it was a small new year's eve party. we took off and then shortly thereafter. we saw the police car. my gut was telling my feet to run back to that house. this can't be happening. >> reporter: when the party ended, the mysteryegan. >> it was just crazy. i didn't understand what was happening and why. >> reporter: his wife, the hostess, had seemed fine all night. then --

please help me! please help me! >> reporter: her death was ruled a suicide. but not everyone agreed. >> i was always afraid he was going to hurt her. always. always. >> did a fight that night lead to something much worse? >> i knew that ashley wouldn't take her own life. >> a troubled woman or a troubled marriage? >> that wound on the back of her head isn't where she could do it herself, tom, it is not. >> oh, bull [ bleep ]! >> it is not. >> bull [ bleep ]! >> suicide or murder? >> i didn't do this. >> i just knew that my whole world is never going to be the same again, ever. >> i'm lester holt. this is "dateline." here's keith morrison with "after the party." >> reporter: what is so optimistic as a party on new year's eve? what night as hopeful, as full of anticipation, as the clean

party. >> just family and friends. >> reporter: disappointment is inevitable, of course, clean slates, no matter how ardenly desired, are messy all too soon. >> we noticed that there was a lot of alcohol out. >> reporter: still, we celebrate possibilities and drown past sorrows. and watch the clock that ticks toward our new beginnings and our ends. on december 31, 2011, an hour north of denver in west evans, colorado, ashley and tom fallis, surrounded by friends and family, danced to the music that brought them together, their wedding song. >> they decided to get up and dance in the middle of their living room and -- >> reporter: everybody watching. >> with everyone watching. i don't -- >> reporter: kinda romantic. >> i think i said, "oh, this is sweet." >> reporter: it was their party, ashley's and tom's. she'd invited her co-workers

but she verbally told everyone at work, like, you should come. >> reporter: they worked together at a rehabilitation hospital where ashley was a respiratory therapist. >> she was crazy, nice. [ laughter ] >> reporter: crazy? >> just spunky. yeah, just full of energy. she was just -- she was a happy person. laughed a lot and joked. >> reporter: their friendship was new. andrea didn't know a lot about ashley but had listened to her chatter about jobs and marriages of whom was born with a dangerous condition called life-threatening fluid buildup in the brain. >> she talked about it a lot. >> reporter: did she? >> yeah. but i didn't get the impression that she felt burdened by it, by any means. like, i felt like she -- i mean, that was the cards that she was dealt. >> reporter: well, in fact, she embraced the challenge, said ashley's mom jenna, became a public advocate. >> she went to washington, d.c.

before congress for funding for hydrosef lus. so she had a full plate. >> reporter: so did tom, for that matter. >> i like tom. he was pretty good guy, very intelligent. >> reporter: jeff rodriguez was tom's boss at the weld county jail. they were corrections officers. >> he was a good employee. he had a son that was sick, so he did miss more work than what most fellow officers liked. >> reporter: stressful, draining thing, caring for a sick child. so, maybe their new year's eve party was a way to hop f too. ashley's adoptive dad, joel, was at the party. >> there was dancing going on. people were having a good time. >> reporter: and ashley seemed to be having a fine time, said andrea. she and tom seemed to be getting along fine? >> they seemed to be getting along fine. >> reporter: that's when ashley and andrea went off into the kitchen, had a little party of their own. what were you drinking? >> jungle juice and jell-o shots. >> reporter: i've heard of jell-o shots.

juice? >> just juice of whatever kind i -- and then vodka and everclear, whatever kind of hard alcohol. >> reporter: oh, my. >> yeah. i was having a good time. i intended to have a good time. >> reporter: there was one unusual thing, though, said andrea. ashley had just gone through something kind of awful. >> she found out that she had a miscarriage that day. i said, oh, i'm sorry. like, are you okay? >> reporter: did that strike you i didn't think that it was odd. >> reporter: was she unhappy about the miscarriage? >> my impression of it is she already has her booef beautiful family. it seemed like her life was already complete. so i don't think that she was devastated that she had found out that she had a miscarriage. >> reporter: no tears, andrea said, just a quick, casual, mention and then the conversation moved on. went on to talk about other things. >> went on to talk about other

