♪♪ we're moving forward with indycar. because we're moving forward with everybody. ♪♪ shell. powering progress. that will do it for me. thank you for watching. i will be back saturday and sunday. remember to follow us on instagram, tiktok and facebook. also catch clips of the show on youtube and now you can listen to every episode of her show as a podcast for free. just scan the qr code on your screen, follow, and listen anytime on the go. i am craig melvin >> i am natalie marlys. >> this is dateline.

>> that's the hardest part. i can't help him. >> i'm a mother, i fixed stuff. a skinned knee, a hurt feeling. i cannot fix this. i can't bring him back. >> is on the ground in front of his vehicle. >> it was devastating when they found him. the single dad so passionate about helping others. >> he was a selfless person. he just wanted to do for everybody. >> dedicated to his bright young daughter, sienna. >> she loved being with her dad. >> she just was every single

thing to him. every single thing. >> it was such an unusual murder with the victim who seemed to have no enemies. >> then, the chilling on camera clue. >> there is a figure uc somewhat wearing a hoodie come out from that dark. >> yes, you get the goosebumps. the hairs on the back of your neck. >> of father did in the garage. who was behind it? >> it's mind blowing. you just don't want to believe that people can be that evil. >> hello, and welcome to dateline. twice divorced, don fluitt was not lucky in love but that did not stop him from making others happy from feeding the homeless to his work with the disabled, the father of three was selfless. so, when don was brutally murdered, it stung the community. detectives uncovered a blurry image caught on camera that help with the investigation and focus, but could it help them catch the killer? here is the figure in the garage.

>> look closely, top left of the screen. a hooded figure walks away from the camera. who is it? what are they doing? why are they there? minutes later, a truck pulled in. a different person walks out. his name, we know. don fluitt. it appears that his trash can was tipped over. he pulls it back up. >> you look at him and he is fine. he is happy and healthy and picking up his trash can and then the garage closes . >> that is the end of don fluitt's life, basically. >> yeah. >> the neighbors security camera captured these images and left a mystery. >> that was one of those moments where you kind of get the chills and think, i think we know when we -- it happened.

now we've got to figure out who. >> and why. >> there's nobody i can think of that would want to hurt him. >> albuquerque, new mexico. thousands of people come here every fall to watch the colorful hot air balloons sail through the desert sky. for others, it is just a pitfall as they continue their trip onto santa fe but for some, it is a place for new beginners. this is dennis fluitt, don's younger brother, less than a year apart in age, born and raised in california. they grew up close, the two of them and two sisters. >> we had to rely on each other. when my parents divorced it was just me and my mom so there was a lot of time alone. >> they had to outdo each

other's constantly. what one did, the next one did. >> the brothers fluitt led a hard partying lifestyle until dennis headed east at age 20. dennis matured and that his brother could do the same. he urged don to join him in new mexico. >> he was on a dead-end trail. he wasn't doing anything good or productive so i called him, convinced him to come out here. >> did you see your brother change? >> no, yeah. you saw a complete change. >> don turned his life around. at 26, he got married, had two kids, but the marriage did not last. his kids moved to oklahoma with her mom, but daughter tiffany says don stopped being a loving father. >> so, he really had to go on his way to keep you to in his life. >> he did. >> when don was in his late 30s, he decided to pursue a childhood dream, to become a

firefighter. dennis joked and told him he was too old but it didn't stop don. >> was it the adrenaline, do you think? >> maybe. i just think he cared for people and wanted to do his part to save as many lives as he could. >> in, don met dennis' neighbor, a woman named christine. >> she was kind of quirky and silly like he was so i think they got along real well. >> it was not long before don and christine married, and just a little over a year later, they had a baby girl together. they named her sienna. don's son, josh, says sienna seem to complete john's life. >> he was above the world knowing that we were so far away that at least he could have his own child right there with him every step of the way, every second of the day. >> as you can see in this home video christine took, a couple doted on their little girl.

