he is electable. it's time for america to slide down the bannon-ster. first time i saw her, i thought she was beautiful. we just loved being together. we were always together. our kitchen back door was opened and the glass was broken. my wife. oh, my god. >> it was he who found her. >> i just didn't know how to handle that. i wish i could have been there to protect her. >> a wife murdered. and later, a husband under suspicion. >> he was such a nice guy. you would have never guessed he would have done something like

that. >> you think he faked that burglary and killed his wife? >> yes. >> he wanted the house. he wanted her money. if he divorced her, he lost everything. >> in court, a stunning verdict. >> this cannot be happening. i did not kill my wife. >> but more stunning still was what came after. a mysterious witness with a secret. >> this is a woman who essentially says, i saw the murderer. and it wasn't tom foley. >> would her story be the ultimate twist? >> reach in and tear out your heart. unbelievable. >> mystery at heath bar farm. hello and welcome to "dateline extra." it's a mystery people thought they had the answer to, the murder of a well loved teacher in a close-knit town. within hours police were on the scene. there would be an arrest, a trial and a conviction. case closed? not on your life.

because in this story, a bombshell came in after the verdict. >> reporter: february 2009, cold water, michigan. >> what's the problem? >> my wife. >> your wife? >> yes. >> reporter: in one day, one moment -- >> is she breathing? >> no. she's gone. >> reporter: the innocent, simple life tom foley and his family once lived was gone forever. >> oh, my god. oh, my gosh. >> reporter: it was a moment tom foley never would have imagined 23 years earlier. back then, number 30 -- >> 15 seconds left. >> reporter: scored the winning basket, giving cold water high school the regional title. >> that's it. he hits it with five seconds.

>> reporter: earning young tom a place in cold water's basketball hall of fame. >> i have goose bumps talking about it. >> it was like victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat. he came through with it. >> reporter: to what extent were you sort of known around here for being the kid that hit game winning shot? >> that went on for a long time. maybe someone might come up, tom, you remember when you hit that shot? of course i remember. >> reporter: in 1991, the hometown hero started dating another local standout named darlene weber. dar as she was known had a personality as big as her smile. >> the first time i saw her, she was playing softball, of course. she had on these lime green specs. she looked a little funny. when she took them off, i thought she was beautiful. >> reporter: it was a classic case of opposites attracting. >> i think we both went into the relationship knowing that we

really loved spending time with one another. >> reporter: tom was the laid back easy going time. dar an elementary schoolteacher was more type a. she didn't hide what she was thinking. >> she had opinions. she would let those be known. it's one of the reasons i loved her. i still love her today. >> reporter: still, when dar's sisters learned that dar and tom intended to marry, they were left scratching their heads. >> my famous saying was, there's got to be something wrong with tom for him to stay with dar. >> reporter: you couldn't do it? >> no. >> reporter: you couldn't be around somebody who was that much of center of attention? >> telling what you to do. >> reporter: that controlling? >> dar was not a doe mresdomest person. >> reporter: right from the start, she took the lead. fair to say she wore the pants in the house?

>> i would say probably 75%, 80% of the time she did. >> reporter: she was the breadwinner? >> yes. >> reporter: you stayed home and took care of your son? >> i did. >> reporter: heath was their only child and the center of their lives. >> we loved being together. we were always together. >> reporter: so the three foleys lived on the outskirts of cold water, in an old farmhouse they called the heath bar farm. a picture perfect family. until that winter day back in 2009. what was the last thing you said to her? >> i said, i love you. and i will see you later. >> reporter: on that day the foleys were preparing to celebrate heath's 10th birthday at a friend's house down the road. dar needed to shower. so tom, heath and a friend left without her. the plan was for dar to follow in her own car and meet them at the party later that afternoon. but dar never arrived. that gave you some sort of sixth

sense something was wrong? >> yes. she was always on time or early. >> reporter: so tom left the party and headed back home in search of his wife. >> our kitchen back door was opened and i noticed that the glass was broken and there was glass all over our kitchen floor. so i looked through the rest of the house for her. and i ended up finding her in our bathroom. >> reporter: it was a gruesome scene. dar lying in the shower stall. she had been shot in the head with a shotgun at point blank range. tom immediately called for help. >> what's the problem? >> my wife. she's in the shower. she's laying there in the blood. >> reporter: first responders rushed to the farm. when michigan state detective arrived on the scene, he knew he was in for a long night. >> we don't have a lot of homicides that happen in and around branch county. because of her position as a

