on what they think or whisper about him and the girl he once loved. nona dirksmeyer, the songbird, the beauty queen. the girl for whom justice is denied. in 2018, gary dunn found himself in handcuffs again after two incidents that occurred on the same night. both unrelated to nona dirksmeyer. he pleaded no contest■ç to attempted kidnapping and indecent exposure. he was sentenced to 15 years. barring new evidence, the state doesn't plan to file charges against him for a third time in the nona dirksmeyer killing. that's all for this edition of dateline. i am craig melvin. thank you for watching. hello, hello, i'm craig melvin. this is dateline. >> it happens on tv.

it doesn't happen to your family , to your brother, but it does. >> no one thought it could happen to him. he was a tough guy, prepared for anything. >> he always would say if anyone tries to break in here, ç i will kill them. >> instead he was killed. stabbed in his own home. his son and daughter-in-law stumbled into a terrifying scene. >> that's when i saw the gun. >> they said we have to kill you now. >> a strange story that only got stranger. >> something isn't right here. >> could have killed his own father? what really happened in that house? >> then a witness came forward. in this is our story, the strangest thing of all was the truth. >> he planned for any scenario except the one that happened to him.

>> hello, and welcome toúç dateline. kay mortensen was a strong- minded man who built a fortune and a fortress to protect it. then, he was attacked turning his home into a bloody crime scene. how police wondered could someone so vigilant be taken by surprise? it was a riddle that threatened to destroy his family until someone with an explosive secret revealed a horrifying truth. here is keith morrison with mystery and payson canyon. >> there are people on this sun- kissed planet of ours who get up each morning to the miracle of being alive and worried. not that there aren't things to worry about, of course. whether we can do anything about them or not.■ç some people worry a great deal

indeed and do try to be prepared for whatever. one of those prepared people was a brilliant university professor named kay mortensen whose sister was named fern. >> i said, kay, what would happen if i'm not prepared and i'm hungry for my kids are hungry, can we come to your house? i will probably just shoot you. he wouldn't have, but he was willing to protect what he had. >> oh, yes, he certainly was. sure enough, one night. >> 911. what's the address of your emergency? >> we are getting ahead of ourselves. what happened that night was a long time coming. it was long before that when kay became ■ça survivalist with attitude. >> he knew exactly what he thought about everything, and even though he knew what he was saying would be outrageous and

not accepted, he would say it anyway. >> he had a black belt in karate. he owns scores of firearms. kept guns and just about every room in the house and in all of his cars. a fully stocked concrete bunker outside his home. >> he had food. he had everything. water. magazines and books to read. >> kay was clear about it with his wife, darla. >> he would say this is where you and i will end up because there will be a nuclear war. said i don't want to live if everybody else is dying. he was a■ç true patriot. he worried about things and wanted to be prepared for the civil war that was going to erupt. he was a little over-the-top. >> she wasn't thrilled but she accepted him and his radical views. they were still kind of in their honeymoon phase. >> it was all kind of surreal. i think we felt we were being

teenagers again. we both have not really had love for quite a few years. >> they found each other late in life after both raised families. k had three adult children by them. one of whom, his eldest roger, stayed close. >> he was my best friend. we did everything together. >> mind you, roger is not at all like kay. ■ç he suffered a brain injury in an accident years ago, so unlike kay, he could not work much. lived on disability, but he liked to hang out with his dad. >> we lived less than a mile apart because we did enjoy spending time together. if i needed help, he would be there in a minute to help me. >> although said roger's wife pam said it wasn't always easy. >> roger's dad was a very strong-willed person. it was his way or the highway. >> roger learned early to shy

away from confrontation with his father. not at all how what was with his new love, darla, when she was around they said, kay's tough hide melted. >> we knew then he really loved her and he was willing to ■ç compromise and do something so he could make her happy. >> did it soft and hidden up a little bit? >> a lot. >> so kay and darla got married. they were as happy as either had ever been. >> he would say widows do we need to do? we are retired and we have plenty of money so we will have fun. >> kay was a rich man. made his money buying gold . >> he had the foresight, he was always, the dollar bill won't be worth anything. >> he put his money in a trust so roger and his other children would inherit everything once he was gone. heaven knows, he was not

