my heart for believing, understanding, and taking the time that most people don't do. it's a dream come true for us because it's what we have been hoping for. >> somebody to help us. we want to move forward. it is the past. better days. >> so they wished. even life regained from injustice is not always fair. in november 2021, tommy highers died of a heart attack. his brother tried to go on but could not face life without tommy. in april 2024, he took his own. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i am craig melvin. thank you for watching. u for w hello. i am craig melvin, and this is dateline.

>> you had the good cop, you had the bad cop. it felt like law and order. >> the fire broke out before dawn. in the daylight, they found this mother of two young children dead. >> she lived a very courageous life. she was very bold in what she did. >> after the smoke cleared, the mystery lingered. >> she died before the fire. >> we look to as the suspect? >> the spouse is the first person we spoke to. >> but her husband had a clear alibi and passed a lie detector test. the case grew cold until this witness came forward with a tale of love and lust gone wrong. but could she be believed? was she out for justice, or revenge? >> is it a perfect world? no.

will she get hers? yes. when she dies. >> what was the truth? wanted to escape the hustle hello, and welcome to dateline. paul and katherine novak wanted to escape the hustle and bustle of the big city. they found peace and quiet when they moved into a big red house. but soon, a roaring fire would ravage the couple's home, and when the flames subsided, one of them would be dead, leaving investigators wondering if the blaze was a tragic accident or something more sinister. here's andrea canning with secrets and lies. >> on a frigid december morning in 2008 in a tiny picturesque town along the banks of the delaware, a tragedy unfolded.

a deadly blaze burned a small country house to the ground and left behind in the ashes were secrets. love gone wrong, illicit affairs, friends turning against each other. it would take years to unravel the mystery of that fire, haunting this town and those who love the couple who once lived in that house -- paul and katherine novak. the novak's had both grown up as city kids. paul was a new york city paramedic, a job that seemed a perfect fit. >> i wanted to be that person who would show up and help parents and help my sister if she was in a car accident or something like that. >> he also saw the dark side of city life if you close to home. >> i would do shootings and stabbing two blocks away from my apartment, and i just thought to myself, i can never

raise a child in this area. >> in 2002, paul and his wife, katherine, went house hunting in harrisburg, new york. they didn't need to look for long. >> it was the big red house, she called. she would talk about the big red house all the time. >> katherine's brother michael and sister-in-law, joanne, said they worked hard to make a big red house a home. >> this was a space of your own. >> she was thrilled to have five acres or 10 acres of property, and she loved it there. >> the perfect place for the perfectly matched couple. they seemed meant for each other right from the start. >> from the first moment i met her, she was very effervescent and very funny and very opinionated, and i really liked that in her. >> you really saw into the future the first time you saw her. >> yes. we ended up getting married i think, seven months later. >> two months after that, their first child, natalie, was born.

katherine's mom, christina, was ever the proud grandmother. >> natalie looks so much like her mom. so much like her mom. >> what was it like the first time you laid eyes on your new daughter? >> it was like falling in love 1000 times more than you have with any other person. natalie is just -- she is a part of me. >> along came nicholas. >> she was in her glory to have a boy and a girl. >> things were coming together. >> yes. >> she got directly engaged in the community. she became a girl scout leader. with the school board, she did many, many things. >> she did almost all of it by herself. paul was still working as a paramedic in new york city more than 100 miles away. >> this is pretty far from the city. >> i was making new york city money but living up here. the sacrifice was that i couldn't be home every night. >> that, they soon discovered,

could be tough on a marriage. >> she just felt that she never got a break from being a full- time mom. >> but they were both committed to making their marriage work. on their 10th wedding anniversary, valentines day, paul surprised katherine with a ceremony to renew their vows. >> i'm not a churchgoing type. for me to do that is a big thing. i plan to couple day getaway and she was really taken by surprise. things were good for a couple months after that. >> the blow of that getaway faded, and life became routine again. soon, paul's eyes wandered to a much younger woman. someone from work. they had an affair and paul moved out, leaving katherine and the kids alone in the house . >> she was beside herself. she was absolutely hysterical. >> katherine's good friend and neighbor, sue moeller, remembered when the marriage ended.

