she was family. a giant hole was ripped in our hearts. the first thing you want is, well, the police are going to get the bad guys, right? happened. >> professor, artist, mom murdered.

>> a primal scream came out of me. >> she just immediately broke down. started crying pretty hard. >> police were quick to question her ex. maybe too quick. >> they focused in right from the very beginning. >> husband always does it, right? >> but what if the husband didn't? >> you don't find any dna, fingerprints, blood, anything of his in the house. >> could someone else be the real killer? >> i'm wondering what was this man capable of? >> so much tragedy and so much heartbreak. >> it was very emotional for me. >> we just kept waiting for them to figure out that they had it wrong. it was the 2nd of july, 2008. early evening in a fine old town called prescott, arizona.

sun going down, air cooling down to a fine evening warm. here at the town's historic rodeo grounds, refugees from the summer heat in phoenix two hours and 25 degrees away settled into the stands to enjoy the annual exploits of the cowboys. at the very same time, a few miles away on the edge of town, a woman named carol kennedy jogged along a well-worn path at the base of granite mountain. sometime after 7:00 she turned in at herbig backyard here on a street called bridle path. trotted past the stone labyrinth she'd laid out here years earlier to mark the turn of the millennium. and arrived at the backdoor of the house she intended to inhabit for the rest of her natural days. but of course, carol kennedy had no idea that this was going to be her last day. and, no, it would not be natural at all. >> it's the biggest loss of my

life to this day. it's profound. it's piercing. it's constant. >> reporter: carol kennedy was in, as they say, a "good place" in her life. this is her friend katherine morris. >> carol was the epitome of kindness and living a life from a perspective of having an open heart and being loving. >> reporter: before she became a close friend, katherine morris was carol's student at prescott college. >> she was very well respected and admired. her classes were always full. very difficult to get into. >> what was she like? >> she was magnetic. and she was always sort of searching for the truth. and you just were gravitated to her. >> charisma that kind of pulled her students in, especially maybe you. uh-huh, uh-huh. she was soft and inviting. >> i'm carol kennedy. i live in prescott, arizona. >> reporter: you get a sense of her personality in this

2006 interview, in which she was asked about her passion for teaching. >> such a gift to feel like you get to give seeds to this first row here and then they turn around and give it to rows behind them. >> reporter: and in fact she shared those passions with the man who was her husband for 25 years. love of her life, really, steve democker. >> they were crazy for each other. >> reporter: sharon democker is steve's sister. >> carol was really easy to love. she was kind of a natural fit in the family. she was just immediately a sister to all of us. >> reporter: all of us being the democker family. high achievers, all of them. sharon is a doctor. >> it's an accomplished bunch. one of my friends said, "there's not a weak link in this group." >> reporter: carol and steve got married in his parents' backyard overlooking lake ontario, near rochester, new york. an outdoor wedding for a couple who loved adventure. >> steve was the one that kind

of started the adventuring side of things. first there was hiking and skiing and mountain climbing and kayaking. >> reporter: they moved around a bit, as people do, and wound up eventually in prescott, which proved to be the perfect place to raise their two bright, attractive daughters, katie and charlotte. >> they're amazing. i think that it's really a testimony to the kind of parents that steve and carol were, that their girls were their first priority. >> reporter: steve became the dean of prescott college. carol taught psychology there. but life is a river. never the same for long. steve decided to change careers. left the academic life, became a financial advisor. very successful too. and there were other changes. more difficult ones. >> nobody knows all of what goes on inside a marriage. but i did talk with both of them about it. and -- they both struggled because their lives were moving in different directions.

>> reporter: and, much as they still cared for each other, there were infidelities. steve had an affair. they decided to separate. >> carol loved steve fiercely. she fought hard for her marriage until the end. >> reporter: but in 2008, after more than 25 years of marriage, five living apart, steve and carol divorced. it was a long, painful process and after it was final, carol went to a nearby lake where she called katherine. >> she was sobbing. and at first when she called me it was like, "oh, oh no." and then i realized that the -- that the sobbing and the wailing on the phone was a -- it was a mixture of things. >> it was cathartic. >> yeah. absolutely. >> reporter: time for a fresh start. carol had left teaching by that time, was focused on a new passion, painting. >> her art was developing. she was really doing well with that and taking off with that. >> reporter: of course she

