. >> please! please, wake up. wake up! >> it was the worst seconds of my life. >> how was it possible? >> i would give anything if she were alike today. >> such a sweet, young wife and mom. such a shattering death. >> i cried all fight long. >> he was downstairs with the kid. she was upstairs in the bath. then it happened. >> okay. how long has she been here? smr i don't know, she was taking a bath. >> we didn't know if it was a tragic accident or something else. >> questions quickly swirled about a wife's secret. >> what did you do today? >> she did have an addiction to prescription pills. >> and a husband scorned. >> she just collapsed on the floor. >> was it an accident or maybe murder? >> she said, i'm scared of him. >> the whispering started almost

immediaty. you're a murderer. >> when are you innocent, you don't think it can happen. >> just wait until the spell binding moment in court. >> it is nothing i would have ever imagined in my life. >> welcome to "dateline." a beautiful woman from a well-to-do family thought she found her prince charming, but their story turned out to be anything but a fairy tale, love, children, the nice house turned into a fight against addiction rumors and an accusation of murder. here's josh mankiewicz 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 had felt leak she was abusing it. >> what happened in this small town that would tear apart a marriage and at the same time separate two families that were once united by love. boone, iowa, on flat land just north of des moines is a company town, headquarters for one of the largest grocery stores in the mid-west, fairway, a family-owned company and rick beckwith is a third generation ceo. he and his wife cindy raised a family of five. their youngest daughter emily, a sweet but quiet one. >> the older sister said that she never got spanked. >> she didn't. she just remained silent and would 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 beckwith. but i never felt less of a person in the presence of emily or any one of her family. >> emily was the girl everyone wanted to be friends with and every boy wanted to date according to friend shannon and sarah. >> she could have had any boy. >> all these boys were all over her. >> gaga over her, she was gorgeous. you seen pick of her. even in high school, she was gorgeous. it just wasn't her thing to date. >> by the time she was 21, emily moved 200 miles south to kansas city, missouri, working in a hair salon. one night in 2001, she went to a bar and a local boy famed alex fasina spotted her from across the room. >> and it's one of those like aha moments you might say. i was like, oh, i have to go talk to that girl. >> after a few dates, alex said

he knew she was the one. >> what did you like about her? >> what didn't i? she was beautiful. she was very nice. she dressed impeccably. yeah, what didn't i? >> alex's mother joe anne knew something was happening when 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 that you all can 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. and she fell in love with the whole family immediately. >> emily's sister amy could see they were in love. >> her eyes sparkled. alex's eyes sparkled when they were towing. oh, huge smiles on both of tear

faces. >> the girl who never dated was swept off her feet. emily and alex married may 10th, 2003. >> how many people? >> oh, i would guess at least 400. >> that's big. >> for an italian wedding it's maybe mid-size, but. >> 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 fairway. >> her father offered alex an opportunity as a family member to move way up the ranks and at my husband's encouragement, he went. >> alex took an entry level job at a fairway store near boone. the beckwiths gave the family this house, soon there were two more additions to the family, ricky and coco. >> all emily ever wanted to be is 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' bed time. 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 with the kids with their bath. >> alex says he heard emily start her bath as he and the kids watched "peter pan." >> there was not a sword fighting and things like that and music and it was really loud and when it got quiet, i could hear the water still running. >> alex says the watt was running for when the to the 30 minutes. so he went upstairs to see what was take sock long and came upon a horrible scene. emily was submerged in the tub unconscious. >> i tried as hard as i could to get her out of that tub as fast as i could.

she lipped out of my arms. i started screaming, "help." i ran to the phone to call 911. and all i called say is "help." >> 911, what's your hrnlgs? >> help, help, help, help, help. >> what's going on? >> it was the worst seconds of my life. >> but there was much more to come. two lives and so many secrets would soon be put under a microscope. what had happened upstairs in that bathroom? coming up -- >> please, help me, please. >> how long has she been here? >> i don't know, she was taking a bath. >> what did you think this 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

