retired military man, was asking his new son in law to invest in various business schemes. >> paul's fellow pharmacist and best pell, michael hurts, trying to give him some advice. >> i told him, be careful. you don't know the guy. things can happen, your money. >> the business went bust, didn't it? >> the

business went bust, yes. >> even so, paul's brother said that a keep seeing his son-in-law as an atm. the bank of paul had had enough. >> he lost thousands of dollars with him and all of a sudden he finally said, no more. that is when the divorce happened. >> by the end of 2003, after four years of marriage and two kids, paul and stacey were over and out, heading for a divorce. the father in law says the soured business deals had nothing to do with his daughter's marriage going bust. that paul had come to resent stacey, suffering from an illness that had paralyzed her face. >> apparently he wanted to -- >> hit it like the way she? >> he wanted a trophy bright no more. >> the daughter confided that her husband had become downright cruel. >> forcing her to do whatever he wanted, when he wanted, the way he wanted it, to the point where she felt he

could no longer be tolerated. >> paul said stacey was the problem. he told friends that she was abusing prescription drugs. she denied it and let allegedly told her father that her husband was selling those drugs on the black market. at says he alerted the authorities, who found no evidence of wrongdoing. the father law wasn't done. ed next accuse paul of giving kickbacks to employees of a pharmaceutical giant. he had whistle blown his son-in-law to paul's own superiors. >> the result of the father in law and exchange wives toxic campaign was a career killer for paul. he lost his biggest client. his divorce attorney all but ruined paul. >> because the pharmaceutical industry is a top small, tight-knit industry and the training field that he felt that he was going to be and wasn't back blacklisted there the other pharmaceutical companies. >> so, paul, the man

who once pulled 500,000 plus a year as a pharmaceutical executive, was now out the door. back to square one, working behind the counter of a local drugstore, where he made less than 100,000 a year. by the beginning of 2004, paul was not only getting divorced, he was also getting depressed. if you saw paul struggling with dark thoughts, very dark. at one point, he called his brother to say that he was putting his affairs in order. >> i believe i was on the phone. he just told me. he goes, i fear of my life. i truly, truly do. >> even paranoid is write some of the time. >> coming up -- sabotaged in the suburbs, was someone out to get paul done sack? >> i remember looking at the other mob and we were just frozen. we really were. when dateline continues. >> the road to divorce is often rocky. paul's road was strewn with land mines and shoulder held weapons. 2004 was a very ugly year indeed for paul and stacey. he told his brother, his wife and father-in-law had thrown him after the bus by destroying his professional reputation with the slanderous accusations. >> he was quite depressed, paul

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♪everything i do that's for my health is an accomplishment.♪ ♪concerns of getting screened faded away♪ ♪to my astonishment.♪ ♪my doc gave me a script i got it done without a delay.♪ ♪i screened with cologuard and did it my way.♪ cologuard is a one-of-a-kind way to screen for colon cancer that's effective and non-invasive. it's for people 45 plus at average risk, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider for cologuard. ♪i did it my way!♪ >> the road to divorce is often rocky. paul's road was strewn with land mines and shoulder held weapons. 2004 was a very ugly year indeed for paul and stacey. he told his brother, his wife and father-in-law had thrown him after the bus by destroying his professional reputation with the slanderous accusations. >> he was quite depressed, paul was. his name out there in the medical field was -- you know, no one wanted

to hire him. >> meanwhile, stacey was on the phone constantly to her parents down in florida. the single topic? berating paul and the slow motion to force. it became official finally and january of all five. he bought her out of the house in ramsey, new jersey. the money she is to buy at nearby condo. and keep her alimony in on some. >> he came to him and said, i'm divorce. >> i'm like, congratulations. we went over a cocktail away went home. >> the celebration turned out to be a false armistice. the two had quickly entered a cold face over child custody. >> in court papers, he thundered that she was abusing drugs, addiction had made her an unfit mother. she loudly denied it and got a restraining order against him. trump beneath the volleys from the two camps where the children, a small son and a daughter. limitation talks were a cakewalk compared to paul and stacey's devastating arrangements. >> they were dropping off the kids at the police department. i mean how

