highest in failing to appear. will you share that with your patrolmen? >> most certainly. that's an easy question. yes. >> is the message going to be a little bit stronger? i think all they're going to have to do is turn the television on. >> when you got these numbers, a little bit of a wake-up call? >> i think for us when we looked at the numbers that were provided to us we recognized the fact that we need to do a better job. >> reporter: both the chp and san jose police promised changes including tracking and monitoring court appearances. >> this matter will be dismissed. >> reporter: five months after our first report records show those changes made a difference. >> there's a significant drop in no-show rates. >> reporter: court commissioner greg salad var is referring to these numbers. san jose police dropped its no-show rate by 4%. san jose chp dropped by 7%. and redwood city chp went from a

20% no-show rate down to 8%. a 12% improvement. >> what's that say? >> that says that number one, they listened to what you all had to say. and they made the corrective -- they made the corrections. and it just tells me that they want to do the right thing. they did the right thing. >> but our latest review of recent court records found not everyone got that message. >> the officer is not present in your matter. >> reporter: on this day a santa clara county sheriff deputy failed to appear. >> so this matter will be dismissed. initial justice. lack of prosecution. >> reporter: our review of court records for the past five months found santa clara sheriff's deputies missing court 20% of the time, a 6% increase from last year's numbers. the largest no-show rate of any major agency. >> that number is a little

higher than i expected and that's the reason i was surprised when you presented me with the data. >> reporter: captain rick song responded to the numbers, saying the santa clara county sheriff's office like other agencies will now focus on tracking deputies' appearances in court. >> what's the message you're taking to your deputies from this data? >> take care of your business. this is what we have to do as a government entity. you come to us with a problem, and you're looking for a solution. and we're here to provide that solution. >> bottom line we found the agencies that do track when their officers show up have the best attendance records. we also discovered when it's not importanted there's a greater chance the ticket gets dismissed because the officer failed to appear. ultimately wasting court resources and your tax dollars. when we return -- >> we don't want to waste taxpayers' money by having vaccine go to waste. >> we investigate flu vaccines.

why some bay area counties are letting thousands go unused. the numbers next.

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if you have a story for the investigative unit call our tip line at 888-996-tips or send us an e-mail to theunit@nbc bay area.com. the calendar says we're right in the middle of flu season, the time when local health departments spend a lot of time and money to fight the virus. but investigative reporter vicky nguyen has learned thousands of flu vaccines go to waste every year. vaccines you paid for. vaccines purchased with tax dollars. >> are you ready? come sit over here with me. >> reporter: alameda county launched shoo the flu at oakland

schools this year. >> what's your name? >> reporter: it's part of a massive public health campaign to distribute some 20,000 vaccines over the next couple months. >> are you a little scared? >> reporter: and it's working. alameda county ranks number one in the state for how little vaccine is wasted each season. >> that's it. >> they're asking us do we have anywhere from 110,000 to 190,000 illnesses in alameda county are caused by flu every year. >> reporter: dr. erica pan is the county's director of communicable disease control and planning. she says the county works with 22 partners ranging from health clinics to homeless shelters. >> i think we're proactive and our partners are proactive, yes. >> want to hold my hand while we wait? >> reporter: but not all counties appear to be as proactive. the investigative unit looked at the past five years of vaccine usage data from the state health department. we found on average more than 88,000 vaccines go unused each year throughout the state.

every year the state provides free flu vaccines to each county based on potential demand. but unlike other vaccines the flu vaccine is only good for one season before it expires. state records reveal a wide variance between unused vaccine rates, ranging from an average 1% in alameda county to 23% in orange county to 38% in cal veras county. >> that begs the question as to why are some counties doing so well and other counties not so well. >> reporter: ucsf epidemiologist robin gershon says all yointz need to have an effective system for distribute being vaccines not only for flu but because it's practice for any outbreak. >> so if we can't get it right with flu we won't be in a good position if a more serious disease outbreak occurs? >> this certainly is a great trial run for us to really ramp up if and when we ever need to. so let's hope to get this right. we need to get this right.

