father's innocence -- >> it's complicated. >> yep. >> has this created a rift between the two of you? >> yes. >> surely not easy going for the children of dave and debbie hawk. >> we do the best we can. that's all for this edition of "dateline." thanks for watching. i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> it was a small new year's eve party. we took off and then shortly thereafter we saw the police car. my gut was telling my feet to run back to that house. this can't be happening. >> reporter: when the party ended, the mystery began. >> it was just crazy. i didn't understand what was happening and why. >> reporter: his wife, the hostess, had seemed fine all

night. then -- >> my wife just shot herself in the head, please help me, please help me! >> reporter: her death was ruled a suicide. but not everyone agreed. >> i was always afraid he was gonna hurt her. always. always. >> reporter: did a fight that night lead to something much worse? >> i knew that ashley wouldn't take her own life. >> reporter: a troubled woman? or a troubled marriage? >> that wound on the back of her head isn't where she could do it herself, tom, it is not. >> oh bull -- >> it is not. >> bull -- >> reporter: suicide or murder? >> i didn't do this. >> i just knew that my whole world is -- is never gonna be the same again, ever. ♪ hello and welcome to "dateline." it was december 31st, and by all

appearances, ashley was in the mood to celebrate. a vibrant mother of three, she had gathered her friends and family to ring in the new year, but as her guests began the countdown to midnight, who could have known they were also marking the last hour of ashley's young life. here's keith morrison with "after the party." is >> reporter: what is so optimistic as a party on new year's eve. what night as hopeful, as full of anticipation, as the clean slate midnight brings? >> it was a small new year's eve party. >> just family and friends. >> reporter: disappointment is inevitable, of course, clean slates no matter how ardently desired are messy all too soon. >> we noticed that there was a lot of alcohol out. >> reporter: still, we celebrate possibilities and drown past sorrows. and watch the clock that ticks toward our new beginnings and

our ends. on december 31, 2011, an hour north of denver in west evans, colorado. ashley and tom fallis, surrounded by friends and family danced to the music that brought them together -- their wedding song. >> they decided to get up and dance in the middle of their living room. >> reporter: everybody watching. >> with everyone watching. >> reporter: kinda romantic. >> i think i said, "oh, this is sweet." >> reporter: it was their party, ashley's and tom's. she'd invited her co-workers like andrea. >> it was casual. but she verbally told everyone at work like, "you should come." >> reporter: they worked together at a rehabilitation hospital where ashley was a respiratory therapist. >> she was crazy, nice. [ laughter ] >> reporter: crazy. >> just spunky. yeah, just full of energy. she was just -- she was a happy person. laughed a lot and joked. >> reporter: their friendship

was new. andrea didn't know a lot about ashley but had listened to her chatter about jobs and marriages and her three kids, the youngest of whom was born with a dangerous condition called hydrocephalus which causes life threatening fluid buildup in the brain. >> she talked about it a lot. >> reporter: did she? >> yeah. but i didn't get the impression that she felt burdened by it, by any means. like, i felt like she -- i mean, that was the cards that she was dealt. >> reporter: well, in fact, she embraced the challenge, said ashley's mom jenna, became a public advocate. >> she went to washington, d.c. in the fall of 2011 to speak before congress for funding for hydrocephalus. so she had a full plate. >> reporter: so did tom, for that matter. >> i like tom. he was pretty good guy, very intelligent. >> reporter: jeff rodriguez was tom's boss at the weld county jail. they were corrections officers. >> he was a good employee. he had a son that was sick, so he did miss more work than what most fellow officers liked. >> reporter: stressful, draining thing, caring for a sick child.

so maybe their new years eve party was a way to hope for better times and take a break, too. ashley's adopted dad, joel, was at the party. >> there was dancing goin' on and people were having a good time. >> reporter: and ashley seemed to be having a fine time, said andrea. she and tom seemed to be getting along fine? >> they seemed to be getting along fine. >> reporter: that's when ashley and andrea went off into the kitchen had a little party of their own. what were you drinking? >> jungle juice and jell-o shots. >> oh my. >> i was having a good time. i intended to have a good time. >> there was one thing. ashley had just gone through something awful. >> she found out she had a miscarriage that day. oh, i'm sorry. are you okay? yeah, i'm fine. >> did that strike you as odd? >> no, i didn't think it was odd. >> was she unhappy about the miscarriage?

