the big easy when the lights went out. tom shul la, harbaugh, but it was bruce miller, the red head who shined early. kaep finding his fullback. a stiff arm. you like this, this reminded you of someone. >> yeah, it reminded me of will yeah, that's how you get off me. >> that led to a 49ers field goal. then the next 49ers' drive is kaep to miller again. this time 52 yards. he's going to score except he got tired. when you were a fullback, did you get tired? >> he could go off. that's a good job. i love this team brought back the fullback position. go ahead, bruce miller. >> he got tired. second quarter, 49ers up 6-3. kaep finding torrey smith. a 76-yard touchdown. this was a great stop and go movement. wright, a former 49er. >> you get it right here. receiver sitting down.

hello, good-bye. double coverage against anquan, but over the top, cover zero. you see the back, it's too late. that was a big-time throw and they said kaep couldn't throw the ball deep. >> third quarter, ravens trying to get it back. joe flacco looking deep for smith. this was just acrobatic. >> this guy, isn't he supposed to be hurt? i mean, he came out and played magnificent. man, have you to give him credit. look at this right here. this is great coverage. they have him covered -- no, they don't. he makes the play. man, steve smith is something else. >> beautiful ball. >> that's unbelievable. >> great throw, too. fourth quarter, niners looking to answer back. scrambling, good throw and patton wide open. the reason he's wide open and because shareece wright fell down. >> kaep bought time with his legs in and out of that pocket. he said, anything i can do,

flacco, today, i can do better. >> 49ers up 12 after the failed conversion. five minutes left. flacco's time to answer. he finds aiken for the touchdown. so, the ravens cut the deficit to just five. you're thinking, oh, no, 49ers, are they going to find a way to somehow let this get away? they have to get off the schnied. six seconds left, 49ers still up five. hail mary time for the ravens. but the defenders are all waiting. this thing gets thrown up and for a minute everyone is holding their breath. and we're all waiting. but, no. the 49ers hang on to win. 25-20 is the final. nissan inside the numbers. kaep threw for 345 yards, just his fifth game with 300-plus yards passing. it's the first time the niners have beaten the ravens since week 12 of 1996. super bowl xlvii is avenged.

maybe not. but this is a win. >> any time i have an opportunity, you know, i feel like it's my job to make a play. you know, i'm not just here for nothing. the too many looks to me like one of the guys that needs to make a play, step up and make a play at that time. i've always felt that way. >> i'm confident in my abilities, anquan is confident in his ability. everyone is confident we can go out and perform. our offensive line did a great job protecting. not for the big guys, you won't be able to see us running down the field or kaep standing upright. credit goes to them. they've been playing, you know, great as of late and working their tails off. i'm happy for them more so than anyone else. >> our receivers were doing a great job. anquan kept running. we had the touchdown on quinton.

our receivers are working. they're working hard to make sure we're doing everything we can to make plays. and that's also a huge praise to the offensive line because they're giving us time to allow those scramble drills to happen. they're doing a great job up front. >> kaep wearing a coat and tie for his first presser. of the season. time for our jeep renegade players of the day. no surprise we've got two of them. anquan boldin and torrey smith, two former ravens. smith now with touchdown receptions 75 and 76 yards this season. last 49er to have two in the same season, owens. boldin back-to-back 100 yard receiving games since 2009. torrey smith said it was just a regular game. how about this play? i mean, this was a great pitch and go. he burned the former 49er. >> it was a great play by kaepernick and smith. look here, when you see it's double coverage on anquan

boldin, single coverage up high, shareece thinks he can run with him. that's great job. makes that double move. when you see coverage zero, that's what quarterbacks dream for, coverage zero. >> definitely. >> he's had his longest touchdowns with kaep, which is funny because not -- you think of all the years in baltimore with flacco, why is torrey smith -- we had him on the 49er postgame show on csn bay area, we got to meet him, why is he so good? >> first of all, he works hard. have you to work hard in this league. no one on just athletic ability. he has the athletic ability but he works hard, he's a classy guy. everyone in the locker room loves the guy. there's a reason for that. because he's a team guy. and he works -- like i said, he works hard and he has that speed. you can't teach that. >> that's a good point. we asked him, you know, if he had a ball, a game ball or something, or how sweet it was to beat his old team. he said, he just wanted a win.

