>> it's hard to pull off a fake kidnapping, it just is. that's all for now. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, thanks for watching. for all of us at nbc news, thanks for watching. >> i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> this is "dateline." >> when i saw her, i mean, i lost concept of time. i reached in, pulled her out. help. >> wake up! >> it was the worst seconds of my life. >> how was it possible? >> i would give anything if she were alive today. >> such a sweet young wife and

mom, such a shattering death. >> i cried all night long. >> reporter: he was downstairs with the kids and she was upstairs in the bath and then it happened. >> please help me! >> how long has she been in here? >> i don't know. she was taking a bath. >> we didn't know if it was a tragic accident or something else. >> reporter: questions quickly swirled about a wife's secret. >> what did you -- do today? >> reporter: she did an addiction to prescription pills. >> a husband's story. >> she is flopped on the floor. >> reporter: was it an accident some or maybe murder. >> she said, i'm scared of him. >> the whispering started almost immediately. you're a murderer. >> when you're innocent, you don't think it can tap. >> shut up! >> reporter: wait until the spell binding moment in court. >> it is nothing i would have ever imagined to my life.

♪ >> reporter: welcome to "dateline." a beautiful woman from a well to do family thought she had found her prince charming. but their story turned out to be anything but a fairy tale. love. children. the nice house turned into a fight against addiction, rumors, and an accusation of murder. here is josh with "the quiet one." >> reporter: sometimes the fresh air of a small town can kihide lot of dirty laundry. >> my worst fair was true. >> she had felt like she was abusing it. >> reporter: what happened in this small town would tear apart a marriage and, at the same time, separate two families that were once united by love.

boone, iowa, on flat land just north of des moines is a company town headquarters for one of the largest grocery chains in the midwest, fareway. it's a family owned company and rick beckwith is a third generation ceo. he and his wife cindy raised a family of five here. their youngest daughter emily, the sweet, but quiet one. kind of a shrinking violet? >> the older sisters said she never got spanked. >> she didn't. she just remained silent and looked at me with those big brown eyes, and it was over. >> reporter: even though emily was from a prominent wealthy family, her friend said she never flaunted it. >> i never less of a person in front of emily or anyone in her family. >> reporter: emily is the girl everybody wanted to be friends

if and every boy wanted to day according to her friends. >> all of these boys were gaga over her. she was gorgeous. you've seen pictures of her even in high school, she was gorgeous. but it just wasn't her thing to date. >> reporter: by the time she was 21, emily had moved about 200 miles south to kansas city, missouri, working in a hair salon. one night in 2001, she went to a bar and a local boy named alex fasino spotted her from across the room. >> it's one of those aha moments, you might say. i have to go talk to that girl. >> reporter: after a few days, he said he knew she was the one. >> reporter: what did you like about her? >> what didn't i? she's beautiful. she was very nice. she dressed impeccably. what didn't i? >> reporter: alex's mother joanne knew something was happen when her son asked if he could bring emily to sunday dinner.

>> he said, i have met someone and i would love to be able to bring her over so that you all can get to know her better. >> reporter: and you thought, well, here we go? >> yes, i did. >> reporter: back in boone, emily's family heard about the boy from kansas city. >> she called me up and said, i met this fellow, he is italian, and she said you're going to love his family. they are louder than us. and she fell in love with the whole family immediately. >> reporter: emily's sister amy could see they were in love. >> her eyes sparkled. alex eyes sparkled when they were together. just huge smiles on both of their faces. >> reporter: the girl who never dated was swept off her feet. emily and alex married may 10th, 20 2003. how many people? >> i would guess 400. >> reporter: that's big. >> for an italian wedding, it's maybe mid-sised.

>> reporter: the couple had a son nick and a year later, alex took up emily's parents on an invitation to move to boone. >> it was an open offer if you wanted to come and work for fareway. >> her father offered alex an opportunity, as a family member, to move way up the ranks and at my husband's encouragement, he went. >> reporter: alex took an entry level job at a fareway store near boone. the beckwith's gave the couple this house, just a five minute drive from their own. soon, there were two more additions to the family. ricky and cocoa. >> all emily ever wanted to be is -- is to have a family and to be a wife and a mother. >> reporter: it all seemed perfect, until the night of january 29th, 2012. it was close to the kids' bedtime. emily had gone up early to take her nightly bath. and alex was doing things his wife normally did. >> i was helping with laundry. i helped with the kids with

their bath. >> reporter: alex said he heard emily start her bath as he and the kids watched peter pan. >> there was a lot of sword fighting and things like that and music. and it was really loud. when it got quiet, i could hear the water still running. >> reporter: alex says the water was running for about 20 to 30 minutes. so he went upstairs to see what was taking so long and came upon a horrible scene. emily was submerged in the tub unconscious. >> i tried to -- as hard as i could to get her out of that tub, as fast as i could. she slipped out of my arms. i started scream help. i ran to the phone to call 911. and all i could say was help. >> 911, what is the location of your emergency? >> help, help, help! >> what is going on?

