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tv   Dateline Extra  MSNBC  November 28, 2019 6:00pm-7:00pm PST

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and i carry that with me. >> that's all for this edition of dateline extra. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. i just knew that she was gone. >> she was a bright young mom to be. >> she was beautiful. >> confident, strong. >> it was a smile that really got me. >> moving on from a messy divorce jumping into a new romance. no one could believe it when they found her. >> they're saying it was a homicide. >> then police found something else, revealing recordings.
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>> everything's changed like instantly. it's weird. >> brittany's essentially speaking from the grave. >> you could see the emotions that she went through. >> could she point police to her killer. >> i'm in shock and scared to death. i look once and just in a flash your life just changed. >> "deadly circumstances." hello and welcome to dateline extra. i'm craig melvin. brittany eldridge had fallen head over heels for someone in her office. but there was a problem, she was married to another man. things became even more complicated for brittany when she got pregnant. then just a couple of weeks from her due date the expectant mother was a no-show for work. at first concerned coworkers thought she had gone into labor. but nothing could prepare them if the terrifying truth soon to be revealed. here's andrea canning.
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>> imagine all of your phone conversations being recorded for posterity. how would you feel? what secrets would they tell? >> why are you talking like you're trying to hide something? >> this story begins here at a suburban office outside knoxville, tennessee. looks like any office in america. but when workers here talked on their desk phones, every word was captured. >> she always looks like she's about to kill somebody. >> and oh, the stories they told, unfiltered and intimate with details about office romances. >> oh, my god, he was so hot. >> and in one heart breaking case maybe even clues about a murder. >> this was a real who-done-it. >> norman clark loves sports. his mother estella says he was a top athlete and a good son, too. >> he was a loving hard worker,
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caring person. >> as a boy norman had dreams of playing in the nba. then studied sports management in college. but by his mid-20s he was working here, vanderbilt mortgage and finance. 23-year-old brittany eldridge started there the same day. >> she was beautiful, but it was the smile that really got me. >> that winning smile got to a lot of people. brittany's big brother, jeffrey, says she embraced life with a contagious enthusiasm. >> she liked to cheerlead, and she liked to play soccer. she was a girly girl and a tomboy at the same time. she was really big about living in the moment. >> at vanderbilt mortgage norman and brittany were calling people to make sure they kept with house payments. what was it about brittany you formed this instant connection with? >> she was very good at the job. so she helped me out a lot, and that's when we started talking more and more about different
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things other than work. >> and what do you think she liked about you? >> i think she liked that i listened, that i actually cared about what she had to say. so it was just strictly platonic, you know, strictly friends. but then it just developed more, you know, probably eight months later. >> it developed a lot more. they became lovers, and that's when things got complicated. norman was single, but brittany it turns out was married. her husband was a man named terry eldridge, a truck driver who drove his rig at night. what did she tell you about her marriage? >> she was happy, but she wanted children and he did not. >> were there any other issues or was that the only one? >> they didn't spend a lot of time together because of their work schedule. she worked during the day, he worked at night so they didn't see each other a lot. >> a married woman having an affair with a coworker, not exactly the script for a fairy tale romance. so for obvious reasons norman
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and brittany kept their relationship on the down low. >> we never went out ibpublic. maybe out to eat one time. >> but if colleagues could have have heard their recorded inter-office phone calls they would have heard their suggestive banter. >> i could use your strong manly muscle. >> we all could. >> more than a year after their affair started norman and brittany were still keeping things quiet. then in february 2011 their secret affair became not so secret. brittany's husband found out and not long after she moved out and a divorce was in the works. did things start to get a little too serious and real? >> actually i don't know because she didn't come to me and tell me they were getting a divorce. >> not long after moving out brittany delivered some unexpected news to her mother
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robin. she was pregnant and the father was her coworker norman clark. what did you think? >> kind of shocked at first and surprised. didn't know how to feel. >> did you think it was a mistake or were you just it's a blessing to have a baby? >> it was a blessing to her. and so i guess when the shock wears off you're just happy for her and you're just there to do whatever you can to support her. >> norman says the baby certainly wasn't planned, but he says brittany was still his best friend, and he took the whole thing in stride. >> i was happy for her because i knew she wanted to have a baby, but at the time she was still married. >> so this is starting to get a little messy. you've got a baby, she's now divorcing her husband who found out about you. >> well, i wouldn't necessarily say it was messy. it was complicated. >> this wouldn't be norman's first experience with parenthood. a year earlier he had a baby girl with a nashville woman he'd been seeing.
