>> to battle what she had to battle, i guess she did have erin's fighting spirit, you know, to to pull through all that. you know? so thank god for that. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." he married the woman of his dreams, beautiful and sweet. >> she's just angelic. >> and was folded into her tight-knit family headed by an elderly religious matriarch. to together they had a little girl, sydney. when things fell apart, they closed ranks. >> one day, he went to pick up his little girl for a visit and was never seen alive again.

>> he died right there. >> but who would kill a devoted dad? the unbelievable choice, his golden girl wife or the gracious family matriarch. they seemed so loving. but was there another side? >> it's a uponster that that comes out of a closet. very ugly. >> how dark is that side? >> murderous. >> but which one was the killer? >> hello and welcome to "dateline. he was a man suddenly con frond with somethingen monstrous, evil at the door. this is about a father of two young daughters. one night, he left to pick up one of them and never came back. the question for investigators wasn't what happened. it was who did it. >> in the home of a got fearing

family, the worst of crimes. >> i'll get ahold of the ambulance. >> the crime became a mystery. a who done it. >> it's a puzzler. >> and it made many people in town wonder about one particular family, about what had been going on behind the closed doors of their home. >> how will do you really know your neighbors? how will do you really know the people that surround you? >> our story begins with steven watkins who had grown up in tiny chandlerville, illinois. he had had the ideal childhood he wanted to recreate on his own. >> i think that was probably his biggest goal in life was to have that family that he fwru up

with. >> steven's parents say even as a kid, he was always holding his younger sister. >> he loved kids, loved people. and he always wanted to have kids and be around them. >> he should patient and kind and had a smile for everyone. >> and you could always see the smile in his eyes. i could look at him and see the joy of life. >> brandie tulley ran cross-country with steve in the 90s. >> just a really good guy. i don't think he had an enemy in the world. just looked out for people. >> in his 20s, steven joined the military. >> i think he wanted to get out and see a different part of the world. he was raise dollars in a small town and he felt like the military could offer him adventure. >> steven signed with the coast guard and moved to virginia. but not long before he left, a former girlfriend was pgnant.

>> steven was right there. when she was born, he doted over her. he would sleep right by alex's bed holding her little hand. that's just how he was. >> the former girlfriend regularly took alex to visit steven in virginia. father and daughter grew strong. alex's mother realized steven could offer more stability and a better home life for their daughter than she could and she gave him full custody of her. >> that says a lot about him as a dad. >> yes. steven was responsible. that says he was determined to be part of his children's life. >> when alex was 2, steven moved her to virginia to live with him full time. >> he made sure she was always in a good day care. >> did he complain that he didn't have freedom? >> absolutely not. he was content with that. >> but steven also wanted a

wife. his coast guard service ended, he returned home. living in a house behind his parents and got a job with the state. about a year later, steven noticed an attractive woman whose office shared a parking lot with his. >> he was really excited. he felt like i found what i've been looking for in life. >> that woman was jennifer webster who had grown up around the corner from steven's friend, brandie. >> she's very tall and just angelic i think in so many ways. her smile was contagious, as well. very bright. when she walked into a room, i think people turned their heads because she was beautiful. >> she's a very cute girl. long hair. she can be as sweet as can be. you can take her to any crowd you would to go and she'll fit in. >> jennifer's uncle remembers hearing about steven from jennifer before th two started dating in the summer of 2006. from jennifer's description, steven seemed to be infatuated with her from a distance.

>> she said this boy has been watching me in the parking lot at work. he's had there sitting in his car until i get out and then he follows me. my two boys looked at each other and said stalker steve once they found out his name. >> his mother said steven wasn't stalking her. they became a couple instantly. >> this happened so quick i was shocked. she brought him to church two weeks after they had met and introduced him to my father-in-law, didn't even know his last name. >> he ed says this wasn't how things usually went in his and jennifer's family, which he says were slow to accept outsiders. >> we're a kind of family that every single night for probably 15 years we met for supper some place, either their house, my house or at a local restaurant. we was just a close-knit family.

