i kind of thought a perfect punishment for my father is i was going to ask him to write one sentence to me about my mother every week he's in prison so he has to think about her and i can remember her again. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> horrible knowing the person you love is dead and you're being looked at for it. >> imagine you're shaken in the dead of night. >> my ears were ringing. i thought i was dreaming. >> in bed right next to you, your husband murdered. >> hard to get that one out of your head, isn't it? >> yes. >> here's the twist, you're the suspect. >> it's the worst feeling that

you're getting blamed for your husband's death. >> could she have been the killer, or was someone keeping a secret? >> i dade, what dsaid, what did? >> i don't know what to tell you. >> just the truth. ♪ it's the stuff of nightmares. intruder creeps into your bedroom in the middle of the night and opened fire. for melissa oxly, the bad dream was all too real. she said she found her husband ben dead from a gunshot blast. it seemed strange they thought no one else in the house was hurt, including melissa, who was sleeping by his side.

stranger still was who the killer ultimately turned out to be. here's keith morrison with "while they were sleeping." it was cold the night the full moon rose, february cold in the desert valley that spilled down from reno, nevada. in that moonlight all silver pe pale, the wind whipped and cried up the driveway, round the corner of the house, whistled past the unlocked door, something evil afoot, something here inside. the moon peered through the window and into the master bedroom. a little after 3:00 in the morning. >> it's really, really bad. >> what's really bad? >> my husband. >> strange, the things that happen to people under a full moon. good people, not so good people. under that moon that night, it

was hard to tell which was which, who was who. >> this was a case built on lies and deception and cat and mouse. who knew what it was? >> but the story, when it began back in 2005, was about love or what certainly felt like it. in fact, fair to say it was two kinds of love. there was what happened to ben when he met melissa. >> as soon as he met melissa, he was something i'd never seen, just for no reason he'd call her and say i love you. >> he was a changed man. >> absolutely. >> melissa really made the difference. >> and if anybody would know, his best friend would, cindy and scott graham. >> ben was family. i mean, he was family. >> and then there was ben's other love, brightest thing in his life, the one good thing that came from his first marriage, alyssa.

>> everybody said that he loved me more than anything and i think it's true. >> quite true, of course. so there was a little jockeying at first, two women, one man even if one of the women was just 3. >> our first date, alyssa was there. we were eating and i was trying to talk to ben and get to know him. alyssa is like, don't talk to my dad. >> i remember meeting her. i didn't really like her. she was talking to my dad. >> more than talking to him. as it soon turned out, ben and melissa moved in together just a month later, the sort of thing a 3-year-old finds hard to understand. >> she said i love you. i said don't talk to my dad that way. >> but as we said, it was a love story. >> he was truly her best friend and he was the best dad. that's all he cared about was

alyssa. that was his priority, was to take care of her. >> so it was melissa and ben and alys alyssa, the threesome. >> he was so involved in every aspect of her life. they were two peas in a pod. >> one september day in 2006 as the sun was setting into the sierra nevada mountains, ben and melissa got married, the ceremony at nearby lake tahoe. melissa was a glowing bride. alyssa, the little flower girl. >> alyssa, will you promise to share in the love of this family? if so, will you please say i will? >> i will. >> i got her a little bracelet and had it engraved letting her know that i will always love her as my own and gave it to her that day. >> from that moment on, alyssa called melissa mom.

how did that make you feel? >> happy. very happy. >> what a happy couple they were, a happy family. >> just for her to be my wife is a blessing. >> it's what you wait for all your life. >> what were your plans? >> to buy a house and to have babies and have a family. >> they eventually moved here, a three bedroom ranch in the carson valley, look out toward the sierra nevadas. alyssa spent half her time with ben and melissa and half the time with her birth mom dawn. in the end what ben really wanted was to have his little girl permanently. >> he never thought he could have his daughter. i was like, yeah, you could. >> he won custody. >> it was him and his daughter and that's what he always wanted. >> then the little household grew.