spending it. worth millions, but? >> he was very frugal. very frugal.■ç i used to say to him, i would say when is it you are going to spend your money? you know? what are you waiting for? >> so kay promised darla she would travel with her and see the world. he made sure his bunker was stocked and kept his guns close to hand just in case. and then it was november 16, 2009. darla was away watching her granddaughters. kay was alone in his house in payson . >> 911. what's the address of your emergency? >> it was evening when the call came in. >> i have help on the way but i just need to get information. >> darla was on her way home. the cell phone chirped. it was a neighbor. >> he said something terrible happened and i think it's ■çat your house. >> darla's mind flashed to kay

and his guns. >> i thought oh he probably shot somebody. >> she found a family friend. >> is it something is going on and i'm alone. i need to be with somebody, can you be with me? >> she rushed to meet darla at the foot of the can you. police blocked off the road to their house. now, darla and chris felt the same thing. >> kay probably shot someone. >> coming up. roger makes an agonizing discovery and stumbles directly into a murder scene. >> they said wrong place, wrong time. time. well, with your home, auto, boat and rv all bundled with progressive you've got the peace of mind to really wander. yeah. yeah, i just hope it stays this way. once word gets out about these places they tend to -- -are you done? -aaand there it is. well, at least your vehicles are protected. let's hit the road. hey fam! i'm just at this beautiful lake that i just discovered.

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keith (voiceover): everyone knew that kay mortensen was always prepared, surrounded himself with a veritable arsenal everyone knew that kay mortensen was always prepared. surrounded himself with a arsenal and firearms. a tough bird who could defend himself from just about anything. >> he always would say, if anyone tried to break in, i will kill them. >> life no matter how well we prepares full of rude surprises. as it was for kay mortensen. it was november 16, 2009, just before thanksgiving. >> hi. we have the police on the way ■ç to help you. are you sure your dad is cold to the touch? >> kay didn't shoot some

intruder. no, somebody killed him without firing a shot. >> yes. he's leaned over face forward in the bathtub. >> the man in the phone reporting the crime? roger mortensen. >> they sliced his throat? >> it wasn't long before kay's wife made it to the mouth of the canyon and led to the command post that have been set up down the hill from their home. that is where they gave her the news. >> your life just comes tumbling down. you have it all planned out and you think you know what it's going to be. then everything is gone. >> kay caught off guard? not kay thought ■çdarla. impossible. that seem to be what happened. at least that is what roger and pam told police and later us in a very strange story it was. it began, they said, when pam

received a pie at work as a gift. >> we knew how much he loved the pecan pie and we decided to take him that pie. >> they said they went to his house, intending to drop off the pie and then leave. when they got there, they said, there was an unfamiliar car in the driveway. pam said she knocked on the door and a young man answered. >> i said is kay here? he said he's upstairs. i said we are here to drop off a pie, and they said go ahead in. i got to about the landing when i was asked to come back down. iheard the door shut. when i turned around, that's when i saw the gun. >> what was it like to see that? >> it was a shock. when we turned around and i saw gun, another guy started walking down the gun and he had a wad of zip ties. they turned to us and said you were here at the wrong place, wrong time. hold out your hands. >> the zip tied their wrists

and force them down on the living room floor. then zip tied the wrinkles. >> after we were tied up, they said you have seen our faces and we will have to kill you now. >> pam quaking in terror she said looked at a picture of jesus hanging on the living room wall. >> i kept thinking, heavenny@■ father, if you really love me and care for me, please make us get through this. it calmed me to keep looking at that picture of christ, and to be able to help roger stay calm. >> that really had an impact on your. >> it did. >> why? >> it brought me comfort and peace to know -- >> even if they killed you? >> to know my heavenly father loves me and he would do the right thing for me. >> both men left the room, they said. roger began praying loud.