>> in the last several years, multiple generations lived together in a large home. they stuck together, kept to themselves to the point where some had people say they seemed almost klannish. brandie says not only were they tight-knit, but financially successful, as well. >> they always had nicer things. i remember growing up. one year they had a garage sale, one summer, and it was like a gold mine. >> jennifer was beautiful, well off, came from a close family like steven had and yearned for a family as steven did. what could be better? in t end, the real question, what could be worse? >> he didn't know what he was getting into. coming up, steven's family starts to wonder what kind of a woman he has gotten involved with when "dateline" continues. the threat is everywhere. and it only takes one mosquito bite to transmit it.

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welcome back to "dateline." steven and jennifer seemed to have a lot in common. the budding relationship appeared so simple at first. but how will did they really know each other? they couldn't know it yet, but the couple was in for rockier times ahead. we continue with the mystery on horseshoe drive.

>> that's it. there's your horse. there he is. >> in the heart of the illinois farm belt, a new relationship was growing very fast. it seemed steven and jen fer began dating one day and became a committed couple the next. and making it a happy threesome, steven's daughter from a previous relationship, alex. steven often cap tered family moments with photos and video. his family says he thought jennifer would make the perfect wife and mother. >> he felt like he wants to cook with us. she loves alex. she treats alex like she's, you know, her mother. >> the woman to complete his life. >> yes. >> the family he was looking for. >> yes. >> but if steven was happy, his mother had her doubts about the girl from that tight-knit family. >> i didn't feel like she really wanted to be part of our family. and that was from the very beginning i felt that way.

>> steven's dad took a more positive view. >> i just thought it wassing going to be a good fit for him. and i thought jennifer would be real good for both of them. they presented a pretty good picture. >> was your son this in love? >> yes. >> steven began spending much of his time with alex, jennifer and her family. and he was thrilled the family began to embrace him and his daughter. >> that was number one he wanted to make sure that they enjoyed kids and would get along with alex, too. not only was she nice and interacting with him and alex and a basically the perfect mother, but their family was accepting alex and woem welcoming both of them with open arms. >> and it was crucial to have this family accept alex. >> exactly. >> within weeks of meeting, steven and jennifer got married in august 2006. steven's family remembers how happy everyone seemed the day of the wedding, especially steven. >> he was ecstatic. just had a big old smile, eyes

shining. outdoor wedding. >> they threw petals of the sidewalk. jennifer was happy. she was smiling from ear to ear. her family was happy. they made several comments about how happy they were they had such a wonderful son-in-law. >> the whole family raised about steven and al eggs. >> t alex. >> the whole family except jennifer's uncle. he did not attend the wedding. >> i was told within a month after they had started dating, they was going to get married. anthat's just not e way that you get to know somebody. you date them a long time before you just commit to something in life. i feel she jumped on out of the skillet into the frying pan. >> did you feel steven jumped out of the skillet into the frying pan? yeah.

he didn't know what he was getting into. >> still, their life together unfolded like a storybook marriage. not long after the wedding, they bought a home on horseshoe drive just down the block from where her parents and grand patience lived. not long after that, steven called his mom with more big news. jennifer was pregnant. >> i was excited for him. i kept thinking, you know, maybe i was wrong and being thankful that i had not said anything, you know, and imposed my feelings on him. i'm thinking, they're going to have a baby. they're doing good as a family. >> but soon after announcement, things seemed to change for steven and alex. jennifer's family suddenly wanted nothing to do with steven's daughter. he said jennifer's family told alex she's not really part of their family. i don't understand how they can love her and make her had a special part and treat her like blood and then all of a sudden just turn and go the other way.

>> she says alex was very upset by the rejection. steven was, as well. soon with the spring thaw about six months after steven and jennifer's wedding, the relationship grew ice cold. now it was steven himself who was feeling rejected, kicked out of that family circle. >> steven was hurt and discouraged. i don't know if he thought that was a stage that she would go through while she was prosecute pregnant, a hormonal thing or somehow he could make things better and get them back on track. >> but it didn't get a better. instead, the relationship flew off the rails after the baby w born in june 2007. a girl named sydney. >> it was like jennifer wanted her family and her had to be part of sidyey's life, but didn't want anybody else to be part of it. steven said, i barely even get to see sidney. when we go home, jennifer goes down to her mom's house.