melissa's teenage brother craig moved in. and then winter came and the wind. on february 20th, 2008, the moon rose full over the carson valley. after dinner, ben, melissa, her teenage brother craig and little alyssa settled in the den to watch a movie. melissa remembers falling asleep on the couch, waking up with a start. >> thinking i was late for work. it was like 2:30 in the morning. i was like, oh, i'm not late. so i went and got into bed. >> crawled in with ben, she said. moonlight on the covers, warm inside. >> about an hour later i was woke up by the smell and a loud noise. my ears were ringing. at first i thought i was dreaming. >> a smell? >> yeah. it was a smell of the gun powder. >> as she told it, she looked over to ben, saw by the light of the moon he appeared to have slept through whatever it was.

she nudged him. he didn't stir. >> i was like, okay, i'll go check it out. so i walked around our bed, got halfway down the hallway and realized our door was open. >> but you didn't see anybody? >> no. >> halfway down the haull, cold air rushing in, she knew something was very wrong. so she ran back to the bedroom, turned on the light. >> i went to wake him up and then i could see him. >> yeah. hard to get that one out of your head, isn't it? >> yeah. >> and thus her call to 911 and the detectives who rushed over to find out what happened and discovered that he could not tell. >> you've got the wife, you've got a small 6-year-old child and a a 15-year-old boy in the house and everybody saying they didn't know what happened.

>> how did everyone else survive that night without a scratch? coming up, the investigation begins. and melissa is at the very center. a dramatic police interrogation when "dateline" continues. e int when "dateline" continues. new d-con. so d-licious mice risk their lives for it. now 10 times tastier to mice than the lead competitor. mice love it to death. but choosing to douggo that extra mileve. can be tough on his body. that's why he wears dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles. they provide all day comfort so he has the energy to keep moving. delivering joy every step of the day. dr. scholl's. born to move.

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. when you have something you love, ♪ you want to protect it. at legalzoom, our network of attorneys can help you every step of the way. with an estate plan including wills or a living trust that grows along with you and your family. legalzoom. where life meets legal.

from capital one.nd i switched to the spark cash card i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy. and last year, i earned $36,000 in cash back. which i used to offer health insurance to my employees. what's in your wallet? dono.u hear that? it's quiet. too quiet. xfinity home cameras. xfinity home gives you an extra pair of eyes to help watch over your family. plus, you have added peace of mind from 24/7 professional monitoring.

xfinity home. simple. easy. awesome. xfinity customers, add xfinity home and get a great offer. plus, ask how to get free installation. call, go online, or demo in an xfinity store today.

on february 21st, 2008, melissa oxley called 911. >> a gun noise like a gunshot? >> it's really bad. >> it certainly was. ben oxley has been shot point-blank in the head and yet melissa, lying in bed right beside him, was unharmed. she ran to alyssa's room to check on her and call 911. 6-year-old alyssa completely unaware of what just happened asked to go see her father. >> i want to go see my dad. you can't. >> ron elgis, the detective who got the call. do you remember getting that call? >> yeah, because i was sleeping. >> he woke up fast to a very big problem. the killing just didn't make sense. >> appearing like a ghost has done this, no evidence, no

weapon, everybody in the house says i don't know. >> a ghost? >> yeah. that's what it feels like because you have no idea. >> was it possible melissa hadn't seen the person who'd shot ben? she'd been lying right next to him. why was she unharmed? >> a little red flag started popping up, this doesn't seem right. >> had craig melissa's teenage brother, truly slept through the whole thing as he claimed? >> i opened my eyes. right in my face was a bunch of barrels from guns. >> it was police guns, police who had discovered shotgun shells on craig's dresser. >> here comes another red flag. is this a possibility? is he faking? >> melissa, craig and little alyssa were taken to the sheriff's department at 4:00 a.m., an hour after the shooting. melissa's best friend got a phone call. >> it was alyssa.

she was hysterically crying, i'm at the police station, come down here, my dad's been shot. >> melissa was already being grilled by detectives. so many things about this murder didn't make sense. >> maybe the man ben warned her about, she said, a rough customer who once dated ben's ex-wife dawn and threatened to kill dawn and any man she'd been with. was the story true? just to be safe, officers went to dawn's house where she woke up sleepily but unharmed. again, the questioned were for melissa. >> sometimes people know more than they want to tell the

sheriff. i really need to know. >> i honestly don't know. >> alyssa was 6 by this time, was the only bhoewho remembered seeing anything unusual. >> she saw a shadow in her doorway looking at her and then the shadow left. she went back to sleep and then melissa came in and grabbed her and was talking to 911. >> the detective discovered the bullet that killed ben was a number 8 birdshot, the same ammunition discovered in craig's room. so the question for craig -- >> i apologize, but i have to, did you kill craig? >> no, i di i

