children. >> lee harshbargers walked the forests he taught his son love and that is sun so loved to hunt. >> he had a favorite saying, well, dad, that was another fine day of field. that was very awarding. >> and mary beth? probably the gift she sent her attorney is as heartfelt a comment as we will get. >> well, she sent me a little token of her appreciation, a bumper sticker that read it is as bad as it gets and they are out to get you. i thought that was pretty fitting. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm andrea canning. thank you for watching. thank you for watching hello, i'm andrea canning. and this is dateline. >> a beautiful woman at the

heart of a generation-old mystery. a young mom, torn between her photographer husband and her photographer lover, found dead in her own home. >> there was blood everywhere. >> but it would take years before dna science would advance enough to unlock the clues inside it. and then there was this diary. it also had a story to tell. >> everything she knew about him was a lie. >> a husband under suspicion. >> could not be more convinced there was more. >> a lover subject of speculation. >> all of a sudden, he has a motive. >> after more than a quarter century, would this family get justice? >> hello, and welcome to dateline.

she was a charismatic and talented young mother. when she died violently, her family hoped for quick justice. but as years went by with nobody arrested or charged, that hope faded. what did not fade, small traces of dna evidence. more than two decades after the crime, could that evidence solve this case? here's keith morrison with "haunting images." >> boyd underwood was back. back here where he always belonged, probably should not have retired in the first place, now the buzz cuts and sharp suits all around him were a generation younger with their high tech gear and their fancy new anaheim police department, but who else had the experience to make sense of what was in

here, this room of lost causes, so many cases gone cold. justice, denied. like this one about her, although god knows back then when they gave it to him, it did not look so hot. >> are we sure we want to get involved with this, you know? hindsight, i'm sure that's what the thing i should've done. >> maybe not, but then boyd opened that file. and what a story he found there, of the beautiful woman, the curious lies, and those strange books with their long ago private thoughts. but was he obsessed? should he have let it consume more than a decade of his life follow him into retirement? the woman he found in here was katherine, kit, as people called her. and certainly to an idolizing little sister named donna, she was something. >> everywhere she went, she was this bright smile that brought light into the room, and you gravitated towards her. >> donna and kit shared just about everything. >> she was just shining, just gorgeous.

she is just kit. and there's a gawky little donna, and she says come on, let's go have fun. >> and then, the fairytale that began in the happiest place on earth, isn't that what they call it? it was 1974. kit landed a job at the it's a small world attraction at disneyland, it is where she met, who else, prince charming. >> it seemed like a fairytale. she was really happy. we were happy for both of them. >> his name was gregory mordick. he was a foreman on it's a small world, and he was a gentle and easy. one of a kind, really. that he loved to cook was not so unusual, but he also loved sewing, and she liked that. also she liked that, also liked when he told her about his college degree, his service in vietnam. and so the wedding in 1977 was magic. kit was happy, and before long,

pregnant. first with elise, then breonna, and then a career. kit studied home economics so she launched her dream to become a food stylist, which meant she was the person who made it all looks so wonderful in the ads. >> it's something i don't have an eye for, because all of those corn kernels look the same for me. but when you are a food stylist, it is your job to find the best. >> she was good at it? >> very. very. >> her sister still has food photographs kit designed before some of boyd underwood's young detective buddies were born. these were published in the 1980s by the l.a. times home magazine. and that is when the strange story began again. maybe it was the fact that she had been married four years. was she bored? or maybe it was the close quarters, the long hours with the photographer for the food she prepared?

there was an affair. kit was in love, and she was catholic and consumed with guilt, and confessed it all to her husband. >> she went to him and said i've been with another man? >> yes. >> the very night it happened? >> that's what she told me. >> gregory seemed prepared to forgive. they both still swore they cared deeply for each other. but marriage is tough enough for two, there was not enough room for three. it was over. that christmas of 1982, kit's big brother joe o'connell saw how it was with the new guy. >> it was obvious they were very happy with each other. very, very happy. >> his name was henry, had his own photography studio. and donna dropped by one morning when kit was there. >> she was happy. she was in love. it was someone who treated her really good and was in love with her. they would have made a great family. >> kit was bursting with plans, announced she was moving to los angeles from orange county to be closer to her food styling

