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good evening and thank you for joining us. i'm rebecca jarvis. when suburban mother kelly clayton was found murdered in her home, residents in her small upstate new york town were shocked. she seemed to have a perfect life, a happy marriage, no enemies.

investigators soon found things were not as they appeared. here's abc's ryan smith. >> trying not to step on anything, okay, get the hell off this -- >> reporter: it was a scene that seemed too horrific to be real. >> yeah, there's blood all over. she's been dragged. >> reporter: this is the body cam footage showing two police officers responding to a frantic 911 call just after midnight in september of 2015. >> looks like blood spatter, blood on the wall. >> reporter: the victim, 35-year-old kelly clayton, a beautiful wife and loving mother of two small children. >> i'll show you where stuff is. yeah. just watch the floor. there's blood there. blood up there. >> reporter: bludgeoned to death in her own home. >> help me, help me, my wife, she's dead, hurry. >> reporter: kelly's husband thomas called 911 after returning home from a poker game, finding her body on the kitchen floor. >> how long has she been down?

>> i don't know, i don't know, i just got home. >> okay, come on out here, come have a seat, i don't want you to see that anymore, okay if >> reporter: outside his home, police tried to calm him. >> how are you doing? take some deep breaths, okay? i know, yeah, just take deep breaths, try to stay calm. >> [ bleep ]. i'll pass out. >> sit down, man, come over here and sit down. >> i can't, i'm shaken -- >> reporter: inside investigators piecing together what happened, trying to make sense of a seemingly senseless murder rocking a small town in upstate new york. kelly was born and raised in elmira, athletic and popular. she was always under the watchful eye of her older sister kim. >> she was kind of my baby. >> you were protective of her? >> very. >> what was she like? >> vivacious, old, sassy. >> reporter: her big personality and dreams taking her from elmira to las vegas, trading a teaching job for work as a cocktail waitress. >> she loved it out there, she loved it. >> reporter: it was her

attraction to a local sports star that would bring her back home. >> so mad you want to fight someone, just like when you're a little kid, you get so mad you want to fight. >> reporter: a hockey player for the semi-pro elmira jackals, tom clayton known for fighting on the ice and flirting off of it. >> he was a bad boy? >> yes. >> reporter: kelly worked at a local bar. >> kelly turned heads. >> was it love at first sight? >> i think so. i thought so. >> reporter: kelly moved back home to new york, tom put his pro hockey dreams on ice, both giving of up their big plays for something bigger. >> she was so happy to be marrying him. >> reporter: she got married. had two children. their first, charlie, a girl. a few years later, a boy, cullen. >> they seem like the perfect family. >> she loved her kids, she loved her husband. she loved her life. the life that she thought she had. >> i cannot sit here and tell

you that i saw anything that would have led me to believe he was capable of what happened to my sister. >> he called the deceased's sister and brother-in-law. >> i remember running to the ambulance, expecting to find them working on my sister. i'm like, is my sister in there? where's my sister, where's my sister? my mother and i were wailing. i was throwing up on the side of the road. i can't even explain to you that feeling. >> reporter: the savage brutality shocking, even to the first responders. >> her face -- complete -- yeah. >> oh my god. >> yeah. blood all over, looks like she was attacked in bed. >> this was an extremely brutal attack, a very gruesome situation. >> reporter: donald lewis, the steuben county sheriff's office lead investigator, was on the scene that night. >> there was some sort of attack in the upstairs area, a hole in the sheetrock at the bottom of the stairs.

and a blood trail that ended at mrs. clayton's body in the kitchen area. she was killed with a fiberglass awl handle. >> reporter: police become increasingly suspicious of kelly's husband thomas. >> i think he attacked her. he has no blood on him, i checked. i don't know. >> there was a lot of things that kind of raised some flags. >> reporter: there were no signs of forced entry or robbery. and despite witnesses and tom's gps, placing him at a friend's poker game that night, police take him into custody. >> once we arrested mr. clayton, the investigation did not stop. >> reporter: and while looking into tom's alibi, police learn that a woman at the poker game says tom asked to borrow her phone to make a call, just 90 minutes before he got home to find kelly's body. simultaneously police are looking into a new person of interest, michael beard. a former employee at one of tom's companies who had recently been fired. >> mr. beard would go the

distance for tom. because tom was taking care of mike. >> reporter: the two had been in contact. frequent phone calls and text messages. including the phone call from the poker game. >> that was the smoking gun. >> reporter: a smoking gun revealing what investigators believe was a sinister murder for hire plot and an ugly truth behind a seemingly perfect marriage. >> michael beard confessed to being hired by thomas clayton to murder kelly clayton. >> reporter: why would clayton, a successful businessman with a seemingly happy marriage, want his wife dead? >> i believe that he wanted his freedom. he just didn't want to be married anymore. i think that he's a very greedy person. he would have benefited greatly if he was able to get away with this. >> do you think he did it for the money? >> personally, yes, i do. >> reporter: tom had recently doubled kelly's life insurance policy, and authorities allege tom was romantically entangled with other women but didn't think divorce was an option.

