let's broaden the world's energy mix, let's go. i never dreamed somebody could do this. i didn't know why anybody would want to kill him. you watch it on tv. you see it all the time. you just don't think it could happen to you. >> they were a young couple in a hurry to make their fortune. >> 1500s, 20s, lots of money. >> building the life until one life ended all too soon. >> what happened to your husband, ma'am? >> he is dead. >> he was playing on the floor and i got scared. i ran out of the house. >> a young father murdered in broad daylight. didn't look like a robbery. lots of valuables left behind.

lots of secrets, too. >> it kind of sent chills up my back. >> something was tearing a family apart. >> i don't even know where to start. >> or was it someone? >> the most cold-blooded, evil person. >> a family feud. and an innocent man caught in the middle. >> it really shows you that people see the ghosts of their loved ones, i wanted that so bad. so bad. >> i'm lester holt and this is "dateline." here's keith morrison with "the root of all evil." >> reporter: the hunting is good here in the arkansas delta. twice a year, a horde of migrating mallards descends on flooded rice fields. deer stare out through thickets of hardwood. you have to be quiet, sure-footed. your aim true. that's what marc despain's dad taught him. that's what marc taught his own

son. before the hatred worked its way in. >> sometimes it's overwhelming that anger, isn't it? >> it is. it is. >> reporter: the anger that pitted father against son. >> it almost got physical. it just -- it breaks my heart. >> reporter: and husband against wife. >> i just wanted to go into protective mode and protect us all. >> reporter: and brought the hunting to town on a deathly quiet summer afternoon. >> can you please hurry? >> ok. i'm going to get them out there. >> please send an ambulance. >> reporter: what could be left but the bitter taste of recrimination. >> he is evil. he is not the kind person that he's got the public convinced that he is. >> reporter: jonesboro is both a college town and a farm town. tends to the needs of young minds and rice farmers on the vast plain of sticky, fertile clay west of the mississippi

river. it's where marc despain breezed through school with his easy charm. tana is his mother. >> he was the only freshman that we know of that was chosen by a senior to go to the senior prom. >> reporter: marc became a high school football star and his sister jacque watched him bring his trophies home to lay at the feet of his father, jack. >> he really did look up to-- to dad. and he -- you know, he always wanted to, you know, impress him and stuff. >> reporter: and then? well, it's an old story, really. >> when i was 18 and he was 19, we just bumped into each other. >> reporter: pretty michelle. she was sitting on top of a car when marc spotted her one night. tiny, doe-eyed. and, before long, pregnant. >> the way i was brought up, if you got a girl pregnant, you married her.

that's just what you did. >> reporter: so there was a shotgun wedding. two families thrown together. marc and his parents, jack and tana. michelle and her long divorced parents, her mom kathy and her dad carl. michelle also brought along a baby from an earlier relationship. >> and he never treated her like she was not his. never. >> reporter: together they had two boys. >> he loved his kids. i mean, just anything they ever dreamed of, he would do his damndest to get it. anything. >> reporter: the little family moved into a trailer marc's parents bought them. and marc studied hard to become a real estate appraiser, like his mom, and went into business with his parents. which, said michelle, is about when things began to go wrong. >> marc didn't like to be pushed around by his dad. he was an independent person. >> reporter: the growing tension spilled over at the kitchen table.

marc demanded a bigger share of the money. they argued. and then michelle chimed in. oh, boy. >> oh my goodness, when she opened her mouth, dad just flipped off the handle. and, of course, marc just, i don't know, stepped in as -- as a husband, like a husband should do. >> reporter: that's how it began. the trouble between father and son. the trouble that was going to get so much worse. marc split away from the family business. michelle helped with the bookkeeping. >> i was just amazed at what they were able to accomplish. >> reporter: and they were a good team, said michelle's mother kathy. >> they both just had the ability to work together and to make money. >> reporter: marc got into real estate investment.

