i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." the key element to that is making sure that someone is caught. once i have somebody, they'll stop looking and that's how you can get away. >> a cold-blooded killing, a victim worth millions and all kinds of conflicting clues. >> i've never-a case this complicated before. >> he says that's my neighbor

two floors below. a statement under aretsz. case closed or was it? could there be something else? >> there were so many parts of the puzzle that were not adding up? >> someone had pulled the trigger but-someone eelse pulled the strings? >> he could take bad luck and turn it into a fortune. hello and welcome to "dateline." they were neighbors living large in their salt lake city loft building. a sophisticated crowd that enjoys mixing business with pleasure. and then repaid their trust with lies. was he, they wondered, the

mastermind behind this cold-blooded killing or did they need look in another direction? here's keith morrison with "suspicion." >> 7:00 a.m., november 15th, 2007, dawn in salt lake city, it ut. sky, begin tooling brighten, sun not quite up and there they were, the voices, the terror, the nightmare beginning. >> 911. what's is your emergency? >> it stands in stark contrast.

was converted to loft aparmt business nor bust. and the sometime of living and location drew a distinct crowd. beoncau brooks frrks example, raised in ireland and africa. she came here in august 2006 to viz at friend. >> i came on holiday and i met christopher and just hit it off. >> christopher right lived in the same loft building as bionca's friend. in one night you knew? >> yeah. yeah. >> to anyone watching t was an obvious perfect match. >> he is so lovely and she's kind of quirky and i think she brought that playfulness out in chris.

>> he was ecstatic after. >> it was true blind passionate love that drove beoncau to give up everything and move there utaught to be with chris where six months after the first moment they laid eyes on ooech other, they were married. her protector and incurable romantic. >> he cries through romantic movies. >> so the last words for incredibly creative people. mortgage brokers socialites. >> this building is a fantastic collection of interesting people. >> none more so than the most

gregarious personality. >> impossible not to be charmed by david. idore the man. >> we were basically best friends in utah. he fit his apparently overicize said professional accomplishments. his sole specialty was preparing wealthy clients for prison. >> help educate the family what's going to happen, try to get the best sentencing possible for him. >> that grew out of personal experience, sivred a year for mail fraud. >> but he could take bad luck and turn it into a fortune.

>> into mix was a businessman with real money. >> christopher-an office about 50 blocks from here and no vac was there and he introduced him. >> he lived south of salt lake city. a nice guy with a big extended family and money to invest. he already loaned novak 1.8 million to make a movie about his consulting business. and soon they began working on a real estate deal. >> i'm a girl. it was so dull. >> paul came to salt lake city. the economic crisis skuted

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so, now it was that morning, 7:00 a.m., november 15th, 2007. >> 911. what is the address of your emergency? >> reporter: detective dean caringer was on the freeway when his radio went off. >> i heard there was an actual shooting. >> reporter: that's my department. >> that's where i need to get busy. >> reporter: he had the address, the parking lot of the village inn restaurant, in a town called sandy, his town. >> it was a very violent scene. the victim was shot five times. the fifth shot was done while the shooter was standing over top of him and shot him in the face. >> reporter: yeah. oh. >> the shooter was making sure

he was dead before he left. >> reporter: cold, methodical, like a professional hit. yet amazingly, somebody was sitting in a car maybe six feet away, watched the whole thing. ordinary guy minding his own business. now eyewitness to a brutal slaying. the man's name was lee carlson. >> the hand came up, reached inside of his pocket, out came a gun. and pointed at the other man right in the face and pulled the trigger. >> reporter: here at the police station lee told how he ducked out of sight after that first shot. but not before he got a glimpse of the shooter. >> as far as i can remember he had a longer nose. and i can't tell eye color but his eyes seemed to be more bulgy. >> you just saw a glimpse. i know year asking a lot. >> reporter: but what stood out most ways his hair, long, tied in a ponytail. looked out of place like a wig. before the shooting, said lee, he heard the man's voice, sounded eastern european, maybe slavic.

police believe both men came here in the victim's car, which the shooter then used to flee the scene. as for the victim, you heard the name by now -- ken dolezsar, the extremely wealthy local investor. >> my daughter called me just bawling. she told me ken's been shot, and he's dead. wow. >> reporter: matt beaudry considered ken dolezsar to be one of his closest friends. they coached a hockey team together. he was deeply concerned for the boys on the team. >> i watched him pull out his wallet and slip money into the kids's pockets because he heard they needed tuition money, couldn't buy their books. >> reporter: now his friend, their friend, was dead. >> some of those kids just broke down and bawled. >> reporter: at the loft building in downtown salt lake, the news rocketed from floor to

floor. after all a couple of residents including bianca's husband were doing business with dolezsar. >> it felt like rubber necking in a car crash. wow, somebody you knew could be murdered. >> reporter: who could want a man as nice and generous as ken dolezsar dead? but then it's almost a truism of police work where money goes trouble often follows. the more money, the bigger the trouble. and in this case, an extra dollop. the man's fortune wasn't really his, strictly speaking. he married into the bulk of it. the fortune came from a company his wife founded with her former husband. the divorce had been nasty. family loyalties bitterly divided. and some family members weren't the least bit happy that ken was making investment decisions. detective carriger contacted ken's brother and broke the news. >> dropped down to his knees, and he said it's that [ bleep ] derrick. >> reporter: a moment of unguarded grief and rage and thus a possible suspect. derek mower, ken's adult step-son. >> it was apparent there were

difficulties between those two. >> reporter: but trouble in the family didn't stop with derrick. >> there seemed to be a riff. >> reporter: but not between dee and ken. theirs seemed to be a genuine love story. but now a grieving dee told detectives she was as baffled about the murder as they were. >> she was not able to provide us any information as to who he was meeting that day or anything about his day. >> reporter: and despite all that friction, the infighting over money and control, dee's family produced not a single viable suspect, not even ken's step-son. >> derrick had an alliby at the time of the murder. >> reporter: but those initial interviews weren't entirely in vain.

a clue emerged from ken's assistant. the night before the murder she said ken got a call on his cell. >> she knew that he had set up a meeting to meet with whoever he was talking to at 7:00 a.m. on the 15th. >> reporter: the day and time at which ken dolezsar was shot to death. was the caller also the killer? if so, they now had his voice because earlier that caller left this phone message. >> hey, ken, this is robert. i talked to dave. he said when you get to -- >> reporter: detectives traced the cell and went to the store where someone bought it. >> this phone was purchased with cash with no identifying information provided to the carrier. >> reporter: but the family did have a suggestion for the detectives, something they actually agreed on. he should look carefully at a man named david novak. yes, that david novak. remember novak's consulting business for prison-pound executives? guess what? >> dee mower was incarcerated in federal prison. >> reporter: tax fraud. ken's wealthy wife dee was novak's client. that's why ken dolezsar knew ken

novak. and something made ken's relatives suspicious. so detectives drove over to the loft where they spoke with mr. novak. >> he was soft spoken. >> reporter: and a bright man. >> he came across as very intelligent, yes. >> reporter: answered all the questions but didn't seem to be of much help. then as detective carriger was preparing to leave, he tried one more question. that prepaid cell phone, the one someone used to invite ken to the fatal meeting, the store had surveillance video of a man buying that very phone. ken's family set they didn't recognize him, but would novak? carriger showed him the photo. >> we asked who is that? he says he's my neighbor. he lives two floors below. >> reporter: and just like that, a big piece of the puzzle plopped into place. but fair warning -- as you'll see, puzzle pieces and some

residents of this downtown loft might not be quite what they seem. coming up -- >> while the investigation takes as many turns as one of the building's hallways. >> i've never had a case this complicated before. what'd we decide on the flyers again? uh, "fifteen minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance." i think we're gonna swap over to "over seventy-five years of savings and service."

