tv Dateline MSNBC November 11, 2019 12:00am-1:00am PST
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but with time they say it gets better. i just think -- i just hope it does. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is dateline. >> one of the investigators brought somebody over to me saying this is our violent crime advocate. i was steeling myself for it already because of the massive police presence. they said that they believed he'd been murdered. >> a dad of seven cared deeply about his kids. >> he was a loving man, provider, warm. >> so it was puzzling and alarming when he vanished. >> she says craig's not here. i said that's weird.
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>> i know something is wrong. i don't know how wrong. >> a disturbing discovery in the basement. >> blood particles are found on the walls. >> pit appeared there was some kind of ambition. >> revelations about craig's wife. >> craig didn't want to believe there was a romantic relationship between them. it became painfully obvious there was. >> and in the park two young men acting strangely. >> they identified -- >> the victim's two sons. >> the victim's two sons. >> finally a string of security videos would lay bare the bone chilling truth. >> i was stunned. absolutely stunned. >> remember just holding him crying. >> this is family divided like no other. >> yeah. hello and welcome to dateline. the write outs appear to be a
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tight-knit family so when they told their kids they were divorcing, it came as quite a surprise. and then craig went missing and a police investigation revealed more surprises. it was a mission that led police to a horrific discovery and a family secret as dark as they can. >> this is devil's bathtub, a deep dark pond formed by glaciers millennia ago. it's hidden and secluded. but beyond the tangle and the weeds, a secret was about to be discovered. >> we weren't ready for this. >> sirens in my head, red lights going off in my head. >> the discovery would tell the tale of an all american family torn apart and a twisted loyalty hard to comprehend.
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>> it was like hitting a brick wall and life just stopped. >> this is the ultimate story of betrayal. >> yes. >> a pretty suburb of rochester, big houses, big families and top ranked schools that make the people who move here want to stick around. >> in this community, i grew up in a bubble. the community is a bubble. >> the family lived in that happy bubble. chelsea dated the oldest boy, collin. >> i remember one of the first times i went over to his house in high school he was cooking me dinner and i was like, oh, man, cooking dinner, that's pretty cool. >> very responsible. >> oh, yeah, that was one of the reasons why i fell in love with him. he loved his family. >> and it was a big one. three girls, four boys.
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the household was always bustling. family dinners, holidays. collin's parents craig and laura embraced the chaos. >> this is craig's sister rob and drew. >> clearly they liked being parents. they were enjoying this. >> right, seven kids. >> seven kids. dad craig spent time as a computer programmer and spent time mentoring kids at his church. >> craig is an outwardly likable person. you meet him, you'll want him. >> pj was there when craig fell in love with laura. >> laura is compassionate and really intelligent. she double majored in physics. >> and as for the kids they were hardworking like their parents and articulate. while they thrived family life took a toll on craig and laura's marriage. laura had been on bed rest for
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some of her pregnancies and money was tight. >> it circles back to financial hardships. it's understandable, seven children, bills. these are real life issues. craig and laura separated in 2014. craig took it really hard. >> he sent an e-mail to me saying, well, it looks like i'm getting divorced because i don't think i can talk about it without crying. >> pj says he wasn't surprised to see the marriage dissolve. >> sometimes you get a feel. there's a lot of positives that came out of that relationship but there's a lot of negatives. >> the older son was at maritime college. >> i'm going to be okay, i have you but i'm more concerned about making sure my siblings are okay. >> he decided to put family first and help out his mother. he moved back to rochester and
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put aside college and his goal of becoming a navy seal. >> he left his dreams to put his siblings first. >> what is going to be the custody arrangements? >> the older kids were free to make their own choice. custody got sticky with the two youngest kids. >> the dorivorce still wasn't final in 2016 and there was tension over the shared custody of the 6 and 12-year-old kids. >> one of the phrases he used most recently was that he saw a light at the end of the tunnel, but it was stressing him out. >> and on top of that something weird happened to craig that summer. someone broke into the townhouse where he'd recently moved. he thought it was no big deal, maybe one of his sons playing a prank, but his sister was
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worried and she urged him to report it to police. >> my name is craig -- >> what happened? >> i wake up at midnight with a sharp pain in my arm and i jump up -- this will sound crazy, a hooded black figure, not a black man was running out of the room. the reason i have to file a police report is my blackberry which was taken that night. >> robin made a point to talk to her brother every day. >> i said i'll call you in the morning, check on you and the kids. >> but morning came and craig wasn't returning robin's calls. >> if he had been in a meeting and felt his phone go off, he would have sent a response in a meeting, call you later. >> concerned, robin decided to pay a visit to craig's townhouse. and inside that house, the beginning of a dark family drama that could never be unwritten. >> i know something is wrong.
