here with us from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. and this fire was no accident. >> they-conducted surveillance. >> they're going back oto the place where ashley worked? >> yes, sir. >> they were going after ten oz of thousands of dollars.

>> but was money the only motive or was there something else? >> couldn't believe somebody could do that to her. just pure evil. >> hel oo and good morning to "dateline." police were baffled. this was no accident. but were the clues to who killed agszly now up in smoke? it wad with would take a determined detective and the discover of a stolen key to unlock this mystery. here's black friday. >> a hot august night in texas, 2014, the figure knew where to go, grabbed $18,000 and was gone. but it was only money.

and no one got hurt. not that time anyway. the story starts in texas. a birthplace of a ashley harris. >> perfect age to pretend she was my baby. >> melissa hill is ashley's eldest sister. >> she marched to the beat of a different drum. she would wear just things that did not match. her hair was just -- didn't seem combed, you can know. >> she was never the little princess type? >> no, no. >> there were three girls in the family. ashley was the baby. her mom remembers how she loved

music and arts and bingo. >> it was our mother/daughter bonding time and she'd get all giddy and excited. >> by the time she got to high school she-lots of friends and even a boyfriend. and she was devoted to her two dads. her father, tommy and her step dad, chuck, both retired police officers. didn't she talk at one point about getting into your line of work? >> she auz interested in policing. >> but after high school she ended up work withing for a short time at blockbuster video and that's where she meat customer named laura love. >> i walked around the store for a little bit and just kept looking at her because she's so beautiful. >> laura wanted to meet the girl behind the counter. they came friends and then something more. >> we hung out for like eight

months before it ever got there. >> by that she means she and ashley fell in love. >> it was a lat of growing up. she-to work through her feelings. being gay isn't necessarily an easy thing and it definitely wasn'tb easy 14/15 years ago. >> oh, no, it wasn't. is there a coming out period? >> i believe it's 2004. she came over to the house and she goes, mama, i've got something to tell you and i just want you to know i was gay. and i said well with, ashley, i already knew it but you need give me some space. i need some time. >> so monica took some time, prayed about it and came to this conclusion. >> i can't imagine god giving me this child and living with her and raising her, that he would

want me to stop loving her. >> wouldn't make any sense lat. yet, for a long while monica wasn't comfortable with her new relationship, though laura said she and ashley were good together. >> she was always very giving and what else can i do for you to make you happy? >> the romance lasted more than three years and then it was over. but they remained friends. and laura remembers how happy ashley was when she started working at american eagle outfitters at the hulen mall in fort worth. >> she loved it. >> she was an assistant manager and good at it, said her boss. >> just her personality. caring, loving, compassionate. she just loved life. >> yeah. >> and she loved taking videos of her life, lots of them at work. >> i'm extremely tired this right here is not even helping.

look at my eyes. it's horrible. >> she-this laugh. >> they weren't all like that, however. employee, lindsey green, said another assistant manager, carter, was very different from ashley. >> she taught me how to love myself to a point. carter taught me work-related things. >> not a jokester? >> right. >> but ashley polar opposite and popular. >> this is what cold looks like. i'm so hood. >> work was going well. her love life? not so much. and then one night she went out with friends and april moffat was there. >> and i was their waitress and she was having a bad night he was trying to pull her out of her shell and she wasn't havinging it, so i was like fine. >> april gave up on her grumpy

customer until one day they met for a dog walk. ashley brought her dog, nala. april brought cooper and everyone clicked. what was it like when you first started going out her? >> she has a magnetic force to her. luke, it's hard to not instantly love her. >> so by the summer of 2014 life was good for ashley. the social life, her job. though she did hit a bump of sorts in august when someone stole 18 grand from the store safe. and it auz ashley who realized the theft occurred and reported it to you? >> correct. >> she even helped i.d. the suspects. with her interest in police work with, ashley thought she might have a calling here. >> she aunted to go and twrurk our home office, our american eagle. >> she was 31.

she-all kinds of plans. but on the morning after thanksgiving, black friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, chris's phone rang at home. >> it was our other assistant manager saying ashley's apartment is on fire. i put my clothes on as fast as i could and started driving to fort worth and all the smoke and the sirens. >> coming up. no one would have guessed where that trail would eventually lead. >> we were asking if we could talk to ashley or where she's at that he said she's not available right now. e said she's not avaie right now. steven could only imaginem 24hr to trenjoying a spicy taco.burn,

