>> i'm guilty really of not standing my ground and knowing that this was a bad idea. that's what i'm guilty of. of not really putting my sensible hat on and going, you know this is a bad idea, don't do it.

evidence that would lead them in the dispute exposing ugly secrets and suspicions but unmasking the murdered would prove far more difficult. here's dennis murphy with "the deed." ♪ >> the old barn is a shambles now. the fields back in the day so lush and productive, gone to seed. the farmhouse empty. time was the farm land in horry county, some of south carolina's finest. bambi bennett's grand dad opened a big spread and created a legacy for the generations to come. >> that barn used to be tobacco barn and my grand daddy built this. >> it was tobacco property? >> he did farming and tobacco.

>> bambi's roots here are as deep as the old oak tree draped in spanish moss that still stands tall if the front yard. they say land is worth dying for because it's the only thing that lasts. and truer words might never have been spoken. in this case, a beautiful piece of land turned out to be nothing but trouble. this is where bambi bennett's family was ripped apart by an act of cruel, unspeakable violence. bambi, her given name, was a fun, feisty good-old girl, country through and through. >> i was at my grandparent's a lot growing up and we gardened and had a big yard, a huge gard. >> you are a country girl? >> uh-huh. >> but she endured her share of heartache even as a tender age. her parents divorced when she was just 6. mom remarried.

then a few years later, came that terrible day she'll never forget. >> my daddy and my grand daddy passed an i way on the same day. i was 12 years old. >> all of a sudden you lost the two important men in your life? >> uh-huh. >> it was a bewildering and tragic day. there was so much sudden loss to absorb that young bambi not yet a teenager paid no mind to her grandfather's and father's wills. but it turned out she'd been left the entire homestead. all 240 acres of it to be held in trust until she turned 18. not long after bambi inherited the farm, her stepfather charlie moved the family on to the property. her property. most everybody called him big charlie. bambi called him daddy. >> daddy loved hunting and fishing and he always had fish fries and oyster roasts. always people down at the barn. >> you call your stepfather daddy? >> uh-huh. >> easily do that. >>?

uh-huh. i have always called him daddy. >> big charlie was a deacon at church and he started a small business selling and installing glass. converting the old tobacco barn into his shop. bambi's bomb diane worked as a secretary in the public schools. they were a respected, happy couple. salt of the earth. >> she was the backbone of that family. >> bambi's cousins jessica and amy loved their aunt diane. >> if your car literally stopped in front of their house or broke down, she would go and make sure you had a meal or you were warm and while she was doing that big charlie would be like fixing the car. >> good mom? >> fabulous mom. >> outstanding. >> i mean, her biggest thing was she wanted to make sure her kids were protected and their hearts were protected. >> and her daughter bambi would need a lot of protecting. the girl was growing up in a rush. married to her high school sweet heart and divorced after a few months.

by the time she was just 24 years old, she had another failed marriage and was stuggling as a ing l mom trying to raise two boys, cody and nathan. that had to be tough, keeping your household going, huh? >> yes. >> and things went from bad to worse. bambi started popping painkillers. the old story, huh? >> yes. >> gobbled them down. >> i liked the way it made me feel. >> bambi was a single mom hooked on pills and sitting on a piece of land worth a small fortune. diane decided it was time to intervene before, say, another whirlwind husband du jour got half the property. >> mama said if you put it in my name it will be protected. >> and so, she signed the deed to her property over to her mom. and then bambi signed over her heart. sending cody and nathan to be raised by their grandparents. she calls it her lowest point. >> i didn't want to do it but i knew it was the right thing.

she wanted to take care of them. she loved those children. >> it was a crushing loss, no question, but bambi agreed at the time the boys were better off. they loved diane and charlie. >> they're just very loving, like a lot of outdoor stuff. they spoil us to death. >> nathan, how about you? >> the most loving individuals i've ever met in my life. my grandma's the most sweet woman and everybody says so. >> with the boys living at their grandparent's, bambi tried to get her own life back on track. that's when she met rick gagnon, a new hire at the charlie glass company. there was an instant attraction. >> i've always liked the bad boy image, i guess, you know. like with the goatee and the shaved head. i don't know. we just had a good time together. >> was it a serious relationship? >> yes. it was. >> rick was serious, too. he confronted bambi about her demons. >> i told her, you know, she wanted to be in a relationship

then she had to, you know, do something about the pills. >> by the spring of 2005, bambi felt she had turned the corner. she and rick found a home of their own in myrtle beach. after a long struggle, she was ready to be a mom to her boys again. >> i was getting on my feet and i just -- i wanted cody and nate there with us. >> grandparents charlie and diane agreed very reluctantly to let the boys move in with bambi and rick. but no sooner had the boys moved than diane was making the case to get them back. >> mama was concerned. >> did she want to hold on to the boys? >> she said that she would like for them to, you know, to continue to stay with her. >> boyfriend rick thought bambi couldn't catch a break with her family. >> everybody pretty much treated bambi like crap. it stemmed from, you know, issues that diane and charlie and bambi had. >> those issues were simmering into an angry family drama. and then just a few weeks after the boys were turned over, it

happened. it was april 12th, a tuesday morning. bambi called her mom, no answer. big charlie was late for work. one of his barn employees went up to the house to look for him. moments later, he called 911. >> 911. >> she is laying on the floor, blood everywhere. >> blood everywhere? >> yes, ma'am. >> oh my god. >> inside, things were chaotic and appalling sight. big charlie and diane were dead. and the old farmhouse they loved so well was now a crime scene. coming up -- charlie and diane parker lying dead in their own home. the investigation begins. at a grisly crime scene, some stray drops of blood might provide a big clue. >> someone was a bleeder. >> that's great evidence. >> it is if you can match it up. >> when "dateline extra" continues. things, i didn't know what was happening...

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welcome back. >> the horror discovered inside that farmhouse confused both the caller and the 911 operator. but what happened to charlie and diane was all too clear. she was found lying next to her bed. big charlie, sprawled on the bathroom floor. each had been shot multiple times, both by then dead for hours. the sheriff's cell phone erupted

with calls about the shooting. and he rushed to the scene. not to investigate. charlie and diane were his best friends. >> they weren't just mine, they were everybody's friends. what we remember is how good they were. how kind they were. and what good people they were. >> down at her house in myrtle beach about 30 minutes from the crime scene, bambi was getting ready to go antiquing with her mom. she called her cell. one of charlie's glass company workers answered. >> i said, can i speak to my mama, please? he said, bambi, your mama and daddy's dead. >> just like that? >> yes. and i said, what? he said, bambi, somebody's broke in here and killed them, shot them. and i just dropped the phone. and then started crying. >> when bambi arrived at the house, yellow caution tape blocked her way. police were everywhere.

>> my mom was like freaking out. >> rick tried to comfort bambi. young cody turned to him, too. >> then i remember rick, he was near me, and i was crying on his shoulder. and everybody was just kind of -- it was a madhouse that day. >> in those moments it seemed the whole county had gone mad. the murders of diane and charlie came hard on the heels of two other vicious killings nearby. the suspect, a man all over the news, named steven stanko, was still at large. >> they were looking for steven stanko when charlie and diane were discovered. >> vivian was charlie and diane's neighbor. she runs a flowershop nearby. >> is this the kind of thing that you could feel in the air? >> you could feel it in the air. i was at the flower shop. >> probably not too thrilled with the idea of getting in your car and driving away. >> i didn't even want to go home. it was pretty bad in horry county that day. >> when i first arrived, what i'm looking at is an opportunity to get oriented to the crime scene.

