that's all for this edition of "dateline extra." i'm tamron hall. thanks for watching. i learned that he was arrested. i was shocked. i was just so confused. i didn't think it was real. i didn't think it was possible. >> in the rareified world of the ivy league, he was the total package. star student, gifted athlete, wildly popular. >> he was one of the nicest guys ever. >> no one could understand how a weekend visit to his parents' house -- >> you heard a shot? >> -- ended in gunfire.

>> charlie told the officers outside he was going to kill my mom, i had to do it. >> yes. >> a brave son protecting his mom. a harrowing story. but was it true? >> he's seated behind a desk. >> yes. defenseless, really. >> this seems to be an execution. >> was this campus hero actually a cold hearted killer? >> the defendant says in an e-mail to his fraternity brothers, showtime. >> or was the truth something completely different. >> one of the things that was always a question was, was charlie covering up for someone else. >> the trial where nothing went by the book. >> three of the jurors were crying really hard. >> turning around in their seats, getting emotional. they see what's coming. >> he's becoming unhinged. >> welcome to "dateline extra." i'm tamron hall. he was an ivy leaguer with a

bright future. it seemed like charlie tan had the whole world ahead of him. but then charlie's father was killed in the tan home, and everything changed. police were being told one story, but the evidence was telling them another. and there were also three 911 calls. did one of them hold a clue that would unlock what really happened on that wintry night? here's dennis murphy with "house of secrets." >> ithaca, new york, where you'll find one of the most competitive, prestigious universities in the university. cornell, the ivy league big red. more than 13,000 undergrads here working towards degrees, will with good fortune take their place in medicine, the law, the

arts. no doubt a cornell education can be a gold-plated entrance ticket to adult life. and only the best need apply. students like charlie tan. he was so kind, his high school classmates featured him in a video random acts of kindness, giving gifts to complete strangers. >> not just a great kid, but the greatest of great kids. >> charlie was the son of chinese immigrants who became mr. everything in his high school years. scholar, athlete, class president, the guy with the cool friends, and a valentine opened up their summer house. >> he's such a nice guy. always happy and energetic. >> personality, the kind of guy that comes in the room and tells jokes. >> everybody knows him. he would walk in, and the room lights up. he starts telling a funny story. >> you would think charlie tan was another ivy league overachiever poised for takeoff in great things to come. but that's not this story. this is about the charlie tan,

keeper of secrets, quite possibly something much worse. but before all that, charlie was as deserving a kid as ever got an ivy league acceptance letter. >> he was really excited when he got admitted. it was awesome. he was so excited. super happy. >> so in the fall of 2013, charlie tan left his parents' home near rochester, new york, and drove the few hours to cornell. his exciting new chapter in a life already filled with early achievements. he pledged a frat. he wasn't big enough for cornell's varsity football team, so at 165 pounds, he was directed toward what they were called a sprint football team. >> i met charlie the first day freshman year actually. i had just gotten my locker. charlie was one of the first people i met. >> quarterback rob panola. >> one of the most encouraging team players we had. leader on the team, both by example and through his words. >> rob and charlie became not just teammates, but great

friends. >> he's one of the most generous and selfless people i've ever met. >> charlie impressed his teammates and his coach. terry cullen coaches the lighter weight players. >> good football player, quiet, always had a smile, never late, hard worker, good kid. solid. >> go back to the house in the rochester suburbs where charlie grew up in his teenage years. it's a place called pittsburgh, new york. newspaper reporter john hand knows it well. >> it's a very nice community. >> big lawns, nice cars in the garage. >> yeah. big houses. lots of executives from kodak and xerox and lawyers. >> charlie was the younger of two boys. his parents, jim and jean, born in china, lived in canada before moving charlie and his brother to upstate new york. his dad ran a tech business that thrived. a home just radiated upper middle class comfort. his friend anna had been there on occasion. >> i went over to his house. i didn't know his parents very

well. i talked to his mom a couple times. but i didn't really have much conversation with them when i was there. >> little was known about his parents. and charlie didn't offer any details if someone asked. if he had secrets, sorrows, they weren't for the outside world to know about. >> he's very good at, like, keeping his emotions in. >> i have no idea what the home situation is like. i didn't know before, and i don't know now. >> other than a few 911 dispatchers and a few town officers, the wider community, the friends of charlie tan, certainly knew nothing about the whispers of domestic violence. >> he is a very stoic individual. >> the record is still sealed, but it's safe to say the tan house was known to authorities. go back to cornell. it's the winter of 2015, and charlie is now a sophomore. on a chilly thursday morning, he stopped in unexpectedly to visit his football coach. there is a softer side to this coach than drills and xs and os,

