the buzz reached los angeles, and jive records offered him a deal. his first big record was a collection of songs everyone in oakland already knew. todd: when they got the "born to mack" album and re-released it in 1988, no commercials, no posters, no ads, no single, no radio, no nothing, no video, nothing, they sold about another 200,000, 250,000 copies. peter: jive's parent company was stunned. rca wanted to know how a rookie rapper could take off so quickly. todd: i had 8 years of practicing before i was given a national stage. i've already put in my 10,000 hours of practice. i'm an expert in my rookie year. i'm an expert already. peter: even false news reports of his murder were good for business. todd: "too short was in a crackhouse in oakland,

and got shot in the head, and he died." sold another half a million records on that. they were having too short vigils all out in texas, like they thought i was dead. they thought i was dead until i made the next album. peter: too short, mc hammer, and rap icons like e-40 and tupac shakur, have secured the bay area's place in hip hop history. they succeeded in part because the bay area audience embraces new sounds and risk-taking performers, even when the performers seem to be every parent's worst nightmare. ♪ on the way to paranoia. on the crooked borderline. ♪ ==sot== "they tried to usmend u trt:03siness." ouue: use thebuss ==cont vo=why one bay area gror

his role in the tv mrcial. tonight at 11 on nbcay ar. we investigate.

joel: metallica, not likely to have happened anywhere else. peter: metallica is the greatest thrash metal band of all time, and one of the most successful music groups in history. they've sold well over 100 million albums. their live performances are legendary. and it all started in the want ads. lars: the way you connected with the musicians at that time in la was the recycler, a classified ads sort of magazine newspaper that was found primarily at 7-elevens. peter: lars ulrich was born in denmark. his father was a professional tennis player. and in 1980, the family moved to los angeles. the plan was for lars to play tennis like his dad.

lars: you know, i went to a local high school there for a couple of years, and was the only guy sort of wearing black t-shirts and rock and roll stuff. everybody else was in, you know, pink lacoste shirts. and it was a little bit of an eye-opening, definitely a cultural 180. peter: the new kid in town found comfort in music, in particular fast, aggressive metal music from europe. he learned his way around a drum kit, and placed the ad. lars: i posted an ad saying, "drummer looking for other musicians to form a hard rock band." i got a call from a guy named hugh tanner, who showed up at my house with a very shy, awkward kid whose name was james hetfield, who didn't say two words the whole day. but there was some sort of connection between him and i. this thing with hugh tanner didn't work out, but 6 months later, i found james hetfield again, and we started a band.

peter: they had a band, but not an audience. that changed when they found bass guitar player cliff burton. burton lived in el cerrito in the east bay, and said he would join the band on one condition. lars: he basically said that he would only join metallica if we moved to the bay area. we were out of la in 2 nanoseconds, and came up here in 1983, and have called the bay area home ever since. you know, san francisco was just an oasis for people like us that were all sort of outsiders. i couldn't figure out what happened faster, whether we fell in love with san francisco, or san francisco fell in love with us, but we were just accepted instantly. peter: that local support helped put metallica on the roster for a bill graham day on the green concert. it was the biggest crowd metallica had ever seen. and their backstage exuberance earned them a phone call no band wants to get.

lars: one of the main things that stands out about that first day on the green, i believe james got a little overly joyous of being backstage, and i think that the dressing room was at the receiving end of that joy, and was subsequently somewhat battered. and like 2 days later on monday morning, our manager in new york got a call from bill graham, saying he wanted to see this james hetfield guy right now in his office, within, you know, an hour, or one of those types of things. and if he wasn't there, metallica would never play in the bay area again. you know, that type of phone call. so, james went, and was told how things worked around here. and everything worked out fine since then.

