held his annual barbecue as a tribute to tammy. >> will it ever be the same without her? >> we will continue, but it won't be the same without tammy. >> things are settling down again here in this quiet southern town. the healing has begun for the families and friends of both the. >> i know tammy is in heaven. she was very strong in her convictions and she's always said that. i don't know about brett, but i will be in heaven. i feel like she is around with her presence. i still feel her with me. i dream about her a lot. ■ç >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i am craig melvin. thank you for watching. >> hello. >> hello.ry i am craig melvin, and this is dateline.

>> that's what he was trying to do, was protect his family. that's all he ever wanted to do. even when the man was dying, that's what he was doing. >> on a quiet family night at home, shattered by intruders. a devoted father and husband, dead. >> she just kept saying, they killed him. >> someone murdered her husband, but left her alive. that left police suspicious. was it possible she was involved in her ■çhusband's murder? >> chances are, it was the spouse and not a random act. >> but why would she kill a man that she obviously loved? this was a family affair, all right. but it was another family that was keeping secrets. >> have you ever seen anything like that before? >> no. >> one father who tried to save his son, and another father

that used his son to save himself. >> he was a monster. >> hello, and welcome to dateline. joe morrissey was a respected scientist who loved his work. that's where he met kay, who shared his passion, and would eventually become his second ■ç wife. then late one night, joe, kay, and their young son were attacked inside their florida home. investigators did not know what to make of the strange circumstances surrounding this brutal crime, or the stunning betrayal that followed. here's josh mankiewicz with broken bonds. >> what would you do for your family? would you like? would you walk through fire? could you ever accuse them of something terrible to save yourself? this is the story about two very different families. it's about loyalty, terror,

deception, and love. and for one of the families, it begins with a late-night phone call. >> i was about to not answer it, and something told me to rc pick up the phone. >> christina's mother was on the line. >> you can hear the sirens, and she kept saying, you have to come here. they broke into the house and he is dead. they killed him. >> he was joseph morrissey, who had been married to christina's mother, kay, for 12 years. their suburban florida home, documented by police video, was now a crime scene. >> there was so much chaos going on. there was tons of police cars and sirens and you can smell the smoke and i just remember running down the street and the police officers were trying to stop me. i kept going and she was just standing there in the middle of the street, and she just looked so small and so hurt. i just ran up and gave her a big hug. ■ç

she just kept saying, he is dead. he is gone. why would they do that? he is gone. >> when i arrived at the house, it was 1:30 in the morning. >> detective brian kendall quickly learned the key facts. he had been brutally stabbed to death in his home while his wife and young son had escaped. detectives spoke briefly with kay. >> believable? >> yes. >> tape told the detective that a man had entered their home sometime after 11:00 p.m. and began a reign of terror that started with tying hands and feet with zip ties and ended with the murder of her husband and their house on fireç kay's story suggested a robbery gone bad. to figure out what had happened,

detective kendall works from the outside in. >> what did you see as you got here? >> the screen to the window was leaning up against the house. there was a vertical sliced on the middle of the screen and this window was wide open. >> and that's how kay told you that i first came into the house? >> that was the entry area, correct. i walked down this hallway here. on the ground, there was a pair of red handled scissors, and the zip tie was on the ground. i walked into the master bedroom. another zip tie was on the ground at the foot of the bed. there were bath towels laying on the bed.■ç on the bed itself was a wedding ring, which i thought was unusual. >> the man who came and asked for valuables. but he didn't take them. >> at this point, he didn't take the ones that were in this room at least.

in the closet, there was also a significant amount of jewelry. >> if this is a robbery, it's kind of a strange robbery. they didn't take the things they supposedly want. >> down in the foyer are large amounts of blood. you can see a man's feet. >> this is where joe was killed? >> he was murdered and killed. >> kay said she dragged his body out of the fire and onto the patio, and that's where joe morrissey's body lay in the wee hours of april 6, 2010.■ç >> always personal. >> there up close. >> everything about that says this wasn't a robbery. this was someone who wanted to kill joe morrissey in particular. >> joe still had his wedding band on, still had his watch on. valuables that, if it was a robbery, they would've been taken out of the house.

