thank you for watching. ari melber is up next. also this weekend catch the turning point. this weekend is all about the battleground state of georgia. tune in at 9:00 pm eastern right here on msnbc. on that note, i wish you a very good night from all of our colleagues across the networks of nbc news, thanks for staying up late. i will see you at the end of monday. just walked in like you normally would.

i noticed kim lying in the basement, facedown. then i saw zip ties tight around her ankles and her feet. i still can't wrap my head around it. >> she was always helping others. now, she needed help. his beautiful wife, dead in their bedroom. >> something very violent had occurred here. >> you with the the bullet holes in the wall. >> had he been keeping secrets? >> he was living two different lives. >> maybe someone else had secrets, too. >> we asked derek, can you turn on the tv? up comes the menu for a page. i started shaking my finger at it, that's not mine. the chilling crime.

, killer running out of time. air falling, swirling, into a witch's brew of pure misery. it was coming, hot air rising, cool air falling, swirling, spinning into a witches brew of pure misery. >> she wasn't afraid of a hurricane, was she? >> no, mem. >> was she an expert on what the damage of hurricane could do? >> absolutely. her expertise is what needed to be done in order to prevent that damage. >> as luck would have it, there was a monster storm brewing off

the florida coast not far from her home come october 2012. in the end, it largely spared her state, but she, locked inside her house, that gated community was still doomed. >> the kitchen was torn apart and in her bedroom torn apart and then upstairs. we did not know really where the struggles were happening in this house. >> it had come, another storm, different in nature, but not in fury. it had blown down her door and through her world without warning or a shred of mercy. fun-loving, independent, lovely kim dorsey . no wonder derrick dorsey fell for her, and boy,

did he fall. >> the first time i laid eyes on kim, i thought she was beautiful. >> did you express how you felt t ere that might? >> no, i waited till the second day before i told her i love her. >> that's quick. >> when i told her i loved her, her response was, i like you a lot, too. >> kim wanted to take things slow, he said, for good reason. she was putting herself through school to become a civil engineer. seven years of dating past before he ever popped the question. >> she got up and walked away and i was just like oh, dear god emitted gigantic mistake. i moved too fast, and she gets over there and she goes to her person she brings out this box, and it's a long box and she hands it to me. she goes i thought you would try this one of these days. i'm like oh, what is it? is it a big know or what? >> on the contrary, inside was a bracelet etched with the letters, white yes, yes. they were married almost a year

later. after their wedding, they honeymooned in ireland. >> how do you like the beer here? >> the beer is definitely worth it. >> there is kim, ever fearless, trying to learn the sport of falconry. at times, this independent spirit seemed surprised to find herself no longer single, not that married life changed her, or either of them, very much. he was a jacksonville firefighter and owner of a small general contracting business. kim got her degree and began training building inspectors and hurricane-prone florida. >> was she good at it? >> absolutely. within two weeks they asked her to head of the department and she would have a class of rough- and-tumble men looking at this little girl in high heels telling her -- them how to build.

>> they both were laser focused on their careers. >> you decided not to have any children? >> at the time, we were both very busy and felt if we were going to do it we wanted to have time to dedicate to it so we never did. >> but you did have your babies. how many of them? >> three miniature schnauzer's. they were her children, no doubt about it. we took them to the dog park every weekend, walks during the day. that was her escape during the day when she got bogged down. she would harness them and take them for a walk. >> kim's workload seemed to grow heavier by the day. it started to get to her. >> it became increasingly difficult for her to take work off. >> she went to see a doctor for depression. >> she decided to take some medication to help her get a brighter outlook on things. >> did it work?

>> absolutely. it was like turning a light switch on. i even told the doctor thank you for giving my wife back. >> his belief did not last long. >> the cure became worse than the ailment. >> was a causing her to gain weight? >> it does. that's one of the big warning signs. weight gain, restless sleep, things like that. >> kim feared the stopping the medication to suddenly could make her more depressed. he said she was making plans that last week of october 2012 to see her doctor. in the meantime, it so happened that a storm, a brutal one called hurricane sandy, had been heading north off the atlantic coast. >> how well did she know the anatomy of a hurricane, what it was capable of? >> very well. being a civil engineer, she knows foot structures can do and what they can't do, with her teaching and so forth and training the inspectors, she knew what had to be done to the house in order to protect the inhabitants.

>> she makes everyone safe. >> absolutely. >> eventually the super storm tracked east, giving most of florida past before barreling north and into the history books. kim did not seem to have either the weather or personal troubles on her mind as the weekend rolled around. there she was, friday, the 26, captured on supermarket security video casually shopping. that night, derrick said the two watched a movie on their entertainment system that had just been repaired. >> kim used to call it nasa because i would always have to change the input for her or change the channel or get to the place she wanted to watch. >> so many people can relate to that. you had just had a sound person come in and help you out? >> i was trying to have him simplify it, take the five remotes on the table and turn it into one. >> the next day, saturday, derrick left his wife sleeping

and headed to the fire station to begin a shift. it coincided with the big football game, florida versus georgia. >> it is a large influx of people into the city and of course with a football game comes drinking and foolishness. >> what kind of calls do you get during the weekend like that? >> usually car accidents, stuff like that. there are more people on the road and a lot of them are alcohol-involved. >> is busy as he was, he called kim later that day, several times, in fact. >> could you get a hold of her? was that strange? >> not unusual. a lot of times, usually in the morning, if she didn't want to be bothered she would put her phone in the kitchen. >> on sunday, his shift over, he headed home. it was after 8:00 in the morning. as he headed into the bedroom darkened by blackout shades, he said he expected to crawl into bed next to kim but she was not there. >> i noticed kim lying at the base of the bed, facedown. >> what did you think? >> i didn't know what to think. i originally went up to her and thought maybe she'd fallen and

hit her head or maybe she'd had a few too many beers that night , but the closer i looked at her, i realized she was bleeding. >> he said the firefighter in him went into action. he did cpr and called 911. >> please send an ambulance fast. >> them, the emergency call would go out to derrick's fellow firefighters, men in trucks, sirens blaring, would be racing to the dorsey's safe gated community and into his home that looked like it had just been hit by a hurricane. coming up, what had happened to kim? had derrick arrived home in time to save his life? >> are you with her right now? >> yes, i am. >> is she awake? >> i rolled her over and i saw she wasn't breathing. >> did you think there was a chance that she might still be

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when derrick dorsey called the 911 dispatcher that sunday morning. andrea canning (voiceover): he said he couldn't grasp what he was seeing-- his 38-year-old wife, kim, lying naked when derrick dorsey called the 911 dispatcher that saturday morning r., he said he could not grasp what he was seeing. his 38-year-old wife, kim, lying naked and bloodied on the floor. >> i rolled her over and i saw she was not breathing. i tried cpr. >> did you think there was a chance? that she might still be alive? >> at that point i did not know. i was going to give her every opportunity i could. >> are you with her right now? >> yes, i am. >> on the 911 call, it's almost like you are wearing two hats.

your is a distraught husband and then you are the firefighter. did you feel yourself going back and forth? >> well, i wanted them to know that i was an off-duty fireman for the simple fact that wanted them to understand i was not only person that didn't know what they were talking about. i knew there was something wrong. >> even as he begged for help, he said he kept trying to revive kim. >> they wanted all this other information all i can focus on is getting her cpr then after a couple of minutes of giving her cpr, i realized she was already stiff. and that she was gone. i told communications. i told

them she was signal seven. >> what does that mean? >> i basically pronounced her dead. >> so, you think she's beyond any resuscitation? rescue is on the way, okay? >> you are the first responder. you see this happen to other people. >> i didn't want anybody rushing to the scene to get hurt. somebody that was already dead. >> you are a firefighter. you are use to saving people and it's your own life and you can't savor. >> yeah. >> how hard was that? >> after 15 years of going to gunshots, cardiac arrest and everything else and helping everybody else on god's green earth i can't help my own wife.

it's like all that training had just been put to waste. >> is once vibrant, beautiful wife lay dead on the bedroom floor, and he believed he knew why. >> we are sending rescue. you have to tell me exactly what she did. what happened? >> no -- i don't know. she either cut herself or something. i can't see. >> i thought maybe she had tried to hurt herself. >> derrick dorsey was telling county dispatch that his wife had committed suicide. he immediately thoughts about her medication and the warnings that came with it. >> don't take yourself off the medication. get your doctor's advice and coming off of it. >> now as he stood over the body of his wife he felt kim had ignored that warning. >> i originally thought she had tried to take herself of her own medication. she had, typical kim, wanted to do it herself.