work. and then that weekend, it was january, 1983, decades later, what happened that weekend, the mystery of it was in a file on boyd underwood's desk, and a family was thinking back trying to piece together those incomprehensible events, starting with that first call. >> called at home, slightly before ten on saturday morning. >> did you pick up? >> no, i thought nothing of it. she's just gone for the day already, i missed her. >> she was supposed to come on saturday night, we never heard from her, she did not come. >> older brother joe remembers how she figured she was just busy with her move from anaheim up to l.a., no cause for alarm. it was not until sunday night that they decided to check on her. so joe says he and kit's boyfriend henry drove down to anaheim to kit's house. >> there were lights on in the house where we could see, so we

started to walk away thinking everything was fine. then as we turned to leave and walk off the porch, henry just looked into the garage. we saw her car. that is when panic started. >> it was a blur from that point on. everything frantic then. joe wrapped a jacket around his arm, he remembered, getting ready to punch his fist through the window of the porch. he saw him run around back. within moments, heard henry scream. henry had managed to get into the house through an unlocked patio door. he opened the front door. joe stepped inside, into a nightmare. >> i saw her lying there. there was blood everywhere. she was dead. she was murdered. >> coming up. kit's brother and boyfriend get grilled by police. >> was he questioned closely? >> we both were. >> when dateline continues. tion hydrates for a full 48 hours. because a lot can happen in 48 hours. dermatologist-recommended cetaphil.

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>> her head was almost gone. >> the case was old and cool before he found it. but before long, detective boyd underwood was sucked right into the puzzling mystery of what happened to the beautiful young food stylist back in january, 1983. kit's rather joe o'connell

talked about finding her body, and having to tell their parents. >> one of the hardest things i've ever done was to call my mom and dad and tell them what happened. i can still hear them crying. >> joe remembered how having heard not a peep from kit that weekend it 83, he and kit's drove through the sunday night dark to check on her. they found her in the dining room, lying in a pool of our own blood. her throat had been slashed. she was nude from the waist down. henry says joe seem to be a wreck. >> we were both crying. both out of control. >> maybe kit's killer was out of control too. the place was a mess. the tv haphazardly placed near the front door, the speakers ripped from the walls, a potted plant fallen on the floor. that chaotic scene, her skirt and underwear pulled down like someone had raped her, killed her. started to berlin's the house, but left before he was done. but to the police back then, it looked phony, like things had

been staged somehow. no sign of forced entry, just the rear sliding door left slightly ajar, the same door that henry had slipped through to find her body. back then, at the end of that weekend in january 83, please set out right away to interview people kit in's inner circle, including henry. >> was he questioned closely? >> yeah, we both were. >> of course, detectives also called gregory, by then kit's estranged husband. >> i got a call that kit was dead. >> more than a quarter century later, he said, the memory still haunts him. >> i remember sitting at the table, shaking. >> shivering? >> i was just upset. >> in a flash, says gregory, his whole world flipped upside down after that call. as kit's estranged husband, he too was treated as a person of interest, of course. and just like they did henry, police interviewed gregory. >> and you didn't kill kit? >> no. that woman was too beautiful.

>> he had just seen kit that weekend, he told police, when he had gone to their house to fetch their daughter for the weekend. a mom that lives on in his memory very clearly, he told us. >> nothing else, about 10 am in the morning, pick them up for a birthday party. >> he and kit chatted briefly, he said. and while the girls continued getting ready, gregory remembered going back and forth in the house, loading up his vw bug with presents for the birthday party, along with the girls car seats and overnight bags. >> we got the car, rearranged things a little bit, put him in. made sure the gate was closed. drove off. went to the party. >> by the time gregory had his chat with detectives, the autopsy report had come in and pretty much eliminated him as a viable suspect. it said kit was killed during pm hours on saturday. gregory had already taken the girls to a birthday party by then. so if not gregory, then who? police wanted to know if

gregory had seen anything unusual that day. could somebody have been lurking, waiting for him to drive off? >> was there anybody else there at the time? >> no, not in the house. >> okay. you went back out to your car in front? >> put the kids in the car, but the presence in. >> and then what did you do? >> went back and close the gate. got in the car and it was done. >> you can go back into the house that time for anything? >> no. >> they had made an agreement about that after they separated, said gregory. >> we had a policy of not going back. >> police poked around the crime scene. all they gleaned was it looked somehow staged. but no physical evidence to point who would've wanted to misdirect the police. oh, except there was this one curious thing, a letter in her handwriting and the intended recipient was sitting right in front of them. >> coming up, and there was more than just a letter that

