>> in march 2021, this trailblazing judge returned to the bench. >> i absolutely love being a united states district judge. it's a dream come true and this man took the most important thing in my life. i cannot let him take anything else from me. >> you don't want daniel to be forgotten. what you want people to leave with? >> i want people to remember daniel for what he was. he was pure joy. he was pure love. he was a boy who thought of everyone before himself. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i am andrea canning. thank you for watching. u for w this is dateline. >> her mother was a incredibly beautiful soul.

what she had was charisma. she said i love you and in my heart i knew those were her last words. >> two sisters with a single purpose, solved the mystery of their mother's death. >> we cannot let this go. >> she left for hawaii, a new life with a new husband but the sunny paradise soon grew dark. >> something is very wrong. >> it was horrible being so helpless. >> what was behind their moms death? they set out together to get some answers and they were about to get some help from their mother herself. >> a possible clue hidden in a envelope marked baby pictures, tucked inside a journal that painted a different picture entirely. >> i pulled out that envelope.

>> reporter: could their mom help them solve their own mystery? >> we are her boys. we made a promise to our mom. >> hello and welcome to dateline. charlene was popular and unpredictable long before she had her girls kenny and tiffany. as children they adored their mother, as adults they made a troubling vow, promising charlene to investigate if she ever came to harm, then it happened charlene was dead and her daughters were suddenly detectives pursuing a mystery that would upend their lives. here is keith morrison with the bowel. >> here they were again. two sisters on a holiday in

paradise or so the other vacationers must have assumed in the lush resort near honolulu but they would be wrong. this journey has more to do with a personal than any paradise. that and a long-ago promise to their mother. >> could you have believed you would be sitting in this hotel room talking about this subject in 2014? >> no. it is pretty crazy. i never saw this coming. >> perhaps it is crazy but there is apparently no stopping them. these tenacious sisters, tammy and tiffany. >> there is no halfway when it comes to a promise. it is all or nothing. >> bizarre story, yes it is. at the center of it is a woman named charlene. a

beauty queen once back in colorado. >> my mother was a incredibly beautiful soul, she taught my sister and i that there was nothing we could not do. >> i love you. >> my earliest memories of her are her singing to me. she loved to sing and she played with me. >> my mother was a free spirit in many ways. she did not have a lot of rules, i do not have to do things like normal kids had to do but i liked it that way. >> so was often tammy and not her mother that took on the responsible role of little sister tiffany which was the other side of charlene's manic exuberance. >> she was unstable and she had a hard time taking care of herself much less anyone else. >> unstable.

>> she would have highs and lows. >> moods, dark ones sometimes said the girls. >> she did not want to admit there was a issue. it was a hot button and it was not something you are ready to bring up unless you are ready for the fight. >> tammy refused to go with her. >> i said i cannot leave my dad. >> what did that feel like? >> like my heart was being ripped into. >> the girls lived apart for years until their father got custody of tiffany as well. then the girls watched and loved and worried about their mother from afar. then in the late 80s charlene found real happiness when she met and married a man named ken. >> she said i have never been with a man who really got me.

she and her whole life never felt so utterly embraced by somebody that loved her the way she was. >> just because charlene dreamed of living in hawaii, can got a job here. >> she was a likable guy. he would always open the door for you. >> the sisters grew up and made lives of their own. tiffany moved to arizona, tammy settled in northern california and for a decade charlene seemed happy with ken. >> when did it change? >> it seemed to start to change around 1998. >> charlene told the girls that she and ken were fighting. in 99 she called upset and when they went to hawaii to see what was wrong she said the strangest thing. ask them to promise or something. >> she said promise me if anything happens to me you will

investigate. we said what are you talking about? just promise me she said. >> surely left can soon after, moved to the mainland. the girls thought break was permanent and were relieved but seven months later. >> she said i am back in hawaii and i am back with ken and everything is fine. i do not want you to worry. >> worry they did. >> she would call me and talk about things. she would call me again a hour later and she would not remember anything we talked about. >> tammy sometimes did not pick up when her mother called but of course she had no idea what was about to happen. least of all in april 2000. >> my mom started calling my house and i was letting it go to voicemail and all of the messages were the same, she loved me. she found god. everything was fine.

