i just wanted to know what his last thoughts were. what could you think? what could go through your head when you're falling to your death? it began to happily. >> we were young, passionate. it was nice. >> and ended so tragically. >> that's when i heard a woman screaming, no, no, no. >> he was just 23 when he fell 17 stories to his death. leaving behind a pregnant wife. >> you actually watched him hit the ground. >> and questions -- >> i still can't understand how it happened. >> at first, no one else could

understand how it happened either, until someone started talking and just wouldn't stop. >> were you both struggling? >> what do you mean? >> was this an accident or something else? >> this is going to turn into a nightmare. >> here is andrea canning with "shattered." reporter: it was a spring day in name only. the temperature in tulsa was a couple of humid ticks shy of triple digits, and that was just fine with josh and amber hilberling. they were back where they'd met and fallen in love. >> i believe that everyone has that one person in their life that you give your whole heart to. and there's no refunds or exchanges. >> reporter: the young couple, newlyweds who'd recently celebrated their 1st anniversary, had just survived a frigid winter in alaska where josh had done a stint in the air force. amber spent most of those cold,

dark winter days alone in military housing. >> it's really, really cold and dark, and -- >> reporter: did you like it there? or did you quickly start feeling that, "maybe this isn't the place for me"? >> it is hard to get used to. i would make grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup and sit on the floor, you know, in the afternoons and talk to levi. >> reporter: levi was the name they'd picked for the son they were expecting. amber was seven months pregnant. now back home in tulsa, they were living in the city's iconic residential high rise, the university club tower that looms more than 30 floors above the banks of the arkansas river. the view from their 25th floor apartment was one of the best in town. until around 4:00 p.m. that hot tuesday afternoon in 2011. >> that's when i heard a woman screaming, "no, no, no." >> reporter: nathan mcgowan was in the apartment next door. after the screams, he heard a loud crash.

>> and i thought maybe somebody pushed over a coffee table or a fish tank because it got completely quiet right at that instant, just eerily quiet. and then, i heard someone screaming, "oh my god. oh my god, oh my god." >> reporter: but this was no fish tank shattering. it was something far more terrible. something tragic. josh had crashed through the big picture window in the living room. >> i remember him tripping backwards and falling into the window. i run to the window, and i saw him hit the ground. and, i mean, i just -- >> reporter: you actually watched him hit the ground? >> yeah. >> reporter: i don't think anyone really imagines what that must be like. >> no. nobody could ever imagine.

my only thought was, "get to him. you know, see if he's okay." >> reporter: josh had landed 17 floors below on the concrete of the 8th floor parking deck. amber raced downstairs. a neighbor who heard the breaking glass snapped this picture as she reached josh. and when you came upon his body, did you touch him? did you move him? >> yeah. i rolled him over. >> reporter: that must've been hard. >> yeah. a a human being should never have to see another human being in that state. even a stranger, much less -- especially someone you love. >> reporter: amber cradled josh's head in her arms, pleading with him to wake up, until emt's pulled her away. but there was nothing they could do. he was gone. josh hilberling was just 23 years old. officer don holloway of the

tulsa police department arrived a few minutes later. can you first describe the scene? >> the scene was fairly chaotic. there were medical personnel, fire department personnel, police personnel. a crowd had gathered outside, and i saw the victim on the ground. >> reporter: two people said they witnessed josh's horrifying fall. they spoke to detective jeff felton. >> one of them described him kind of flailing. almost like, you know, riding a bicycle or pedaling. >> reporter: screaming? >> yes. >> reporter: officer holloway took amber inside, away from the horrible scene on the parking deck. and what was amber's demeanor at that time? >> she was upset. she was crying, asking for josh. wanted to know if they were working on him, trying to get him back to life or not. she seemed very distraught. >> reporter: and what are you thinking happened at this point? >> at that point i thought we had probably a suicide, maybe an accidental fall, something along those lines.

