rockies? seasons change, waters rise and fall, and some believe the secrets of cottonwood creek will remain a mystery forever. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> he wasn't my biological child. but my heart -- you can't tell that to my heart. i loved that boy. it's not fair that he was taken from his children or from his family! >> jessie fell for vince, a man in uniform. holding the fort during his long deployments. >> my hat goes off to all military wives. it's not easy. >> it's not. she was a good mom. she loved the kids. >> reunited at last, they celebrated. then, on the drive home --

>> there was a car there, stranded. >> vince tells his wife that he's gonna go check on him. >> i heard two, three popping sounds. >> he was layin' there with what appeared to be several gunshot wounds to the head. >> her husband, a father of five, dead. >> i want my mommy. and i want my kids. >> no one could understand it. >> the type of person that he was, i don't think he ever had an enemy. >> or did he? >> he said, "we are now in debt to bad people." >> we knew that there was another person that needed to be looked at. >> a winding investigation, leading deep into the dark. >> this sounds like a love triangle. >> i believe it was. >> it's horrific. brutal. >> i was like, "why? are you kidding me?!"

>> hello and welcome to "dateline." growing up, goslyn didn't seem like he was fit for the military. but he was thriving. then one night, the father of five was gunned down on a lonely road not far from his base. did his decision to help someone in need cost him his life or was he targeted? here is andrea canning with "evil was waiting." >> reporter: hopkinsville, kentucky, corn fields, picket fences, and patriotism. just to the south is fort campbell, home to more than 13,000 army soldiers and their families. after facing danger all over the world, soldiers return to a collective sigh of relief. after all, bad things aren't supposed to happen here. but when one young sergeant

returned from a tour in afghanistan, he had no idea the enemy would be much closer to home. >> my husband got out to see if some guy needed help. >> multiple gunshots to his face and head, 911 call. >> he had only been back from fighting in the war for such a short period of time, it was tragic. >> my heart sunk. >> reporter: sergeant vincent goslyn jr., a 28 year old father of five had served in the army for seven years as a quartermaster and mechanic. >> did vince ever express to you what it meant to him to serve his country? >> he absolutely loved it. >> reporter: tim hamilton is vince's cousin, but as he explains it, they were much more than that. >> were you kind of like a big brother to vince? >> yeah. with him, it was-- i don't know how-- we had a bond he had an outgoing personality. he had this crazy, little grin.

you always knew when he was doing something mischievous. >> reporter: and tim recalls the mischief he and vince got into growing up in a small michigan town called cadillac. >> we'd go play in the creeks, go fishing. we actually built a raft out of old barrels that we threw in the water and tied sticks to it and never floated, but -- >> sounds like huckleberry finn. >> yeah. >> reporter: but vince's childhood story wasn't always so idyllic. >> vince's mom left at eight months old. so he was raised with his dad. i think his dad was married six times. and so that was a little tough on him. >> reporter: janet mattison considered herself vince's surrogate mom. she says growing up, he spent a lot of time at her house. her son was vince's best friend. >> he was just like one of the other boys. he was-- he was always there.

we -- they did everything together. >> it seems like you two had quite a connection? >> we did. >> you and vince, what was that all about? >> um, i think a lot of it was i never judged him. vince was-- you know, he was the purist tattoo kid, the -- the -- the droopy pants, the spiked hair, the, you know and i just treated him just like me and you. >> reporter: and then one day he came to her with some life changing news. >> was he scared, finding out he was gonna be a dad? >> he probably was scared. but he was afraid that i would be mad at him. and i wasn't mad at him. >> reporter: vince had two sons from two relationships by the time he was 18. but janet says he only ever saw them as blessings. >> how was vince as a dad? >> he was awesome. he changed that diaper. he'd clean up that puke. you know, he-- he didn't care. his kids were his world. >> reporter: then, someone else entered his world, a hometown girl named jessie hull. >> vince loved jessie unconditional.