-- ben? >> i did not. >> he was clean, could not have fired that gun. so back to melissa. >> because there was blood on melissa and gunshot residue. >> melissa's friend jamie was there when she came out of the interrogation room. >> melissa just dropped to the floor when she saw me and she had a little bit of blood on her. she just said, i didn't do this. i know you didn't do it. >> but jamie knew there were

others and not just the police who were very suspicious of melissa. >> she's the wife, she was laying in bed with him. doesn't make sense that she wasn't shot. >> did melissa do it? geez, i hope not, but i mean, she could have. why wasn't she shot? >> i thought if she did commit the murder, she's going to make a mistake. you can only live that lie so long. >> coming up, a new clue, what police believed might be a reason for murder. a reason for murder. ncontrolled moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis, you never know how your skin will look. and it can feel like no matter what you do, you're itching all the time. but even though you see and feel your eczema on the surface of your skin, an overly sensitive immune system deep within your skin might actually be causing your eczema. so help heal your skin from within.

with dupixent. dupixent is not a steroid, and it continuously treats your eczema even when you can't see it. at 16 weeks, more than 1 in 3 patients saw clear or almost clear skin, and patients saw a significant reduction in itch. do not use if you are allergic to dupixent. serious allergic reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems, including eye pain or changes in vision. if you have asthma, and are taking asthma medicines do not change or stop your asthma medicine without talking to your doctor. help heal your skin from within. ask your eczema specialist about dupixent.

when heartburn hits... fight back fast with tums smoothies. it starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue... and neutralizes stomach acid at the source. ♪ tum tum tum tum... smoothies... only from tums endless shrimp is back at with all the shrimp you want, any way you want them. there's new sesame-ginger grilled shrimp with savory soy-ginger sauce and sprinkled with asian seasoning. and favorites like garlic shrimp scampi! but endless shrimp won't last endlessly, so hurry in. let you sleep, try new nyquil severe with vicks vapocool. (acapella) whoa! (avo) and vaporize it. (acapella) ahhhh!

(acapella) shhhh! (avo) new nyquil severe with vicks vapocool. the vaporizing, nighttime, coughing, aching, stuffy head, best sleep with a cold, medicine. -of course, daniel. -fridge, weather. -clear skies and 75. -trash can, turn on the tv. -my pleasure. -ice dispenser, find me a dog sitter. -okay. -and make ice. -pizza delivered. -what's happened to my son? -i think that's just what people are like now. i mean, with progressive, you can quote your insurance on just about any device. even on social media. he'll be fine. -[ laughs ] -will he? -i don't know.

>> reporter: melissa oxley was just 27 years old and already a widow. her 36-year-old husband, ben, shot dead while he slept in bed right next to her. as far as she could tell, said melissa, the shooter managed to break into the house, walk right into the master bedroom, shoot ben without harming her and leave not a trace of evidence behind. the case boggled detective ron elgas' mind. >> is this a murder-for-hire? what could this be? >> reporter: melissa's closest friend believed her when she insisted she had nothing to do with it, in fact, she lost the love of her life. and that now she and those around her were probably in terrible danger.

>> because you don't know who did it. you don't know if they're going to come back for melissa, if melissa was supposed to be in that. >> reporter: melissa, meanwhile, tried to be a source of comfort for her 6-year-old stepdaughter, alyssa. the little girl's father had been her whole world, leaving her now in a world of chaos. and with her home and love nest now a crime scene, melissa and alyssa moved in with the woman who had been bridesmaid at the wedding, jamie, and it was at night when the curtains were drawn that jamie watched melissa reeling with pain. >> many nights of crying in the middle of the night. i would hear her. i just kind of went and laid in bed with her. >> i didn't sleep. i couldn't sleep. >> just getting into a bed after that happened -- >> i didn't want to. >> so where would you sleep? >> on the floor.

