i cannot. >> reporter: on a rainy sunday after the verdict, hannah's friends and family gathered for a balloon release in her memory. the past round sharpies and messages for the lost girl. her brother. >> i am glad it is over with. >> reporter: the father.>> i will always love you. >> reporter: the best friend. and after a brief prayer, they stood by the pond and the brisk wind carried away their goodbyes. farewell to hannah hill. never forgotten by her family and friends. or is it turned out, by the criminal justice system.

hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline." >> that is all for this edition of dateline. i am craig melvin. thank you for watching. hello, i am craig melvin, and this is dateline. >> horrible. knowing the person that you love is dead and that you are being looked at for it. >> imagine you are shaken in the dead of night. >> my ears were ringing. i thought i was dead. >> in bed right next to you, your husband murdered. and here is the twist -- you are the suspect. i said, what did you do? could she have been the killer? or was someone keeping a secret ?

hello, and welcome to "dateline." it's the stuff of nightmares. an intruder creeps into your bedroom in the middle hello, and welcome to dateli it is the stuff of nightmares, an intruder creeps into your bedroom in the night and opens fire. but for melissa oxley, the bad dream was all too real. she told investigators she had been startled from her sleep to find her husband, ben, dead from a gunshot blast. it seems strange, they thought, that no one else in the house was hurt, including melissa, who is sleeping by his side. stranger still was who the killer ultimately turned out to be. here is keith morrison with while they were sleeping. >> it was cold the night the full moon rose. february cold in the desert

valley that spilled down from reno, nevada. the wind in the dead of night, of the house with some past the unlocked door. something evil afoot. the moon peered through the window and into the master bedroom. a little after 3:00 in the morning. moon-- good people, not so good people. under that moon that night, it was hard to tell strange, the things that happen strange, the things that happen to people under a good people, not so good people. under the moon that night, it was hard to tell which was which and who was who. >> this is a case built on lies and deception, and a cat and mouse game.

>> but the story, when it began back in 2005, was about love, or what certainly felt like it. there to say, it was two kinds of love. there was what happened to ben. >> as soon as he met melissa, it was something i had never's. just for no reason, he would call her and say i love you. >> he was a changed man. >> absolutely. melissa really made the difference. >> if anybody would know, his best friends would. >> ben was family. >> and then there was ben's other love. the one good thing that came from his first marriage -- alyssa. >> everybody said that he loves me more than anything, and i think it is true. >> quite true, of course. so there was little jockeying, of course. two women, one man. even if one of the women was

just 3. >> i was just trying to talk to ben and get to know him, and she is like -- alyssa is like, don't talk to my dad. >> i remember meeting her. i didn't really like her. she was talking to my dad. >> more than talking to him, as it soon turned out. then and melissa moved together a month later, the florida thing that makes a three-year- old hard to understand. but as he said, it was a love story, and for both of them. >> he was truly her best friend, and he was the best dad. that's all he cared about was alyssa. that was his priority. >> melissa and ben and alyssa, the three some. >> he was so involved in every aspect of her life. they were really like peas in a

pod. >> one september day in 2006 as the sun was setting in the sierra nevada mountains, ben and melissa got married. the ceremony a nearby lake tahoe. melissa was a glowing bride. alyssa, a little fire girl. >> it was melissa marrying alyssa, too. >> they made a particular ceremony of it. >> will you please say i will? >> i got her a little bracelet and had it engraved, letting her know that i will always love her as my own, and gave it to her that day. >> and from that moment on, alyssa called melissa mom. >> how did it make you feel? >> happy. very happy. >> what a happy couple they were. a happy family. >> that is what you wait for all your life.