might provide a clue in this case. there was a diary, too. >> everything she knew about him was a lie. >> when dateline continues. and a high-risk factor for it becoming severe. it does not prevent covid-19. my symptoms are mild now, but i'm not risking it. if it's covid, paxlovid. paxlovid must be taken within the first five days of symptoms, and helps stop the virus from multiplying in your body. taking paxlovid with certain medicines can lead to serious or life-threatening side effects or affect how it or other medicines work, including hormonal birth control. it's critical to tell your doctor about all the medicines you take because certain tests or changes in their dosage may be needed. tell your doctor if you have kidney or liver problems, hiv-1, are or plan to become pregnant, or breastfeed. don't take paxlovid if you're allergic to nirmatrelvir, ritonavir, or any of its ingredients. serious side effects can include allergic reactions, some severe like anaphylaxis, and liver problems. these are not all the possible side effects so talk to your doctor. if it's covid, paxlovid.

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with the benefit of 21st century technology, cold case detective boyd underwood could see the murder of that beautiful young mother in

anaheim hills, california, could quite possibly have been solved. after all, there was blood all over the crime scene, probably that blood had a story to tell. but back in the winter of 83, dna was still science fiction. so the cops back then were a few leads they did have, the sort of thing might, they hoped, would produce some circumstantial evidence of something. like the unopened letter lying on the dining room table. kit mordick had written it to her estranged husband. i'm ready to go forward, the letter said. i don't want to be disgruntled or angry. i want you to know i forgive you for everything, and i ask your forgiveness for the very deep pain i put you through. so pain, forgiveness, but for what? gregory himself offered one possible answer. his dream all they were married, kit's too, he said, what a business, food photography.

he would profit, she uninspiring photographer, would shoot it. >> it would be an easy home based business. >> why wasn't it? >> well, she decide to go out before i was ready, and that's when she met henry and started doing food photography for him. >> oh yes, henry, that other photographer. >> so she did exactly what you want to do, but did it with a different guy? >> yeah. >> and you two work together? >> but that never happened? >> it never happened. >> it never happened because, well, you already know the other thing that happened, the affair with henry, the guilt, kit's confession. gregory wrote about it in his diary. this is from august 1st, 1981. kit had an affair with henry. the act has not diminish my love or devotion to her one bit. i am truly in love with a special person. i find myself surprisingly acceptable to this whole situation. now, let's get on with our love

and life, and anyone who will join us, as long as the joiner does not try to hurt what kit and i had. >> it's like you were kind of accepting the idea that there would be two men in this relationship? >> it wasn't accepting, it was going, all right, this happened. she's a wonderful person. i could see why somebody would be attracted to her. we could move on. >> but? >> we moved on, but separately. >> separately, because of henry. but also because of that diary. kit's sister donna knew gregory kept one. she recalled asking kit about it. >> and i remember four years, can i ever read it? and she said oh no, that's his, that's his private work. >> but there it was, and temptation one. gregory was out of town. kit read those private pages and discovered the man she was married to had lied to her, whopping lies about graduating

from college, about serving in vietnam. now, any thought of saving the marriage was done. and caught in his lies, gregory took refuge in his diary. this is what he wrote on september 8th, 1982. all of my deceptions have come to light. no service in vietnam, did not graduate from college, and a few more to cover an escape route from this relationship. >> why would you have said those things? >> again, it goes back to this guy who likes to sow, who didn't fit in at disneyland very well, wasn't invited to parties. so i decided to embellish my life a little bit. and all of a sudden, people like me. >> but there was more. as kit read her husband's diary, she discovered a list of women's names. were these women he had slept with? gregory denied it, said these

were the names of women he admired. he never slept with any of them. but -- >> how do you read someone's diary and say everything she knew about him was a lie? >> months later, kit filed for a divorce. and so, when she was murdered just six days before the divorce was to be finalized, it wasn't long before her family pointed a finger at gregory. but police just didn't have enough evidence to arrest him. >> somebody left that house with a lot of blood on them. and here i leave the house and go straight to a birthday party. it's not like i disappeared for hours. >> and you are saying you had no blood because people didn't see you? >> no blood, no cuts. >> these are pictures from that birthday party. the man at the edge of the picture there in the red plaid is gregory. the host of the party said gregory was one of the first guests to arrive and was his normal, healthy, happy self. still, in the weeks and months that followed, the suspicions took its toll, and gregory finally moved, left southern

california for spokane, washington, with his girls, naturally. and gradually, the investigation petered out and the case went cold. but as the years past, the o'connell's relinquished hope there would ever be justice for kit, which of course is where boyd underwood enter the story, snooping through that old dead file, those forgotten private lies. if he had just dug a little deeper, what secrets might he find? >> old evidence plus new science begins to yield some clues. >> coming up -- >> all that taken together with certainly ratchet up the case against him. >> you start to be convinced he was part of that crime scene. >> when dateline continues. hen dateline continues caplyta is proven to deliver significant relief across bipolar depression. unlike some medicines that only treat bipolar i, caplyta treats both bipolar i and ii depression. and in clinical trials,

