>> no. i'm going to be honest and cut you short on that one. i don't care. and put it this way -- he's a footnote in history. just one more person with a gun. so screw you. you get nothing. >> how rubenstein would rather talk about his friend jonathan. what that man taught him about life. >> if you are going to still be here, don't sit there with one foot in the back door waiting to see. no, you grab life as long as you get the chance, and you grab it for yourself. >> hello. i'm craig melvin, and this is dateline. the plot was hatched, this dreadful plot. >> there were some family

rivalries and betrayal and murder. >> what were the last hours on earth like for her? >> it lurks here on this storied family estate, a mystery as tangled and gnarled as the trees that reach for the sky. >> i think she's dead. >> i can't sleep most of the time. >> a crime like a storm. everyone could see it coming. she was missing, the matriarch with a grip on her powerful family fortune. did someone have a powerful motive to do her harm? >> i saw bruises on bonnie's arms, like someone had grabbed her. >> she looked at him and said, you tried to kill me. >> who is behind this? a search in the dark. a secret in the family, and the jailhouse interview to make your jaw drop.

>> you said you wished you were dead, and then later, she became dead. >> this is a twisted tale deep in the heart of texas. >> people who are desperate will do desperate things. erate >> hello, and welcome to dateline. a city in the texas hill country, although tiny in size, it is huge in the pecan growing business, even called the pecan capital of the world. the name harkey was synonymous with the pecan industry. when the matriarch of the family, bobby harkey, went missing, it sent shockwaves through the community. where was bobby harkey? here's john mankiewicz with the queen of the county. >> in this country, we've always loved stories about power, money, the struggle to get our hands on both.

dallas was the saga of a proud texas family rich and ruthless. the story you are about to hear is like that. maybe less glitz and less glamour. but then, jr ewing was never as coldhearted as some of the people you are about to meet. this epic tale of greed and betrayal is set not in dallas, but in san saba. the tiny town in the texas hill country. and it stars a family that learned how to make money grow on trees. at the heart of the matter, a feud fooled by a lust for land, stoked by a battle of generations. and front and center, the life and times of the matriarch, bonnie harkey, who controlled a family fortune a century in the

making. >> i always say she was queen of the county, because she really was a big fish in a mall pond. >> misses teresa cook, bonnie harkey's niece. >> they were well off, and they were property owners. >> by local standards, very wealthy. >> by local standards, sure. >> they were so prominent that the harkey name was carved into monuments on the road side of san saba. >> on the six generation of my family here in the county. >> light harkey says all of the family descended from two brothers who came to the hill country in the 1850s. >> there were two boys who came in they were scouts and found this country when nobody lived here. >> a proud family history to be sure, but on march 25th, 2012, a new and bloody chapter was added. >> i remember that sunday morning because of what happened the rest of the day.

>> the events that would forever fix that day in the reverend sam crosby's memory. centered on 85-year-old bonnie harkey. an active member of the first baptist church of san saba. >> she be right here. >> she be right here. even after she had to have her caretaker, she would bring her. >> the trouble began a few hours after church down at the harkey place, a few miles west of town. it was about 5:30 for the san saba sheriff's department dispatcher receiving this call from a young boy. >> i found my mom on the floor. i think she is dead. i'm at the harkey residence. >> turns out the 11-year-old's mother was karen jantz and, bonnie harkey's caretaker. >> you don't know if there's anybody else there?

>> no, ma'am. i just really, really worried. i'm using bonnie's house phone. i can't find bonnie anywhere. >> within minutes, the san saba sheriffs department had deputies on their way. >> you have an eta? >> in a rural area where locals listen closely to police scanners, some worry deputies might be chasing some dangerous desperado. >> is there somebody loose? >> no, no. there up there ms. harkey's place. >> the harkey place was a local landmark, and a san saba sheriffs department deputy was the first to arrive. >> i walked in, karen johnson's body was laying face down in the doorway, which raised some suspicion. there really wasn't any clear signs of struggle. it was questionable.