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his friends still coming to terms with it. >> and i just think, what if, all the fun we could have had if he hadn't been taken. >> >> reporter: until now, the investigation seemed to be going nowhere. then as detective carriger was about to leave novak's apartment he showed novak the surveillance photo from that cell phone store. >> he looked at it and said, that's chris wright. he's my neighbor. he lives two floors below. >> reporter: chris wright, his good friend and husband of the irrepressible bianca. >> this is definitely somebody we want to talk to. >> reporter: carriger arrived unannounced at chris' office. almost before he asked a question, he said, chris launched into a story about ken dolezsar. claimed the man was so paranoid he wanted drois buy a prepaid cell phone so they could communicate in complete privacy. to detective carriger the story seemed a little too ready or rehearsed. >> almost as if they was trying to account for things we knew. >> reporter: i see.

odd. then as the interview went on, he said, chris' voice began to sound familiar. the voice mail that police believed help lure ken to his death. >> hey, ken, this is robert. >> reporter: to me, that was chris' voice on that phone. >> reporter: the detectives pulled out a search warrant. bianca was home when the police arrived. >> it's surreal. they're like roving gangs of toddlers who are ripping everything apart. they took apartment the sofa and took out the lining. they took apart my toaster. they take everything apart. >> reporter: a ballistics report told police the murder weapon was a 9 millimeter handgun. chris was an avid collector of guns and among them police found an empty case for a springfield handgun and what do you know, the gun that went with it was missing. chris wright was arrested and charged with the murder of ken dolezsar. >> it was a matter of disbelief. he was being taken out of the

blew and for no reason. >> reporter: the loving husband who cried his way through romantic movies an assassin? impossible. it was impossible said bianca. he had an ally buy. >> he was in the hoft loft. i was there. >> reporter: he was in bed with her. >> he was a foot from me. there's no room for that. >> reporter: this surely had to be a colossal misunderstanding. bianca sought support from her neighbors including david novak, her only friend with intimate knowledge of the legal system. he comforted you? >> he was brilliant, yeah. he would ask me how everything was going and what was happening with christopher and whether our attorneys were doing the job they were supposed to. >> reporter: she told him

everything, she said. and he assured her the mistake would soon be rectified. she believed him. >> i didn't want to be married to a murderer. i would not fool myself if there was a second's doubt in my mind he did not do this. >> reporter: but some of their friends in the loft weren't so sure. >> i started to feel sorry for her thinking, oh, my gosh, she poor, knee eve girl. you're going to be crushed by this. >> reporter: at the sandy, utah, justice center, the case that police turned over to the assistant district attorney seemed clear. >> the evidence was exceptionally strong in this case. it all kept pointing in the direction of mr. wright. >> reporter: there was the surveillance photo, the voice message which was placed from a spot near the loft according to cell phone tracking and the eyewitness. he'd been shown a photo lineup with chris in it and now he remembered some details a little differently than he had that first traumatic day. like chris' blue eyes in the

photo, he said, jarred something in his mind. >> i was 80 to 90% certain that this was the man that i saw. >> reporter: then he found a picture of chris on the web and tried photo shopping in a few details, like the wig. >> i looked at that and said that looks almost like what i saw. >> reporter: reinforcing a memory, but was the memory accurate? as for the rest of the case, the investigation wasn't over yet. the story just begun. the first puzzle pieces placed where they seemed to fit. but -- >> i never had a case this complicated before. >> reporter: oh, even more than complicated, as those friends in the loft began to believe. something darker than that.

and fugy conditions in texas. foggy conditions over the holiday. winter storms bring snow that rockies and freezing rains in the upper midwest. now back to "dateline." ♪ welcome back to "dateline." chris wright was under arrest, charged with the murder. this would create a damming new discovery but for friends and family, just didn't fit. was it possible chris-been set up to take the fall for a crime he didn't commit? once again here's keith morrison

with "suspicion." strange times around the loft building in downtown salt lake. so shocking that one of their own chris wright had been arrested and charged with killing wealthy businessman ken dolezsar. >> all the evidence that we obtained led up to chris wright being the triggerman. >> reporter: in the suv ken drove to his fatal morning meeting, for example. the killer used that vehicle to flee the scene. and when the cops found it and scoured the interior, they got a hit. chris' dna. >> we had a dna result from the inside door handle of the suv. >> reporter: it was a tiny sample, not a perfect one, but it seemed to put chris in ken dolezsar's car driver's side which certainly helped the case. but it wasn't quite air tight, not yet. the murder weapon had not been found. yet they found an empty gun case in chris and bianca's apartment, but nothing to connect the case to the murder. and just about then -- >> the sergeant for the district attorney's office just happened to call me and ask, hey, did you ever look in that gun case?

was there shell casing or anything in that gun case? >> reporter: turns out the gun's manufacturer includes a test-fired shell casing with each gun it sells. so the detective went to the evidence locker, he said, retrieved the gun case. >> looked inside and there was a casing. >> reporter: big moment. >> big moment. >> reporter: big moment because when ballistics tested that shell casing -- >> it was a match. that shell casing was fired from the same gun as the shell casings recovered at the scene where ken dolezsar was killed. >> reporter: chris wright's missing gun must have been the murder weapon. now the case looked very strong indeed. though chris' wife bianca certainly didn't think so. >> i know categorically that christopher different do it. >> reporter: in fact the police and prosecutor had it all wrong, he insisted. it wasn't just that chris had an

alibi for the morning of the murder, she said the whole case, it was all wrong. chris' dna in the car, of course it was there. chris admitted he'd been in the car, but weeks before the murder. but get this, the steering wheel especially and all of the car was covered with dna and fingerprints that did not match chris. nor did bianca buy lee carlson's story. >> he said that the guy had an eastern european accent. christopher is american born and bred. he said that he'd only seen a glimpse of his face. >> reporter: in fact, said bianca, the eyewitness account more properly eliminated chris as a suspect. all agreed, remember, that ken and his killer arrived together in the same car. but think about it, said bianca.

>> i just looked at him going. >> reporter: would chris wear a wig to a meeting with someone that already knew him, had met him, particularly someone as cautious as ken. >> you have a deeply paranoid man ken dolezsar who is doing business with christopher and has met him. you don't think if christopher got into the car all wigged up that he would think that that was slightly strange? >> reporter: and if the eyewitness was right, the killer shot with his right hand. >> christopher is staggeringly left-handed. >> reporter: staggeringly left-handed. then there was the business of eye color. now, long after the event, the eyewitness was saying the killer had brilliant blue eyes but right after the murder -- >> i can't tell eye color but his eyes seemed more bulgy. >> reporter: he got more and more refined in each interview with the police. >> reporter: brilliant blue eyes? >> of course you can see brilliant nordic blue eyes from the side.

