it is a pain that -- it doesn't go away. it eats away at you. it's a living agony. >> he said, "i don't know what happened, but your sister's gone." >> reporter: he kissed his wife goodbye in the morning. in the afternoon, she was dead. this devoted wife and mom, who would want to harm her? a random intruder? >> this was something that was more intimate. >> reporter: turned out, these smiling portraits didn't tell the whole story. >> there were a lot of things going on in that family that people never saw on the outside. >> reporter: what was really happening inside this seemingly ordinary suburban home? >> the detectives asked me if i had had sex with any other women.

>> reporter: an unfaithful husband. but was that the motive for murder? police learned this case was far more complicated than that. and this mystery, not so easy to solve. >> she grabbed his throat. i don't think she realized what she was doing. >> he couldn't take it anymore, the entire situation. >> it was just heartbreaking. >> reporter: tonight, the troubling truth about the family next door. i'm lester holt and this is "dateline: behind closed doors." here's dennis murphy. >> reporter: it was a drippy friday morning, the start of memorial day weekend. bernie pyne usually took that day off from work for a welcome seasonal chore, getting the backyard pool cleaned-up, the unofficial start of summer at his family's home in michigan. he told his wife, ruth, it didn't make sense though, what with the weather. >> i remember that morning, i said, "hon, i'm not going to open the pool today. it's kind of soggy out there. there's no sense wasting a

vacation day on a day reich this." >> reporter: so bernie took off for his job as a test engineer for a car manufacturer. >> i remember hugging her and kissing her goodbye. >> reporter: for ruth, his wife of 32 years, it was about to be her favorite time of year, summer in the backyard. >> one of ruth's favorite pastimes were tanning. she liked to be by the pool and tan. >> reporter: julia, their little 10-year-old, had school. jeffrey, their quite a bit older boy, 21, a college student, was hanging around the house before heading off for his part-time job. and that was the start of what should have been a nothing special day for the pyne family of highland, michigan. it would turn out to be, of course, nothing of the sort. that rainy friday was the end of everything they'd known. >> i picked up julia from school. we went to the back door like we always would. >> reporter: the back door was the side entrance to the garage. >> julia was first in the door.

i was behind her. and she dropped her book bag and she said, "dad, mom, dad, mom! and i said, "which one of us do you want?" >> reporter: julia had opened the unlocked door. behind it was a leg and a hand covered in blood. >> and that's when we found ruth. >> reporter: bernie ran to a neighbor's to call 911. >> there's blood everywhere. can't figure out what's going on. >> sir, sir you got to calm down so i can understand you. >> reporter: when the emergency services people arrived they found ruth pyne, 51 years old, dead in a pool of blood. jeffrey was called home from work, and bernie broke the news. >> i told him that mom had died. tears welled up in his eyes. and he said, "what? no." he was upset. >> reporter: how'd you find out? >> bernie called me. and he said, "i don't know what happened, but your sister's gone." >> reporter: susan showerman is ruth's sister.

>> and i just thought, "oh, my gosh. she committed suicide." >> reporter: suicide? to get some understanding why anyone would even think ruth could kill herself, we'll have to roll back the years and meet the pynes as they were. >> i don't think i've ever met anybody who's so unabashedly devoted to his wife. he'd go, "you know, i'm the luckiest guy in the world. i can't believe that she married me." >> reporter: carol and john stakoe have been friends with bernie and ruth for 30 years. >> she felt fortunate to have bernie because, you know, bernie agreed that she should stay home with the children. >> reporter: the stakoe's daughters katherine and elizabeth spent time at the pynes, as girls and adored ruth. >> she was always there. play in the pool, she would sit and watch us. very attentive mother. she always had to make sure we were okay. >> reporter: and ruth welcomed guests to her table. >> we'd have dinners all the time, and ruth would always get something cute at, like, a craft store, and she'd put candy in it. >> she always made a home-cooked meal every night too. they didn't even have a

