>> we just loved being together. we were always together. ip wish i could have been there to protect her. >> he was the one who found her. >> i just didn't know how to handle that. >> his wire, the schoolteacher, murdered and police were pointing straight at him. >> he was such a nice guy. you would have never guessed he did something like this. >> do you think he faked that burglary and killed his wife. >> yes. >> he wanted the house. he wanted the money.

>> did he do it? hang on. this case had a twist that no one saw coming. >> this woman essentially says i saw the murder and it wasn't tom foley. >> there's the killer right there. i did not kill my wife. >> i'm lester holt and this is date line. >> here's josh with mystery at the farm. >> february 2009, cold water michigan. >> what's the problem. >> my wife. >> in one day, one moment, the innocent simple life tom foley and his family once lived was gone forever.

it was a moment tom foley would have never noticed years earlier. back then, scored the winning basket giving cold water high school the title. and earning young tom a place in cold water's basketball hall of fa fame. >> it was like victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat and he came through with it. >> to what extent were you known about here for being the kid that hit the game winning shot. >> that went on for a long time. someone might come up, hey, tom, remember when you hit that shot. of course i remember. >> in 1991 the hometown hero started dating another local standout name ed dar lean weber

she had a personality as big as her smile. >> first time you saw her she was playing softball and had on lime green specs so she looked a little funny, but when she took them off, i thought she was beautiful. >> it was a classic case of opposites attracting. >> i think we both went into the relationship knowing that we really loved spending time with one another. >> tom was the laid back easy going type. she was an elementary teach and she didn't hide what she was thinking. >> she had opinions and she let those be known. one of the reasons i loved her. i still love her today. >> when her sisters learned that had dar and tom intended to mar marry, they were left scratching their heads. my famous saying was there has to be something wrong with tom

to stay with dar. >> because you couldn't do it. >> no. you couldn't be around somebody that center of the attention. >> and that controlling. >> dar was not a domesticated person either. >> the foleys were married in 191 1994 and right from the start dar took the lead. >> did she wear the panlts in the house. >> i would say 75, 80% of the time she did. >> she was the breadwinner. >> yes. >> you stayed home and took care of your son. >> i did. >> he was the only child in the center of their lives. >> we just loved being together. we were always together. >> so the flthree lived on the outskirts of cold water. a picture perfect family until that winter day back in 2009. >> what was the last thing you said to her? >> i said i love you and i'll see you later.

>> on that day, the foleys were preparing to celebrate heath's tenth birth. dar needed to shower so tom, heath and a friend of heath left without her. the plan was to follow in her own car and meet them at the party that afternoon, but dar never arrived. >> that gave you a sixth sense something was wrong. >> yes, she was always on time. >> so tom left the party in search of his wife. >> our kitchen back door was opened and i noticed that the glass was broken and glass all over the kitchen floor so i looked through the rest of the house for her and ended up finding her in our bathroom. >> she had been shot in the head with a shotgun at point-blank range. tom immediately called for help. >> my wife is in the shower. she's just laying there in

blood. first responders rushed to the foley farm. when michigan state police detective arrived on the scene, he knew he was in for a long night. >> we don't have a lot of homicide that happen around this county. because of her position as a schoolteacher, just for the number of people that knew her, that put it in a much more serious type investigation. >> detective and his team of state troopers scoured the crime scene taking pictures and seizing evidence of what appeared to be a home burglary gone wrong. the first clue the broke b grass from the kitchen window. >> appears a beer bottle was used to break that window. >> according to tom the jewelry and credit cards were missing. the desk had also been disturbed and documents were gone. then there was a medicine cabinet. >> looked like someone went and

scooped a shift off the medicine cabinet. >> like they were looking for prescription drugs. >> potentially, but the items missing weren't nearly as telling as what was left behind. expensive electronics were untouched as was dar's purse found sitting on a hallway chair. >> didn't make a lot of sense. >> neither did the use of a shotgun. if you're going to break into something you have to carry whatever you steal out with the shotgun you brought also. >> it wasn't inle the next day the police found their first significant piece of evidence. evidence that led the investigation in a whole new direction. down in the foley's dusty basement was a suspiciously dust free yellow plastic bag. >> what was in the bag. >> three shotgun shells. >> when we come back, police have some questions for the

