>> david: tonight, a money-making ponzi scheme leads to murder. from the last person you'd ever imagine. >> deborah: indeed, david. i just came back from reporting on this story. so many people left heartbroken and mystified. an all-new "20/20" begins right now. tonight, the trial so many have been talking about. with details you haven't heard until now. >> it was just greed, more greed, more greed after that.

>> what is this weird nightmare that -- >> that's visited upon this couple? she's sick, now he's dying. for him to just go from being fine to suddenly comatose. >> what happened? what happened? >> they were a great couple. loved each other. they always wanted to be together. >> two people with no background in federal contracting, suddenly they're going to be arms dealers for the federal government? >> they were trusted in the community. a lot of the investors were family and close friends. >> had michael expressed any doubts about the business? >> the cochran business model seemed to be built on defrauding their friends and family. >> the investigators look at you and say, there were never any contracts, there were never any bids, doesn't exist. >> when people found out, they want answers. >> i mean, it was all anyone could talk about. >> your friend, 38 years old, is gone.

♪ behind all the raw beauty in the untamed west virginia mountainside are deep-rooted secrets, lies and betrayal. and a small, close-knit community is upended. >> i was just calling to see if you knew when everything surrounding the investigation is gonna be over. >> i don't understand what you mean by the investigation. >> they're, they're asking people very personal questions about me and my husband's relationship. but i -- i just can't keep living this way. >> and at the center of all that unraveling is this couple, the cochrans. >> it was on a tuesday night on december the 23rd, 1980, 10:36 p.m. michael brandon cochran was born into the world. >> tell me about michael as -- as a boy. >> he was a good kid. he always minded me.

you know, eddie came into his life when he was 8 years old. >> when i met michael, he had like a rat-tail haircut, and with the -- the spiked hair. >> we just kind of developed a good, warm relationship. >> what about sports though? he he was really into sports. >> oh yeah, yeah. he was playing like the peewee baseball. you could just tell right then he just took to it and was just like a -- a natural. >> michael brandon was always playing baseball, basketball, football. he, uh, lifted weights as a hobby. >> he had a weight bench in his room. he got his first sand-filled barbell set around 10 or 11 years old. and he would just go in there and turn his music up loud and just start working out. he just loved being healthy. of course, he loved the muscles, he loved the way it made him feel. in high school, they started having like power lifting competitions and michael, he got first place. we were really proud of him.

>> at age 17, michael meets a girl named natalie jessup, also 17, during a trip to the mall. it will change his life forever. >> we had to go out to the sporting goods place one day. and there she was, working behind the counter. and she was flirting with him really bad, you could tell that. and then the next thing i know they were dating. >> she seemed to be a relatively driven student in school. she was passionate about what she did. she loved her family. >> after high school, both michael and natalie head off to west virginia university where he studies computers and she studies to be a pharmacist. the two freshmen had just started their first semester at wvu when michael's mom donna gets a call from natalie. >> they got engaged in november of 1999. and, when michael got on the phone, i just said, "michael brandon, what in the world are you doin'?" >> were you happy for him to be marrying natalie? >> i wanted them to wait. he had just graduated high school like maybe five months

before. and i wanted him to just, you know, focus on his schooling. and then six months later, they were married. >> the couple are the picture of happiness in their wedding photo. after graduation they later have two children and, after six years of marriage, they settle in daniels, west virginia here in this colonial home. >> it's a beautiful home on almost four acres of flat land. michael renovated that house. he just completely gutted it and remodeled it from top to bottom. >> as the years went on, did they have a happy marriage? >> as far as i know, they had a happy marriage. >> you know, they just -- they were starting their life now, and starting their family. you know, they got good jobs. >> natalie was working as a pharmacist, and michael was in i.t.? >> yes, information technology. yeah, it was like running cable wire, coaxial cable, and things like that. >> life in west virginia can

kind of be summed up just like, here people really focus on work, family and their faith. >> how was michael as a dad? -- he was a proud dad. he doted on his kids and he was a good provider. he was involved with them. the school activities and stuff. >> the couple gets involved in their community. >> he was a football coach and he was a baseball coach. >> and wherever michael was, so was natalie, working the sidelines. >> she was a sports socialite, when michael was the coach she was the one you got all the information from, she was the one that ordered the uniforms and got your sizes. >> he loved sports, and that was probably our biggest connection. our family would see their family at games. and that's really how it got started is just loving sports and hanging out. >> are there stories that you remember that when you really do think back to you all as couples, it kind of warms your heart that you remember? >> oh yes. mike and i, we, uh, we won a lot

of championships together, coaching our kids. >> chris and jennifer davis bonded with the cochrans over little league, their young families, and church. they even went on vacations together. chris, a lawyer, was hired by michael for a legal matter, and the two became friends. what was it that made them sort of fit into your world? >> it was really the family aspect. they were a great couple. they loved each other. they always wanted to be together. who -- who are always together and love their spouse, 'cause we're always together. >> so you were really close? >> we were, yes. we were very close. >> so at some point then you discover that one of your sons has diabetes. >> initially it's very grim because it's, hey, this is what this is. it's never going to change and this is what it's gonna require. >> coincidentally, natalie happened to specialize in diabetes management. how helpful was that for you in the beginning?

>> tremendous. >> tremendous. >> she was amazing. like, she just gave us all the information we needed. 'cause you learn as you go. >> so, she understood how insulin could affect the body? >> a thousand percent. >> then, seemingly out of the blue, the cochrans make a career change and open a new business. so they seemed to be doing well. oh, absolutely. they're doing very well. >> i invested and i spent $256,000. >> and this new venture will lead them straight to the cia. with dupixent, stay ahead of moderate-to-severe eczema. as you welcome the feeling of touch with clearer skin and less itch. the #1 prescribed biologic by dermatologists and allergists, helps heal your skin from within. severe allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for face, mouth, tongue or throat swelling, wheezing or trouble breathing. tell your doctor of new or worsening eye problems, like eye pain, vision changes, or blurred vision, joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection.