she even bathes sydney down there and everything, brings her home at 9:30, 10:00 in time to go to bed and gets up and starts the routine all over again. >> jennifer thought the aragement made for the perfect marriage, but steven thought just the opposite. to him, it was no marriage at all and worse, he wasn't able to see his new baby. his mom says he was running oust of patience and options. he said, mom, the only way i'm ever going to get to know sydney or time with sydney without jennifer being attached to her is if i file for divorce and get visitation. >> he needs on to divorce his wife to see his daughter. >> yes. it was a very hard decision for him to make. >> he also filed for custody for sydney and that set off a move from jennifer steven never expected. she fired back a bombshell. >> the day she found out he filed for divorce and custody of sydney, the day she found out, she called dcfs and accused him

molesting sydney and alex. >> did your son molest his daughters? >> vutly not. >> i thought it was a disgre that she would even do something like that. not only did she hurtim and hurt alex, she hurt the whole feel. >> as the state investigated, steven was allowed visits with sydney, but his family says jennifer continued to keep sydney from him. >> knowing the skinner family, they were so tight-knit, they would let nothing come in between them and their grandchild. >> the allegations of sexual abuse didn't stick. the department of children and family services said they were unfounded. but jennifer still wouldn't allow steven to see sydney. to force her to share the baby with steven, the judge ordered visitation. steven was able to see sydney

for a few visits. he sometimes invited jennifer to come along because, despite all that had happened, his family said steven was still hoping he could show jennifer how good the life could be with the you four of them together as a family. his efforts were in vain, though. far more often what the than not, jennifer and his family denied steven visits with her family. once steven called a police officer to the skinner home to help him, but the family still said no. steven was becoming more and more frustrated and then with one evening in late november 2008, the whole situation exploded. >> 911, what is your emergency? >> my -- my grandmother needs help. my husband come to pick up my child because we're get ago divorce and he come after her and then tried to come after the baby. >> coming up, jennifer was calling for her grand history,

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steven watkins became increasingly frustrated that his had estranged wife, jennifer, was keeping his daughter away from him. things were about about to get violent.

>> it's not just corn that grows quickly in rural illinois. so did the family of steven and jennifer. they had met, married, and had a baby in about a year's time. just as quickly, their relationship fell apart. they were fighting over baby sidney when steven we know to jennifer's one evening to pick up the child. within minutes, jennifer was on the phone with 911 hysterical. >> 911. what is your emergency? >> my -- my grandmother needs help. my husband come to pick up my child because we're get ago divorce and he come after her and then tried to come after the baby and i. he's on the floor shot. >> is she shot? >> no. he's shot. i need an ambulance for my grandmother. >> it was a confusing 911 call. jennifer wanted an ambulance for her grandmother, shirley skinner. as for her estranged husband, steven, jennifer implied to the

dispatcher he had been shot to protect her family. >> he come after her and then he tried to come after sidney and i. oh, god. >> okay. at happened to your >> i think she might -- she's having heart trouble. please come and help her. >> okay on. what's your name? >> jennifer watkins. >> okay. i'll get ahold of the ambulance. all right? >> okay. >> i got a phone call from 911 advising me that there had been a domestic in town at number 11 horseshoe drive. said the husband came in to pick up his daughter for visitation, forced his way in the house, knocked the elderly woman down and she's having medical problems at that time. >> but when he arrived, he found this was no routine did domestic. >> i walked up, open the door

and directly in front of me was an elderly lady sitting in a chair which turned out to be shirley skinner. she was crying a little bit. >> then a first responder motioned over to the other side of the room. then i saw the body laying down there. >> any sign of life? >> no. >> it was steven watkins dead on the floor. a .9 millimeter handgun. >> the ems personnel had told me that shirley made a statement to them that she had shot him. >> they reported to the chief that shirley said a couple times, he's dead. i shot him. he shouldn't have come back here. a stunning story, but this was secondhand information. from first responders quoting an elder areally woman in the midst of a medical and family crisis. were her statements reliable? had she really said that?

chief asked jennifer what happened. >> she said steven forced his way into the house and mocked her grandmother down. then he was coming after her and the baby and the grandmother shot him. >> it all seemed hard to believe. the chief wanted to ask shirley himself what happened, but never got the chance. >> about the time i was getting ready to, her attorney was on the phone and told me he didn't want me to talk to her. >> so she was already lawyered up? >> yes. >> shortly after the chief's arrival, jennifer hired an attorney and stopped talking to her as wl. jennifer's gndfather wasn't talking, either. what had happened here inside the home? had steven watkins completely lost it and barged into the house on a rampage with shirley, jennifer and grandpa's silence, the evidence would have to tell the tale. >> did you see signs of a break-in? >> no. the door didn't have any damage to it. >> any signs of a struggle?