there were issues that were at play. the fact that she was dead right by the front door, i just didn't make a whole lot of sense. the fact that i found a broken fingernail on her hand. >> karen johnson's son, the boy who had called number 911, told investigators he had been playing a video game in the their bedroom all afternoon and had not heard or seen anything unusual. strange, but would also concern the lawman was the fact that bonnie harkey was not there. >> so you are thinking bonnie harkey is out there somewhere and maybe the orchards? >> that was the thoughtless sheriff brown. >> bonnie had serious health problems. she was frail, suffered from dementia, and in short, she had to be found and fast. >> sheriff called in the prison dogs and the helicopter. >> she can't of gone very far. >> correct. >> were to bonnie harkey's disappearance it spread far and

wide, and her stepson, bruce harkey, who had been visiting his brother in fort worth that weekend, call the sheriff's office wanting to know some details. >> this is bruce harkey. i'm getting some awful strange phone calls and i'm trying to figure out what is going on. he said they found some lady dad, and bonnie was missing, and something about having a road blocked off and everything. >> even bonnie's niece teresa and memphis heard the news within a few hours of the first 911 call. >> my other and i always speak on sunday nights, and she had called me and said bonnie is missing. and we both kind of went -- oh, no. >> teresa cook may have been hundreds of miles from where searchers were looking for bonnie harkey. but she says she knew right away her aunts disappearance, connected to the decades long battle over the remains of the

harkey fortune. >> her family. >> coming up, the search for the missing matriarch. >> i saw bruises on bonnie's arms, like someone had grabbed her. >> and somebody sure seemed to know something. >> i have some information about where bonnie harkey is. >> i was deftly concerned. >> when dateline continues. lin ♪ so, ask your vet about nexgard combo®. the only one-and-done monthly protection in an easy-to-apply topical solution that protects against fleas, ticks, heartworm disease, roundworms, hookworms, and tapeworms. use with caution in cats with a history of seizures or neurologic disorders. ♪ you're the one that i want ♪ nexgard combo, the one you want for one-and-done monthly protection. this new charmin ultra soft smooth tear is soooo soft and soo smooth. new charmin ultra soft smooth tear

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>> if the harkey's of san saba were ever made into a television drama, it would be chock full of character actors. there would be a gentleman farmer, a pair of impatient heirs and waiting, a ne'er-do- well grandson, is enabling girlfriend, and the rock of the family would be a white-haired matriarch named bonnie harkey. >> she had bookclub, red hat society. she was just constantly socializing. >> there were roughly 200 acres to the harkey spread. with valuable water rights along the san saba river, a rambling farmhouse, and nearly 3000 pecan trees. >> with people you're the harkey name in that part of the country, what do you think? >> the harkey's were the somebodies. and you know, i know bonnie

enjoyed that. >> and that was maybe just the way she picked her that. back in 1963 when bonnie met and married riley harkey. at the time, riley was a recently divorced father with two ways. bonnie, a single mom with a teenage daughter of her own. >> it was a coup, especially for a single mother who was really looking at having to either find a husband or work for the rest of her life. in the early 60s, it was tough to be a divorcee. it was tough to be a single mother. >> now more than 50 years later, the queen of the county was missing. searchers were still out in the orchards looking for bonnie harkey when a resident who had been listening to the police scanner called with a vital tip. >> i know things are crazy right now, but i might have some information on where bonnie harkey is. >> the caller said she knew that bonnie harkey's 28-year- old grandson, carl, had visited her that very afternoon.

>> i'm 99% sure carl presley's involved. >> was carl presley? >> carl presley is the adopted grandson of bonnie harkey. bonnie harkey had a daughter, bonnie. connie adopted carl pressly at a very young age. >> when you hear calls come in, you think -- what? >> i was definitely concerned. >> why so much concern of a grandsons visit to his elderly grandmother? that's a tangled veil, really, that begins with the way carl pressly came to join the harkey clan in the first place. >> connie said that she adopted him from a homeless woman, a homeless couple that were living in a car. and that they couldn't take care of him, and so they were willing to give him up for adoption. that's what i know. >> teresa says there was always something a little bit off

