without talking to your doctor. common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, and headache. if you're living with hiv . . . . . . keep loving who you are. and ask your doctor if biktarvy is right for you. it happens on tv. doesn't happen to your family. to your brother. but, it does. >> reporter: no one thought it could happen to him. he was a tough guy, prepared for anything. >> he always would say, if anyone tries to break in here, i'll kill 'em. >> reporter: instead, he was killed. stabbed, in his own home. >> you sure your dad's cold to the touch? >> reporter: his son and daughter-in-law, stumbled into a terrifying scene. >> that's when i saw the gun. >> they said we're going to have

to kill you now. >> reporter: a strange story, that only got stranger. >> they had purple gloves on. >> and they had blue, fuzzy gloves. >> something isn't right here. >> reporter: could he have killed his own father? what really happened in that house? >> i did not do this. >> reporter: then, a witness came forward and changed everything. in this bizarre story, the strangest thing of all was the truth. >> he planned for any scenario, except for the one that happened to him. >> reporter: there are people on this glorious, sun-kissed planet of ours, who get up each morning to being alive and worry. not that there aren't things to worry about, of course. whether we can do anything about them, or not. but, some people worry a great deal, indeed. and do try to be prepared for whatever. and one of those prepared people

was a brilliant, retired university professor, named kay mortonson, whose sister was a woman named fern. >> i said, kay, what would happen if i'm not prepared and i -- i'm hungry or my kids are hungry? can we come to your house? i'll probably just shoot ya. he wouldn't have. but he was definitely willing to protect what he had. >> reporter: oh, yes, he certainly was. and sure enough, one night. >> 911. what's the address of your emergency? >> reporter: but, we're getting ahead of ourselves. what happened that night was a long time coming. it was long before that when kay become a survivalist, with attitude. >> you knew exactly what he thought about everything. and even though he knew what he was saying was going to be outrageous and not accepted -- >> yeah. >> -- he would say it, anyway. >> reporter: he had a black belt in karate. scores of firearms.

kept guns in just about every room of the house and in all of his cars. a fully-stocked, concrete bunker outside his home in payson, utah. >> he had food. he had everything there. you know, water, magazines, books to read. >> reporter: kay was very clear about it with his wife, darla. >> and he'd say, this is where you and i are going to end up because there's going to be a nuclear war. and i'd say i don't want to live if everybody else is dying. so, he was a true patriot and he worried about things and wanted to be prepared for the civil war that was going to erupt. and so, he was a little over the top. >> reporter: darla wasn't thrilled about it but she accepted him and his radical views. after all, they were still, kind of, in their honeymoon phase. >> it was all kind of surreal. i think we both felt like we were back being teenagers, again. so -- because we both, you know, hadn't really had love for quite a few years.

>> reporter: they found each other late in life. after both had raised families. kay had three, adult children by then. one of whom, his eldest, roger, stayed close. >> he was my best friend. we did everything together. >> reporter: mind you, roger was not, at all, like kay. for one thing, he'd suffered a brain injury in an accident, years ago. so, unlike kay, he couldn't work much. lived on disability. but he liked to hang out with his dad. >> we lived less than a mile apart because we did enjoy spending so much time together. if i ever needed help, he was -- he'd be there, in a minute, to help me. >> reporter: although, said roger's wife, pam, wasn't always easy. that's just the way kay was wired. >> roger's dad was a very str g strong-willed person. it was his way or the highway. >> so, roger learned, early, to shy away from confrontation with his father. >> if he said something that

roger maybe disagreed or wanted to do it a different way. roger would leave. he would come back and everything would be good again. >> reporter: not at all how it was with his new love, darla. when she was around, she said kay's tough hyde melted. >> we knew, then, that he really loved her and that he was willing to compromise and do something so that he could make her happy, also. >> did it seem to kind of soften him up a bit? >> yes, it did. a lot. >> reporter: so, kay and darla got married. >> there's something slightly miraculous about relationships, later in life, where they can save people from themselves, in some way. from all the crust that's grown over the years. just kind of peel it off and become the fun person they used to be. >> and that's what i felt like. i just thought he put on this armor as this tough man, and didn't want you to see that he was vulnerable. and, you know, see who he was. and -- and i was able to peel off that, and get down to his