and his kids know he'll always be there for them. >> our rule is, if you have a problem, come in and we'll close the door. >> now it was charlie who needed a shoulder, or something. >> i said, how are you doing? he said, good, but i can't make weightlifting on friday. i said, what's the problem? he said, i've got to go home. >> charlie seemed emotional. clearly something was eating at the student. >> i asked him if there was anything he wanted to talk about, and he declined. he just said he had to get home. >> it wasn't spring break. classes were in session. but charlie got in his car and started the drive to pittsburgh 100 miles away. coach didn't know that charlie tan's life as a student at cornell would soon be over. >> you didn't worry about charlie. charlie was very squared away, got his act together, knows what he's doing. >> only charlie tan wasn't at all okay. it snowed that night, a muffling blanket covering the home where something awful was about to

happen. coming up, why did charlie need to rush home? the first clue coming from a friend's mom who called 911. >> he didn't give us the details. i'm just worried that he might do something at his house. >> and then charlie's mom makes a 911 call of her own. >> you heard a shot? does somebody in the house have a gun? >> 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 medication is doing you good, a dry mouth isn't. biotene, for people who suffer from dry mouth symptoms. my bladder leakage made me feel like i couldn't be the father that i wanted to be. now i use depend. i can move the way i really want.

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lendingtree: when banks compete, you win. welcome back to "dateline extra." i'm tamron hall. charlie tan was studying among the academic elite at a prestigious american university. and by all accounts, he belonged. he was bright, athletic, and made friends easily. but when it came to his family, he played it close to the vest. so when his name was linked to violence in his hometown, it took the campus and his friends by surprise. here again is dennis murphy with

"house of secrets." >> when charlie tan left cornell and made the 100-mile trip home on a thursday winter morning, hi football coach knew he had been upset. >> i asked him to call me when he got home, just so i knew he was okay. >> that very evening back in pittsburgh, new york, charlie spent time at an old friend's house where he seemed by his pal deeply despondent, sad. after charlie left, the friend and his mother were so concerned, they called 911. was charlie suicidal? >> he didn't give us a lot of details. i'm just worried that he might do something at his house. i don't know if anything's going to happen, but i just can't take a chance. >> i'm going to have them go to the house and check on him. >> a deputy did just that. detective steve peglo of the monroe county sheriff's office. >> charlie told the deputy he

was upset over things. he had come home to talk to people. he was just working out some things, and he would be okay. >> it was now late thursday night, almost the weekend. charlie didn't go back to school friday morning. and come monday he wasn't at practice. >> wasn't much i could do anyway other than text him. and he didn't respond. >> and then it was monday night. something awful. >> 911 center. what is your emergency? >> yes. >> the caller so distraught confused the dispatcher. >> ma'am, i can't understand what you're saying. >> it was jean tan, charlie's mother. >> did you say you heard a shot? does somebody in the house have a gun? >> now the garbled story was coming into focus. the man of the house was dead.

>> who's already dead? your who? >> my husband. >> are you in a safe spot? >> yes, i am. >> we need you to wait outside of the house for the police officer's safety. >> detective peglo was soon en route to coachside lane. he still only had a garbled account from the 911 call. who had shot whom? >> he was trying to protect me. >> your son was trying to protect you? >> yes. >> it looked like it was what we would call domestic murder. something that just occurred. >> on arrival, the first deputies on the scene saw a young man who would turn out to be 19-year-old charlie tan standing in the driveway with his mother. they're outside the house? >> outside the house. a safety thing for the deputies. they asked who else was in the house. >> in the next moments, the deputies heard the son tell a story that sounded like self-defense. he had to shoot, he said, to