grieving husband. >> found a bag with shotgun shells. have you seen that before? >> no. >> so does his wife's family. >> there are a number of people that are really offended by

the funeral for dar foley was held on 13th, friday the 13th. those unlucky enough to be sharing the grief of the one

they loved and lost poured into the auditorium. no church was big enough to accommodate the more than 500 people that came to honor and remember dar. >> she was full of life and had a lot more to give. we can't bring her back. >> your wife has been killed and you've got a ten-year-old son. >> yes. >> what did you tell him? >> i told him someone had hurt mommy. and he goes is she in heaven, and i said yes. >> you've seen that no one in coldwater cold comprehend what happened. including steve and joeny pierce, close friends of both tom and dar. >> i said the three of you were always together and he was crying and he said i know, i know i should have been there for her. and then i said, if you would have been, the three of you would be dead now instead of

just dar. >> but just 24 hours into the investigation, detective jim had almost abandon the theory this was a random act of violence. >> it appeared to be a staged break in and entering to hide a homicide that took place. >> but whoever staged the burglary didn't factor in the weather that day. >> it got really warm. had a huge snow melt off. the ground around the farmhouse was unusually wet and muddy. >> so you would expect there would be muddy fingerprints from inside the residents of someone who came in there door. >> absolutely. >> and was there. >> there was nothing. >> it was the yellow bag found in the basement, the bag containing shotgun shells that interested carbon the most. >> downstairs in the basement, we found a bag that had some shotgun shells in it. okay.

have you ever seen that before? >> no. >> the foley's didn't own a shotgun, as far as we know. >> that's correct. >> carbon sent the bag to the lab for analysis. it surprised even this veteran detective. >> tom's fingerprint was on the bag. >> yes. suddenly he felt he needed to take a closer look at tom foley and he seemingly picture perfect marriage. >> i think they did a lot of things together. however, i don't consider them the picture perfect couple. >> neither did dar's sister lynn. >> she said tom doesn't love me anymore. he's leaving me. he's going through his change of life. >> his midlife crisis. >> yes. >> dar's sister were becoming suspicious. especially after watching tom's behavior at the funeral.

>> there were a number of people that came up to me after the service that were really offended by his demeanor, his joyfulness. >> these are things i've heard and it's ridiculous. taken care of heath was on my mind. wondering who killed my wife was on my mind. they don't know the things i've been through. >> maybe so, but detective carbon was keeping a very watchful eye on tom foley. he decided to interview the other foley who was at the farm the day dar was killed. tom and dar's son heath. >> i'm detective carbon. >> on that day heath and his friend were inside the house playing video games, waiting to be driven to heath's birthday celebration. >> did you see anything different or out or the ordinary or anybody walking around, anybody come up to the door, anything you can think of?

>> no. >> okay. >> the detective also intervi interviewed his friend who said right before leaving for the party, tom sent the two boys outside to go start up the truck. he said he will be out there in a little bit. i don't know what he was doing in there, taking a shower or what. >> okay. like heath, he couldn't recall anything unusual about that day either. and then suddenly. >> yes when we were outside running across the barn, there was like a big crash like way in the back of the house. >> what did it sound like. >> sounded like breaking glass and a bunch of things falling, like a vase just. >> it was a loud sound. >> yes. >> detective carbon showed him a drawing of the foley farm and asked him to place an x where he believes the sound originated. >> like somewhere around in here. >> he placed the x just outside

the first floor bathroom. the same room where dar foley had been shot. >> it appeared to us that he had heard the shotgun blast that killed dar foley. >> detective carbon was also thinking this, the one other person in that house at that time was tom foley. >> coming up. >> he wanted the house, he wanted her money. if he divorced her, he lost everything. >> was that a motive and was tom foley the