his first, a trailer park no one else would touch. >> i couldn't believe he bought that. i was just, what are you thinking have you lost your mind? he flipped it made him about $100,000 profit. >> and so having done it once, he figured he'd do it again -- >> absolutely. >> and again and again. >> absolutely. >> reporter: and the money seemed to roll in. marc moved his family to an upscale neighborhood in the southern part of town. adrift from his own parents, he spent more and more time with michelle, taking them on family trips. even hired michelle's dad carl to be his rent collector. >> i remember a lot of times walking in and carl would be sitting at the dining room table. and must be 50s, 100s, 20s. he was counting them like a drug dealer. >> just piles of money? >> piles of money. >> reporter: and then, one august afternoon, michelle came home from work early. >> when i walked in, there weren't any lights on, everything was knocked onto the floor. >> reporter: and then she got to the kitchen. and there he was. >> and he's laying in the floor and there was blood coming all

out from behind him. and i shook his leg and said his name and i looked around and there was stuff in the floor everywhere. and i got scared. >> reporter: she ran outside, terrified, and called 911. >> what's your emergency? >> my -- my -- my husband! i just came home and -- >> ma'am, i need you to take a deep breath. ok? and tell me what's going on. >> i don't know. >> reporter: michelle ran across the street to a neighbor's house, desperate to hide. >> she's not answering the door, ok? >> do you want me to stay on the phone with you? >> no. i need to call my mom. >> ok. call your mom. i'm going to get them en route. >> it was a voice that scared me. you know, you pick up the phone and you hear one of your kids on the phone and you hear crying. phone and you hear crying. >> reporter: kathy raced over there, found michelle sobbing on the curb. >> and she's "i gotta get to him. i gotta get to him." i just kind of grabbed my daughter by the shoulder. and i'm like michelle, he's gone.

he's gone. >> reporter: so he was. dead on his own kitchen floor. >> a young wife is now a widow and the horror of what she witnessed is unforgettable. >> is that a sight that lives in your mind a lot? >> a lot. >> her family's good life suddenly gone. or maybe it hadn't been so good. >> he was kind of embarrassed to come and get money from me. >> money. is that a clue? ♪ you make me wanna say ♪ ohhh, ohhh, ohhh, ohhh ♪ you make me wanna say ♪ oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh

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>> reporter: they are burned into michelle despain's brain. the images of that awful afternoon -- shadows in the hallway -- her husband. his blood. >> him -- laying on the floor. >> is it a sight that lives in your mind a lot? >> a lot. oh, yes. >> reporter: outside, a crowd of police and friends and family and curious neighbors gathered on the street below marc's house. among them, in an awful state, was marc's sister jackie. >> you know, everything was wrapped in tape. and police officers, "you can't cross here. you can't do this. you can't do that." >> i don't know, i just wanted to hold his hand or something. >> reporter: detective vic brooks was on the other side of that police tape. >> when i first walked in i noticed that were some papers that appeared to be knocked on the ground. >> and there was some broken glass and stuff like that on the floor. >> reporter: investigators snapped photos of the chaos.

drawers pulled out in a bedroom. clothes thrown into the bathtub. a jewelry case toppled over. >> like somebody was looking for something? >> possibly. >> reporter: they asked around the neighborhood. did anyone see any strangers that afternoon? and, yes, someone did. investigators told prosecutor scott ellington. >> an african-american was seen in the neighborhood wearing a certain colored shirt. >> reporter: it wasn't just that. later somebody said they saw an aging and beat up blue mercedes circling the neighborhood. so, thieves casing the house? maybe. and yet? as detective brooks looked around the house he could see this just didn't have the hallmarks of a robbery -- the valuable stuff, tv sets, guns, computers, were untouched. and look at this photo sitting next to marc's keys and a cell phone on the kitchen island is a container of ice cream. >> it appeared that he had just

walked in and set these items down and then was caught totally off guard. >> reporter: all of that seemed to shriek of a planned ambushed, dressed up a little too much like a robbery. the way investigators pieced it together, somebody was waiting for marc to get home, then crept up from behind, shot him twice. >> he had suffered two gunshot wounds one that appeared to have entered from -- on his left side. and then another shot -- that he had sustained to his face. >> that was a kind of, what is a kill shot or something? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: somebody making sure. >> it appeared so, yes. >> reporter: why would someone want to kill marc despain? >> i was so confused. i just -- i didn't think marc had any enemies. and i didn't know why anybody would want to kill him. >> reporter: detective brooks soon discovered a possible reason. even though they'd been living lavishly, marc had serious money