>> what were your plans? >> to buy a house and have babies and have a family. >> they eventually moved here -- a three bedroom ranch in the carson valley looking up for the sierra nevada's. alyssa spent half her time with ben and melissa, the other half with her birth mom, ben's ex- wife, don. and above all, what ben really wanted was to have his little girl permanently. >> he never thought that he could have his daughter, and i was like, yeah, you can. >> and he did. he won custody. >> it was him and his daughter, and that is what he always wanted. >> melissa's teenage brother craig moved in. then winter came. and of every 20th, 2008, the moon rose full over the carson valley. after dinner, then, melissa,

her teenage brother, greg, and little alyssa sat in the den to watch a movie. melissa remembers falling asleep on the couch and waking up with a start. >> it was like 230 in the morning, and i was like, oh, i'm not late. so i went and got into bed. >> crawled into bed, she said. moonlight on the covers, warmth inside. >> an hour later is when i was woke up by the smell and a loud noise. my ears were ringing. at first i thought i was dreaming. >> a smell? >> yeah, it was a smell. a gunpowder smell. >> as she told it, she saw by the light of the moon he had appear to slept through whatever was. she nudged him. he didn't stir. >> i was like, okay, i will go check it out. i got halfway down the hallway and i realized that our front door was open. >> but you didn't see anybody?

>> no. >> halfway down the hall, cold air rushing in, she knew something was very wrong. she ran back to the bedroom and turned on the light. >> i went to go turn on the lights, and i could see him. >> hard to get that one out of your head, isn't it? >> yeah. >> and thus, her call to 911, of the detective who rushed over to find out what happened, and discovered that he could not tell. >> you got the wife, you got a small six-year-old child, and you got a 15-year-old boy in the house and you got everyone saying they don't know what happened. >> how did everyone else survived that night without a scratch? coming up. the investigation begins, and melissa is at the very center. if you have wet amd, a dramatic se spolice interroga.

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the need to screen when due... for colon cancer's a priority. indeed! everyone 45+ at average risk should screen for colon cancer. these folks are getting it done at home with me, cologuard. cologuard is a one-of-a-kind way to screen for colon cancer that's effective and non-invasive. it's for people 45+ at average risk, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider for cologuard. i did it my way. melissa oxley: i was just confused ask your provider for cologuard. and shocked because at this point i still felt like i was asleep. keith morrison: on february 21, 2008, at 3 o'clock in the morning, melissa oxley called 911. >> i was just confused and shocked, because at this point, i still felt like i was asleep. >> melissa oxley called 911. >> was there a noise like a gunshot? >> no. >> it certainly was.

ben oxley had been shot point- blank in the head. and yet, melissa lying in bed right beside him was unharmed. she ran then into alyssa's room to check on her and call 911, and of course, alyssa -- then six years old and completely unaware of what had happened, asked to see her father. >> she said, i want to go see my dad and i just told her, you can't go see your dad. >> you remember getting that call? >> yeah, because i was sleeping. >> he woke up fast to a very big problem. the killing just didn't make sense. >> it's like a ghost has done this. no evidence, no weapon. everybody in the house says, a ghost. >> a ghost? >> that's how you feel, because they had no idea.

>> she had been lying right next to him. why was she unharmed? >> that's a little red flag popping up, like this doesn't seem right. >> had melissa's teenage brother really slept through the whole thing as he claimed? >> right in my face was a bunch of barrels from a machine gun. >> it was police guns he was looking at, police officers would already found shotgun shells on greg's dresser. >> is he faking? >> melissa, craig, and little alyssa were taken to the sheriffs department at 4:00 a.m.. melissa's best friend jamie got a phone call. >> it was just alyssa and she was just hysterically crying at the police station. come down here, my daddy has been shot. >> melissa was already being grilled by detectives. detective l guess had questions , lots of them. so many things about this

murder didn't make sense. about, she said-- a rough customer who once dated ben's ex-wife, dawn, and apparently threatened to kill both dawn and any man she'd been with. been ju warned her about, she said. a rough customer who once dated ben's ex-wife don, who once claimed to kill don and any man she had been with. just to be safe, he sent officers to don's house where they woke her up, sleepy but unharmed, and discovered that the man in question was hundreds of miles away when the murder happened. so again, the questions were for melissa. anything unusual. she told the detective right away. alyssa was 6 by this time, and she told the detective right away.