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norman helped to support his daughter and says he was ready to do the same for brittany. what's it like for you being a father? is that something you cherish? >> it's the best thing in the world. i became a better man, better person and i worked hard to become a better parent for her. >> had you always wanted more kids? >> yes. >> brittany was excited about becoming a mother and thrilled to learn she was having a boy. she even picked out a name for the baby. >> she did. >> what was the name? >> zeke. ezekiel. >> she was just working and being happy about the baby and getting ready for it to come and getting things for it. >> brittany decided to keep working as long as she could. december 13, 2011 was just two weeks away from her due date. it's the day her friend and coworker andrea wray will never forget. brittany uncharacteristically was late for work. >> she should have been there at 8:30. i was one of the only people that knew anything about norman. i went over there to norman's
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desk. and i said can you get in touch with brittany's mom. >> so i called her and asked had she heard from brittany and she said she hadn't so she'd go check on her. >> was your first thought that oh, my gosh brittany has gone into labor? >> it was. i think everybody's first insingt was she went into labor and she's in the hospital having the baby. >> robin went to brittany's apartment to be sure her daughter was okay. but when she called norman it wasn't happy news about a new baby. >> it was a very frightening phone call. she was very upset. she was crying. and i'll never forget how she sounded on the phone. >> robin was frantic, and her world was about to be turned upside down. >> robin faces her worst fear, an awful discovery inside brittany's apartment. coming up -- >> oh, my gosh. >> what? ma'am, what?
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>> i ran out of the apartment because i'm scared. the 911 operator said go back in there. >> ma'am, okay. hold on, honey. hold on. >> i looked once and just in a flash your life just changed. >> when "deadly circumstances" continues. changed >> when "deadly circumstances" continues. ♪
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she was in the homestretch of her pregnancy, only two weeks to go when something strange happened. no one had seen or heard from her so brittany's mom robin headed straight for her apartment. but despite her gut feeling she was totally unprepared for what she would find. continuing with our story here's andrea canning. >> robin owens will never forget the day she learned her pregnant daughter brittany did not show up for work. >> that's unusual for her because she always showed up
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even if she didn't feel good. she would be in there. so i just knew something was wrong. >> her fear became a terrifying reality the moment she stepped into her daughter's unlocked apartment. >> the whole place is just a mess and i don't see her anywhere and i'm scared to death. >> without taking another step she called 911. >> what is it? >> my daughter. her work just called me and i came over to her apartment and it looks like it's been trashed. i ran out of the apartment because i'm scared. and the 911 operator she said, you know, go back in there and see if you can find her. >> inside the front door seen here in this police video robin saw brittany's new flat screen tv lying on the floor. >> oh, my gosh. >> what? ma'am what? >> next to the living room couch the scattered contents of her purse.
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then robin heard the sound of running water coming from the bathroom. >> oh, god. >> ma'am, talk to me. >> so i had been everywhere except for the bedroom and it was back in the back and i didn't want to go in there. and i get to the doorway of the bedroom, and i just got a glimpse of her, and i just knew that she was gone. she's on the floor dead. >> are you sure? don't -- >> she's naked. oh, my god. >> where? what room? >> in her bedroom. >> hold on, honey. hold on. >> i ran straight out of the apartment and by this time the ambulance and police and fire department and all the emergency crews are coming. >> robin was in shock. the pain was more than she could bear. at the scene a police cruiser's dash cam captured an officer trying to console her.
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>> it's the worst horror a mother could ever have to witness. >> it is. and you wouldn't think anything like that would happen in a million years, and all at once just in a flash your life just changed. >> brittany eldridge had been strangled and stabbed in the throat. police found her on the floor next to the bed, her naked body partially covered by lingerie. she was just 24 years old. the unborn boy she had just named zeke was gone too. after the shock wore off you must be thinking who did this. >> i'm thinking how in the world murder a young lady that's 8 1/2 months pregnant? how could somebody be so cruel. that's the question never answered is why. >> were you the one who broke the news to jeffrey? >> yes. >> that must have been extremely difficult. >> it was very hard.