>> reporter: here in the bay area date sooezhows that marin and solano county posted the highest rates of unused vaccine at 19%. that outpaced santa clara at 9% and san francisco at 8%. >> we're aiming to give out all our doses of vac scene. >> reporter: danielle highser is the coordinator. she wasn't in charge of distribution in 2011 when the department reported 38% of its vaccines went unused but she says she's adding more public clinics to get vaccines off the shelves. she says in 2014 -- >> we returned only 5% of our doses. which is great. and that's definitely a huge improvement. >> reporter: while all counties are required to report their numbers to the state, we found that none of the counties we spoke with had any idea how they compared and there's virtually no oversight from the state. >> we don't want to waste taxpayers' money by having vaccine go to waste. >> reporter: at around $11 a dose, unused vaccines have cost

the state at least $5.9 million since 2009. the state health department declined our request for an interview. but after we started asking for data the state began requiring counties to report vaccine usage rates in the winter and summer to better track the numbers. >> fear gripping the east coast as the cdc -- >> reporter: with the ebola virus now making headlines and the vaccine currently in the works, gershon says it's more important than ever for public health leaders to be prepared. >> if we were to have a vaccine and we need to get it out to the entire population quickly, this influenza program is the model. it is the model. >> doctors do recommend flu shots, saying they can shorten the illness or make it less severe. now, we have put together a map showing how many flu vaccines went wasted in each california county. just go to our website at nbcbayarea.com and click on the investigative unit tab. you'll find this story on page 4.

coming up next -- >> and i saw the truck. i just thought he was going to stop. but he never did. >> a commercial delivery truck plows into a bus, but it's never reported. next we investigate how some accidents are going untracked by the department of transportation.

if you have a story for the investigative upt call our tip line at 888-996-tips or send us an e-mail to theunit@nbcbayarea.com. we all share the road with big delivery trucks. tonight an investigation into what happens or more accurately what doesn't happen following a crash. law enforcement is required to report it to the government. that way it can keep an accurate

safety record on all companies. but investigative reporter elyse kirschner found that's not always happening and some major accidents have gone unreported. >> reporter: imagine being a passenger on this bus when in a flash a fedex ground truck plows into you. >> people just -- they would be flying all over. all over the bus. >> reporter: knocking passengers out of their seats. >> and i saw the truck. i just thought he was going to stop. but he never did. >> reporter: that's what happened to nelson andino. he was on his way to a beach in miami in january 2012 when a fedex ground truck hit the bus he was riding in. you can see him sitting in the back row wearing a white t-shirt and headphones clearly shaken by the impact. >> a lot of policemen. a lot of paramedics. people like screaming in pain. >> reporter: miami city officials say 18 people including andino were taken to local hospitals. it's all because according to authorities the truck ran a red

light and t-boned the bus. law enforcement agencies are required to notify the department of transportation when a crash involving a motor carrier causes fatalities serious injuries or requires vehicles to be towed from the scene. and it doesn't matter if the carrier is responsible or not because past crashes are a good predictor of future crashes. as far as the accident in miami the feds confirm it should have been reported to the d.o.t. but that didn't happen. so the collision is not part of fedex ground's safety score. it's listed as satisfactory. >> if you don't have all the accidents recorded then you don't know the safety record of the company. >> reporter: rob diordan runs runs the mineta transportation institute, a transportation public think tank in san jose. he says all accidents need to be reported so the government can better concentrate its intervention efforts on motor carriers that have high preventable crash rates. >> if they're not receiving the accident reports they can't then

recommend legislation that reduces the accidents. >> reporter: the d.o.t. currently lists 1,313 crashes involving fedex ground from january 2012 to may of this year. during that same time period the investigative unit has found 15 major collisions that are missing from fedex ground's safety record. in many cases the crashes involved multiple injuries and even fatalities. >> one person has been killed after a fedex truck and a bus collided -- >> reporter: like this one in atlanta. a fedex driver died after colliding with a bus. another crash involving fedex shut down this freeway in texas. in providence rhode island traffic came to a standstill on the interstate there after a car hit a fedex truck. here in california memorial marks where a fedex driver hit and killed a father in brentwood. and in orange county a driver of a big-rig died after colliding with a stalled fedex truck on the freeway.