>> the man responsible for making sense of the crime scene was prosecutor fran humphries, then deputy chief solicitor for horry county. had the house been tossed, rifled? >> it had. one of the first things you do is you look for things. this appeared to be a home invasion burglary. >> first take on it? >> first take, no question. >> it was a gruesome crime scene. the bathroom awash in charlie's blood. there was blood spatter in the bedroom where diane lay. but several feet from diane, there were notably a few small droplets. >> it appeared that someone involved in the crime, not the victims, was a bleeder. >> why couldn't that be from one of your two victims? >> it was apparent that charlie never left the area of the bathroom. and it was apparent that diane died where she lay. >> so it looks like your shooter, your intruder is bleeding. >> is bleeding. >> that's great evidence. >> it is if you can match it up. >> while crime scene techs process the house, investigators

started taking statements. big charlie and diane had a large family and knew a lot of people. >> we talked with everybody. the list of people that we talked to is exhaustive. >> a parade of friends, employees, and family was brought down to headquarters for interviews, including bambi and her boyfriend, rick. >> they did gunshot residue tests on all of us. >> including you? >> mm-hmm. >> they had me remove my shirt, lift my pant legs up. they took my shoes, took pictures of my shoes, tops, bottoms. >> both bambi and rick told police they had spent the night at home, never left. with the interviews complete, police drove rick and bambi back to the farmhouse. everyone was gone. bambi says she realized she had left her purse with her phone and car keys in the detective's cruiser. she decided she would take her mother's vehicle to get home. >> we didn't have any way to get in touch with anybody. we didn't have anything. and i told rick, i said, see if you can find mama's purse, her cell phone.

and so he went in the house. >> police had released the crime scene, but it still looked like one. detectives told the family they would have to clean it up. so when rick says he went in to fetch diane's car keys, he found himself tiptoeing through a bloody mess. what were you seeing? >> all the blood. just one of the most horrible things i'd ever seen. >> rick approached the bathroom where charlie had been killed. he says he noticed bambi through the window pacing in the backyard. >> she was calling out, mama, mama, crying and screaming. i stepped into the bathroom, trying to step around the mess as best i could and i shut the blind. >> you closed them because you didn't want bambi to see the blood and gore? >> that's right. i remember saying to bambi, i think i stepped in some blood in the bathroom and i was wiping my shoe off on sand. she was telling me to wash my shoe, so i didn't get blood in her mom's truck. >> that must have been eerie to

be in that house that night. huh? >> yeah. extremely. >> it was an eerie moment. one that would haunt bambi and rick for years to come. coming up, bambi makes a stunning admission. welcome back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ the beautiful thing about care, is knowing that it's always there... ...and that it always will be. ♪ get what you need whenever you need it. walgreens. trusted since 1901. hi, i need a thriller for my wife.

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welcome back.

>> the cold-blooded killing of big charlie and diane parker had a great many people in and around conway, south carolina, bolting their doors and locking their windows. had you had any trouble in that neighborhood in the countryside with break-ins? >> not that i know of. i mean, it's always been a wonderful place. it just doesn't make any sense. >> was this more of the murderous rampage of the notorious stephen stanko who was all over the news? no, said prosecutor fran humphries, who knew stanko had been sighted in georgia at the time of the murders 200 miles away. so this awful thing at the farmhouse, you weren't associating that with stanko? >> i was not. >> even in the public mind? >> oh, they did. but truly at that time, law enforcement knew that he was physically in augusta. >> rather, humphries focused on the evidence coming from the

parker crime scene. he quickly came to believe this was more than just a bungled home invasion. >> it was apparent that nothing had been taken, or at least nothing that you would suspect to be taken in a burglary. >> humphries thought back to some curious statements bambi had made in her interview with police when she said she had given willingly. >> you're sure you're okay to sit down -- >> i'm not okay but i want to help you. >> soon after the interview started bambi, he said, began describing in detail a feud within her family. at issue was the land bambi owned and that her parents were living on. >> there's been a long, like, family feud. >> right. over the land? >> a long time. >> according to humphries, bambi and diane argued over who should control that property. >> diane wanted to make sure that that property was there for the kids. i think she had become convinced

that, you know, bambi was not going to be in a position to manage that property. >> i love this girl, my daughter, but she's beyond hope, is that kind of the feeling? >> well, she just can't be trusted with it. >> bambi didn't agree. >> she wanted the property back. >> i had a lot of anger about that. >> but humphries learned the land wasn't the only hot button between bambi and her mother and stepdad. bambi admitted they also argued over the raising of bambi's boys, nathan and cody. >> were there any issues that your parents didn't want the kids to go back to you guys or anything like that? >> well, yeah. i understand my mama cared for them. and it was hard for her to give them back. at first we were angry at each other. being ugly at each other. >> diane just wasn't comfortable with bambi having custody of those children. >> in fact, just four months before the murders, a mother/daughter shouting match over the care for the boys got

so out of hand that diane called 911. the responding officer arrived with his dashcam rolling, just moments after bambi had stormed away. >> i'm sorry to bother you. >> you're not bothering me at all. >> diane explained the argument to the officer. >> she usually just does what she wants to do. picks them up when she wants to. she doesn't provide anything for them. >> diane went on to say she felt threatened by her daughter. >> she scares me. she got in my face and jerked the phone out of my hand when i was calling. >> then came this chilling pronouncement. >> if anything happens to me, you'll know that she's the reason. responsible person. >> how telling is that? she was in fear, grave fear. >> humphries by now suspected bambi was somehow involved in her parents' murders. but he was skeptical she could commit a double homicide on her own. so the prosecutor turned his attention to bambi's boyfriend. rick gagnon. >> he's aligned with bambi. he was extremely faithful to bambi.

>> and according to humphries, willing to do anything for her. you've got the daughter and boyfriend who seem to be in some sort of conspiracy? the theory goes. >> an agreement to accomplish a goal. >> the alibi bambi and rick gave detectives that they were at home during the hours leading up to the murders was difficult to prove. each gave the other as a witness. >> she said, we were at home. you know, rick was there, i was there, my boys were in the other room. >> the prosecutor began to wonder, could those mysterious blood droplets at the crime scene be linked to rick and bambi. >> dna results did not come back. >> you knew somebody else was in the house. >> it could have been rick. >> as humphries waited for the results, he obtained a search warrant and took another look at some of rick and bambi's belongings. including their shoes. >> there's blood on the shoe. >> what did the lab analysis say about that? >> it was big charlie's blood. >> the prosecutor didn't buy rick's story about having stepped in blood while looking for diane's car keys.