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>> jeffrey, brittany's older brother was at the gym. >> when i got back to my locker and got my phone i had like 40 missed calls or something. she said somebody killed your sister. >> did you immediately ask who did this? >> i never thought about it. >> all jeffrey could think about was that brittany was gone, the kid sister who had always filled him with pride. she often talked about becoming a mom. now that dream would never be realized. and in its place would be a murder investigation. >> it was a very closed off scene. they had of course crime scene tape around. >> when reporter jamie satyrfield of the knoxville news sentinel heard about a body being found she went to the scene. >> are police talking to you? are they telling you anything about what's inside? >> no. no. the major crime scene folks came later. >> what investigators found was a ransacked apartment suggesting a burglary that was interrupted
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and had turned violent. in fact, there had been a series of burglaries in the area in recent days. for jamie satyrfield there were things to speculate about in those early moments but nothing concrete to report. >> other than just hunches and all that we didn't have anything to go on. >> did you have an open mind as to the scenarios of what might have happened, who could have done this? >> i didn't focus in on any one person. i just wanted to know who did it and why. >> i never had a specific person in mind that could have done it. i didn't have a clue. >> there weren't many clues, but there were so many questions. and in this case there would be no easy answers. >> coming up -- >> that was my baby. my family's out there. i can't even grieve. >> the father to be from grief to disbelief. >> i understood that they wanted
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to ask me questions. i just didn't understand why i was sitting in the back of a police car and being treated like that. >> so you're telling me this is normal? >> you're the boyfriend. >> when "deadly circumstances" continues. boyfriend. >> when "deadly circumstances" continues. my cause... and creating my dream home. i'm a work in progress. so much goes into who i am. hiv medicine is one part of it. prescription dovato is for adults who are starting hiv-1 treatment and who aren't resistant to either of the medicines dolutegravir or lamivudine. dovato has 2 medicines in 1 pill to help you reach and then stay undetectable. so your hiv can be controlled with fewer medicines while taking dovato. you can take dovato anytime of day with food or without. don't take dovato if you're allergic to any of its ingredients or if you take dofetilide. if you have hepatitis b, it can change during treatment with dovato and become harder to treat. your hepatitis b may get worse or become life-threatening if you stop taking dovato. so do not stop dovato without talking to your doctor.
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welcome back. it was a disturbing crime scene. brittany eldridge more than eight months pregnant murdered in her own bedroom, her unborn baby boy also dead. detectives would immediately want to talk to the men in brittany's life. with more of our story here's andrea canning. >> when norman clark heard about brittany eldridge's murder he left work and rushed to the scene. >> what's going through your mind as you're racing to brittany's apartment? >> that it's not real, this wasn't going on, this wasn't really happening. when i got there there was police officers there, so i pulled up to her apartment, parked right in front and jumped out of the car and i was heading into the apartment. >> here's norman at that exact moment captured on a police dash
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cam. what did you say to that police officer? >> i told him that was my baby in there. i was thinking that the baby could still be born. that was what was going through my mind the whole time. >> norman says officers blocked him from entering the apartment and in a matter of minutes they had him in the back of this police cruiser. >> i'm in trouble? >> you're not in trouble, no, sir. >> just update me because i'm really confused right now. >> the police were asking questions and so was norman. >> so you're telling me this is normal? >> yes, sir. this is protocol, sir. >> but why for me? >> you're the boyfriend. >> i sat there for a while, i think probably for an hour i was in the back of the car. >> did you wonder why you were sitting in the back of the car for so long? >> i was. i understood they wanted to ask me questions but i didn't
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understand why i was sitting in the back of a police car and treated like that. i felt i was treated unfairly. i feel they automatically did jump to a rush of judgment for who i was for showing up there. >> we have to talk to the people that know her because we have to figure out what's going on here. >> that was my baby. >> i understand. >> i can't even grieve and do anything because -- >> i'm devastated this happened to my friend and my child. >> do you start to think maybe i should get a lawyer the tone they're taking with me? >> no, ma'am. >> why not? >> there was no reason. i was innocent and i was answering every question they wanted to know. >> detectives had more questions for norman downtown at headquarters. >> you have the right to consult with a lawyer and have a lawyer present with you while you're being questioned. >> he didn't ask for a lawyer there either. >> i just want to make sure you want to talk with me.