remained close to her daughters, but she also stayed close to steve. and in fact, just a few days before that july morning, the whole family went to the airport together, to see katie off on a study abroad trip to south africa. charlotte was staying with her dad in prescott. nothing ahead now but the long, easy days of summer. as she jogged the last few yards to her house, carol passed by the guest cottage she'd rented out as a way to help pay her expenses. >> it's 50 feet away from the main house, and it has all of its own kitchen and bath and shower and rooms. >> reporter: it was comforting, in a way, to have someone else with her on the property, out here at the edge of things. man's name was jim knapp. divorced father. bit of an odd duck, some people said. but easy to get along with. at least, that's what carol told her friends. the man didn't cause any trouble. >> jim knapp was just sort of this free-spirited surfer dude

from hawaii who -- hang ten. >> but she took him in as a boarder? >> it was my understanding that he was -- had been diagnosed with cancer. and i think they sort of co-supported each other through a lot of the painful times that they were both experiencing. >> reporter: once inside her house, carol put together a salad for dinner, answered a few emails. settled in for an evening alone. she picked up the phone and called her mother ruth who lived way off in nashville, tennessee. >> she was an amazing daughter who still called her mom every day. >> reporter: ruth was 83. the call, a nightly ritual. and then at 8:00 p.m., the oddest thing. the line went dead. but not before ruth heard something rather terrifying. ruth tried to call back. nothing. and there she was, so far away, and now worried. so she decided to call the

sheriff's department, whose headquarters is here in downtown prescott. >> sheriff's office, maria. how can i help you? >> ah, yes. my name is ruth kennedy and i'm calling from nashville, tennessee. i was on the phone with my daughter and she screamed and said, "oh no" and the phone's gone dead. and is there anything you can do? can you go check? >> reporter: "oh no." those two words played back, again and again, in ruth's worried brain. and so began a mystery. and a story too unbelievable even for some of its most intimate participants. what happened to carol kennedy? coming up -- that question would take years to answer. not just what happened to carol, but who was behind it. >> she didn't have any enemies? >> none, none.

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carol kennedy and her mother, ruth, were having their nightly phone screamed and said, "oh no," and then the phone was dropped, and i'm just at my wit's end. >> now, did you call her or did she call you and this occurred? >> she called me tonight and calls me every night. i'm 83, and she worries about me. and so we were just having our conversation, and then all the sudden she just screamed and said, oh no, and then i have not been able to get her to answer the phone back. so i'm, you know, afraid something bad's happened. >> okay, ruth, who does your daughter live with? >> she's recently divorced, she's alone. >> what's your daughter's name? >> carol kennedy.

>> reporter: did you notice what she said? recently divorced. certainly the operator heard it. >> do you believe that there's any reason she would be concerned if her husband, ex-husband, came back? >> oh, i don't think so. >> okay. >> no, i don't think it's that kind of a thing, no. >> okay. >> reporter: family and friends all knew that even after their divorce, steve and carol both cared deeply for each other and their two daughters. that connection between the two of them interests me. >> they took time to nurture their relationship and to spend time together. and to do things that they enjoyed doing and bringing up katie and charlotte. >> reporter: but this was hardly the time for reminiscing. carol wasn't answering her phone, and ruth was frantic. >> all right, we'll send somebody out to check on her, and we'll have them give you a call. >> reporter: you can imagine what that was like for ruth so far away, waiting for a phone call.

she knew that carol had a boarder that offbeat guy, jim knapp. she didn't know how to reach him, but steve would know what to do. she called him on the cell phone, and when he didn't pick up, she left him this message. >> hey, this is ruth kennedy, in nashville. i was on the phone with carol and screamed and said oh no, and i can't get her to answer me back. i wanted to see if you could see what you can find out and let me know something. >> reporter: by that time it was dark. steve and carl's daughter charlotte and her then boyfriend jacob were at that moment at steve's house waiting for him to come home. jacob was actually living there while he tried to sort out a few issues with his parents. what was your relationship like with him, and what was charlotte's relationship like? >> charlotte was very close with steve. he had offered me to stay with him before, you know, try to figure something out, just to make my situation with my parents better.

