ambitions. >> want another crack at it? >> no, no, but i did enjoy being president, a great experience for me, and i am satisfied with what we did, and at the time i wanted a second term, but that was not in the cards. trying to solve this murder, we were going to set a trap for three people, and i wasn't sure if it was going to work. it had to be perfect. >> he was a family man who didn't seem to have an enemy in the world. right up until the night he was murdered. >> there was evidence of a violent struggle between jack and his killer. >> someone was keeping secrets, and police thought they knew who. >> their tone was just scary.

>> they thought they knew the motive, too, but -- >> a matter of proving it is a different story. >> until someone found the perfect bait. >> hey, dude, it's me, you need to [ bleep ] call me asap. >> could they set the perfect trap in. >> these people might literally get away with murder. >> "deadly conspiracy." >> hello, welcome to "dateline extra," i'm craig melvin, with doting grandfather jack jesse at the helm, his big and blended california family seemed like one happy bunch. then jack was found stabbed to death in his living room, and police wondered if the jesses were not as close as they seemed. the case went unsolved for years until and ace detective hatched an unconventional plan to catch jack's killers. here's keith morrison. ♪ the game is called mouse trap,

the ball on the track, most everything works in unison. how often things go wrong no allow the mice to get away. so far what really happened could come down to a children's game? these are the people that happened to the jesse clan of orange county california. they vacationed together. >> i'm tired. i'm ready to go home. >> shared birthdays. >> this one's for bev. >> even got together for a monthly game of ten pins. but what these grainy home videos don't show is what is yet to come, which is murder, conspira conspiracy, one branch of the family against the other, a game so twisted, mice so clever, that crafting a trap to catch the plotters just might be

impossible. to begin with, it was 1998, shakespeare in love won the osc oscar. monica lewinski was freshly famous. it was the hottest night of the year when sheryl got a call from her dad, jack jesse. >> i was greating ready for bed, and my phone rings, it was my dad. >> what time was it? >> 20 after 9:00. >> she was worried about sandra, his wife, she was missing. >> she ran to a nearby mall on a quick errand but was gone so long. could you find her? >> i went there. >> and when she went back into her dad's house, she found -- >> one of the worse scenes i've seen in my life.

face down on the floor in a pool of blood. horrible. >> what did you think happened there? >> i thought he had fallen because he had a big gash in the back of the head. >> i went to the kitchen phone to call 911. >> when she rolled him over, there was wounds across his chest. he had been stabbed. many times. >> every time i started doing cpr, breathing into him, i could hear bubbling and air escaping from his chest. >> it's not often this town in california has a murder, but at the time, daren wyatt was the sole homicide detective. >> what did the scene look like? >> bloody, evidence of a violent struggle between jack and his killer. >> the kind of thing that would happen if it was a home invasion or robbery? >> or an assault between people who knew heaven other. >> reporter: he was looking first at the person who reported

the crime, which was his daughter, sheryl. >> the daughter, we had to look at her as a potential suspect. she was the one who found him. >> back at the station, wooitd intervi -- wyatt interviewed all of jack's relatives, including sand sandra, his wife, who was not missing, just on a shopping trip. >> came with us voluntarily, cooperating,me menwanted to hel solve the murder of the husband. >> and told them about life with jack, married 14 years, blended family, four kids between them, the patriarch of the clan, a teddy bear of a man, well-liked, well to do. >> a very, very loving person who doted on his children and stepchildren, doted on his grandchildren. >> but jack was ill, house bound after colin cancer surgery. sandra told the detectives she was running a mercy mission for jack and doddled too long at the

mall. >> she was very, very specific about where she had gone at what times and why she had gone there for. >> sheryl told detectives she'd do anything to learn what happened to her dad in those 15 minutes she was away from the house. >> her actions were very, very consistent with somebody who understands the police are looking at me right now, i know i didn't do anything. i'll do everything i can to give full disclosure. >> and the day after the jack jesse murder, a guy walked into a bar, sat down on the bar stool, and told the bartender a story, about how the murder happened, about who did it, about what the motive was, the whole story. but, of course, that was just a story in a bar. detective wyatt didn't hear anything about it. as he continued to dig for clues, he hit an unexpected wall. sandra announced she now helped as much as she could. she was done.