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it was the morning after thanksgiving, black friday. laura love-only one thing on her mind. >> black friday is my favorite time of the year. i love to shop and save money. >> but her black friday was about to turn dark indeed. >> i got a call from a frnd of our os who said ashley's apartment was on fire. >> they arrived to something like chaos. >> there were multiple police cars. crime scene was there. >> they sped over there too.

there was a crowd starting to gather. so we-quite a crowd out here >> and the detectives walked up the steps to ashley's door. what was that like? >> it was very disturbing. >> a woman's lifeless body was lying facedown on the bedroom floor. >> we waited until she was turned over and got good look at her face and shoo was also identified by some of the tattoos. >> and then they knew. the victim-her name tattooed on her rib cage, ashley harris. >> we were asking iffee could talk to ashley or where she's at. they just said she's unavailable right now. >> reporte >> ashley's boss had just arrived.

>> we assumed she was being taken care of. >> investigators realizing this was no accident. >> it was obvious she had been beaten and her ankles were also bound. >> it looked like she had pin fighting back against a truly vicious attack. >> we made the discovery that her neck had been slit. >> not only that it looks suspicious. >> now there's fire damage on the bed and i noticed there was fire damage to the victim. and i also saw a bottle of alcohol. >> fire damage actually on the victim? so somebody set fire to her? >> there were burn marks on her. >> what did you ultimately

determine about the fire and how that got started? >> that's an indication. somebody started a fire. >> so took rubbing alcohol and poured it here, poured it there? >> yes. >> chris watched his worst fears. >> i think it hit me like a sack of bricks when i saw them tapeing it trough a crime scene. and when the coroner pulled up, my heart broke. i lost it. >> and then the detectives came outside to ask pointed questions. did someone know something, see something. >> the police start shuffling us the to the office and tell us even it if we try to leave, we could be arrested. >> i mean that told you something very bad happened there? >> yeah. >> one person not in the crowd was her girlfriend, april.

she got a text. >> hey, have you checked on your girl? there was fire in her apartment. and immediately i thought nala, ashley's dog. >> april assumed ashley wasn't at home. >> i was like holy crap. >> and then a message from another friend saying simply "call me." >> and i called her and said where is ashley? where is nala and she's like nala is fine. and i said where's ashley and she's like ashley's gone. and it didn't register. >> like, god, what do you mean gone? >> right. and then i said well with, is ashley okay? she said no, april. she's dead. and i was sitting on my bed and

threw my phone on the ground like that's not real. >> when reality settled in, april and all of oashley's family and friends and police-to wond wither who would do such a thing to such a good, sweet person. ashley harris a had no enemies, did she e? >> was someone stocking ashley harris? can coming up. >> saw a vehicle iparked it thee i'd never seen before. >> when "extra" continues. befo. >> when "extra" continues. man: sneezes

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ashley's mugother and step father were out of town. first they heard of the tire and her mother prayed she wasn't hurt and then her father called. >> i saw him wiping his tears and i knew that my prayer auzant answered. >> chuck couldn't reach ashley's sister, so he left a message. >> and to minutes later my husband called me and he said where are you? i head to come to you o. i said what happened to my mom. he said it's not your mom. it's ashley. it was like a blow.

>> back in fort worth police were still rounding up people gathered outside ashley's apartment. not among them was april. they hadn't seen each other in a few days. their romance-hit a bit off a bump. >> that night we talked briefly about me coming over after i got off work but then i went home. >> but someone else was there. her name was alexis torres. >> she was the last person to see ashley alive and the actual last person to leave her apartment. >> certainly someone you would want to talk to? >> yes, sir. >> they went to an early thanks govern dinner with friends in the complex. but ash lahley's shift was that

night. >> alexis agreed to kp come over during the time she was work withing to basically take care of oashley was dog. >> but then she told police and us she went back one more time after ashley got home from work. how long did you stay? >> i stayed for an hour. >> that would make the 4:00 a.m. but before they could check her story or anyone else's, a neighbor gave them something to work with. an ex-cop-noticed something about 6:30. in the morning. >> saw a vehicle parked there i'd never seen before. it was a black sedan. >> to the observant ex-cop, that seemed worth noting. >> it was there when i went to work at 7:40.