>> not at the door. there was supposedly something on the wall that was broke. >> a sconce on the wall? >> on the wall of the house. >> but there was no indication the sconce was broken that day and there was no skin tissue or blood on the sconce. had shirley skinner been pushed down by steven? >> did you see any injuries consistent with her being knocked to the ground? >> no. >> did she seem like her clothes were on out of place? >> no, sir. >> didn't look disheveled? >> no. >> what's more, steven had been shot once in the back of the head. and he did not have a gun or any other weapon on him. the chief didn't think it was self-defense. >> so what does it look like to you? >> it looks like somebody decided to shoot him in the back of the head. >> but who was the somebody who shot him? >> members of the skinner family obviously knew who did it, but none of them were talking. complicating matters, the chief

had never handled a murder before. he thought he would be able to handle the case on his on own, but he couldn't and the case dragged on for months. >> people all over your community are saying, why hasn't there been an arrest. >> yes. >> are you hearing it? >> i'm hearing it a lot. >> as the case dragged on with no arrests made, the who done it became the talk of the town. >> people are very, very, very aware of this killing in this community. >> bruce covered the case for the springfield journal register. >> anytime we write something in the newspaper about this, the tiniest thing, it's the most clicked on thing or close to the most clicked on thing. it's a puzzler. it's almost a game of three cart monte. >> no one thought steven instigated if violence. everyone the reporter spoke to had good things to say about steven including two teachers who taught his daughter, alex. >> both of them agree had he had never i their teaching career encountered ar fathe who

was as devoted to their daughter as steven was. his coworkers, alex and sidney, they had a pretend bake session so he had animal crackers that he was putting in the toy oven and playing with his had kids. how many fathers do that? >> everyone thought steven was such a great guy, such a great dad. who would kill him? ultimately, mike then with the state attorney prosecutor's office took over the the investigation. they focused on a key question. who pulled the trigger? the forensic evidence was no help. >> was the weapon tested for dna? >> it was. and nothing on on it? >> nothing. >> were gun residue tests performed on the people inside that house at the time of the shooting? >> they were not. >> and no blood spatter was found on any of the family's clothing. investigators had no physical evidence proving any one person

murdered steven watkins. even though he was clearly shot to death inside the skinner home. all they had were statements from first responders claiming that shirley skinner, an elderly woman who was very upset and agitated at the time said she shot steven. did she really mean to say that? did they really hear her right? who was the shooter? to solve that mystery, they would look into the inner workings of the tight-knit skipper family. they say what they found there helped them finally get to the bottom of who pulled the trigger and why. coming up, investigators have questions about the golden girl who held sway over the entire thing. >> it's a monster that comes out of a closet. it's very, very ugly. very ugly. u were crazy. but so began the year of me. i discovered the true meaning of paperless discounts... and the indescribable rush of saving drivers an average of $620. why does fear feel so good?

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we have breaking news from canada where 14 people are dead after a bus collided with a

truck. that bus was carrying members of a canadian junior hockey team headed for a game. 14 others have been injured. no word on the identities of the victims. back in this country, emttled epa administrator scott pruitt met friday with president trump to discuss dwr he shou why he should remain on the job. back to "dateline." welcome back to he "dateline "on ". i'm craig melvin. investigators had more questions than answers in the murder of steven watkins, but one thing they knew for sure, the shooting took place inside the skinner on household. how would they finally find out who pulled the trigger? we continue with the mystery on horseshoe drive. >> you know, it's not something you ever get over. >> on the tuesday evening before