soul. >> reporter: they were as happy as either one of them had ever been. >> he'd say, what else do we need to do? we're retired. we have plenty of money. we'll just have fun. >> reporter: kay was a rich man. made most of his money buying gold at 250 an ounce, said darla. >> he just had the foresight. he always -- he was, you know, the dollar bill's not going to be worth anything. >> reporter: he put his money into a trust so that roger and his other children would inherit everything once he was gone. heaven knows, he wasn't spending it. worth millions. but -- >> he was very frugal. very frugal. and i just -- i used to say to him, you know, like, he just i'd say, when is it you're going to spend your money? you know? what are you waiting for? >> reporter: so kay promised darla he'd travel with her, see the world. but, he made sure his bunker was stocked, and he kept his guns close to hand, just in case.

and then, it was november 16th, 2009. darla was away watching her g d granddaughters. kay was alone in his house in payson. it was evening when the call came in. >> i have help on the way but i just need to get some information. and you're sure that he's dead? >> darla was on her way home. her cell phone chirped. it was a neighbor. >> and he just said something terrible's happened on payson canyon. and he says i think it's at your house. >> reporter: darla's mind flashed to kay and his guns. >> and i thought, oh, my gosh, he's probably shot somebody. an invader or something. >> reporter: she phoned a family friend named chris andrus. >> i said something's going on. i'm alone. i just -- i need to be with somebody. can you come and be with me? >> chris met darla at the foot of the canyon. police blocked off the road that led to kay and darla's house. >> kay probably shot someone.

>> reporter: coming up. it turned out, kay never got the chance. >> are you sure your dad's -- your dad's cold to the touch? >> reporter: roger mortonson makes an agonizing discovery, and stumbles directly into a murder scene. >> after we were tied up, they said, well, i'm sorry but you've seen our faces. we're going to have to kill you now. >> when "mystery in payson canyon" continues. n payson canyon" continues. ♪ ♪ smooth driving pays off with allstate, the safer you drive the more you save you never been in better hands allstate click or call for a quote today (har(betsy) twelquarter mile of tinsel. lights. you never been in better hands allstate (harold) and real snow all the way from switzerland. (betsy) hmmhm... gonna be tough to top.

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>> reporter: everyone knew that kay mortonson was always prepared. surrounded himself with a veritable arsenal of firearms. just a tough, old bird who could defend himself against just about anything. >> he always would say, if anyone tries to break in here, i'll kill 'em. >> reporter: but life, no matter how well we prepare, is full of rude surprises. as it was for kay mortonson. it was november 16th, 2009.

just before thanksgiving. >> hi. this is -- we have the police on the way to help you there. are you sure your dad's -- your dad's cold to the touch? >> kay did not shoot some intruder, as he had long promised he was prepared to do. no, somebody killed him, without firing a shot. and the man on the phone reporting the crime? roger mortonson. kay's eldest son. >> sliced his throat? >> yeah. >> reporter: it wasn't long before kay's wife, darla, had made it to the mouth of the canyon and was led to the command post that had been set up just down the hill from their home. that's where they gave her the news. >> your life just comes tumbling down. you know? you have it all planned out. you think you know what it's going to be. and then, everything's gone. >> reporter: kay, caught off guard? not kay, thought darla. impossible.

but, that seemed to be just what happened. at least, that's what roger and pam told the police, and later, us. and a very strange story it was that began, they said, when pam received a pie at work, as a gift. >> we knew how much she loved that pecan pie and we decided to take that pie. >> so they went to his house, intending to drop off the pie and then leave. but when they got there, they said there was an unfamiliar car in the driveway. pam said she knocked on the door and a young man answered. >> i said is kay here? they said he is. i said we're just here to drop off a pie. and they said, go ahead in. i got to about the landing when i was asked to come back down. i heard the door shut and when i turned around, that's when i saw the gun. >> what was it like to see that? >> it was a shock.