>> she had just quit cold turkey. within minutes of 911, derrick's colleagues came to his aid. >> their fellow firefighters and paramedics. what do you say to them when they arrive? >> she's dead. >> you had a reaction to seeing them, your wife is laying there. what did you do when they got there? >> i covered her up with a comforter. >> was that more the husband in sting? >> yeah, husband and firemen. it is decorum. my wife is naked there on the ground and i've had half a dozen people in the house. you just cover her up. >> at some point, called out to the jacksonville sheriff's office. assistant chief at the time, tk

waters, was the on-duty officer that we can. >> i will make the decision on whether we are going to go out to that: respond or not and that happened to be one that i knew we had to respond to. >> the officer on the other end was telling the detective about a woman's apparent suicide. >> naturally because of the suicide we have to go and make sure everything lines up and looks as if someone committed suicide. >> the homicide detective figured the call would be a relatively quick one. he figured wrong. >> it was chaos. you could tell something really horrible happened here. >> people who commit suicide don't usually miss. >> you can see the bullet holes in the wall. no way could somebody have done this to themselves. it was obviously a murder scene, probably one of the most horrific ones that i had ever seen. >> when dateline continues. >> when dateline continues. speak into the opening so your baby can hear you better. (announcer) you can quit. for free help, call 1-800-quit-now.

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it's a beautiful... ...day to fly. wooooo! assistant chief tk waters was responding to a call about a possible suicide. as he arrived, he was struck by the neighborhood. tk waters: it's a gated community.

and in our east jacksonville toward the beach. assistant chief tk waters was responding to a call about a possible suicide. as he arrived, he was struck by the neighborhood. the neighborhood. >> it is east jacksonville not very far from the beach. beautiful homes, very nice neighborhood and not easy to access. you have to have a way in. >> soon, he was joined by his partner at the time, detective larry s caskey who was also taken with the affluent community himself. >> as i was walking up to the front door here i saw the statue of a dog that was laid up in the bushes here. >> was there anything odd about it? >> i just noticed it was unusual. >> he made a mental note and

met waters in the darkened bedroom. >> it was chaos and you could tell something really horrible happened here. you walk in initially, you see our victim lying at the foot of the bed. you can see, even as dark as it was in the room, the lighting was not good, it was just a scene that read as something horrible had happened here. >> not far from where kim like, they found a knife. they saw patches of blood to soaked into the carpet and specs of red on one wall and on another, something that jumped right out at them. >> there had been some gunshots into the wall and you could see the bullet holes in the wall. >> officers later found those bullets on the gun that had fired them, pink handled revolver that had been tossed on the bedroom floor. there was something else they noticed. >> there was a broken pool cue

in the bedroom. what i call the fat end of the pool cue. >> as they looked closer they could see kim was covered in bruises. it was clear that she had not killed herself. >> the room has blood all over the place. the condition of her body, no way could someone have done this to themselves. this is obviously a murder scene, probably one of the most horrific ones i had ever seen. >> just because of the amount of blood? when they continued looking around the house and noticed the kitchen sink filled, bizarrely, with tv remote controls, drawers open, the floor used as an ashtray. all that in the toppled statue at the front door suggested a break-in, especially when investigators learn more about the gated community. >> unfortunately at the time kim dorsey was murdered i believe the community was

leaving the door open. >> assistant state attorney london kite was called to the murder scene that day. >> it was not a secure. it could've been anybody. they could've walked through, the cut of driven through. >> the closer they looked at the house, the more they felt this attack had not been around a break-in. >> someone either had let themselves into the house, or kim had answered the door. >> if someone had come to rob the dorsey's before killing kim, they had done a poor job of it. kim's yellow hummer sat in the driveway. the big screen tv was still on the wall. >> there were some expensive items in plain sight that were still there, correct? >> yes. a big house, they had a lot of nice things. computers on the table. there was a watch case next to the bed. nothing of value seem

to be missing, you know, that we could see right there. >> but, it was kim's body the spoke the loudest to them. it was clear she had been beaten savagely, bound at some point with zip ties, and likely . >> this was such a violent attack on kim dorsey. does that tell you anything, just the level of violence? >> yes. it told us there was possibly some sort of connection between the person that committed the act, and kim. >> they perhaps knew each other and this was some kind of rage, crime of passion? >> yes. >> the bloody scene made them skeptical about the story kim's husband had told the 911 operator. >> you ask yourself, how could he believe she killed herself? how could she actually -- he actually believe that when you look at that crime scene. >> that was one of many questions they had for derrick dorsey, a man with plenty of stories to tell.

>> he was living two different lives. >> i said what about a girlfriend and he readily sat a lot going on here. >> we really had to figure out what was his true passion. did she want to live there with kim or did he want the more seedy, dark side of his life. >> when dateline continues. fe. >> when dateline continues. emb. i felt like disconnecting. i asked my doctor about treating my td, and learned about ingrezza. ♪ ingrezza ♪ ingrezza is clinically proven for reducing td. most people saw results in just two weeks. people taking ingrezza can stay on most mental health meds. only number-one prescribed ingrezza has simple dosing for td: always one pill, once daily. ingrezza can cause depression, suicidal thoughts, or actions in patients with huntington's disease. pay close attention to and call your doctor if you become depressed, have sudden changes in mood, behaviors, feelings, or have thoughts of suicide. don't take ingrezza if you're allergic to its ingredients. ingrezza may cause serious side effects, including angioedema, potential heart rhythm problems, and abnormal movements.

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at least seven people are dead after severe weather ripped through the houston area, winds reaching 100 miles an hour blew out windows and office buildings. temperatures past 90 degrees this weekend and the dow jones industrial average finished above 40,000 for the first time in history. all three major indexes saw weekly gains after news of economic inflation. and now, back to dateline.

>> reporter: derrick dorsey sat in the back of a squad car staring at the crime scene tape surrounding his home. it was like rubbernecking at someone else's tragedy, waiting for the nightmare to slip by. >> i still can't wrap my head around it. >> he said he kept trying to piece together what had happened. later, he went with officers to the station for questioning. >> i don't -- it's difficult right now. >> detective larry kuczkowski interviewed derrick, still in his firefighter uniform. he said the husband seemed willing to answer all his questions, starting with how he had left kim that saturday morning. >> so, you left the house yesterday morning ? >> about 7:10. >> your shift started at 8:00 on saturday. did you go back home for any reason? >> is all a boy -- his alibi at that point is that he's at work. they do 24 hour shifts.

>> a story that would be easy enough to check out. next, the detective asked derrick how he had found kim when he got home from work. >> i went in straight to the bedroom. she's not laying down. she's on the floor. >> did you touch her or anything? >> oh, yeah. i touched her. i turned her over. i think she was on the right side. >> he was upset. did he break down? not as much is i think some people would, telling the story about what they had just came home to. >> the first thing was popping into my head as she has taken her life. >> he said he believed kim had committed suicide. he had already told county dispatch he thought kim had cut herself. now, he was telling the detective something different. >> she has a gun of her own? what kind of gun? >> teak taurus. >> or is it normally kept?