and you could see it. he was happy. he loved her. >> reporter: and janet says he started to settle down, moved in with jessie's family, and quickly bonded with her dad, a vietnam vet. he was the one who suggested the military might be a good way for vince to get on the straight and narrow. so vince joined the army in 2005. he was 21 years old. >> this is a boy who's gone from baggy pants and spiky hair, to now he's gonna have the military cut and the uniform? >> uh-huh. >> i mean, that's-- that's, like, a 180-- >> that is. >> for vince. >> that is a 180. it's what he needed. >> you must have been really proud of him for making that step? >> i was always proud of him. i'm still proud of him. >> reporter: with vince's career heading in the right direction, he took another big step and popped the question. jessie said yes. >> there was a connection between them two that -- they loved each other to death, you

know, they would argue and i think they actually just argued just so they could make up. >> well some people say that's the best part. >> it is. >> reporter: after the wedding, kids soon followed for the happy couple, two girls and a boy. as a sergeant in the army vince spent a lot of time overseas, so it was up to jessie to handle the home front and take care of the kids on her own. >> it's not easy havin'-- a husband who's away. it takes someone special to be able to endure that and get through that. >> reporter: tim says somehow jessie and vince made it work. >> when we'd see him and jessie and them as a family, they looked like a great family. >> reporter: by 2012, vince and jessie had been married for six years. despite some bumps, tim thought life was good for vince and his family. but shortly after returning from afghanistan, vince's second tour there, tim got an unsettling call from him. >> the sound of his voice, it was, "if something happens, i

wanted you to know what's going on." but he wouldn't tell me anything. >> reporter: a few days later, on february 3rd, vince and jessie went out to dinner to celebrate his safe return at a place called o'charley's. they started driving home, back to the base, then turned off the main drag onto this dark and winding road, fidelio road. where evil was waiting. >> i don't know where my husband is. >> coming up -- a wife's harrowing tale -- >> i just stopped on the side of the road. my husband got out to see if some guy needed help. >> soon after, another driver, makes an alarming discovery -- >> i stopped and i tried yellin' at him to see if he was awake, alert, somethin'. what's this?

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>> reporter: it was a moonless, february night in hopkinsville, kentucky, around 8:00 pm, when a frantic call came into 911. >> yes, um, i just stopped on the side of the road. my husband got out to see if some guy needed help. >> reporter: jessie goslyn told the operator that her husband, sergeant vincent goslyn, had been shot when he tried to help a motorist stranded on the side of the road. jessie was hysterical.

>> listen to me. listen, listen, listen. i can't understand a word you're saying. you're going to have to calm down and talk to me. >> reporter: as she tried to calm down, jessie told the operator after being shot, vince came back to their car but was unable to get in because a man was pulling him back. >> my husband tried getting in the vehicle. he couldn't get in the vehicle. he screamed for me to go. >> reporter: jessie says she drove away from the scene as her husband had instructed. >> i don't know where he is right now. >> reporter: minutes later, another 911 call came in. >> there's a guy that's been killed. he's dead. down the road from my house. >> reporter: this is the man who made the call. walter ferguson said he was getting ready to visit his cousin when he heard the gunshots. >> livin' around here, we hear a lot of gunshots. so i didn't think nothin' of it. i got in my truck, started to come down the road, and as soon as i crest the hill, i saw the truck's lights came on and he hit -- just bolted off. >> reporter: so what did you do when you when you saw this truck? >> well, i mean, i -- i went and turned around, and as i came back around, i made sure my high

beams were on and i ended up seein' his body. >> reporter: there on the side of the road walter spotted a man, lying face down in the dirt. >> so, i stopped and i tried yellin' at him and talkin' to him to see if he was awake, alert, somethin'. and i started lookin' for my phone and i didn't have it on me, so i had to end up zoomin' back to the house to call 911. >> reporter: christian county detective ed stokes raced to the scene. >> we were just notified that there had been a shooting on fidelio road and one male, possibly deceased. >> reporter: tell us what you see when you arrived here at the scene. >> the first thing i noticed was sergeant goslyn's body layin' here in the gravel, with a large amount of blood around the body. >> reporter: could you tell if he had been shot? >> we found what appeared to be gunshot wounds to the head, and the shell casings laying near the body inside the crime scene backed up the -- the thought that he was shot. >> reporter: you say he was shot