>> -- jell-o shot. >> reporter: midnight arrived. there were as there always are, kisses and smiles and toasts. by 12:30, the party was over. >> i gave her a hug. told her bye. we talked about future plans. >> reporter: how did she seem? >> happy. >> reporter: but, oh, how quickly the new year's clean slate darkened. as an uncle prepared to leave, ashley asked him for a bit of his marijuana to smoke later she said. tom, the sheriff's department employee, was furious, and reminded ashley's family that her employer required regular drug tests. was it the alcohol that amped up the family screaming match? whatever. ashley's parents had their own recollections. >> he walks by me. and he says that he hated us all and wished we would all bleeping die. and he went into the bedroom and slammed the door. >> ashley came out of the

like, what's going on? and we're like, we're going to leave. >> and then she's like, hey, i'm having a super bowl party in a couple weeks, you know, don't forget about that. >> reporter: but ashley's parents were rattled. they drove away then pulled off to the side of the road to talk. ashley's mom sent a text to tom. >> and i'm like, you know, hey, there's kids in the house. calm down. >> reporter: which arrived as their young granddaughter was involved in quite another discussion with 911. >> c [ screaming and crying ] >> it's open, it's open. >> reporter: the new year was less than an hour old and off to a very bad start. when we return -- >> chaos. it was shocking. >> a frantic race to save a life. what happened in that house? >> i just knew that my whole world is -- is never going to be

can a toothpaste do everything well? this clean was like - pow. it felt like i had just gone to the dentist. it just kind of like, wiped everything clean. my teeth are glowing. they look great. they are so white. crest hd 6x cleaning. 6x whitening. and at two weeks, superior sensitivity relief to the leading sensitivity toothpaste. i actually really like the two steps! crest hd step 1 cleans, step 2 whitens. it's the whole package. no one's done this. crest - healthy, beautiful smiles for life. how can this have been washed 12 weeks ago and still smell like springtime? unstopables in-wash scent boosters. the more you pour, the more scent you'll savor. toss it in before your clothes for luxurious scent up to 12 weeks. unstopables by downy.

ahh...still sick, huh? i'll take it from here. i'm good. i just took new mucinex clear and cool. ah! what's this sudden cooooling thing happening? it's got a menthol burst. you can feel it right away. wow, that sort of blind-sided me. and it clears my terrible cold symptoms. ahh! this is awkward. new mucinex fast-max clear & cool. feel the menthol burst. and clear your worst cold symptoms. start the relief. ditch the misery. let's end this. because i'm a woman... do you think i'm gonna crack under pressure or conquer the field? defy expectations any day with always infinity. made with flexfoam. absorbs 10x its weight.

is that ice-t? nope, it's lemonade. is that ice-t? lemonade. ice-t? what's with these people, man? lemonade, read the sign. lemonade. read it. ok. delicious. ice-t at a lemonade stand? surprising. what's not surprising? how much money marin saved by switching to geico. yo, ice-t! it's lemonade, man! fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. unlike ordinary diapers, pampers stay up to three times drier, so babies can sleep soundly all night.

2012 was not even an hour old. new year's celebrants had only just poured themselves into their cars to head home. and in a little house in west evans, colorado, it was already

emergency? >> my wife just shot herself in the head! please help me! please help me! >> reporter: the man on the phone was tom fallis, begging for help, and willing his wife to live. >> no! >> sir? >> you're staying here! >> sir? >> you're staying here! >> reporter: tom told the dispatcher, she shot herself, and then he put the phone down. he was holding his hand to her head, trying in vain to stop the bleeding. so, he had his 9-year-old daughter pick up p >> yes. >> okay. can you go open the door and let the officers in? >> yes. >> okay? >> mommy got shot. >> okay. we're going to help her. i need you to open the door. >> reporter: brian spencer was a weld county sheriff's deputy back then. he arrived within minutes to discover that the local police, the evans police, had beaten him there. >> i believe there was three there ahead of me. and then there was more sirens, lights. you could hear them coming. >> reporter: that's a pretty fast response.