>> in her drawer. >> did you open that drawer? >> i don't think so. >> he explained kim had been battling depression, then battling side effects from the medicine. he said their marriage had suffered. >> when is the last time that you and kim had sex? >> a while back. >> rather one of you stepping out, you know, a girlfriend on her -- your behalf for a boyfriend on hers? >> i said what about a girlfriend, you got a girlfriend and he readily said there is a lot going on here. >> derrick had just admitted he had been unfaithful to kim. >> obviously, big red flag. >> assistant state attorney london kite was listening in on the interview from another room and hearing the possible motive for murder. >> he was living two different

lives. we really had to figure out what was his you know, true passion, did he want to be with kim or did he want the more seedier, dark side of his life? >> there was another fact she could not overlook, that derrick, a seasoned firefighter, had done the unthinkable at a crime scene. >> was she covered? >> no, she was buck naked on the floor. after the rescue came, pronouncing her dad i was like jesus, guys, so i covered her. with a comforter. >> so you pulled that on top of her. >> yes, they saw me do it. >> the thing that he did it was kind of uncharacteristic of someone who was a first responder that goes to seems like this is that he covered her body with the bedding, you know, you would not want that

to happen in a crime scene. >> to the investigators, it was possible derrick dorsey had tried literally to cover up evidence. everything they were hearing let them to wonder, had he killed his wife? by then, the line of questioning seemed to weigh on derrick . >> i'm not stupid. this someone harm her? >> looks like that. >> did you worry they might think it was you? >> i don't doubt they did think it was me but i knew that if they originally thought it, it would come to light that there's obviously no way i could've done it. >> even as he sat in that interview room, detectives outside it were in fact checking out his fire station alibi. did derrick dorsey's alibi check out? was he really at work? >> yes, he was. he had spent the whole day at

work. there was some phone calls he made to kim that were not answered. that was not unusual. >> surveillance footage supported derrick's account. it showed his truck leaving the gated community in the early hours of saturday morning. even though his alibi checked out, derrick was not off the hook. investigators thought he still could have had something to do with kim's murder. >> that is why we wanted to make sure we looked at his phone records to see who he was contacting. >> has investigators tried to size up the man before him, officers back at the crime scene calvinist -- canvassed nearby homeowners. one had seen something. so, here is what detectives had so far. a mysterious car, a husband who might or might not be involved, a victim who likely knew her killer, and a house that was ready to tell investigators a whole lot more. coming up -- >> we found that her nose had been damaged, so to me, that meant it was a sucker punch. >> a rare look at a crime scene, inch by inch, minute by

minute, through the eyes of an expert. >> she is zip tied to the stressor. she opens the store somehow. she got the got out, so her attacker was -- either she saw him or hurt him and she fired off five shots in the gun was empty. >> she missed? >> she missed. >> when dateline continues. sh. >> when dateline continues. whole body deodorant, which gives you 72 hour odor protection from your pits to your- (sfx: deoderant being sprayed) secret whole body deodorant. how long have you been tracking the value of our car? (sfx: should we sell it?rayed) we hold... our low mileage is paying off. you think we should... hold... hoooold!!! hooold! now!!!! i'm on it. i'm, on it. already sold to carvana. go to carvana and track your car's value today.

as detectives interviewed derrick dorsey downtown-- interviewer: did you text her yesterday? andrea canning (voiceover): their colleagues were searching for clues across town. a man's castle was now a crime scene-- has detectives interviewed derrick dorsey downtown, others were searching for clues across town. a man's castle was now a crime scene and a confusing one, at that. assistant state attorney london kite. this was a real puzzle. >> it was. the kitchen was torn apart in her bedroom was torn apart. we did not know really where the struggles were happening in this house.

>> soon, they would. they believed kim died sometime saturday morning, not long after derrick left for work. her cell phone, damaged from being thrown in the kitchen sink, had stopped receiving signals around them. light so you know she was alive to a certain point at least. her autopsy filled in more details. kim had died of blunt trauma to the head in a single stab wound to the neck but it was officers like detective karen smith who helped the team understand how this crime unfolded. what is the first thing you saw when you came into the room? >> the first thing i thought was what is called an impact pattern right here on this wall that was sort of re-created with stickers. >> smith, a bloodstain analyst and crime scene expert followed the trail of kim's fight in the bedroom spec by spec using the string and 3-d diagrams. she believed kim had just gotten out of bed when her attacker barged in. >> when the autopsy was completed, we found that her nose had been damaged, so to

me, that meant that it was a sucker punch. >> for which you have been standing to great the spatter? >> right about here. >> than something you believe would've hit her in the face? >> right, probably in the nose. it bleeds very heavily and quickly. her eyes water. you can't see, it's very painful and normally when somebody is punched in the nose that hard, they go down. >> this first blow, she said, would've brought kim down by the side of her bed. >> she is actually down here on the floor and there was the large saturation staying here on the carpet. she was down here for quite some time. >> blood found on the nearby wall and marks on kim's body suggest that she was struck repeatedly and so forcibly that she probably blacked out. smith believed kim was then bound at the wrists. >> she is zip tied to this dresser. >> giving kim's attacker time to step out of the first floor bedroom and into the kitchen

that lay just beyond. drawers, randomly open, indicated someone had been rifling through the room. that pause gave kim time to regain consciousness, free herself, and do something incredible. >> she opens the store somehow, she got the gun out and she aimed and she probably can't see very well. she's been punched in the face, so she fired the gun five times. it went through the doorjamb and up into the ceiling in the kitchen. >> so, her attacker you believe obviously was -- >> other she saw him or heard him and she fired all five shots in the gun was empty. >> she missed. even then, she said kim did not give up. >> she is able to move in please this area and still has the gun in her hand and as she moves around the bed, the gun is tossed and found right underneath the bed here. >> blood, lit by luminal, traced kim's desperate path to

a window on the other side of the bedroom. >> we know she is opening these curtains. there are transfer stains and saturation stains on the curtain. the pull cord for the blinds has let on it, so she is open the blinds and there is blood on the window so now we know she's clamoring to get out of this window. >> this could have been her escape, but he came back. smith said the man probably grabbed kim as she tried to escape, and beat her to the floor again, likely with that pool cue, before stabbing her once in the neck. >> there was a very large saturation staying here on the floor, and the knife was found next to it, so this is basically where she was killed. this is for ultimately, she lost her fight. >> the scenario told investigators about kim's brave but doomed struggle, but it also told them about her killer. zip ties on kim's wrist down the pool cue on the floor appear to have come from the home. the knife matched a set from the kitchen. >> so, he would know the house.

>> yes, he would know upstairs and downstairs, too. >> someone who might possibly know where the zip ties are. >> yes, and also know the habits of kim dorsey, that she is a late sleeper. she sleeps pretty hard, was my understanding, too. >> obviously one man, derrick, knew all of that but evidently there were others who did, as well. >> one guy that used to live with us and worked with me. >> derrick told them about a friend who would work construction jobs with them and even worked with them for a time. his name was lance kirkpatrick but derrick sat detectives straight. >> i made the comments, lance would've taken a bullet for kim. you guys are wasting your time. talk to him, you will understand. you will know where i'm coming from after you meet him.

>> lance, he added, not only would it kill kim, he couldn't. derrick said his friend taken a new job just before her death. >> is up in georgia shrimping. >> out on a boat shrimping? >> yes, at sea, miles away. >> but derrick did give detectives another name of this young man had definitely been in the area that week in jacksonville, and in trouble. >> did he lie to you? >> no. >> come on now. a little bit, maybe? >> a suspect who seemed infatuated with kim. >> had you ever had sex with her? >> and history with police. did it make you question him, the sky on your radar was just in jail? when dateline continues. when dateline continues. you can save 5% every day. you got this. and we got you. (noel) did you know it's possible to have a heart attack at age 36? i didn't. here's a tip. if you smoke, it's totally possible. that's what happened to me. (announcer) you can quit. for free help, call 1-800-quit-now. ♪♪ are you tired of your hair breaking after waiting years for it to grow?

