another couple, another dark mystery. what really happened behind closed doors? that's next. there's no healing. we haven't had time to heal. you haven't had time to have it set in. we've only had time to fight. a young mom finds romance with a cop until the terrible night when he heard gunfire ring out in their very own home. >> the door was shut and locked. >> break down the door? >> yes, sir. i just grabbed her hand and i called 9-1-1. >> but michelle was dead. >> all the indications that we had was a self-inflicked gunshot wound. >> suicide. some wondered was that what the evidence showed or was that what police called it because michelle's boyfriend was one of their own? >> michelle of all people loved life.

there was no suicide in that child. >> the family called it a cover-up. the sheriff said absolutely not. >> it's insane. i've locked up police officers before. >> what really happened between an officer and his girlfriend? >> there was some arguing and there was a yell for help. >> a search for answers that would lead to some very dark places. >> it's the shakespearian what happens. we're all changed forever. i'm lester holt and this is "dateline." here's dennis murphy. on that thursday in early september 2010, the tourists clip cloped past the ford in st. augustine. the shops on st. george street, but when the sun went down that night, if you were young, and lucky enough to score tickets, you were on your way to the amphitheater.

the indie band was plague. michelle o'connell was there and her glum looking boyfriend, jeremy banks. but her smile was little more than a camera reflex. for at least part of the night, they were both having a terrible time as michelle's brother scott remembers it. >> she just looked upset. i tried to crack a joke with her and cheer her up. nothing would get her to smile like that. >> they had been together a little over a year. jeremy and michelle. living together at his place for the past six months. they had been fighting in recent weeks worse than usual. the concert, jeremy told us, was shaping up to be their last date. >> i remember sitting there that night thinking to myself that tonight was the night we were going to break up. >> this might be the last time i'm with her? >> uh-huh. i mean, we weren't getting along. i was not going to be in a relationship with somebody that we weren't happy. >> what happened? what was said as they drove home

later from that concert? michelle at the wheel, jeremy in the back seat. we have only jeremy's account. >> on the way home she told me that she was going to have her brothers come get her things out of the house. i said are we breaking up? and she said yep, just like that. >> when they got to his place, miles south of the old historic district, it was clear they were finished. michelle was leaving jeremy. he said he sat on his motorcycle in the garage while she packed up her stuff inside the house. what would happen in the next few moments would ultimately destroy a family and set off a virtual civil war between that family and the local sheriff. all because michelle's life was about to end silently, violently in that back bedroom. she had never had an easy time of it. this feisty, tree climbing tom

boy, youngest in a family of six raised by a single mom. her older sister, jennifer. >> being the youngest, you have to stand out somehow and she made sure she did. >> when michelle was seven, her family moved from land locked stockton, california to the east coast of florida. michelle's mom remembers their first visit to the beach. >> my kids are in the water and i had never seen a dolphin. i'm thinking it's a shark. i'm going crazy. get out of the water. >> michelle never got to the and south of her shoes. she loved florida. >> we shared a lot of the same interests. our main thing we were into was going to the beach and getting a tan. >> sierra morris, michelle's best friend forever from the seventh grade on could see the arrival of maturity in her girlfriend. michelle at the age of 20 had her daughter alexis. lex lexie. >> she said numerous times, that's when her life began is when she had lexie. >> good mom?

>> that's the defining factor of michelle was being a mother. she loved lexie more than anything. there's pictures with her and alexis. that's all she liked to do, picture, picture. i used to worry that alexis might not have good eye vision because of all the flashes. >> the little girl from the highest tops of trees always seemed to be reaching for the sky. the family daredevil, giddy to be skydiving for the first time. but down earth, the gravity of daily living made it hard to soar. alexis' dad was out of the picture. michelle was raising her daughter as a single mom, cleaning houses to pay the bills. struggling. she hadn't had much luck in the boyfriend department either. then along came jeremy banks. he was a young sheriff's deputy from a family with a background law enforcement background after

work buddies who would sometimes grab a meal. >> we were out to dinner one night and my sister michelle was there. later, he asked if she was single. i said man, that's my sister. >> we're friends and you're trying to hit on my sister. he said no, nothing like that. i think she's cute and i'd like to get to know her better. >> michelle and jeremy started going out in 2009. six months into their relationship, the deputy, girlfriend and daughter moved into their home. she was pleased she found a reliable guy in uniform. >> at the library there's a book called, so you love a cop. i said should i get this for her? overall, i was happy that she had someone. >> but it wasn't long before the fights started. once he said she punched him and he said to have gotten on her case about what she should wear and who she should see. bff sierra was on the do not see list. she loathed him from the beginning.