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>> norman said he had nothing to hide and tried to be helpful. he told detectives he did have plans to see brittany the night she was killed but ended up going straight home after work and then spent the night with a friend. he gave police his phone so they could search his car, and when they wanted dna from him. >> i'd like to get a saliva sample from you. >> he let them take a sample immediately. >> that night detectives drove norman to his house to collect the clothes he'd worn the night before. then it was back to headquarters for another round of questioning. it had been a very long day. norman felt he cooperated every step of the way. but by now he reached the end of his rope. >> i've given everything you want. i've given you everything. >> and we appreciate that. we appreciate cooperation. >> detectives spent hourwise norman that day. but after that second interview he was released. norman was relieved, but there would be tough days ahead.
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just one day later he attended a candlelight memorial vigil for brittany. how were you received at those vigils? >> with open arms from the whole family. they knew i'd just lost two people that i loved also. >> brittany's family buried her a few days later still not knowing who was responsible or even who would want to harm her. of course, there was one someone police knew they needed to look at. the man brittany had recently divorced, terry eldridge. brittany was 17 years younger than terry. she was only 22 when they got married. it wasn't long before their marriage was in trouble. >> really it started to fall apart because she was getting antsy and just really wanted to have a family and kind of settle down, you know, and he was out driving a truck all the time. she kind of felt like this is not right for me anymore, you know, like it used to be. >> the final straw was when terry found out brittany was
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having an affair with her coworker norman clark and was pregnant with his baby. given that basket of facts the police investigating brittany's murder knew it was time for a talk with her ex-husband. >> investigators uncover secrets from brittany's life revealing recordings that raised new suspicions. coming up -- >> he was e-mailing me like normal, and then as soon as i told him everything changed. like instantly. >> and norman had secrets of his own. >> how many women were you seeing at the time? >> maybe 15 to 20. >> when "deadly circumstances" continues. 20. >> when "deadly circumstances" continues. [sneeze and sniffles]
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and two presidential candidates spent their thanksgiving on the campaign trail in iowa. senator harris cheered on runners at the annual turkey trot before visiting there with some senior citizens. while senator klobuchar helped out at the community center. for now back to dateline. welcome back to dateline extra. i'm craig melvin. detectives investigating the murder of brittany eldridge immediately had questions for her lover, norman clark. he gave them his dna and his full cooperation. it was time for investigators to pay a visit to the other man in brittany's life, her jilted ex-husband terry eldridge. once again here's andrea canning. >> after more than two decades covering murder investigations reporter jamie satyrfield knew this one was a no-brainer.
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it was someone detectives needed to investigate. did you wonder immediately about brittany's ex-husband? >> you know, the ex-husband is always your first suspect. their divorce had not been very pleasant. it was a little bit ugly. >> so detectives questioned brittany's ex-husband terry eldridge. >> terry was looked up by the police and did take a dna sample. >> you have to think about all the different possibilities, you know, could this person have done this, what would have been their reason to do it. >> but when the results of terry's dna test came back from the lab, it didn't match samples from the crime scene. police also found out he was nowhere near brittany's apartment at the time of the murder. his alibi was airtight. >> he really ended up being not much of a player in the case once they ruled him out. >> eldridge was cleared of any wrongdoing. norman clark had been questioned and released to. if police had any leads they
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were holding them close. >> i was curious why they were being so particularly tight-lipped about it. i think my primary concern was that this was just a case that was going to get shelved. >> that's exactly what brittany's family feared most, too. that she and the baby she was carrying would be forgotten. >> we are her voice. we have to keep her memory alive. >> a full year passed, then two with no arrests. but investigators were still working the case in part because they had from someone with new information, someone unexpected. the victim herself. >> this is brittany. can i help you? >> remember brittany's employer recorded every call she made on company phones. it was done for quality control but now investigators could listen to her conversations, and those calls explained a lot
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about her relationship with norman clark. >> well, very odd with norman. >> brittany's conversations with friends made it clear the oddness with norman began the day she told him she was pregnant. >> he was e-mailing me like normal, and then as soon as i told him everything changed -- it like instantly. yeah, i mean it's weird. >> andrea wray, a close work friend said brittany often gave her an earful about norman. >> i think she had hopes that he would respond, you know, to her pregnancy in a positive way and that would somehow bring them together. but that was not the response that she got. >> i don't know if on a daily