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investigators were untangling the mystery surrounding kim dorsey's murder. they knew her killer was familiar with her home. her husband, derrick, certainly fit that bill, but he had a strong alibi and a willingness to share everything, it seemed. even his infidelity. typically in cases like that, you know, husbands that are suspects, they try to hide all of those things. they say, oh, no, our relationship was perfect. but derrick, on the other hand, started exposing kind of the darkness that was

inside that beautiful house. was kim aware that this was going on? i don't believe so. if she was, she never let me know. did you worry how that might look to the detectives? i didn't even care. they asked me if i had any relationships on the side, and i fessed up to it right then and there. that was the least of my worries, knowing that i'd done that. i wanted them to find who killed her. andrea canning: still, investigators couldn't overlook the possibility that derrick had hired someone to kill kim. did you worry that they might think that you could have enlisted some help? no. hired someone? i knew that i could account for my whereabouts. i didn't know how they could even think i was an accomplice to something like that. no. andrea canning (voiceover): he said he was an open book with investigators. in fact, when they asked if anyone else knew the layout of his home, besides his pal lance, derrick gave them another name-- joshua veal. josh was a young man--

just somebody that needed a job. didn't have a whole bunch of construction experience and everything, but i always needed someone to help clean up, and straighten up the job sites, and such. andrea canning (voiceover): so he gave joshua work in the general contracting business he ran on the side, and later, a place to stay. we saw a young man that needed some direction, and we tried to help him out the best we could. andrea canning (voiceover): for a few months, joshua lived with the dorseys. but derrick said the arrangement soured when joshua took a wrong turn. josh decided that recreational pharmaceuticals were more fun than working in the hot sun every day. that must have been heartbreaking for you, because you really wanted to see this young man succeed. it was. you wanted to shake sense into him, but people have to make their own mistakes in order to learn. andrea canning (voiceover): he told joshua to leave, but said they remained friends. he'd call me and say hey, mr. d, i need to do some work. and i was more than glad to help him. he did a good job when he showed up. andrea canning (voiceover): yet joshua

couldn't let go of his vice. he was picked up for drug possession and released one day before kim was murdered. that really got the detectives' attention. did it make you question him? this guy on your radar was just in jail. yes. does he need money? does he need something? and joshua had also been kicked out of the dorsey house. yes. he could be angry about that. of course. not the best houseguest. detective: not the best houseguest. andrea canning (voiceover): there was more, and to detectives it was explosive. derrick said that on that sunday morning, just before finding kim's body, he stopped at a gas station to pick up joshua for a job-- only, joshua never showed. at that point, we set out trying to put our hands on joshua. and he's just out there. no one seems to know where he is? that's correct. detective: right. is that a sign that there might be something up there? that this guy didn't show, and now no one can find him? yes. absolutely. and right around the time that kim dorsey was murdered. right. the morning that she's found, he can't be found. andrea canning (voiceover): but he didn't stay hidden for long.

later that same day, derrick told investigators that joshua had just called. the two men arranged to meet at a local restaurant, but detective larry kuczkowski decided to surprise the young man instead. we were sitting there waiting on him, and as soon as he got out of the car, i introduced myself to him and said we needed to have a talk. andrea canning (voiceover): this is joshua veal, and he remembers that moment very differently. were you scared? yes, ma'am. six, seven undercover cars come pull up and ask about you-- you tend to get a little nervous. andrea canning (voiceover): the talk the detective wanted with joshua took place downtown at the sheriff's office. the officer didn't mention kim's murder at first. so you get home friday night, 10:00, 11:00, from the jail? did it feel, though, like it wasn't a friendly conversation? yes, ma'am. like you were being treated kind of as a suspect type? i was already under the impression i was treated as a suspect for something, but i had no clue what for. you spent friday night at the house? yeah. ok.

you didn't go anywhere friday night? no. andrea canning (voiceover): joshua said he'd spent the weekend hanging out with friends. so you go to wing-it on saturday to watch the football game, or what? yeah, i think i did. anybody else up there that could vouch that you were up there saturday? uh-- probably so. now, were you supposed to go to work for anybody on sunday, or-- andrea canning (voiceover): they asked why he hadn't shown up at the gas station to meet derrick for work that sunday morning. surveillance showed derrick at the station, but not joshua. where was he? yeah, i didn't make it today. i kind of slept in and didn't hit my alarm. did he call you-- like, chew you out, or anything, or-- yeah, he was cussing at me. he was like, you little [bleep]. you should have came-- or you should have been at the kangaroo this morning at 8:00. andrea canning (voiceover): finally, the investigators asked about kim dorsey. they wanted the 21-year-old to explain his relationship with the 38-year-old woman. how'd she look? 1 to 10? would you ask me if i would hit it? sure. 8. kim ever come on to you? no. aw, come on, naw. - naw, she ain't-- - little bit, maybe? no. i wish.

have you ever had sex with her? be honest with me. - naw. i wish. what he revealed about kim was really interesting, is that he almost had an infatuation with her. not that, you know, she was just my boss's wife, but someone that he almost had a romantic pull towards. how were investigators feeling now about joshua veal? is he starting to go to the top of the list? yeah, he's definitely going-- he's going up. andrea canning (voiceover): now the detective was ready to drop a bombshell. and eventually, i brought up kim, and why we were talking. well, i got some bad news. something happened to kim. >> how are investigators feeling now about joshua veale? is he going to the top of the list? >> yes, he's definitely going up. >> eventually i brought up kim and why we were talking. i got some bad news. something happened to kim. >> i just talked to derrick like 45 minutes ago. what do you mean something happened to kim? >> i asked him do you know what happened to kim and he was unaware that she was dead.

he took it like his mother died. >> don't tell me that, man. no, not miss kim. >> did his emotional reaction to her death, is that enough for you, for your got to say not sure he's our killer? >> it was for me at that point. i mean, don't eliminate them completely but set him off to the side for now and we knew where he was. he wasn't going anywhere. >> and trying to find out and i need to know n. if you know anything, or somebody that might be trying to hurt her, hurt derrick h? >> bro, i promise you, you wouldn't catch me right here if i knew somebody was trying to hurt them. i promise you that, man. that was a good woman, you don't know. she was. >> i'm sure she was.

>> this ain't fair. >> just about anybody out there could be are suspect. >> days passed without an arrest. jacksonville sheriff's office asked the public for help. >> like i said,s because of th lack of witnesses and physical evidence, nothing has let us further todayce in identifying leading us to a suspect that sunday morning. ni >> but, there was another piecew of evidence. it had been right inside the house all along, hiding in the dark just waiting for someone to come along and push the right button. coming up -- >> it was one of those moments where the hair would stand up on the back of your neck. >> and ex-rated clue.

>> there's no way that's mine in no way kim would be looking at that than i look at the dvd player and i'm going, that's her murderer. that is going to be was in my house. >> when dateline continues. dat . whoa fleas! and ticks! (♪♪) intestinal worms! whoa! heartworm disease! no problem with simparica trio! this drug class has been associated with neurologic adverse reactions including seizures. use with caution in dogs with a history of these disorders. for winning protection— go with simparica trio.

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andrea canning: days after finding kim's body, detectives crossed one name off their suspect list. they looked into joshua veal's alibi, and it checked out. josh was just on another side of jacksonville. andrea canning: nowhere near the dorsey home, as far as they could tell. kim's husband, derrick, likewise had a solid alibi, but detectives still weren't sure what to make of him. they knew he was an unfaithful husband, which gave him a possible motive. at this point, were you able to rule out derrick dorsey? no, absolutely not. i mean, you know there's-- he could have definitely had something setting this up. andrea canning: then again, if he had hired someone to kill kim, why was he acting so darn helpful? derrick's calling me daily. obviously, there are times that i had to call him, you know, to get some information about things at the house. and so yeah, he's cooperating. he's doing everything, you know, that i'm asking of him.

andrea canning: finally, officers and technicians were done processing the crime scene, and derrick could return to the house. so the night we go to turn the house back over-- i think was halloween, the 31st. andrea canning: they hoped the walls might talk to derrick-- >> so the night we go to turn the house back over, i think it was halloween, the 31st. >> reporter: they hoped the walls might talk to derrick, might reveal something officers had missed. >> part of the turnover back to him was to bring him out to the house, to have him look around, walk us through the whole house, show us anything that maybe was out of place that we missed as investigators and the evidence technicians to say, that's not right. >> reporter: as it turned out, the house wasn't just speaking to derrick. it was practically shouting. >> the blood's still on the floor. the plates shattered on the ground are still there. at that point, they wanted me to try to help piece together things. and i'm noticing everything, everything. you know, this is wrong, this is here. i don't understand why the remotes are in the sink.