what is going on? >> it was the worst seconds of my life. >> reporter: but there was much more to come. two lives and so many secrets would soon be put under a microscope. >> what had happened upstairs in that bathroom? coming up ir. >> reporter: what can you think this was? >> we didn't know if it was a tragic accident or something else. >> it's the addiction, you know? it's the addiction. >> reporter: addiction? the mystery was just beginning when "dateline" continues. and we don't want something like meningitis b getting in their way. meningococcal group b disease, or meningitis b, is real. bexsero is a vaccine to help prevent meningitis b in 10-25 year olds. even if meningitis b is uncommon,

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this wi-fi is fast. i know! i know! i know! i know! when did brian move back in? brian's back? he doesn't get my room. he's only going to be here for like a week. like a month, tops. oh boy. wi-fi fast enough for the whole family is simple, easy, awesome. in many cultures, young men would stay with their families until their 40's. >> reporter: it got worse. the kids wandered in and saw their mother on the bathroom floor. on the tape, you don't sound like you think there is much hope of her reviving her. >> me personally reviving her,

no, i didn't. >> reporter: you don't know cpr? >> no. >> reporter: but with the operator's help, alex tried. starting john wiebold of the boone police department got the call and arrived at the house with two other officers. his body camera was rolling as alex led them to the bathroom. >> as we entered the master bathroom, emily was laying on the floor face-up. and she had a bluish tint to her. >> reporter: could you tell whether she was still alive? >> i checked right away aeven checked for pulse and breathing and didn't feel any so i immediately started cpr. >> reporter: blood? >> no blood. no blood anywhere. she did have a big bruise on her forehead. >> what was her -- anything? >> the bathtub was full of water

and there were oil droplets top of the water like bath oil. there is music playing from an ipad on the sink area. >> reporter: emts loaded emily into an ambulance and raced to the hospital. when her mother cindy got the call, she went straight there. >> and they told me she was in an emergency room and then a fellow came in and hung his head and he said, "she's gone." >> reporter: emily fasino was dead at the age of 32 and no one knew why. when you went home that night, what did you think this was? >> i didn't really know. it was suspicious death for sure. we didn't know if it was a suicide or a tragic accident or something else. >> reporter: around midnight, police asked alex to give a statement at headquarters. >> i pulled her and she just flopped, you know, she just flopped on the floor. >> reporter: you went in and those initial interviews, you're not represented by an attorney.

>> no. >> reporter: you talked to the police and you handed over your phone? >> yes. >> reporter: almost as if you had nothing to hide. >> i didn't. >> reporter: he also told police something very few people knew. his wife had a dependence on prescription drugs. alex said he was sure emily's addiction had killed her. >> you >> it's really not my wife that did it. it's the addiction. >> what did you think had happened? >> i didn't know if she took a hand full of pills. i was having a hard time trying to reconcile if she killed herself or she just overdosed. >> you thought overdose either deliberate or unintentional? >> yeah. i thought it was a reasonable assumption. >> reasonable because alex said he had been dealing with his wife's addiction for more than a year when she discovered she had stolen pain pills from his father. and then a few months later his own doctor asked a strange

question during a check up. he said and how is your shoulder? i said it's fine. why do you ask? he said i wanted to make sure that the vicodin i prescribed you were working. i said excuse me? and i started crying. >> you cannot asked for vicodin. >> correct. >> it's a powerful pain medication that can be highly addictive. emily asked for the prescription saying it was for alex but she ended uptaking the pills herself. alex confronted emily. >> i said you're going to have to choose between your family and this medicine. i'm not going to stay married to you if you continue down this road. >> and she said. >> she said okay. she said it and she may have meant it but alex said in the months before she died emily would seem okay one day but not the next. >> i can see in her eyes, they, like a glaze.