about carl. something that tended to make other people uncomfortable. >> he was very odd and very sad at the same time. he seemed to be a very lonely, needy child. very clingy child. nobody really seemed to want him to cling to him. >> teresa says there was nothing bonnie wouldn't do for carl. >> she would buy carl a truck and he would wreck the truck, and then she would buy him another one. and he would get a job, he would lose a job. she would house him. he was stealing pecans from the harvest and selling them. i mean, she was constantly bailing him out of one situation or another. giving him money. >> in spite of that, carl, who had a hard shell than anything that came out of these trees, was known to be verbally abusive to his grandmother if he didn't get what he wanted. teresa says that once when she dropped by to visit bonnie, she had an unsettling encounter

with carl, who was also there. >> everything i said, he would argue against. he just fought with me. it was like he couldn't get along to anybody. and i saw bruises on bonnie's arms, like somebody had grabbed her. and little old ladies bruised so easily. i said to my mother on the phone, i said, i would not be surprised if carl pushed her down the basement stairs. >> given that history, it was understandable that investigators ears perked up once they learned that the last person who dean bonnie harkey the day she went missing was carl pressly . >> if we were able to find carl, we've been able to find bonnie hart. >> according to the tipster, he was with his girlfriend, lillian king. they were writing in her car. >> she's driving a 2004 mustang. >> soon, just about every lawman in texas was on the lookout for the 2004 mustang. but in the meantime, deputy

wilkerson's as the san saba sheriff took a more personal approach. >> he sending multiple text messages. he has numerous brushes of law enforcement. >> absolutely. >> wouldn't it be great if police could just text suspects and get them to come in? but the world doesn't work like that. except, perhaps, and san saba. just after midnight, carl pressly was bonded. he was in normandy, texas, where he and his girlfriend lived in a trailer at an rv campground. though norman g is more than three hours from sense abba, carl promised the sheriff he would be back by daybreak. >> i think maybe about the time those closed, the phone rang. it was about 7:00 in the morning. and dispatch told me that carl pressly had showed up to the sheriff's office , and sheriff brown needed me up there asap.

>> and so with little or no sleep, deputy wilkerson said he was headed back to the office and had a face-to-face encounter with the man most likely to know where bonnie harkey was. >> a devoted caretaker dead, and the family matriarch missing. now, another life in danger? coming up. >> he had three knives on him, so i had to do what he's dead. >> with dateline continues. like a day out with friends. that's nice, but shingles doesn't care! 99% of adults 50 years or older already have the virus that causes shingles inside them, and it can reactivate at any time. a perfect day for a family outing! guess what? shingles doesn't care. but shingrix protects. only shingrix is proven over 90% effective. shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older.

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>> here's the thing about lawman in rural texas -- they don't have all the gadgets and gizmos that come with working in a big city. >> it's a different world. you're working with limited budgets. you have to improvise. >> that's what san saba deputy john wilkerson did with carl pressly, the chief suspect in the disappearance of bonnie harkey and the death of her caretaker, who came in for questioning. wilkerson used the video recorder embedded in his car. >> and that's your interrogation? >> he was not under arrest. carl pressly wore prison stripes for his interview, because investigators had taken his closed so they can run tests on him.

>> were not making accusations at this point. just trying to get him locked down into his original story. >> from the beginning, carl pressly admitted he and his girlfriend lillian king going out to his grandmother's house for a visit that sunday. >> remember how long you stay there? >> during the interview, he started trying to pretend like he couldn't remember certain things. >> eventually, carl's memory improved. you remember how he took his grandmother out of the house to protect her from some tough guys he owed money to. >> the story is, to protect his grandmother, he picks her up in the evening and drives her to rainey's crossing and drops her off. >> an 85-year-old woman? >> correct. >> officers did search that location, and then carl told another story. he said he had taken bonnie back to his trailer.