coming up next on "xfinity sports sunday," 49ers are gaining ground. we'll show you what led to the losses of two of the trendiest nfc west picks. andrew luck returns to say on tom brady and the game everyone circled on their calendar after the nfl's deflategate scandal.

our kings of the week, draft kings kings of the week. play fantasy football for free. go to draftkinging.com. hopkins, 148 receiving yards gave you 26 points. we're going around the nfl. another super bowl rematch, cardinals/steelers. arizona trying to get 5-1. fourth quarter, pittsburgh up five. carson palmer's pass intercepted

in the end zone palmer's second pick of the day. ensuing steelers possession. landry jones, finds bryant who weaves in and out of traffic. 88 yards for touchdown. his second of the day. steelers win 25-13. cards drop to 4-2. that covers a lot of north, south, east west and then the flip. carolina trying to stay undefeated. seattle up three. marshawn lynch takes the handoff. goes back to russell wilson. who finds watt kin. that was a great catch! hawks up ten. fourth quarter, 36 seconds left. seahawks up, cam newton, can he do a comeback. oh, man, olson is wide open. panthers win 27-23. seattle is 2-4. so, the san francisco 49ers gain ground on richard sherman and

everybody except the rams, who did not play. all of a sudden, this team is right back in the mix. just when they thought they were done. patriots and colts played sunday night football. everyone had this one circled because it was their first match-up since the afc championship game last year when everyone said, and they found out that the patriots used a deflated football. so, now they're back. andrew luck says, we're going to beat you this time. patriots won easily. this game, second quarter. oh, julian edelman fumbles the ball. mike adams picks it up. first pick thrown by tom brady and the colts take the lead. third quarter, new england down one. brady to rob gronkowski. 25-yard strike. pats up six. later in the frame, craziest play you'll ever see. fourth down, colts line up to punt in spread formation. they call it the swing the open gate. it's a trick play. and then -- >> they need to close the gate. >> oh, they do need to close the gate. the gate is closed.

>> he's like, why did you snap it? >> what are you doing? patriots' tom brady finds legarrette blount for the score. pats win. time for our red zone report. toyo toyota, let's go places. tom braid y 23 for 37 for 312. andrew luck, 312 but threw a lot more passes. they both threw three touchdowns. brady threw the interception but brady gets the win. i have to ask you about that play because chuck pagano is having a season that's not that great now. they do the swinging gate, is that what you told me? >> yeah, they call it a swinging gate. you overload one side. what happens, though, if it's just one guy, you go ahead and run the play. but new england, you're going against bill belichick. you know this guy is a student of the game. you call that play. you come up underneath the center, you see they have four guys and you can't run against four. you call time-out. if not, you let the clock run and move it back five yards and punt. >> and then they showed pagano

afterwards and he was saying, why did you hike the ball? why did you hike the ball? he said in the press conference, it was my bad. might not have been his bad, unless he didn't explain it during the week well. but, i like rick's line, the gate should have been closed. fourth quarter, denver down four. peyton manning will find emmanuel sanders for a 75-yard touchdown. broncos with a three-point lead. you got brandon mcmahon nis who's going to attempt a 34-yard field goal. if this goes in, the broncos are undefeated. and this goes in and the broncos are undefeated. they're 6-0. the denver broncos are perfect in the division where everyone else is far from perfect. and peyton manning, three interceptions, fen on the year yet the broncos are undefeated. i get it, very good defense. >> this is about the ugly he was

undefeated team i've seen at this point. a win is a win. in the nfl, wins are hard to come by. any time you can get one, they have to be happy. sitting there at 6-0, no one's going to remember how they got there. just the fact that they are. >> why is peyton manning struggling? is this a real concern for broncos fans or a real source of happiness for the rest of the afc west? >> it has to be concern for broncos. wade wilson has that defense playing great. that's the only thing that's their saving grace. when you talk about offense entertains, defense wins championships, peyton manning has struggled. why? he doesn't have is that tight end. you look around the nfl, what is the safety blanket? philip rivers has antonio gates. you go around the league, everyone has a good tight end if you want to be successful in this league. right now peyton doesn't have it and it's showing up big time. >> 49ers haven't had great plays from their tight ends either. they need that. listen to me, vernon davis.