horrible is that? >> eventually, by 2006, the two adults called a cease-fire long enough to hammer out a joint custody agreement. a 50/50 split in parenting. paul, meanwhile, seem to be getting his groove back. he had managed to work his way from the drugstore counter back into his old environment as a pharmaceutical executive with met co-. he also had a girlfriend. a serious new medic -- woman in his life that was going to live inside that nice, but all to only house in new jersey. while paul was talking marriage, the former misses was in free fall. money trouble. she hadn't found work after the divorce. she had been sickly with various complaints and now had fallen behind on bank payments for her home. john says the way his brother saw it, stacey had only one option. to move in with her parents, and and daddy in florida. the child custody arrangement would allow for that. >> every time stacey had

the kids, my brothers concern was that they would be taken out of state. and a battle fighting through courts again. to get the kids again. >> behind that fear of losing his kids was an even darker threat. paul shared it with his partner, nancy, as the kids sign on the back yard. he said that earlier in the year, his heater in his pool had been cranked up to 100 degrees. he was convinced it was no accident. >> he says, i'm afraid for my life. i remember looking at the other mom and we were frozen. i mean we really were. >> pretty soon, where it was getting around with his new business associates that paul was a man

looking over his shoulder. coworker, jt, who is the same taker is popped, could not fathom why he was so hush hush about anyone learning who his new employer was. downright weird. >> please do not notice me if you ever see me over the daycare. i don't want anyone to know where i'm working. >> but three weeks later, she ran into him at the day and said hello. at the office, he went nuts on her. >> very arrogantly and very mad, pointed his finger at me and said i thought we had this conversation. i thought i told you never to talk to me outside of this office. to the point where i was very scared. >> even his good friend, michael, hurts thought paul was starting to lose it. after all, the divorce and custody issue had been settled. he had no reason to fear his acts. the long term friend dispensed mark advice. >> i said, paul, really i think you are being a little melodramatic. maybe you could

go on some medicine. maybe you should see a doctor about your fears. >> you think the guys paranoid? >> absolutely. i recommend it see a doctor and treat his fears. he said, no. this is really happening. no one believes me. >> so, with all this drama going on, stacey took the kids for vacation the second week in august of 2006, paul was all but convinced he would never see them again. michael, the best friend, try to cheer him up, changing the subject to the exciting new chapter, his fiancée would be moving in with him in a few days. in fact, paul was on his cell phone with her as he pulled into his driveway on wednesday, august 23rd. as the fiancée's chatted, he marked about an empty -- lying on the floor. that he took her to task for leaving the central air conditioner going full blast.

>> paul was being paul. can't believe you left the air conditioner on. she goes, no, i didn't. >> that's when she heard paul scream and the line go down. his months of growing fear had been validated by at least seven gunshots at close range. never had a chance to tell all of his doubters, i told you so. >> paul done sack was making a fresh start and suddenly he was dead. were others in danger? coming up -- >> we walked around wondering if we were next on the list. >> please hear conspiracy caught on tape. when dateline continues.

>> paul -- wife -- just hours before they were gonna build a live together in this new jersey home. she called 9-1-1. >> 9-1-1, what is emergency? >> hi, i'm speaking to my boyfriend as he was entering his home and i heard loud screaming and now there's dead air on the other end. >> police arrived on wednesday evening to find the 40-year-old pharmaceutical executive slumped inside a hallway, dead of multiple gunshot wounds. the killer, whoever he or she was, had left the house on scene and left it behind fairly clean. >> no hair fibers, fingerprints, dna, no murder weapon. >> no

murder weapon. >> all that good csi stuff is mostly absent from the scene. >> that's correct. >> brian, then a detective a local police department, says the victim had been shot at least seven times. to investigators, that suggested hatred. now, the officers were eager to speak with the ex-wife to learn where she had been at 6:30 that night. they quickly located her at her condo. >> she said that she had an appointment for her son in new jersey. she arrived later, at 6:20 and was at the doctor's appointment for 45 minutes thereafter. >> you checked it out and she was right? >> correct. >> she was alibied up. >> yes. >> spouses and exes are routinely checked out in these kinds of homicides. but stacey, the victims unhappy ex-wife, was in the clear. so, who was next on that list of possible shooters? >> the murdered man's brother covered to the chase when he spoke to detectives. >>