so i had a lot of respect for him. definitely looked up to him. >> reporter: but that evening steve, an avid outdoorsman, was overdue from a mountain bike ride. and it was getting late, really late, actually. >> it was very, very odd. and he would usually -- we'd usually have dinner pretty late there. it was, you know, normal to have dinner at 9:00, 9:30. when he hadn't come home around that time, it was when we kind of started to get a little worried. that maybe he had crashed or gotten hurt or something. >> what did you do? >> charlotte called his cell phone, and -- >> no answer? >> no answer. >> did it go straight to voice-mail or something? >> yeah. >> reporter: anyway, hungry for dinner, they went to the store for groceries. >> while we were at the store, it was probably around 10:00, 10:15 was when we got a call from steve. and he told us that he got a flat tire and he was at the

workout center, he was going to finish up his workout there. >> and what, his phone had been off or something, or what happened to his phone? >> he said his phone had died. >> while he was out there having a flat tire? >> correct. >> reporter: steve was in the shower when charlotte and jake arrived back at the condo. they made a quick dinner, vegetable stir-fry. it was late, but then again, it was a mild summer night. not a care in the world, it seemed. no idea what was happening at the house on bridle path. coming up -- >> i'm kind of getting worried about you. >> panic begins. a daughter rushes to the scene. what would she find? >> she just immediately broke down. started crying. pretty hard. >> when "dateline" continues. i. joint pain, swelling, tenderness... ...much better. my psoriasis, clearer... cosentyx works on all of this.

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july 2nd, 2008, about 11:00 p.m. steve democker, his daughter charlotte, and charlotte's boyfriend jake were eating a very late dinner. >> he had taken a few more bites of his dinner and then by that point charlotte and i were pretty close to being finished. >> reporter: that's when steve told them about a strange phone call he received from carol's brother. who told him that apparently carol's home phone suddenly cut out when she was talking to her mother ruth, and nobody could reach her. >> how did charlotte react to that? >> she was worried. >> reporter: charlotte said she texted her mom earlier that evening. everything seemed fine then. but now? she called her mother. voice mail. >> hey mom. its char. i heard from grandmother that something happened while you guys were on the phone and she was kind of worried about you. so i wanted to text you to see if everything was okay. now i'm kind of getting worried about you. so if you want to text me back or call me or something, just let me know that you're okay and that everything's okay. >> reporter: the beginnings of panic bubbled up in charlotte's brain.

she and her boyfriend called around to local hospitals. but nobody named carol kennedy had been admitted to any of them. so this is night time, was there any thought of going over there? >> yeah. we had talked about it. >> reporter: steve was concerned about carol, of course. but as her now ex-husband, he had another concern too. >> steve had expressed that he wasn't really comfortable with it because, you know, they had just finalized their divorce and, you know, he didn't feel comfortable invading her privacy if she was with, you know, another guy on a date or something like that, so. >> mm-hm. >> we had decided that charlotte and i would go out there and check on her. just kind of see, you know, if anything was out of the ordinary. >> reporter: it was around midnight when they drove out to carol's place on bridle path. having promised to call steve the minute they got there. do you remember what it was like driving over there? >> it was very quiet. i don't really think we spoke very much at all on the way there. >> because?

>> just nervous, you know. >> little anxious? >> right. >> do you remember pulling up to the house? >> yes. very vividly. >> reporter: at that moment, charlotte was on the phone with her dad. >> as soon as we got to the top of the hill you could see the police, you know, the sheriff's lights and all the cars and, you know, just the worst thoughts are kind of going through, you know, my mind at that point. >> you know, the almost kind of thing that hits you here before it hits you here. >> right. yeah. kind of feel it in your stomach first, for sure. and we got closer to the house, and we saw a caution tape and all of, you know, people running around and everything. we had pulled up and stopped on the side of the road, and two sheriffs walked up on either side of the car, and we rolled the windows down. >> did this person know who you were? >> i think he had asked, you know, "were you guys just passing through?"

and charlotte said, "no, this is my mom's house." and so, "i'm sorry to tell you but, you know, carol passed away." at that point she just immediately broke down, started crying pretty hard. >> reporter: charlotte dropped the phone. fell to pieces. >> were you frightened? >> scared a little bit. really more so for charlotte, just you know, not really -- i mean, even now i don't think i could -- i could figure it out how to console someone in that situation. >> reporter: maybe steve would know what to do. >> i picked up the cell phone and told steve what had happened. he needed to come down and be with charlotte. >> and steve? >> he was taken aback. you know, it was almost kind of disbelief, like he didn't really know what to say, really. kind of hear him choking back some tears a little bit. and that was, you know, was hard. >> reporter: right away steve rushed over to carol's house. a detective had a recorder rolling. you can hear charlotte sobbing.

