was about the challenge and the hunt, that's all it matters. mat. i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> this is "dateline." it was a small new year's eve party. we took off and then shortly after saw the police car. my gut was telling my feet to run back to that house. this can't be happening. >> when the party ended, the mystery began. >> it was just crazy. i didn't understand what was happening and why. >> his wife, the hostess, had seemed fine all night then -- >> heap me please, please help me.

>> her death ruled a suicide. not everyone agreed. >> i always was afraid he was going to hurt her. always. always. >> did a fight that night lead to something much worse. >> i knew that ashley wouldn't take her own life. >> a troubled woman or a troubled marriage. >> that wound on the back of her head isn't where she could do it herself, tom. it is not. >> oh, [ bleep ]. >> suicide or murder? >> i didn't do this. >> i just knew that my whole world is never going to be the same again ever. ♪ hello and welcome to "dateline." it was december 31st. by all appearances ashley was in the mood to celebrate. a vibrant mother of three she had gathered her friends and family to ring in the new year.

but as her guests began to count down to midnight who could have known they were also marking the last hour of ashley's young life? here's keith morrison with "after the party." >> what is so optimistic than a party on new year's eve, as hopeful and full of anticipation as the clean slate, midnight brings? >> it was a small new year's eve party. >> just family and friends. >> disappointment is inevitable, of course, clean slates, no matter how ardently desire are messy all too soon. >> we noticed there was a lot of alcohol out. >> still we celebrate possibilities and drown past sorrows and watch the clock that ticks toward our new beginning. and our ends.

on december 31st, 2011 in west evans, colorado, ashley and tom falis, surrounded by friends and family, danced to the music that brought them together. their wedding song. >> they decided to get up and dance in the middle of their living room -- >> everybody watching. >> i think i said, this is sweet. >> it was their party. ashley and a tom's. she'd invited her co-workers like andrea. >> it was casual but verbally told everyone at work, you should come. >> they worked together where she was a respiratory therapist. >> crazy, nice. >> crazy. >> just full of energy. she was a happy person. she laughed a lot and joked. >> their friendship was new and andrea had listened to her chatter about jobs and marriages and her three kids. the youngest of whom was born

with hydrocephalus which causes life-threatening fluid buildup in the brain. >> she talked about it a lot. >> did she? >> but i didn't get the impression she felt burdened by it. that was the cards she was dealt. >> she embraced the challenge said ashley's mom and became a public advocate. >> she went to washington, d.c. and in the fall of 2011 to speak before congress for funding for hydrocephalus so she had a full plate. >> so did tom for that matter. >> he was a pretty good guy. very intelligent. >> reporter: jeff rodriguez was tom's boss at the county jail. they were corrections officers. >> he was a good employee and had a son sick so did miss more work than what most fellow officers liked. >> reporter: stressful draining thing caring for a sick child so maybe their new year's eve party was a way to hope for better times.

and take a break too. ashley's adoptive dad joel was at the party. >> there was dancing going on. >> reporter: ashley seemed to be having a fine time. she and tom seem to be getting on fine. >> they seemed to be getting along fine. >> reporter: that's when ashley and andrea went off into the kitchen, had a little party of their own. what were you drinking? >> jungle juice and jell-o shots. >> oh, my. >> intended to have a good time. >> there was one unusual thing, though said andrea, ashley had just gone through something kind of awful. >> she found out that she had a miscarriage that day and i said, oh, i'm sorry, are you okay? oh, yeah, it's fine. >> that strike you as odd? >> no, i didn't think it was odd. >> was she unhappy about the miscarriage. >> my impression was that she already has her beautiful family. it seemed like her life was already complete so i don't think that she was devastated that she had found out that she

had a miscarriage. >> reporter: no tears, andrea said. just a quick, casual mention and then the conversation moved on. went on to talk about other things. >> went on to other thing, probably got another -- >> jell-o shot. >> jell-o shot. >> reporter: there were kisses and smiles and toasts. by 12:30 the party was over. >> i gave her a hug, told her bye. we talked about future plans. >> how did she seem? >> happy. >> reporter: but, oh, how quickly the new year's clean slate darkened. as an uncle prepared to leave ashley asked him for a bit of his marijuana to smoke later. tom, the sheriff's department employee, was furious and reminded ashley's family that her employer required regular drug tests. was it the alcohol that amped up the family screaming match? whatever, ashley's parents had their own recollections.