>> i was referred to her attorney, and she refused to meet with us again. >> same thing happened with sandra's kids, jack's stepchildren. while jack's blood relation begged to help solve the case, so what happened to the big happy family in the videos? a mirage, perhaps? in fact, living with sandra, said jack's daughter, was like a fairy tale. >> it's too late now. >> she was just mean to me, and wanted me completely gone and did everything she could. >> when it came to her own children, she said, sandra was indulgent, eerily so. >> it was very weird. >> weird thing to watch. >> they were always walking into the other room closing doors. >> though, jack seemed happy with sandra, until the spring of '98, that is, just a few months before the murder when jack was diagnosed with colin cancer.

the shock, of course, but one of two shocks for sandra, and to those around her, the second seemed somehow worse. her beloved son, tom, up and moved to arizona. >> and she was flipping out about it. >> yeah. >> just she had to go there. >> she demanded jack move to arizona too. >> that woman was off her rocker. the tone was scary. like somebody else's voice coming out of her. >> surely that was not the motive enough for murder, and with plenty of suspicion, but little else to go on, wyatt spent months pouring over sandra and jack's phone records, credit card bills, statements, searching for -- well, he didn't know what he was searching for but he was getting basically nowhere. >> we couldn't establish a pattern that was suspicious. >> then wyatt's investigation sputtered. sandra left, sold jack's house

in california, moved to arizona to be near her son, tom, and soon, her daughter followed too. they all lived in homes blocks from each other that sandra helped purchase with jack's insurance money and savings. >> when it was all said and done, it was close to $700,000. >> as months past, leads failed to meet up, and wyatt was promoted out of homicide. the case bounced from the pd to the sheriff's department where before long it was a case to avoid, toxic, unsolvable career killer until five years after his brother's murder when david jesse met a detective named tom dove who picked up the case. >> i said, oh, really? well, that's great. let me ask you a question. yeah? what are you going to do? get my case for three, four, five months, a year, and move

up? become the sergeant or something and move on? and tom dove says to me, listen, bud buddy, nobody likes me in my department. i'm not going nowhere. he says, i got five years to put into your brother's case. he says, i retire, i'm out of here, he said, but i'll give it my all. i'll give everything this case that i have. i looked over at him, and i said, you're the man. >> what david didn't know was that the detective tom was the real deal, a legendary law man who stepped out of his own prime time drama. >> there was not a lot to go on. no physical evidence. there was notny eyewitnessings. >> in other words, the perfect challenge? >> correct. after five years of dead ends, tom jump started the investigation and quickly uncovered an intriguing new clue. coming up, that bartender

with the customer who liked to talk now he's talking too. >> this person has specific details unknown to the general public. >> not only that, he's naming names. >> how many times did you listen to that interview? >> at least ten times. >> when "deadly conspiracy" continues. . -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. -will he? whooo! want to get a move on your next vacation? tripadvisor now lets you book over a hundred thousand tours, attractions, and experiences in destinations around the world! like new orleans! from cooking classes,

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welcome back. much had changed for the jesse clan in the years since jack jesse had been stabbed to death. his wife, sandra, moved to arizona to be close to her son, tom, and there was big news in the little town, the case had gone cold, but now there was a new detective on the case, and as he began to dig, he uncovered what looked like a clue, a single name sprawled on a slip of paper. could this be the key to finding jack's killer?

