loved the beach, and died too young. >> that's all for this edition 40s film movie. >> with a life full of mystery to match. >> she was a stunner physically. she was able to say jump and the men would say how high. >> reporter: married to a wealthy lawyer. >> he always said she has this hold over him. >> but someone she seemed even closer together. >> they bought matching underwear together >> they shared everything. >> they are eating together and sleeping in the same bed together and she is living at her house. >> did she also share a deadly >> it was a love ltriangle and one of them had to go. >> but was it her idea?e

or her? and who would take the fall for evil? hello. welcome to dateline. attorney larry mcnabney had been living fast and loose but things were finally slowing down for him. he had a thriving law practice, a wife he adored, and plenty of money. then a new friend entered the picture and a love triangle took shape. the murder was a who done it involving three tangled lives, one of them was hide ago secret identity, but to untangle this mystery, police needed to know who was the mastermind pulling the strings? here is keith morrison with

"poison." ♪ >> reporter: it was september 11th, 2001. about everyone knows where they were that awful day. like the glamorous trio who was traveling north through yosemite national park, even as the rest of the tworld's attention was focused on new york city, they were intentk on their own urge need, their desires, their fears, their deadly love triangle. so they probably didn't appreciate the passing wonders, the astonishing cliffs and waterfall and anyone than the one in the back seat through fading eyes saw anything at all. here is one of them. his name was larry mcnabney and he was a tall, handsome man. a well-known and respected attorney from nevada. a personal injury specialist,

made buckets of money. loved the big life and loved being in control. >> there was never a hair out of place. there wasn't dust on his desk. his pen was always in the same spot. >> reporter: larry's daughter was crazy about him. in awe of his type a personality, his joy of life, his courtroom presence. >> not an ounce of shyness. he commanded the courtroom. >> reporter: i've been a trial lawyer over 20 years. larry as long time friend, fred atchison. >> he could open 50 files a month in personal injury litigation, which made him a rich man. >> reporter: but nobody is perfect, of course. and for all of larry's unquestioned talents, the man carried around with him a raft of corresponding demons. >> i know he had a difficult childhood and that a lot of your

personality is shaped when you're a child. >> reporter: and as an adult, larry struggled with alcohol and women. he married and divorced several times. >> it was like a void he was trying to fill and he never could fill it. >> reporter: in fact, from time to time, larryd had gone on d binders and van issued weeks at a time. everybody would worry and wonder and, sure enough, he would show up again. >> i had a t-shirt made up once, larry with black letters saying where is larry mcnabney use larry, well into his 40s seemed to get his act together for real. he set t up a new office in las vegas. everything clicked. possibly for an attractive reason, as was discovered. >> i went by the office one day and ed, i have someone i want you to meet. he said this is elisa. >> reporter: elisa, 17 years

younger than larry, and he was in love. >> and he said she's just fun and vivacious and she is young and it's just we have a good final. >> reporter: she wanted her dad to be happy and didn't stand in the way. >> you welcome the new person in. it's my dad. so i didn't want anything that would inhibit me from spending time with him. >> reporter: and he really cared for this woman? >> he did. >> reporter: larry and elisa thrived, both personally and professional. they got married and elisa became his office manager and they opened up a firm in sacramento, california. another big success so they hired a young attractive college student named sarah dutra who soon became a friend as well as a sort of personal and office assistant. and, together, elisa and larry

enjoyed the high life. >> on she was into the same thing that larry loved and style. they went out and bought viper cars together. >> reporter: they also shared larry's newest passion, quarterhorses. >> larry would show horses and show himself, which fit in with larry looking good and feeling good. >> reporter: larry could do more of what he liked. while young sarah pitched in to help elisa to run the law office. just about perfect but larry's friend fred was a stick in the mud about it. >> the fact she took control of his business allowed him to engage in drinking and partying. >> reporter: which is not really what larryhi needed? >> no, he didn't need that because his appear tightite wou