>> she loved him. they were always doing goofy things. >> they were two peas in a pod. >> life was great until dawn, after eight years as a firefighter, lost his job. according to a close friend, christine, who worked as an x- ray tech, had to shoulder most of the bills. the financial strain proved to be too much. when sienna was only four years old, christine filed for divorce. the couple shared custody of sienna. don made sure his life still revolved around his little girl. >> he would brate hurst hair before school. he would design it. for all of the place she was in he would go out and get her costumes and he would dress her, do her makeup. he was an amazing father. >> you wanted to make the best life possible for sienna and be the best man he possibly could. >> this is amber, dennis' daughter, and don's niece. he says he taught people to try to help others. >> they would go to church every sunday and they would have spaghetti's on sunday and one day they made too much spaghetti. they decided to find somebody

and give them dinner. >> they started calling it spaghetti sunday. don and sienna would hit the streets of albuquerque, and feed the homeless. >> she is not dragging her feet with all of this? >> not at all. i think they were in cahoots. >> from spaghetti sundaes to silly homemade videos. >> she didn't want to do anything unless he could do it with her. >> just a few weeks before christmas, 2016, don's older sister died of cancer. his mother, sharon, was devastated. don and sienna took a road trip to california to spend christmas with her and when the festivities were over -- >> they didn't want him to go. >> don, who was working at an agency that serve the developmentally disabled, told his mom he had a meeting he could not miss. >> so went outside with him and hugged and kissed and got everything in the car. >> after an 11 hour drive, they arrived home in albuquerque

where sienna found a new bicycle and a christmas tree. but, before she could write it, don needed to drop her off with her mom, christine. the next day, sienna, who spoke to her dad every day, didn't hear from him. she called her dad's coworker, valerie torres. >> she says i can't get a hold of my dad and i says you know what honey let me call your dad. he's fine. >> valerie and the coworker went to don's home. >> i knocked on the door and the door gave a little bit. i was able to walk in the house. >> valerie called out don's name, no response. >> i told my friend the only way we are going to know if he is here or not is if his truck is here so i opened the garage door and when i opened the garage door, i found my friend. >> coming up, what had happened in the garage? a clue from the neighbor. >> she has two cameras in her house and she sees don fluitt's

truck backing out. >> and another from his ex- wife. had someone been in don fluitt's house? when dateline continues. ♪ things are looking up, i've got symptom relief. ♪ ♪ control of my crohn's means everything to me. ♪ ♪ control is everything to me. ♪ feel significant symptom relief at 4 weeks with skyrizi, including less abdominal pain and fewer bowel movements. skyrizi is the first il-23 inhibitor that can deliver remission and visibly improve damage of the intestinal lining. and the majority of people experienced long-lasting remission at one year. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to. liver problems may occur in crohn's disease. ♪ now's the time to ask your gastroenterologist how you can take control of your crohn's with skyrizi.

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through this community north of downtown albuquerque, valerie torres made a grisly discovery inside don fluitt's garage. her friend called 911. don had been bludgeoned, his throat slit, and stabbed. >> i absolutely knew he was gone. i felt my heart breaking. like literally, i've never felt my heart hurt like that. >> within minutes and officer from the pd arrived on the scene. body camera rolled as he walked past sienna's new bicycle, still next to the christmas tree, then into the garage where don's body lay. as night fell, the yellow tape went up.

albuquerque police detective matthew kaplan led the police investigation. >> everything was in pristine order. the only thing out of order was don fluitt in the garage. >> don's cell phone was on the couch, his wallet on the kitchen counter. police located all the kitchen knives and sent them off to the crime lab. they also gathered other forensic evidence including don's fingernail clippings. >> there was blood in the immediate vicinity, on the walls, underneath him, on the truck, that looked like handprints. >> but, the detective thought it did not seem like enough blood, given the injuries don had sustained. >> that is when we noticed an empty bottle of bleach on the washer and dryer and tells that smelled like bleach in the dryer. his team did a test with a substance like liminal.