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♪ everybody is very involved with their kids around here. into sports, and that's where parents usually hang out, at school sporting events. >> just like his dad, michael cochran's son loves sports. especially baseball. and it's a family affair, with michael coaching local youth sports leagues, natalie becomes treasurer of the middle school

baseball program. >> she was heavily involved in that because mike was a coach. they were involved in tons of leagues and different things. >> so, you were all involved as friends in the sports world with your children? >> yes. that's correct. >> we met the cochrans because i had put my son into the draft for the little league baseball. >> toni mccall met michael and natalie after her husband died of leukemia, leaving her a single mom to three children. >> michael very much took on a father figure role, especially for cash. he was so good to him. he took him everywhere. they went fishing, they went to practices. it was the dream come true to have that father figure when you

don't have one for your kids and you want one. >> the cochrans are a busy couple both on and off the field. they open a business that is supposed to provide supplies to the federal government. it's called tactical solutions group, or tsg. and they soon begin looking for big investors to help them pay the up-front money that is sometimes needed for government contracts. and to everybody's surprise, natalie up and quits her job as a pharmacist, jumping into the new business completely. >> great, you know. i mean, if you can quit your job as a pharmacist, like, oh, wow. >> by all accounts, the new business appears to be flourishing. >> they were building onto their house, and they put up a new fence. mike got a car. >> so, they seemed to be doing

well? >> oh, absolutely. yeah. yeah. they're doing very well. >> natalie tells friends they were inspired by the movie "war dogs," the one about two men with no experience in the defense industry to become arms dealers to the u.s. military and get in way over their heads. >> they call guys like us war dogs. bottom-feeders who make money off of war without ever stepping on the battlefield. >> when she told me that we're going to make all of our employees watch "war dogs" as like an onboarding video, i said, "well, you do realize that the guys went to jail, right?" >> it might surprise people to know that any civilian can seek a government contract. >> all you have to do is register, and then you can start bidding. it can be a small business, an individual, a nonprofit, agreeing to provide goods or services to the government at a specific rate at an agreed-upon time. >> the process is you discover

the contract, you bid on the contract. >> and if you're chosen, suddenly you're in business with the u.s. government. >> the cochrans' website for their business, tsg, boasts impressive clientele from within the government, including the department of defense, fema, homeland security, and the cia. >> tactical solutions group was supposed to be a whole goods seller. so they could sell healthcare, equipment, masks, firearms and various things like that. >> michael cochran would spend hours sifting through all of these government contracts, and he would tell natalie what he'd found. she'd go to the investors and say, "michael found the most incredible investment." >> what did you know about what this business was all about?

>> they got this niche. a woman-owned small business. the idea of, the federal government will pay $50 for a $10 hammer. you just gotta be able to get in there and get the contracts, and fight with the big guys. >> and all the couple needs now is a little startup cash. >> most of their investors were friends, family, people that they knew. >> we invested $245,360.69, that was our retirement savings. >> michael's mom donna remembers the first time natalie approached her about investing in the family business. do you remember what she said? >> yeah, she asked us if we wanted to do the government contract. she said that she wanted to help us out, you know, when we got ready to retire. >> at what point did you decide that maybe this was something that you might be interested in getting involved in? >> about a month later. she told me that she was doing it for her parents, that they'd made $60,000 in five months. and so, we thought, well you

know, maybe we'll give it a try. >> that's a pretty good return. >> yes, ma'am, it sure is. >> donna bolt says her daughter-in-law claimed she could get her initial investment back, with profit, sometimes in as little as ten days. so when they come to you for a potential investment, what's your initial thought? >> my initial thought was, sure! >> the cochrans' close friends, chris and jennifer davis, say the couple approached them after church, saying they needed some major cash to fulfill a contract for dental labs, saying if they didn't get the money right away, they'd lose the entire contract. >> but it was more than just, "hey, do you want to invest?" there were supposed to be dental facilities on military bases. that's why we couldn't see any of the documents. because she knew i was gonna ask that. i was like, "well, what's the

contract --" you know," well, you can't see it. you don't have authorization. we can't do that 'cause the department of defense." and so, we were like, "sure, yeah man, we'll -- we'll help out." >> how much were you investing? >> $511,000. >> when chris davis hears who's investing, he says it seems like a safe opportunity. >> i trusted all those names and, and people in the community. >> so, if they were involved, it must be sound and good. >> absolutely, the names that were lining up it fit like, okay, these people aren't going to do anything crazy. >> toni mccall says the circle of trust was how she too decides to invest. >> she had pulled someone in that i was close to and had been getting them to do contracts. >> she says that person calls one day with an opportunity for the two of them to go in on a contract. but they've got to do it immediately. >> it pays out in 45 days, but you have to do it right now. like ebay. she bids at the very last minute so that nobody can go in and bid over top of her. but you have to tell me right

now. and so, i did it. i spent $256,000. >> by all accounts, it seemed to be a safe bet. the cochrans appear to be doing well. >> i had seen the money that they were spending. >> they had multiple vehicles. they had motorcycles. they were buying trips overseas. >> the cochrans are living the high life. but then suddenly, the youth sports league is broke. >> this ain't good. i really felt in my heart that something was going on. >> you don't have anything? it's all spent? >> could something be afoul at the little league? allison. [swooshing sound] introducing allison's plaque psoriasis. ♪ she thinks her flaky, gray patches are all people see. ♪ otezla is the #1 prescribed pill to treat plaque psoriasis. over here!

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well. and family and friends notice the couple seem to be, too. >> it appeared that natalie and michael were quite wealthy, and they were living like they were. >> they had multiple vehicles. they had motorcycles. they were buying trips overseas to paris. they went to hawaii. >> you know, we just thought it was wonderful. we just thought they were doing so good, that we were so proud of them. >> i mean, they had three homes, a pickup truck, motorcycles, a nice antique car. >> him and natalie drove up in a 1965 shelby cobra. it was a kit car. it was just something that they bought. we were just very happy. we even took a ride in it. >> they were living much higher than the majority of people in beckley, west virginia. >> did you see a difference in how their lives seem to be changing? >> oh, yeah. >> you were on vacation together. what kind of vacations did you take? >> we did beach vacations.

and then, we went to new york city a couple times with them. and so, the typical sightseeing, shopping. >> everybody got along? >> oh, yes. >> yeah. >> it was great. >> it was a lot of fun. >> from the outside, it appeared that a lot of the spending was on michael's side. >> this was wealth that he had not experienced before. so, he wanted to take advantage of it. some of the things that michael cochran purchased in this period were recreational vehicles, an airplane hangar. he had ambitions and endeavors to open up an aviation branch to this business. >> he really, really wanted to fly, and he loved that type of stuff. he was working on his pilot's license. now, he wanted to fly helicopters. >> they were a great couple to get that kind of money. they were doing things for people, and i mean good things. >> michael especially was doing a lot of charity work. he donated a weight room to a local middle school. when he found out his youth pastor was going to be homeless for a while, he actually

purchased a property for him to live in. >> natalie even gets involved with local organizations and charities. >> she volunteered. she wanted to do this and wanted to do that. >> she was helping us with juvenile diabetes research, all the fundraisers for that. and then we did a 5k run. she was good at that. she would organize it, get sponsors. get the word out. >> one time, she and mike were at the house. and she told me that they were going to buy a town in africa, because that was going to be their mission. you know, pay for everyone's home and build homes. >> natalie also helps raise money for the middle school baseball league. their friend chris is board president. >> we had a fundraiser. and from the fundraiser, we believe we raised a little over $15,000. it was a big deal. >> as treasurer of the little league, natalie manages the bank account.