schoolteacher, for the number of people that knew her, that put it in a more serious type investigation. >> reporter: the detective and his team scoured the crime scene. taking pictures and seizing evidence of what appeared to be a home burglary gone wrong. the first clue, the broken glass coming from the kitchen door window. >> it appeared that a beer bottle was used to break that particular window. >> reporter: according to tom, jewelry and credit cards were missing. the family desk had been disturb and financial documents inside were gone. and then there was the medicine cabinet. >> looked like something had gone in and basically scooped up a shelf off of the medicine cabinet and its contents. >> reporter: they were looking for prescription drugs? >> potentially. >> reporter: to the detective, the items missing weren't nearly as telling as what was left behind. expensive electronics were

untouched. as was dar's purse found sitting on a hallway chair. >> it didn't make a lot of sense. >> reporter: neither did the use of a shotgun. >> it's large. potentially bulky. if you are going in to break into something, you have to carry whatever you steal out with this shotgun that you brought also. >> reporter: it wasn't until the next day that police found their first significant piece of evidence. evidence that led the investigation in a whole new direction. down in the foley's dusty basement, was a suspiciously dust free yellow plastic bag. what was in the bag? >> three shotgun shells. i accept i don't bike as far as i used to. i even accept i have a higher risk of stroke due to afib, a type of irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. but no matter where i ride, i go for my best. so if there's something better than warfarin, i'll go for that too. eliquis. eliquis reduced the risk of stroke better than warfarin,

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returning to the mystery of heath bar farm, dar foley, a popular small-town teacher had been murdered in what looked like a home invasion. it wasn't long before

investigators concluded that there were pieces of the puzzle that didn't add up. their suspicion centered not on a stranger but on dar's husband, former local hero tom foley. the funeral was held on the 13th, friday the 13th. those unlucky enough to share their grief over the woman they loved and lost poured into union city high school auditorium. no church was big enough to accommodate the more than 500 people who came to honor and remember dar. >> she was so full of life. she had a lot more to give. we can't bring her back. >> reporter: your wife has been killed. you have a 10-year-old son. what did you tell him? >> i told him that someone had hurt mommy.

he goes, is she in heaven? i said yes. >> reporter: it seemed no one in cold water could comprehend what had happened. including steve and joanie pierce, close friends of both tom and dar who learned of the murder from tom himself. >> i said, the three of you were always together. he was crying. he said, i know, i know. i should have been there for her. and then i said, if you would have been the three of you would be dead now instead of just dar. >> reporter: just 24 hours into the investigation, detective had almost abandon the theory that this was a random act of violence. >> it appeared that this was a staged breaking and entering to try to hide a homicide that took place. >> reporter: according to the detective, whoever staged the burglary didn't factor in the weather that day. >> it got warm. we had a huge snowmelt. >> reporter: the ground was

unusually wet and muddy. you would expect there would be muddy footprints from inside the residence from somebody who had come through the door? >> absolutely. >> reporter: was there anything? >> there was nothing. >> reporter: it was the yellow bag in the basement, the bag containing shotgun shells that interested him the most. >> downstairs in the basement we found a bag that had some shotgun shells in it. >> okay. >> have you ever seen that before? >> no. >> reporter: the foleys didn't own a shotgun as far as we know? >> that's correct. >> reporter: he sent the bag to the lap fb for nal sianalysis. what technicians found surprised this detective. tom's fingerprint was on the bag? >> yes. >> reporter: the detective felt he needed to take a closer look at tom foley and his seemingly picture perfect marriage. >> i think they did a lot of things together. however, i don't consider them

the picture perfect couple. >> reporter: neither did dar's sister lynn in whom dar once confided. >> she said, tom doesn't love me anymore. he is leaving me. he is going through his change of life, you know. >> reporter: his midlife crisis? >> yes. >> reporter: her sisters were becoming suspicious. especially they said after watching tom's behavior at dar's funeral. >> it was almost like he was relieved. >> there were a number of people that came up to me after the service that were really offended by his demeanor. his joyfulness. >> these are things that i have heard. it's ridiculous. taking care of heath was on my mind. wondering who killed my wife was on my mind. they don't know the things that i've been through. >> reporter: maybe so. but the detective was keeping a very watchful eye on tom foley.