>> he walks by me and he says that he hated us all and wished we would all bleeping die and went into the bedroom and slammed the door. >> ashley came out of the bathroom and was just, what's going on. well, we're going to leave. >> hey, i'm having a super bowl party in a couple of weeks. don't forget about that. >> reporter: but ashley's parents were rattled. they drove away then pulled off to the side of the road to talk. ashley's mom sent a text to tom. >> and i'm like, you know, there's kids in the house, calm down. >> reporter: which arrived as their young granddaughter was involved in quite another discussion with 911. >> can you go open the door and let the officers in? >> it's open. it's open. >> the new year was less than an hour old and off to a very bad start. coming up -- >> chaos, it was shocking.

>> a frantic race to save a life. what happened in that house. >> i just knew that my whole world is never going to be the same again ever. >> when "dateline" continues. [♪] did you know you can shorten your cold with cold-eeze® lozenges. cold-eeze® can shorten your cold by 42%. it releases zinc ions that some scientists believe inhibit cold viruses from replicating. try cold-eeze® the number one best-selling zinc lozenge. introducing the future of

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their cars to head home and in a little house in west evans, colorado, it was already the worst year ever. >> 911, what's the address of your emergency? >> my wife just shot herself. please help me. >> reporter: the man on the home was tom fallis begging for help and willing his wife to live. >> no. >> sir. >> you're staying here. >> reporter: tom told the dispatcher she shot herself then put the phone down, holding her head, trying to stop the bleeding. so he had his 9-year-old daughter pick up the phone. >> honey, are you there? >> yes. >> okay, can you go open the door and let the officers in? >> it's open. mommy got shot. >> okay, okay, we're going to help. open the door. >> reporter: brian spencer was a county deputy back then to discover that the evans police had beaten him there. >> there were three ahead of me

and more, siren, lights. >> pretty fast response. >> very fast. >> reporter: and this bit of news was going around fast too. >> this was a sheriff's employee, a jail employee. >> reporter: not that that should matter the effort was save ashley fallis' life. this was recorded by a police body camera and shows the paramedics arriving. chaotic. >> the scene, very. frantic, the officers located ashley fallis somewhere in the home. >> reporter: the local police took charge and asked brian spencer to watch the front of the property and that's when from his post on the front porch he saw tom. that's him in the background in the white t-shirt. >> he was pacing around in the front yard and front sidewalk area frantic, screaming. >> screaming what, do you remember? >> i heard him say she's dead. a lot of mumbled stuff. he would put his hands up over his face screaming and crying. >> reporter: by this time

ashley's parent has pulled off the road to talk and worry about the fight. when they heard the sirens, saw the flashing lights that way -- >> something automatically felt bad. i whipped a u-turn. >> i was out running to the house. >> were you able to see ashley? >> no, i could hear what was going on. i had all three kids and they were just crying and crying and screaming and i'm crying. >> it was just crazy. it was like a nightmare. i can see blood splatter on the wall. the master bedroom wall. >> what was it like? >> chaos. it was shocking. >> did you understand it was your daughter? >> yes, i do recall just being hysterically upset and crying and thinking this can't be happening to my daughter. this can't be happening to us. but yet it was. >> reporter: inside she was

alive but the wounds to her head were catastrophic. the police body camera shows officers kneeling on the floor trying to stabilize her condition. >> paramedics went in and made a decision to do what we call a load and go which means they're not going to spend any time doing life support stuff. >> reporter: ashley's mom jenna huddled with her grandchildren in a neighboring bedroom. listened to it all through a closed door. any way to describe what it's like for a mother to be in that situation? >> no. your brain does funny things. i just knew that my whole world was never going to be the same again, ever. >> reporter: outside brian spencer watched tom pacing back and forth crying talking to himself. >> i noticed he's wearing a white t-shirt and he's covered i believe it was on his left side in a large amount of blood.

>> reporter: it was odd brian thought that the evans police officers didn't take tom's clothes or bag his hands for gunshot residue. >> he still had evidence on him and he needed to be preserved. he needed to be controlled. >> he needed to be processed. >> clothing removed, everything. >> reporter: but that's not what happened. not at all. and soon after ashley was rushed off to the er, tom got in the back of his squad car and was driven away but surprisingly not to the hospital. >> coming up, tom tells his story. >> i heard her gun cock. i looked up. what are you doing? >> reporter: but police don't seem to believe it. >> the wound on the back of her head isn't where she could do it herself, tom. >> oh, [ bleep ]. >> when "dateline" continues. und the corner? or could it play out differently? i wanted to help protect myself. my doctor recommended eliquis.