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came what seemed like a revelation. detective carbon believed ten-year-old skyler was an earwitness to the shotgun blast that killed dar foley. if true, it meant dar was murdered earlier than originally thought. more significantly, it meant tom foley was still in the house when the murder occurred. >> that lead was huge. it was a very, very important. >> but if tom foley was in that house and pulled the trigger, the question remained why. the answer said carbon is quite

simple. murder for money. >> potentially, yes. >> money in the form of an insurance policy. i think that he wanted out of the marriage. and did whatever he needed to do to make sure that happened. >> if he got $310,000 in insurance money and got out of the money, so much the better. >> yes. >> the evidence was circumstantial evidence, but excelling. >> they never found the murder weapon. >> what do you think happened to the gun. >> i wish i knew. >> even without it in march of 2009, one month after dar foley was gunned down in her shower, state police arrested tom foley and charged him with his wife's murder. >> i just, what, why? and i was like this cannot be happening. why do you think that i did

this? i did not kid my wife. >> news of tom's arrest was almost as stunning as the news of dar's death. >> could you conceive of tom either hating his wife so much he wanted to kill her. >> absolutely not. >> or killing her for the insurance money. >> that would be stupid. >> do you think that had a good marriage. >> yes i do. everything seemed to be going good for them. >> it seemed sadistic, shooting your wife at point-blank range. killing the mother of your son on the day he was celebrating his tenth birthday. >> he never would have done that to his son. >> ten days after the arrest issues police brought heath foley in for a second interview and this time he did recall hearing a noise that day. >> skyler talks about hearing an

unusual sound. do you remember any sound? >> our neighbors like to shoot guns. like maybe a gunshot or something or maybe glass broke. it was one of those two things maybe. >> according to tom, the sound he heard was nothing more than glass breaking. there were old barn windows i was trying to clean out and one of them slipped on the grip and smashed on the back porch step. >> and made a lot of noise. >> yes, it did. >> detective carbon wasn't buying the explanation. >> the boys were playing over by this barn. >> yes. >> and how far is that to the house. >> approximately 75 yards. >> mr. foley claims he was dropping a window. would that sound have penetrated that far. >> in my opinion, that couldn't have happened. >> police also say that carefully searched that area around the back porch. >> there was no glass that we

could see when we looked at the scene on that particular night as well as the next day. >> for dar's sister, the writing was by now on the wall. they were certain of their brother-in-law's guilt. >> we went over every case we could come up with no not make it count. i think tom reacceptabili-se re it ate at him and he couldn't take it anymore. >> he didn't divorce her because he's a selfish coward. he wanted the house. he wanted the money. if he divorced her he lost everything. >> in november, 2009, tom foley's trial began. the prosecution argued that only tom had a motive to kill dar, but the defense claimed police had rushed to judgment. defense attorney and defense

investigator, in their mind it's always the boyfriend or the husband or the person that finds the body. >> which in this case was the husband and tom. >> they wanted me bad. what's yeaeasier for them? to go after someone they can physically see or go after someone they cannot physically see? >> what's wrong with the idea the money was a motive. >> absolutely not. we had a mortgage, to move on after all of this is going to take a held of a lot more than that. >> after two weeks of testimony, the jury had its verdict. >> i felt the evidence was going to prove there's absolutely no way i had anything to do with this. >> 12 jurors didn't share that feeling. >> we the jury find the defendant guilty of first degree murder. >> i was just, what? i was just shocked. >> what was wrong with the jury? what do they know that i don't know? how can they convict a man on what they had?

>> they knew a conviction was meant for me. for life without the possibility of patrol. >> my sister is still dead. still didn't bring her back, but you had a little bit of faith in the justice system. >> in the hours following the verdict, it seemed everyone in coldwater was relying on fate. >> i said to myself god isn't going to let me go to prison for the rest of my life. something had to turn around. >> then, less that 24 hours after the verdict, tom foley's defense team got a phone call from a woman. >> this is a woman who essentially says i saw the murder. and it wasn't tom foley. >> coming up, there's the killer. right there. she saw him. >> a bombshell from out of the blue. was there for a newly convicted husba husband? husband?

cdar dar'dar's. 'dar's.