>> reporter: holloway was also thinking the gruesome scene was no place for a pregnant 19-year-old girl who had just become a widow. he drove amber to the police station and escorted her to an interview room. her grandmother gloria came along for support. >> amber is nothing but a witness to this. i just put them in the room so amber could have somebody there with her to help console her if she needed it. >> josh is dead. >> reporter: as the two women sat alone in the small room, amber poured her heart out. >> i just wish it would leave my head. every time i close my eyes i see it. >> reporter: she was inconsolable, a jumble of grief and raw emotion. >> i just want to know what his last thoughts were. but what could you think? what could go through your head when you're falling to your death? i still can't understand how it

happened. and i don't think that's ever going to get better. >> reporter: for almost an hour, amber sat with her grandmother in a small room at the police station, unable to stop replaying every moment of the events that ended her husband's life. >> i just held him and kissed his cheeks and screamed for him to wake up. this is going to turn into a nightmare. what did amber know that detectives didn't? was this an accident or something else? when we return, what had really been happening inside that marriage? and, what really happened inside that apartment? >> why did he have to fall out the window? ah! 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!

what if your morning routine... weren't so routine introducting one a day vitacraves chewy bites... ...complete multivitamins with nutrients like... ...b vitamins... ...and vitamin d... ...in hard shelled, chocolatey chewy bites. new from one a day

♪ reporter: it had been only an hour since josh hilberling died in a horrifying fall from a 25th floor apartment. his wife amber was now at a downtown police station with her grandmother gloria, filled with questions that had no good answers. >> how did this happen? why did he have to fall out the window? >> i didn't just lose my husband. jeanne and patrick lost their son. zach lost his brother. >> reporter: airman first class

zach hilberling, josh's younger brother, was serving a tour in afghanistan. he got the news when he logged on to facebook. >> i called my dad. and it was late, 11:00 or 12:00. the fact that he answered the phone blew my mind. and i think the first thing that i said to my dad, "tell me that it's not true." and he said it is. >> reporter: zach headed home as the hilberling clan gathered in tulsa to mourn and remember. >> joshua was my first-born son. i mean, he was everything. >> reporter: josh's father, patrick, and step-mother, jeanne. >> he had a smile. i mean, he could light up a room. >> i called him joshie. i don't think anybody else was allowed to call him joshie. >> reporter: was he a mama's boy? >> he's been accused of that. he'd help me cook and things like that, but --

he had a tender side. >> reporter: that tender mama's boy grew into a strapping six foot, four inch, 220 pound teenager, a star on his high school football team. for an oklahoma kid, that was a very big deal. >> josh and football was the most exciting friday nights. >> he was a phenomenal football player. that was his sport. that was his game. that was his first love. >> reporter: it was back in 2008 when josh met amber at a halloween party. once they started dating, he literally swept her off her feet. what were some of the things he did for you? one night he drove me out to a basketball court at a park in his parents' neighborhood. i didn't know how to dance, so he put me up on his -- the tops of his shoes and danced with me under the stars. >> reporter: things were perfect at first.

aren't they always? >> we were young, passionate. it was nice. >> reporter: josh and amber had been dating for just a few months when josh got his marching orders. he was assigned to eielson air force base in alaska. the young couple faced a crossroads. they wanted to be together, so they arranged a quick, courthouse wedding, followed later by a lavish country club reception. >> it was so dorky. i almost passed out, i was so nervous. we were both kind of giggling, you know, at ourselves more or less. >> reporter: you sound like two teenagers. >> yeah. i mean, yeah, we were. >> reporter: but now amber was at a tulsa police station, no longer a giggling teenaged bride. she was a widow and filled with anguish as she poured her heart out. >> just come back.