microwave. >> reporter: the pyne's daughter julia was a bright, adorable work in progress. and their first-born, jeffrey, turned out to be just one of those golden kids, a star athlete and an excellent high school student, the kind parents brag about on their bumper stickers. >> talented, smart, charismatic. and i feel everyone felt that way about jeffrey. >> he's one of those people that you can always count on. >> reporter: and ruth was one of his biggest supporters. >> she never missed a basketball game. she was very involved as far as that and parent/teacher conferences. she would volunteer to go on field trips. >> reporter: but behind closed doors, the family was struggling with a private sorrow. when jeffrey was just eight, ruth began losing her grip. she'd go for days without sleep. she became reclusive, paranoid. a mental illness was taking hold. >> i'll never forget. i got home from work. she said, "i've got a tracking device in my bloodstream." and she really thought that she was being monitored. >> reporter: the family tried an intervention. sister susan knew that bernie

was overwhelmed. >> he needed help to convince her that she needed to see a doctor. you know, maybe think about medication, that her thoughts weren't right. that something was wrong. >> reporter: this is tough. you're all sitting around, what? in the kitchen or in the -- at the table or -- >> in her living room. and she just got up and walked away. and she wasn't accepting it. she didn't believe she was ill. >> reporter: in 1998, bernie went to court to have his wife hospitalized. ruth stayed there for two weeks, then was released with orders to take her medication. >> ruth never wanted to take the medication. she would take it. and then she would go off of it. >> reporter: there were long stretches when she'd take her medications and things would be okay. but sooner or later, ruth would fall off the wagon. >> she would hide the medication under her tongue. bernie would leave for work, and then she would spit it out. >> reporter: by 2009, ruth was spiraling out of control.

she'd been diagnosed as bipolar with psychotic features. bernie had her hospitalized three times over the next year. and had to call for police help in getting her there. refusing her meds, increasingly manic, ruth even lashed out at her 9-year-old daughter. >> ruth did not look well. and julia simply reached over to say, "mom, mom, are you all right?" and she actually swatted julia pretty hard on the hand. >> reporter: a year later it happened again with her son. it was early one morning. bernie had been pleading with his wife to take her medicine. she was still in bed. >> and she motioned her finger for me to come over there. and i leaned over, and she spit in my face. >> reporter: bernie saw that jeffrey's bedroom door was open, and called for his son to reason with his mother. >> and that's when she launched out of the bed at him and, you know, grabbed his throat and tried to hit him. >> reporter: bernie told jeffrey to call the police. his intent, he says, was simply to get the cops to take her to the hospital.

instead they charged ruth with assault and put her in jail. her only way out was to take her meds. she refused, and spent 17 days behind bars before finally being sent to the hospital. but this time, after her release, the cycle appeared to be broken. ruth stayed on her meds. >> our home was actually in the best place that it had been in a long time. ruth was doing very well. >> reporter: her sister susan noticed the improvement, too. >> she was taking her medication. i noticed that in particular because i called her. and she was busy with dinner and she said, "i'll call you back." and i thought, "mmm, i don't know if she'll call me back." she called me back. and that was big. >> reporter: your sister's back? >> well, it was really exciting for me that she was talking to me. >> reporter: but just weeks after the sisters talked, on

may 27th, 2011, came that awful sight -- ruth, behind that door. and the pyne family's tragedy was about to take a much darker turn. when investigators arrived at the garage, they determined this was no suicide, ruth pyne had been murdered. >> when a wife is murdered, you know who is usually the first suspect. when we come back, detectives decide that in this case, there's a good reason to take a hard look at her husband, bernie pyne. >> it definitely threw another cast on things. erybody knows th. well, did you know certain cartoon characters should never have an energy drink? action! blah-becht-blah- blublublub-blah!!! geico®. introducing the birds of america collection. fifty stunning, hand-painted plates, commemorating the state birds of our proud nation. blah-becht-blah- blublublub-blah!!! geico®.