thanksgiving 2008, penny watkins' son, steven, had gone to pick up his baby daughter, sidney, for a court ordered visit when he was shot to death. steven's ex-wife told police he barged into her home, knocked down her grandmother. >> why would an elder areally religious woman shoot the father of her great-granddaughter? >> even as investigators focused on grandma shirley, they began to look more closely at jennifer. for one thing, they learned she had been married before. jennifer's uncle, ed skinner, says that relationship was a sign of things to come. >> that didn't last long. she just had to have her way all the time and there was never his way. so he didn't stick around. >> he divorced her? >> yes, sir. >> did you blame him? no, sir, not at all. >> state police say when they talked to jennifer's first husband, he described as us

against them mentality. >> they did everything together. you were either part of their family or you weren't. >> and steven was no longer part of the family. and now jennifer was losing that custody dispute. the abuse allegations had been found baseless and a court hearing about increased visitation for steven had been scheduled. >> how concerned is the skinner family about this visitation ruling? >> very concerned. very concerned. in their view, sidney was their property and they were n re their property with anyone outside a that skinner family, even steven watkins. the skinner family was circling the wagons for themselves and he was the enemy. >> jennifer and her family feared steven would be successful in getting overnight visitation at that hearing. he was continuing his quest for sole custody of sidney, but he never made it to the courthouse. he was killed the night before at his estranged wife's home. according to investigators, the

skinner family had been so concerned about the hearing, jennifer's mother hired a private investigator to witness steven picking up the baby the evening he was killed, perhaps to on obvious something that could be used against him the following day. >> perhaps dirt of, you know, maybe the baby was crying whenever dad picked her up or maybe he wasn't putting her in the car seat. >> but state police learned jennifer's mother told the private eye not to show up not long before steech was to arrive. >> less than two hours later, steven watkins is laying dead on her dining room floor. >> suddenly, the child custody issue was solved forever. according to ed, his family catered to jennifer. >> she's a spoiled rotten brat. i know that's a pretty harsh statement. the world revolved around jennifer. we didn't do anything if jennifer didn't want to do it. >> ed says his mother, shirley, dote odd jennifer, the family's first born grandchild. >> they was very, very close. there was nothing jennifer

couldn't ask for that she didn't get. she lived as a princess, treated as a principle sis. when she went to church, she looked like a doll that had just stepped out of a magazine dressed fit to kill. >> as she grew up, he said jennifer could be sweet, but her dark side was something else. >> it's a monster that comes out of a closet. it's very, very ugly. very ug hadly. she just thinks they can control anybody that she comes along with. >> when jennifer doesn't get her way, what happened? >> she throws a fit and life is miserable. >> do you believe jennifer was using steven to have a child? >> i think at the time she was probably hoping the that it would work, hoping that he would knuckle up and on obey her, but i think later on she saw that that wasn't going work. she knew she had her child and that's what she really wanted. >> and ed believed jennifer would do anything to keep sidney from steven, even as far as pulling the trigger herself, ed

says. after all, the murder weapon was not shirley's, it was jennifer's. >> jennifer has every motive to do it. >> and he says even if his mother was the one to kill steven, she was probably driven to it by jennifer. >> so my mom and dad was around jennifer and her mouth 24 hours a day. and she is very annoying when it comes to something that e lieves in. d she believ in not given steven the daughter. and she talked about it constantly. >> this goes beyond annoyance we're talking about murder. >> oh, yes. yeah. >> it's not just ed who thinks jennifer might have killed steven and shirley was trying to take the fall to protect her grand daughter, a young mom. a reporter went to a vigil for steven nine months after he was killed, which included a walk to the skinner family home.

people there were split whether it was jennifer or shirley that killed steven. >> it's a head scratcher. did these folks truly believe sidney was being abused? i don't know. you don't have to prove motive in a criminal case, but you can't sk help but ask yourself. >> the jury will be asking. >> you would imagine. >> au >> a jury would soon get its chance. more than ten months after steven was shot, an arrest. >> when she saw me there, she appeared to be very surprised. i was happy to be there. >> but which one was arrested for the murder of steven watkins, shirley, the matriarch or jennifer? coming up, it turns on out one of them had strange marks on her hand the night of the murder. >> two lines. >> two lines. consistent with firing that type of weapon. >> consistent with firing that type of weapon.

