ve really loved her more than-- than i even imagined, or he's still trying to prove what a man he was, or thinks he is. that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. [theme music] a deadly crash on a dark

road. with the gone, one barely alive. a tragic accident. but look closer. in all of the broken glass and twisted metal, was there a crime? >> i would have to make a may tall fatality and treat it a homicide. >> we were just -- >> a small-town trial with pig big emotions. and the jury that would shake them all. hello. welcome to "dateline." a dangerous highway in big sky country. that was the setting for a deadly crash that would seem to unite two families in shock and heartbreak. they were about to find out that

the truth what happened on that fateful night might have been more than anyone knew. >> march 18th, 2009. something off that night. at mary and randy winter's house, where was she? >> it felt like something was not right. >> it's hard to explain. something's not normal. >> you could set your clock by their driver, justine. new almost, and when she wasn't really lite, she can let out a poison. >> i called five after eight. called the house where she is at. and she had left 15 minutes p s

before that. >> i thought she went off the road before us. >> another family, the other half of our story, is on the road, too. aaron was driving home from a concert. he played the drums. >> i had attended his concert. >> this is cayden's stepfather, jason championship. >> my car was in the shop and finally fixed. that's why i wasn't with them. soon, the poison, seeped through. i thought, why are they late? it and struck me that something was wrong. >> at justine winter's house, the fear was deep now. her dad, randy, was trying to keep his head head.

knew what she had to do. drove down to the root he knew she would take. and then, he saw it. in a construction zone, on highway 93 overpass. what did you find? >> something i don't want to see again. a fireman's first might nightmare. someone tried to hold him back. he kept on. >> i saw the hair over at the side. >> his perfect daughter, his justine, obscenely broken. but amazingly still alive. how did she look? >> i didn't see a lot. i got the see her at the hospital. >> sh was pretty bad. >> you don't want to any any bit

of your husband is in the hop. the chance she would survive, limb, said the doctors. but the winter's news could have been worse. and a few miles away, where the phone rang at jason thompson's house, the news was much worse. the caller was the county koorn corner. >> he said, your family was in an accident. i he said, i'm worry to tell you on the phone, but they were just killed. my world dropped out from underneath me. >> jason's bif, four months pregnant, was four months pregnant. they were just before. and then, they were gone. the crash was head-on donnell at

least the lights went out. >> i was in that realization that i'll never forget. >> nora is aaron's mother, diana. >> we were just monkers. >> more ore sister, amber, who missed aaron so much, they moved plans to be to montana to be most. not possible now. >> that was the hardest piece of news we could fathom. and to lose both of them and the baby. it didn't seem like it could be real. >> here, where he waited for the love of his baby. jason, like joeb overcar row in the first of a heavy life of vor

sorrows. >> i'm 19 years old. at 89, when my mother dies of cancer. now, i'm 39. >> missing that concert, you lived. >> you. >> how has that been to wrap your head around? >> we're always embracing a life. but i didn't tend to fear death anymore. >> but the dreadful tooth of it is, is that accidents happened all around the america, every day, every night. still, just as the permanence of loss began to sink in, before anyone had given a thought to a now-diminished feature. there was another piece of news

on this road. the fatal accident might not have been an accident at all. last thing i wanted was to treat it like a homicide. >> a sunning decision when "dateline" continues. a delicious chew that protects for an entire month. ask your vet for more information. reported side effects include vomiting and itching. nexgard. the vet's #1 choice.