here's keith morrison. >> after five years and a string of detectives, this was a game to avoid, and then one day, a whole impossible business was handed off to tom dove. >> i can't tell you how many times i thought, just move on, give up, move on. >> there was no hope of new evidence, obviously, like fingerprints or dna, just the infuriating puzzle that got more difficult with each passing year. >> after i reviewed the case, i had no feeling for the family, no feeling for jack jesse. >> to get his head in the game, tom met with those closest to jack, like his brother, david. >> and when i met with david, he inspired me. his determination not to let the love for his brother go was a big motivating factor. >> but david also had some provocative information. something jack told him after

arguing with sandra about moving to arizona. >> anything ever happens to me, she said, it's her. >> not the only thing jack said such a thing, turns out. >> he told me, i wouldn't be surprised if she killed me. he said that. >> so he dug through the original files hoping to come across something overlooked. buried inside, he found this simple two-page report, apparently unread by any detecti detective. remember the guy who walked into the bar telling the story? the bartender, after the case went called, told the tops. an officer wrote the report and stuck it in the file where it sat unseen until tom dove came along. >> two things caught my mind when i read it. one, whoever the caller is knew how many stab wounds were involved, and, two, the caller

stated that the person had used a back door or a window to enter the residence that night. that was significant in that this person had specific details unknown to the general public about the murder of jack jesse. >> most of the tipster's information was vague, like a riddle, another game to be played. there were two killers, though he gave no names. one had a knife. the other had the getaway car. both worked in a big box department store. the man who told the story in the bar that day had been the driver of the car and with the blood money, he bought a truck and a seadoo, but the question behind this, there was sandra's son, tom, the mama's boy jack raised as his own, under the direction of the master mind, herself, jack's wife, sandra.

so, with that new perspective on the case, doug revisited sandra's interview, hours of mostly useless chatter. >> how many times did you listen to that interview? >> at least ten times. >> and then it jumped out at him, right about here on the tape. sandra is going through slips of paper in her day planner. she looks at one and says. listen to it again. >> this is my son's friend. >> this is my son's friend. one phrase in hours of material, but it got doug's mind racing. if the bartender was right about sandra, could that be the key? he tore through bags of evidence, and there it was, the day planner, seized five years earlier, just after the murder. >> i went through that day planner for probably a day or more, through every scratch piece of paper, every notation, everything put into place in that day planner was looked at.

there was small piece of note paper with the name, which appeared to me, at that time, to say schreuver. that's all it said. i thought. >> but where would he find this person? he unearthed another clue when asking wyatt about tom's friend, sandra said the boys were once work buddies. so detective doug crossed california looking for employment records at every target store for this name in the employment records. nobody had heard of it. >> we were getting to a dead end there. >> that's when jack's daughter got strange packages in the mail from sandra saying they were

keepsak keepsakes. >> what was it? >> ashtrays, bowling ball bag, just junk, weird stuff that kept coming. >> provoking the reactions the sisters felt. >> hatred. >> more than i had before. >> sandra seemed to be saying she won the game. >> just said, are we cursed? is there something with this case that's just not going to be solved? >> it's frustrating for him putting all the work in and to think these people might literally get away with murder. >> patty is tom's wife, together since high school, knows him better than anyone. she was used to his perfectionism. >> it's comforting for me to know where things are and where we are going. >> he's a very stubborn man so for him to take a case, he's going to do it and solve it. >> and so detective doug decided to start over. take a different approach this

time. he immersed himself in sandra's phone bills, seized by detective wyatt years before. >> what i did was go through every telephone call on those phone records looking for somebody related to this case. there had to be some communication. >> get anywhere? >> yep. >> there was a cluster of calls before the murder, short. one was at a target store, another to a pager, and one to a boarding house. so he called that last number. asked if anybody there knew a guy named schriber and the landlady said, nope. but, there was once a tenant named schrobin. is that the name? >> it was schrobin. >> he tracked him down to a suburb in the desert, and right

there parked in the driveway was a 1999 pickup truck and a sea-doo, just what the anonymous bartender said. >> this was a huge break for us. we now have a name of somebody that's involved in jack jesse's murder. coming up -- >> often people throw away valuable evidence. >> reporter: the detective finds treasure in trash. >> this is too good to be true. i thought good things were going to happen. somebody was on our side again. >> when "deadly conspiracy" continues.