in the head -- >> correct. >> reporter: -- and the face? >> correct. >> reporter: was this personal? >> it's personal to me because that person that -- that shot him nine times wanted him dead. >> reporter: while detective stokes worked the crime scene, about a quarter of a mile down the road, deputies were talking to jessie. >> she was hysterical, crying, almost sometimes where you couldn't even understand what she was saying. >> reporter: there's jessie on her knees, collapsed on the side of the road. this was a wife who had clearly been through a traumatic situation? >> she had just watched her husband get shot multiple times, yes. >> reporter: detectives took jessie back to the station to get her statement. her stomach, it seemed, couldn't take the horror she'd just witnessed. >> i'm gonna be sick. >> let me get a garbage can for you or something. >> reporter: by now, christian county commonwealth's attorney, lynn pryor, had been notified.

what did you think when you heard that a soldier from fort campbell has been gunned down? he's barely been home from his tour of duty. >> it hurt. we take a great pride in having fort campbell as part of our community -- the fact that our soldiers protect us everyday. and we wanted to make sure that we got justice for him. >> reporter: was jessie able to describe the person who shot her husband? >> she initially described him as a black man. and i believe that's pretty basically all the description she was being able to give. >> reporter: jessie also described the killer's car. >> what kinda car? >> an old one. one of them big ones. >> what color was it? >> i don't know, like a reddish brownish color. >> reporter: it wasn't much for police to go on, and to make it even more difficult, the eyewitness, walter ferguson, had seen something different. >> reporter: describe the truck that you saw speeding off.

>> um -- as he passed me, i could see that it was, like, a white truck. and i saw the four-by-four on it, but that was about as much as i could see on it. >> reporter: so the witness had seen a white truck and jessie said she saw a reddish brown car. investigators had a lot to sort out -- a murdered soldier, a distraught wife, an unknown motive, and a giant secret about to be discovered. coming up -- jessie reveals a bombshell about her husband. that could blow the case wide out. coming up -- >> he had told me, he said, we are now in debt to bad people. >> if this story checks out, that's pretty serious. >> if we could prove that, yes. >> when "dateline" continues. yo, to protect your dog from fleas and ticks for a full month. it's the #1 vet recommended protection.

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>> was this case a top priority? you have an american soldier gunned down and a shooter on the loose. >> every detective we had was working this case. >> did you worry about the safety of others? >> at first it's always a thought through our mind is -- is this a, you know, serial killer? because we had no motive yet. so yes, it was very important. >> reporter: back at the christian county sheriff's department, 25 year old jessie goslyn continued to speak to detectives. she was emotionally and physically distraught -- and she kept asking about her

husband. jessie still hadn't been told if he was dead or alive. >> stomach feel any better? >> not really. >> is there anything you need? >> no. >> okay. >> my husband. >> okay. well, just sit there and relax. >> and i want my mommy. >> and i want my kids. >> reporter: finally, the detective came back and broke the news about vince. >> he was pronounced dead at the scene. i'm really sorry for your loss. >> reporter: the tragic news of vince's murder spread fast throughout the base, and to family members. janet, vince's surrogate mother got a call from jessie's mom. >> and she just said, "janet, there's been an accident. vince has been shot." and i was devastated. i was like, "what? what-- what do you mean, he's been shot?" >> reporter: vince's cousin,

tim, immediately left his home in virginia and traveled to kentucky still in disbelief. >> how can he survive two times in afghanistan, come home to be shot by some worthless thug that didn't even know him? >> you must've felt so horrible for jessie and for the kids. >> absolutely. i--i must've called her at least 50 times, you know, trying to figure out what's going on and be there for her and the kids. >> reporter: by now, jessie had left the christian county sheriff's department and headed home. >> she's picked up by a friend, taken back to her house on fort campbell. >> reporter: the day after the