what's more, his wife kay was still alive. >> they do a brutal vicious murder from joe morrissey. why leave a witness alive? >> in murders like this, the spouse is often the first suspect -- sometimes the only suspect. all of that became clear that night to kay's daughter, christina. >> she asked me ■çto stay and watch the house. and i remember sitting there, and they would come up and ask me questions, the different detectives and the police officers. they asked me, did they ever fight, where they are doing, or was there tension between them? >> absolutely not. >> they never fought. they always were very happy. >> nobody goes through life and never fight. >> i remember they would fight over him leaving socks on the floors or a wet towel. but if they ever had any arguments, they were few and far between. they were a very good match.

>> joe and kay started dating when christina was a young girl. both were divorced single parents at the time, but they met at a cancer research institute. kay was a biomedical grad student back then, while joe was a respected molecular biologist with a phd from stanford university. he conducted research into whether there was a connection between cell phones and cancer, among other things, and his work had taken him across the globe. >> he was very hard-working and was very humble. he never bragged about anything. he was just always trying to be a good guy and teach us to do the right thing. >> joe and kay dated for a year, and then joe popped the question on a roman holiday. >> i thought it was so cool that he proposed at the top of the vatican. it was fun to plan a wedding. they made sure the kids were all included. ■ç

>> that met not only christina, but also a son of joe's from his previous marriage. >> it was like all of us becoming a big family. >> it wasn't long before kay and joe wanted a family of the road and decided to adopt patrick, a baby boy from south korea. >> he was always doing something with patrick, all the time. it was either baseball lessons or hockey practice or going fishing. they were together all the time. >> but now joe was gone. patrick and kay had survived, a detective kendall had some questions for kay. >> coming up. kay describes in horrifying detail a night of terror. >> i have begun.■ç >> but does her story match the evidence? when dateline continues.

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josh mankiewicz: joe morrissey had been savagely stabbed but shingrix protects. to death in his own home. now his wife kay was being questioned >> joe morrissey >> joe morrissey had been savagely stabbed to death his own home. now, his wife kay was being questioned by detective kendall at the police station in plantation, florida. >> kay, it might be just easier to start with what happened from the beginning last night. >> i was in my craft room,

as a room in the fr of the house. the tv was on, and i heard a noise, like something fell down. i thought it was my husband. he was going to bed. >> she told police her husband have been watching tv in the family room. their five-year-old son asleep in the master bedroom. the suddenly, kay looked up. >> the gun was right here, and he was right there, and i couldn't believe it. i could not believe that this was happening to me. >> there was a young man in the room pointing a gun right at her. kay said the man asked her where her husband was. she told him she thought he was sleeping in either the family room or their bedroom. >> he said i'm going to shoot you, i'm going to kill you. >> is she telling ■çthe truth? >> i want to believe her. but the indicators are in cases like this that it is the spouse

with a domestic issue or some other personal issue, not a random act. >> kay told police the man took her into the family room where her house and was. >> joe woke up, and i said, joe, calm down. it's okay. wake up. don't move. just do what he tells you to do, and we are going to be okay. and then -- he said i don't want you guys to look at me or otherwise i'm going to shoot at you. i sad% okay, we won't look at you. >> kay told police she heard the intruder talking to someone she never saw through a walkie- talkie, someone elsewhere on the property. >> he said don't talk to me, just be quiet. >> she said the assailant, the young man with the gun, then

plied their wrist with ties. >> he was saying, where is the wallet? i want the wallet. and then i said, we don't have any cash. at that point, he said he wanted to go to the atm to get money out. >> the gunmen cut their hands free, and the three of them got into one of the morrissey's cars, leaving their five-year- old son asleep in the house along with whoever had been on the walkie-talkie. p to the bank, joe drove. once there, kay managed to get to the park in view of the atm camera, as you can see on this tape. then the assailant told k what to do next. >> will get the money. don't do anything stupid. i have a gun. >> the man wanted $5000. >> i tried 5000, i tried 2000,

