betty declined all interview requests including hours. >> when i tried to contact her, she did not want to speak because she was frightened. >> as for the deli, went to glenn sandler's brother but they had yet to perfect the recipe for the creamiest chocolate cake around. the cake to die for. that killer cake. >> that is all for this edition of dateline. i am craig melvin. hard to thint could happen to someone. craig melvin: ...a dive instructor and his wife is dateline. >> it's hard to think that that could happen. >> a dive instructor and his wife on a dream trip to the tropics until he scuba adventure turns into a disaster.

>> she never reached the surface. what happened some 80 feet down? prosecutors called it murder. a wife lost in the deep. a husband becomes the accused. >> did that happen? >> absolutely not. >> now, hold your breath for the twist. were captivatequa blue waters of tortola. hello, and welcome erwato dateline. scuba diver shelley tyer and her husband david swain were captivated by the aqua waters of portola. but for one of them , the breathtaking views would come at a deadly cost. the tragic twist that would

expose family secrets as dark as they come. here is dennis murphy with the last dive. for most of us who enjoy spending time in the water and an occasional swim, a dunk in the backyard pool will suffice. but for the more adventurous, only total immersion in the open ocean will do -- a ticket to paradise. >> you are down there with the fish, you look around, and it's amazing. the more you look, the more beautiful it gets. >> all of your senses are getting overloaded. >> david swain and his wife, shelley tyer, sure that passion for diving. so to escape the dreary rhode island winter in may 1989, they charted a 40 foot sailboat with another couple and their child. if a carefree scuba vacation is what you want, it doesn't get

much better than the caribbean's british virgins. >> it was definitely a different experience for her. >> she was a big fish person. >> anything to do with animals and critters, that's what she liked. >> he liked to photograph. what could go wrong? as it turned out, quite a lot. they were diving south of the island when it happened. >> i immediately noticed that her reading apparatuses out of her mouth. >> there was an emergency call for a diving accident that needed assistance. >> the body appeared to be lifeless. >> what happened in 30 minutes time under the surface would be examined and played in people's minds over the next decade. how is it that an experienced diver like shelley tyer could be lost just like that? where exactly was her husband, a master dive instructor who

was her safety buddy on the job? david swain answers the tough questions. >> i don't know what happened. i wasn't there. >> it was a theory. >> i don't have a theory. >> it began in coastal rhode island, far from the waters of the caribbean. it was the early '90s when they met. she was a customer out on a boat in narragansett bay. >> a couple of the big tough guys got seasick, so i paired up with her in went in. i was showing her fish in a way she had never seen them before, so that's when that thing started. >> shelley tyre was a bundle of energy. she was as vivacious as he was quiet, and when they started dating, david was only too happy to show shelley the waters where he pursued his life's passion.

teaching scuba and kayaking through his dive shop in jamestown, rhode island. here he is a 1997 giving a kayak lesson. >> it's a very easy figure 8 stroke. >> swain was known as an honest businessman and an active member of the community. and likewise, the people in shelley's circle raved about her. >> she was effervescent. she was always on the move, always on the go. >> shelley, who memorably wore a bumblebee con was seen as nothing left but a gift where she was headmaster of a middle school. >> she had an ear for every child. and when she spoke to you, she looked you in the eye and she didn't care. the world fell away. >> always by shelley's side, her constant companion, tori, the bernese mountain dog. her furry companionship was

always available to a people having a bad day. shelley and david married in 1993. they didn't have children together, but she quickly endeared herself to his two -- a son and daughter from a previous marriage. >> what do you think that thing was between you two? >> a love of adventure, a love of nature. you couldn't find somebody that had more liveliness and gumption and determination. >> if there was a marital's the dump speedbump, it was shelley's workday commute. she was probably seeing more of tori the dog than david, her husband. >> i think it was some god- awful amount. >> at least four hours behind the wheel. >> yes. >> would get to her? >> there were times when it would get to her. without question, we were struggling about the time part.