>> this was a sheriff's employee, a jail employee. >> reporter: not that that should matter. the effort then was save ashley fallis' life. this was recorded by a police body camera, shows the paramedics arriving. chaotic? >> the scene, very. frantic. the officers located ashley fallis somewhere in the home. >> reporter: the local police took charge. they asked brian spencer to watch the front of the property. and that's when, from his post on the front porch, he saw tom. the white t-shirt. >> he was pacing around in the front yard and front sidewalk area. frantic, screaming. >> reporter: screaming what? do you remember? >> i heard him say, she's dead. a lot of mumbled stuff. he would put his hands up over his face and screaming and crying. >> reporter: by this time, ashley's parents had pulled off the road home to talk and worry about the fight that ended the party. when they heard the sirens, saw

bad and i whipped a u-turn. >> he didn't even have the car stopped and i was out, running to the house. >> reporter: were you able to go and see ashley? >> no. i could hear what was going on. i had all three kids and they were just crying and crying and screaming, and i'm crying. >> it was just crazy. it was like a nightmare. i can see blood splatter on the wall, the master bedroom wall. >> reporter: what was it like? >> chaos. as >> reporter: did you understand it was your daughter? >> yes. i do recall just being hysterically upset and crying. and thinking that, this can't be happening to my daughter. this can't be happening to us. but, yet, it was. >> reporter: inside the master bedroom, ashley was alive, but the wounds to her head were catastrophic.

officers neili i i ing kneelinge floor, trying to stabilize her condition. >> paramedics went in and they made a decision to do what's -- what we call a load and go. which means they're not going to spend any time doing life support stuff. >> get her on the cot and get her out and go. reporter: ashley's mom, jenna, huddled with her grandchildren in a neighboring bedroom, listening to it all through a closed door. is there any way to describe what it's like for a mother to numberha your brain does funny things. i just knew that my whole world is -- is never going to be the same again, ever. >> reporter: outside, brian spencer watched tom pacing back and forth. crying, talking to himself. >> i notice he's wearing a white t-shirt. and he's covered, i believe it was on his left side, in a large amount of blood. >> reporter: it was odd, brian thought, that evans police officers didn't take tom's clothes or bag his hands for gun

he needed to be controlled. >> reporter: he needed to be processed. >> and clothing removed, everything. >> reporter: but that's not what happened. not at all. and soon after ashley was rushed off to the er, tom got in the back of his squad car and was driven away. but surprisingly, it would not be to the hospital. coming up, tom tells his story. >> i heard her gun cock. and i looked up and i was like, what are you doing? >> but police don't seem to believe it. >> that wound on the back of her head isn't where she could do it herself, tom. it's not.

in the first cold, dark hours of 2012, ashley fallis' parents followed an ambulance to the hospital and caught up to her in the icu. >> we walked into her bleeding

any hope. they could see that. she was going to die. >> i just sat down and held her hand. >> reporter: but tom wasn't there to hold her hand. tom fallis was at the evans police station, answering questions. >> i don't know what's going on. i have no idea and that's why i'm asking to speak with you. >> reporter: it was 2:00 a.m. and tom was still wearing bl a sheriff's deputy thought should have already been bagged as evidence. >> how is your relationship with your wife? >> really good. >> reporter: but, said tom, ashley was devastated when she miscarried the very day of her new year's eve party. >> it was hard for ashley, it was hard for me, but i didn't think that there was getting to this point. >> reporter: still, at the

seemed all right. she got on fine, until the argument about the marijuana. tom admitted he was furious at ashley's family. said he was trying to protect her and they weren't. >> i told ashley, i was like, you don't need to get high. i was like, if whatever happened today with the miscarriage, i was like, it happened. i was like, you know what, blooep your mom, [ bleep ] everybody. >> reporter: so, love loss between tom and ashley's parents, that was clear. and tom admitted that he and ashley kept arguing as they got ready for bed. and then he turned around and went to the closet, he said. and it was all over. >> so when i was in the closet, i heard her gun cock. and i looked out. i was like -- i was like, what are you doing? and before i even had the chance to finish my sentence or close

i heard it and it was just smoke. [ sobbing ] i just ran over to her and i just grabbed her hand. >> reporter: tom told detectives that, sadly, he had been worried about just this sort of thing for more than a year because ashley had threatened suicide before. >> what was she saying that she wanted to do to herself? >> just that she just wants to end it. she's like, you and the kids will be better off without me. words but she never acted on anything. >> no. >> so how long -- >> never once, never once has she ever grabbed her gun, has she ever loaded, it has she ever made this type of gesture whatsoever. >> reporter: by this time, while the doctors tried to save ashley, tom had been answering questions for hours. >> i have to ask these questions. and i have to understand what