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(dad) fargo, what did i spend on groceries this month? (son) hey dad, can the guys stay for dinner? (dad) no... (vo) want to see everything fargo can do? you can, with wells fargo. hi, i'm frances river with the hours top stories. president biden is promising a response after three u.s. troops were killed and dozens more injured by a drone attack

sunday in jordan. the u.s. says the strike was carried out by radical iran-backed militant groups. the kansas city chiefs will take on the san francisco 49ers in super bowl 48, their second showdown in five years. the chiefs took down the top seeded ravens, will the nine has mounted a 17-point comeback versus the lions in sunday's conference title games. now, back to dateline. now, back to dateline. welcome back to dateline. i'm andrea canning. in 1983, a young mother of two was brutally killed in her southern california home. investigation went cold until more than two decades later accused detective hoped new technology would help crack the case. would there be enough evidence to finally solve the mystery? here again is keith morrison with "haunting images". >> gregory mordick wanted a fresh start. he was now the single father of two small daughters, and

bringing them up among suspicious in-laws in the town where their mother was murdered was increasingly unappealing. so gregory set up house here in eastern washington in eight middle class home in spokane. and he went about organizing a normal life. he was, as was generally agreed, an excellent father to his two little girls. >> they had security. they had a parent that was very involved in their life. >> and for himself? gregory went back to his first love, taking pictures. he set up a studio in downtown spokane, photography by gregory. and kit's gentle death 1000 miles south and southern california faded into history, except for a family, kit's family, convinced, right or wrong, that her killer was in fact gregory. they had, after all, witnessed the shouting and shoving matches, the acrimony that preceded the breakup and murder. >> by 1985, pretty much, we knew that he had gotten away

with it. >> did you ever give up on the idea that someday there would be justice? >> sure, in this world i did. >> it was 1999, long after the family had given up, when boyd underwood came along. >> one of the administrators asked me if i look at this case in particular. >> and if anyone could break the case, maybe boyd could. anaheim cops since 1964, rose up the ranks to homicide detective, even assigned to protect president nixon on the visit during the 68 campaign. he had heard kit about's murder back in 83 but by then he had gone to work at the d.a.'s office, where he retired in 95. what was the snooping around this old file years later in 1999? simple, boyd it was not the retiring type, came back to work a new unit in the orange county d.a.'s office, trackers they called it. its mission? revisit cold cases and clues. here he was, the last faint

chance for justice, probably would go nowhere. but then something caught his attention, a piece of evidence found back in 1983 in kit's a closet, a plastic bag. >> the criminals at that time just identify the evidence on the plastic bag as being human blood. it was not the same type of blood from the victim. >> in fact, in the early 80s, that's all science could tell, that the blood on the bag was a different type than the victim. but silently, patiently, that dna waited. and in 1999, there was a whole new scientific world. >> back in 83, they had obtained a blood sample from the husband. we had a match. that was his blood that was found on that plastic bag. >> inside a closet? >> inside the closet. >> though of course, that was also gregory's closet for more than four years. he had only been out of the place for a couple of months. boyd decided to have all the evidence retested. and now, gregory's dna turned

up in several places, a tiny spot on the closet doorknob, on a rear sliding glass door, and in a powder room sink. but the amount was miniscule, so perhaps it meant nothing. gregory could have left it there when he lived in the house, except -- >> the bathroom sink had her blood and his dna mixed. on the sliding door, there was a mixture of her blood and his blood. but you start getting more convinced that he was part of that crime scene. >> then boyd listened to who the old police interviews from 1983 and something jumped out. on the day gregory saw kit and picked up his girls, he said, he put them in their car seats then got back towards the house to close the front gate. when he returned to the car, he told detectives, his elder daughter asked him a question. >> what took you so long, daddy? i said to close the gate. she said, did you have a fight with mommy? -- anymore?

