>> the boyfriend in the freezer? >> the first boyfriend she shot and her husband that she took an to the hospital. maybe five dead men around her? >> does that make her a serial killer? >> it does. >> a serial killer who held er sway over a mystifying cast of supporting characters. >> where these people who have such hatred in their hearts that could do this to somebody? nobody deserves to die this way. >> maybe that is the hardest part of the whole sordid affair. marjorie, rusty, barnes and the rest. fractured intellectuals, row consoles who lost their humanity in a descent into evil. hello, i am andrea canning, and this is dateline.

>> it has been extremely hard. >> the hardest part was the picture of our mom. >> i always told myself she didn't see it coming. >> a mother at work in her office, murdered. >> someone just shot her and let her die. >> making sure she was dead. >> who wanted this very nice, professional woman dead? >> police starts to dig. her new fiance. >> he was like i had to move on. >> it was just very suspicious. >> her final client. >> he owned a nine millimeter gun. >> her ex-husband. >> he was under deep suspicion by the whole town. >> he was. >> did you murder your wife? >> i know he was capable of doing anything. but we would know, we are his kids. >> a chilly case. >> agreed, hate, murder. >> with a riveting and. >> mom's killer is still out there.

>> ♪ hello, and welcome to dateline. pam zimmerman was everything to her three children. cheerleader, confidant, mentor. a reassuring presence who was always there. then, she was gone. shot dead in her office. but why? in the search for clues, detectives focused on the men in pam's life and the secrets they kept. only one would face trial for her murder and the setting up here pam's family apart. here is keith morrison, with before mid night. >> a few minutes after sunrise on the morning of november 4th, 2014, david zimmerman rose through his bed in the christ summer of a bloomington illinois, eager to dispose of the small worry that had been nagging at him all night.

he patted across the room to his bedroom door. >> woke up and walked out into the main hallway that we haven't the lights are still on. >> the lights he left on, but he went to bed, which meant what? david was 17 years old, the eldest of pam zimmerman's three children. they, not uncommonly, left their lights on for their mom when she left late for her financial planning business, or when she stepped out with her new man. typically, when she got home she turned the lights off. but this tuesday morning? >> her bedroom was dark and it looked like someone had been there. >> tell me what was going on in your mind when you saw that? >> my mind was probably 1 million different places. i thought it was the weirdest thing. it was like, all right, she e, didn't come home, so where is she? >> had to be a reasonable explanation. pam zimmerman was so reliable. r two years divorced, a successful businesswoman and fully engaged mother. a pillar of the neighborhood.

david and his 15-year-old twin sisters, heidi and rachel try to push their worries aside. >> we made up every possible excuse for why she wasn't coming home. >> you don't want to focus on t that. >> but some signs were hard to ignore. for one thing, the night fo before, when pam didn't respond to her kids text messages, heidi tried tracing it. what she found didn't make sense. >> my mom and i had an iphone account, so i looked it up, i found it wasn't at her office. it was in a weird location. i convinced myself that she was at a client's house, because at that was my excuse at the time for why she wasn't home >> still, their mom was a rock. they told themselves they would be laughing about this later. or they would be relieved anyway. >> they said, let's just get ready for school, keep mom with her day. >> so you kept going?

>> yeah. >> same time, say morning, two doors down the street, one of pam's closest friends, judy cool, was still in her pajamas. >> my home phone rang, which was odd, because your home phone never rings that early. >> it hardly ever rings ever. >> i'm one of the few people that still has a home phone. and so, i picked it up and it was scott. >> scott baldwin was zimmerman's beyonce, he lived a few hours away in chicago. >> he said i haven't heard from pam i am worried. i don't know what is going on. i have been trying to reach her since last night, she is not answering. >> she left just a couple of houses down here right? >> right. she is a few houses down there. so i walked down here, and ke knocked on the front door. and david answered. r. and i said where is your mom? he said i don't know, she didn't come home last night. and i said, what you mean she didn't come home last night? i said, well, where is she? i believe they have been trying to reach her, since 5:30, the