>> my impression is that she already has her beautiful family. it seemed like her life was already complete. i don't think that she was devastated that she had found out that she had a miscarriage. >> no tears, andrea said, just a quick, casual mention and then the conversation moved on. went on to talk about other things. >> went on to talk about other things. probably went and got another jell-o shot. >> midnight arrived. there are kisses and smiles and toasts. by 12:30 the party was over. >> i gave her a hug. said good-bye. we talked about future plans. >> how did she seem? >> happy. >> but oh how quickly the new year's clean slate darkened. as an uncle prepared to leave, ashley asked him for a bit of his marijuana to smoke later she said. tom, the sheriff's department employee, was furious and reminded ashley's family that her employer required regular

drug tests. was it the alcohol that amped up the family's screaming match? whatever. ashley's parents had their own recollections. >> he walks by me and he says that he hated us all and wish we would all bleeping die. and he went into the bedroom and slammed the door. >> ashley came out of the bathroom and was just kind of like, what's going on? well, we're going to leave. >> then she's like, hey, i'm having a super bowl party in a couple weeks. don't forget about that. >> but ashley's parents were rattled. they drove away then pulled off to the side of the road to talk. ashley's mom sent a text to tom. >> and i'm like, hey, there's kids in the house. calm down. >> which arrived as their young granddaughter was involved in quite another discussion with 911. >> can you go open the door and let the officers in? >> it's open.

it's open. the new year was less than an hour old and off to a very bad start. coming up -- >> it was shocking. >> a frantic race to save a life. what happened in that house? >> i just knew that my whole world is never going to be the same again, ever. >> when "dateline" continues. protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. frontline plus. trusted by vets for nearly 20 years.

hundred roads named "park" in the u.s. it's america's most popular street name. but allstate agents know that's where the similarity stops.

if you're on park street in reno, nevada, the high winds of the washoe zephyr could damage your siding. and that's very different than living on park ave in sheboygan, wisconsin, where ice dams could cause water damage. but no matter what park you live on, one of 10,000 local allstate agents knows yours. now that you know the truth, are you in good hands? withwhat sore back?sk... what bum knee? advil is relief that's fast strength that lasts you'll ask... what pain? with advil 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 on flea and tick protection you and your dog will love. nexgard. the vet's #1 choice. this is a story about mail and packages. and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you ♪

are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi.? a more powerful way to stay connected. 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. ♪ >> reporter: 2012 was not even

an hour old. new years celebrants had only just poured themselves into their cars to head home and in a little house in west evans, colorado, it was already the worst year ever. >> 911 what's the address of your emergency? >> my wife just shot herself in the head, please help me, please help me! >> reporter: the man on the phone was tom fallis, begging for help, and willing his wife to live. >> no! >> sir? >> you're staying here! >> sir? >> you're staying here! >> reporter: tom told the dispatcher 'she shot herself, then he put the phone down.. he was holding his hand to her head trying in vain to stop the bleeding. so he had his 9-year-old daughter pick up the phone. >> honey are you there? >> yes. >> okay can you go open the door and let the officers in? >> yes. >> okay? >> mommy got shot. dispatcher: okay, okay we're going to help her, i need you to open the door. >> reporter: brian spencer was a weld county sheriff's deputy back then. he arrived within minutes to

discover that the local police, the evans police had beat him there. >> i believe there was three there ahead of me. and then there was more sirens, lights. you could hear them coming. >> reporter: that was a pretty fast response. >> very fast. >> reporter: and this bit of news was going around fast, too. >> this was a sheriff's employee, a jail employee. >> reporter: not that that should matter. the effort then was, save ashley fallis' life. this was recorded by a police body camera, shows the paramedics arriving. >> chaotic? >> the scene? very. frantic. the officers located ashley fallis someone in the home. >> reporter: the local police took charge. they asked brian spencer to watch the front of the property. and that's when, from his post on the front porch, he saw tom. that's him in the background in the white t-shirt. >> he was -- pacing around in the front yard and front sidewalk area. frantic, screaming. >> reporter: screaming what? do you remember? >> i heard him say, "she's