>> 24 years after the one time hometown hero named tom foley made coldwater history, the now convicted murder of the same name sat behind bars awaiting his sentence. >> were you ready to spend the rest of your life in prison. >> no.

absolutely not. >> tom foley's attorney and his private eye, the guilty verdict landed like a crushing blow. >> this was a grass root, who done it. we thought we had shown it wasn't this person who had done it. >> i was devastated. when this ended, i could have walked into a wall. >> but just one day after tom foley's conviction, a woman stepped forward. she had new information that suddenly gave new life to tom's defense. >> she came forward and said i saw this white car storming out of the driveway almost hit me, it looked like somebody was either high or running away from something. >> the woman was certain the driver was coming out of the heath bar farm right around the time dar was murdered, and she was equally certain the driver looked nothing like tom foley. >> there's the killer. right there. she saw him, a person leaving

our property. >> and then like a dam breaking, two other witnesses came forward, each having seen a mistirhouse car of their own, either parked on the foley property or speeding away from it. all the sightings were within two hours of dar's murder. >> it was like one after another and i said what is going on? where were these people, you know, before? >> the judge was about to sentence tom foley to life. wanted to hear what these new witnesses had to say. and after a year of appeals that went all the way to the state supreme court, tom foley was granted something most people convicted of murder never receive. a second chance. >> i was walking through the chow hall and someone says i saw you on the news and i said really wharks for. well, they gave you a new trial. i said what. >> didn't change the minds of dar's family. they remained convinced not only

did tom kill dar. he did so on the day of his son's tenth birthday celebration. >> you think tom is cold-blooded enough to do something like that too his kid? >> yes. yes. i think there's evil in him. >> prosecutor terry norris agreed. >> who killed dar foley. >> tom foley. there is nobody else. >> a year and a half after tom foley's conviction, both sides filed back into the courthouse to once again determine tom's fate. >> court is in session. >> thank you. >> as before, the state opened it its case with the crime scene analyst. >> what is it you found on the base. >> a yellow bag. located inside the bag was three shotgun shells. >> these are phone records. >> norris also showed the foley's home phone records from around the time dar was killed. there were no phone calls that either came in our left.

>> your wife doesn't show up somewhere, why not call home and say have you left yet? where are you? we're waiting for you. >> according to detective, tom didn't bother calling dar at home because he knew dar was already dead. then members of dar's family stepped forward to testify that tom and dar's marriage was troubled and that tom wanted out. >> he told me his wife is very controlling and that was wearing on him and he did not necessarily want to stay in the marriage anymore. >> and there was more evidence of an unhappy marriage. according to this woman, back in 2006, tom had a wondering eye. >> please state your full name for the record and spell your last name. >> she taught at the same elementary school as dar. that's how she met tom. >> he told me he was thinking

about leaving dee dee. according to terry, tom also revealed he had feelings for her and later tried to kiss her. >> what was your reaction to that. >> i didn't want anything to do with it. >> the prosecution wasn't done. this woman took the stand. >> please state your full name for the record and spell your last name. >> out of the presence of the jury, she told the court that like carry, she met tom through dar. and a couple of weeks after dar's murder, she stopped by the farm to offer tom spoupport. >> i don't mean to embarrass you, but you had sex with tom in his living room. >> he tried to. and it was stopped. >> who tried and who stopped. >> he tried and we both stopped. >> you don't have a sexual relationship with somebody within two weeks after your wife

has been murdered in that house. >> but the jury never heard marry's testimony because there was no indication of a romantic relationship prior to dar's murder. the judge ruled just as he did in the first trial that her testimony was prejudicial. >> it supports they weren't this deeply in love couple he kept trying to present. that would have proven. they still had the two key witnesses. tom's son healthy and his friend skyler. now more certain than ever about what they saw and heard. the day dar was killed. >> last year at church camp we went for activities. we fired shot gubs and it most resembled that sound. >> then it was time for heath to take the stand. the last time tom had seen him was at a hearing in court almost

a year earlier. >> while you're in the barn, do you hear something. >> yes. i thought it was skyler ran into a wall, either that or a gunshot. >> do you think the boys actually were if not eyewitnesss, then earwitness. >> eernss to what happened. >> he would need to prove the sound those boys heard was anything other than a gunshot. just two weeks before trial began while inspecting crime scene notes, he found what may be the key to freedom. i said, is that what i think it is. it was one of these hol ly crap moments. >> coming up. >> we were together all the time. >> tom foley on the stand with