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in the first cold, dark hours of 2012, ashley fallis' parents followed an ambulance to the hospital and caught up to her in the icu. >> we walked in to her bleeding out of everywhere. >> there wasn't really any hope. they could see that. she was going to die. >> i just sat down and held her hand. >> but tom wasn't there to hold her hand.

tom was at the evans police station answering questions. >> i don't know what's going on. i have no idea and that's why i'm asking to speak with you. >> reporter: it was 2:00 a.m. and tom was still wearing blood-stained clothes, the ones that a sheriff's deputy should have already been bagged as evidence. >> how was your relationship with your wife? >> really good. >> reporter: but said tom ashley was devastated when she miscarried the very day of her new year's party. >> it was hard for ashley, it was hard for me, but i didn't think that -- >> still, at the party itself she seemed all right. they got on fine until the argument about the marijuana. tom admitted he was furious at ashley's family, said he was trying to protect her and they weren't.

>> i told ashley, you don't need to get high. i was like if whatever happened today, the miscarriage, i said it happened. its like, you know what, [ bleep ] your mom, [ bleep ], everybody. >> reporter: so there was no love lost between tom and ashley's parents, that was clear and tom admitted he and ashley kept arguing as they got ready for bed and turned around and went to the closet and it was all over. >> the wire was in the closet. i heard her gun cock. i was like what are you doing before i even had a chance to finish the sentence or close the door. there was smoke. i hear -- i heard it and there was just smoke. i just ran over to her and i just grabbed her head.

>> reporter: tom told detectives that sadly he had been worried of just this sort of thing for more than a year because ashley had threatened suicide before. >> what was she saying she wanted to do to herself? >> she wants to end it. you and the kids would be better off without me. >> and so she just said those words but never acted on anything. >> no. >> and so how long -- >> never once. never once has she grabbed her gun, loaded it and has she ever made this type of gesture whatsoever. >> reporter: by this time while the doctors tried to save ashley, tom had been answering questions for hours. >> i have to ask these questions and i have to understand -- >> i know, but the problem is, is that i've been here since frickin' what 2:00 and it's 5:00 and i don't know what's going on with my wife. >> reporter: but then the detective noticed something else about tom.

>> scratch mark on your chest is what? >> you have like a long red -- >> oh, probably because i've been doing this all frickin' night. >> this one goes straight across here. >> oh, i don't know. it's just me -- >> it isn't -- i just had to ask. >> reporter: the detective left the room and spoke with ashley's parents who had arrived with the purpose of telling officers just one thing. their daughter did not shoot herself. >> we had just seen her seven minutes before this. she was completely fine. you know, she wouldn't do anything like this. >> she was in good spirits when they left, they said. she was already planning her next party. but tom, he had always had an awful temper, they said. >> i always was afraid he was going to hurt her. always. always. >> why? what about him? >> his temper. you can't go from zero to 100 and think clearly. >> i think that he was just in a

fit of rage and he shot her. >> reporter: armed with that new information the detective went back to talk to tom and zeroed in on those scratches. officer has given him something clean to wear so so they collect his bloody clothing. >> you have scratches on your body. >> this is a shaved chest. do you know how bad this hurt and itches so when i'm sitting there i do this all frickin' day. this is actually her blood. it comes off. see? oh, my gosh it's coming off. it's her frickin' blood >> that's actually a scratch, okay. that's a scratch. >> reporter: still the detective pressed him. he had motive and opportunity, she said. >> so when you went upstairs you were arguing with her and you know you were arguing with her. >> reporter: she was also reluctant to believe the shooting happened so quickly, no threats or warnings or hesitation. >> she went from saying i'm

going to do what i want to just pulling -- >> yeah. yeah. she did. i'm not lying to you. >> reporter: and when the detective gave a description about the gunshot wound, a description that turned out to be inaccurate, that really set tom off. >> that wound on the back of her head isn't where she could do it herself, tom. it is not. >> oh, [ bleep ]. >> it is not. >> [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. >> reporter: then quite suddenly in the middle of it all completely out of nowhere the detective made an abrupt declaration. >> i have to let you know your wife did not make it. your wife did not make it. >> she was breathing when i was holding her. she was breathing. they told me she was breathing when she left out. >> ashley died while tom was in police custody. >> i didn't shoot my wife. i didn't shoot the mother of my kids.