as soon as we turned around and saw the gun, another guy started walking down, also. he had, in his hand, a wad of zip ties. they turned to us and said you're here at the wrong place, wrong time. hold ought yot your hands. >> to me, they didn't look scary, except for they were holding a gun in their hands. >> reporter: the intruder zip tied their wrists, forced them down on the living room floor. then, zip tied their ankles. >> after we were tied up, they said, well, i'm sorry but you've seen our faces. we're going to have to kill you now. >> what's it like to hear that? >> it was horrifying. we believed that we would be killed, on the spot. >> reporter: pam, quaking in terror, she said, looked up at a picture of jesus that is hanging on the living room wall. >> i kept thinking, heavenly father, if you really love me and care for me, please, make us get through this. and it calmed me to keep looking

at that picture of christ and to be able to help roger stay calm. >> that really had an impact on you. >> it did. >> huh, why? >> it just brought me comfort. it brought me peace to know that -- >> even if they killed you. >> -- to know that the -- my heavenly father loves me and that he would do the right thing for me. >> reporter: both men left the room, they said. and then, roger began praying, aloud. he was in mid sentence, he said, when the men walked back in and something quite amazing happened. >> my wife nudged me and she says, okay, be quiet. they're back. and one of them says, no, that's okay. keep praying. go ahead. and they both folded their arms in front of them and bowed their heads and listened to me as i continued this entire prayer. >> how weird is that? >> when i got done with the prayer, we both sat down. and their demeanor changed, at that point. one of them looked at us and

says, well, we've decided we're not going to kill you. we've decided that we're going to tell you a story that you need to relay to the police. >> reporter: what was that story, that the intruders told them to say? that three black men with ski masks invaded the house. three, not two, as they actually were. black, not white, as they actually were. and then, said roger, they took his driver's license. told him they'd know if he or pam ever told the truth. and if that happened, they'd hunt him down and they'd kill him. and then, the two men left. roger and pam waited a while. got out of the zip ties. and roger ran upstairs, while pam dialed 911. and was on the phone with the operator when roger found his father in the upstairs bathroom. >> and i saw my father kneeling over the bathtub. his feet were tied and -- and he was -- his head was down in the bathtub.

>> reporter: inconceivable. tough, resilient, armed-to-the-teeth kay, murdered with his own kitchen knife? what a story. eric, then-sergeant with the utah county sheriff's office was assigned as one of the lead detectives. he was sitting in the office when, from up at the house, the first officer to talk to pam and roger called him. >> and said, you know, something isn't right here. it seems, from his perception, that maybe some things were staged or some things were just not what he would think would be normal for a crime as heinous or as vicious as this. >> reporter: something about that bizarre story didn't sit right. he just couldn't put his finger on it. not yet, anyway. coming up. problem was that bizarre story got weirder, by the minute. >> they had purple gloves on. purple, you know, medical gloves. >> they had blue, fuzzy gloves. it looked like women's winter

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>> reporter: the death of kay mortonson was horrific. humiliating. helpless to defend himself inside his own, sacred fortress. the killer bent him over his own bathtub, slashed his throat. all those guns and not a single one fired. it seemed so personal. sergeant of the utah county sheriff's office got a briefing from the first officer at the scene, who turned on his audio recorder when he met kay's son roger and roger's wife pam. roger had found the body, and was already suggesting possible killers. >> he told me he had an appointment for lunch at noon with a guy named mike kipp, discussing $25,000 worth of guns. >> reporter: mike kipp? mike was kay's former student. >> roger and pam identify him, real quick. they say he's involved. you know, he -- he owes my dad

money. he's the one who did this. >> reporter: roger told detectives that kay was holding a collection of mike's weapons, about 30 of them. mostly, pistols and rifles and some shotguns. kay put the guns in his bunker. roger thought there might be a grudge involved. when detectives went to look for the guns, they were gone. >> so, we pull in michael kipp that night, too. we interview him and -- and we can get his alibi. it's quick. >> reporter: nothing suspicious about it, it turned out. mike had not a thing to do with kay's murder. he simply needed money and kay agreed to buy his guns. by now, tips were coming in. >> and this female said it's the baker boys. the baker boys did this. >> reporter: the baker boys were brothers who, fairly or not, had developed a reputation as the town's troublemakers. detectives found them. they had solid alibis. then, the next day, another tip.