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>> reporter: when sheriff's deputies entered the garage at the pyne family home, they knew right away they were working a crime scene. the back of ruth pyne's head had been bashed in by multiple blows. there were more than a dozen stab wounds to the neck. it was a case of murder, and a violent one. veteran homicide officers like greg glover and david hendrick call savagery like this "overkill." >> it's something that involves a lot of rage. typically in homicides we don't see injuries to that magnitude. >> reporter: the intruder, for instance, the hypothetical intruder? >> yeah. what -- most of -- >> reporter: unlikely to inflict that kind of injury to a victim? >> very unlikely. yeah, this was something that was more intimate. there were no signs of forced entry of the home. the front door was locked.

the home was not ransacked. it was apparent that this was not a robbery-type situation. >> reporter: detectives did find one door in the house unlocked. the side-door entry to the garage. ruth was found sprawled there on the floor, the door tight against her wrist. it told detectives, whoever the killer was, he didn't leave that way. >> if her hand was laying there -- she was freshly killed. the blood on her hand is wet. -- for that door to have been opened up, someone leave, close the door back -- >> ah. >> -- and then open the door again when the daughter got home -- >> reporter: there would have been telltale swipe of fresh blood, caused by the door. >> you would have had swiping of the blood on her hand. >> reporter: and yet the front door, the only other way out, they thought, was dead-bolted shut. could the killer have had a key and locked it after he made his escape? it didn't seem logical if he was an intruder but then, of course, bernie pyne had a house key. was the husband, perhaps, the killer? >> typically, in these type of

cases, it's normally somebody that's directly involved, somebody that's inside. >> reporter: so the night of the murder, the detectives talked to bernie and his son jeffrey in a routine interview. bernie was up first, and he told detectives about ruth's medical history. >> we talked about the mental illness. of course many of the police officers had been out to the house with medical pickups for ruth. >> reporter: but he says he was stunned when detectives revealed to him that his wife's death was a homicide. >> i could not believe, one, that ruth was dead, and two, that anyone would harm her. >> reporter: then, as the detectives questioning went on, bernie said something that piqued their interest. >> the detectives asked me if i had had sex with any other women besides my wife in the last six months. that immediately caused me to be uncomfortable because i had to answer yes to that question. and i gave them the details.

>> reporter: live girlfriend, dead wife, not a good set of facts. >> no. it definitely threw another cast on things. i mean, as far as how the marriage was. >> reporter: does bernie become a suspect to you? >> absolutely. it did not appear that this was committed by a stranger. >> reporter: bernie says now that the stress of being ruth's caregiver drove him not only to threaten divorce, but also into the arms of a girlfriend. >> i couldn't take any more. i couldn't take battling over medication anymore. i couldn't take wondering what she was thinking, whether or not julia was going to be cared for well or if something was going to happen. >> reporter: ruth discovered the affair one night when she and her daughter walked into the same restaurant where bernie was having dinner with his girlfriend. the mistress broke off the affair. and, ironically, being caught red-handed that way, bernie says, not only saved his marriage but brought ruth around to taking her meds. >> ruth, i think, realized maybe

that she had pushed me too far. and that's when she told me, she goes, "bernie, i will do anything to save my marriage and to save my family." and i said, "that means you will take your medication. and you'll let me watch you take it." >> reporter: but now his wife was dead and bernie was giving police an alibi, accounting for his time the afternoon his wife was murdered. >> bernie was at a restaurant with coworkers and friends. bernie gave us the times that he had left there, and that he had went to pick up his daughter, julia, like he always did. and to the point of when they arrived home. >> reporter: ruth's sister, susan, didn't believe bernie could possibly be involved. after her initial shock, she began to wonder whether some mental patient from ruth's trips in and out of hospitals over the years had developed an obsession with her. >> ruthie was so beautiful that i could see someone being infatuated with her. and she did give her address and phone number and things out to some people. so it wouldn't have been hard to find her.

>> reporter: an interesting theory, maybe, but the detectives' experience with killings like this told them to first keep looking at people who knew ruth very well. >> coming up, police investigate ruth's family and friends including her son, jeffrey. >> everyone liked him. the teachers loved him. parents loved him. >> what did he know about his mother's death? when "dateline" continues.