night before. and she didn't answer. >> for the kids, she tried to hide the worry flooding into her brain. >> she's like okay, just go to school like you normally would o and i will text you later when i know something. >> maybe, thought julie, there was some simple explanation. she rushed home, got dressed, sh jumped in her car and headed straight to pam's office. maybe pam fell asleep while working late? >> i don't really know, i don't know what my thinking was. >> pam's kids try to concentrate on their school work. couldn't. >> i just remember going to school and rachel and i sat across from two of our friends at school and i just lost it, started bawling in the whole morning was hard. >> by now there was a tribe of people. this is pam's cousin, vicki. >> i have a brother who is 18 years younger than me. he called and he said they can't find pam, and i go what? w

he goes, they can't find pam. i said that is not good. he goes, no it is not. >> the drive to pam's office didn't take long. julie cole pulled into the he parking lot. right away she saw something that would lead her to call 911. coming up, an awful discovery at pam's office. >> the lights were all off. >> all of the sudden i hear her say, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. i remember thinking everything has changed in my life right now. everything has changed and those kids, there is david and his cheeks are stained with tears. >> when dateline continues. . started disrupting my day. td felt embarrassing. i felt like disconnecting. i asked my doctor about treating my td, and learned about ingrezza. ♪ ingrezza ♪

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we are talking about him and not only talking judges, but family members. >> to the margins that matter. don't miss the weekend on 8:00. >> on msnbc. 7:00 a.m., november 4th, 2014. julie cho, full of trepidation, right outside of the business office of her missing friend and neighbor, pam zimmerman. nobody around, except wasn't that pam's car in the lot? julie called her husband. >> he said call 911. so, i called 911 and she said, you want to file the missing person's report? and i said i don't even know if she is missing. >> but then she saw someone who could help. >> right as i pulled in, she

was getting out of her car and walking towards me. >> right. so i jumped out of my car and i said-- pam didn't come home last night. >> pam's friend and longtime office manager. she said pam seemed fine the day before. said, when she left around 4:30 p.m. pam was with her last client of the day behind closed doors. the two women headed in. >> the lights were all off the lines were all pulled. >> was that unusual? >> barry, the blinds in my area were never closed. >> they were this time? >> they were closed. and i reached over and turned the light switch on. >> >> and i hear her say oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. and i walked over to where she was and we could see pam's

body, kind of laying in a fetal position. >> julie is a nurse, she checked for signs of life. >> i remember leaning down and, you know, checking for a pulse, and thinking everything has changed in my life right now. everything has changed for those kids, and their life will never be the same. >> so, there are two things? >> right. right, you are trained, you immediately focus, your emotions are aside, i knew something was bad, i knew something wasn't right, i knew not to move her. >> has stared, rooted to the spot. >> i went into shock, i saw her lying there. >> but you have no idea? >> no. >> she could have had a heart attack? >> could have. >> or maybe she tripped behind the reception desk? >> in the back of my mind i'm like, did she had her head? >> police arrived within

minutes. julie's phone, still pinging. >> i keep texting, think someone needs to go and tell them what is going on. >> eventually, officers went to the high school. one by one, pam's children are called to a conference room, where the police told them their mother was dead. >> that was the worst part, they brought me to this room and there's david, and his cheeks are stained with tears. i just had to see that, and they told me and i was just falling is david starts falling again. >> half an hour later, the same thing happens with rachel. >> oh lord. i can't imagine a day like that. you know where your dad was? did you know where any sort of savior of your life was? >> no. no anything like that. they just took us into question. >> but that it was hard for anyone to focus on anything

other than loss, all-consuming grief. >> she was the greatest friend, anything you could ask for, you needed something she would have it in a hard. >> she would talk to anybody, everybody knew her. >> she made everybody feel like they were-- you know, one of her closest friends. >> she was sincere. >> a caregiver, that was pam zimmerman, but to her sister, diane gifford, and brother, larry alexander, pam was also the family's smart ambitious start. >> valedictorian of the class. graduating class. >> straight a student, retired, grade school and high school, except, i think 1b. when she got home act. >> i mean, i've always known, we have had the most amazing mom. such a bright happy person, full of wisdom, smart, funny, i could go on and on. >> she always made sure that we