she saw a shadow in her doorway looking at her, and then the shadow left. she went back to sleep. and then melissa came in and grabbed her and was talking to 911. keith morrison: the detective discovered the bullet that killed ben was a number eight birdshot, same ammunition they >> she saw a shadow in her doorway looking at her, and then the shadow left, she went back to leap, and then melissa came in and was talking to 911. >> the detective discovered that the bullet that killed and was a number eight birdshot, the same ammunition discovered in craig's room. and so the question to craig -- >> did you kill ben? >> i did not. >> sure enough, when they tested craig for blood residue or castoff, he was clean. could not have fired that gun. and so back to melissa. meliss

keith morrison: because there was blood on melissa and gunshot residue-- >> because there was blood on melissa, and gunshot residue. she just said, i didn't do this. melissa's friend, jamie, was there when she came out of the interrogation room. >> melissa just dropped to the floor when she saw me, and she had a little bit of blood on her. she just said, i didn't do this. i know you didn't do it. >> but jamie knew there were others, and not just the police, who were very suspicious of melissa. >> she's the princess, she's the wife, she was laying in bed with him. it doesn't make sense that she

wasn't shot. >> to melissa doing? i hope not, but she could have. why wasn't she shocked? she did commit the murder, she's going to make a mistake. you can only live that life so long. >> coming up, a new clue. what police believe might be a reason for murder. >> the $400,000 life insurance policy. she had a motivation to want this to happen. >> when dateline continues.

keith morrison: melissa oxley was just 27 years old and already a widow.

her 36-year-old husband ben, shot dead while he slept in bed right next to her. as far as she could tell, said melissa, >> melissa oxley was just 27 years old and already a widow. her 36-year-old husband, ben, shot dead while he slept in bed right next to her. as far as she could tell, said melissa, the shooter managed to break into the house, walk right into the master bedroom, shoot and without harming her, and leave not a trace of evidence behind. the case boggled detective ron's mind. >> is this murder for hire? what could this be? >> melissa's closest friends believed her when she insisted she had nothing to do with it and that she had in fact lost the love of her life. and that now she and those around her were probably in terrible danger. >> because you don't know who did it. you don't know if they're going to come back for melissa, if melissa was supposed to be in that.

>> melissa try to be a source of comfort for her six-year-old stepdaughter, alyssa. the little girl's father had been her world, leaving her now in a world of chaos. and with her home and love nest now a crime scene, melissa and alyssa moved into the woman who had been bridesmaid at the wedding -- jimmy hargis. it was at night when the curtains were drawn that jamie watched melissa reeling with pain. >> many nights of crying in the middle of the night. i would hear her. i would just kind of go in bed and lay with her. >> just getting into a bed after that happened -- >> i didn't want to. >> where would you sleep? >> on the floor. had any idea why this would happen. so they're all grasping at straws to try to figure out this possibility, that possibility. >> melissa was a lead suspect, and not just in the eyes of the police. >> nobody, including the public and the family knew how this

could happen. they are all grasping it draws. >> ben's sister was certain that melissa arranged ben's murder and wasn't afraid to make it known around town. >> she had quite a following of people, it's always the wife. >> did that mean little alyssa, six years old, so vulnerable, was living with a murderer? alyssa began to spend more time at her mother's house. and one day, while she was there, ben's sister warned her about the stepmother she had come to love. >> she told me that she thought my stepmom killed my dad that night. >> it must've been pretty weird to hear that. >> yeah, i didn't believe it. >> you didn't believe it at all? >> but if melissa didn't believe it, others did. and before long, they had more ammunition. because of something else detective elgis discovered.