a woman, who implicated her own husband. >> he came home last night the timeframe before the homicide, he grabbed a bunch of stuff, including a knife, and he's been looking for -- for guns so i know he's involved. >> reporter: but the woman's husband was eventually eliminated as a suspect. detectives hoped maybe the stolen guns would lead them to kay's killer. >> and we recovered a lot of firearms that were stolen. just, again, none linked. >> reporter: that just highlighted another aspect of the mystery. kay, remember, collected firearms. had close to 100 valuable guns locked up at his house. yet, the thieves just stole the cheaper ones from the bunker. >> pretty bizarre robbery, to take those guns and not take the far-more valuable collection that kay had. >> agreed. >> reporter: in fact, the inside of kay's house was pristine, untouched. no sign anybody had stolen anything. if this was a home invasion, it was an odd one.

but, by then, truth be told, detectives were already honing in on the two people who admitted they were there the whole time. kay's son roger and his wife pam. >> you sure that he's dead? >> starting with that 911 call they made. something odd about it. >> didn't sound how i would think that a phone call should be made to 911 after discovering your father had just been killed with the throat cut and zip tied in the bathtub. >> reporter: roger and pam, said the detectives, appear to be unemotional, uncaring, even callous. even though they claimed the gunmen stood over them, kept them hostage for almost two hours. at first, pam couldn't seem to describe the men. >> the guy that had the gun. what did he look like? was he white guy? black guy? hispanic? >> ma'am, i don't know. >> reporter: she seemed uncertain even about the number of gunmen. >> how many were there? how many guys were there? >> there could have been three. >> reporter: but listen to what

happened next. roger took the phone and changed the story. >> were they white, black, hispanic? >> they were white. >> three white males. >> two. two white males. >> two white males? >> reporter: roger explained the reason for the apparent confusion. that if they ever revealed what their captors looked like, they'd be hunted down and killed. >> they didn't appear fearful. they were saying it but they weren't really acting fearful. >> reporter: anyway, why would vicious killers not have killed them, too? night of the murder, kenutsen interviewed them. >> my name is eric, by the way. >> i'm pam mortonson. >> did they seem nervous or agitated? >> not really nervous or agitated. just -- just kind of unemotional. >> reporter: even, at times, cold toward the victim, roger's father. but as they told their stories, detectives started noticing subtle differences. >> and they have blue, fuzzy

gloves. they look like women's winter driving gloves or something. the fuzzy kind. >> they had -- i know they had purple gloves on. purple, you know, your medical gloves. >> reporter: lots of details on which they didn't agree. so, sergeant kenutsen decided to employ a well-known technique. he got tough. >> quite frankly, i think your story's a bunch of crap. i think the story's a bunch of crap that you and roger have come up with. >> i'm sorry you don't believe me. but -- >> i'm trying to. >> does it sound too rehearsed or -- >> yeah. >> okay. >> i want them to say i had nothing to do with this. you know? detective, you're crazy, i had nothing to do with this. that's what i wanted to hear and it never came out. some point, roger just kind of shrugged it off and laughed. >> did either of them say anything during these conversations that, from a factual or substantive point of view, made you think, eh, that's

a fact that points to them as real suspects? >> no. they didn't make any confession or any statement where i, all of a sudden, said, hey, yep, they're absolutely the ones who did it. that never did come out. >> but listen to what did come out. >> is your husband capable of killing somebody? >> i wouldn't hope. i mean, i wouldn't think he is. i wouldn't think that he's capable of killing his father. >> reporter: a search of roger and pam's home showed they appeared to be in financial trouble. detectives found collection notices and unsent mortgage coupons suggesting, at least, that they were behind in their house payments. >> i know we're in a lot of debt. but we -- i, personally, would not have my father-in-law killed for his money. >> reporter: and yet, as roger told the detective. >> i'm not sole beneficiary but i get a big share of my dad's

millions, too. >> reporter: within days of the murder, pam and roger agreed to go back to the house with detectives for a videotaped retelling of their intruder story. >> at the front door, my wife was holding a pie. right here. >> that provide you any useful information? >> it provided useful information, from our standpoint, as far as more circumstantial evidence that they're not being 100% truthful. >> reporter: once again, detectives heard foggy memories. >> she either knocked on the door or rang the doorbell. i believe she knocked on the door. >> reporter: they heard dialogue that sounded like a bad-crime movie. >> he pointed at us and said you're here at the wrong time. put out your hands. >> reporter: but then, there was that same, strange lack of emotion, when roger described what should have been the worst moment of his life. >> i came back downstairs, and i -- and my wife was talking, at the time, to 911 dispatch. and i said he's dead.