>> the life insurance and the fact that he had made comments to some of these women that came out at the trial, that if he was to divorce kelly she would take everything from him. >> then when you learn that tom, according to prosecutors, hired beard to kill kelly, what was your reaction when you heard that? >> truthfully my first thought was he was a coward. it's like a movie. but it's my sister. how do you have a conversation with someone like that? like how we're sitting here now. how do i say to you, hey, would you ever consider killing my wife? who thinks that way? how do you even bring that up? >> did you ever hear anything about him being unfaithful? >> never. never. >> reporter: clayton and beard were each charged with first-degree murder and tried separately. beard, who at first had confessed, changed his story and pleaded not guilty, claiming clayton hired him to burn down his house for insurance money. but says he never went through with it. he was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

clayton also pleaded not guilty. his defense insists all of the evidence is circumstantial. >> you could explain away a lot of them calls and a lot of the circumstances. but you couldn't explain all of it away. >> reporter: he was found guilty, his lawyers telling abc news they will appeal after sentencing. >> we did it! >> reporter: kelly's family trying to move forward the best they can. since her murder, the children, charlie now 8, cullen 5, have been living with kim and her husband. >> thank god that i have charlie and cullen. those kids. that's what gets me up every day. >> they make you stay present? >> i'm so thankful for that. i know that's what she would want. >> if you could say one thing to him right now, what would that be? >> you took her life, not her light. and her light will shine forever.

through charlie, through cullen, through me, forever. and we'll be okay. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm ryan smith in new york. next, it's just like a petting zoo. except the animals pet you. "nightline" coanchor juju chang goes inside nairobi's giraffe manor. later, is that mama june? how the here comes honey boo boo star lost all that weight. as after a dvt blood clot,ital i sure had a lot to think about. what about the people i care about? ...including this little girl. and what if this happened again? i was given warfarin in the hospital, but wondered, was this the best treatment for me? so i asked my doctor. and he recommended eliquis. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again.

yes, eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. both made me turn around my thinking. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. if you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily ...and it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. plus had less major bleeding. both made eliquis the right treatment for me. ask your doctor if switching to eliquis is right for you. before we hit the beach, i'we can't stay here!o. why? terrible toilet paper! i'll never get clean!

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seeing a giraffe up close is an unforgettable experience. but being licked in the face by one is totally surreal. at giraffe manor in nairobi, kenya, you can live out your wildest animal dreams and literally get neck and neck with these exotic beauties. here's "nightline" coanchor juju chang. >> reporter: it's breakfast time at giraffe manor. this morning my table for one has some very lean and lanky party crashers. kind of crazy, right? excuse me. we have to have a little decorum here. one for you. one for me. fraternizing with guests is not only allowed but encouraged here so that visitors feel a kinship with these great but increasingly vulnerable animals. >> i usually don't kiss on the first date. their tongue feels a little sandpapery, i have to say. i'm sure she has some criticisms of me too, though.

what are you doing for breakfast tomorrow? >> reporter: it's all standard fare at this most extraordinary of hotels outside nairobi, kenya. built in the 1930s in the style of a scottish hunting lodge it's owned by fourth-generation kenyans tanya and mikey karl hartley. everywhere you turn there they are. sticking their heads in bedroom windows. mingling with guests at tea time. >> they love interaction. >> they have different characters. >> reporter: even interrupting our interview. >> oh my goodness. just got nudged. >> currently there are 12 giraffes here. so we have margaret, thelma, stacy, and right at the end is kelly. kelly, you can see she's slightly pregnant. the stomach is slightly distended. >> reporter: but it's not all tea and crumpets for these genteel giants. giraffes are facing what experts call a silent extinction, their population down 40% in 20 years.