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basis he's like thinking about all this and how could you not for one thing? >> brittany was still in love with norman and pregnant with his child. she seemed desperate to figure out her future as a mother and how norman would fit into his life. norman was not acting like he was ready for commitment. investigators had access to all of norman's recorded work calls, too. they were very revealing. >> i want to ask you. you ever -- >> oh, yeah. i banged that out last week. that was only my second time seeing her. >> congratulations, dude. >> thank you. thank you. >> you're wild man. you're wild, dude. >> norman it turns out was in other relationships at the same time he was with brittany. when we sat down with him norman said he loved sex and women,
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lots of women. how many women were you seeing at the time? >> maybe 15 to 20. >> norman, that's a lot of women. >> i was single and i'm a very friendly person. they knew i was not looking for a relationship, so friends with benefits. >> how do you even meet that many ladies. through work, online dating sites. >> were you sleeping around with multiple coworkers. >> yes. >> did that ever get messy? >> no. >> it seems a little odd that all these women were okay with you sleeping with all these other women. i wouldn't be okay with that, but maybe i'm old-fashioned. >> well, i mean with different women i met, they accepted what it was because i was honest up front, this is what i'm looking for. >> 15 to 20 different women at the same time. hard to believe brittany would be okay with that. and norman didn't quite fit the image of a playboy. to save money he was living in his parent's basement yet was
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still barely staying ahead of debt collectors who would call him at work. >> you're still due for september, october and november. >> for the payments? >> yes. >> investigators might have simply written off norman as a low budget don juan except for this. three days before brittany was murdered after months of ignoring her, norman suddenly showed an interest in her and their baby. >> i'm trying to figure out this text norman sent me last night. he said i will be back someday, stay pregnant until then. >> and she said what do you think that means? and i said i have no idea. >> and she said i guess he wants to be part of this baby's life. >> why the sudden interest? what was norman thinking? investigators believed an entry from brittany's diary provided a
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hint. she wrote she planned to take norman to court to get child support for her baby. >> she knew that he had a child with someone else and that he did participate there, so why wouldn't he here? >> andrea says the night before the murder, she was on the phone with brittany who was texting with norman at the same time. >> she says he wants to meet one day after work, and i said tell him no. >> but brittany said yes. norman insists he blew off their date and did not go to her apartment monday before she was murdered. but her family didn't believe him. they'd grown suspicious of norman and wondered why police didn't move in on him. how frustrated were you that he was walking around? >> very frustrated. i even called the lead investigator at one point and told him if you don't come get him i'll take care of him myself. >> were you being serious?
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>> i was very serious. >> after 2 1/2 years after brittany was killed prosecutors presented their evidence. clark was arrested on may 14, 2014. he pleaded not guilty. >> when you're arrested for something you didn't do and then there's no evidence to even show you should have been arrested, that's when things really hit hard. that's when i really got scared. >> norman clark had reason to be scared. if convicted he could spend the rest of his life behind bars. >> coming up -- >> they've taken a good young man and they've destroyed his life. >> norman clark on trial. and on the stand -- girlfriends. many, many girlfriends. but where was the evidence?
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>> he gave dna, he game hair samples. they all came back negative. >> when "deadly circumstances" continues. when "deadly circums" continues. we started a non-profit community bank with a simple theory - give people a fair deal and real economic power. invest in the community, in businesses owned by women and people of color, in affordable housing. the difference between words and actions matters. that's a lesson politicians in washington could use right now. i'm tom steyer, and i approve this message.
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little as $25 per prescription. ask your health care provider today about once-weekly ozempic®. welcome back. norman clark had been arrested and charged with murdering brittany eldridge and their unborn son. investigators uncovered evidence norman had been with other women, lots of them. the prosecution was preparing to put his lifestyle on trial, but could they prove he was a killer? continuing with our story here's andrea canning. >> in august 2015 nearly four years after brittany eldridge's death, norman clark, a man who'd never been in trouble with the law, went on trial for murder in a knoxville, tennessee, courtroom. how nervous were you going into
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trial? your life's on the line here, your future. >> i was extremely nervous and scared to death. >> the praugs cushion told the jury norman clark strangled and stabbed brittany because he didn't want her to have his baby. reporter jamie satyrfield. >> she believed it was the baby that was the target, this baby was going to ruin norman's life. so he killed brittany more to kill the baby, and she was collateral damage. >> a man having trouble paying his bills, a playboy trying to juggle relationships with more than a dozen women. >> can you describe the nature of your relationship? >> i thought he was my boyfriend. i loved him with all my heart. >> the jury heard about norman clark's prolific sex life. >> at some point did your relationship become intimate? >> yes, ma'am.