peter: it worked out beyond anyone's wildest dreams. five consecutive metallica albums opened at number one on the charts. metallica has played nearly 2,000 concerts. the music is physically punishing to perform, and the band has adapted. lars: twenty years ago, or thirty years ago, or even ten or fifteen years ago, it was like, "okay, cool," and late night, and beers, and this and that. and you know, now it's--nobody eats junk food, everybody works out. like i said, we have trainers and stretchers. and i mean, it's like a--it's like a damn sports team around here. male: what hurts? lars: what hurts? male: now? lars: all of it. how much time do you have? peter: but no amount of training prepared the band for the spring of 2000, when they were blindsided by technology. lars: i got a call from our manager in new york, saying that a song we were working on for the "mission: impossible 2" soundtrack was being played on 30 radio stations

around the country. and it was one of those, like, "huh?" like, "what are you talking about?" like, this doesn't compute. so, i think like the next--it's like the next day, it was there's some company called napster. peter: napster was a remarkable efficient program that allowed people to share music files without paying for the music. fans loved it. metallica did not like people hearing their music before it was polished and ready. the band took napster to court. lars: and then it became a street fight. it was literally like a back alley brawl. you have no idea how many people in phone calls and emails and, "we support you. what can we do to help you? right on, thanks for going out there on the frontlines." okay, and then, you know, it's like one of those, like, kind of go out there, and you're sort of looking over your shoulder, and like not a single one of those people were anywhere to be found in public,

which was kind of bizarre. but we were in a street fight, so we just soldiered on. peter: the band was fighting a software program in the software capital of the world. and they won. the victory transformed the music industry. new companies were born, sites that offered fans millions of songs, and made sure the artists got paid. lars: a large group of our friends and fans love spotify, love, you know, apple music, love pandora and all the different, you know, elements. i have spotify on my phone, and i'm right there with pandora and all the rest of it. so, you sort of adapt as you go along. peter: adaptation isn't easy when artists face wave after wave of innovation. ♪ damn i feel alive.

peter: but one bay area star is showing the world how to ride social technology to the top. ♪ it's like something has to die. ♪ we need to be ready for my name's scott strenfel and r i'm a meteorologist at pg&e.

we make sure that our crews as well as our customers are prepared to how weather may impact their energy. so every single day we're monitoring the weather, and when storm events arise our forecast get crews out ahead of the storm to minimize any outages. during storm season we want our customers to be ready and stay safe. learn how you can be prepared at pge.com/beprepared. together, we're building a better california.

peter: social media can get anyone attention. social media and talent can make you a star. and kehlani parrish is supremely talented. [music]

peter: kehlani was born in oakland, raised by her aunt, and dreamed of being a dancer. kehlani: i don't know what song they were singing, but my mom said i wouldn't shut up, and i just kept being, like, "i'm going to be a solid gold dancer, gonna be a solid gold dancer." peter: she was studying dance at the oakland school for the arts when she injured her knee. the middle schooler gave up dance, and worked on her voice instead. at 14, kehlani joined poplyfe, a kid band from oakland. in 2011, poplyfe made it onto "america's got talent." the band finished fourth, but kehlani had now witnessed social media on a grand scale. at 16, she realized her personality was perfect for the new frontier. kehlani: i always asked all the questions in school. i always over explained. i've always been very talkative, like very. i used to talk to all the strangers growing up, get stuck outside forever, could be missing my bus because

i kept talking, talking to people. peter: after "america's got talent," kehlani decided to go solo. she came home to oakland, no money, no record deal, and eventually no home. she stayed with friends, slept on couches, but never stopped working on her singing and songwriting. kehlani: so, i would be like, "okay, i'm stuck right now, but i can use my resources. i'll do what i have to do." and just like that, through perseverance, and hard work, and keeping that state of mind, and not biting any hands that ever fed me, you know what i mean, it got me to where i am. peter: in 2013, she released a song on the internet. a producer heard it, and offered her studio time to record more songs. as her song catalog grew, so did her internet presence. today, everywhere she goes, she's accompanied by a virtual cloud of social media: twitter, instagram, soundcloud, ustream,

kehlani.com, spotify. she doesn't get much radio play, but it doesn't matter. pandora founder tim westergren. tim westergren: you know, what's funny, though, she may be underground in the broadcast world, she's not underground at pandora, where she has almost a million unique listeners that have created a station with her name. so, she has a massive audience on pandora. peter: fans still buy music, but these days, it's often one song at a time. what they really want is a live performance. kehlani: what i think--i actually love it because i think it's a sort of quality control. it makes the artist have to actually be a touring, functioning, creative merch designing artist. whether as--it used to be just like i guess if you can sell records, but now it's like you have to put on a good show. you have to make people want to come buy tickets. peter: now, kehlani has a grammy nomination, and she's on the soundtrack of the blockbuster movie "suicide squad."