>> spring break of 1999 would be shelley and david time to escape the grind and enjoyed together what they loved best -- the water. but of course, that trip, that last dive, would go so horribly wrong. how could anyone make sense of the deeply sad and miss serious death of shelley tyre ? >> coming up, disaster underwater. >> he surfaces, screaming. >> what would happen beneath the surface? >> he has another diver with him and i realize it is shelley. >> when dateline continues. but this is my story. ( ♪♪ ) and with once-daily trelegy, it can still be beautiful. because with 3 medicines in 1 inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open for a full 24 hours and prevents future flare-ups. trelegy also improves lung function,

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murphy: tortola, the british virgin islands--sailing, diving, postcard-perfect beaches. how shelley tyre looked forward to it. >> tortolla, the british virgind islands. sailing, diving, postcard perfect beaches. how shelley tyre look forward to it. she and her husband david had chartered a sailboat with their friends, the thwaite's. a week of diving and sailing, whichever called their fancy. upon arrival here in tortolla, the men set out to arrange for the charter and rental of their scuba gear. the women went out for provisions for their sailboat, and went to the marina for their holiday is see. no one in that group could say that anything was amiss. it was, by all accounts, the

weak gun hoeing around the caribbean that all had hoped for. salt island, peter island, the wreck of the rhtne. they set a course for cooper island at eight site known as the twin racks. keith royle has been down to the twin racks hundreds of times. >> there are two racks sitting there, with a small gap between them. between that is the fish life. >> david swain and his friend christian thwaite were both certified instructors. between them, they have 1000 dives under their belt. shelley tyre was no novice . she had recorded more than 350 dives. divers will tell you that with great visibility and minimal currents, it's about as challenging as a walk in a park on a sunny day. at about noon that day, the

caribbean soul tied up, nabbing the sole morning buoy in a sometimes busy tourist ocean. the friends on board would have the dive site all to themselves. then david and shelley made their dive plan. >> this particular time, it was decided that we would go down first, shelley and i. >> david swain says he and shelley made a routine entry into the water and then made their way down over the reef and across the open sand to the dive site. >> as we routinely did -- and when i say routinely, probably 100, 115 times this she went often started counting fish and i started taking pictures. >> swain says that as each did there underwater thing, they went their separate ways. >> when i get pretty much around and circumnavigate the rack, i don't see her in the vicinity anywhere. she's either somewhere around

or she has gone somewhere else. i had off to the reef looking for better photos. >> what's your recollection of the last time you saw shelley? >> it was when we parted ways on the wreck. >> he said shelley appeared fine, but somehow, some point and what should have been a pleasant little dive before lunch, something one gravely amiss. david swain says he surfaced alone's and spoke to christian. my first question was, is shelley back yet? looks like you're going back in. >> is there any alarm? >> no. >> christian rates then started his dive. he gave a statement that he found something odd -- shelley's fan, like this one, sticking up out of the sand. when he got closer, he found shelley herself, lying on the

ocean floor, face up, eyes open, your one end of the boat. he quickly grabbed her and brought her to the surface. >> christian comes back. >> he doesn't come back, he surfaces, screaming. >> what did you hear? >> the word was emergency. when i get close, i do see that he's got another diver with him. as i get closer, i realize it is shelley. >> how much trouble was shelley in? >> the fact that she was unresponsive was a big deal. >> they say they both did cpr, but shelley's body did not want. david, trained as an emt, said, she's gone. >> that's what broke my heart and brought this whole calamity to where we are today. >> back on the boat, swain radioed for help. the first responders keith royle.