>> a $400,000 life insurance policy. it sounds a lot like she had the motivation to want this to happen. >> once again, melissa found herself answering some difficult questions. >> i didn't know that there was an insurance policy. we were looking at it for retirement. >> but while the investigation went on, the insurance company held back any payment. while the whispers went around. it was shocking, really. ben had been dead a few months, and melissa was dating already. >> it was soon, sort of, but it was like, if i didn't do it then, you almost would get stuck in this rut of never doing it. i would have just hung up the towel and been done. >> put on a black dress and be a widow for the rest of your life. >> yeah. >> detective elgis was taking track and trying to not be

judgmental. >> she needed to do what she needed to do to heal. >> months passed, and elgis scratched away at the few poultry leads . she was so startled, she went into a fight or flight response and just jumped out of bed and then went to a normal reaction, just didn't materialize. >> she went into a fight or flight response and she jumped out of bed, and then went to her normal reaction, which is, what is going on? and then she discovers he had been shot. >> there was another reason melissa dropped down the detectives list of suspects. and that reason was a certain someone else, who it became clear did not like that love story we told you about. not one bit. >> i said, what did you do? what did you do? and she said, what do you mean

what did i do? you have known me all these years and you would think that i would do something like that? and i said, absolutely. >> coming up. a whole new theory of the crime with a whole new list of suspect eager to share secrets. >> no, no, no. >> when dateline continues. ne t everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. arexvy is number one in rsv vaccine shots. rsv? make it arexvy. billy: one second, grandma. this guy is going to buy my car. okay? arexvy is number one in rsv vaccine shots. grandma: you need carvana... entering plate number... grandma: no accidents, right? billy: no. grandma: generating offer... carvana can pick it up tomorrow! billy: that's an amazing offer. announcer: sell your car the easy way with carvana.

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show me paris. xfinity internet customers can enjoy the ultimate entertainment experience and save on some of the biggest names in streaming, all for just $15 a month. get the fastest connection to paris with xfinity. i am jessica layton with a look at what is happening this morning. steph curry led the u.s. olympic basketball team to victory on saturday, defeating france 98-87. this is men's basketball fifth straight gold medal. curry had four three-pointers during the game. cormack a spokesperson for the trump campaign tells people it was hacked by iranian group back in june. the timing of the hack coincided with donald trump's selection of a vice presidential nominee. and now let's go back to dateline.

>> welcome back to dateline. i am craig melvin. melissa oxley could now breathe a little bit easier. while still on their radar, detectives no longer considered her the primary suspect in her husband, ben's, shooting death. they had shifted her focus to another woman in ben's life, someone they believed held a grudge. investigators were about to bring her in for questioning, and the story she told would send the case in a stunning new direction. here again is keith morrison with while they were sleeping. >> if you knew been, there's no way that you would want him dead. i couldn't think of anybody that would want him dead, you know, besides don. >> don, don oxley, ben oxley's

ex-wife, alyssa's mother. even as locals pointed suspicious fingers at alyssa, ben's friend stole each other -- >> everything in me said don had something to do with that. >> just a few years back, that sort of thing would've been unimaginable to don and ben's best friends, ben and cindy graham. not don. the center of any room she was in. >> i dawn't know if it was her manipulating, or what, but everybody agreed with dawn. as long as dawn was happy, then we are all happy. >> but after five years of marriage, neither ben nor dawn was happy, and the marriage went up in flames . >> penn had cheated on dawn. i can see that. this probably wasn't going to be something that she was ever going to get over. >> dawn changed after that, said cindy. didn't seem to want to act like a parent anymore. >> she met a guy and she would stay the night at his house.

when her kids are calling us up saying, we dawn't have any food in the house, can you bring us food, there is a problem. >> when dawn and ben went to court to fight for custody of alyssa, sydney had to tell the truth. >> i told the judge that dawn wasn't taking care of her kids anymore. they weren't -- they weren't even number five. >> when ben won custody of alyssa and more than $200 a month and child support, dawn was devastated. this is her mother, sherry roston, a retired deputy sheriff . >> she would sit in the garage and just ball about not getting her day in court. >> this was eating her alive. >> yeah. it was really taking its toll on her. >> dawn started drinking, heavily. her teenage son, devon, watched his mother fall apart . >> she is starting to lose jobs. >> but murder -- remember, the