dead--" a lot of mumbled stuff. he would -- put his hands up over his face, and screaming, and crying. >> reporter: by this time, ashley's parents had pulled off the road home to talk and worry about the fight that ended the party. when they heard the sirens, saw the lights flash by headed that way -- >> something automatically felt bad. and i whipped a u-turn. >> he didn't even have the car stopped and i was out running to the house. >> reporter: were you able to go and see ashley? >> no. i could hear what was going on. i had all three kids and they were just crying and crying and screaming. i'm crying. >> it was just crazy. it was like a nightmare. i can see blood splatter on the wall, the master bedroom wall. >> reporter: what was it like? >> chaos. it was shocking. >> reporter: did you understand it was your daughter? >> yes. i do recall just being hysterically upset and crying. and thinking that, this can't be happening to my daughter. this can't be happening to us.

but, yet, it was. >> reporter: inside the master bedroom, ashley was alive, but the wounds to her head were catastrophic. the police body camera shows officers kneeling on the floor trying to stabilize her condition. >> paramedics went in and they made a decision to do what we call a load and go. they're not going to spend any time doing life support stuff. >> all the way up front. >> right on time. get her on there and go. >> announcer: ashley's mom huddled with her grandchildren in a neighboring bedroom, listened to it all through a closed door. is there any way to describe what it's like for a mother to be in that situation? >> no. your brain does funny things. i just knew that my whole world is never going to be the same again, ever. >> reporter: outside, brian spencer watched tom pacing back and forth, crying, talking to himself.

>> i noticed he's wearing a white t-shirt and he's covered, i believe it was on his left side in large amount of blood. >> it was odd, brian thought, that the evans' police officers didn't take tom's clothes or bag his hands for gunshot residue. >> he still had evidence on him and he needed to be preserved. he needed to be controlled. >> reporter: he needed to be processed. >> and clothing removed, everything. >> reporter: that's not what happened. not at all. and soon after ashley was rushed off to the e.r., tom got in the back of a squad car and was driven away, but surprisingly not to the hospital. coming up -- tom tells his story. >> i hear the gun dock and i look up. what are you doing? >> but police don't seem to believe it. >> the wound on the back of her head isn't where she could do it herself, tom. it is not.

>> bull [ bleep ]. >> when "dateline" continues. igl his priorities were a little unorthodox. -keep going. stop. a little bit down. stop. back up again. is this adequate sunlight for a komodo dragon? -yeah. -sure, i want that discount on car insurance just for owning a home, but i'm not compromising. -you're taking a shower? -water pressure's crucial, scott! it's like they say -- location, location, koi pond. -they don't say that.

♪ in the first cold, dark hours of 2012, ashley fallis' parents followed an ambulance to the hospital and caught up to her in the icu. >> we walked in to her bleeding out of everywhere. >> reporter: there wasn't really any hope. they could see that.

she was going to die. >> i just sat down and held her hand. >> reporter: but tom wasn't there to hold her hand. tom fallis was at the evans' police station, answering questions. >> i don't know what's going on. i have no idea. and that's why i'm asking to speak with you. >> reporter: it was 2:00 a.m. and tom was still wearing blood-stained clothes, the ones that a sheriff's deputy thought should have already been bagged as evidence. >> how is your relationship with your wife? >> really good. >> reporter: but tom said ashley was devastated when she miscarried the very day of her new years eve party. >> it was hard for ashley, it was hard for me, but i didn't think that there was getting to this point. >> reporter: still, at the party itself, said tom, she

seemed all right. they got on fine, until the argument about the marijuana. tom admitted he was furious at ashley's family. said he was trying to protect her and they weren't. >> i told ashley. i was like, you don't need to get high. i was like, if whatever happened today with the miscarriage, i was like it happened, i was like you know what [ bleep ] your mom, [ bleep ] everybody. >> reporter: so there was no love lost between tom and ashley's parents. that was clear. and tom admitted that he and ashley kept arguing as they got ready for bed. and then he turned around and went to the closet, he said. and it was all over. >> so when i was in the closet, i heard her gun cock. and i looked out i was like, i was like, "what are you doing?" and before i even had the chance to finish my sentence or close the door -- there's smoke.

