confidence to the worried of every age that, yes, i'm just the one to take you through this. i'm chris matthews, thanks for watching. >> when i saw her, i lost concept of time. i reached in and pulled her out and started screaming, help. it was the worst seconds in my life. >> how was it possible. >> i would give anything if she were alive today. >> such a sweet young wife and mom, such a shattering death.

>> i cried all night long. >> he was downstairs with the kids, she was upstairs in the bath, then it happened. >> how long has she been in here? >> i don't know. >> we didn't know if it was a tragic accident or something else. >> questions quickly swirled about a wife's secret. >> what did you -- what did you do today. >> she did have an addiction to prediction pills. >> she's out on the floor. >> wasn't an accident or maybe murder. >> she said i was scared for him. >> the whispering started almost immediately, you're a murder. >> when you're innocent you don't think it can happen. >> just wait until the spell-binding moment in court. >> it is nothing i would have never imagined in my life. >> welcome to "dateline extra"

it started as a love story, a beautiful woman from a well-to-do family thought she had found her prince charming, but her story turned out to be anything but a fairy tale, love children and nice house turned into a fight against addiction, rumors and an accusation of murder. here is josh with the quiet one. >> sometimes the fresh air of a small town can hide a lot of dirty laundry. >> my worst fear was all of a sudden true. >> sometimes sudden death can lay bare every secret. >> she felt like she was abusing it. >> what happened in this small town would tear apart a marriage and at the same time separate two families that were once united by love.

boone iowa on flat land is a company town headquarters for one of the largest grocery chains in the midwest, fare way, it's a family owned company and he's a third generation ceo. he and his wife raised a family of five here. their youngest daughter emily was sweet but quiet one. >> well, the older sister said that she never got spanked. >> she just remained silent and look at me with those big brown eyes and it was over. >> even though emily was from a prominent wealthy family, her friend, lisa says, emily never flaunted it. >> everyone knew that emily was a -- but i never felt less of a person. >> emily was the girl everyone wanted to be friends with and every boy wanted to date. according to friend shannon and sarah. >> could have had anybody.

>> all these boys were all over her. >> yeah, gaga over her. you've seen pictures of her. even in high school she was gorgeous. it wasn't her thing to date. >> by the time she was 21 she moved south to kansas, missouri working in a hair salon. one night in 2001 she went to a bar and a local boy now alex spotted her from across the room. >> it's one of those a ha moments you might say, i was like i have to go talk to that girl. >> after a few dates alex said he knew she was the one? >> what didn't i? she was beautiful. she was very nice. she dressed impeccably, what didn't i. alex's mother joe ann knew something was happening if her son asked if he could bring emily to sunday dinner. >> he said i have met someone

and i would love to be able to bring her over so you all could get to know her better. >> and you thought, well, here we go. >> yes, i did. >> back in boone emily's family heard about the boy from kansas city. >> she called me up and said i met this fella, he's italian and she said, you're going to love his family, they're louder than us. she fell in love with the whole family immediately. >> emily's sister amy could see they're in love. >> her eyes sparkled, alex's eyes sparkled when they were together. just huge smiles on both of her faces. >> the girl who never dated was swept off her feet. emily and alex married may 10th, 2003. >> how many people? >> i would guess at least 400. >> that's big. >> for an italian wedding that's maybe mid size. >> the couple had a son, nick. and a year later alex took up emily's parents on an invitation

to move to boone. >> it was an open offer, if he wanted to come and work for fareway. >> her father offered alex as a family member to weigh up the ranks and at my husband's encouragement, he went. >> he took an entry level job at a fareway store and they gave the couple this house, just a five-minute drive from their own. soon there were two more additions to the family, ricky and cocoa. >> all emily wanted to be was to have a family and be a wife and a mother. >> it all seemed perfect, until the night of january 29th, 2012. it was close to the kids' bedtime. emily had gone up early to take her nightly bath and alex was doing things his wife normally did. >> i was helping with laundry, i helped the kids with her bath. >> he heard emily start her bath