"the investigative unit" discovered all of these accidents are missing from the d.o.t.'s accident data base. the possible reasons? law enforcement never reported the crash, recorded the accident report or recorded the wrong d.o.t. number. >> it starts out with that initial officer who investigates the collision. he's required to collect all that data. >> reporter: captain brandon johnson is the commander of the commercial vehicle unit in california. the california highway patrol investigated the two crashes in orange county and brentwood. >> so the bottom line was it some type of human error when you're looking at why those accidents weren't reported? >> it was human error. and what happened was it's probably a training issue. >> reporter: he says in both of the california accidents officers failed to include fedex ground's d.o.t. number in the crash reports. the federal government relies on that accident data to evaluate how safe a motor carrier is on our roads. and gives grant money to local law enforcement to report important information to the d.o.t. the investigative unit found

california received more than $75 million in the last five years for motor carrier oversight, paid for by your tax dollars. >> now that we provided that information, will those accidents be a part of fedex's safety record? >> yes. since you guys have talked to us about these two collisions we've looked into it. >> reporter: since "the investigative unit" alerted chp to the oversight captain johnson says the two accidents in california will now be part of fedex ground's overall safety record. >> it's going to go out statewide to everyone. it's going to advise them what kind of information needs to be on the accident report so this doesn't happen again. >> reporter: the federal motor carrier safety administration says it's unclear whether 15 crashes would significantly affect the company's safety score. >> the bus actually turned. >> reporter: but those involved in non-reported crashes like nelson andino say every crash should count. >> you know people get injured. so just to be forgotten like that is not fair. it's not fair.

>> now fedex ground declined our interview request about the missing data. the company pointed out that a carrier isn't obligated to report that to the government. bottom line this really comes down to law enforcement doing a better job sharing accident information. now, many of our stories come from viewers just like you. if you have a story for us call our tip line at 888-996-tips. or send an e-mail to theunit@nbcbayarea.com. finally tonight, we thank you for watching. as always you're invited to join us regularly right here on nbc bay area. it's a perfect combination. you watch and we investigate. i'm tony kovaleski. good night.

charles capone. the grounds? she said he'd tried to choke her.

>> it's nice to be able to just walk around with your head up. >> reporter: the cops weren't so sure and were now chasing down his friends, including his good pal david stone, a married high school baseball coach and employee at the moscow, idaho, maintenance department. to the investigators' astonishment, david volunteered that he'd been hanging out with charles and rachael at the garage the friday night she went missing. >> it's absolutely huge. >> reporter: now you got another guy, someone with information. >> somebody with information. it immediately raises the question, why didn't charles capone ever mention david stone to me during the entire time i interviewed him? >> reporter: three-days after rachael was reported missing, the task force detectives sat david stone down and grilled him. >> he provided a timeline for that evening, and it was different than charles capone's timeline. >> reporter: the husband's friend told the cops rachael came by the shop about 5:00 p.m. and waited for charles to finish her car. david stone says he then left to get some food at an a&w. when he got back to the garage

around 8:00, rachael was gone. stone said he drove charles to a local bar, swung by his home for a while, then went out later to pick-up charles at the bar. many of the investigators knew david stone and his wife alisa. she worked in moscow city hall as a grants writer. who was your dave, personality, character? >> yeah. someone that -- was very caring, was a really good stepdad. you know, was on the volunteer fire department. >> reporter: charles capone, were they friends? >> yes, yes. >> reporter: did you know rachael? >> i knew her only from church. >> reporter: alisa knew her husband was at the garage that friday night and said nothing seemed amiss. what did he say was going on? >> he said he dropped charles off, mingles and that there had been some interaction with rachael that wasn't happy. and charles said he wanted to have a drink. and so he dropped him off and was going to go back, and he'd be home. >> reporter: intriguing perhaps, but the two friends mismatched stories did nothing to advance the cops case. rachel still missing, there was

no evidence an actual crime had even occurred. all they had were their suspicions about david stone and charles capone. so now you got two different versions of friday night. >> two different versions. they were supposedly together, but they're telling two different stories. >> reporter: tangled somewhere in the differing accounts, the cops thought, there must be a buried clue about what had happened to rachael. meantime, her heartbroken daughters did what they could to fill the awful hours. organizing searches, building a webpage, and pressuring the police. >> we searched ditches. we searched, gosh, abandoned buildings. we searched. >> abandoned mines. >> we put -- yeah, we put fliers in towns, hoping that someone would see her passing through. >> their mom meant so much to them. and they did not want this to just become another cold case. >> reporter: the investigation was heading that way until the detectives revisited an early lead. a nefarious scheme, if true. hard to believe that something