came first. she would come home from work. she would make us dinner, she would stay up all night helping us with homework or doing our laundry. >> recalled her super mom, because she literally did everything. >> and for all of the love she inspired, pam zimmerman must have stirred something dark in someone. or got in someone's way. it wasn't long before the police figured out that her death was no accident. >> what did the police tell you? >> nothing. they kept the evidence very, very quiet. >> what did you find out how she was killed? >> a few days later police called me and said that the newspapers wanted to release information and i should tell the kids and the only thing they would tell me is the cause of death was multiple gunshots. >> pam zimmerman had been murdered. but by whom? coming up, police start with the men around her, her new fiance.

>> we had at least two other women that he had been involved with. >> or final client. >> he owned a nine millimeter. >> she was shot with one of those. >> and what about her ex? when dateline continues. before apoquel chewable for allergic itch, giving dogs pills was a battle of wits. oh maria, i'm wise to your foolish game. is it gone? totally gone. itch relief just got easier! apoquel, the trusted #1 treatment for allergic itch is now available in a tasty chewable that works in a day. do not use in dogs with serious infections. may cause worsening of existing parasitic skin infestations or preexisting cancers and serious infections. new neoplasias have been observed. do not use in dogs less than 12 months old. ask your vet for apoquel chewable. do it! when enamel is gone, you cannot get it back. but you can repair it with pronamel repair.

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do not stop taking biktarvy without talking to your healthcare provider. common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, and headache. no matter where life takes you, biktarvy can go with you. talk to your healthcare provider today. biktarvy can go with you. keith morrison: there was no doubt. pamela zimmerman was the victim of cold-blooded murder. happened sometime before midnight, there was no doubt, pamela zimmerman was the victim of old blooded murder.

it happened sometime before midnight, as the corner's best guess. the murder weapon? the nine millimeter handgun. >> there were two bullet wounds in her chest, in the front of her body. >> edith brady is a long time panty grab a crime reporter. >> there was one bullet room in her temple, and there was one bullet wound in her back. >> so, somebody making absolutely sure she was good and dead? >> absolutely. >> what was that like to hear that? >> it was the worst phone call of my life. to think that someone shot her and just let her die. >> and pam's kids? when they heard that-- >> i always told myself she

didn't see it coming, it made it easier to cope with it. >> an execution was what it looked like it or maybe an opposite invasion robbery. it didn't seem likely but -- >> they wanted to do a walk- through to see what was missing or what was out of place. >> did you notice anything wrong? anything missing? >> the phone cords had been cut. and my calendar that i kept all of my appointments on, that was wrong. >> pam's purse was sitting on her desk, gaping open. her wallet was gone, cell phone too. the case was lying on the floor. >> did you get the sense that maybe the police thought somebody wanted to steal something and were in the process of it and got interrupted or? >> they could have thought that. >> but there was no sign of forced entry, none. the cops found pam's cell phone right where her daughter's iphone account said it would be. her wallet, close by, with her credit cards all there.

>> so, the police believed early on that this was a staged effort to make it look like it was a robbery. >> but who would want to kill pam and then stage them halfhearted cover-up? start close is the old adage, which meant coming pam's world on that day, three men, her last client and last day of her life, her ex-husband, and her brand-new fiance, scott baldwin , the object of a whirlwind romance, and perhaps rapid engagement. after all, no one in the family really knew him, not even her kids. >> i had only met scott three times and the third time was the party that they had to celebrate their engagement. >> that celebration was just days before, yet when scott heard about the murder, he did not rush to bloomington from his home just two or three hours away, near chicago. >> it just made me realize i

think what my mom really meant to him, what we meant to him, it sounded fake at that point. >> pam's kids had questions about scott and soda detectives. >> he was asked to come down to wilmington to meet with police, which he did the following day, after pam's body was discovered. >> scott told the detectives he had been home alone, when pam was killed. police would look into that, but in the meantime they discovered something very interesting. about pam's new fiance. >> they spent a fair amount of time checking into who he had been communicating with. >> sure. >> he had at least two other women that he had been involved with that he was still having some pretty heavy amount of contact with. >> pam's kids didn't know anything about that, but they did get a weird vibe from the fiance after their mother's death. >> he was like, i have nothing to do with this and i need you