trouble. >> he was kind of embarrassed to have to come and get money from me . >> reporter: it was a couple of months before the murder, said michelle's mother kathy. marc asked her for cash to help pay for michelle's birthday present. >> you know, that's very unusual. because usually they just go out and buy whatever they want. >> reporter: not anymore. that summer, 2011, jonesboro real estate was far from recovered. many of marc's rental properties were underwater. the bank was closing in. tenants were being forced out of their homes. so -- >> was anybody set up with marc? >> was this any of his tenants? could this have been somebody like that? >> reporter: and then an ugly little surprise crawled out of marc's own troubled family. marc and his parents were lobbing lawsuits at each other over some shared property. the prosecutor heard that marc's dad jack was a hothead. >> jack was very, very angry at marc for mishandling this property that they co-owned together. >> reporter: yes. but it went deeper than that.

it went to a very dark place, as you will see. and because of it, marc hadn't spoken to his parents in years. so when jack showed up at the crime scene, the suspicion was, well, audible. michelle's dad carl started yelling at him. >> cursing very loudly - calling him all kinds of names. >> reporter: but what was he saying? >> "there's that son of a bitch, jack despain." >> reporter: did you think that jack was somehow responsible? >> oh, yeah. marc had told multiple people, "if anything ever happens to me, y'all look at my dad." >> reporter: so, of course, detective brooks invited jack down to the police station. just maybe this mystery would have a quick, if very disturbing, solution. coming up -- a young girl makes a troubling accusation that divides a family. >> oh, my god. could this have possibly happened? >> but was that the motive for murder?

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>> reporter: it's an unpleasant thing to think about. parents murdering their own children. but it happens. it's an old story, frankly. some awful glitch, perhaps, in the human recipe.

had it happened here, in jonesboro? suspicion fell quickly on marc's dad jack despain. michelle's mom heard about it when she called to tell a relative that marc was dead. >> "somebody's murdered marc." and he was like, "oh, my god." he said, "have they found jack despain?" >> he thought right away it was jack. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: because anyone close to jack and his family knew that a poison far more potent than money had come between father and son. >> i never saw it coming. i don't think marc ever saw it coming. >> reporter: it began, said michelle, when her 13-year old daughter told them an ugly story. that her grandpa jack asked her to take nude photos of herself on his phone. marc called a family meeting. >> marc told his dad there's a problem. we want to help you. you know -- you know, we're not here to point fingers at you or to judge you. >> reporter: jack swore he did

nothing wrong. marc called in the police. tana, jack's wife of more than thirty years, left him. moved in with marc and michelle. >> well, how do you prepare for a thing like that? >> you don't. you don't prepare. >> well, what is that like? >> you just -- your mind is in overdrive, you know, trying to think, you know, could this have possibly happened? >> reporter: but after the police interviewed the girl, and then jack, and then the girl again, and heard her story change. it became more elaborate. the investigation was dropped. and tana, driven with guilt for ever suspecting jack abused his granddaughter, went back to him and begged forgiveness. >> the man i've been married to for over 30 years and went to high school with -- and then doubting him and knowing i shouldn't have. >> reporter: but marc and michelle, believing the girl, never spoke to his mom or dad

again. cut them off from their grandkids. disowned marc's sister when she took jack's side. >> i believe dad 100%. i don't believe he had anything to do with it. >> reporter: so that was the ugly backdrop to the murder investigation. and detective brooks would have to figure out if this years-old unproven allegation had so eaten away at marc's dad that it pushed him over the edge. time to meet potential suspect number one. >> i'm going to close that door, mr. despain. >> reporter: detective brooks sat down with jack in an interrogation room. and watched the man fall apart. >> i can't. [ crying ] >> reporter: was this true grief the detective was witnessing? or regret? or guilt over something jack had done? or hadn't done? >> i was too late. >> reporter: too late. what did he mean? jack didn't shy away from discussing those abuse allegations. here's how it happened, he

said -- >> she had taken some nude photos of herself and sent them to her boyfriends. >> reporter: jack said he found out the girl was sexting, confronted her, said he was going to tell her parents. but she got to her parents before he did, jack said, and invented a story to get out of trouble. >> so they took her side, i guess. >> they took her side. and said i was the bad person. >> reporter: jack told us the same story, eager, he said, to finally set the record straight. >> you didn't ever ask her to take pictures of herself and give them to you? >> no. no. >> reporter: but the accusation, said jack, almost destroyed him >> i was at home. i could have opened up my own whiskey store, i think with how much whiskey i drunk for two months and typically i dont drink. but that was just to kill the pain. >> because everybody assumed that you were abusing your own granddaughter.