>> -- what your relationship is. >> but the problem is, is i've been here since freaking 2:00. now it is already 5:00 and i don't know what's going on with my wife. >> reporter: about then, the detective noticed something else about tom. >> the scratch mark that's on your chest. what is that? >> where? >> you have like a look, red scratch. what is that? >> oh, probably i've been doing this all freaking night. and then -- >> okay. this one was going straight across here. >> oh. i don't know. it's just . >> okay. i just had to ask. >> reporter: the detective left the room and spoke with ashley's parents who'd arrived with the purpose of telling officers just one thing. their daughter did not shoot herself. >> we had just seen her seven minutes before this. she was completely fine. you know, she wouldn't do anything like this. >> reporter: she was in good spirits when they left, they said. she was already planning her next party. but tom? he'd always had an awful temper, they said. >> i always was afraid he was going to hurt her, always,

>> reporter: why? what about him? >> his temper. you -- you can't go from zero to 100 and think clearly. >> i think that he was just in a fit of rage. and he shot her. >> reporter: armed with that new information, the detective went back to talk to tom and zeroed in on those scratches. officers had given him something clean to wear so they could collect his bloody clothing. >> you have scratches on your body. this is a shaved chest. do you know how bad this hurts and itches. so when i'm sit,there i do this all -- this is actually her blood. it comes off. see? oh, my gosh, it's coming off. it's her freaking blood. >> that's actually a scratch, okay? that's a scratch. >> reporter: still, the detective pressed him. he had motive and opportunity, she said. >> when you went upstairs, you

with her. >> reporter: she was also reluctant to believe the shooting happened on quickly, no threats, warning or hesitation. >> she went from saying i'm going to do what i want to just pulling -- >> yeah. yeah! she did. i'm not lying to you. >> reporter: and when the detective gave a description about the gunshot wound, the description that turned out to be inaccurate, that really set tom off. >> that wound on the back of her head isn't where she could do it herself, tom. it is not. >> o[ >> it is not. >> bull [ bleep ]! bull [ bleep ]! bull [ bleep ]! >> reporter: and then, quite suddenly, in the middle of it all, completely out of nowhere, the detective made an abrupt declaration. >> and i have to let you know that your wife did not make it. your wife did not make it. >> she was breathing when i was holding her!

she -- they told me she was breathing when she left the house! >> reporter: ashley died while tom was in police custody. >> i didn't shoot my wife. i didn't shoot the mother of my kids. i didn't shoot the person who i wanted to have another one with. >> reporter: what would police believe, tom's story that the shooting was a suicide or ashley's parents' story, that he'd shot their daughter in a fit of rage? coming up -- investigation's final report. >> it was incomplete. it was inconsistent. no follow-up. it was unbelievable. >> then, a new investigation turns up a new witness. >> i just started crying because it's the catalyst for opening everything up. i finally have someone who's taking it seriously. this is lulu, our newest dog. mom didn't want another dog. she said it's too much work. lulu's hair just floats. uhh help me! (doorbell) mom, check this out.

look at that. sticks to this better than it sticks to lulu. that's your hair lulu! mom, can we have another dog? (laughing) trap and lock up to 4x more dirt, dust and hair than the store brand stop cleaning. start swiffering. you wanna see something intense? pantene expert gives you the most beautiful hair ever, with our strongest pro-v formula ever. strong is beautiful. i use metamucil because no one can beat it for regularity. and it's the #1 brand. it's also my... secret weapon. because metamucil gives you more health benefits

red 97! set! red 97! did you say 97? yes. you know, that reminds me of geico's 97% customer satisfaction rating. 97%? helped by geico's fast and friendly claims service. huh... oh yeah, baby. geico's as fast and friendly as it gets.