please, please, i love you. i love you so much. >> reporter: but through the fog of her grief, a story started to emerge. amber told her grandmother she and her husband had been arguing. and now she couldn't believe how it ended. >> he's not supposed to be dead. >> no, he's not supposed to be, but he's in god's hands. >> it isn't fair. >> reporter: throughout their gut-wrenching conversation, amber and her grandmother were alone in a police interrogation room, talking in confidence. or so they thought. it turns out, officer don holloway had been listening the entire time. >> i was in the other room typing up my report. and all of a sudden, amber started talking about what had happened. >> reporter: so holloway started recording the conversation. every word, every gesture was being captured when amber said something that would change everything. >> he was messing with the tv right here.

and the windows were here. and i pushed him, and he fell out the window. fell. oh god. >> reporter: and when, through her tears, amber said she'd pushed josh, her grandmother seemed to sense immediately the gravity of what those words might mean to police. >> quit saying you pushed him out the window. did you intentionally? >> no, of course not. >> okay. that's the way they're going to take it, baby. >> reporter: was amber's grandmother right? would homicide detectives think the overwrought teenager was talking about an accident? or was she describing something much darker? >> who could do what? push my husband and make him fall out the window? coming up -- warning signs of a marriage in trouble.

>> we just slowly started seeing how different we really were. and of a life in danger. >> he was in tears. and he didn't know what to do. when "dateline"

e♪ ♪ >> reporter: amber hilberling and her grandmother were in a police station in downtown tulsa. and during their intense, hour-long conversation, one thing amber said stood out. >> and the windows were here. and i pushed him, and he fell out the window. fell. oh god. >> reporter: to police eavesdropping on them, that sounded like a critical statement, but what did it really mean? lead detective jeff felton. >> i didn't know the motive behind the push. i didn't know if there was a domestic situation going on. i didn't know if they were, you know, playing around and she pushed him. >> reporter: sort of giving the benefit of the doubt, in a way. >> absolutely. i mean, it's just -- it's nothing that i've ever seen before. >> reporter: felton had to figure out how the push

happened, and also what, if anything, led to it. and that meant taking a closer look at amber and her marriage. >> it was a volatile relationship, without a doubt. >> reporter: how did things get that way? that all depends on whom you ask. from the day the couple moved to alaska, amber's mother could see the storm clouds gathering. >> amber was used to getting her hair done and her nails done and, all of a sudden, you put this girl in a different world, and it's cold. and then, she found out she was pregnant. it was just like a tornado going, too many things happening at once. >> reporter: their alaskan adventure derailed almost from the start. when did your life start not seeming quite so perfect anymore? >> i mean, being newlyweds alone is, you know, is a struggle. and then the alaska factor. getting used to a whole new place. i mean, we just slowly started

seeing how different we really were. >> reporter: how were you different? >> in every way. he was the modest, predictable type. and i was more the wild hare. >> reporter: josh's father thought it was a terrible match the first time he saw the young couple together. >> it just didn't make any sense to me. i felt like my son was making a mistake. >> reporter: amber's mom had to agree. josh and amber were naive, starry-eyed lovers. >> they were too young -- too young and in love. they wanted this fairytale marriage that didn't exist, because that's not real life. >> reporter: as the winter days grew colder and darker, the strain was too much. there were lots of arguments, and troubling late night calls to mom and dad from both of them. >> he was in tears, and he didn't know what to do. >> reporter: after josh was discharged from the air force, they came back home.

tulsa might have meant a fresh start, but the fighting continued. it turned out alaska wasn't the problem. their marriage was. on june 7th, 2011, just a couple of weeks after they'd moved into the university club high rise, josh's bags were packed and he was waiting for a ride. that's when he fell to his death. and now detectives started focusing their attention on that 25th floor apartment. >> i made sure that the upstairs was secure and went and applied for a search warrant so that we could go inside. >> reporter: once he entered the hilberlings' apartment, felton looked for evidence that maybe there had been a fight that had gone terribly wrong. but he couldn't find anything to suggest the couple had been in the throes of a violent struggle just before the fatal push. >> the furniture was all in place. you know, other than the broken window, there was nothing that would indicate that there -- any kind of struggle had taken place. >> reporter: when you think