>> yes. yes. >> reporter: the detective wondered did jack's pain drive him to seek revenge on his own son? no, said jack. no. he wanted to reconcile with marc, not kill him. >> i know i ain't talked to my son in four, five years but i loved him dearly. >> reporter: anyway, when marc was murdered, said jack, he was miles away at his own house. >> i was on the roof trying to put some shingles on. >> reporter: that alibi would have to be checked out, of course. but even before detective brooks had a chance to do that, other members of the family came down to the police station and told him don't be fooled by jack's tears. he was an angry and possibly violent man. >> he said, "i will ruin you and your family." he said, "for you all accusing me of this." he said, "i will see you ruined." >> reporter: this is michelle's dad, carl. the man who'd been cursing jack out on the street right there at the murder scene.

>> if i was gonna point a finger at anybody, if that's what you're asking, i'd point it at jack despain. >> reporter: detective brooks could plainly see this was a family with a troubling history. so he made a decision. to attend marc despain's visitation. take a look around. see what his gut would tell him. >> i saw a note where you in your case file, you wrote "this has to be one of the strangest visitations i have ever attended"? >> it was just a cold feeling. it just did not feel right. >> reporter: was the killer sitting among the mourners. planning a next move? coming up -- a family feud at the funeral. >> she calls the police on us. >> and somebody else calls the police with a tip that could crack the case. >> this is a nice little gift. >> it was. finally get in shape.

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back to our story. a young father has been murdered and the search for his killer is focused on those closest to him, for good reason. his family and his wife's family are divided by a bitter feud. that fight has gotten so ugly that even his funeral is about

to be turned into a battleground. here again is keith morrison. >> reporter: michelle and marc. just children, really, when they got married. now marc was dead. gunned down in the family kitchen. and michelle had to plan his funeral. she was barely functioning, she said. >> i couldn't even tell you who was at the -- you know, who was there, it was just a blur. it all still just feels like a blur. >> reporter: but there was one thing she was clear about. marc's parents and sister were not welcome at his funeral. >> what was the funeral like for you? >> oh, it was awful. we couldn't sit down on the main level with the family. >> reporter: why? >> they -- michelle wouldn't let us. she barred us. >> reporter: it was the same at the cemetery. >> she's literally trying to get him in the ground before we can even walk up. >> reporter: you mean get them to fill in the grave? >> yes.

we just immediately jump out of our car and we start rushing to the graveside. and she calls the police on us. she calls the police at my -- at my brother's funeral. >> reporter: yet, for all the chatter about jack, that he might have killed his own son, detective brook's instincts said, "no." jack's alibi checked out. he was fixing his roof in the afternoon of the murder. and those tears in the interrogation room -- >> i did not feel anything as being fake from mr. despain. he appeared to be a broken man at that time. >> reporter: so what to make of the fractured family and all the bad blood now tangled up with so much grief? detective brooks thought back to his interview with michelle's dad, carl. the man who pointed a finger at jack on day one. >> he told him he didn't want to have nothing to do with him. >> reporter: carl said he'd been

in marc's house not too long before the murder. dropped off some rent money. >> why didn't they shoot me instead of him? i had the money in my hand. >> reporter: interesting timing? coincidence? or, as detective brooks wondered, did carl have something to do with the murder? maybe not. carl's alibi checked out. surveillance cameras, in fact, caught carl right where he said he was around the time marc was gunned down, meeting his daughter at the bank where she worked. he could not have shot marc. while the investigation continued, marc's parents spent time at the cemetery, finally able to do what they couldn't when their son was still alive. >> we'd talk to him. talk to marc. >> rainy days were the worst. i didn't like rainy days. >> reporter: what do you mean rainy days? >> i didn't like him getting wet. i knew he was in heaven. but i just didn't like the rain on him. >> reporter: and then?