murder, local police and agents from fort campbell were canvasing the goslyn's neighborhood. >> this is now a mix of army investigators and local investigators? >> it is. >> reporter: they knocked on the door of kay and william ray, the couple who lived next door to the goslyn's. what they had to say was so compelling, they asked them to immediately come in for an interview. >> you said you have some information about something that, uh, ms. goslyn had told you. pertaining to some trouble her husband was in? >> somehow or another got involved with a drug dealer, at least $20,000 of meth. and got jumped and stole away from him. well, being that happened, these guys were supposedly after him for the money. >> reporter: the rays explained to the investigators, jessie had told them about the drug dealers weeks before the murder. >> she seemed worried at all about what was going on? >> she's been pins and needles ever since this has happened. >> okay. >> she's been scared, she's feared for her life and her children's. >> ok. did they ever say who these people were? >> no. >> or where these people were from? or anything like that? >> no, never said a word about that right there. >> reporter: later that day, detective stokes says kay ray convinced jessie she should talk to military investigators, tell them what she told local police. it turned out to be a fateful

decision. >> jessie gets in with the -- the friend and they go to cid headquarters. >> reporter: with kay ray sitting next to her for support, jessie gave a detailed explanation about why she turned down that deserted road. she said as they were driving home, she was at the wheel, and she started to feel sick. vince suggested they pull over. >> and he said, "there's a road. turn down it." i turn down the road. he told me to drive until there was a spot we could pull off. >> reporter: she said that's when they saw the vehicle with the hood up and vince got out to help. not long after she heard gun shots. >> i heard, like, two, maybe three, like, like, popping sounds. and my husband had rounded the edge of the passenger side of the vehicle. he was trying to get in. and the guy was behind him and he kept pulling him back out. he was hitting him.

all my husband kept saying was, "go drive. go, get out of here." >> reporter: she described a chaotic scene with a random motorist, but then investigators asked her about vince's involvement with those drug dealers, suggesting perhaps it wasn't so random after all. jessie told them what she knew. >> he had told me that, he had bought a large quantity of methamphetamines. he said, "we are now in debt. to people-- to bad people." >> about $20,000? >> we had to check into his drug usage, if we could find anything out from friends, family-- if he was using or even dealing drugs. >> if this story checks out i mean that's pretty serious. >> if we could prove that, yes. >> reporter: while jessie did her best to give the investigators leads, police working the case in the field got a new lead of their own and

it sent them in a very different direction. coming up -- did vince's killer threaten jessie, too? >> she was getting text messages from this man she said? >> that's what she indicated, yes. and that he would kill her and her children, if she didn't comply with what he was telling her to do. i'm your 70lb st. bernard puppy, and my lack of impulse control, is about to become your problem. ahh no, come on. i saw you eating poop earlier. hey! my focus is on the road, and that's saving me cash with drivewise. who's the dummy now? whoof! whoof! so get allstate where good drivers save 40% for avoiding mayhem, like me. sorry! he's a baby!

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hello. washington state is reporting two new cases of coronavirus and oregon has announced its first case. two similar cases in california suggest the virus is now spreading from person to person within the united states. meanwhile, at a rally in south carolina ahead of saturday's democratic primary, president penalty called criticism of his handling of the

coronavirus threat a hoax. now back to "dateline." >> welcome back to "dateline." i'm natalie morales. army sergeant vince goslyn had been shot nine times on a deserted kentucky road. at first, his wife told police the couple had stopped. later she told investigators that her husband was deep in debt to drug dealers. now she was about to reveal a chilling new detail about that deadly night. once again, here is andrea canning with "evil was waiting." >> reporter: one day after the murder of sergeant vince goslyn, the investigation was unfolding fast. in the field, detectives were gathering evidence and talking to witnesses, and at fort campbell, the interview rooms were filling up. in one of those rooms, jessie goslyn. >> when you have drug dealers that are after you, you never