save his mother. he had used a shotgun. >> charlie said, my dad's in there, he's dead, i had to do it. he was going to hurt my mom. >> the father is shot because the boy feels his mother's in jeopardy? >> yes. >> it was getting late on a frigid february night. the deputies put the son and the mother in a patrol car. >> they asked them where the shotgun was. there was a mention it was in the garage. >> after securing the weapon, the deputies made their way into the home. on the second floor in the home office, they found their victim. the father is behind the desk? >> he's behind the desk. spent shotgun shells are all right there in that doorway area. >> the detective would quickly learn more about jim tan, father, husband, and businessman. >> he owned his own company. they had lived in canada, and then moved to the united states some years earlier. >> successful executive, huh? >> by all accounts, yes. >> but was the successful businessman also an abuse of husband. detective peglo looked around the household as the crime scene

detectives processed the scene. they came upon an appointment card for jean tan to appear at domestic court. but detective peglo was no rookie. his investigation into charlie tan and what happened inside that home was just getting started. >> one of the investigators found what appeared to be newly taken passport photos. along with a list of prominent local defense attorneys. >> that's interesting. >> yes, sir. >> the story is, i had to do it, but you're not taking it at face value. >> correct. >> coming up, a discovery on jim tan's computer triggers suspicions about his time of death. >> how many days prior is the last e-mail check? >> four. that was really a big thing for me. >> when "dateline extra" continues. alzheimer's disease is out there. and the alzheimer's association is going to make it happen by funding scientific breakthroughs,

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hmmmmm... the turbocharged dream machine. the volkswagen golf gti. named one of car and driver's0best, 10 years in a row. welcome back to "dateline extra." i'm tamron hall. police arrived at the home of jim tan to find him lying behind the desk in his home office, shot dead. his son, charlie, told police he

did it. he said he was defending his mother. so case closed. far from it. let's return to dennis murphy with "house of secrets." >> deputies canvassed the neighborhood but no one heard the gunshot blast that killed jim tan. but then this homicide wasn't a whodunit. the son admitted moments after deputies arrived that he had been the shooter. he had to do it, he said, to protect his mom. >> self-defense is something we'll listen to, if that's what happened. then the law will bear that out. so we wanted to speak to him to determine that. >> that same night charlie and his mother were taken down to the station to tell their stories. were you able to get a statement from the son, charlie? >> we could not. his lawyer would not allow it. he was on the scene a little after me. >> without the cooperation of the admitted participants, the mother and the son, the detectives were on their own. it turns out a very large piece of evidence was waiting to be found right there in their very office.

a report from the house on coachside lane. just two weeks before the shooting, police records show the wife placed another 911 call. >> my name is jean tan. my husband just beats me up. i need your protection. >> are you injured? >> yes. he choked me. i'm so scared. please help. please come. >> the dispatcher heard what sounded like an ongoing fight between husband and wife. >> hello. sorry. yes, this is -- sorry. please. sorry about that. my wife is upset. >> help me! >> everything's all right. >> a deputy was sent to the house, and noticed jean tan, the wife, was clearly rattled.

reporter john hand of rochester's democrat and chronicle newspaper -- >> jean was still upset. she had red marks on her neck. but that there wasn't enough there to charge jim tan with a crime. >> so incident over? >> that night. >> he tried to kill me, but nothing in terms of charges makes it into the paperwork. >> right. >> a history of abuse had appeared. if that were the case, charlie had told no one in his circle at cornell university. up on campus, coach cullen hadn't heard from charlie in days. and now his phone rang. >> campus police called me up and asked me to come to his fraternity house, which i did. they wanted me to know that charlie's father had been killed. it was rugged. we've got a bunch of players in the fraternity. and everybody was obviously very upset. >> charlie tan admitting that he had shot his father to death. >> i think it was probably

disbelief more than -- and shock that this occurred. >> we had a team meeting about it. but immediately after, there was so much support for him, and everyone was amazed by the support. >> from the get-go, there was no debate. the entire frat and team had charlie's back. >> not just the spread football team, but everybody on cornell's campus that he knew well was showing support for him. everyone was trying to help him, asking if there was anything we could do for him. >> for his friends at home, there was shom there, too. yet the heartbreaking story of charlie tam protecting his mom by any means necessary made some kind of weird sense. he was, after all, the kid who was always trying hard to help. people talk about him being selfless. >> yeah. he would do anything for people. >> close friend anna had a hard time wrapping her head around charlie doing anything violent. the charlie she knew was a