anyway, "xfinity sports sunday" rolls on. 49ers look to ride their momentum into a huge rivalry game against the seahawks. hear why they don't have much time to prepare.

we got a short week. 49ers and seahawks, 2-4 teams. who would have predicted that before the season? the numbers are somewhat similar in yards per game. opponents' yards per game, a 49ers' "d" is less defensive. they both average 1.2 turnovers per game. these are not your super bowl champion seahawks, but yet again these are not your championship 49ers, at least not yet. what do you think about this game coming up on a short week for both games? >> i think it's great for the 49ers because they get them at home. seattle comes in here. it's a short week for both teams, so there's nothing to worry about there. just be ready to play, come out

fired up. man, take advantage of this situation because they're losing, the cardinals losing. they gain ground on everybody except for the rams, who didn't play. if they win this game against seattle, they're right back in the thick of thing. >> break down kaep versus russell wilson. >> both quarterbacks are trying to find who they are, identity. russell wilson, the offensive line there in seattle is absolutely horrible. it's just as worse as san francisco. both quarterbacks are fighting, trying to make their offensive line go better. kaep's line is playing better. collectively, seattle astruggling. i like kaep has thrown to bruce miller, getting the team involved. this team is showing strides. i think this game can go either way. at home, you have to give seattle the eblg. >> kaep has improved. two good games. yes, they lost to the giants last week. 30-27. he's had two back-to-back weeks of impressive games.

>> he has really turned it around. proud of the young man because he has been the leader out there now. you can tell he has total control from -- like i said even before the game started, he was already out there getting guys involved and getting them fired up. he had a smile on his face the whole day and he played very well. >> all right. so, also seattle with a short week coming off a loss. the niners with a short week coming off an impressive win. maybe they have a little momentum. dimension we have a combined nine pro bowls between -- >> you did. >> you have all nine, right? >> three, three and three. if you believe that, i got a bridge to sell you. thanks. have a great sunday.

>> reporter: they measured time in units of pain in little cottonwood, california during the surreal minutes and hours and days after karen duenas was murdered.

>> the best way i can explain my mom is she was of pure of heart is the best way to do -- to say it. >> reporter: the whole big family, karen's family as well as mark's, parents, brothers, sisters, gathered to support each other and mourn and struggle with the question that hung in the air -- who did this. but the word on the street was there was no question at all. >> we immediately heard outlandish rumors. you're going, i don't know where they're getting this. >> reporter: the boys heard them, too. rumors the detectives knew the killer was mark to which the family said -- >> ridiculous. i know there's no way possible he could have done it. >> my parents were best friends from as long as i could remember. >> reporter: but it that was true, then why would detectives be so suspicious of a man married to his high school sweetheart for almost 33 years?

a man without so much as a traffic ticket on his record, let alone a violent act? it's true that when wives are murdered husbands are frequently implicated, and mark did discover the body. but there was another reason. just minutes after mark sat down to talk to those detectives, he volunteered information that sounded to them like a motive for murder. >> what was going on in our life, and it scares me when i think about it -- >> reporter: it was an odd little story. one day at work toward the end of 2010, said mark, a u.p.s. co-worker asked if he had ever gone on facebook. no, said mark, he hadn't. well, asked the colleague, haven't you ever wondered what happened to people you used to know? facebook might tell you. mark thought about it and said, well, there was this girl he used to talk to back in high school -- wasn't a real girlfriend or anything. but he was curious about what

ever happened to her. sure enough the colleague found the woman on facebook. and pretty soon she and mark were texting and talking on the phone, catching up. >> we talked, visited. kind of got carried away with a little texting here and there. >> reporter: carried away? well, that may be a little strong in this age of sexting and lurid electronic dalliances. they did talk and text for several months, even said "i love you" a time or two. but was it some kind of affair? well, judge for yourself. >> was there ever any pictures sent or anything like that, or was it just -- >> there's pictures of just maybe me or her, you know, little innocent -- we're not into any of that nasty porn. none of that. just what do you look like now.