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. >> this should have been a routine at home in boone town iowa. instead, alex fausino was telling a 911 operator how he pulled his wife emily out of the bathtub. >> please, honey, wake up, wake

up! >> it got worse t. kids wandered in and saw their mother on the bathroom floor. >> guys, go away, kids, please. please. >> on the tape, you don't sound like you think there is much hope of reviveing her. >> at me personally reviving her, no, i didn't. >> you don't know cpr? >> no. >> but with the operator's help, alex tried. >> tilt her head back. okay. did you do that? >> yeah. >> the sergeant john wiebold arrived at the house with two other officers, his body camera was rolling as alex led them to the bathroom. >> oh, c'mon, please, please. >> as we entered the master bathroom, emily was laying on the floor face up and she had a blewish tin to the her. >> please, please. >> how long has she been in here in. >> i don't know, she was taking a bath. >> could you the el whether she

was still alive? >> i checked right away, i didn't feel pulse or breathing. so i instantly started cpr. >> i don't know. >> she's cold. >> blood? >> no blood. no blood anywhere. she did have a big bruise on her forehead. >> what was around, anything? >> the bathtub was full of water and there were oil droplets on top of the 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 in the emergency room and then he said she's gone, gone. >> emily fausino 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 a 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 police headquarters. >> i pulled her, she just flopped, she just flopped on the floor. >> you went in, in those initial interview, you around represented by an attorney? >> no. >> you talked to the police, handed over your phone. >> yes. >> almost as if you didn't have nothing to hide. >> i didn't. >> he told police something few people knew, his wife had a diplomacy on prescription drugs. he said she was sure her addiction killed her. >> it's really not my wife that did it. it's the addiction. >> what did you had happened? >> i didn't know if you know she took a handful of pills. i was having a hard time trying to reconcile if she killed herself or she just overdosed. >> you thought overdose either

deliberate? >> yes. >> he discovered she had stolen pain pills from his father. now a few months later alex's own doctor asked a strange question during a check-up. he how is your shoulder? i said why do you ask? he said i wanted to make sure the strike den you were using were working. >> i said, excuse me. i started crying. >> you didn't ask for vicodin in. >> correct. >> opioid is a highly pain medication that can be highly predictive. she asked for it saying it was for alex. he says she ended up taking the pills, herself. alex says he confronted emily. >> i said, will you have to choose between your family and this medicine. i said, i'm not going to stay married to you if you continue

down the road. >> and she says? >> 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 can 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 had become addicted to this painkiller? >> i don't know if she used the word addictaddiction. but she felt like shelves abusing it and alex was upset about it. >> emily's doctors had 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 is because they were scared of what it would do

to their image. >> is the reason that 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. >> elily went cold turkey. >> cindy says the first couple of days, her daughter hardly left the bed suffering from severe headaches. after four days emily went home. did you think she was clean, off drugs that problem was behind her? >> i knew that she was still tired. >> but no longer addicted? >> no. >> you were sure that had been dealt with? >> yes. >> alex didn't find out about the detox until much later. he says 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 wouldn't do it? >> she would fall back into her old habits. >> she never agreed to rehab? >> she told me all her doctors are on the same page, everything was fine. >> alex was telling everyone his wife was a victim of her own demons, soon, new evidence would emerge that would send this case in a more sinister direction. coming up -- >> the results came back clean. >> so it wasn't an overdose in. >> it wasn't an overdose. >> what then could it have been what killed ily? >> she was scared. there was somethingwrong. >> when "dateline" continues.

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. >> alex fausino has lost his wife emily. despite his drive, she still had to be strong for his children. >> what did you tell your kids? >> i remember hugging them, i remember just telling them that 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 7. >> 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 the state investigator was caught on her death was linked to her death. >> she had a prescription for pills. >> just an accidental death or a suicide. but then six weeks later, something that changed the entire focus of the investigation. emily's toxicology report came back. >> results came back clean. she wasn't under the influence of opiates at the time of her death. >> so it wasn'tian overdose in. >> no train of the pain pills emily had been abused. there was nothing in her system that would have killed her. there was no col 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. so the front of her head t. left and right side top of her head. >> is it possible those injuriess could have occurred while alex was dragging his wife out of the tub? >> i don't think so. >> and there were bruises on emily's neck. >> she had strat muscle bruising to her neck area that were of concern, that maybe she was possibly held under the water by her neck. >> remember, alex said he tried cpr on emily. those injuries couldn't have been done by somebody doing cpr or didn't know what they were doing with cpr? >> 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 or when i picked her up, i mean, i heard it, i heard it hit when i was pulling her out. her head hit. >> the side of the tub? the floor? >> i don't know, i was heaveing her out, 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 behindlosed doors in the fauso marriage. he listened to another 911 call. >> 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 inebriated the night before and i had had it. i had had it. and i grabbed whatever pills i

could grab and i was going to flush them down the toilet. >> and 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. then emily filed for divorce, alex the same. both asked for full custody of the children and both were still living in the same house. a few nights later, emily called her father rick. >> the words were saying one thing, the voice was telling me something different. >> what was the voice telling you? >> she was scared. there was something wrong. >> they hung up around 6:00 p.m. two hours later, emily would be dead. >> i will never forgive that phone call, because that was the last time i heard her voice. >> reporter: for investigator, a new picture was emerging, a marriage in shambles. a husband pushed to the edge. maybe this wasn't an accident or suicide, maybe it was murder.