i didn't shoot the person who i wanted to have another one with. >> reporter: what would the police believe? tom's story that the shooting was a suicide or ashley's parents' story that he shot their daughter in a fit of rage. >> coming up, ashley's family is outraged by the investigation's final report. >> it was incomplete. it was inconsistent. no follow-up. it was unbelievable. >> when "dateline" continues. building an experience that lets you shop over 17,000 cars from home. creating a coast to coast network to deliver your car as soon as tomorrow. recruiting an army of customer advocates to make your experience incredible. and putting you in control of the whole thing with powerful technology. that's why we've become the nation's fastest growing retailer. because our customers love it. see for yourself, at carvana.com.

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i'm dara brown. here's what's happening. top men's tennis player out at u.s. open after hitting lineswoman with a tennis ball. between novak djokovic and busta, he lost the game, hit a ball behind him, striking a female judge who fell to her knees and grabbed her throat. falls under ball abuse.

was seeking 18th grams title. now back to "dateline." >> welcome back to "dateline," i'm craig melvin. though covered in blood and suspicious scratches, tom fallis insisted he did not harm his wife, that she was the one who pulled the trigger. ashley's parents weren't buying it. but would the police? here again is keith morrison with "after the party." >> reporter: ashley fallis. 28 years old. wife and mother of three was dead. gunshot wound in her head was unsurvivable. it was suicide said tom. >> i didn't shoot my wife. i didn't do this. >> reporter: it was murder said her parents. >> i had three grandkids that i dearly, dearly love that i knew in my heart that tom had just killed their mother. >> reporter: the news of

ashley's death spread quickly the morning after the party. >> i didn't understand what was happening and why because everything was fine that night. >> as much confusing as anything. >> very confusing. she was happy. she didn't seem suicidal. >> reporter: andrea, new friend, co-worker, drinking buddy at the party, couldn't shake a feeling. >> i don't feel like she would have taken her life. tom was the only other person that was there. >> so if it wasn't her, it had to be him. >> right. >> reporter: but for all their middle of the night questions, the police did not arrest tom, nor charge him with anything. >> what were they telling you along the way? >> oh, that they were investigating it. >> reporter: at ashley's funeral, tom was one of the speakers. >> ashley didn't have much patience. >> reporter: and what he said wasn't the sort of thing people expected to hear. >> she goes, "i don't care when you do it, where you do it, i want it now." >> reporter: it was an unusual and, frankly, not very emotional eulogy for reasons only tom

might understand. but her parents were furious. >> when he had that opportunity to speak and share about the woman he so-called loved and called his eternal wife, all he did was degrade her. >> what was it like to hear that? >> it was shocking. it was unbelievable. >> reporter: as the days turned into weeks and tom remained free, ashley's parents became convinced that something about the investigation was not right. >> joel and i sat down and said, "look, if for some crazy reason she walked in the house and shot herself and they can show that, we will accept it and support tom." we didn't feel like that was, you know, the case. >> reporter: they weren't alone. remember, on the night it happened, former deputy brian spencer saw tom roaming around freely with blood and other

potential evidence all over him. >> police 101, a very basic thing. any scene that you respond to, you want to treat it as the highest level of what it could possibly be. >> sure, so he would be a suspect. >> and he needed to be preserved. he needed to be controlled. >> reporter: but none of that was done at the scene. pretty soon, ashley's parents began to suspect there was a cover-up to protect tom, perhaps the so-called blue wall of silence looking out for a fellow law enforcement officer. it's a hell of an accusation to make, though. >> it is. it is strong, but that is how we feel. >> reporter: mind you, the evans police department strongly disagreed. both the coroner and the crime scene investigator issued reports concluding ashley's death was, indeed, suicide. and, remember, tom told the police she had expressed suicidal thoughts before. and she had two close relatives who'd taken their own lives. and investigators found