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have almost atoned the words of pray for me, i drive 93. they can say it for every crash on this night, which may have been no incident. a revelation that would devastate later. his whole life is a bomb crater, a uni. >> erin is my heart. my sole mate. i was searching for her. >> and she, as she told everybody, had been lacking for him. aaron was a single woman when jason met his brilliant mile. and when she was secretal. >> when she was single, she

answered her own question, as long as i'm about the business of spreading love, it doesn't matter. e writt erin married jason. and young cayden, who kepted father their mother's and father door's adventure. just about sharing that time together. and there was that plan that erin hatched with amber. >> we had a dream of growing up and living next door to each other. >> and soon, the plan expanded wonderfully. erin and jason announced they were expecting a phone of their own. >> praise my wife and my little baby that i would finally have.

it all made sense. >> and then, came march 29th, 2009. as the news and the brief spread, there was still hope, you know, for one of the victims of the crash. justine winter was arrive, although barely. doct docto docto doctors didn't think they she wouldn't live the trip to the hospital. >> i said [ bleep ]. she's flying in that airport. and don't give me any grief. >> and she did survive, the light to seattle and the emergency operations to stitch together the broken pieces of her body. she was unconscious when she arri arrived. while her body, slowly, slowly,

began to knit itself back together. until more than a month later. >> her eyes went -- that was the most incredible feeling. she's there. she's in there. and your heart is just beating. >> it was days later before justine knew what was going on around her. but the news faced her eventually. when she seemed ready, they told her. when you told her how the other people had died, how did she react to that? >> i was emotional for her. and it was devastating. >> then, what was discovered is, quite frankly, unimaginable opinion for the river of tears, there was an undertoe, a twist nobody saw coming. for a while, justine spent 45

days in the hospital recuperating. it didn't take investigators long at all, a matter of hours, really, to solve the mystery of who and what caused this crash. the first month is of a highway patrol line, says he thinks that justine's car is the one that cross the middle line. the inconceivable sport was, this was not an accident at all. what was your first reaction? >> nuts. this was the last thing i wanted. was to have to take a double fatality and not treat it like a homicide.

>> homicide? right there in justine's car, was a minute-by-minute narrative of the collision. in text messages. in those messages, was the evidence. he believed required him to press criminal charges, doctors had miraculously saved, justine winter. charges of murder. >> the prosecutor lays out his case while jason gets another shock. coming up -- >> they're suing you. >> for her pain and sufficienting. >> when "dateline" continues. paying too much for insurance you don't even understand? well, esurance makes it simple and affordable. in fact, drivers who switched from geico to esurance saved an average of $412. that's auto and home insurance for the modern world. esurance. an allstate company. click or call.

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investigators are convinced that justine winters intentionally crashed her car into erin thompson's, killing the pregnant mother and her 13 year old son caden. their evidence? threatening text messages sent by justine minutes before the fatal collision. here again is keith morrison. >> the sorrow ran deep in montana's flathead valley, that awful spring and summer of 2009. deep and wide, the whole valley, in fact, the country, heard about the crash that killed

caden and erin and her unborn child and the strange story that justine winter took deadly aim at erin's oncoming cash, crossed the center line and plowed right into it on purpose. shocking? oh, yes. as was the alleged reason. justine said the police was trying to commit suicide. how did they know? they found the evidence on justine's phone, they said. text messages, which she wrote herself and which, once county coroner ed corrigan saw them, left him no choice, on charging her with homicide. >> smashed head on into another car and by doing so, she should have known her actions would have killed somebody and under those circumstances, homicide

was the only option. >> you charged her as an adult. she was 16. >> she was. taking of two lives is not my opinion of a delinquent act. it's a crime. it needs to be prosecuted as a crime. and if convicted, it needs to be on her record for the rest of her life. >> justine, after pleading not guilty was released to house arrest. she was allowed to attend classes at glacier high and at home her parents fumed. no matter what those text messages said, the idea justine would cause that accident on purpose was just crazy. are you angry about all of this? >> it builds up inside and it comes to a point where you can't take it anymore. >> the families knew each other. justine's mother and erin's mother worked at the same school.