>> and they spoke to a neighbor who heard noises, heavy breathing just before 8:00 a.m. >> few minutes later the fire alarm started going off, otter starded coming down the to his apartment. >> that's when the neighbor saw a black infinity g 35 driving away. armed with this new information, he went back to alexis torres. >> i asked if she or ashley knew anyone that drove an the finty g 35. i never gave her a color. >> alexis said no. >> after he was done asking me questions i went outside and sat on the brick and i believe it was chris that was there. >> that would be chris, ashley's boss at american eagle. alexis told him police were asking about an infinity sedan and chris made a b-line for the detective. >> i approached him and i said i

know whose car y'all are asking about. he said i want to make you aware that i have a former employee that did drive an the finty g 35. >> her name, he said was carter. that business-like assistant manager that worked with ashley. >> so i asked what color and he mentions it was a black one. >> what was it like the hear that? >> beats hearing the red or white. >> carter left american eagle because she was fired. he filed that away and sorted through the crime scene and talked to witness withes. and the day that gan at 8:30 that morning didn't end until 1:00 a.m. did you get any sleep? >> no, i didn't. >> the story of savantes and the

black infinity wouldn't go away. >> i'm not going to be able to get any esleep 7 i might as well go see what i can find. >> he had carter was address so wee hours of saturday morning he drove over there and what do you know? but he didn't knock on her door. >> i was going to basically sit here and watch the vehicle to see if it moved. >> for hoar than four hours he sat in his car, cold but patient and at about 8:00 a.m. saturday he saw the lights of of the infinity flash as if someone was unlocking it remotely. >> i then see a female enter the passenger side of the black infinity. >> they drove off, the detective follow oed and after a few minutes the the finty pulled into, of all places, the human mall.

they're going back to the place where ashley worked, where the american eagle was? >> yes, sir. >> but what would they be doing there? >> that was the million dollar question. >> what are you doing here at the mall? he said he dropped his girlfriend tough to pick up some papers. >> a routine errand or something else? errand or something else s quickly as possible. why would somebody want to suffer if there is options that they don't need to. i think dentists will want to recommend sensodyne rapid relief. sensodyne rapid relief builds a layer fast on the tooth's surface over those sensitive areas, which means patients are going to get fast relief from their sensitivity. sensodyne rapid relief is clinically proven to work in 3 days. i think dentists will want to recommend this product because it's going to help their patients and that's what we are trying to do is help patients.

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hello o. i'm dara brown. police have identified the suspect that fatally stabbed two people and thejured several others on the london bridge. was previously jailed for terrorism offences. sdwhqts house judiciary committee has set a deadline of december 6th to the president and his legal team for

presenting evidence and witnesses. now back to "dateline." welcome back to "dateline." after celebrating thanksgiving with friends, ashlea headed to the newel get ready for black friday. she was brutally murdered and her apartment was set on fire. a neighbor told police he noticed a car around the time of the killing. a black the finty. they later learned it was the same mod alformel a former cowo owned. can coincidence? >> on the saturday morning after black friday 2014 homicide detective followed a black infinity into the mall. he watched as the passenger, a woman in darkish clothes headed inside. she nit description of

25-year-old carter savantes. the male driver stayed in the car. so he called his partner and asked him to check up on the guy. >> when i approached the car, the person identified themselves as david mowry. >> david mallory was carter's live-in boyfriend. he too was a former employee of american eagle. >> i asked hot he was doing here at the mall. he said he dropped his girlfriend off to pick up papers. >> so perhaps it was just that. he decided to go inside. tlrs mall was open but the stores with were still closed. >> and i happen to go up to aeropostal and there's a manager in there working and i was able to determine he doesn't know who she is. >> so much for that story. >> yes, sir.

>> he turned his attention to finding carter. no luck. you didn't see her lat? >> no, sir. >> did kpb see her e? >> no, sir. >> so he had a disgrantaled employee, the boyfriend was telling lies about a job she didn't have and a car spotted at the scene of the murder. he auz looking for a reason to hold him. >> he didn't have his driver's license with him. >> reason enough. he arrested mallory and brought him in for questioning. but carter seemed to have vanished. wasn't anywhere in the mall. but then police went to her apartment complex there she was. where was she in the apartment complex? >> she initially was in the laundry room. >> calm as you please, she agreed to answer kegz cans wo

uta lawyer down at the station. glrs do you go by carter or carol? >> carter. >> somehow she switched her dark clothes for pink scrubs. >> i had a job opportunity with american eagle outfitters. >> she worked at the store for about four months and wasn't a very friendly assistant manager. she did make an impression on some younger clerks. >> carter was very smart, very deep. she was good at reading people and knowing how to converse them. you could tell that she was well educated. -a lot more to her than most sales retail managers do. >> but he knew something else about carter and david mallory,