>> what was your first impression of him? >> it wasn't good. he was smug and just kind of carried himself like he was better than michelle. better than other people that were around. >> and now here they were at the end of things. back at jeremy's house, michelle throwing her clothes together. earlier she texted her sister watching her little girl saying i'll be there soon. the broken up lover's pants in the kitchen. >> i asked her for a last kiss. she told me no. i told her i loved her. she wanted her space. i stepped outside and sat on my motorcycle. >> then jeremy says he heard a pop from inside the house. >> you knew what it was? >> yeah. hoping and praying to god that it's not. that it's something just she got mad, she threw something or something fell. so i got off my motorcycle, i ran to the bedroom. the bedroom door was shut and locked. i remember yelling for her and

that's when i heard the second gunshot. >> break down the door? >> yes, sir. >> you're trained in cpr. do you do the cpr? >> i just grabbed her hand and i called 9-1-1. >> 911. >> hey! please get someone to my house. please, my girlfriend she just shot herself. there's blood everywhere, please. >> a gunshot that would reverberate for years to come. >> a night of tension ends in tragedy. but also mystery. >> police arrive at the home of their fellow officer. he says michelle's death is a suicide. but one cop has questions. >> there's just too much things that didn't add up. i mean, it was an odd scene. . the same goes for my hair. for strong resilient hair that feels unbreakable, i start at my scalp. i use clear scalp & hair clear is the first and only

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st. john's county, florida, investigators and emt's were running through the night to assist one of their own. deputy jeremy banks told 911 that his girlfriend, michelle o'connell had just shot herself. >> i need someone here now! please get someone here now! >> debra maynard who was then a deputy happened to be nearby and was one of the first uniforms to arrive at jeremy's house. >> this had gone out as a likely

suicide. was that the mind-set of the officers as they continued to arrive? >> i think so. a lot of them were poor jeremy. we feel bad for you that she did this. >> another arriving investigator found a faint heartbeat and started cpr. frantically, trying to save michelle. the petite 24-year-old lay sprawled on the bedroom floor bent back at the knees as though she had been kneeling. the gunshot wound was in her mouth. another round was fired into the carpet by her right side. next to her left hand, her boyfriend's sheriff's-issued .45 semiautomatic lay tilted up on the holster a few inches away. the flashlight attachment under the barrel turned on. >> i remember begging to stay in the bedroom with them. that was my girlfriend. the person i loved. laying on the bedroom floor. >> i asked jeremy to come with me. at which point his behavior became aggressive and he started pacing back and forth.

the only way i can describe it as he was growling. like an animal that was caged. >> just making noises. >> outside the house, he slumped on a patrol car. >> what was your state of mind? >> upset. i was hysterical. >> it looks straightforward. a suicide. that's what a number of the responding deputies thought. but deputy maynard, who had responded to, she guessed, 30 to 40 previous suicide calls sensed something about this one was very different. the gun lying by the left hand of a right-handed victim. the deputies took in more details as emts worked on michelle. there was a laceration on her right eyelid. what had caused that? and why were 50 prescription painkillers found in her jeans pocket. in her purse sitting prominently on top were two empty pill vials made out to jeremy. >> there's too many things that didn't add up. it was just an odd thing. >> the emts kept working on michelle, but there was little

hope because the shot severed her spinal cord. after about 25 minutes, they declared michelle o'connell dead at the scene. jeremy was placed in the deputy's car where he gave his first statement on the shooting death. >> i keep the door open. i saw her feet. i ran. [ crying ] >> and the blood coming out. i just grabbed her hand. >> the house was sealed as jeremy's fellow deputies headed out to inform michelle's family about her death. one of the first to hear the awful news was michelle's brother, sheriff's deputy scotto konl. >> your sister michelle has passed away. we believe it's suicide. i was in disbelief. shortly thereafter, they asked me to break the news to my mom. i asked to go see her and they told me i couldn't. can i just see my daughter? they told me no. i wanted to be there with her.