>> tammy waited until morning to call back. it was april 5. >> can answered the phone, he said i do not know what is wrong with your mother, you talk to her. i said hi mom, are you okay? she said i love you. her words were drawn out and slurred. i never heard that before. >> what was that like? >> i was in a panic. >> in a panic tammy called tiffany to tell her and then she called the honolulu police department. it was 6:00 in the morning there. she got a ambulance dispatched to the condo. >> my sister is the hero, she is sending an ambulance. >> the paramedics did not notice much to fix. the report states patient was

conscious but under emotional distress, the spouse informed us she may have taken some aspirin with beer. the report continues, no empty containers of beer, no odor of alcohol on the patient, the patient said she was dying as well. very unusual but the emts did not take her to the hospital, left her home with ken instead. >> how is it possible? it was horrible. being so helpless. >> tiffany was so far away on the mainland in a panic trying to reach her mother calling repeatedly. ken finally answered. >> here i will put you on with her, you can talk to her. >> she said i love you and it was so hard for her to say it. the effort of moving her lips took so much. >> eight hours past and then at

2:00 can called 911. they rushed her to the er and did what they could. nothing worked. can called tammy from the hospital. tammy broke the news to tiffany. >> it went from just being in this place of utter desperation and helplessness and despair and uncertainty, and knowing in my heart she was gone. >> still barely hanging on on life support and that is when it began. with the first rush to their respective airports for flights to honolulu, no idea how long that journey would be or how hard that promise to keep. >> what happened to tammy and tiffany's mom? the sisters start their own investigation. coming up, a possible clue from their mother herself.

>> she said if anything is to happen to me remember to ask for baby pictures. just remember that. >> when dateline continues. tel icy hot. ice works fast. ♪♪ heat makes it last. feel the power of contrast therapy. ♪♪ so you can rise from pain. icy hot. (marci) so, how long have you lived here? (opponent) so yover forty years.pain. (marci) and how are the restaurants around here? are they good, bad, meh? what's the average household income? is there a mall? i don't know. a hair salon? where do you get your hair done?

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because breathing should be beautiful, all day and night. six anxiety filled hours, on the long plane ride to hawaii, all the sisters knew was that their mom was on life support. they were not sure why or what happened to her but during

those six hours they had plenty of time to reflect on what she said to them nine months earlier. promise me you will investigate if anything happens to me. >> they promised of course, even before they got on the plane for hawaii, they called the police to report they already had their suspicions. even then those suspicions were about charlene's husband. >> i went through tiffany before i got to st. francis west. i was assigned the case and he said before you go call this girl. >> tiffany told the detective about her brief conversation with the hospital. >> i asked the emergency room attendant and i will never forget this. i said where is ken and he said he went home to feed the dogs. i said she is there by herself?

who does that. >> by the time the detective got to the hospital he had been told what tammy and tiffany suspected, that charlene had taken or was given a overdose of pills. nobody including the ambulance driver could not say why he was acting suspicious. >> did he say how? >> is it just the way he spoke and acted. >> when the detective heard can left the hospital while his wife was lying in a coma in the icu he wondered if ken was going home to cover up a crime scene. when he checked to see if ken had a record he discovered he did. >> i did pull police reports of ken, he had been arrested for abuse.

>> it gave him pause, made him consider what he already heard from tiffany. >> that her mom said she would never for commit suicide and she was afraid ken was trying to kill her prior to this incident. >> now in hawaii at their mother's bed, tammy and tiffany vowed to find out what happened. >> most people would just leave it to the police to do the investigating. not you too. >> the first target, their condo, there must be evidence there so they made up a story for can, told them they needed a rest after the long flight and could they borrow a bed at the condo? he stayed by charlene's bedside. >> we went to the house. >> to do what? >> to see what we could find. >> to look in coverts and in

closets? >> for things that we thought may help us figure out what happened. >> charlene sounded so out of it on the phone, ken mentioned pills to the ent, tammy wondered if her mother took pills, the hospital was treating it as a overdose, the sisters did not believe she would do it deliberately. . they looked for those pills. >> we looked through the house and could not find them and then out in the backyard sure enough -- >> in the backyard? >> under a bush, as if it was hidden there. >> in their minds only one person could have hidden them. can. later as they were about to drive away from the condo, about to pass a sealed envelope.