about a pregnant woman, 5'5", pushing her husband, who's 6'4", out a window like that, is it surprising that she would be able to do that? >> no, ma'am. if you catch somebody off guard. and i mean, a big body could actually work against you. >> reporter: do you think he was caught off guard and pushed? >> yes, ma'am. i think he was messing with the television set. >> reporter: so you think she did it on purpose? >> i think she shoved him on purpose. absolutely. >> reporter: and the more felton heard of what amber said in that interrogation room, the more convinced he became that she had condemned herself. >> i wonder if his parents know yet. >> they kept saying if we stay together i'm going to kill him. >> reporter: and with amber saying things that sounded an awful lot like a confession, grandma gloria offered up some sobering advice. >> when they come in, just -- i don't want to say nothing until my attorney gets here. okay? don't break.

don't -- and don't slip any other way. >> reporter: it turns out, an attorney was exactly what amber needed. police and prosecutors decided her push was in fact a crime. she was arrested and charged with 2nd degree murder. amber's mother was shocked. she thought it was obvious her daughter had been traumatized in the hours after josh's death. she also thought it was outrageous that anyone would hold anything she said to her grandmother in the interrogation room against her. >> she was a broken girl that had just witnessed the most horrible thing. she was in complete shock, as we all were. making someone pay for a tragic accident doesn't correct the situation. >> reporter: but the question of whether amber should pay was out of her mother's hands. it would now be decided in a tulsa courtroom. coming up -- no witnesses saw what happened in that apartment, but one witness did hear it.

and it sure didn't sound like an accident. >> i heard running, like i've never heard before in that building, and a crash. woman: for soft beautiful feet, i have a professional secret: amopé and its premium foot care line. the new amopé pedi perfect foot file gives you soft beautiful feet effortlessly. its microlumina rotating head buffs away hard skin even on those hard-to-reach spots. it's amazing. you can see it and feel it. my new must-have for soft, beautiful feet. amopé pedi perfect. available in the foot care aisle of the following retailers: we'll fight back at the this cfirst sign of sick. no more feeling coughy, mucusy...just...yucky. whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. is this about me? ♪

i'm telling you i heard someoh!ng... (awkwardly laughs) get out. enough's enough! d-con baits are fomulated to kill in one feeding. guaranteed. ♪ ♪ i ♪

♪ reporter: amber hilberling had been charged with second degree murder for the death of her husband, josh. as the story of how he fell 17 stories to his death went public, it seemed the only ones crying for amber were her family and amber herself. >> why did he fall? josh is dead. >> reporter: amber continued to insist her husband's death was an accident. but an online cottage industry had sprung up in tulsa, devoted to bashing the young widow, who by now had given birth to her son, levi. how is it, as her mother, reading those things about her,

hearing those things about her? >> it's like taking a knife and just stabbing you. >> reporter: her critics caustically noted how the step-daughter of a plastic surgeon always seemed ready for her close-up. tight clothes that emphasized her breast implants and blown-out hair for court hearings. some people wrote some harsh things about you, and saying that you were enjoying it, that you loved being a celebrity. one quote was that you were paying more attention to your outfits than the evidence. >> i mean, that seems ridiculous and a totally unsupported opinion because these people didn't live with me on a daily basis. >> reporter: the state's theory was that while amber may not have meant to kill her husband, pushing him towards the window showed a dangerous disregard for his life. in other words, second degree murder. if convicted, amber faced anywhere from 10 years to life in prison. >> think of the absolute conscious disregard for another human life when you are pushing