>> reporter: roger and pam took a polygraph test. and what do you know? roger was found to be deceptive. and pam was jumpy. the operator couldn't complete the test. but still, roger and pam swore up and down they had nothing to do with it. they were victims, themselves. truth be told, the police needed some real evidence. and out of the blue, something arrived. coming up. that new evidence. something else that was strange. someone saw the killing, in a dream. >> i have a photo lineup drawn up and she puts her finger on it. she puts it right on roger's face. >> reporter: when mystery in payson canyon continues. >> reporter: when mystery in payson canyon continues. fifty dr home deductible. it's a policy perk for being a farmers customer. (customer) do i have to do anything? (burke) nothing. (customer) nothing? (burke) nothing. (customer) nothing? (burke) nothing. (customer) hmm, that is really something. (burke) you get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. see ya.

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hello. i'm dara brown. here's what's happening. a federal judge in new york ruled that chad wolf was unlawfully ipointed acting chief

of homeland security. and a 35-year-old man has been arrested in connection to an assault on actor rick moranus on october 1st. the attack was caught on security video and led to outrage on social media. now, back to "dateline." >> reporter: within days of kay mortensen's murder, members of his family began hearing deeply troubling reports from the utah county sheriff's office. the investigation was leading, sure as can be, detectives told them, to kay's own son roger and roger's wife, pam. darla said she couldn't believe it, at first. >> i was just adamant that they couldn't have done it. i was their biggest defender. >> reporter: but then, detectives asked her to listen to roger and pam's recorded statements. and she, too, started to wonder.

>> they told lies. and then, it got -- it just put more suspicion on them. >> reporter: gradually, grew, same with fern. >> when you saw those tapes and so on, what did you think? >> i could buy the fact that they were thinking of roger's involvement. >> reporter: there were just two ma too many things about the story that didn't make sense to fern. and there was something else, too. a possible witness. remember that woman who suspected her husband was involved? police found them, here in salt lake city, at a drug bing binge with some friends. they were high on meth and one of the people there, a woman named cami bills, told the detectives she had a story to tell. about a dream she'd had. >> she describes, in what she calls a dream, seeing somebody get killed. she describes being outside of a

room. she describes a female, off to her left, crying in hiysterics. and she describes three or four males in the bathroom. and she says there's one male who i think is related to the female that's on the floor, screaming. >> remember, the woman was on methamphetamine. reporting, not what she saw but, what she dreamed she saw. still, you never know until you ask. >> so, i have a photo lineup drawn up. and she stares at it and she puts her head down and she puts her finger on it. she puts it right on roger's face. >> the next day, detectives took cami to kay's house, showed her the crime scene. and again, she named roger. >> i can't really see roger. just arms. he's holding kay. >> you don't hear a story like that and say, wow, that's a piece of crap and go on from there? >> no, not when she gives that -- that amount of detail. >> reporter: suspicion of roger and pam was hardening by the minute. detectives got the rest of the

mortensen family informed on developments. >> what did this do to you? >> man, it threw me for a loop. >> when pam and roger attended kay's funeral, the tension was thick. >> it was very difficult to be there because everybody wanted to know what happened that night. >> reporter: but they wouldn't say anything, said pam. detectives told them not to. >> and my sister came up to me, at one point. and says, tell me what really happened. and i told her, i'm sorry, i cannot talk about this. >> reporter: shortly after roger and pam took the polygraph test and were told about the dismal results, they hired a lawyer. few in the mortensen family could understand why they would do a thing like that, if they were innocent, that is. >> i try to say what would i do if i was in their situation? i would do everything i could to help get these people that had caused such horror in their live lives and murdered kay. >> on the advice of their