they also found what they believe to be blood on the boots. now you have two persons of interest? >> no question. >> ten days after the murders, humphries asked both rick and bambi to take polygraph tests. both agreed. and both showed deception. >> rick gagnon in particular showed deception. >> police then sat rick and bomb by down in separate rooms for another round of questioning. this time the gloves were off. >> you want to charge me with something? >> answer my question. >> i didn't do anything. >> they hoped for a confession or at the very least that she give up rick. she didn't do either. >> you don't want to be charged? >> no, i'm not going to be charged because i didn't do anything. >> lock her ass up. you're not going to tell us anything, lock you up. put handcuffs on her. charge her with two counts of murder. >> but the detectives weren't done yet trying to break bambi.

on her way to her booking, bambi said the hammer came down hard one more time. >> they surrounded me like a pack of wolves, and they said, go get those crime scene photos of her mama and daddy. and i said, no, no, no. and i was just trying to cover my face. and he was pulling my hands off of my face. and he said, you did this. you. >> detectives said the same thing to rick gagnon. >> they arrested me. that was pretty much it. if bambi did it, then i had to be a part of it. >> so there it was, a daughter and her boyfriend, partners in love and suspected of murder. the alleged motive was basic, get the deed to the land and resolve the custody issue of the boys in one bloody rampage. horry county could sleep easier at night with case closed. but was it case solved?

coming up, a new family feud breaks out between bambi and her sons. >> i had a lot of people in my ear saying she did it. i resented her. i hated her.

welcome back to "dateline extra."

with a shaky alibi, and evidence mounting, investigators charged bambi bennett and her boyfriend with two counts of murder. bambi's own sons didn't believe in her innocence, but there was one man who did. and he was prepared to fight for her freedom. returning to "the deed," here's dennis murphy. >> bambi bennett sat in a jail cell stunned. she had just been charged with two counts of murder. >> i thought, i'm just having a bad dream. this cannot be happening. not only were my parents just murdered, now i'm being accused of being the ones that killed them. i said, y'all have lost your mind. i said, this doesn't make any sense. i didn't do anything wrong. >> but to prosecutor fran humphries, it made perfect sense. >> the motive is unavoidable in this case. bambi needed her stepfather and mother dead, so she could get her property back. >> property valued at north of $1 million.

classic question people in your line of work poses, well, who benefited. >> bambi. >> as for bambi's boyfriend, rick, humphries believed bambi persuaded him to help her carry out the murderous deed. but both rick and bambi said the prosecutor had it all wrong. they insisted they wouldn't do anything to harm diane or charlie. bambi down played the argument over the land. >> she wants the land. that is the most ludicrous thing ever. it was given to me by my daddy to begin with. even though it was in mama's name, if i wanted the land back, all i had to do was tell mama that. >> also, absurd she said, was the allegation she would kill her parents over disagreements about how to raise her boys. >> who does not have disagreements ever with their mother or their father? me and mama didn't always agree on the upbringing of cody and nate. but that doesn't mean i'm going

to kill my mama because we don't agree. that is ridiculous. >> but by now, even some of bambi's family believed she was responsible for her parents' murders. including bambi's own sons, nathan and cody. you lost your grandparents in the most awful fashion. and then your mom is swept away from your life within minutes. >> it's just crazy. you don't know who to turn to. >> when did you come to the idea that maybe she was the one that did this? >> it was a mixture of things. i had a lot of people in my ear that she did it. that she basically like put it in rick's head for rick to do it. >> i only thought she had something to do with it from what i had been told. >> i resented her. i hated her. i didn't want to see her face ever again. >> it seems bambi's supporters were few and far between. but one who did believe in her innocence was her attorney. jim irvin. >> everybody rushed to judgment in this case. >> the way jim irvin saw it, the prosecution's case against bam by was a weak circumstantial one that hinged on a bunch of

theories as to motive. >> what always bothered me about this case, when you look at the gunpowder residue, there was none on bambi. >> he said that one bit of hard evidence detectives thought they had against bambi, what they thought was blood on her boot, turned out to be nothing. >> detectives said, we've got her dna on this boot. it's going to belong to one of the two people. they couldn't even say it was dna. >> as for the polygraph test, detectives said bambi failed to pass, according to irvin, those results were suspicious. >> the last question they asked her, have you told me everything you know about this case? if i ask a detective that same question, he couldn't pass it either. it's too broad a question. >> bambi sat in jail for six months. >> they were hoping she would flip and tell them the story? >> that's exactly what they were hoping. >> finally, the judge said, enough is enough. prosecutor humphries had to let bambi go.

>> it became apparent the evidence was not sufficient to bring her case to trial. >> didn't have the goods? >> just wasn't there. wasn't there. >> yet she's the foundation of your theory? >> there's no question about it. >> for the time being bambi was able to put horry county jail in her rear-view mirror. and with it, rick. by now bambi had cut ties with her old boyfriend. >> it sounds like she had your back, rick, and then she didn't. >> yeah. >> what happened? >> jail changes people. you know? >> rick was hoping it would be just a matter of time before he, too, would be released. the forensics they had against you, no hair, no fingerprint, no dna. >> nothing. >> but he did have charlie's blood on his shoe. to humphries, that evidence was part of a bloody trail from the crime scene that was about to lead both the prosecutor and rick gagnon into a courtroom showdown. coming up -- one of rick gagnon's fellow inmates comes forward with a damning story.

>> he's been given a fairly detailed account of what occurred that evening, and what the crime scene looked like. >> stuff that hadn't been in the newspapers or on tv. >> no. >> not at all, no. you're gonna love if ythe best of geico.ercials, it's geico's all-time greatest hits back on tv for a limited time. and if you love the best of geico, you're gonna really love voting online for your favorite. you can even enter for a chance to appear in an upcoming geico commercial. this fire's toasty, linda but the best of geico collection sounds even hotter. to vote for your favorite geico ad and enter to win, visit geico.com/bestof. that's geico.com/bestof.

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>> rick gagnon was in a world of pain. locked up in the county jail facing two murder charges. he shared his woes with another guy in a jumpsuit, two inmates power walking together around the yard. >> we would walk around the pod, do laps. >> the jail yard buddy was named robert mullens, a petty crook who seemed strangely interested in rick's troubles. did he want to talk to you about the case? was he grilling you? >> all the time. all the time. >> but then it seemed everyone in this part of south carolina wanted to know more about this case and its two beloved victims. it took three years, but in 2008, the state was ready to try rig gagnon for the murders of charlie and diane. a camera was rolling as prosecutor fran humphries began his case. >> this is purely motive evidence that establishes a motive for richard gagnon to end the lives of these two people. >> as humphries recalls, the case against rick was always motivation strong, evidence weak. not much more than a drop of charlie parker's blood on a shoe when you came right down to it. even so, humphries told the court, the blood put rick at the murder scene.