guys to understand that i have to move on. >> repeat that for me? >> we had dinner with him, like a week after she died, and he sat us down. >> did you ask him if he had something to do with it? >> no, he just volunteered that. >> two months later, he was dating someone new. >> it was just very suspicious. >> but pam's daughter, rachel, thought it was much more likely her mind's murder was tied to her business. she was an accountant and financial advisor. >> maybe she found out something that one of her clients have been doing on this client would have lost a lot of honey. >> ina hess said her last client was a man, named eldon with low. >> to they have beefs with the man? >> there was no evidence that eldon had any beefs, they had a long-term relationship where she was helping him with his invest. >> he told his meeting with pam

was uneventful. he left around 5:40 p.m., had dinner with his girlfriend. he was cooperative, but -- >> he owned a nine millimeter gun. >> that matched the type of gun that she was killed with. >> now, that was a development. >> eldon whitlow was a witness. >> eldon turned over a nine millimeter, the nine millimeter? >> when they went for the results, they went to one more possible person of interest, these are meant, a man who just might have had a motive. pam's ex-husband, kirk zimmerman. look at him, said pam's family, there's something going on there. >> it definitely turned into hatred. >> a lot of problems. >> problems? hatred? exactly what was the problem

between pam zimmerman and her ex-husband, kirk? coming up, the x, the client, the fiance, revelations about them all. >> who was it who said no secrets in murder investigation? >> exactly. >> when dateline continues. heat makes it last. feel the power of contrast therapy. ♪♪ so you can rise from pain. icy hot. (angie) tobacco companies target people like me with their menthol cigarette marketing. realizing this made me angry enough to quit. my tip is, this should make everyone angry. (announcer) you can quit. call 1-800-quit-now for help getting free medication. we pulled people off the street, and asked them about their hearts. -how's your heart? -doing good. -is it? -i think so. -you think so. but how do you know, right? -how do i know... -i don't actually know. -you don't actually know. -i'm believing so.

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welcome back to dateline. i am andrea canning. financial advisor, pamela zimmerman had been gunned down in her office. detectives wondered if the motive was professional or personal. digging deeper, they discovered that each of the men under investigation had something to hide. and one, in particular, was withholding crucial information about the night pam was killed. here again, is keith morrison, with before the night. >> police investigating the murder of pam zimmerman now had a short list. her fiance, scott, her client, eldon, and a third man, her ex- husband, kirk. some of pam's relatives though, were convinced that kirk should have been the first, maybe only name on that list. >> she would always say that if anything ever happened to her he should be the person we should look at. >> will you kind of wonder when

she said anything like that. >> welcome you wonder, and you think oh, come on you don't really mean that. >> did you say that to her? >> she said, oh no, i mean it. >> so, in the hours after his ex-wife was murdered, kirk zimmerman and a lot of time with detectives. and he and answered their questions calmly. >> state farm, sir? >> not once did he asked for an attorney. >> i am a systems analyst. >> was asked about the divorce, kirk said his only real concern was for the kids. >> i would have preferred to at least until the kids are off of that couch, because at least by that they are adults. >> detectives asked kirk what he did the evening pamela was killed. he said he was at home, started to read, must have dozed off. >> whatever, you intend to fall asleep.

>> not even this seems to rattle kirk. >> they got his fingerprints, dna sample and they did a gunshot residue test. >> am i required to do this? >> he wasn't, but he did it anyway. and he didn't resist handing over his phone or his laptop or passwords either. his car and house were another thing. police have search warrants for those. >> he was dropped off at a hotel. >> because he didn't have a house? >> he did not have a whole house. the employees were there and stayed there six days. >> wow. >> no discoveries, really, except kirk had a girlfriend, named kate, and she revealed something very curious. she and kirk had a date scheduled the night pam died. kate arrived early to kirk's house around 6:30, ring the doorbell. no answer. well, well, well. kirk haddad told them about any