welcome back. before he was killed, jack hinted to family members that sand sandra, his wife of 14 years, wanted him dead. by connecting the dots, cold case detective tom dove now believes jack was the victim of a conspiracy. his theory? that sandra and her son, tom, master minded jack's murder with the help of a man named brett schrobin, but they still needed proof tieing it together, and the search for evidence was

going to take them in an unexpected direction. here's keith morrison. >> the jack jesse investigation was six years of dead ends, bad breaks, and blind alleys, but now on a new trail, it was a new game, one where he could write the rulebook, but it would be very complicated because doug wanted more than just the get away driver, but everyone connected to jack's murder. >> only way to tie them together was for a wiretap. >> wiretaps are difficult to get. he needed permission from a judge, and to get that, he needed to prove schrobin was still in contact with tom and tom's mother, sandra. it was a catch 22. so time to get creative. >> it'd been my experience working in the narcotics section of the sheriff's department that often people throw away valuable

evidence. >> dove asked his fellow detectives to help him because he decided to search schrobin's garbage. >> what did they tell you? crazy? >> first idea was i'm starting to lose it now and want to dig through the trash. >> so faithfully on garbage day, he went to the neighborhood, where a trash truck bought it to a nearby parking lot. >> we'd have the truck dump the trash in some little pile here regardless of the size. >> right on the tarmac? >> and scatter it, get down on hands and knees, and slowly sift through every piece of paper that looked like it might be a document of some kind. >> and that's how doug's team found this coffee stained phone bill. showing call after call from schrobin to tom in arizona.

>> that number, tom's number, popped up how often? >> i think the average we figured out was 24 times in a billing cycle of a month. >> almost every day. >> correct. >> yeah. >> like going through a crime scene and finding pieces of evidence. it's an excitement that you realize this is going to work. we are going to find what we're looking for. >> but there was yet again a problem, the phone was under a different name. how would he do it? >> he ended up having to follow brett around until we saw him on his telephone. we later took that even further in that i went into the target store he was working at one day, and i noticed he was stocking shelves in a certain section of the store, so i started randomly picking up items acting like i was interested, and i called an

investigator outside, and i said put a call in now to the phone, and i heard him answer the phone. i was able to say, that's his phone, he talks on it. we put the phone in his hand. >> but as they continued to sift through trash week after week, they found something more important than the phone bill. something quite unexpected. this day planner. >> from the years '96, '97, and 1998. >> what are the chances six years later, here's the day planner for 1998, the day jack was murdered. crucial evidence tossed in the garbage. >> a treasure we did not expect to find, but what that did was connect all the people back in 1998 that were associated with brett. >> what did you think? >> this is too good to be true. i thought good things were going to happen. somebody's back on our side again. >> and with this evidence, doug was able to get a judge to approve a wiretap on brett's phone. and then, as doug waited for the

wiretap to go into effect, he continued to go through the trash, lucky so far, maybe he'd find something more. and, indeed, he did. and it turned the case upsidedown. he found rental listings in arizona, brett was moving out of the state. he was gone before the wiretap ruling took effect, and in arizona, a california warrant was worthless. >> this completely took all that work, and we're talking six months of work, and just threw it out the window. >> the killers slipped the trap. game over. but the detective was not giving up. his team built a new and better mouse trap, and guess who took the bait? coming up -- >> hey, dude, it's me, you need to [ bleep ] call me asap. >> when "deadly conspiracy" continues. (music throughout)

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president trump planning to close the u.s. border to keep a group of migrants out. he makes the comment as they come from the border. the president of turkey says he'll release a statement regarding the journalist's death on tuesday. the saudi government claims his death was a result of a rogue operation gone wrong. now back to "dateline." welcome back to "dateline extra," detective tom dove had just secured a warrant to wife tap a murder suspect's phone, but then he learned he was relocating to arizona, a move that threatened to derail the investigation. dove didn't miss a beat. he simply engineered another plan, an elaborate trap requiring the help of nearly 100

officers across two states. could the detective pull it off, or was he headed towards another dead end? here, again, is keith morrison. after two years of work, tom's investigation generated enough evidence to fill in mail cart, all apparently for naught. the suspect and the key to cracking the case skipped the state, and detective dove's jurisdiction. >> we were so close. >> the family sensed dove was beaten, and sandra had won. had gotten away with murder. >> put the pictures away. i just -- it's tough. because he was so fantastic. >> put his pictures away? >> i had to. >> had to. >> too much. >> i couldn't look at them. >> at the dove home, tom's wife, patty, worried about her husband's health. >> he tends to hold things in, and you can't hold in that frustration and emotion without