but members get suspicious when the money all but disappears. but you knew there was a big chunk of money in there? >> yes, there should have been over $20,000 in there, absolutely. >> any idea of how it was drained like that? >> nobody knew it was missing until we were told it's missing. >> the league brings in a private investigator to look into where the money's gone. >> and i talked to the board, and i explained to them. "you don't have anything but $31 and a frozen bank account. there's no records of anything as to where this money went, it's all spent." >> there was an audit that was done. there were purchases made that weren't approved by the league. >> there was purchases to tj maxx, purchases to olive garden. and then when i started adding it up, i'm like, $32,000 in one night you raise for two sports teams, and it all just disappears? i mean, there's no way to rectify that. >> questions are now swirling

over the missing money. and if natalie could be involved. and when some investors with the cochrans' business get wind of it, they're getting concerned about the money they've been promised. as time is going on and you're not hearing anything, are you starting to panic at all? >> we'd ask. and say, "natalie, we need our money." i said, "you know what -- you know, our car's gonna break down. we need the money back." she would say, "it's coming, i promise." and then, she would send me text messages and say, "your money's going to be deposited in your bank account within the next 24 hours." and we'd wait. and it was never there. >> you didn't get anything? >> no. >> donna says that any communication she had about the couple's business was typically with natalie, not her son. >> every time that i received any kind of message, it was a text message from natalie. it was she and i that was constantly going back and forth with contracts. >> meantime, natalie continues

to portray the business as extremely successful. >> from the outside looking in, i would've probably been like pretty impressed. i thought, man, right here in raleigh county, west virginia, these people are knocking it out of the park. >> one investor says it's astonishing how much money natalie says she's pulling in. >> she did give me a number at the time. you know, this was like $343 million we're going to have to put in this bank. that was a little hard to believe. >> natalie and michael tell a local bank their business is worth more than $500 million when they apply for a $100,000 loan. >> was her business worth $500 million? >> no. absolutely not. >> it turns out the cochrans' business is not what it appears to be. >> i said this in pure west virginian. "this ain't good." i really felt in my heart something was going on.

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♪ there is nothing wrong with doing well and having a successful business. >> the cochrans and their business, tactical solutions group, put themselves out to be legitimate government contractors who were bidding on legitimate government contracts. >> she always made all of them

look like they were good investments. >> the problem is there never was any legitimate income flowing from government contracts. all the money and cashflow is coming from investors. >> there were no contracts. there were never any contracts. there were never any bids. it doesn't exist. >> the businesses didn't exist at all, really, legitimately? >> they existed on -- they existed on paper. >> it was clear that it was a ponzi scheme. >> when it comes to a ponzi scheme, there's no real business. there's no money being generated. early investors get paid by new investor money. like shifting poker chips from one pile to another. and as long as the money's coming in from new investors, the ponzi scheme can continue. >> if you're just taking one investor's money and giving it to another investor as if it's a legitimate return on their investment, that's a fraud. >> i said, "no, these are

friends of mine. i've seen what they've done in the community." >> successful ponzi schemes almost always rely on trust, and you often find that people start very close to home. >> the cochran business model seemed to be built on defrauding their friends and family. many of them knew them their entire lives, and they had no reason to not trust them. >> it would hurt a lot less for this to have been someone that i didn't know that had scammed me out of money. it would hurt a lot less. i was already wounded from my husband passing away, and my kids the same. >> these were friends, neighbors, and family members who were defrauded. and the question is whether michael knew about it. >> michael was not the brains of the couple. he was a great guy, but natalie

was the brains of the operation. and michael would look for contracts on the government website, and then he would give them to natalie, and she would make the bid. >> had michael expressed any concerns, any doubts about the business to you? >> not about the business. >> he was stressed about the government. he did not understand why the government will not give them their money, and he just couldn't figure it out. "how can they do this?" >> but of course the federal government didn't owe the cochrans any money because they'd never conducted any business with them. >> michael cochran was asking her questions very similar to the questions being asked by the investors who were trying to get their money back. >> she was giving the same excuses to michael that she was giving to the investors. >> natalie would tell me, "we're being audited.

there's a government shutdown." there was always some excuse with her. >> the lives and paychecks of some 800,000 federal workers hanging in the balance. >> around christmastime in 2018, there was a government shutdown. and it lasted until january 25th of the following year. >> day 32 of the government shutdown now beginning its second month. we have never seen this. >> natalie used this whole government shutdown to her advantage. her investors were coming and saying, "we want our money. we'd like to pull it out." and she would say, "well, i can't. the government is shut down. there's no way to get access to your money. they're not paying anybody." >> she had a neverending list of reasons that they were not seeing their returns. when she could no longer blame the federal government for the delays, she turned to, i guess, more of the emotional side of, you know, saying that she had cancer. >> we're feeling bad for her. you know, she even told us that she had cancer, that she wasn't

gonna do anything about it, that she was gonna let god take care of it, and if he took her on then that would be fine. and i just got so distraught and emotional, and i kept telling her she needed to fight, not to give up. >> she said she was in stage three. her and mike were talking about not going through chemo and radiation and just living what life she has left. >> was that devastating? >> oh, completely. >> we were all pretty devastated. to the point we all get the paperwork to go get our bone marrow tested to see if there was any way we could help her. >> remember, toni mccall had lost her husband to leukemia. she was skeptical about natalie's claim of having cancer. >> i believe that natalie used the leukemia to stall on having any payments. i knew she didn't have stage three leukemia, because it's not in stages. it's in types. everything pointed to the fact that she did not have it. she had told us that she was losing her hair from the chemo

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♪ on the morning of february 6th, the plan was that the cochrans, michael and natalie, were going to fly to virginia to visit the bank of america there. >> she had text messages going with me and jennifer. >> so the morning of february 6th, they were going to go take a flight. >> she said she was too sick to fly.