>> reporter: what about chris' suspiciously missing handgun, the one linked to the crime? bianca says she is certain chris did not use it to kill ken dolezsar that morning. impossible, she said, because he no longer had it. >> that gun i lost back in the summer. >> reporter: i lost? >> yeah. >> reporter: you just lost a gun? >> i have a horrible habit of losing stuff. >> reporter: before chris ever met ken dolezsar, she took some visiting british friends on a shooting excursion to the great salt lake. they finished at sunset. >> and i put down in little gun, this springfield on the ground right next to the bag, and i went to help somebody with something else. >> reporter: then she got distracted she said, packed up the rest of the gear, went home. and neither she nor chris ever saw that gun again. bianca's proof the gun was missing? this video made just over a day later by her british visitors who wanted to document their

uniquely american experience. and their video, there is no sign of a springfield armory 9 millimeter. >> i lost stuff constantly. it was a bone of contention between christopher and i. >> reporter: while the prosecution scoffed at bianca's lost gun story, her loft friends did not. >> if you knew sweet bianca, she accidentally threw her gorgeous wedding ring away. we had to dig it out of the garbage. i was standing there. she can be an absent-minded dingbat. >> reporter: but remember the day police searched the loft? >> they took apart my toaster. >> reporter: she was focused like a laser that day, said bianca, watching intently, she said, as an officer looked in the empty 9 millimeter gun case. >> i was sitting beside her. >> reporter: no test fired shell casing, she said. >> i don't mean to sound cynical, but i know it wasn't there. >> reporter: only possible conclusion, said bianca, it was

her accusation, the sandy police must have planted the shell casing in order to link chris' missing gun to the crime scene. you think it would be hard for people to accept the idea that this detective would do something as unethical as plant evidence. >> it was not there. i know that. >> reporter: the sandy police department categorically denied the accusation. but as those loft friends heard more of chris wright's side of the story from bianca, they became convinced he was innocent. >> there were so many parts of the the puzzle that were not adding up. >> reporter: unless, they reasoned, unless someone they knew very well wanted chris to take the fall. the dark suspicion wafted through the corridors of that old chocolate factory. perhaps police, they said, arrested the wrong neighbor. >> he had the perfect patsy in christopher. coming up -- the focus falls on another

resident as some wonder whether the right neighbor is under suspicion. >> we were astounded. and i remember saying to him, what? can my side be firm?

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story of the murder of ken dolezsar. it was planted just weeks after chris was arrested. loft residents dave and lisa mccammon were having dinner with their best friends the novaks. >> he announced we're moving. and we were astounded. i remember saying to him, what? you've put all this money into your loft, you've got all this investment here. why are you leaving? he said it's just time to go. >> reporter: he planned to be their great friend, socialable, gregarious, larger than life. then said neighbors once chris was arrest head seemed nervous. and now he was gone. and so they wondered, was david novak running from something? the loft friends began

re-examining all the stories david told them over the years, particularly about his criminal past. >> we started comparing notes and stories and wow, david told me a different version of that. >> reporter: they'd been lying, to put it rather bluntly. >> not the truth. >> reporter: the brief stint for mail fraud, turned out there was more to that store pep novak confessed to a con that played out like a cinematic thriller. he ran an insurance scam. then as it caught up with him, he attempted to escape by faking his own death. ditched his airplane in puget sound. >> he faked his death in order to avoid insurance audit. that was not a crime of passion. that was a crime of calculation. >> reporter: or so the loft friends believed. and if that was true, what might he have done here in salt lake? their suspicion only grew when the friends found out novak left town without mentioning it was he who fingered chris in that surveillance photo. did he ever tell you that i identified christopher? >> no, no. >> reporter: that prepaid cell phone was the very clue that led police to chris. a phone which chris bought, said bianca, after novak assured him --

>> novak said that this guy routinely used these throw-away phones. >> reporter: what's more, chris could not have left that voice mail because, by the time of the murder, she says, he'd given the phone away. >> he gave it to novak. >> reporter: and novak gave it to dolezsar. >> yes, yes. as far as we know. but novak, so we don't know anything. >> reporter: but now a theory about motive drifted from loft to loft. hadn't novak borrowed almost 2 million from ken? the friends said they watched him spend lavishly on high living and never saw evidence of that movie the loan was supposed to pay for. but really, was their old friend capable of orchestrating murder and pinning it on chris? >> there's one person that bragged about knowing russian mafia. >> how hard would it be to find somebody that looked like chris? and he introduced chris from the very beginning with that in mind of setting chris up. >> i know it sounds like a really dumb movie, but if you

had ever met novak, the man has a byzantine mind. >> reporter: she recalls all those supportive chats she had with novak after chris' arrest. >> turned out he was probably fishing for information. >> reporter: it reminded friend john fife of a conversation with novak one night after they dined together. john posed a question. he said, mostly in jest, of course, just hypothetical -- >> i said, david, have you ever contemplated committing the perfect murder? and he said yes. the key element to that is making sure that someone is caught and charged for the crime. once they have somebody, they'll stop looking, and that's how you can really get away. >> reporter: and now novak had taken off. and even though their questions didn't amount to hard evidence, of course, chris' defense attorneys wondered as they

prepare fofrd the trial, why the police had so readily dismissed novak as a suspect. dismissed him and a few other puzzling discoveries, like the one about ken's widow dee. remember, she was in prison at the time of his murder. when she first talked to police, she told them she had no idea her husband had a meeting the morning of his murder. no clue who he was meeting with. turns out, she was not telling the truth. >> hello? >> you have a call from an inmate. >> hello? >> hi, honey. >> reporter: it's standard procedure for prisons to record inmate's phone calls. this is ken talking to his wife dee before his murder. >> i'm actually meeting with my friend tomorrow at 7:00 a.m., go figure that out. >> oh, i love it. >> yeah, exactly.

so tomorrow morning 7:00 a.m. so tomorrow night i should know more. >> reporter: police confronted dee in prison. recorded the interview. in it she claimed the stress of losing her husband caused her to forget about that phone call. and then she dropped a bomb shell. she said she knew who the friend was ken was supposed to meet, and it wasn't chris wright. she never heard of him before. >> david novak. that's who i believe he was meeting. >> reporter: chris' defenders wanted to know why the police didn't seem to follow up on that or probe more deeply into all that tension of dee mowers' family. odd, all of it. the feeling to them that something was missing, that the case against chris simply didn't hold together. so as chris' trial finally got under way, bianca felt her husband was as good as home. >> it was just like brilliant, you know? they go away, they do their thing and they come back and i get my husband back. coming up -- chris wright makes his case to "dateline" taking on that voice mail message central to the