starting it to affect you. that stress takes a toll on them physically and mentally. >> that's what you worried about? >> exactly what i worried about. >> because she knew if he did not solve the case, he'll die trying. >> a dog with a bone, and he's going to take it and do it until it's done. >> dove was not alone, mind you, who shared the dogged convict n conviction, a man named michael murray, who wanted sandra and her group as badly as doug. >> this case was full of obstacles. >> would have been forgivable to let it go at that stage? on some level? >> maybe to some people. >> so murray and doug called a legal long shot, presented evidence to the attorney general, and pled for a wiretap warrant, and they got it. the game was back on. if they could make it work. >> we were going to try to set a

trap for three people and keep track of those three people, and i wasn't sure if it was going to work or not. >> if it didn't? >> in the back of my mind, i gave it probably a 30% chance of success. >> but you gave yourself a 70% chance of being a goat at the end of the day. >> it had to be perfect. only would get one try. >> he compiled a team of investigators and called daron wyatt, the first detective on the case to see if the pd wanted in. >> i said, i'll fall at your feet to do what we can to help. i felt, look, this is going to be good. >> the phoenix pd provided scores of officers, so on game day, doug had close to 100 cops on the case. >> i reminded them of the mouse trap game you played when you were a kid, in that this huge ball bearing was going to have to go through a tremendous amount of obstacles that were

just thrown together in order to lower the trap and catch the mouse. anywhere along the line, there could be a snag. there could be something that we had not planned for that could throw this ball completely off the board. >> okay. >> so what was the plan? what was the nature of the trap? of the mouse trap in. >> we believed that if we did something to get these people uptight, rattle the tree, able to put fear in them, maybe the police were on to them, that they would talk about the murder of jack. >> what was the piece of cheese you put into the trap? >> we mailed a simple copy of the newspaper article when jack was murdered anonymously to sandra and tom and brett. the significance of that was they didn't know we knew about brett schrobin.

they'll know something's up. >> sure enough, as soon as he heard brett got a letter, he called mom, sandra. >> give me a break. you're kidding. >> no. why would i kid about something like that? >> sent one to brett? >> yep. >> why to him? how would they even -- >> i have no clue. >> next, doug started poking brett's friends in california, who, of course, called brett. >> leave your name and number, and i'll get back to you, thank you. >> hey, dude, it's me, call me asap. this is no [ bleep ] joke. some guy from the orange county sheriff's department, homicide division, is calling me asking about you. >> brett, in turn, called tom -- >> hello? >> hello? >> tom? what's up. >> i got a call from scott.

the orange county homicide division called scott and they want to talk to him about me. >> on you? >> what are you on? >> cell phone. >> are you comfortable or no? >> no. >> after days of the game, sandra, tom, and brett wondered if they were getting played, suspected the phones were tapped and the houses bugged. >> i don't want to talk now. i'll just pick you up at church or something. i mean, just somewhere outside. >> oh, okay. >> away from my place or your place. >> okay. >> not on the cell phone. >> okay. okay. >> would you have time? >> now. >> so they started meeting in shopping centers. >> we decided to put surveillance teams on the individuals, sandra, jesse, tom,

and brett during the duration of the wiretap to capture some things they may not do that may not be normal while the wiretap was in place. >> and, shoulder to shoulder in a parking lot, watching out the parking lot, and not looking at each other. >> there it was, like a scene from some mafia movie. the suspect out of range of recording devices, apparently deep in conversation, peering into the parking lot. >> i think the phonographs of tom and sandra was worth a million words as to the depth of their involvement and how far they would go to conceal what they had done. in their minds, they had thought they got away with the perfect crime. >> meanwhile, doug was hopping on a flight to orange county to pressure the friends for information. he was, of course, relentless, chasing down anyone who knew the man, following one tip to another, until he finally encountered the man he was