she had sent a picture of her, it's your turn. she does quilts, she took a picture of her quilt. showed a picture to me. stuff -- innocent stuff. she had a picture of her and her grandkid. stuff like that. >> reporter: and not once did they try to see each other. in fact, when an opportunity came up, they decided no, it wouldn't be fair to their respective spouses of more than three decade or their kids or grandkids, so they didn't. but as mark told the detectives, karen out what he'd been doing when she went through a phone bill, and had hurt her feelings. he promised to stop. except he didn't. >> mark bought a secret phone to continue that communication that karen wasn't aware of. >> reporter: it was the woman who put a stop to it. she said karen this letter postmarked just a little less than three months before the murder asking for forgiveness, promising it would never happen again. karen told a couple her kids

about it all. she was pretty upset for a while. how important was that? >> i would definitely say everything together showed that karen was not happy in their relationship. >> reporter: mark told them otherwise, that it was a happy marriage, the texting thing just a blip. but the detectives didn't believe it, so they confronted mark. >> when did you find out that karen was going to leave you, mark? >> leave me? >> uh-huh. >> she was never going to leave me. never going to leave me. honestly. >> reporter: in fact, investigators believe it backed up what they suspected from that very first night. here, just hours after the murder, when they first accused mark of killing her. >> i didn't do it. it's crazy. >> just like o.j. we need to be out finding the real killer, right? lapd, they didn't have to go find the real killers. >> i know you're doing your job, but i would never lay a hand on

my wife, i did not hurt her, i did not kill her. i walked in and found her in her condition. >> reporter: mark's family, by the way, said he told them all about that texting relationship. they said didn't seem like such a big deal. >> it sounds to me that it was just them confiding in each other about their marriages and their families and just an outlet. >> reporter: for youngest son, casey, it explained why there had been tension for his parents a few months before the murder. >> there was a good while where they didn't get along, but it was a while before. >> reporter: they seemed to be back together again? >> they seemed better than ever. >> reporter: and those claims by investigators about a pending divorce? not a chance, said the boys. >> they never were going to give up. they taught us that. i'm sure a little bit of trust was lost. you know, someone keeps something from you. you.

but it was something they worked on and they got over. >> reporter: all that grief infected summer, a cloud darkened over the duenas family. when casey graduated from high school in june -- >> i remember walking to where we'd be seated and just seeing, you know, it's my dad along with other family members. you know, of course, it was just him. >> reporter: five months went by that way, as if the early police suspicions had faded away. of course, we know better, don't we? coming up, mark duenas is in for a bitter shock. >> he was upset. like, are you kidding me? >> what his family did next would surprise everyone. sort of thing hardly ever happens. >> yeah. like never.

returning to our story, karen duenas, a mom to five boys, has been murdered. her husband mark has done something unusual. he volunteered to police that months earlier he was carrying on a relationship by phone and by text with a woman who was once his teenage crush. mark insists it was innocent, certainly not a motive to kill his wife. his sons believe him. but what about detectives? again, keith morrison.

>> reporter: it was evening in cottonwood, california. october 5th, 2012. five months to the day after the murder of karen duenas. her widower mark and son, casey, were watching tv. there was of a knock at the door. and when mark saw the detectives -- >> he was upset. couldn't believe it. like, are you kidding me? >> reporter: they were not. detectives had suspected mark all along, and now they had a warrant for his arrest. mark duenas was charged with first-degree murder, held on a million dollars bail to await trial. >> to see him in that situation is surreal. you hope the system works because there's an innocent man up there having to go through this. >> reporter: the whole extended clan including karen's family told anybody who would listen that the police made a huge mistake. >> i've never heard him call anybody a name. he just isn't that type of guy.