the kitchen sink lit up with traces of blood. >> so, it looked like either hands or the murder weapon was washed off in the sink. >> the floor and door also lit up. police had already started going door to door, and met don's next-door neighbor. >> she tells her she has two cameras on her house. there is one, which happens to catch a portion of don fluitt's garage. >> she told them she had been home the night before. >> she hears the garage come up and happens to look at her camera when she sees don's truck backing out and leaving. >> the time, 7:37 p.m. kaplan had the first data point for a timeline. he gathered more when he talked to don's ex-wife, christine, at her home. christine confirmed he dropped sienna off with her at 7:45 p.m., and she remembered something don told her that afternoon. he thought someone had been in his house while she was away. >> there is cat here in my dryer and someone used a pen in

my house. >> christine told detectives don sometimes suffered road rage. so, maybe an angry motorist followed don home after an argument, or maybe it was someone he knew, someone with access to the house. kaplan spoke to don's landlord, benny ruiz, who'd shown up at the scene. he told kaplan that don was a kindhearted man, and wondered if his murder had anything to do with his work with homeless people. don's mom, sharon, out in california, got a call in the middle of the night. detective kaplan was on the line. >> he said ma'am, i'm sorry, your son is dead, and i think i started screaming. >> just 19 days before, she had lost her eldest daughter to cancer. 19 years before that, her youngest daughter had also died. and now, don. >> i could not get my head around it. it didn't seem real.

>> i just started screaming no over and over again. my dad was obviously a mess. >> the news soon made its way to oklahoma, where don's older children lived. >> i was just like no, this isn't real. this stuff don't happen. you just see the stuff on tv. >> this is an intimate, hands- on murder. >> up close and very violent and personal, yeah. >> who would put a target on your brother, of all people, mr. sunday night spaghetti? >> my first thought was terry. i even told the detective that. >> terry white, don's wife.

sienna and christine left the room. kaplan asked terry a about his relationship with don. >> you know, in the beginning i would say it was rocky. >> terry told kaplan that when they went to court over custody of sienna, don sometimes seemed to want a confrontation. >> he could get me, in any kind of way to yell or scream at him, it would make him look good then he would ultimately get his daughter so i just wouldn't bite for that. >> terry said to the detective that he mostly avoided don, and had not had any contact with him in a while. >> they were not going to find any dna or fingerprints and has house on his vehicle are in that area. >> no, i would just not get in the guys life. it wasn't worth it because i love that little girl. i don't want to make her hate me because she loves her dad.

>> kaplan asked about the night of the murder. terry said he spent the evening visiting his sister. he said he left about 9:00, stopped at a wendy's for dinner, then drove to work and slept in his car until his shift began. >> so you're in the parking lot at work? >> terry's sister confirmed his story. so did his boss who said she had security cam video that would show terry at work that night, but by then, kaplan had received an unexpected phone call from don's neighbor. >> she had become curious about her on surveillance video. she had looked at it and made a discovery and said hey, detective, you need to look at 7:41 p.m. >> a mysterious figure captured on camera. who was that lurking outside don's house? coming up. >> there someone in a hoodie and the individual walks off camera toward where don fluitt's door would be. >> did you think that surveillance camera had taken a picture of your killer? >> i did. >> when dateline continues. id

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january 2017. instead of celebrating the start of a new year, don fluitt's family was making funeral arrangements. his niece, amber, made posters with photos of don. his ex-wife, christine, pitched in. >> she brought some pictures over that she had that i could add to the board and she said can i help you and i said yeah,

absolutely, so we had a glass of wine and put the picture boards together. >> sienna helped, too. >> she lost her best friend and she wanted to be a part of it. >> sienna picked out most of the music and readings for the service. it was held at the church she attended with her dad. meanwhile, the murder investigation continued. detective kaplan spoke to don's neighbor, who said she had found something on her home security video. >> i start looking at the clip she's talking about, and believe it or not, there is a figure. there is someone in a hoodie walking to don fluitt's trash can. they lay the trash can down on its side, and the individual walks off camera toward where don fluitt's door would be. don fluitt returns, pulls into the garage. you see him walk out of the garage. he walks to his trash can, picks it up, then walks into his garage again.