amuck. >> reporter: after seven years of marriage, larry dropped out of sight, close friend were not extremely alarmed at first. although, larry had gone on drunken binders before but this time as days stretched into weeks, it seemed different and extremely odd. ginger miller started working at the law firm as a secretary in september of 2011 abo01 about te larry went missing. >> i was told to tell his kid and different people in his family different things so i was told that he was golfing or skiing, someplace they probably couldn't a hold of him at. >> reporter: it was all obvious b.s.? yes. if it was a client, i would have to say he was working on a deposition, he was with another client, he had w to fly out. >> reporter: larry's kid didn't know what to think. >> i said to my brother, this doesn't sound right. why do the stories keep changing? >> reporter: october arrived. no larry. thanksgiving. in december, he was always with

family on his birthday. but still no sign of larry mcnabney. >> i didn't get a good feeling and what i worried about was had something gone wrong and dad was scared and he took off? >> reporter: had larry offended the wrong tern? davea had a friend in law enforcement who told her. >> you have tod look at it two ways. either if he is in hiding he willin not be happy you found h because he is, obviously, hiding for a reason, or something has happened to him. >> reporter: meanwhile, back at the office, ginger was hearing things, worried some things until she couldn't keep it in any more. >> i went so the sheriff's department. i wasn't sure what to do so i asked for a piece of paper and i slid it under the window. >> reporter: detectives got her note, all right. thus figured they should have a chat with elisa mcnabney, but by

the time think went looking for her, just like larry, she was impon! . >> who exactly was elisa mcnabney and what did she know about her husband's disappearance? the investigation heats up when police uncover the dark secrets in elisa's past. coming up. >> she was a person out of a '40s film movie. she was a stunner physically, but, more important, she had a control over men that just amazed me. >> when "dateline" continues. >> when "dateline" continues d cw comes the confidence, you're doing what's right, to protect your dog from fleas and ticks for a full month. it's the #1 vet recommended protection. and it's safe for puppies. nexgard. what one little chew can do. so you have ten years experience... i do. but no phd? i do have a masters in early childhood development. you don't mind if i record this, do you? uhh, no! first kid here's all the numbers, food's in the fridge, oh and lucas likes to pull on jewelry

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by the dawn of 2002, while the rest of us were getting used to a new post-9/11 normal, it was pretty clear that something abnormal appeared to that personal injury attorney larry mcnabney. nobody had seen him in five months. his wife elisa was missing too many. ginger had dropped off her note at the sheriff's office and detective were poking around in the abandoned remains of larry's law office and talking to employees like sarah dutra, the attractive art student of arizona state who worked at the mcnabney law office as a secretary. she brought her little dog to the sheriff's office. she told the detectives she and elisa were close friends so sarah noticed how erratic elisa became after larry went missing.

sarah confirmed what ginger miller said, that elisa kept changing her explanations for larry's whereabouts. sarah said she saw elisa signing larry's name on checks and day-to-day business transactions. in early january, 2002, said sarah, elisa planned a trip to arizona to attend a horse show and in the absence of larry, invited sarah to go along. when with sarah got to the airport, the ticket was not paid for. and that was that, said sarah.

she had not heard from elisa since. thomas was the san joaquin county prosecutor and he had handled a number of missing persons case so when he heard the case of larry and elisa mcnabb know, he gravitated toward it. >> he was an attorney with a case load who disappeared. this is someone with a homeless person and vanish and you think they took a greyhound and went to nevada. >> reporter: he took a good hard look at elisa. >> she was a person out of a '40s film movie in that she was a stunner physically. everyone said that. but, more importantly, she had a control over men that just amazed me. she was able to say jump and the men would say how high. >> reporter: it certainly seemed true for larry, so said his old

friend fred atchison. >> she was controlling him to the extent that she was keeping him away from his family and his former friends. >> reporter: did that include the relationship he had with you? >> no question about it. >> reporter: found yourself shut out? >> yes. >> reporter: so did larry's daughter davea. >> elisa completely cut me out of the picture and i was devastated. >> reporter: why was elisa keeping larry away from his family and friend? what did chef to hide? >> he called me up once on the phone and said, fred, i don't know who she is. i thought he meant well, we don't really know who our spouses are deep down. ed, no. i don't know if this is who she is is if her name is what she says it is or anything. >> reporter: by then, said fred, larry had discovered ample reason to stop trusting elisa. >> he couldn't keep his wallet in his pants. >> reporter: he told thaw? >> yeah. she would steal money out of his wallet. he had to hide his wallet in his