as he and the kids watched. >> and there was a lot of sword fighting and music and it was really loud. when it got quiet, i could hear the water still running. >> alex said the water was running for about 20 to 30 minutes so he went upstairs to see what was taking so long and came upon a horrible scene, emily submerged in the tub unconscious. >> i tried to as hard as i could to get her out of the tub as fast as i could. she slipped out of my arms and started screaming help. i ran to the phone to call 911. and all i could say was help. what's your emergency? >> help. help. >> what's going on? >> it was the worst seconds of

my life. >> there was much more to come, two lives and so many secrets would soon be put under a microscope. >> coming up, what had happened upstairs in that bathroom. >> what did you think it was? >> we didn't know if it was a tragic accident or something else. >> it's the addiction, you know. it's the addiction. >> addiction. the mystery was just beginning. when "dateline extra" continues. dentures look clean, in reality they're not. if a denture were to be put under a microscope, we can see all the bacteria that still exists on the denture, and that bacteria multiplies very rapidly. that's why dentists recommend cleaning with polident everyday. polident's unique micro clean formula works in just 3 minutes, killing 99.99% of odor causing bacteria.

for a cleaner, fresher, brighter denture every day. like their photo claims tool. it helps settle your claim quickly, which saves time, which saves money. and when they save, you save. that's auto and home insurance for the modern world. esurance, an allstate company. click or call. esurance does insurance a smarter way, which saves money. like bundling home and auto coverage, which reduces red tape, which saves money.

and when they save, you save. that's home and auto insurance for the modern world. esurance, an allstate company. click or call.

welcome back to dateline extra. emily's husband said he thought his wife was just upstairs taking a bath. what followed permanently changed the course of two

families and a closely held secret about emily's life was about to become very public. we return to josh with "the quiet one." >> this should have been routine night at home in small town usa boone, iowa. instead, alex was telling a 911 operator how he just pulled his wife, emily, out of the bathtub. >> it got worse, the kids wandered in and saw their mother on the bathroom floor. >> kids, please. please. >> on the tape you don't like there's no hope. >> for me, personally. >> you don't know cpr? >> no. >> with the operator's help, he tried. >> tilt her head back. did you do that?

>> yeah. >> sergeant of the boone police department got the call and arrived at the house with two other officers. his body camera was rolling as alex led them to the bathroom. >> as we entered the master bathroom, emily was laying on the floor face up and she had a blewish tint her. >> how long has she been in here. >> could you tell whether she was still alive? >> i didn't feel any, so i instantly started cpr? >> i don't know. she's freezing cold. >> blood. >> no blood. no blood anywhere. she did have a big bruise on her forehead. >> the bathtub was full of water. and there were oil droplets on top of water like bath oil. there's music playing from an ipad on the sink area. >> emts loaded emily into an

ambulance and raced to the hospital. when her mother cindy got the call she went straight there. >> and they told me she was an emergency room and and he said she's gone. >> emily was dead at the age of 32 and no one knew why. >> when you went home that night, what did you think this was? >> i didn't really know. it was suspicious death for sure. we didn't know if it was a suicide or a tragic accident or something else. >> around midnight police asked alex to give a statement at headquarters. >> i pulled her and she just flopped, you know, she just flopped on the floor. >> you went in and those initial interviews you're not represented by an attorney. >> no. >> did you talk to the police and you headed over your phone. >> yes. >> almost as if you had nothing to hide. >> i didn't. >> he also told police something very few people knew, his wife

had a dependence on prescription drugs. alex said he was sure emily's addiction had killed her. >> it's not my wife that did it, it's the addiction. >> what did you think had happened. >> i didn't know if, you know, she took a handful of pills. i was having a hard time trying to reconcile is she killed herself or she just overdosed. >> you thought overdose either deliberate or unintentional. >> i thought it was a reasonable assumption. >> reasonable because he said he had been dealing with his wife's addiction for more than a year when he discovered she had stolen pain pills from his father. then a few months later, alex's own doctor asked a strange question during a check up. >> and he said how is your shoulder. i said it's fine, why do you ask. >> i wanted to make sure the vicodin i prescribed you are working.