police went to see dawn just a couple of hours before ben was killed and found her fast asleep. asleep. keith morrison: we watched a movie, went to bed. yeah, that's our story, and that's it. keith morrison: not exactly a convincing alibi any more in fact, she happened to be sharing her bedroom with a 21- year-old family friend named james matley. >> that's our story, and that's it. >> not exactly a convincing alibi, anymore than the obvious fiction that james, the new man in her life, was just a friend. even less convincing when detective ron elgis learned about a trip to a 711 store in the middle of the night about an hour and a half before the murder. >> why are they hiding little pieces of what is going on? we started to do surveillance on them. now they start to get worried, because i think we are watching them. >> surveillance showed dawn with her two daughters, brandy,

her 13-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, and alyssa, now 7. a year into the investigation, alyssa was back with her mom. the courts had slowly weaned her. >> so there you are still trying to grieve the loss of 10 at the same time as alyssa is being pulled back toward dawn. >> yeah, the loss of both of them, truly. >> and while the police were watching dawn, dawn was telling her children, including brandy, that the real suspect was melissa. >> she confidently told you it was melissa who committed this murder? >> yes. >> brandy could see she was drinking too much, getting duis, spending more than a few nights in jail. >> they started getting arrested. we were finding reasons to take them to jail. >> and while they had james, they asked him point-blank about the murder ben oxley.

>> did i kill ben? no. did i kill ben? no. why do anything about the murder? no. >> were you involved in the planning of the death of ben? >> know. i am looking you in the eyes. i did not kill him. >> lots of denials, no real evidence. a year and a half had gone by since the murder. it was the summer of 2009. entering cold case territory. then, one afternoon, as detective elgis was recovering from a night on the graveyard shift, his cell phone rang. it was dawn oxley. >> she said she couldn't take it anymore and wanted to talk. >> what were you thinking here? >> it's about time. >> the detective went over to dawn's house . she was inebriated. what she had quite a story to tell about james. about how he offered to murder ben.

james woke her up from a sound sleep and told her ben was dead. but that, she said, is all he told her, all she knew. hours later, she said, james woke her up from a sound sleep and told her ben was dead. but that, she said, is all he told her. all she knew. >> but was that really all she knew? dawn, remember, had a 16-year- old son named devon, who detectives learned was at home and listening in the hours before ben oxley was murdered. so if anyone can confirm dawn's version of events, surely it would be devon. but he wasn't talking. not yet, anyway. >> coming up. the question haunting this whole case. was there any proof against

anyone? prosecutors were about to make a deal to get the evidence they needed. >> you want to talk about this case? >> you know i do. >> went dateline continues. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. arexvy is number one in rsv vaccine shots. rsv? make it arexvy.

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without talking to your doctor. ask your specialist about dupixent. keith morrison: finally, the story of ben oxley's murder, bit by bit, was leaking out. but could dawn's version be believed that she had nothing to do with it? here's what dawn's mother, sheri, thought. >> finally, the story of ben oxley's murder, bit by bit, was leaking out. but could dawn's version be believed, that she had nothing to do with it? here's what dawn's mother, sherry thought. >> i can see her sitting there saying god, i wish he was dead. and james going, do you want me to go kill them for you? and she was like, whatever. it was more of a disbelief than an affirmation. >> that's a story dawn told, too, that she did not want

james to kill her ex-husband. it is now the fall iousof 2009. dawn was in jail for a dui , and agreed to talk in more detail about the night of ben oxley's murder. >> he said, do want to go do that? are you serious? are you kidding me? he's on the phone, he's asking me if you wanted to go take care of ben, and i said no. >> the next thing she knew, james was back. >> he woke me up, and he said, it is done. i turned around, and i'm waking up out of a dead sleep and i'm like, what are you talking about? he's like, the cops are going to be here. >> i said, you're going to show up at my house because my ex- husband is dead? >> she did not take part, she swore. not at all. >> i didn't drive. i did not go anywhere. i did

not plan this. i did not want been dead. >> so truth or fiction. there's no solid evidence either way. nor the james matley killed ben oxley, only dawn's story. at which point, tom gregory, who was the assistant director attorney, decided he needed help. >> you like to get everybody involved, but there's a reality, and many case is, that sometimes you need the help of one of the people involved to get the main person. >> and so dawn oxley was offered a limited immunity . operate with the prospect mission, testify truthfully against james, and you won't be prosecuted. a sort of get out of jail free card. >> why go ahead and make that deal with her? you have her statement. why not hold off for a while and hear her statement? >> let's say we dawn't do the deal with her and we go out and arrest him. what is our evidence?