>> at this point, said kaplan, you could see the light from the garage diminishing as the garage door closed. >> inexplicably, the garage shoots back up and you see a series of flashes. >> and the hooded figure outside. we went to the scene of the crime to understand how this could happen. it's as easy as that. so, where is don? he's in the house now? >> i believe there -- he is in the house now. >> and there is the flashing light. >> kaplan believed the hooded figure tripped the sensor and snack into don's garage. >> did you think that surveillance camera had taken a picture of your killer? >> i did. >> did you see the figure depart? >> no, never. the garage closes and don is found dead the next morning. >> even as he puzzled over the hooded figures identity, the detective started here about someone else. don's brother, dennis. just days after the murder, dennis got the keys to don's

house. don's children from oklahoma wondered what he was up to. >> they felt it was odd that dennis was there and sort of taking over control. that was a concern to them. >> kaplan also learned that dennis and don had had a falling out year before. dennis had moved away and lived in arizona for a while, but moved back to albuquerque a couple of months before don's murder. >> it kind of puts up a red flag for me. you are in the process of reconnecting. you had a falling out before and now don has been murdered. >> tiffany and josh had the same feeling. as you think maybe your uncle, his brother, had something to do with this? >> there was talk of it just because of the strained relationship and what had happened. i mean, you're hurt, your greeting, you don't know what to think. >> kaplan interviewed him who

said he got a little bit angry after his father had died. >> i got angry because he took a lot of my dad's stuff. there was just this agreement. >> kaplan had learned that don lost his job as a firefighter because of a drug test. >> that's true. marijuana. >> okay. >> nothing heavy. i guarantee you my brother has not touched heavy drugs in 30 years. >> then, dennis came up with a name, someone else he thought detectives should take a look at. >> it makes me mad, you know, i'm no investigator, but this guy spends two hours in my brother's house the other day. >> benny, the landlord. dennis said just days after don's murder, he found benny inside don's home. >> he claimed he was feeding the dog. dennis claimed i don't know if he was messing with the crime scene. >> dennis told kaplan he heard don was upset with benny over a hole in the ceiling that had not been repaired. detectives asked benny for fingerprints and dna, but as kaplan questioned him, benny

told the detective he was uneasy about dennis. he said dennis wanted to rent another townhouse benny owned a few blocks down from the murder scene. >> don stuff is over there. i set it up. >> did he tell you why he wanted to do that? >> for sienna. for don's little daughter. >> benny said he did not rent to dennis after a background check revealed dennis had a criminal record for assaulting criminal conduct. kaplan already knew about dennis' record but more importantly -- >> i wondered why he had suddenly taken a massive interest in don fluitt's affairs with the condo in siena. >> when we spoke to dennis, we wondered that, too. >> coming up, the brother, the landlord, the stepfather. three possible suspects. >> these are names i could not eliminate.

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we are hours away from opening statements in the hush money trial of donald trump. the 12 person jury was seated last week and multiple new york leaders have condemned what they call violence against jewish students and missed continuing pro-palestinian protest at columbia university. the rabbi affiliated with the school encouraged jewish students to return home as soon as possible. for now, back to dateline. welcome back to dateline. i am craig melvin. who killed don fluitt? detectives believe that if they could i.d. the hooded figure captured on the neighbors surveillance camera, they would have their answer. as they worked to whittle down their list of suspects, the fluitt family was mourning don's loss. here again is dennis murphy

with the figure in the garage. >> to say don fluid -- fluitt love the christmas season is to put it mildly. >> he was obsessed. there was lights, music. it was everywhere. >> don's family was still grappling with the fact that he would never see another christmas, no one more distraught than his daughter, sienna. >> she said she just was praying about it. she would cry. >> meanwhile, detective kaplan was looking very closely at the apparent bad blood between don fluitt and his brother, dennis. >> they kept talking about it and estrangement between the two of you. you know what they are talking about? oh, yeah. when my dad passed we had an agreement on his belongings.