he decided to interview the other foley who was at the farm the day dar was killed. tom and dar's son heath. on that day, heath and his friend were in the house playing video games waiting to be driven to heath's birthday celebration. >> did you see anything different or out of the ordinary or anybody walking around, anybody come up to the door? anything that you could think of? >> no. >> reporter: the detective interviews skylar who said right before leaving for the party, tom sent the two boys outside to go start up the truck. >> he said he will be out there in a little bit. i don't know what he was doing in there, taking a shower or what. >> reporter: like heath, he couldn't recall anything unusual about that day either. and then suddenly -- >> when we were outside running across the barns, there was big

crash way in the back of the house. >> what did it sound like? >> it sounded like breaking glass and things falling. maybe a vase just -- >> it was a loud sound? >> yeah. >> reporter: the detective showed skylar a drawing of the farm. asked skylar to place an x where he believed the sound originated. >> like somewhere around in here. >> reporter: he placed the x just outside the first floor bathroom. the same room where dar foley had been shot. >> it appeared to us that skylar may have heard the shotgun blast that killed dar foley. >> reporter: the detective was also thinking this. the one other person in that house at that time was tom foley. >> coming up -- >> he wanted the house. he wanted her money. if he divorced her, he lost everything.

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a young boy says he heard the shotgun blast that took dar foley's life. was he to be believed? the only person in the house at the time was her husband tom. he strongly denied he harmed his wife. investigators hadn't found the weapon. so they went hunting for motive.

>> reporter: from the mouths of babes or in this case one articulate 10-year-old boy. came what seemed like a case breaking revelation. >> it was loud, loud. >> reporter: the detective believed 10-year-old skylar was an ear witness to the shotgun blast that killed dar foley. if true, it meant dar was murdered earlier than originally thought. more significantly, it meant tom foley was still in the house when the murder occurred. >> that lead was huge. it was very, very important. >> reporter: if tom foley was in that house and pulled the trigger, the question remained why. the answer is quite simple. murder for money? >> potentially, yes. >> reporter: money in the form of an insurance policy. >> i think that he wanted out of the marriage. and did whatever he needed to do to make sure that that happened. >> reporter: if he got $310,000

in insurance money and got out of the marriage, so much the better? >> yes. >> reporter: the evidence against tom foley was circumstantial but compelling. you think he faked the burglary and killed his wife? >> yes. >> reporter: they never found the murder weapon. what do you think happened to the gun? >> i wish i knew. >> reporter: even without it, in march of 2009, one month after dar foley was gunned down in her shower, state police arrested tom foley and charged him with his wife's murder. >> and i just -- what? how? why? and i was like, this cannot be happening. why do you think that i did this? i did not kill my wife. >> reporter: to tom and dar's close friends the pierces, news of tom's arrest was almost as stunning as the news of dar's death. could you conceive of tom either hating his wife so much he wanted to kill her -- >> absolutely not.

>> reporter: or killing her for insurance money? >> absolutely not. >> that would be stupid. why kill the golden goose? >> he has never been one to want things. it's not like money has been -- was real valuable to him. >> reporter: you think they had a good marriage? >> i do. everything seemed to be going real good. >> reporter: it seemed sadistic, shooting your wife at point-blank range, killing the mother of your son on the very day he was celebrating his 10th birthday. >> he never would have done that to his son. >> reporter: police continued gathering evidence. ten days after tom's arrest, police brought heath foley in for a second interview. this time, heath did recall hearing a noise that day. >> skylar talks about hearing an unusual sound. do you remember that? >> our neighbors shoot guns. it was a gun shot maybe or maybe glass broke. i don't know.