date and certainly hadn't revealed he did answer the door when she rain. so, second interview they pressed him again. >> what was the reason why you didn't say that the tape was in there? >> just to keep her out of this. >> still, the girlfriend's story put a hole in his alibi. was he on the night pam was killed? or was he somewhere else? >> well, it was one the police really had to sort through to see if it was a credible story or not. >> they let him go again. kirk's kids couldn't see their dad as a suspect. they said their parents divorce had been drama free. >> i think they both realized that they came to want different things. >> kirk's brother, jim, agreed. he was pam's best friend and he

loved her like a sister. saw her marriage up close, and the way it ended. >> there was never any hostility , open air arguments, the kids and i, we never saw anything. >> if anything, they said, the two seemed much happier. kirk got a house just down the street and around the corner, just to be close to them. >> i'm really glad he did. it made it really easy on us. >> and he did stay very involved in their lives. >>.videotaped all of our sporting events, basketball games, softball games. >> besides, their dads now had kate, they had been dating for more than a year. >> i really liked her. >> yeah, kid is awesome. >> that? a murderer? it seemed absurd to the kids. >> i think he was happy with where he was. >> now, days, months slid by. the detectives were busy, but

very quiet about it. everyone waited. they tested the nine millimeter, on the client, eldon whitlow. >> it was not the gun that had fired the bullets that killed pam zimmerman. >> they checked his alibi and discovered that he did have dinner with his girlfriend. and later that evening? he met another woman. >> he had been checked out and he had been cleared. >> as for the fiance, scott baldwin, his secret raised eyebrows, but wound up working for him. police confirmed he had been miles away when his fiancee died, phoning and texting two other women. >> what is it about the man in this story? >> both of the men had to make some pretty embarrassing admissions. >> who was it who said christie, no secrets in a murder investigation. >> exactly. they both had to admit that they have been messing around.

>> but kirk? not so easy to clear him. so, police followed the money. and they heard things, different things to what his kids and brother said about the divorce, like a resentment, that pam got the house after the divorce, and most important, more money from him. >> he had a goal of retiring at 55 in his 20s. >> the dispute of the moment? days before she was killed, they paid close to $4000 in expenses for the kids or else. >> she was giving him five days to pay it or she was going to take him back to court. >> office manager, ina hess said she was truly afraid of kirk. >> i just warned her that when she worked late at night, made sure she went out the front door where all of the lights were on. and made sure that she was communal, always conscious. >> money, the root of all evil.

and something else they found, what was that telltale residue in kirk's car? it was enough. on a summer morning, zimmerman's death, a cop call paul turned over his lights and read him his rights. kirk zimmerman was under arrest for murder. coming up. >> greed, hate, murder. >> prosecutors layout their case with a dramatic eyewitness. >> she saw a guy coming out that back door. >> when dateline continues. i am obsessed with olay's retinol body wash. with olay retinol body wash,

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keith morrison: what is so warm, so pure, so bright as a midsummer morning in bloomington, illinois? so pure, so bright as a midsummer morning in bloomington illinois. green grass, songbirds, fresh air. it was july 21st, 2015. the kids were now living in their dad's house. >> we woke up to the doorbell ringing and i go down, i looked out the door and he's like -- introduces himself as the detective and he says we just rested your dad. >> just like that, a second parent was gone. the twins, still minors. we were told they will be living with pam's siblings now.

>> when rachel and i were taken into dcfs custody, but forced to live with them for 3 months in our mind's house. so that was just one huge nightmare. >> it's got to be hateful angry all the time, no matter what we did. >> but of course, pam's kids knew perfectly well that their aunts and uncles believe their that killed their mom. >> i was 16 and our aunt, diane, sat me down alone in the family room and just pay plainly said your dad killed your mom. >> what you think about the possibility that your dad could be violent like that? >> no. i know anyone is capable of doing anything, but we would know, we are his kids, we lived with him. >> i honestly believe if she ever really felt threatened, she really felt at risk, the first person she would reach out to was me, and she never did. >> kirk spent four months in jail, before bonding out, and for the next three numb and a