something very important. remember that burglary at american eagle earlier? carter and david mallory were the primary suspects and ashley harris was the one who discoved the money missing. >> she found the safe open. >> ashley knew it was carter who closed the night before and when she shows her boss the security video. >> she pointed at the monitor and said that's david mallory. i said who's that and she said it's carter's boyfriend. >> the math was easy. carter got fired. david sort of disappeared. and both heard it was ashley who identified them. they hadn't been charged, not yet. >> the case was basically actively being investigated. >> and now here was carter talking to the police who were growing suspicious that she and

her boyfriend were connected to ashley's murder. he started off easy. >> no, i'm originally from lubbock. >> is your family still there? >> i yes. i have otwo sisters and live there still. >> do you still talk to your hom and dad? >> i talk to them every day but i haven't seen them. >> where do you go to school? >> west texas a&m university. >> small talk. >> i made turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and green bean casserole and this cabbage bacon salad that my mom likes to make but i don't think david liked it very much. >> except this wasn't really small talk. he was paying close attention. >> so let's start with this morning. what time did you get up? >> about 7:30.

and then we talked and i went back to sleep. when i woke up he wasn't there. >> he'd heard enough. >> i know that's a lie. >> no -- no, it's not. >> i saw you come out of your apartment and i saw him drive out of there. that's why i know it's a lie. >> he was tough but carter wasn't giving an inch. >> coming up. >> there's an actual human grave that's been dug. >> fresh grave? >> fresh grave. >> fresh grave >> fresh grave

it was late saturday morning, the day after black friday. 25-year-old carter cervantez was talking to detectives and lying though her teeth. >> i know what i did this morning. i know where i was. i know where i went. >> reporter: detective cedillo certainly knew where she went -- the hulen mall. but she kept insisting she'd been at home all morning. >> you're about to make the biggest mistake of your life. do you understand me? >> reporter: and she still wouldn't confess to it? >> she wouldn't budge. >> i got up, i went and put the laundry in, and i went and checked my e-mail. that's all. you found me in my apartment complex. >> reporter: then when the detectives stepped out of the room, she did something interesting -- maybe incriminating. >> she took a drink, puts the bottle down. she picks it up again and before

she can take the second drink, she stops mid-air, spills water on herself. puts the bottle down and just stares at it for about 10 to 15 seconds. she then reaches over and grabs a tissue from the table and starts wipin' down the bottle and then wipes down the mouthpiece. >> reporter: what did that say to you? >> well, that she was afraid that we were gonna obtain her dna from the bottle. >> reporter: after that police let her go. david mallory, too. but detectives had a theory cooking -- that carter and david killed ashlea, out of revenge for being fired for the burglary. but they also wanted ashlea's keys to the american eagle. because they were planning to rob the store again. those keys were the only thing missing from the murder scene. and when store manager chris cravey looked at his surveillance video from earlier that morning, he told police what they wanted to hear. >> reporter: describe what you saw on the videotape. >> somebody dressed in dark clothes with their face wrapped

walk right up to the store and try to get in with keys. >> reporter: that, he said, was carter trying to pull off another, bigger burglary. police just knew -- one day after killing ashlea and taking her keys, carter was trying to break into american eagle where this time, tens of thousands of dollars -- the black friday profits -- were in the safe. but the key didn't fit, because after ashlea was murdered, chris cravey changed the locks. >> i wasn't gonna take any chance on whether it be a deposit or them harming somebody else in the store. we needed to lock them out. >> reporter: the detectives pulled the surveillance video, and look at this -- carter, slipping away from the mall, having already changed from her sweat clothes into pink scrubs. had to be trying to fool potential trackers, they thought. this was after she would have spotted police talking to david in the parking lot. then she walked all the way home. over the next few days, police

got a warrant for carter and david's cell phones. that camera app, so useful. >> well, we learned that they had conducted surveillance at ashlea's apartment weeks before that. they had a picture of her apartment. her actual door to her apartment, and they had pictures of her vehicle, the white dodge ram pickup. >> reporter: in early december, 2014, carter cervantez and david mallory were arrested and charged with the murder of ashlea harris. cold comfort for ashlea's sister. >> it's just such a loss and it's so pointless. i just don't understand how people could do that. >> reporter: they were tried separately, but the cases against them were virtually identical. assistant d.a. kevin rousseau led the prosecution.