>> she couldn't even get the breath out, she was sobbing so hard. >> but katherine's family, who considered her the eternal optimist, watched her move on with her life, pouring all her love and attention into her children. >> she was very engaged in their lives, did everything with them. >> sounds like that was what was important in her life anyway. >> absolutely. >> she had even been on a few dates. katherine was creating a life without paul. then in december 2008, sometime in the early morning hours, somewhere in her house, a fire started. >> the house is totally on fire. >> when firefighters arrived, the big red house was a wall of flames. they had no idea if anyone was still inside. neighbors knew paul wasn't there

. he was living in an apartment three hours away with his new girlfriend. that morning, he got a call from katherine's pastor. >> it was pastor phyllis and she goes, where are the kids? they are with me. what's going on? she goes, the house is on fire. >> firefighters worked for hours dousing the flames. she stood vigil for hours, waiting to hear news of her friend. >> all of a sudden, the firemen were more concentrated in one area, looking down into the base , and then the local funeral homes there with the bodybag and i saw them bring the body back into the basement. >> in the destruction and muck of the basement, under massive pieces of what had been the house, firefighters found the remains of the family dog, and to their horror, the body of 41- year-old katherine novak . >> oh, no. it can't be. and i think it takes a while to

grasp that death is forever. >> what did you think when you heard that news? >> i was just a blank. a complete blank. what on earth am i going to tell these children? how am i going to tell them? she was a great mom. i didn't know how i was going to be able to even try to fill that void. >> the autopsy revealed she was killed with heavy debris fell on her. katherine's death was officially ruled accidental . >> she lived a very courageous life. she knew what she wanted and went after. she was very bold and what she did. >> a tragic end to a life that held so much promise. as you probably guessed, the story didn't end there. for investigators, it was just the beginning. not everyone believed this was an accident. >> if it was not an accident, was it murder? it certainly did not look that way until a second autopsy

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learn how abbvie could help you save. andrea canning: the remains of that old country house were still smoldering as investigators dug through the debris looking for clues. >> the remains of that old country house were still smoldering as investigators dug through the debris looking for clues. they wanted to know what caused the fire and exactly how

katherine novak died there. her mother's question was more simple. >> the big thing for me was, why didn't she get out? that was what kept going over in my mind. why didn't she go out? >> even her estranged husband paul said he was puzzled. >> i do know what to think about it. i've spread been surrounded by death and violence and now it's home. >> the pathologist ruled katherine's death an accident, but investigators weren't so sure. they turned to the district attorney to take a closer look. >> you are contacted despite this talk that it was an accident? >> yeah, we had a fire and we had a death. the question of how those two items were going to come together would not play out for a couple of days later, and actually a couple of years later. >> the police, as they often do, interviewed katherine's soon-to-be ex-husband, paul novak. >> what happened in the

interview, as far as the way they treated you? >> they were nice. they asked me about kathy's last whereabouts. any utilities in the house that may have had a problem, or something like that. >> the interview was all very routine, but the investigation of the scene was not. fire inspectors couldn't figure out what ignited the blaze. i checked the wiring, the appliances, the pellet stove, the propane tanks -- nothing conclusive. but then things changed. the d.a. brought in a specialist -- a forensic pathologist to do a second autopsy a few days later. and the results this time told a different story. >> we know she did not die in that fire. she died before that fire. >> the second pathologist discovered there was no carbon monoxide in katherine's blood or sit in her lungs, which means katherine had stopped breathing before the fire started.

she changed the manner of death from accidental to pending investigation. >> the question is, what else can we gain or learn before we can start to classify this as a homicide? >> would you look to as a suspect? >> the state police had done some initial interviews. obviously, the spouses the first person we look two. >> paul and his new girlfriend, michelle lafrance, say they were far from katherine's beloved red house when the fire broke out . a three hour drive away on their apartment in long island. still, investigators didn't just take the couples word for it. they made a request. >> did you feel like you are almost in a tv show at this point? >> yeah, it felt like law and order. he came back about 15 minutes later and he said, okay, you are all done. you passed. >> he was driving home from the interrogation and he was hysterical. >> paul sister, alona, had never heard him so emotional.