>> reporter: ruth pyne had been found beaten and stabbed to death in the garage of her home. the detectives had just interviewed her husband, bernie, and he knew his son jeffrey was up next. >> i knew that jeffrey didn't do this. my concern was that it didn't look good simply because ruth's mental illness painted a big target on both of us. >> reporter: jeffrey, 21, a biology major at the university of michigan, was the pyne's much admired son. he was once the valedictorian at his small christian academy

where he excelled in just about everything. katherine stakoe was a close friend. >> everyone liked him. he got along with everybody. the teachers loved him. parents loved him. you know, it's like, every mom's dream kid to date their daughter. >> reporter: jeffrey was a role model for his friend, steven kreig. >> he just was one of those guys that he was intelligent beyond his years, i think. he was the kind of person that -- i don't really know who didn't look up to him. >> reporter: as he was interviewed by detectives, jeffrey was the polite, respectful young man everyone knew him to be. he had an unblemished record. >> our goal here is to figure out what happened. >> reporter: he told detectives about his day -- that he was home alone, until his mother came back from grocery shopping around 11:30. a little later, he recalled, she went upstairs to lie down. he left the house, he said, about 1:30. >> there was no altercation, or your mom was not upset or anything today before you left? >> no. she was fine.

>> reporter: at this point, all jeffrey had been told about his mother was that she was dead, not that she'd been murdered. the son continued his account of the afternoon, heading out for the first of two part-time jobs. >> and your mom was upstairs, in bed when you left? >> yes, i told her i was going to the lady's house. >> reporter: the lady's house was mrs. needham's, a former teacher jeffrey did yard work and chores for. >> what all did you do over there today? >> i went over there, transplanted her lilacs and -- >> how many did you transplant, you know? >> five. >> reporter: and after he left mrs. needham's, he said he went to his second job at spicer orchards. he clocked in there around 3:00 pm. as they were speaking, the detectives noticed jeffrey's hands were bandaged. >> what's wrong with your hands? >> this was from work today. >> reporter: he scraped his hands at the orchard, he said, when he tried to pick up a wooden pallet. the detective took pictures of the injuries and then asked jeffrey to explain in detail how

he got them. >> i picked it up like this. i used my foot to kind of give it a boost because there was a stack of palettes. so i gave it a boost and my hand got caught in there. and it just kind of stuck. and i caught it and i just kind of shoved it back on there. and it stung really bad, pulled my hands out quick. >> did it pull the skin off of your hand? >> yeah, it tore it up. >> the whole time i'm thinking that there's just no way that's possible. >> reporter: the detectives were now just as interested in the son with the raw, blistered hands, as they were with the father who had admitted to an affair. and they became even more interested as they watched jeffrey's reaction to the disclosure of the brutal truth about his mother. >> your mom was murdered. someone killed your mom. so if there's anything else that you know about that you've been

holding back, that you were afraid to tell us, now's the time. okay? >> i don't know what to tell you. >> it was a -- >> i don't know of anyone who would want to hurt her. >> reporter: jeffrey claimed to know nothing about his mother's death. but, oddly, they thought, he never did ask the detectives just what had happened to his mother. >> he never asked us one question at all about his mother during the entire interview ever. what person wouldn't ask something, anything, if you had just been told a loved one was killed? unless you knew the answers. >> reporter: the detectives then moved on to talk about his mother's arrest for assaulting jeffrey the year before. >> she came at me. she launched out of the bed and grabbed me by the throat and, like, started hitting me and stuff. but, i mean, she didn't hurt me or anything. >> was she upset with you because she ended up in jail for the amount of time that she was there? >> no.

i don't have a problem with my mom. never had a problem with her. the only issue i had was i wanted her to take medicine. and she -- nature of the illness, she didn't want to take it. >> reporter: then jeffrey echoed what his father and aunt were saying. in recent months things were getting better. >> yeah. i mean, she would come to my dad and show him, "see," like, "i'm taking my pills," every night. >> reporter: the questions continued for over an hour, until the detectives asked the inevitable, provocative one. >> did you do anything today at all to hurt your mom? >> no, no. >> in any way, shape or form? >> nothing. >> did you have any arguments with your mom today? >> no. i didn't say anything hurtful to her. i did nothing. >> you have no idea who would? >> i have no idea who would. i can't even -- >> because somebody did. >> i'm having a hard enough time.

>> reporter: so father and son's stories were now on the record. each had given reasons why the detectives should keep looking at both. >> coming up, with no witnesses and no weapon, investigators cast a wide net in the search for a killer. >> we're looking at any suspect information such as this mysterious person that had been seen cutting through the neighborhood to the landscaping crew to a former workman. come on! let's hide in the attic. no. in the basement. why can't we just get in the running car? are you crazy? let's hide behind the chainsaws. smart. yeah. ok. if you're in a horror movie, you make poor decisions. it's what you do. this was a good idea. shhhh. be quiet. i'm being quiet. you're breathing on me! if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do. head for the cemetery!