and then she would be fine for a period. >> finally in december 2011, two months before her death, emily reached out to her mom for help. >> did she say she had become addicted to this painkiller? >> i don't know if she would use the word addiction but she felt like she was abusing it and alex was upset about it. >> emily's doctors recommended in patient rehab. instead she decided to detox at her mother's house and hide it and say she had mono. >> the reason is they were scared of what it would do to their image. >> is the reason you put out this cover story about emily having mono, is that because sending her to rehab would have been an embarrassment for your family and you didn't want your name tarnished? >> absolutely not. we've always done the best thing

for our children and it was emily's desire to keep it from alex. >> emily went cold turkey. cindy says the first couple of days her daughter hardly left her bed suffering from severe headaches but after only four days emily went home. >> did you think she was clean? off drugs? that that problem was behind her? >> i knew she was still tired. >> but no longer addicted. >> no. >> you were convinced that had been dealt with. >> yes. >> alex didn't find out about the detox until much later but he says in the weeks before she died emily still had a stash of pain pills. >> how many times did you say to your wife, if you don't get off the drugs, i'm going to have to leave you? >> at least three. >> but she wouldn't do it? >> she would fall back into her old habits. >> she would never agree to

rehab? >> no, she told me all her doctors were on the same page. >> so alex told everyone his wife was a victim of her own demons but soon more evidence would emerge. >> results came back clean. >> so it wasn't an overdose. >> it wasn't an overdose. >> what could it have been? what could have killed emily? >> she was scared. there was something wrong. >> when date line continues. this is an insurance commercial. but let's be honest, nobody likes dealing with insurance. which is why esurance hired me, dennis quaid, as their spokesperson because apparently, i'm highly likable. see, they know it's confusing. i literally have no idea what i'm getting, dennis quaid. that's why they're making it simple, man in cafe. and more affordable. thank you, dennis quaid. you're welcome.

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>> alex had lost his wife emily. despite his grief he still had to be strong for his kids. >> what did you tell your kids? >> i remember just telling them, mommy went to heaven, and she can't come back. >> as two families mourned and said good-bye, alex had to come to grips with the fact that he was now a single dad with three kids under the age of 7. >> it's sickening to know that if emily would have got the help she needed, she could still be here for my kids and probably for me. >> well, emily's family tried to cope with their loss, state investigator was operating on the assumption that her death was linked to her addiction.

>> she did have a drug problem. she had an addiction to opiate medication. >> it would mean no crime. just a regrettable death or suicide but ten six weeks later, something that changed the entire focus of the investigation. emily's toxicology results came back. >> it came back clean. >> so it wasn't an overdose. >> wasn't an overdose. >> no trace of the opioid pain pills she was abusing. there was nothing in her system that would have killed her. nothing in her blood. now investigators had to take a new look at the case. starting with the photos of the bruises on her body. police saw a bump on her head but during the exam the medical examiner found more. she had areas of trauma to all four sides of her head. the front of her head.

left and right side and top of her head. >> possible those injuries could have occurred while alex was dragging his wife out of the tub? >> i don't think so. >> and bruises on her neck. >> she hthat meant she would poy held under her water by her neck. >> those injuries shouldn't be caused by somebody trying to cause cpr? >> our feeling is no. >> how could emily have gotten those bruises? >> well i know she hit her head when i was getting her out of the bathtub. when i picked her up, i mean, i heard it. i heard it hit when i was pulling her out. her head hit. >> the side of the tub? the floor? >> i don't know.

it was so hard to get her out. >> would you have bruised her neck doing that? >> i don't know. >> the agent wanted to know what might be going on behind closed doors in the marriage. he listened to another 911 call. >> and he's taking everything of mine and trying to take pills too. >> one week before her death, emily called 911 to complain about alex. >> he's like trying to take property that is not his. >> emily came home inebriated the night before and i had had it and i grabbed whatever pills i could grab and i was going to flush them down the toilet. >> and she got angry. >> she got angry. she called 911. >> no one was arrested or charged in the incident but it seemed to be the breaking point. the next day emily filed for divorce and then alex did the same. both asked for full custody of the children and both were still

living in the same house. a few nights later, emily called her father, rick. >> the words were saying one thing, the voice was telling me something different. >> what was the voice telling you? >> she was scared. there was something wrong. >> they hung up around 6:00 p.m.. two hours later, emily would be dead. >> i will never forget that phone call because that was the last time i heard her voice. >> for the investigator, a new picture was emerging. a marriage in shambles. a husband pushed to the edge. maybe this wasn't an accident or suicide. maybe it was murder. >> it seems hard to believe that alex would kill his wife and his kids are just a couple of rooms away. >> but that's if you're thinking that this was well thought out. often times couples get in arguments and they escalate and somebody dies. >> you had seen your wife endanger her life. you weren't angry at your wife's