know what the hell's gonna happen. >> reporter: jessie had given law enforcement a possible motive for her husband's murder. she said vince owed money to drug dealers -- a lot of money. >> did you know who the drug dealers were? >> no, i don't. >> reporter: prosecutor pryor was getting regular phone updates about all the witness interviews. but to her, jessie's was the most important. jessie gave police a key new detail. she said on the night of the murder one of those drug dealer contacted her. >> did you have to talk to the drug dealers directly? >> reporter: she was getting text messages from this man, she said? >> that's what she indicated, yes. and that he would do harm, or kill her and her family, her children, if she didn't comply with what he was telling her to do. >> reporter: that's when jessie admitted she didn't drive down fidelio road because she was feeling sick. >> i got a text that told me to turn on the road. >> what did the text say? "turn on this road," or "turn on the next --" or what did it say

exactly? >> it told me to turn on the road after the stoplight. >> okay. >> "if you do not your whole family's dead." >> reporter: she said she felt she had no choice but to go through with what the man said, even though she suspected something bad was about to happen. >> i kind of figured it as we're gonna down here and you're gonna get your ass beat. >> reporter: as jessie's interview on fort campbell headed into its second hour, sheriff's detectives across town were working on tracking down the truck seen leaving the murder scene, figuring if they could find the truck, they would find the killer. >> i heard about three or four shots. >> reporter: walter ferguson, the witness who had described seeing a white colored 4x4 truck speeding down the road, gave police more distinctive descriptions about the vehicle. >> the headlights were higher

than my hood, so they were, like, in my eyes. >> okay, so kind of a lifted truck. >> yeah. >> was it loud? >> it was like -- very loud. >> reporter: detectives quickly found neighbors who told them they'd seen a truck just like that many times in the neighborhood. they searched dmv records and found the truck. it was registered to a former soldier who had lived on base at fort campbell -- 24-year-old jarred long. >> jarred long was very much a person of interest at that point. >> reporter: he's not on base anymore? >> no. >> reporter: where is he? >> we didn't know. >> reporter: so detective stokes says law enforcement immediately got busy trying to find him. >> we actually put an intent to locate out all surrounding states and counties from here to colorado where he was from. and in fact, he was stopped by a trooper in colorado. >> reporter: he must've really hightailed it out of kentucky to get to colorado that fast. >> quick. >> reporter: when he was pulled over was he driving a raised white truck? >> he was in a light gray dodge pickup truck that was lifted with large tires and loud

exhaust, matching the description of our witness. >> reporter: so you're thinking you might have your man here? >> yes. >> reporter: he might have thought he had his man, but police decided the fact that jarred's truck matched the description of the eyewitness wasn't enough to arrest him. >> they stalled as long as they could i think, and ultimately had to let him go. >> reporter: that's potential evidence driving away. who knows what's in that truck, what's on his clothes? i mean, you have -- it's all -- it could all be destroyed. >> that was all evidence, potential evidence, that we wanted to get our hands on, and had no ability to do so at that time. >> reporter: that's tough. >> very tough. >> reporter: but detectives pressed on, and while trying to figure out who jarred long was and why he would want vince dead, they uncovered new information about their main witness -- jessie. coming up -- jessie's neighbors reveal that they, too, had seen jarred's truck -- outside jessie's house.

>> how often would you see that vehicle there over that period of time while vincent was deployed? >> maybe two or three times a week? >> when "dateline" continues.