>> he misses his grandmother, and he wanted to see her, which again, didn't make a whole lot of sense. >> that's because investigators knew nothing to suggest that carl pressly had ever missed anyone during his 28 years on planet earth. >> we are trying to figure out, where's your grandma at? where is she at? >> i think she's up there. >> okay. were up there? >> norman g. >> why did you put her there? >> in short order, texas lawmakers were combing the trailer for clues. but they found nothing until carl was flown to normingee. >> i told her i wanted to show her a fishing hole down by the creek, and we went down there and stuff happened. >> tell me what kind of stuff

happened, carl. >> it's hard, sir. >> is this going to be her? >> right there. right there. >> all right, carl. it's all right. it's all right. come on, carl. >> i didn't mean to. i didn't mean to. i didn't mean to. i didn't mean to. >> bonnie harkey was dead, her body lying in a creek bed your carl's trailer, buried beneath a pile of sticks and leaves. >> so carl admits that he pushed her on the back of her head. holding her face underwater until she no longer moved. >> it was the same story lillian king had already given to lawman back and san saba. she had been there, she said, when the caretaker was killed, and had stood idly by while carl killed his grandmother.

but in lillian's telling of the story, she could very well have been carl pressly's third murder victim that day. >> he had three knives on him. three. you know, so i had to do what he said. >> what had driven carl pressly to kill one of the few people on earth who ever loved him? that was a question to which no one could supply an answer. >> she did dote on him. no one could quite understand why. >> but she couldn't in the last four or five hours of her life. >> yeah. >> investigators did know why carl pressly killed his grandmother, but they were pretty sure there was more to this murder than met the eye. and that there could be clues in the harkey family history. >> coming up. a million-dollar inheritance. a neighbor from hollywood. and a handful of ex-wives.

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my name is oluseyi and some of my favorite moments throughout my life are watching sports with my dad. now, i work at comcast as part of the team that created our ai highlights technology, which uses ai to detect the major plays in a sports game. giving millions of fans, like my dad and me, new ways of catching up on their favorite sport.

>> the matriarch of a prominent

pecan growing family had been brutally murdered by a member of that family. but why? the more investigators pondered that, the more they came to believe the answer might be found in a long-running family feud. >> the first time i met the harkey family, i was bailiff at the court because we were shorthanded. i got to sit through a little hearing where the harkey's were trying to gain control of the property. and you could tell it was a very heated situation. very heated. >> that pot had been at a slow boil ever since that day in 1963 when bonnie harkey became stepmother to her husband riley's two boys, bruce and john. >> bruce and johnny just didn't like bonnie. they didn't like her at all. and so almost from the beginning, it was acrimonious. >> what form do that acrimony take? >> bruce and johnny were just rude to bonnie, openly and holding her. >> she just let it go.

>> a lot of blended families have rough starts, but this newly grafted branch of the harkey family tree never had a chance. >> i don't think riley made a real effort with his voice to say, this is a wonderful woman, i want you to grow to love her like i love her. i think he just said, here you go. >> she seemed to of been better with pecans and people. >> yeah, yeah. >> soon enough, john was off to college and bruce was shuttled off to live with his mother in nevada for a while. that left only bonnie's teenage daughter connie at home. >> riley never adopted connie. she was an afterthought. she was never brought into the family. >> this is sounding less like the brady bunch and more like the ewings every day. >> the ewings without the culture. it was really just constant drama. >> the boys took different career paths and john became a

businessman. bruce had a number of different jobs. at various times, he was a cop in reno. a medicaid fraud investor for the texas attorney general's office, and a nursing home administrator. along the way, he married and divorced eight -- count them -- eight women. still, as the years rolled by, the boys feelings for bonnie seemed to fester. there were a lot of reasons for that, but maybe the biggest one was a will their father riley had drawn up shortly before he died in 1997. >> riley's will specifically said that bonnie could live on that property as long as she was alive. and then when she died, the land would go to the boys. and then there was a small inheritance for connie, and if connie died, then there would

be a trust for carl. but the majority of the inheritance went to bruce and johnny. >> of the property alone was worth more than $1 million, for the harkey brothers, it wasn't worth a dime because they could neither farm it nor sell it until bonnie died. bruce, especially, seemed to chafe at the thought of that. >> he was the poorest millionaire and san saba county. >> sean oliver says he was down and out in late 2007 when he resettled and san saba after being away for many years. >> he had no income coming in, and every time he drove by that property, all he could see was the millions that -- what he thought was millions that he was missing out on. >> by then, bonnie harkey was becoming increasingly frail. her dementia made her vulnerable . she was unable to manage her daily affairs, so her daughter, connie, became her guardian.