>> reporter: in the days and weeks following the murder of ruth pyne, detectives say they scoured the area for both suspects and a ditched weapon. >> we canvassed the neighborhood. even as far as to drain the pool looking for a possible weapon. we searched the yard. we had officers talking to neighbors. >> reporter: the sheriff's tip line was ringing.

>> we're looking at any suspect information that we get from any source. such as this mysterious person that had been seen cutting through a neighborhood, to the landscaping crew, to this former workman. any time anybody gives us anything, we're running it down. and we were able to clear those things. >> reporter: so they put together what they had. a family dealing with mental illness. a mother bludgeoned to death. a spouse who had been unfaithful. a son with injuries to his hands. and something else detectives noticed the night they interviewed jeffrey. >> i'm having a hard enough time. >> reporter: that tearful, quivering voice, the sobs, the head to the hands -- to the detectives, it all came across as an act. >> at no time in any of our interview, even when we tell him that your mother has been murdered, there are no tears. i mean, there's no watery eyes, there's no, what appear to us, real emotion. i mean, faked emotion, trying to

pretend. but nothing that appeared to be real. >> reporter: so jeffrey, the beloved friend, the good son, had become a suspect in his mother's murder. >> i just think it's impossible. >> reporter: jeffrey had lived with his aunt susan, ruth's sister, for several weeks after his mother's murder. >> i did try to pull information from him by just saying, i know you had difficult times. and his reaction was what i would think was normal. i don't feel jeff did this crime. >> jeffrey never raised his voice at his mom ever. certainly never raise his hand. but never show any anger towards ruth whatsoever. never. he just loved her. i can tell you right now i'm a better suspect than jeffrey could ever be. >> reporter: what are you finding out about bernie? because he's definitely a trail you're following. >> we took a strong look at bernie. but we were able to clear bernie through his alibi. >> as we put our case together, more and more, things are focusing on jeff and less and less is focusing anywhere else but jeff.

>> reporter: so five months after ruth pyne's death, her 21-year-old son was indicted on a first-degree murder charge. jeffrey pyne pleaded not guilty, and in november 2012 stood trial. the onetime valedictorian faced a life sentence if convicted. >> he hit her again, again, and again, and again. >> reporter: prosecutor john skrzynski opened by outlining the state's theory. >> this was an angry, angry killing. it was the result of years and years and years of things that had built up living with a difficult person who was bipolar. >> reporter: to support that theory, that jeffrey snapped, a string of witnesses described what they'd been told about things that jeffrey had had to endure over the years. >> he told me one night that his mother tried to kill his little sister. >> she spit in his face.

jeffrey stated that he told his mom, "mom, you need to take your medication." >> reporter: jeffrey's ex-girlfriend, holly freeman, gave the jury a closer look at just how eccentric, and maybe dangerous, his mother's behavior had become. >> she had been storing knives in the headboard of her bed. >> reporter: jeffrey, she said, wanted to move out but didn't have the money. and he was also concerned about leaving his little sister with a mother who had been violent with both of them. >> he felt bad leaving julia there, and he was worried for her. >> reporter: and, she also testified, jeffrey told her if his father didn't get a divorce by summer, he would finally do it, move out on his own. >> he couldn't take it any more. just the entire situation was weighing too much on him. >> reporter: but there was little physical evidence to support the prosecution's theory. no murder weapon was ever found, and there was no blood in jeffrey's car. no blood anywhere on him. the best the prosecution had was just a single drop of ruth pyne's blood on a handle in the laundry room sink.

that would be the place to wash up. >> yes. he had plenty of time to clean up. he had plenty of time to bag up whatever he had to do, and get it out of there. >> reporter: prosecutors theorized he washed his bloody hands in the laundry room sink and then showered upstairs, secure in the timetable of the family that day. >> he know that julia was at school. bernie was at work, and what time he would return home, you know, with julia from school. >> reporter: next prosecutors attacked jeffrey's alibi. on the friday afternoon of the murder, he claimed that he was planting lilac bushes at mrs. needham's house. but she testified jeffrey had done that gardening but four days earlier than he told police. >> so those bushes were there on monday the 23rd, and they were there because you mulched them on may the 24th. >> yes. >> was he supposed to transplant lilac bushes anywhere else? >> no. >> reporter: and the prosecution pointed to the unusually long and detailed voice mail message jeffrey left mrs. needham that day.