thoughtful kid who did things no ordinary teenager would do. >> my mom went through cancer, and he brought her gifts and stuff. he was always there supporting anybody. >> so anna, too, would be there supporting charlie through this difficult time. a friend to the end. neither she nor anyone else could have guessed where the investigation was heading next. the detective who had examined the scene that night was wondering if there was more to the story. it was all obvious right away that something was off with the working theory of the crime. a heat of passion, self-defense homicide. >> we were there for hours. obviously searching every bit. one of the things that was noticed by one of the investigators is just the dry blood that was all over. >> dried blood? the timeline and the whole story, in fact, demanded a closer look. >> it's certainly one of the things that starts to get your attention that, hang on, there might be more. let's make sure we're on the right path here. >> and there were other observations that set their

timeline back. on jim tan's desk computer where he had apparently been working when he was killed, there were unopened e-mails going back before the weekend. >> jim is trading e-mails with an employee, and then at some point after that, he clearly stops using his computer. he's no longer sending, he's no longer opening. >> as de teng tifs poked around that office monday night -- how many days prior is the last e-mail check? >> four. >> four days? >> that was a big thing for me. this was a guy that ran his own company. with employees, and with activity. >> going back four days, that put the shooting back to that thursday night charlie came home from cornell. and a four-day-old crime scene would also explain what had been plainly obvious to the seasoned detectives's nose. >> the odor was strong. >> the emotional 911 call was bogus, a charade. >> you said you heard a shot? >> his mother was in peril and

he had to shoot the husband. now you say this might be days earlier. >> correct. that first inference from the 911 call and from what charlie had said in the driveway to the deputies seemed to be in confrontation with what we were starting to see inside. >> down at the sheriff's office, jean tan, the mother, was released from custody. but not charlie. the 19-year-old ivy leaguer was charged with second-degree murder. what did you think? >> i was shocked. i was just so confused about, i didn't think it was real. i didn't think it was possible. >> charlie tan, the nice boy, the great kid, if convicted, was facing 25 years to life in prison. coming up, store video shows the gun that killed charlie's father being purchased. but it's not charlie buying it. >> new name altogether here? >> correct. >> and then the strange thing charlie did just before his mom placed the 911 call.

>> the defendant sends an e-mail to his fraternity brothers called showtime. >> when "dateline extra" continues. ♪ [cheering] ♪ the highly advanced audi a4. ♪ like bundling home a auto coverage, which reduces redney. tape, which saves money. when they save, you save. that's home and auto insurance for the modern world. esurance, an allstate company. click or call.

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i'm richard lui with your hour's top stories. a shooting forced about 3,000 visitors to evacuate six flags american prince georges county maryland. no threat was found there, but it comes as the state department reminds americans to be vigilant when large crowds are around soft targets ahead of tomorrow's anniversary of 9/11. and to mark 15 years since those attacks, donald trump and hillary clinton will attend tomorrow's commemoration at ground zero. for now, back to "dateline extra." welcome back to "dateline extra." i'm tamron hall. charlie tan told police he shot his father to save his mother. but investigators were finding flaws in that story. the ivy league student had been

arrested, and was facing second-degree murder charges. was this an intentional killing, or justifiable homicide? here again is dennis murphy with "house of secrets." >> anna valentine was in a state of disbelief when she learned her close friend charlie tan had been arrested. did you have a chance to talk to him? >> he called me from jail. i talked to him a couple times. >> anna didn't sit around. she was going to do whatever she could do to depend her friend. because she knew there was no way charlie did anything wrong. you did something remarkable. you pulled together a whole community behind charlie. >> yeah. >> anna started a defense fund support page for charlie. >> and it just like spread crazy. i had no clue what was going to happen. >> you threw it out there on the net? >> i just put it out on the page and told friends i did it. people who didn't know him was supporting it. >> how much money did you raise? >> around $50,000.