>> he was crying, and he just folded so unbelievable that he was being asked these questions. >> so if it wasn't paul, investigators needed to look for other suspects. >> the state police did a full canvass of the area. anyone who had any connection katherine novak , the state police found and interviewed. >> after many months and no leads, investigators hit a dead end. the case turned cold. none of that mattered much to katherine's mom. >> i still miss my daughter. i miss her no matter what happened to her. i miss her. >> seven months after katherine's death, paul and his girlfriend packed up their kids and their apartment on long island and moved 1000 miles south to florida. >> i figured with my experience it would probably be pretty easy for me to get a job

somewhere. a fresh start, i thought it would be good for the kids. great school, nice neighborhood. >> but paul said not long after their move, things with michelle started to sour. when they first met, she was a paramedic and training. he was her teacher, her friend. she had confided in him about her history of mental illness. long bouts of depression and alcohol abuse. but now, he said her problems were beginning to take a toll on their relationship. his young daughter, a sore spot. >> she was very jealous of natalie, and her mental issues definitely became more apparent as time went on. at one point, she actually threatened to commit suicide inside my own house. >> this was no surprise to alona and her mom who loved katherine, but never approved of michelle . >> what are your first impressions of michelle? >> we didn't like her. she walked in my brothers house and she immediately wanted katherine's pictures turned around, because she felt like

katherine was looking at her. >> paul said it took him a bit longer than his family to realize he and michelle were not the best match. they have been together for 3 years when he found out she was cheating on him with a married man. >> he didn't want to stand for that, so he had to ask her to leave. he did it very nicely, and she didn't want to go. >> and what paul described as a bitter breakup, he forced michelle to move out and told her it was over. by that time, it had been more than two years since katherine's death . investigators back in new york and moved on to other cases. the years were ticking by with no new leads. but the d.a. was a patient man. >> we never put the file away. it was always a matter of when something was going to come forward, we will be ready to go forward. we never accepted an accidental cause of death, ever. >>'s patients would be

rewarded. a break in this cold case was coming, and it would surprise everyone. >> coming up. a surprise knock at paul novak store. >> there's two police detectives outside and they want to talk to you about your vehicle being involved in a hit- and-run. >> is that what they really wanted? when dateline continues. e cont.

[ speaking minionese ] junior. [ laughter ] good job junior. way to go. [ speaking minionese ] andrea canning: years had passed since catherine novak's body had been discovered among the blackened ruins of her big red house.

but the passage of time didn't make >> years had passed since katherine novak's body had been discovered among the black and ruins of her big red house. with the passage of time didn't make it any easier for her mother. >> you know, it always happens to someone else. it doesn't happen to you. you don't lose a child like that. in such a horrible way, in a fire. >> katherine's brother michael and his wife, joann, had stopped asking questions, choosing instead to accept that they might never know what really happened to her. >> from katherine's perspective, she would look for the positive side, the good things, and she would want us to move on. and, you know, that is what we try to do. we made our peace with it. then we went on living. >> but as time went by in the little town of narrows berg, dark suspicions were whispered from neighbor to neighbor, and one name kept coming up --

katherine's estranged husband, paul novak. her close friend, sue mueller. >> i was angry as time went on, and i thought that paul might somehow be involved. >> as she looked back, she was particularly haunted by the way paul acted the day of katherine's memorial service. >> the whole congregation were sobbing so loud, the pastor couldn't even finish her sermon. i went up to him and i hugged him and kind of was struck by how he showed no emotion after 11 years of marriage. she might have meant a little more to him, that he might have shed a tear. but i didn't see any. >> but there is no evidence that paul had anything to do with katherine's death. no dna or fingerprints of the crime scene, no witnesses. he had even passed a polygraph test. and he had an alibi for the morning of the fire. he was three hours away with his girlfriend, michelle, in their apartment on long island.

paul continue to enjoy his new life in florida with his two children. working again as a paramedic, and now dating a new woman he had fallen for quickly on match.com -- cat del grassow. >> we started texting, we made a date. we went on the date and really it was instant -- instant. >> what was the attraction? >> is really hard to put your finger on. we seemed to have an immediate connection. there was zero stress talking. no uncomfortableness. >> the romance blossomed, and she eventually moved in with paul and his kids. >> today look up to him? >> they worship him. they completely worship him. we do a lot of things as a family. >> is it a nice life? >> we were really happy. >> and then you get a knock at the door. >> yup. yeah, that was a tough day.