he was in midsentence he said when the men walked back in and something quite amazing happened. >> my wife nudged me and said be quiet. they are back. one of them says, that's okay. keep praying.■ç go ahead and they both folded their arms about their heads. they listened to me as i continued this prayer. >> how weird is that? >> when we got done with the prayer, we both sat down and their demeanor changed at that point. one of them looked at us and said we decided we are not going to kill you. we have decided we would tell you a story that you need to relate to the police. >> what was that story the intruders told them to say? three black men with ski masks and baited the house. three, not two as they actually were. black and not white as they actually were. then roger said they took his drivers license and said they would know if he or pam told the truth and if that happened,

it would hunt him down and kill him. ■ç then, the two men left. roger and pam waited a while. got out of the zip ties and roger ran upstairs while pam dialed 911. was on the phone with the operator when roger found his father in the upstairs bathroom. >> i saw my father kneeling over the bathtub. his feet were tied and his head was down in the bathtub. >> inconceivable. tough, resilient, armed to the teeth with his own kitchen knife? what a story. eric, a sergeant with the utah county sheriff's office was assigned is one of the lee detectives. he was sitting in the office when from about the house, the first officer to talk to pam and roger called him. >>■ç he said, something isn't right here.

it seems, from his perception, that maybe things were stage are some things were not what he would think would be normal for a crime as heinous or vicious as this. >> something about the bizarre story didn't sit right. he couldn't put his finger on it. not yet, anyway. >> coming up. problem was the bizarre story got weirder by the minute. bother the bugs, not your family. zevo is made with essential oils which attack bugs' biological systems. it wipes cleanly, plus is safe for use around people and pets. gotcha. zevo. people-friendly. bug-deadly. try killing bugs the worry-free way. not the other way. zevo traps use light to attract and trap flying insects with no odor and no mess . they were continuously, so you don't have to. zevo. people-friendly. bug-deadly.

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keith (voiceover): the death of kay mortensen was horrific, humiliating, helpless to defend himself the death of kay mortensen was horrific, humiliating. helpless to defend himself inside his own secret fortress. the killer penned him over his own bathtub, slashed his throat several times. stabbed his neck. all those guns and not a single one fired. it seemed so personal. the sergeant of the utah county sheriff's office got a briefing from the first officer at the scene who turned on his audio recorder when he met roger and roger's wife pam. roger had found the body and was already suggesting possible killers. >> he told me he had an appointment for lunch at noon with the guy discussing $25,000. >> mike kip? ■ç he was kay's former student.

>> roger and pam identify him and say he is involved. he owes my dad money and he did this. >> roger told detectives that kay was holding a collection of mike's weapons. mostly pistols and rifles and some shotguns. he put the guns in his bunker and roger thought there might be a grudge involved. when detectives went to look for the guns, they were gone. >> we pull in mike kipp and we interview him and we can get his alibi. it is quick. >> nothing suspicious turned out. mike had not the thing to do with kay's murder. he simply needed money and kay agreed to buy his guns. by now, tips weze!coming in. >> this female says the baker boys did this. >> they were brothers who fairly or not, developed a reputation as the town's troublemakers.

detectives found them. they had solid alibis. then, the next day another tape. a woman who implicated her own husband. >> he came home last night the timeframe before the homicide and grabbed a bunch of stuff including a knife. he has been looking for gun so i know he is involved. >> her husband was at eliminated as a suspect. detectives hoped maybe the stolen guns would lead them to kay's killer. >> we recovered a lot of firearms stolen. >> that highlighted another aspect of the mystery. kay ■çcollected firearms, had close to 100 valuable guns locked in his house. yet, the thieves just all the cheaper ones in the bunker. pretty bizarre robbery to take those and not take the far more valuable collection that kay had? >> agreed. >> in fact, the inside of the house was pristine, untouched. knows sign anybody had stolen

anything. if it was a home invasion, but by then, detectives were honing in on the two people who admitted they were there the whole time. kay's son roger and his wife pam . >> you are sure he is dead? >> starting with the 911 call they made, something odd about it. >> it didn't ■çsound how i woul think a phone call should be made to 911 after discovering her father had just been killed . >> roger and pam said the detectives appeared to be an emotional, uncaring, even callous. even though they claimed the gunman stood over them, kept them hostage for almost two hours. at first pam couldn't seem to describe the men. >> the guy that had the gun, what did he look like? was he a white guy, black guy? hispanic? >> she seemed uncertain even about how many there were.