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

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chris wright's murder trial began in april 2010. it had been more than two years since ken dolezsar was shot dead in the village inn parking lot in sandy, utah. chris' defense did more than

challenge the evidence. it made a provocative claim, that chris wright was the victim of a conspiracy. a conspiracy hatched right here in the loft by former neighbor david novak to protect the real killer by setting up chris to take the fall. a conspiracy the prosecution brushed off as nonsense. >> you would have to believe, for it not to be chris wright, that it was somebody that looked like chris wright, sounded like chris wright, had the phone bought by chris wright, used the gun bought by chris wright, had chris wright's dna, had a

connection to ken dolezsar to find that it wasn't chris wright. >> reporter: but all of that claimed chris' defense the clever novak was quite capable of setting up. >> he could have it set from start to finish. >> reporter: like a chess move 20 moves ahead. >> yep. >> reporter: but that didn't explain the good samaritan eyewitness that sat in court and pointed his finger at chris wright. >> i'm very certain and clear of what i saw. i may not have told it initially off the bat under the full stress of what i saw, but i know what i saw and i know who i saw. >> reporter: except there is one person who said he is most certainly sure lee carlson is mistaken. chris wright himself. >> i will answer any question you want to ask. >> reporter: chris was jailed right after his arrest. he wanted to make his case to "dateline" in the flesh, but authorities wouldn't allow it so we talked to him on the phone. you say you didn't do it. >> i absolutely did not do it. >> reporter: we discussed all the allegations at length. he offered detailed and allegations of his own. that david novak is crooked and the only person who was innocent as the driven snow is you. >> it's not my fingerprints, it doesn't match my description, i had an alibi, i have no motive

and there's clearly a person who is pointing the finger at me who got $2 million. >> reporter: this is too cloak and dagger for a jury. >> i understand how difficult it t is to believe, but the alternative is that i just simply got up one day and decided to go shoot some poor person in a disguise. >> reporter: chris wanted to talk about that voice mail, the one that helped lure ken to his death, the voice mail detective carriger was sure was left by chris, though no voice analyst ever studied it. >> people who are going to watch your show are going to listen to my voice and they're going to listen to that recording, and i urge them to make their own decision. >> reporter: yeah, let's listen to it right now, all right? >> absolutely. go right ahead. >> reporter: ken, this is robert. talking to dave and he said we'll get to it pretty soon here. >> >> reporter: that is you, huh?

>> that is absolutely not me. >> reporter: the jury got the case in 2010. a jury that certainly heard about but never saw the mysterious david novak. so did they buy the prosecutor's evidence or bianca's explanations, her alibi for chris? >> i was concerned because i'd been told that sometimes it can be a crap shoot was the phrase that was used. >> reporter: the jury deliberated for 11 hours, and the verdict -- guilty. >> i can't even begin to explain. it's like the bottom falls out of your world. and he wouldn't let me hug him. you know. sorry. just give me a sec. >> reporter: that's all right. take your time. >> crying is not acceptable. >> reporter: and why is that? >> because i'm english. >> reporter: but for ken's

friends, at least matt beaudry, the verdict was vindication. >> he looks like a smug killer. and a jury of his peers listened to all the evidence and with that weighty choice decided that he was. i'm satisfied with that. >> reporter: chris wright is serving a sentence of 15 to life. he is preparing an appeal, hoping for a new trial. a long shot at best. and david novak? he's not been charged with or accused by the police of anything. though whether or not authorities want to talk to him is less clear. you know where he is? >> i don't know where he is, no. >> reporter: are your people trying to track him down? >> well part of the rules i'm constrained by is i don't speak with ongoing investigation ors the existence of ongoing investigations. >> reporter: but if law enforcement is mum about david novak, ken dolezsar's widow is not. out of prison since 2008, dee mower has filed a wrongful death

lawsuit against novak. a suit that alleges a third theory that novak paid chris wright $25,000 to kill ken dolezsar. novak has yet to answer the suit, has not shown up for a single hearing. these attorneys claim they can't find him. they've asked for a default judgment. back in the loft, his friends imagine the worst about their former friend and neighbor, the missing david novak. what would you advise him to do if you could talk to him? >> talk to you guys, tell the story. >> if you have nothing to hide. >> refute me. tell me why what i'm saying is not correct. we used to be friends. i'm more than willing to hear what you have to say, david. >> reporter: so where is he? turned out david novak wasn't so hard to find after all. in fact, here he is near his

last known post-loft address, an upscale neighborhood in a certain northwestern city. didn't look like a man on the run. just a guy getting a coffee with his wife at starbucks, of course. he just isn't answering calls or e-mails from his former loft friends. and he didn't want to talk to "dateline," telling us over the phone he was not involved in ken's murder, has been cleared by the police and anyone who says otherwise is a liar and liable to be sued. bring it on, he said. so is chris wright a liar? bianca an unwitting or perhaps willing accomplice? some people are surprised that you stayed because you could go. >> i wouldn't leave a dog in christopher's situation. i mean, you don't leave someone you never left when you loved them, you don't leave them. i will work until my dying day to make sure he is -- that his name is cleared. yeah. >> reporter: wait for him as long as you have to?

>> yep. no problem. >> reporter: and out in suburban sandy, utah, the case still resonates around the shiny new courthouse. where ada josh player struggled with his emotions a bit as he told us he's sure he did not send an innocent man to prison but rather achieved justice for everyone. incht was glad for the family of the victim. >> reporter: you take this stuff to heart, don't you? >> i do. i do. >> reporter: and while they stand on opposite sides of that chasm between innocence and guilt, there's no dispute about the man whose life was lost. ken dolezsar was a man who loved a woman, just as chris loved bianca, who loved hockey, loved helping kids and tried to do right by all that money, which is mostly still around, though

he is not. that's all for this edition of "dateline." we'll see you next friday at i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> my mother called and said misch he had is dead. how is that possible? >> a young mother found brutally murdered. her little girl left to wander in her mother's blood. the police had a suspect and they say he had a motive. >> we had an intimate relation health care plan. >> ended up having sex. >> but could they prove he was the killer? >> it was a circumstantial case. >> except for that witness. the girl who left those footprints. >> we'll never know what she saw

and didn't see. >> maybe she couldn't tell who detectives who the killer was, but maybe she didn't have to. >> the fact that cassidy was spared, will that mean anything to a jury? >> the person that killed the mother cared about cassidy. hello and welcome to "dateline extra." a young mother was beaten to death in her own bedroom. the investigation would reveal a troubled marriage but her husband was a a. way on business and unraveling this complicated case would take years. here's keith morrison with "silent witness." >> i think i paused for a second and had had to take a deep

breath. and just the reality of what was going on would sink in. >> reporter: those who saw the footprints will not forget them. they were tiny and they were bloody. >> i had to get my composure to finish searching this house to make sure there was nobody else in the house. >> reporter: it was the third of november 2006, early afternoon. scott earp was the wait county sheriff's deputy dispatched to a quiet leafy neighborhood called enchanted oaks on the outskirts of raleigh, north carolina. here because of the 911 call from this place, on birchfield drive. >> i think my sister is dead. >> tell me what happened. >> i have no idea. >> the caller was meredith fisher. she had just discovered on the floor of the master bedroom the savagely beaten body of her elder sister, 29-year-old michelle young, a woman who in death was about to be famous. >> listen to me, ma'am. i'll tell you what you have to do. you need to calm down so we can help you. you said there's blood everywhere? listen to me ma'am. >> i'm listening. >> is she breathing? >> i don't think so.