>> it was an early morning in september 2012. four years after katherine's death. >> i was asleep. i just got off of work, i worked 12 hours of the hospital, and i remember my girlfriend comes in and she goes, there's something fishy going on outside. there's police detectives and they want to talk to about your car being involved in a hit and run. >> when he arrived at the police station, he saw a familiar face and realized this had nothing to do with a car accident. >> this was investigator kelly from new york. he sits down, he grabs the chair, and he's like a foot away from me, and i remember he was the one who grilled me. >> how are you feeling? oh my gosh, these people are back in my life four years later. >> at that point, i still didn't know what they wanted from me. i just looked at him and said, i would like to speak to a lawyer. >> paul had already been interviewed by police several times and he thought this was

all behind him. >> you knew it had to be about katherine. >> obviously it had to do something with that. >> later that day, the police went back to paul's house. >> he went outside in the driveway with them, and he said we are sorry to have to break this to you, paul novak is under arrest. i said, for what? and they said, for involvement in his wife's murder four years ago. >> what kat and paul didn't know was that a witness had come forward telling police and evil tail, and in that story, paul was that billing. >> they arrested you. they put you in jail right then? >> yes. >> the story the witness told was chilling, revealing dark secrets. but was it true? >> coming up, paul's alibi becomes his accuser. this is a hot flash. when dateline continues.

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>> forecasters are saying tropical storm beryl is expected to regain hurricane strength as it moves into the gulf of mexico. barrel is set to approach the south texas coast by sunday. hurricane and storm surge warnings were issued for portions of the date as well. and john landau, an oscar- winning producer who work closely with director james cameron has died. landau partnered with cameron on the 1997 film titanic. the pair later work together on the avatar film series. no cause of death was given. he was 63. for now, back to dateline. >> welcome back to dateline. i am craig melvin. after the mysterious death of his wife, katherine, paul novak was trying to move on. he relocated to florida and had a new girlfriend. it then came that knock on the door, and detectives placed

paul under arrest. soon, he would learn that someone was claiming they had disturbing new details about the night of the fire. paul's world was about to turn upside down. once again, here's andrea canning with secrets and lies. >> after novak's death has been a cold case for more than three years when, out of nowhere, a witness came forward, pointing a finger at katherine's estranged husband, paul . so who was this mystery witness? a woman from paul's past -- his ex-girlfriend, michelle. >> michelle lafrance, who was the defendant alibi in 2008, has now come forward and said paul was not home, and that paul killed katherine . >> what was that phone call like? >> it was now time to get to work. >> jim ferrell was now the

district attorney and teamed up with a former d.a.. >> didn't feel good that you had a break? >> it's a break, but again, i needed more information. >> investigator sat lafrance down to hear her story. >> let's start back in the beginning. >> during a six hour interview, michelle laid out what she claimed was the true story of how paul killed katherine . she said he started plotting it weeks before the murder. >> he was researching things on the internet. he was going to leave her and burn the house down around her and she was going to die in the fire. >> michelle says one week before the fire, she and paul went to katherine's house to move things out, and paul unlock the basement doors. >> he went out the last time he had the kids, he could sneak into the house. >> according to michelle, paul wasn't with her on the night of the murder. that alibi was a lie.