>> but he had a story for it, didn't he? >> he did. it didn't hold water, but he had a story about it. >> humphries recited rick's version of how blood had got on his shoe, how he had went into the parker house to get a set of car keys after the crime scene techs had finished up. >> he looked to his right which was the window leading in to the bathroom where big charlie had died and noticed the blood. >> rick said he worried bambi pacing outside might look in the window and freak out all over again. >> he went in and stepped through the bathroom and closed the blind. >> and, oops, i stepped in the blood. >> yeah. >> that's his story, though, right? >> yeah. >> but it didn't hold up? >> no. because they were already closed. >> that was the gotcha. this crime scene photo, said the prosecutor, was taken hours before rick supposedly stepped inside that house. notice the bathroom blinds are drawn. humphries argued that rick could not have closed the blinds because they were already shut.

the prosecutor said the defendant was lying, though he believed rick had told the truth about the murders to at least one other person. the state's star witness, robert mullens. the witness i call the jailhouse snitch, and you call a jailhouse informant. >> no, he's a snitch, no question about that. but at the end of the day, what we learned from robert mullens is that he's been given a fairly detailed account by gagnon of what occurred that evening and what the crime scene looked like. >> in fact, he said mullens was the first to tell police this piece of bombshell news. gagnon had mentioned an accomplice in the killings. >> the only way he can have that information is from someone who participated in the crime. >> then the prosecutor tried to spin an inconvenient fact in his favor. those mystery blood drops found at the murder scene had been tested. the dna was not a match to rick, but to an unidentified male. that, said the prosecutor,

actually supported what mullens said, that rick had an accomplice. humphries believed the evidence was enough to put the defendant away. he only wished he could make the same case against rick's old girlfriend. what about bambi? she wasn't being tried in this courtroom. >> no. i think it's a travesty. >> her fingerprints were on it? >> all over it, figuratively. >> and that's just how he laid it out in his closing. he told the jury this is a story about a spoiled woman, bambi bennett, who had manipulated her boyfriend, rick gagnon, into doing her murderous dirty deed. get back the deed, get her mother off her back. >> he heard from bambi, how her parents were not fair to her, my parents are horrible people, and i'm -- you know, they've taken advantage of me. >> to make things right, argued the prosecutor, the dutiful boyfriend and his right-hand man entered the house and hunted down bambi's parents in their night clothes.

the jury had just heard a drama of southern gothic proportions. dripping with family greed and hatred. now it was time for an entirely different story. >> none of the puzzle pieces fit. >> rick's defense team, including attorney barbara pratt, told the court that the state's case was heavy on fiction, light on facts. >> they had a puzzle, they had neat little pieces, but the pieces weren't exactly right. >> the state was so desperate to prove its case, she said, it clung to the word of a jailhouse snitch and career criminal. >> a fellow that is there to cut himself a deal and get himself some assistance, i guess, in his own case, is not likely to be credible. >> not only was the snitch not to be believed, the defense told the jurors, but the state was also trying to confuse them about the mystery blood found at the crime scene. the bottom line, said pratt, the dna from that blood cleared their client from the murders. >> the dna didn't match. and we knew the dna was not going to match rick.

>> they knew that, she said, because rick had an alibi for the night of the murders. he had been asleep in myrtle beach with bambi. the way pratt saw it, the most challenging part of the case was the blood on rick's shoe. to explain how it got there, rick took the stand. he pointed out that on the morning the bodies were discovered, police had examined him thoroughly and found nothing. >> if there was blood on my shoes that morning, i would have been arrested right then and there. there was no blood on my shoes that morning. >> that came later, he said, when he stepped into the blood-soaked bathroom. despite that police photo, he insisted the window blinds were open, and he had worried simply that bambi might see the horror inside. >> i went in an shut the blind. i didn't think she needed to see that. >> he testified the blood got on his shoe at that moment, not before. >> did you go into the house and kill big charlie and diane at the instigation of bambi? >> absolutely not. >> you two in a conspiracy to kill those people? >> no, sir.

>> so who did kill the couple? we don't know, said the defense. but it wasn't rick gagnon. with that, the jurors filed out to deliberate. rick waited with his attorneys, and the woman many felt to be at the heart of it all, held her breath. coming up, the jury renders its verdict. >> i didn't know what to think. i didn't know what to think anymore. >> but this isn't the end of a case because finally investigators learn who left those mysterious blood drops at the crime scene. >> he said they identified the killer. (client's voice) oww, it hurts...

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welcome back. the jury was about to decide rick gagnon's fate. but it's not the end to the twisted tale. could the resolution to this case finally put a bitter family feud to rest. here's dennis murphy with the final chapter of "the deed." >> jurors in rick gagnon's murder case deliberated for only a few hours. when they filed back into the courtroom, he read their faces and knew, they found him guilty. >> two counts of murder, received two life sentences. >> that's called a pine box sentence. >> pretty much. >> getting out of the system in a pine box when you're dead. >> bambi said she didn't want to be in court for the verdict. her attorney called her with the

news. >> here i am thinking, oh, my gosh, could he have done this? and then i'm going in the back of my head, there's no way he could have did this. >> rick felt as though he had been sandbagged. >> i believed if god saw fit for me to go home, i would go home. >> and that thought was about all he had left, faith in god and a good appellate lawyer. in this case, bob. >> in my 22 or 23 years of being an appellate defense attorney, rick gagnon was one of only about two or possibly three people that i genuinely believed was innocent. >> that certainty would mean exactly nothing to an appeals judge, unless bob and rick could come up with new evidence. then in 2009, a year after his verdict, rick had an encounter in prison with yet another inmate.

>> and techs all excited about something. >> authorities in tennessee, the prisoner told rick, had just arrested someone for a home invasion there. >> he told me, they identified the killer. >> that man's name was bruce hill. when authorities ran his information through the data base, they had a match for the blood found at the crime scene. a jury convicted hill of the murders of big charlie and diane. his motive for the crime was never firmly established. >> who is bruce hill? do you know that name? >> no. >> ever see him at the farm property, on job sites? >> no, never. >> but rick's lawyer needed proof that there was no connection between the two men. so he paid hill a visit. >> bruce hill showed a picture of rick gagnon and his words were, i've never seen that cracker [ bleep ] before.

bruce hill was unambiguous and was very blunt that he did not know rick. >> all hill had to do now was admit that in open court. and gagnon might go free. hill flatly refused. once again, rick was out of luck, but not hope. >> the first piece of good news i'd had in a long time. you know? i was excited to see what god was getting ready to do. >> and there were developments. >> yes, sir. >> namely, the arrival of a new inmate. >> i was in the chapel at the time. it was my job assignment. he was brought into the chapel. >> one day the man opened up and stunned rick. he said he had known a guy in jail named -- wait for it -- robert mullens, the very same who testified against rick. the man then said that mullens had shared a secret. he had lied about rick's involvement in the murders. >> i mean, i already knew it. but to hear somebody else say it