hunting for years. the bartender. who called in the anonymous tip years earlier. >> and the first words out of my mouth were, hi, mike, i'm here about brett, and the face went completely flush, and he said, i knew you'd find me sooner or later. >> what story did he tell you? >> brett confided in him for whatever reason telling him details of the murder of jack jesse including his involvement. that was a huge, huge quantum leap for us in putting this case to rest. >> now the time had come to spring the trap. brett was arrested and soon thereafter sandra jesse, herself, in handcuffs. finally to be held accountable for jack's murder. >> it was wonderful. >> best three day weekend i had. >> oh, my too. that was a pretty good day. >> yeah. >> didn't last. for one thing, tom was not arrested, insufficient evidence, said the prosecutor. as he rolled out the case

against the others, that ball came off the track again. this time, at sandra's preliminary hearing. the judge ruled there was not enough evidence to hold her. she was free to go. >> i sobbed all the way home. i don't know how i made it back from santa ana. >> only brett was facing a murder trial. it was the summer of 2006, eight years after jack's murder, and justice, not yet, if ever. coming up, finally, the break detectives had been waiting for. >> she wanted jack dead. she wanted it done in the house to look like a robbery. >> the information that he provided would blow the case wide open. >> until something slammed it shut again, when "deadly conspiracy" continues. body likeg 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.

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work, brett schrobin and sandra were arrested for murder. brett was in jail, but for a blow for loved ones, the judge released sandra citing a lack of evidence, and then detectives got a lucky break. someone had a story to tell, and it would send this case into overdrive. once again, keith morrison. >> sitting in a cell month after month can do a lot to alter a person's take on the world, even more so if the inmate is looking at a possible life sentence, and that's when brett had an epiphany. just days before his murder trial was to begin, he said he was finally willing to testify against tom and sandra, but he wanted out now. the deal had to be for time served or nothing at all. >> what did you think when you heard what he wanted in order to get his cooperation? >> i thought it was outrageous, but it's not a perfect world,

and the people who are likely to have some of the best, most detailed information about what takes place inside a conspiracy is a co-son spir thfco-conspira. we needed him. >> what was the story? >> it was a pretty detailed and amazing story. >> brett described the whole affair on tape, laid it out in all its chilling detail. the conspiracy was launched, he said, with a phone call from tom. >> he told me mom would offer $50,000 to kill his dad. >> robin met with sandra in a parking lot and gave him a $5,000 deposit. >> wanted jack dead in the house to look like a robbery. she told me she would leave hfo an x amount of time, and that's when it needed to be done. >> reporter: he hired a local drifter for the getaway car, and in 1998, when sandra had her

nails done, brett claimed he and his friend drove to the house to murder jack. >> i was having cold feelings there, and walking down the street, i was having cold feet. i got in the house, standing in the garage now, and i put on a rubber glove, reached inside the door and shut it. i was chicken. i couldn't do it. called tom. i told tom, the door's locked. he said he would call his mom and get back to me. >> according to brett, tom called back within minutes with a backup plan. >> he said his mom's going to go out that night and it needed to happen tonight because his mom can't take it anymore. if we didn't do it, tonight, mom would do it. >> they returned at 9:00. the story was he dropped his friend off at the house and drove around the neighborhood while his friend snuck inside and stabbed jack jesse to death.

>> we had walkie-talkies, and he called on it when it was done and to pick him up. he had blood on his we looked for a place to clean himself up. i believe there was a del taco we found to clean himself up. >> the information he provided, if we could corroborate what he said, would blow the case wide open. >> police questioned his friend. he denied everything. he said he wasn't in the car, wasn't at the scene. he didn't kill jack jessie. so he was allowed to walk. and investigators focused on building their case against tom and sandra by documenting money transfers, phone calls, air travel. >> so when you add all that together, what'd you think? >> i thought we were starting to put together a pretty good case. >> good enough that murray had tom and sandra arrested. and in the summer of 2009, 11 years after the murder, the mother and son team went on

trial for the murder of jack jesse. >> going to court was like going to my dad's funeral every day. it really was. you're around people that you know killed your dad. it was a ridiculous feeling. you can't even put it into words. just soul-wrenching. >> schrauben testified against them. in court it was argued sandra had a variety of motives for killing jack. she wanted his money before medical bills ate up their savings. and she couldn't bear being away from her son tom. do you think the case had gone well? >> i thought the case had gone extremely well. >> except once again that little ball came off the track. >> what happened? >> coming up -- >> i thought i was going to pass out. >> i said she was an idiot. >> when deadly conspiracy continues. yeah, and when you move in,