instead, she said she was with a feral paramedic named scott sherwood who drove scott. >> as far as i know, paul walked down to the house. >> michelle said paul said he went inside, set up the basement smoke alarm, it behind the stairs, and when katherine came down to investigate, he tried to knock her out with chloroform. >> it was supposed to be quick and painless, and she was supposed to be passed out. but i guess he put it over her mouth, and she was screaming, begging for her life. >> through her tears, michelle spilled out gruesome details of what paul said were katherine's final words. she begged him to think of their children. >> he told me that the only thing he said to her the entire time he was fighting with her was, i am doing this for the kids. and he said that she had been wearing a sweatshirt, and that

he finally took the sweatshirt and wrapped it around her neck and held it until she stopped breathing. >> then, michelle claims, paul took a blowtorch from the garage and set the kitchen curtains on fire. >> he waited for them to catch fire, and -- i don't think he ever told me exactly how long he sat there and watched. >> michelle's story was a stunning betrayal of her former boyfriend. and if it was true, paul had committed a vicious and calculated crying. michelle said paul told her he did it because katherine was a monster. >> he had me convinced that katherine was the bad guy, he was a good parent, his kids were abused, his kids were miserable, and we need to save the kids. >> paul's sister didn't believe a word of it. from the moment she heard a witness had come forward, she was convinced her brother was being set up.

>> i said, this is michelle. you got rid of her, and now what happened? >> is this payback? >> i believe that's what it is. >> paul's girlfriend also believed michelle's story was suspicious. >> absolutely, positively. >> why are you so sure? >> because he's not that kind of a person. he's a caretaker. you know? his job is a paramedic. it defined him. >> well paul had a squeaky clean record, michelle, his accuser, had issues. a history of depression and alcohol abuse, and she waited years to come forward. >> michelle lafrance has been described as a scorned ex- girlfriend, a woman looking for revenge. did all that go through your mind? >> no. i don't believe that it did, because after she leaves paul in january, february of 2011, it is 14 months before she gets

up the courage to come forward to the police to tell the police what she knows, fully expecting that she's going to be arrested. >> as paul waited for his trial to start, he told us he wasn't worried. >> there's really nothing that puts you at that crime. do you think that's going to work in your favor? >> i think it's going to go rather well for me. >> coming up, the prosecution is feeling confident, too. did someone leave digital tracks? >> they search the phone records for that vehicle and we had a hit at! and 39. >> but what, if anything, does that prove? when dateline continues. ine co. ♪ ♪ with wegovy®, i lost 35 pounds. and some lost over 46 pounds. ♪ ♪ and i'm keeping the weight off. wegovy® helps you lose weight and keep it off.

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andrea canning: as paul novak prepared choose acid prevention. to stand trial for the murder of his wife, he insisted he was innocent. are you the evil murderer that some people think you are? >> as paul novak prepared to stand trial for the murder of his wife, he insisted he was innocent. >> are you the evil murderer that some people think you are? >> no, not at all. >> any reason to kill your wife? >> no, absolutely not. i mean, when i left katherine, i probably wasn't in love with her anymore, but i respected her. she is the mother of my children. >> for katherine's brother michael, the upcoming trial felt like opening an old wound. >> part of me wished i didn't get that phone call, because i knew how the dramatic that would be to the family, and especially how traumatic it would be to natalie and nicholas. >> katherine's mom also knew a trial would mean more

heartache for her grandchildren. >> i can't imagine how they would feel, now with the loss of both parents in essence. >> on august 12, 2013, the trial of paul novak began at the sullivan county courthouse. the district attorney opened the case. >> the evidence will show that as katherine begged and fought for her life, the defendant ended her life. >> murdering her in the basement of her own home. >> prosecutor set out to prove the paul orchestrated this murder down to the last detail. >> he was planning this for a period of weeks, and may be more in his own mind and how to rid himself of katherine. >> is a murderer. he's a sociopath.

he planned, he executed, and he killed katherine novak in cold blood. >> their star witness was paul's ex-lover, michelle lafrance. the jury heard every minute of those police interrogation tapes as michelle described the details of how he killed his wife. >> he told me that they were fighting. and that's what he was so late. and that she was screaming, begging for her life. >> and the jury didn't have to just take her word for it. prosecutors called scott sherwood, paul's partner from work, to the stand. they told the jury he had been interrogated by police and show them the tape. >> you met paul where? >> i met paul at his house. >> jurors heard him tell police his version of what happened the night of the murder. >> who is driving? >> i was driving.