it was one of those two things maybe. >> reporter: according to tom, the sound heath heard was nothing more than glass breaking. >> there were old barn windows that i was trying to clean up. i went to grab them. one of them slipped out of my grip and it smashed on our back porch steps. >> reporter: made a lot of noise? >> it did. >> reporter: the detective wasn't buying tom's explanation. the boys were playing by this barn. >> yes. >> reporter: how far is that to the house? >> it's 75 yards. >> reporter: mr. foley claims he was dropping a window. would that have penetrated that far? >> in my opinion, that couldn't have happened. >> reporter: police say they searched that area around the back porch. >> there was no glass that we could see when we looked at the scene on that particular night as well as the next day. >> reporter: for dar's sisters, the writing was on the wall.

they were certain of their brother-in-law's guilt. >> we went over every case we could come up with to not make it tom. >> i think tom resented dar and that he couldn't be a man. i think it ate at him. he couldn't take it anymore. >> reporter: people get divorced for that reason. >> he didn't divorce her because he is a selfish coward. he wanted hee ed heath. he wanted the house. he wanted her money. if he divorced her, he lost everything. >> reporter: in november 2009, tom foley's trial began. the prosecution argued that only tom had a motive to kill dar. the defense claimed police had rushed to judgment. the defense attorney and defense investigator. >> in their mind it's the boyfriend or the husband. >> or the person who finds the body. >> reporter: which in this case -- >> was the husband and tom. >> they wanted me bad.

what's easier for them to go after someone that they can actually physically see or go after someone that they cannot physically see? >> reporter: what's wrong with the idea that the money was a motive? >> absolutely not. we had a mortgage. to move on after all this, it was going to take more than that. >> reporter: after two weeks of testimony, the jury had its verdict. >> felt the evidence was going to prove that there's absolutely no way i had anything to do with this. >> reporter: 12 jurors didn't share that feeling. >> we the jury find the defendant guilty of first degree murder. >> i was -- what? i was shocked. >> what was wrong with the jury? what did they know that i don't know? how could they convict a man on what they had? >> i knew what a conviction was meant for me. and for life without the possibility of parole. >> my sister is still dead. still didn't bring her back.

but you had a little bit of faith in the justice system. >> reporter: in the hours following the verdict, it seemed everyone in cold water was relying on faith. >> i said to myself, god isn't going to let me go to prison for the rest of my life. something had to turn around. >> reporter: less than 24 hours after the verdict, tom foley's defense team got a phone call from a woman. >> this is a woman who essentially says, i saw the murderer and it wasn't tom foley. >> coming up -- >> there's the killer. right there. she saw him. >> a bombshell from out of the blue. was there hope for newly convicted husband when mystery at heath bar farm continues. coming at you with my brand-new vlog. just making some ice in my freezer here. so check back for that follow-up vid. this is my cashew guy bruno. holler at 'em, brun. kicking it live and direct here at the fountain. should i go habanero or maui onion?

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fire for these alleged remarks. trump was meeting with kevin mccarthy in florida. the dead toll is up to 20 in california mudslides. for now, back to "dateline." welcome back to "dateline extra." after the jury delivered a guilty verdict, tom foley faced life behind bars. then in a stunning development just 24 hours later, a witness emerged who possibly could set him free. the husband some shunned as a murderer might be innocent after all. >> he hits it with five seconds to go. >> reporter: 24 years after the one-time hometown hero made cold water history, the now convicted

murderer of the same name sat behind bars awaiting his sentence. you were ready to spend the rest of your life in prison? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: tom foley's attorney and his private eye, the guilty verdict landed like a crushing blow. >> this was a grass root who done it. we thought we had shown it wasn't this person who had done it. >> i was devastated. when this ended, i could have walked into a wall. >> reporter: just one day after tom foley's conviction, a woman stepped forward. she had new information that suddenly gave new life to tom's defense. >> she came forward and said, i saw this white car storming out of the driveway. almost hit me. it looked like somebody was either high or running away from something. >> reporter: the woman was certain the driver was coming out of the heath bar farm right around the time dar was murdered. she was equally certain the

driver looked nothing like tom foley. >> there's the killer. right there. she saw him. person leaving our property. >> reporter: and then like a dam breaking, two other witnesses came forward. each having seen a mysterious car of their own. either parked on the foley property or speeding away from it. all the sightings were within two hours of dar's murder. >> one at another. what is going on? where were these people before? >> reporter: the judge who was about to sentence tom foley to life wanted to hear what the witnesses had to say. after a year of appeals that went to the state supreme court, tom foley was granted something most people convicted of murder never receive, a second chance. >> i was walking through the chow hall in prison. somebody said, tom, i saw you on the news. i said, what for?