i said, i can't believe he actually did it. they like, who? >> ed. >> at, stacey's father. michael hurts told police the same thing when he learned of paul's death. he even thought it might try to nail him next. >> we all wondered around wondering if we were next on the hit list. >> you thought there is an enemy list of friends of paul? >> exactly. >> homicide list always pose a question, who benefited from the murder? here the victims brother investment were telling the police that stacey unquestionably stood to gain from her ex's death. she would be free now to move to florida with her children and raise them with money from the million dollar trust fund paul had set up for them. and who was the shooter in this? the father, giving the daughter a monstrous and bloody gift of liberation from a man they both loathed. detective stretch a call at at his home in florida, they say the way dotty said

that harassment was away and she had no idea how to reach him. >> sergeant russ was a detective with the prosecutions office in new jersey. >> he was essentially out of touch for 24 hours from the time of the murder. he's a person that we're looking to talk to. when you have that kind of situation, starting up bad flakes. >> the night after the murder, thursday, it did return to the police's calls. he told them that he was currently in louisiana that his elderly mother's. obviously, new jersey detectives were eager to interview him in person. they flew to louisiana. by the time they arrived, the one-time father in law had already hired a lawyer and invoked his right not to talk. but the detectives did get in a few words with his sister, brenda, that night. she told him, that he had arrived on their tuesday evening, one day before the murder of paul. >> i wasn't certain at that point if she was telling the

truth. he was still very early on in the investigation. >> so, the detectives kept looking into the families possible involvement in the murder. roughly a month after the crime, they attend wiretaps on various phone lines. but they heard, it sounded to them like a closet cover-up in the works. at, trying to make sure his family stayed on script when it came to that tuesday story, his alibi. >> you were there when i got there on tuesday. >> yeah. right. >> i just have to make sure that we're all saying the same thing if it comes to. >> and forcing his alibi at the time on his sister. basically telling her, i got there on tuesday. >> coaching story. >> yes. >> the detectives were also digging in the phone records for that summer. they came up with a ploy. cell phone seized by ed and his wife had been registering hits at salters just blocks from the victims new jersey home. only weak bees or so before the

murder. investigators also learned the florida capital -- couple had rented a vehicle in nearby pennsylvania in the same timeframe. >> what was going on with the family? >> they were surveilling paul's house. >> eventually, new jersey investigators and prosecutors were convinced they had enough. in june of 2006, after the death of paul, who traveled to florida, to the home of the aids family. >> they came with the swat team. >> the grandfather, that 300 pounds, remembers being overpowered by sheriff's deputies as his five-year-old grandson looked on in horror. it had been arrested for murder. his wife arrested for of just struck shun of justice. the authorities thought they had their man with a crime, but how were they going to break his alibi story? in louisiana on tuesday, the day before the killing. the relatives had circled the wagons around big

ed, who is about to tell the world a larger than life story about why he couldn't have possibly killed the man he once called family. >> coming up drama in the court as brenda takes the stand. she was his alibi. what will she say on her own? >> what i thought was the right thing to do. >> when dateline continues. e graves' disease, your eye symptoms could mean 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. up to 50% of people with graves' could develop a different condition called thyroid eye disease, which should be treated by a different doctor. see an expert. find a t-e-d eye specialist at isitted.com