>> have you checked? >> no. she's cold. >> okay. >> reporter: as she spoke, meredith was cradling her 2 1/2-year-old niece, cassidy, who crawled out from under the bed clothes on her parents' bed, just feet from where her mother lay. cassidy's voice chattering to her aunt was caught on the recorded call. >> she's got booboos everywhere. >> had cassidy witnessed the murder, awakened alone to find this? >> you just picture a small child walking around in this blood and tracking it across the hallway over into the bathroom. >> reporter: by now, wake county investigators were descending on the house. and having secured the crime scene, earp's job was done. but on his way out he saw cassidy again. she was still in her pink pajamas, still in meredith's arms. he asked meredith a question. >> i looked over at the child. i didn't see any blood. so i asked her, did you clean the child? and her response was no.

i thought it was kind of odd because i was expecting her to say yes, i guess. >> reporter: somebody did? >> yeah, somebody did. >> but who? was it the same person who murdered the little girl's mother? on this november day, all they had were questions. rich spivey, then a sergeant with the wake county sheriff's office, probably knows the case better than anyone. >> i mean, this was just a brutal, vicious beating. there was a lot of time and energy invested into this assault. >> reporter: why do you say a lot of time and energy? >> i think the medical examiner told us there was over 30 blows with some sort of blunt object. >> reporter: so detectives started investigating the victim and everyone else around her. michelle young was born and raised on long island, new york. >> she was smiling all the time. and she was the life of the party. >> reporter: stacia grossman knew her from childhood. >> she didn't like being the center of attention, but she liked creating a great atmosphere for everyone to have a great time.

>> reporter: michelle was a cheerleader in high school and a straight-a student. jennifer powers felt drawn to her. >> she had this kind of bookworm side to her where she was very studious and goal-oriented. i mean, she was also just a great person to be around, a fun, happy spirit. and, you know, someone i wanted to spend a lot of time with. >> reporter: lots of people did. and when she chose a college far from home, north carolina state, she was soon surrounded again by an admiring group of women friends, best friends, buddies. fiona childs was her sorority big sister. >> there is this one picture. and it's like -- it just came out beautiful. we liked it. because we felt like we kind of looked like charlie's angels, posed, without intentionally doing that. >> reporter: it was sometime in 2001 when friends started hearing about michelle's new guy, a fellow student named jason young, heard how he'd grown up in the north carolina mountains, how he loved to camp,

how he was the life of tailgate parties. michelle fell hard and fast. >> they seemed like a good couple. he was different from other men she had dated in the past. he wasn't as serious about a career as she was. he was a little bit less sophisticated than michelle was. but she seemed to be very happy with him. >> reporter: michelle and jason married in october 2003. the day after the wedding they shared their big secret. michelle was pregnant. their daughter cassidy was born early the next year. >> mwah! >> i love you, mommy. >> i love you too, cassidy. ♪ twinkle, twinkle >> reporter: and when she came along it was love at first sight. ♪ how i wonder what you are >> yay! >> reporter: michelle was an enthusiastic mother. >> huh? >> huh? >> huh? >> huh? >> by all accounts, jason was a good dad. >> he was a great playmate.

he knew how to sit on the floor and play with his daughter, you know? >> reporter: the youngs moved into the big fine house on birchleaf in 2005. both of them worked. he a salesman. she a financial specialist. in the summer of 2006 michelle got pregnant again. they kept the news to themselves, but it was clear something good was happening. >> the comment he said to me was he's excited to have another baby. not implying she was pregnant. but he was excited at the prospect of it. >> but just a few months later michelle was dead. jason was 170 miles away in virginia on a business trip the night of the murder. he heard the news the next afternoon and returned to raleigh. stacia grossman got word from her mother. >> my mother called and says "michelle's dead." i said, "michelle who? some celebrity? like what are you talking about? what do you mean, how is that possible? what happened?"

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the facts were stark and ugly. one night in november 2006, while her husband was away on business, michelle young was attacked in her own bedroom and brutally beaten to death. her body discovered the next day by her sister meredith along with her 2 1/2-year-old daughter cassidy, who had been left to wander in her blood. for the investigators who set out to find her killer, no way to get those little footprints out of their minds. sergeant richard spivey, lead investigator. >> those of us that work in law enforcement, this is our profession, but we're also parents. that certainly strikes a different note with you when you see something like that. >> michelle's husband jason, a medical software salesman, was 170 miles away the night of the murder. even so, investigators had to look at him. >> we know he was the last person to talk to michelle that night. and he was also the reason why she was found. he called meredith fisher to go to the house. >> reporter: jason young's business trip that night was

routine. security tape showed him getting gas, 7:30 p.m. as he left raleigh. two hours later he was seen on tape at a cracker barrel restaurant in greensboro. later he checked into this hampton inn in hillsdale, virginia. this is him front desk. about 11:00 p.m. and him again at midnight. he also made a phone call around midnight. and that was the last time anybody heard from jason young until he made another call at 7:40 the next morning. >> a normal person would look at this and say he was 170 miles away. he's got an alibi. >> that sounds like a great distance, you know? but 170 miles you can get between the crime scene and the hotel in about 2 1/2 hours. >> reporter: perhaps. but there were curious anomalies at the crime scene. couldn't explain them. a jewelry box was missing two drawers. so was it a bungled burglary? then there were footprints near the body that seemed to eliminate jason. an obvious print on the pillow

was a size 10. but jason wore a size 12. but this was weird. there was another partial footprint. it defied easy identification, so they began calling in shoe experts. and now they wondered were there two attackers? of course, investigators discovered early on michelle and jason's marriage was strained. and in the last weeks of michelle's life, things were not good. >> at our friend shelley's wedding he was so drunk. just really out of it. when we got to the wedding, our friends were letting us know that michelle and jason were fighting and they were referring to it as world war iii. >> jennifer powers told investigators about another fight that october. michelle wanted her mother to stay with them for the holidays. and jason, who had a tense relationship with his mother-in-law, wanted to limit her stay. and said so in an e-mail.

along with another nugget. >> he wrote, "our marriage has seen better days and i don't see it trending up." i remember that really striking a chord with me. because i didn't know that their marriage had seen better days. >> reporter: so of course investigators wanted to interview jason young. maybe he could tell them something. but he refused to talk to them. >> he talked to the lawyer. and then under the advice of counsel he declined to speak with us at all. >> reporter: didn't ask about it? didn't ask how his wife died? >> no. >> reporter: perhaps, investigators thought, that business trip deserved a second look. so they want to the hotel, poked around and discovered some odd activities that night in a stairwell near an exit. >> there was a camera there that had been unplugged. >> really? >> yes. it was one of the side exits for the hotel. one of the fire stairs that go down to the first floor.