pure luck, really. remember how neighbors reported seeing an african-american stranger in the neighborhood? now someone called the cops with a tip. somebody who matched that description was actually boasting about shooting marc despain. >> reporter: that was a nice, little gift? >> it was. >> reporter: didn't take them long to find the guy. street name, qualow, real name -- terrance barker. and he was nervous. >> i can see your heart beating through that shirt right now. i know you're scared. >> reporter: he denied everything. >> i don't know what to tell you, man. i didn't do this. >> reporter: detective brooks wasn't buying it. because by then, the police also tracked down the driver of that beat of beat-up blue mercedes near the house before the murder. and he told the cops he took qualow to meet a man in a church

parking lot. and that man wanted a job done. was that job murder? >> i didn't do that. i did not do that, sir. >> reporter: by now detective brooks had been working night and day for a week. his store of patience ran out. >> this is serious [ bleep ] to me. i've got three kids that are laying over there crying. >> reporter: was it that angry speech? or another long night in his cell? the next day, qualow, came clean for a promise of 7 to $10,000, still unpaid, he said he took the job to shoot and kill marc despain. >> you fired the first round and that round hits him where? >> it hits in the chest area. >> reporter: he didn't know marc from adam, he said. it was the man from the parking lot who took him to marc's house, told him where to lie in wait for marc, gave him a gun. and then qualow said something surprising. >> i've been thinking, like man,

what the -- what -- what in the hell kind of people do [ bleep ] like that? >> reporter: the shooter who executed a stranger for the mere promise of a few grand, said he was appalled. not at himself -- at the man who hired him. >> people are something else, man. you know, it's especially people that you think care about you and love you. they're supposed to be -- these are the same [ bleep ] that be in your face plotting on you. >> reporter: if the hitman was telling the truth, detective brooks hunch had been right. someone who claimed to love marc, also plotted his death. but who? coming up -- michelle confesses to an affair. and there was another surprise. >> there were two insurance policies, each for the amount of $500,000. >> when "dateline" continues. co!

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. >> reporter: it's shocking what some people will do for the promise of a few thousand dollars. like lie in wait for marc des pain and then put a bullet in his head. but revealing his paymaster? that the hitman did for free. and the name? >> somebody called me and said, have you heard, carl's just got arrested. i'm like, "oh, my god. he did this." >> reporter: carl! kathy's ex-husband. michelle's dad. but marc gave him a house, and a job and took on family vacations. and once again, said michelle,

she was stunned. >> i thought that he cared for marc, you know, the father of my kids. >> reporter: but michelle's mom kathy was not so surprised. she knew what carl was capable of. she divorced him years earlier, she said, to escape his explosions of temper. >> he never would hit me. because he didn't want to leave a mark. >> what would he do? >> he would hold a gun to my head. >> hold a gun to your head? >> yes. >> threaten you? >> yes. >> reporter: still, what would make him mad enough to have marc killed? confronted, carl's face turned to stone. >> i'm not going to say anything without my lawyer. >> reporter: but as investigators discovered, carl had been talking to other people, told them marc had been physically abusing michelle, that he was tired of it. >> did you investigate whether or not any abuse actually occurred in that marriage? >> there was not any abuse ever found to have been -- to have happened.

>> reporter: so, if the abuse story was an obvious lie, why did carl do it? marc's parents were certain he didn't come up with the idea on his own. the real mastermind, they believe, was someone else very close to marc, his wife michelle. >> i could not see carl taking my son's life without michelle being involved. >> reporter: michelle was far from a loving, doting wife, they said. the woman they knew was pure self-interests would do anything to get what she wanted. exhibit a? so what was it that just turned mark against you? >> michelle's manipulation. >> reporter: it was michelle who pushed marc to break away from the family business, they said. michelle who tore the family apart by stoking her own daughter's allegation of abuse to drive a permanent wedge between marc and his dad and get

marc and his money all to herself. they could easily see her talking her father into a murder. >> michelle is a sociopath. she cares absolutely nothing about anyone or anything but michelle. >> reporter: what an allegation, if true. and, as it happened, directive brooks was pretty sure he saw an effort by the grieving widow to manipulate him. he interviewed her, of course, right after the murder. >> i touched his leg and he didn't move at all. >> reporter: all that emotion in her voice. it seemed like an act to him. >> there were no tears. no tears. >> reporter: but her voice of desperation captured on the 911 call, surely that was real. maybe not. one of michelle's neighbors said they saw her standing calmly in

