and she is. i don't know if i forgive her. but i understand her. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm natalie morales. thank you for watching. a tough assistant d.a. gunned down near the courthouse. >> we saw a jagentleman that ju got shot. >> but it wasn't over the dead man's boss and his wife were annext. >> whoever went in there had a mission. >> did you start to think thath there was a y list? >> oh, sure. i don't think there was any doubt inth our mind that this w a psychopath that we were dealing with, a serial killer. >> someone had declared war on law enforcement and their families. >> i have young kids. my husband, i can't keep putting themi at risk. wife had two guns out. i said unless you know it's me coming through the door, be ready to usegh it. >> the trail would stretch from coast toou coast.

>> is this some sort of anti-government militia group? i had no idea what we were dealing with. >> before leading investigators back inhome. >> my thoughts were it's someone we know. >> was he living a double life? >> i think a he was. >> you're i making him sound li hannibal lecter. >> it was just wild. >> the courthouse, the moral center of every american city and town. the place we go to settle differences, resolve disputes, find justice. it's the place where the story usually ends, but not this time, not in rural kaufman, texas,

where life is leisurely and no one is a stranger. >> oh, my god. someone just shot someone and they're laying on the ground. >> it was just bam, bam, bam. >> this time, it's where the story begins. >> somebody was trying to send a message. it was just so bold. >> a story that quickly got too big for this texas town. and like a prairie fire, spread across the nation. >> we have some new information this morning on the man hunt for a killer who gunned down a district attorney. >> may have been involved in the brazen murder of the head of colorado's -- >> in this tale, the hunters became the hunted. >> that's what was so scary. it was not just me anymore. i have young kids, my husband, my family. >> my wife had two guns out. i said unless you know it's me coming through the u door, be ready to use it. >> shannon hebert never expected

to be in danger when she started the career she always wanted, practicing law. >> why did you want to be a lawyer? >> oh, my gosh. in second grade, a judge came to my class, and i fell in love with that, and i wanted to be a judge or a w lawyer. >> her dream came true. by 2008, shannon had passed the bar exam and got her first job as a prosecutor with the kaufman county district attorney's offic office, on the second floor in the courthouse in the center of town. >> ise loved the office. the people around me were so knowledgeable. they were almost all from dallas. >> one of those lawyers from dallas was mark hasse, an experienced prosecutor, a guy who lived his job. did you learn anything? >> oh, gosh. >> from him? >> yes, of course. we would go to mark for almost everything. >> that's because mark had prosecuted some of the worstad criminals in texas.st >> he was tenacious. he was an intellectual, and he was very quick on his feet. >> marcus bush is a lawyer with the department of justice. back in the '80s, he and mark

hasse were youngnd guns workingn the organized crime section of the dallas d.a.'s office. >> mark was not afraid of taking on a fight. some a of the defendants on som of the cases were very bad people, and mark had the personality to stand in the breach and prosecute the worst of the worst. >> why did mark move out of dallas? >> he wanted a place where he had some room, so he bought a house and about eight acres, built a barn out there. he justil loved being around animals, and he loved the space. >> besides animals and wide open spaces, mark had another passion -- flying. back in 1995, it almost killed him. mark did have a bad accident. >> mark had a terrible accident. >> a high-flying commemoration of world war ii's end 50 years ago this armonth. >> mark was part of this aerial armada of vintage planes when something went terribly wrong. >> he believed the engine had failed, and he made a forced landing, ran off the end of the

runway. he survived but he had a very severe brain injury. >> did he decide to fly again at any point? >> he did. >> why do you think he wanted to fly again? he almost died. a >> it's like being thrown from a horse. he wanted to be the person he was before. >> butth he did? >> he did. he did. but it took a long, long time. >> mark's colleagues in the d.a.'s office admired his strength to fight through adversity, but they also got a kick out of his weakness, his love for sugary snacks. >> he had a sweet tooth, and he would mostly eat everyone's stuff. we would have weekly prosecutor meetings every monday, ande we would get e donuts for them. he would also get there first and stealer my blueberry donut. we both loved that. >> in 2011, mark and shannon got a new boss, who seemed to fit right in with their office family. the newly elected district attorney, mike mclelland. >> my name is mike mclelland. i'mke the criminal district attorney for kaufman county. >> mike's stepdaughter, christina foreman said he

enjoyed the job. >> he enjoyed the people he worked with.op he would talk about this person did this, t and i was really prd of them. >> everything was new to him. he came in and just took it over. >> was he tough? >> ias wouldn't say he was toug on us at all. the greatest thing about him was he let us do what we do best. >> and mike quickly formed a bond with mark hasse, the experienced prosecutor. >> mark was his best friend in the office. they were very close. >> mike's wife, cynthia, fit right in around the office too. she was almost like a den mother. she workedst as a nurse but fou time to bake cakes and cookies for the staff. cynthia was also an avid quilter who loved making gifts for her husband's co-workers, including shannon, now married with two children. >> she would bring fabrics in to show me. you know, is this going to match the nursery? and then she quilted it for me. it was just stunning. it was very beautiful. >> and that's how it was, a happy, humming office in a quiet, small town -- until