own house. >> reporter: turned out she was also stealing from the law firm. >> she had ripped him off. >> reporter: for how much? any idea? >> over $100,000. >> reporter: larry told fred all about his troubles with elisa. and, yet, he kept her around. not like he hadn't divorced women before, but not this one. dave yanch davea didn't get tichlt he always said she has this hold over me and i never understood what that meant. >> reporter: larry's comments to fred about not knowing his wife? his suspicions tuned out to be true. a little research told detectives the real woman behind the name of elisa mcnabney had credit card fraud, grand theft including tcharges. >> she had a way of using her

female charms and she was a true conartist. >> reporter: was larry being conned by elisa? >> it wouldn't make sense even for a dedicated pole cat to do anything like that because he was the goose that laid the golden egg. it wouldn't make any sense whatsoever. >> reporter: it was a farm worker who noticed a flock of buzzard drifting above one of these grape field and saw something sticking out of the ground. and, soon, a missing persons case turned into something much, much worse. and considerably more bizarre. >> "dateline" return after the break. "dateline" return after e break. so, you never have to talk about it. unless you're their spokesperson.

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it was february 2002. a remote vineyard at the northern end of central california farmer. a farmer couldn't help but see the big bird swirling round and

round. something out there. >> he spotted the vulchers and went out to see what they were swarming. >> reporter: these two were the first among the seem. must be some dead animal? >> he figured he would find some dead animal out there. >> reporter: but it wasn't a dead animal. the leg that was sticking out of the ground was decidedly human and soon larry's daughter davea heard the news. >> i got a call from the sheriff's department. i felt myself get really hot and nauseous and she said that the body they found, the dental record, it was him. and i remember i never swear and i yelled out this cuss word and i slammed down the phone and i

just start shaking. it was a moment in time that i've never felt such anguish. >> reporter: it's still raw even now. >> the. because i thought -- i don't know. i thought -- i guess i was hoping he was in hiding. >> very fortunate that the body was discovered and now we can move on and investigate as a homicide. >> reporter: davea's hopes crushed. police had ample proof now that five months after he vanished, that larry had been murdered and left to rot out here in the middle of nowhere. >> there weren't any stab wound or any bullet holes. >> reporter: there were no obvious signs of larry's cause of death. so they looked further and found something very unusual. >> the medical examiner was able to find out that the cause of death was poisoning with a horse

tranquilizer. >> reporter: horse tranquilizer? >> yes. >> reporter: now that was strange. but get this. >> he had been dead for an extended period of time. however, the body had not decomposed consistent with the time frame that we were looking at. >> reporter: meaning? >> meaning it was preserved, kept cold. >> one of the first things i thought where would the person that killed larry, where would they have access to a walk-in refrigerator large enough to hold a human body? >> reporter: the detectives wanted answer and so did larry's daughter davea who sometimes believed she could hear her father in her sleep. >> when i would go to sleep at night he would wake up and hear him calling for me to help him and i didn't know what to do and i didn't understand what was going on. >> reporter: sometimes team get a sense of knowing, even wonder who was responsible. did you? >> i knew elisa had done something. >> reporter: larry's much younger wife elisa.

she vanished a few months after he did and now that larry was dead, she was the prime suspect in his murder. sheriff deputies tracked her down in march of 2002 in florida. >> she cut her hair short and changed her name. >> reporter: elisa was now going by the name of shane ivoroni and working at a paralegal at a law firm. >> elisa was a very smart person. she had i believe 140 i.q. >> reporter: she could talk anybody into anything? >> right. >> reporter: now she was finally exposed with the con artist she was and in custody, elisa decided to tell her story, starting at long last, with her legal name.