she had the flu and the norovirus, and it hit her so hard because of her cancer. she had gone to the doctor, and they put her on such a high dose of steroids that her blood sugar was elevated. she had asked to borrow a vial of insulin. >> so she needed a bottle of your son's insulin? >> yes. and i told her that chris was getting ready to leave the house, that he could drop it off for her. >> chris drops the insulin around 10:30 that morning. jennifer and chris receive a photo about two hours later around 12:30 of michael laying unconscious in the cochrans' kitchen floor. >> michael was laying in the fetal position in the floor in his kitchen. >> so she sends a photo out of him on the floor? >> mm-hmm. >> yeah. and my reaction in the text was "is he okay? what's going on?" "he's fine. the contractors are here putting

him on the couch." okay. >> michael is moved from the floor to the couch. people start coming into the home saying, "hey, you should probably take him to the hospital." >> throughout the day, some of the couple's friends come to the house while others text natalie, worried about michael. >> every time we would check on him, we would get, "he's fine." >> "he's gonna sleep it off." >> "he's sleeping it off." >> she said he was sleeping it off on the couch. >> the wording of the messages were as if she was communicating with him. "he won't go to the hospital." oh. >> he won't go to the hospital? >> yeah. when she says, he won't go to the hospital, in my mind i'm thinking he's told her, "i'm not gonna go to the hospital." >> almost unilaterally, all of natalie's friends were urging her to take michael to the hospital. and michael needed medical attention.

>> and so you're looking at close to eight hours that this man, that he was incapacitated, he was unconscious, he was on the couch and pretty much unresponsive. >> i get a message at around 6:30, i'm at gavin's basketball game. and the message says, "can you come by after the game?" >> chris davis shows up and insists that they take michael to the hospital, and they load michael in the car. >> i knew something was wrong. he's just totally unresponsive. i was like, well i said, "he's gotta go, he's gotta go to the hospital." >> he's been unconscious for seven, eight hours. like, we're getting him to the hospital. >> michael got to the er at raleigh general hospital, his blood glucose was at 21. he was critical. and he was intubated.

>> a blood glucose level of 21 would be extremely low, dangerously low, and basically result likely in some sort of massive cognitive dysfunction, coma, seizure, even death. >> michael's parents are at home that night with no idea of their son's condition. >> we came home from church, watched a little tv. i was in the bed. eddie brought me my phone. he said, "you got a text message from natalie." it's 10:30 at night. >> concerned by such a late-night text, michael's mom donna checks natalie's message. >> she sent me a picture. there's michael brandon in the bed, and he's on the ventilator, unconscious, unresponsive. >> the davises also received texts from natalie showing michael in the hospital. >> i just kept asking her on text message, "what happened? what happened?"

>> doctors determine that michael is suffering from cerebral edema. >> cerebral edema is the medical term for swelling in the brain. we usually think about cerebral edema in the setting of a big bleed or a traumatic event. >> michael brandon, he was fighting, fighting to breathe. he was trying his best to live. >> michael spends at least four and a half days in a hospital in charleston. >> she makes this decision, you know, she's going to take him off the ventilator and everything. >> what are you thinking at that point, jennifer? >> i think just total shock. i just remember thinking, "this isn't happening. this, this can't be real." >>-- yeah, this was >> this was so tragic. >> what is this weird nightmare that just -- my goodness. >> that's visited upon this couple. >> yeah.

>> she's sick and now he's dying. >> like, those poor kids. my goodness, poor -- like, this is awful. it was awful. >> for five days he received medical treatment, and he was in a coma and never regained consciousness and passed away on february the 11th at the hospice house in beckley. >> your friend, 38 years old, within days is gone. >> it was awful. it was tragic. >> it was -- it was just sad. you know, we went to -- went to the funeral, it just all seemed surreal. everything's just kinda like, you're like in this fog, you know? it's just -- just unimaginable. >> after mike had passed, natalie called me one day and said that, "i've created this scholarship in his memory."

>> natalie starts a scholarship called the "coach michael cochran legacy scholarship." it appeared that natalie was selecting people who were family members. there were also people that michael coached. >> toni mccall's son is one of those high school students that natalie had offered a four-year college scholarship to. >> these scholarships, they're the kind that kids dream of. >> natalie, newly widowed, continues running her businesses. but then, four months after her husband death, she suddenly decides to sell nearly half of tactical solutions group for $4 million. >> she had negotiated to sell that business with a buyer offering to buy a 49% interest of her business. so this buyer had wired her $50,000 as an earnest deposit on his buy-in to this business. >> but before the deal can go

through, police show up at the cochran home with a search warrant. >> she said, "oh, they came here and they took everything." >> when they raided her house that day in june, that was huge. i mean, it was all anyone could talk about. >> when police search the cochran house, they find something unexpected that could explain michael's sudden death. >> a man, you know, 38 years old, what a fitness guru he was. to suddenly die in the midst of financial crimes occurring. i mean, that's pretty suspicious. >> so they decide to exhume michael cochran's body. does the big con turn into an even bigger crime?

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♪ at first, this was just a ponzi scheme investigation. >> tonight, all eyes on the headline-making court case that just wrapped. >> the interest in this case was huge. >> police are investigating the death of michael cochran. >> to suddenly die in the midst of allegations of financial crimes was pretty suspicious. >> so, you think he was duped as well? >> 100%, i believe that.

>> the defense counsel made it clear, they were living this lavish lifestyle. so how couldn't he have known that this was a ponzi scheme? >> natalie weaved such a web of lies, keeping us all drinking the kool-aid. >> they open the fridge. they find the vial of insulin. >> that was huge. >> did anybody take insulin in the house? >> no. i said, insulin? what are you doing with insulin in the refrigerator? >> prosecutors called that the murder weapon. >> what keeps gavin alive she used to take life. >> just in shock. still in shock. >> the defense can say, maybe he died of something else? >> i know that he took steroids. and he took many other supplements. >> he was a ticking bomb. >> your daughter-in-law is being accused of killing your son. >> i mean, how do you kill somebody that you're supposed to love?

it's been seven months since 38-year-old michael cochran's death, and private eye james quesenbury sends an employee on an undercover mission to michael's wife, natalie's, garage. >> i just seen the sign, figured i'd come out this way. >> oh. >> she was selling a bunch of things and items at her house. >> this is, um, security camera cable. and then this is ethernet cable. >> he's there to secretly get a closer look. >> the question was still out there of whether she was sitting on a pile of money. all these different questions. >> you don't want to sell the rest of everything else? >> not really, i'm going to keep those for my son. my husband, my husband passed away, so my dad helped me go through it. and we kept things that my son might use when he grows up. >> okay. >> had there been something there that shouldn't have been there, would've turned it over to law enforcement. she's all smiles and looking at him and trying to be polite.

and as soon as he turns his back, she changes her look, like her whole demeanor changes. >> in the months since michael cochran's death, authorities have started to take a hard look at the cochrans' so-called "businesses." >> i received a phone call from a trooper who had spoke with a local businessperson who had purchased some firearms from the cochrans. and he had a problem with getting his firearms delivered, or the money returned, and he was looking for help in resolving that matter. he had been solicited to be an investor in contracts. he never did it because the information he was receiving from natalie cochran on these investment solicitations didn't make sense to him. >> i was like, yes, we definitely need to take a look at this. >> so that disgruntled customer then connected investigators with someone who said he had invested with natalie cochran.