>> soon the extended o'connell family was streaming into their mom's house, crying in disbelief, literally disbelief. some of them even in those early hours weren't buying jeremy banks' suicide story. michelle's sister, jennifer and chris i. >> reason number one why she didn't kill herself? >> the love for her daughter. someone that worked three jobs for her daughter. someone that read countless books on how to be a better bother. single parenting in the new millennia. any book she read it. >> they demanded outside neutral investigative eyes. not the brothers in blue writing up april report on one of their own. >> he goes, i want another agency to take over this. he said -- he was so upset. he was verbally ranting. he was like a bull. he was so angry. >> the idea took root early. jeremy killed michelle because he was a hot head who verbally abused michelle in their

tumultuous relationship. michelle's sister had seen trouble brewing between he and their kid sister since shortly after they met. >> right away red flags. clothing she could wear and couldn't wear. degrading her. she was 100 pounds. told her she looked chubby. >> relationships have ups and downs. but this is more torment. verbal torment that she went throu through. >> it got physical too, according to the family. play wrestling between the couple had resulted in jeremy injuring michelle. she eventually made up her mind. she was going to leave him. >> does she tell you, i'm going to pack up, i'm going to split up with with him? >> she said it's bad and i knew that when she said it was bad, i figured she was coming back to me. because i had said that -- i said just come home. >> to her sisters, there was something else that didn't add up to suicide. michelle had just gotten a nice promotion at the child care

center where she was working. there would be more money and really nice, health care for her and her daughter. >> it would be enough for her to get a small apartment for her and alexis. >> she would have freedom and security. she no longer needed jeremy banks. >> as the family saw, she wasn't able to make good the escape. yet the sheriff's office admits no one asked the o'connells about the relationship or about michelle's state of mind. still, just two days after she died, the st. john's county medical examiner concluded the manner of death was suicide. sheriff david shore called it case closed. >> if we thought or we had any indications or any kind of indications that it was a homicide, there would be no reason for us not to pursue that. >> but for the o'connell family, now furious, this case was only beginning. coming up -- the family gets a meeting with the sheriff's office.

but what they hear leads them to a startling conclusion. >> i just felt like they're covering up. this is a cover-up. >> when "dateline" continues. we all get separate bills. besides, if you don't like gordon why did you invite him this weekend? i didn't invite him. he just, like, shows up! it's pronounced gor-don. [ dad ] hey let's go! those tacos aren't going to eat themselves over there. tacos! [ dad ] you look great, by the way. [ male announcer ] start a sprint framily and everyone gets separate bills. the bills are separate? [ male announcer ] and now get the samsung galaxy s5 for $0 down and a free galaxy tab 3. happy connecting from sprint. for $0 down and a free galaxy tab 3. c'mon, you want heartburn? when your favorite food starts a fight, fight back fast, with tums. heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact. and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum... tums! all day?r mouthwash fight germs? even after you eat and drink? mine does. colgate total® mouthwash. kills plaque germs on contact. and its pro-shield formula keeps on protecting.

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michelle o'connell had been found with a gunshot wound in the .45 issued to her boyfriend inches from her left hand. her death was ruled a suicide and her boyfriend's boss, sheriff david shore of st. john's county, florida, declared the case closed. >> all the indications that we had of it was a self-inflicted gunshot wound and the medical examiner made that same determination. quite frankly, when that occurs anywhere in america, i mean, that's the end of the case. >> but not to the dead woman's family. her mom who also worked for the sheriff and michelle's brother, a sheriff's deputy himself, were immediately skeptical of the investigation. why wasn't evidence being sent out to the crime lab for testing? why hadn't anyone asked the family about michelle and