>> dawn signed the agreement, and james was charged with first-degree murder . but the end of the story? oh, no. not even close. the truth had been hiding, but it was itching to come out. young devon -- remember him? dawn's son. devon finally decided it was time to reveal what he overheard the night of the murder. >> my mom was like, i want ben to die. i just want him dead. and james said, i will go out into it right now. she was like a broken record. i want him dead. i want him dead. >> does a woman who was shocked when the murder happened? there was more. it was after that when james told his attorney it was time to tell the whole story. >> i could tell he was telling the truth. over the course of 15 months, he has always told the same story. >> so now comes another story -- james story. not a love story this time.

>> nobody could believe it. that i did what i did. i've never been a violent person. >> james did not have an easy start in life. the time he was a teenager, he was drinking, doing drugs, stealing things. >> i had pretty much given up hope on continuing successfully in life. >> dawn, after her marriage to ben, befriended james. feel rescued. gave him a place to live. he just been paroled in prison after doing time for stealing a truck. >> gave me hope that there is somebody out there besides my mom who cared. >> james discovered what others had, he said. as long as dawn was happy, everybody was happy. and if she wasn't, and james could not be happy, either. >> she was very upset, the fact that she lost alyssa. >> and she went on rants, he

said, about ben oxley. a man that james didn't know, but he listened. >> he gave me a sense of -- i felt wanted. >> and then he realized, she would never be happy unless he fixed what was upsetting her. >> i just wanted to make dawn happy. >> so what happened? dawn and james stories begin the same way -- february 20th, 2008, a night of heavy drinking at dawn's house, a heated conversation about ben oxley. james asking dawn if she wants to have him killed , but that is where the stories diverge. dawn remembers telling james, no, dawn't do it, and fell asleep on the couch. but that is not james a story. >> she was ecstatic about what was happening. she was happy that i was going to kill somebody, you know? >> it was after midnight. john drew him a diagram so he could find his way to the

bedroom. then he went to the 711, drew $40 out of the atm with dawn's bankcard, and then together, he said, they went to the walmart. dawn waited in the car and james did the shopping. shotgun shells, gloves, a flashlight. >> she was just very happy about it. i could imagine a kid going to disneyland. >> but there was a problem. they had forgotten to bring the diagram of ben's house with them. >> the plan wasn't for dawn to go in the house. the plan was for me to go in the house , and i didn't know how to get in the house, or where the bedroom was. so dawn had to go inside. >> the front door was locked, so dawn took him around back, he said, were a sliding glass door was unlocked. they eased their way in and walked down the hall. then, said james, dawn pointed him toward the master bedroom. >> i turned around, and she was going into alyssa's room. >> going into the room?

>> yeah. she said that she was going to take alyssa with her. i said, you can't take alyssa. >> was this true? remember. alyssa, just six years old at the time, that she remembered seeing someone in her doorway. r doorway. and then, said james, he walked into the master bedroom, saw ben and melissa sleeping in the moonlight. >> i raised the gun. that's where everything in my mind that should have happened three or four hours ago happened. i started thinking, why am i here? something i hurt my left. >> a sudden noise. >> yeah. as i turned and jerked to see what it was, i pulled the trigger. >> he ran then, he said, left the door right open and caught

up to dawn in the truck. >> who drove? >> she did. i started yelling at her. we got in the truck. >> the truth, said james, all of it. >> dawn knows the truth, and i know the truth, and that is all that matters. i'm taking full responsibility for what i did. dawn needs to take full responsibility for what she did . >> coming up. was been the only one who was in danger that night ? one more revelation still to come when dateline continues. arexvy does not prott everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. arexvy is number one in rsv vaccine shots. rsv? make it arexvy.