>> reporter: detectives larry kuczkowski and t.k. waters showed us what happened when they ushered derrick into his tv room. >> so we're standing here and we asked derrick, can you turn on the tv? so derrick comes in here. >> reporter: why? why did you ask him to turn on the tv? >> well, we had never, the tv wasn't on when we got here and we had found all of the remotes on the sink so we just wanted to see how it worked. >> the moment i turned it on and changed the input to the dvd player, up comes the menu for a porn video. at that point, i start shaking my finger at it and going, that's not mine. there's no way that's mine. and there's no way kim would be looking at that. and i look at the dvd player. and i'm going, that's your murderer. that's going to be who was in my house. >> reporter: that's a creepy clue. >> as soon as i knew that, i

knew they were going to be able to get him. they were going to be able to find out who did this to my wife. >> it was one of those moments where the hair would stand up on the back of your neck. because to have that video in there and having derrick here saying, that's not mine. so, it automatically raises an antenna and gets you curious. >> reporter: but it was what derrick said next that really got their attention. he told them the man who installed that complicated entertainment system, the one kim nicknamed nasa, had been there to make repairs the day before her murder. >> so he would have known, you know, where the kitchen was and everything else. it's an open floor plan in the center. but he would have had a familiarity with the house. >> reporter: derrick told the detectives that the installer, a man named j.r., could be the person they were looking for. >> in my mind, that was a very strong possibility it was him. i'd known him before. he worked on another house i'd done. i had no reason to think that.

but that was the only possible logical person that i could think of had done it. >> reporter: so what would his motivation be? >> stealing the system that he just tweaked. have no earthly idea. >> reporter: was there anyone else who knew how to work the entertainment system? >> no. >> i mean, who else would be handling the remotes when he's tuning the surround sound system, and then throw them in a sink to get the evidence off of it? so you had all those things come into play. >> reporter: so detectives paid a surprise visit to this j.r., to the shop where he worked. >> i came back and it was a couple detectives here at the shop, wanted to ask some questions. >> reporter: at that point, j.r. said he hadn't heard about kim's death. and detectives were vague about why they needed to talk to him. initially, he thought they simply wanted information about his client derrick dorsey. >> they said, do you know derrick dorsey? and i said, yeah, he's one of

our customers. he's like, when was the last time you were at the house? and i told him, you know, ways there friday or whatever it was. >> reporter: they also asked if he knew anything about kim. even then, he said he had no idea why police were so interested in the dorseys. >> she was very sweet, very nice. you know, she'd always, you know -- and i've only saw her a couple times. >> reporter: one of them was that friday. he had been called to the dorsey home to fine tune the entertainment system. while he was there, he noticed a chill between the husband and wife. >> i remember just she walked -- she would walk by and say, hey, guys, i'm headed to the gym. and i said, okay. we'll see you. and derrick didn't say anything to her. i thought that was weird. you know, i was like, you don't say bye to your wife? but i guess he was more interested in getting his electronics fixed, i guess. >> reporter: yeah, because something must have jumped out at you. first of all, you don't even know this couple very well. >> kind of weird. they didn't have a very -- to me i never saw an affectionate kind of relationship between

the two at all. >> reporter: as the detectives listened to j.r., they took in what he did for a living. they noticed the wires and cables he worked with, the tool hess used. more importantly, they noticed his hands. coming up -- >> he's got cuts on his hands. >> and something interesting in his tool kit. >> he worked with zip ties? >> yes. >> yes. >> we're thinking he's a possibility. when "dateline" continues . means i'll never miss a day of freshness. ♪

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the man who had been inside the dorsey's home the day if you know, you know it's pantene. before the murder said at first he had no idea why detectives were asking him about kim, derrick, the man who had been inside the dorseys' home the day before the murder said at first he had no idea why detectives were asking him about kim, derrick and the layout of their house. >> i was like, yeah, i know kim just by being at the house doing their installs >> reporter: the entertainment system installer, j.r., said he thought derrick gave his wife the cold shoulder, especially that friday as she headed off to the gym. >> he just sensed there wasn't a strong, you know, loving relationship. >> reporter: other than that, he said he didn't make much of the investigators' questions. but they found a lot in his answers. they thought it possible j.r. had sensed an opportunity with kim. >> did he have the hots for her? you know, did he come -- show back up on saturday morning, he had been there friday night, you know, felt maybe he'd go over saturday morning? you know, remember he doesn't think they're in a loving relationship. does he go back, thinking, hey, you know what? i have some opportunity here with her?

>> reporter: they wonder had j.r. come calling on kim only to get a chilly reception? had kim's rejection set him off? detectives got to the point. they asked j.r. if he'd heard about kim's murder. his reaction seemed calm. too calm, for the prosecutor. what did that tell you that he wasn't overly emotional about the news? >> that could be, you know, a sign that he's more involved. a person like that committed this type of crime, obviously they're cold-blooded. >> reporter: but it was his hands more than his demeanor that really heightened their interest. >> he's got cuts on his hands. and we're thinking well, could these be defensive wounds from when she was hitting him if he was the killer? >> reporter: they asked about those scratches. j.r. said he got them on the job handling wires and plastics. he also worked with zip ties? >> yes. >> reporter: what are you thinking then about the sound man? can you cross him off your list? >> we think he's a possibility. >> reporter: more than a

possibility thought the prosecutor. >> he had scratches. he had injuries to his hand, which, you know, from kim's body, we knew that she fought for her life. she was engaged in a tremendous struggle. so he said that was just something he got, you know, during the course of his job. but obviously, as an investigator, you're seeing the other side of that. is he just making an excuse? >> reporter: there are some things they're seeing that could potentially be tying him to this crime? >> absolutely. >> reporter: they just need to find out more? >> yes. >> reporter: the detectives asked j.r. where he'd been the previous weekend when kim was killed. he explained he'd been around town, had even been at a local ball field. did you feel like their questions were getting a little intense? did you feel like you were under the spotlight? >> i guess at the moment, i didn't because i didn't think that much about it. i was more like thinking of the situation that they just told me happened. >> reporter: it wasn't until the detectives left that he had that light bulb moment. they weren't looking to him for information. they were looking at him.

>> did they -- were they thinking that might have been scratches on my arms from something like that? but that crossed my mind. that probably bothered me more than anything in the whole interview, you know, whole questioning. >> reporter: because kim really fought for her life. she fought hard. >> wow. >> reporter: and whoever she was fighting with would have had scratches on them. >> yeah. >> reporter: no doubt. >> right. >> reporter: he also thought back to how he'd answered their questions about the murder and about kim. did you have that little moment where your heart's beating like, i was just there. >> yes. >> reporter: i hope they don't think i had anything to do with this. >> they said she was murdered saturday or something like that. and i was like, are you kidding me? i was just there friday night. they even asked me did i have any relationships with her. no. they asked me did i kiss her. no, nothing like that. >> reporter: did you know that derrick had been pointing the finger at you? >> i had no clue.

>> reporter: he was telling the police that he thought you could be a suspect. >> that's interesting. i had no clue. >> reporter: if anything he saw derrick as the most likely suspect. >> he seemed like a very short- tempered kind of guy. how he gets amped on certain situations. gets excited. you could tell how he just kind of short fuse kind of thing. it crossed my mind, yeah. because usually they do think it's someone very close to them that does this stuff first. >> reporter: still, j.r. said he did his best to cooperate fully with the police. did they take your dna sample? >> they did. right here at the office they did. and i volunteered, i was like, yeah, absolutely, no problem. >> reporter: that has to be unnerving, too, though. >> yeah. fingerprints and did a mouth swab and all that. and i've never had that in my life. i've never been arrested in my life, you know? >> reporter: there's a lot of things that might make the police look at you. >> i could see that, yeah. >> reporter: that's not a great place to be in. >> no. >> reporter: but he wouldn't be there long.

by then, a police report was making its way downtown through the sheriff's office. it was about to change everything. coming up -- could a stolen car help solve a murder? >> did you find it on the video? >> yes. >> in the gated community the day that kim dorsey was murdered? >> yes. >> that's huge. >> what that tells us is he's in town. >> when "dateline" continues . s on more surfaces than lysol disinfectant spray. wanna know a secret? more than just my armpits stink. facts. that's why i use secret whole body deodorant for clinically proven odor protection everywhere. so i smell great all day, all hike, and all night. secret whole body deodorant. chantel: whatcha doing?