suddenly the remembered something their mother told them. >> if anything happens to me ask can for your baby pictures. just remember that. >> sure enough, that appeared to be what can just gave them. they tore open the envelope and inside, not baby pictures. >> coming up. >> there was evidence that she left for you to find. >> yes. >> what could be a revealing clue from their mom. when dateline continues. en dat.

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sisters tiffany and tammy were transfixed, the contents of the envelope prepared by their mother for them and clearly marked baby pictures, but that was not what was in the envelope. instead they found notes written by ken. apparently a assignment for a anger management class. >> it was a journal on all of the different ways he abused her. >> i have spent on charlene, i have pushed charlene, i have yelled that charlene. >> suddenly the sisters believe their mother was sending secret

clues that screamed open in case of death. they found a willing ally in the detective. one plan, secretly recording a phone call with ken. tammy made the call from that the police department. the strategy was for tammy to act friendly and supportive. ken told tammy he was deeply concerned for charlene. >> it is not the same without her here. i miss her very much. >> can also said he was suspicious of tammy and her sister. >> i get the feeling you guys are planning on ganging up on me or maybe sue me for manslaughter or murder or something. >> still he spoke with tammy at length about the day, charlene told him she took pills and seemed suicidal. >> she said she wanted to die? >> she said something like it

is not working. for her to die. >> then after a pause he volunteered something that shocked them all. >> i guess i do not want to say it but she did say choke me so i can die. >> didn't you think to call the ambulance at that point? >> i thought she was being delusional, i was scared. >> he returned to the point he made before. >> i did not choke her. >> what a strange thing for him to say. >> he said a lot of strange things. >> now the girls believed they had to move fast while she was on life support. as long as she was alive they had the legal right to rummage through the garage of a house

in california charlene kept looking for evidence against ken. so that is where they were when ken gave the order to take her off of life support. >> i was mortified and devastated again. >> at charlene's funeral according to the detective, ken's eulogy sounded like a well-prepared criminal defense. >> it started with charlene initiating sex the night before. that she was happy they were together. then he went on to how he tried to prevent her from dying. >> charlene's daughters were horrified, they were fully determined to keep their promise to their mother, they needed to ensure ken was charged with her murder. next to look at the case, prosecutor dan who found ken's remarks about strangulation very disturbing. here is why.

>> this was viewed as a overdose, that is how the case went to the hospital and that is what any tiffany and tammy were thinking. >> yet as he began to dig deeper he found that can talked about strangulation more than once. >> he brought it up with the medical examiner's investigator. was basically telling them that this was not a strangulation case. >> in fact ken tried to persuade the examiner not to do a autopsy but of course there was one. the result took months but sure enough, cause of death, brain damage due to ligature strangulation. when a arrest warrant was issued the detective served personally. >> he said nick i did not kill my wife. >> in 2002, two years after their mother's death, tammy and

tiffany came back to hawaii, this time to the courthouse for can went on trial for murder. >> he took the life of another human being and that human being was our mother. >> it was domestic violence at its ultimate. >> prosecutor dan quoted from dan's own statements to accuse him of murder. >> can you tell if a person has been strangled during autopsy? these are the words of the defendant to a investigator of the medical examiner's office. >> in court the medical examiner repeated her opinion that charlene was strangled, said she found ligature marks on her neck and the prosecutor played a tape of that recorded phone call with tammy in which ken brought up the idea himself. >> she did say choke me so i can die. >> i believe this was ken's