>> on state's exhibit 1 -- >> reporter: ashleadeenor assisted. from the witness stand detective cedillo helped lay out the case. >> were you able to conduct a search of her apartment and her vehicle, things like that? >> yes, sir. >> and did you find a receipt that proved to be helpful? >> that's correct. >> reporter: a sales receipt showed some odd purchases on carter's credit card. >> she had purchased two shovels. she had purchased a tarp. she had purchased gloves. >> reporter: why was that significant? because of a discovery way out in the texas scrub. a discovery worthy of a horror movie. and the key to finding it was right there on carter and david's cell phones. >> they would text each other longitude and latitude coordinates, and it led us to a remote area near abilene. >> reporter: what was there? >> as soon as we got to where the spot says, "you're there," we look up and there's an actual human grave that's been dug. >> reporter: fresh grave? >> fresh grave.

>> reporter: prosecutors believe the original plan was to kidnap ashlea, kill her, and put her body in that grave. she was killed in her apartment, the prosecutors thought, because she fought so hard. >> what is that? >> this is a glock 19 semiautomatic pistol. >> reporter: in fact, investigators believe ashlea harris was pistol whipped. so when this glock 19 was found in the black infiniti, prosecutor deener had it tested. the results were both sad and conclusive. >> it came back positive with ashlea's dna on the gun, so that was very significant. >> there was blood adjacent to her bed. and blood splattered on the bed. this was not an easy death. >> reporter: hearing all this was so hard on ashlea's mother monica and loved ones like april. >> i thought i could handle it. huh-uh, nope. so i went out and i went back

into the room where monica was. and she was consoling me. and she shouldn't be consoling me. >> reporter: the brutality of the murder was never far from the prosecutors' minds. >> i think i just thought how painful and how awful the last few minutes of her life would've been on this earth -- >> reporter: how terrifying. >> and absolutely terrifying. absolutely terrifying. >> reporter: even that, they said -- even that appeared to be part of the plan. this wasn't just about robbery, or even revenge, said prosecutor rousseau. >> it was discussions that carter cervantez had had with people where she expressed certain -- i guess you would call them fantasies involving killing people. >> reporter: liza schoenthal remembers one such discussion at work. >> it was just us. and we were folding clothes, and she mentioned that she had thought about killing someone before and whether or not she could watch them die. >> reporter: as if the murder wasn't shocking enough, prosecutors were pretty sure ashlea's murder was a thrill kill planned by a sadistic young

woman who thought she was smarter than everyone else. but tiny, meek, carter cervantez admitted none of that. she still had a plan, concocted all by herself, to explain why she, too, was a victim. >> announcer: coming up -- a vicious killer? >> reporter: you wanted to see the death penalty? >> death penalty was what i wanted. >> announcer: or a young woman forced into a life of crime? >> were you in pain? >> yes. i was screaming. ♪ did you know even the cleanest looking cars can smell musty? that's because odors trapped in your car's soft surfaces get released, and are then circulated by your ac system.

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>> reporter: when people talk about the trial of carter cervantez, this is what they remember. >> state your name for the record, please. >> my name is carter carol cervantez. >> reporter: against the advice of her attorneys, carter cervantez took the stand. gone was that criminal master mind. here sat a helpless victim. >> she gets up on the stand, and it was insane. >> reporter: carter said it was all her boyfriend, david mallory, controlling every aspect of her life. >> i was very afraid of david. >> how afraid of him were you? >> um, i thought he was going to kill me. >> reporter: this is where carter's defense truly began.

she told the jury she was a woman enslaved by her sadistic lover. >> he was tellin' me what to drink, what to eat, um, and he made me have sex with him in the movie theater. >> reporter: and he had that gun, the glock, she said. used it like a threat and it scared her. >> did not feel comfortable with that weapon. >> reporter: she told the jury she was asleep at home when ashlea was being murdered. she didn't know where david had gone but somehow he wound up with a set of american eagle keys. >> gave me some gloves, told me to put them on, and then handed me a pair -- a set of american eagle keys. and he said go in and open the gate and bring me that fat ass deposit. >> reporter: and then she said he pulled out the glock. >> and he just pointed it at me. >> pointed it at you? >> yes, across his body.