>> reporter: and if the pain and suffering of losing her husband wasn't hard enough, melissa was a lead suspect and not just in the eyes of the police. >> because nobody, including the public, including the family has had any idea why this would happen. they're all grasping at straws, to try to figure out this possibility, that possibility. >> reporter: ben's sister was certain that melissa arranged ben's murder and wasn't afraid to make it known around town. >> she had a following of all these people. it's always the wife, you know? >> reporter: so did that mean little alyssa, just 6 years old, so vulnerable, was living with a murderer? alyssa began to spend more time at her mother dawn's house. and one day while she was there, ben's sister warned her about the stepmom she had come to love. >> she told me that she thought my stepmom killed my dad that night. >> must have been pretty weird to hear that. >> yeah. i didn't believe it. >> you didn't believe it at all?

>> no. >> reporter: but if alyssa didn't believe it, others did. and before long, they had more ammunition because of something else the detective discovered. >> a $400,000 life insurance policy. it sounds a lot like she had the motivation to want this to happen. >> reporter: and once again, melissa found herself answering difficult questions. >> i didn't even know about the insurance policy. i guess i was sort of naive to it. we were looking at it for retirement. >> reporter: while the investigation went on, the insurance company held back any payments. while the whispers went around. it was shocking really. ben had been dead just a few months. and melissa was dating already. >> it was sort of -- it was like if i didn't do it then, you almost would get stuck in this rut of never doing it. i would have just hung up the towel and been done. >> put on a black dress and be a

widow the rest of your life? >> yeah. >> reporter: detective elgas, of course, was keeping track and trying not to be judgmental. >> she has to do what she needs to do to heal. it doesn't mean i wasn't paying attention to what was going on. >> reporter: months passed and he scratched away at the few paltry leads, a certain clarity began to emerge. despite his own early suspicions and those of others, hard evidence against melissa just didn't materialize. in fact, he couldn't help thinking -- >> she probably didn't do it. she was so startled, she went into a fight or flight response and just jumped out of bed. and then went to a normal reaction which is what's going on? >> reporter: that's when she discovered he has been shot. >> but there was another reason melissa dropped down the detective's list of suspects. and that reason was a certain someone else who it became clear did not like that love story we

told you about. not one bit. >> i said what did you do? what did you do? and she said what do you mean what did i do? you've known me all these years and you would think that i would do something like that? and i said, absolutely. coming up, a whole new theory of the crime with a whole new list of suspects eager to share secrets. >> i said no. >> when "dateline" continues. >> when "dateline" continues on almost everybody. like the fingers of a flight attendant. the side of a super hero. or the leg of a life guard. eucrisa is a prescription ointment that blocks overactive pde4 enzymes within your skin. blocking pde4 is believed to reduce inflammation. and it's steroid free. do not use if you are allergic to eucrisa or its ingredients. allergic reactions may occur at or near the application site.

the most common side effect is application site pain. ask your doctor about eucrisa. is application site pain. get your groove on with one a day 50+. ♪ get ready for the wild life ♪ complete multivitamins with key nutrients that address 6 concerns of aging, including heart health, supported by b-vitamins. your one a day is showing. 3 days is really fast. sensitivity, sensodyne rapid relief is a game changer. it's going to let the dentist offer their patient sensitivity relief in 3 days. say over the course of a weekend you're going to start feeling significant results. 98% of us don't get enough omega-3s. which is why megared advanced 4in1 packs more omega-3 power into one small softgel. it supports your heart...

brain... eyes... and joints. megared. could help them save money on car insurance? yea,that and homeowners, renters, motorcycle and boat insurance. huh.that's nice. what happens when you catch a fish? gecko: whoa. geico. more than just car insurance. see how much you could save at geico.com.

president trump has ordered the fbi to investigate christine blasey ford's claims of sexual misconduct against supreme court nominee brett kavanagh. the president's decision comes after republican senator jeff flake said he would not vote to confirm kavanaugh without an fbi probe.

fbi says no passwords or credit card information was stolen when its network was hacked this week. information on 50 million users was exposed. welcome back to "dateline". i'm craig melvin. melissa oxley would now breathe a little easier. while still on their radar, detectives no longer considered her the primary suspect in her husband's ben's shooting death. they shifted their focus to someone else in ben's life, someone they believed held a grudge. investigators were about to bring her in for questioning and the story she'd tell would send the case in a stunning new direction. here again is keith morrison with "while they were sleeping." if you knew ben, there's no way that you'd want him dead. i couldn't think of anybody that would want him dead, you know, besides dawn.