>> i said excuse me, i started crying. >> you hadn't asked for any vicodin. >> correct. >> vicodin is an oipioid, she had asked for the prescription saying it was for alex. she said she ended up taking the pills herself. alex said he confronted emily. >> i said you're going to have to choose between your family and this medicine. i said, i'm not going to stay married to you if you continue down this road. >> and she said. >> she said okay. >> she said it and she may have meant it. but alex says in the months before she died emily would seem okay one day but not the next. >> i could see in her eyes, they -- like a glaze. she -- and then she would be fine for a period. >> finally, in december 2011 two months before her death emily reached out to her mom for help. >> did she say she become

addicted with this painkiller. >> i don't know if she used the word "addiction," but she had felt like she was abusing it and alex was upset about it. >> emily's doctors recommended inpatient rehab. instead she decided to detox at her mother's house and to hide it from alex and the kids by saying she had mono. >> the reason they said it was scared it would do to their image. >> is the reason you put out this cover story about emily having mono, is that because sending her to rehab would have been some kind of embarrassment to your family and you didn't want your name tarnished? >> absolutely not. we've always done the best thing for our children, and it was emily's desire to keep it from alex. >> emily went cold turkey, sidney says the first couple of

days her daughter hardly left her bed suffering from severe headaches. but after only four days emily went home. >> did you think she was clean, off drugs, that that problem was behind her. >> i knew that she was still tired. >> but no longer addicted? >> no. >> you were convinced that it was over. >> alex didn't find out about the detox until much later. he said in the weeks before she died, emily still had a stash of pain pills. >> how many times did you say to your wife, if you don't get off the drugs, i'm going to have to leave you. >> at least three. >> she would fall back into her own habits. >> she would never agree to rehab. >> she told me all her doctors are on the same page, everything is fine. >> so alex was telling everyone that his wife was a victim of her own demons, but soon new evidence would emerge that would send this case in a more

sinister direction. >> coming up, results came back clean. >> so it wasn't an overdose. >> what could it have been, what could have killed emily. >> she was scared. there was something wrong. >> when "dateline extra" continues. e no.1 choice of dent. compared to oral-b 7000, philips sonicare flexcare platinum removes significantly more plaque. this is the sound of sonic technology cleaning deep between teeth. hear the difference? get healthier gums in just 2 weeks vs a manual toothbrush and experience an amazing feel of clean. innovation and you. philips sonicare. save now when you buy philips sonicare. try duo fusion!ing antacids? philips sonicare. new, two in one heartburn relief. the antacid goes to work in seconds... and the acid reducer lasts up to 12 hours in one chewable tablet. try new duo fusion. from the makers of zantac. ♪

[engine revs] ♪ [cheering] ♪ the highly advanced audi a4. ♪

get between you and life's dobeautiful moments.llergens flonase gives you more complete allergy relief. most allergy pills only control one inflammatory substance. flonase controls 6. and six is greater than one. flase changes everything. ♪

welcome back to "dateline extra" she was dead and investigators wanted to know how and why. the secret of emily's addiction had been exposed, was this a suicide, accident or maybe even murder. evidence that pointed the investigation in a new direction was about to be discovered, more accusations and more suspicions, here, again, is josh with the quiet one. >> alex had lost his wife emily, despite his grief, he still had to be strong for his children. >> would wha did yhat did you t? >> i remember hugging them and i remember just telling them, mommy went to heaven and that

she can't come back. >> as two families mourned and said good-bye, alex had to come to grips with the fact that he was now a single dad with three kids under the age of seven. >> it's sickening to know that if emily would have got the help she needed, she could still be here for my kids, and probably for me. >> while emily's family tried to cope with their loss, state investigator was operating on the assumption that her death was linked to her addiction. >> she did have a drug problem. she had an addiction to oipioid medication, prescription pills. >> overdose would mean no crime just regrettable accidental death or even suicide but then six weeks later something that changed the entire focus of the investigation, emily's toxicology report came back. >> her results came back clean.