there was a set understanding. don didn't keep his part of the deal and kept one of the trucks we were going to sell. dennis said he tried to reach out to don just a couple of months before his murder, but don never returned his call, and when he heard about don's death, he only wanted to help. >> i knew him better than anybody and he knew me better than anybody and i made a promise to him in siena early on that i was going to do everything to bring justice and protect them. >> he said some people found that suspicious, so be it. dennis remained on detective kaplan's list of potential suspects. >> benny, dennis, terry. these were names that i could not eliminate. >> so, he kept the heat on all three. kaplan had already questioned

landlord benny ruiz and obtained a sample of his dna. he also took another look at sienna's stepdad, terry white. remember, terry initially told the detective that on the night of don's murder, he stayed with his sister until 9:00 p.m. then drove to work and took a nap in the parking lot, but when detective kaplan checked security cam video -- >> you can see terry pullen and immediately get out of his truck and walked to the front door so now there is a discrepancy in his story. >> again, thank you for coming down. >> detective kaplan asked terry to stop by the station and go over his timeline one more time . >> his story changed. he did not pull into the parking lot as originally expressed. he went around the corner to a dark area and fell asleep there and then he pulled into the parking lot. >> that was not the only discrepancy. remember, in his first interview, terry said he had only stopped at wendy's on his way to work but now -- >> i stopped at walmart.

>> what's he doing at walmart? >> i want to stop and get a new sweatshirt for me for work because my wife bought me one for christmas. i said i'm not going to wear that when so i went and bought this one. >> kaplan asked terry about dennis. he never met the guy, he said, but had heard about his troubled relationship with don and that dennis had moved into don's home. >> now he's back and he's trying to protect sienna from whatever and he's making people feel kind of off. >> terry willingly gave a dna sample and kaplan sent him on his way. two days later, the detective went back to dennis. >> attacked his dna and his fingerprints. >> dennis, too, was cooperative. he told detectives he worried about siena and felt bad for christine. >> she's a mess. i talked to her for half an hour on the phone this morning and this probably four or five times she started crying. >> he was still very vocal with his suspicions about benny ruiz. >> how do we note benny didn't just go over there and i let him and then it went bad. >> kaplan did not think dennis

was helping himself. was he receding as a person of interest for you? >> no, unfortunately not. >> do you have your eye on anybody in particular? >> i can't tell you that. >> as the weeks passed, don's kids began to worry. did you think it was going to be not solved and someone was going to get away with murder? >> it scared me for a little bit that it may be that way. >> that was about to change. remember, fingernail clippings from don's body had been taken for testing. three months after don's murder, the lab reported a hit, someone else's dna beneath don's fingernails. >> i remember kind of jumping out of my chair. well, whose dna is it? >> coming up, a final suspect at last, but can they get to it

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one murder, three potential suspects. something had to break the tie. then, about 12 weeks into the investigation, the crime lab called with some major news. the foreign dna under don fluitt's fingernails belong to none other than his ex-wife's

current husband, terry white. it all started lining up. terry's strained relationship with don, his shifting timeline, his sudden need for a new hoodie. >> the fact that he has amended his second story to include buying a 30, what does that tell you? >> in hindsight, a lot. it tells me that there was probably a lot of blood on him and he needed something to wear to work. >> above all, terry's dna where it did not belong. >> were not going to find any dna or fingerprints of yours are in his house or on his vehicle or anywhere in that area? >> no. >> so if we did, it would be weird? >> yeah, i would say that would be weird.

>> at this point, i am 100% sure that terry is our guy. >> kaplan spoke to don's mom, sharon and his brother, dennis. >> we do have a suspect in this case and we do have an arrest warrant. >> yes! >> terrific. >> it's terry white. >> the case seemed to be solved, but there was a problem. before kaplan could find terry, he got a call from christine. she said terry was missing. >> you put the noose around terry's neck which are also finding out he doesn't seem to be around anymore. >> right. >> kaplan asked christine to stop by the station. she thought he might have information that could help find her husband. >> i think at that point, her willingness to cooperate with me was sort of gone. >> kaplan got a search warrant for her car and phone, hoping to find clues that might lead him to terry. >> interesting enough, we find her cell phone in the glove compartment and there is a last will and testament right next to it. >> a last will and testament in the glove compartment?