january 31st, 2013, just before 9:00 a.m. at that moment, the calm, serene morning and the lives of everyone in the d.a.'s office would be shattered. >> i heard what i thought to be gunshots. >> police officer jason stastny was a few blocks from the courthouse. he and his partner were investigating a burglary when something big caught his attention.g >> and it was just a slow and methodical five shots. it was just bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. and then it was a little pause, i guess you'd say, and then three more shots after that. >> shannon was inside the courthouse when she heard the sound of sirens. >> that's not unusual because there's a police station just a block away. there's a hospital a few blocks down the street. >> that siren was jason stastny's squad car. >> i hollered at my partner. i hsaid, hey, you know, those e gunshots. we need to go.

we need to go. so we packed up real quick, hopped in the car. >> the car camera was rolling and he and his partner drove toward the gunshots. >> about halfway over, the dispatcher came across the radio and told us that a man had been shot and gave a us the location. >> 911. >> yes. we saw a gentleman on grove street and a man that just got shot. >> that's just a block fromst t courthouse. shannon noticed that her secretary wasno looking out the window at some commotions on t street. >> my secretary turned around and she was crying. when she turned from the window, all she said was, it's mark. >> mark hasse, her friend and colleague. >> my naturalan instinct was, d he get hit by a car? she was like, no, shannon. he was shot. >> who is it? >> it's mark hasse. >> oh, my god, it's mark hasse. he's an assistant district attorney. >> coming up -- >> take another breath, mark.

come heon. the ems is almost here. the ambulance iss coming. >> a dedicated prosecutor shot right outside the courthouse, stunning onlookers and police. >> it's nothing you could prepare for.no >> who would even attempt such a brazen attack? >> diden that tell you that the two knew each other? >> that seemed very personal to me. >> when "dateline" continues. vicks vapopatch. easy to wear with soothing vicks vapors for her, for you, for the whole family.

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a beloved prosecutor, mark hasse, had just been shot outside the courthouse in kaufman, texas, during the morning rush. >> can you check the plate? >> officer jason stastny was one of the first on the scene. >> when i pulled up, i saw a man. he was laying here in the street. >> you're seeing the dramatic images from officer stastny's onboard camera. >> there was a woman that was over him. it looked like she was doing cpr. >> that woman had witnessed the shooting from her car, saw the

shooter flee, then tried to help mark. now stastny was taking over, going on instinct and adrenaline. >> this is one of those scenes when you pull up, it's nothing you could prepare for. >> he knew right away it was bad. >> he got shot in his face. >> he looked at me, and then he stopped breathing. that's when i started cpr. >> there you go, buddy. keep breathing for me. >> i got him to take seven breaths. i do remember that. >> as his car cam kept rolling, stastny's body mic picked up his pleas for mark to hold on just a little longer. >> get you another breath, mark. come on. ems is almost here. the ambulance is coming. >> i tried my best to tell him, you know, you're doing good. you're doing good. you know, keep breathing. the ambulance is coming. >> officer stastny had been at the scene for five agonizing minutes when the ambulance rolled up. >> anybody know anything about

him? >> he's one of the d.a. prosecutors. >> back at the courthouse, shannon hebert was getting updates on mark. >> i don't really know how many minutes passed by when another prosecutor came into the courtroom saying how bad it was. >> about an hour earlier, shannon had walked from the parking lot to the courthouse. that's the same route her friend and colleague, mark hasse, was walking when he was shot. now, too afraid to go anywhere, she stayed inside, praying for him. >> we are now just waiting to hear if he's going to live. >> but bad news traveled fast. >> it didn't take very long for his trial partner to walk into the courtroom shaking her head and crying. and i think at that point we knew he was gone. >> i can only imagine how horrible a moment like that is. >> it's horrible. it will -- it will be in my brain forever. like i will never, ever forget that. >> there's not a day that goes by that i don't go by here and think back to that day and exactly what happened and exactly what i saw.