subconscious talking. not a soul was thinking it was a strangulation case. until he brings it up. >> that made everybody suspicious. >> every witness who testified as to having some contact with ken spoke about his unusual behavior. his focus was not on his wife, it was on other rings. >> there is always a but, ken's defense attorney accuse police and prosecutors of jumping to the wrong conclusions, rushing to judgment against ken, the ligature mark must have been made by the two that was on her neck while she was on life support. this was not a strangulation he argued, not a murder at all as ken said all along. charlene took a overdose. >> because of her various mental disorders or defects,

committed suicide. >> the trial lasted two weeks, the jury heard detectives, doctors and charlene's doctors of course. can chose not to take the stand. >> how was it going? >> it seemed to be going well. as if the promise would be kept but life as everybody knows is full of surprises. >> coming up, the verdict is swift but the real stunner was what came after. >> nobody stood up and said i object? >> it is amazing. >> when dateline continues. lin of moderate-to-severe asthma that's not for sudden breathing problems. dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. tell your doctor right away if you have rash, chest pain, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines including steroids,

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continue to hit north gaza. a man drowned at a florida beach after being caught in the rip current. they were identified after receiving reports from distressed swimmers. now back to dateline. dateline. welcome back to dateline. months before charlene died, she asked her children to investigate should anything happen to her. now charlene's husband can is on trial for her murder. prosecutors argued can strangled his wife, the defense insisted she overdosed. can was about to learn his fate and then a chance meeting would turn the case upside down. >> to tenacious daughters made a promise to their mother and were hoping to keep it. now it was up to 12 other

people. the jury. >> were you in the court when the verdict was read? >> yes. what a huge relief to hear those words. we the jury find can guilty of murder in the second degree. it was amazing. >> can was, surprised would be a understatement. but these two -- >> i was a happy girl. the system worked. >> can who still maintained his innocence was sentenced to life in prison. that would be it, end of story. except, coincidence is a strange and powerful thing. >> it is a curious story the way you encountered the case. >> i was visiting another client. >> defense attorney john

edmonds does not normally find new cases in prison but something seemed very credible about this particular client referral. >> he turned to me and said my cellmate does not belong here, there is something wrong with the case. >> edmonds agreed to have a look at the record, hundreds of pages of transcripts, late one night he was sitting up in bed beside his wife reading every word said at the trial, suddenly there it was. >> i get to the final argument and the prosecutor makes a direct comment on ken's failure to take the witness stand. >> this is what he read, it is in the prosecutor's final argument, who was alone with her? he was there, he would know, if he does not tell us we can only look to charlene and see what her body tells us. >> the fifth amendment

privilege against self incrimination is a constitutional right that can be rendered meaningless if the prosecutor refers to it. >> those five words, if he does not tell us would be the basis for edmonds appeal. >> we are supposed to be professionals and we are not supposed to make those kinds of mistakes. >> did you write your closing arguments? >> i write a outline and commit it to memory. >> how did that line come out? >> the prosecutor said it was a slip of the tongue. >> i was trying to transition from if he does not know then we need to look at her body to tell us the story. >> none of this seemed like a big deal to charlene's

daughters. >> people file appeals all the time, i understand that but i was not paying attention anymore because it was done. >> in 2003, the hawaii supreme court handed down the decision. i got the call from dan the prosecutor and he said the verdict was overturned. >> the guilty verdict the daughters wanted pulled out from under them, just like that. >> was not the evidence of the case it was on the fifth amendment. prosecuting misconduct. it is my fault. >> he took responsibility for it right away. >> the pain he felt, he worked so hard. >> i will tell you now it haunts me. that i did this. i apologize that i do not know how many times to the girls. >> still said the sisters, the ruling did not mean kent was innocent. far from it.

>> even though the verdict was overturned, it was overturned on technicalities, no evidence issues. >> they found a small silver lining. the supreme court said can could be retried. >> that left the door open for us to bring it back to trial and we needed to try again. >> so they took it upon themselves to pick up right where they left off. after all a promise is a promise. >> i remember thinking okay, so we need to keep pushing. >> there is no other option. >> can got out on bail but was still under indictment for murder. they all waited for the new trial. then once again john edmonds put on his reading glasses. >> what i found stunned me. >> coming up, a possible new witness. >> i still do not believe it.