as evil as that could happen in the palouse. this is a very tantalizing thread that comes together this is the stuff of the movies. >> absolutely. coming up the case is about to go in an unthinkable direction. with the clock ticking, police realize another woman may also be a target. >> we wanted her to know that she was potentially in danger herself. huh, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. yeah, everybody knows that. well, did you know that playing cards with kenny rogers gets old pretty fast? ♪ you got to know when to hold'em. ♪ ♪ know when to fold 'em. ♪ ♪ know when to walk away. ♪ ♪ know when to run. ♪ ♪ you never count your money, ♪ ♪ when you're sitting at the ta...♪ what? you get it? i get the gist yeah. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. want to know a secret? i wasn't always a redhead. you'd never know it though because it's nice'n easy color so natural looking it's clairol's #1 authentic color that's always true

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yes? where? this doesn't look like an accident. i'm sorry. he's the one who did this to you, right? a special svu, all new wednesday here on nbc >> reporter: the high and low search across the eerily beautiful palouse country for any trace of rachael anderson was turning up nothing. months after her disappearance detectives were convinced they had identified their prime persons of interest, rachael's estranged husband charles and his church-going buddy, david stone. but the investigation had stalled and was at an apparent

dead end. no secret what the biggest obstacle was for lead investigators captain dan hally and detective jackie nichols. it's an axiom in law enforcement, "no body, no crime." >> it's a challenge. >> at this point, we don't even know for sure that we have a death. we believe that in our gut. >> reporter: as the cops dug deeper into the background of the husband's friend david stone, the case suddenly became way more complex. a mind blowing theory, maybe this wasn't just about one wife, rachael, maybe it was about two. the investigation had led them to the city maintenance yard where stone worked. a fellow employee there had related a conversation he'd had with david stone awhile back. >> it surfaces that there had been some conversations between david stone and this individual about a plan to kill stone's wife for $10,000. >> reporter: then stone, the story went, came back sometime later and told the maintenance yard guy to forget they'd talked. he'd arranged a plan "b" for

murder. >> and that later that that deal was canceled because stone had reached an agreement with charles capone that they would kill each other's wives. >> reporter: i'll kill your wife if you'll kill mine. this is the stuff of the movies. >> right. >> it is, absolutely. >> let's say that -- that you'd like to get rid of your wife. >> reporter: to be specific, a 1950 alfred hitchcock thriller titled "strangers on a train. " " in the movie two strangers each agree to commit a murder for the other. >> they swap murders. >> reporter: did capone and stone each agree to do in the other's wife? could that be? do you believe it? >> i think there was something to it because the -- >> yeah, i definitely think there was. >> reporter: mrs. stone is alive and well and among us. did you talk to her? >> she is. >> yes, we did. >> reporter: boy, what a table conversation, huh? >> we wanted -- >> the cops are telling me that you're trying to kill me? >> we wanted her to know that she was potentially in danger herself. >> reporter: you get some devastating news but you continued to share a house with him, huh?

>> i did. i remember many times when i would question david and say something's not right. >> reporter: david stone was able to convince alisa that the cops had dreamed up the murder plot story as a way to put pressure on him to turn him against his friend. and putting pressure on that friend, charles capone, is what happened next. he'd been found in a possession of a gun, a big no-no for a former felon. capone was placed in the county jail while awaiting federal charges on a firearm violation. in a cell, the visiting detectives had his full attention. >> and i get this interesting visit from dan hally and jackie nichols. >> i essentially opened it up with, "today, charles, you're going to tell me you killed rachael and where her body is." and his response was, "well, you only got one of those right. but i didn't kill her." >> reporter: if charles didn't kill her, who did? the investigators landed hard on david stone, the only other person known to have been with rachael that night. >> and we confront him with, "stone, we know you got blood on your hands." his response was he just sat back, and he said, "i need a drink of water."