?when you've got...? ?...nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea!? ?nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea!? here's pepto bismol! ah.

ashley fallis, 28 years old, wife and mother of three, was dead. the gunshot wound in her head, unsurvivable. it was suicide, said her husband, tom. >> i didn't shoot my wife. i didn't. i didn't do this. >> reporter: it was murder, said her parents. >> i had three grandkids that i dearly, dearly love that i knew in my heart that tom had just killed their mother. >> reporter: the news of ashley's death spread quickly the morning after the party. >> i didn't understand what was happening and why because everything was fine that night. >> reporter: as much confusing as anything. >> very confusing. she was happy. she didn't seem suicidal. >> reporter: andrea, new friend, coworker, drinking buddy at the party, couldn't shake a feeling. >> i don't feel like she would have taken her life. tom was the only other person

>> right. >> reporter: but, for all their middle of the night questions, the police did not arrest tom, nor charge him with anything. what were they telling you along the way? >> oh, that they were investigating it. >> reporter: at ashley's funeral, tom was one of the speakers. >> ashley didn't have much patience. >> reporter: and what he said wasn't the sort of thing people expected to hear. >> she goes, i don't care when you do it, where you do it, i want it now. >> reporter: it was an unusual and, frankly, not very emotional eulogy for reasons only tom might understand. but her parents were furious. >> when he had that opportunity to speak and share about the woman he so-called loved and called his eternal wife, all he did was de grade her. >> reporter: what was it like to hear that?

into weeks and tom remained free, ashley's parents became convinced that something about the investigation was not right. >> joel and i sat down and said, look, if for some crazy reason she walked in the house and shot herself and they can show that, we will accept it and support tom. we didn't feel like that was, you know, the case. >> reporter: they weren't alone. remember, on the night it happened, former deputy brian spencer saw tom roaming around potential evidence all over him. >> police 101, a very basic thing. any scene that you respond to, you want to treat it as the highest level of what it could possibly be. >> reporter: sure. so he would be a suspect. >> he needed to be preserved. he needed to be controlled. >> reporter: but none of that was done at the scene. pretty soon, ashley's parents began to suspect there was a

of silence looking out for a fellow law enforcement officer. it's a hell of an accusation to make, though. >> it is. it is strong, but that is how we feel. >> reporter: mind you, the evans police department strongly disagreed. both the coroner and the crime scene investigator issued reports concluding ashley's death was, indeed, suicide. and remember, tom told the police she had expressed suicidal thoughts before. and she had two close relatives who had taken their own prescription psychotropic drugs in ashley's purse and nightstand, which tom told them she quit cold turkey without medical supervision when she learned she was pregnant. two months after ashley's death, her parents got the news they feared. police ruled her death a suicide. case closed. >> it made me angry. it made me angry. because i knew -- i knew that he

i knew that ashley wouldn't take her own life. >> once the case closed and we got the police report, we realized they didn't do anything. >> reporter: so, tell me more about the police report and what you didn't like about it. >> it was incomplete. it was inconsistent. could've been written by a high school student. no follow-up. it was unbelievable. >> reporter: the evans police department declined to speak with "dateline" on against them. the investigation we conducted was thorough and complete. a conclusion of suicide was determined after an exhaustive review and analysis of all evidence -- physical, forensic, and testimonial -- by all of the five agencies involved. as for ashley's parents, well, there was nothing more either of them could do, apparently. and two years went by, during which tom moved to indiana with the kids and enrolled at a local university.

>> reporter: it was important to ashley's parents to remain close to those three kids, so they fought for grandparents' rights and tried, they said, to be civil with tom. but they also told anybody who would listen that they believed their daughter had been murdered, like a local reporter. >> he said, do you mind if i start looking into this? and i said -- joel and i said, no, go ahead, it. and it didn't take him much. >> reporter: the reporter asked around, talked to neighbors, and asked the evans police department to comment on what he heard. and before you knew it, the chief announced ashley's case would be re-opened. >> i extend my sincere sympathy to the family of ashley fallis for their loss and for the revisted grief that can accompany the reopening of a difficult case such as this one. >> i just started crying because it's the catalyst for opening everything up. i finally have someone who's taking it seriously.