>> mark hasse was dead at 57, gunned down on his way to work a block from the courthouse. >> people in kaufman are shocked by the deadly attack out in the open in the town square. >> i just never in a million years would have expected one of our prosecutors, much less somebody i knew personally, to be laying on the ground dead. >> with one of their own down, lieutenant jolie stewart from the county sheriff's department quickly joined the swarm of law enforcement jumping on the case. >> we didn't have time to grieve about it. we didn't have time to talk about our feelings. it was time to go to work. >> lieutenant stewart and others canvassed the area, but solid information was hard to come by. witnesses said the shooter hopped into the passenger side of the getaway car as it sped away. so there had to be at least two people involved. they also said the car was silver, or was it gray or tan?

a four-door. maybe a ford taurus but with no license plate. >> the rest of that day, we were just going around looking for, you know, the car. >> i don't think i've ever noticed how many silver or light-colored four-door sedans there are. >> and even though the killer had brazenly attacked during the morning rush, witnesses said he covered up. >> one of the witnesses described him as wearing a hoodie that was black and covered their face. and then another person who saw him from a distance said, you know, all black, you know, dark clothing. >> but there was something more. a witness in a garage right across the street heard the victim's last words. >> mark said "no, no. i'm sorry." and that was after a little bit of kind of a shoving match. >> did that tell you that these two knew each other? >> that seemed very personal to me. >> no weapon was found at the

scene, and no shell casings either. >> did that tell you anything that there were no shell casings? >> yes. it told us there was going to have to be a revolver. >> that's because resolvers keep bullet casings inside the gun after firing. i can only imagine how terrified mark must have been in those final moments. >> mark was doing what he did every day, just going to work. >> now his fellow prosecutors feared he died for that work, and they could be next. no one felt safe. >> all of us were scared. we didn't know if there was, you know, a bunch of people waiting to try to shoot us. >> the courthouse was locked down in the morning, then closed for the day. prosecutors and office staff were given extra security. >> they were walking us to our cars carrying huge rifles and guns. >> when did it tart to sink in for you that this could have been me? you walk into work with mark. >> right. >> your office is right there. >> i think that was immediate fear. it could have been any of us. >> we lost a really, really good

man. >> district attorney mike mclelland stood call when he addressed the media about the killing of his good friend. >> i hope that the people that did this are watching because we're very confident that we're going to find you. we're going to pull you out of whatever hole you're in. we're going to bring you back and let the people of kaufman county prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. >> mike's stepdaughter, christina, watched his take no prisoners press conference with immense pride. >> that's not an unusual thing for him, you know, when he really, truly felt deeply about something, then he was going to democracy a stand for it. he was going to make a stand with his beliefs and really try to do the right thing. >> but bringing this killer or killers to justice would take a lot more than tough talk.

this was just the start of a crime spree that would terrorize the very people who protect us. now, no one was safe. coming up -- that investigate would also present an overwhelming challenge thanks to a suspect list including the hundreds of defendants mark had put away. >> i immediately started thinking about the organized crime cases and the murder cases that we'd all prosecuted. many of those people were starting to parole out. >> anyone in particular stick out in your head? >> when "dateline" continues. hey! it's me! your dry skin! i'm craving something we're missing. the ceramides in cerave. they help restore my natural barrier, so i can lock in moisture. we've got to have each other's backs... cerave. now the #1 dermatologist recommended skincare brand.

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i mean we really did love him. it was devastating when he was gone. >> monday morning, four days after the murder of mark hasse, fellow prosecutor shannon hebert returned to work with a heavy heart. >> of course it was a hard monday at our weekly meeting without mark. our whole office was devastated. i mean his door was closed. >> security remained tight in and around the courthouse. the people inside took on a bunker mentality. >> folks were trying to deal with what happened. nobody's ever done this before. this is new territory for everybody. >> his colleagues were terrified, and many wanted to carry guns for protection. district attorney mike mclelland

made it easier for everyone to get concealed handgun licenses. >> we could take the course for free, and we could start getting our handgun license just in case we needed it. >> did you get a gun if. >> no, i didn't. >> did you think about it? >> oh, yeah. >> it's the kind of thing people do when they're scared and panicked, the justice system under attack. the murder brought an all-star army of law enforcement to the case. the sheriff's training center was turned into a command post. it was soon buzzing with local police, texas rangers, and federal agents from the atf and fbi. >> that was what's amazing about this case is you had federal, state law enforcement all working together in a team. >> advising this team, toby shook and bill wore ski, veteran high profile attorneys from dallas who were quickly named special prosecutors. >> once you get over the initial shock and disbelief that a prosecutor and someone that you know has been murdered, kind of your professional training kicks

in. that's where toby and i stepped up and volunteered to help them in that role. >> the crime seemed to be what every prosecutor fears, a revenge hit for putting away a bad guy. that struck a chord that reverberated from kaufman to dallas, throughout texas and beyond. >> and i think every judge, every defense attorney, every prosecutor has that in the back of their mind. >> does it send a chill through everyone when one of your own is killed like that? >> it does. i mean whoever did this obviously crossed a line that other people just rarely even approach, and it starts making you think of what you do for a living and your family members and your own personal safety. >> the initial theories were as numerous as the hundreds of cases mark hasse had prosecuted. the first place to look was right in kaufman county, where mark was a felony prosecutor for three years. >> the big questions that we had is who has he prosecuted recently? >> sheriff's investigator jolie stewart was involved from day one. >> is there something recent