and steve talking. >> the last time i was out here was -- i don't know. i'm sorry. i don't know. it's been a while. >> reporter: someone else talked to the detectives, too. a man who showed up just minutes after the deputies got there. jim knapp, carol's boarder. the man who had been living in the guest house. >> i can't remember the month i moved in. >> reporter: and jim knapp had a lot to say about carol, but he didn't stop there. coming up -- >> it was certainly a gruesome scene. >> blood drops. shoe prints. the clues tell a story. >> so that tells you something about how she died? >> she certainly died a violent death. >> and the man in the guest cottage has a story too. >> it's just my take. >> when "date line" continues.

if you see wires down, treat them all as if they are hot and energized. stay away from any downed wire, call 911 and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe.

a man suspected of stabbing at least five people during a hanukkah celebration in muncy, new york, was found in manhattan and is in custody. the attack happened at a rabbi's home where the group gathered on the seventh night of hanukkah. a rockland county legislator said he was not surprised by the attack. >> unfortunately, as an orthodox jew, we were scared but we were not surprised. it's not the first incident in new york. >> this is the latest in a string of smik attacks in new york in recent weeks. governor andrew cuomo is directing the state's hate crimes task force to investigate the situation. back to yeah dateline." just before 9:00 p.m., july 2nd, just around the time carol kennedy's worried family members were recording phone

messages to each other, a yavapai county sheriff's deputy was dispatched to carol's house on bridle path. found the home dark. eerily quiet. he shone a flashlight through a window, saw a bookcase toppled over, and blood. everywhere. that's when investigator mike sechez was pulled into the strangest case of his career. the kind of thing he had moved to prescott to avoid. >> it's a quaint little community nestled in the pines and not a whole lot of crime, especially from what i was used to. >> reporter: sechez put in 27 years in the phoenix police. this job with the yavapai county attorney's office was supposed to be an escape from big-city crime. and here he was, middle of a july night, looking at one very brutal homicide. >> what did it look like? >> it was certainly a gruesome scene.

not only a large of amount of blood on carol's body but also on the furniture that was nearby, blood spatter that had been cast off in -- onto the walls and other items as well. >> so that tells you something about how she died? >> she certainly died a violence death. >> reporter: something else. as he surveyed the room he could plainly see, whoever did this was trying to fool them. how did he know? when he looked past the obvious gore, he couldn't help but notice things had been moved around after carol was dead. >> there was a ladder that was placed over top of her body that along with some of the blood that had splattered onto a bookshelf. and then the shelf was knocked over, obviously several minutes after. >> sure. >> the blood hit it. >> unlikely that it was just tottering and, eventually, collapsed? >> that could not have happened. >> so that's a pretty significant little detail, then?

>> yes, absolutely. >> reporter: staging. clear as day, said the detective. there were even some drops of blood just outside the door. the blood trail led detectives to another discovery. shoe prints outside the house. >> there was a lot of tracks out there. >> reporter: the house was next door to ranchland. lots of people went running and riding there. carol, too. >> horses, animals, people use that area, and there were a lot of tracks. these tracks were unique. they were fresh. >> reporter: they found carol's footprints from her jog that very evening. but there were others. >> her track as it went out, the suspect's track then stepped right on one of hers, so she went out and then this suspect came into her house. >> you had sequence of tracks. >> yes. >> reporter: about 50 feet from the main house, you'll remember,

was a guest cottage. which carol had rented out to that tenant, jim knapp. >> jim knapp was one of the first ones to arrive at the scene after the deputies had arrived. >> reporter: of course the detectives asked him, where was he that night? and knapp was ready with a story. >> he had been babysitting one of his boys at his ex-wife's house when this incident actually occurred. >> you'd have to pin him down on that, made sure he had proof of it, right? >> that's correct. >> reporter: another detective turned on his recorder as knapp rambled on about his relationship with carol. >> she and i are sort of committed to one another to be co-coaches, to coach each other through both our divorces. >> reporter: but knapp didn't stop there. oh no tell them about carol's ex-husband, steve democker. >> i'll warn you guys. it's just my intuitive take. the guy comes off to me as a