they gave you a new trial. i said what? >> reporter: it didn't change the minds of dar's family. they remained convinced not only did tom kill dar, he did so on the day his son's tenth birthday celebration. you think tom is cold blooded enough to do something like that to his kid? >> yes. >> yes. >> i think there's evil in him. >> reporter: the prosecutor agreed. who killed dar foley? >> tom foley. there is nobody else. >> reporter: a year and a half after tom foley's conviction, both sides filed back into the courthouse to once again determine tom's fate. as before, the state opened its case with the crime scene analysts. >> what is it you found in the basement? >> a yellow bag. located inside was three shotgun shells. >> these are phone records.

>> reporter: she showed the home phone records from around the time dar was killed. >> there were no phone calls that came in or left. >> reporter: your wife doesn't show up somewhere, why not call home and say, have you left yet, we're waiting for you? >> that's what i would do. >> reporter: according to the detective, tom didn't bother calling dar at home because he knew dar was already dead. then members of dar's family stepped forward to testify that tom and dar's marriage was troubled and that tom wanted out. >> he told me that his wife is very controlling and that it was wearing on him and he did not necessarily want to stay in the marriage anymore. >> reporter: there was more evidence of an unhappy marriage. according to this woman, back in 2006, tom had a wandering eye. >> state your full name for the record and spell your last. >> reporter: she taught at the

sa same elementary school. >> he told me that he was thinking about leaving her. >> reporter: tom also revealed he had feelings for her. later, he tried to kiss her. >> what was your reaction to that? >> i didn't want anything to do with it. >> reporter: the prosecution wasn't done. this woman took the stand. >> state your full name for the record and spell your last name. >> reporter: out of the presence of the jury, marion told the court that like carrie, she met tom through dar. a couple of weeks after dar's murder, she stopped by the farm to offer tom support. >> i don't mean to embarrass you. you had sex with tom in his living room? >> he tried to. it was stopped. >> who tried and who stopped?

>> he tried and we both stopped. >> you don't have a sexual relationship with somebody within two weeks after your wife's been murdered in that house. >> reporter: the jury never heard her testimony. because there was no indication of a romantic relationship prior to dar's murder. the judge ruled just as he did in the first trial her testimony was inadmissible. it was a huge blow to the prosecution's case. >> it supports the position that they weren't this deeply in love couple that he kept trying to present. that would have proven that. >> reporter: they still had two key witnesses, tom's son and his friend. both two years older and now more certain than ever about what they saw and heard. the day dar was killed. >> last year at church camp, we went for one of our activities, we fired shotguns.

it most resembled that sound. >> reporter: then it was time for heath to take the stand. the last time tom had seen his boy was at a hearing in court almost a year earlier. >> while you are in the barn, do you hear something? >> yes. i thought it was maybe skylar ran into a wall. either that or a gun shot. >> reporter: you think the boys were if not eyewitnesses then ear witnesses. >> to what happened. >> reporter: tom shaffer knew if he had any hope of getting tom foley acquitted, he would need to prove the sound those boys heard was anything other than a gun shot. just two weeks before trial began, while inspecting crime scene photos, shaffer found what may be the key to his client' freedom. >> i said, is that what i think it is? it was one of these, holy crap. >> it was to us just a perry mason moment.