>> the scene on caribbean soul was somber and shelley was lying in the cockpit and everyone was obviously very distraught. >> back on the island, shelley was pronounced dead. an autopsy was conducted at a local funeral home. cause of death, drowning. the medical examiner ruled in an accident. swain was free to leave tortolla and return to his own little island of jamestown, rhode island, he tried to settle back into the routine he had for years running his dive shop. but now, without his shelley. years later, he would return to tortolla, but this time, in handcuffs . >> called an accident, could that drowning have been deliberate? a dramatic re-enactment on tape of that day in the deep. >> we will find out what we wanted to find out. >> when dateline continues.

and saw there were 12 messages, i immediately thought, >> when we came home and looked at the phone, and saw there were 12 messages, i immediately thought, somebody died. >> colleen remembers the day there academy lost its headmaster and beloved friend, shelley tyre . >> i cried for three months in a row. it was hard. it's hard to think that someone

-- that could happen to someone. >> is not just anyone, but someone so full of life, as a basis and energetic shelley tyre. what had happened to cause her to drowned while scuba diving off the caribbean island of tortolla? , jamestown, rhode island, the newly widowed david swain shared few details, even with good friends like local marina owner, bill lombard. >> i gave him a hug. there was tears from both of us. >> with the talk here along coastal rhode island was a david swain wasn't acting the way leaving widower should. to some people, he seemed to detached at her memorial service. to others, it looked like he was living it up on the $600,000 he received after shelley's death. a few months after losing his wife, he started dating again. a story began to buzz on main street about how shelley had

been filmed underwater missing some of her diving gear. some locals who knew their way around scuba set it didn't add up. >> was the town divided?'s b mac certainly. people on both sides of the issue. >> was it even remotely possible that david swain had had something to do with his wife shelley death? that was the question burning in the mind is shelley tyre's parents, richard and lisa. ever since swain had returned from tortolla with her daughters body, the tires demanded answers from their son- in-law, answers that weren't forthcoming. >> i kept saying over the phone to him, but the buddy system. you were there. and he just kept saying, i wasn't there. >> they are saying, you are the expert. you are the caretaker. why did you leave her? >> why did i let this happen. >> swain's first face-to-face meeting with his in-laws after

coming home ended in a shouting match, and for the next three years, their suspicion of foul play only grew. so much so that in 2002, her parents filed a lawful. >> nothing that happens in court takes care of our pain and our loss. >> i am very, very emotional. yes. >> the tires hired investigators. after traveling to tortolla, the experts formulated this scenario, which they then re- enacted on videotape, that david swain attacked shelley underwater, approaching her from behind, shutting off her air supply, and then holding her down until she drowned. it was a shocking allegation indeed, and one that was never seriously challenged because david swain's lawyer fell ill, and swain himself chose not to appear in court. >> why didn't you take the civil suit?

it looks like you kissed this off. it was a very serious event. >> in the civil world, he has the most money will almost always win. not only do they have the most money, i had no lawyer. so where was there any chance of me winning? >> at the end of the trial, david swain did make a surprise appearance in a last-ditch effort to defend himself. >> it's a grand story, but it's just not true. >> he then called his sole witness, his daughter, jennifer, how her dad showed genuine emotion when shelley was lost. >> you told us the story is shelley's drowning. you were cheerful and angry. >> but it wasn't enough. david swain was found responsible for shelley tyre's death . the jury awarded her parents $3.5 million, though swain couldn't pay because he

had filed for bankruptcy months before. >> we have now found out what we wanted to find out -- what exactly happened. >> the friends who stood by him without were shocked at what they saw as a miscarriage of justice. >> nothing went on. it was totally a one-sided trial. >> but that did catch the attention of authorities a world away. down here in tortolla, the british virgin islands . they have ruled sherritt shelley tyre's death an accident, but the fine print read, and accident unless proven otherwise. that gave prosecutors hear fresh prosecutorial ammunition. tortolla reviewed the civil case and made an extradition request . eight years after her death, u.s. marshals showed up at the dive shop and arrested swain for the murder of his wife, shelley tyre. >> he's headed back to the

caribbean, but this is no vacation. >> it's almost a miracle that this is happening. >> this time, swain didn't take any chances. he would launch a vigorous defense, but he knocked a planet from his new home -- a stifling cell in tortolla's prison, facing the ocean where the view can't be beat, but comes at a price no one wants to pay. >> is a criminal trial gets underway, a surprising revelation bubbles to the surface. >> coming up. another diver the wife of david swain? >> this is the classic motivation. the classic ingredient of murder sometimes. the other woman. >> when dateline continues. [cat meow] —is she? letting her imagination run wild even though she has allergies. yeah. everybody wants super straight, super white teeth. they want that hollywood white smile.