somebody towards glass 25 stories up, when you wouldn't even do it on the first floor. >> reporter: prosecutor michelle keely knew jurors might have a hard time seeing the young mother as a killer. so as amber waited in a oklahoma jail cell, separated from her newborn son, keely offered her a deal. five years of prison in exchange for a guilty plea. >> i think any time you go to trial where you have a lovely, young lady and somebody who doesn't have any felony convictions, definitely could've come across very well for a jury. >> reporter: amber's lawyers told her she should consider the deal. but amber wasn't interested. yeah, why didn't you take the five? >> because i believe that if you're not guilty for something and you truly believe in that with all your heart, then you're going to take whatever risk is necessary to prove that. >> reporter: she'd put her faith, and her future, in the hands of a jury. her trial started in march of 2013. and right away the prosecutor argued this was a domestic

violence case with a twist. the wife, they said, had abused the husband, finally pushing him to his death. that incident was eerily foreshadowed months earlier by a phone call patrick hilberling received from his son, josh. >> she had pushed him down the stairs. he was down in the basement. i could hear her up at the top of the stairs screaming, you know, "who you talking to?" and he goes, "dad, i don't know what to do." and i told him to leave. i said, "you need -- just leave." "get out of there." >> reporter: to support the abuse claim, the prosecutor had an explosive piece of evidence. it was a protective order detective felton found in the couple's apartment, taken out by josh against his wife just weeks before his death, and after she had cracked him over the head with a lamp. josh had told police he needed 11 stitches to close the wound. >> the order listed josh as being the plaintiff and amber being the defendant, which, you

know, means that he got the protective order against her. >> reporter: the state believed that was court-ordered proof that amber was a violent woman, likely out of control the day her husband died. in fact, just before that fatal push, josh had phoned his dad patrick and pleaded with him to come pick him up. >> he said, "dad, you know, i can't take it anymore, you know. can you come get me? you know, give me a ride home?" >> reporter: as josh waited for that ride, the prosecutor told the court, his wife went on a tear. the two fought first in the bedroom, where one of them threw a laundry basket and broke the window. >> she obviously knew that those windows would break. and, so, she was on notice of that. >> reporter: a building repairman came to the couple's apartment to fix the bedroom window. while he worked, the husband and wife started arguing again, this time in the living room. prosecutor keely said at some point josh became distracted, either by his phone or by the

tv. and that, she said, is when amber took her husband by surprise, shoving him into a window she knew could easily break. >> i heard a woman screaming, "no, no, no." >> reporter: neighbor nathan mcgowan had been listening to the couple arguing. but what he heard just moments before that fatal crash became vital to the state's case. >> then, i heard running like i've never heard before in that building, i heard running coming from the left going all the way to the right and a crash. >> reporter: to the state, those footsteps revealed a key point, that amber had charged toward her husband, who was standing near that window, totally unaware. and that wasn't the only evidence given to support that theory. >> the witness that saw him coming down was standing about where we're looking up. >> reporter: remember, there were two eyewitnesses who

testified they saw josh come out of that window. one offered a chilling, detailed description, recounted by officer don holloway. so the witness says he saw him coming out face first. >> that's correct. the witness said he was falling face first when he saw it. >> reporter: which became a critical piece of eyewitness testimony. >> yes, it showed that josh was probably facing forward when he came out the window, instead of turned around, facing amber. >> reporter: suggesting he may have been pushed from behind. something else caught the prosecutor's eye. the furnishings near the shattered window had not been touched. what did that say to you, that the apartment appeared to be untouched? it was pristine. >> it told me that there wasn't a struggle at the scene. if there had been any kind of a struggle in the apartment, the candlesticks would have been toppled over. the pictures that were hanging out of the wall, certainly, if somebody had banged into the wall, it's very likely that the pictures would've been askew. >> reporter: further proof, she said, that amber had taken her

husband by surprise. the prosecutor believed amber herself admitted as much in that heart-to-heart with her grandmother. over the objections of the defense, the judge ruled the jury could see and hear the entire taped conversation. he said the two women were not entitled to privacy in a police interrogation room. >> he was like messing with the tv right here and the windows were here. and i pushed him, and he fell, and oh god! >> reporter: to the prosecutor, comments like that were a confession to murder. and she played more clips of that conversation for the jury, including this seemingly damning one. >> i killed him! >> in the moments right after a horrible accident or something horrible has happened during the excitement of an event, people are more likely to say true things. and so i think, yes, that definitely goes to the fact that what she probably said after the event is probably very true. >> reporter: finally, the