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i don't know how wrong. >> what was going on with craig, a discovery in the basement was about to provide an ominous clue. coming up -- >> we found what appeared to be blood spatter on the walls. >> what they found next would change everything. >> this is big moment in this case. >> it is. >> when dateline continues. case >> it is >> when dateline continues lowe's has our widest selection ever. with all the trimmings. emreplenished,d, fortified. emerge everyday with emergen-c. packed with b vitamins, electrolytes, antioxidants, plus more vitamin c than 10 oranges. why not feel this good every day? emerge and see. with licensed agents availablep when 24-7,d it. it's not just easy. it's having-jerome-bettis- on-your-flag-football-team easy.
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robin couldn't imagine where her brother craig was. it was a warm summer morning, wednesday, july 20th, 2016. >> you can't reach him at work. you can't reach him at home. >> right. i'm getting no response. >> that break in was fresh in robin's mind when she decided to leave work at lunch and head to craig's townhouse. his soon to be ex-wife laura was there. she couldn't find him either. >> she says oh, i figured it wouldn't be long before someone came looking for him. i don't know where it is. >> that morning laura said the kids texted her to say dad wasn't there when they woke up. she sent collin over to get them. >> collin was always picking up his siblings. he would drive them places. >> robin decided to look in her brother's house. she went up stairs to the
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bedroom and it was locked. were you worried he might have been in the bedroom? that something happened to him? >> yes. >> exactly what, she didn't know. she called 911. >> my brother has not been answering texts or cellphone calls or e-mails, and i could be making a mountain out of a molehill. >> deputies from the monroe county sheriff's office arrived at craig's but they stayed outside and told robin they'd need a warrant to search the house. after all her brother was a grown man and this was his private property. he spoke to robin briefly. >> she called a number of times, and this made her nervous, not being able to get ahold of him on e-mail or text. >> laura had gone home but came back to the townhouse with the two young kids to see what was going on. dize she express she had any idea where craig might be? >> she didn't. >> laura told the deputies craig was home when the kids were dropped off the night before.
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>> obviously you're a little bit concerned about them, i guess. >> i don't even know where to -- it doesn't -- his personality wouldn't be one -- >> and then investigators asked the kids some questions. first his 6-year-old daughter. >> was he there when he woke up? the last time you saw your dad was when honey? >> yesterday. he was playing video games on the computer. he went to the bathroom and then went down stairs and then that night he was down stairs and he disappeared in the morning. >> the 12-year-old son told the same story. >> when was the last time you saw him? >> 11:30 last night when i was going to bed. >> and what happened this morning? >> he wasn't there, so i was just guessing he went to work. >> no one could find craig. laura texted p. j. >> she said craig's not here.
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i said that's weird. >> were you concerned for him? >> yeah, i was concerned. nobody wants to hear somebody went missing from their family and i assumed he had to step aside or go on a quick trip. >> late that night investigators finally had their search warrant. >> you go inside. >> we go inside. >> what do you find? >> initial walk through house is very neat, very well put together, there doesn't appear to be any forced entry. >> the investigators unlock the master bedroom. it was undisturbed, no craig. they looked around, found nothing, and then head today the basement. what do you find? >> there's boxes on the shelves, all neatly stacked and everything is in its home and on the other side it was disheveled. >> it was messy but nothing out of the ordinary for a basement until they noticed something alarming. >> we more coastly examined the area and found what appeared to be blood spatter on the walls
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and shelving unit. >> crime scene techs found even more blood. blood someone tried to wipe away. and then a discovery inside a garba garbage bag. >> it's two handles with some pericord knotted. >> a weapon used for strangulation. the evidence was telling them a story. one that wouldn't end well for craig. >> we were pretty sure we had our murder scene. >> this is big moment in this case. >> it is. >> coming up, a bombshell about craig's soon to be ex-wife. >> craig didn't want to believe there was a romantic relationship between them. i think over time it became painfully obvious there was. >> and then just off a country road a passerby sees something that will transform the case. >> in the woods there's a body
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under a tarp. >> when dateline continues. body under a tarp >> when dateline continues what was that? judy? d-con. mice love it to death. nyquil severe gives you powerful relief for your worst cold and flu symptoms, on sunday night and every night. nyquil severe. the nightime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, best sleep with a cold, medicine.