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years in a small prison cell on the caribbean island of tortola. david swain: the only time i was out of my cell was one or two hours a day that i could walk around. >> david swain had spent two years in a small prison cell on the caribbean island of tortolla . >> the only time i was out of my cell was one or two hours a day. every day, when they let me go out, i would walk for that entire time. >>'s now swain would finally have his day in court. the charge, murdering his wife shelley tyre on a scuba dive 10 years before. he pleaded not guilty, and with the stake so much higher this time, not about money, but

maybe decades in prison, swain came prepared with a top legal team from boston. >> it's going to be a lengthy trial. the government considers calling witnesses for the next 12 days. >> he won the civil suit against swain back in rhode island and was now helping tortolla prosecutors. tim riddell was swain's attorney. >> it wasn't when to continue with further investigation. they had something that was neatly packaged in their view, and they presented that in the criminal case in tortolla. >> the civil suit became the criminal suit. >> no cameras were allowed in court, but the press could audiotape the proceedings. terrence williams laid out his case to the jury methodically, picking first of motive. >> this man here, his wife is killed. and all his dreams came true. all his dreams came true.

>> dreams, he would argue about insurance money, more than $600,000, and another woman in swain's life. illegal scheme executed in an underwater setting. the autopsy had shown none other medical reasons why shelley had drowned. so the key to what did happen, the prosecution said, was her diving gear. how it was damaged. distracted her mask broken. the pin that held the strap in place, gone. that kind of damage happens rarely in the world a scuba diving and only one great force is applied to the equipment. >> they have never ever seen the strap broken like this. never, ever. >> what about shelley tyre's lone flipper, stuck in the first toe first, it's heel strap pulled back ? the prosecution said it could've ended up in that position is shelley's was yanked out of it as it was forcibly shoved into

the sand. the prosecution put forth the same theory that tyre's attorney had advanced back in the rhode island silver trial, that her scuba gear in such disarray met only one thing. that shelley tyre had been attacked underwater. >> what this shows is a continued struggle with a human being. >> and the prosecution says the only human on that dive with shelley was her husband and dive buddy, david swain. but swain had always insisted he was nowhere near shelley when she died. rather, he and shelley have gone their separate ways after reaching the wrecks. >> i have a vague recollection of circumnavigating the wrecks, poking around the wrecks, and seeing shelley still interested in looking at something around there, and that's the last time i saw her. >> another prosecutors say that swain's own words in this tape deposition proved he was still

with shelley when she died. listen to how long he says she was at the wrecks before leaving shelley. >> how much time do you spend there? >> not long. certainly less than 10 minutes. probably more like five. >> and after you for 5 to 10 minutes? >> we entered over toward the reef area to see if there was something there to be. >> according to the prosecutor, five to 10 minutes into the dive is exactly when shelley tyre died, and here's why, as laid out by the x . the prosecution said that based on the amount of oxygen used up from shelley's air tank on that fateful last dive, they estimate that she had taken her last breath at about eight minutes into the dive, meaning that after eight minutes underwater, she drowned. the experts then said that given swain's description of his dive, eight minutes in, he would've been right where

shelley was right where she was drowning. >> obviously, he was there with her. he swims away, according to him, and he looks back and sees her and she is fine, that could not have been true. >> just take a snapshot of david and shelley's life for their vacation, he said. shelley tyre had recently taken a new job to spend more time with her husband, that she also taken a pay cut. the prosecutor said this meant shelley might quit sinking money into his dive shop as she had been for years. what's more, shelley might be around the house more, but was this what swain really wanted? the prosecutor said this was his second motive. >> he had started to have an attraction to another woman, towards the end of the year before she died. >> that other woman was mary grace batchelor. she was a local chiropractor and a diver who frequented david's shop. tortolla jurors heard that