that he's prosecuted that's got somebody upset? so we started delving off into his caseload. >> investigators looked into every local case mark had prosecuted. there were robberies, drug prosecutions, and even a theft that involved an elected official who stole office equipment. they didn't immediately find anything that led them to a suspect. u.s. marshals pulled in anyone with an outstanding arrest warrant. nothing there either. so the task force widened the scope of the investigation beyond kaufman. >> we don't have a lot of violent crimes in kaufman. i mean especially murders. so we just kind of naturally assumed it was someone from dallas. >> dallas, the big city less than 30 miles, but seemingly a lifestyle away. remember, back in the 1980s, mark and fellow prosecutor marcus bush locked up some pretty tough customers there. >> i immediately started thinking about the organized crime cases and the murder cases

that we'd all prosecuted. many of those people received life sentences and were starting to parole out. >> someone just held this grudge, got out of prison, and just wanted him. it was just a personal vendetta against mark. >> even though investigators were convinced he was murdered because of his job as a prosecutor, they didn't stop there. >> you still have to interview friends, family members, associates. >> mark was a teetotaler. he wasn't married, and he didn't have any children. those extensive checks into his background came up empty. >> there just wasn't anything there. he loved his mother, who lived in dallas and spent a lot of time taking care of her and taking her to dinner. >> all the initial checks into mark's personal and professional life were not panning out. frustration was setting in because cases get harder to solve after the first 48 hours. two full days in, mark's murder had reached that crossroad, and investigators were searching desperately for a break. >> insiders tell us tonight there are simply no promising leads in this case right now.

>> his murder is turning into a real who done it. >> any assistance that anyone can give us in finding the people that did this will be greatly appreciated. >> d.a. mclelland had it particularly tough. he had an office to run while mourning a good friend. how hard was it for mike to come back to the office after the shooting? >> with mark's door closed and his buddy gone, i think it was very difficult. he talked a lot about the case. >> shot here at his front door -- >> and the case was about to get a lot bigger with another brazen murder. only this one crossed another line, a very sacred line. coming up, another member of law enforcement gunned down. >> the colorado head of the department of corrections was shot here at his front door. >> had mark hasse's killer struck again? when "dateline" continues. alright, everyone, we made it.

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news from nashville. at this hour, the fbi and local law enforcement are sifting through the site of a massive blast that rocked downtown nashville early friday morning, injuring three people and damaging at least 41 buildings. authorities say that they found tissue that could be human remains in the debris field of the blast. the impacted area is under a state of civil emergency, and a curfew is in effect until sunday. now back to "dateline." emotional afternoon in kaufman county where hundreds of people attended a memorial service for slain prosecutor mark hasse. >> he was constantly begging for more of my wife's cookies. >> d.a. mike mclelland. >> she makes cookies for the office about once a month, and he would run out in about 12 minutes. >> mark's longtime friend marcus busch also memorialized him. >> this world is a better place because of mark, and so are we.

>> the world lost a good man, somebody who was resolute, always knew the difference between right and wrong, and would fight for that. >> now, special prosecutors toby shook and bill wirskye, along with a multi-agency task force, were fighting for mark, searching for his killer but not coming up with easy answers. because he was so close to his friend and employee, d.a. mike mclelland had to bow out of the investigation. he and his co-workers were doing what they could, opening their files to investigators. >> everything anybody can think of, they're looking through it. >> checks into mark's personal background had gone nowhere. so the task force continued to look at his professional cases from 30 years ago to the week before. but it was slow going. how do you sift out, well, it couldn't have been this person, but maybe it was this person? >> first of all, you see if they're still locked up. you see where they are, their

whereabouts. you see is there anything unusual or specific about a case that would give someone cause to have a grudge in. >> four weeks into the investigation, a tip came into the county crimestoppers anonymous tip line that looked like a big break. >> the tipster said that they'd been in a bar in a small town in kaufman and overheard two white males talking about the hasse killing and taking responsibility for it. >> the tip lacked the kind of detail that investigators needed to follow up. and using the crimestoppers system, the tipster remained anonymous. if this was going to be the game-changer, investigators would need lots more information or a little more luck. >> you're still hoping for the big break and maybe a lucky traffic stop or somebody that knows about this murder is going to pick up the phone and call in, and that will be the magic phone call. >> there was something that might lead them to the killer. the way mark had been murdered. the killer had been lying in wait. mark was shot at point-blank

range, execution-style. all this led investigators to think this could be an organized crime hit. >> rumors are sweeping the town. talk of mexican drug cartels and prison gangs. >> we're open to every avenue right now. >> nbc's channel 5 in dallas covered the hasse case from the beginning, and reporter ken caltof was there for it all. >> mexican drug cartels were suspect immediately because of the fact that hasse had been involved in drug cases over the years. >> and investigators also suspected another group, less publicly known but very dangerous. the aryan brotherhood of texas, a prison gang of white supremacists. why was the aryan brotherhood a potential group that may have done this? >> there had been some threats that had come out about that time that the aryan brotherhood said they might want to get even with people in law enforcement. >> get even because less than three months before hasse's murder, federal officials