after connie died in 2011, bruce harkey thought carl pressly should be bonnie's guardian. when a judge try to appoint someone else, bruce and john challenged that in court. >> bonnie asked the judge if she could speak, and the judge said yes. and she said, i don't want them to be my guardian's. i am afraid of them. >> her stepsons. >> yeah. they delayed any inheritance, certainly. >> a lawyer named darrell spinks was chosen to manage her business and financial affairs. bonnie's longtime friend, betty ann johnson, was asked to make sure bonnie's daily needs were met. it was betty and who had hired karen johnson, no relation, the in-home caretaker who was killed the day bonnie was kidnapped. >> you felt safe with karen taking care bonnie? >> yes i did. >> what bruce wanted me to do is put her in the nursing home.

i said as long as we can have help the 4/7, she's not going anywhere. >> the financial guardian also butted heads with bruce harkey. >> the best way i can explain bruce harkey is greedy, and for lack of a better word, just a jerk. he is just a solid jerk. >> according to sphinx, bruce not only accused him of mismanaging the harkey's date, but also tried to bully him into accepting the sale of a chunk of land to their neighbor, the actor tommy lee jones, for half $1 million. it was good for bruce, but spinks says, not for bonnie, so he killed it. >> he wanted bonnie to get virtually nothing. >> and the rest of the money would've gone to bruce? you make the rest of the got to bruce and john, yes. >> and so you said to bruce, i am not for this? >> that sent him into orbit.

he became irate and cussed me out and said, i'm going to do everything i can to get at you. >> investigators were getting a pretty good test of the river of blood that ran to the harkey family. bonnie harkey's grandson, carl pressly, and his girlfriend, lillian king, were in the county jail. and now they decided to take a harder look at bruce harkey. >> coming up. we had some questions for bruce harkey, too. >> would you really higher forrest gump? >> than this jailhouse interview is like a box of chocolate. we didn't know what we were going to get. >> because you said you wished she were dead, and then later she became dead. >> when dateline continues. ne silver vans are going for more right now, should we... hold... our low mileage is paying off. you think we should... hold... depreciation is really heating up you think...

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>> the final decision to kill bonnie harkey was made on a friday, two days before the murder. as carl pressly laid it out for investigators, his uncle bruce was broke and couldn't wait any longer for his inheritance. >> we got to get rid of bonnie. we got to get rid of her quick. we are running out of money. >> texans are generally thought to be pretty hard when it comes to business. carl pressly, not so much. >> bruce said, i'll give you

$500 if this happens right now, this weekend. if bonnie dies. i said, you're broke, man. and i through a number out there like $250. he said, no, no, no. >> they argued for little bit about the price. he was adamant he was going to pay him $500 and carl was adamant he only needed to pay him 250. >> in the end, carl says bruce agreed to pay him $100 down and another 151 the job was done. >> we found out he stopped by his bank and made a withdrawal for $200, which is great, because that is time stamped and i we got you on video. then he leaves there, and about 30 minutes later, he shows back up in front of william king's house. and carl runs out the door to collect the $100 down from bruce harkey. >> the idea that bruce harkey was in cahoots with carl pressly seemed odd to some.

>> evidently, bruce detested the fact that carl -- he referred to them as uncle bruce. he was always seeking approval and acceptance from bruce. >> jack schumacher, one of the investigators on the case, please bruce have used that bit of psychology to his advantage. when he decided it was long past time for bonnie harkey to meet her maker. >> bruce says, hey, i want you in on my murder plot. the happiest day of carl's life? >> you know, maybe carl thought that he was really going to accept that acceptance he had been seeking. >> a theory, perhaps. but then investigators also knew that bruce harkey had never made any secret about how he felt about his mother, bonnie. >> excuse my language, but this is exactly what he said. he said that old -- doesn't have the decency to die.