jeremy's rocky history? >> this case took on a life of its own because there was a lot of family involved that had a lot of questions. rightfully so. and officers didn't talk to them, did they, sheriff? to get the back story where this woman was coming from? >> there were some conversations. had we talked to them, we should have -- we could have done better in that arena. we should have got interviews with the family members. we should have gotten as much information from folks as we could have. >> but that didn't change the sheriff's view that michelle took her own life. shore says, consider the emotional stressor of ending any relationship and couple that with too much to drink. michelle's autopsy showed her blood alcohol level was over the legal limit. but the family was not satisfied with the investigation. so they asked for a meeting with the sheriff's office. jennifer is michelle's sister. >> we thought we were part of the st. john's county sheriff's office. my mom working there, my brother working there. you know, we thought we were

part of that family. >> but the meeting went badly. the family did not understand and did not accept the sheriff's office's refusal to bring in an outside agency to look into michelle's death. >> it just felt like they're covering up. this is a cover-up. my daughter didn't kill herself. i'm feeling helpless. >> michelle's brother scott started to seriously question his own department. >> i was agreeing with other family members that more information should be looked at and that the investigation should be handed over to an independent agency. >> what was the sheriff's office response to that? >> that it was investigated, that it was done. >> after the tense meeting, michelle's brother came to a conclusion. his fellow deputy, the very man he had introduced to his sister, was implicated in her death. scott sent jeremy banks an unequivocal text message. >> the reality is now clear. i don't trust you you. you're no longer my friend. >> the last part of it said

friends with a question mark and i said never. that was the last message, any type of communication between me and him. >> michelle's family seemed to have hit a brick wall in seeking an outside investigation. but then something unexpected happened. the story of the deputy and the dead girlfriend hit the internet. a website behind the blue wall dedicated to those who are possible victims of violence and domestic abuse by people in uniform posted a story about michelle's death. then michelle's friend, sierra morris, started posting on the blog, listing all the reasons why michelle would never have killed herself. >> that was our only outlet. to post on behind the blue wall so someone could see that they were fighting or she was packing to leave. >> this is leap the fence out of little old st. augustine. >> it jumped. it's the first national attention that this case received.

>> this drumbeat of demands on the sheriff's office. let there be an investigation. >> there's more pressure from not just the family members but now residents and other members of the community and people who want answers. >> the blue wall website had directly challenged the authority of sheriff shore, arguably the most powerful politician and employer in st. john's county, florida. and the deputy, jeremy banks, was being depicted on the site as an angry short-fused guy by anonymous writers who claimed to know him. >> websites are out there. they picked up the story of michelle's death. >> uh-huh. >> you were the guy in the crosshairs on this. did you read that stuff? >> i did. >> what did you make of it? >> it was upsetting. >> the sheriff's department was getting kicked in the teeth online for months. the idea of a murder being covered up by the authorities had gone from a theory to internet truth. >> we were not out to crucify anyone in this. we were out to find the facts.

>> in january of 2011, four months after michelle's death, the sheriff seemed to buckle under the pressure. in a major shift, he asked the florida department of law enforcement or the fdle, the state's top cops, to come in and review the o'connell case. >> why did you ask fdle, sort of the counterpart in florida of the fbi. >> because there was a few reasons. one, we had too many relatives in the mix. two, the family was not satisfied. okay? maybe they'll believe it coming from somebody else. >> rusty rogers honored as agent of the year in 2009, would lead the fdle's investigation. and not long after jeremy banks, the only person alive who did know what happened that night, was in agent rogers' interview chair. >> have a seat. >> this time the detective asking questions wouldn't be a buddy in uniform or a shift commander expressing condolences. >> i'm just a little concerned. >> i want you to be concerned.

>> coming up -- >> the investigation expands and a new witness throws a big wrench in the suicide theory. >> there was some arguing and there was a yell for help, there was a gunshot.