i tried 500, and that i was trying 100 more. and then they said no, you can't have any more money off the card. >> how much did you end up getting? >> $500. >> after that, kay said they drove back to the house, frantic to see their son. was he okay? as he ■çentered the house, the gunmen barked out orders. >> behind us, he said don't do anything stupid. joe and i were looking at each other, like, where is he coming back? at that point, i thought he was going to kill us. >> once back in the house, the gunmen took them back to the master bedroom and kay said he tied their hands and feet with zip ties and put towels over their heads. >> why would they put towels over their head at this person is already seen them? >> than the gunmen told joe to come with him. >> he goes, well, i want to see you. and then all i heard was

joe said, please, please don't do it. i saw the fire. >> he said please don't ■çdo it >> yes. i guess he was talking about him shooting him and stabbing him. >> it was a horrifying story. >> if she is faking this for some reason, it is pretty elaborate. >> and she's quite an actress if she is not telling the truth. >> kay's daughter christina was there when the q&a at the police station was over. >> she didn't really say much. she was just quiet. i think she was just letting it all sink in. >> now, police were trying to determine whether the evidence matched kay's story. coming up, kay tells her story to us, and this point is [7

>> it was very strange and taunting. i'm coming for you. i'm going to kill you. >> when dateline continues. .

♪ ♪ [ grunts ] [ laughs ] i could believe that this was happening to me. >> >> i could not believe that this was happening to me. >> police investigating the home invasion murder of joe morrissey had to consider whether his wife, kay, had somehow been involved. >> we conducted a comprehensive background investigation on kay. we went through all her phone

records, who she is friends with, defined that issue maybe she had a boyfriend or was dating somebody. >> police found no evidence that kay had strayed in ■çher marriage. they were finding plenty at the crime scene to support her story. the broken window screen, zip ties, and towels. kay's story seemed to be holding up. christina had believed from the beginning that her mother was innocent, purely a victim. but what she didn't know was how brutal the murder was. >> she didn't want us to know. i remember sitting at the funeral home and she was very firm. she just kept saying, it's going to be closed casket. i want everybody to remember him as the lively person that he was. and i knew then that it couldn't have been good. >> and when i sat down with kay, she told a story filled with love and courage from that awful night.

>> you ■çare surrounded by evil my insides were shaking. i was just thinking about patrick. >> that was the theme of the story kay told me, our five- year-old son patrick was foremost on her and her husband's minds. that's why kay became especially panicked when she and joe were forced to go to the bank. >> we can't leave patrick by himself here. >> no, he stays. he told us there were people there and they had guns. >> and that you are getting in the car with your husband and some guy with a gun and leaving your five-year-old at home with -- >> we don't even know. it is just crazy. i mean, just crying hysterical. >> in the car, kay feared for her and joe's lives as well■ç. a return home, they heard a siren. kay thought help was on the way, that they would be saved. the gunmen thought this might be the end of him and of them.

>> when he heard the siren, he becomes very strange. he started saying and taunting, they are coming for me, i'm going to kill you. i was just so horrified. >> but help did not arrive. once at home, the gunmen forced kay and joe back into the master bedroom. at least they found patrick, thankfully, still asleep. in that moment, kay says, a father's love came shining through. that's when joe morrison, tied up and :b■ñihelpless, made a mo save his young son's life. >> patrick is now awake and sitting on the bed, so joe saysç to him, please do it for daddy. lay down and pretend you are asleep. do it for daddy. and he just lays there and pretends to be asleep. >> case says the man with the gun forced joe to go to the other side of the house. in his final moments with his attackers, kay says family was

first in joe's mind. >> he starts pleading. please, i have kids. please. the home is on fire, the attackers had fled, and she needed to get patrick and herself out of the house. but her ankles were still tied and she could barely move. desperate to find something sharp to free her feet, she hobbled to a nearby bathroom. >> i just created a humongous mass, but i couldn't find the scissors, so i called patrick ■ç and i said to patrick, you have to be a big boy. you have to help mommy. >> and he did. kay told him where to find a pair of scissors, and patrick brought them to her. cutting the zip tie was difficult, but kay was finally able to do it. the five-year-old boy had saved his mother. then she had another job for her son. >> i said patrick, please go across the street, knock on the door. do it for mommy, i need to go help daddy.

