this is "nightline." tonight, it was a picture perfect marriage. >> he was presenince charming a she fell for him hard. >> shattered in an instant. a young mother stabbed to death. was her husband to blame? digging up secrets from the grave. >> the first thing i'm looking at, well, her contact lens case is open. >> how looking in her eyes police believe they could see her killer. >> i did not kill my wife. >> now free fromni fro his secod wife. "nightline" will be right back. e right back.

good evening. thanks for joining us. it seemed like a love story with a happily ever after, crushed by the murtd der of a young mother. the crime unsolved for years. her family grieving and frustrated. then the investigators gave the case a new look, finding a clue hiding in plain sight, pointing

the finger at her husband. >> this is a typical college love story. >> raven and janet met in college. both athletes, both very attractive, and he was smitten by her right away. they got married at a very young age and decided to live their life together. >> hey, everybody, merry christmas. >> they looked very happy, a loving couple, the picture of a perfect marriage. >> we wish you the best and the warmest feelings this holiday season. janet, what would you like to say? >> i would like to say merry christmas and happy new year. >> reporter: but just three and a half years into their marriage. >> raven tells janet that he's having an affair. >> and very soon after that she found out she was pregnant. >> janet has to debate with herself, do i stay with this person who has disrespected our vows, our covenant? or do i try to salvage what's left of my family? >> we promised, swore up and

down that he would no longer cheat on her, that she was the only one for him. he would make it work. soon after, caden was born. >> reporter: but one spring night their story takes a turn four t for the worse. >> raven went off to play an indoor soccer game with his b d buddies and believed that janet and their baby boy would be going to bed. >> 10:00, goes upstairs to their house and finds janet covered in blood. >> 911. >> my wife! she's dead! there's blood everywhere. >> she's been shot? >> yes. >> you're going to have to calm down. how old is your wife? >> she is 25. >> stay on the line, i'll tell you exactly what to do. can you tell how many times your wife has been shot? >> there is another breaking story right now.

>> just before 11:00 tuesday night, police are called to this home. >> raven. >> they find 25-year-old janet murdered. >> police aren't saying how she was killed. >> my parents were called. i think about 5:00 in the morning. and rave p wn was on the phone they couldn't understand him. he was calling to say janet was dead and she'd committed suicide. >> we all knew that wasn't right. >> she swronwouldn't have kille herself ever. >> friends tell us she was married with a looking forward to life as a mother. >> police learn she was stabbed multiple times and that's what causes her death. she was not shot. >> investigators captured images inside the house. >> there are things out on the

counter. in particular her engagement ring andedding bd are out. you see these pieces of potential evidence scattered throughout this home that's now become a crime scene. noticeably absent is raven's laptop as well as a knife that went missing, apparently, that night. >> police immediately find that there are no signs of forced entry. no sign that anyone smashed a window to get in, broke down a door to get in. >> no evidence of anybody else being in the home that wasn't supposed to be there. >> janet's sisters start playing detective, like amateur sleuths, they discover things that don't add up. >> he took out a life insurance policy on her. >> any doubts that he killed your sister? >> no. >> he makes clear that he's not

the killer and that he wants janet's case to be brought to justice. >> the bottom line is that i wasn't involved with the death of my wife. that i would do anything in the world to keep her here with me. >> reporter: while the investigation continues in north carolina, raven has already moved with his son to utah. >> raven doesn't seem to be taking janet's death too harshly. he's actually on the date being scene. >> he's started a relationship with a young woman named vanessa pond. >> he seemed very up front, very honest and genuine. and i found out that, you know, he was a single father. and i really, really admired that. >> did he mention his wife or what happened to her? >> yes, as we were just starting to date, he mentioned that well, i should probably tell you. a lot of people think my wife's not around because oh, she's a drug addict or she's crazy, but my wife actually died. >> did he say she was murdered?

>> he said that there was an intruder. and that his wife was killed. and that he'd found her. and he'd left it at that. >> reporter: she expressed her childre concerns about his story but says that he removed all doubts from her mind. >> soon after that, raven asked my dad for my hand in marriag mg >> reporter: they go on their honeymoon in vegas, and vanessa recalls raven talking about janet. you're talking about your deceased wife on the evening of your honeymoon. >> he started talking about janet. and how mad he was after she died. not how sad, not how heartbroken. just mad.loser to

me. and he said, i'll promise i'll never hurt you. >> according to vanessa, things start getting really bad. >> he grabbed me from the door and threw me up against the wall. and then i fell. later, he tried to convince me that i had tripped. the light just disappears. from his eyes. he becomes another person. that part is terrifying. >> are you convinced you would have been his next victim? >> yeah. >> reporter: she soon filed for an annulment. meanwhile, janet's family stays strong in their belief that raven murdered janet. but four years go by without an arrest. >> the family's very frustrated.

the sisters decide to turn up the heat on this very cold case. so they sit down with me on abc's prime time crime. >> cases that seem impossible to crack. crimes that seem impossible to solve. that's why there's prime time crime. >> he's out free, out there. >> yes, he is. >> doing what he wants. >> yes, he is. >> the very next day we get a call from the durham police department saying we've assigned a new debts to tdetective to th. >> i play the dumb southern cop, and he's it up. >> raven records his conversations with detective soul, and this predates the social media, selfie time that we live, and he's basically shooting video of himself and offering courtside commentary. >> i feel myself getting do.