i heard it and it was just smoke. [ sobbing ] i just ran over to her and just grabbed her head. >> reporter: tom told detectives that sadly, he'd been worried about just this sort of thing for more than a year, because ashley had threatened suicide before. >> what was she saying that she wanted to do to herself? >> oh just that, she just wants to end it. she's like, "you and the kids will be better off without me." >> and so she just said those words but she never acted on it. >> no. >> and so how long -- >> never once, never once has she ever grabbed her gun, has she ever loaded it -- has she ever made this type of gesture whatsoever. >> reporter: by this time, while the doctors tried to save ashley, tom had been answering questions for hours. >> i have to ask these questions. but i have to understand what the relationship -- >> i know but -- i've been here since 2:00 and

it's 5:00 and i don't know what's going on with my wife. >> that scratch mark on your chest, what is that? >> what? >> you have a long -- >> probably because i've been doing this all night. >> this goes straight across here. >> i don't know. it's just me. >> okay. it isn't -- i just had to ask. >> the detective left the room and spoke with ashley's parents. who had arrived with the purpose of telling officers just one thing -- their daughter did not shoot herself. >> we had just seen her seven minutes before this. she was completely fine. you know, she wouldn't do anything like this. >> reporter: she was in good spirits when they left, they said. she was planning her next party. but tom, he always had an awful temper, they said. >> i was always afraid he was going to hurt her. always. always. >> reporter: why? what about him? >> his temper.

you can't go from zero to 100 and think clearly. >> i think that he was just in a fit of rage and he shot her. >> armed with that new information, the detective went back to talk to tom and zeroed in on those scratches. officers had given him something clean to wear so they could collect his bloody clothing. >> you have scratches on your body. >> okay. see this, this is a shaved chest. do you know how bad this hurt and itches? so when i'm sitting there, i do this all freaking day. this is actually her blood. it comes off. see? oh my gosh, it's coming off. it's her freaking blood. >> that's actually a scratch. okay? that's a scratch. >> still, the detective pressed him. he had motive and opportunity, she said. >> when you went upstairs you were arguing with her. and you know you were arguing with her. >> reporter: she was also reluctant to believe the shooting happened so quickly ---

no threats, warning or hesitation. >> she went from saying i'm going to do what i want to just pulling -- >> yeah. yeah! she did. i'm not lying to you. >> reporter: and when the detective gave a description about the gunshot wound. a description that turned out to be inaccurate. that really set tom off. >> that wound on the back of her head isn't where she could do it herself, tom. it is not. >> oh [ bleep ] >> it is not. >> [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. >> reporter: and then, quite suddenly, in the middle of it all, completely out of nowhere, the detective made an abrupt declaration. >> and i have to let you know that your wife did not make it. your wife did not make it. she was breathing when i was holding her, she was breathing. she -- they told me she breathing when she left the house. >> reporter: ashley died while tom was in police custody.

>> i didn't shoot my wife. i didn't shoot the mother of my kids. i didn't shoot the person who i wanted to have another one with. >> reporter: what would police believe? tom's story that the shooting was a suicide? or ashley's parents' story? that he'd shot their daughter in a fit of rage? coming up -- ashley's family is outraged by the investigation's final report. >> it was incomplete. it was inconsistent. no follow-up. it was unbelievable. >> when "dateline" continues. stimulant laxatives forcefully stimulate the nerves in your colon. miralax is different. it works with the water in your body. unblocking your system naturally. miralax. now available in convenient single-serve mix-in pax. ♪ happiness is powerful flea and tick protection from nexgard. 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. olay regenerist wipes out the competition; hydrating better than $100, $200 even $400 creams. with our b3 complex, beautiful skin doesn't have to cost a fortune. olay.

this is the hour's top stories. the man who stole an empty horizon plane and crashed an hour later is identified as richard russell. in a statement saturday, russell's family said they were stunned by his actions. president trump made his first public comment about a new book by former aide omarosa

which paints the president as a racist. asked about the book saturday, trump called omarosa a, quote, low life. now back to "dateline." ♪ welcome back to "dateline," i'm craig melvin. though covered in blood and suspicious scratches, tom fallis insisted he did not harm his wife, is that she was the one who pulled the trigger. ashley's parents weren't buying it. but would the police? here again is keith morrison with "after the party." >> announcer: ashley fallis, 28 years old, wife and mother of three was dead. the gunshot wound in her head unsurvivable. it was suicide, said her husband tom. >> i didn't shoot my wife. i didn't -- i didn't do this. >> reporter: it was murder said her parents. >> i had three grand kids that i