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. in october 2009, more than ten months after steven watkins was shot to death, his parents finally received the call from police they had been long waiting for. >> what did they say? >> we just wanted to let you know that we've picked shirley skinner up in florida for the murder of steven.

>> shirley skinner, the religious matriarch of a religion family. despite what ed says and the rumors around town that jennifer might have pulled the trigger, it was a grandmother who was charged. though jennifer implied her grandmother shot steven in defense of her and baby sidney, investigators believe the woman executed him in cold blood. >> what do you think happened? >> steven was coming over to pick up sidney for his court-ordered visitation. came to the door. once again was told that the baby was sick. perhaps he was frustrated by being told that. maybe he said something to the effect of oh, b.s., and may well have been lured in by that come in and see for yourself. and he's inside the house and it's a distance of approximately 30 feet from the main entry doorer to sidney's bedroom. we have to believe jennifer was holding the the baby. as he's walking down the length of that dining room, he's passing shirley.

as he walks past her, it's our belief that she then shot him. >> had he been turned the over? >> no. he lay where he felt. >> shot in the back of the head. he fell forward and a pool of blood right around his head. and his baseball cap underneath him and died right there where he was not. why had shirley been the one charged? forensic evidence collected at the scene was not useful. authorities had important eyewitness evidence, something the first responders and chief said they had seen that night, two parallel scrapes on shirley skinner's head. >> she had two marks across the webbing of her hand. >> what's significant about that? as you can see, the slide part of the weapon is coming back over the webbing of my hand. if she's holding it wrong, the marks could be made from that slide coming back across your hand. >> two lines. >> two lines.

>> consistent with firing that type of weapon. >> consient with firing that type of weapon. >> those marks conclusively put the gun in shirley's hand. what's more they learned shirley had been had trying to plan steven's murder. >> cherylly approached two of her employees and offered them $10,000 to cap this guy who they identified as being steve watkins. >> cap this guy, this little old grandmother. >> yes. the one employee said he thought she was joking. at which point she said no, i'm serious. i'm serious. >> how did an elderly woman who once owned a day care center became someone looking for someone for murder. >> to her fellow parishioners, she's a fun, loving grandmother. that's one side of shirley.

>> the grandmother who loves kids. >> that put together with the cultish form of that family where everything is done for the family, within the family, to the exclusion of anybody on the outside and we will take whatever measures necessary to protect that family unit, that is the other side of the contradiction. >> how dark is that side? >> murderous. >> and that went to the heart of the state's theory, that shirley had fired a fatal shot to rid the family of a son-in-law no longer welcome and didn't want the in baby sidney's life. >> are you convinced shirley skinner acted alone? >> i believe shirley skinner pulled the trigger. do i think she acted alone? no. it's a family conspiracy, a family plan. they were not going to allow him any further contact with that little baby. >> yet no fingerprints, no dna, no no gunshot residue, no blood splatter no recorded statements from shirley, jennifer or anyone else in the family and those supposedly incriminating marks on shirley's

hands, turned out it had never been photographed. would any jury be able to sort out this case, an alleged family conspiracy. who women at the crime scene, one would appeared to have clear motive. the other 75 years5 years old. neither with criminal records. it seems such a confused slim case, he and the family believes shirley would never be found guilty. so when she was offered a plea deal, she turned it down and went to trial. coming up, jurors had their doubts too. >> did shirley skinner look like someone who could commit this kind of crime? >> honestly, no. >> when "dateline" continues. let's talk about haribo goldbears. aloha. i can't stop eating this orange one. the red one is more gooder to me cos it tastes like berries. my bears are like doing cartwheels and back flips and stuff. and then i'm gonna fly it in to my mouth.