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more items with blood on them. >> craig's sister was waiting outside, watching the police action unfold in front of her brother's townhouse. >> and then one of the investigators brought somebody over to me saying this is our violent crime advocate. >> did you heart sink when -- >> it did. and they told me they believed that he had been murdered. >> murdered in his own home? investigators surmised it happened overnight while his young children slept. who would do such a thing? craig's sister told the investigator about that break in a few days earlier. >> i wake up at midnight with a sharp pain in my arm. >> he says he was up stairs sleeping in his bed when in the middle of the night he was awoken by somebody pulling a hair from his hair. the male ran out of the bedroom and ultimately out of the house. >> craig told his sister he thought it was a prank, didn't know what to make of it, nor did robin.
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but she had some other information for the investigator. >> how long had they been separated for? >> about two years. >> and it hadn't been a good separation? >> it hadn't been. >> the reason, laura had a new man in her life, and it was, well, awkward would be an understatement. her boyfriend was craig's old buddy, pj. >> he goes from being craig's best friend to now being craig's estranged wife's boyfriend. >> yes. >> so that doesn't always work out so well for relationships. >> certainly not between the two of them. >> all of the kids really grew up together. they would go out together. they had parties together. >> but around the same time that laura and craig's marriage was falling apart, pj's wife died from liver disease.
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pj says he leaned on laura for support and laura began confiding in pj. in a romantic relationship now? >> at first craig didn't want to believe there was a romantic relationship going on between them. and i think over time it became painfully obvious that there was. >> i didn't know i was going to fall in love with laura. but that happened over time. >> does craig know about this. >> yeah, craig sent me an e-mail. >> what did it say in. >> it said -- he says i don't know if you found yourself in a damsel in distress stwagz or just helping, either way i'm happy. >> that's big of him. >> i thought it was an interesting thing. i don't know what he was trying to elicit. >> before the investigator could run-down that juicy lead he got some news. two counties over a shovel had
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been left by the side of the road and 50 feet into the woods a man's body was discovered. >> we discovered in the woods there's a body under a tarp. >> okay, is it near your home? >> it's down the road. >> could it be craig? the victim's identity wasn't obvious right away. his killer or killers had used some kind of acid to intentionally disfigure his face. that sounds like someone had a major grudge with this person. >> it certainly seemed like they weren't interested in him being found. >> but even though the victim was unrecognizable, deputies were able to i.d. him pretty quickly. the answer was found in his pocket. when the body was found, the victim's phone was ringing. the person popping up on the caller i.d., it was robin drew, craig's sister. >> as i was trying reach him, the cellphone was ringing in his pocket. >> you're calling and the
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phone's ringing and your brother is -- >> and my brother is dead. >> yeah. sounds like some really dumb criminals to leave the cellphone in the pocket when they have gone to these great lengths of pouring possibly acid on this man. >> does seem they overlooked a pretty obvious thing. >> they had a crime scene, a body and a marriage with a soap opera ending. and the next bit of evidence would lead this story to an even darker place, a place called devil's bathtub. a million things must be going through your mind. >> and it gets stranger quickly. >> coming up -- a chance sighting and a call to police. >> we saw a couple of males in the parking lot and saw what they believed to be garbage bags getting thrown out. >> when dateline continues. getting thrown out >> when dateline continues the chapstick total hydration collection. exfoliate nourish naturally enhance your lips. chapstick. put your lips first.