never denied it. but that's when -- then he wanted his attorney after that. >> reporter: with no reason to hold him, david stone was free to go home to wife alisa, the woman cops feared he wanted dead. but not charles. he was about to be put on ice. five-months after rachael disappeared, he pleaded guilty to the federal firearms charge and was sentenced to almost three-years. so capone wasn't going anywhere. but still the task force investigation focused on him and stone appeared to be at a dead end. the missing woman's daughters were in limbo, too. >> it just went on for years. years of one nightmare. >> reporter: as happens, rachael became old news and the case receded from the headlines. fresh cases demanded the attention of detective jackie nichols. no problem, she took to looking for rachael on her days off. >> as you look around here you can see the vastness of the countryside here and all the various places that you could

conceal a body. and going up into the mountains, coulees and gorges. >> mountains, ravines. we even did some searches based on psychic visions and dreams. >> reporter: oh, really? rachael's family, at as much of a dead end as the cops, also turned desperately to the supernatural. >> we did some pretty extreme things to find her. i even got hypnotized, once, to try to communicate with my mom, not alive, to have her to tell me where she was. i did everything i could possibly do. >> reporter: the hunt for the slightest trace of rachael continued for years. meanwhile, david stone was on the street, and by 2013 his fellow suspect, buddy charles capone, was about to be released from jail. >> we said, now is the time. we have to charge these guys. we have to charge them both. we know that they did this crime. >> this case wasn't going to get any better. >> reporter: the idaho latah county prosecutor agreed and on may day 2013 -- three years after rachel

vanished -- david stone and charles capone were charged with her murder. they pleaded not guilty. >> this case is all about smoke and mirrors and convincing people from day one that i murdered my wife. >> everyone, please rise. >> reporter: in the preliminary hearing prosecutors laid out their theory of the crime, producing that maintenance yard worker who told the story about charles and david's alleged "you kill my wife, i'll kill yours" plan. stone's wife alisa hung on every word. frightening connections were being made in her head, and with that came the sudden awful awareness that the sheriff's officers may have had been right after all, her husband did want her dead. she immediately filed for divorce. >> the pieces all came together for me. >> reporter: and there's this account of him going to a coworker and saying, "i'll give you 10,000 bucks if you'll kill my wife." what do you think of that story, that he was soliciting someone to kill you? >> yeah, i'll never know. >> reporter: this is beyond marital deceit. >> oh yeah.

>> reporter: if the stories were true, then you had married a stranger. >> exactly. >> reporter: who is dave stone? >> it's a mystery to me at this point. >> some of the things that came up in that preliminary hearing, i looked like a monster, and i'm not. coming up david stone tells a chilling tale of what he says happened the night racael disappeared. >> i said what the [ bleep ] are you doing? he looked at me had a look on his face that i had described as satan. imagine if razors could move up and down, and all around. hugging tight, swirling left and turning right. behold, new venus swirl. the only razor with five contour blades and a flexiball. to contour to your tricky places, bones, bends and all. smooth and steady, going this way and that. bumps and grooves, curvy and flat. for skin as flawless as flawless can be. new venus swirl, try it and see.

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whoo! forty-four ladies, that's me! whoo...gonna get some cold cuts today! >> reporter: almost four-years after that weekend rachael anderson never came home, her family believed they might finally get some answers. police had arrested her estranged husband charles capone and his pal david stone in connection with her death. but this past september it was only charles capone in the latah county courthouse facing a murder charge. >> we are convinced that you will find the only possible verdict, finding the defendant, charles capone, guilty of first degree murder. >> reporter: as the trail opened, the state's case had zigzagged another unpredicted turn. the maintenance yard worker had backpedaled on his murder for hire story and wouldn't testify

to it. so now the jurors wouldn't hear of a juicy "you kill my wife, i'll kill yours" plot, but rather a straightforward and nonetheless terrifying story of a lousy marriage turned fatal. county prosecuting attorney bill thompson and deputy prosecuting attorney mia vowels knew they had their work cut out for them. >> our approach was convince the jury through the evidence not only that rachael was dead, but there's only one person in this world who could have been responsible for it, and that's charles capone. >> reporter: what was the biggest hill to climb in this? >> because we didn't have a body, it was mostly a circumstantial case. >> reporter: mia vowels took the lead and called a parade of witness to convince the jury that rachael was indeed dead. >> a good mother. had a good attitude toward family. >> reporter: her ex-husband, dennis plunkett, had missed a call from her at 8:09 that friday night. >> and that was the last contact i ever had with her. >> reporter: rachael's two sons testified they'd never seen their mother again after that friday. >> have you seen your mom since? >> no.