inexplicab inexplicably, they were only classified as vulnerable for the first time this past december. >> some of the species are down 60% their original numbers. by 2030, if the trend continues, a lot of the species will be extinct. >> reporter: to put perspective there are far more elepha elephants, whose plight is much more well known, than giraffes. 500,000, versus just 90,000. which is news even to their guests. >> i didn't know those were becoming endangered until we came here. >> you can't imagine that gentle animal can be threatened. but i mean, the history of this place is built simply on that threat. >> reporter: indeed, giraffe manor was created on the premise of saving these elegant creatures. back in the '70s, then-owner betty leslie melville, an american former fashion model, convinced her husband jock to allow three giraffes to live on their land when their habitat was threatened. >> she managed to flutter

her eyelids and persuade her husband that this was a great thing to do. they wanted to save this amazing species of giraffe. and brought them from western kenya to nairobi to propagate and regenerate this population in the wild again. >> reporter: part of the hotel's land is dedicated to the giraffe center which educates the local population and fosters breeding programs to increase giraffes in the wild. a percentage of every room fee at the manor goes to the center. one of the biggest issues facing giraffes is urban encroachment. as populations grow and cities expand, they lose their habitats. to get a sense how closely the urban sprawl is encroaching on the habitat, this right here is nairobi national park. and this is the four-lane highway. nowhere is this more clear than at nairobi national park. just miles away from giraffe manor, at 44 square miles, twice yet its parameters are

constantly being whittled down. >> that's downtown nairobi. >> reporter: we head into the park with arthur muneza of the giraffe conservation foundation. the rwandan-born researcher is getting his ph.d. at michigan state. >> traffic jam. >> reporter: amidst the monkeys, zebras, hippos and giraffes dotting the landscape, another ubiquitous sight. so this image basically sums it up, doesn't it. that man is encroaching on his habitat. >> yes. if you look up ahead you can see the real problem. those are housing developments coming up. and a few years back you never used to have this, all this was open. animals could migrate that way. now it's inaccessible. >> reporter: that giraffe is completely holding its ground. it's like, uh-uh, i ain't moving. you're in my hood, chump. a giraffe's kick can break a lion's back, but giraffes are

being killed off by a far more lethal predator, from trophy hunters to poachers. >> they're hunted for their meat, skull, and bones. in some places it's traditional medicine, believing bones and brain marrow can cure aids. in some places they're hunted for their tails only. >> so they'll kill a giraffe -- >> they'll kill a whole animal for that small part of it, tail. >> man is the biggest threat to giraffes? >> yes in a nutshell. that's one way to put it. >> reporter: arthur's foundation has gone to dramatic lengths to reverse these trends, tracking poaching snares and in one ambitious project, transporting giraffes across the nile river by ferry, away from the devastating oil drilling in uganda, as seen in this pbs documentary "africa's gentle giants." >> we just crossed over the nile river with six giraffes. >> reporter: adding to this, a missed pr opportunity for these glorious animals.

>> we've had good media coverage with other animals. so giraffes, this has really just come up in the last 10 years. >> right. >> so there's a real need to do more and get more data and just see what you can do better to protect these populations. >> do you think they are silently going extinct? >> unfortunately, it's heading in that direction. >> reporter: a grim reality that needs to be shared as nothing's more dangerous to these beautiful creatures than silence. for "nightline," i'm juju chang in nairobi, kenya. next, here comes honey boo boo. but where did mama june go? the secret to her stunning weight loss. ok let's call his agent. i'm coming over right now. the newly advanced gle can see in your blind spot.

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have a break, have a kit kat! finally tonight, she's lost hundreds of pounds. so what's reality star mama june's secret? >> what the hell is this mess? >> mama june shannon is back

with a whole new look on the new tv show "mama june: from not to hot." >> i'm honey boo boo, my mama's got a brand-new body you have to see to believe. >> the 37-year-old mama of four embarking on an extreme weight loss journey. even going under the knife. the reality star once weighed 460 pounds. eating was a theme in tlc's hit reality tv show "here comes honey boo boo." famous for skeddy. >> i want butter, skeddy, ketchup. >> and gogo juice. how did mama june get here? after dropping her cheating husband and dropping the rest of her savings on a new home, mama june vowed to turn her life around by dropping weight. tonight's episode revealing it might not be so easy. >> does this smell like progress to you? >> i've been working out really hard. >> reporter: struggles with her diet, and harder, saying good-bye to her kids as she heads to california for skin removal surgery.

>> give me a hug. i'm going to miss you. >> how does it all turn out? we'll have to wait and see her final transformation. thank you for watching abc news. as always, we are online at abcnews.com and our "nightline" facebook page. good night, america.