it seems hard to believe that alex would kill his wife and his kids are just a couple of rooms away. >> but that's if you are thinking that this was well thought out. you know, oftentimes, couples get in arguments and they escalate and somebody dies. >> you had seen your wife in danger of her life. you weren't angry about her inability to check her habit? >> no, i was disappointed in her. i was disappointed that this happened. angry, no, i was never angry with emily. >> but emily's family and friendscy they were angry at alex. the beckwiths and the fausino's now once so close were now splitting along family lines. coming up -- >> he kept saying over and over, he murdered her. >> you're a murderer. >> that's what they were saying. >> that's not all they were saying. >> did you say that alex and his family are in the mafia and that women who try to divorce them wind up dead?

>> when "dateline" continues.

hello, here's what's happening. the doctor says the president is in exceptional health. he will release more details on tuesday. the president and first lady are spending the weekend at mar-a-lago. government health officials say the flu is widespread in every state except hawaii t. flu appears to be peaking, it is nearly three times as last year's outbreak. now, back to "dateline." welcome back. i'm craig melvin. alex fausino said he found his wife emily submerged in her bathtub and that she must have overdosed but the medical examiner's findings show otherwise. here again is josh mankiewicz with more of the quiet wife.

>> rumors were flying around the town of boone, iowa, right after emily fausino's death. family and friends thought alex had killed his wife. >> he kept saying over ap over he murdered her. >> the whispering started almost immediately. >> wmpb a day. >> you're a murderer? >> that's what they were saying. >> and not just a murderer. 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 try to divorce their way out of the fausino family wind up dead? >> that was information emily had told me. >> amy doesn't realize that my mom's six sibling and my dad's one sib ling, there have been 11 divorces. >> those people all still alive? >> they're not all still alive, but none of them were killed.

>> but they weren't murdered. >> right. >> so the fausinos are not a hooked up organized family. >> no, and i resent her saying that. >> reporter: alex insists the aens allegations were ludicrous, that's what investigators determined. >> did you make i pick up any indication that the fausino family is in organized crime? >> no. >> you didn't find any evidence that that played any role? >> no. >> in emily's death at all? >> no. >> to get away from the finger pointing, alex took the kids to kansas city and moved back in with his parents. >> we all suffered. our family as a whole suffered with the accusation that my son was a murderer. >> four months later, the investigation took another turn when the medical examiner released the final autopsy report. she ruled the cause and manner of death undetermined, meaning she couldn't say howelly 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 poen 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 dr. randall. >> dr. randall gave the injuries highly suggestive of a struggle and billed eight homicide. >> homicide. there was only one suspect. in april 2013, 15 months after emily died, alex fausino was arrested and charged with his wife's murder. >> they said, you're under arrest. i was in complete shock. when you are innocent, you don't think it can happen. you think, they're going to come to their senses, they're going to see it.

but -- no. >> he spent three weeks in jail before being released on bond. alex's sister mark right says her brother was charged with murder because of small town politics. what was it that you think kept the state sort of moving forward with the idea of prosecuting? >> well, i think it was the beckwiths. the power they have in that community. i believe they were putting political pressure on the state to prosecute this. >> the suggestion that there was some sort of political pressure put on my office to push this case forward or to charge it is absolutely nonsense. it didn't happen. >> as alex waited for trial, things got worse. his 5-year-old daughter coco was diagnosed with cancer and underwent a bone marrow 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 alex fausino went on trial for her murder. >> please rise. >> because of pretrial publicity and the high profile beckwith name the case was moved out of boone, 200 miles away to decor ra, iowa, where the fausino's and beckwiths were separated with much more than the courtroom aisle t. prosecutor told the jury after a deteriorating relationship and divorce papers filed, alex lost it that night and killed his wife. >> alex had everything to gain by emily's death and he had everything to lose by emily being alive. >> alex would lose his kids, would lose his job, would lose his house.