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and st. louis this weekend. and now, let's get you back to dateline! ♪ ♪ ♪ >> this wasn't how edward, a highly decorated computer analyst for the military figured he'd be spending his retirement years. inside a courtroom, in a defendants chair, on trial. >> step from the cherry -- box >> and yet, state of new jersey was about to tell 12 jurors why they should convict this grandfather of murder. >> the case, the killing, paul. >> wayne mellow, this isn't for the county, opened the state's case, talking to the jurors not about the defendant, but about the victims. 40-year-old paul, while the pharmaceutical executive, how heat, the victim, had weathered a brutal divorce from edward's daughter, stacey. how paul, on the day he died, was trying to turn the page. on

the phone, chatting with his new fiancée, laurie, when he stepped into his house on the night of august the 3rd, 2006. >> he was inside the house and he said, and you left the air conditioning on. i said, no. i never turned on the air conditioning. suddenly, he started to scrape. >> on the south, the fiancée recounted paul's last words. he said, oh, oh, no. that, he stopped speaking. i heard a thud like a falling sound and nothing. i was calling his name and he wasn't answering. >> the court heard how the fiancée immediately called 9-1-1 and local police arrived within minutes to discover a lifeless pop, slumped inside a narrow hallway on an otherwise pristine house. >> at sign, anywhere at the residence of paul aforesaid tree? >> now. >> an investigator who process the crime scene testified that the

evidence pointed away from a botched robbery. the victim, he said, was still wearing rolex watch and had $300 in cash on him. multiple gunshot wounds were testimony to a violent death. >> does that tell you anything? >> tells me somebody wanted this man dead very, very badly. >> to print the standard defense argument that the cops never seriously pursued anyone but the accused, the prosecutor called a young neighbor to the stand. he told the court he had seen a green bay on with a mysterious woman inside it around the time of the murder. but the tip seemed to be one of those investigative red herrings. >> i did not then or now believe that that van was involved in this murder. >> instead, the prosecutor said the evidence gathered months after the murder showed that the killer was far from the nameless intruder. it was, in fact, someone who knew paul well and had plotted his death carefully. >> what we have here as a search is how to commit perfect murders. >> police

forensics expert provided damning testimony against the defendant. he explained how computer used by edward and later seized by police yielded the ghost of past online searches. >> is it true that on the hard drive that they found a search asking the questions, how do you commit the perfect murder? >> that is. true research how to pick a lock, how to purchase a lot picks at. research silencers, purchased two books on so there's. he researched 22 caliber weapons. >> not only did edward research counts, they said he owed him -- it to. he called an extremely reluctant witness for the prosecution, stacey, the daughter of edward at ex wife of the victims. >> would it be fair to say that your dad has a good knowledge of guns? >> he has a knowledge of them. >> okay. in fact, you know in 2006 that he owned a gun. >> yes, sir. >> the prosecutor was

trying to show that the defendant was not only comfortable around guns, but also had planned his order like an assassin, surveilling his intended victim in the week before the crime. sergeant christian told the story of this all tower, sulfone records that when edward squarely in his son-in-law's area. >> paul, it'll be the area, follow the same pattern day in and day out. >> same pattern? he's punching, and punching out. you could set your watch to him. >> we'll put. >> you were there when i got there on tuesday. >> the sergeant also tested -- attested to those wiretaps, one that edward reminded his sister when he arrived in louisiana. on a tuesday, before the wednesday murder of paul. >> he has co-opted his sister and his mother into a conspiratorial arrangement for apprehensions because it is clear that he was not there on tuesday. >>

asserted by the prosecution, but still not prevent. but that was about to change in most dramatic fashion. the defendant sister, brenda, took the stand. and a sophomore his, she, in effect, ratted out her brother. she recounted how he had asked her to lie to police, to tell them that he arrived on her doorstep on tuesday. >> you knew that was untrue. >> yes. >> changing her story now, she said her brother headed that arrived on a thursday, nearly 24 hours after paul's murder in a new jersey. >> still, brenda insisted on the stand that she was not telling the truth. >> it's a hard thing to have to testify against her brother, but i didn't really have a choice. i wanted to do what i thought was the right thing to do. >> with the alibi crushed by his own sister, that masonry of a circumstantial case was