david swain had tried to kiss her during any major drinking wine at her home, but she directed his advances because he was married. >> this is the classic ingredient of murder sometimes -- the other woman. >> yes, that is the motive we advance. >> then there were the letters he wrote to barry, some of them before his wife's death. in one, he asks a particular playmate to join him in vermont. another he signs with, all my love, david. most ominously this one, dated five months before shelley's death, which reads, life is definitely got more complicated. i'm wanting to be with you but i can't change this mess i got any times soon. why not just divorce? because her nuptial agreement prevented either david or shelley from receiving money if they parted ways. with the prosecution say swain

saw another way. >> on the will, if she died, he benefited from her entire estate. >> david would get the dive shop, the money, and the girl. just two months after his wife's death, he and mary bassler started dating. >> they did, for a year and a bit, and then she broke it off. >> lastly, williams also brought to the stand a trio of witnesses critical to the prosecution's case. wayne's own friend and shorter boat mate who said he hardly attempted cpr on shelley, even though it mandates never to stop providing help until help arrives. >> there was brief cpr. >> brief meeting a few minutes? >> youth royal testified that when he pulled up his boat to the caribbean soul, he was surprised to be told, no thanks. >> he declined my offer cpr and

oxygen. i thought it was a little strange. >> another prosecution witness was phil brown, who had rented the two couples her scuba gear and who had collected shelley scattered and broken equipment from the ocean bottom. brown said that swain came into his shop after the accident and told him to give away shelley's dive gear. added up, so the prosecutor, and you had a husband who wanted his wife's dive gear deep-sixed before a proper investigation. a husband who wanted her dead. but tides in the caribbean, like everywhere else, run in and out. for the first time in 10 years of rumors and lawsuits, the jury would hear a true defense from david swain, and the prosecutor's account that seemed is clear is a virgin islands dive site would become murky and clouded over. >> coming up.

>> canoodling at her place with a glass of wine? >> david swain tells his story when dateline continues. if you have wet amd, you never want to lose sight of the things you love. some things should stand the test of time. long lasting eylea hd could significantly improve your vision and can help you go up to 4 months between treatments. if you have an eye infection, eye pain or redness, or allergies to eylea hd, don't use. eye injections like eyla hd may cause eye infection, separation of the retina, or rare but severe swelling of blood vessels in the eye. an increase in eye pressure has been seen. there's an uncommon risk of heart attack or stroke associated with blood clots.

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so you can breathe better. claritin plus decongestant. live claritin clear®. murphy: tortola jurors in the case of the queen vs. david swain had just finished hearing from 17 >> tortolla jurors in the case of the queen versus david swain had just finished hearing from 17 prosecution witnesses. one witness had captured their pretension in particular was mary bassler. >> wish your girlfriend on the side? >> she was a girlfriend after

shelley's passing. she is not a girlfriend before shelley's passing. >> and yet there's a story told about canoodling at her house with a glass of wine and an attempted kiss. >> i'm not going to deny that. do they cross a line that i would in retrospect like to have back? sure. but there is no intimacy. >> mary was filling a void? >> i think she was just -- she was a smart girl. she was empathetic. >> was mary motivation for murder? the mac absolutely not. >> you buddy dead wife on the one hand and my soulmate on the other. did you give the prosecution ammunition with that? >> he really laid into me. i didn't really answer things in a way that made the jury happy. >> was shelley gone, david swain would get the money and the girl -- was a juicy sounding

-- >> the idea of david intentionally tacking his wife isn't born out by history. he's got no history of violence. he's never raised a hand to anyone in his life. >> what would explain shelley's broken dive gear shown strewn about the ocean or? >> i wonder what's going on with all of the scattered year. why is this pin sticking up ? >> absolutely. all valid questions. all valid questions. points to the signs of a panicked diver. and it says that they rejected their gear. >> there's evidence that this was ripped off in a violent underwater struggle. >> the struggle might have been with herself. it's very common for panicked people to rip off their gear. >> why does that happen?