he would lose money in the fight for divorce. >> the state started its case using alex's own words. >> help! help! >> 911, what's your emergency? >> prosecutors said this wasn't grief, it was remorse. >> in that initial 911 call, alex sounds pretty genuinely traumatized to me. he doesn't sounds like somebody faking it. >> part of the argument to the jury is that it has to be a horrific thing to commit a murder. >> so what we're hearing is his horror at having committed a murder of someone close to him? >> that would be a way to characterize it, yes. >> reporter: prosecutors claim in that 911 calm, alex had already concocted a story that emily exited suicide or died from a drug overdose. . >> even at that police interview a few hours later, prosecutors said alex was pushing his theory

emily had somehow overdosed. >> maybe she didn't kill herself, maybe it was an accident. >> then the prosecution called the state medical examine tore tell jurors about that key piece of evidence the toxicology report. >> did you also have testing done on body fluids and blood taken from emily fausino at her autopsy? >> yes. i had many, many toxicology tests. >> she told the jury emily had no drugs in her system that would have kill her. >> the drug tests that were done did not show opiates in her system at all. >> you didn't think it played a role? >> i don't think it played a role. >> even though she initially ruled the cause of death undetermined the medical examiner had a surprising change of heart on the witness stand. >> which manner of death do you fave over the others? >> in this case, i'm much more strongly leaning towards homicide than any of the 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 it would be consistent with a homicide. bruises along the side of the wind pipe and larynx would be consistent with a homicide. >> murder by strangulation. prosecutors now called family and friends to testify that emily felt threatened by her husband. her sister amy. >> how would you describe emily fausino in the months leading up to her death. >> sad. >> why was she sad? >> because she wanted to get away from alex. >> the children's nan my 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 had 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, emily fausino was dead. prosecutors say there was only one conclusion, alex murdered his wife. >> the only explanation here after looking at all the evidence, all circumstances, that the head injuries were inflicted and who would have done that alex fausino. >> 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. >> why does it matter? what did you do today? >> emily, under the influence? when "dateline" inuecont

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by this time, the love that had once joined the beckwith and w fausino families were long gone. in an iowa courtroom, a jury listened for a week as prosecutors painted alex fausinos a a monster who brutally killed his wife in a fit of rage. i got to ask you this straight out. did you play any role in killing your wife? >> physically, no i mean, i will always feel a little responsible that i couldn't get through to anybody to get her help. and i'll carry that with me for all of my life.

>> defense hours insisted there was no murder here or any crime at all. >> this case should have never been prosecuted. >> that was where you came down, right, from the beginning, this case shouldn't have been on. >> absolutely not. i put that on because of a lack of evidence. alex fausino was innocent. >> it's hard to charge third degree murder. >> from the beginning, prosecutors targeted alex and refused to consider anything else. >> they reviewed all the information, toxicology reports, everything associated with her death. they concluded, we don't know what the cause of death s. 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, a pathologist that said that the manner of death was a homicide. they found this person. >> he stated his case to the jiri. >> emily fausino passed away as a result of an accidental

drowning and that will relate to her addiction. >> he said the only crime was 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 subtleties of withdrawal? >> absolutely not. >> he tried to cast doubt on the claim that emily had gotten completely clean before she died. >> were you in denial at that time about your daughter? >> absolutely not. >> to drive home that point the dfgs 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? >> it was a facetime call, alex said he recorded less than two weeks before emily died. >> i got -- i don't know. why, why, why does it ma itself? what did you -- do today? >> what? >> why did you record that facetime call? >> to ensure i'd get custody of the kids in a divorce. >> you wanted proof that emily was impaired during the course of her daily life? >> right. it's hard to argue with what's plain to see on the 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, what happens? it's clear, withdrawal happens, two or three days later,

withdrawal, what does withdrawal do? seizures, fainting, disneyness, unsteadiness, she could have fallp in the bathtub. >> and that also explains why there were no drug found in her system? >> correct. >> could emily fausino have drowned accidentally in the tub? alex's attorneys were hoping to plant that thought in the minds of jurors, what about those bruises? they called their own pathologist who said he didn't know what had caused them. >> do you know any determinations where they could conclude how thaty could have o? >> no, unlike the tv shows, you can't look at that and know exactly what happened. >> no expert they argued could say for certain there had even been a murder. >> i do not know the cause of death or the manner of death. that's not an intellectual