>> reporter: to show jurors just how nasty charles and rachael's divorce was they played back some of those eerie stalking phone calls. >> it's funny. you just don't get it. >> reporter: captain dan hally testified that the defendant had been behind those head-game calls all along. capone even admitted as much to him. >> he told me that he had been involved in the stalking and harassment. >> yeah, i know she was afraid. >> reporter: ashley and amber, the daughters, recounted the terror of their mom's ordeal. >> she had the feeling like her life was going to end, a dreadful feeling. >> reporter: the prosecutors zeroed in on charles' character. jennifer norberg recalled what her friend's neck looked like after charles allegedly attacked rachael four months before she disappeared. >> i observed that she had some red, dark colored marks on her neck. >> reporter: then, prosecutors produced a business neighbor, an actual eyewitness, who saw charles arguing with a woman

outside his auto shop that fatal night. >> she jumped out of the car, flailing her arms right up into his face. >> raise your hand and be sworn please. >> reporter: so far, the testimony was all appetizers before the prosecutors' main course. their head-snapping all or nothing star witness, none other than charles' good buddy david stone, no longer a co-defendant for murder. now the man pointing the accusing finger. >> s-t-o-n-e. >> reporter: stone's journey to the witness stand began a year earlier during that preliminary hearing when capone whispered something to him. >> charles leaned over to me and said, "you shouldn't even be here." and i thought, "how right you are, you son of a bitch." >> reporter: a shaken stone listened to the state's mounting case against him and decided he wasn't going to take the fall

for charles. >> the prosecution did a real good job of in making me out to be a monster, and i'm not. >> reporter: they told you something like, "we know there is blood on your hands here." >> that was one of the things they said. >> reporter: in cop talk they flipped you. they flipped you against him. they were going to give you consideration in exchange for your story. >> the cops had nothing to do with me telling the story. >> reporter: stone says there was no deal with the cops, rather his pastor convinced him to come clean. >> throughout numerous visits we prayed in closing prayer that the truth would set me free. >> reporter: maybe so, but the prosecution counted on his testimony to put away his former friend away for a long, long time. >> do you know the defendant, charles capone? >> i do. he's sitting next to mr. monson. >> reporter: once on the stand, stone set off on his tale about the events of friday, april 16th, 2010. >> i was inside the shop, and i'd heard a noise. >> what kind of noise? >> kind of like a thud or a bang, or just something kind of

loud. >> reporter: when he looked outside, a struggle. >> when i came around closer toward the back side of rachel's car, rachael was on her back, and charles, he was on top of her strangling her. >> was rachel moving? >> very little. >> what did you say? >> i said what the [ bleep ] are you doing? and he turned around and he looked back at me, had a look in his face i had described as satan. and he told me shut the [ bleep ] up you get a hold of myself. you're in this with me now. i know where your family's at. >> why didn't you intervene at this point? >> fear. >> what were you afraid of? >> i'm watching somebody kill his wife. i don't know what he's going to do to me. >> reporter: the two men moved rachel's body into the shop.

david stone testified they ditched the loaner vehicle rachael was driving at the convenience store/bus depot near her home and then returned to stone's garage. after that stone said he went to his job site and rounded up some old truck tire snow-chains, like these from his jobsite, and they wrapped up rachael's body. >> once we placed rachel's body in the chain, we rolled her across the chains. >> reporter: then he said the two put rachel's trussed-up, weighted-down body into his suv. with david stone at the wheel they drove south and onto the red wolf bridge over the snake river. >> he just said "stop!" i put the durango in park, got out, opened the hatch. we pulled rachael out, went to the side of the bridge and threw her over the side. >> reporter: prosecutors interrupted stone's narrative to play for jurors a recording made at the bridge. >> he was pulling the package out and i assisted him. and we proceeded to the side of the wall here and threw the package over the side.