very sneaky, manipulative man. >> reporter: so by the time steve arrived, detectives were already suspicious. and they asked him to come to the sheriff's department. where he told them the same thing he had told his daughter. he was riding his mountain bike when he got a flat tire. >> i don't really mountain bike very often. >> okay. >> i mean, i'm starting to. so i do some on and off. mostly i go trail running. so i don't have a routine. >> reporter: he drew them a map of the trail he followed. >> love lane goes up and out and peters out and there's a trail. >> reporter: at one point, the trail got to within a mile of carol's house. the detectives' ears perked up. but steve insisted he never went to carol's house. >> i am happy to give you blood and saliva. i am happy to give you anything you need. >> so there's nothing we're going to find that's going to tie you there at all. >> no. i wasn't there. i wouldn't do that. >> reporter: steve told the

detective he was tired. dehydrated. >> we can fix that. if you need more water, i'll be glad to get you water, if you need some food, i'll give you food. we'll get you something. you can tell me what you want. i'm just asking if you're going to be patient with us and help us through this matter. >> yeah. of course, i want to do that. i'm going to be happy to give you dna. i wasn't there. so i assume that will be good for me. >> that is true. if it is like you say, then once we do our lab work and -- >> i'm just -- i'm cold and i'm tired. >> reporter: steve asked what were they thinking about him? was he a suspect? >> i don't know what looking suspicious looks like and i didn't mean to ask, just i'm tired. >> no. and like here's the whole thing with it. there's certain things in what's going on and just like i said we've got a suspicious death and right now we don't have any -- >> and you're suspecting me. >> -- other person. well, we have no other person right now. >> reporter: and so it was a

long night in that little room. the detective gave steve a blanket. asked again about that trail. >> the proximity of where the trail is -- >> i know. >> where you're riding. >> i wish i'd chosen a different trail. >> i wish you had chosen a different trail also. because, and here's the thing. right now -- >> well, of course if i had done it, i probably wouldn't have chosen to be right near the scene of what sounds like maybe a crime. >> reporter: maybe so. but wherever he was, he picked up something the detectives simply couldn't ignore. >> very fresh multiple scratches. >> reporter: on his arms and legs. steve said he got those riding a rough mountain trail on his bike. detectives photographed them before letting him go home. meanwhile, overnight, other detectives searched steve's office, his home, his garage. they took pictures. lots of pictures.

after the autopsy, next afternoon, the medical examiner reported that carol died from blows to the head. administered by some blunt object. seven times her killer hit her. with what? the medical examiner offered an opinion. it looked like it might have been a golf club. and one more thing. carol herself might already be telling them who killed her. coming up -- >> it sounds like kind of an "ah-ha" moment, right? >> it's one of those moments that you go, "oh my goodness." we may have overlooked something. >> the clue that police almost missed. would it help them crack the case? when "dateline" continues. we used to love going out with julia and mike, but since they bought their new house...

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there is, as katherine morris can tell you, no good way to find out your close friend has been murdered. especially a friend as incandescent as carol kennedy. >> it is the biggest loss of my life to this day. it's profound. it's piercing. it's constant. >> she didn't have any enemies. >> none. none. >> reporter: katherine, who by this time lived in atlanta, flew across the country to prescott. >> i needed to see it. i needed to be in her home where she last was. >> reporter: she joined other members of carol's family at bridle path. in the very room where carol died. blood still spattered on the furniture. the mess of what happened everywhere in that room. >> you just -- you can't imagine.

painful. >> did it help? >> it helped greatly to put it into perspective of the absolute horrendous brutality, animalistic, violent. >> evidence of that was still in the room? >> oh, yes. oh, yeah. oh, yeah. >> reporter: steve was there, too, said katherine. and she remembers him saying something that, to her, didn't make much sense. >> he put his arm around me andt was an accident, don't you?" >> then i looked at him and i said, "this is not an accident, what i'm looking at is not an accident." >> reporter: by then, so soon after the murder, steve was the only real suspect under investigation. and in the following weeks, as friends and family mourned, detectives peeled back the layers of steve and carol's relationship. and soon found evidence that their recent divorce was, well,

no divorce is pleasant, but -- >> we looked heavily into emails, and we learned that carol was very unhappy with the outcome of the divorce. they argued heavily back and forth up until the day of her murder. >> reporter: steve made good money as a financial advisor, had agreed to pay $6,000 a month in spousal support. >> when you say somebody makes over $500,000, you would assume that a $6,000 monthly payment is not a big deal. but he was spending way more than he was making. he was having to borrow money from his parents almost monthly. >> when he's making a half a million a year? >> that's correct. and the $6,000, he was going to be unable to sustain his lifestyle. >> reporter: mind you, those numbers were for 2008. a year when, like a lot of people, steve hemorrhaged money because of the financial crisis. still, to the detective, that