>> the problem that he was encountering was he kept getting excuse after excuse after excuse with getting his money returned. >> bob was going through the records as they were coming in. and so, you know, there's a ton of information there to go through. and bob's looking at it, we're sitting there one day, and he goes, "i'll be damned." he said, "it's a damn ponzi scheme." >> as they dig in, they take notice of the investigation into that little league account. remember, board members had been suspicious of natalie after money had gone missing. >> the shady spring little league bank accounts was one of the many accounts she used to facilitate her ponzi scheme. >> natalie would deposit from their company and then sift it back out in various different ways. >> natalie called the alleged financial crimes bogus, and ultimately, authorities decided not to charge her with anything related to the little league. >> the league never recouped any money.

it was all just lost. >> it's late into the summer, and those generous michael cochran legacy scholarships which natalie had promised students are now supposed to be paid out. >> there were eight people in total. they are full ride scholarships for up to eight years. >> toni mccall's son was given one of those college scholarships. >> there was no money. it was a fake scholarship. natalie weaved such a web of lies. they were bizarre like that. it was still keeping us all in the flock. >> natalie cochran has insisted the scholarships would have been paid if her assets hadn't eventually been frozen by the government, but investigators had a different view. >> when she created these, we saw that as an attempt to dispel rumors. rumors were circulating that her business was being looked at. that she didn't have this wealth or this money. >> we had pretty clearly

identified at least, and i may be under, at least ten known victims of the ponzi scheme. >> the most obvious red flag at the time was that nobody was getting any money back. >> we had more than enough evidence and documentation to proceed with indictment. >> so, she's arrested? >> yes. >> what did you think of that? >> we were glad. when she was arrested, she was wearing the tailgate socialite t-shirt. that was the true natalie right there. >> natalie cochran faces 26 charges related to the fraud. she pleads not guilty, but her investors are deeply distraught over the hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost money. >> i spent $256,000. >> $511,000. >> almost a quarter of a million dollars over the course of 2 1/2 years. we loved her, and we believed her. everything she told us, we

believed everything she said to us. >> chris davis says he, too, was taken in by his trust in naturally and by the impressive paperwork she supplied. it looks legitimate. i mean, there are a lot of companies and there are a lot of, uh, entities here. why would she do this? >> i don't know if it was the the greed or the position or status. >> reaching a deal with prosecutors, natalie pled guilty to two counts. an unlawful monetary transaction and wire fraud. >> and then she went off to prison for 11 years, for fraud. >> she did. may 1st of 2021 is when she finally went into the prison at hazelton. >> the court also ordered her to payback $2.5 million to the investors she fleeced. but with little income coming in, it will likely be a very long process. >> did you feel that was fair, that was right? >> the judge said, "if i could give you more, i would."

he acknowledged the fact that the lawyers had reached this plea agreement and had capped what he could've done to her, so no. at that moment, i didn't believe it was fair. and just as i told the judge, "there's 2.5 million reasons why it wasn't fair." >> but this isn't over yet. a search warrant in the fraud case had led investigators into the cochran home and brought an unexpected surprise. >> they opened the fridge. they find the vial of insulin. it's suspicious that it shouldn't be there. nobody in the family is diabetic. >> does that insulin have anything to do with michael cochran's death? we'll hear from his wife naturally for the first time as investigators sit her with some tough questions. >> going to be having a conversation with natalie cochran. >> this investigation is just getting started.

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at first, this was just a ponzi scheme investigation. >> but as authorities investigate the fraud case, they also begin questioning michael cochran's unexpected death.

>> michael cochran, who was 38 years old, seemingly a fit, healthy man. >> he took care of himself. he did work out, worked out all the time. >> to suddenly die in the midst of allegations of financial crimes, that's pretty suspicious. >> no autopsy had been done on michael cochran. the death certificate issued by the hospice where he died listed natural causes. >> there was no medical examiner involvement. >> you know, natalie cochran gave different versions of what happened with michael on february the 6th to multiple people. >> so authorities arrange a meeting with natalie. >> today's date is april 8th, 2019. >> i explained to her, we were looking into michael's death. >> natalie, just tell me just how things progressed with michael. >> on february the 6th, whatever day we presented to the hospital, he went into the kitchen.

all of a sudden he started throwing up in the sink, and i heard him hit his head. and then i went in there. he had fallen. and so i didn't know what to do. because mike was very adamant after he got out of the hospital last time -- he said, "if you ever take me to the hospital again, you're going to regret it." >> it turns out michael had been hospitalized for several days back in november for potential exposure to black mold. natalie says she thought one of michael's training supplements could have been making him sick. >> it was her belief that michael had taken an overdose of this supplement that she alleged was coming from mexico. >> i'd always been on him like, "this stuff's not safe. it's illegal." it came in a bottle that said "for animal use only. not for human ingestion." it was like a steroid. >> right. >> he was taking it to gain mass and to keep his stuff cut up. >> gotcha. >> and they also had an insulin component in it, which bodybuilders can manipulate insulin to cut muscle. >> she introduces insulin in the discussion as part of

michael cochran's weightlifting regimen. >> and so mike was all about -- he was just very into bodybuilding. >> is there any chance that he would've purposely taken too much of that? >> he did purposely take too much. he was trying to super load. >> there was always this effort to make sure that there was an explanation for insulin being somehow involved in michael's death. in the third conversation, she brought up that michael was injecting with insulin. she had done a complete pivot from where it was all this supplement. now michael's injecting insulin. >> the insulin he was doing through injection? >> correct. he would inject it before meals so that it would cover any carbs that he ate. >> insulin is used primarily by diabetics to essentially help regulate the blood sugar in our body. >> he wasn't diabetic, obviously?