attorneys, roger and pam stopped talking and the rift in the mortensen family widened from mistrust to anger to outright accusation. chris andrus, the woman darla called the night of the murder, was one of very few people who continued to support roger and pam. >> they were left to hang out and dry. >> how'd you feel about that? >> oh, i was so angry. i was just so, so angry. i -- i couldn't believe that -- that you could love somebody and do that to 'em. even if i thought roger had done it, i would not have abandoned him. >> and they did? >> oh, absolutely did. not only did they abandon him, they crucified him. >> reporter: months dragged by. roger and pam were headline news in utah. but in the absence of definitive physical evidence linking them to kay's murder, they remain free. day by day, they went about their business, as if their lives were still quite normal. then, on july 28th, 2010, utah county prosecutor, tim taylor, took a dramatic step to break

the logjam. he presented the case against roger and pam to a grand jury. >> so, why call the grand jury? why not just charge them? >> we thought the grand jury was a great tool to force them to come in to talk. >> reporter: it was a secret proceeding. no defendants. no defense attorney. only prosecutors, police, some members of the mortensen family. even some of pam's co-workers. all, in front of 16 jurors, whose job was to decide whether or not they should charge roger and pam with kay's murder. and, in just over an hour, the jury decided to indict. >> so, what did that say to you? >> well, there was enough to proceed. >> it sort of reinforced what you were already thinking. >> it -- it -- it did. >> reporter: and that same day, eight months after kay mortensen was found dead in his home, roger and pam were deposited in the county jail. chris andrus, the family friend

who still believed they were innocent, went to roger's sister. >> i said, julie, we need some money to hire an attorney for roger. we think pam's family can come up with money for pam but we've got to get him a separate attorney. can you help me? there's millions of dollars in the trust. she told me, her words were, not one red penny will be spent on his defense. >> julie told us she did not use those specific words. but, she said, the family was advised by their attorney not to use kay's money to pay for roger's defense. which meant that roger, who stood to inherit a big chunk of his dad's millions, would have to rely on a public defender. were he and pam diabolical killers, as detectives and their own family had come to believe? of course, we and everybody else just had to know. coming up. >> we told them everything that happened. they just didn't believe it. they didn't believe that two people would kill one person and

leave two more alive. >> reporter: roger and pam face some tough questions. >> as the interrogations continue, your stories didn't stay the same, according to the police at least. when mystery in payson canyon continues. when mystery in payson canyon continues and most important is the ability to transform the smallest of businesses right in our neighborhoods. we created the 5g business impact challenge to give them the tools for them to come back stronger. the things that folks are doing today to survive during the pandemic will help them become more resilient into the future and technology like 5g is whats really going to enable that. one ups the cleaning power of liquid. more resilient into the future and technology like 5g can it one up whatever they're doing? for sure. seriously? one up the power of liquid, one up the toughest stains. any further questions? uh uh! one up the power of liquid with tide pods ultra oxi. ♪ birds flyin' high, you know how i feel. ♪

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#1 for diabetic dry skin* #1 for psoriasis symptom relief* and #1 for eczema symptom relief* gold bond champion your skin >> reporter: much of utah county, along with roger's own family and many of their one-time friends joined a lineup arrayed against roger and pam mortensen as they sat in jail, charged with murdering roger's father, kay. and they waited for their day in court. the evidence against them? their strange demeanor, their alleged financial trouble. roger's failed polygraph. but mostly, according to detectives, the bizarre and

ever-changing story they told about the night of the murder. what was the truth? we asked the only people who knew, for sure. starting at the beginning, with that strange 911 call. >> who held you hostage? >> i don't know. >> our viewers hear that 911 call and they go wait a minute. something's wrong there. that doesn't -- you know, people scream on 911 calls. they're -- they're crazed. >> and i think i was in a lot of shock, too. and i don't know the real reason why i was -- i could stay as calm as i can. but i just -- that's just my personality and that's the type of person i am. >> reporter: and although she didn't sound like it, she was terrified, she said. their captors had just threatened to kill them if they told the truth. >> and so, when the 911 operator asked me how many were there? i was totally confused what to say. do i tell the truth? which is what i want -- wanted

to do. >> reporter: roger said he knew exactly what he had to do when he discovered his father in the bathtub. >> and i hollered down to her while she was still on the phone, tell them the exact truth. we are going to get these guys. >> reporter: but pam said she still couldn't spit it out. >> i was kind of staggering through what was going on. well, there was two, maybe there was three because i didn't know. i was terrified for my life, still. and i didn't know what i should've said. >> reporter: what about their police interrogations when their stories didn't match? >> i thought their gloves were one color. she thought their gloves were another color. other than that, our stories were basically the same. >> reporter: they both cooperated fully, said roger. kept talking for days, even as police brought up one accusation after another. >> there was an inheritance involved. >> yes.