we were driving up towards where his residence was, or katherine still lived. >> sherwood said paul told him to park about a mile away from paul's house, and wait in the car. >> how long was he gone? >> over an hour. >> what did he say when he got to the car? >> he said, it was done. he has said that the chloroform didn't work. i had to strangle her and ended up hitting a gas line to ignite. >> so you the house was on fire? tmac yes. >> the prosecutors pointed out how remarkably similar it was to michelle lafrance. prosecutors felt these matching stories were powerful, but didn't think they would be enough to get a conviction. they wanted physical evidence to prove michelle and scott were telling the truth. they began with sherwood's account of the drive up to narrows berg. sherwood had told investigators

paul asked him to stop at a walmart. >> when he got to the middletown area, he said stop where? >> at a walmart. >> and he went inside? >> he went inside. >> he came out with a bag? >> yes. >> did you know what you want? >> duct tape. >> the state police found a receipt, and it had three things on it. duct tape, hat, and gloves. scott sherwood tells us that he had a hat and he had gloves on when he went to the house. >> and there was more physical evidence to back up sherwood's account. he told police he and paul crossed the george washington bridge on the way back to paul's place morning of the murder. >> i would assume so. there was no attendant.

>> no attendant saw them pass, detectives wondered -- could digitalize help place the car at the toll booth? >> records, toll records of that vehicle, we had a hit at 6:39 of that vehicle coming across the george washington bridge lower-level. >> that is huge. >> he was a highly corroborative piece of evidence. >> what's more, there was a photo snapped of the license plate. it was evidence that almost didn't exist. prosecutors said paul had planned to pay cash that night, but construction at the toll booth forced him to drive through the easy pass lane. >> he made some mistakes, and he couldn't have anticipated that the bridge was going to be doing construction right with the toll takers. >> and then prosecutors presented with a thought would remove any smudge of doubt from their case -- a third person who linked paul to the murder. elise hamlin, scott sherwood's

wife. on the stand, she recalled a conversation with paul where he told her she committed the murder, and that he did it alone. >> he's getting into trouble, scott had nothing to do with it. >> i went in, i did everything. >> three people in three different rooms are telling us the same thing. you may not be able to say we have a fingerprint, or we have dna, but that is pretty damning evidence. >> the last piece the prosecution needed was motive. why would paul want to kill his wife katherine? simple, they said. money. when katherine died, paul cashed in on her life insurance policy and homeowners insurance . it all totaled around $700,000. >> the defendant said he would kill katherine and burn up the evidence, and he did just that. >> now, it was the defense's turn to attack. jurors would hear more about

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andrea canning: it was the defense's turn. choose acid prevention. paul novak would not take the stand to proclaim his innocence. it's my decision not to testify. andrea canning: instead, his defense attorney >> it was the defense's turn.

paul novak would not take the stand to proclaim his innocence. >> it is my decision not to testify. >> instead, his defense attorney, gary greenwald, did the talking. >> we have reasonable doubt. >>'s argument, don't believe everything you hear. consider the source, consider the mental states of the key witnesses. consider their possible motives. he started by attacking paul's ex-girlfriend, michelle lafrance, a woman paul had thrown out of his house. >> she was a liar. she was manipulative, willing to take whatever steps necessary to hurt paul. >> the defense tried to portray her as unstable, offering evidence of everything from suicide attempts to a bizarre drunken incident involving the police. >> i had to be handcuffed to a tree, topless. i have bruises from fighting, from fighting the tree. >> the defense attacked her credibility and used her own

words to portray her as a liar who carried on a string of affairs with married men. >> i was sleeping around. i think i slept with half the town. >> she was probably one of the most promiscuous people i've ever seen testify in an open court. >> the defense also argue that scott sherwood suffered from serious mental health issues. >> scott sherwood, from the time he was eight years old, was being treated for some major psychiatric problems. one of the crucial pieces of evidence was his psychologist, who testified that when he was put in a conflict situation, he would say whatever was necessary to get out. >> i think what some people are going to have a hard time wrapping their head around his wife three separate people will would all lie. >> the reality is, i take elise out of the picture, because she lied support her husband. scott had a psychiatric problem, and he was manipulated, in my opinion, i michelle. michelle was a woman scorned.