dearly, dearly love that i knew in my heart that tom had just killed their mother. >> reporter: the news of ashley's death spread quickly the morning after the party. >> i didn't understand what was happening and why because everything was fine that night. >> reporter: as much as confusing a anything. >> very confusing. she was happy. she didn't seem suicidal. >> reporter: andrea, new friend, co-worker, drinking buddy at the party, couldn't shake a feeling. >> i don't feel like she would have taken her life. tom was the only other person that was there. >> so if it wasn't her, it had to be him. >> right. >> reporter: but, for all their middle of the night questions, the police did not arrest tom, nor charge him with anything. >> what were they telling you along the way? >> oh, that they were investigating it. >> reporter: at ashley's funeral, tom was one of the speakers. >> ashley didn't have much patience. >> reporter: and what he said wasn't the sort of thing people

expected to hear. >> she goes, "i don't care when you do it, where you do it, i want it now." >> reporter: it was an unusual and frankly not emotional eulogy, for reasons only tom might understand. but her parents were furious. >> when he had that opportunity to speak and share about the woman he so-called loved and called his eternal wife, all he did was degrade her. >> what was it like to hear that? >> it was shocking. it was unbelievable. >> reporter: as the days turned into weeks and tom remained free, ashley's parents became convinced that something about the investigation was not right. >> joel and i sat down and said, "look, if for some crazy reason she walked in the house and shot herself and they can show that, we will accept it and support tom." we didn't feel like that was, you know, the case. >> reporter: they weren't alone.

remember, on the night it happened, former deputy brian spencer saw tom roaming around freely with blood and other potential evidence all over him. >> police 101, a very basic thing. any scene that you respond to, you want to treat it as the highest level of what it could possibly be. >> sure. so he would be a suspect. >> and he needed to be preserved. he needed to be controlled. >> reporter: but none of that was done at the scene. pretty soon, ashley's parents began to suspect there was a cover-up to protect tom, perhaps the so-called blue wall of silence, looking out for a fellow law enforcement officer. it's a hell of an accusation to make, though. >> it is. it is strong, but that is how we feel. >> reporter: mind you, the evans police department strongly disagreed. both the coroner and the crime scene investigator issued reports concluding ashley's death was indeed suicide. and remember, tom told the police she had expressed suicidal thoughts before.

she had two close relatives who'd taken their own lives. investigators found prescription psychotropic drugs in ashley's purse and nightstand, which tom told them she quit cold turkey without medical supervision when she learned she was pregnant. and so two months after ashley's death, her parents got the news they feared, police ruled her death a suicide. case closed. >> it made me angry. it made me angry. because i knew -- i knew that he shot her. i knew that ashley wouldn't take her own life. >> once the case closed and we got the police report, we realized they didn't do anything. >> reporter: so tell me more about the police report and what you didn't like about it. >> it was incomplete. it was inconsistent. could've been written by a high school student. no follow-up.

it was unbelievable. >> reporter: the evans police department declined to speak with "dateline" on cam rarks but said this about the allegations against them -- "the investigation we conducted was thorough and complete. a conclusion of suicide was determined after an exhaustive review and analysis of all evidence -- physical, forensic, and testimonial, by all of the five agencies involved." as for ashley's parents, well, there was nothing more either of them could do, apparently. two years went by, during which tom moved to indiana with the kids and enrolled at a local university. >> and i said to him, "tom, murderers always move away." >> reporter: it was important to ashley's parents to remain close to those three kids, so they fought for grandparents' rights and tried, they said, to be civil with tom. but, they also told anyone who would listen that they believed their daughter had been murdered, like a local reporter. >> he said, "do you mind if i start looking into this?"

and id said -- joel and i said no, go ahead and start looking into it. and it didn't take him much. >> reporter: the reporter asked around, talked to neighbors, and asked the evans police department to comment on what he heard. and before you knew it, the chief announced ashley's case would be re- opened. >> i extend my sincere sympathy to the family of ashley fallis for their loss and for the revisted grief that can accompany the reopening of a difficult case such as this one." >> i just started crying because it's the catalyst for opening everything up. i finally have someone who's taking it seriously. >> reporter: denver's fox 31 aired the startling discoveries that prompted the new investigation. in particular, a neighbor, who was only 15 at the time, and said he heard tom admit to shooting ashley. >> pretty hard to forget, hearing somebody confess their murder and then getting away with it. >> reporter: to prevent any suggestion of taint or coverup, the case was turned over to the nearby fort collins police department.