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keith morrison: it's a rare thing to sit in a jail house room such as this while a murderer confesses, chapter and verse-- denial, the more common language here. i pulled the trigger-- keith morrison: but james matlean did not shrink from it. >> it is a rare thing to sit in the jailhouse room such as this while a murderer can messes chapter and verse. denial of a more common language here. but james did not shrink from it. he murdered ben oxley in his sleep and must live with what he did for the rest of his days. >> i'm afraid to deal with what i actually did. >> in december 2011, he told his story in court. it was after the d.a. took the death penalty off the table and james decided to plead guilty. that's when melissa, sitting in the courtroom, heard for the first time about something else james was supposed to kill her,

too. >> dawn asked me if i would kill melissa . i just automatically said yes. >> there was a bullet there for you. what was it like to hear that? >> unreal. >> you believe -- >> i do. i have a harder time with dawn than i do james. because if it wasn't for her, none of it would've happened . >> and that's where kent stover firmly agreed. only half a measure of justice. since dawn is protected by the immunity agreement she signed with the d.a. . >> james is not the type of boy who's going to go out and commit a murder in the hopes that dawn will find it acceptable . he didn't do this as a surprise gift. >> dawn herself declined a request for an interview, so her mom, has remained in her corner.

>> i know that a lot of people believe that, that there was a blatant conspiracy on her part. but i dawn't think dawn really wanted been dead. i dawn't think dawn was there . >> you were trying to hold it all together. all the way along, and even now. >> you got to understand -- sai. ben was a d good guy. they had their problems. everybody loved him. he didn't deserve to die. >> so for the time being, it's a he said, she said story. to the dismay of james attorney , it means she may never face a murder charge. >> the prosecutor made a deal with the devil. now we just need to show him how far she is.

>> deal with the devil? the d.a. said without dawn's testimony at the pulmonary hearing, the murder charge against james would have never stuck. but dawn wasn't totally off the hook, because there was one possibility still. if the d.a. could find hard evidence that dawn lied when she was having that get out of jail free deal for implicating james -- >> it is still an open book on dawn oxley for murder. if somebody comes in today with credible evidence that shows she did in fact go, we could prosecutor. >> in 2011, dawn was sent to prison in another offense. she pleaded guilty to using her teenage daughter brandy to sell prescription drugs. >> was she employing u.s. her assistant in that business? >> i was driving, yes. >> dawn was released in prison, but not to be the mother of melissa. the judge terminated her parental rights. both alyssa and brandy went to live with melissa, who offered them a kind of family life that

they didn't know with their biological mom. >> it is a family, and that's what i need. >> one more thing to do. in 2011, having pleaded guilty to murder, james protect to be sentenced. >> is a redemption for a person like you? >> i dawn't know . i dawn't expect any that i've hurt to forgive me for what i've done. >> he looked in the lens as you said that. you are talking to them, right? >> i guess i'm talking to melissa. i'm sorry. >> in exchange for his guilty plea, the d.a. agreed to recommend that james could be eligible for parole after serving 24 years. the final decision up to the judge. defense attorney stover made the argument.

and then melissa took the stand. >> emotionally, the damage you caused me as a most unbearable. for alyssa, you have crumbled her foundation, and everything she knew to be right and true. and as hard as this is to do or believe, i also want you to know i have found it in my heart to forgive you. >> and then james got his sentence. >> you are sentenced to life in prison. >> life without parole ever. afterwards, the little girl in the middle of the family drama turned to melissa with a remarkable request -- alyssa asked to meet with james, and was ushered in to see him before he was whisked away. >> i told him that i decided to forgive him, and that i wanted him to have hope. >> and she wept then, tears of

forgiveness. of lingering grief for her father. and as for melissa, after the trial, she told us she was ready to move on. >> where will you keep been? >> he will always be in my heart. you will never be forgotten, but we have to go on. we still have to be here and live a day-to-day life. >> if he's looking down watching you, what would he think about his daughter? >> i think he still loves me, and i'm doing much better than i was at my other house. >> you miss him? >> i miss him a lot. >> you are a pretty strong kid, aren't you? >> yeah. >> that is all for this edition of dateline. i am craig melvin. thank you for watching. watchin good morning and welcome morning joe weekend