his own fate on the line. >> i wanted to convince the police. i wanted to

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>> tom foley's trial, the talk around coldwater focused on the damaging testimony of skyler and his own son, heath. >> what did you think was the strongest part of your case. >> the boys, the testimony of the boys. they heard the gunshot. >> but the defense was about to argue that over time, both boys testimony had changed and in significant ways. >> he is now stating it sounds like a gunshot. it's something he didn't say in the first interview. same thing with skyler. >> courtroom testimony left tom furious. not at his son, but at his accusers. people who had cared for heath while tom was incarcerated. >> that's somebody coaching him or encouraging him. >> i believe so. >> coached or not, tom foley's defense team knew from day one that they needed to prove the sound those boys heard was tom dropping a window frame on the

back porch and not the fatal gun blast. four days after the arrest, they took a trip to the farm to try and do just that. >> couple of moments that don't come often. >> this is the frame we thought. >> right where tom said he dropped the frame, they found this tiny shard of glass. immediately they tried to match the shard with the frame tom said he dropped. >> you take the shard and set it in one of the few remaining intact plate area of the frame, you can see it fits perfectly. >> it was excelling evidence that tom may have been telling the truth, but they would need more than a shard of evidence. he next called this woman, janette. the woman who came forward immediately following the guilty verdict and the reason he was ultimately granted a new trial. >> she said she was driving past the foley house right around the time dar had been murdered.

>> as i approached this white car come racing out forward and if i hadn't braked, i would have hit him. >> she said she got a good look at the driver. >> it was a young 18 to 20-year-old kid. real black hair and his face was real white and he was clenching the wheel just like this. and i thought he's crazy, he's going to kill somebody. >> why didn't you call the police. >> i didn't because i was afraid. >> but when janette moor learned about tom foley's guilty verdict, she said she could no longer keep her silence. god forgive me and i truly mean that in my heart that i didn't come forward sooner. if i hadn't been so darn scared. >> what followed was a succession of other witnesses each claiming they too saw m mystery cars on or leaving the

farm right around the time of the murder. >> whoever killed dar foley was either in one of those cars or all three of them participated in this murder in some fashion. >> but tom foley knew if he had any hope of acquittal, the jury would need to hear from one more witness. >> i call tom foley to the stand you your honor. >> i wanted to convince my wife's family, i wanted to convince the police. i wanted them to know and look at me and hear me. >> tom started by answering some nagging questions. how did a yellow plastic bag with shotgun shells in it get into the basement. >> did you have those bags in your home. >> yes. >> how do you explain the bag in the basement. >> they weren't ours. that bag is probably ours. my fingerprint is on the bag, but for three clean shotgun

shells to be in my basement, just doesn't make sense. >> you have no idea where those came from. >> absolutely not. >> tom said he's never owned or used a shotgun. >> never. wouldn't know how to operate it. wouldn't know the first thing about it. >> then asked why tom failed to call home when dar didn't show up at the birthday celebration. >> something just wasn't right. i just went home. if we had cell phones i would have called her. i had to find her. >> then it was time for tom to describe his relationship with dar. it didn't take tom long to lose his kpoe sure. >> we were very close. we were together all the time. >> tom had mitt admitted to the

did once flirt with carry, but that happened three years prior to the murder during a brief time when he and dar were arguing more than they were communicating. >> that put quite a bit of distance between us and also lead to intimacy problems between her and i. >> tom says he eventually told dar about his feelings for carry and he went to counseling. >> after those sessions, did things get better. >> absolutely. >> then why was it so easy for tom to become intimate with maryann kran dal so soon after dar's death. >> it's like three weeks after dar died. >> yes. >> and you're in the house where dar died. >> what am i to think of that. >> think that -- i don't care about what had just happened to my wife. that's not true. if i go back and change it, i would, but i can't.

this was an event that involved grief and reaching out and it happened. >> do you love your wife? >> i love her very much. >> did you love her on february 720 7, twooun. >> 2009. >> very much so. >> did you have anything to do with her death. >> nothing at all. >> before closing arguments the prosecutor had one more. please state your full name for the record. >> amber. >> out of the presence of the jury, dar's niece told the court that one week before dar was murdered, she went to the farm to baby-sit heath. >> she told us not to go outside on the back porch with shoes. >> judge ruled amber's testimony was hearsay and therefore

admissible. the jury never heard her challenge tom's claim. now, we see evidence that was admitted and for the second time in two years, a jury was about to decide tom foley's fate. >> my stomach was turning. i wasn't eating. i was physically sick. >> coming up. another verdict brings another shattering hotel. >> he collapsed to the floor and we went for