>> why did people come out of the wod wik to support charlie? >> he's been one of the nicest guys ever. i think everybody knew that. just wanted to do anything they could to give back to him. charlie would give everything to other people. if somebody needed anything, he would be the one to give it to them. >> it was one of the most talked-about stories. it's an investigation for your news story. great ivy league kid blows away his father in this nice neighborhood. what's going on in terms of response to this event? >> we were astonished. it's not very often you have a murder suspect a bunch of people in pittsburgh are railing around. >> the case captured the hearts and minds of a community that couldn't imagine this exceptional young man in prison. and these are lawyers and surgeons and political -- i mean, these are big, powerful people in new york state who are behind this kid. >> oh, yeah. we wish that didn't happen, but the kid deserves a break. >> was that going around? >> oh, yeah, the community felt

that very strongly. >> when the trial began less than a year after the shooting, the sworn representative of the people with a murder case to prove found herself in an odd spot. >> the biggest problem was the defendant himself. because he did appear to be, you know, an upstanding, nice young man. >> monroe county district attorney sandra dorley. >> from the very beginning, people were disappointed that, you know, an indictment was filed against charlie tan, and that we're taking this to court. but you know what, we have to prosecute people who violate the laws of our state. >> assistant d.a. bill garden prosecuted the case in court. he told the jury charlie tan was a bright young man who went the extra mile for his friends. >> perhaps he wanted to succeed as charlie tan and solve all the problems that were occurring on the side. >> helping his mother. >> helping his mother. >> by killing his father, that was the solution. >> that was our theory, yes.

the gun is found at the murder scene. his fingerprints are on the ammo. his mother, again, a mother saying, my son did it. and charlie saying, he had to do it. >> but did he have to do it? that was the key question. and the prosecution said no. this was no justifiable homicide. this was an execution. in fact, the weapon, the 12-gauge remington shotgun, had been purchased just for the killing, said the prosecutor. deputies found it leaning against a garbage can in the tan's garage. when they traced it, they discovered it had just been bought from a walmart near cornell. >> so we sent investigators down there. and as they began to look into that, they found that the gun had been purchased by a young man named whitney knickerbocker. >> newly purchased. >> newly purchased. >> new name altogether here. >> correct. >> the purchase had taken place february 5th of 2015, the same day charlie left cornell. the salesman remembered the purchase. and even better, the store had

surveillance video of charlie's friend and fellow fraternity brother buying the shotgun. video which was shown to the jury. whitney knickerbocker, the frat brother, was never accused of having anything to do with the killing. charlie apparently convinced him to help buy a gun. >> friends say that whitney was told by charlie that he was going to go on a hunting trip, so he asked whitney to help him. >> of course, the prosecution said there was no hunting trip. charlie was planning a murder. in fact, before he got the friend to buy the weapon, surveillance footage showed how intent he was on getting one. hours earlier, there was charlie. >> charlie tan is on video going into the walmart, attempting to purchase the shotgun. he is unable to. >> why is he turned down? >> he's a canadian citizen. >> which meant there would be a waiting period. time the prosecutor said charlie tan didn't have. so he gets a friend to come in and make a purchase. >> that was our theory, yes. >> it's hard to put together a heat of passion scenario.

mom's in jeopardy. if you purchase the weapon in advance. >> correct. >> and the prosecutor told the jury there was no evidence of a fight that evening. >> if you look at the exact moment of the killing, jim tan is just sitting at his desk. >> answering e-mail. >> answering e-mails. working to, you know, provide a living and a pretty good living for his family. >> in fact, the medical examiner testified that as jim tan sat behind his desk in his home office, he was shot three times about the chest and face. the last shot the coup de grace. >> medical examiner still believed jim tan was inflicted right to his face. >> the prosecutor believes that was thursday night, the same night one of charlie's friends sent a deputy to the tan home to check on charlie's welfare. it's possible that when the boy answered the door and said he was fine, his dad was already dead inside. but no one from the tan home

called 911 that night. rather, says the prosecutor, charlie and his mom grand their passports and fled the country. >> jean tan and charlie tan left the country, went to canada and came back on that monday before the 911 call was placed. >> why come back and tell a lie? the prosecution didn't know. a guess, perhaps someone had to run jim tan's business. and this last tidbit, creepy implied the state. before the four-days-late 911 call was placed, charlie took the time to first send a warning e-mail to his college buddies. they would soon hear things in the news. >> the defendant sends an e-mail to his fraternity brothers called showtime. >> you're going to be hearing from law enforcement, huh? >> yes. yes. you will be surprised. showtime. >> no jurors buy self-defense, said the prosecutor in summation. this was no crime of passion, it was a planned murder. so this is an assassination. >> yes. >> he walks in and blows dad