>> no. >> and remember, the fraud investigation is still ongoing. in june of 2019, federal and state authorities conduct a search of the cochran house. >> natalie is there. >> she was in the garage. the search warrant was done based off the financial crime information investigation only. >> we anticipated finding additional evidence regarding this ponzi scheme. >> but they found something else they didn't expect. >> sometimes things happen in investigations that you call it fate. >> i started basically rummaging through the refrigerator. there's this bottle of insulin setting right there. >> it shouldn't be there. nobody in the family is diabetic. >> that was huge. where did it come from?

whose is it? >> natalie's got the same answer for authorities and for michael's mother. >> she said, "oh, they came here and they took everything. they even took the insulin out of the refrigerator." >> now, what did you make of that? did anybody take insulin in the house? >> no. i said, "insulin? what are you doing with insulin in the refrigerator?" "i keep that here," she said, "for gavin, when he came over, if he needed a shot," 'cause he's a diabetic. >> you believed it? >> we did. >> remember, gavin is chris and jennifer davis' son. they tell authorities they never stored his insulin at the cochran house. but then they recall the bag they left for natalie the morning michael collapsed. >> the investigators said, "did she ever borrow insulin from you?" and that's when jennifer's like, "yeah, she needed it when she had cancer and -- and she got sick." and then that's when they were like, "you know when?"

i felt like at that moment we both were like, oh, my goodness. 'cause now we know that she's a thief and a fraud. >> when we started seeing the text messages with jennifer davis about insulin, it was very revealing. if you believe the previous things that natalie has said, she should have already had insulin readily available in the home. so it made no sense to go through all this effort. i think it's clear that she poisoned him with insulin. >> authorities develop a theory of how natalie may have used insulin to kill michael. >> when he's finally taken to the emergency room, he presented with a blood sugar level of 21, and he's not diabetic. >> you get low blood sugar by receiving too much insulin. natalie had access to insulin. she had the means to inject it. she knew exactly what insulin would do. >> investigators believe there's enough circumstantial evidence to tie natalie to michael's

death. >> 39-year-old natalie cochran is now accused of the february 2019 murder of her husband, michael. >> natalie cochran pleads not guilty. was that hard for you to accept, that your daughter-in-law is being accused of killing your son? >> yeah, it was really hard to believe because, i mean, how do you kill somebody that you're supposed to love? and they're your children's father? >> but why would natalie want to kill her husband? >> the investigators thought the text messages looked suspicious. >> michael didn't know about the ponzi scheme, but he was learning. >> michael was about to discover he didn't have millions, perhaps a billion dollars of legitimately-earned income inbound from the federal government. and that was a problem for natalie. >> here is exactly the motive of why she felt like she had to kill michael. with heart disease, you never know. so we made changes. green juice.

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opening arguments began today in the natalie cochran trial. >> in january, more than three years after she was indicted for the first-degree murder of her husband, michael, natalie

cochran's trial is finally under way. >> there were media outlets from all over the country here. the interest in this case was huge. >> you may be seated. >> for michael's family and friends, the three-year wait for justice has been agonizing. how tough was that for you all to just have this thing drag on before it's going to be resolved? >> it was hard. >> yes, very hard. >> spent lots of time praying. >> what was it like for you to see natalie in that courtroom? >> i can't say that i really even thought about her. we just had to get justice for michael. >> natalie cochran is a young woman. an 11-year sentence with good time served for the ponzi scheme is relatively short with good time served, versus a life sentence for murder. those stakes are incredibly high. >> all right. now, mr. truman, you may proceed. >> thank you, your honor.

>> on february the 5th of 2019, michael cochran was a 200-pound, healthy 38-year-old man. by midday of february 6th of 2019, he had lost consciousness, and he would never regain consciousness. >> the state needs to get ahead of the fact that it's an entirely circumstantial case. you got to tell the jury you're not going to get the stuff you get on tv. there's no dna. there's no fingerprints. this is it. but that's enough to convict. >> this is a complex case, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, but it's built by the state of west virginia on conjectures and innuendos, and glaringly lacking in motive. and the evidence necessary to prove that my client killed her husband.

natalie understood that we cannot present a defense that would somehow skirt the issue of the ponzi scheme or that would hide it from the jury. we admitted to the jury what was well known to everybody. >> the fact that she is perhaps a fraud and perhaps a cheat, and that you wouldn't perhaps want to invite her home for sunday dinner, that you wouldn't like her, does not translate into being a murderer. >> we absolutely believe that the imminent failure of the ponzi scheme was natalie's motive to kill michael. that was going to happen and it was going to happen very, very quickly if she didn't act. >> what michael cochran didn't know is certainly one of the most important questions here.

but to me, what's more important is what he was about to know. the consequences that would come when he found out that information. >> and at the heart of the case, a vial of insulin. prosecutors called that the murder weapon. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> what keeps gavin alive, she used to kill, she used to take life. >> on the morning of february 6th, jennifer davis remembers getting a text from natalie asking to borrow that insulin. she testifies about that exchange. >> can you just explain to me what's going on in this conversation? >> she said that her and mike, they were both sick and she had to start taking small insulin shots. >> did you provide that insulin to her? >> i put the insulin in a bag and gave it to my husband, and he dropped it off on the porch on the way to work.

>> several hours later, natalie sends jennifer a picture of michael unconscious on the kitchen floor. >> what did this picture mean to you when you received it? >> just that -- it was just shocking that he was laying there. >> natalie contacts two construction workers that had worked for the family. says, "michael's on the floor. i'm going to need help picking him up from the floor and taking him into the living room." >> so after chris davis drops off the bag of insulin, natalie sends out a text. she invites several friends over throughout the day to check on his condition and essentially make sure he's okay but not take him to the hospital. >> in a statement to abc news, natalie cochran says that "mike hated the hospital. he threatened several people that we better not take him back."

>> stephanie hamilton, a physician's assistant, came over to check michael out and found him nonresponsive. >> what did you specifically advise? >> that he needed to be checked. i said, "even people with the history of seizures, anytime they have one, they need to be checked." i kept offering. i would go with her. she said she was going to let him sleep it off. >> you also heard from her later that day. take a look at that, 21. what does that mean to you? >> no one should ever have a blood sugar of 21. >> what's going to happen if they do? >> they're in a coma, probably near death. >> at some point, you go over? >> yes, and i walk in the living room. he's laying on the couch like he's sleeping. >> what did you do? >> so i go over to him. i just remember saying, "man, hey, buddy. i'm going to take you to the hospital."

and that's exactly what i did. >> but by this time, it's too late. michael gets to the hospital, but the damage has been done. >> take a moment. you're okay. >> chris, it was very tough for you in court when they showed you the photo that you had already seen of mike. >> yeah. >> why did it hit you so hard? >> i wished i could have got to him first. >> over two days, prosecutors have meticulously laid out the timeline of the day michael cochran died. the question now, will they be able to prove that it was his wife natalie who killed him? y for radar, who hears everything. and that sound means chewy is en route. ear wipes. kibble. squeaky lamb.