>> so it was an overdose. >> it wasn't an overdose. >> no trace of the oipioid pain pills emily had been abusing. there was nothing in her system that would have killed her. there was no alcohol in her blood, so now investigators had to take a new look at the case, starting with the photos of the bruises on emily's body. remember police saw a bump on her head, but during her initial exam, the medical examiner found more. >> she had areas of trauma to all four sides of her head, the front of her head, both left right side of the head. >> possible those injuries could have occurred while alex while he was dragging his wife out of the tub. >> i don't think so. >> and there were bruises on emily's neck. >> she had strap muscle bruisings, the muscles to her neck area, that were of concern, that maybe she was possibly held under water by her neck. >> remember alex said he tried

cpr. >> they couldn't be caused by somebody doing cpr or somebody who didn't know what they're doing. >> our feeling is no. >> how could emily have gotten those bruises? >> i know she hit her head when i was getting her out of the bathtub. when i picked her up, i mean, i heard it. i heard it when i was pulling her out, her head hit. >> the side of the tub, the floor? >> i don't know. it was so hard to get her out. >> would you have bruised her neck doing that? >> i don't know. >> the agent wanted to know what might be going on behind closed doors in the marriage. he listened to another 911 call. >> and he's taking everything of mine and trying to take pills, too. >> one week before her death emily called 911 to complain

about alex. >> he's like, trying to take property that is not his. >> emily came home e neeb ratin the night before. i grabbed it. >> she got angry. >> she got angry. she called 911. >> no one was arrested or charged in the incident but it seemed to be the breaking point. the next day emily filed for divorce then alex did the same. both asked for full custody of the children and both were still living in the same house. few nights later, emily called her father, rick. >> the words were saying one thing and the voice was telling me something different. >> what was the voice telling you? >> she was scared. there was something wrong. >> they hundred out around 6:00 p.m., two hours later, emily will be dead. >> i will never forget that phone call.

because that was the last time i heard her voice. >> for the investigator, a new picture was emerging, a marriage in shamblierriage in shamblis in shamblihams. maybe this wasn't an accident or suicide but maybe it was murder. >> it seems hard to believe that alex would kill his wife. his kids are just a couple of rooms away. >> that's if you're thinking that this was well thought out. oftentimes couples get into argument. >> you had seen your wife in danger, her life. you weren't angry at your wife's inability to kick her habit? >> no, i was disappointed in her. i was disappointed that this happened. but angry, no, i was never angry with emily. >> but emily's family and friends say they were angry at alex. once so close, were now splitting along family lines. >> family division, secrets,

finger pointing, none of it was getting investigators any closer to finding out what happened to emily. coming up. >> just kept saying over and over, he murdered her. >> that's not all they were saying. >> did you say that alex and his family are in the mafia and the women end up dead? when "dateline extra" continues. you're not taking that. come with me. you're not taking that. you're not taking that. you're not taking that. mom, i'm taking the subaru. don't be late. en when we're not there to keep them safe, our subaru outback will be. (vo) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

a car, and i feel good, confident, because i'm at a truecar certified dealership. i already connected with a dealer and got upfront pricing information before i even got here. -hey, how ya been? -terrific, thank you! he knew exactly what i'd save. so now, while i'm having a great experience, i'm also feeling confident because truecar just received this coveted j.d. power award for their website. it's a strong name: j.d. power. this is how car-buying was always meant to be. this is truecar. is it a professor who never stops being a student?

is it a caregiver determined to take care of her own? or is it a lifetime of work blazes the path to your passions? your personal success takes a financial partner who values it as much as you do. learn more at tiaa.org fmale teacher: and then name thelargest planet?t?