>> and what was in the package? >> the body of rachael anderson. >> reporter: into the fast moving river never to be seen again. what would the jury make of this man giving them such critical evidence, the play by play of the crime itself? you know they're going to hate this guy? >> that's the reality of the case. >> reporter: did it matter whether the jury sat in moral judgment on your star witness, mia? >> no. they won't like that he didn't intervene and that he helped dispose of her body, but that doesn't change the fact that he witnessed what he did. >> reporter: as the state rested, it looked, ironically, as though its star witness would prove to be the best thing the defense had going for it. david stone, would the jury believe a word he said? coming up and what about the other man at the center of the case? though he won't take the stand, charles capone take the tough questions from us. >> this whole thread of this

thing, i'll kill your wife if you'll kill mine -- did that happen?

the last good man in america. [children shouting] listen to me. why are you swinging the bat at rocco like that? - you hit my child! - not in front of the kids! they're going to come after you. this is how people get scarred for life. i'm gonna put that maniac away. they want a fight? i'm going to destroy them. announcer: the slap starting february 12th at 8:00/7:00 central part of the new nbc thursday.

>> you may find yourself in a quandary about as to what actually happened. >> reporter: charles capone's defense team had to convince the jury that their client hadn't strangled his estranged wife, rachael, and tossed her body into the snake river with the help of his friend david stone. charles had maintained his innocence. >> this just can't be what's going on in life right now. i can't be, at this point right now, sitting here with a guy from "dateline". >> reporter: and the guy from "dateline" is here because of what is believed to have happened by the authorities on that friday night. his attorneys' strategy was threefold. discredit the buddy's damning eyewitness testimony. sow reasonable doubt about the state's evidence. and, offer alternate suspects. right off the bat they suggested to the jury that there was another person who just might have had a hand in rachael's disappearance. maybe that infatuated onetime boyfriend william slemp. slemp died before the case came to trial, so the defense attorney asked daughter amber what she knew about him.

>> did you also, in your conversation with your mother, consider another person as being the suspect? >> yes. >> and was that william slemp? >> yes. >> reporter: and was the boyfriend perceived as a menace? the defense produced a request for a restraining order against slemp that rachael had filled out. >> during cross-examination the defense got detective jackie nichols to concede another connection between rachael and slemp. >> i recall seeing letters from william slemp. >> reporter: after seeding the thought with jurors that maybe someone other than capone did it, the defense team turned its sights on the cops, all the things they hadn't found in their investigation. for starters, there was no physical evidence recovered at charles' garage. >> you didn't see any signs of a struggle outside? >> that's correct. >> reporter: and, when cops recovered rachel's vehicle, there were fingerprints, but not capone's. >> they didn't match anybody that was in the system. >> reporter: but, attacking the evidence wouldn't be enough. >> everyone, please be seated. >> reporter: just as for the

prosecution, the defense case lived or died on the credibility of david stone. during a grueling, day-long cross examination, charles' lawyer attacked david stone's veracity and his motives. david claimed he helped dispose of rachael's body, and then kept quiet all those years because he was in fear of his life from charles. and yet they continued to pal around. >> why did you keep that contact every day? >> well, i kind of like to know where someone's at if i'm concerned about my safety. >> reporter: capone's lawyer suggested that david stone was only out to save his own neck. and were you hoping for some leniency? >> and still am. >> reporter: hour after hour the lawyer hammered away at david, who had easily admitted to lying his way through any number of police interviews. >> did you feel that your word might not be real good? >> i mean, based on the fact that i had been lying for three and a half years, wouldn't you? >> reporter: in the defense close, it came back again to a central question, could the jury believe david stone? >> at the end of the day, what

stone is telling you, it cannot be true. there is no physical evidence of any foul play anywhere at or near that shop. >> reporter: charles capone declined to testify in his own defense. >> and you feel comfortable in that decision? >> yes sir, i do. >> reporter: prosecutor bill thompson had the final word for the state. >> rachael's gone forever. he insured that her body, her physical essence, is also gone forever. but we can't let that allow him to escape responsibility. >> reporter: after seven days of testimony the case went to the jury. let me ask you that cut to the chase question. on friday that night at the garage, did you get her down on the ground? >> no. >> reporter: did you throttle your wife and kill her? >> i can tell you honestly, no. it's a lie. it's been portrayed as stuff that absolutely didn't take place. i've done many things, you know, that i'm not proud of, you know? paid my dues, moved on, you know? tried to be a better person.