>> i'm thinking, why would he want to put that in there? >> remember, gregory had said he never won back into the house after strapping the girls into the car. but if his daughter complained he was gone too long, maybe he did go in there, took the time to kill kit. all in all, decided boyd, there is enough evidence by 2001 to warrant a little visit with gregory up in spokane. >> but are you willing to talk to us about the death of your wife, katherine mordick? >> and he was, as he had been years earlier, perfectly cooperative. even let them search through his house. so boyd and colleagues offered gregory a chance to confess. >> tell us how it happened. >> what happened when you went back to the house? >> i don't recall going back into the house. >> come on, greg. how can you not -- how can your blood be mixed with her blood and you not

recall going back into the house? how can you not remember? you can see how weak that is. >> and how could your wife's head be almost severed from her body and you not remember? >> i mean, you can just charge me. >> but boyd didn't charge him. couldn't, because the prosecutor told him he just didn't have enough to make a case. the interview and serge did produce a few old diaries. gregory had never thrown them away, but it wasn't enough. >> did you think about just giving up on it? >> no. >> there was something there? >> i've always thought so. i don't think we ever would give up on it. >> and then summer of 2007, boyd was frozen to one of the young guys, felt like he had a case, but how could he sell it to the d.a.'s office. and boyd's been around for a long time, more than dna science has change. >> i was working with a fella,

and icon propeller head, because sort of a computer, you step into his head immediately. so he suggested why don't you do a powerpoint. i said, what is a powerpoint? >> he learned, fast. and finally the evidence assembled in that power point presentation, bits of gregory's blood in the house, his and kit's dna mixed on that rear slider in the bathroom sink, and gregory's diaries persuaded the d.a.. still, to solidify their case, might be wise, the d.a. decided, for boyd to pay gregory one last visit in spokane, see if he could turn up some fresh evidence. perhaps would lock, to puncture gregory's consistent denial he had gone back into the house after putting their little girls in the car that long ago saturday morning. so in 2008, 25 years after the murder, boyd took one last shot. two colleagues conducted the interview and used an old, if an lovely tactic, perfectly legal, mind you. they told gregory a lie.

it was in more polite parlance a ruse. >> i know, give us something here. give us an opportunity to help figure this out. >> the detective told gregory that his dna had been found on the waistband kit of's tights. he pushed gregory to explain how could it have gotten their? remember, it was not true. his dna was not found on her clothes. but listen to what gregory said. >> what really happened that day? what happened when you went back in that second time? why did you go back in? >> i took the kids out of the car and forgot the birthday present. >> what happened when you got back in the house? because that's where the crux of this whole thing. >> nothing. i picked up the president and left. >> and you heard it, gregory changed his story, just enough, he put himself in the murder scene alone with kit. and with that, a quarter century after the murder of his estranged wife, gregory mordick was arrested and charged with first degree murder.

boyd called kit's brother, joe. >> i think you said we've arrested him and i didn't know what for, honestly. remember, i don't even know. why did you address him? >> why indeed? dna from an uncertain time, a few ambiguous comments in a private diary, and a cop's trick that produced a slightly edited story. wasn't anywhere near enough? maybe not. >> coming up, the focus was about to fall on the other man in kit's life. >> if the relationship wasn't working out and he was going to lose her, all of a sudden he has a motive. >> when dateline continues. n dateline continues

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older, grayer, so hard of hearing he wore ear pieces in court. gregory mordick, mild mannered photography, sat as a defense table and listen to the prosecution accuse him of murdering the lovely young wife who rejected him. but was this going to be easy? no it wasn't >> i was convinced by this evidence this case was prove-able. >> assistant d.a. dan wagner believed in the case, mostly because he believed in science

and the dna. >> it just waits in a locker room in the dark, waiting. and this modern technology brought him out. and it has a story to tell. >> here's what he showed the jury, tiny drops of gregory's blood on a closet doorknob on this plastic bag found inside of the closet. a mixture of gregory's dna and kit's blood on a sliding glassdoor. and the pièce de resistance, the one piece of evidence according to the prosecutor that inexplicably linked to gregory. it came out of the bull of the bathroom sink, kit's blood mixed with gregory's dna. >> given the separation, he hadn't been living in the house for months, there is no innocent explanation for his dna remaining on that particular spot of the zinc. >> then the medical examiner that formed kit's autopsy all those years ago took the stand, the very one who signed off on the autopsy report that said kit was killed during pm hours. now, a quarter century later, he told the jury, he re-examined his report and