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it was march of 2011.

rusty rogers, the agent from the florida department of law enforcement, had been reinvestigating michelle's death for about a month when he asked to meet with her brother scott. but when they met, according to scott, rogers threw him off balance with an odd question. >> he asked do i carry a firearm off duty? i said i'm supposed to but i don't. i said i'm always have a firearm and you do too. >> what's this message about? >> this is the first time he tells me jeremy is a homicide spec. i don't trust that jeremy banks and you need to protect your family. >> from that point on, scott says, agent rogers began passing on his findings. he told scott he had hired an outside expert to reconstruct the shooting scene. that expert cast serious doubt on the sheriff's original investigation. for instance, when the expert test fired jeremy's gun, he concluded that the location of the shell casings, michelle would have had to use her left hand. she's right-handed. if she had done that, there

should have been blood on her left sleeve. he found none. the lack of jeremy's dna on the gun was suspicious because it was his duty weapon. that suggested the gun may have been cleaned. why had tests shown just a tiny amount of gunshot residue on jeremy even though he said he had broken into the bedroom immediately after the shots were fired? had he cleaned himself off too? investigators talked to deputy debra maynard, one of the first officers to arrive on the scene that night. she told them something she remembered that wasn't in her original report. you noticed something else and you thought you smelled what, soap? >> you know, and i did. it came to me sometime afterwards. i was like, you know what, jeremy smelled like he had taken a shower. >> even before rogers finished his investigation, the agent painted a horrifying picture of how his sister's life had most likely ended at the hands of jeremy banks. >> he told me that michelle and

him were breaking up, that he was mad that michelle was leaving him, that he cornered her in the bedroom and he fired off a warning shot to terrify her and she screamed for life. >> he gave you a vivid picture of your sister on her knees. >> her tongue placement was up and suicide's is down. tongue up indicated that she was screaming for her life. >> rogers gave scott his investigative bottom line. >> this has nothing that leans towards suicide and has everything that leads him to believe it's homicide. >> rogers had even more evidence. new witnesses who were brought to his attention by michelle's friend sierra, the blogger. >> you could tell it was stress. they were definitely arguing. >> on the night michelle died, stacy boswell and a neighbor were standing in a driveway one block over from jeremy's house but still a distance of hundreds of yards. >> there was arguing, then there was a yell for help and there was a gunshot and another yell

for help and then another gunshot. >> the neighbors' story matched up with the fact that two shots had been fired from jeremy's gun. that made them apparent ear witnesses to a homicide and not a suicide. now, about three months into his review, rogers was finally ready to confront the target of his investigation. jeremy banks. he agreed, no conditions, to go talk to him? >> uh-huh. >> his words were, let's put this thing to bed. >> you okay man? >> i feel all right. >> listen to the tone of this interrogation and it's clear the case was not being put to bed that day. >> not riding your motorcycle? >> jeremy retold the story he offered in the first investigation by the sheriff's office. how he perched on his motorcycle in the garage, heard two shots, broke down the bedroom door only to find michelle dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. >> we're getting some of the test results back and some of the results raise more questions. >> i started realizing that he was turning it and it started to get uncomfortable.

>> rogers began to lay out the puzzle like the fact that michelle was gathering her things, leaving jeremy that night. >> there are questions that come up in my mind, why would she pack if she's going to kill herself? >> he asked why the gun was found near michelle's left hand since she was right-handed, the semiautomatic should have come to rest on her right side. it didn't. it was found leaning against the deputy's holster. >> the experts agree that the handgun was placed or staged in the depiction. it's not magic or voodoo. it couldn't be the way the pictures say it is because it's ass backwards. >> do you think you need a lawyer there? >> no. i sat there dead quiet. >> did you wash your hands, take a shower? >> no. >> wash up? >> no. >> i can tell you that the gunshot residue results from the lab suggest that you washed your hands and that you should have had more gunshot residue on you than you did that day.