the middle of the lawn. >> they see a woman standing out there talking on her phone. it didn't appear to be in a grievous situation for sure. >> not like she was calling around the neighborhood for help? >> no. >> reporter: and marc's sister remembers how cool she looked at the crime scene. >> what bothered me the most was her hair was still perfect, her nails were still perfect. >> reporter: what would you have expected? >> as brutal as it sounds, some blood on her hands or something. >> reporter: if she tried to revive him? >> something. >> reporter: she invited marc who was working at home to have lunch with her downtown and then after lunch they went across the street to buy ice cream for dessert. see them here? marc had literally minutes to live. phone records show in the hours leading up to marc's death, there were calls and a flurry of text messages between michelle

and her dad. >> what the investigator found was that there was an enormous amount of texts missing. there were chunks of texts missing from carl's phone and michelle's phone. >> reporter: anything suspicious about the fact that they were missing from both phones? >> immediately was suspicious. >> reporter: direetective brook invited michelle back to the police station and asked her point blank -- >> did you have anything to do with the murder of your husband? >> no, i didn't. >> reporter: but she admitted she was hiding something. >> anything at all that you need to get off your chest? >> just that i was seeing a guy that my dad didn't know about, marc didn't know. nobody knew that. nobody knew that. >> reporter: seeing a guy? an affair? it all tumbled out. how michelle was dipping into family finances to pay for her lover's apartment, for his groceries.

>> i am very ashamed of it. >> reporter: maybe marc was on to her, about to find out what michelle was doing behind her back. marc's parents believe that michelle would rather see her husband dead than risk being on the losing end of a messy divorce. >> it was all going to fall apart. >> yeah. >> from trailer trash to a rich woman so she thought in her mind she would go back to being trailer trash again and she just couldn't stand the thought. >> reporter: but if marc died -- >> we found that there were two insurance policies. each for the amount of $500,000. >> that's a healthy chunk of change. >> yes, sir. >> a whole lot of suspicion by now but none of it actual proof. months went by. michelle went on with her life. jack and tana pushed investigators to keep going. they even posted a billboard asking the public for help. the idea that michelle might get

away with murder was eating jack alive. >> you've got a whole lot of anger in there for that woman, haven't you? >> if i could take her life and bring my son back, i'd do it. i'd do it in a heartbeat. >> sometimes that anger is overwhelming, isn't it? >> it is. it is. coming up -- one more twist. >> i never dreamed he would do it to me. >> and justice for marc? maybe. >> i kept thinking of the children. i wanted answers for the children. on your new account. then you can get another $10 when you spend $75 more. santa loves me! how does he feel about me? eh - he thinks you're okay.

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jack and tana despain heard how their son's widow was living with a new boyfriend on her arm, with life insurance money in her pocket and they fumed. >> she was buying stuff, buying clothes and going to restaurants and it's very hard for us to take. >> detective brooks was determined to see the case through. just like marc's parents, he believed michelle orchestrated the murder down to the very minute. the shooter himself said as much. carl was texting with someone, he said, as they made their final plans in the church parking lot.

>> who did he say he was texting? >> but virtually all those texts had been deleted. detective brooks labored for months, nights, weekends. >> you kind of got emotionally wrapped up in this one, huh? >> i kept thinking of the children. i wanted answers for the children. >> reporter: and then, a breakthrough. finally, nine months after the murder, a police analyst managed to recover several deleted text messages, including this one. time-stamped 8:20 a.m., five hours before the murder, michelle writes to her dad, has to be today. can't live like this. awful this morning. her dad's response -- >> he asks if she can get him away for lunch, huh? >> yes. she says she can. she says she can. and he replies, okay, i'll let you know what time. >> in my review of the text messages, marc really wasn't

interested in going to eat lunch that day but she begged him to take her to lunch. >> reporter: after lunch, remember, she asked marc to linger for an ice cream treat, all the while texting her dad, says the prosecutor, tipping him off to marc's whereabouts as they placed a killer in their home. >> it sent chills up my back. what kind of person have you got to be to let your husband walk away from you knowing what he's going to walk into when he gets home? >> reporter: armed with our new evidence, police arrested michelle. she was charged with capital murder for planning and orchestrating the crime. she denied it, said she could explain everything. and agreed to tell us. >> why people should believe that you had nothing to do with the plot to kill marc? >> because i didn't. he was such a good dad. such a good dad.

if anybody who knows me knows that my kids are so important to me. the most important thing. and i would never want them to not have their dad. >> reporter: but she did want out of the marriage, she said. so those back and forth texts with her dad that day did involve a plot, just not murder. >> what did you think he was helping you do? >> um, leave. >> how was he going to help you leave? >> by getting things while we were gone. >> reporter: so she'd keep marc at lunch while hired hands moved her stuff out of the house but she says that her dad changed the plan. she swore to us that when she met her dad at the bank that day what he had just done. >> you were this close to each other, father and daughter, and you're looking into his eyes, talking to him and he gives no hint that he just killed your husband?