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>> did he have a particular way of referring to a part of your anatomy? >> yes, ma'am. >> in what way? what did he say? >> ownership was his. >> he must have been stretched so thin to be attentive to 15 different women. >> that is one of the reasons that the prosecution said he was just -- he broke. and now here's this baby and brittany's saying i'm going to take you to court. >> next, the prosecution established a time line to place clark at brittany's apartment the time she was killed. here's brittany leaving work at 8:05 p.m. the medical examiner estimated her time of death as early as 8:30. an fbi cellphone expert testified clark's phone pinged off a tower near brittany's apartment at 8:28 and again at
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9:05. remember clark's alibi was that he was at a friend's house the night of the murder. that friend leanne hawn was actually one of his many girlfriends. clark was at leanne's that night but her testimony seemed to shred his alibi. >> your testimony was that he comes into your bedroom without calling you without any notice and you recognize the time as -- >> around 10:30. >> the prosecutor said if clark was at brittany's 8:30 and arrived to leanne's two hours later, that gave plenty of time to commit murder, stage the crime scene to look like a burglary and clean himself up. after presenting a circumstantial case, the state rested. norman clark's defense attorney greg isaacs drieded the state's case as all theory. they had no physical evidence, no eyewitnesses, no proof clark was a killer. >> he gave dna, he gave a
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statement. he gave hair samples. they all came back negative. >> the defense aggressively attacked the state's case and the witnesses starting with leanne hawn, the woman clark said he spent the night with. the question was when did he get to her house? >> you have no idea when you saw him at 10:35 as to what time he arrived, correct? >> i do not. >> and you were asleep with your television on, correct? >> the defense drove home the point. since leanne was sleeping her testimony about when clark arrived was meaningless. isaac said clark actually arrived much earlier and watched monday night football alone before getting into bed. the defense argued there was no way clark could have committed a violent murder, clean himself up and the crime scene, staged and burglary and then made it across town all in less than an hour. the state's fbi experts said clark's cellphone signal placed him near brittany's apartment
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the night she was killed. the defense countered with its own expert who said the state got it wrong. >> we had one of the nation's preeminent experts on this. he and the fbi agent testified against each other all over the country. >> it feels this is almost one of the scenarios where the experts kind of cancel each other out. >> exactly. >> it was a rush to judgment to pin the killing on norman clark, the defense said. claiming investigators overlooked the most obvious explanation for the crime. the killer was a burglar who was caught in the act. >> they were 12 break-ins that occurred within a 3 to 4 week period in a very close proximity. and 10 of the 12 involved flat screen tvs. also there was a break in that very same complex four days before the homicide of brittany eldridge. so very powerful. >> why not take the tvs? >> we don't know. maybe the person got startled, maybe they couldn't do -- that's
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law enforcement's job, not mine. >> irrefutable physical evidence. >> there were two unknown dna samples on the lingerie that covered brittany's body in her bedroom where she was found murdered. dna from an unknown male contributor, not from norman clark. >> all he had done since day one at 12:34 was focus on norman clark. >> defense attorney isaacs told the jurors to focus on the evidence, not norman clark's womanizing. >> this is not a voice for moral judgment. there's a guy up stairs that does that. >> clark did not take the stand, but he says the state did not prove its case. the prosecutor said that you had the means, you had the opportunity, and you had the motive to kill brittany.