member your kung fu kicks. please, just kick the door. >> case all the neighbors door open and patrick run in. one family member taken care of. now kay was on a mission to save joe. she would not leave him behind, no matter what the risk. >> i went back ■çin there. when i saw joe, it was so hard to pick him up. i remember seeing so many wounds. so much damage to his body. i couldn't even think anymore. >> kay managed to drag joe out of the burning house and onto the patio. she held out hope that while joe was clearly badly injured, he was still alive. paramedics arrived, but there is nothing they could do for joe morrissey. kay's beloved husband was gone at the age of only 46. >> and that was the last time i saw him. >> you saved yourself. you saved your son.

>> but i didn't save joe. i just couldn't.■ç it was the most horrible thing that ever happened to me, to learn that he was dead. >> it was a heartbreaking story and one that police came to believe. they cleared kay. >> there was no evidence to support to us that she was involved in any way in this murder. >> now it was up to investigators to find out who had done such horrible things to this family. a family detective kimball believed had been targeted. so far, it wasn't making any sense. >> if it was just something personal in nature, why not just come and kill them and leave? >> the search for answers was on, and it would lead to a very different kind of family. >> police close ■çin on a suspe

that seems to know a lot about the crime. coming up. >> i never thought that it was somebody who they knew. >> when dateline continues. all in one delicious, monthly, soft chew. use with caution in dogs with a history of seizures or neurologic disorders. nexgard® plus: the one you want for one-and-done protection. everybody wants super straight, super white teeth. they want that hollywood white smile. new sensodyne clinical white provides 2 shades whiter teeth and 24/7 sensitivity protection. i think it's a great product. it's going to help a lot of patients.

i think it's a great product. welcome back to "dateline," i'm craig melvin. investigators had cleared kay morrissey in her husband's grisly murder. they were starting to believe the family had been targeted. >> welcome back >> welcome back to dateline. i am itcraig melvin. investigators had cleared kay morrissey in her husband's

grisly murder. they were starting to believe the family have been targeted, but it was still a mystery why joe was the only one killed. who might want him dead? once again,■ç here is josh mankiewicz with broken bonds. >> joe morrissey had been savagely stabbed to death in a home invasion that ended with his family's house set ablaze. now, police were trying to figure out who could have committed such a brutal crime. kay's daughter from her first marriage, christina, first thought it might have something to do with the renovations her mom and joe were having done at the home. >> i honestly thought it was the contractors. it had a lot of people coming in and out of their house doing work. i never thought that it was someone that they knew. that was my first -- yeah. that was my first guess. >> who didn't like joe? >> the only person i know that didn't like him was■ç his ex-wi

and her family. it was a nasty divorce, so bitter feelings there. >> they determined it had nothing to do with the crime. investigators did have one narrow thread to pull on -- something kay had mentioned to them. >> the only thing she was able to tell me was a brief description of the suspect. >> kay had not recognize that man at the time. only later did she realize that she might have seen him once several months earlier. >> joe had been a scientist, a husband, a father, but he was also a landlord. and kay thought the man might be related to the tenants at a townhouse they owned. >> i found a family member who could match the description of what kay gave me in her initial statement, checking more ■çinto this person, i found he had a warrant for his arrest. >> what was his name? >> randy. >> with that name, the investigation was now heading from the loving morrissey story

to the other family in this story. randy was 21 and into drugs with an arrest warrant for violating his probation on burglary. >> we couldn't find him. >> but detectives could find his father, randy senior, at the townhouse. he said he hadn't talked to his son in a while. when police went looking for randy jr. at the family window tinting business, an alert officer noticed something suspicious. >> a canine sergeant sees -- a.i.d.s. zip tie.■ç i immediately identify it as the same make, size, of the ones used in the murder. that is a solid piece of evidence. >> that is your first break. >> randy sr. allowed them to search the business without a warrant. >> immediately, we see there's