>> i was just over there for about an hour or so just kind of sweeping up, kind of checking things out in the basement there. i still got some priming and stuff to do. but, i just stopped over there for a little bit before i had to go to spicer's. >> in listening to the voicemail, it appears to be just a rambling message. almost as if, a way to start an alibi. >> reporter: prosecutors believed, rather than transplanting lilacs, jeffrey was actually using that time to conceal the murder weapon and bloody clothing. then he showed up for his job at the orchard. and that's where they asserted he made up another story, a lie about how he'd gotten raw broken blisters on both his hands. >> this was from work today. i was flipping over a palette, and as i was flipping it over, my hand got caught in there. >> reporter: the medical examiner testified highly unlikely. >> i can't envision the

capability of inserting the hands in between in those slats in the way to create these injuries. >> reporter: and when the police lab tested the very pallet, no skin or dna from jeffrey was found. so how did jeffrey tear up his hands? >> is it possible that those blisters could be created by the number of blows that were applied to mrs. pynes' body with a rectangular object. >> yes. >> reporter: and about a week after the murder, the young man's father, bernie, said he noticed a scrap piece of two-by-four missing from the garage. so you believe a two-by-four was the bludgeoning weapon here? >> we believe so. >> reporter: but without rock solid physical evidence, jeffrey's behavior in the hours and days after his mother's death, became part of the prosecution's circumstantial case. >> someone killed your mother. >> reporter: that perceived false show of grief detectives saw when they questioned jeffrey the night his mother was killed. the arriving emts that afternoon agreed. they testified to witnessing some bad acting.

>> he was making crying sounds, distraught crying sounds. i noticed that there was no tears. >> reporter: but in fairness, people react in different ways to very emotional scenes? >> sure. but when you just find out that your mother is dead, and you go out there for the people standing around, you appear to be faking what you're doing? that's important to us. >> reporter: finally, the prosecution argued, it came down to character. and they used holly, the ex-girlfriend, to tell the jury about the time that jeffrey had cheated on her, and then lied about it. >> he lied so effortlessly to me, to my family, to my friends, he had a whole elaborate story to cover his tracks. >> reporter: they're young kids. and, you know, you cheated on me with another guy. that sounds like teenage stuff. >> it is.

>> reporter: but why should you put weight on that? >> what bothered holly was how effortlessly he lied to her. once she saw that side of him, which she had never seen before, she became very suspicious of him. >> reporter: after 11 days of testimony, the prosecution rested. the defense was up next, and the lawyer for the accused son elected to take a path less travelled. very gutsy. very risky. >> coming up, jeffrey's lawyer tries a high stakes gamble. >> the prosecutor's case was running out of gas. we were ahead. that was the mentality. >> but would it work? when "dateline" continues.

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>> reporter: jeffrey's attorney, james champion, argued that the case against his client wasn't based on any hard evidence, but was simply a grab bag of prosecutor's hunches. >> we utterly, categorically, absolutely reject any notion that jeffrey pyne is responsible for the death of his mother. somebody else committed this crime. >> there was no proof in this case, no direct evidence, and the circumstantial evidence had too many holes in it. >> reporter: it all began, the lawyer said, with a slip-shod investigation. why, for instance, weren't ruth pyne's clothes sent to the lab for testing? >> wouldn't you start by submitting the clothing that the victim was wearing? i mean, that's where hairs are.

that's where blood is. that's where any other type of dna is going to be. >> reporter: as for the prosecution's theory that jeffrey showered in the upstairs bathroom? who knows? no evidence was taken. >> did you collect that shower curtain as evidence? >> no, sir. >> did you take the faucets from that tub? >> no, sir. >> take the drain trap from that tub? >> no, sir. >> did you do any tests on the drain trap or faucets? >> no, sir. >> reporter: and in cross-examination the defense got the crime scene technician to concede that a trace of ruth pyne's blood on a laundry room sink didn't really mean much. >> there's no way to time stamp when that blood was left there, correct? >> correct. >> it's not evidence that jeffrey or anybody else cleaned up in that house. >> reporter: another defense point, that same tech was so inept, that he actually used bernie pyne's own tools to remove the drain trap from the laundry sink and the bloodstained door. >> is it common for you to use the homeowners tools? >> no, sir. >> why'd you do it that day?