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returning to the mystery at heath bar farm, tom foley is about to take the stand in his own defense. >> the defense began presenting its case in hopes of convincing the -- >> reporter: midway through the trial, the talk around cold water focused on the damaging testimony of skylar and tom's own son heath. what did you think was the strongest part of your case? >> the boys. the testimony of the boys. they heard the gun shot. >> reporter: the defense was about to argue that over time both boys' testimony had changed and in significant ways. >> heath is stating it sounds like a gun shot.

it's something he didn't say in the first interview. the same thing with skylar. >> reporter: heath's testimony left tom furious at his accusers, the people cared for heath. that's somebody coaching him or encouraging him? >> i believe so. >> reporter: coached or not, tom foley's defense team knew from day one that they needed to prove the sound those boys heard was tom dropping a window frame on the back porch and not the fatal gun blast. four days after tom foley's arrest, they took a trip to the farm to try and do just that. >> couple of perry mason moments. don't come very often. >> this is the frame we found. >> reporter: where tom said he dropped the frame, they found this tiny shard of glass. immediately they tried to match the shard with the frame tom said he dropped. >> if you take the shard and set it in one of the few remaining

intact putty areas, you can see it fits perfectly. >> reporter: it was compelling evidence that tom may have been telling the truth. shaffer would need more than a shard of evidence. he next called this woman, the woman who came forward immediately following tom's guilty verdict and the reason he was ultimately granted a new trial. moore said she was driving past the house right around the time dar had been murdered. >> as i approached this white car come racing out forward. if i hadn't have braked, i would have hit him. >> reporter: she got a look at the driver. >> it was a young 18 to 20-year-old kid. real black hair and his face was real white. he was clenching the wheel like this. i thought, he is crazy. he is going to kill somebody. >> reporter: why didn't you call the police? >> i didn't because i was

afraid. >> reporter: when she learned about tom foley's guilty verdict, she said she could no longer keep her silence. >> god forgive me. i truly mean that in my heart. that i didn't come forward sooner. if i hadn't have been so scared. >> reporter: what followed was a succession of other witnesses. each claiming they, too, saw mysterious cars on or leaving the farm right around the time of the murder. >> i caught the glance of a ford -- black ford suv vehicle. >> it could have been white car, cream car. it was a light colored car. >> who killed dar foley was either in one of those cars or all three of them participated in this murder in some fashion. >> reporter: but tom foley knew if he had any hope of acquittal, the jury would need to hear from one more witness. >> i call tom foley to the

stand. >> i didn't want to convince just the 12 jurors. i wanted to convince the prosecut prosecutor, the police, my wife's family. i wanted them to know. >> reporter: he started by answering some nagging questions like how did a yellow plastic bag with shotgun shells in it get into tom's basement? >> did you have bags in your home? >> yes. >> reporter: how do you explain the bag in the basement with the shotgun shells? >> they weren't ours. that bag is probably ours. my fingerprint is on the bag. for three clean shotgun shells to be in my basement -- this doesn't make sense. >> reporter: you have no idea where those came from? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: tom said he never owned or used a shotgun. >> never. wouldn't know how to operate it. wouldn't know the first thing about it. >> reporter: tom shaffer then asked why tom failed to call his home when dar didn't show up at

the birthday celebration. >> something just wasn't right. that's why i went home. if we had cell phones, i would have called her on the cell phone. i had to find her. i had to see where she was at. >> reporter: it was time for tom to describe his relationship with dar. it didn't take tom long to lose his composure. >> we were very close. we were -- >> go ahead. >> we were together all the time. >> reporter: tom admitted he did once flirt with carrie. he says that happened three years prior to the murder during a brief time when he and dar were arguing more than they were communicating. >> that put distance between us. it also led to intimacy problems between her and i.

>> reporter: he says he eventually told dar about his feelings for carrie. hes said he went to counseling. >> after those sessions, did things get better? >> absolutely. >> reporter: then why was it so easy for tom to become intimate with marion so soon after dar's death? three weeks after dar died. and you are in the house where dar died. >> yeah. >> reporter: what am i to think of that? >> think that -- i don't care about what had happened to my wife. that's not true. if i go back and change it, i would. but i can't. >> this was an event that involved grief and a reaching out and it happened. do you love your wife? >> i love her very much. >> did you love her on february 7, 2009? >> very much so.

>> did you have anything to do with her death? >> not at all. >> reporter: before closing arguments, the prosecutor had one more card to play. in the form of a surprise rebuttal witness who >> please state your name for the record. >> amber rappeljay. >> out of the presence of the jury, dar's niece told the court that one week before dar was murdered she went to the farm to babysit. >> she told us not to go out on the back door without shoes because tom had dropped a frame and there might be still some glass out there. >> the judge ruled that amber's testimony was hearsay and therefore inadmissible. the jury never heard her challenge tom's claim that what the boys heard the day dar was murdered was with him dropping a window frame. >> that was his big play, that was what the noise was. that should have been included and was not. >> now, with the evidence that

was admitted, and for the second time in two year, a jury was about to decide tom foley's fate. >> my stomach was turning. i wasn't eating. i was physically sick. ♪ when heartburn hits...