>> reporter: elisa or laren was from m. and mother of two and wanted for violation of a burglary and theft charge and had been on the run nine years, she had. she eventually settled in las vegas where she met larry and, by this time, had changed her name to elisa. she told the police that she was at the horse show in arizona when she found out police wanted to talk to her about larry. and so she took off in her jaguar and drove from state-to-state. so with the preliminary out of the way, now came the big question -- what happened to larry mcnabney?

elisa, without hesitation, and without even being asked, spilled the bean. there it was. no apology. no evasion. she simply confessed at killing her husband larry mcnabney. but this is a but with a capital b, that wasn't the whole story! not even close! coming up. did elisa have help? when "dateline" continues. when "dateline" continues. medi. the only fda-approved 3-in-1 copd treatment. ♪ trelegy. the power of 1-2-3. ♪ trelegy 1-2-3 trelegy. with trelegy and the power of 1 2 3, i'm breathing better. trelegy works 3 ways to open airways,

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i'm dara brown. 63 people dead and 180 wound inside a sued observing targeting a wedding party in afghanistan. some 1,200 people had been invited to the wedding in kabul. they say the attacker set off

explosives near the stage where children were gathered. people are arrested in portland after protesters squared off in a demonstration in the downtown area. now back to "dateline." now back to "dateline. welcome back to "dateline." i'm craig melvin. larry mcnabney's wife had confessed to murdering her husband and burying his body in a california vineyard. it would seem to be a straightforward case if not what she told investigators next. elisa mcnabney was the killer, all right, but did she act alone? here is keith morrison with "poison." >> reporter: there is a purity to confession. a real cleansing of the soul. and now after months on the lamb, elisa mcnabney, also known

as laren sims, et, et cete cete cetera, y she killed her husband of nearly seven years, she had, but it wasn't her idea. e she ki husband of nearly seven years, she had, but it wasn't her idea. husband of nearly seven years, she had, but it wasn't her idea. husband of nearly seven years, she had, but it wasn't her idea. she had. who was this other woman who pushed elisa to commit murder? it turns out detectives had already talked with her. remember sarah dutra, the young secretary and elisa's friend who came in with her dog and so helpful with detective after larry and elisa disappeared? now elisa was saying killing larry was sarah's idea. elisa told the story this way. larry was a heavy drinker and drug users. he was abusive, she claimed and she feared for her life. one day, she had she confided in

her young friend sarah and sarah said there was just one thing to do -- kill larry mcnabney. now in this three-hour long interview, elisa wen into detail after gruesome detail of how she and sarah did it. elisa and repair were at a horse show in los angeles, she had, and sarah flew down to meet them or rather to meet elisa since larry didn't like sarah, said elisa. that was september 9th, 2001. according to elisa, larry had already passed out after drinking horse tranquilizer on his own for fun. sarah decided, according to elisa, to just give him more and

no one would ever find out. while larry slept, she had she forced drops of tranquilizer into his mouth. but larry didn't die. instead the next day on september 10th, larry got up and showed his horse and then went right back to bed. but he was so heavily drugged, he couldn't walk.

this, by the way, was september 11th, 2001. everybody was dealing with the disaster in new york, they got in a truck and started driving. so she had they drove on. they thought larry would die in the car. but he didn't! so when they finally made it back to larry and elisa's home near sacramento, larry was slipping in and out of consciousness, still alive.

that was the morning of september 12th. they stuffed larry's body in the refrigerator while they decided what to do with it.

but they couldn't quite decide. so they kept larry's body in the refrigerator for three months. then they decided to take it to las vegas and find someplace there to bury it. en route to las vegas, with their two dogs in the back seat, larry in the trunk, along with

two shovels, once there, sarah hung out at a hotel with the dogs. elisa went out looking for a burial place for larry but when she started digging, she had the ground was too hard. so elisa said they drove back to california and the next morning, at 4:00, she drove out to a vineyard and dug a hole and buried him. that was elisa's story. and just a few hour after she finished telling it, california detectives hauled in sarah dutra, the alleged driver of the whole plot, and her story? well, it was a little different.

coming up, is sarah dutra a cold gun blo cold-blooded killer or innocent and just trying to survive? when "dateline" continues. to sue when "dateline" continues. you'. uh... the mobile app makes it easy to manage your policy, even way out here. your marshmallow's... get digital id cards, emergency roadside service, even file a... whoa. whoa. whoa. whoa. whoa. whoa! oops, that cheeky little thing got away from me. my bad. geico. it's easy to manage your policy whenever, wherever. can i trouble you for another marshmallow? ♪ sleep this amazing? that's a zzzquilpure zzzs sleep. our liquid has a unique botanical blend, while an optimal melatonin level means no next-day grogginess. zzzquil pure zzzs. naturally superior sleep. who got an awful skin condition.