>> when dateline continues. tel 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. the most common side effects were blurred vision, cataract, corneal injury, and eye floaters. and there's still so much to see. if you are on eylea or a similar type of treatment, ask your retina specialist about eylea hd today, for the potential for fewer injections. nexgard® plus helps you protect

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for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ [laughing] ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy for copd because breathing should be beautiful, all day and night.

well i don't know if you know because breathing but i did manage to, steal the moon. that moon? [ laughter ] i'm coming for my revenge gru. who's the loser now? loser loser. -loser, loser. ken, convicted of killing his wife, was out on bail. the guilty verdict overturned thanks to a error discovered by ken's new defense attorney. but edmonds was not finished digging and pretty soon he found another error. a big one. it occurred even before the

trial. >> there was a witness that the grand jury asked to be called but the prosecution did not call. >> it is a ironclad rule, the prosecution must comply. somebody seemed to know a great deal of what happened to charlene. >> they had a upstairs room they rented out to a guy and he was there and saw a lot of what went on that morning. >> the detective did hear from the roommate. he asked him what charlene said to ken. we were provided a excerpt of the interview. she was asking ken to come here and be by my side. she did say she wanted to die in peace. testimony that was in ken's favor.

testimony that the grand jury that indicted him never heard. the defense attorney again went to court and again he was victorious. >> from a practical point of view what did those victories mean for ken? >> the indictment was dismissed. >> as if he was never charged in the first place. he was no longer free on ale, simply free. >> now we are back to the point where the case was never brought in the first place and that is frustrating. >> how do you get your head around it? how do you process it? >> how would they make the case against ken and persuade the state to start from scratch? can never stated she killed herself with a overdose of pills. the state still had evidence like the pill bottles stashed

outback from the condo. the defense attorney could show can did not try to hide anything in fact, paramedics were brought to the medicine cabinet themselves. >> they counted down the pills to figure out how many she took which is what she said she did. >> there was a potential new defense witness who knew charlene well and did not like her. she has her own strange theory. >> you get to know the people living in your building. >> marjorie managed the condo complex where they lived. unlike the daughters, she considered charlie the dominant and abusive force in the marriage. >> she used to tell me that ken was the opposite of her, he was quite and never argued with her. he would leave the building and go for a walk.

>> how did she feel about that? >> she did not like it. >> marjorie was on the scene after the 911 call. >> i went over to talk to the emt and he said she is awake and coherent enough to tell us she is not coming with us. i said okay. >> in the official report it was ken who said charlie did not need to go but marjorie insisted a emt told her it was charlene who refused to go. >> i am positive. >> when you heard can was accused of strangling her -- >> i was shocked. i still do not believe it. >> what does she believe? just her speculation of course. based on the incident that began when charlene was making a fuss in the condo office. >> she was being very pushy and

i went to shut the door to get her to go home because i was not open yet and the door hit her arm and she spilled her cup of coffee. >> the next thing marjorie new a police officer was threatening to arrest her. >> i said for what and he said for abuse. i said excuse me and i looked at charlene and from her thigh all the way down to her feet was burned. severely burned. more than you get from laying out in the sun. >> was it from the coffee? >> that is what she said but the officer told me one cup would not burn both legs like that. >> both legs were burned? >> she burned herself. >> what i thought honestly was

that it was another ploy and she tried to make it look as if he was trying to kill her and she went too far and killed herself. >> i think that is marjorie's perspective. do i think she is correct in her opinion? no. absolutely not. >> to charlene's daughters there was no doubt about what really happened. what to do about it. >> your mother had a word she liked. what was it? >> tenacity. i had to keep going. by doing something, in the process i was honoring her. >> tiffany filled a suitcase with documents some prosecutor may found useful. pushing for action. four years. >> i kept going to hawaii for sure. hello it is me again, what is

going on with my mom's case? >> at this point dan no longer worked at the prosecutor's office and the prosecutor that took over the case seemed reluctant to go forward but that was not going to stop charlene's daughters, not for one minute. >> we had a guilty verdict, we need to move forward and re- indict go back to trial. >> it turned out, a surprise was coming. this time from the prosecution. >> coming up, a new theory of the case. a change of prosecutors, a challenge for that promise. >> how long are you prepared to keep going with this? >> as long as it takes. we made a promise. >> when dateline continues. lin but this is my story. ( ♪♪ ) and with once-daily trelegy, it can still be beautiful.