>> how many were there? >> listen to what happened next. roger took the phone and changed the story. >> where they white, black, hispanic? >> three white males. two white ■çmales? >> roger explained the reason for the apparent confusion, if they reveal to their captors look like, they would be hunted down and killed. did you buy that? >> not really. they didn't appear fearful. >> why would vicious killers not have killed them too? the night of the murder, he interviewed them. >> my name is eric. , >> did the seemed nervous? >> not really nervous or agitated. unemotional. >> even at times cold toward the victim, roger's father. >> he's a cantankerous old . >> detectives started noticing

subtle differences. >> that had blue fuzzy gloves. they looked like■ç women's wint driving gloves. >> i know they had purple gloves on. you know, medical gloves. >> lots of details which they did not agree said the sergeant decided to employ a police -- he got tough, accusing. >> quite frankly, i think this story is something you have come up with. >> am sorry you can't believe me. >> i am trying to. >> doesn't sound too rehearsed? >> i want them to say i had nothing to do with this. detective, you are crazy. that's what i wanted to hear and it never came out. >> listen to what ■çdid,. >> is your husband capable of killing somebody? >> i wouldn't hope -- i mean, i

wouldn't think he is. i wouldn't think that he's capable of killing his father. >> the search of their home showed they appeared to be in financial trouble. they found collection notices and unsent mortgage coupons, suggesting they were behind in house payments. >> i know we are in a lot of debt. but, i, personally, would not have my father-in-law killed for his money. >> and yet, as roger told the detective -- >> i get to big share of my dad's millions too. >> within days, they agreed to go back to the house with detectives for iñvideotaped retelling of their intruder story. >> at the front door, my wife was holding a pie right here. >> did that provide useful information? >> from our standpoint as far as more circumstantial evidence

that they are not being 100% truthful. >> once again, detectives are foggy memories. should >> i believe she knocked on the door. >> dialogue sounded like a bad crime movie. >> he pointed at us and he said you're here at the wrong time. put out your hands. >> then there was the same lack of emotion when roger describer should have been the worst moment of his life. >> i came back downstairs and my wife was talking at the time to 911 dispatch■ç, and i said, is dead. >> roger and pam took a polygraph test and what do you know? roger was found to be deceptive and pam? was jumpy. the operator could not complete the test. still, roger and pam swore up and down they had nothing to do with the. they were victims themselves. truth be told, the police

needed some real evidence. out of the blue, something arrived. >> investigators confronted with new evidence and strange does not begin to describe it. someone saw the killer in a dream. >> i have a photo lineup drawn up and she puts her finger and puts it on roger's face. face.

hurricane hurricane beryl strengthening into a category 4 storm. it's the earliest kept for hurricane on record and expected impact the windward islands with heavy rain and winds as soon as this morning. ■ç millions marked the end o pride month with marches across the country. some of the events or distributed by pro-palestinian protesters with 10 being arrested in new york city. i'm craig melvin. police suspected roger and pam mortensen

welcome back to dateline. i'm craig melvin. police suspected roger and pam were cold-blooded killers. to investigators, their story about finding kay mortensen dead at the hands of two armed intruders did not add up . and with kay mortensen gone, roger is set to inherit a fortune. soon, an unlikely witness would bolster the case with her own chilling tale of what happened that night. continuing with mystery at payson canyon. here is keith mo@rison. within days of kay mortensen murder, members of his family began hearing deeply troubling reports from the utah county sheriff's office. the investigation was leading detectives told them to his own son roger and roger's wife pam. darla said she couldn't believe it at first. >> i was adamant they could not of done it. i was there biggest defender. >> then detectives asked her to