kehlani: it kind of forces you to really step up in those ways. it also made it easier to go platinum. it made it you can now get grammy nominated off of soundcloud, you know what i mean? music is advancing, but it's because times are advancing. ♪ i hope you realize time is slipping. ♪ peter: throughout its history, the bay area has always looked to the adventurers. joel: in san francisco, these bands tend to be a little more experimental, a little bit more original. peter: sought performers who refused the mainstream. carlos: we don't think like sheep. we think like--we set the tone. we don't allow the tone to tell us where to go, or how to do it.

peter: supported talent, regardless of genre, no matter how outlandish. big von: it's like kind of like the hippie age, but even though the hippie went away, the fuel is still here. peter: and the recipe still works. decade after decade, the world wants to hear what the bay area is playing. lars: it's just amazing. diversity is probably the main word. so inspiring to just somehow be part of all that different, rich heritage. peter: on the next "bay area revelations," it's the birthplace of the motion picture. and it has become one of the most innovative and successful movie centers on earth.

how the bay area became a superstar of the silver screen, this winter on "bay area revelations." [music] peter: since 1998, carlos santana's milagro foundation has helped thousands of vulnerable and underserved children in the bay area and around the world. become part of the solution. visit www.milagrofoundation.org.

there are many kinds of grief. alexis and rachel were struggling with the angry kind. not angry with their mother for dying. no. it was what grew from the suspicion they felt that their father was hiding something very bad. but still, there were practical matters to deal with, such as who should care for the four younger macneill children? alexis returned to medical school so rachel volunteered. their father, martin, insisted they find a nanny instead right away. >> he asked me -- he demanded that we go to the temple to pray about having a nanny, which was very strange, because my father was not a very spiritual person at all. >> and there outside the temple, they were approached by a mysterious brunette. >> she said, "oh, i was at the funeral, and i am so sorry for your loss" and my father said,

"oh, i'm sorry, i know i know -- what's your name"? and she said, "my name's jillian." and my father said, "oh, okay." >> about a week after that encounter, martin hired that friendly, sympathetic woman and told his daughters -- >> oh, i found the perfect nanny. i found someone that's going to be great. and i said, "dad, what's her name?" and he said, "oh, it's jillian -- i think it's jillian." >> the name, jillian, didn't mean anything to rachel. but alexis -- >> i said, "dad, i know that woman. i know mom was concerned you were having an affair with her." >> an affair? well, yes. or at least before michele died, that is certainly what she suspected. so worried about it, she asked alexis to help her find out for sure. >> my mom confided in me about

everything, all of her feelings, her concerns. and so i took his cell phone and was able to download his password, and we did see a number that my dad had been calling quite a few times. >> you hacked into his phone? >> uh-huh. yeah. we called the number. and a woman answered and then hung up right away. so i paid for an online search and it came up with a name. and it was gypsy jillian willis. >> gypsy jillian willis? >> yeah. i mean, at first, we had no idea -- like gypsy, what kind of name is gypsy? i mean, we thought maybe it was a stripper. i don't know what. but anyway, my mom with that information, with the lady's name, went to my dad and confronted him. >> martin denied everything, said alexis. and then the very next day, he made a curious suggestion. >> my father came to my mom and told her that she needs a

face-lift. >> that is -- i mean, lots of women decide they want face-lifts. >> yeah. >> but when their husband comes and says, you need one -- >> yeah. i mean, it was really out of the blue. >> the face-lift that preceded michele's death. and now, here was gypsy jillian, martin's choice for a live-in nanny, someone he just happened to find. >> so, she got the job. she moved into the house, and this was just a couple of weeks after my mother's death. >> martin's daughter were furious. they wanted to know what other secrets their father had been keeping. they expanded their investigation. >> my sister put a blog up and was asking anyone with any information about my father to contact her. i mean, we discovered that he had had so many different affairs. there was a lot of different things that came out. >> with their aunt linda, they took all of the information they had gathered on martin and brought it to the authorities. >> pushing and pushing to get them to investigate. >> the local police had never investigated michele's death as

a crime, not from the very first day. and remember that coroner's report? michele's death was caused by heart disease. >> for us to be able to overcome something like a medical examiner's office that says she died of natural causes is a huge task. >> but the women were relentless. they met with jeff robinson and doug witney who worked for the county attorney. you took them seriously right off the top, the daughters? >> not really. >> but then they started to look at some of the evidence the amateur sleuths had gathered. not added to murder, but still. >> they started to challenge a lot of things that their father, who he was, what he was, what he was doing. and so we thought, you know what, i'd like to find out if he really is a doctor. >> yes. they learned martin did have a medical degree, but he fraudulently got into medical school. >> absolutely. >> by faking the results of --