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april 2014, tiffany and tammy returned to hawaii with a marked a painful anniversary, 14 years since their mother died. >> it is heartbreaking. we spent all of these years trying to get justice. >> we made a promise to my mother we would investigate therefore you cannot quit. >> the daughters thought they made good on their promise to find justice for their mother if anything happened to her. when charlene's husband was

convicted in 2002 of murder by strangulation but the verdict was overturned in 2003 and then ken's original indictment was thrown out two years later. >> you thought you would be back in court within a few months. >> i thought at least within a few years. >> the years kept going. can state in the same condo. timmy and tiffany said they could not move on and acknowledged it has been hard on them. >> i feel bad for the family. every time i am not there somebody else needs to cover all the things i do. >> timmy had to make the trip to hawaii repeatedly and her kids and husband knew they were on their own but still they pushed on. >> we will get a conviction and i will do everything i can possibly do to make it happen.

>> the case dog the detective as well, he retires now but he counts the years and wonders. >> the you receive enthusiasm in the prosecutor's office to go after this? >> not at all. >> why? if prosecutors got the conviction wants, why not do it again? >> at this point it is not my decision but what i can say is, provided the evidence was not suppressed and is still available there is more than ample evidence. >> anticipating a new trial, the defense attorney hired a forensic pathologist. >> i asked him what is your opinion and he said no this is wrong. >> so the new prosecution hired its own experts and it did not go as planned. >> the new prosecutor on the case said they had one menace to forensic pathologists that agreed. >> they agreed that charlene

was not strangled. >> did that surprise you? >> it did. >> i do not think they provided all of the information the expert needed to make that determination. >> the prosecution announced in court in 2010 that it was abandoning the strangulation theory. the theory that got can convicted in the first place. >> what did you think when they dropped that theory? >> i was shocked. >> the prosecutor declined to talk to us or share information about the case but in a email to the daughters from january 2014, he said his boss referred by his initials here, gave the green light to go forward but with what? a entirely new theory they call murder by omission. >> what is your understanding of murder by omission? >> my understanding is that it

is a duty of a spouse or parent to get medical help for someone who cannot get help for themselves. if they die because of that, then you effectively committed murder. >> in the email the prosecutor told the girls they needed one more expert to give the opinion that ken's failure to do his duty to provide medical care for charlene caused her death. despite abandoning the strangulation theory, the prosecutor in the email said he may actually bring it back along with murder by omission for a possible new trial. >> do you think they will? >> have they? no, they have done nothing. >> so you will believe it when you see it? >> absolutely, prove me wrong.

show me you will do something. quit leading us on to believe you will move forward with the case we have been hanging onto for 10 years. >> the defense attorney said he will knock down the prosecution's new omission theory by pointing out can tried to get help for charlene by calling 911. so far there has been no move to charge can and it is unclear when or if there will be. right 2021, the case file had and assigned to the maui county prosecutor's office. ken has maintained his innocence all of these years even as charlene's daughters quest to prove him guilty goes on. >> he is very troubled by it. is he living under a cloud now? he feels that he is. more people recognize him on the street and that is embarrassing. >> i miss her so much. >> call it a promise, a quest,

a up session. her daughter's journey is not over. >> how long are you prepared to keep going with this? >> as long as it takes. >> you could be sitting here a old lady years from now and nothing will happen. >> we made a promise to our mom. >> it is with such purpose and passion and love that i do this. it is in honor of my mother and i do not care if it is labeled up session or crazy. i am doing this because i love her and she deserves it. >> that is all for this edition of dateline. thank you for watching. watchin " i'm craig melvin and this