falling and. the prosecution had portrayed a vengeful man, carefully plotting the murder of his former son-in-law, stalking his comings and goings and then, finally, lying in wait that wednesday night. speculation. had he been to the scene, knowing that paul would be agitated by finding a carelessly toss hamburger rapper and an air conditioner blasting away, was he led to the thermostat of that narrow hallway where he was where he was killed? it's clear, argued the prosecution, that had gotten his car and drove 21 and a half hours straight to his mother's home in louisiana, arriving thursday night. >> he is a very motivated person to turn to safety. almost poetically to the bosom of this mother. >> now, it had to return -- explain that away. his attorney would try to do just that with an novels offense. jurors, this man is

just too overweight to kill. >> coming up -- >> his abdomen was obviously obese at that time. >> that legal strategy that raised eyebrows from coast to coast. >> too old, too fat, too sick. >> yes. we proved it. >> as big gamble. when dateline continues. it's okay to show off. with dupixent, show off your clearer skin and less itch. because you have plenty of reasons to show off your skin. with dupixent, the number one prescribed biologic by dermatologists and allergists, you can stay ahead of your eczema. it helps block a key source of inflammation inside the body that can cause eczema to help heal your skin from within. many adults saw 90% clearer skin. some even achieved long—lasting clearer skin and fast itch relief after first dose.

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real weird. he was bad luck anyway. mommy: how are we ever going to find a car to fit our budget? daddy: and that fits all of us. kiddo: carvana! mommy: i don't want to spend more than 30k kiddo: budget. daddy: i want something we can go camping in. kiddo: style mommy & daddy: and we both need parking assist. kiddo: here! daddy: oh, carvana! announcer: buy your car the easy way with carvana. [coughing] copd hasn't been pretty. it's tough to breathe and tough to keep wondering if this is as good as it gets. but trelegy has shown me that there's still beauty and breath to be had. because with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open and prevents future flare-ups. and with one dose a day, trelegy improves lung function so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems.

tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy for copd because breathing should be beautiful. >> the prosecution had painted ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy for copd dennis murphy (voiceover): the prosecution edward as a liar, a scheme or, worst about, a cold blooded killer. but as his lawyer was

about to assert, those were just words. where was the hard evidence of edwards killed in the murder of paul? >> what i had to issue the most is that, including it could not have done it. >> attorney walter began his -- where the defense claim that the detective was so meticulously went over every piece of evidence collected there, failed to come up with anything. not so much as a fingerprint or fiber to connect ed to the crime. >> you're going to see a lot of what i call, well, that is interesting, what about that? but now one of those makes up beyond a reasonable doubt. >> what did you think, he, has been an eye witness would have remembered a strange, 300 pound man lumbering away in broad daylight? but the attorney did point out something a young neighbor had seen. a mystery woman inside a green van parked behind the victims home. >> is that a red herring are

interesting? >> it's very interesting. that probably was the murder. the probably had something to do with it. driven by a woman. every woman and now was accounted for. >> in other words, he says, paul was likely killed by an unknown intruder. maybe a rubber caught in the act and fled without taking anything. the lawyer says the testimony of the victims fiancée supports the theories. she recounted on the stand that paul said something like, oh, no, into his cell phone just before the line went dead. he never identified ed. >> paul didn't know the killer. if you are facing the someone killing you, and you have that cell phone, wouldn't you say the person's name? >> the defense had a lot of ground to make up. starting with the defendants initial alibi, which his sister seemed to smashed to bits. she told the court that her brother had asked to lie to police to say that he had arrived in

louisiana on tuesday, one day before the murder paul done sack, rather than one day after on thursday. cross, the defense lawyer, traditional brand, a nice moment, was easily confused. >> if i told you that detective christian set just where you are and said that brenda told me she gets confused, would that be true? >> occasionally. i have dye beat us and my mind -- >> she believed the truth was what the detectives told her it was. they told her the truth is thursday. and she said, well, you know, sir, you are a smart detective and i'm just a simple lady. that's what you say, it must be true. >> but the defense was about to tell the jury something really surprising. sister, brenda, hadn't been the only woman who had gotten it all wrong about exactly went and made it to louisiana. the defendant himself now said he had misspoken in those damning