>> yes. it is terry fights. i found that to be extraordinarily unusual. three days after we took is a. -- his dna. >> kaplan began to wonder if terry would be gone permanently. three days later he caught a break. a sheriff's deputy happened upon a pickup truck. >> there is a hose traveling from the exhaust into the cab so the deputy immediately think so, no. it looks like someone is trying to commit suicide. >> in the cab of the truck, the missing murder suspect. >> terry white is red-faced, looks a little bit drowsy and out of it. the deputy runs his name and realizes there's a want for a homicide so he's arrested right then and there. >> detective kaplan and his partner made a beeline for arizona to see if terry would talk. >> you want to talk to me today? >> i mean, you guys are thinking something. >> so, terry didn't feel like talking. not to the police, anyway, but once he was transferred back to

albuquerque, he did talk to someone. dennis received a facebook message from a woman. >> she's like, you don't know me but my boyfriend is ginger ale, a guy by the name of terry white. >> the boyfriend's name, rodrick white. no relation. rotted terry shared the same last name, the same birthday and for three days in april 2017, the same jail cell. soon, terry's former cellmate was in the interview room with detective kaplan. >> from what i understand you want to talk about what terry has been telling you. >> according to rod, terry made a full confession. >> he tells them everything. he tells them how he snuck in. >> he ended up getting underneath the garage door, underneath the correct guys truck. >> don was a smoker whose routine was to smoke in the garage so he waited for him to come out.

rod said terry then described, in gruesome detail, what took place inside the garage away from the neighbors security camera. >> he is a truck driver so he has a tire thumper. he said as soon as he came out i hit him as hard as i could with the tire thumper. he said i had him so hard it broke the tire thumper in three pieces. >> kaplan shows how the cellmates story matched the evidence at the crime scene. >> he explains how he gets done with the tire thumper. don continues to fight and it continues in here. there is a coat rack that would've been right here. there is blood on the jacket that belongs to siena. there is blood on the garage door. >> then what, the action moves back out here? >> it moves back out here in this is a very narrow space because the bumper of -- >> he has a big old truck and he would've used every inch of

it. >> there are handprints on the truck. handprints and blood swipes on the wall so we know don had fallen on his back this way. he even described how don got terry's dna on him. >> he said i know exactly when it happened. he said when i was raining down on -- he reached up. >> then rod continued, that terry hit him so hard, don finally went down. then according to rod, terry finished the job. >> he said i went inside the house and got a steak knife and he said something about slitting the side of his throat. >> and, if the knife didn't work, terry told rod that he had a backup plan. >> i had a plan b. he said there was an x on the wall of the garage. that was plan b. >> you can clearly see in the crime scene photos, there is no way you would know that unless

you were there. >> are any of those details online, where they in the newspapers? >> no. >> so, this cellmate is telling you a story that exactly matches your evidence? >> yes, not only is it matching the evidence, it's filling in some of the gaps. >> the case against terry white was starting to look airtight, but rod, the informant, was not done talking. >> coming up. >> she's the one who told him, we've got to do this now. >> she? >> she said, we all have our dirty little part in this. >> one more jaw-dropping revelation to come , when dateline continues. breathing problems. dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. get help right away if you have rash, chest pain, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. ask your specialist about dupixent. [♪♪]

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welcome back. the walls were closing in on terry white. dna linked him to the murder of don fluitt and after catching him in the middle of an apparent suicide attempt, police made an arrest. in jail, terry confessed grisly details of the crime to his cellmate, who then told detectives, it seemed they had their man. but, investigators were about to learn terry may not have acted alone. here is dennis murphy with the conclusion of the figure in the garage. >> informant roddy white gave detectives a virtual play-by- play of how terry white

murdered don fluitt, one revelation after another. >> i had plan b. he said there was an axe on the wall of the garage. >> but, just when they thought they had heard everything, rod had one more revelation to offer. >> he told me on several occasions that he did it for her, that she is the one that told him we've got to do this now. we've got to do this for your family. >> according to rod, the sheehan question was terry's wife, don's x, the mother of his darling siena, christina. rod said it would later testify in court, that christine was the prime mover of the murder plot. >> so, terry told you that christine told you to do it for the family? >> yes. they'd been looking for an opportunity for a while. >> christine called don the black cloud. of course, any dreams of a happily ever after had gone belly up after police zeroed in on terry but terry did have an ironclad life insurance policy.