i shook my head that i wasn't going to do it. um, and he said, "you don't understand. there's someone sitting outside your parents' house right now. if you don't go in, i'm gonna kill them and then i'm gonna kill you." >> reporter: so that's why she tried to rob the store, she said. it was that or be killed. just a couple of hours before she showed up on this security video, she said, david made it very clear to her just how far he would go to make sure, absolutely sure, she would do what he demanded. >> somebody pushed me down right when i got into the apartment. >> reporter: during the night, before the break-in attempt, she said, david brought strange men into their apartment. she heard an angry voice above her. >> he said, "i'll make her follow directions." >> reporter: and then her story got even more harrowing. >> they took off my sweat pants, pulled them down to my ankles,

and then they raped me. >> reporter: raped twice, she said sobbing, by two different men. >> were you in pain? >> yes. i was screaming. >> reporter: prosecutors kevin rousseau and ashlea deener seemed as taken aback as the rest of the courtroom. >> i know what i think. this is not true. >> reporter: and they needed to regroup, fast. >> this is the biggest lie she's ever told. we know that. but you never know what the jury's thinking. >> reporter: carter had an explanation for just about everything. even that moment during her interrogation when she wiped the bottle. she wasn't wiping off her dna, no. she said the smell from the bottle reminded her of being raped. >> i was telling myself, it's just water. it's just water, it's not them. but i could still smell it. >> she said that she suddenly was overcome with the -- with the smell of semen in the -- in the air.

and it had something to do with drinking out of this bottle of water. and i thought, "now that -- that took some work. that is one heck of a lie." >> and it was at that point that i put my pen down and said, "i am not writing this. i am not going to write this down." >> reporter: his voice dripping with sarcasm, prosecutor rousseau took her story apart. he showed the jury a picture. >> is that the gun that you're talking about that you were very uncomfortable with being in your apartment? >> yes. >> that's the one that's laying beside you while you're having your morning coffee? >> yes. >> reporter: and then he drilled down into the heart of carter's story. just who were those mysterious rapists? >> they all spoke -- the only way i would describe it is ghetto ebonics. >> okay, so in your mind these are black people, black men? >> no, sir, i did not say that. >> reporter: but, said the

prosecutor, that's exactly what she was suggesting. >> if she was gonna try and play that card, i was gonna make her spell it out. >> is ebonics a term that is commonly associated with african-americans in this country? >> i don't know where ebonics is commonly associated with. i associate it with a certain type of speech that i would associate with the word "ghetto." >> reporter: but if she was hoping to play to some random juror's racial bias, she guessed wrong. the jury didn't believe it. not for a second. they found her guilty in less than two hours. as for david mallory, his attorneys argued he had nothing to do with the murder. he was involved with carter, yes, but not with any killing. that jury didn't buy that either rendering a guilty verdict in no time at all. the verdicts were some consolation for those who loved ashlea harris. >> i still miss her. she saw the best in everybody.

even when you couldn't see it, she could see it. she had such a big heart. and this world is worse off, at least, mine is. >> reporter: both david mallory and carter cervantez received mandatory sentences of life in prison with no possibility of parole. it wasn't enough for ashlea's mom and stepdad. >> reporter: you wanted to see the death penalty? >> death penalty was what i wanted, is what monica wanted. and -- but it wasn't to be. >> reporter: now they cling to memories of their ashlea. >> reporter: tell me about the last time you saw your daughter, physically, in person. >> it was november. >> reporter: about a week before she died, ashlea had invited

monica to play bingo. monica was busy, almost said no. but something told her to stop what she was doing and go. and, oh, is she glad she did. >> and i walk into the bingo hall and, oh, my god, there set that little girl of mine. and i smile at her and i walk over and i kiss the side of her neck and i tell her how much i love her. >> you remember every syllable, every moment of that day, don't you? >> yes. >> reporter: these days, monica is making new memories at the bingo parlor. remember how skittish she was around ashlea's girlfriends at first? no longer. now, they're family. >> have a good weekend. >> when monica and i go and get our nails done, they always say, "oh, your daughter is so pretty." she never corrects them. as far as she's concerned, she gained several daughters.

>> reporter: and when they're all together, ashlea is there too. >> announcer: that's all for this edition of "dateline." thanks for watching. i'm craig mel. burn >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> they're flying up from florida, the black on os. at that point it got a little scary. they're here to coo dea job and they're d they're going to kill someone. this is crazy. >> in a marriage three a crowd. >> you're seeing another woman. what do you tung it was? >> chemistry. >> this is now the marriage from hell. >> enter the hitman. >> what you're asking to do is not cheap. two hundred thousand?