>> my tool box was missing when i went to get the tools. >> so you have your own toolbox? >> correct. >> the csi just bungled that case. if you're using tools other than your own, they're not sanitized. they could contaminate the scene. >> reporter: it was all, the defense argued, simply a rush to judgment. but what about jeffery's interview with the detectives? >> he answers all of their questions, and every single answer he provides checks out. >> reporter: in fact, it didn't all check out. the story of mrs. needham and the lilac bushes collapsed almost immediately. >> well, if you believe her. >> reporter: mrs. needham's testimony, adamant that, no, jeffrey did not plant those lilac bushes on the friday his mother was murdered had scuttled his alibi. the lawyer went after her on cross-examination. >> and you are certain your memory is infallible? >> that i definitely remember. >> do you remember everything? >> oh no. >> do you have any difficulties with your memory? >> i tend to forget things and remember other things. >> in order to believe her, you've got to put aside the fact

that she admitted on the stand that she forgets some things and she remembers other things. >> reporter: the defense lawyer also disagreed with the medical examiner's opinion that the young man's explanation for shredding his hands on the wooden pallet was highly unlikely. >> nobody can prove that you couldn't shear off the skin from a pallet to me. it certainly seems plausible. >> reporter: also couldn't find any skin or traces of blood on it. >> they -- nothing was found on it, but that doesn't mean that jeffrey's story doesn't pan out. >> reporter: and then, there was this theme running through the trial, the perception that jeffrey was faking his grief. >> people show emotion in different ways. to say that he didn't show enough emotion is not evidence of a crime, certainly not proof that he killed his mother. >> reporter: was jeffrey even a fundamentally honest person? his former girlfriend holly had testified no. kid lies. >> because jeffrey lied about a relationship some time prior, he killed his mother.

the two just don't equate. holly has been jilted. their -- hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. >> reporter: the defense attorney believes his cross examination of holly revealed that jeffrey was a young man without a violent streak. >> did you ever see him hit anybody? >> no. >> reporter: he even kept his cool, the lawyer argued, that time his mother tried to choke him. >> he did not retaliate. he didn't hit her back or anything like that. >> reporter: and even holly, no longer a friend to jeffrey, testified that the only thing he ever wanted was for his mom to get better. >> it seems that's the most important thing to jeffrey. is that right? >> for her to take her medication. yes. >> reporter: the defense lawyer rejected out of hand the prosecution's big theory, that jeffrey simply reached his boiling point over his mother's mental illness, and snapped that day in the garage. >> jeffrey could have left and gone and done his own thing at any given time. he didn't have to stay there. when ruth took her meds, it was

one happy family. there was no reason for him to do this. >> reporter: when it came time to call his own witnesses though, the defense lawyer made a risky calculation. >> your honor, at this point, the defense rests. >> reporter: he rested his case without calling anyone to counter the prosecution's version of events. not so much as a character witness to speak well of his client. >> we got all the character evidence we needed from the witnesses that the state called in. >> reporter: but very often in these kinds of cases, you have a counter scientific expert, an alternate medical examiner's report, and you didn't do that here. >> no. we had experts lined up to do that work. but the prosecutors' case was running out of gas. we were ahead, take a knee, get off the field. that was the mentality. >> reporter: a smart, quiet, young man misread? or a son who was finally at the end of all patience? it would be up to the jury to decide. >> coming up -- >> i didn't know what to think.