male teacher: someone we haven't heard from. female teacher:anyone else? through internet essentials, comcast is on track to connect 3 million people in need to low cost, high speed internet at home, helping to make sure that every hand in the classroom goes up. male teacher: okay, veronica. amphibian. male teacher: excellent. welcome to a brighter future. welcome to it all. comcast.

welcome back to dateline extra, i'm tamarind hall. he said he found his wife submerged in the bathtub and she must have overdosed. but the medical examiner's findings showed otherwise. how did emily die. there was much speculation within the family and police had to confront alex with an odd question. here again is josh with more of the "quiet one". >> rumors were flying around the town right after her death family and friends thought alex had killed his wife. >> they just kept saying over and over he murdered her. he murdered her. >> the whispering started almost immediately. >> yeah. within a day. >> you're a murder. >> that's what they were saying. >> not just a murder, emily's sister amy told investigators

alex was also a mobster. >> did you say that alex and his family are in the mafia in organized crime and women who tried to divorce their way out of the family wind up dead. >> that was information that emily had told me. >> amy doesn't realize that my mom's six siblings and my dad's one siblings could have been 11 divorces. >> they're not all still alive, but none of them were killed. >> but they weren't murdered. >> right. >> so they're not hooked up organized crime family. >> no, and i resent her saying that. >> alex insisted the allegations were ludicrous and that's also what investigators determined. >> did you pick up in your investigation any indication that the families involved in organized crime? >> no. >> you didn't find any evidence that that was true. >> no or that played any role in emily's death at all? >> no.

>> to get away from all the finger pointing, alex took his kids to kansas city and moved back in with his parents. >> we all suffer, our family, as a whole suffered with the accusation that my son was a murder. >> four months later the investigation the examiner released a final autopsy report she ruled the cause and manner of death, undetermined, meaning she couldn't say how emily died. prosecutors had been assigned to the case. >> the fact that you can't say for sure and the medical examiner couldn't say for sure, that makes this a bigger mountain to climb, doesn't it. >> this is a difficult case based upon the evidence. it doesn't mean that it didn't need to be prosecuted just because we have an undetermined call doesn't mean we don't push forward. >> so they asked a different medical examiner to look at the case, a south dakota pathologist.

>> and dr. randall gave an opinion of the injuries that's highly suggested as struggle. >> homicide and there was only one suspect, in april of 2015, 15 months, alex was arrested angd charged with his wife's murder. >> they said that you're under arrest and and i was in complete shock when you're innocent you don't think you can happen. you think, they're going to come to their census and they're going to see it. but, no. >> he spent three weeks in jail before being released on bond. >> her brother was charged with murder because of small town politics. >> what was it that you think kept the state moving forward with the idea of prosecuting. >> i think the power that they have in that community and i

believe that they were putting political pressure on the state to prosecute this. >> the suggestion that there was some sort of political pressure that was put on my office to push this case forward or charge it was nonsense, it didn't happen. >> as alex waited for trial, things got worse, his five-year-old daughter cocoa was diagnosed with cancer and underwent a bone marrow transpla transplant. >> his daughter's illness took a huge toll on our family, but i will say this about my son. i saw him as very strong, you know, he was handling things that i don't think most people could. >> it had taken four years after his wife's death but finally he went on trial for his murder. because of pretrial pub liss its the case was moved out of boone

200 miles away where they were separated by much more than the courtroom aisle. the prosecutor told the jury after deteriorating relationship and with divorce papers filed he lost it that night and killed his wife. he had everything to gain by emily's death and he had everything to lose by emily being alive. >> he would lose his kids, job would lose his house and lose money in a fight for divorce. >> the state started its case using alex's own words. >> prosecutors said, this wasn't grief, it was remorse. >> in that initial 911 call, alex sounds pretty genuinely traumatized to me. he doesn't sound someone like somebody is faking. >> part of the argument to the