inability to kick her habit? >> no. i was disappointed in her. i was disappointed that this happened. but angry, no, i was never angry with emily. >> but emily's family and friends say they were angry at alex. they weren't so close and were now splitting along family lines. >> coming up. >> i kept saying over and over he murdered her. >> you're a murder. >> that's what they were saying. >> that's not all they were saying. >> did you say that alex and his family are in the mafia and women that try to divorce wind up dead? >> when date liline continues. they work togetherf doing important stuff. the hitch? like you, your cells get hungry.

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his second speech in two days he also continued to target

president trump's politicpoliti. a major upset in the u.s. open. osaka beat serena williams in the finals. she was the first japanese player to ever win the title. s the win was overshadowed by a dispute between williams and the umpire. now back to "dateline". >> welcome back. alex said he found his wife emily submerged in her bathtub and that she must have overdosed. but the medical examiner's findings showed otherwise. here again is josh with more. >> rumors were flying around the town right after emily's death. female a family and friends thought alex killed his wife. >> i kept saying he murdered

her. he murdered her. >> the whispering started almost immediately. >> in a day. >> you're a murder. >> that's what they were saying. >> not just a murderer. emily's sister amy told investigators alex was also a mobster. >> did you say that alex and his family were in the mafia and organized crime and women that try to divorce their way out of the family wind up dead. >> that was information that emily told me. >> amy doesn't realize that my mom's six siblings and my dad one sibling, there have been 11 divorces. >> those people all still alive. >> they're not all still alive but none of them were killed. >> but they weren't murdered. >> right. >> so they're not some hooked up organized crime family? >> no and i resent her saying that. >> alex insisted the allegations were ludicrous and that's what investigators determined. >> did you pick up any

indication that the family is involved in organized crime. >> no. >> you didn't find any evidence that that was true. >> no. >> or that that played any role in emily's death at all. >> no. >> to get away from all the finger pointing alex took his kids to kansas city and moved back in with his parents. >> our family as a whole suffered with the accusation that my son was a murderer. he ruled the cause and manner of death undetermined meaning he couldn't say how emily died. >> the fact that you can't say for sure makes this a bigger mountain to climb. >> this is a difficult case based upon the evidence. it doesn't mean it didn't need

to be prosecuted just because we have an undetermined call doesn't mean we don't push forward. >> so they asked a different medical examiner to look at the case. a south dakota pathologist. >> and he gave the opinion of the injuries are highly suggestive of struggle. >> homicide. and there was only one suspect. in april of 2013, 15 months after emily died, alex was arrested and charged with his wife's murder. >> they said you're under arrest and i was in complete shock. when you're innocent, you don't think it can happen. you think, they're going to come to their senses. they're going to see it. but no. >> he spent three weeks in jail before being released on bond. his sister says her brother was

charged with murder because of small town politics. >> what do you think kept the state moving forward with the idea of prosecuting? >> i think the power that they have in that community and i believe they were putting political pressure on the state to prosecute this. >> the suggestion that there was some sort of political pressure that was put on my office to push this case forward or to charge it was absolute nonsense. it didn't happen. >> as alex waited for trial, things got worse. his 5-year-old daughter coco was diagnosed with cancer and underwent a bone marrow transplant. >> his daughter's illness took a huge toll on our family. i saw him as very strong. he was handling things i don't think most people could. >> it had taken four years after his wife's death and finally alex went on trial for her

murder. because of pretrial publicity and the high profile name, the case was moved 200 miles away to decor decorah, iowa where they were separated by much more than the courtroom aisle. after a deteriorating relationship and with divorce papers filed, alex lost it that night and killed his wife. >> alex had everything to gain by emily's death. and he had everything to lose by emily being alive. >> alex could lose his kids, lose his job, could lose his house. >> the state started by using his own words. >> 911. >> prosecutors said this wasn't

grief. it was remorse. >> in that initial 911 call, alex sounds pretty genuinely traumatized to me. he doesn't sound like somebody that's faking it. >> part of the argument to the jury is that it has to be a horrific thing to commit a murder. >> so what we're hearing is his horror at having just committed a murder of someone that's close to him? >> that would be a way to characterize it yes. >> in that 911 call, alex had already concocted a story that emily committed suicide or died from a drug overdose. >> my wife killed herself. my wife killed herself. >> who? >> even at that police interview a few hours later, prosecutors said alex was pushing his theory that emily somehow overdosed. >> maybe she didn't kill herself. maybe it was an accident. >> then the prosecution called the state medical examiners to tell jurors about the key piece of evidence. the toxicology report. >> did you also have testing