it seems a mixed likable. >> when you are in a panic situation, rational thought goes out of your brain. the only thing that comes to your brain is giving to the surface. they start clawing things off. >> and you seen it? it's been documented in the sport? >> i have road people, to make sure they don't go to the surface too fast. >> a fresh angle for jurors to ponder about shelley's puzzling death. could something, a sudden set medical issue or a startled sea creature, set off a chain of events that caused shelley tyre to fatally pass? they read the entries from shelley's own meticulous logbook, a diary where she -- some initial panic. i've 183. panic. dive 266. i admit i panicked.

dive 274, panicked a little bit and more. what about the prosecutions description? he had to of been right there when shelley was dying, eight minutes after she was in the water. now the defense said, hang on, how do we know shelley started breathing after a minutes? she was known for using less air than an average diver. though she was just sipping at her air supply, that means she likely dived after eight minutes into the dive, just as swain had said. >> i wasn't there. by the time this happened, i was hundreds of yards away. >> if shelley had died alone, what about the confounding clue on the ocean floor? or die finn stuck so first into the sand. the prosecution argued it was forced in during the attack. dateline tried it out, conducting our own experiment

down at the twin wreck site with the help of tortolla diver, keith royal. >> i went down on the same area and tried to do the same thing myself with the fin on, and it was impossible. the only way i could actually get it to stick in the sand was physically with my hands putting it into the sand. >> in other words, someone must have put it there intentionally. but who? >> in court, the court brought all the pieces together. she descends the mooring line, and a bruise have been bothering shelley on her left foot. so she peels her finn often sticks it in the sand to retrieve later. she nears the twin wrecks, and perhaps a bit of water leaks into her mask. with a slight nuisance escalates fast. frustration takes hold and mushrooms into full-blown panic. she can't tamp it down like

before. she tears off her mask and rejects her regulator. out of sight of her husband david, she tragically fatally loses control. next, david swain would take the stand, and dark family secrets were about to be revealed. with a seal his fate, or set him free? >> coming up. >> i've had decades of horrific things happen to me. >> a painful past and a dramatic turn of events. >> i'm fighting for my life. >> when dateline continues. if you have wet amd,

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welcome back. david swain was on trial for the murder of his wife shelley. the prosecution argued david was a cold-blooded killer. >> e cowelcome back. david swain was on trial for the murder of his wife, shelley. the prosecution argued david was a cold-blooded killer. the defense countered that he was innocent, and shelley drowned after suffering an underwater panic attack. now, david was about to testify, and what he revealed would send a chill through the courtroom. here's dennis murphy with the conclusion of the last dive. >> we really need to remember that she was this incredible lifeforce. and she had all this energy, positive energy. so every time it came around to the criminal trial, i thought, please, god, let somebody find a way back to letting people know how wonderful she was.

>> that special light of shelley tyre, dearly missed by so many who knew her , was hurt husband, david swain, responsible for taking it from the world? or was he an innocent man whose private ways made a tragic accident only look like murder? surgery and a tortolla courtroom would soon decide, but not before david swain took the stand to answer questions from his island attorney. >> mr. swaim, when you went on the diet was shelley tyre on the 12th of march of 1999, did you kill shelley tyre? >> i did not, could not, would not dream of taking the love of my life out of the world. i did not. >> did you in any way, during the course of that dive, deprive shelley tyre of air? >> the last thing in the world is i would deprive shelley of anything. i certainly didn't deprive her of air.