erin's family made it clear, what they wanted most of all was a heartfelt apology and some responsibility. they saw that as a way to work forgiveness. and most people around town thought that was a fine idea. but from justine and her family, it was just an awkward silence. then, early one morning in the fall of 2010, an entirely unexpected knock at the door took emotions to a whole new level. >> this private investigator, you know, hands me these papers like he's serving me papers said that they are suing, you know, erin's estate. >> suing you? >> suing me. for her pain and suffering. >> it was true. in a legal preemptive strike, justine winters' attorneys had filed a lawsuit on her behalf

against erin's estate. they claimed the companies had failed to adequately maintain and construct the facility causing confusing conditions. >> i can't even begin to guess what they were thinking about. >> it inflamed the whole town. >> inflamed the whole town. that wasn't justine's decision. that was a decision made by the attorneys. >> maxwell battle and david stuffed. and according to the winters' attorneys, the lawsuit, assuming justine was found not guilty would give them a better shot at insurance company reimbursement later. >> there's no intent of going for the estate, making that family endure what they've already endured. >> butt optics were awful.

>> the timing could have been, who knows, better. >> you'd pick up the newspaper, hear the blogs, hear the radio and what you got was those awful people, they're trying to sue the victims of this crime. >> that's what was portrayed. but the actual intent was not that. at all. >> all rise, district court is now in session. >> misunderstood or not, by the time justine winters' trial started in january of 2011 the tide of public opinion had turned as bitter as a montana winter. the hearts of erin thompson's family, too, had toughened. and justine who showed nun an almost child-like polka dot headband didn't look like a killer facing as much as 200 years behind bars. there she was. she watched investigators testify to a certainty that it was justine's pontiac grand am that crossed the center line. >> here you can see all this debris from the initial impact of the crash.

>> slamming into erin's subaru so hard it was driven backward into the highway barrier and crash reconstructionists agreed. >> justine winters' car encroached into the northbound lane, striking mrs. thompson's vehicle. >> what evidence was there that justine had done it, as the law says, purposefully? investigators pulled the so-called black box out of justine's pontiac and analyzed the data and found another sign that pointed to suicide. she'd taken off her seat belt. the black box recorded speed, acceleration and braking and found that justine was accelerating, flooring it, so to speak, in the five seconds before the crash, speeding up from 81 to 86 miles per hour before hitting the brakes at the last second.

>> she did not swerve. and she drove head on into that other vehicle. >> to back it up, investigators pulled speedometer from justine's car, and there above the mark an of 85 miles per hour found an orange mark. it's known as a slap mark. made when the needle smashes against the console at high speed. and prosecutors revealed the reasoning behind it all. justine like many 16-year-old girl also a boyfriend. hers was named ryan. it was white hot, this relationship. he was her world. that day in march, there'd been a tiff. they'd had words. that night she drove ryan home, asked him to get out of the car, he said they were through. she began texting ryan. apparently while behind the wheel. the first text half an hour

before the crash. >> good-bye ryan, just live your life knowing you did change me. my last words, i love you, ryan. >> then her text became somehow threatening. >> if i won, i would have you and i wouldn't crash my cash. >> and ryan answered. >> you kill yourself i kill myself. so come on, don't be selfish. >> that's only thing i want to live for, you, ryan, you keep me living. >> stop it. you hurt yourself and i'll know, i'll do the same. >> that's why i'm going to wreck my car because all i can do is [ bleep ] up. good-bye, ryan. i love you. >> then the final message from ryan. >> you killing yourself is just another way for you to run away. >> and just five or six minutes later, prosecutors said justine

drove her car into erin thompson's lane to commit suicide but instead, killed mother, child, unborn baby. the prosecution had made its case for murder. now the question was, what could justine winters' attorneys possibly say to make a jury believe otherwise? coming up. >> the defense takes on the heart of the case. those texts. when "dateline" continues. only n for up to 12 hours with just one pill. aleve back & muscle. all day strong. all day long. happiness is powerful flea and tick protection from nexgard. nexgard kills both fleas and ticks all month long. and it comes in an easy-to-give tasty chew. so you'll be happy you're keeping your dog protected with nexgard. no wonder it's the number one choice of vets for their dogs and yours. see your veterinarian for more information