$6,000 a month sounded like motive. and might even explain why the murder occurred when it did, at the beginning of july. >> and that payment started june 1st. the second payment was due july 1st. she was murdered july 2nd, and that payment was never made. >> i wasn't there. i wouldn't do that. >> reporter: again and again, he denied killing his ex-wife. said he was out mountain biking the evening she died. but look at this. along with shoeprints near carol's house after the murder, police also found tire tracks. bike tires. >> we then were able to see that the bike had been stashed, and then the individual walked right to the back of her house. >> reporter: they did not take direct impressions of those shoe and tire tracks as investigators frequently do, but they did take pictures of the tracks. looked a lot like the treads on steve's tires, they felt. and while no matching shoes

turned up, they discovered that steve once bought a pair that might match. and then there was the curious business of the murder weapon. or possible murder weapon. remember the coroner's report suggesting carol may have been hit with a golf club? when investigators learned that, something clicked in their memories from their first search through steve's house. >> there were golf clubs in his garage. >> so let's go back and seize them, right? >> yeah, seize them and examine them to see if we can determine that these golf clubs were used as the murder weapon. >> so it sounds like kind of an aha moment, right? >> it's one of those moments that you go, oh my goodness, we may have overlooked something. >> reporter: so they returned to steve's condo, seized the golf clubs from the garage. and tested them. but could find no evidence that any of them was the murder weapon. but there was something else. in the first search of the condo, a detective remembered

seeing a golf club cover, or golf sock, on a shelf. they looked at the photos. there it was. but when they searched the garage a second time, it was gone. >> and the shelf itself had apparently been sort of rearranged. >> reporter: was it possible that now missing golf sock belonged to a different golf club? one that was no longer around? one used to kill carol kennedy? did steve, knowing he was a suspect, get rid of that golf sock because it was incriminating evidence? seemed like every investigative trail they followed led right back to the same person they had suspected all along. carol's friend katherine knew who that was. >> i didn't believe that steve did it. but i couldn't think of anyone else that would possibly do any harm to carol. >> reporter: and so three months after carol was killed, they arrested steve democker on a charge of first degree murder. steve's sister, sharon.

i'm trying to imagine what it was like for the family, this amazing, accomplished, interesting, intelligent family, when the leader child was charged with murdering his wife. a woman who you all loved. >> it was a total shock. you're going, they -- they don't understand. if -- if they knew him they would see how wrong and impossible this was. >> reporter: even worse, prosecutors filed for the death penalty. any chance for bail for steve, given the charge, was remote. still, the whole democker family gathered in court for the hearing, which, coincidence, had been scheduled for christmas eve, 2008. and then it was delayed. >> it was this crushing blow, seeing that -- the wheels turn painfully slowly in this process. so we left, and we're standing

out in the corridor. then they were just starting to bring steve out. and we said, you know what, let's just sing him a christmas carol. so we started singing "we wish you a merry christmas." and, we could see that, you know, there were tears streaming down steve's face. >> reporter: steve's family wept too. they believed he was innocent. that someone else killed carol. and their belief only grew stronger. >> 911 what is the emergency? >> reporter: after a 911 call. this time to the prescott police department. >> the door's open, it looks like a gunshot hole in the window, and there's a shell casing inside, and the bedroom door is closed. coming up -- >> the husband always does it, right? >> they focused in on one person right from the very beginning. >> a thumbprint. a smear of blood. and here's the bombshell. neither one belonged to steve democker.

>> there were a lot of red flags. that were concerning. >> when "dateline" continues. iss that they don't need to. i think dentists will want to recommend sensodyne rapid relief because it's clinically proven to work in 3 days. which means for patients that they get relief very fast.