prosecution introduced two of the defendant's former cellmates who testified that amber had called her late husband a bastard and made light of his death. >> both said that she would joke about this. >> and she would look at them and say, "you better be careful or i'll push you out the window." and she would laugh after that. and i think that shows a lack of remorse, a lack of real acceptance for the gravity of what you've done. >> reporter: but did it all add up to second degree murder? the defense was about to present a much different version of the last moments of josh hilberling's life. coming up -- a defense no one saw coming. >> did you ever fear for your life in the relationship? >> i mean, i definitely was scared sometimes. when "dateline" continues. woman: for soft beautiful feet, i have a professional secret: amopé and its premium foot care line. the new amopé pedi perfect foot file gives you soft beautiful feet effortlessly.

its microlumina rotating head buffs away hard skin even on those hard-to-reach spots. it's amazing. you can see it and feel it. my new must-have for soft, beautiful feet. amopé pedi perfect. available in the foot care aisle of the following retailers: delsym helps silence coughs for a full 12 hours with an coughing can really amopbe disruptive.. advanced time release formula for all day or all night relief. bianca! [cheering] delsym. silence is relief.

could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know you that former pro football player ickey woods will celebrate almost anything? unh-uh. number 44... whoooo! forty-four, that's me! get some cold cuts... get some cold cuts... get some cold cuts! whooo! gimme some! geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

whoo! forty-four ladies, that's me! whoo...gonna get some cold cuts today! sometimes come out with spots? well, those spots are actually leftover food or detergent residue. can we help prevent this? yes, use finish jet dry. it goes in your dishwasher's dispenser to help eliminate spots and residues. wow, what a difference! ♪ reporter: amber hilberling had been called a lot of things in tulsa -- spoiled, vain and, by the state of oklahoma, murderer. but her attorneys, jasen korns and april seibert, thought it was time to tell the truth about amber as they saw it. >> she was a victim before this accident. she's been a victim of the circus that this case has become. she's been through hell. >> reporter: her lawyers said amber's hell began the moment josh went through the window, because she had no intention of

causing his death. after all, the state's own witnesses described amber as distraught and inconsolable. >> every first responder on the scene, they all testified unanimously that amber appeared shocked, surprised. said she couldn't believe it had happened. "how did this happen?" she never meant for it to happen. it was an accident. >> reporter: some people find it hard to believe that a woman of amber's size, 5'5", seven months pregnant, could push josh, who's 6'4", just right out the window. wouldn't he be able to stop that? >> well, there was a push and there was a trip. he lost his balance falling backwards. >> reporter: what happened next was just a blur. the defense argued the state couldn't prove otherwise. and they said just because josh's body was found face down, that didn't mean he'd gone out the window the same way, as if pushed from behind. the problem, they said, was the prosecutor's application of the law -- the law of physics. >> the medical examiner

testified that based on his observations of the injury, there's just no way he could tell with any degree of scientific reliability which way he came out the window. >> reporter: do you think it's possible to change positions many times as you're falling from the 25th floor? >> absolutely. >> reporter: it was also possible, the defense argued, that the witnesses who saw josh falling face forward were imagining things, especially the witness who was taking a smoke break on the street 25 stories below. >> the idea that this man, while out smoking a cigarette, could've been zeroed in on that one of 400 and some windows, and can testify two years later about this man's body position as he went through that window, that's preposterous. >> reporter: equally absurd to the defense, that testimony from amber's former cellmates, who described amber talking callously about her husband's death. one of the jailhouse snitches testified that amber said in jail, "i killed the bastard."