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the amount of student loan debt i have, i'm embarrassed to even say. we just decided we didn't want debt any longer. ♪ i didn't realize how easy investing could be. i'm picking companies that i believe in. ♪ i think sofi money is amazing. ♪ thank you sofi. sofi thank you, we love you. ♪ hello. i'm dara brown. here's what's happening. former u.n. ambassador nikki haley says former secretary of state rex tillerson and former
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chief of staff john kelly attempted to recruit her. they sought resisting the president as quote saving the country. supreme court justices will hear arguments of the daca policy on tuesday. daca recipients have been in limbo since the trump administration announced it was canceling the policy in 2017. now back to dateline. welcome back to dateline. i'm craig melvin. detectives were looking into whether craig had been murdered. and then a tip called into 911 led them to craig's disfigured body, his cellphone still in his pocket. with it police quickly started connecting dots. and they were about to get another tip, one that would lead to two unlikely suspects. here again is andrea canning with devil's bathtub.
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>> the case of the missing dad was now a murder investigation. investigator dave fulton had been up for 36 hours working two critical crime scenes. the basement where craig was likely killed and the woods where his body was found. and now the investigator was about to be called to another location. that place called devil's bathtub. it's a secluded pond set deep in a 2,500 acre park. what is going on here? why are you called to the scene? >> there were some walkers in the park who saw something they thought suspicious. they saw a couple of males in the park and a car parked up in the parking lot and they saw what they believed to be garbage bags getting thrown out. >> and why was a homicide detective getting a call of suspicious littering? when deputies on the scene detained the two young men they recognized their last name. the same name as the murder victim in the case being worked
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by investigator bolten. >> they identified the victim's two sons. >> collin was in the park with his 19-year-old brother alex who had just graduated from high school. he and another investigator began to ask some questions. younger brother alex was first. >> what's going on? were you and your brother out for a walk? >> basically. we were just out and suddenly people show up and it was like -- i've never encountered police before so it was like -- >> you've never been in trouble before, right? >> no. i don't really do drugs or drink or party. >> how old are you? >> i'm 19. i'm doing college next year. >> investigator bolton's radar was up. now here were his sons acting suspiciously in a secluded park. investigators decided to ask
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what they thought happened to their dad but without telling the boys craig had already been found brutally murdered. >> he's always threaten oh, i'd just disappear. >> collin said he didn't know where his dad was either. >> well, i e-mailed him last night. i didn't hear from him. >> i heard from him monday and he picked up my brother and sister i think tuesday. >> the investigator wanted to keep collin talking and he did. so what is collin opening up to you about? >> collin starts to talk about the family dynamic and how he believes his father might be having some sort of mental issues or some sort of break down. >> like, i've been kind of worried about him -- like stuff's been freaking me out. >> then the investigator asked him directly what was in the garbage bags they were trying to get rid of? >> i'm worried about what's in that bag. if you tell me what's in that bag before i see what's in that bag, it'll be better for you.
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>> i don't know what's in the bag. >> investigators didn't think collin was being honest. >> we seek the truth. i'm hoping we can get to the truth. >> all that talk about truth worked. the boys admitted something big. they'd been at their dad's house the day before. and listen to this. >> is there anything you need to tell me about? >> well, there was -- there was a lot of blood in the basement and i was worried that, you know, something had happened. >> there was a lot of blood in the basement. >> they'd just place themselves at the scene of the crime. and when the investigator opened up those garbage bags? >> bloody clothing, a bloody sneaker. there's some work gloves that had some blood on them, what would appear to be evidence of a murder. >> collin the would-be navy seal
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who always put family first and they were taken down to the sheriff's office. they weren't charged with murder but with tampering with evidence, something to hold the boys while the investigation continued. how do you process that? >> to be honest, shell-shocked would be the best word for it. >> collin called chelsea from jail. >> hey, hi. >> collin, oh, my god. >> i was arrested. my lawyer says i'm not supposed to talk about anything. >> what was his state of mind like? >> he's confused. he loves his family. it was like hitting a brick wall and life just stopped. >> was there any part of you that said maybe i don't know collin as well as i think? >> he's just a guy that had everything ahead of him. he wouldn't have thrown it away for nothing. >> so did you wonder then how he ended up with the garbage bags with that evidence?