>> that it was a prosecutions turn. >> you held her down. you made her become unconscious. >> i did not. >> this was within eight minutes of the dive. >> it was not. you are making false accusations. >> you got a little edgy on stand. >> i'm sure i did. >> a little abrasive, a little in the face. >> fighting for my life. >> missing from his testimony was the grief of a husband who had lost his wife to a diving accident. >> did you get penalized for not showing the turbulent sold and expected? >> david swain says he has always had trouble expressing emotion in a way people expect. it's a problem he attributes to a very dark and secretive past. >> i've had decades of horrific things happen to me, and the only way that i have survived

all of these horrific things that have happened is to just buckle down and keep marching. >> you had a really tough childhood, safety say? >> what david was in his early teens, his father was convicted of sexually abusing a family member. but nothing was more traumatic than the actions of david's younger brother, ricky. >> at the time, he was having his own emotional mental albums. >> my first reaction was, boy, does he make a nice appearance. a clean-cut, nice looking young man. >> jim erickson says nothing could be further from the truth. in 1976, 18-year-old ricky swain snapped and murdered his mother betty by bludgeoning her to death in the basement of their home. >> the skull was crushed in at two places. it was lots of rage in this death. >> a horrible, horrible event. >> yes, it is. >> back in tortolla, david swain psychologist was

prepared to explain in court how these horrible events could account for his emotionless, somewhat say suspicious behavior after his wife's death. >> i could see where that could play both ways. but what is this instability going on in this family? is there a demon seed? >> people they pop psychology understanding might say, what's going on with this? >> should a person be convicted of murder because a pop psychology? i didn't have a choice to live this truth. the truth is what it is. i just wanted to tell the truth. >> the defensive strategy was never tested. the judge denied the psychologist the opportunity to testify, in part because he was a psychologist, not an m.d. now it was left to the jurors to decide david swain's fate. >> were coming to you with the news that the jury is currently deliberating. >> after just five hours came

word -- there was a verdict. >> i pretty much knew. >> how say you? is the accused, david swain, guilty or not guilty? >> we, the jury, find the accused guilty. >> guilty of first-degree murder. the sentence, 25 years. >> how do you face that kind of time? >> one day at a time. >> give me a quick thumbnail of what you're cell was like. >> six by 10, a couple of bunks, a commode, a sink. a couple of bars in the window. >> bugs? >> the bugs were the easy part. it's the rats and the animals and all the other things. those are the hard parts. >> david swain settled back into the misery of prison life. his only comfort was a prospect of an appeal. >> did you think you have a ghost of a chance? >> i did. this wasn't a fair trial. >> almost two years after his

guilty verdict, david swain returned to court. a three-judge appellate panel listen to more than three hours of oral arguments and then did something no one anticipated. >> the head judge ends at all by looking at me and saying, mr. swain, you are free to go. you know, obviously, my mouth dropped a little bit and i'm in shock again. so i just sit there for 15, 20 seconds, and the bailiff guy touches me and quietly says, mr. swain, you got to get up and walk out now. >> the panel believed in part that the trial judge had been biased for the prosecution in her instructions to the jury. once more, they ruled swain shouldn't be retried because too many time had passed between her death for swain to get a fair trial. just like that, david swain was a free man. >> that was one of the most surreal moments of my life. >> did you think about shelley as you left the island?

>> i dig about shelley almost every day. but yes, i was thinking about her then. >> david wayne returned to the u.s. and returned to rhode island, not far from the home he shared with shelley. >> it certainly is good looking over at jamestown and looking at this body of water where i have spent years exploring, and teaching and enjoying. >> but it was also home to many people who remained convinced that david swain got away from murder . >> is there still a cloud over you, where people say got away with killing his wife? that he was cut loose on a technicality, the judge? >> that is their opinion. i can't tell you what you think. i don't want to tell you what you think. if you want to you the facts, i will be happy to share the fact . i'm not going to spend a lot of energy trying to change something that you've made up your mind on. >> david continued to call jamestown home until his death in august 2022. he was 66.

as for shelley, her gravestone disclosed by for those who loved and admired her to visit and to find the lessons hidden behind the surface of the senseless tragedy. >> if i was to ask shelley, what do i do about this, given the situation? she would say, focus on the here and now. find the good in everybody that you see around you. see life's blessings. if you need help, i will point them out for you. that's what she would do. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i am craig melvin. thank you for watching. watchin >> im craig melvin and this is dateline. >> i just knew that something happened. my gut said that it was bad. >> he said i am on 192 and i won't be able to come home.