>> so it would be i'm terry white, i'm going to go down for this, they got me but i can do you and the little girl a final bit of good by killing myself. >> and having you collect $250,000. >> rod told the detective that terry suicide attempt in arizona was his third and according to rod, christine was not thrilled when terry survived. >> when he called her, she picked up the phone and said what the -- why have you not killed yourself? >> the cellmates tail got even stranger. he said after he was released from jail, he met up with christine and made up a story. he told her he would smuggle some pills into the jail so terry could make good on his suicide promise. >> and i'm like i need to buy the pills. i just don't have money. >> rod said he never bought the

pills were completed the scheme. >> what did you do with the money? >> i spent it, to be honest with you. >> but, he said he had a vivid memory of the last time you saw christine. >> she was crying and she grabbed my hand and she said, we all have our dirty little part in this. >> detectives had heard enough. a few days after the interview -- >> we arrested her. >> christine was charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy. >> she was upset, but resigned to what was happening. >> but, the case against christine was flimsy. it rested on the word of a felon. >> it wasn't strong enough to move forward with her. >> the charges against christine were dismissed. in june, 2018, terry white went on trial, the sole defendant. the prosecution's star witness was terry's cellmate, rodrick white, back in jail by then on an unrelated charge. he told the jury everything about how to terry killed dawn, but even this career criminal could not seem to understand why.

>> why did you kill him i said, was he touching the little girl and he was like no, no. wasn't touching her. i said okay well, was he beating her? no he said no, he wasn't. i said well why did you kill her? and he said -- just want to go away. >> as a result of his testimony, rod, who was a meth addict, avoided prison time and enrolled in a drug rehab program. he insisted he did not come forward for a deal but because he believed his murder was wrong. >> they killed him because he was a good father. that's why they killed this guy, because he was a good dad. >> it took the jury a little over six hours to reach a verdict. >> guilty. it was just instant relief. >> that this man was in -- not going to get to walk freely, you know?

>> i never took my eyes off of him. i watched him the whole time and i wanted to see something. a tear of remorse, a smile, something. nothing. >> in august, 2018, terry white was sentenced to 42 years in prison, but for don's family, it is not over. >> the puppeteer is still pulling the strings, though. >> who's the puppeteer? >> christine, and the puppet is terry. >> think about that. she manipulated that man into killing himself. it's one thing to talk somebody into murdering for you, but then to talk the same person into killing themselves if they got caught? how do you do that? >> christine white did not attend the trial but wrote a letter saying that she and don had no custody battle in december 2016, only different ideas in school choices and tuition. regarding don's murder, christine wrote, i knew nothing

of the events that occurred until i got a call from the coworker of don, who found him that night in december. it was an awful, and unbelievable, thing to hear and even harder to have to tell your child. prosecutors said the investigation into christine is still open, but they don't know when or if she might be charged. >> we would have to be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she intended all along for terry white to do this, and more than that, that she actually did something concrete to aid and abet, to help the crime be committed. >> can you get there? >> i'm hopeful. i would like to say yes, but if the evidence isn't there, we can't charge her for something we can't prove. >> anyone who knew him would tell you don fluitt enjoyed helping people. he loved being a firefighter, feeding the homeless and helping people with disabilities find work but what he loved most is being siena's dad , a bond so tight people stood in awe of it. >> she loved being with her

dad. she reveled in it. she loved that man. to this day, i think about that void that is in her life. >> a terrible loss, but the primary victim here in a way seems to be siena. >> i would say so. tiffany and josh and myself, too. we got to live our childhood with him. we got to go to him for advice and to share those milestones in life with him. what about siena? my hers is not. that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. hello. i am andrea canning and this is dateline. >>