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dara brown. president trump is spending the weekend at his golf resort on thursday. denying allegations from michael cohen that he had prior knowledge of that 2016 trump tower meeting. john lewis and been hospitalized after falling ill on a flight saturday. he is resting comfortably and is expected to be released sunday. now, back to "dateline."

welcome back to "dateline" i'll craig melvin. the prosecution had made their case. now it was the defense's turn. could they convince the jury to see justine winters' text messages in a different light? once again, keith morrison. >> every day in this montana courtroom, the family of now 17-year-old justine winter, dutifully shuffled to the seats behind the defense table. their face by their attorney's decree, an intentional blank. emotionless. their apparent demeanor a spur in the hide of an already angry town. but almost no one knew what was really going on. justine's mother mary who'd been struggling with alcohol caved in to the stress. tell me how it changed your life. >> i ran.

i ran away from it all. i couldn't deal with it. i just left the house. i didn't come back. >> justine's brother, kyle, dropped out of college to help keep things together at home and get justine to her medical appointments. and her father turned angry and bitter at the continuing prosecution of his little girl. >> i could be sitting in the living room watching tv and all of a sudden i hear something. i'd just completely lose it and start crying. >> the whole world, said justine's dad, seemed to bend on misunderstanding demonizing his little girl, yet he said she'd always been so good, kind, thoughtful and responsible. getting almost straight-as in high school. but mostly wouldn't harm a bug, literally and cared about people. would never, never want to hurt

that sweet woman or her son or her baby. >> always had a smile. always wanted to help. it's who she was. >> what kind after little girl was this? >> just a good girl. >> but it might interest you to know that as the winters spoke to us here, they were doing so against the expressed advice of their attorneys. and when it was time for justine's defense team to make its case in court, attorneys maxwell battle and david stuffed told the jury that everything the prosecution told them, everything they knew about the case so far was wrong. >> what happened out there was an accident. >> including where the crash occurred. remember the prosecution's experts testified there was no doubt justine crossed the center line. but an engineer hired by the defense said turned their research turned that on its hid.

claiming it was erin who struck justine and claiming that the slap mark near the 85 mile mark in justine's car was planted there by investigators. that the black box that measured speed and braking was plain wrong, that justine always wore her seat belt. and finally, a psychologist said that a spat with a boy wasn't enough to lead to a suicide attempt. and those texts should not be considered a suicide note at all. >> it was a way of exercising power and control. in the relationship to make that kind of threat, but it was always clear it was never meant. >> what would justine winters say about what happened here that might about those texts? the jury would never know. she did not testify on the advice of attorneys, said her family, and of course that was

her perfect right. justine suffered a brain injury in that crash. so her recollection of the last few days leading up to the crash and that night itself here, she doesn't remember. she is charged with a crime about which her memory is a complete blank. so, then, how could the jury know that justine knowingly crossed the center line, having decided to commit suicide by hitting the other car? the question we put to the prosecution. in order to draw that conclusion you have to read her mind, essentially. you've been a prosecutor for years. you know car accidents happen in the most bizarre ways. people do crazy things on the road. but you clearly said this was a situation in which i know what somebody was thinking when they drove that lane of traffic and into the other car. i just don't know how you can

know what she was thinking. >> i don't now what she was thinking, she doesn't know what she was thinking. all i can do is base my decision on what the evidence shows. >> did the evidence clearly show justine winter had made up her mind to commit suicide by driving into an oncoming car? up to the jury now. coming up. >> everyone just cried about it. >> a verdict comes quickly, but the pain and one final question remain when "crossing the line"

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as the montana jury prepared to decide the fate of 17-year-old justine winter, the family of erin and caden struggled to hang on to remnants of goodwill. they tried so hard not to be angry at justine until they were served with the lawsuit, blaming the crash on erin and watching the defense twist what the family believed were the facts of the case. >> they were unusual as victims because of this willingness to forgive justine. >> it's the adults of her life that should be steering her in this direction. it's not her decisions. it's the adults. so i have plenty of anger towards them.