done on the body and blood taken from emily at her autopsy. >> yes. >> she told the jury emily had no drugs in her system. >> the drug tests that were done did not show opiates in her system at all. >> you don't think it played a role. >> i don't think it caused a role. >> though she initially said the cause of death was undetermined, she had a surprising change of heart on the witness stand. >> which manner of death do you favor over the others? >> in this case, i'm much more strongly leaning toward homicide than any of the other manners of death. >> and that second pathologist said there was no doubt about his conclusion. >> bruises front, back, left, and right of the head would be consistent with a homicide. bruises along the side of the wind pipe and larynx would be

consistent with a homicide. >> murder by strangulation. they now said emily felt threatened by her husband. >> how would you describe the months leading up to her death? >> sad. >> why, was emily sad? >> because she wanted to get away from alex. >> the children's nanny also recounted a conversation with emily just before her death. >> i asked emily two questions the first one was if she was scared of alex. >> what was emily's response? >> her response was yes. >> what was the second one? >> i asked her if she was worried that alex would harm her or kill her. >> what was emily's response? >> she nodded her head yes. >> less than a week later, emily was dead. prosecutors said there was only one conclusion, alex murdered his wife. >> the only explanation here

after looking at all of the evidence, all the circumstances is that the head injuries were inflicted and who would have done that? alex. >> now it was the defense's attorney. this was to be a trial of two emilys. >> coming up. >> did you drink a lot tonight. >> no, i had three cocktails. >> the surprise evidence alex had up his sleeve. emily under the influence? when dateline continues. and your sister-in-law's... tennis partner's... chatty coworker's... youngest daughter's... entire judo class. one shot can make a world of difference. walgreens has specially trained pharmacists, that know which flu shot is right for you. protecting the world... over 60 million flu shots and counting.

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

there was no murder here or any crime at all. >> this case should never have been prosecuted. >> you said this case shouldn't have been brought. >> absolutely not. alex was totally innocent. >> there's no more pressure than if you have an innocent person that you're trying to defend on this kind of charge. he says from the beginning prosecutors targeted alex and refused to consider anything else. >> they reviewed all the information, the toxicology reports, everything associated with her death. they concluded we don't know what the cause of death is. we don't know the manner of death. what happened a year and a half later? the state finds some good from south carolina and says that the manner of delthd was a homicide. they found this first. >> he stated his case to the jury. >> emily passed away as a result

of an accidental drowning and that will relate to her addiction. >> the only crime was that emily never received the help she needed. the defense called emily's mother to the stand to show that detox at her house was at best amateur hour. >> you have no certificate or any license. >> no, i don't. >> are you telling this jury that you know all the subtlties of withdrawal. >> absolutely not. >> he tried to cast doubt on the idea that emily got come ploetly clean. >> the defense called witnesses that said they saw signs emily was still abusing the pain pills and alcohol in the weeks before she died. one of them was alex's mother. >> she was argumentive, agitative and didn't really seem to comprehend sometimes

sometimes what we were talking about. >> signs that are evident in this video. >> what did you do today? >> it was a face time call alex recorded less than two weeks before emily died. >> i don't know. why does it matter. what did you do today? >> what? >> why did you record that face time call? >> so ensure that i would get custody of the kids in a divorce. >> you wanted proof that emily was impaired in the course of her daily life. >> right. it's hard to argue with what's plain to see on video. >> did you drink a lot tonight? >> no, i had three cocktails. >> the defense theory, just before she died, knowing she was facing a child custody battle and would be tested, emily took herself off the drugs one final

times. withdrawal happens. what does withdrawal do? seizures, fainting, dizziness, unsteadiness, weakness. she could have fallen in the bathtub. >> and that also explains why there weren't any drugs found in her system. >> correct. >> could emily have simply drowned accidentally in the tub? alex's attorneys were hoping to plant that thought in the minds of jurors but what about the bruises? they called their own pathologist who said he didn't know what had caused them. >> do you know a determination where they could conclude how that particular injury occurred? >> no, sir. it's unknown to them and to me. you can't just look at that and tell exactly how it happened. >> no expert they argued could say for certain that there had even been a murder. >> i do not know the cause of death. i do not know the manner of death. that's not an intellectual

failure. that's intellectual honesty. >> even the state's own me had come to the same conclusion in her original report. the cause of death, undetermined. >> is there anything in the original autopsy report you take issue or disagreement. >> no sir, i actually agree with it wholeheartedly. >> testified that she favors homicide, would you agree with that. >> no, sir, i would respectfully disagree with that gl the defense conclusion, it wasn't alex, it was what was in the pill bottles. >> this is tit. this is what he screamed about. do justice. jurors would now have to decide if alex was a killer or lonely accused husband who tried