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>> and i feel all that is wrong, definitely far from the motive because it doesn't make any sense. and the opportunity, it's pretty much impossible. so -- >> well, it's not impossible. >> to me it seems impossible to get that done in that short a span. >> the motive from law enforcement's perspective was very clear. you didn't want to be in a relationship. you didn't want this baby, and you wanted it to go away so you could continue to live your lifestyle. >> right. i don't understand how they could say that when if you know my lifestyle you know i love children, i take care of my own child and i wanted more children. >> there's the other side of your lifestyle too in that you're sleeping with 15 different women. >> which had nothing to do with the trial. >> as the jury started deliberations she was anxious and bitter. >> they'd taken a good, young
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man and they've destroyed his life. >> brittany's brother, jeffrey, was certain the jury would return the verdict the family wanted so badly. >> there was no doubt whatsoever they would come back and return a guilty verdict. >> but nobody on the outside really knows what happens in a jury room. and after deliberating for six hours this jury gave up. they came close but could not reach a unanimous verdict. the vote was 11 not guilty, only 1 guilty. >> at this point i am going to declare a mistrial and disband this jury. >> they come back hopelessly deadlocked and not only that it's 11-1 acquittal. >> right. >> you must have been shell-shocked in. >> just devastated. >> norman clark had been held in jail 15 months since his arrest. he was released after his mistrial but was still an accused murderer. >> do you feel you have a cloud
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hanging over your head? >> definitely. it's a huge dark cloud over my head. >> that cloud would remain because prosecutors decided they would try norman clark again. same charges, same evidence, same prosecutor. would it lead to a different outcome? >> coming up -- >> norman clark is a killer. he killed brittany eldridge. he killed his baby. >> trial number two. >> they did not prove your case. >> you can destroy my character or try to, but you still are not going to prove i was guilty. >> more drama in the jury room. >> it became a very hostile room. >> and another surprise in the courtroom. when "deadly circumstances" continues. courtroom. when "deadly circumstances" continues. ♪
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welcome back. the prosecution painted norman clark as a row rent playboy who killed brittany eldridge because
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he did not want to have another baby. the defense countered that no dna linked norman to the crime and his womanizing did not make him a killer. the trial ended with a hung jury, but the prosecution was determined to see norman behind bars. it was time for trial number two. with the conclusion of our story here's andrea canning. >> norman clark's second trial began in september 2017. it had been six long years since brittany had been killed. trial two would play out a lot like trial one but with one big change. clark had a new court appointed lawyer, kit rogers. what was your strategy and was it going to be different than greg isaacs strategy in the first trial? >> it didn't differ. i was just going to say look at the evidence. and to me when i looked at it it looked like a burglary that was interrupted and went bad.
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>> the prosecutor had been on the case from the very start. >> when baby zeke was born clark was going to be exposed for exactly who he was. the birth of this baby threatened his way of life and that solution to that problem was murder. >> she was very emphatic that norman clark was not only guilty but was kind of a sleazy human being. >> did you worry that the jury would just not like norman because of his lifestyle? >> that was a big worry and i addressed that from the beginning and all the way through. >> what i want you to pay attention to is the evidence. >> after six days of testimony, it all seemed to come down to norman clark and what kind of man he is. >> you don't like the fact he had sex with ultimate partners, they did not prove their case. >> these murders were personal strangulations, it is a killing that shows control and desire to
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control the victim. norman clark is a killer. he killed brittany eldridge. he killed his baby. >> those same arguments had led to a mistrial before. incredibly when this jury got the case it also came down to a lone hold out. only this time the majority wanted to convict. we spoke to two jurors about their deliberations. the person who voted not guilty who was not going to change their mind, what was their issue? >> we asked. and the response that was made is i'm the smartest person in the room. >> i have a phd. you guys are all ganging up on me. >> at that point it became a very hostile room, and we decided to call it. >> after four long days, they were hopelessly deadlocked. another hung jury. >> you just wake up and you wondered why is this happening? you know, why is my baby sister
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not here? and why -- why can people -- why can the people on the jury not see what i can see? >> our family can't keep going through these trials coming out with the same verdict. we can't do it. >> the family may not have to do it again. after six years and two trials, prosecutors said that was it. they decided to dismiss the charges against norman clark. >> all they were worried about was trying to show the jury that i had a lot of women, i loved sex and that i had bills to pay. that's it. you can destroy my character or try to, but you still are not going to prove that i was guilty. >> even when dismissing the case prosecutors made it clear they believe they tried the right man and would file new charges against clark if they get new evidence. did you kill brittany? >> no, i did not. >> what do you say to those
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people that believe everything just adds up to you being her killer? >> what do i say to them? i don't say anything to them. i don't like ignorance in my life. if you feel that way you're very fing ignorant and that's very sad. >> brittany prays for justice and closure and how to make peace with a loss they will never understand. >> over six years i haven't focused on anything else except for getting justice. there's no closing the book. me and my sister grew up doing everything together. how do you say good-bye to something like that? >> she and i had a special bond. and there are still times that i think oh, i need to tell brittany about this or, you know, you can't call her, you can't e-mail her, you can't text her. all you can do now is go to a grave, and that's not good
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enough. it's never going to be good enough. >> that's all for this edition of dateline extra. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. is your husband michael? okay, i'm sorry to tell you, ma'am. he's been killed. >> no. >> she's like poison candy. attractive on the outside but deadly on the inside. >> she was pure evil. >> he fell in love with her. he thought she was the end-all be all. >> she had everything she wanted, but she longed for one thg

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