discoveries that prompted the new investigation. in particular, a neighbor, who was only 15 at the time, said he heard tom admit to shooting ashley. >> it's pretty hard to forget hearing somebody confessing their murder and then getting away with it. >> reporter: to prevent any suggestion of taint or coverup, the case was turned over to the nearby ft. collins police department. for the next seven month experts to re-examine forensic evidence. and when their work was done, weld county da michael rourke decided to assemble a grand jury. >> what i want to do is i want to put all of that information, as much as we can gather, and almost use it as a test run. >> reporter: and they said? >> and they indicted him. >> i got the phone call that they indicted him. i just started crying. >> reporter: tom fallis was

with second-degree murder, and brought back to colorado to stand trial. ashley's parents were finally optimistic. >> i believe that they will find him guilty of murdering our daughter. i believe that's going to happen. >> reporter: have you decided to believe it or do you really believe it? >> i really believe it. coming up -- a powerful one-two punch from the prosecution. >> i heard him saying, oh, my god, >> she said, i could hear her screaming, get off me, get off me. >> case closed? far from it, when "dateline" continues. s. thanks to pampers easy ups... while they see their first underwear... you see the best way to potty train. introducing new pampers easy ups. our first and only training underwear... with an all-around stretchy waistband. and pampers' 12-hour protection. so you'll see drier nights. and they'll see their first underwear.

marco...! polo! marco...! polo! marco...! polo! marco...! polo! marco...! s?? polo! marco...! polo! scusa? ma io sono marco polo, ma... marco...! playing "marco polo" with marco polo? surprising. ragazzini, io sono marco polo. s?, sono qui... what's not surprising? how much money amanda and keith saved by switching to geico. ahhh... polo. marco...! polo!

four years after ashley fallis' death, her husband, tom, was on trial for her murder. dan grossman of nbc's denver affiliate kusa was courtroom for opening statements. >> the room was packed. you have ashley's parents who are there, a lot of family members, aunts, uncles, and even just people from the public were interested in this case. >> reporter: the prosecution's allegation was perfectly clear. tom fallis argued with his wife and in a fit of rage, shot and killed her. >> at the conclusion of this case after you've received all of the evidence, you will be convinced, beyond a reasonable doubt, that it is him who pulled the trigger. >> reporter: prosecution witnesses said ashley was in

>> she was happy the whole night laughing, smiling. >> she was dancing with her children, interacting with all the guests. >> reporter: tom, though? ashley's uncle john testified about tom's sudden blowup when he discovered ashley asked him for a joint. >> and i was sort of taken aback by it, because everything was fine that night and then all of a sudden, >> reporter: a neighbor said ashley told her how tom got physical with her. >> she told me how he had pushed her around before. he had never hit her, but he was physical in pushing her. >> reporter: d.a. rourke wanted the jury to hear that tom had a hot temper. that he was volatile. >> anger would have been the most obvious motive. >> reporter: simply lost his temper? >> anger. >> reporter: gun nearby, bang. >> right. >> reporter: to prove it, the

say, nick glover, the neighbor whose story was reported on television and helped reopen the case. >> i heard him saying, oh, my god, what have i done? oh, my god, what have i done? >> reporter: nick was 15 at the time. he said he remembered crouching down inside his house, under an open window, listening to tom speak to people in his driveway. >> you can hear one of them, i do not know who it was, say, what? what do you mean? and he proceeded to say, i shot >> reporter: nick said he knew it was tom. he could see him out the window.. >> how certain are you that the voice you're hearing is tom fallis' voice? >> i'm 100%. >> reporter: there was more. nick's mom, kathy glover, testified that on the night of the shooting, she got a strange phone call from a teenage neighbor around 1:00 a.m. >> she said, please tell me you called the police. i said, no, i didn't. why? she said, because your neighbor just shot his wife. and i said, what?

screaming, get off me, get off me. >> reporter: powerful evidence. and then that neighbor testified. but, uh-oh >> do you recall telling kathy glover in a phone conversation that same early morning, i heard her screaming, get off me, get off me? >> i do not. >> reporter: she was 16, and drinking that night, she said. so that might explain her faulty memory. >> do you recall telling officer croissant that you heard a female yelling, gef get off of me? >> i do not. >> reporter: did you expect that from her? >> yeah. >> reporter: you did? >> it didn't surprise me. >> reporter: it hurt you, though. >> it hurt, but i thought that when, you know, when you have a police officer who interviews her within an hour, hour and a half of the shooting and she is clear as day as saying, these are the things i heard from my back window, whether she had been drinking that night or not,