>> reporter: this whole thread of this thing, "i'll kill your wife if you'll kill mine," did that happen? >> i can't answer that for you right now. >> reporter: you can't answer it? >> i can't. >> reporter: capone says he's made mistakes along the way, but did not kill rachael. >> i don't have that in me. i don't have that -- i want to care about people. i want to love on people. i don't want to take somebody's life. you know, one officer, she says i'm a sociopath and i have no heart, and i don't care, and i haven't suffered from this. yeah, okay. >> reporter: are you a sociopath? >> no, i don't believe so. i've seen my share of psychologists and stuff like that. and i think i'm pretty normal. i mean i think, like most men, i just make poor decisions. >> charles was on top of rachael, strangling her. >> reporter: why does he tell the story in court that he does? because he sinks you. >> because he's going to get charged with solicitation of murder. how much time was he going to do for trying to hire somebody to kill his wife, you know? wouldn't you have tried to get out of that? >> reporter: it took the jurors nine hours to decide whether they believed david stone's story. there was a verdict.

rachael's family and friends were called back to the courthouse. >> when the jury came in and we stood there, it seemed like for an eternity. >> madam clerk, if you would read the verdict of the jury. >> you know, our hearts were pounding. >> is the defendant charles anthony capone guilty or not guilty of murder in the first degree? >> reporter: the clerk read the jury's verdict. >> guilty. >> it was like this weight just was lifted from everyone. >> reporter: rachael's daughters had waited 4 1/2 years for this day. so, you hear the words, huh? >> um-hmm. it's just bittersweet. >> reporter: you're not getting your mom back. >> no. >> reporter: at the end of this. >> huh-uh. all it is protecting other women and children from being harmed by him. >> reporter: charles capone will be sentenced in february. because of his prior convictions, he faces life without parole. david stone, who ultimately pleaded guilty solely to failure to notify authorities of a death, was sentenced in october to three to seven years. >> i want to apologize to rachael's family.

>> reporter: with good behavior, and credit for time served, he could be out in 18 months. >> it's a day that i think about every day. and i will the rest of my life. if i could change it, i damn sure would. >> reporter: why didn't you go get your phone and call 911? you knew you had just witnessed a murder. >> i froze. and all the way up to that point, i thought he was my friend. >> reporter: did you solicit a hit on your wife? >> never. >> reporter: did you want her dead in those days? >> no. >> reporter: so where did this story come from? >> that's a good question. >> reporter: david stone's former wife alisa still doesn't know for sure if he wanted her dead. i bet there are very few people on earth that could put themselves in your shoes and even understand what you've been through, alisa. >> you know, i've been through a lot, but nothing compared to what rachael's family's been through. i don't think my pain's comparable to what her daughters and sons have been through at

all. >> reporter: ever since the day in november 2013, when david stone gave his horrific tale to the cops, there have been intensive searches made of the snake river below the red wolf bridge. captain dan hally enlisted multiple agencies including the coast guard and volunteers with specialized sonar to help. but the depths of the swift-moving snake have yet to surrender rachael's body. is she gone forever? >> i know we're not going to give up. >> hopefully, we might still find her remains. >> reporter: for the justice system it's case closed, but for those rachael left behind -- >> you know, there's no true justice. it doesn't bring her back. >> reporter: is there a new chapter opening up for you? >> it's just begun. because when i found out my mom was missing, i fought tooth and nail. so did ashley. that's what we did. and so at this point it feels like the fight is over. the grieving process for me has just begun. because there's nothing left to

fight for. that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. ♪ this super bowl sunday mitt romney gets out just as he was being pushed. >> i decided it's best to give other leaders in the party the opportunity to become our next nominee. >> with romney out, the republican field is now set. which candidates benefit from the romney departure? i'll be joined by mitt romney's 2012 running mate, congressman paul ryan. plus, isis executes a second japanese hostage. former defense secretary robert gates joins me on the fight against the terror group. also, are the big hits the fans love jeopardizing the future of football? >> i wasould forget things, i would