>> reporter: was there any other tampering done? >> the door that was adjacent to where the camera was located, that door also had been propped open that night. >> how do you know that? >> the gentleman working as the clerk that night found a rock that had been placed in the door to keep the door from closing. >> well, then they plugged the camera back in, so it's now working again. and at about 6:35 that morning suddenly that camera is pointing straight at the ceiling. >> same camera? >> same camera. and it's tampered with yet again. >> reporter: if that was jason young's work, is it possible he did make the 340-mile round trip? could he have killed his wife and cleaned up his daughter all in 7 1/2 hours without ever being seen? to find out, investigators played a hunch. they visited every gas station along the route. showed jason's photo, talked to the night clerks. and came across a woman named gracie doms in a tiny place

called king, north carolina. she took one look at that photograph and recognized it instantly. he was the foul-mouthed customer, she said, who came into the store to complain that the pumps were locked. and what time was it? 5:30 a.m., morning of the murder. >> there was actually an altercation between the two of them. so you have a reason why she would remember him as opposed to any other customer that may have just happened into the store. >> reporter: if that attendant was right, investigators may have undercut jason's alibi. still, it wasn't enough. so they plodded ahead, painstaking work, took time. and then, years after the murder, they finally got a match for that partial footprint. >> the state bureau of investigation and the fbi were able to eventually identify that shoe as a hush puppy orbital shoe, size 12, which was the same size that he wore.

>> reporter: throughout the investigation, jason steadfastly maintained his silence. and rather than face a legal battle where he'd be asked some tough questions, spivey said, he even gave michelle's family custody of his daughter. >> everyone that we spoke with, all of them talked about how much he loved cassidy and what a great dad he was. to just turn over primary custody, that was -- that was very surprising. >> reporter: investigators had heard enough. they believed they had a case. circumstantial, but a case. and three years after michelle young's body was found on the bedroom floor, jason young was charged with her murder. investigators and prosecutors knew that very little pointed directly toward jason young, but so far nothing pointed away. coming up, the case against jason young as an alleged killer and as a cheating husband. >> we basically just hung out at

the house and we had an intimate relationship for the two days that he was there. and we ended up having sex. >> he never settled down. >> when "silent witness" continues. nothing lasts longer and treats more symptoms for your cough, cold and flu. robitussin. because it's never just a cough.

>> reporter: jason young went on trial for the murder of his pregnant wife, michelle, in june 2011. by then he'd spent 18 months in a jail cell. the guy who lived for tailgates. the guy who loved to party, that guy was long gone.

becky holt was the prosecutor who opened for the state. >> the defendant had a plan. his plan was to murder his wife. his plan was to get away with it. >> reporter: with no murder weapon found, the prosecution's case was built on that partial shoe print. they knew now that jason once owned a pair of hushpuppies like these that matched the print. they were now missing. they also told jurors about the early morning visit to the gas station and the suspicious activity at the hotel, but the thrust of their case was this. jason young was trying in the most violent possible way to get out of a troubled marriage. >> were you aware of tensions in that marriage? >> yeah. i was well aware. >> reporter: meredith fisher, michelle's sister, lived near the couple. and for a period was cassidy's nanny. as the youngs' fights intensified, she took on the role of marriage counselor too. >> what would you say were the main issues? >> michelle's main issues were jason being more responsible,

understanding her more, and his main concern was their lack of sex life. >> reporter: prosecutors called friends to the stand to paint a picture of a marriage that was unraveling, out loud and in public. >> jason made it very well known that, you know, he was upset about the lack of sex in the relationship. >> reporter: and at parties, said fiona childs, jason's x-rated tricks were famously over the top. >> i never observed it myself. i would just hear about it. and you know, he would expose himself and do what he thought was these funny tricks. and i was always just rather embarrassed for michelle. >> he never settled down. it was as if he was still living the single life, that he never bought into the marriage. what that -- what all that meant. >> reporter: in october 2006, when michelle was four months pregnant, jason became deeply involved with another woman.

and not just any woman. michelle money was one of michelle young's close friends from college. one of those charlie's angels. in early october, days before his third wedding anniversary, jason flew to florida to see michelle money. she testified they both knew it was wrong. >> we basically just hung out at the house and we had an intimate relationship for the two days that he was there. >> reporter: jason was crazy about her. his friend josh dalton said. >> he basically told me that he thought was in love with her. >> reporter: michelle's mother, linda fisher, testified in the final weeks of michelle's life she could see the toll the failing marriage was taking on her pregnant daughter. >> she had her head on my lap. and she was lying down. and i was stroking her hair.

and -- and she was empty. >> what did she tell you? >> things weren't working out with jason. was murdered, michelle phoned her sister meredith to report yet another blowup with jason. >> she was just, "i've had it." she said, "you know, more than one time, i just can't do this anymore." >> reporter: jason was telling one of his close friends the same thing. and prosecutors said just days before michelle was murdered, he had indulged in one last transgression. a casual hook-up with an old friend named carol ann sauerby in his own living room. michelle was away at the time. >> cassidy was put down to bed. and had a couple drinks. just were talking.

and we ended up having sex. >> reporter: but divorce was apparently not an option for jason. >> he had made a statement at one time that he was afraid if he ever got a divorce that michelle would take cassidy and move back to new york. >> and did he indicate to you that he would have concerns about ever being able to see cassidy again? >> correct. >> reporter: one question remained. was a good time guy like jason young even capable of murder? genevieve cargol was engaged to jason in 1999 before he met michelle. she took the stand to testify about a fight they had over jason's excessive drinking. >> he became agitated. he said something to the effect of if i'm going to make such a terrible husband then give me my ring back. >> did you give it to the defendant? >> no. he began trying to pull the ring off.

and it wouldn't come off. he was throwing me from one bed to the other and jumping on me with all his weight and pinning my arms, both of them, behind me. >> reporter: prosecutors hoped to convince the jury it all added up to a motive for murder. so how would the defense counterattack? with a witness who could refute every charge. coming up, jason young finally breaks his silence as he takes the stand to testify. >> did you kill your wife, michelle? >> no, sir. >> were you there when it happened? >> no, sir. >> when "silent witness" continues. d a solution. introducing... smartdogs. the first dogs trained to train humans. stopping drivers from: liking. selfie-ing. and whatever this is. available to the public... never. smartdogs are not the answer. but geico has a simple tip.

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dead after a plane carryinging 100 passenger and crew crashed during takeoff. and police are searching for a person that was shooting at a mall. welcome back to "dateline." jason young was on trial for the murder of his wife. he was trying to get out of an unhappy marriage. they called two of jason's lovers to the stand, women, who share the details of their extramarital affairs. but the defense had a star witness of its own. after five long years, jason young was about to break his silence. here again is keith morrison with silent witness. >> what the prosecution didn't tell you. >> there's an art to the business of criminal defense and it would take a true artist to

repaint the prosecution's dark portrait of jason young. so what could defense attorney mike clinkelson do? well, to begin with, he told the jury, he agreed with the prosecution. jason young was not a good husband. >> he acted at times like an immature jerk. but that does not make him a killer. >> reporter: the defense was not about to make any more concessions, mind you. that jewelry box in the bedroom, there was dna on it. didn't match either michelle or jason. the suspicious activity at the hotel? there was a fingerprint on that camera and it wasn't jason young's. and there wasn't any forensic evidence that tied jason to the crime scene. there was no blood in his car. there was not a scratch on him. >> ladies and gentlemen, jason lynn young did not murder his wife. he did not murder their unborn son. and this case has not been solved. >> reporter: who better to make

the argument than jason young himself. but so far, remember, he had never said a word to anyone about that november night. and almost five years silence. >> it is always a big decision for defense attorneys whether or not to call their clients. >> reporter: beth carris is a former prosecutor and legal analyst. she covered the trial. >> this is a case that really begged for jason young to testify. if he is innocent. >> reporter: after all this time. >> if he is truly innocent, get on the stand and tell the story. >> we call jason young. >> reporter: with his mother in the front row, jason young prepared to do just that. defense attorney brian collins hit it hard off the top. >> did you kill your wife, michelle? >> no, sir. >> were you there when it happened? >> no, sir. >> reporter: what about jason's missing hushpuppies that match the partial shoe print? he no longer owned them, he said. >> are those the shoes you had on on november the 2nd? >> no, sir. >> reporter: they were all ratty-e said. told michelle to give them to goodwill.