>> i can't think of one time where he raised his voice to anybody. >> reporter: the family support what was persuaded an attorney 600 miles away in southern california to take the case. ron powell was his name. >> at first i'm not thinking i want to go up there. when i heard her family saying "can you help us," and us meant mark, i thought, you know -- >> the victim's family. the accused represented by you because they believe he's independent? >> correct. >> that's a once in a while thing, sort of never happens. >> yeah, never. >> reporter: but 14 months after the murder when mark went on trial, the family, his, karen's, and theirs, filled the galleries every day to support him. >> you were there because you know that person. >> reporter: the judge allowed camera in court but no audio. so we can't play you the testimony of that woman from

idaho and decided to conceal her identity. that's the one he texted and phoned and hadn't seen in more than three decades. still, was it to be with her, said the state, that mark killed his wife. on the stand -- >> at one point she said mark had mentioned that if they were meant to be together, something bad would have to happen. >> reporter: the woman didn't seem to know what mark meant by that. but the prosecution claimed he meant he'd have to kill karen. not just so he could be with the idaho woman but so that he wouldn't have to share his pension with karen. his wife of 33 years. anyway, said the state, karen must have been angry at mark and might have told him that night she intended to leave him, she wanted a divorce. >> the facts of the case showed that something happened that night between mark and karen. whether that be her discussing divorce or whatever the case may be, and he became upset and -- and murdered karen. >> reporter: the prosecution based that theory around a story told by some teenager two or three blocks away who said they heard a scream between 10:00 and

11:00 p.m. the pathologist testified karen could have been killed as early as 10:30 or as late as 2:30 a.m. but the state said it must have 10:30 after which mark must have washed his clothes, slashed the screen to make it look like an intruder came in, then went to bed and waited for son, casey, to come home from the movie. >> one of the theories we did have is that he wanted casey to find karen. >> reporter: he's sleeping peacefully, is that the idea? >> correct. >> reporter: then covered his tracks? >> correct. >> reporter: except, of course, casey didn't discover the body. so said the state, about 1:00 a.m., mark had to make the 911 call himself. when detectives listened to the call, they heard what sounded to them like an incriminating mistake. >> 911. your emergency? >> i've got -- my wife -- blood everywhere. >> reporter: what did he say? "i killed my wife," the state claims.

then a sound they say is a well-known barnyard expletive -- >> i've got the to -- i killed my wife -- blood everywhere. >> reporter: an unintended confession caught on tape, or so said the prosecution. he got it all together and all planned and then blew it on the 911 call? >> i believe so. i'm sure if you just killed your wife, you'd be pretty stressed on the inside which would make things come out that you didn't mean to come out. >> reporter: to the defense, it was quite simply bunk. >> i've listened to it -- i don't know -- 100 times now. i don't hear that. >> reporter: defense attorney ron powell told the jury mark found his wife just after someone attacked her and told 911 this -- >> 911. your emergency? >> i've got the a -- my wife -- >> reporter: "i found my my wife." and the sound the state says was an expletive was what the

defense said was "sick." listen again. >> i found my wife sick, and blood everywhere. >> do you think if they heard it that clear that this guy says "i killed my wife," and he's the only one home, you don't think they're arresting this guy? if that happened -- what are they waiting for? they didn't arrest him until four months later. >> reporter: meanwhile, police failed to follow up on plenty of evidence that in a town plagued by drug-related crime, intruders intent on theft could certainly have been surprised by karen, then killed her, then fled. there was an unidentified car parked nearby time of the murder. another car seen speeding from the neighborhood as the cops raced to the duenas house. the two strangers seen in the neighborhood and a trail of footprints leading away from the duenas back yard. and as for those screams heard by teenagers a couple of blocks away -- >> the entire block where mark lives hears nothing.

the woman next door sleeps with her window open, hears nothing. the person on the other side of the house is jason duenas, who has his window open. he hears nothing. >> reporter: the defense put on a witness who said karen told her the week of the murder that she and mark were making plan for a bright future together. the idea that mark would kill karen so he could pursue a happily married woman from idaho he hadn't seen in more than 30 years was simply ridiculous, said the defense. >> it sounds like a great motive when you look at it from a distance. when you get to it, it sounds like puppy love. >> reporter: the defense rested its case in a matter of hours. when it went to the jury, how did you feel about it? >> i was pretty confident. you could see in the jury's face that they weren't buying this. >> reporter: and something odd happened. the day the jury went out, a female juror overslept. rather than delay the case, the

judge replaced her with an alternate. and yes, on such tiny wheels, fates turn. coming up, jurors get the case and report impressed. -- aren't impressed. >> i thought the sheriff's department did a terrible job. >> reporter: really? terrible job? >> terrible job. why let someone else have all the fun? the sometimes haphazard, never boring fun. the why can't it smell like this all the time fun.