wiretaps about arriving on tuesday. >> you were there when i got there on tuesday. >> yeah. >> it back, the lawyer said, edward had arrived in louisiana not on tuesday, the day before the murder, and not on thursday the day after the murder as the police claim. a. -- it was now saying he got to louisiana on was, a at the very hour paul was being killed in new jersey. >> to verify the amended day, a man who lived in the same neighborhood as its mother sister took the stand. his name was matt, he remembered seeing at and his car on the louisiana block on wednesday. >> you could see his haunted that week? >> yes, i did. >> what? >> wednesday. >> he said 17 times, i am certain it was wednesday. this man had no reason to lie. he is intelligent, awake, sitting right there, staring at the house. >> the lawyer was trying

to show that it could not have been killed -- killing paul and been in louisiana at the same day, physically impossible. it was about to show why the prosecution's theory of the crime was also straining reality. >> his abdomen was obviously obese at that time. >> and an awful defense that made headlines across the nation, the lawyer called an expert witness, a doctor to the sand, to show that edward could not have committed this type of murder. why? because the creaking grandfather was two out of shape. >> too old, too sick. >> yes. we proved it. they had nothing to refute that. >> medical expert testimony that edwards obesity -- asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, making it unlikely for him to have been able to run during or just after the crime. once more, his sleep apnea, that went to chronic fatigue, ruled out all night and all they get away from new

jersey to louisiana. >> dropped 21 and a half hours within a 24-hour period. >> that would be highly improbable. >> the reason by a copy behind the wheel, part by adrenaline fleeing, the scene is what? >> falling asleep. >> powered by adrenaline partially for four hours, five hours, six hours. then you have a crash. but adrenaline can't last 24 hours. >> defense is telling the jury it had been presenting no direct evidence to tie at to the murder of his former son-in-law. medically, there was no earthly way he could have done it. yet, there was all that circumstantial evidence still to explain away. that odd trip to pennsylvania and new jersey that week before the murder, the damning peter searches, and there is only 1% left who could do that. >> coming up -- >> ed takes the stand in his own defense. >>

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♪ ♪ ask your provider for cologuard. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ welcome back to "dateline." >> welcome back to dateline. i'm andrea canning. i'm adrian canning. ed was on trial for first degree murder in the brutal slaying of his former son-in-law. but his lawyers argued at 300 pounds, it was too obese to do the deed

and make the getaway. prosecutors insisted he had. the question was, what the jury by it? here is dennis murphy with the conclusion of, a novel defense. >> let me rephrase it, drive 21 and a half hours -- >> edwards lawyer had tried to show that his client wasn't in new jersey at the time of paul's murder. and that he wasn't in any physical shape to be killing anyone. but edwards still had to explain away the rest of the prosecution's case. >> have nothing. >> and he was able to do just that in a jailhouse interview with dateline during a break in his trial. for starters, he said, that drive that he and his wife had taken from florida a week before paul's death was not a reconnaissance, as the prosecution claims. it was an innocent vacation up north, with a detour into new jersey to make sure his daughter, stacey, had her children and then her former husband, paul, did not. >> they live close together. we got up to see how close we were. we saw if he was on vacation, he appeared to be on vacation. it drove back to the campground. >> he said the police had misread something else. those online searches. >>

how to commit the perfect murder? looking for bucks on making your own silencer for a weapon. that is a look at. those are bad facts to bring into a murder case. >> out of context facts, yes. i françois discussing how to commit a murder and being planned. i looked up is it available the internet. >> that did you lie in wait on your second block and then shoot him with a 20 27 times when he came into the direct? >> now, sir. >> did you hear him say, no, no, no? give him more than that going for your daughter, stacey? >> no, sir. i wasn't there. >> out the door, drive 21 hours? >> no, sir. >> motive, edward tells you, is where the prosecution's case really falls apart. he says he had no reason to avenge his daughter or to want his former son-in-law dead. >> i didn't have anything to get for it, that a marriage, they had a divorce. he never did anything to me. >> i didn't have a real feeling for him as far as either way. >> and he gambled by telling that story directly to the jury himself. >> why in violation of all the rules of the section of trial what a 1