-- >> that mullens had lied. >> yeah. >> proud of what he was able to do. >> yeah. >> now the snitch on snitch story had the appeals judge's attention. >> the judge had to make a determination that the result of the trial would probably have been different. >> because mullens' story was that important in getting the conviction? >> right. >> the judge vacated rick's conviction saying the new county solicitor, the one who had replaced humphries, could refile charges if he wanted. the solicitor said he did not. so in 2013, after eight years inside, rick gagnon walked out of prison. he settled on the carolina coast now, married with children. >> just the smell of the ocean, you know, it's like freedom. it's a terrible thing that i went to prison for something i didn't do. it's changed my life. >> his old girlfriend believes her life was up-ended, too. bambi says she's cut ties with

most of the people she grew up with. the tobacco fields she still owns are pretty much her only connections to the place. >> i didn't want to be there anymore. that was my home. but my home that i had known just falsely accused me. and destroyed me. >> but there is something she'd like from the people of south carolina. do you want an apology? would that go anywhere for you? >> i do want an apology. no, it doesn't change what they did, and it's not going to fix what they took away. >> she would like nothing more than an apology from you. for the heart ache you've caused her. >> she's not getting that. she's entitled to something from me, but apology is not it. >> what should she expect? >> i would have liked for her to have received justice in the case. >> meaning he would have liked her charged, tried and convicted. >> i would liked to have been an agent of that justice. >> all but forgotten are bambi's

sons, cody and nathan. reeling from once hating their mom, to now believing her completely innocent. >> i don't think she had anything to do with it. >> as a testament to that change of heart, they've joined their mom in the place she now calls home, florida. for the first time in a long while, they feel like family. >> it took a while before you really were able to trust her with all your feelings and tell her you loved her and hug her. >> you can be her sons again. >> right. definitely. >> for that, at least bambi is grateful. for the future, she's hopeful even if every once in a while she looks back in anger. >> i lost my mom and dad. my children lost their grandparents. our family still has no answers. they're still saying the case isn't completely solved. maybe if they took the time in the beginning we wouldn't be in this predicament today. >> maybe there are no more answers, no reason to keep

digging up the past. just leave it rooted right where it is, and let the spanish moss grow. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline extra." thanks for watching.

>> reporter: if you crave money or fame or if you want to meet beautiful people, maybe even become one of them, you will find your way to southern california. it's where everything is possible or seems to be. this is the story of two women drawn for different reasons to the sun, to the bright lights, to the blue water. both chased that promise of success. both saw what can go wrong. it was a gorgeous summer day in newport beach, california. the last of fourth of july weekend.

some lucky tourists aboard an eight-passenger boat called "the green machine" were marveling at a school of dolphins playing in the water when they came across the unexpected. >> we've got a loose boat out here about five miles out of newport beach. >> reporter: the captain radioed the coast guard that a small speedboat was circling out of control n the water nearby was a man holding on to a body board. >> the husband apparently fell off the boat and the wife apparently fell off the boat. >> reporter: the man in the water was frantic. >> he's still looks like he's pretty distraught. >> absolutely. >> reporter: his name was eric bechler. his wife was pegye. but she was nowhere to be found. >> what is he doing at this time? >> just kind of yelling out. laying on his board and yelling out. >> roger. can you make out any words he's yelling out? over. >> no.

he's kind of slurring his words. >> any time now units should be on scene. >> reporter: it was a stunning end to what began as a perfect day. this couple was celebrating their wedding anniversary and pegye just turning 38. >> it was her birthday. so she was in good spirits. >> reporter: brenda was one of the friends they had invited to a big party a couple of days earlier. >> talking about how much she loves eric, how great life is. >> reporter: maybe life was grit. because pegye had it all. her story begins in a small town, dexter, new mexico. this is where pegye made her entrance. >> i have often said that she was born winking at the doctor and swinging on the chandelier. >> reporter: pegye was june and glenn marshall's fourth child. glenn says pegye was going

places from the very day she was born. >> she was never still. >> reporter: she danced, sang, played sports and it seemed nothing could hold her back. she had scoliosis as a kid. young pegye had to wear a brace around the clock. that's a terrible burden for a young kid like that to bear. but it also kind of ended up motivating her, didn't it? >> it really did. >> reporter: pegye's doctor talked with her about a career in physical therapy. she volunteered and loved it. >> she made up her mind right then she wanted to be a physical therapist, and she wanted to move to california and be a beautiful blonde. so she did. >> reporter: a farmer's daughter with big dreams. so pegye left the small town of dexter for sunny california and settled in newport beach. that's where she met glenda who was also from new mexico and they immediately hit it off. >> she was probably one of the most gregarious people i have ever met. she was always happy, always smiling. >> reporter: and she says pegye was driven to establish herself

as a successful physical therapist. she had almost everything she wanted. >> she did want to find a guy. >> reporter: the clock was ticking a little bit? >> it was. >> reporter: then one day on the beach, you found somebody for her. >> we did. so one afternoon on a weekend, pegye called me and said what are you doing? i said well, i'm going to go down and watch dave play some volleyball on the beach. >> reporter: dave was glenda's husband. >> i asked pegye if she wanted to come down with me. she said yes. she immediately spotted eric and said who's that? >> reporter: eric bechler, in his early 20s, was a walking commercial for the california beach life. >> i'm going to guess when she notices a guy playing beach volleyball, he's good-looking and in great shape. >> indeed he was. >> reporter: and handsome. >> very. he was all those things.

>> reporter: and he was available. he was also eight years younger. was that a problem for either one of them? >> it was not a problem for either one of them. pegye, when she sets her sight on something, she's going to make it happen. it developed really quickly. really, really quickly. >> reporter: within a year, they were married. within four years, they have three beautiful kids. pegye and eric went into business together. she opened up her own physical therapy business and eric, a computer whiz, managed the technical side of their venture which quickly became very profitable. >> her business was doing good and she was happily married. >> reporter: and the happy couple was also happily spending a lot of money on a german sports car, italian clothing, and a spectacular bluffside home in newport beach. >> they were the little dream story. beautiful girl, good-looking guy, drive nice cars, beautiful children. >> reporter: until that summer day in 1997 when the unimaginable happened.

>> male, kind of distraught, said that his wife fell overboard. >> reporter: it was a boating accident, said eric, and the coast guard agreed. something they see all too often. but soon, secrets emerged that would make some people wonder. what really happened to pegye bechler? >> coming up -- >> i absolutely thought they would find her. >> reporter: maybe alive? >> i did. she was a fabulous swimmer. >> where was pegye? and what had gone wrong on that boat? >> he had been crying and his face was red. he looked upset. d upset. and if you get lost, just hit me on the old horn. man: tom's my best friend, but ever since he bought a new house... tom: it's a $10 cover? oh, okay. didn't see that on the website. he's been acting more and more like his dad. come on, guys! jump in! the water's fine! tom pritchard. how we doin'? hi, there. tom pritchard. can we get a round of jalapeño poppers for me and the boys, please? i've been saving a lot of money

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>> reporter: it's said there's nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline. this was supposed to be something like that. a romantic outing. an anniversary and birthday gift eric bechler planned for his wife pegye, but it turned into something else. now pegye was gone. >> my wife apparently fell off the boat. >> reporter: the coast guard immediately launched a search, but by nightfall, no sign of pegye alive or otherwise. and so eric called pegye's mom, june.