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when the detectives got back to the station, now i can help again they reviewed what they had on jr, when the detectives got back to the station, they reviewed what they had on j.r., the entertainment system installer, his alibi, his dna, his scratched hands. but soon they had something else -- doubts. >> he installs sound systems. and so, you know, he's always working in tight spaces and that's how he's cut his hands up. >> reporter: did you believe him? >> it's believable. >> yeah, it's very understandable. i mean, with the kind of work that he does, you could see his hands getting cut up. >> reporter: and they learned that j.r.'s alibi for the weekend kim died checked out. two men, joshua veal and j.r., the installer, were now off the suspect list. you're going from person to person to person, but no arrest. >> no, not yet. >> reporter: are you getting a little frustrated? or are you just following the

trail? >> just following the trail. because the trail -- it tends to -- tends to start narrowing after a period of time. we felt like it wasn't going to be a situation where this was going to go unsolved. there was just too much, too much information for us to follow up for that to happen. >> reporter: optimism alone doesn't solve crimes. hard work, of course, does. but so, too, can luck. a stolen car doesn't usually fall into that last category, but it did for investigators in this case. >> there's a lady here in jacksonville, she reports her car stolen. the report is written by a patrol officer with the sheriff's office. eventually that report gets, you know, goes through the channels. >> reporter: where it might have gone largely unnoticed if not for an eagle-eyed crime analyst who saw the name of the the suspected car thief listed on the report. >> lance kirkpatrick was listed in that report as possibly stealing this car. >> reporter: an suv?

>> suv, yes. >> reporter: lance kirkpatrick, as in derrick's good friend, employee and houseguest. the man derrick said would take a bullet for kim. lance kirkpatrick is the one person you haven't been able to talk to? >> that's correct. >> reporter: derrick had also insisted that lance had been on a shrimp boat all week. now a police report was challenging that story. what does this mean to you? >> what that tells us is he's in town. he's not on a shrimp boat. >> that's picking up steam again. that helped us go in the direction that we needed to go in to put the pieces of this puzzle, the pieces of this case together. >> reporter: the woman said someone had taken her car in the early morning hours of october 27th. only he never came back. where is lance kirkpatrick? does anyone know? >> not at that point. >> reporter: any friends or family who had any idea where he was? >> no. we talked with his father and grandmother.

they hadn't heard from him. him and his father had a -- wasn't the best relationship. so it wasn't unusual that they wouldn't hear from him for a period of time. >> reporter: suddenly, they remembered the neighbor who saw a small suv the day kim died. his description matched that of the stolen vehicle. detectives wondered if cameras outside the dorseys' gated community caught the car coming or going. did you find it on the video? >> yes. >> reporter: in the gated community the day that kim dorsey was murdered? >> yes. >> reporter: this is your huge moment in this case. >> yes. >> yes. >> reporter: but the video didn't reveal who was driving the suv. and they also weren't sure if the woman who reported it stolen, a known drug user, was telling the truth. >> things like that, unfortunately, aren't uncommon for, you know, people that are addicted to drugs to kind of trade their car for drugs, so we weren't really sure about that whole situation.

>> reporter: even so, they needed to find lance. >> so i called the coast guard to see if there was anything that when the shrimp boats go out, if they file a manifest of any kind of who is on board. and they don't. >> reporter: it's not something that you can radio each boat and say, hey, is lance kirkpatrick on your boat? >> correct, yes. >> reporter: the search for lance did lead detectives to another man, an acquaintance named brian. he'd been at the same house party when the suv disappeared. there was someone else who also had access to that suv potentially. brian kiefer? >> yes. >> reporter: brian kiefer, aka, money. brian's nickname is money? >> yes. >> reporter: do you know why? >> he said that's what, you know, the drug dealers call him. and i believe it's probably because he is a boss. he owns his own company. and he runs in those same circles of people. >> reporter: brian ran a building renovation business,

but he also had a criminal past. troubling to you? >> yes. it's always troubling when you know they have records and they're doing things that are outside the law. so that's always a concern. >> reporter: did you think for a moment that possibly he might have done this? >> yes. everybody -- once again, everybody is still on the table. we don't know who did it. >> reporter: and unlike lance, who either was or wasn't on a shrimp boat, detectives learned that brian had been spotted in jacksonville recently. now they wanted to talk to him. coming up -- >> brian tells us some things that only the person that was there would know. >> and he also reveals something else. what a friend told him. >> what does he say?

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detective larry kuczkowski needed to find lance kirkpatrick and a man named brian kiefer. detective larry kuczkowski needed to find lance kirkpatrick and a man named

brian kieffer. the first one they found was brian at a mcdonald's. so he gets completely ambushed at the mcdonald's? >> yes. >> reporter: soon brian was in custody at the sheriff's office sitting down with a detective and prosecutor london kite. >> can i stand up? >> if it makes you feel better. >> well, brian comes in and basically he's real animated. full of energy that night. >> reporter: they asked brian where he'd been the last weekend of october. >> i want to direct your attention to florida/georgia weekend. do you remember that weekend? >> yes. >> reporter: brian told them he was at his place. and, yes, he had company. >> it's lance kirkpatrick, but there is a middle name. >> and he goes by the nickname of l.j.? >> l.j. >> reporter: and he told them lance had been at his apartment that friday night, partying. he said lance had borrowed someone's small suv to buy drugs and never came back. >> i spent $480 for about four hours of riding around in a cab

looking for l.j. everywhere he'd been to, went, everything. >> and were you able to find him? >> didn't find a trace of him. >> reporter: it wasn't until a day later, sunday, that lance called him, begging to meet at a gas station. brian said he immediately noticed lance's hands. >> you noticed i guess that his hand was hurt at that point in time. do you recall what hand? if you don't, it's okay. >> i thought it was a left, but i know he hits with his right. so i just -- >> if you can't recall, that's fine. >> i can't recall. that would be the better statement. >> but you did remember that he had an injury to one of his hands? >> yes. >> reporter: brian said he was unprepared for what lance was about to tell him. >> he tells me that he murdered somebody and just pretty much is going to prison, and there's nothing that can be done about it. and i'm saying, i said, what do you mean you murdered somebody and your life is over and

you're going to prison? and he was like, i'm going to prison. >> reporter: he thought lance was making up stories. but a few days later, lance revealed details of his crime. he said he had let himself into his boss' home, only to be confronted by the man's wife. when she picked up her phone to call for help, he panicked. >> he said i took her cell phone and i told her to get out of my way, that i just wanted my stuff. >> reporter: from there, brian said the argument quickly turned violent. >> pretty much just goes into -- i don't know whether he hit her with that pool stick, but he kind of emphasized swinging the pool stick. >> okay. >> and then he emphasized being shot at five times. >> reporter: the story was so awful, so incredible, brian said he didn't think it was true. yet, investigators did. they believed brian had just described the murder of kim

dorsey. >> and i told my brother, you know, like -- and he's like, do you really believe that [ bleep ]? and i was just like, not really. you know. but i didn't -- you know, i didn't know. >> reporter: brian's not sure if he should believe lance. are you believing brian? >> brian tells us some things that only the person that was there would know. >> reporter: but couldn't that make him a suspect? >> yes. >> it could. >> reporter: were you looking at him as a possible suspect? >> at that point he was, yes. >> yes. >> reporter: what were the details he knew about? >> he knew about the electronics in the sink. that's not anything that we ever released. that's not something we would ever tell anyone. he also knew about the pool cue, and he knew that it was a very expensive pool cue, that it was over $1,000, which that was accurate. >> reporter: and he gave detectives a chilling detail. kim's last words. >> what does he say? does he say that she was dead or does he say anything about that?