>> he obviously took somebody else's. because there was a different date of entrance. there was a different date of graduation and all of them were straight as. >> then they dug deeper and found that before he faked his college transcripts, martin was convicted of forging checks. now to investigators, the respected doctor was looking anything but respectable. >> this tells me that this is not the guy that goes to church every sunday with his family. >> so there are two martin macneills? >> there are two martin macneills. >> still doesn't mean he murdered his wife, does it? >> no, no. >> but to martin's daughters, they looked at their father's list of offenses, the fraud, the infidelity, how he encouraged their mother to have surgery and take so many drugs afterwards. and they were certain their father killed their mother. >> he betrayed us to our very core. i mean, everything that we thought in our life was all shattered. >> it's all a sham. >> it really is. it's been a whole sham.

>> but not everyone in the family felt that way. damian, martin's only son, stuck by his father. >> he had a hard time after my mom died. i had talked to him about my concerns, and he didn't want to believe that my father was capable of killing my mom. >> but alexis' conviction was absolute. every time she stepped foot in her parents' home, only one thought went through her mind -- >> this is where he killed her. >> and yet, there was still no hard evidence that martin killed michele. almost two years went by, martin and gypsy still carrying on in plain sight. but then, in january 2009 -- suddenly they are both arrested? >> yes. >> yeah. >> but not for what people might have thought. >> oh, no. coming up, two lovers cook up a secret crime. >> he stole giselle's identity? >> for gypsy. >> and two sisters suffer another heartbreaking loss.

>> he was such a wonderful guy. i miss him. approachinghow it will impactri.

plus. "they ied to use and use the b cont vo==then: sodaax or groce ? we investigate bo sides hind why one bay area groregrets his role in the tvcommercial. = the showdown on a blear that's generating a tof buzz on. tonight at 11 == martin macneill's daughters seethed. their father turned their house

into a tawdry love next for the nanny, gypsy willis. for nearly two years, they had been laser focused on proving his guilt, trying to persuade the police or anyone that martin murdered michele. and sure enough, they discovered a crime, not murder, but shocking nonetheless. >> giselle! >> it all started when martin sent his 16-year-old adopted daughter, giselle, off to ukraine to visit her biological sister. >> giselle called my daughter's phone and then they started talking and giselle started crying and told her story that she got left there. >> abandoned, basically? >> right. >> why would he do that? well, a bit more digging revealed that martin and gypsy had cooked up a scheme, and it involved taking over daughter giselle's social security number. he stole giselle's identity? >> for gypsy. >> yes, for gypsy, who it

emerged was -- how shall we say -- financially challenged. the new forged identity wiped her debts away. it also gave her a brand-new name, jillian macneill. but the lies didn't end there. they began posing as husband and wife. >> giselle's out of the picture. martin wants to make gypsy look like his wife. >> now that was low. but even worse -- >> they used the date of my mom's funeral as their marriage date. >> martin and gypsy were arrested in january 2009. not for murder. for fraud. they both pleaded guilty. martin got four years, gypsy 21 months. and to avoid any more charges, gypsy promised she'd testify against martin in any future legal actions. it was a victory for alexis. but her campaign against her father had consequences. >> it's me all by myself.

>> like the wedge it drove between the sisters and their brother damian. >> it put a strain on your relationship? >> it did. once my dad was sentenced, he kind of didn't want to have anything to do with us. and then he killed himself. >> damian macneill committed suicide in january 2010. >> he was such a wonderful guy. i miss him. >> but the murder investigation continued. picked up steam, in fact. the two investigators debriefed gypsy in prison. >> that was a treasure trove of information that she gave us at that point. >> she confirmed that chance meeting at the temple with rachel was a setup, a ruse to get her into the house after michele was gone. how long had she and martin been planning it? >> i said, "so you staged and scripted that meeting? yep. and when did you script it? was it during the funeral?