jury it has to be horrific thing to commit a murder. >> what we're hearing of his who who of having to commit a murder of someone close to him. >> that would be a way to characterize it, yet. >> he concocted a story that emily committed suicide or died from an overdose. >> my wife killed herself. even at that police interview few hours later. he said he was pushing his theory that emily somehow overdosed. and then the prosecution called the state medical examiner to tell jurors about that key piece of evidence, the toxicology report. >> did you also have testing done on a body fluids and blood that was taken from emily at her autopsy? >> yes, i had many many toxicology tests. >> she told the jury emily had

no drugs in her system that would have killed her. >> the drug tests that were done, did not show oipioids in her system at all. >> you didn't think it played a role. >> even though she initially ruled the cause of death undetermined, the state medical examiner had a surprising change of heart on the witness stand? >> in which manner of death did you favor? >> in this case i'm much more strongly leaning towards homicide than any other manners of death. >> and that second pathologist said there was no doubt about his conclusion. >> bruises, front back left and right of the head would be consistent with a homicide. bruises along the side of the windpipe and larynx would be consistent. >> prosecutors called family and friends to testify that emily felt threatened by her husband, her sister amy. >> how would you describe the

months leading up to her death. >> sad. >> why was emily sad. >> because she wanted -- she wanted to get away from alex. >> the children's nanny also recounted a conversation with emily just before her death. >> i asked emily two questions the first one was, if she was scared of alex? >> what was emily's response? >> her response was yes. >> what was the second one. >> i'd asked her if she was worried that alex would harm her or kill her? >> what was emily's response? >> she nodded her head yes. >> less than a week later she was dead. prosecutors said there was only one conclusion, alex murdered his wife. >> the only explanation here after looking at all the evidence, all the circumstances that the head injuries were inflicted and who would have done that, alex.

>> may it please the court. >> now, it was the defense's turn, this was to be a trial of two emilys. >> coming up. >> did you drink a lot tonight? >> no, i had three cocktails. >> the surprise evidence alex had up his sleeve. >> -- emily under the influence when dateline extra continues. it was an idea. a wild "what-if." so scientists went to work. they examined 87 different protein structures and worked for 12 long years. there were thousands of patient volunteers and the hope of millions. and so after it beca a medicine, someone who couldn't be cured, could be. me. ♪ hillary clinton: i'm hillary clinton and i approve this message. vo: in times of crisis america depends on steady leadership. donald trump: "knock the crap out of them, would you?

seriously..."vo: clear thinking... donald trump: "i know more about isis than the generals do, belie me." vo: and calm judgment. donald ump: "and you can tell them to go fu_k themselves." vo: because all it takes is one wrong move. donald trump audio only: "i would bomb the sh_t out of them." vo: just one.

on , then smash it into a tree. your insurance company raises your rates... maybe you should've done more research on them. for drivers with accident rgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. liberty mutual insurance. be the you who doesn't cover your moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. be the you who shows up in that dress. who hugs a friend. who is done with treatments that don't give you clearer skin. be the you who controls your psoriasis with stelara® just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tuberculosis. before starting stelara® tell your doctor if you think you have an infection or have symptoms such as: fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. always tell your doctor if you have any signs of infection, have had cancer, if you develop any new skin growths or if anyone in ur house needs or has

recently received a vaccine. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems, including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. some serious allergic reactions can occur. do not take stelara® if you are allergic to stelara® or any of its ingredients. most people using stelara® saw 75% clearer skin and the majority were rated as cleared or minimal at 12 weeks. be the you who talks to your dermatologist about stelara®. alex was fighting for his freedom in an iowa courtroom, accused of killing his wife in the home they shared with their children. the prosecution already had its turn portraying alex as a guy with means and motive,

everything to lose if she remained alive and everything to gain if she were dead. but armed with a new piece of evidence, the defense was about to have its day, would it be enough to convince a jury who returned to josh with the quiet one. >> by this time, the love that had once joined the families was long gone. in an iowa courtroom both families had listened for a week. >> alex murdered. >> as prosecutored painted alex as a monster who brutally killed his wife in a fit of rage. >> i've got to ask you this straight out, did you play any role in killing your wife? >> physically, no. >> i'll always feel responsible to know that i couldn't get