>> reporter: at fort campbell, jessie gosyln was talking to a military investigator giving possible clues about her husband's killer. meanwhile, detective stokes and others from the christian county sheriff's department thought they were on to something. they believed they had located the truck from the crime scene and knew the name of the driver,

jarred long. now they needed to know why he would be involved in vince's murder. >> our units -- detectives along with the cid agents from fort campbell did a neighborhood canvas on post. >> reporter: and what they discovered was a bombshell. neighbors said they'd seen jarred's truck, not just in the area, but parked in jessie's driveway. kay ray lived next door. >> i would see him driving the truck with her and the three kids. i would see her driving the truck with the kids. >> reporter: and what she said next really got the investigator's attention. >> reporter: often on a weekly basis, would you see that vehicle there over that period of time while vincent was deployed? >> maybe two or three times a week? >> reporter: as you looked deeper into this potential relationship between jarred and jessie, how serious was it? >> from what we could gather, they lived together on base. and if sergeant goslyn came home for any reason, then jarred long

would leave for a couple of days while he was here. >> reporter: it was stunning. stokes was now convinced. jessie was not the devoted army wife she seemed to be. instead, she was at the center of a deadly love triangle. >> both men in love with jessie. >> correct. >> jessie in love with one man? >> i believe so. >> reporter: to the detective, evidence that jarred and jessie were a couple was piling up, like when police ran the plates of the car jessie was driving the night of the murder. >> it came back to jessie goslyn and jarred long. >> reporter: they owned a car together. by now, police had had enough of jessie's shifting stories and confronted her with what they knew. >> jessie, we know there wasn't a black guy. >> there was, yeah. >> no, we know. >> yeah, there was.

>> -- that it was jarred. we know that his truck was there. >> it was not, no. >> everything that witness has said has been true. >> no. >> yeah, very true. >> no. >> reporter: he told her they knew all about her romantic relationship with jarred. jessie admitted she and jarred hung out together but continued to deny there was anything sexual between them. >> she said they were friends, and he stayed there on the couch and that was it. >> reporter: jessie did admit she and vince were going through a tough time, but she claimed they were working things out. >> i always reassured vince that, i'm not just gonna walk away from you. um, i'm not that person. i'm not gonna leave you. um, we were planning on going to marriage counseling. he actually called friday before we left. >> reporter: and besides, she said vince knew all about jarred. >> vince knew that he had been staying in the house. >> reporter: but investigators didn't believe her.

more than three hours into jessie's interview, after repeatedly denying she and jarred had a romantic relationship. >> we did not have sex. >> reporter: jessie finally changed her story. >> there was times when i was drunk. yes, i'm sure we had sex. i knew that jarred loved me. >> right. >> and i know he loves my kids. >> ok. >> reporter: when investigators told prosecutor lynn pryor that jessie had admitted to having a romantic relationship with jarred, she knew this was a big moment. >> they were planning a life together. >> reporter: that could be a motive. >> absolutely a motive. because who was in their way of being together for the rest of their life? her husband. >> reporter: and jessie had another possible motive. as a military wife, she would receive a big payout from her husband's life insurance policy, $450,000. >> she certainly could've benefitted greatly from the death of her husband. >> reporter: before jessie's eight hour interview was over, she had admitted to seeing jarred the day before the murder. >> he wanted me to meet him at the motel while he was in the town.

i said fine. we had lunch, and we talked, and we did have sex. >> reporter: but it wasn't the sex investigators were interested in. jessie had one more story to tell. she claimed that jarred had talked to the drug dealers and if he roughed up vince somehow, that would satisfy them. then she said jarred told her what her job would be. >> he told me, "you need to meet me on this road." "you need to pull down to the shoulder where you can pull off." "i'm gonna set your husband straight." >> reporter: but the prosecutor and detectives weren't buying it. instead, without realizing it, jessie had finally given them what they needed. >> reporter: why is there now enough to arrest her? >> because she's admitted her part in getting vincent to the location where he was ultimately killed. in kentucky, being an accomplice to murder is the same as actually committing the murder.