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steve democker was in jail, charged with first degree murder for his ex-wife carol kennedy's violent death. he pleaded not guilty. private investigator rich robertson joined steve's defense team, and right away saw what he believed was an elemental mistake by detectives. >> they put together their story, their version of events, almost immediately. >> husband always does it, right? >> yeah, they focused in on one person and they had a story, and that's what they worked on. they zeroed in on steve democker right from the very beginning. >> reporter: but robertson said detectives should have taken a much closer look at another man in carol' s life, jim knapp. the man who lived in the guest house and showed up at the crime scene within minutes of the officers.

and who was the first person to point the finger at steve. >> the fact that law enforcement viewed him in a different way that they viewed steve democker, that they saw jim knapp as a friendly witness, and they see steve democker as a suspect, frames the way that they investigate. so anything having to do with jim knapp becomes excusable, explained, it's just not something you have to worry about because he's not our guy. >> reporter: and yet? look, for example, at these crime scene photos of carol's kitchen counter. the magazine was sitting on it, and slipped inside, between the pages, were some financial documents that were printed the very day carol was murdered. >> that became really important because his thumbprint is on those financial documents. >> reporter: what was jim knapp doing with those documents?

and something else perhaps very significant. >> there was blood on the doorknob of the door that led from the main house into the backyard garage. >> reporter: the blood became evidence item number 805 collected days after carol's death. and whose dna was mixed with carol's blood? jim knapp's dna. >> just like the thumbprint, the question becomes when did jim knapp's dna get put on that door handle? >> reporter: robertson clearly had his suspicions. and steve's sister sharon did too. >> so you've felt all along that jim knapp should have been a suspect and wasn't. >> he should've been investigated. there were a lot of red flags that were concerning. >> reporter: knapp told sheriff's deputies he was nowhere near carol's house when the murder happened. he was at his ex-wife's place, miles away, babysitting his son. didn't they find out the alibi, in fact, was pretty solid? >> no.

actually it wasn't. what the son said was that, yeah, they'd gotten a video and the son was watching it. he doesn't know where dad was. >> dad wasn't sitting beside him in the room? >> no. dad was not watching with him, so he doesn't know where dad was. the son got bored watching this movie, and i believe he went and got on his computer. so there's a period of time that we don't really know. he might have been in the house, but nobody saw him. >> reporter: so maybe knapp's solid alibi wasn't? and remember how he told everyone he had cancer? sharon, a doctor, discovered something about that. >> i've seen the medical records. >> and? >> he had a superficial type of skin cancer at one point, and it had been removed. so no, he didn't. >> reporter: steve's family even recorded this video, after the murder, in which jim knapp said things about carol they found deeply disturbing. >> because carol and i lived a

life like an old married couple. >> he was actually rather obsessed with carol. i have emails that he's written about how what he and carol share is more than anyone could picture. that no one will understand the bond that they have and how close they are to each other. and he referred to her, to some people, as his girlfriend, but she never had any romantic interest in him and no one -- >> and he had tremendous romantic interest in her. >> very much so. >> thus in your mind, a reason to be angry one night? >> certainly. >> reporter: was it possible that carol rebuffed him that he got angry? the detectives didn't ask those questions, said steve's family. and soon it was too late. six months after carol's murder. a 911 call from a condo where jim knapp went to live after carol was killed. >> we came for a welfare check of a friend of mine. the door's open.

it looks like a gunshot hole in the window, and there's a shell casing inside, and the bedroom door's closed. >> who are you doing the welfare check on? >> jim knapp. >> reporter: jim knapp was dead. gunshot wound. the medical examiner ruled it a suicide. >> i was stunned. it was -- it was one of those moments where it just sort of took my breath away. and then when i found out there was no note, and as i learned about the details of what the scene looked like, it's still a baffling death. >> reporter: baffling because it simply did not look like a suicide. >> there was multiple gunshots fired in that room. there was furniture in disarray. there was drawers pulled out. >> reporter: staging, in other words. just as the investigators believed someone staged the scene of carol's murder.

was jim knapp carol's killer? or another victim of an unknown killer? or maybe both? couldn't have been steve, he was in jail. and then the questions multiplied. in june 2009, almost a year after carol's death, steve's attorney received an email. the sender, anonymous. the email read: "i can tell you what really happened the night kennedy was killed." the email said jim knapp was "running his mouth to kennedy about a prescription drug deal he was in." it said the murder was meant to look like, " home invasion gone bad." this "wasn't one crazed man with a golf club." when steve's attorneys told him about the email, steve replied with a startling story. he had heard the same thing just a month earlier. in jail. coming up -- would this be the evidence steve democker was

waiting for? >> i hate to ask you this but can you explain why you're emotional today? >> i've spent a year not knowing what happened. to carol. and being accused of it. >> when "dateline" continues. she said she needed one. good thing walgreens is right around the corner with great gifts for her. get in. get out. get jolly. where did we hide danny's gift? really? good thing walgreens is right around the corner with lots of great toys. get in. get out. get jolly.

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