announced that 34 alleged aryan brotherhood gang members had been indicted for racketeering. the feds thanked, among others, the kaufman county d.a.'s office for its role in the investigation. >> so a lot of people were trying to put two and two together with the aryan brotherhood. >> it's one thing if it's one individual who went after mark. it's another thing if it is the aryan brotherhood. >> oh, yeah. prosecutors not just in kaufman but across the state were terrified that, hey, if this is the aryan brotherhood, we're all targets. >> and then seven weeks after hasse's murder, another assault on law enforcement. it looked like it was open season on the criminal justice system. >> the colorado head of the department of corrections was shot here at his front door on tuesday night. >> the man's name was tom clements, the highly regarded head of colorado's prison system. and like mark hasse, a public servant. >> with more than 20,000 inmates in colorado's prison system, tom clements may have had a lot of enemies.

>> it was another bold attack, this time inside the front door instead of outside the courthouse. evidence pointed to a former inmate named evan eeble. he was a member of a white supremacist gang in colorado similar to the aryan brotherhood. now he was on the run from colorado authorities, armed and dangerous. two days after the murder, a sheriff's deputy in texas would find out just how dangerous. a violent attack caught on a dashboard camera. the deputy stopped this car because the license plate didn't match the vehicle. he had no idea the driver was evan eeble. as you're about to see, eeble had no hesitation about using his gun again. [ gunfire ] the unsuspecting deputy shot in the face would survive. eeble was quickly chased down by law enforcement and died in an explosive shoot-out in wise

county, texas. >> this is cell phone video of thursday's shoot-out in wise county. >> what grabbed the attention of investigators in the mark hasse murder is this. wise county is just 100 miles from kaufman. could evan eeble killed another public servant in texas seven weeks earlier? >> the fbi is now investigating this case. they want to see if eeble is connected to mark hasse's murder. >> two public officials gunned down in two states. someone seemed to be targeting law enforcement at point-blank range. coming up, as the investigation grows more urgent, sudden concerns about d.a. mike mclelland and his wife cynthia. >> i tried mom, and she didn't answer. so i tried mike, and he didn't answer. >> so i said, okay. i'll go on over there. >> and then concern becomes alarm. >> at that point, something's really wrong now. >> when "dateline" continues. aaaah!

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the shooting of colorado's prison chief at his home, allegedly by a white supremacist, had given texas investigators a fresh angle in the murder of prosecutor mark hasse. >> it's another strange attack on law enforcement in a small town. >> nbc 5's ken kalthoff says the suspected murderer ending up in

texas was especially intriguing to investigators. >> it made people wonder if perhaps there could be some connection with the hasse murder. >> they did tests on suspect evan ebel's weapon. his bullets were identical to those that killed the prison chief back in colorado. but then the texas task force found out ebel's gun was not the weapon that killed mark hasse. and what's more -- >> ebel was deemed not to have been in kaufman at the time that hasse was killed. >> so eight weeks in, the hasse case was going nowhere. >> fewer and fewer leads were coming into the investigation. >> the command post was shut down, leaving just a small group to work full time on the case. >> slowly, you know, we kind of trickled back to our daily duties. >> the passage of time was allowing shannon hebert to finally get her equilibrium back. >> i just wasn't checking out my windows constantly or worried about when i pull out of my garage, if someone would be

waiting there. so, you know, i think you just start letting your guard down again and life just kind of took over. >> same thing for hard-nosed d.a. mike mclelland. according to his stepdaughter, christina. did things just naturally kind of start getting back to normal? >> yeah, i think more of a sense of normal. it was still kind of at the forefront of, oh, god, we haven't found anything, we haven't solved this yet. but, you know, life moves on. >> for the mclellands, moving on meant spending time with family. it's something mike enjoyed since marrying cynthia when christina was just 10 years old. >> he would give great big bear hugs and, you know, even when i was older, would wrap me and pick me up. i'm like, i'm 22. >> did you feel lucky that you got mike as a stepdad? >> i do. our personalities are just quite similar. >> you're both straight shooters? >> yes. we're both -- our filters are quite off sometimes. >> mike relied on the support of his wife, cynthia, who was always doing what she loved,

quilting, entertaining, and cooking. >> you know, she's the old school cook who didn't use packages. she bakes everything from scratch. >> was he happy that she was this baker slash cook. >> really by his physique, he enjoyed the food very much. >> what made them a good match? >> you know, it's really funny. she supported him greatly in what he was doing, but he's, you know, the conservative, and she's very liberal. so i think it was just a lot of balance. i think they balanced each other really nicely. >> cynthia also wanted her daughter to find love and wasn't shy about playing matchmaker with a guy she thought was a good fit. >> she looked at him and said, do you believe in arranged marria marriages, which i had to apologize for because that's a weird thing to say. >> that's embarrassing. >> it's embarrassing. it's very weird. >> at the end of march, easter weekend, the mclellands were looking forward to a big sunday dinner cynthia was making for friends. the perfect time to relax and