to 2 elected to put that on the stand? >> this is a very intelligent man. he wanted to explain that he didn't do it. >> just as he had with dateline, edward told the jury his version of those computer searches and the trip north a week before paul's death. but in so doing, he left himself opening for the prosecutions cross-examination. >> you had murdered paul and cold blood and fled that scene driving to mothers home. is that the truth? >> no, sir. that is not the true. >> victims brought their, john, said he listen to edward's testimony in utter disbelief. he was praying the jurors had to. >> we knew he was lying. i did not kill paul. like, you know. you just felt he did. >> it was as shifting alibi for the crime that the prosecutor believed would undo the florida man. >> when he changed from i was in louisiana on tuesday to i was in

louisiana on wednesday, that was a mammoth sea change that the jury would never buy. it was the big lie. >> he has lied to you again and again and again. >> it is closing, the prosecutor theorized for the jury just why edward had gone to such lengths to kill paul. it was for his daughter, stacey, whose life had been fruitful ever since her divorce from the victims. >> she philly has nowhere to go. the father, her protector, wants her back. and wants those grandchildren in florida. so long as paul is alive, that will not be. i think, in part, and viewed this matter as, he just needed to kill him. >> look at. you look at him. >> all, rock replied the defense. it closes case by underscoring, again, why it could be the killer. he had no motive, he was too unhealthy to kill paul and flee the scene as police claimed. and he couldn't have been into places at once. in new jersey when paul was dying, in louisiana where it neighbor clearly identified him. >> matt saw him and his

car there wednesday night. august 23rd. >> now, it was the jury's case. but it wouldn't take long, just a little more than a day for it to render a verdict. >> what is your verdict? >> guilty. >> the 12 men and women who had heard the case agreed that edward had in fact murdered his former son-in-law, paul. too heavy to kill defense may have won points for being original, but these two jurors on the panel rejected it completely. >> he held his hand out, shot a gun and went to the neighbor's yard and got in a car and drove. >> they found the prosecutions evidence circumstantial that was, pointed overwhelmingly to the man's guilt. the computer searches, the sister's testimony, that mystery trip to new jersey. >> he knew the comings and goings of paul. he was in the house waiting and as soon as he came in the door, moved a few feet into the hallway, the door opened and it shot him. >> what really some bad for the jurors where this

is his decision to testify directly. it all snap together. >> i was certainly in shock that he took the stand. all of a sudden, the change of the story of when he actually got there. >> he held his hand out, shot a gun and went to the neighbor's yard and got in a car and drove. >> they found the prosecutions evidence circumstantial that was, pointed overwhelmingly to the man's guilt. the computer searches, the sister's testimony, that mystery trip to new jersey. >> he knew the comings and goings of paul. he was in the house waiting and as soon as he came in the door, moved a few feet into the hallway, the door opened and it shot him. >> what really some bad for the jurors where this is his decision to testify directly. it all snap together. >> i was certainly in shock that he took the stand. all of a sudden, the change of the story of when he actually got there. >> he's changed his

story as well. >> yes. >> just the changing of the story. we went from tuesday to wednesday to thursday. the wiretaps, that all certainly played into it. >> you are guilty. >> later in court, the victims brother, john, vented his fury at the man who took his brother's life and robbed his children up their father. >> the defendant's decision to take a life of a human being with no regard but it may have on others was imaginable. >> his daughter, stacey, who declined to speak to dateline, faces new charges in the death of her former husband. it is a fact that doesn't sit well with paul's brand, michael hearts. >> she's in florida now, with her family and children, with the tiny reserve of money. she's in the winners circle. >> yes, it said, isn't it? it said that after all of this, it worked out with such a nice need both for her. >> the judge had little sympathy for the

convicted killer, sentencing came to life without parole. but the man that put his chronic health problems that traditionalist trial, time is in short supply. edward died in prison at the age of 75. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm andrea canning. thanks for watching. canning. thanks for watching. canning. thanks for watching. canning. thanks for watching. canning. thanks for watching. canning. thanks for watching. canning. thanks for watching. ♪ ♪ ♪ good morning. welcome to the sunday edition of good