for the next seven months, officers talked to witnesses, both old and new, and hired experts to re-examine forensic evidence. and when their work was done, weld county da michael rourke decided to assemble a grand jury. >> what i want to do is i want to put all of that information, as much as we can gather, and almost use it as a test run. >> reporter: and they said? >> and they indicted him. >> i got the phone call that -- that they indicted him, and i just started crying. >> reporter: tom fallis was arrested in indiana, charged with second-degree murder and brought back to colorado to stand trial. ashley's parents were finally optimistic. >> i believe that they will find him guilty of murdering our daughter. i believe that's going to happen. >> reporter: have you decided to believe it, or do you really believe it? >> i really believe it. coming up -- a powerful one-two punch from the prosecution. >> i heard him saying, "oh my

god, what have i done?" >> she said, "i could hear her screaming, 'get off me! get off me!'" >> when "dateline" continues. it's your skin, and it can protect you from millions of things. so we're here to help you protect your skin. walgreens pharmacists and beauty consultants are specially trained to know what works for the health of your unique skin. walgreens. trusted since 1901. now all sun care products are buy one get one 50% off. in terms of treating 3 days is really fast. now the dentist is going to be able to provide that to their patients. sensodyne rapid relief in my opinion is a game changer. it's going to let the dentist offer their patient

sensitivity relief in 3 days. it has a formulation that lays down a barrier of protection against sensitivity. within 3 days, say over the course of a weekend you're going to start feeling significant results. to say that it works in 3 days really is a big deal. they work togetherf doing important stuff. the hitch? like you, your cells get hungry. feed them... with centrum micronutrients. restoring your awesome, daily.

centrum. feed your cells. ♪ happiness is powerful flea and tick protection from nexgard. 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. it's willingham, edge of the box, willingham shoots... goooooooaaaaaaaallllllll! that...was...magic. willingham tucks it in and puts the championship to bed. sweet dreams, nighty night. as long as soccer players celebrate with a slide, you can count on geico saving folks money. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. pressure, what pressure? the players on the...

[music playing] pressure, what pressure? (ceo) the employee of the year, anna. (vo) progress is in the pursuit. audi will cover your first month's lease payment on select models during summer of audi sales event.

♪ >> reporter: four years after ashley fallis' death, her husband, tom, was on trial for her murder. dan grossman, of nbc's denver affiliate, k-u-s-a was in the courtroom for opening statements. >> the room was packed.

you have ashley's parents who are there, a lot of family members. aunts, uncles. and even just people from the public were interested in this case. >> reporter: the prosecution's allegation was perfectly clear, tom fallis argued with his wife and in a fit of rage shot and killed her. >> at the conclusion of this case after you've received all of the evidence, you will be convinced, beyond a reasonable doubt, that it is him who pulled the trigger. >> reporter: prosecution witnesses said ashley was in high spirits at her new year's eve party, not at all suicidal. >> she was happy the whole night laughing, smiling. she was dancing with her children, interacting with all the guests. >> reporter: tom, though? ashley's uncle john testified about tom's sudden blow up when he discovered ashley asked him for a joint. >> and i was sort of taken aback by it, because everything was fine that night then all of a sudden, boom. so i was just like whoa. >> reporter: a neighbor said

ashley told her how tom got physical with her. >> she told me how he had pushed her around before. he had never hit her but he was physical in pushing her. >> reporter: d.a. rourke wanted the jury to hear that tom had a hot temper. that he was volatile. >> anger would've been most obvious motive. >> reporter: simply lost his temper? >> anger. >> reporter: gun near, bang. >> right. >> reporter: to prove it, the witness 'ear-witness'you could say, nick glover, the neighbor whose story was reported on television and helped reopen the case. >> i heard him saying, oh my god what have i done, oh my god what have i done. >> reporter: nick was 15 at the time. he said he remembered crouching down inside his house, under an open window, listening to tom speak to people in his driveway. >> you can hear one of them, i do not know who it was, um say what, what do you mean? and he proceeded to say, i shot my wife. >> reporter: nick said he knew it was tom. he could see him out the window..