>> when i realized there was things i couldn't explain when he was asking questions that i didn't have answers to, i didn't know what to do. >> rogers then went over the location of those gun shell casings suggesting that where they came to rest indicated the left-handed deputy and not his right-handed girlfriend had pulled the trigger. >> you're a left-handed shooter. you figured it out. you're no dummy. if you had put the gun in your mouth or fighting over the gun or whatever happened in that room and kicked the shells into the right corner where the shells were found, that's consistent with our testing. >> seeing where the interrogation had headed, jeremy now asked for a lawyer. >> should i have a lawyer here? >> that's up to you. >> the interview with rogers abruptly stopped. >> we're done. i can't show you this stuff anymore. you're not going to get another chance to see this stuff unless we end up in court. >> the vultures seemed to be circling over jeremy and he knew it. >> did you know that the fdle conclusion goes something like that. it is more likely that this was

a homicide than a suicide. you think there are grounds here to at least go for manslaughter? >> i put the pieces together that's what they were looking at. >> if the case went to a jury, jeremy banks could be looking at life in prison. >> coming up -- surprising revelations about michelle's emotional state just hours before she died. >> michelle runs over and gives me a big bear hug and she says, if anything ever happens, remember lexie comes first. >> what had michelle meant by that? the story goes in a very different direction when "dateline" continues. boring! yeah! ♪ if you want to see old faithful ♪ ♪ don't be such a couch potato ♪ ♪ yeah just go check out the thing for yourself ♪ highlander! ♪ we ain't got no room for boring ♪ ♪ ferdy gerdy ferdy ger boom! [ cluck, cluck ] ♪ no, we ain't got no room ♪ for boring ♪ for boring, we ain't got no room ♪ ahh! [ male announcer ] the all-new highlander. toyota. let's go places.

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michelle, the youngest of six, had been gone for more than half a year. >> she was just the pride and joy of our family. she was the baby. she was a beautiful, everyone loved her so much. >> but convinced as the family was that she had been murdered by her boyfriend, their rage at the injustice of it all made it hard to step back and mourn for their lost one. >> there's no healing. we haven't had time to heal.

no time to have it set in. we've only had time to fight. >> jeremy banks was in a fight, too. potentially in a courtroom and certainly in the court of public opinion over whether he had murdered his girlfriend. >> jeremy, did you put your weapon in michelle's mouth and fire it? >> no. >> angry she was going to leave you, you couldn't take it, nobody leaves me? >> no, sir. >> you may wish you didn't, but arguments got ahead of you -- >> i did not. >> it went down the way it went down. >> i did not kill michelle. >> he denies ever physically or verbally abusing michelle. but jeremy wasn't the only one in a battle. so, too, was his boss, sheriff shore. blogs were full of comments that the sheriff was protecting a deputy who had committed domestic violence against michelle and perhaps worse, was covering up a murder by one of his own. >> oh, it's a cover-up. good 'ol boys. think about that. i'm going to sit back and go, okay, we're not going to investigate this case or say

it's a suicide instead of it's really a homicide. we're going to say it's a suicide because i know that family a lot better than i know that family. >> that's the argument. >> it's insane. i've locked up police officers before. i locked up a police officer a year and a half ago who i have known personally for almost 30 years. >> and the sheriff says he would lock up jeremy too if he ever thought he was a murderer. but shore felt from the beginning the evidence in this case always pointed to michelle taking her own life. >> why are you so certain that this was a suicide rather than a homicide? >> there are dozens of reasons why we think it's a sue -- we know it's a suicide and not a homicide. literally. listen, if you read her text messages in chronological order, it's almost a digital suicide note. >> the text messages. remember michelle sent i'll be

there soon. but that was one of the many text messages she sent from that concert the night she and jeremy were talking break-up. michelle tapped out a series of texts to her sister chrissy who was baby-sitting michelle's daughter lexie. >> michelle wrote, promise me one thing, lexie will be happy. she responded what, promise you what? >> no matter what, lexie will always be safe and loved. >> chrissy, are you okay? >> michelle didn't respond. >> chris sent another text using her nickname, mitch. mitch, what do you mean? >> michelle responded at 9:34. make sure lexie is number one. not like us. what do you mean? i'm scared. >> michelle didn't respond to that question but at 9:a 5 p.m. she sent that message, i'll be there soon. >> chrissy, the gist of the text messages to you are promise me