decided it was possible kit was killed as early as 10 am, when gregory was at the house. and as for motive, there were these diaries, the ones obtained by detective boyd underwood. >> when i first saw them, they were downstairs in what i would call a storage room. >> boyd sat in the witness stand as prosecutor wagner read through gregory's diaries, painting a picture of a rejected man who seemed tormented by the possibility he'd lose his children in the divorce. >> the hardest part is saying goodbye to my girls, not tucking them in. this will be devastating. it's almost in compasses taping. >> the diaries were important. they gave us some insight into the defendants mind, particularly how he was very attached to his daughters, more so than the average parent, let's say. >> but there is more in those dire, the prosecution said. gregory confessed in this private place there had been violence in that marriage, the

last incident only weeks before kit was killed. >> goodbye, kitty. kitty and i had a fight this evening. she struck me, i lost my temper and struck back. >> then there was that police interview, in which reacting to a planted police lie, gregory appeared to admit he was alone in the house with kit on a day of the murder. so, said the prosecution, opportunity, motive, and dna all pointed to gregory as the murderer. but was not evidence enough? >> when you get into the details, and then you see all the problems that were there. >> not nearly enough, said defense attorney jack early. that vaunted dna sample of gregory's blood? police had a little storage problem with that. >> when did you discover that mr. mordick's vial of blood had broken in evidence room and spilled on other items? >> i don't think i was aware of that until maybe 1999 or 2000. >> gregory's blood sample had

leaked on to some of the evidence packaging, and that, said the defense, hopelessly compromised the integrity of the dna. besides, hadn't gregory lived with kit almost five years? of course his dna would be in the house, said the defense, and would have mixed with his wife's. but one place gregory's dna was not found, said the defense, was anywhere on kit's body or clothes, something you would expect to find if he had slit her throat and pulled off her clothes. besides, said the one who threw that birthday party gregory went to after seeing kit, he certainly didn't look like he just killed someone. >> now, when he was there, did you notice any injuries to mr. mordick? >> no. >> did you notice any blood on him in any manner? >> oh, my goodness, no. >> did he -- was there anything unusual about him at the party? >> no, not at all. >> but if not gregory, and who was the killer?

well, wait for it, through this testimony the defense made a stunning implication. >> did she tell you that things were not working out with someone named henry? >> i believe that she indicated that there was some problems with him, yes. >> henry, the man kit left gregory for? what motive could he possibly have had? well, now the implication got much bigger. >> well, if the relationship wasn't working out, he was going to lose her. all of a sudden he has a motive. and it's very important that he moves on to donna, the new sister, shortly afterwards. >> well, yes, it's true at least that henry kit and's sister donna did fall in love after the murder. donna wrestled with her emotions at the beginning, she says. >> i don't deserve this, you know. your my sister's guy. this is weird. it's not, because when it's him

and i, it's normal. >> they married a year after's murder. the defense saw an opportunity, and pounced. remember that rear sliding door that henry wants you to find kit's a body? henry had left the door slightly ajar, the same way the killer had, the defense pointed out. >> let me ask you, do you only partially closed doors when you go through them? >> i don't remember closing the door. so if that's how far i closed it, that's how far i closed it. >> there is as much evidence, as much things about henry as there is about greg that don't make sense. >> ludicrous, said the prosecutor, and pointed out henry had an alibi anyway, he was a two hour drive away in san diego the day of the murder. so now the defense played its final card, gregory mordick himself. >> did you kill your wife? >> no. >> why put gregory on the stand? one main reason, to answer for that final police interview when he reacted to that ruse by

appearing to change his story about going back and kit to's house after he picked up his kids the day of the murder. >> after you put brian and close the gate, did you ever go back into the house? >> no. >> did you think when they told me about your dna being found on her clothes? >> there's no way. i did not touch kitty that morning. >> he was shocked, confused by the detectives ruse, the defense told the jury. but what about those diaries, asked prosecutor wagner in his cross examination? the diaries had seemed to outlined a real motive for murder. >> you wrote at various times it was almost more than you could bear thinking about that separation. >> i wrote that down. >> why? >> because it's come to bite me now instead of being true feelings at the time, you're trying to make me bite me. >> he had never been charged if he had just thrown those diaries away. >> why did you keep them? >> there is nothing in there except my history, our history

together. what was to be thrown away? >> well, what they did is they look back and said, look, he was involved in these violent incidents. and in fact, he even admitted he was violent in his diary. so he must have been violent enough to -- >> kitty started every one of them, unfortunately. i got tired of being hit. so i grabbed her arms. and i'm the bad guy. >> well, was he? after nearly a month of testimony in 26 years since kit 's murder, the jury retired. and guilty or not? hard call. >> coming up, the jury returns but, and to the prosecution it's -- >> it's just like a gut punch, all the way down. >> when dateline continues. when dateline continues finish ultimate, with cyclesync technology, helps deliver the ultimate clean. ♪