half years remained under house arrest. >> rachel and heidi couldn't stay in the house with him alone. there had to be another person who is 18 or older the entire time. >> the whole time waiting for trial? >> up until we turned 18. >> until you turned 18? >> pam's neighbor and friend, julie cohen tried to help. >> i took their daughter driving, because they were learning to drive. i remember driving one daughter to college, she went to the zoo, so i took her. >> but while friends try to help pam's kids, they could not protect them from a widespread and very public suspicion that their father killed their mother. the case always seemed to be in the news. >> potential evidence that came out was pretty damaging. to kirk zimmerman, because a lot of it dealt with the exchanges he had with pam during the divorce. >> those exchanges were front

and center when the state finally presented its case at trial. >> greed, hate, murder. >> assistant state attorney, brent whitman, told the jury that the motive was clear. kirk zimmerman killed his wife over money. >> he knew that as long as she was still alive he was going to go broke. >> the motive and the means, said the state. kirk's cell phone put them at home the night his wife died, but the prosecutor told the jury that his car, a hyundai told a different story. the car, like most cars now, had an onboard computer, a gps device, and an fbi analyst said that the vice reeled that the car was in the vicinity of pam's office. so? >> the police got some surveillance video pretty early on from a building nearby in

pam's office, and they believe there was a car that matched kirk zimmerman's >> and, said the prosecutor? there was an eyewitness. this woman, so nervous as she took the stand, she could barely get her name out. >> your first name? >> but what she had to say was important, said pam's brother. >> she saw a guy coming out of the back door of pam's office. she didn't know that was pam's office at the time. >> that meant, she said, was carrying a back. >> what did you do with the back? >> that was the stuff he took out of the office. >> and who was that man? on this point, the states emotional witness was certain. >> over there.

>> investigators never found the murder weapon, but on the gearshift in kirk's car gunshot residue, said this forensic scientist. >> either constant gunshot residue was in the environment of the discharged firearm. >> but remember the friends and family who said pam told them she was afraid kirk might kill her? that was hearsay, ruled the judge. >> they were not allowed to present that to the jury. >> you know, in a case, where they are alleging that an angry person killed his wife motive is everything right? >> yes. >> all about that letter, days before her murder, demanding $4000. pam's ongoing financial disputes, so the professor, were going to prevent kirk from realizing his dream of retiring

early, and he wasn't going to take it. so he killed her. >> october 23rd, the fourth letter was the triggering event. that culminated in the murder of pam zimmerman. >> which, pam's children replied, ridiculous. >> i didn't think it made any sense at all. >> married for 20 years. >> the defense was up next, in its own case, its own take on the facts. and what a spectacle that would be. coming up, he had an assessment of $240,000 in his 401(k). >> the defense tried to blow up the money motive and another blowup on the witness stand. what would the jury do? when dateline continues. a lot of them. and you don't drive like...

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welcome back. kirk zimmerman was on trial for the murder of his ex-wife, pam. welcome back. kirk zimmerman was on trial for the murder of his ex-wife emma pam. the prosecution argued gps technology put his car near the crime scene, and gunshot residue was found inside the vehicle. but the defense was ready to tackle that evidence had on. and raised troubling questions about the investigation. the court room was divided, and the verdict was about to refractory family. back now to keith morrison with the conclusion of before midnight.

>> there were so many little pieces, so many bits of evidence to parade before the jury. the case against kirk zimmerman went on for more than four weeks and drew 40 witnesses. and pretty much all of it, said pam and kirk's children, was wrong. >> you can put together little pieces anyway you want, but the way they put it together wasn't the right way. >> so, now, kirk bloomington would here kirk zimmerman's side of the story. >> kirk zimmerman did not shoot and kill pamela. he did not shoot and kill the mother of his three children over owing $3900 in child support. >> that state theory that kirk killed pam over money? nonsense, said his defense attorney, john rogers. kirk made it clear to the police, he said. that fedex from pam was no big deal. >> it didn't affect me.