>> investigators didn't know what bruce paid carl or just manipulated him into killing bonnie harkey. but they were sure he was involved. so two days after carl led investigators to bonnie's body, bruce harkey was arrested and charged with murder. when lawmen came to question bruce in jail, he did not mince words. >> bonnie was a poor, miserable wretch of a human being. okay? she didn't have two working brain cells to rub together. i didn't go out there and say, somebody needs to kill her. i said, she needs to go. she just needs to go. >> according to bruce, carl pressly had his own motives for killing bonnie harkey. and that's because a year earlier, carl had sold his future interest in the harkey estate to the harkey brothers for a fraction of what it was worth. but here's the thing -- the brothers only gave him a fraction of the money they owed

him. bruce says he told carl the brothers would pay him the rest, around $55,000, once they inherited the orchards. this is how bruce said carl was bonded. >> how long after got my grandmother's deftly get the money? >> carl, it has to go through probate first. that could take years. i don't know. >> according to bruce, the money he gave carl shortly before bonnie's death was gas money, nothing more. then, bruce harkey turned the tables on the lawmen and ask them a question that would become central to his defense. >> why would i plan on bonnie's demise or offer to pay somebody to do what numb nuts did when i'm thinking, this is just around the corner anyway. why, guys? >> when we spoke with bruce harkey terrific pane of glass,

he insisted he was an innocent man. >> i had nothing to do with it. >> you didn't put carl up to it? >> absolutely not. that's the first question my attorney asked me. would you really higher forrest gump to commit murder? >> i said i wouldn't hire anybody to commit murder. >> so that's contrary to a carl told investigators. he did it all on his own. >> i know there's at least two people involved in it. that would be carl and his girlfriend. other than that, i'm not going to attest to anything, because i don't know. >> how many times in your life did you say you wished bonnie harkey were dead? >> i don't know. several. i can't give you a number. >> that's one of the reasons you are in here. >> okay. i understand that. >> because you wished she were dead, and then later she became dead. >> i didn't have anything to do

with it. you can't wish someone dead. it's not against the law to have wishes. it's not against the law to make comments. >> maybe not, but when bruce harkey's murder trial rolled around, he would have to answer for all of them and more. coming up. >> i will simply say that that is a devastating bit of evidence. >> the past comes back to haunt bruce harkey when dateline continues. ne continues. my tip is, send your kids a text. it may be the last time that you do. (announcer) you can quit. call 1-800-quit-now for help getting free medication. ♪ ("good feeling" by flo rida feat. atr) ♪ this is a hot flash.

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>> now, with the conclusion of the queen of the county, here's josh mankiewicz. >> in the years after bonnie harkey took her place alongside the other harkey's in the san saba cemetery, life in the texas hill country got back to normal. most people could only speculate about what really happened on the day bonnie harkey and her caretaker, karen johnson, were killed. but jack schumacher says, he knows. >> this is where karen johnson was laying when she was murdered. she was choked, smothered, just pulled down. >> jack schumacher says he knows that because carl pressly told him how it all went down that weekend. he also knows that bruce harkey

wanted everyone in san saba to know that he was going out of town. a local businessman says he had only a nodding acquaintance with bruce harkey. >> bruce started telling me how he was going to be out of town all weekend long. he stressed that. all weekend long. i'm leaving early on saturday morning and will be back in until late sunday night. it might even be monday before i make it back in, because i'm going to be gone all weekend long. >> by the time bruce harkey went on trial in april 2000 13, his nephew, carl pressly, had confessed to his part in killing bonnie harkey and her caretaker. carl's girlfriend, lillian king, had admitted her involvement. with the two of them set to testify against bruce harkey in exchange for lighter sentences. prosecutor sonny mcafee felt confident that he had a solid case against bruce. >> the facts of the crime were so horrendous.