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here with the conclusion of "haunting images" is keith morrison. >> in the fall of 2009, a jury in santa ana, california, puzzled over the case gregory of mordick, charged with killing the wife who left him a quarter century earlier. the case was largely circumstantial, a smidgen of possibly tainted dna, a story that seemed to change, and those sad, possibly desperate, scribble's in a private diary. in a hallway outside the courtroom, kit's family paced

nervously. her little sister, donna, held out hope. >> there is no way that there is anything. they'll be back in a few minutes. >> in fact, it was days. but the jury did come back. family members braced themselves, and -- >> my understanding is that the jurors are at this point in time hung, is that right? >> that's correct. >> they were hung, not just hung, split, 6 to 6. >> 6 to 6 was like a gut punch. all the wind went out. >> he recovered his poise, told the judge he'd try mordick again. >> i was attached to the victims family. in some respect, i felt a certain duty to them. >> and then september 2010, the o'connells filed into court. prosecutor wagner stuck to the science, gregory's dna in the house. how could his dna be present when he had not lived in the home for more than two months? >> i lived there for 4.5 years. >> yeah but you've been away for, months? >> two months, two months to

eradicate all of your dna? >> yeah, when she cleans the house once in a while, yeah, i probably would? >> kitty was a terrible house cleaner. even a police said they had never seen such a filthy house. >> the defense, it turned out, had been busy. it had retested the blood evidence on that rear sliding door, the one that sewed a mixture of kit's blood and gregory's dna. and the result was quite stunning. gregory and his daughter shared an identical blood protein. >> we were very excited because we were hoping just one. as it ends up, both daughters had that. >> so it was impossible, defense attorney jack early said, to be absolutely 100% certain it was only a mixture of gregory and kit's blood on that slider, it could've been a mixture of the entire family piled on over the years. then after weeks of testimony, another jury left the courtroom and the waiting began again. >> based on the results of the first trial, i did not have the same sense of confidence the second time.

>> gregory, however, was confident as thanksgiving weekend approached. >> everybody was going, hey, we will see you on the weekend. >> that after two days, the jury rang the bailiff. a verdict. >> we the jury in the above titled action find the defendant, william gregory mordick guilty of murder in that first degree. >> and gregory, before the shock set in, thought he simply heard it wrong. >> i just couldn't believe i didn't hear the word not. i kept on looking at the court clerk going there is a word missing. >> but one prosecutor dan wagner finally heard those words -- >> it's a rush. it's a relief. , think about the people behind you, what they've been through, what this will mean to them, justice for the victim. >> at the sentencing hearing, kit's family pronounced the words they'd stored up nearly 28 years.

>> there's a hole in our lives, a hole left by this murder. >> i wish richard and had an idea of what they missed out on in their life. >> oh, but they do, said gregory, in reply. they all do. >> the o'connell family thinks they are the only one who's missed kitty. and that's not true. she's missed by my family, myself, my two beautiful daughters. >> daughters, who throughout it all, had been staunch defenders of their father. in court, the elder of the two spoke for both her parents. >> my family and i have now been sentenced to another 25 years of pain and agony. i miss my mother very much, but it's not fair that my father is being taken away. >> for a long time, the sentence, 25 years to life. while he sat in jail waiting to be transferred to a new prison but, i asked him about his

daughters. and gregory said but -- >> at least i've got their love. >> and kit's family, what did they have? >> i think she's in my soul. you know, she's not here physically. she is with us. >> and finally, one determined detective officially retired again. this case, for him, was, well -- >> very emotional. >> was it worth all that time you put on this thing? >> oh yeah. sure. >> the case boyd underwood came back for, the case of his life, is closed. >> >> this sunday, fighting on toti donald trump wins the new hampshire primary, moving him closer to a rematch with president joe