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♪ mr. truman, you may call your first witness. >> as prosecution lays out their case against natalie cochran, they intend to show that she had the means but the motive and opportunity to kill her husband, michael, back in february of 2019. >> thank you your honor, the state calls robert hinzman. raise your right hand please, sir. >> bob hinzman was the primary investigator of the defendant's ponzi scheme.

and he explained there was really no evidence that michael knew what was going on. >> the defense has floated the theory that michael cochran was up to his eyeballs in this ponzi scheme. from your investigation, do you have any evidence that would support that? >> he believed that they had obtained contracts and that they would be receiving money for these contracts. >> do you have any evidence that he knew that this was a fraud being carried on? >> no. >> it was important to hammer home that michael cochran was at least cognizant of the scheme, because it would destroy the state's theory of why it happened. >> have you, in your thorough investigation of this case, talked to the children of mr. and mrs. cochran? >> no. >> would it surprise you if i told you that they observed

their parents work on the federal contracts? and you're telling this jury that he had not no knowledge of these contracts? >> i'm not telling the jury that. i said that he knew about the contracts that he was led to believe were bid on by their business. >> the investigation had revealed that michael was beginning to ask some really tough questions of natalie about where the money was going. >> the day before february 5th, 2019, it was arranged by the cochrans to charter a flight from beckley down to lynchburg, virginia, to meet with the bank of america banker. and of course, that was a meeting that natalie could never allow to happen. because if it did happen, then michael would know, and that would've been the end of her ponzi scheme. >> court nexson was an employee of bank of america. he testified via zoom in this trial because he's not local. >> and that was to take place

february 6th, 2019, correct? >> correct. looks like they said they were going to fly in, so we were basically responding to their schedule and setting things up as best we could. >> did that meeting take place? >> never took place. >> natalie was becoming desperate at this point. >> prosecutors argued that if michael was in the dark, natalie's deception was about to come to light. >> putting jennifer davis on the stand explains how natalie got the insulin that she needed to kill michael. >> jennifer, at this point, you are offering to help out a friend in need. is that fair to say? >> yes. >> did she accept your offer to help? >> yes, she did. she asked if she could borrow a vial of insulin. >> according to dr. uribe, who was one of our forensic pathologists, the only way that michael's blood sugar could have

plummeted to 21 was if someone else had given him insulin. >> there was profound hypoglycemia. hypoglycemia is low blood glucose. once he was treated for the hypoglycemia, the blood sugar went up, and then it went back down again. to me, that is a significant pattern. >> and why is that pattern significant to you? >> because there are only a few things that can do that. one of the big things is insulin administration. >> but the defense poses an important question -- could michael have injected himself as part of a bodybuilding regimen? dr. uribe pushes back against that suggestion. >> to my knowledge, bodybuilders don't use insulin. >> during the murder investigation, michael's remains were exhumed, and dr. uribe

conducted an autopsy. >> and what did you determine were michael cochran's cause and manner of death? >> i came to the conclusion that the cause of death was exogenous insulin administration. >> your honor, the state calls timothy bledsoe to the stand. >> tim was able to draw all of the parallels and connect all of the pieces. he was able to explain for the jury how and why the ponzi scheme and the failure of the ponzi scheme led to the murder of michael cochran. >> it was about telling that story, another piece to the puzzle. and i think overall, i think we were successful. >> now, we previously heard jennifer davis testify that she had insulin sent to the defendant's home. was that your understanding? >> yes. >> do you recall why the defendant needed the insulin that morning? >> i believe it was something related to a cancer treatment.

>> and throughout the entire course of your investigation, did you ever uncover any evidence that the defendant had cancer? >> no. >> did you waver at all? did you wonder, maybe the prosecutors had this wrong? that it was just a horrible set of circumstances? >> not once they talked to us. and then i started going back through, you know, my texts and you know, chris and i started talking and you know, then i was just in shock, disbelief. i'm still in shock. it just doesn't seem real at all. but -- but it was hard. >> prosecutors have rested their case. now it's the defense's turn to persuade the jury that natalie cochran is innocent. and to do that, they bring in their own star witnesses, michael and natalie's children. >> do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so

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♪ the state has wrapped its case of circumstantial evidence. now it's the defense's turn. >> good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. >> good morning.

>> they believe there's not enough evidence to prove that natalie cochran killed her husband, michael. >> the atmosphere in the courtroom was, what's the defense going to bring? you could sense some anxiety there of what the defense was going to say about michael to try and explain away natalie's actions. >> the defense has already told the jury that michael cochran was, quote, "a ticking bomb" because of his alleged medical problems and health history. their game plan is to discredit the prosecution's case and michael cochran himself. >> there was no forensic evidence to tie her to a murder. zero forensic evidence. >> they call two surprising witnesses to the stand. natalie and michael's children. >> would you state your name for the record? >> nicole cochran. >> what type of medication was he taking? >> i know that he took steroids and he took many other supplements. >> did he do it daily?

>> yes, every morning. >> was he into supplements and vitamins and all of that stuff? >> oh, absolutely. he took his supplements, his pre-workouts and those things. he tried to take care of his body. >> he would lay all of his pills out on the counter, and there would be so many of them that they would just sit in a whole circle and it looked like the size of a dinner plate. and then he would scoop them handfuls at a time into his mouth. >> the theory by the defense counsel is that michael cochran was not a healthy individual. >> did you start noticing any changes in your father's health? >> he was very agitated and angry more so than not, and he was having a lot of headaches. >> the defense asks the same line of questioning to the cochrans' son, whose face is concealed on the witness stand

because he's a minor. >> did he ever inject anything? >> definitely steroids. >> he took supplements and things like that. did he take steroids? >> he never took any steroids. if you would see him, all, everything that he has, all the muscles he has is natural, hard work. >> mike wasn't a bodybuilder. he ate too much pizza to be a bodybuilder. was he fit? he was. was he in shape? he was. did he work hard for that? he did. >> he was taking things from mexico, they were saying, things that were not approved by the fda. >> what did he get from mexico, do you know? >> i don't know the name of the steroid, but it was definitely an anabolic. >> what was that like to see them testifying on their mother's behalf? >> they love their mother. of course they're going to defend their mother. but the things they said about their father was really heartbreaking. >> defense lawyers argue that michael cochran was not exactly a healthy 38-year old and that

his lifestyle led to four hospital visits between 2017 and the time of his death in 2019. >> he got sick, and i feel like around that time it was when you could just notice that he started to change a little bit. just forgetting stuff all the time. and he was more aggressive. >> towards whom? aggressive toward -- >> towards everybody. >> natalie had told friends and family that her husband also suffered from seizures, plus symptoms of black mold poisoning from renovations he did on their house. had you heard of him having seizures? >> we were told that he had seizures, and he was exposed to black mold. >> the defense also tries to hammer away at the state's motive, the ponzi scheme. they claim natalie cochran wasn't the only one involved. they say michael was, too. >> i always saw him working on his computer, and he would say that that's what he was doing. >> say that he was doing what?