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>> reporter: the jury in the duenas murder case was a little unusual. not just because of that last-minute switch of jurors but because several of them had spent careers dealing with the justice system. and they certainly knew what was at stake. >> this is something that we all had to take very serious. >> reporter: here are three members of the jury. this one is a retired chief probation officer and former cop. he was surprised by the case, he said, and not in a good way. >> i thought the sheriff's department did a terrible job. >> reporter: really? terrible job? >> terrible job in their investigation. >> reporter: in fact, the jurors we spoke to said that feeling was pervasive in the jury room. and the 911 call that prosecutors claimed was a confession, the jury couldn't decide what he said. >> we listened to it many, many, many times -- >> 20 times at least. >> yeah. >> reporter: couldn't tell? >> no.

>> reporter: they voted 10-2 for acquittal at one point. one juror in particular was adamant about his guilty vote. which one? the alternate who replaced the woman who had overslept. >> that juror said, "he's guilty, and he's going to have to prove that he's not guilty. and i'm not going to change my mind. i'm going to hang this jury." >> reporter: the judge declared a mistrial. what was that like? >> it was heartbreaking. we thought my dad would be home that day. >> reporter: afterwards, mark and karen's extended family publicly pleaded do not retry mark. let it go. >> you see these people? this is love. this is belief in this human being. this is not a question in our hearts. please listen to us and know we love this man. >> reporter: so was it over? oh, no. not even close. instead, shasta county's d.a.

assigned a new prosecutor to the case, stephanie bridgette. something to know about ms. bridgette -- up to this moment, she had never lost a case, not one. her secret -- preparation, she said. she is very thorough. by the time you finished reading through it in your preparation, what did you think? >> i didn't have any doubt that mark was the one that killed his wife. >> reporter: one big change at trial number two -- the very first words out of the prosecutor's mouth were the state's version of that 911 call, "i killed my wife. blood everywhere." no jury, she declared, could doubt the content of that call. and prosecutors offered yet another possibly damning statement from mark himself during his first of three tape recorded interviews with detectives which again he willingly submitted to without the presence of an attorney.

>> the only cut i saw. >> reporter: in his very first interview, claimed the state, mark slipped and made an admission while describing the wound he said he found on karen's chest. >> like the guy knew what he was doing or something. because the way he cut her, that's the only cut i saw. and there was tons of blood. when i -- whoever did -- i don't -- >> reporter: what was of that again? listen carefully. >> there was none there coming out when i -- whoever did -- i don't -- >> reporter: "when i found her" or "when i did it"? no way to know what he might have said. but the state claimed it amounted to another quasi-confession. the second prosecutor also presented evidence the first prosecutor chose not to use. testimony, for example, from a criminalist who examined the clothes mark wore that night and found karen's blood, though not

visible to the naked eye, all over. >> there was a big area on the front of his shirt that covered all the way down. there was blood on the back of the shirt. there was blood all across the waistband, down the sides. different spots throughout the shorts. even blood on inside of the boxer shorts. >> reporter: which you don't think he could have gotten there by touching with his hands? like removing, changing, adjusting? >> absolutely not. not in all those locations. >> reporter: the prosecutor claimed mark must have washed off some but not all the blood after the stabbing. had a shower in his clothes or something. and then she claimed she'd found the murder weapon -- or what could be the murder weapon. a knife found in the wrong slot in the kitchen butcher block. there was no blood on it, but its handle was bearing a substance identified as either animal fat or some kind of cleaner.

>> what it tells us is that he had something in the home available to him that could have caused that murder. >> reporter: so means, motive, opportunity for premeditated murder. but would a second set of jurors agree. coming up, they would want evidence. but just how much was there? >> did you have any idea that's what happened? you don't have a clue.