>> and you talked about that with the police. >> i may have. i'm not sure. >> well, according to them, you talked about it. and it provided one of the classic motivations that children have for killing their parents. cops run into it all the time. right? >> they say they do. >> and that's, clearly, what they were thinking when they talked to you. >> yes. >> did they make that clear? >> they didn't make very much clear to us. they just said that we were not being cooperative with them. even though, from the very beginning, we told them everything that happened. they just didn't believe it. they didn't believe that two people would kill one person and leave two more alive. >> reporter: perhaps. but, what about roger and pam's apparent, financial troubles? >> we were not having any financial problems. if we were having financial problems, my father would be glad to help us. we had that type of relationship. >> reporter: they were certainly not debt free, they said, but

didn't amount to a whole lot. and as for the pile of unsent mortgage coupons, they'd simply started paying online, they said, like everybody else. and as for that failed polygraph test, roger said he should never have been asked to take it. remember, he's on disability because, years ago, he had a serious accident that left him with a brain injury which caused, among other things, short-term memory loss and confusion. and the sort of thing that would make a polygraph result quite useless. >> i said how could i have failed? i did not do this. >> reporter: so, was he lying? or did police have it all wrong? >> they didn't know how to proceed. they could not find fingerprints because the people had gloves on. they didn't find a gun because they took it with them. they didn't know what to do. and so, being confused, they went after the easiest subjects they could find. it was us. >> reporter: the days piled up. a month. two months. four months in jail. waiting for their day in court.

a day, for which roger's lawyer, maybe, wasn't quite so eager as they were. >> we had a case that i believed in. we had a case that i thought we could defend. at the end of the day, i was scared. >> reporter: and no one was prepared when one, cold winter day in the utah county sheriff's office, the phone rang. coming up. >> i was worried he was going to be convicted, regardless of what i tried to do. >> reporter: the unexpected call. the truth, revealed. >> took him to the bathroom, bept him ov bent him over the tub. >> reporter: a surprising ending you won't believe when mystery in payson canyon continues. pay. like it's a mirror, dad. you know? alright, okay. how's that? is that how you hold a mirror? [ding] power e*trade gives you an award-winning mobile app with powerful, easy-to-use tools and interactive charts to give you an edge,

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>> reporter: summer turned into winter again. the family marked the grim anniversary of kay mortensen's

murder. all the while, maintaining their innocence. pam said she was offered a deal, if she turned state's evidence, against roger. >> if you just tell them what they want to hear, then you could go home. but, for me, i was not going to lie just so that i could be a free person. >> reporter: roger's public defender, anthony howe, believed his client was innocent. >> i was looking for that piece of evidence that would be, ah, that's the thing i can't explain and there just was nothing. >> but here's the rub. new juries and his trial approached, he was deeply unsettled. >> i was worried he was going to be convicted, regardless of what i tried to do. >> why? >> because this is the kind of case where a jury would be worried that if they didn't convict, that they would be letting a murderer go free. >> reporter: but howe didn't get the opportunity to defend his client, in court. the reason was that phone call

to the utah county sheriff's office. a call from a woman named rachel bingham. and, here's what she had to say. >> what she had been blocking out was a bombshell. her ex-husband, martin bond, told her he and a friend, named benjamin rettig, wept nt to kay house to steal his guns. >> he wasn't willing at first but he eventually did. >> reporter: bond, she said, told her everything. >> they took him to the bathroom and bent him over the tub. >> reporter: and cut his throat. and then. >> he said, right after that, they heard the door -- the doorbell ring. and it was the two. >> reporter: the two were roger

and pam and we know the rest of the story. rachel bingham kept the secret, for months. until, finally, her conscience won out. and she told police one more thing. how the crooks got the drop on kay mortensen. it turns out, martin's dad and kay were old friends. which is why kay, armed against intruders, welcomed them in and turned his back to his killers. >> he had planned for any worst-case scenario to happen, except for the one that happened to him. >> in that, there are so many ironies, aren't there? >> there are so many ironies, yeah. >> reporter: the biggest perhaps? roger and pam's crazy story about intruders was true, all along. though, sergeant knutzen still had trouble believing it. >> i can pick up the case and i can read through it. and i can read through it, and i can see discrepancy after