away. >> exactly. >> the prosecution rested. the defense team was up next. and they were about to lay out a head-spinning theory of the crime from seemingly another universe. no one saw it coming. coming up, the defense drops a bombshell. >> one of the things that was always a question of ours was, was charlie covering up for someone else. >> and then the prosecution's stunning reaction. >> he picked up the shotgun, moved quickly across the room. >> when "dateline extra" continues. says your desk phone always has to be at your desk? now, with one talk from verizon... hi, pete. i'm glad you called. (announcer vo) all your phones can work together on one number. you can move calls between phones, so conversations can go where you go. take your time. i'm not gog anywhere. (announcer vo) and when you're not available, one talk helps find the right person who is. hi, john. (announcer vo) so wherever work takes you, you can put your customers first. introducing one talk-- anher way verizon connects your business better. learn hoat onetalk.com.

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welcome back to "dateline extra." i'm tamron hall. a courtroom in rochester, new york, saw video of charlie tan's friend buying a weapon days before jim tan was found dead. did this prove charlie was a calculating killer?

the defense was about to tell a very different story. dennis murphy picks up the story, "house of secrets." >> it was an upside down world in the courthouse, where you would routinely expect a lot of supporters for the victim, there was none. >> there was no one mourning the victim. s assistants from the district attorney's office, i sat with her the whole trial because she had nothing to do. >> they believe the father deserved what was coming to him. >> people that wouldn't normally advocate homicide saying, if he did it, he did it, and his father deserved it. >> but the accused? his girlfriend and friends crowded outside the courtroom every morning. surrounding him protectively as he walked into court. he had all but a cheering section with pom-poms. >> i think it meant everything. i think having all the support made him feel so much better, so much stronger. i think he knew we were all there for him, no matter what. >> his friend anna was on the witness list, so she wasn't

allowed to sit inside the courtroom until the very end. >> i went as much as i could between classes for the rest of it. >> how did he seem to you? >> some days were harder than others. some days he seemed good. >> charlie would sit in court while his defense would build a case with evidence that seemed to support domestic violence. played that tape of jean tan two weeks before the shooting. >> my name is jean tan. and my husband just beats me up. i need your protection. >> are you injured? >> yes. i'm -- he choked me. i'm so scared. >> defense attorney james noble thought the 911 recording spoke volumes about that household. >> it was almost as if we were put in the hell that charlie lived in for a brief moment. and the hell that jean lived in for a brief moment. >> jim tan, continued the defense, wasn't just a bully at home, but the workers testified.

>> they said he behaved like a child, said he would bully people, he was nasty at work. >> so a son defending his abused mother was a defense no-brainer strategy that seemed to require little assembly. the other defense lawyer -- >> i think most people that looked at this case said, the only defense is self-defense. or some hybrid of, you know, a battered child syndrome. >> but as the trial progressed, that wasn't the attack charlie's defense team planned. >> our strategy was to keep our strategic defense in our back pocket hidden from the prosecution as long as we possibly could. >> so what was the secret defense? they were going to agree with the prosecution on one point. that when jean called 911 to report her husband dead, the murder was days old. >> i heard shots. >> that call is 100% fake, no

question about it. >> not only was the mom lying to 911 about when the murder occurred, no, argued the defense, she was lying about something much bigger. who the true killer was. the defense attorney saved the surprise for closing arguments. >> it was an unusual moment. certainly i knew there were many friends and supporters of jean tan in the courtroom. and i was going to basically suggest to these jurors that she had pulled the trigger. >> jean tan, the mom, the wife, the true killer. the defense said the shotgun was in her hand. she pulled the trigger. she solved her own problem, not her son. that was the story the defense saved for the 11th hour. >> not an easy thing to do in a packed courtroom. >> according to the defense, it was jean tan who had the motive. the motive to get rid of her bully husband, get the house, the business, the money. >> frankly, it put motive in jean tan's category more so than charlie. >> and whatever little forensic evidence was at the scene was,

according to the defense, inconclusive. >> there was a fingerprint on one of the shell casings and on the box of ammunition. what that means is at some point in time charlie could have loaded the gun but it doesn't make him pulling the trigger. >> and explaining the odd e-mail charlie sent his frat brothers before the 911 call. the e-mail called showtime. the e-mail implied that the story to come might not be the real one. it went on to say this. >> the real truth will come out one day. one of the things that was always a question, and always a concern of ours was, was charlie covering up for someone else. >> in court, assistant prosecutor bill got caught offguard and stressed when he rose to make his closing argument. >> he addressed charlie directly. something to the effect of, charlie, your lawyer is calling your mother a killer. he picked up the shotgun and moved quickly across the room. he approached the jury closely with it. he was trying to make a point.