>> reporter: dawn, dawn oxley, ben's ex-wife, alyssa's mother. gossiper's pointed fingers at melissa, ben's best friends told each other -- >> everything in me said that dawn had something to do with that. >> reporter: of course, just a few years back, that sort of thinking would have been unimaginable to dawn and ben's best friends, scott and cindy graham. not dawn. dawn, the force of nature, the center of any room she was in. >> i don't know if it's manipulating or what, but everybody agreed with dawn. as long as dawn was happy, then we're all happy. >> reporter: but after five years of marriage, neither ben nor dawn was happy. and the marriage went up in flames. >> ben had cheated on dawn. i could see that. this probably wasn't going to be something she was ever going to get over. >> reporter: dawn changed after

that, said cindy, didn't seem to want to act like a parent anymore. >> she met a guy and she would stay the night at his house. i mean, when her kids are calling us up saying we don't have any food in the house, can you come and bring us food, there's a problem. >> reporter: and so when dawn and ben went to court to fight for custody of alyssa, cindy had to tell the truth. >> i told the judge that dawn wasn't taking care of her kids anymore. they weren't a priority. they weren't even number five. >> reporter: when ben won custody of alyssa and more than $200 a month in child support, dawn was devastated. this is her mother, sherry rosten, a retired deputy sheriff. >> she would sit in the garage and just bawl about not -- about not getting her day in court. >> this was eating her alive? >> yeah. it was really taking its toll on her. >> reporter: dawn started drinking heavily.

her teenage son, devin, watched his mother fall apart. >> she started to lose jobs. it's like all hell broke loose in her head. >> reporter: but murder? remember, the police went to see dawn a couple hours after ben was killed, found her fast asleep. >> what time did you think you went to sleep? >> oh, gosh, i watched a movie, "the departed" and "descent." i don't know, about 4:00. >> in fact, she happened to be sharing her bedroom with a 21-year-old family friend named james. >> yeah we watched a movie and went to bed. yeah, that's our story. that's it. >> reporter: not exactly a convincing alibi. any more than the obvious fiction that james, a new man in her life, was just a friend. even less convincing when detective ron elgis learned about a trip to a 7-eleven store, middle of the night, about an hour and a half before the murder. >> why are they hiding little

pieces that seem insignificant to what's going on. then we started to do surveillance on them. now they're starting to get worried because they think we're watching them. >> they show dawn with james and her two daughters, brandy, her 13-year-old daughter from a previous marriage and alyssa, 7 by this time. that's right. a year into the investigation, little alyssa was back with her biological mom who, with ben dead, the courts weaned her back there permanently. so there you are, still trying to grieve the loss of ben at the same time alyssa is being pulled back toward dawn? >> yeah. i lost both of them, truly. >> reporter: and, well, while the police were watching dawn, dawn was telling her children, including brandy, that the raem suspect was melissa. she confidently told you it was melissa that committed this murder? >> yes. >> reporter: brandy was hearing that from her mother, dawn, you could see was drinking too much, getting duis, spending more than a few nights in jail. >> they started getting arrested

dawn and james both. we were finding reasons to take them to jail. >> reporter: and while they had james, they asked him pointblank about the murder of ben oxley. >> did i kill ben? no. do i know who kill ben? no. did dawn kill ben? no. do i know anything about the murder? no. >> were you and dawn involved in any way in the planning of the murder of ben? >> no. i'm looking you in your eyes. i did not kill him. >> reporter: but that was it. lots of denials. no real evidence. a year and a half had gone by since the murder. it was the summer of 2009. on to cold case territory. >> getting there. >> reporter: then one afternoon, as detective elgis was recovering from a night on the graveyard shift, his cell phone rang. it was dawn oxley. >> she basically said she couldn't take it anymore and she wanted to talk. >> what were you thinking on the way to see her? >> it's about time. >> reporter: the detective drove over to dawn's house.