discrepancy. i can see -- >> but can you see where, maybe, that ain't enough? >> uh-huh. >> reporter: and as for possible evidence, the dream sequence of a girl on meth? this is evidence? >> well, it's more circumstantial evidence. it's a lead. >> you'd even call that circumstantial evidence? a lead? saying she had a dream. >> it's a good dream and it's pretty close. >> reporter: and in the end, the prosecutor admitted, he and the detectives got it wrong. >> based upon the new, physical evidence that we have located, we anticipate dismissing the charges against roger and pam mortensen tomorrow. >> reporter: roger and pam were finally freed. >> those four and a half months seemed like four and a half thousand years. i felt like i was in there forever. >> reporter: pam got a standing ovation from an unlikely crowd. >> as i was walking out of that

big, dorm area, there was 90 women clapping and cheering for me. they knew i was innocent and, for me, having the situation that i -- that i've -- we dealt with, with roger's family turning against us, friends turning against us. to have that support of those people that people would consider criminals. to have them cheer and -- and yell and scream was a very emotional thing for me. >> reporter: pam wanted the prosecutor to issue a public apology. that would help make up for what all this has cost them, she said. we offered the prosecutor this forum. >> can you sit here, in this very public place, on television, in front of the country, and apologize to pam and roger? >> you know what, apologizing on tv really doesn't mean anything. that very first meeting, when we were just there in our

conference room, is when i apologized. >> that was meaningful to you. what they have said to me is what we would like, more than anything else, is for that prosecutor, for tim, to stand up, in public, and say i'm so sorry for what i did to you. and that's it. no but. no and. but, to do it in front of the world. that would mean something to them. >> am i sorry? yeah, i am. i have no problem with saying that i made a mistake. we didn't try to defraud anyone. we didn't try to lie. we didn't try to fabricate anything. but we made a mistake. >> reporter: pam and roger filed a lawsuit. arguing that the prosecutors and detectives lied to the grand jury. but just a few months later, the u.s. supreme court ruled that grand-jury witnesses and prosecutors were immune from civil litigation. so, the judge dismissed their case.

>> so, let me understand this. the police come to your house. you're arrested. your names are dragged through the mud. then, somebody gets the right guy. and they say, well, bye, see ya later. >> exactly. >> reporter: as in so many cases, bond and rettig ended up blaming each other. rettig took a deal, got 25 to life. bond went to trial, has been convicted, and is doing life without parole. the star-prosecution witness? rachel bingham. and if she hadn't come forward, would two innocent people be in prison, today? >> it's going to chase you for a while. >> a little but, you know, i can put it behind me. the case is closed out. what i am happy about, for me, personally, is the family has closure. >> reporter: but, do they? it isn't just kay's murder they must learn to live with. but also, the wreckage strewn for god knows how long through the family story. >> i had emotions of happiness

and -- and relief. but still, there's some regret that i didn't support roger and pam. from the beginning. >> i would ask that no one ever be put through this. it changes your perspective on the world. it really does. >> reporter: and by the way, said roger and pam, a little piece of advice. >> if anything happens and there is anything dealing with law enforcement, you don't say a word and you get an attorney. >> reporter: as for darla, who had finally found the love of her life. what was there to say? >> i just think of the lives that were altered and destroyed over that act. how many families, you know, were crushed and changed forever, that'll never be the same. and it -- it just makes me mad because it was so senseless. and i just think, what, what we could've had and how different my life is. >> that moment of sunshine,

snatched away, huh? >> yep. you just take what life brings ya, and it's not always what you'd expected. when you're a young girl, you have all your dreams of what your life's going to be. and somehow, it just doesn't quite work out that way. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> i caught something out of the corner of my eye. it was my mom. she was laying on the ground. i went over expecting her to get up or to say something. i put my hand on her shoulder. i kind of turned her. and i could see blood everywhere. >> reporter: their family always made the best of bad times. >> my mom always looked for the good in everything. >> reporter: but no one could fix this.