>> he says we can't find pegye. and i said what do you mean, you can't find her? where is she? what are you trying to tell me? >> reporter: eric told june that pegye was driving the boat, towing him on a body board, when all of a sudden a wave wiped him out. when he came up from under the water, he said, he could no longer see pegye inside the boat. >> we thought they should be finding her because we really just thought she would swim out of it. >> reporter: you see, pegye was quite at home in the water. growing up, it was the only time she didn't have to wear that back brace. and she became a very accomplished swimmer. >> she wouldn't panic. she would swim, because she loved the water. >> reporter: the next morning, june and glenn marshall were on the first flight out to

california. pegye had been missing almost 24 hours. >> of course, the ocean is just bigger, bigger than you think about if you're in new mexico. >> reporter: pegye's friend glenda tried to stay optimistic. >> i absolutely thought they would find her. >> reporter: maybe alive? >> i did. because she was a fabulous swimmer. >> reporter: glenda went to the bechler house to see eric. how did he look? >> hysterical. he had been crying and his face was red and you know, all of those things. he looked upset. as he should be. one would expect. >> she's the best person. >> reporter: this video from local news shows a devastated eric. it was now day two of the search for pegye. still nothing. the next day, the coast guard interviewed eric. eric bechler could barely speak. >> what did you take with you? >> we had a couple bags. we wanted to see if we could see catalina. it was so hazy.

i told pegye it was too hazy. >> reporter: eric told the coast guard he tried to body board on the way out and said there was a pretty good swell in the ocean. >> was it as high as the side of the boat? >> big enough to notice. >> reporter: eric said they stopped out here on the water to enjoy some margueritas pegye had made and later in the day they decided to try the body board again, this time on their way back to the harbor. pegye was driving. eric was being pulled on the board. >> all of a sudden, it just jerked out of my hands. >> reporter: and so pegye bechler was simply gone.

eric seemed devastated, fearing his wife and business partner was dead. but eric's mother linda saw things quite differently. >> i was sure that they would find her, that it would all turn out well. >> reporter: not just because pegye was a strong swimmer. everyone knew that. linda knew more. a secret about her daughter-in-law. you thought what? pegye faked her death? or disappeared deliberately? >> uh-huh. >> coming up, pegye's secret. what was it?

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>> at this point you didn't think she was alive anymore? >> i kept thinking that she was, but how could she, you know, that length of time. >> reporter: unless, of course, what appeared to be an accident was not. the coast guard conducted a re-enactment at sea to try to understand how pegye could have fallen off the boat and they couldn't do it. >> they said it doesn't appear to be feasible to them given the sea conditions. >> reporter: that's when the coast guard called the orange county sheriff's office. detective sean murphy was put on the case. >> they weren't able to duplicate even close to what was alleged by eric bechler that his wife was tossed off by a rogue wave. >> reporter: if pegye's disappearance was no accident, murphy's job was find out what did happen. detectives started by

re-interviewing eric and asking him about his relationship with pegye. >> he said his marriage was good, there was no problems with it. >> reporter: you didn't take his word for it? >> no. in our game we don't take anyone's word for anything. we look into it. that's what we did. >> reporter: they met with the improbably named kobe laker. eric's best friend. and kobe backed up eric. >> they had a terrific marriage and there was no problems whatsoever. >> reporter: but if the marriage seemed solid, there were questions about pegye. at least according to linda bechler, eric's mother. linda says pegye told her something in confidence just before she disappeared. >> she stopped me on the stairway as i was leaving and said, came up and said i have to talk to you. she said i'm afraid i'm going to jail. >> reporter: according to court documents, about a year before pegye disappeared, the couple sold their physical therapy business to another company but they stayed on as employees. then just four months before pegye vanished, the bechlers

were fired amid allegations they had overbilled medicare for over $1 million. so when linda heard pegye had vanished -- >> i started thinking about how disturbed she was about going to jail. >> reporter: and she wondered if pegye had somehow staged her own disappearance. pegye's friend glenda said no way. was pegye bechler capable of committing white collar crime? medicare overbilling? >> in my opinion, no. >> reporter: but if you're wrong about that, then maybe the idea that she faked her death to escape possible prosecution for that, maybe that's a little bit more plausible. >> but white collar crime and faking your death and leaving your children and your family are two really separate issues. >> reporter: glenda said pegye adored her children and would never abandon them. >> i will say that people who have never been in the inside of a courtroom or inside of a jail cell sometimes do pretty crazy

things when they realize that might happen to them. >> i believe that. but not pegye. >> reporter: glenda told the detectives that pegye and eric were having some issues. like how pegye was busy with work and kids while eric seemed occupied on the volleyball court. >> she just confided in me that they were having some financial troubles because you had a pretty high lifestyle to keep up with. >> reporter: glenda said eric and pegye seemed determined to work everything out. but now pegye was gone and eric was a single dad with three kids under the age of 4. and a new player was about to enter the story. you were drawn to eric right away? >> yes. >> reporter: like countless young women before her, tina new had drop-dead looks and hollywood dreams. she had done some bikini modeling and had a small part on the tv show "baywatch nights."

but that turned out to be the peak of her career. soon, tina found herself slipping into the darker side of show biz. she started doing drugs and lost custody of her two young children because of it. and fell for a succession of guys who did not treat her kindly. >> i had an ex-boyfriend put a gun to my head, play russian roulette between me and him. i was held over the balcony by my neck. >> reporter: tina, who was broke and near rock bottom, was desperate. >> i got down on my knees literally begging and i said i'll do whatever you want, lord, just help me. i can't do this anymore. i need tou show me a sign. >> reporter: the universe sent you eric bechler. >> the next day i meet him and all my problems are gone. >> reporter: she had taken a modeling gig, eye candy at a trade show. eric was there promoting his new business. it was three months to the day since pegye had disappeared.

>> i just thought he was really handsome. >> reporter: there was some serious chemistry from the beginning? >> yes. we went out that night, actually. he asked me out that night. i moved in the next day. really fast. >> reporter: you don't wait, do you? >> no. not then. >> reporter: eric lived in a giant house and drove a porsche, and he was a gentleman in her life after a long string of men who were not gentle. >> i had never been spoiled like that. i remember thinking i was like julia roberts in "pretty woman." >> reporter: tina was moved by eric's story. >> he said to me that his wife died in a tragic boat accident and that they were never able to find her. >> reporter: she couldn't help noticing how great he was with his kids. >> he would sit on the floor and play with them. i actually thought he was a great dad. >> reporter: she was eager to help, taking care of the kids while eric went as usual to the beach. to play volleyball. >> i thought they had lost their mom, they need someone to step in and not be their mom, but do things their mom would do for them. >> reporter: but when they took the kids to visit pegye's parents --

>> there was a lot of animosity towards me. i understood why. >> reporter: all they saw was this hot young woman who had been brought in to replace their missing daughter. >> right. right. exactly three months to the day. i can't even imagine what they were thinking. >> reporter: pegye's family wasn't alone. detective sean murphy had also noticed the new woman in eric bechler's life. >> she was ostentatious. she was just a hot number as they say. she was cohabitating with him right after this horrible boating accident with his wife. >> reporter: so murphy arranged to bump into tina. >> said hey, if you have any information about this boating accident involving eric, your boyfriend, just give us a call. i gave her my card with my number on it. >> reporter: nothing came of it. tina didn't call. but someone else did. >> coming up, the best friend has second thoughts. kobe laker goes under cover.

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>> i put the videotape in and

but eric's best friend, what exactly did he know and how far would he go to get proof? >> reporter: to detective sean murphy it sounded more than suspicious. eric bechler taking up with a gorgeous redhead just three months after his wife was lost at sea. but murphy didn't have much more than a gnawing in his gut until his phone rang. >> we got a call from kobe's lawyer, said he wanted to arrange an interview again with kobe. >> reporter: kobe laker, eric's best friend and volleyball buddy. he told sheriff's detectives that the bechler marriage was great. now he had a different story. >> eric's told me on several occasions that he's sick and tired of his wife. he would tell me that he just couldn't take it anymore. he was tired of it. >> reporter: about seven months before pegye vanished, kobe says he and eric had a conversation that kobe describes as haunting him ever since.