was it before the death?" >> so -- >> no comment. >> the investigators went back to the prosecutor over and over, urging him, charge martin with murder but -- what did the prosecutor say to you? >> see this medical examiner's report? >> death of natural causes? >> that's right. >> there was a new medical examiner. they showed him their report, the file, the arrest for fraud. >> and i said, have you even read our reports? he said, "i've scanned it." i said, "you cannot scan this report." i said, "just read this much while we're here." and he did, and he goes, "hmm, okay, i think i'm going to look at this deeper." >> after his review, the m.e. did agree to make one small change in the manner of death from natural to undetermined. but that hardly broke the case wide open. >> he refused to call it a homicide? >> sure. absolutely. >> macneill was just released from federal prison.

and so by the summer of 2012, martin macneill was once again a free man. he had served his time for fraud. we first spoke to alexis after her dad was released from prison. >> he's a free man. how does that make you feel? >> very scared, you know -- >> you had been his chief accuser all these years. >> yeah. i'm concerned not only for myself and my family, but for everyone who comes into contact with my father because i know he's a dangerous man. >> the investigators agreed. but the prosecutor wanted more, something they could take to court. >> show me how she died. show me how she died. i said, i believe i know how she died, but i just can't prove it yet. >> and then one little detail jumped up and said, look at me. >> the time that came to me is when we heard from the officers and the emt guys when she threw up water. >> if michele threw up water

when the emts did cpr, that meant martin, the doctor, hadn't done it properly, if at all. >> okay. do you know how to do cpr? >> i'm doing it! >> and with that, all the circumstantial bits seemed to line up and support the idea of a planned murder, a plot that began after martin took up with gypsy. >> his wife finally finds out concrete evidence that he's doing it. he's trapped. what do i do? i can't lose my good name because i'm going to lose my job. i'm going to lose my reputation. i'm going to lose everything else. so what does he do? >> drugs her and drowns her. and finally, the prosecutor agreed. and so in august 2012, martin's daughters sat in a utah courtroom holding up pictures of their dead mother as their father appeared in court on charges of first-degree murder. >> if she hadn't pushed, if she hadn't started making those

calls, would this have ever gone anywhere? >> i don't think it would have come to me. i think -- >> so it would have just -- >> so probably would have closed it out as unfounded. >> now, the family drama would play out for a jury. but the outcome, at that point, it was far from certain. coming up -- a mistress turned witness. >> my name is gypsy willis. >> and one more secret. mistress number two. >> is it fair to say that you and dr. macneill began an affair? >> yes. >> when "dateline" continues.

make sure you're keeping up with your kids' online accounts and the social media they're using. talk with them about appropriate online behavior. being proactive and involved is the best way

to protect your kids from predators and bullies. the more you know. what a strange thing it was, that the day martin macneill was charged with murdering his wife, his daughters' only regret was that it had taken more than five years. >> i think my dad really got off on seeing what he could get away with. >> when the trial began this october 17th, provo, utah, martin was noticeably pale and prosecutor chad grunander was a little worried. it seems like a case where you kind of got the impression that the guy was guilty, but proving it was not going to be an easy manner. >> it's going to be difficult to wrap it all up early and give

the jury this nice little box with a bow on top. >> gypsy willis and the defendant -- >> the prosecution told the jury that martin drugged and drowned his wife michele, that he made a plan to get rid of her when he had a love affair with that woman named gypsy. and that once he dispatched michele, he was practically gleeful, even on the day of her funeral. >> the defendant was jovial, laughing and smiling again remarking that he would have to get used to the life of a bachelor. >> how callous said the prosecutor, but as for evidence that he murdered her, remember, the autopsy said heart disease was the cause of death, not murder. >> this case is a puzzle with many pieces. >> your wife is unconscious? >> she is unconscious. she's underwater. >> first piece, they said, was martin's behavior that morning during his 911 call. martin seemed angry. he hung up on the operator. >> okay. do you know how to do cpr? >> i'm doing it. >> okay. do not hang --

>> first responders had trouble finding the house. and when they finally did arrive, the police said martin was acting so erratically, it made them nervous. >> i was concerned about my safety, actually. >> and while martin, the doctor, was performing cpr -- >> he was kind of yelling at her, "why did you do this? why did you do this"? and then he struck her in the chest with one of his hands. >> but when the police took over, remember -- >> she expels three to four cups of water. >> and what would have happened had he done cpr is she would have already expelled that? is that what you're saying? >> i believe so. >> and remember how martin said he found his wife head down in the tub, her legs sticking over the edge? prosecutors showed how his account differed from that of every other witness, even his then 6-year-old daughter, ada. this is a police interview with ada recorded in 2008. >> was she all the way in the bathtub or just partway in the bathtub?