any truth to that? >> no, not at all. in fact, amber's reaction was priceless when that testimony came out. she looked at me and she said, "bastard? what am i, 40? i've never used that word. that's an old person's word." >> reporter: korns said putting the inmates on the stand was a desperate ploy, and he predicted it would backfire. >> i have more respect for that jury that we seated than to think that they could have believed those two jailhouse informants. i think they were just a joke. >> reporter: the real culprit here, said the defense, wasn't amber at all but the cheap window she accidentally pushed josh against. the lawyers said the glass may have met city codes, but that didn't mean it belonged in a high rise. >> i wanted the jury to realize that that glass is unsafe. >> reporter: they called to the stand mark meshalum, an expert who's been testing and installing glass in buildings for 30 years. he told the court that the glass in the university club tower's windows should have been

replaced years ago. >> it's for picture frames. it's really not for windows. i've never used that on any of my projects. >> reporter: and the only thing flimsier than that glass, said the defense, was the prosecution's claim that amber was an abusive wife. amber's mother had found that argument particularly galling. >> i disagree that amber was the abuser. did she fight back sometimes? oh, yeah. was she perfect? i don't know that. no one was up there with them. the only two that knew what happened were amber and josh. >> josh didn't have to defend himself. i mean, i was a good wife. >> reporter: and in that same soft voice, amber hilberling took the stand to defend herself. she recounted a marriage that began passionately but soon became troubled, and she blamed that trouble on josh who, she said, was abusive. >> reporter: did you ever fear for your life in the relationship? >> i mean, i definitely was

scared sometimes. >> reporter: on the last day of josh's life, amber said she decided, finally, to stand up for herself. she told the court she made josh pack his bags. that's what started the fight, she said. and that's when amber said months of abuse at the hands of her husband led to one final confrontation, which he started. >> out of frustration he reaches out and grabs my shoulders. >> reporter: the defense produced this photo to show that josh's grip had left red marks on amber's shoulders. fearing for herself and her unborn baby, amber said she reacted with a mother's protective instinct. >> and i reached up, and i pushed against his chest. and i just remember him falling backwards. and i mean, it -- i didn't even hear anything. >> reporter: but that claim of self-defense was at odds with her next door neighbor's testimony. he said he heard amber yelling and the stomping of feet, as if

someone had been rushing toward josh just before that crash. so there are two very different stories. >> i can't give account to the other guy or whoever said that, but the running? there was no running. >> reporter: was there stomping toward the window at any point? >> i mean, there was josh tripping backwards that maybe could've been heard like that. >> reporter: but if it did happen that way, why didn't amber mention it moments after josh died? why was she suddenly claiming self-defense? was that a story you made up to try and get off? >> no. no, not at all. why i didn't mention it in the interrogation room? i don't know. i remember very, very little of anything in that tape. >> reporter: she even addressed that protection order the state tried to use against her.

she said the idea for filing that was a ruse she and josh worked up together. why did he go and take a protection order out against you? >> that was for josh's parents of him trying to convince me that i was go to divorce him so that they wouldn't take his trust fund from him. >> reporter: did you intentionally push josh out that window? >> no. no. i would never do something like that to someone, ever. i mean, i've never even been in a fight ever in my life. >> reporter: as she testified from the witness stand, amber's words were being measured and weighed very carefully. had she made the case for freedom or talked her way into prison? coming up -- the verdict. >> i had waited almost two years to get my day in court when i would actually stand up and say this is what happened. >> josh is dead. and there has to be consequence.

there has to be punishment.