i didn't think once the jury believed that he was party to the crime that he have any difficulty at all finding him guilty. >> lillian told the jury she had hold bruce harkey and carl pressly talk about killing bonnie harkey many times. she told us she didn't learn the plot had actually been set in motion until the friday before the murder. that's when lillian says she overheard a phone conversation between bruce harkey and carl pressly. >> after he got off the phone with bruce, he looked at me and said that bruce was going to pay him to kill his grandmother. >> lillian testified that while bonnie and her caretaker were in church that sunday morning, carl slipped into the house and head. once bonnie returned home, carl sent her a text, telling her to come distract karen johnson while he smothered his grandmother. >> so i rang the doorbell because the door was open, but the storm door was closed.

ms. johnson came and answered the door, stepping and enclosing the storm door. coming from the den. >> so coming up behind was johnson? he mac yes. yes. and i saw that it was carl. and he was yelling at me to close the door, get in here, go in there with. >> once she was dead, carl led bonnie to her bedroom, where she says carl asked her to pray. >> i see the pillow, and while they are praying, he starts pushing her down onto the bed. she fought him. she did. but the doorbell rang. and it scared carl. so he jumped up, and he told me to go look and see who it was. >> lillian says that whoever was left after about five minutes. it was then, lillian told the jury, the carl decided to drive his grandmother to normingee .

>> in your mind, was a clear that he was a killer? >> she looked at him and said, you tried to kill me. and carl is like, no, grandma. i wasn't doing that. >> lillian says the last time she saw bonnie harkey ally was later that night when she says she saw carl leaving bonnie to her death. >> i went to the bathroom again, and i was coming out and i saw him and her walking into the trees. >> you knew what was coming. how could you let that happen? >> it's hard for me. you know, he did it to her and he would do it to me, too. >> a jury new they would not convict bruce harkey on the testimony of carl pressly and lillian king alone. so he used bruce harkey's words against him. >> he talked about how he couldn't get his land until she

was dead, and she just doesn't have the decency to die. he said all of this in the weeks leading up to the murder. >> richard davis was bruce harkey's attorney. he told the jury carl pressly wanted to kill bonnie harkey because he wanted the inheritance and needed no profit from his uncle. davis reminded jurors how many times carl had changed his story before telling police bruce was part of the plot. >> that was essentially our testimony, and the testimony of carl in the trial makes it clear that this guy was on erratic personality. he gave numerous different descriptions of what the events were, how he did it, why he did it, and it was -- >> and virtually that he didn't do it. >> if i did do it, is because of this. >> sort of at the point where

prosecutors and police were talking about the death penalty. >> my question in any case, whether it was a statement from a witness who has a lot to lose, what is the most likely to be the truth? >> jurors might question carl pressly's credibility , but the prosecutor had a bombshell in his arsenal. turns out, this was not bruce harkey's first radio. he told the jurors that 10 years earlier, bruce had done prison time for his role in another murder plot -- an unsuccessful one that targeted one of his many ex-wives. >> i think there's a lot of things that are extremely similar, and the main one is that he gets someone else to do what he wants done, and he does it through and influence. >> i will simply say that that is devastating evidence. >> that makes me think, they

probably got the right guy. >> just hypothetically speaking, let's say the case is purely circumstantial. and then there is proof in front of the jury. and by the way, he did it before. that makes all the other evidence seem much more important. if you are prosecutor, that is great stuff. it's the end of the story whether it should be or shouldn't. >> it took the jury only one hour to reach a guilty verdict. bruce harkey received a life sentence, as did carl pressly. lillian king was sentenced to 45 years for her role in the murders. >> i am not a violent person. i'm not. and i loved bonnie harkey like she was my own grandmother. >> and yet? >> i know. i keep kicking myself. you know. hoping i can do something different, but it is not going to change. you know, it eats at me. me.

i can't sleep most of the time. >> as for the estate bruce harkey had so fervently hoped to inherit, that seems to be gone with the texas wind. in the wake of bonnie's death, the orchards faded, and there were no longer any harkey's living in the harkey home. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i am craig melvin. thank you for watching. watchin good morning, and welcome to this saturday edition of morning joe weekend. let's get right to some of the stories he may have missed. he says time