>> but for justine's family, too, there was considerable strain. so much that randy buckled under pressure and was rushed to the hospital and not present in the courtroom. >> i will have the clerk to file the verdict and read it please. >> when after just four hours of deliberation, the jury came back. >> we the jury enter the following unanimous verdict to the charge of deliberate homicide for the death of erin thompson, guilty. for the death of caden o'dell, guilty. >> this was an absolutely horrible, numbing experience. i put my head to my knees. >> the whole courtroom. everyone just cried about it. >> how did she look? as she was led off to jail? your little girl? >> she looked very stunned. she didn't look back. >> just a weebl after that

verdict, justine winter marked her 18th birthday in a jail cell and then came sentencing day. and everyone wondered, would justine finally tell erin's family, her husband what they desperately wanted to hear? in your ideal world, what would you like to hear from justine? >> to be sorry for what she took from us, because it was, it is huge. >> but just before sentencing, the family received it this. a statement written by justine. and it wasn't even close to what they were looking for. in it, she called herself a miracle who was wrongly convicted of a horrific crime. she wrote that she would never, ever in a million years take her own life or anyone else's.

that this was an accident that had been blown out of proportion. that she didn't need time behind bars, just a chance to turn a horrific situation into a positive one. and so, with this statement in mind, the family of erin and caden took the stand to have their own say. >> i want for you to make something positive of your life through this. but you still have yet to grasp the truth. >> caden's father, the same message, more anger. >> you took him. you did it. and you need to own it. you killed my boy. you need to own it. >> and finally, caden's stepfather, jason. the elementary school counselor, first compassion then venom at the defense team. >> i've chosen not to believe that you, in crashing your car that night wanted to harm or would ever think about harming them, but it has been very,

very, very difficult to hold on to that thought, given that you've been led by these two men and influenced by them to not do what is most important in all of this, in this and show and demonstrate to us that you are sorry for having taken them. >> then, finally the moment as justine winter herself took the stand to speak for the first time. >> i've wanted to speak with you for two years now. i've wanted to let you guys know that my heart goes out to you. and, as every single one of you came up here today, my heart was breaking. but i just hope that you guys will be able to forgive that i will never be able to say that i intentionally crossed the center line wanting to take three lives from all of you.

>> but before the judge allowed justine to leave the witness stand, the prosecutor stepped to the podium and asked a question on behalf of the victims' families. a question that froze the courtroom. >> what they wanted to hear from you for a long, long time also is "i'm sorry." can you tell them that? >> i'm sorry for your loss. but i cannot, i don't know what you're meaning by you want me to say that i'm sorry. >> and so the hammer came down. >> it's the order of the court. the defendant is committed for a period of 30 years, with 15 years suspended. >> justine was sentenced to 15 years in prison. and her father, back on his feet. in time for sentencing day began his own term, inside his own soul.

>> the system betrayed me. you serve your country and you feel betrayed about it. >> you feel betrayed by the country you fought for? >> mm-hm about the judicial part. >> they took her, this once promising honor student to a cell in a montana women's prison where she instantly became the youngest inmate in the place and two months later, those two attorneys, stuffed and battle, who declined our request for interview were off the case. that civil lawsuit was dropped. and that's when justine winter decided to tell us her side of the whole, sad story. coming up, an exclusive interview with justine. >> you say probably you caused that accident. are you able to say i take responsibility for that? >> when "crossing the line" copd makes it hard to breathe. continues. go with anoro. ♪ go your own way

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it gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most wifi coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. it's the ultimate wifi experience. xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. ♪ welcome back. teenager justine winter was convicted of deliberate homicide in the car crash death of her mother and son. would the victim's family finally get the apology they've been waiting for? here is keith morrison with the conclusion of our story. >> shortly after justine winter walked out of this courtroom in montana, she landed here, more than 450 miles east across the state, at the women's prison in

billings. and just weeks into a 15-year prison sentence for deliberate homicide, she sat down with us. quite well aware of how all this time, she'd been the target of so much curiosity and anger. i'm curious to know what your thought process was as you went about deciding, yeah, i think i'll talk now. >> i don't know. i guess it was probably that i was being shown in a different light than what i wanted to be shown in. >> when you read accounts of your case and when you see the comments people write, what's that like? >> they are really hard to read. i heard one that said i need to hang from a noose on a tree. >> what does it feel like, inside, when you saw that comment, for example? >> i'm really weird, and with my brain injury, i feel it in a second, but it's hard to, like, recall it afterwards.