not dwell on the tragedy of mark hasse's murder, at least for a little while. was there any fear that, we need to be on high alert? >> at that point i don't think so. >> christina spoke to her mom and stepdad on that friday night. >> you know, mom was making the easter baskets and mike was griping at her about what she was doing, trying to put the little peeps on sticks. she wasn't quite getting and making a huge mess. just the normal mike, cynthia, you need to sit down and take a break because you're getting tired. just give it a minute. mom, oh, i'm fine. >> the next morning, saturday, the sun rose over the mclelland house. it was cynthia's day to prep. >> she had sent me a text about the menu that we were going to have for easter. >> leah phillips and her husband, close friends of the mclellands, were excited about joining them for dinner. >> she was making our family all easter baskets. then she would make clues and hide the easter baskets.

>> that's elaborate. >> it was very elaborate. >> leah, who was supposed to drop off some vegetables for cynthia, texted her. >> and she never answered me back. >> did you think that was odd that she didn't answer you back? >> the only thing i could think of was maybe she did go into work where she couldn't either answer the phone or text me back. >> leah called mike's phone and the house phone. no response. and she wasn't the only one. christina was also trying to call her mom and stepdad. >> then i tried mom, and she didn't answer. so i tried mike, and he didn't answer. >> by now, it was late afternoon. so leah took things into her own hands. >> so i said, okay. i'll go on over there. >> she did go over, and nothing would ever be the same again. coming up -- >> the door just -- it eeked open like in slow motion. >> inside the mclelland house, a heart-stopping discovery. >> i screamed, and then i just -- my knees buckled and i

hit the ground and just started crying. >> when "dateline" continues. i switched to geico and got more! more savings on car insurance!? they helped with homeowners, too! ok! plus motorcycle, boat and rv insurance! geico's got you covered! like a blanket! houston? you seeing this? geico. expect great savings and a whole lot more.

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on the saturday morning before easter, leah phillips hadn't been able to reach her good friends, cynthia and mike mclelland. leah had some groceries to drop off for cynthia, so she decided to drive over. she thought something was odd when she pulled into the driveway. >> the newspaper was still in the yard, and cynthia's car was there. >> so very subtle clues. >> just subtle, but i'm still thinking maybe they went to the movie with someone. >> leah called her son, c.j. tomlinson and told him what she'd seen. >> and i said, you just stay where you're at. don't go inside that house. >> it was c.j.'s cop sense kicking in. he's a dallas police officer. >> the feeting wling was someth not right. it's just not right. >> a few minutes later, c.j.

drove up along with his dad. >> we went to the door. c.j. knocked on the door and yelled for mike three or four times, and there was no answer. >> they were messing with the key, and they were all standing behind me. and i just reached down to see if the door was open. and, yeah, it was unlocked. and i'll never forget how that door opened up. >> the door just -- it eeked open, just like in slow motion. >> i took a couple steps in, and that's when mom hit the ground and started crying. >> and i screamed, c.j., stop. there's shell casings. and then i just -- my knees buckled and i hit the ground and just started crying because there's not supposed to be shell casings inside somebody's doorway. >> i looked down and sure enough, there are two shell casings right inside that front door. at that point, something's

really wrong now. something bad's happened. so i take a couple more steps inside, and i see cynthia laying there. >> cynthia mclelland was dead. her body was lying in a pool of blood on the living room floor. c.j. turned his mom away from the scene and took her back to the car. meanwhile, c.j.'s dad had gone farther into the house and found the bullet-riddled body of mike mclelland. when your husband and son come back out of the house -- >> there's no blood left in their face. they're white. >> kaufman district attorney mike mclelland and his wife cynthia had been shot to death. >> you never expect to have to see somebody like that, that you knew, that you loved, that was so close, and i think that was the most -- and it still is obviously. it's so difficult. >> because she hadn't been able to reach her parents, christina

decided to drive to the house as well. her mom's friend leah met her with the news she was dreading. >> i just had the feeling that they were dead, and i said, both of them? and she said yes. and then it occurred to me that, oh, my god, this is going to hit the news. and my grandmother watches the news every day, and somebody needs to stop her before she turns on the tv. >> mike is high-profile. >> he was, and i didn't want somebody else to tell her that this had happened. >> looking at the scene, c.j. tomlinson's police training told him the killer or killers were long gone. he knew what he had to do. >> there was no reason to go back in that house. we closed the door. we didn't call 9-1-1. there was no need for paramedics to go in there. >> they called the kaufman county sheriff. >> the things that were in that house were very important and they needed to be preserved until the right people show up. and they did.