>> eric asked me about what he thought -- what i thought of the idea of him killing his wife. and i was pretty much shocked. i didn't know what to say. he told me that he was thinking of taking her out to the ocean and dumping her in a barrel. >> he said when he saw there was a boating accident and eric's wife was missing, he knew right then and there, he saw it on tv, he knew that he had killed his wife. and he lied to us. he said because he panicked and was afraid and he didn't know what to do. >> reporter: detectives convinced kobe to wear a wire and to meet eric at a restaurant in orange county. eric had no idea that police were listening in. even so, he stuck to his story that pegye's death was a terrible accident. >> i was there. i know what happened. i tried so hard to understand that people can think anything else. >> you never said hey, look, man, i don't know what the [ bleep ] you guys are talking about.

i'm innocent. you never said anything about anything. >> i have so. do i have to say it every week? >> reporter: kobe tried again. >> i protected you. i basically made you look like a saint in the interview i had with the detectives. >> reporter: a dead end. but detectives were now convinced that eric killed his wife. >> even though it didn't lead to anything, that conversation with kobe, that got you from suspicion to knowing? >> yeah, it moved it all the way over. we knew we had a homicide. >> reporter: but knowing it and proving it were two very different things. you didn't get to process that boat as a crime scene for almost a week. >> right. right. that wasn't good. that hindered the investigation. >> reporter: the boat, said detective murphy, was pretty clean. crime scene did find blood, just one drop, under one of the cushions. but not enough to determine

whether it was human blood. it could have come from a fish. not enough evidence to arrest eric for murder or even prove that a murder occurred. pegye's close friend glenda didn't believe eric was a killer. >> there's no way that eric would have done that. there's just absolutely no way. it was unfathomable to me. >> reporter: tina new felt the same way. >> i felt like the police were just trying to frame an innocent man. i thought there's no way. the way he treats me, there's no way he could have hurt his wife. >> reporter: tina also noticed that eric kept photos of pegye in every room of the house. she could not imagine that a man who had killed his wife would want to see her face everywhere. eric was really the answer to all your problems for awhile, wasn't he? >> yeah. he was. >> reporter: so you weren't too anxious to question him. >> no, i believed him. >> reporter: after about six months, he says will you marry me? >> yes. >> reporter: you say? >> i said yes. >> reporter: you don't say no a lot. >> he treated me so good.

>> reporter: she admits she knew eric was due to collect more than $2 million in insurance money once he was cleared in his wife's disappearance. everything would work out? >> everything would work out. yep. >> reporter: you were wrong. >> i was definitely wrong. >> reporter: they had been a couple for two years. still not married but living together off and on. one night, tina was showing eric some of her old modeling shots and tv appearances. >> we were looking at my pictures but then i put the videotape in. i'm fast forwarding it and it just stops. >> reporter: purely by chance, tina accidentally recorded a news report about pegye's disappearance. >> the whole screen was just a picture of her face and i said oh, my gosh, what is this? >> reporter: then she turned to eric. >> i looked at him. his face turned white. like he literally lost the color in his face and he said to me how did you get that? i said i don't know. >> reporter: his reaction troubled her. she hit play and it just got worse.

the news report did not match the story eric had told her about pegye's disappearance. >> he told me there was three to four foot waves, it was really choppy out there. >> reporter: on the report the day pegye went missing, there were only two foot waves and the weather was described as ideal. >> he lied. he lied all this time to me. he was just really quiet. >> reporter: he's sitting right next to you. how does eric look at that point? >> flushed and stressed. i yelled at him and said why is this different than what you told me? he just like got really quiet. >> reporter: then she says eric bechler told her a new version of what happened when pegye fell off the boat. >> he thinks she hit a wake and fell off. he said, and i didn't get to her. i said you didn't get to her or you didn't want to get to her? and he said -- at first he said he told me that he didn't get to her. then later he changed it and

said i could have helped her but i didn't. >> reporter: now, that's completely different from what he told police. >> right. >> reporter: chilling as that sounded, tina feared it still wasn't the whole story. she was determined to get the rest. but like a career in show biz, you have to be careful what you wish for. >> coming up -- >> i don't trust you. i'm afraid of you. >> nobody yells anything but you. >> from model and actress to undercover agent. secret operation to learn the truth. >> this is where it gets really scary. hi, i need a thriller for my wife. political or psychological? psychological. small town or big city? small town. methodists...or mules? mules. how's this? signed?! no way. nobody knows thrill seekers like we do... barnes & noble they work together doing important stuff. the hitch? like you, your cells get hungry.

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>> reporter: tina new thought she had found happiness with eric bechler until he changed his story about what happened the day his wife disappeared in the ocean. you didn't think about calling the police? >> no. not yet. i just felt like he wasn't telling me the truth all the way. i was really afraid because he was always with me. >> reporter: afraid, yet they continued to see each other, sleep together and party together. about two weeks after eric changed his story, he and tina went to a club and took the drug ecstasy. >> we get home, we walk inside the house and we're both laying on the bed staring straight up at the ceiling together. all of a sudden as we were talking, it just came to me and i said to him, i said oh, my god, you hit her over the head.

he goes how did you know that? >> reporter: the fact is, she hadn't known. call it intuition or the effects of the drug or a random guess. but it was an opening and tina barreled through. >> i said you need to tell me the truth. he's calmly talking to me and he says i'm going to tell you the truth. he goes we had this huge party so everybody could see how happy we were together. >> reporter: all their friends were there, witnesses to the happy marriage. then a couple of days later, she says, eric told her he took pegye out to sea on that rented boat and although pegye didn't know it, he took along some weights. >> then he goes then i walked up behind her and he goes i hit her so hard she didn't feel a thing. i'm like what do you mean, you hit her so hard. he said i hit her over the head with a weight. >> reporter: she said he told her there was blood everywhere. then tina says eric bechler told her how he got rid of his wife.