disagreed or argued with her about it. >> kirk had a full pension, guaranteed for life, which he could have taken at any point in time. he was making $95,000 working from state farm. he had in excess of $240,000 in his 401(k). >> the defense told the court the police had tunnel vision from the very start. >> it is the old let's go look at the husband he must have died. >> that rainy video the prosecution suggested was kirk's hyundai sonata? how could you tell? >> i remember the month and the year, i don't and i don't want to hear no more. >> but then was maria leg the prosecution's eyewitness. >> i had a very difficult cross- examination with her, because she simply chose not to respond to me. >> i want to say what i saw. >> and when she did respond?

her testimony contradicted the prosecution's evidence, like, for example, the color of kirk's car. you said under direct examination it was a black car with a big bag? >> yes sir. that is not a silver car is it? >> i saw black. that is it. >> the defense also challenged that data taken from the onboard computer system in kirk's silver hyundai. pings put the car near pam's office. the defense called it junk science. >> this type of expert testimony has never been allowed in the state of illinois before. it should not have been allowed in this case. >> but how could the defense answer for that gunshot residue found on kirk's gearshift? a defense expert agreed there was plenty of it on that spot. but-- >> finding that number of characteristic of gunshot

residue. >> maybe too surprising? especially because there was none anywhere else in the car. so, it looked like some kind of mistake. or worse. >> your suggestion is what? >> either gunshot residue was purposefully placed on the lever, or came into contact with either closing, a firearm or the hands of the two police officers that had been in a crime scene. >> either way, rogers suggested sloppy police work was the hallmark of the investigation. he said police should have dug deeper when they heard what this woman had to say. >> i heard what i believe to be gunshots. >> the defense had an ear witness of sorts that testified that, while more than a block away, she heard gunshots at 10:00 p.m., which fit the corner's time of death sometime before mid night and why was that important?

>> that is the exact exact time that mr. eldon whitlow has himself in pam's office. >> eldon whitlow, pam's last client of the day. >> i am not contending that i had enough evidence to prove mr. whitlow shot pamela zimmerman. but certainly, when they claim they investigated mr. whitlow with the same intensity that they investigated mr. zimmerman, that was not true. >> but police said they investigated whitlow thoroughly and cleared him. lawyers made their final appear to the appeal to the jury. >> this is not what proof beyond a reasonable doubt looks like. we do not speculate people into murder convictions. >> new november 2014, he murdered pamela zimmerman and he major his head got carried out. that was with him. find the defendant guilty. >> the family, as polarized as

the most poisonous politics, weighted. >> i was just pacing back and forth, kind of freaking out a little bit. >> then, after a day and half of deliberations, the signal. the verdict. >> welcome back ladies and gentlemen, everybody may be seated. >> i was shaking, it just felt very long. >> the court room was utterly silent. a collective holding of breath. >> we the jury find the defendant, kirk zimmerman not guilty of first-degree murder. >> not guilty. the children exhaled. >> it was just this huge relief to know that our dad wouldn't be going away for something he didn't do. >> just cried and smiled, it was the best feeling ever. >> across the aisle? it was a different world. >> i remember saying no. >> and they took us upstairs to the state's attorney's office.

>> the state was just as devastated as we were. >> are used to this yet? >> no. hasn't been very long. no. there's still a lot of anger. >> because there's nothing you can do now right? >> no. >> a family, truly divided. larry angry, disappointed. their nieces and nephew? elated, hopeful. >> my dad can actually go out now. so we've been going out to restaurants. he came with me to my dustin dentist appointment, it was kind of awkward, because i am 20, but -- >> he is just trying to make up for the lost 4 1/2 years. >> now, said david, rachel, and heidi, they are hoping the state will solve their mom's murder. >> i obviously hope they do catch whoever did it, but i wouldn't be surprised if they don't. >> what is going to happen to the family? >> i think all of us wants to

move out of bloomington. so-- >> that is for sure. >> something else. after all the trauma, these three are, by the look of it, fine. it is because, they said, they had a wonderful mother, pam zimmerman. >> you have all done pretty well so far. what what you think about where you are in life and what you have accomplished? >> i think she would be incredibly proud of how well we have handled everything. and how it hasn't, like, derailed us. >> you think about what-- how she would want you to live and how she would want you to keep going. so that is just what i have been trying to do. that's all for this edition of dateline. i am andrea canning, the key for watching. for watching.