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that face time call appears to sho show an intoxicated emily. the defense could say no one would even say how she died. if there was no cause of death, there could be no crime. now alex's fate was in the hands of a jury. here's josh with the conclusion of the quiet one. >> reporter: four years after emily fazzino's death, her husband's fate was finally in the hands of a jury. alex says he was confident during the nearly three-week trial but says doubt crept in during those final minutes. you prepared for a guilty verdict? >> yeah. i wrote a note to my children. >> reporter: what's it say? >> nick, ricky, and coco, i loved your mother, and i never hurt her. i would never leave you. like your mom is always in your heart, i will be, too. you kids are the light of my life. all my love, now and forever,

dad. >> reporter: the first day, the jury went home without a verdict. as the hours ticked by the next morning, still nothing from the jury. in the afternoon, alex got a phone call. the jury had reached a decision. >> when they called me and said the jury's in, i could barely breathe. >> reporter: emily's family and friends rushed to the courthouse. prosecutors were confident. >> we did the best that we could in putting on the evidence that we had and -- and -- hopefully the jury would see it our way and convict him. >> reporter: the defense attorneys were confident as well. >> we had the facts. we had the experts. >> but -- but you never know. >> but you never know. >> good luck, honey. i love you. >> i don't need luck, dad. >> reporter: both sides couldn't be any more raw, or more on edge. alex was facing life in prison. and finally, after four long years -- >> is this the verdict of each

and every one of the members of the jury? >> reporter: -- here it was. >> in the matter of the state of iowa plaintiff versus alexander joseph fazzino. we the jury find the defendant not guilty. [ cheers ] >> thank you, lord! >> reporter: not guilty. the words alex and his family had been waiting to hear. even his veteran defense attorneys couldn't hold it together. >> i held off crying until bill started crying. >> yeah. >> he -- he started it. and that's what sent me over the edge. >> reporter: and -- one never cries if you think your client's guilty. >> no. >> you don't. >> god bless you, bill. thank you. >> reporter: on the other side of the courtroom, emily's family and friends could barely move. with the verdict, the divide between these two families became complete. >> thank you so much.

>> reporter: the celebration across the aisle became too much for emily's mother to take. >> shut up, shut up! i went in shock. alls i can remember is -- people jumping up and down like cheerleaders. i didn't know until afterwards. that i told 'em to shut up. >> reporter: as they left the courtroom, the reality of what had happened sank in. back inside, alex says felt he far from victorious. >> there's not much to be excited about. emily is still gone. and -- my kids don't have their mother. i felt completely unchanged. i was innocent when i walked in the courtroom and i'm innocent when i walk out of the courtroom, so what's there to high five about? >> reporter: you know there are people that are never gonna believe you're innocent? >> yeah. i'm very aware. >> reporter: you're okay with that. >> i'm not okay with it. i can't let it bother me. i'm not gonna let what somebody says keep me from holding my head up high. >> reporter: emily's parents are

among those who still believe in alex's guilt. but strangely enough, something that sounded like acceptance crept into our conversation. >> this isn't easy for me to say, i hope that the rest of his life he spends -- doing as much as he possibly can for his children. we don't have bitterness inside. >> or hate. >> or hate. he was found innocent. it's over. we're walking down the -- the road of life. >> reporter: their granddaughter coco is dancing down that road. this year, she turned 7 years old, cancer-free. but alex says big moments like these will forever be tinged with sadness. >> graduating from kindergarten, my son's first big hit. every one of those moments for me, it's not the happiest because emily's not there.

she's not there for -- for them and for me. to share in it. it's -- it's hard. that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> and this is dateline. phone rings at 5:00 in the morning. i knew something wasn't right. he just came in sobbing saying no, no. >> it was just before midnight when the shooting started. >> he had been shot multiple times. he was on the ground facedown. >> a man was dead, but not just any man. >> how do you kill super man? k