prescription psychotropic drugs in ashley's purse and nightstand, which tom told them she quit cold turkey without medical supervision when she learned she was pregnant. and so two months after ashley's death, her parents got the news they feared. police ruled her death a suicide. case closed. >> it made me angry. it made me angry because i knew -- i knew that he shot her. i knew that ashley wouldn't take her own life. >> once the case closed and we got the police report, we realized they didn't do anything. >> so tell me more about the police report and what you didn't like about it. >> it was incomplete. it was inconsistent. could've been written by a high school student. no follow-up. it was unbelievable. >> reporter: the evans police department declined to speak with "dateline" on camera but said this about the allegations

against them -- "the investigation we conducted was thorough and complete. a conclusion of suicide was determined after an exhaustive review and analysis of all evidence, physical, forensic, and testimonial, by all of the five agencies involved." as for ashley's parents, well, there was nothing more either of them could do apparently. and two years went by, during which tom moved to indiana with the kids and enrolled at a local university. >> and i said to him, "tom, murderers always move away." >> reporter: it was important to ashley's parents to remain close to those three kids, so they fought for grandparents' rights and tried, they said, to be civil with tom. but they also told anyone who would listen that they believed their daughter had been murdered, like a local reporter. >> and he said, "do you mind if i start looking into this?" and i said -- joel and i said, no, go ahead. start looking into it." and it didn't take him much. >> reporter: the reporter asked around, talked to neighbors, and

asked the evans police department to comment on what he heard. and before you knew it, the chief announced ashley's case would be re-opened. >> i extend my sincere sympathy to the family of ashley fallis for their loss and for the revisited grief that can accompany the reopening of a difficult case such as this one." >> i just started crying because it's the catalyst for opening everything up. i finally have someone who's taking it seriously. >> reporter: denver's fox 31 aired the startling discoveries that prompted the new investigation. in particular, a neighbor, who was only 15 at the time, said he heard tom admit to shooting ashley. >> pretty hard to forget, hearing somebody confess their murder and then getting away with it. >> reporter: to prevent any suggestion of taint or cover-up, the case was turned over to the nearby fort collins police department. for the next seven months, officers talked to witnesses, both old and new, and hired

experts to re-examine forensic evidence. and when their work was done, weld county d.a. michael rourke decided to assemble a grand jury. >> what i wanna do is i wanna put all of that information as much as we can gather and almost use it as a test run. >> and they said? >> and they indicted him. >> and i got the phone call that they indicted him, and i just started crying. >> reporter: tom fallis was arrested in indiana, charged with second-degree murder and brought back to colorado to stand trial. ashley's parents were finally optimistic. >> i believe that they will find him guilty of murdering our daughter. i believe that's going to happen. >> have you decided to believe it, or do you really believe it? >> i really believe it. coming up, a powerful one-two punch from the prosecution. >> i heard him saying, "oh, my god, what have i done?" >> she said, "i could hear her screaming, 'get off me! get off me!'" >> when "dateline" continues.

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>> reporter: the prosecution's allegation was perfectly clear, tom fallis argued with his wife, and in a fit of rage, shot and killed her. >> at the conclusion of this case after you've received all of the evidence, you will be convinced, beyond a reasonable doubt, that it is him who pulled the trigger. >> reporter: prosecution witnesses said ashley was in high spirits at her new year's eve party, not at all suicidal. >> she was happy the whole night laughing, smiling. >> she was dancing with her children, interacting with all the guests. >> tom, though? ashley's uncle john testified about tom's sudden blowup when he discovered ashley asked him for a joint. >> and i was sort of taken aback by it, because everything was fun that night and then all of a sudden, boom. so i was just like, whoa. >> reporter: a neighbor said ashley told her how tom got physical with her. >> she told me how he had pushed her around before. he had never hit her but he was physical in pushing her.

>> reporter: d.a. rourke wanted the jury to hear that tom had a hot temper. that he was volatile. >> anger would've been most obvious motive. >> reporter: simply lost his temper? >> anger. >> gun nearby, bang. >> right. >> reporter: to prove it, the witness, "ear-witness" you could say, nick glover, the neighbor whose story was reported on television and helped reopen the case. >> i heard him saying, oh, my god what have i done, oh, my god what have i done. >> reporter: nick was 15 at the time. he said he remembered crouching down inside his house, under an open window, listening to tom speak to people in his driveway. >> you can hear one of them, i do not know who it was, say what, what do you mean? and he proceeded to say, i shot my wife. >> reporter: nick said he knew it was tom. he could see him out the window.. >> how certain are you that the voice you're hearing is tom fallis' voice?