>> how certain are you that the voice you're hearing is tom fallis' voice? >> i am 100 percent. >> reporter: there was more. nick's mom, kathy glover, testified that on the night of the shooting, she got a strange phone call from a teenage neighbor around 1:00 a.m. >> she said please tell me you called the police and i said no, i didn't, why? and she said, because your neighbor just shot his wife. and i said, what? and she said, i could hear her screaming get off me get off me. >> reporter: powerful evidence. and then that neighbor testified. but uh-oh. >> do you recall telling kathy glover in a phone conversation that same early morning, i heard her screaming, get off me, get off me? >> i do not. >> reporter: she was 16, and drinking that night, she said. so that might explain her faulty memory. >> do you recall telling officer croissant that you heard a

female yelling, get off of me, get off of me? >> i do not. >> reporter: did you expect that from her? >> yeah. >> reporter: you did? >> it didn't surprise me. >> it hurt you, though. >> it hurt, but i thought that, you know, when you have a police officer who interviews her within an hour, hour and a half of the shooting, and she is clear as day as saying, these are the things i heard from my back window, whether she had been drinking that night or not, to me that's the most believable version of events. >> reporter: so. a hiccup, perhaps. but then there was the crime scene. remember, the coronor, and the csi officer, said at the time that the scene screamed suicide. but, this prosecution witness -- >> my name is jonathyn w. priest. >> reporter: priest is a former homicide detective and forensic consultant who used a miniature model of the fallis bedroom to show ashley's position. >> she has to be here and then bent down so that she'll fit into this trajectory area. >> reporter: he was convinced that if ashley shot herself, there would be more blood on the

floor and surrounding surfaces. not just this one carpet stain. >> we have indications of, of, of bleeding, but the type of injury that we're talking about is going to bleed a lot, and that's not the kind of stain i would expect to see if that's what was occurring. something is keeping that blood from reaching that area. >> reporter: and he believed that 'something' was tom fallis. remember, his clothing was drenched with blood. and so priest concluded tom and ashley must have been in close contact when the gun went off. using the prosecutor, he suggested there was a struggle when the shot was fired. >> i can keep blood staining from getting onto the wall, or, or onto the cabinet, and i can lower her, continuing to bleed, onto my shirt to where i get her in this position. >> reporter: the prosecution rested its case. what possible defense could there be? well, for a start, this --

>> i have so much pain on the inside i can no longer take it. >> reporter: a letter. and what a letter it was. coming up -- a troubled marriage? or a troubled young woman? >> what kind of mental health issues did you observe ashley fallis to be going through? >> mood swings, impulsive behaviors. >> and the verdict. ♪ when "dateline" continues. ♪ protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. frontline plus. trusted by vets for nearly 20 years. with advil liqui-gels, what bad shoulder? what headache? advil is relief that's fast strength that lasts you'll ask... what pain? with advil liqui-gels what's the #1 new skincare product in 2018?

olay whips. absorbs faster than the $100, $200, and even $400 cream. feels amazing. i really really love this. i will 100% swap up my moisturizer. can i have it? olay whips. 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 on flea and tick protection you and your dog will love. nexgard. the vet's #1 choice.

hundred roads named "park" in the u.s. it's america's most popular street name. but allstate agents know that's where the similarity stops. if you're on park street in reno, nevada, the high winds of the washoe zephyr could damage your siding. and that's very different than living on park ave in sheboygan, wisconsin, where ice dams could cause water damage. but no matter what park you live on, one of 10,000 local allstate agents knows yours. now that you know the truth, are you in good hands? where we're changing withs? contemporary make-overs. then, use the ultimate power handshake, the upper hander with a double palm grab. who has the upper hand now? start winning today.

it can't be an easy thing for a juror, imagining a moment he or she didn't see. and deciding what must have happened. did tom kill his wife in a fit of violent temper or what? >> tom, did not kill his wife and mother of their three children. ashley committed suicide. >> remember how the prosecution talked of ashley's happy frame of mind? that ashley was a kind of lie, said the defense. >> ashley was a beautiful woman. but, she had a terrible pain inside. she was mentally ill.