version of events. >> reporter: so, a hiccup, perhaps, but then there was the crime scene. remember, the coroner and the csi officer said at the time that the scene screamed suicide. but, this prosecution witness -- >> my name is jonathyn w. priest. >> reporter: priest is a former homicide detective and forensic consultant who used a miniature model of the fallis bedroom to show ashley's position. >> so, she has to be here and then bent down so she'll fit into this trajectory area. >> reporter: he was convinced that if ashley s there would be more blood on the floor and surrounding surfaces. not just this one carpet stain. >> we have indications of bleeding, but the type of injury that we're talking about is going to bleed a lot. and that's not the kind of stain i would expect to see if that's what was occurring. something is keeping that blood from reaching that area. >> reporter: and he believed that something was tom fallis. remember, his clothing was

ashley must have been in close contact when the gun went off. using the prosecutor, he suggested there was a struggle when the shot was fired. >> i can keep blood staining from onto the wall or onto the cabinet, and i can lower her, continuing to bleed, onto my shirt to where i get her in this position. >> reporter: the prosecution rested its case. what possible defense could there be? well, >> i have so much pain on the inside i can no longer take it. >> reporter: a letter. and what a letter it was. coming up, a troubled marriage or a troubled young woman? >> what kind of mental health issues did you observe ashley fallis to be going through? >> mood swings, impulsive behaviors.

it can't be an easy thing

he or she didn't see. >> please rise for the jury. >> reporter: and deciding what must have happened. did tom fallis kill his wife, ashley, in a fit of violent temper or what? >> tom fallis did not kill his wife and mother of their three children. ashley fallis committed suicide. >> reporter: remember how the that ashley was a kind of lie, said the defense. >> ashley fallis was a beautiful woman, but she had a terrible pain inside. she was mentally ill. >> reporter: the defense put one of ashley's close friends on the stand. >> what did you know of ashley having a mental illness? >> i knew that she was on medications. we spoke pretty in depth about

medications, the friend testifed, ashley had trouble controlling her emotions. >> what kind of mental health issues did you observe ashley fallis to be going through? >> depression, mood swings, impulsive behaviors. >> reporter: in fact, the defense argued, ashley was so depressed the summer before she died, she wrote this letter to tom. >> i have so much pain on the inside, i can no longer take it. i'm sorry to do this to you and the kids, but i find myself not even liking my children. >> reporter: every day is a chore with them and you. i have to pretend to be happy. i have to pretend to be someone i am not. please make sure you raise the kids to continue to go the school we have chosen. i do love them. i just can't take this life any longer. please make sure you let them know every day that i do love

suicide expert dr. michael allen studied the letter as well as ashley's medical records and testifed about his review. >> do you have an opinion in this case about whether or not ashley fallis was a high risk to commit suicide on january 1, 2012? >> yes. my opinion is that she had many, many risk factors and warning signs. >> reporter: remember, detectives had learned years before that ashley had a family history of suicide. grandmother took their own lives. that, said dr. ail alan, put ashley at a higher risk for doing the same thing. >> two close family members who had died by suicide would suggest a genetic propensity for suicide. >> reporter: the defense argued that on new year's eve 2011, it was the miscarriage that broke

her pain with alcohol, that she planned to dull it further with marijuana after the party, and that's why tom was upset. >> she was vulnerable. he was concerned about her. he didn't want her to add marijuana to this toxic system that was developing inside of ashley fallis. >> reporter: the defense conceded ashley and tom quarrelled that night, but insisted it never got physical. the ones the prosecutors believed were proof of a struggle? dna tests never found any evidence to support that. >> you did not find any of ashley fallis' dna, cellular material on the swabs from tom's chest, correct? >> that is correct. >> reporter: the defense reminded jurors that tom told police why he had the scratches, that he'd done a little manscaping to spice up his

>> there's tom fallis when he has hair on his chest, all the way to the left, and on december 17, 2011, he texted ashley, there you have it. you get your way, so here it is. thought you might like it. >> reporter: so, the scratches, said the defense, were because it was itchy, and that's all. as for the so-called witnesses, said the defense, totally unreliable. the one changed her story on the stand, and the other? well, just months after the shooting, young nick glover went camping, of all things, with tom, the very man he said he heard confess to shooting ashley fallis. >> at no time during the camping trip with tom fallis did you ever tell anybody that you were uncomfortable being there with tom fallis? >> i do not recall. >> reporter: who to believe?