they showed up. >> i was at my house, and w just finished an easter egg hunt with about 30 kids in the backyard. >> about 8:00 p.m., prosecutor toby shook got a call from his partner, bill wirskye. >> he said, hey, the mclellands were found murdered, and the sheriff wants us out there. and it scared me to death. when i left the house, bill came and picked me up, and my wife had two guns out. and i said, unless you know it's me coming through the door, be ready to use it. >> the prosecutors raced to the scene. >> it was surreal. i mean the front yard's lit up, and it's got the yellow crime scene tape, and there's lots of sheriff's officers and texas rangers and fbi there. >> shook saw then-sheriff david burns standing on the lawn. >> sheriff burns a pretty legendary guy, former texas ranger, captain. he was visibly shaken up. and if sheriff burns gets shaken up, that scared the hell out of me.

and all law enforcement out there was quiet. it was eerily quiet amongst them because they were dealing with something i don't think any of them have ever seen before. >> aside from the obvious two people are dead, what was shaking them up so badly? >> i think the big question is who's next? because everybody's assumption that was standing outside that yellow crime scene tape was it could have been one of us. >> cynthia's murder escalated the danger, not just for law enforcement, but now for their families. >> this man had crossed the line and gone into murdering family members. so i know my thoughts and prayers were with my wife and children back in dallas. >> it sure seemed like the hasse and mclelland murders were connected, and everyone was terrified the killings might not be over. did you start to think that there was a list? >> oh, sure. there was going to be another victim if this person wasn't found. >> saturday night, shannon hebert was shopping for easter dinner when she was surprised by a phone call from her office.

>> and i thought, my goodness, who's up there on saturday easter weekend? i'm just -- i'm not going to answer right now. >> but her phone kept ringing. it was another prosecutor from her office. >> and i knew then at that point something's going on. and i answered, and she proceeded to tell me that the mclellands were found in their house shot. >> it must have been the biggest bombshell of your life? >> biggest. it's just so hard to imagine anyone you know being killed. i mean i was frantic. it was terrifying. >> her colleague told her to watch her back. >> we don't know who's next. we don't know if there's more attacks tonight. just get home and be safe, shannon. watch out. >> are you feeling we're all targets now? >> we all felt that. >> including the people she loved most in the world. >> and i authentic that's what was so scary. it's not just me anymore. i have young kids, my husband, my family. and i mean i can't keep putting them at risk.

with mike and cynthia, we were all in danger. >> as local deputies began around the clock watch over shannon's house, something kept nagging at her about the mclelland murders. >> there's no way cynthia opened that door to just anyone. i mean my thoughts were it's someone we know or someone dressed like a police officer. you know, i was just very concerned of even police officers. >> that someone could be dressed in a fake police uniform? >> right. >> investigators also wondered how the killer could have gotten inside the mclellands' front door. mike, like his entire staff, was still vigilant ever since his chief prosecutor was gunned down. the wary d.a. kept his own guns on a table near the front door, but never got the chance to use them. is it just like all bets are off when you hear now they're going after family members? >> even though you don't condone it, you almost understand someone going after a prosecutor for what they do for a living. but to go after a prosecutor's family was just a line that we didn't think we'd ever see

crossed. >> coming up, just who could pick off law enforcement like this? >> it was just a straight-up whodunit. >> we're hoping against hope there's going to be a magic clue that will answer it for us. >> when "dateline" continues. geico makes the claims process so easy... ...i can file and manage my claim, all on the geico app. it's not just easy. it's giving-your-dog -your-fitness-tracker easy. oh, good boy. yes, you got it! woo! already got my 40,000 steps today... can i get a what what! no pain, no gain! haha... it's geico easy. with fast and convenient claims service. look how fast i'm running! good boy, chester.

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. the murders in kaufman, texas, were bold. first prosecutor mark hasse gunned down in a public square in broad daylight. two weeks later district attorney mike mclelland and his wife cynthia killed before dawn in their home. they hoped this would provide more leads that be the hasse killing did. they knew they had shell casings. would there be other clues inside the house to catch the killer? >> it was straight up whodunit. >> texas ranger eric casper was part of the team that entered

the home. >> the front door was not kicked in. the door was unlocked. there are shell casings back and forth. shell casings are .223 caliber. that shows the killer used an ar-15. >> this started exactly when the door opened. miss mcclelland and mr. mcclelland were retreating trying to get away from the gunfire. >> cynthia's body was in the middle of the living room. >> she's not dressed for company. she's trying to get dressed. mr. mclelland, the same way. he's in jogging pants with no shirt on. >> the killer finished him off at close range. >> the suspect was standing right on top of him, over him shooting. >> to investigators, like lieutenant julie stewart of the sheriff's department, it looked like a carefully planned operation, an ambush just like the hasse 34urd dmurder.