>> that he was filling out contracts. >> did your mother do that? >> no. >> who was working on the contracts? >> my dad. >> we had heard that natalie cochran was going to take the stand. she had informed the judge that she was going to testify on her own behalf. and at the last minute, she decided that she wasn't going to testify. >> the jury was extremely attentive. but the jury was never more invested in what was being said than in the closing arguments. >> all right, are you folks ready to deliver your closing remarks? >> natalie was a diabetic counselor and a pharmacist. she knew that injecting insulin into a non-diabetic would cause harm. >> is that the action of a planning, cold-blooded killer? she would get that insulin ahead of time, not on the day of the

murder, and involve two witnesses against her right there and then. >> she chose over and over, after repeated pleas from friends and loved ones, to leave michael on the couch. >> it's a horrible tragedy. but a tragedy, not a murder. >> the state failed to answer a couple of questions, and that is, when did it happen? where did it happen? how did it happen? >> there was no deductive reasoning where you would say, well, it was professor plum with the candlestick in the study. >> well, it was actually the pharmacist in the kitchen, according to the prosecution's theory. >> she had a clear motive. and you saw that leading up to this date, michael was about to find out what she was doing to people. do we know what he was going to do with that information? we never will, because he won't have the chance to tell us.

>> ms. cochran has committed crimes of fraud. but that doesn't make her a murderer. we're asking you to find her not guilty. >> 21 was such a crucial number, because nobody's blood glucose should be at that level unless you've had an injection of insulin. a normal blood glucose level would be anywhere from 70 to around 130. >> 21, that's the number we're going to rely on to convince you beyond a reasonable doubt that this defendant killed michael cochran. find this defendant guilty of first-degree murder, 'cause that's exactly what she did. >> the case is now in the hands of the jury. were prosecutors able to convince them that natalie cochran killed her husband? or did the defense poke enough holes to sow reasonable doubt? >> people yell out, "there's a verdict."

then people start scurrying to get a seat inside the courtroom. >> has the jury reached a verdict? >> yes. >> when that verdict comes back, they were shocked. was at risk of shingles. the rash couldn't possibly be that painful. and it wouldn't disrupt my life for weeks. i was wrong. i didn't know that 99% of people over 50 already have the virus that causes shingles and it could reactivate at any time. i learned that the hard way, but you don't have to. talk to your healthcare provider today. [clock bong] what's for dinner? ♪ what's for dinner?

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the jury verdict is as follows. the defendant is guilty of murder in the first degree. >> what was it like when you heard guilty? >> we were so happy, because we're finally getting justice for michael after all these years. >> you know, i could just feel my, my spirit and everything just kind of just went -- [ exhales ] you know, this is what it's supposed to be. >> it was exhilarating to hear the word guilty, and all i can think is, we did it. we got her. >> and the jury's not finished. they've got another decision to make. what's known as the "mercy phase." >> good morning, members of the jury. >> good morning. >> you are back. >> mercy, which means the defendant gets parole eligibility after serving 15 years, or no mercy, which means there's no eligibility for parole.

>> raise your right hand, please. >> a slew of natalie cochran's family, including her mom, tearfully take the stand. >> i beg. i don't know what else i can say except please give mercy to her. >> for a second time, natalie's 19-year-old daughter faces the jury that's already convicted her mom in her father's murder. >> i missed her at my high school graduation, and i missed her on the day i moved into college. i'ming wing begging you to give her mercy so that i don't have to miss more. >> natalie cochran's family ended up leaving when the family of michael cochran, when they were up there. >> please raise your right hand please, ma'am. >> we, along with our family and friends, have sat quietly and graciously and painfully watched and listened as michael's good name has been murdered time and time again. >> it was one of the most intense pieces of testimony in the entire trial.

>> this spoiled, evil, narcissistic murderer had seldom if ever been denied this, which she wanted. >> she will try to blame my precious son, michael, for her evilness and deceit. >> do you remember what you said that you felt the strongest about? >> when i said that, "please, please don't give her any mercy." we ask that you please, please, no mercy. she never gave michael any mercy. >> i think it was extremely riveting for the jury to see. >> we, the jury, unanimously do not recommend mercy. >> natalie cochran will spend the rest of her life in prison. >> but the pain lives on for michael's friends, jennifer and chris, whose son's insulin may very well have been used to end their friend's life. >> i trusted her. and that's the exact same thing she used and borrowed from me.

and that's hard. and that's something i'll have to live with. >> as far as i'm concerned, justice has been done. she's where she needs to be. >> you've lost your son, you've lost financially. you've lost a lot. >> yes, we have. but we have each other, and we're strong for each other. that's the only way we can get by. and because of god. >> what about your grandchildren? do you hope to have a relationship at some point with them? >> right now, i think it's best the way that it is. i don't see them coming around. and we have to accept it and just go on. >> just days after the verdict, i visited with michael's parents. his stepfather ed took me to a special place they've created to honor their son's memory. this is your memorial to michael. >> yeah. not able to get up there to his

gravesite much. so i said, you know, to keep it right here close, any time we want to go, we can just come right here. >> what do you think about when you come out here and sit on that bench? >> donna and i, sometimes we kind of sit around down here, they'll be like a butterfly that will come around. and i told donna, "well, there's little michael." so we've got a little cut-out flower over there, that he's always down here. >> deborah: such an emotional story to report on, david. those heartbroken parents placing a memorial bench where they can always remember their son, michael. >> david: we should note tonight that natalie cochran does plan to appeal her murder conviction. that is our program tonight. i'm david muir. >> deborah: i'm deborah roberts. from all of us here at "20/20" and abc news, good night.

counting down to tomorrow's big parade, which is expected to draw a huge crowd in san francisco. >> and the nba all-star game. events have kicked into high gear now, and you're going to want to hear charles barkley's new thoughts tonight about san francisco, a city he has repeatedly trashed. >> plus, there's some serious fallout from the trump administration cutting off funding, how it could create huge problems in fighting hiv, and the response being planned by california. >> always live abc seven news starts right now. >> good evening. i'm ama daetz. >> and i'm dan ashley. thanks for joining us. it is a huge weekend in san francisco. we have the nba all-star game. of course, the events got going tonight at chase center and