through to anybody to get her help. >> defense lawyers insisted there was no murder here or any crime at all. >> this case should have never been prosecutored. >> that's when you came down. >> i took that position because of the lack of evidence. he was totally innocent. >> there's no pressure if you have an innocent person that you're trying to defend on this kind of charge, first-degree murder. >> from the beginning they targeted alex and refused to consider anything else. >> they reviewed all the information, everything associated with her death they concluded, we don't know what the cause of death is, we don't know the manner of death, and what happened almost a year and a half later, the state finds some guy from sioux falls, south dakota, pathologist that said the manner of death was

homicide. >> he stated his case to the jury. >> she passed away as a result of accidentsal drowning and that will relate to her addiction. >> he said the only crime was that emily never received the help she needed. the defense called emily's mother to the stand to show that detox at her house was at best amateur hour. >> you have no certificate or any license. >> no, i don't. >> are you telling this jury that you know all the subtle tees of withdrawal? >> absolutely not. >> he tried to cast out on the claim emily had gotten completely clean before she died. >> were you in denial about your daughter's collision? >> absolutely not. >> to drive home that point, the defense called witnesses who say they saw signs emily was still abusing those pain pills and alcohol in the weeks before she died. one of them was alex's mother. >> she was argumentative,

agitated and she didn't really seem to comprehend sometimes what we were talking about. >> signs the defense said that are evident in this video. >> what did you do today? well -- >> it was a face time call alex said he recorded less than two weeks before emily died? >> i can't -- i don't know. why does it matter -- what did you do today? >> what? >> why did you record that face time call. >> to ensure i would get custody of the kids in a divorce. >> you wanted proof that emily was sort of impaired in the course of her daily life? >> right. it's hard to argue with what's plain to see on video? >> did you drink a lot tonight? >> no, i had three cocktails? >> the defense theory, just before she died knowing she was facing a child custody battle and would be tested, emily took herself off the drugs one final

time. >> she goes cold turkey, it's clear, what's clear, two or three days later, what does withdrawal do, seizures, fainting, unsteadiness, weakness, she could have fallen in the bathtub. >> and that also explains why there weren't any drugs found in her system. >> correct. >> could emily have simply drowned accidentally in the tub. alex's attorneys were hoping to plant that thought in the minds of jurors, but what about those bruises? they called their own pathologist who said he didn't know what had caused. >> do you know where they could conclude how that particular injury occurred? >> no, sir, it's unknown, to them and to me, unlike the tv shows, you can't look at that and tell exactly how it happened. >> no expert, they argued, could say for certain that there had even been a murder.

>> i do not know the cause of death. i do not know the manner of death. that's not an intellectual failure, it's intellectual honesty. >> she had come to the same conclusion in her original report, the cause of death, undetermined. >> is there anything in the doctor's original autopsy report that you take issue or disagree with? >> no, sir, i actually agree with it wholeheartedly. >> at trial the doctor testified that she favors homicide, would you agree with that? >> no, sir, i would respectfully disagree with that. >> the defense conclusion, it wasn't alex who killed emily, it was what was in those pill bottles. >> this is the marital issue. this is what he screamed about and he howled about, but no one would listen. do justice to emily. find him not guilty. >> jurors would now have to

decide if alex was a killer or a wrongly accused husband who have tried only to save his wife. >> the only thing certain in that iowa courtroom is that tensions were running high between the two families, extremely high. would alex walk free or spend his life in prison for murder? coming up. >> you prepared for a guilty verdict. >> yeah. >> two families on edge, four years of questions. the verdict at last. when dateline extra continues. ? ? a dry mouth can cause cavities and bad breath. over 400 medications can cause a dry mouth. that's why there's biotene. biotene can provide soothing dry mouth relief. and it keeps your mouth refreshed too. remember while your medications doing you good, a dry mouth isn't. biotene, for people who suffer from dry mouth symptoms.