>> he just did her wrists and ankles together so she was completely bent in half. he said he took two trash bags he had, put her body in it and then he put the weights and tied it down to the rope and threw her in. >> reporter: two years after pegye vanished, a stunning confession. then you go to sleep next to a man that you believe is a killer? >> no, actually then we had sex. i felt like i had to do it because i think that made him feel like i was going to be quiet and that he was, i don't know, sealing the deal with me or something. >> reporter: but the deal was not sealed. not with anyone. the case was still open and detectives had been keeping an eye on eric and tina all along. they knew the relationship was growing volatile. >> we were excited about it in a morbid kind of way because we knew it would go sideways. >> reporter: because when relationships go sideways sometimes people start talking. >> that's right. >> reporter: and that's what

happened two weeks after eric's apparent confession. a neighbor called 911 after hearing yelling coming from tina's apartment. when police arrived, eric was gone but tina was angry and she still had the business card detective murphy had given her almost two years earlier. >> i grabbed my partner, we went out there in the middle of the night and we met up with tina. >> reporter: she told detective murphy and his partner, gary jones, what eric had said. a big break, yes, but not nearly enough for an arrest. remember, tina was pretty far from an ideal witness. detectives knew they would need more than her word against eric's. so they asked tina -- >> would i be willing to wear a wire. i said yes. that's the only way you're going to get him. >> reporter: why would you turn in a guy who had basically taken you from a terrible life and given you a great life? >> because i couldn't live with myself. no way. >> reporter: police planted microphones in her car, in her

purse and on her body. and tina arranged a meeting. she told eric that after the domestic violence call, sheriff's homicide detectives came in to ask questions about eric. this dinner date, tina told eric, was to get their stories straight in case the cops questioned her again. tina, wired up, picked up eric from his home and drove to a restaurant called el torito. were you worried about this? >> not really. i was more worried that i wasn't going to get him to confess again. i have two stories in my head. i don't want to screw up at all. >> there's no story to tell. you weren't there. it was an accident. >> reporter: once inside the restaurant, tina tried to get eric to repeat the details of pegye's death. eric wouldn't go there. >> details aren't important. >> reporter: so tina tried to get him to say why he did it. >> reporter: it's no confession but it's not a denial, either.

are you thinking to yourself at that's it, i got him? >> i thought it was good but i didn't think it was enough. >> reporter: remember, pegye had a life insurance policy worth more than $2 million. again, she tried to get him to give her a reason. >> reporter: eric reassured tina. >> she was good. she was really good. >> reporter: but the drama wasn't over. tina left the restaurant with eric, still wired up. >> this is where it gets really scary. we're walking out to the car and he says to me let me drive.

>> reporter: that was not part of the plan. >> we lose sight of them. >> reporter: in a movie this is where you hear the sound of a gunshot. >> that would not have been good. >> reporter: in the car, with eric now behind the wheel, tina cranked up her acting skills and the tension. [ shouting ] >> reporter: eric pulled over and got out, and tina hopped in the driver's seat.

just like that, tina new drove away from her old life. in the end, you got enough. >> absolutely, yeah. >> reporter: eric was arrested and charged with pegye's murder. what was it like to get the call that eric had been arrested? >> well, i just trembled all over. i couldn't really believe it. >> reporter: but two weeks after eric's arrest made headlines, tina made some headlines of her own. that put the whole case in jeopardy. >> coming up, eric bechler on trial and tina's credibility is on trial, too. >> you think anybody would believe you? >> no. >> without that statement they don't have anything that makes this a homicide. you're gonna love if ythe best of geico.ercials, it's geico's all-time greatest hits

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when eric bechler confessed to his girlfriend that he tossed his wife into the ocean, he may have sunk himself. as the trial loomed, tina's determination wavered. would she take the stand? >> beach volleyball is a kid's game played by grownups. murder for profit is played only by adults and it's for keeps.

prosecutors believed eric bechler was trying to be successful at both. detectives had put him in jail. but then two weeks after eric's arrest came this head line in the local paper. witness in murder case doubts suspect's guilt. tina, who had worn a wire and helped police nail eric now said maybe he didn't kill her. >> i knew she kids had lost their mom and now going to probably lose their dad for a very long time. so i felt guilty. >> guilty that she had helped jail man she once thought she'd marry. >> he called me from the jail and told me he had tried to hang himself with his sheet. >> it was eric's frantic behavior from the lock-up, that was enough to make you think twice. >> i didn't want him to die. >> you felt guilty? >> i felt guilty. >> you tried to roll the whole thing back? >> yeah, i did. >> but she says she always felt he was guilty and in the winter

of 2000, eric bechler went on trial. the star witness, tina, a witness was, to be fair, compromised, not just by her waffling by eric's guilt and her own checkered past but the one detail and story tina says eric told her something the defense attorney says is critical. >> you'd expect, if pegye's head was caved in by 35 pound dumb bells, there'd be blood. >> quite a lot of it. >> everywhere. and there wasn't. >> on the stand, tina tried to defend herself. >> i'm a horrible witness when it comes to looking at me on paper? do you think anybody would believe you? >> no. i knew that i told exactly what he had said to me. and i knew that i was doing the right thing. i honestly didn't care what anybody thought. >> then there was the conversation she had recorded at el torrida, eric's own words. the jury heard all of them. >> and offering eric's own

explanation. >> i argued the reason was the shut her up, calm her down. >> and eric had never said he had done it. the only person who had said that was the only person with a drug conviction on her record. >> without that statement they have a lot of what ifs, but they don't have anything that makes this a homicide. >> the defense offered another theory about pegye. >> she was under a great deal of pressure and could be distracted and in combination with alcohol she rarely drank she did on that day, could contribute to lack av care in driving the boat. >> you don't think pegye bechler faked her death, you think she's dead? >> no, i don't think she did. >> you think she died accidently and her body still hasn't been found.

>> yes. >> arguing pegye's death was eric's doing. >> he had about 3 $1/2 million to gain and what he would gain if he had gotten away with it. >> reporter: the evidence was substantial and eric had a weight at home and the prosecutor argued eric used to weight to kill pegye and sink her body. what about the blood? a luminol test conducted on the boat indicated there might have been a lot of blood in the boat but then cleaned up matching tina's testimony about blood everywhere. then there was tina herself. >> despite her past and her criminal record and her drug use, she rang true to you? >> yes. absolutely. >> who would the jury believe and would tina's past make a difference? >> it doesn't matter what i did before or after i met him, you know, what i did with myself has nothing to do with what he did.

>> after seven day, the verdict, guilty of first-degree murder. >> you're thrilled that the man who did it is behind bars, but nobody wins in this situation, nobody. the children now have no mother and no father. so this -- there is no winner. >> the jury did not believe eric killed pegye for the money. he was found not guilty of murder for financial gain. at his sending eric faced the judge again and denied once again killing pegye. >> the accident was a horrible tragedy for both of our families as much as the marshals are hurting, my family is also hurting because i did not commit this crime. >> the judge sentenced him to life without the possibility of parole. eric's mother, linda, thinks the verdict was wrong. >> is it possible you don't know your son as well as you think you do? >> oh, baloney. i know that kid like the back of my hand.

>> i can understand a mother not wanting to believe her son committed a crime. >> listen, if my kid was a druggie, doper, nair too well, thief, rapist -- >> murderer. >> well, yeah. but he isn't. he isn't. >> pegye bechler's body has never been found. >> you want to know what happened but you still don't want to hear murder. >> but at least now you know. >> that's pretty hard to take. and even with all this information, we don't have a body. >> you all right? >> yeah. >> you discover you're stronger than you thought you were? >> oh, yeah. >> pegye's mother and sister ended up raising her kids. one more person who was stronger than she thought, tina. >> you're living a different life these days? >> completely different. >> she gave up drugs, married a nice guy and now she's a stay-at-home mom with five kids. a hollywood happy ending?

no. sometimes real life is better. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline extra". i'm tamron hall. thanks for watching. tonight, a fight for freedom, "in the shadow of justice." what happened to this teenager could happen to any one of our children. at 18, he was arrested for murder. adamant he was innocent. >> i had nothing to do with this. i swear to god!