you'll always take lexie as number one and you'll take care of her. what did that mean that night when you were getting that message? >> that night i was confused by that message. i knew she was leaving jeremy and i thought, was she thinking something was going to happen? was she afraid of him? >> are these texts from the concert a suicide note from your sister saying goodbye? >> absolutely not. michelle was murdered. >> at the end of the concert, scott saw his sister michelle. she seemed upset still. her last words to him, confusing. >> the concert ends around 10:00. michelle gives me a big bear hug and grabs my neck and she looks at it and says if anything ever happens, remember lexie comes first. >> at 10:06 p.m., michelle sent scott a message. lexie, never forget. >> 911. >> less than two hours later, she was declared dead. >> please, my girlfriend, did -- >> while michelle's brother still believed his sister was murdered, he also knew she had

some issues. >> is there anything that happened to michelle early on buy graphically that might explain the suicide? >> i think there was a lot of combination of painful memories. there were many good things. but there was a history of pain too. >> pain. like the absence of their father and scott says michelle suffered from low self-esteem. he adds she also had some trouble in her teen years. >> i know that she would start to see a psychologist for issues and some anger. with that help, it subsided for a good period of time. >> so she was in counseling and on some medications during at least part of her teen years, huh? >> that's correct. >> sierra, michelle's friend. >> i know that she had a little bit of depression in high school. but she was never that way around me. >> as a teen, michelle also had a run-in with the law. at age 16 she was arrested and charged with felony assault for attacking her sisters with a frying pan.

but sister chrissy says michelle had grown past the outbursts, her troubles. the devoted mom shouldn't be compared to the teen who lashed out. >> that's why there are juvenile records. you make mistakes then, your brain is developing. she got on medicine, got counseling, got on with her life. >> what makes sense to the sheriff, sadly, is that michelle's troubled personality finally got the upper hand. >> this is a woman that had a very troubled life. it wouldn't be shocking to realize that this is the way her life maybe have ended someday. >> but the decision on whether michelle's past had anything to do with her death or if all the seemingly damning evidence against jeremy banks added up to murder, that decision would be in the hand of a special prosecutor. and would that prosecutor side with the sheriff or case closed or would he respond to the family's cry to get the matter before a jury once and for all? coming up -- >> the family meets with a

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she may have slipped through life little noticed, but in death michelle o'connell with her storm of supporters had become a force to be reckoned with in st. augustine, florida. in the summer of 2011 fdle agent rusty rogers started turning over his evidence to a special prosecutor. state attorney brad king would

eventually decide whether jeremy banks would face up to life in prison on a first degree murder charge. in march of 2012, the o'connell family was summoned to meet with prosecutor king at the local judicial center. >> i remember just wanting to know what's going to happen. >> i feel like we have sufficient factual basis to at least be presented to a grand jury. >> the prosecutor began his review for the family without a headline. he recounted the lawyerly findings issue by issue. michelle's mother didn't like the ift of it. >> i started thinking wait a minute, it doesn't sound like they're going to prosecute. >> scott, the brother, asked to cut to the chase. i said are you guys going to do anything with this case? and mr. king, says no. >> as blunt as that. the ruling of suicide would stand. there would be no grand jury. jeremy banks could move on with his life. the o'connells had lost. >> did the state attorney believe, was he persuaded that

it was a suicide or did he believe he didn't have enough to prove it wasn't? >> he said in our meeting, we don't have enough evidence. exactly. that was his words. we don't have enough evidence. >> prosecutor king found that, while some of the evidence against bapgs was credible, there was much that supported the idea that michelle took her own life. for example, three different medical examiners had now concluded her death was a suicide. not enough there to support the prosecution of jueremy banks sad king. for the second time, it was case closed in the florida legal system. >> i never realized how powerful a state attorney can be or sheriff can be until my sister was taken. >> most of the o'connell family stormed out of the room, including scott who immediately called the fdle agent, rusty rogers. >> i said this is so disgusting. i know this is a homicide case. you told me it was. this is such a big cover-up. i could blow up the sheriff's