as for the night of the murder, after he checked into the hotel, he left his room twice. the first time to get a power cord for his laptop. >> i was going over the sales call i had the next day. >> reporter: the second trip he testified was to smoke a cigar. >> i had to go outside to smoke the cigar. i also wanted to look at some sports schedules and some standings and so i wanted to see if i could pick up the "usa today" as well. >> reporter: that newspaper run explained why he was seen at the front desk he said around midnight. >> between the time you smoked the cigar, went back upstairs and went to sleep, did you leave that room until the next morning? >> no, sir. >> reporter: the next morning after his sales call jason testified he realized he'd left some ebay printouts sitting on the computer printer at home. they showed purses. he was thinking of buying one for michelle as a belated anniversary present. >> i realized i didn't bring the papers.

>> why was it important to you somebody get the papers? >> because i wanted it to be a surprise. a surprise to michelle means so much more than anything. >> reporter: so around noon november 3rd he called his sister-in-law meredith from the car to ask if she'd go to the house and get those ebay papers. >> friday november 3rd. >> he left meredith a voicemail. >> could you go over there and see if you can find them on the computer? >> reporter: then he headed to his mother's place in the mountains nearby. and it was there, he testified, hours later that he learned michelle had been murdered. >> i just fell. i just -- i just broke on the inside. i just broke and i didn't believe it. >> reporter: family members drove him back to raleigh. during the drive, he said his friends called. >> ryan and josh had said that the investigators were asking really ugly questions and

pointing their finger at me and doing things like that. they said you don't need to talk to anybody. you need to got a lawyer before you talk to anybody. >> reporter: and then the explanation for his long silence. >> the lawyer that i got after talking with him, he actually advised me to not go talk to the police. >> did you take that advice? >> yes, sir, i did. >> did he also tell you not to talk to anybody about that? >> that's exactly what he said. he said don't talk to anybody about anything. >> the defense also addressed the motives prosecutors had laid out that jason wanted to escape a bad marriage and keep custody of cassidy and spend time with his new love. >> did you have any designs in your own mind of leaving michelle young for michelle money? >> no, sir. >> describe why not. >> i think we both knew it was wrong. i don't think either one dreamed that it would ever be found out.

>> pushing me around. >> as for the violent episode with his ex-fiancee, jason had an explanation for it. >> did you throw her around on the bed like she said? >> no, sir. what i did was wrong. i did pin her down and i took the ring. >> okay. what was your level of intoxication at that time? >> i was very intoxicated. but i don't feel like that is an excuse for what i did. >> reporter: and they questioned him about the most important woman in his life. >> did you want to stay married to michelle? >> yes, i did. i wanted to have -- have another baby and i wanted the family to grow. >> reporter: he also explained why he gave up custody of his daughter without a fight. >> were you able to afford a lawyer for a full-blown custody battle? >> no, sir, i had -- due to the media and some of the internet website, the job that i had, i lost it. >> reporter: his testimony

lasted three hours. >> jason young was a very good witness. he understood what he had to do when he was on the stand. >> reporter: so he didn't come off as contrived or phony? like he had put this together very carefully in order to account for all of the evidence that they had? >> he had access to police reports. all of the discovery. he knew the state's vulnerabilities. and so he could arguably tailor his testimony to fit with an innocent explanation. >> reporter: how did jason young do? 12 jurors were about to decide. coming up, the prosecutor gets her chance to go one-on-one with jason young. >> coming up -- >> were you working on your marriage when you were having sex with carolyn sauerby in your home? >> when "silent witness" continues. man: sneezes skip to the good part with alka-seltzer plus. now with 25% more concentrated power.

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>> reporter: it was riveting. almost five years of silence about his wife's murder broken here in this courtroom. >> i love cassidy. and i loved michelle. >> and then he went to murder his wife. >> reporter: now prosecutor becky holt began pulling apart a story she was just hearing for the first time. >> were you working on your marriage when you were having sex with caroline sauerby in your home less than two weeks before your wife was murdered? >> no, ma'am, that was not the way to work on a marriage. that was very detrimental.

>> were you working on your marriage when you called michelle money? >> michelle anided aot in each other. and we talked about my issues with my wife. and she talked about her issues with her husband. >> so is the answer yes, when you had an affair with michelle money that you were working on your marriage? >> no, ma'am. having the sexual intercourse and having the intimacy was very detrimental to that. >> reporter: the cross-examination lasted a full hour. and the next day the case went to the jury. >> retire to the jury deliberation room. >> reporter: it soon became clear jurors were having trouble. >> bailiff indicated that y'all have not yet reached a unanimous decision. >> reporter: the jurors were split 6-6. the judge sent them back to try to make it unanimous. >> everybody else remain. jurors leave first. thank you. >> reporter: but hours later they were back. and courtroom 3c was still. >> it appears that they are hopelessly deadlocked at this point. >> reporter: eight jurors had voted for acquittal.

four voted guilty. judge stephens declared a mistrial. was serious consideration given to dropping the case? >> i think there was serious consideration as to is there more we can do. >> reporter: so the prosecutors decided they would try again. but this time with the one thing they didn't have the first time. jason's own story. the second trial began in february 2012. this time howard cummings led the prosecution, hoping to use jason's own words to convict him. >> put your left hand on the bible, raise your right hand. >> reporter: but first prosecutors called that night clerk at the gas station, gracie, who remembered jason complaining about the locked pumps. >> when he came in to pay, he started cussing and raising cain. >> what time did this happen? >> that was about 5:00, 5:30 in the morning. the time jason said he was at the hotel. >> call your next witness.

>> reporter: then prosecutors had new witnesses and new testimony. they wanted jurors to hear about cassidy, whose bloody footprints they contended made her a silent witness to murder. >> when i got to cassidy, i said what are you doing? >> day care worker ashley pomentier took the stand. >> i noticed what she was doing. >> reporter: she told jurors she watched cassidy playing alone, days after her murder was murdered. >> she had the chair and the doll in her hand together. and then the mommy doll in the other hand. and she just hit them. >> reporter: as unsettling as it was, the prosecutors wanted jurors to know the killer had left a silent witness behind. a witness he would never harm. the fact that cassidy was spared, did that mean anything to you? or would that mean anything to a jury? >> certainly. it meant that the person that killed the mother, we felt, cared about cassidy. >> i do.