>> the defense argued their stories were tainted because michelle had been given full immunity when she agreed to testify against paul, and sherwood made a plea deal for a reduced charge and a sentence of three to 12 years in prison. next, the defense went after the evidence that seemed is a sherwood story, specifically that photo of sherwood's license plate taken the morning of the murder. >> one piece of evidence it seemed pretty damning was the easy pass record that showed scott sherwood's suv crossing the george washington bridge at the right time for this crime. >> the answer to that is very simple. it proves nothing. it's a picture of the license plate. there's no picture of who was in the vehicle. how do you know as we are sitting here now that got sherwood or possibly michelle were not in that vehicle? the answer is, you don't. >> and he dismissed the receipt from walmart in greentown. >> is a just a maintenance that's only one of the walmart 1:30 the morning of katherine's

death and bought a hat, gloves, and duct tape, all the things that were supposedly used in her murder? >> okay, first of all, mr. sherwood admitted under oath to me that he got to middletown at 12:00. he never could have been there one: 30 or so, because he was out by 12:15. >> still, there was an age-old motive -- money, to explain away. in an interview, paul himself had an answer for that. >> are you having any financial issues at this point? >> at that point, i was in a much better financial situation that i've been in previously, because i ended up getting a second job at a new york hospital in queens, which was very high-paying. >> and then greenwald called what he said was his most crucial witness. paul's landlord. the defense wanted to use them to undermine a key part of the prosecution's case. remember, scott sherwood said that after the murder, he and paul drove home to paul's house.

>> did you go straight to paul's house? >> yes. >> but on the stand, paul's landlord is needed that. he said he had been outside setting up for a photo shoot starting in the early morning and didn't lay eyes on either of them. >> how could the man be out there, and he never sees scott sherwood or paul ? there's only one way. it didn't happen. >> the landlord's testimony was proof, the lawyer argued, that scott sherwood had made up his story. the defense closed its case, claiming the prosecution had not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that paul was a killer. >> paul novak is not guilty. >> after seven weeks, the jury finally began to deliberate, and going into the trial, paul was certain they would find him not guilty. >> the life is on the line. >> i think the truth will come out in the end, and hopefully, hopefully those 12 people will know the true story.

>>'s fiance, kat, told us before the verdict, she will stick by him, no matter what. >> have you thought about your wedding, and where it will be, when it will happen? >> i actually already bought my dress. >> c.a.t.s. future and so many others would be determined by what the jury decided. for katherine's family, the waiting was the hardest part . >> i truthfully did not know what it was going to be, and no matter which way you went with it, it was a emotional. there's no winners. >> almost five years after katherine novak's murder, so many secrets, lies, and betrayals have been revealed. so many questions raised. with the jury believe paul's ex- lover and his ex-partner? was polly ruthless killer, or had he been set up? it took the jury two full days of deliberations. on the third day, they had made

a decision. the verdict was in. >> count one murder in the first degree, guilty. >> guilty. convicted of first-degree murder. paul showed only a slight headshake as he was convicted of all charges against him, including insurance fraud, grand larceny, and arson. >> are you feeling right now? >> not very good. >> paul was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, +60 years. michelle, who knew about the murder plan from the beginning, walked away a free woman. >> a lot of people will be angry and think, this woman knew about a murder that was going to happen, and didn't do anything. >> is in a perfect world? no. will she get hers? yes. when she dies. >> as for kat, she continued to stand by paul. the couple married in 2018.

the future for the children will be decided by the people who love the most -- paul and katherine's families. >> we will work to give those kids what katherine wanted for them. >> up in narrowsburg, where katherine novak's beloved red house once stood, the trees glow orange and gold. autumns have come and gone. her mother still mourns the daughter she lost, but remembers the life she lived. >> what you miss most about her? >> her smile, and her hugs. she was a lot of fun, katherine. she enjoyed life a lot. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i am craig melvin. thank you for watching. hello, i am craig melvin, and this is dateline.