a bag of the same type of wire ties that were used to tie up joseph morrissey. they also sell knives of the business. is an empty box that holds a 15 inch bowie knife. when he's asked, where is the knife that belongs in this box, he tells us it should be there. it is nowhere. >> you think at this point, he is covering up for his son? >> i think he's he is aware things are not going good for his son, it doesn't seem like ■ç he wants to cover for his son. >> so this is a good citizen letting the police to their investigation? and if the chips fall on his son, then they do? >> correct. >> investigators eventually located raymond jr. and brought him in for testing. >> randy junior seemed composed, very interested to know what information we had about the case. very willing to talk to me.

>> i didn't have a warrant. i would freely talk to you guys. i don't have no connection with this murder. i don't know who did it. i want to clear my name, because i did not commit this murder. >> as for that knife that was missing from his dad's shop, randy jr. had an explanation for that. >> you have stolen that nig@t! weeks earlier and sold it to a friend of his that he knows on the street. >> i'm positive he still has it. >> i asked him to further describe the knife. he draws it, and it's an exact replica of the knife we believe was used in the murder. >> over the course of two days of interrogation, randy jr. denied any involvement in the murder. >> it could've been a random hit. it could've been a random time. >> it is not random. >> but he seemed to know details of the crime that only someone involved would know. >> so if randy jr. try to cover

his own tracks -- or somebody else's? as investigators continue to focus on other things found at the shop, includinu a large mark behind it as well as what look like burned scraps of evidence from the crime. randy jr. went out of his way to keep his father out of it to protect him. >> he is really a good man. he's a hard worker. he's a standup guy. he tries to direct me the right way. he would never do nothing like this. >> honestly, i think you could be involved in it. that's what we've got to clear the air. >> definitely. >> detective kendall really suspected randy jr. and one of his buddies had committed the murder. >> you are desperate. yom would have money. things get a little out of

control.■ç and someone ends up being stabbed. >> then the detective pulled out the heavy artillery. he tried to crack randy jr. by telling him his own father thought he did it. >> everything you said has been a lie. your dad is out there crying. because of what you did. come on, dude. i feel bad for your dad. >> if police thought they had this case solved, they thought randy jr. and a drug buddy had committed this crime, they were in for a shock things to a most unusual informant -- randy jr.'s brother, randy sr.'s other son. coming up. >> fix this or i will. i told him straight up.■ç >> went dateline continues. so. in studies, the majority of people

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josh mankiewicz: as police investigated the home invasion murder of joe morrissey, his widow kay was dealing with >> >> as police investigated the home invasion murder of joe morrissey, his widow, kay, was dealing with not only her own grief and trauma, but also with her son, patrick's. >> when patrick would ask you what happened to his father, what would you tell him? >> i tried to answer him thinking age-appropriate. because he was five years old. and i would say, you know, daddy died. >> kay was still trying to protect her son, just as joe

had done ■çon that terrible nig. >> even when the man was dying, that's what he was doing. he was fighting for his life and trying to protect my mom and patrick. >> in the days after the murder, police were zeroing in on randy jr. when they received an unexpected phone call from his younger brother, sean. >> he tells us his brother is not involved. he actually provides his brother with an alibi. randy jr. was with me. he didn't do this. >> you are about 99% or 100% convinced they randy jr. was at the morrissey house that night. >> oh, yes. we know sean is lying about that part of it. >> police knew sean had an alibi for the night joe morrissey was killed. he was not his brother's ■ç accomplice. it turned out sean not only came in to give his brother and alibi for the mortar, but you tell a story that shocked the officers.