$30 million. i want to dedicate $2 million tm finding, two-thirds of my winnings. i mean. >> i thought it was very bizarre that he talks about i need to win the lottery, oh, by the way, i will do something for janet as well. so, come on. >> reporter: detective soul then pours through all the evidence, looking for new clues. >> the first thing i'm looking at, well, her contact lens case is open. i said to myself, she's ready to

go to bed, and she still has her contacts in. that's unusual. >> that gives him a hunch that maybe raven's story about janet going to bed before he left for that soccer game may not be the case. >> the only way for detectives to find out if janet was wearing her contact lenses when she was killed is to exhume her body. >> it definitely seemed like detective soul was digging deep, literally and figuratively speaking. >> detective soul comes face-to-face with the victim, looking for a piece of evidence that could only be discovered by looking directly into janet's eyes. >> stay with us. stay with us. s! i just wanted to show you something i've been wor... ♪ james r. and associates. anna speaking... ♪ james r. and associates. anna. ♪

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"nightline" continues. with juju >> reporter: it's been five years since janet's husband reported that he found her dead. the investigation is painstakingly slow. >> police have not named any suspects but will only say her murder was not random. >> days went by. months went by. eventually, years went by. >> for janet's family, there was only one suspect, and that suspect was raven. >> at this point, they have possible motive. they have leads. they have strong suspicions. they want physical evidence. the contact lenses, if they can find them, could be just that. >> she always took out her contacts before going to bed. and i mean always.

the contacts were not out, i knew right away that she was not in bed. i knew tha h lying. >> weret her contact lenses in her eyes at the time of the murder? there's only one way to find out. >> at the cemetery, workers began the process, using a backhoe to remove the vault and casket. >> reporter: authorities exhume her body and find these fragments. this ophthalmologist then determines, they are janet's contact lenses. >> apparently, this evidence was crucial in determining a flaw in raven's story. >> they have his odd behavior. they have his infidelity. what he sees is a person who appears to be this loving, attractive, doting father who may in fact be someone who is a murder. >> reporter: raven is arrested and then extradited to north carolina where he is put on trial for the first degree murder of his wife. >> the prosecution uses a

classic technique. when you don't have enough forensic evidence, you attack the character of the defendant. one of the best ways to do that is parade all the ex-lovers u his mistresses. >> did he flirt with you? >> yes. >> what if your wife found out? what if she looks at your cell phone records or stuff like that? >> reporter: but the key witness in this case, vanessa pond. she told the court about the psychological and physical abuse she suffered while married to raven. >> he told me how much he hated me, and how much he didn't care if i died. and he expressed how much he wanted to hit me. >> but there was an additional layer of heartbreak to this tragedy. not only was janet a young mother with a six-month-old baby boy, she was pregnant, too. >> she said that it wasn't going to be good.

that raven wasn't going to be happy that she was pregnant. >> raven was flat broke. he would do anything to get more money. he desperately needed cash. the prosecution lists all the motives that raven had for wanting to kill his wife. an unhappy marriage with an unwanted baby on the way. that deep financial hole. and they drag can out that bizarre video by raven. >> if i win the lottery, you know, if i were to win $3 million, i would dedicate million to finding them. i need money, you need power. >> reporter: it takes the jury three days. but they finally walk back into the courtroom to deliver a shocking decision. >> we consider ourselves to be at an impasse. we are a hung jury. >> one person was a holdout.

one person voting not guilty, and that was raven's ticket to freedom. >> the court in its discretion will declare a mistrial. >> reporter: prosecutors quickly decide to try raven again, hoping for a guilty verdict. >> everybody's ready to sit through this trial once again. and we bget this bombshell announcement from the district attorney's office. >> do you plead guilty this morning pursuant to a plea bargain? >> yes. >> a coward's plea. >> raven has agreed to enter what's called an alford plea. and it becomes essentially a guilty verdict on a manslaughter charge with a maximum of ten years in prison. >> the defendant will receive an active sentence of 95 to 123

months. >> reporter: raven's sentence, eight to ten years is the maximum allowed under the deal. with time served, he could be out in less than four years. >> i would just like to state that i didn't receive a fair trial the first time. i don't think i'll receive a fair trial the second time. and the fact is, i love my family very much. and i don't think it's worth risking the possibility spending the rest of my life in prison for something i didn't do. i take this plea to ensure that that doesn't happen. and that's the only reason. i did not kill my wife. >> i'm angry for him taking her and him taking caden's mom away. i wish that he would have just left. he would have just divorced her and left her alone.

>> "nightline" will be right back. back. be right back. with moderate to severe crohn's disease, i was there, just not always where i needed to be. is she alright? i hope so. so i talked to my doctor about humira. i learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of crohn's disease after trying other medications. and the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief and many achieved remission in as little as 4 weeks. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. be there for you, and them. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible.

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"nightline"

>> on christmas day of 2017, raven walked out of prison in north carolina. a free man. >> according to these photos posted by his mother on her facebook page, raven is now sporting a beard and living happily, it appears, alongside his now teenaged son. we reached out to raven for comment, but he declined our request. >> it's monot justice, but it i an end, and we can move on. >> and that's "nightline"or nit. remember, you can always catch our fullpides on hu. goodgh america, haekend. weekend.

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