she was inebriated. >> i didn't hurt him. >> reporter: she had quite a story to tell about james, about how he offered to murder ben. >> the night ben died, he said now or never. and i said no. i said not today. don't do it. no. i said no. i said no. no. no. no. >> reporter: hours later, she said james woke her up from a sound sleep and told her ben was dead. but that, she said, is all he told her. all she knew. >> so you're confident that james had something to do with this? >> i don't know. >> reporter: but is that really all she knew? remember, dawn had a 16-year-old son named devin who detectives learned was at home and listening in the hours before ben oxley was murdered. so if anyone could confirm dawn's version of events, surely it would be devin. but he wasn't talking.

not yet anyway. >> coming up, the question haunting this whole case. >> what's our evidence? >> was there any proof against anyone? prosecutors were about to make a deal to get the evidence they need. >> do you want to talk about this case? >> you know i do. >> when "dateline" continues. ws

i'm ray and i quit smoking with chantix. i tried to quit smoking for years on my own. i couldn't do it. i needed help. for me, chantix worked. it did. chantix, along with support, helps you quit smoking. chantix, without a doubt, reduced my urge to smoke. when you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix,

you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, or suicidal thoughts or actions with chantix. serious side effects may include seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking or allergic and skin reactions which can be life-threatening. stop chantix and get help right away if you have any of these. tell your healthcare provider if you've had depression or other mental health problems. decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. use caution when driving or operating machinery. the most common side effect is nausea. i don't think about cigarettes anymore. talk to your doctor about chantix. now that we have your attention... capri sun has four updated drinks. now with only the good stuff. do you know how to use those? nope. get those kids some capri sun!

>> reporter: finally, the story of ben oxley's murder, bit by bit, was leaking out. but could dawn's version be believed, that she had nothing to do with it? here's what dawn's mother, sherry, thought. >> i can see her sitting there saying, god, i wish he was dead. >> yeah. >> i can see james going, you want me to go kill him for you and her going whatever? it was more of a disbelief than an affirmation. >> reporter: that's story dawn told, too, she did not want james to kill her ex-husband. >> do you want to talk about this case? >> you know i do. >> okay. >> reporter: it was now the fall of 2009. dawn was in jail for a dui and agreed to talk in more detail about the night of ben oxley's murder. >> and he said do you want me to go do that? i'm sitting there going are you serious? are you kidding me? all i know is he's on the phone. he's asking me if i wanted him to go take care of ben and i was saying no.

>> reporter: and then she went to sleep, she said. and the next thing she knew, james was back. >> he woke me up and he said it's done. i was totally drunk. and then turned around and now i'm waking up out of a dead sleep. and i'm like what the hell are you talking about? he said the cops are going to be here. seriously, right now you're telling me the cops are going to be at my house because my ex-husband is dead? >> reporter: and she did not take part, she swore, not at all. >> i didn't drive. i didn't. i did not go anywhere. i did not plan this. i did not want ben dead. >> reporter: so truth or fiction? there was no solid evidence either way. nor that james killed ben oxley. only dawn's story. at which point, assistant district attorney tom gregory decided he needed her help. >> you love to get everybody involved in the case, but there's a reality in many cases

that sometimes you need the help of one of the people involved to get the main person. >> reporter: and so dawn oxley was offered a limited immunity agreement, cooperate with the prosecution, testify truthfully against james and you won't be prosecuted. a sort of get-out-of-jail-free card. why make that deal with her so soon? you had her statement. why not hold off for a while and be patient and then get them both? >> let's say we don't do the deal with her and we go out and arrest him. what's our evidence? >> reporter: dawn signed the agreement and james was charged with first-degree murder. but the end of the story, oh, no, not even close. the truth had been hiding, but it was itching to come out. young devin, remember him, dawn's son? devin finally decided it was time to reveal what he overheard the night of the murder. >> my mom was like i want ben to die. i just want him dead.