>> i am 100%. >> reporter: there was more. nick's mom, kathy glover, testified that on the night of the shooting, she got a strange phone call from a teenage neighbor around 1:00 a.m. >> she said please tell me you called the police and i said no, i didn't, why? and she said, because your neighbor just shot his wife. and i said what? and she said, i could hear her screaming, get off me, get off me. >> reporter: powerful evidence. and then that neighbor testified. but uh-oh. >> do you recall telling kathy glover in a phone conversation that same early morning, i heard her screaming, get off me, get off me? >> i do not. >> reporter: she was 16 and drinking that night, she said. so that might explain her faulty memory. >> do you recall telling officer croissant that you heard a female yelling, get off of me, get off of me? >> i do not. >> reporter: did you expect that from her? >> yeah. >> you did? >> it didn't surprise me.

>> it hurt you, though. >> it hurt, but i thought that, you know, when you have a police officer who interviews her within an hour, hour and a half of the shooting, and she is clear as day as saying, these are the things i heard from my back window, whether she had been drinking that night or not, to me that's the most believable version of events. >> reporter: so a hiccup, perhaps. but then there was the crime scene. remember, the coroner and the csi officer said at the time that the scene screamed suicide but this prosecution witness -- >> my name is jonathyn w. priest. >> reporter: priest is a former homicide detective and forensic consultant who used a miniature model of the fallis bedroom to show ashley's position. >> so she has to be here and then bent down so that she'll fit into this trajectory area. >> reporter: he was convinced that if ashley shot herself, there would be more blood on the floor and surrounding surfaces. not just this one carpet stain. >> we have indications of, of, of bleeding, but the type of

injury that we're talking about is going to bleed a lot, and that's not the kind of stain i would expect to see if that's what was occurring. something is keeping that blood from reaching that area. >> reporter: and he believed that 'something' was tom fallis. remember, his clothing was drenched with blood. and so priest concluded tom and ashley must have been in close contact when the gun went off. using the prosecutor, he suggested there was a struggle when the shot was fired. >> i can keep blood staining from getting onto the wall or onto the cabinet, and i can lower her, continuing to bleed, onto my shirt to where i get her in this position. >> reporter: the prosecution rested its case. what possible defense could there be? well, for a start, this. >> i have so much pain on the inside i can no longer take it. >> reporter: a letter. and what a letter it was.

coming up -- a troubled marriage or a troubled young woman? >> what kind of mental health issues did you observe ashley fallis to be going through? >> mood swings, impulsive behaviors. and the verdict when "dateline" continues. al action with acetaminophen fights pain in two ways. advil targets pain at the source... ...while acetaminophen blocks pain signals. the future of pain relief is here. new advil dual action.

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it can't be an easy thing for a juror, imagining a moment he or she didn't see. >> please rise for the jury. >> reporter: and deciding what must have happened. did tom fallis kill his wife ashley in a fit of violent temper or what? >> tom fallis did not kill his wife and mother of their three children. ashley fallis committed suicide. >> reporter: remember how the prosecution talked of ashley's happy frame of mind? "that ashley was a kind of lie," said the defense. >> ashley fallis was a beautiful woman, but she had a terrible pain inside. she was mentally ill. >> reporter: the defense put one of ashley's close friends on the stand. >> what did you know of ashley having a mental illness? >> i knew that she was on

medications. we spoke pretty in depth about that. >> reporter: but even with medications, the friend testified, ashley had trouble controlling her emotions. >> what kind of mental health issues did you observe ashley fallis to be going through? >> depression, mood swings, impulsive behaviors. >> reporter: in fact, the defense argued ashley was so depressed the summer before she died, she wrote this letter to tom. >> "i have so much pain on the inside i can no longer take it. i'm sorry to do this to you and the kids, but i find myself not even liking my children." >> reporter: "every day is a chore with them and you. i have to pretend to be happy. i have to pretend to be someone i am not. please make sure you raise the kids to continue to go the school we have chosen. i do love them. i just can't take this life any

longer. please make sure you let them know every day that i do love them, and this was not their fault." suicide expert dr. michael allen studied the letter as well as ashley's medical records and testified about his review. >> do you have an opinion in this case about whether or not ashley fallis was a high risk to commit suicide on january 1, 2012? >> yes. my opinion is that she had many, many risk factors and warning signs. >> reporter: remember, detectives had learned years before that ashley had a family history of suicide. both her maternal uncle and her grandmother took their own lives. that, said dr. allen, put ashley at a higher risk for doing the same thing. >> two close family members who had died by suicide would suggest a genetic propensity for suicide. the defense argued that on new year's eve 2011, it was the miscarriage that broke her will to go on.