>> all the way. >> please raise your right hand and take an oath. >> and then prosecutors called to the stand the woman at the center of it all, the woman who so captivated martin, the mistress. and, they said, the motive. >> my name is gypsy willis. >> gypsy told the jury an online relationship with martin turned sexual. >> it was a very casual thing. it was just whenever we had time and it could be arranged. >> okay. >> and it was -- >> go ahead. >> i think we probably had sex half the time. i mean, sometimes it was just lunch. >> the very day after michele's death, gypsy took a sexy selfie and sent it to martin. >> there was one picture where it was a little bit suggestive. >> showing your buttocks? >> yes. >> and as we know, it wasn't long before gypsy moved into the macneill house, supposedly hired as a nanny. >> if i told you that others have testified that you were not much of a nanny in terms of cooking, cleaning and taking

care of the children and were instead staring goo-eyed at the defendant, what would be your response? >> my response is that when the adult children were home, i deferred to them and went back to studying my nursing. i did actually help with the children. >> though gypsy told the jury she never did marry martin, they did hear about all those fake documents, including the marriage date of april 14th, 2007, the date that michele was buried. and remember, gypsy had to testify as part of her plea deal. probably didn't want to. >> she clearly minimized their relationship, but i think in so doing, the jury saw that. >> but just to be sure, the prosecutor had gypsy read love letters martin wrote to her from federal prison. >> i love you and miss you every minute. i can think of nothing but how wonderful you are. >> so gypsy, said the prosecutor, was martin's motive for murder. that is, if it was a murder and

if it was, was she involved? >> in light of all this information, are you telling us you don't know anything more about michele's death? >> that is correct. >> do you believe she had something to do with it? >> well, as far as the actual death, we have no evidence to show that she did. as far as being a co-conspirator, talking about it, the evidence speaks for itself. >> and so gypsy's star turn was over. outside the court, she said she was overwhelmed by all of the attention. >> it's a frightening experience. >> testifying here today? >> being in court at all. i've never had more than a speeding ticket to this point. >> of course, as we know, that wasn't even close to being true. and back in the courtroom, the jury was finding out that gypsy wasn't martin's first mistress. >> is it fair to say that you and dr. macneill began an affair? >> yes. >> this woman said she canoodled with martin before he took up with gypsy.

and their pillow talk, she told the jury, included what sounded like a prescription for murder. >> did martin ever describe to you a process of making someone have a heart attack? >> yes. >> specifically, what did he tell you? >> there's something you can give someone that's natural so that it's not detectable after they have a heart attack. >> miss somers, please raise your right hand. >> and then the much-anticipated showdown, daughter versus father. after years of digging, collecting, and persuading others that her father was an evil, guilty man, alexis was about to take the stand. but the defense was about to argue alexis had her own problems with the truth. coming up, the doctor's defense. >> you still conclude that the manner of michele macneill's death is undetermined? >> yes. >> and the verdict. what would it be?

>> when they were coming back after 11 hours, i was a little bit nervous. plans. we'll have t focast.

then: soda tax or grery tax?we d ==vo==mpaign. again.making ameca scared next on nbbay area ne.ifyingtak

miss somers, if you'll come forward to the clerk's desk. >> for six years, alexis somers had been the strongest, most persistent voice arguing that her father murdered her mother. prosecutor chad grunander. >> her testimony was huge. >> under oath, alexis told the same story she told us. >> why were you seeking information as to your mother's death? >> because i believe my father killed her. >> but now, the defense was going to try to prove alexis wrong. in fact, they were going to question if there was a murder at all. and they would start by using some of the accusing daughter's own words. remember alexis' claim that her mother was feeling fine just before she died? well, it turns out that wasn't what she said at her mom's funeral.