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>> i think it would give anyone just a pause to think about it and just question, but we also know him, and we know the man he is. >> investigator bolton didn't know the kids, but he knew there had to be more to the story than two nice boys deciding to kill their dad. his investigation turned to their mom, laura, the woman who'd been married to craig more than 20 years and who had raised those sons. robin had been telling investigators about the divorce and it wasn't pretty. >> there was a contentious separation and custody battle going on where they're not really supposed to see each other even at drop off. >> at the same time laura and her significant other were preparing for a big change. >> their intention was to move as a family down to north carolina, and it was supposed to happen within a couple of days. >> but craig had primary custody of the two youngest and wouldn't let laura take them
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out-of-state. so then how's laura rideout moving to north carolina? >> that's a good question. >> robin was suspicious of laura from the moment she arrived at her brother's townhouse. remember the day craig went missing laura was there and she was inside tidying up. >> when i get in and i open the sliding glass door, it's laura standing in this kitchen cleaning. >> that would be odd. >> it was odd. in my head i'm thinking what are you doing here? >> cleaning up a crime scene, that's what investigator bolton suspect said. in fact, the boys admitted it was their mother who gave them the bags of bloody clothes. >> it's just something my mom told me to take. >> when did your mom tell you to do that? >> it was this morning. >> did she give you the bag? >> yeah. >> just hours after arresting the two sons, investigator bolton headed to the home laura shared with pj. >> i was stunned.
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i was absolutely stunned. >> security video from days before craig's murder leads to a sickening revelation. coming up -- >> a diabolical plan is forming here. >> it appears that way. >> when dateline continues. t apy >> when dateline continues did you really need the caps lock? mucinex cold and flu all-in-one.
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wasn't dressed for a trip to the county jail, but that's where she was going. >> they told her to get shoes and she wears heels and they said get a different kind of shoe. and she throws on a pair of nike shoes and she came down and i watched them arrest her. and the kids are there sitting watching their mother get arrested. >> did she say anything? >> she said what for. the arresting officer said you had to have been expecting this. and she was like, no, what? if i were expecting this, i would have had make-up on. >> boyfriend pj said he thought there had to be some sort of misunderstanding, a terrible mistake. had laura ever said i wish craig was out of our lives? >> no, she wanted craig to have a relationship with the kids. she didn't have animosity towards craig. >> but when deputies searched
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the home laura lived there were clues everywhere. inside the master bedroom, a key fob to unlock craig's car. in another bedroom, blue tape identical to the tape used to make that garrote found in craig's basement. bits of of incriminating evidence in the home. >> when craig was killed, where were you? >> i was at home with laura. >> investigators believed he was at home with laura but not innocently at home. and six weeks after craig's murder pj was under arrest too. >> i've never been in the guy's house. >> were you part of the overall plan to cover it up? >> there's no plan. >> four people were under arrest and all four let out on bail. they were only charged with evidence tampering while investigators tried to figure out exactly who did what.