>> that brain injury is the reason, she says, she sometimes smiles when she doesn't mean to. why everything came out wrong, she says, when she took the stand and spoke at sentencing. and why, she says, and even the prosecutor says he believes this, that she recalls nothing about the crash. >> i don't remember the night of the accident, but i remember events that i know had to have happened right before the accident happened. >> what events would those be? >> i remember doing stuff to get ready for prom, because prom was supposed to be two days after when the accident happened, but other than that, i don't really remember a whole lot about march. >> what do you remember about the last time you saw your boyfriend? >> i have no idea. i remember we spent oodles of time together. >> you were inseparable. >> pretty much. >> in love? >> kid love. >> that's pretty strong love, that kid love, isn't it? >> yeah.

i remember, if i wasn't with him, i was texting him all the time. >> but as for those texts following the argument with ryan just before the crash? justine says, despite what many believe, she would never, ever have tried to commit suicide. knowing, as she does, that her grandmother, randy's mother, killed herself when her dad was just a boy. in fact, she says, the most likely explanation is, she was just playing a game of sorts with ryan. >> he liked controlling everything, having to do with, like, my life, and he threatened suicide twice. that's what i would think was happening, was that i was playing his own card back at him. >> well, i'm going to kill myself then. >> yeah. i don't think that they were text messages that were to be taken seriously. >> if you look at them through justine's eyes, they don't seem that way. but the jury didn't look at it

through your eyes. >> no. >> and despite her conviction, all that evidence, and the fact that she has no memory of that night, justine still claims she must have been wearing her seat belt. and cannot imagine driving her car at 85 miles an hour. just not the sort of thing she ever did, she says. something happened, you swerved across and hit that other car. does that sound about right? >> yeah. >> it's probably you who caused the accident. that's fair to say. >> uh-huh. >> and if you say it's probably you who caused that accident, are you able to say, yeah, you know, if i did it, and i probably did cause it, i just feel horrible about that. >> uh-huh. >> and i take responsibility for that. >> yeah. >> is it possible for you to say that? >> yeah, if i knew, then i would take responsibility for it. you know, if it was me, i take complete, utter responsibility for it. and i do.

>> and now, finally, said the words, almost, that erin and caden's family yearned to hear, justine is through holding a pity party for herself. >> all that i would change about the accident is that they lived. and if it had to be, so be that they lived and i didn't, i'd be okay with that. because i don't -- i don't like seeing anyone else in pain. i know my family was put in a lot of pain because of the accident but they've got to see me grow up. >> and the other family can't see that. >> yep. and i don't want to put them in anymore pain than they've already had to be put through.

and i want to make everything -- everything okay for them. >> after serving a little more than four years of her 15-year sentence in prison, in 2015, justine winter was granted parol. for erin's widower jason the dream is gone. he and so many in the family, as if climbing those montana mountains try to keep putting one foot in front of the other. >> it's a dance between the grief of their loss to the joy and the blessing of having experienced them. >> it's like seeing a meteor. you wouldn't curse your luck that you saw this meteor. you would be just be thankful that you were blessed to see it. so we have to cling to that, that wow. how amazing that we got to spend a good part of our life with two

of the most precious people on the planet. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." ♪ this is a tragedy on top of a tragedy now. >> it happened so quickly. their parents in the backyard spa. their mom in trouble. >> my dad just panicked. >> a sudden slip. a fatal fall. >> you're losing your mother. you're watching her go right in front of you. >> someone else was watching her too. a curious neighbor. >> it was scary. the look on his face was almost undeba