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welcome back. it had been 11 years since jack jessie's death. his wife sandra and her son tom were on trial for his murder. but confessed conspirator brett had struck a deal with prosecutors. in exchange for his release he took the stand to detail how sandra and tom orchestrated the plot to kill jack. now the case was in the jury's hands. but the jessie family's fight for justice was far from over. with the conclusion of our story here's keith morrison. >> when the jury went into seclusion to deliberate, the jessee family thought justice was just hours away. but as the sun set on the courthouse, nothing. no word. same thing again next day. and the day after that. the problem? there was a holdout. >> it got very heated. >> yes.

>> in the deliberation room. >> these members of the jury told us 11 voted for conviction. but there was one lone juror who felt some level of compassion for sandra. >> she related to the sandra jessee concern that jack jessee's illness would eat up their nest egg. >> i felt like she was enjoying the control she had. >> there was nothing. nothing we could do or say. >> people were getting so heated and there was so much anger that she started to shut down even more. >> and that scene played out for three and a half days until the judge said enough and declared a mistrial. >> i was in tears. >> i was too. and thinking of the family and what they've gone through. that was heartache. just heartache. >> mm-hmm. >> i thought i was going to pass out. >> yeah.

it was horrible. >> it was just -- >> like it happened all over again. >> that one juror, you know, i saw her. i went and talked to her. >> what did you say? >> i said she was an idiot. >> it was certainly difficult for me. it was far more difficult for the family. >> murray promised the family justice. spent two years putting a new case together. and just weeks before trial, he got a call. it was from tom's attorney saying his client was ready to cut the apron strings and testify against his mom. >> there's no way that we ever suspected that tom aehlert would ever turn on his mother. he was known to be a mama's boy. >> but a mama's boy who decided he didn't want to die in prison. tom pleaded guilty to second degree murder, got 15 to life. besides helping connect the crime to his mother, he had somebody else he wanted to give up. that friend of brett. the one brett claimed drove with him in the car and killed jack jessie, despite the fact there was no forensic evidence to

indicate he was involved his case went to trial. in february 2013 a jury found him not guilty. his defense attorney believes he'd been setup to take the fall as part of the conspiracy. that friend is now a free man. as for sandra her case went to court one month after her son. the question was would a jury believe tom's story? and as the jury deliberated and the family waited, there was no euphoria. they knew from bitter experience that anything could happen. >> it's a lot harder this time, just not knowing what's going to happen. >> on the second day they got word the jury had a verdict. >> my stomach's in knots and shaking. >> we're just really very nervous at this moment. >> 13 years after jack jessie's murder andrea jessie was found guilty.

finally that little ball stayed on its track. the key now was caught. >> i hope that she rots in hell. i'm glad it wasn't the death penalty. i want her to stay there and suffer with all the other miserable that go to prison. >> it's a feeling of justice, isn't it? >> it feels good but not complete. >> not all the way there yet. >> lost a guy, the nicest guy i've ever met. >> and for tom dove, he's now retired from the sheriff's department, and at his going away party his fellow detectives gave him this. it honors his commitment to the jessie case. >> it means more to me than any other plaque or award i've ever received in my life. >> in retirement tom tried to setup a shelter for stray dogs. the urge to rescue runs deep.

>> that's all for this edition of dateline extra. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. i take this is an existential threat to california and america and the world, and i'm going to fight it with everything i can. >> california, versus the trump administration. >> jerry said i'll wall off california if trump wins. >> to say there's differences is the height of understanding. >> jerry brown, outspoken and ready for a fight. >> trump says global warming is a hoax. i say trump is a fraud. >> from semiry