he wasted no time. his father, randy sr. >> it was a bombshell. we were surprised that we were hearing the father was actually at the residence. >> and then sean proceeded to tell a chilling story about his father, how his dad felt wronged by his landlord, joe morrissey, and went to joe's house to kill him. he had tried to shoot joe, but his gun didn't go off, so he repeatedly stabbed joe. sean said his father was even able to recite joe's last words. >> he said, i've got kids.=■çó[ >> according to sean, randy sr.ç wore brand-new white sneakers during the murder. sean painted a very different picture of his dad that his brother had. sean said his dad was a violent man. >> my father used to be that's

really bad. >> with a violent past. >> my father is just known to be one of the craziest guys you know. just on a rampage. they used to call him scarface. >> and sean said his father had been trying to scam joe morrissey out of money by breaking light switches at the rented townhouse and by faking a slip and fall injury so he could sue joe. >> so this fall down the stairs with a bunch of -- ■ç >> yeah. >> despite all that, sean said his brother, who he describes as having the mind of a child, looked up to the father and would do anything for him. >> he's going to do anything he has to do to make sure my father is okay, because he loved him. >> but of his father loved randy jr. back, why would he get him involved in the crime in the first place, and take a step forward -- let his son take a wrap for it.

>> just store everything on him. >> sean says he was more than disgusted. he loved his brother and had been protecting him since they were young. now, randy junior needed detection more than ever, which sean felt required him to turn in his own father for a crime of which he was not even expected.■ç sean says the murder scheme was set in motion when his dad received a letter from joe morrissey. it informed him that he owed just over $1600, and his lease would now be month-to- month. that letter arrived on the day of joe's murder. >> how did your dad react to that letter? >> like, i'm not going to let him do it. >> because it was an insult to him? >> he took it that way, but it wasn't. it was a man wanting his money. >> but your dad sought as a provocation. i'm going to teach him a lesson. >> then he said his dad roped

in randy jr. >> my brother didn't know that somebody was supposed to die in that house. >> only to turn his back on him afterward and let randy ■çjr. fall under suspicion for the murder. >> he says, they caught him, not me. fix this, or i will. >> that's what you said to your father? fix this or i will? >> that's when sean turned his back on his father and went to the police, trying to save his brother by informing on his dad. if that didn't stunned the officers, then what sean did next did. >> before we could even ask him the where or why, he offers to wear a wire. he wants his father to be held responsible for this. >> have you ever seen anything like that before? >> no. >> his son was going to become a police informant, where a wire, and try to get his own father to admit to a murder.

the sound quality ■çis poor, an for police, randy sr.'s guilt through loud and clear. >> was a part of that conversation assist you, guilty, we got him ? >> i think what he tells sean that we have no case, our case is weak. he tells sean, they can't identify me. they can't identify randy. putting himself there. >> what's more, the security video from the business next door to randy sr.'s tent shop shows a man behind it tending a big fire a couple of hours after the murder, exactly where police had found evidence from the crime. >> you can't make out the person's identity. it is definitely a large person. randy sr. -- he's probably 300 pounds. we suspect it is him.■ç >> by friday night, four days after the murder, both ready senior and junior had been

charged with a slew of crimes, including murder, attempted murder, and arson. then randy senior would let his son take the fall. it was all the evidence kay's daughter needed. >> if you don't care about your own kids, not going to care about somebody else's life. >> case closed? not by a long shot. >> coming up, two very different families meet in court for justice. >> he said they got to go to. >> i believe god has a plan for us, and that's why we survived. >> when dateline continues. ahhh, there's nothing like a day out with friends. that's nice, but shingles doesn't care! 99% of adults 50 years or older already have the virus that causes shingles inside them, and it can reactivate at any time. a perfect day for a family outing! guess what? shingles doesn't care. but shingrix protects.