and james said i'll go out and kill him right now. you just say the word, i'll go out and kill him. she was like a broken record. i want him dead. i want him dead. >> reporter: sound like a woman who was shocked when the murder happened? but there was more. it was after that when james told his attorney, ken stover, it was time to tell the whole story. >> i could tell he was telling the truth. and over the course of 15 months, he's always told the same story. >> reporter: so now comes another story, james' story. not a love story this time. >> nobody could believe that i would do what i did. i had never been a violent person. >> reporter: james did not have an easy start in life. by the time he was a teenager, he was drinking, doing drugs, stealing things. >> i had pretty much given up any hope on continuing successfully in life. >> reporter: dawn, after her marriage to ben, befriended

james, made him feel rescued, gave him a place to live. he just been paroled from prison after doing time for stealing a truck. >> kind of gave me a sense of hope, that there was somebody out there besides my mom who cared. >> reporter: at dawn's house, james discovered what others had. he said, as long as dawn was happy, everybody was happy. and if she wasn't, well, then james could not be happy either. >> she was very, very upset the fact she lost alyssa. >> reporter: and she went on rants, he said, about ben oxley, a man james didn't know, had never met. but he listened. >> you felt like you were in love with her? >> yeah, for a little while. it gave me a sense of feeling wanted. >> reporter: and then he realized, he said, she would never be happy unless he fixed what was upsetting her. >> i just wanted to make dawn happy. >> reporter: so what happened? dawn and james' stories begin the same way. february 20th, 2008, night of heavy drinking at dawn's house,

a heated conversation about ben oxley. james asking dawn if she wants to have him killed? but that's where the stories diverge. dawn, remember, says she told james, no, don't do it and fell asleep on the couch. but that's not james macklian's story. >> she was ecstatic about what was happening. she was happy that i was going to kill somebody. >> reporter: it was after midnight. dawn drew him a diagram of ben's house so he could find his way to the bedroom. then he went to the 7-eleven. and drew $40 out of the atm and then they went to the walmart. dawn waited in the car while james did the shopping, shotgun shells, gloves, a flashlight. >> she was just very happy about it. like you would imagine a kid going to disneyland, you know? >> reporter: but there was a problem. they'd forgotten to bring the diagram. >> the plan wasn't for dawn to

go in the house. the plan was for just me to go in the house. i didn't know how to get in. >> or where the bedroom was? >> or where the bedroom was. so dawn had to go inside. >> reporter: the front door was looked, so dawn took him around back where a sliding glass door was unlocked and they eased their way in and walked down the hall. then, said james, dawn pointed him towards the master bedroom. >> and i turned around and she was going into alyssa's room. >>going into the room? >> yeah. she was about -- half her body was into the room. she said she was going to take alyssa with her. i said you can't take alyssa. >> reporter: is this true? remember, alyssa, just 6 years old at the time told police she remembered seeing someone in her doorway. >> i just looked out and i saw somebody walking in. >> reporter: and then said james, he walked into the master bedroom, saw ben and melissa sleeping in the moonlight. >> and i raised the gun.

that's where everything in my mind that should have happened three or four hours ago happened. i started thinking, why am i here? something i heard to my left -- >> a sudden noise? >> yeah. and as i turned and jerked to see what it was, i pulled the trigger. >> reporter: he ran then, he said, left the front door wide open. caught up to dawn with the truck. >> who drove? >> she did. i started yelling at her when we got in the truck. >> reporter: the truth, said james, all of it. >> dawn knows the truth and i know the truth. and that's all that matters. i'm taking full responsibility for what i did. dawn needs to take full responsibility for what she did.