failure. that's intellectual honesty. >> the defense was all to happy to remind them even the state's own m.e. came to the conclusion in her report. the cause of death, undetermined. >> well, is there anything in dr. cavalier's original autopsy undetermined. >> well is there anything in dr. catalier's original autopsy report, that you take issue or disagree with? >> no sir, i actually agree with it whole heartedly. >> at trial, dr. catalier testified that she favors homicide. would you agree with that? >> no sir, i would respectfully disagree with that. >> reporter: 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 alex fazzino. find him not guilty. >> reporter: jurors would now have to decide if alex fazzino was a killer, or a wrongly accused husband who had tried only to save his wife. >> reporter: coming up. >> you prepared for a guilty verdict?

>> yeah. >> reporter: two families on edge. four years of questions. the verdict at least. when "dateline" continues. a user without getting ripped off. you could start your search at the all-new carfax.com that might help. show me the carfax. now the car you want and the history you need are easy to find. show me used trucks with one owner. pretty cool. [laughs] ah... ahem... show me the carfax. start your used car search and get free carfax reports at the all-new carfax.com. today's senior living communities have never been better, with amazing amenities like movie theaters, exercise rooms and swimming pools, public cafes, bars and bistros even pet care services.

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welcome back. in the case against alex

fazzino, the prosecution argued that she'd been murdered, but what about that facetime call appearing to show an intoxicated emily? the defense claimed no one could definitively say how she even died, and if there was no cause of death, there could be no crime. now, alex fazzino's fate was in the hands of a jury. here's josh mankiewicz with the conclusion of "the quiet one." >> reporter: four years after emily fazzino's 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. >> reporter: what's it say? >> nick, ricky, and coco, i loved your mother, and i never

hurt her. i would never leave you. like your mom is always in your heart, i will be, too. you kids are the light of my life. all my love, now and forever, dad. >> reporter: 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's in, i could barely breathe. >> reporter: 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 -- and -- hopefully the jury would see it our way and convict him. >> reporter: the defense attorneys were confident as well. >> we had the facts. we had the experts. >> but -- but you never know. >> but you never know. >> good luck honey. i love you. i don't need luck, dad. >> reporter: both sides couldn't be any more raw, or more on edge. 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? >> reporter: -- here it was. >> in the matter of the state of iowa plaintiff versus alexander joseph fazzino. we the jury find the defendant not guilty. [ cheers ] >> thank you, lord! >> reporter: not guilty. the words alex and his family had been waiting to hear. even his veteran defense attorneys couldn't hold it together. >> i held off crying until bill started crying. >> yeah. >> he -- he started it. and that's what sent me over the edge. >> reporter: and -- one never cries if you think your client's guilty. >> no. >> you don't. >> god bless you, bill. thank you. >> reporter: 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. >> thank you so much. >> reporter: the celebration across the aisle became too much for emily's mother to take.

>> shut up, shut up! i went in shock. alls i can remember is -- people jumping up and down like cheerleaders. i didn't know until afterwards. that i told 'em to shut up. >> reporter: as they left the courtroom, the reality of what had happened sank in. back inside, alex says felt he 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 there to high five about? >> reporter: you know there are people that are never gonna believe you're innocent? >> yeah. i'm very aware. >> reporter: you're okay with that. >> i'm not okay with it. i can't let it bother me. i'm not gonna let what somebody says keep me from holding my head up high. >> reporter: emily's parents are

among those who still believe in alex's guilt. but strangely enough, something that sounded like acceptance current 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. we don't have bitterness inside. >> or hate. >> or hate. he was found innocent. it's over. we're walking down the -- the road of life. >> reporter: their granddaughter coco is dancing down that road. she turned 7 years old, and when we visited, she was cancer free. but alex says big moments like these will forever be tinged 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's not there. she's not there for -- for them

and for me. to share in it. it's -- it's hard. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thanks for watching. good morning. i'm dara brown at msnbc world headquarters in new york. it's 7:00 a.m. in the east, 4:00 a.m. out west. here's what's happening. vital signs, what we learned from president trump's physical exam and what we can expect to learn in the coming days. new fallout from the president's alleged remark on haiti and africa. more news today from the people inside the meeting room where it reportedly happened. lawyering up. former white house chief strategist prepares to tell all to the house intel committee. what the risks are for president trump. that's next. and we begin with politics. mo