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oh, come on. flo: don't worry. you're covered. (dramatic music) and you're saving money, because you bundled home and auto. sarah, get in the house. we're all here for you. all: all day, all night. (dramatic music) great job speaking calmly and clearly everyone. that's how you put a customer at ease. hey, did anyone else hear weird voices while they were in the corn? no. no. me either. whispering voice: jamie. what?

>> reporter: sarah dutra appeared confused. no little dog to keep her company now.

her closest friend elisa mcnap knee confessed to murdering her husband and she claimed that sarah not only helped with the murder but was the driving force behind it. >> reporter: they confronted her along with elisa's confession.

>> reporter: sarah dutra broke down and told detectives her side of the story. and in this version, it was elisa, not sarah, who was the cold-blooded killer. it was elisa, she said, who dosed larry was horse tranquilizer and elisa ordered her to bury in yosemite even before he was dead. elisa who was early calm when larry did final expire.

that was the morning of september 12th, after the long and harrowing drive home from the horse show in los angeles, said sarah. through her tears, she told the detectives how larry's body ended up in the refrigerator. this was the part of sarah's version. she went along with the whole awful crazy thing for one reason, she said, she was deathly afraid of elisa.

was it possible that an innocent young woman in the thrall of a con artist and killer? sarah dutra seemed so frightened, so emotional. and, yet, thought the detective -- >> i felt a little bit over the top. >> reporter: she was a little bit over the top? >> yes. >> reporter: you mean she was acting, putting on? >> i believe so. >> reporter: after more than nine hours of questioning, sarah dutra was arrested and charged with larry's murder. it was a classic crime story. two killers, mutual finger pointing and prosecutors knew they could use each woman's testimony against the other, an easy check mate, that is until elisa took herself off the board. on march 30th, 1 days after her arrest, a jailer found her hanging by the neck in her

cell -- a suicide. >> a million questions for elisa and now that door has been slammed shut. >> reporter: and now sarah left holding the bag, would face murder charges alone. coming up. >> when you try only one defendant, it's very easy, as it was for sarah dutra to point the finger at one who who is not there. >> when "dateline" continues. there. >> when "dateline" continues you'll ask... what pain? with advil liqui-gels. ♪ protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. frontline plus. trusted by vets for nearly 20 years.

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♪ welcome back. sara dutra was behinds bars, charged with the murder of larry mcnabney. larry's wife lisa said they killed him together but insisted it was sarah's idea. then elisa committed suicide, leaving sarah alone. she was the pawn, forced to commit the horrendous act and it was elisa who was the real master mind. which story would the jury

believe. here is keith morrison with the conclusion of "poison." >> it was the winter of the 2003, more than a year after larry was poisoned with horse tranquilizer. his admitted killer, his wife. chose her own destiny, and her alleged accomplice, sarah dutra alone faced the possibility of spending the rest of her life behind bars. >> you attended the trial everyday? >> yes, 11 1/ 2 weeks. >> why? why? >> our d.a. had talked to us about the importance of our family being represented, that my dad not being forgotten. >> she believed her father died at the hands of both elisa and sarah. but though sarah admitted to being there when larry died in the and days and months that followed she adamantly claimed she never went to the police because she was so afraid of elisa and of ending up just like larry. and theory that even the