>> reporter: that grieving wife, hysterical by the side of the road, getting sick in front of police, was charged with her husband's murder. >> let me see your hands! as for jarred long, because of jessie's admission that she and jarred had a plan to harm vince, police now had enough to arrest him too. they tracked him down again, this time near his home in colorado. >> they did a felony stop, called him out, made him go prone on the ground and placed him in cuffs. >> reporter: they had a warrant to search his truck this time? >> colorado authorities were able to obtain a warrant for mr. long's truck. >> they found a shell casing that ultimately was matched to the shell casings found at our murder scene. and they swabbed the truck, which eventually led to evidence that indicated gunshot residue had been left in several places around his vehicle. >> can i ask you to take that seat over there? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: colorado police

brought jarred in for questioning. unlike jessie, he didn't hesitate to talk about his romantic relationship with her. >> we hooked up awhile back. it was sometime around september. we started going out, then the next thing i knew, we were living together. i knew she was married. i knew it was horrible, but -- >> reporter: he also admitted to being in kentucky on the day of the murder, but he says he left before dark. >> when do you think you left? >> about 5:30. >> reporter: what he didn't know was jessie had already pointed the finger at him. >> she has spoken with the detectives and she has told them about the plan that you guys had. >> excuse me? >> she puts her and vince and you at the scene and the witness puts you and your truck at the scene. but you need to help us out at this point jarred and explain to

us what happened there. >> i believe at this point, i need to say stop and that i believe i need a lawyer. >> ok. >> because this has gone well beyond what i'm capable of, so -- >> reporter: they now had two suspects in custody. and as for that drug dealer story, detective stokes says that was just a hoax jessie cooked up to throw off police. and she told the story to several people, including her neighbors, the rays, who unwittingly corroborated her story. >> reporter: did you ever find any evidence that vince was involved in some type of drug deal gone bad? >> no. >> reporter: that men were -- were out to get him and his family? >> no, we did not. we couldn't find anything that -- that would take us there other than her story. >> reporter: janet, vince's surrogate mom, was horrified when she learned that jessie, the woman who had seemed so good for vince, was now implicated in his murder. >> i was devastated. i was like, "why is she arrested?" >> reporter: did you think she was capable of -- of killing

vince? >> never. never. why? there's divorce. why wouldn't she just get a divorce? >> reporter: but even with jessie's story, and the evidence against jarred, the case was far from closed. an unexpected twist was about to put the whole investigation into a tailspin. >> reporter: did you worry that one or both of them could get away with murder? >> prosecutors face a major setback. could something else that jessie told police be a lifeline for both the widow and her lover? coming up -- >> i was livid. >> reporter: is their case about to collapse? >> i was devastated all over again. uhh, excuse me, is there a problem here? you're in a no parking zone. oh, i... i didn't know. you didn't see the sign? that... that wasn't there when i was here earlier. (whimper) really? you know, in italy,

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welcome back. jessie goslen, and jarred long were charged with the murder of jessie's husband army sergeant vince goslen. jessie's story about the night vince was shot shifted several times. finally she told police she and jarred hatched a plan. then the investigation took a stunning turn. here's andrea canning with the conclusion of "evil was waiting." >> prosecutor lynn pryor already felt she had a solid case

against jarred long and after his arrest, appli police found more evidence in his truck. >> there was one spot of blood that belonged to vincent goslen. >> this is bin go. >> this is more evidence than i have had. >> how do you explain the victim's blood on backpack when you're hundreds of miles away? >> you can't. unless you're the person that killed him. >> but pryor knew the case against jessie wasn't as airtight. >> it was very much a circumstantial case because there was no physical evidence implicating her. >> did you worry that wouldn't be enough to get a conviction? >> somewhat, yes. jarred long was not willing to give us anything to help out with regard to implicating jessie. but we knew that it was her involvement that got jarred to where vincent was killed. >> how are you going to prove that? >> with her own words.

>> then enter defense attorney mark bryant, he represented jarred long and he had a plan that could benefit jessie too. his strategy was to get jessie's interview with police thrown out, and how would he do that? >> mrs. goslen had told the local police department that she didn't want to talk, that she wanted a lawyer. >> i want an attorney, and i want to know where my husband is. >> and so under the law, you have to break up any questioning and they did. and they sent her back home to fort campbell. >> after that, her friend convinced jessie to speak to the military police on base. >> jessie spent eight hours with the police the day after she said she wasn't going to talk with a lawyer. it was just a different police agency. >> bryant argued a circuit judge since jessie had spoken with a lawyer. the military police should never have questioned her. >> the judge agreed.