>> the last time i spoke to my mom, she was happy. she wasn't feeling -- she was feeling a little sick, but -- >> she was feeling a little sick. that's what you said, right? >> i just don't remember her saying that she was feeling a little sick. i remember her being up and getting ready for the day. >> but you remembered it on the day of her funeral, right, three days later? and since that time, you have said over and over and over again that your mother was feeling great, there were no problems on april 11th. >> the implication? if michele was feeling sick just before she died, there could be a medical explanation for her death and that alexis' memory was flexible. >> i just don't remember her feeling bad at all. she was feeling great. >> there are a lot of things you don't remember accurately in this case, right? >> objection. >> and then the defense honed in on the state's biggest problem. here they were prosecuting a man for murder when, according to the state's own medical

examiner, the cause of death was most likely heart disease. coroner dr. todd grey admitted on the stand he never classified michele's death as a homicide. and that even his decision to call it undetermined was not exactly based on science. >> you met with the investigators in your office, correct? >> yes, that is correct. >> and they worked hard to try and persuade you to change it? >> they gave me an extensive and in-depth presentation of what they thought proved this was a homicide. >> and when prosecutors took an unusual step of hiring an outside medical expert to try to bolster the case for homicide, the defense showed on cross-examination he was no more definitive. >> when you consider all of the circumstances of this case, you still conclude that the manner of michele macneill's death is undetermined? >> yes, sir. >> thank you.

>> and remember that water in michele's lungs? defense co-counsel randy spencer had an answer for that, too. >> michele was found in the bathtub, and it's very difficult to do cpr in a bathtub. >> so why didn't he pull her out of the tub? >> he couldn't. barring some god-given grant of superhuman strength, very few people would be able to lift a 182-pound person out of a tub in that situation. >> just in that moment, in that scene, regardless of what else he may have done that impugned his character, that morning, what was the strongest evidence that he did not kill his wife? >> i think that the strongest evidence was likely the time of death and where martin was that morning. >> please raise your right hand and be sworn. >> the defense called witnesses who testified that they saw martin right about the time that michele collapsed in her bathtub. in other words, he wasn't there,

couldn't have killed her. this is 6-year-old ada macneill's kindergarten teacher. >> and mr. macneill picked her up that day? >> yes. >> and he was there between 11:30 and 11:35 to pick up ada? >> yes. >> and all those competing facts took closing arguments to put them together. the prosecutor's was aggressive. >> make no doubt, we believe he intentionally and knowingly caused the death of his wife. the evidence supports it. the motive is there. it's dripping. the means are there. and the opportunity is there. >> and the defense had to concede, martin was a cad and a cheat. but insisted the prosecution hadn't even proved there was a murder, let alone that martin committed it. >> i submit to you that none of the circumstances that the prosecution has submitted to you is consistent with homicide. they don't rise to the level of proof of beyond a reasonable doubt. >> and then the jury began deliberating. they huddled, hour after hour,

late into that friday night. midnight came and went. they were still talking. >> the longer the deliberations went, the more worried i got. >> quicker deliberations the better? >> in this particular case, i thought so, because our case was fairly simple. >> then, after 11 hours, the signal, a verdict. too quick, thought the prosecutor. >> when they were coming back after 11 hours, i was a little bit nervous. >> it was 1:00 in the morning on saturday. >> we the jury, having reviewed the evidence of testimony in the case, find the defendant as to count one, murder, guilty. >> at that moment, michele's family couldn't hide their relief. finally, after years of fighting, they had gotten what they wanted, what they demanded. but until that moment, martin's defense attorneys believed, perhaps more than martin himself, that he would be acquitted. >> i think martin took it better than we did. he was like, i'm okay. and i was thinking, i'm not okay.

>> and then according to defender randy spencer, martin said something quite remarkable. >> this may seem strange, but he even respects what his daughters did, not because he killed his wife, but because if they really believed that he killed his wife, he would expect them to advocate for her, and so he understands -- >> he told you that? >> he did. yeah. >> martin macneill received a sentence of 17 years to life in prison. he is appealing his conviction. >> we're just so happy he can't hurt anyone else. we miss our mom. we'll never get her back but that courtroom was full of so many people who loved my mom. >> do you feel you finally got justice? >> there is justice for my mom today. >> that's all for this edition

i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. yet anothe way. the impact it wl havon r ss your halloween plans night of rain in the bay area and another storm is on its way. the impact it will have on your halloween plans. good evening, everyone. thank you for joining us. i'm terry mcsweeney. >> i'm peggy bunker. today is the fourth straight day of rain in our area. a lot of slick roads and more rain on the way. just as parents and kids across the bay area are preparing for the super bowl of childhood really, halloween. >> you are psyched for it. >> i am excited. >> what are the conditions right now? >> i have to say it is a tricky forecast. we have rain in the forecast for