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no one was talking anymore. all four lawyered up and presented a united front. investigators still didn't know if this was a crime of passion or a conspiracy? and if it had win planned, who was the ringleader? investigator bolton says the answer to some of those questions came after analyzing some of those items found on or around craig's body dumped in the woods. >> we found the bungee cords and also have the tarp. and from backtracking the receipts we're able to find some video at a number of stores particularly the wal-mart. >> when investigators pulled security video from wal-mart, they saw what appeared to them to be a murder plot in the making. july 18th, two days before the murder, laura, collin and one of the younger kids go shopping to buy drain cleaner. drain cleaner which investigators believe was used to disfigure craig's face. the next day, just a few hours before the murder, laura and pj are at a different wal-mart
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buying a large tarp, bungee cord and more drain cleaner. >> the tarp and the bungee matched up to the ones found on craig's body. >> and the day of the murder here's collin buying a shovel, a shovel identical to the one left by the side of the road near where craig's body was found. a diabolical plan is forming here. >> it appears that way. >> over a number of days. >> yes. >> there was laura on top looking completely relaxed, a wife, a mother and now investigators believed a killer. craig's sister saw a woman who had somehow turned two sons against their own father. >> honest to god i don't know how that happened. what was said that could have turned the kids against him? >> this is the ultimate story of betrayal. >> yes. >> what do you believe happened that night? >> my belief is that the two younger children are brought over to craig's house that
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evening. laur laura or paul go up to craig's room to maybe talk about this move to north carolina. i think laura is the one that gets him to come down to the basement. >> it was in the basement where investigators believe members of craig's own family and maybe even his one time best friend were there to do the unthinkable. >> i think the intent was to murder him with no blood at all. i think the victim started to fight, and i think one of the suspects hit him over the head during thatal in ord struggle. >> when the charges came down all four were charged with murder. >> that was a surprise. you have to have a million questions. >> oh, yeah, a million and one. >> and as the investigation unfolded, authorities had more questions too. including a big one about pj. it had to do with his first wife
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jennifer who died from liver disease. the then sheriff thought it was a suspicious coincidence that her death coincided with her new relationship with laura. >> we spoke with the district attorney's office because we said this needs to be investigated. >> you learned it would be possible to poison someone and it would look like sorosis of the liver. >> from talking with people it looked like that. >> both the sheriff and the district attorney wanted to exhume her body, but the medical examiner was satisfied with the original autopsy. >> the medical examiner wrote on the death certificate what happened. stop bringing her into this. she had nothing to do with it. >> the questions about jennifer's death went nowhere. the prosecutor didn't pursue it. then as the summer of 2017 approached the case was set to go to trial and that pretty town
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braced to hear the story. >> we lived in a bubble. this doesn't happen in our bubble. we weren't ready for this. >> and no one was ready for what would happen in court. the family's united front was about to implode. >> coming up -- four defense teams about to throw each other's clients under the bus. >> everyone just started pointing fingers at each other. >> and then the jury speaks. >> i hear those words and i jus blocked out -- >> i just took the verdict to make sure i heard it right. o make sure i heard it right our pn relieving strength of aleve. so...magic mornings happen. there's a better choice. aleve pm. pets. ♪ [ gasps ] they see everything we do. whoo!
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welcome back. just a few years earlier the family seemed happy but now laura, her son alex and collin and her boyfriend were heading to trial accused of murdering laura's estranged husband, craig. to this point the four of them did stick together. but that united front was about to be tested. whatever their verdicts one thing was certain, the family would never be the same. with the conclusion here's andrea canning. >> they all had big plans. collin was looking forward to getting married. his youngest brother was looking forward to going to college.
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but instead in the summer of 2017 they were all going to court to stand trial for second degree murder. and in a highly unusual ruling the judge decided all four would be tried together. four trials in one. >> it's just bizarre. that this family would be on trial together. >> i don't think i've ever seen anything like that. >> each had his or her own attorney who sat down with us. collin's attorney. >> there obviously was no motive. >> alex it was attorney. pj tucci's attorney and two attorneys for laura. >> it was a circumstantial case. >> they were all prepared to argue that the prosecution had no idea what really happened in that basement. does anyone know who the real killer is? >> the real killer knows. it could have been one of many people. >> this is a classic who done it. >> the district attorney and then the da admitted they didn't