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and now with the conclusion with the mystery at heath bar farm, here again is josh mankiewicz.

as he did in the first trial, attorney tom schafer prepared to address the jury for what he and his client tom foley hoped would be the last time. when your defense rested, were you comfortable? >> yes. >> you thought you were going to win. >> very much, yes. >> you thought that once before. >> yes, i did. >> apparently the theory the prosecution is that if a marriage ever has a bump in the road, then that is a motive for murder. is it reasonable? i suggest not. >> tom foley, he says, had nothing to do with dar's death, but those mysterious cars did. >> those cars should not have been there. and the prosecution has not given you any explanation why they were there because there is no other explanation other than they had some connection with the death of dar foley. ladies and gentlemen of the jury, i submit to you there's more than reasonable doubt. i respectfully ask you to find tom foley not guilty. >> then came prosecutor terri

norris' turn, and she started by attacking the credibility of those witnesses who say they saw the cars. >> if you were to believe that all of these vehicles were there, there was a party at the foley home that day with a bunch of white cars and a black suv. that makes no sense whatsoever. none. >> terri norris wanted this jury thinking only one thing. >> who had the motive? it's tom foley. whose fingerprint was on the bag of shells in the basement? tom foley's. tom foley is guilty, and i'm asking you to bring back that verdict. >> the outcome of tom's second trial was far from certain. what worried you the most? >> just that he was such a nice guy that you would never have guessed he would have done something like that. >> he didn't seem like a murderer. >> right. >> and then at the fabled eleventh hour, it was time. the jury filed in. were they looking at you, the jurors? >> no, they weren't. >> i took a couple deep breaths

and i just -- >> your honor, we the jury find the defendant not guilty. >> the waiting had paid off. >> as to count two? >> not guilty. >> the reaction of tom at the time of the verdict, absolutely incredible. >> he collapsed to the floor and wept for 20 minutes. unbelievable. >> he got away with murder, but he almost didn't. we had it. we had him convicted. and to actually have to go back and talk with that family and try and give them some consoling, how do you do that? >> you're just angry. you're angry at the jurors, the judge. there's nothing you can do about it. >> i was more concerned about heath at that point because i knew that he knew his father

killed his mother. and i couldn't imagine having to go back and live with the man who killed your mother. >> yeah, get it! >> tom has regained custody of heath, and said he treads very carefully when discussing that tragic day with his boy. >> from him, i at least want to know, why do you think i did this? i deserved that answer. all he could say is, i don't know who else it could have been. >> tom says he will never forget dar. >> i still think she's beside me. i'm going to continue to raise our son the way that we wanted him to be raised. >> you harbor any grudge because of this? >> all i can say is they made a mistake. that's all i'm asking, that they search and search and search until they find dee dee's killer. >> according to prosecutor norris at the time, there would

be no point to that search. you're not investigating anymore? >> there's no one to investigate, and there's been no new evidence of anybody else ever having committed this crime. >> this boyhood hero wrote a whole new set of headlines as an adult, and coldwater may never be the same. as for those who remain convinced of tom's guilt, they cling to the memory of the one they lost and loved so much. they gather to release balloons in dar's honor. >> she loved to be the center of attention, so this is her -- her center of her attention. >> two, one! >> they rise closer to where she's at and hopefully she sees that we're thinking about her. we love you, dar!

>> that's all for this edition of "dateline extra" i'm craig melvin. thanks for watching. due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. step out of the cage. >> hands behind your back. close that gap up. >> deputies shake down a housing unit and hit a contraband jackpot. >> it's pruno. liquid courage. >> lying is not the answer. >> i'm not lying. i just don't tell him. >> okay, but -- >> i'm not going to sit there and tell him, oh, yeah, your mom sells drugs and your mom robs people to -- >> an inmate learns addiction and motherhood do not make a good mix.