>> thank you. you may be seated. >> reporter: fiona childs took the stand. prosecutors pressed her about a life insurance policy jason arranged. >> it did raise a red flag -- >> reporter: and michelle questioned. >> that she brought up specifically her life insurance. she brought it up several times, asking me did i think a million dollars was too much and did they really need that. >> reporter: after michelle died, fiona found out the true amount of the policy was actually $4 million. >> i was just like in total shock. that is incredibly excessive. >> reporter: and prosecutors also told the jury about civil lawsuits against jason brought by michelle's mother and sister. one was a wrongful death case filed in 2008, a year before he was charged with murder. over the defense's objection, court clerk lauren freeman testified about that lawsuit. >> there is an alleged paragraph, paragraph 6, again reading verbatim from the record, "in the early morning hours of november 3rd, 2006,

jason young brutally murdered michelle young at their residence." >> reporter: freeman went on to testify that jason never responded to the allegations. and that led to a default judgment against him. that judgment said jason killed his wife. >> a default judgment does not mean the facts alleged in the civil complaint are true. it does not mean he's guilty. and the judge at the criminal trial told the jury that in his instructions. however, when you hear the statement "jason young brutally murdered his wife but that doesn't mean he's guilty, folks." hello. you know? >> reporter: and the prosecutor made sure the jury heard just who signed that ruling. >> i'm reading from this judgment which is signed actually by judge stephens. >> reporter: judge stephens, the very judge sitting before them in this trial. >> the jury hearing that, it's just something that's going to carry a lot of weight. >> this is the complaint that

was filed in december seeking custody of cassidy. >> reporter: prosecutors also called the attorney involved in that custody case over daughter cassidy, and those same allegations were repeated yet again. >> the jury heard several times through these two civil complaints that jason young brutally murdered michelle fisher young. >> reporter: but the headline came when prosecutors played jason young's entire testimony from the first trial -- >> i wanted her to have that. >> reporter: -- and began to rip it apart. >> i don't remember. >> reporter: prosecutors tried to show that jason's call to meredith to pick up those e-bay printouts was merely a ploy to get her to discover the body and find cassidy. why else would he print an e-bay auction ad leave it on the printer and hit the road where he couldn't bid during the actual auction? they called sergeant spivey to the stand. >> that auction was going to end 8:00 p.m. eastern standard time. >> what day was that?

>> that was on november 2nd, 2006. >> reporter: just hours before the murder. now prosecutors tried to prove jason lied about his reasons for leaving the hotel room. >> i didn't pull the door all the way -- >> reporter: in his original testimony, he told the court he left the first time to get a power cord for his laptop. >> why was it that you wanted to look on your laptop? >> i was going over the sales call that i had the next day. >> reporter: but special agent mike smith took the stand to say young didn't use his laptop for work that night. >> this is an internet site dedicated to sports. >> reporter: jason said he went out a second time to smoke a cigar. but prosecutors contended jason was a fierce anti-smoker and the weather that night was freezing, windy. >> can you tell me whether or not there was ever any substantial outerwear that the defendant either had in his luggage or was wearing? >> no, sir. there was a suit jacket. >> okay.

>> that was the only outerwear that i'm aware of. >> reporter: jason chose not to testify this time. but the defense fought back of course. they argued the gas station attendant's memory couldn't be trusted because of a childhood brain injury. >> i've had memory problems since '06 because i've been through a lot with myself and my kids and my ex-husband. >> reporter: the defense also argued the case really wasn't solved. that there was no physical evidence to prove jason was the killer. >> there wasn't one scratch on mr. young. >> reporter: that he never would have had time to make the trip and commit murder, that he didn't have the mind-set of a killer. and that cigar, it showed that jason young actually owned a humidor and he'd once made a purchase at a cigar store. >> you have ample evidence before you that jason young is not guilty. >> reporter: and then it was over again. and time for another jury to consider whether jason young would go to jail or walk out of court a free man.

coming up, the verdict take two. >> we, the jury, by unanimous verdict find the defendant, jason lynn young, to be -- >> when "silent witness" continues. if your dishwasher doesn't get dishes completely dry... try finish jet-dry. it dries 100% better than detergent alone - even plastics. get dishes drier than you ever thought possible. try finish jet-dry.

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you know, i didn't know all the evidence. i didn't know half the things i know now. but i felt that way. >> one jury failed to decide. and now attorneys were making their final arguments to a second jury. >> be mad at him. hate him if you want to. but when you look at the physical evidence in this case, it does not match up. it does not match up to jason having killed his wife and unborn son. >> 30 blows? that's not from a stranger. that is a mad, mad domestic abuser. >> reporter: soon that jury was behind closed doors in the wake county superior court. after two days, they were back with a verdict. >> we the jury by unanimous verdict find the defendant jason lynn young to be guilty of the first degree murder of michelle -- >> reporter: guilty. first-degree murder. jason young didn't flinch. behind him his mother was equally stoic.

on the other side of the court, michelle young's bereaved mother and sister wept. fiona at home got the news from a friend. they said, "he's guilty." i was like, "what? what?" >> reporter: jason young received a life sentence. chose not to address the court. even as the bailiffs led him away, he remained expressionless. the prosecutors were, they told us, relieved. >> i was very emotional. you have family members there who you've been working with for 5 1/2 years. and they finally had justice, you know? >> we have been telling them for years, just trust. just trust that it'll be the right result. >> reporter: but was it? a year and a half ticked by. and then this. >> attorneys for jason young demanding a new trial saying the trial that led to his conviction had significant errors.

>> reporter: december 2013. jason young's new attorneys launched his appeal. >> who is the killer? is jason young the person responsible for ms. young's death? and you know, it seems fundamentally unfair. >> reporter: what was fundamentally unfair? remember during the trial, the attorney pointed out, the prosecution introduced testimony about those civil cases against jason brought by michelle's family. they accused jason of murder. >> jason young brutally murdered michelle young. >> the defendant brutally murdered michelle marie fisher young. >> reporter: way out of bounds, said the attorney. the jury should not have been allowed to hear about any of that. outside the court, michelle's sister meredith predicted the appeal would be thrown out. >> the jury came to the right verdict. we are confident it will stay. >> reporter: but she was wrong. >> a raleigh man is getting a third trial in the death of his pregnant wife. >> reporter: in april 2014 the

north carolina court of appeals granted jason a new trial. but a year later the state supreme court reversed the appeals court decision. and in 2017 yet another attempt by jason young to get a third trial, this time on grounds his defense team was ineffective, was also denied. >> that law says you can't use a civil allegation as proof in a criminal case sfwlchlt a year later the state supreme court reversed at pales court decision and in 2017, yet another attempt by jason young to get a third trial. this time on grounds his defense team was ineffective and was also denied. >> i love you, mommy. >> i love you too, cassidy. >> reporter: but children know little of the arcane world of motions and appeals. cassidy has grown. her father, her mother, snatches of memory, ever farther away.

>> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> everything just began to shake. i just kept asking where is she, have you seen her? i wouldn't know what i'd do without her. >> it looked like the world was ending. >> growing um in indiana, tsunamis and earthquakes are the things you only see in hollywood films. >> he was sure his world had ended. the love of his life was missing. >> that feeling that she's not all right began growing as each minute went by. >> strangers in a strange land