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know who delivered the final blow, but that didn't stop them from saying all four defendants were responsible for craig's death. so you can charge them all with second degree murder even if one of them didn't actually, you know, provide the final blow to craig. >> exactly. >> an example would be a bank robbery. the driver is just as criminally responsible as the person that goes into the bank. >> the prosecution showed the jury those wal-mart security videos and told them about the purchase of items like the tarp, acidic drain cleaner and a shovel. and the jury learned about the garbage bags full of bloody clothing. the prosecution had collin and laura's jeans had the most amount of blood, putting them squarely in the basement at the time of murder. but dna from all four defendants were found on items at devil's bathtub. so you had dna from all four
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defendants. >> yes. >> and the motive behind it all, the prosecution said it was simple and obvious. >> we believe the motive was to allow the mother to take the younger children out of the state and start off a new life with her boyfriend. >> it's so hard to understand, though, why the sons would want to do this for their mother? >> perhaps there's some underlying agreement between the son and mother we weren't aware of. >> now it was time for all those defense attorney tuesday have their say. the defense of the wal-mart videos didn't reveal a murder conspiracy, the tarp, the bungee cord, the drain cleaner all were purchased in preparation for that big move to north carolina. and that's what pj told us. >> we've got the trucks coming and we've got the foozball table to deal with and need something
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big to cover the floor because i'm going to do the ceiling painting. >> what did you need the drain cleaner for? >> we have girls with long hair and they clog up shower drains and sinks all over the place. laura said this stuff works really well and i said great. >> and then fam alon trial together went on the attack against one another. collin's attorney started pointing fingers. >> who's getting divorced? collin's not getting divorced. >> that united front that held the family together came crashing down. >> who's moving to north carolina? >> collin's not. collin's not moving there. laura, paul, they're moving to north carolina. >> laura's attorney fought back. >> you can't get around the
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incriminating evidence against -- >> so you're pointing the finger at collin on behalf of laura. >> that certainly affects the family dynamics during the trial. >> so we have mother and son and then paul -- >> i never said it was collin or laura, never said it was alex. i said evidence there's evidence connecting them to the scene, not my guy. >> i think you need a football diagram. all the relationships. >> and we had to. >> after a month of testimony the case went to the jury. collin's fiancee remained his biggest supporter to the very end. >> do you think that the way you've described him as being this protector of the family, do you think that's ultimately what might have got him in trouble? >> she's a smart guy, so, no, i don't think he would ever put himself in a situation. he had a life ahead of him. he had no need. >> after five days of deliberations, the jury reached a verdict. >> we said a prayer.
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>> heart's racing, game face on. >> tensions were high for everyone as the crowd filed back into the courtroom. the verdict said were read one by one. >> alexander. >> beginning with the sons. first younger son, alex. >> you've been found not guilty of murder in the second degree. >> alex was acquitted of the murder charge but found guilty of tampering with evidence. then the oldest son, collin. >> the jury has found you guilty of murder in the second degree. >> i hear those words and i was just setback, i blocked out. >> chelsea was inconsolable as she left the courtroom surrounded by family. it was the grownups turn to hear their verdicts, the victim's former best friend. >> you've been found not guilty of murder in the second degree and tampering with physical evidence. >> pj tucci was acquitted on all
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counts. >> i actually had to check the verdict sheet to make sure i heard it right. >> but what about the mother at the strcenter of it all? >> the jury has convicted you of murder in the second degree. >> laura, guilty of murder. not surprised at all. >> what's that emotion like? >> relief and justification. >> laura and her son collin were both sentenced to 25 years to life behind bars. younger son alex sen tootenced maximum of eight years. pj tucci walked out of court a free man. prosecutors had no physical evidence to prove he was ervin craig's house. did paul tucci get away with murder? >> i believe he did. there will be people who will say he definitely had something to do with this. >> half the people out there are going to think one thing and you can't change peoples beliefs
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that way. and half the people are going to think the other way. i'm not here to change your mind. it's a sad story. a murder did occur, but i don't think that the whole story's out there. and i don't think the jury necessarily got it right. >> pj tucci was free, but now alone a widower who once planned to make a new life with laura. and now she was behind bars for what could be the rest of her life. does she want you to find love again? >> she always wants you to find love, sure. the question is she set a really high standard. >> but she's been convicted of murder. >> but i know in my heart she didn't do it. >> craig's sister, robin, is left trying to make sense of it all. the darkness that destroyed that big family, a family that once had so much ambition and promise. >> it's just -- it's heart breaking. nobody wins. nobody wins in this.
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>> i mean this is family divided like no other. >> yeah. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. it is a new week in the impeachment probe and starting on wednesday we're going to start to see some public testimony. that as we learn new details about what witnesses previously said behind closed house intelligence committee chair adam schiff is calling it redundant and unnecessary. former u.n. ambassador nikki haley says in a new book two of president trump's former top advisers tried to undermine the president to quote save the
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