>> he said the lady was saying, stop. you're killing me. >> reporter: investigators were now determined to find lance. brian knew exactly where he was. >> our friends from the marshal's office went and paid that apartment a visit and lance was found hiding in the apartment. >> reporter: the long-missing lance kirkpatrick, once thought to be at sea, had now washed up in a police interview room. >> lance, have a seat over there, okay? >> the beginning of the interview was -- i mean, it was just a conversation. he was fairly forthcoming with his answers. well, i'd like to talk to you, okay, about some stuff, all right? >> reporter: the detective asked lance about the dorseys. he was careful not to mention kim's murder. >> you and derrick get along pretty well? >> oh, we get along great. >> how about you and kim? >> we get along fine. >> have you ever had any problems with her. >> uh-uh. >> no, nothing like that? all right. >> no, i pretty much get along with everybody. >> reporter: lance said he'd been to see his pal derrick at his fire station. >> went out to the station 45

and got a hundred bucks from him to go down south. >> reporter: he said he was only gone for a day or so. he later tried to pay derrick another visit at his home. >> i went over there a week ago, maybe a week and a half ago looking for him. >> you remember what day it was that you went over there and did that? >> yeah, it was georgia/florida. >> georgia/florida. >> it was georgia/florida. right before the game. >> reporter: the very day kim died. lance was now putting himself at the crime scene. he told the detective he knocked on the dorsey door, but no one answered. >> did you go inside? let yourself in? >> no, no, no, no, no, the key wasn't there. >> where's the key supposed to be? >> it's supposed to be up under the dog right there. >> where's the dog where? >> there's a little dog about like a fake dog by the door. >> reporter: spare key? little dog? lance had just admitted he knew how to let himself into the dorsey home. suddenly, the upended statue the detective noticed the morning they found kim's body made sense.

>> what if i told you i didn't believe all your story? >> what part of the story don't you believe? >> reporter: larry kuczkowski was convinced lance had, in fact, found that key and sneaked into kim's house. the detective was certainly not about to let this sleeping dog lie. coming up -- >> how could somebody do that, to begin with? >> reporter: betrayed by a friend. >> you the only thing i could do was howl. [♪♪] looking for a moisturizer that does more than just moisturize? try olay regenerist for 10 benefits in every jar. olay visibly firms, lifts, and smooths wrinkles, by penetrating the skin, to boost regeneration

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lance kirkpatrick told detectives he had driven over to the dorsey's home that saturday lance kirkpatrick told detectives he had driven over to the dorseys' home that saturday morning but had not gone inside. detective kuczkowski wasn't buying it. >> i know you went inside the house last saturday, or two saturdays on florida/georgia weekend. >> the house. >> i haven't even given you the tip of the iceberg yet bro. all right. you play cards? if i show you my hand, do you think i'm going to win? >> if you've got a good enough hand. >> reporter: the detective thought he did. >> putting you at the scene i ain't going to break a sweat. i can do that. the scene is going to tell a story. >> reporter: that's when lance put down his cards. >> i'm not saying anything else. >> reporter: even so, the detectives felt they had enough. >> okay. man, time to go to jail. >> reporter: lance kirkpatrick was under arrest for kim's

murder. but had he acted alone? investigators cleared brian of any involvement. though they still weren't sure about derrick. they examined his electronic and financial records and eventually came up with nothing that tied him to his wife's murder. >> we were looking to see if derrick had a life insurance policy on kim that he was trying to connect or gain. you know, some type of financial benefit from her death. >> reporter: did he? >> to my knowledge, he didn't. it actually put him in a worse position to have kim out of the picture. >> reporter: derrick dorsey was no longer a suspect in his wife's murder. the jacksonville sheriff's office called to give him the news about lance. >> the chief of detectives said, mr. dorsey. we made an arrest last night. and i said, who was it? and they told me, lance kirkpatrick. and i said, what did you arrest him for? >> reporter: it didn't dawn on him that lance had, in fact, been arrested for kim's murder. >> he had an outstanding warrant for some traffic violations and so forth.

i figured finally they're questioning him. they're going to clear him. and okay, so this is no big a deal. >> reporter: but it wasn't to be. >> no. he told me they had arrested him for the murder of my wife. the only thing i could do was howl like some wounded animal in a trap. it was the betrayal. >> reporter: this is the man that you said you believed would take a bullet. >> i defended him. >> reporter: he would take a bullet for your wife, you said. >> how could somebody do that to begin with? but then, how could someone do that to someone who didn't have a mean bone in her body? how could someone do that to someone who had went out of their way to try to help him? >> reporter: lance kirkpatrick pleaded not guilty to the charges of burglary, sexual battery and murder. it would take more than two years for lance kirkpatrick to stand trial. the prosecutor knew the challenges that lay ahead. was there a weak area of your case? >> yeah. there's no witnesses. not one single person could say, yes, that's what happened

to kim dorsey. >> reporter: still, she believed the evidence would show lance kirkpatrick's guilt. the state opened its case, explaining how lance had been determined to get inside the dorsey home any way he could that saturday, october 27, 2012. >> we know how his day started. >> reporter: the prosecutor showed the video of lance pulling into the dorseys' community in that suv. >> i went over there a week ago, maybe a week and a half ago looking for him. >> reporter: she replayed lance's police interview, where he put himself on the couple's doorstep that morning. >> did you go inside? let yourself in? >> no, no, no, no, no, the key wasn't even there. >> reporter: she said the evidence would show that lance had lied to police then and was still lying about what really happened that day. lance had broken into the dorsey home, intending to rob them. >> it was our theory that kim

was asleep and was awakened by, you know, noise, and that she wasn't expecting anyone and that she wasn't inviting anyone in. >> reporter: so when she awoke that saturday morning to find lance kirkpatrick standing in her home, kim likely went ballistic. the prosecutor called a reluctant brian kieffer to the stand. >> to get up on the stand and to tell the truth, everybody's sitting there going, you snitch. you this. you that. you that. you know, but they don't know the whole story. >> reporter: he explained how lance had confessed everything to him. how lance admitted entering the house and confronting kim, violently, when she picked up her phone to call for help. >> and he said that he grabbed a a pool stick and hit her a bunch of times and smashed the pool stick. >> reporter: leaving her unconscious on the bedroom floor. he said lance described stepping out of the room. but then, kim woke up.

>> and she got a gun and started shooting at him. and he said, and i knew it was a revolver. he didn't say he was in fear of his life or nothing like that. but he was -- you could tell he was angry. and then i just said that she said, stop, you're killing me. and he said, and that's when i just stabbed that in the neck. >> reporter: and if you didn't believe brian kiefer, said the state, believe the science. an analyst testified that lance's dna had been found on kim's body on the pool cue used to beat her and on the trash he left behind. did you find any dna on those cigarette butts? >> yes. >> reporter: and it belonged to lance kirkpatrick. more evidence against him that he was there. >> yes. >> reporter: derrick dorsey also took the stand. he said lance and kim had once been friends but in the months before her death, she had grown tired of their houseguest. kim had a house rule? >> no smoking in the house.

>> reporter: was lance able to follow that rule? >> not 100%, no. >> reporter: that must have driven kim nuts. >> it would aggravate the daylights out of her. >> reporter: did it get to the point where he had to leave over it? >> yes. >> reporter: so it was really because of the smoking. after they kicked lance out, kim wanted nothing more to do with him. in closing, the prosecutor said the defendant broke into the house because he knew that kim would never willingly let him in. when she confronted him, he killed her. as he listened, kim's husband realized how badly he had misjudged his former friend. >> you know the old saying, the devil's in the details? during the whole trial, during the investigation, i wanted to know every detail i possibly could. i wanted to know when, where, why, how and in what chronological order. i'm here to tell you that's not something you want. i'm here to tell you that's not something you want to know.