>> the defense put one of her clothe friends on the stand. >> what did you know of ashley having a mental illness? >> i knew she was on medications. we spoke pretty in-depth about that. >> even with medications, the friend testified, ashley had trouble controlling her emotions. >> what kind of emotions did you see her go through? >> depression, mood swings. impulsive behaviors. >> in fact, the defense argued, ashley was so depressed the summer she died, she wrote this letter to tom. >> i have so much pain on the inside, i can no longer take it. i'm sorry to do this to you and the kids, but i find myself not even liking my children. >> every day is a chore, with them, you. i have to pretend to be happy. i have to pretend to be someone i'm not. please make sure you raise the

kids to continue to go to the school we have chosen. i do love them, i just can't take this life any longer. please make sure you let them know every day, i do love them and this was not their fault. suicide expert, dr. michael allen studied the letter as well as ashley's medical records and testified about his review. >> do you have an opinion in this case about whether or not ashley was a high-risk to commit suicide on january 1, 2012? >> yes. my opinion is that she had many, many risk factors and warning signs. >> remember, detectives learned ashley had a family history of suicide, both her maternal uncle and grandmother took their lives. that put her at risk of doing the same thing. >> two close family members who died by suicide suggest a

genetic propensity for suicide. >> defense argued on new year's eve, 2011, it was the miscarriage that broke her will to go on. she spent the night masking her pain with alcohol and planned further with marijuana, after the party. that's why tom was upset. >> she was vulnerable. he was concerned about her. he didn't want her to add marijuana to this toxic system that was developing inside ashley. >> the defense conceded they quarrelled that night, but insisted it never got physical. the scratches, the ones they believe were proof of a struggle, dna tests found no toefd support that. >> you did not find any of ashley's dna, cellar material on the swabs from tom's chest,

correct? >> that is correct. >> defense reminded jurors why he had the scratches, he had done a little manscaping to help. >> on december 17, 2011, he texted ashley, there you have it, you get your way. here it is. thought you might like it. >> the scratches, said the defense, were because it was itchy, that's all. as for the so-called witnesses, said the defense, totally unreliable. the one changed her story on the stand. and the other, months after the shooting, young nick went camping, of all things, with tom. the very man he said he heard confess to shooting ashley. >> at no time during the camping trip with tom did you ever tell anybody you were uncomfortable

being there with tom? >> i do not recall. >> who to believe? for example, wasn't one but two prosecution crime scene analysts. this one, you already heard, believed it was murder. but this one -- >> most people that shoot somebody in an act of rage, they don't stop with one shot. >> dan was the crime scene expert from the first investigation. using a defense attorney, about the same height of ashley, he demonstrated how difficult it would have been for someone as tall as tom to shoot her at an angle. >> is it uncomfortable? >> it is for me. >> he is six feet tall. how tall are you? >> six feet, also. >> the shooting happened in arm's reach of where it is usually stored, said the

defense. after examining the bullets, he didn't believe the shooting was murder. >> i believe that the story that he gave is consistent with the evidence found at the scene. >> in other words, he thought it was suicide. so, what happened in that moment after midnight? how would a juror decide? >> upon reaching a verdict, you will inform the bailiff, who will notify me. >> dan grossman settled in for a wait. >> this is almost a three-week trial. >> no. less than four hours later, a verdict. >> we the jury find the defendant, not guilty of murder in the second degree and all lesser included offenses, signed by the jury foreperson. >> not guilty. not murder. after four years of living under a cloud of sus spinpicion, tom

akuwaited. >> he stayed straight face. the defense attorney, our side panel was very emotional. ashley's parents, they left the courtroom fairly quickly. >> ashley's parents declined to talk with "dateline" after the verdict. their legal battles were far from over. they filed a civil lawsuit against law enforcement officers of the evans police department who they believed falsified, altered and admitted key evidence to make her death look like a suicide. despite the verdict, they continue to pursue the case. in 2017, a u.s. district court issued a final judgment, dismissing their claims. what about ashley's family. will they accept it and go on? >> i don't think they will ever accept it. to say they are distraught is an

understatement. they believe tom killed their daughter. they are never going to let it go. >> an idea once so deeply engrained, true or not, will not go away. tom and his children make a life as best they can. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin, thank you for watching. good morning. i'm dara brown in new york at msnbc world headquarters. it is 7:00 in the east, 4:00 out west. here is what's happening. president trump takes on omarosa. >> do you feel betrayed by her? >> low life. she's a low life. >> hush money deal for the president. trump versus his lawyers. he wants the interview with mueller. they want him