office. >> he said you know i have an obl fwags to report you. he said you made a threat to blow up the sheriff's office. before i could say no, he hangs up on me. >> ill-chosen words. scott says he didn't really mean it. nonetheless, rusty rogers called the sheriff's office and reported the bomb threat. >> so some people showed up from the sheriff's office, took possession of my firearms, my patrol car, my keys, my badge, my i.d.'s, everything. tool belt, everything. my life -- my career is over. >> scotty vently calmed down. but the outburst cost him his job. he was fired. all he could find was work as a $10 an hour janitor. a big demotion. but there was an even more drastic change to come and another shock in store for the o'connell family. towards the end of 2012, scott, a guy who had his sister's name tattooed on his arm arrived at a 180-degree whiplash reversal of

opinion. after reading all the investigative reports, he came to a new conclusion. michelle did indeed commit suicide. >> i think there was many things we didn't know were going on in michelle's life and she wasn't sharing with us. i think they had a bad break-up, there was drinking involved and she had enough. there was many good things going on in her life. the toughest question to answer for me is why and i don't know the answer to why. i don't think jeremy's responsible and i wish everyone who is involved can get some peace and closure. >> in july of 2013, scott was hired back on at the sheriff's office and guess who he's resumed a friendship with? none other than jeremy banks. >> it's hard to go from years of friendship, cutting it off completely. >> he loses his job because he thought you got away with murder killing his sister. he's that angry. now you're having coffee together. >> we had thanksgiving dinner recently.

>> does that blow your mind? >> it was not expected. i never thought me and scott would be friends again. >> what were you doing in that relationship and we're learning more and more about each other and what we've been through. while other members of my family have kicked me to the curb, him and his family welcomed me in without an issue. >> scott is now estranged from his family. his sisters are dealing with yet another loss. >> it's shakespearian what happened. we lose michelle. we're all changed forever. now i don't know if i'll ever see my brother again. >> the fallout goes on and on. at sheriff shoar's request, the state is currently investigating fdle agent rusty rogers for conduct. >> he engaged in reprehensible conduct that almost resulted in a citizen, cops are citizens, getting charged for a crime that never occurred. >> allegations against rogers include he had improperly shared investigative information with

scott, had misled a judge about evidence in order to get a search warrant. had coached some of the witnesses. rusty rogers is a veteran agent of the fdle. what percentages are there for him of cooking the books? what is he going to get out of it? >> that is a huge question that everybody has. that is the question. >> this guy really got to you, didn't he, sheriff? >> you know, i will tell you, he got to me, dennis, because this guy, i think he's a bully. i've been fighting bullies my whole life. that's what we do in law enforcement. >> both jeremy banks and scotto konl are now suing the fdle and rusty rogers who declined an interview with "dateline." michelle's daughter is now seven years old and being raised by her grandmother and the o'connell family recently hired its own attorney. ben crump. he's hoping to get florida's governor to order this case to a grand jury because in the end, michelle's family is not giving up.

>> michelle, of all people, loved life, would have fought her way to live. there was no suicide in that child. >> michelle did not take her own life. michelle was on a path to better her life. she was not leaving life. she was leaving jeremy banks. >> jeremy banks, after some months on administrative leave, is now back in uniform with the st. john's county sheriff's department. and he has a new lease on life. he is married and seems resigned to the o'connells feeling about him however they feel. >> i spent a year with michelle. they spent 24 years with michelle. they didn't lose a girlfriend. they lost a best friend. they lost a daughter. they lost a sister. somebody lost their mother. i don't blame them for looking at me and pointing the finger. i don't blame them for their anger. i don't blame them for their hatred of me. i can almost come to a point where i understand it. i'm not okay with it.

but i get it. >> that's all for now. i'm lester holt. . - previously, hannibal... - you wanted me to embrace my nature, doctor. - are you going to try to hurt hannibal again? is he safe? - from me? or for you? i'd like to resume my therapy. - where shall we begin? - i'm gonna prove hannibal lecter is the chesapeake ripper. - it's not him. - i could hear his voice. i could not see his face. - you will not see it until it is too late. - you can't trust her, jack. you can't trust any of this to be whatt seems. - i get it. the great outdoors. i get the attraction. in summer. (laughing) - well... it's a lot harder to catch trout when the water is really cold.