>> reporter: now those details were out, made public in a court of law, and lance kirkpatrick was about to use them, awful as they were, to defend himself. coming up -- lance talks to the jury and to us. >> i have never so much as raised my hand to a woman. nooo. quick, the quicker picker upper! bounty absorbs spills like a sponge. and is 2x more absorbent so you can use less. bounty, the quicker picker upper. [coughing] copd hasn't been pretty. it's tough to breathe and tough to keep wondering if this is as good as it gets. but trelegy has shown me that there's still beauty

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by the time his case went to trial, lance kirkpatrick had changed his story. by the time his case went to trial, lance kirkpatrick had changed his story. he now admitted he was indeed responsible for kim dorsey's death. but he didn't mean to kill her. >> the whole thing was just a terrible tragedy. i mean, you know, i'm sure he wishes he could just rewind that whole part of his life. >> reporter: attorney teresa sopp said lance kirkpatrick's defense was that he tried to protect himself from a raging, violent kim that morning, and he went too far. >> he was being fired at, he was shot at five times by a pink handled revolver held in the hand of a woman who was irate. who was taking medication which says on the label that it can cause suicidal or homicidal actions. it was a very intense social setting that resulted in just a

very tragic end. >> reporter: she said the state could not prove otherwise. >> when you just put the physical evidence out there, and lance is the only one to explain what happened, that's a reasonable hypothesis of innocence. >> reporter: lance kirkpatrick took the stand. >> i've never so much as raised my hand to a woman. >> reporter: lance told the court then and maintains now there was no bad blood between him and kim, that she never kicked him out, as derrick claimed. he simply chose to live elsewhere. he sat down with "dateline" to explain. >> we were still friends at this point. just because i wasn't living with them i decided not to go stay there doesn't mean we stopped being friends. >> reporter: he told an entirely different story about that morning. he said he went to the dorseys because of the big football game that saturday. >> i went over there to get my georgia jersey which i left over there before, which i

thought i'd left over there. >> reporter: kim answered the door and let him in, he said. for awhile he played pool upstairs then came down to talk to her. he felt sorry for her. >> she didn't have friends. she didn't go out. >> reporter: she was suffering from some depression? >> yes. she was. she was self-conscious about her weight. >> reporter: you saw that? >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: he started watching a porn movie on that big entertainment system. he said kim wasn't interested in the show but she was interested in him. before long, they were having sex in the bedroom. afterwards, he recalled kim's mood changing. >> she was depressed, you know? she was insecure. that, you know, i antagonized her a bit after -- you know, we argued. >> reporter: as they argued, he said he stepped away to the kitchen. he insisted it was kim who first became violent. >> she was standing in the bathroom door area in her bedroom. and you can see at the kitchen right there. well, the next thing you know, pow, pow, two shots. i hit the floor.

i don't know where she's at. when she took it to that, you know, extreme, what was i supposed to do? >> reporter: leave. >> listen, where i was at in the kitchen, there's only two ways out. there's a back door and a front door. i go either way, i have to stop and unlock the door. i unlock the door, she's got a clear shot at me. >> reporter: based on the trajectory of the bullets, she was on the floor next to the nightstand beside the bed shooting up at you. >> yes. >> reporter: so again why don't you just run out of the house? the gun was unloaded. why didn't you run out? >> i don't know where she -- i didn't know where she was at. >> reporter: he said his gut reaction was to pick up the pool cue and charge toward her. >> i don't know how many times i swung. i don't know how hard i was swinging. my adrenaline was pumping to hard i probably could have bench pressed a car. my aim was not to hurt kim. it was a reaction. >> reporter: even when she was down and out, he said, he still felt the need to act. why did you zip tie her after

she was unconscious? >> my first thought was to restrain her till the police got there. and then once i started putting them on, i was like, oh, this is stupid. then i went to the kitchen to get scissors. couldn't find scissors. got the knife, come back in to cut them off. there was no way to get them off without cutting her. so i did away with that whole idea. >> reporter: he said he dropped the knife, stepped away and came back to the bedroom. kim had somehow freed herself. she was now standing, holding the knife. >> in that situation, it's -- you know, it's hard to say what you would do or what the right thing is to do or -- you're not thinking, you're just reacting. >> reporter: this went very wrong. >> yes, i agree. >> reporter: again he said, they fought. before he knew it, the knife was on the floor and so was kim. dead. >> i remember getting up, i remember looking at the knife and seeing the blood and knowing that i had to have stabbed her or something, and i went to check to see where she

was stabbed. >> reporter: at first, he said he waited for police, but when they didn't show, he left. when the police brought you in, why didn't you tell them the story that you told in trial? >> i was scared to death. i was scared to death. i didn't say it out loud even to myself for six months after this happened. >> reporter: did you rape kim dorsey? >> no, i did not. >> reporter: did you murder kim dorsey? >> no, i did not. no, i did not. when i took her life, it was totally unintentional. >> reporter: not true, countered the state on cross. it said lance kirkpatrick intentionally killed kim when she dared to confront him. >> you were pounding on that woman, weren't you? >> i wasn't aware of how hard or how light i was punching. i was just swinging. >> you did kill kim dorsey, right? >> yes, i did. >> when you stabbed kim dorsey in the neck, she would never

walk this earth again. >> i didn't know she was dead until after i checked. >> reporter: there are people, law enforcement, prosecutor, people have heard the story who think that what you say happened that day are just totally far-fetched. >> they're far-fetched. they took this bloody horrible scene and just thought of the worst possible thing that could have happened and went with it. >> reporter: some people think that you turned into an animal when you went into that room. >> and if you show blood splatter and everything else and just throw it out everywhere, yes, that can be said. but that wasn't what happened. that wasn't what happened at all. >> reporter: he insisted he had killed kim to protect himself. there was no premeditated murder, he said. no burglary. and certainly no rape. the defense noted the medical examiner could only determine kim and lance had sex, not that kim had been raped. >> the only testimony was that the sex was consensual. everything else is physical evidence and speculation.

so unless there's somebody else testifying, yes, i was physically assaulted, no, i did not consent, you don't have that and all you have is the physical evidence, it's difficult to speculate that it was sexual battery. >> reporter: the defense closed by saying the state had failed to prove its case. it argued lance kirkpatrick should only be convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter. those who worked to build the murder case against him shook their heads in disbelief. >> if you're defending yourself, do you need to tie her up with zip ties? do you need to rape her? beat her with a pool stick? do the things you did to her in defense of her life? complete madeup story. >> reporter: as the case went to the jury, derrick dorsey sat in the courtroom and seethed. >> he killed her, raped her, sodomized her. this wasn't just some loss of control. to do something like this, you've got a hole in you. there's something deep down evil inside of you to do

something like this. >> reporter: the jurors agreed. they found lance kirkpatrick guilty of murder in the first degree. now they faced another agonizing decision, whether to sentence him to death. >> i never thought i was ever in any danger of the death penalty. because i didn't feel i had done something to deserve that. >> reporter: in the end, the jury sentenced him to life. he is appealing his conviction. derrick dorsey thinks his old friend got off way too easy. if you could say anything to lance kirkpatrick, what would you say? >> at what point did you make the decision that kim's life had less value than you getting into trouble? at what point did you decide to kill her? >> reporter: derrick said it's taken time to move on with his life. he's retired from the fire department. >> we have derrick dorsey's last day pulling engine out for the last time. >> reporter: he's also remarried

>> reporter: that's not to say he's forgotten kim, their life together or the mistakes made. >> it led to infidelity on my part. probably the most disrespectful, rude thing i could do to her. and i'm going to live with that for the rest of my life. she didn't deserve it. >> reporter: and didn't deserve, either, the man derrick knows he brought into their world. still, he clings to the good things they shared. what memories does she leave behind for you? >> every time i look at the dogs, i think of her. they were her children. she was quiet, a little bit of an introvert. just a caring individual. i see many, many times someone needs a hand or someone just needs someone to talk to, she was there. >> reporter: in some ways she still is. but he knows that for every welcome memory, there's a brutal one of her and what happened churning somewhere like a storm surprising and devastating when it hits.