listen to the recorded statements, and she too started to wonder. >> they told lies in the put were suspicious on them. >> gradually the conviction grew. the same for kay's sister. >> i could buy the fact that they were thinking of roger's involvement. >> there were too many things ■ç about their story that did not make sense to fern. there was something else too. a possible witness. remember the woman who suspected her husband was involved? when police found him in salt lake city after drug binge with some friends, they were high on meth and one of the people there, a woman named kami told the detectives she had a story to tell. about a dream she had had. >> she describes what she calls a dream while seeing somebody get killed, she describes

outside of a room. she describes a female to her left crying in hysterics, and she describes three or four males in the bathroom. she said there's one we think is related to the female ■çon t floor screaming. >> remember, the woman was on methamphetamine reporting not what she saw but what she dreamed she saw. you never know until you ask. >> i have a photo lineup drawn up and she stares and puts her head down and puts her finger on it. she puts it on roger's face. >> the next day, detectives took kami to the house and show the crime scene. again, she named roger. >> i can't really see the roger . he is holding kay. >> you don't hear a story like that and say, that's a piece of crap and go on from there? >> not when she gives that amount of detail. >> the suspicion by the minute. got the rest of the family

informed of developments. what did this do to you? >>■ç man, and through me for a loop. >> when pam and roger attended kay funeral, the tension was the. >> it was difficult to be there because everybody wanted to know what happened that night. >> they couldn't say anything said pam. detectives told them not to. >> i sister came up and said what really happened? i told her, i'm sorry, can't talk about it. >> shortly after roger and pam took the polygraph test and were told about the dismal results, they hired a lawyer. few in the family could understand why they would do a thing like that if they were innocent, that is. >> i tried to say, what would i do when their situation? i would do everything i could to help get these quople that have caused such horror in their lives and murder kay. >> on the advice of their

attorneys, roger and pam stopped talking and the lopsided rift in the family widen from this trust to anger to outright accusation. chris, the woman darla called the night of the murder was one of the few people who continue to support roger and pam. >> they were left to hang out and dry. >> how did you feel? >> i was so angry. i was so so angry. i couldn't believe you could love somebody and do that to them, even if i thought roger had done it, i would not have abandoned him. >> and they did. >> not only did they abandon him, they crucified him. >>■ç months dragged by an they were headline news but in the absence of physical evidence linking them to the murder, they remained free. day by day they went about their business as if their lives were still quite normal. then, july 28, 2010, utah county pro skater tim taylor

took a dramatic step to break the logjam. he percent of the case against roger and pam to a grand jury. by call the grand jury? why not charge them? >> without the grand jury was a great tool to force them to come in and talk. >> it was a secret proceeding. no defense attorney, only prosecutors, police and some members of the mortensen family and even some of pam eye coworkers in front of 16 jurors whose job was to decide whether or not they should charge roger and pam with ■çthe murder. and in just over an hour, the jury decided to indict. what did that say to you? >> well, there was enough to proceed. >> it reinforced what you were thinking? >> it did. >> the same day, eight months after kay mortensen was found dead in his home, roger hennepin were deposited in the

county jail. chris, the family friend who still believe they were innocent went to roger's sister. >> is a julie, we need money to hire an attorney for roger. we think pam's family can come up with money for pam but he needs a separate attorney. can you help me? there's millions of dollars in the trust. she told me, not one red penny will be spent in his ■çdefense. >> julie said she did not use those specific words, but she said, the family was advised by their attorney not to use kay's money to pay for roger's defense which meant roger, stood to inherit a big chunk of his dad's millions would have to rely on a public defender. he and pam diabolical killers as detectives and their own family had come to believe? of course, we and everybody else just had to know. >> coming up. roger and pam face some tough questions. >> as the interrogations