and you're talking to your doctor about your medication... this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage. this is humira helping me go further. humira works for many adults. it targets and helps to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. doctors have been prescribing humira for over 13 years. humira can lower your ability to fight infections,

including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ready for a new chapter? talk to your rheumatologist. this is humira at work.

welcome back to dateline extra in the case against alex, the prosecution argued that bruises on his wife's body and a clean toxicology report meant she had been murdered. but what about that face time call appearing to show an intoxicated emily. the defense claimed no one could

definitively say how she even died, if there was no cause of death, there could be no crime. now, alex's fate was in the hands of a jury. here is josh with the conclusion of the quiet one. >> four years after her death, her husband's fate was finally in the hands of a jury. alex says he was confident during the nearly three-week trial, but says doubt crept in during those final minutes. >> you prepared for a guilty verdict? >> yeah, i wrote a note to my children. >> what's it say. >> nick, rick, and cocoa, i loved your mother and i never hurt her. i would never leave you like your mom as always in your heart, i will be too. you kids are the light of my life, all my love now and forever, dad. >> the first day the jury went home without a verdict.

as the hours ticked by the next morning still nothing from the jury. in the afternoon, alex got a phone call the jury had reached a decision. >> when they called me and said the jury is in, i could barely breathe. >> emily's family and friends rushed to the courthouse. prosecutors were confident. >> we did the best that we could in putting on the evidence that we had and hopefully the jury would see it our way and convict him. >> the defense attorneys were confident as well. >> we had the facts, we had the experts. >> but you never know. >> you never know. >> i love you. >> both sides couldn't be any more raw or more on age. alex was facing life in prison. and finally, after four long years. >> is this the verdict of each and every one of the members of the jury? >> here it was. >> in the matter of state versus

alex, we, the jury find the defendant not guilty. >> not guilty. the words alex and his family had been waiting to hear, even in his veteran defense attorneys couldn't hold it together. >> he started me and that's what sent me over the edge. >> one never cries if you think your client is guilty, you don't. >> on the other side of the courtroom, emily's family and friends could barely move. with the verdict the divide between these two families became complete. celebration across the aisle became too much for emily's mother to take. >> i went in shock. all i can remember is people jumping up and down like

cheerleaders. i didn't know until afterwards, that i told him to shut up. >> as they left the courtroom, the reality of what happened had sank in. back inside, alex says he felt far from victorious. >> there's not much to be excited about. emily is still gone and my kids don't have their mother. >> i felt completely unchanged. i was innocent when i walked in the courtroom and i'm innocent when i walk out of the courtroom, so what's their to high five about. >> do you know there are people that are never going to believe you're innocent. >> yeah. i'm very aware. >> you're okay with that? >> i'm not okay with it. i can't let it bother me. i'm not going to let what somebody says keep me from holding my head up high. >> emily's parents are among those who still believe in alex's guilt. but strangely enough, something that sounds like acceptance crept into our conversation.

>> this isn't easy for me to say. i hope that the rest of his life, he spends doing as much as he possibly can for his children, but we don't have bitterness inside. >> or hate. >> he was found innocent. it's over. we're walking down the road for the life. >> their granddaughter cocoa is dancing down that road. she turns seven years old, cancer free. but alex says, big moments like these will forever be pinged with sadness. >> graduating from kindergarten, my son's first big hit. every one of those moments for me, it's not the happiest because emily is not there. she's not there for them and for me to share in it.

it's hard. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline extra." thanks for watching. ♪ he was definitely charismatic. he lived every single day. he knew that it was dangerous, but no one ever knew that someone would die over it. >> he was the new kid in town, super popular. all about adventure. >> this kid was like, awesome. >> he just jumped right into the culture. >> kind of liked to show off a little bit to the girls. >> they were neighbors just down the block. a family in fear. >> they had had their vehicles br i