prosecutor found believable. >> when i first got this case people in my office were telling you that's exactly what i was saying walking up and down the halls. poor sarah, but as i got deeper into the case i totally turned around on this. but i started with that very mindset. >> he reviewed the evidence in preparation for trial, he became convinced that sarah dutra was, in fact, the woman in charge. >> sarah did not like larry. she always accused him of being full of himself, talking about himself all the time, self-centered. she didn't like him. so larry didn't want sarah around. sarah did not like larry. >> you know, this sounds to me like two people who both love elisa and want the other out of the way. >> yes, that's it. that's exactly it. it was a love triangle and one of them had to go. >> sarah said prosecutor testa was enjoying a very fancy life with elisa and larry was simply

in the way. if your theory is right, these are two good time girls who have got this great relationship and they're living off the proceeds of larry, why get rid of him? they have no motive. >> larry was elisa's golden goose but elisa was sarah's golden goose and sarah was about to be cut out of this whole triangle. larry had just told her two days before he was killed that, you know, he wanted her gone, he wanted her fired. >> so said testa, it was sarah who had the motive to kill larry. sarah's lawyer, of course, saw it differently. >> this seems like a classic instance of, you know, evil sort of wrapping around a sweet, young. little baby. >> at the trial the defense portrayed her --

as a black widow. she wanted him dead and sarah was her innocent and terrible pawn. >> horrible. i didn't mean to do it. not because i wanted to. not because i wanted to. >> really? now prosecutor testa introduced ginger miller, remember her, the other secretary who work aid long side sarah and elisa. she said in the days and weeks after larry vanished elisa and sarah seemed to feel anything but remorse. >> they're laughing together. they're shopping together. they're eating together. they're sleeping in the same bed together. she's living at her house. >> so they were not really working, were they? >> they were. they would get maybe two hours of work done during the day. >> what did they do the rest of the time? party? >> shop, hang out, sleep late, go flirt with boys. >> all the while spending the firm's money, larry's money, a lot of money. >> elisa got a red jaguar.

sarah got a red bmw. >> close friends, maybe more than friends? >> they bought matching underwear together. >> come on. >> no, my first they're like -- >> look what we bought? they both were wearing matching underwear. they were best friends. >> they were blowing through money so fast they fell behind on rent payments for the law office, got evicted. so they moved the office into elisa and larry's home, which according to ginger now seemed more like elisa and sarah's home. >> in the rooms they had no clothes of larry's the closet was cleaned out and in the bathroom they made the sinks hers and hers instead of his and hers. >> like they knew he wasn't coming back. >> yeah, they were pretty much moving him out. >> well, not quite because all this time remember larry's body was still in the garage, still in the refrigerator. and as for the idea that sarah was abinnocent child, elisa's

puppet, that was nonsense said ginger. >> everybody knows she wasn't terrified of her. sarah had as much say. as elisa did in the whole situation. >> until trial sarah sat quiet at the defense table, daughter of devout christians. wide-eyed and innocent. her videotaped confession didn't get played for the jury. with no dna, no prints, no trace evidence, no living eyewitnesses the case against sarah was entirely circumstantial. first degree murder. >> first degree, yeah. >> but would the jury see it the way he did? after four days of deliberations the jury found sarah dutra guilty of voluntary manslaughter and accessory to murder, not first degree murder. >> shad she not been a young,

attractive, tall blonde, whose parents were clutching bibles crying in the first row, one wonders if this verdict would have been the same. >> sarah dutra was sentenced to 11 years, served 8 and in the summer of 2011 at age 31 she was released. >> it's painful to know that such little time was given for such a horrific crime and one that seemed so premeditated to me and so thought out and so callus to the end. >> sarah dutra did not respond to our interview requests. and tavia, she told us she'd forgiven sarah as much for her own sake as anything. >> will i ever forget what she's done? never. but i don't want to have my whole life be their cruelty and the things they chose to do to him. i'd rather remember the loving times we had together.

and they're not going to take that away from me. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline ". i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. ♪ good morning i'm alison morris in new york at msnbc world headquarters. it's 6:00 in the east, 3 out west. here's what's happening. chipping away, what a new poll shows about the top two democratic contenders as many hopefuls gear up for a day of gun control rallies. portland on edge as groups from the far right left face off. the last days of jeffrey epstein, fascinating new look what went on when the multimillionaire found himself behind bars. the nud vi owe of dale earnhardt jr. escaping a burning plane with his family. ♪ happening