>> coming up, was ben the only one who was in danger that night? >> what was it like to hear that? >> unreal. >> one more revelation still to come. come today... back pain can't win. now introducing aleve back and muscle pain. only aleve targets tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. aleve back & muscle. all day strong. all day long. this is why we no longer have to worry about flushing too much toilet paper.

rid-x contains billions of enzymes proven to break down even paper to help keep your whole septic system healthy. for paper, grease or waste breakdown, use rid-x . you want relief fast. only new thermacare ultra pain relieving cream has 4 active ingredients, to fight pain 4 different ways. get relief fast with new thermacare ultra pain relieving cream. 60% of women wear the wrong size pad and can experience leaks. you don't have to. with always my fit, try the next size up and get up to 20% better coverage day or night. because better coverage means better protection. always

a jailhouse room such as this

while a murderier cites chapter and verse. but james did not shrink from it. he murdered ben oxley in his sleep and must live with what he did for the rest of his days. >> i'm afraid to say what i actually did. >> in december 2011 he told his story in court. it was after the d.a. took the death penalty off the table and james decided to plead guilty, and that's when melissa sitting in the courtroom heard for the first time about something else. james was supposed to kill her too. >> don asked if i would kill melissa and i automatically said yeah. >> there was a bullet there for you. >> yeah. >> what was it like for you to hear that? >> unreal. >> do you have a hard time

believing dawn was in the house that night? >> yes. >> that's where they firmly agree. only half a measure of justice since dawn is protected by the immunity agreement she signed with the d.a. >> james is not the type of boy who's going to go out and commit a murder in the hopes that dawn will find it acceptable. he didn't do this as a surprise gift. >> dawn herself declined our request for an interview, though her mom, the retired deputy sheriff, has remained in her corner. >> i know that a lot of people believe that, that it was a blatant conspiracy on her part. but i don't think dawn really wanted ben dead. toinlt think dawn was there. >> you're trying to hold it all together, all the way along and even now. >> you have to understand ben

was a good guy. they had their problems. everybody loved him. he didn't deserve to die. >> so for the time being it's a he said/she said story, and the d.a.'s -- she may never face a murder charge. >> now we need to she him how far in the deal she is. >> a deal with the devil? the d.a. said without the testimony of dawn at a preliminary hearing the murder charges on james would never have stuck, but dawn wasn't t e totally off the hook. there was one thing still. if they could find she lied for the get out of jail free deal on james -- >> it's still a murder trial on dawn oxley.

if someone finds there's evidence, we could still prosecute her. >> in 2011 dawn was sent to prison on another offense. she used her teenage daughter brandy to sell drugs. >> was she employing you to assist in that business? >> i was driving, yes. >> dawn was released in june 20614, but not to be the mother of alyssa. she terminated her parental rights. both alyssa and brandy wasn't to live with melissa, to offer them a family life they didn't know without their mom. >> it is a family, and that's what i need. >> one more thing to do. in 2011 having pleaded guilty to murder, james is prepared to be sentenced. >> is there redemption for a person like you? >> i don't know. i don't expect anybody that i've hurt to forgive me for what i've

done. >> you looked in the lens as you said that. you're talking to them, right? >> basically talking to melissa. i'm sorry. >> in exchange for his guilty plea, the d.a. agreed to recommend that james could be eligible for parole after serving 24 years. final decision up to the judge. defense attorney stover made the argume argument. and then melissa took the stand. >> emotionally the damage you have caused me is almost unbearable. for alyssa, you crumbled her foundation and everything she knew to be right and true. and as hard as this is to do or believe, i also want you to know i have found it in my heart to forgive you.

>> and then james got his sentence. >> the murder charge, you're sentenced to life in prison that life without parole ever. >> afterward the little girl in the middle of the family drama turned to melissa with a remarkable request. alyssa asked to meet with james and was ushered in to see him before he was whisked away. >> i told him that i decided to forgive him and that i wanted him to have hope. >> and she wept then, tears of forgiveness, lingering grief for her father. and as for melissa, after the trial she told us she was ready to move on. >> where will you keep ben? >> he will always be in my heart. he'll never be forgotten, but we do have to go on. we still have to be here and live day-to-day life. >> if he's looking down and

watching you, what would he think about his daughter? >> i think he still loves me and i'm doing much better than i was at my other house. >> do you miss him? >> yeah. i miss him a lot. >> you're a pretty strong kid, aren't you? >> yeah. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm kregg melvi-- craig melvin. good morning. it's 7:00 in the east, 4:00 out west. here's what's happening. the supreme court nominee matter delayed. the fbi will reopen the back ground investigation. >> what you're doing is allowing someone who actually violated a woman to sit on the supreme court. this is not tolerable. >> we can have a