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keith (voiceover): much of utah county, so clearly you. along with roger's own family and many of their one-time friends, joined the lineup arrayed pam much of utah county, along with roger's own family and many other one-time friends, join the lineup against roger and pam mortensen is a sat in jail, charged with murdering kay and they waited for their

day in court. the evidence against them? their strange demeanor. alleged financial trouble. rogers failed polygraph. mostly, according to detectives, the bizarre and ever-changing story they told about the night of the murder. what was the truth? we asked the only people who knew for sure, starting at the beginning with a strange 911 ■ç call. >> who held you hostage? >> i don't know. >> our viewers hear that call and they say something's wrong. it -- people scream on 911 calls. they are crazed. >> i think i was in a lot of shock too. i don't know the real reason why i was -- i could stay as calm as i can, but i just, that's my personality and the type of person i am. >> although she didn't sound like it, she was terrified she said. their captors just threatened to kill them if they told the

truth. >> when the 911 operator asked, how many were there? i was totally confused what to say. do i tell the truth which is what i wanted to do■ç. >> roger knew what he had to do when he discovered his father in the bathtub. >> i hollered down while she was on the phone, tell them the truth. we are going to get these guys. >> pam said, she could not spit it out. >> i was kind of staggering through what was going on. there was two, maybe three, because i did not know. i was terrified for my life still. i did not know what i should have said. >> what about the police interrogations, when the stories did not match? >> i thought there gloves was one color and she thought they were another color.

other than that, our stories are basically the same. >> they both cooperated fully ept talking for days and ully even his police brought up one accusation after another. there was an inheritance involved. and you talked about that. >> i may have. i'm not sure. >> according to them you talked about of and provided one of the classic motivations the children have for killing their parents. cops run into it all the time. >> they say they do. >> and that's clearly what they were thinking when they talk to you. >> yes. >> did they make that clear? >> they didn't make much clear to us. they said, not being cooperative with them even though from the beginning we told them everything that happened. they just didn't believe it. they didn't believe two people would kill one person and lead two more ■çalive. >> perhaps. what about their apparent financial troubles? >> we were not having any

financial problems. if we were having financial problems, my father would've been glad to help us. we had that type of relationship. >> they were certainly not debt- free they said, but it didn't amount to a lot. has for the unsent mortgage coupons? they simply started paying online, like everybody else. as for the failed polygraph test, roger said he should never have been asked to take it. remember, he is on disability because he had a serious accident that left him with a brain injury which caused among other things, short-term memory loss and confusion. the sort of thing that would make a result quite listless. >> i said how could i failed? ■ç >> so, was he lying? or did police have it all wrong? >> they didn't know how to proceed. they could not find fingerprints because the people had gloves on. they didn't find a gun because

they took it with them. they didn't know what to do so being confused they went after the easiest subjects they could find, us. >> the days piled up. a month, two months, four months in jail waiting for their day in court. a day for which roger's lawyer maybe wasn't quite so eager as they were. >> we had a case i believed in and a case i thought we could defend. at the end of the day, i was scared. >> no one was prepared when one cold winter day in the utah county she@iff's office, the phone rang. >> coming up. the unexpected call. the true reveal. introducing new advil targeted relief. the only topical pain reliever with 4 powerful pain-fighting ingredients that start working on contact to target tough pain at the source. for up to 8 hours of powerful relief. new advil targeted relief.

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with speeds up to a gig in millions of locations. and right now, xfinity internet customers can buy one unlimited line and get one free for a year. get the fastest connection to paris with xfinity. keith (voiceover): summer turned into winter again. the family marked the grim anniversary of kay mortensen's murder, as kay's son, roger, and his daughter-in-law, pam, summer turned summer turned into winter again.l the family marked the grim anniversary of kay mortensen's murder. as roger and his daughter-in-law pam cool their heels in jail awaiting trial, all the while maintaining■ç their innocence. pam said she was offered a deal she turned states evidence against roger. >> you tell them what they want to hear then you can go home. for me, i was not going to lie just so i could be a free person. >> the public defender anthony