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>> reporter: november, 2013. a chilly autumn wind played around the corners of that big courthouse in the middle of reading. inside, defense attorney ron powell fretted that he had been shorted an advantage, now the production knew his case, and besides added any wrinkles. the blood on mark's clothes and the knife in the kitchen butcher block. >> remember, this is a retrial now. they felt this time that they

needed to show a possibility of a knife. they never said this was the knife. they were just showing this knife could have done it. >> reporter: in fact, said powell, the new evidence was no more persuasive than the old. no blood or animal fat found on the knife and some sort of soap? how about somebody used a knife to cut a steak and then washed it? could you wipe all the dna off a knife you put in the -- >> good question. i've learned after this trial that blood will never leave clothes, but it will go right off a knife. >> reporter: for the blood on mark's clothing, of course there was blood, said the defense. he handled her body. and police didn't see the blood at first because his shirt was red, and his shorts were black. and then there was the new prosecutor's insistence that karen was very unhappy in her marriage and wanted a divorce. was it true? >> no! there's nothing to support it. there's no facts to support it. no evidence to support it. >> reporter: this was the issue that went to the heart of the prosecutor's case. and her contention that the state had developed a clear idea

of just what happened the night karen was murdered. >> i believe that most likely karen confronted him with the information that she had about the affair he was having with the lady in idaho. she probably said that was it. she wasn't going to have it. she was going to get a divorce. that's when he decided i'm going to get the knife. i'm going to go -- >> do you have any idea beyond your own fevered imagination that that's what happened? you don't have a clue! >> well, you know, all evidence points to that. yes, i do think -- >> reporter: how does the evidence point to that? >> we have a person who has been in a relationship with a lady in another state -- >> let me stop you for a minute. first of all, you said "affair." the now you're saying being in a relationship. he was doing what millions and millions of americans have been doing since facebook came along. they haven't seen each other for 30 years. you can't really call that an affair, can you? >> here's the difference -- it becomes an affair and crosses the line when you don't tell

your spouse about it. >> reporter: you believe he was obsessed with this woman? >> i believe he wanted more out of that relationship than she did. >> reporter: was it pure fiction, or what was it? >> what else could it be? i know she's got a law degree. i never saw a psychology degree. >> reporter: for mark and karen's sons, the prosecutor's psychoanalysis of their mother amounted to an insult. >> the d.a. said things about my mom that were untrue. did they know my mom better than i know my mom? better than any of us? they act like they do. there's no evidence. >> reporter: what you do you say to people whose reaction is, well, you know, of course they're going to feel that way, this is his family. they've just lost their mother. they don't want to lose their father, too. >> life is so much harder protecting my dad. we would be moved on. we would know what happened if we thought that was the truth. but we all know with our hearts that's not what happened. >> reporter: the jury in the first trial had been hopelessly

deadlocked, came so close to acquitting mark, and sending him home to his family. the second jury was back in less than a day, and their verdict was written on family faces in the gallery's first row. >> i still hear the sounds of the boys right behind mark, crying. i still hear that. very tough. >> reporter: guilty of first-degree murder. >> sick. i felt like throwing up to be honest. i was sick. >> i feel bad for the family members because the family members -- they're not going to be happy with the verdict. but in -- at the end of the day, it's karen who was killed and karen who that verdict was for. >> reporter: what would you say to them? this big extended family out there that doesn't think it got justice at all. >> i would tel them that i'm confident that the right person was convicted.

>> reporter: mark was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. he's filed an appeal. his family will go on believing what they've always believed. late at night on may 4, 2012, unknown intruder, probably drug addicts intent on theft, burst in, killed her, and realizing what they had done ran without taking a thing. jason and his growing family still live right next door to the home he grew up in, the place it happened. and casey, until just recently, still went to bed every night across the hall from his mother's bedroom. >> i mean, it was always cottonwood, small town. nothing happens here. then the worst you can imagine happened. >> reporter: casey and his brother, troy, no longer play baseball for the local college. the days when they looked toward the bleachers where their parents always sat side by side are gone forever.

>> that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. nbc bay area news starts now. >> right now at 11:00, rain hitting the bay area. the serious warnings this storm prompted tonight. plus, the headaches it is causing, even though it's moved out of the area. then a mother's mission to help others after loss. the tragedy motivating her to step in and help the families affected by a deadly suspected street race. and then raising the road to keep bikers safe. san francisco going to extreme measures to prevent cyclists from getting hit. good evening to you. i'm peggy bunker. >> and i'm terry mcsweeney. we have breaking news just in to our newsroom. police say a man's body was found in the water between angel island and treasure island this afternoon. a boatou