analysts. this one, you've already heard, believed it was murder. but this one? >> most people that shoot somebody in an act of rage, they don't stop with one shot. >> reporter: dan gilliam was the crime scene expert from the first investigation of ashley's death. using a defense attorney about the same height as ashley, he demonstrated how difficult it would have been for someone as tall as tom to have shot ashley at an angle that matched the bullet's trajectory. >> first of all, is that an unnatural position? for another person to be holding the gun in that manner? >> it is for me. >> okay. and mr. fallis is 6 feet tall. how tall are you? >> i'm 6 feet tall. >> reporter: and the gun was ashley's. the shooting happened in arm's reach of where it was usually stored, said the defense. after examining all the ballistic and blood spatter evidence, gilliam just didn't believe the shooting was murder. >> i believe that the story that mr. fallis gave is consistent

>> reporter: in other words, he thought it was suicide. so, what happened in that moment after midnight? how would a juror decide? >> upon reaching a verdict, you will inform the bailiff, who will in turn notify me. >> reporter: kusa's dan grossman settled in for a bit of a wait. >> this is almost a three-week trial. there's a lot of evidence. you thought that you were looking at coming back the next day to hear the verdict. >> reporter: but, no. less than four hours later, a >> we the jury find the defendant, thomas fallis, not guilty of murder in the second degree and all lesser included offenses, signed by the jury foreperson. >> reporter: not guilty. not murder. after four long years of living under a cloud of suspicion, tom fallis was acquitted of all charges. >> he stayed straight-faced.

eytan, was very emotion. but ashley's parents, they -- they left the courtroom fairly quickly. >> reporter: ashley's parents declined to talk with "dateline" after the verdict, but their legal battles are far from over. in 2015 they filed a civil lawsuit against several employees of the evans police department and the weld county sheriff's office, who they believe falsified, altered and omitted key evidence to make ashley's death look like a suicide. and despite the verdict, they currently have no plans to drop it. the law enforcement officers are contesting the lawsuit and litigation is ongoing. what about ashley's family, can they just accept this and go on? >> i don't think they'll ever accept it. to say that they were distraught would be an understatement. they, i think, truly believe that tom fallis killed their daughter and they are never going to let that go. >> reporter: an idea, once so deeply ingrained, true or not, will not go away.

>> that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. this sunday, trump's terrible week. a rough debate. 3:00 a.m. tweets. and an obsessionth miss universe. >> she was the winner, and you know, she gained a massive amount of weight. and it was a real problem. >> now, a report that trump could have avoided paying taxes for years. i'll talk to trump supporter rudy giuliani and clinton campaign manager robby mook. plus, a lead opinion lined up against donald trump, but to what effect? i'll take to anti-establishment voices from the left and right. michael moore and glenn beck.

pence-kain face-off matter? and live from new york, it is "snl." >> he hasn't released his tax returns, which means he's either not that rich. >> wrong. >> the not that charitable. >> wrong. >> or never paid taxes in his life. >> warmer. >> joining me is the editor of the cook political report. mark halperin, managing editor of bloomberg politics. maria, ceo of and the editor of the "national review." welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> surprise, it's october. donald trump's bad week may have gotten a lot worse. today's "new york times" has a front page expose that trump declared a loss of $916 million on his 1995 tax return. which means it could have

federal income taxes on nearly $1 billion worth of income over an 18-year period. all legal, by the way. the losses came from mismanagement of three casinos, his airplane and the plaza hotel in new york. the "times" received the documents in the mail anonymously, with a return address of trump tower. his former accountant, no now is retired, verified them. the clinton c bomb shell report reveals the colossal nature of trump's failures. trump's campaign said he's paid hundreds of millions in state, local and federal taxes. trump tweeted this this morning. i know our complex tax laws better than anyone who has ever run for president and am the only one who can fix them. as you can see, no specific denial of anything in the "times" report. this comes at the end of a week where trump followed an unsteady