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welcome back to "dateline." the prosecution's case against shirley skinner faced serious challenges. would a jury find this grandmother guilty in the murder of steven watkins? here now is the conclusion of our story. "the mystery on horseshoe drive." >> in america's heartland, shirley skinner went on trial for the first degree murder of steven watkins, her grandson-in-law and two counts of solicitation of murder for allegedly asking two workers at the family business if they knew

anyone who would cap somebody for 10grand. >> that went in large mre to her intent. it demted the deep contempt and hatred she had for this -- the father of her great grand baby to offer money to kill him. >> the trial lasted less than four days. the state made its case that shirley killed steven to eliminate a family problem. the prosecution had no physical evidence to show she was she shooter. no fingerprints. no blood spatter. no gunshot residue. no to e tphotos of the scrapes hands. now it was time for the deference to make its case to the jury. mostly young and female from small town rural illinois. lawyers for shirley emphasize the fact there was no physical evidence linking her to the weapon. and they argued shirley's statements to the first responders, is he dead, i shot

him, were made when she was having a medical emergency. how reliable could those statements be? the defense also focused on what they called a sloppy inept investigation by the police. and pointed at jennifer through innuendo with her ugly divorce and custody battle as the one with the motive to kill steven. they didn't directly argue that jennifer pulled the trigger, only there was no hard evidence shirley did. and what did jennifer have to say to the jury? nothing. she didn't even attend the trial. the defense called no witnesses of its own. so what did jurors think of the case? we spoke with three. did shirley skinner look like someone who could commit this kind of crime? >> honestly, no. as a matter of fact, when i first walked in there, i thought she was one of the attorneys. i had no idea actually the one who was on, you kn, trl. >> what did you think of the police investigation? >> left something to be desired. >> there was a lot of holes in

it. there was a lot of mistakes made. i would have liked to have seen pictures of the scrapes on her hand. >> when it came down to the final vote, how difficult a decision is it? >> it's difficult in the sense you're deciding somebody's fate. but as far as timewise and what we had to contemplate and weigh out, it didn't take long. >> the jury was out a total of 90 minutes including lunch before finding shirley skinner guilty of murder. steven's family was jubilant. >> justice for steven! >> shirley's son ed skinner was shocked. >> i was convinced my mom was going to get off. >> shirley is serving a 55-year prison sentence. if she'd taken the plea deal, she'd be out in less than nine. what's it like to see your mother behind bars? >> horrible. absolutely horrible. >> is she equipped ed tped to what she's going through right now? >> not at all. not at all. >> although ed skinner had split

from his family by publicly blaming jennifer, he still struck a note of us against them. >> i honestly feel jennifer made this bed, she needs to sleep in it. she knew what she was getting into when she got into that family. and she had to think in the back of her mind that she's going to be with these people the rest of her life. >> when you say these people, what's wrong with the watkins? >> nothing bad. they just are a little bit different than what we're used to. i mean, we don't believe in drinking. we don't believe in smoking. >> but you have guns in the house. >> yes, sir. >> watkins was shot in the back of the head. >> yes, sir. >> in your faly home? >> yes. >>nd somebody in your family did it. >> that's correct. >> it's hard for you to be sitting here judging anybody else. >> oh, exactly. exactly. >> in the end, it's a murder ed skinner thought might have been planned in a way to get what jennifer wanted but leave the skinner family intact and unscathed. >> very, very poorly planned out scheme on my niece and my

sister's side that ruined the watkins family. ruined the skinners family. i don't think that they planned it out as good as what they should have. if they was going to do something like that. >> despite the accusations of a family conspiracy, neither jennifer nor anyone else in the skinner family was charged with any crime related to the shooting. no one in the family had agreed to speak with "dateline" except ed. as for steven's parents, they've been raising alex in illinois. they battle jennifer for visitation with sidney. jennifer took sidney to florida and later to massachusetts. she was arrested in 2016 and charged with unlawful visitation interference. she pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial in illinois. in a related matter, a judge determined that sidney was a neglected child. she is now with her paternal aunt and uncle while jennifer

ha supervised visitation rights. jennifer is appealing that decision. meanwhile, steven's parents have spoken to sidney about what happened to her dad. >> from my viewpoint, he gave his life for her. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. good morning. i'm milissa rehberger in new york. it is 7:00 in the east, 4:00 out west. here's what's happening. boots on the ground. the national guard deploys hundreds to the u.s. border with mexico while thousands are approved to be assigned. are the skies clearing for stormy? while her legal team is enthusiastic following comments from the president on air force one. and sticking by scott. >> the president feels that the administrator has done a good job at epa. >> why the white house shows no signs of parting with pruitt.