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check allstate first and yo[music playing]ndreds. welcome back. randy tundidor, sr., and his son randy, jr., were both charged with murdering joe morrissey. >> co >> ndwelcome back. randy sr. and his son, randy jr., were both charged with murdering joe morrissey. but his second son, sean, told detectives jr. was an unwitting accomplice. his father was the mastermind behind the crime. now, father and son were about to face trial. a tragic tale of two contrasting families was nearing its better and. here's josh mankiewicz with the conclusion of broken bonds. >> on a quiet april night in florida, intruders had invaded the home of kay and joe morrissey and committed unthinkable crimes.■ç >> the worst-case scenario you can imagine, you are living your life the way you think you

are supposed to, and evil just walks in and rips your life apart. >> tom collen and steve zach prosecuted the case around randy sr. and his son, randy jr. >> there are no circumstances you can look at where, maybe if they had done this differently, it would be a different result. there's nothing the morrissey's could have done it would've prevented this, other than never meet them. >> but these two families did intersect with disastrous results. all prosecutors say, because a tenant got angry at a landlord. >> who is this little scientist to think he's going to mess with me? i was going to take care of it. that's what this wp#y >> in the end, randy didn't seem to care about his family. in fact, prosecutors say he tried to pull the blame on his son, randy jr. >> we will test his shirt for dna. that is your killer. just piling on him.

>> randy jr. won't give them up. >> nope. doesn't give him up. >> ready jr. stuck by his dad, even though his father pretty much threw him under the bus as soon as he came into suspicion. >> and never stopped. >>'s of the sun is loyal to the father, but the father is not loyal to the sun. >> prosecutors thought it might be a tough case against randy senior, but then something surprising happened. after swearing to police that his dad ■çwas not in any way involved, randy jr. took a deal and agreed to testify against his father, as did sean. randy sr.'s trial was held two years after joe's murder. he faced the death penalty. kay desperately wanted to make sure he received it. her testimony in court was powerful. >> i was so scared. he never answered me.

i kept calling. >> on the stand, randy jr. told the story about how his dad intended to inflict any more harm on the morrissey family. >> he wanted to kill misses morrissey and her son. he said, they've got to go to. that's when i told him, i can'tç do that. i can't kill the kid. it was wrong. >> randy sr.'s primary defense was that he was not involved. but the father went far beyond that. >> he went to trial and buried both of his sons, or tried to. it wasn't just jr. it was that sean was the other person involved. sean tried to steal my business. he can't ever accept responsibility for anything. >> in court, randy jr. lashed out at his father. >> the fact that he can sit

here and say it was me and my brother who did this, i feel like that is wrong. you shouldn't do anything to hurt your kids. i think that a father's job is to protect his kids■ç. >> after five and half hours of deliberation -- >> the defendant is guilty of first-degree murder. >> -- the jury convicted on all three charges. >> when they said guilty, i felt my heart -- i was very overwhelmed. >> the jury later voted unanimously to give randy sr. the death penalty. the judge agreed. the supreme court ruled that randy sr.'s convictions for attempted first-degree murder and attempted felony murder amounted to double jeopardy. the attempted felony murder convictions were thrown out, but his conviction for first- degree murder and his death randy jr., who pleaded guilty

to second-degree murder and cooperated with prosecutors, was sentenced ■çto 40 years in prison. kay morrissey is angry about that. >> i believe the crime wouldn't have happened one without the other. they both deserved the death penalty. >> kay morrissey says she is not imprisoned by fear. instead, she says the nightmare has made her free last. even sent a letter to randy sr. saying as much. >> you are a coward, and i am not afraid of you. >> yes. >> i am never leaving and will always be here. so what you are saying, come and get me? tough guy? >> right. i am not going to be fearful. the attack was in our house, which is your safest place to be. and so i started to become extremely fearless.■ç >> but she has also struggled to put her life back together. kay's daughter says she can see the pain, even as her mom holds

patrick close. >> it's hard to watch my mom with patrick, because you can tell they miss him, and they should have him. they shouldn't have to figure it out without him. >> they still have each other. >> i believe god has a plan for us, and that's why we survived. >> and she has many memories of her dear joe. she wrote to him in the letter. >> joe, i know we will see each other again. in the meantime, please watch over our children and protect them from harm. joe, i think you for being such a great, loving husband and loving father. i love you so much and will love you forever.■ç >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i am craig melvin. inc. you for watching.