that she spent the night masking her pain with alcohol, that she planned to dull it further with marijuana after the party. and that's why tom was upset. >> she was vulnerable. he was concerned about her. he didn't want her to add marijuana to this toxic system that was developing inside of ashley fallis. >> reporter: the defense conceded ashley and tom quarrelled that night but insisted it never got physical. those scratches on tom's chest? the ones the prosecutors believed were proof of a struggle? dna tests never found any evidence to support that. >> you did not find any of ashley fallis' dna, cellular material on those swabs from tom's chest correct? >> that is correct. >> reporter: the defense reminded jurors that tom told police why he had the scratches, that he'd done a little "manscaping" to spice up his marriage.

he had texts and photos to prove it. >> there's tom fallis when he has hair on his chest, all the way to the left, and on december 17th, 2011, he texted ashley, "there you have it. you get your way, so here it is. thought you might like it." >> reporter: so the scratches, said the defense were because it was itchy. and that's all. as for the so-called witnesses, said the defense, totally unreliable. the one changed her story on the stand, and the other? well, just months after the shooting, young nick glover went camping, of all things, with tom, the very man he said he heard confess to shooting ashley fallis. >> at no time during the camping trip with tom fallis did you ever tell anybody that you were uncomfortable being there with tom fallis? >> i do not recall. >> reporter: who to believe? for example, there wasn't one

but two prosecution crime scene analysts. this one, you've already heard, believed it was murder. but this one? >> most people that shoot somebody in an act of rage, they don't stop with one shot. >> reporter: dan gilliam was the crime scene expert from the first investigation of ashley's death. using a defense attorney about the same height as ashley, he demonstrated how difficult it would have been for someone as tall as tom to have shot ashley at an angle that matched the bullet's trajectory. >> first of all, is that an unnatural position? for another person to be holding the gun in that manner? >> it is. it is for me. >> okay, and mr. fallis is six feet tall. how tall are you? >> i'm six feet as well. >> okay. >> reporter: and the gun was ashley's. the shooting happened in arm's reach of where it was usually stored, said the defense. after examining all the ballistic and blood spatter evidence, gilliam just didn't believe the shooting was murder. >> i believe that the story that

mr. fallis gave is consistent with the evidence found at the scene. >> reporter: in other words, he thought it was suicide. so what happened in that moment after midnight? how would a juror decide? >> upon reaching a verdict, you will inform the bailiff, who will in turn notify me. >> reporter: kusa's dan grossman settled in for a bit of a wait. >> this is almost a three-week trial. there's a lot of evidence. you thought that you were looking at coming back the next day to hear the verdict. >> reporter: but, no, less than four hours later, a verdict. >> "we, the jury, find the defendant, thomas fallis, not guilty of murder in the second degree and all lesser included offenses, signed by the jury foreperson." >> reporter: not guilty. not murder. after four long years of living under a cloud of suspicion, tom fallis was acquitted of all charges. >> he stayed straight-faced. his defense attorney, iris

eytan, was very emotional. but ashley's parents, they -- they left the courtroom fairly quickly. >> reporter: ashley's parents declined to talk with "dateline" after the verdict, but their legal battles are far from over. they filed a civil lawsuit against several law enforcement officers of the evans police department, who they believe falsified, altered and omitted key evidence to make ashley's death look like a suicide. despite the verdict, they continued to pursue the case. but in 2017 a u.s. district court issued a final judgment, dismissing their claims. what about ashley's family? can they just accept this and go on? >> i don't think they'll ever accept it to say they were distraught would be an understatement. they i think truly believe that tom fallis killed their daughter and they are never going to let that go. >> reporter: an idea once so deeply engrained, true or not, will not go away.

and tom fallis and his children make a life as best they can. that's all for "dateline."i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. >> like a scene out of a movie. there was tape. there were cops with dogs searching all around the crime scene. i just ran towards the cops and started yelling shelley, shelley. >> a young art student murdered. >> she said, "your daughter's been found in blood." and then the phone went dead. >> this was brutal and this was savage. >> reporter: a clever killer leaves a blank canvas. you had no finge