>> the agonizing wait for a verdict. one day and then two. >> you always wonder if the longer they're out is the worst for the prosecution. >> t

>> the only verdict this case requires is a verdict of not guilty. thank you. >> reporter: as the trial came to an end, jeffrey pyne's family hoped, and even believed that he would be home for christmas. >> i thought that we had a real good chance. i thought that the jury would come back with a not guilty verdict. >> reporter: jeffrey's aunt susan remained certain he was innocent. what's more, she says, there was just no evidence to convict him. >> i cannot see him doing that and coming away with no evidence. it should have been somewhere.

it should have been on him somewhere. >> reporter: the blood? >> something. i mean, is he that good? i mean, really. >> reporter: as jurors retired to deliberate, they faced three choices -- guilty of first-degree murder, which meant a life sentence. guilty of second-degree murder, which could mean as little as 13 and a half years, possibly even less. or not guilty. >> waiting for that verdict was tough. i didn't know what to think. >> reporter: day one, no verdict. then a second day. >> you always wonder if, the longer they're out -- is it the worse for the prosecution? >> reporter: finally, on the third day came the news, a verdict. the courtroom was hushed. >> we, the jury, find the defendant guilty of second-degree murder. >> i went over to bernie, and i hugged him, and i apologized that i didn't get the job done. >> a very good closure for us. but, at the same point, also, you know, sad, also. >> there's a dead woman here. there's a family that's

destroyed. >> reporter: outside in the hallway, jeffrey's father was numb. >> i wasn't there to protect my wife when i needed to be, and i wasn't able to get my son. first of all i believe in my son's innocence, and i wasn't able to get him home to his sister for christmas. julia broke. and she said, "no, dad, no." and she said that over and over again. and the pain that she felt was like nothing she's -- i think that was harder on her than losing her mom. >> reporter: bernie's friends carol and john stakoe were stunned. she criticized the defense for not calling witnesses. she believed it might have swayed the jury. >> you know, the prosecution did a great job of building this case about this poor abused child. but that wasn't his whole life.

>> it wasn't his whole life. i mean, there were -- >> that was a small part of his life, really. >> there were good times and bad. and you can say that about any household. >> and i don't understand why his attorney did not put people on the stand to testify about the pyne household. >> i have a statement i would like to read, your honor. >> reporter: on sentencing day in january, 2013, jeffrey pyne spoke up for the first time. >> i continue and will always maintain my innocence in this crime. i hope and have faith that one day the truth will be made known and i will be acquitted. >> reporter: and he asked for leniency. >> i do however ask you for compassion in my sentencing in doing so considering i have no previous criminal record, no history of violence, that i was a productive member of society. >> reporter: family members added their pleas for compassion -- >> i am ruth pyne's sister. >> reporter: -- believing in jeffrey's innocence. >> i feel that this case was not proven beyond reasonable doubt.

>> i am sure that my son has nothing to do with this, but must try and live with the verdict. >> reporter: jeffrey, so stoic throughout the trial, began to quiver and finally broke down when his father read the judge a letter from his little sister julia. >> my name is julia pyne. i am 12 years old and i am a victim of this crime. i miss my mom, ruth, very much. my brother, jeffrey, and i are very close. and i miss him very much as well. he is a great, great big brother, and i ask you to send him home very soon to me and my dad because we love him very much. >> reporter: the judge wasn't swayed. >> i believe that until jeffrey acknowledges his role in this crime and finds a way to deal with the anger and rage that caused him to do such a horrible act, it is not safe for him to be free.

>> reporter: he sentenced jeffrey to 20 to 60 years in prison. >> this is beyond surreal. i know that jeffrey didn't harm his mother. and yet he sits in prison for a crime he didn't commit. >> reporter: bernie pyne will proclaim his son's innocence until the day he dies. he is pinning his hopes on an appeal for a new trial. >> on a daily basis i think about all aspects of this. and it just doesn't make sense. i mourn not only for my wife but my son. it is a pain that -- it doesn't go away. it's a living agony. >> reporter: jeffrey once told his teacher he wanted to study medicine to find a cure for his mother. he told others that he'd trade places with her if he could. now jeffrey pyne, the onetime valedictorian, will spend at least 20 years behind bars for ending her life. >> that's all for now.

i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. this morning on "meet the press." our summit on ebola. >> for the first time in the history of the united states, somebody with ebola walked in the front door. >> as two nurses come down with the disease, is the wider american public in danger, and is the government doing enough to make us safe? we can't give in to hysteria or fea fear. >> we have gathered experts in africa and on the ground to ask questions about how serious this danger really is. and plus, addicted to off e office. >> i feel like running for congress. >> three men aiming to make the unlikeliest of comebacks and two of them from prison. >> you are found