a very passionate point. >> brandishing the weapon with a prop didn't sit well with the judge. >> frankly, we knew at that point we had done exactly what we wanted to do. we had totally taken him by surprise. >> after a week of testimony, the case went to the jury. out in the hallway, tv cameras dogged charlie's every move. he had been out on bond the entire time. but his freedom could be coming to an abrupt end. >> he knows his life is hanging in the balance. that's a tough thing for anybody to go through. >> but he had the unwavering support of team charlie. they all waited with charlie as the deliberations began, then spilled over into a second day. and then another. >> every day we'd show up to court, oh, is it going to happen today. everyone was just super nervous, on the edge of their seats the whole time. charlie was, i was. >> if it goes in an adverse way for you and charlie, he's going to be led off and you wouldn't see him for a long, long time. >> it was hard to imagine that. >> jen ir mcguff was a juror

sitting on the case. she walked us through the arguments as they deliberated. >> i'm not sure anybody felt bad for jim tan. he made a lot of enemies in life. but everybody did recognize that the way he died was still a crime. >> both the prosecution and the defense had agreed that charlie's fingerprints were on the ammo. >> but did he actually pull the trigger or load the gun and give it to his mom and say, here you go. that was the biggest point of contention. >> she was ready to vote guilty. the panel of 12 was far from unanimous. more days passed. >> eight people guilty, four people not guilty. >> a stalemate. an impasse seemed to be at hand. but still they talked. >> three of the jurors were crying. really hard. because they didn't want to think that he was guilty. but they couldn't ignore it at that point. >> the local media asked prosecutor bill gargen for updates. >> i haven't experienced the jury out this long. >> on day eight after 50 hours

of deliberations, the jurors told the judge they were hopelessly deadlocked. the judge declared a mistrial. and that didn't mean it was over for charlie by any stretch. >> no, it just meant there was a long road ahead. >> a long road with another trial, another set of court dates, another jury to go through the same set of facts. unless that wasn't what was going to happen at all. coming up, an entire courtroom gets the shock of a lifetime. >> they're actually turning around in their seats. getting emotional. they see what's coming. >> as charlie tan awaits his fate, the proceedings threatened to spin out of control. >> he was becoming unhinged. >> when "dateline extra" continues. ing stops us from doig right by our customers. who's with me? i'm in. i'm in. i'm in. i'm in. ♪ ♪

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welcome back to "dateline extra." i'm tamron hall more than eight months after jim tan was found

shot to death in his home, his son's trial ended with a hung jury. for everyone involved, it had been a long road, and there was a new trial pending. but there was another stunner in store. here with the conclusion of "house of secrets" is dennis murphy. >> the judge in the tan murder case declares a mistrial. >> even though the case was over for now, the charlie tan mistrial was big news in rochester. >> they could not come to a consensus regarding the murder charge. >> everyone was talking to the media including the judge who was running for state supreme court and spoke to our affiliate. >> would you be presiding as judge again. >> i believe i would because the case has been assigned to me. that's the normal protocol. >> the lawyers on both sides shared thoughts about doing it all over again. >> its a murder charge. it's not a petty larceny charge with a hung jury. we recognize the d.a.'s office isn't going to walk away from a homicide. >> from your perspective, how will the new trial look

differently? >> better for me. >> unfortunately for charlie's attorneys, they had already played their surprise defense. mom really did it. there would be no shock value in a second trial. >> frankly, we've got face this like it's a brand-new case starting today. hung juries are a situation in which you have to reinvent the sfwheel in november of 2015, weeks after the trial ended, both sides were back in the same court before the same judge. judge pamp ty ano who won the state supreme court seat. it was a routine to talk logistics. >> we were figuring maybe a january date. >> reporter john hand was in attendance, too. >> there was a number of charlie's friends there, myself and roughly four or five other reporter who's had covered the trial. the gang's all here, you know. the judge said we have to address the motion for dismissal by the defense. it's still pending. >> that's a common motion made by most defense attorneys when