>> not at all. >> reporter: and then michelle -- what's the expression -- threw her father under the bus. carl killed marc, she says, not because he thought marc was abusing her but for money, for a piece of the insurance payout. >> you were going to get the insurance. >> right. >> so even if it was his idea, it makes you look pretty guilty. >> one thing that he always told me and my sister growing up was that you use people for what you can get out of them, you know. >> that is what he told you? >> uh-huh. i -- i never dreamed he would do it to me. use me. >> reporter: did he? or was michelle the clever user? in our interview, michelle denied being a master manipulator. she denied she stoked those sex abuse allegations or that she

engineered marc's split with her parents. for that, she blamed jack and tana. >> i never would have walked away from my kid in the first place. i never would have. >> in the end, they didn't walk away from their kid either because who was pushing them from day one to solve the murder? who kept pushing? month after month after month. >> my opinion on that is their hatred toward me. it wasn't anything to do with marc. it didn't have anything to do with marc. it was all about jack despain's hatred towards me. >> you seriously believe that? >> i do. >> michelle out on bail waited for trial. her mother kathy defended her around town. did you ever let yourself think that she was involved? >> the daughter i know, the daughter i helped raise? no. >> reporter: meanwhile, michelle's attorneys took a

closer look at those recovered text messages. they filed a motion arguing that investigators didn't obtain them properly. >> they didn't get a new search warrant every time they searched the phone. we're talking about, i think, 15 searches of michelle and carl's phones. >> uh-huh. >> and they didn't have 15 search warrants. >> reporter: their arguments about improper search warrants may have had some traction. with the trial looming, the prosecutor was worried. >> we're at the high-stakes poker game where it's all or nothing when that judge rules the next day on whether to admit the evidence or not to admit it. >> reporter: the prosecutor agreed to start talking about a plea deal. the defense played it tough, said michelle was only willing to admit she learned about her father's plot after the murder. >> she is admitting to having knowledge that someone being involved and not disclosing that to the police. >> reporter: she would agree to

plead guilty to a charge of hindering apprehension, said the defense. after some prayer, marc's mother said she could live with that. >> i'm not a gambling person. even if we had went to trial, it would have only taken one sympathetic juror to have set her free. >> reporter: in september, more than three years after the death of her husband, michelle despain was sentenced. she left the courtroom in handcuffs mouthing, "i love you" to her mom. her dad and the shooter got 35 years. but michelle, though sentenced to 30 years, could be out on parole in as little as five. until then, her mom kathy will raise the kids. jack and tana hope one day those kids will want to know them, that they will want to know about their dad and their love for him that came before all this hate.

>> some of marc's friends told us that you were his hero, jack. >> yeah. >> you knew that? >> i'm sorry, jack. >> jack and tana set up a charity to help other victims of violent crime. it's called marc's place. >> we're going to try to move forward with something positive that we think marc would be very proud of. >> and a few weeks ago, they gathered family and friends together at sunset to remember and finally say good-bye. >> i tell people all the time, hug the ones you love. let them know. you never know when they may be gone. that's all for this edition of "dateline." tune in to "dateline saturday

night mystery" tomorrow night at 8:00, 7:00 central. we'll see you here next friday. i'm lester holt. for all of u. at nbc new - previously grimm... - we need to talk. she's a suspect in a double homicide, and i'm having a bit of a problem with this. - i think you're gonna have to tell him the truth, nick. - he's a grimm. - what do you want? - there are people who find what you are and what you can do very important. and, theresa, tell no one for your sake and theirs. - in order for you to help your friend, you need to know what was in the potion. here's the spell she used. - can you reverse it? - i need a place that's untainted by another hexenbiest. - we could go to the spice shop. - please, get me outf here. - it's a treacherous journey. you will need your strength. eat this. - oh, my god, you have food.