♪ reporter: it had been nearly two years, and now the mystery and controversy surrounding josh hilberling's death were coming to a head. his wife amber had just told a courtroom she had pushed josh in self-defense. >> initially, she never, ever said it was self-defense. in fact, i never heard that it was self-defense until she actually took the witness stand. >> reporter: that also caught officer holloway by surprise. he says amber never mentioned self-defense as she waited in that interrogation room moments after josh's death. so did it strike you at the time as unusual that that wasn't brought up? >> yes, it did. if it had truly happened, there's no doubt in my mind that it would have been brought up during some time that i was listening to amber. >> reporter: the prosecutor pointed out that amber actually seemed dumbfounded when her own

grandmother appeared to suggest she might have been trying to protect herself. >> were you both struggling? >> what do you mean? >> reporter: so now, before the case was handed to the jury, the state had its chance to cross-exam amber. >> she testified that what had happened, he grabbed her on the shoulders and she pushed him backwards. >> reporter: the prosecutor asked amber to re-enact, right there in the courtroom, the supposed confrontation with her husband. detective felton played the part of josh, with his arms reaching out, hands gripping amber's shoulders as she'd described. amber didn't actually move towards him, but still pushed him away. the detective didn't buy it. >> she described a gentle push. and you know, i think anybody would realize that it would take great force to, you know, get josh to actually go through the window. >> reporter: yeah, we're talking about a woman who is 5'5", a man who's 6'4." some people would think a gentle push wouldn't be realistic. >> yes, ma'am.

and you know, in my mind, if he didn't want to go out the window -- i mean, if he wanted to fight back, there is no way she would've gotten him through the window. >> reporter: to the detective, that meant josh was distracted, and that amber surprised him with that push. but would it seem that way to the jurors? after a week of testimony they knew only one thing for certain, josh had gone out that window to his death. amber called it an accident, borne out of self-defense. the state charged it was reckless shove by an angry, abusive wife. second degree murder. when you were waiting for the verdict, how did you think it was going to play out? >> i mean, honestly, i had all the hope in the world. i mean, i had waited almost two years to get to that point, you know? to get to my day in court when i could actually stand up and say, "this is what happened. this is what i've been through and hope that people see th.

>> reporter: which is what the hilberlings feared. they worried the jury had seen this case just as amber had and would forget about their son. >> josh is dead. a person died. and there has to be consequences. there has to be punishment. >> reporter: and there was. after less than three hours the jury had its verdict. guilty of murder in the second degree. >> i just grabbed onto levi and it was, like, "this can't be happening. this can't be real." it was just awful. >> reporter: the bad news for amber wasn't over. the jury stunned nearly everyone by recommending a 25 year prison-term. >> i have to assume that even the district attorney has to be, i mean, in some state of surprise as to 25 years. because they offered me five. >> reporter: would you do it differently knowing what you know now? would you take the plea?

>> no. because what i know to be true is no different today than it was when they offered me that five years. and, you know, i have to put my trust in one day i'll be able to say the things left unsaid and hope for something better. >> reporter: but to the woman who'd prosecuted amber and won, the sentence seemed a perfect kind of justice. >> when you think of -- that it was from the 25th floor and it got 25 years, it's not the maximum. it's not the minimum. it's something that actually makes sense. it's like a year for every floor. >> reporter: years that will keep amber away from her son. she'll probably only see him now, ironically, through an unbreakable window in a prison visitor's area. >> she's watching her child grow up in pictures. i'm watching my child grow behind glass.

it is not fair. at all. >> reporter: but then, the hilberlings will tell you what happened to their son and brother is not fair either. >> we would never let anybody come between us. i miss him for that. because i don't have that anymore. there's no replacing him. >> reporter: so zach hilberling tries to keep the ache at bay with a comforting image of his brother, smiling, feet planted firmly on the ground, victorious in life under friday night lights. >> i think of him every time i see a football. i hear the word football, i think of -- there's so many things that remind me of my brother. because he was in my life from day one. and he never left. so, i mean, he's still not gone. that's the best part.

that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. this sunday, the the election season, sidetracked again, this time by two issues. this time ebola reaches new york city, and do we have to quarantine health care workers returning from west africa. and is it time for a travel ban from everyone returning from the affected countries. and another lone wolf attack, h this time in canada. and the hatchet assault on a police officer. what is happening with these mentally disturbed copycats. and my report from the battle state road trip. exclusive polling numbers to show