believed his client was innocent. >> i was looking for that evidence of would be, that's the thing i can't explain. there was nothing. >> here was the rope. he knew juries and as trial approach, he was deeply unsettled. >> i was worried he would be convicted regardless of what i tried to do. >> why? >> this is the kind of case where a jury would be worried that if they did not convict that they would be letting a murderer go free. >> but howell didn't get the the reason was, that phone call to the utah county sheriff's office, call from a woman named rachel. here is what she had to say. >> i've just been blocking it out. then i just watch the news and these people are going to go to jail, probably life sentence. >> what she was blocking out

was a bombshell. her ex-husband, martin bond told her that he and a friend named ben reggit went to kay's house to steal his guns. >> that pulled out their guns and told them to put zip ties on. he said he wasn't at first. he eventually did. >> bond she said told her everything. >> he said they took him to the bathroom. >> then cut his ■ -- >> he said that right about then they heard the doorbell ring. it was the two. >> the two were roger and pam and we know the rest of the story. rachel kept the secret for months until finally, her conscious won out. she told the police one more thing, how they got the drop on kay mortensen. it turned out martin's dad were old friends. it was my kay armed against intruders, welcomed him in and

turned his back to his killers. >> he had planned for any worst case scenario to happen except for the one that happened. >> there are so many ironies. >> there are so many ■çironies. >> the biggest? roger and pam's crazy story about armed intruders was true all along. although the sergeant had trouble believing a. >> i could pick up the case and read through it, and i can read through it and i can see discrepancy after discrepancy. >> can you see where maybe that ain't enough. >> as for treating the possible evidence, the dream sequence of a girl on meth? >> this is evidence? >> is more circumstantial. >> you call that circumstantial evidence? saying she had a dream? >> it's a good dream and it's

pretty close. >>■ç in the end the prosecutor admitted, he and the detectives got it wrong. >> based on the new physical evidence that we have located, we anticipate dismissing the charges against roger and pam mortensen tomorrow. >> roger and pam were finally freed. >> those 4.5 months seemed like 4.5 thousand years. i felt i was in there forever. >> pam got a standing ovation from an unlikely crowd. >> as i was walking out of that big dorm area, there was 90 women clapping and cheering for me. they knew i was innocent. for me, having the situation that we dealt with with roger's family turning against us, friends turning against us, to have that ■çsupport of this

people, the people would consider criminals, to have them cheer and yell and scream was a very emotional thing for me. >> pam wanted the prosecutor to issue a public apology. that would help make up for what this cost them, she said. we offer the prosecutor this forum. >> am i sorry? yeah, i am. i have no problem with saying i made a mistake. we did not try to defraud anyone. we didn't try to lie or fabricate anything, but we made a mistake. >> pam and roger filed a lawsuit arguing the prosecutors and detectives lied to the grand jury. a few months later, the u.s. supreme court ruled the grand jury witnesses and prosecutors were immune from civil were immune from civil litigation. s so, the judge dis case. let me understand this. the police come to your house. you are arrested. your names are dragged through the mud. then somebody gets the right guy, and they say, see

you later. >> exactly. >> bond and ben reggit blamed each other. he got a deal and bond went to trial and convicted and was doing life without parole. the star prosecution witness? rachel and if she had not come forward, would two innocent people be in prison today? it will chase you for a while. >> a little but i can put it behind me. the case is closed out. what i am happy for is the family has ■çclosure. >> do they? it isn't just kay's murder they must learn to live with but also the wreckage through the family story. >> i had emotions of happiness and relief, but still there is regret that i did not support roger and pam from the beginning. >> it changes your perspective

on the world. it really does. >> by the way said roger and pam, a little piece of advice. >> if anything happens and anything dealing with law enforcement, you don't say a word and get an attorney. >> is for darla finally found the love of her life, what was there to say? that moment of sunshine snatched away. >> yeah, you ■çtake what lives brings you and it's not always what you expected when you are a young girl you have your dreams of what your life will be. somehow it doesn't quite work out that way. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. this sunday, performance anxiety. president biden stumbles in the first debate of the presidential campaign, sending