they ask a judge to throw out a case especially due to a lack of evidence. >> you always do it. it's frankly malpractice not to. >> everyone thought this would be an order of business quickly dispatched and the judge would move on to set a new trial date. >> then he starts talking about a atlantic evidence regarding the possession of the gun and charlie ever having the gun, lack of evidence that the fingerprints were found on the shells upstairs but that didn't indicate -- that he had ever shot it. you know, i looked at other reporter and i said, what's going on here? >> charlie's lawyers had a glimmer about where this was going. >> i leaned into charlie's ear and told him something good's about to happen. >> the assembled press couldn't believe where the judge was heading. >> you're holding your death and going he's about to dismiss this case, the biggest case we've had in years and years and years a case jurors deliberated on for 50 hours. >> assistant prosecutor bill gargen saw the train wreck ahead

and wasn't at all pleased he grabbed the mike. >> can i speak. the judge said no, you may not. he copied to speak. the judge said i'll put new handcuffs. >> the judge to the district attorney. >> yeah. never seen that before. >> you're out of line here. >> a court deputy walks up behind bill gargen, the prosecutor, not the defendant. >> he was interrupting. he was becoming unhinged. >> after the dramatics with the prosecutor, the judge did finish his thought. he threw out the entire case against charlie tan. a judicial ruling that meant the case couldn't be reprosecute order retried. >> it was a big win for charlie tan. he was ecstatic. >> outside the kroox, is media was waiting for charlie, the former defendant who hasn't yet spoken to reporters. >> now you'll talk to us, right. >> back up, please, please, sflees before we got a chance to talk to him, his defense lawyer ushered him out down a hallway. >> what did you think? i'm not sure how he took it all

in. >> not at first, yeah. it was superexciting. everyone was so happy. everyone was in tears. >> not quite everyone. assistant d.a. bill gargen was fuming. > were you willing to get arrested over this. >> absolutely. i was more than willing to have handcuffs placed on me to argue my point because i didn't cross any lines. >> what recourse do you have? t >> there is no appeal that i know of. >> so charlie tan is free. >> that's it. there's no appeal as of right from this trial order of dismissal because there had not been a verdict by the jury. >> the event didn't happen? >> correct. >> so in the people versus charlie tan, you had to cynically wonder whether the son's vocal supporters carried the day from outside the courtroom. >> so you're talking about the division in the community. i guess some of think the golden ivy league boy was able to kill his father and get away with it. >> yes, there's a question of what does affluence buy you in a courtroom. >> strange story.

>> yeah. >> charlie's mother according to d.a. will not be bross acuted because there's never been any evidence to show she is responsible for the murder. >> could it have been the mother. >> you know, i look at a .12-gauge shotgun. she was a small woman. i don't know if she was capable of even being able to discharge that kind of weapon. >> so the only two people who know what happened in that house, charlie and his mother have stayed mum all this time. neither was ever interviewed by police. neither has spoken publicly about a case now closed but far from resolved. >> people will say there is a kid who killed his father and got off. people will also say no, it isn't. they couldn't prove it. two groups of people back there said i don't care what happened, i'm never sending this 19-year-old cornell man to prison. >> the mom is running the company jim tan started. >> as for charlie. >> he seems okay. he's very positive. >> a smart student, a popular kid who does done well and

succeeded in all he's been in. it's time to move on. we welcome him back with open arms. >> that didn't happen. the university let him know if he attempted to return to cornell, it was prepared to discipline him for vi laying the school's code of conduct. so charlie with drew and with that action lost the cornell version of the gold plated entrance ticket to adult life. his former coach thinks charlie will regardless find a way to succeed. >> if he can get over the turmoil that he came out of, i think he'll do fine. he's got everything going for him. >> in his young life, he had pleased everybody. his coaches, his teachers, his devoted friends. outwardly happy, inwardly who really knew. all one can say with any certainty are the known facts of a murky case. he got a friend to buy minimum a shotgun, said good-bye to the ivy league, and on a winter's day, drove home. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline extra" i'm tamron

hall. thanks for watching. \s ♪ >> we have a breaking news story to tell you about. apparently a plane has just crashed into the world trade center here in new york city. it happened just a few moments ago apparently. we have very little information available at this point in ti