>> as he did in the first trial, attorney tom shaffer prepared to address the jury for what he and his client, tom foley, hoped would be the last time. >> when your defense rested, were you comfortable? >> yes. >> you thought you were going to win. >> very much. yes. >> you thought that once before. >> yes, i did. >> apparently the theory of the prosecution is that a marriage ever has a bump in the road, that is a motive for murder.

is it reasonable? i suggest not. >> tom foley he says had nothing to do with dar's death, but those mistirhouse cars did. >> those cars should not have been there and the prosecution has not given you any explanation why they were there. because there is no other explanation other than that they had some connection. i respectfully ask you to find tom foley not guilty. >> then came prosecutor's turn. she started by attacking the credibility of the witnesses who say they saw the cars. >> if you were to believe that all of these vehicles were there, there was a party at the foley home that day with a bunch of white cars and a black suv. that makes no sense, whatsoever, none. >> norris wanted this jury

thinking only one thing. who had the motive? it's tom foley. whose fingerprint was on the ball of shells in the basement, tom foley. tom foley is guilty. and i'm asking you to bring back that verdict. >> the outcome of tom's second trial was far from certain. >> what worried you the most. >> just that he was such a nice guy. you would have never guessed he had done something like that. >> he didn't seem like a murder. >> right. >> and then at the 11th hour, it was time. the jury filed in. >> were they looking at you, the jurors. >> no. they weren't. i took a couple of deep breaths and i just. >> your honor, we the jury find the defendant not guilty. >> waiting had paid off. >> as to count ii. >> not guilty. >> the reaction of tom at the time of the verdict. absolutely incredible. he collapsed to the floor and we

went for 20 minutes. unbelievable. >> he got away with murder, but he almost didn't. we had it. we had him convicted. and to actually have to go back and talk with that family and try to give them some consoling, how do you do that? you're just angry. you're angry at the jurors, the judge. there's nothing you can do about it. >> i was more concerned about heath at that point because i knew that he knew his father killed his mother. and i couldn't imagine having to go back and live with a man that killed your mother. >> yes, get it. >> tom has regained custody of heath and treads very carefully

when discussing that tragic day. >> from him i want to know why he thinks i did this. i deserve that answer and all he can say is i don't know who else it could have been. >> tom says he will never forget dar. >> i still think she's beside me. i'm going to continue to raise our son the way we wanted him to be raised. >> do you harbor any grudge because of this. >> all i can say is that made a mistake. all i'm asking is they search and search and search until they find dar's killer. >> according to to prosecutor norris, there would be no point to that search. >> you're not investigating anymore. >> there's no one to investigate and there's been no new evidence of anyone else ever having come to this crime. >> this boyhood hero wrote a whole new set of headlines as an adult and coldwater may never be the same.

as to though who remain convinced of tom's guilt, they cling to the memory of the one they lost and loved so much. they gather to release balloons in dar's honor. >> she loved to be the center of attention so this is her center of attention. they rise close tor to where sh at and hopefully she sees that we're thinking about her. >> that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for next at 11:00, dozens of people burned out of their homes in san francisco. the latest on where and how it started. a mother saves her little boy from a mountain lion. where is the big cat now? next? on many levels, to really reduce energy and reduce our environmental footprint.

for a customer like whole foods, saving energy means helping our environment, and we can be a part of that. helping customers save energy is a very important part of what pg&e does. we can pass those savings on to the environment, the business, and the community. pg&e really is an expert in saving energy, and that partnership is extremely exciting. together, we're building a better california. ==terry/vo== zens dispced .. six buildings burned ... everything we owned is there, you know. >> dozens displaced. six buildingses burned. firefighters still on the scene of a massive fire that started hours ago in san francisco. thanks for joining ugs. i i'm terry mcsweeney. tonight, many people have