>> he made a decision the confession implicating our client should be set aside so a law enforcement agency for the military police should have followed the same rules that the earlier police department in christian county followed that day. >> jessie goslen cease statement was thrown out. the news hit vincent's family hard. >> hearing the news that vince was killed was horrible. but what the justice system did was unfair. when they threw that out of court, i was devastated all over again. and we thought that she was going to walk away. we thought that they were going to get away with it. >> prosecutor pryor wasn't going down without a fight. she filed a motion with the kentucky court of appeals. jessie and jarred meanwhile were out and about, relatively free. >> how did you feel about both jessie and jarred building out on house arrest with just ankle bracelets? >> i was livid. i argued to the best of my

ability to the judge about why someone that was charged with such a heinous murder should be out on an ankle monitor, and none of the arguments that i made were convincing to the judge. >> then, everyone waited and wait. four long years went by before the appeals court finally reached a decision and sided with the prosecution. >> what's that moment like when you get word that it's been overturned and that the statement will be allowed? >> i was very much relieved. >> pryor considered her options and concluded that of the two, jarred deserved the harshest punishment. >> jarred long was the one who pulled the trigger nine times. jarred long was the one who took the life of vincent goslen, we wanted to pmake sure he receive the maximum punishment for the crime. >> to do that, the prosecutor needed not only jessie's video taped statement, she needed

jessie to tell a joury the whol story that she and jarred planned to kill vince. >> we needed her testimony about the reasons why they planned to kill vincent and the way that they planned it out. >> so the prosecutor made an offer, if jessie pleaded guilty to complicity to murder and would testify against jarred, she would recommend a sentence of 22 1/2 years behind bars. >> she agreed to this plea deal? >> she did after long talks and very heated discussions. >> so now, with time served, the woman who had played the victim betrayed her husband and lover could spend less than 14 years behind bars. >> some people think the sentence is too light. >> i don't disagree with that, that the sentence was too light. but after discussions with law enforcement, with family members, we determined that it was worth it to have her to be able to say in her own words

what happened and why. >> a different prosecutor than took over his name was mark blankenship and as he looked over the case, he came to a different conclusion about who was most responsible. >> i felt that the master mind of the crime was jessie. she didn't pull the trigger, but without her this doesn't happen. what bothered me was that the bar got set at 22 years for the master mind of the crime. >> so blankenship did what he thought he had to to be fair and offered jarred a deal too, 30 years in prison for pleaing guilty to first-degree murder. jarred agreed. >> jarred at times is being portrayed as a victim, a little bit of jessie, that she was the master mind, but vince was shot nine times in the head and the face. >> oh, i know. >> i mean, you cannot discount that for anything. >> no, it bothers me.

he should have gotten more than 30 years. >> tim, vince's cousin was torn about jarred's punishment. >> jessie, she should have gotten more time than he did because she manipulated him. >> is that the jessie you knew, this master manipulator? >> obviously she must have been manipulating us because i would have never pegged her. >> i believe that she should do life. >> as for janet, the woman who stepped in as vince's mother, it's hard for her to describe the pain she feels. she watched her surrogate son go from a tough kid to a tough soldier. he became a good and honorable man, only to have it all needlessly taken away. >> he wasn't my biological child, but my heart, you can't tell that to my heart. i loved that boy. and it's not fair that he was taken from his children or from his family. he had so much potential.

he had gone so far. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline" i'm natalie morales, thank you for watching. first up on msnbc, new reports overnight of more coronavirus cases in the u.s. we'll tell you where and what it means for how fast it could spread this this country. shutting down around the world, the virus forcing cancellations and closures, with the world health organization issuing a new warning. is there anywhere to stop the spread. those details ahead. wall street tail spin, the ripple effects of the coronavirus hitting financial markets hard. this morning, assessing the fallout from a week of turbulence. the battle of south carolina, decision day for democrats in the state. the big question, could a good showing be the spring board for