>> did the scene speak to you at all? >> i felt like whoever went in there had a mission, and they did it quickly and they did it efficiently and they were out. >> later, records from the home security company would confirm stewart's observation. the killer entered the house at 6:40 a.m. and was gone just two minutes later. 20 shots fired in 120 seconds. >> that was a pretty brutal way to go. >> lieutenant stewart couldn't help but be affected by the sight of cynthia, shot in the head at close range. >> just looking at her there on the scene, she was targeted, you know? i mean, she didn't have a dog in this fight. >> investigators talked to neighbors. surely someone had heard the shots. assault rifles aren't quiet. >> the weapon used in this murder, you should have been

able to hear it outside. no problem. >> no one heard or saw anything. by the end of easter weekend, special prosecutor bill werske said they had nothing. >> we're trying to figure out what to do next, we're hoping against hope there will be a clue in the house that will answer the riddle for us. >> they were looking for that clue, and all of a sudden it drove by. coming up -- a mysterious tip arrives, but after so many false leads, is this one legit? >> would anyone other than the killer have known that? >> no. >> when "dateline" continues. for the whole family. trusted soothing vapors, from vicks

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see how much you can save with allstate. visit allstate.com or contact your local agent today. what should have been a slow easter news day in dallas now had a lead story that didn't involve chocolate bunnies or egg hunts. >> we're following some breaking news right now in kaufman county

where county district attorney mike mclelland and his wife cynthia have been shot to death. >> the news touched off a firestorm of public concerns. tips started flooding into the reopened kaufman county command post. some still cited the arian brotherhood of texas. special prosecutor bill werske. >> with the added media attention, we got hundreds of tips a day. >> it was like drinking out of a fire hose during this whole thing. >> the lieutenant from the sheriff's department was right in the middle of it. hundreds of investigators from multiple agencies had swooped in. >> this was all hands on deck. >> uh-huh. >> this became the number one case in the bureau at that time. >> fbi agent michael heldman and laurie gibbs who were since required were coordinating teams from the task force. each team looking at different aspects of the case. >> you have to look at everything. >> you decided to divvy it up?

everyone focus on different tasks. >> some teams had 25, 30 people. there was a team that looked at all of the victims and what they may have in common. >> they believed the killing of da mike mclelland was linked with the shooting of prosecutor mark hasse back in january, but it was all one big collective hunch until a tip came through that confirmed it. >> we get a tip that claims credit for the mark hasse murder. it began, do we have your full attention now. >> we suggests more than one person. did you think maybe it's a group? >> in my thought, i thought how big is this group? what is this group? is this antigovernment group. >> law enforcement wrote back, you have our attention. >> we wanted him to tell us what he wanted. >> while they waited anxiously for an answer, computer experts tried to trace the tip back to the source. no luck. that's because the system is set

up to protect the anonymity of all tipsters. when the message comes in, they are identified by only a unique number. after 12 hours of nail biting there was finally a response that told investigators this person was the real deal. mark hasse was killed with .38 caliber ammunition fired from a .357 five shot revolver. >> would anyone other than the killer have known that? >> no. this person knew more than anybody would have. >> the killer also wrote, your act of good faith will result in no other attacks this week in return for that pledge the killer made a demand. >> they wanted one of the judges in kaufman county to step down by the end of the week. the fact that this tip came in and named specific judges told us. >> that all but ruled out the arian brotherhood, drug cartels and the old cases from dallas.

the message ended this way, we are not unreasonable but we will not be stopped. >> it's almost sounding like a gang now. >> i think in his mind it was a big chess game. it was just for fun to see if he could really exert complete and total control over the criminal justice system in kaufman county. >> by monday morning the story was topping national news. perhaps that's what he wanted. >> nbc's gabe gutierrez is in kaufman, texas this morning. good morning to you. >> savannah, good morning. there will be stepped up security at the county courthouse. the district attorney's office will be closed to the public. this entire community is on high alert. >> that morning when shannon a bare came to her office she had an armed escort. >> there's no -- >> when you come to work, how do you work? >> we couldn't. we had to fight for the honor of mike and mark. >> everyone in the office was on

edge. >> my husband, he stayed up all night with a gun in his hand. >> i know that i started carrying a gun, sleep with a gun under my pillow. >> even shannon who wouldn't carry a gun before now slept with protection nearby. >> we had a shotgun on our dresser ready to go. >> the killer's threat to kill more in kaufman county kept the task force working around the clock. they scoured the surveillance video hoping for a new lead. >> so many people have surveillance cameras on their house so we're trained to go in and collect that sort of evidence. >> and finally the video team's painstaking search seemed to pay off. >> they found images of a car that didn't belong, a white ford crown victoria cruising near the mclelland's home about the time of the murders. no one in the neighborhood owned a car like that, but the crown

vic model is popular with law enforcement so the fbi jumped on that ang zbll was there ever a thought that maybe this is one of our own? maybe this is a police officer? >> that was not out of the realm of possibility. coming up -- investigators recheck the cases handled by mark hasse, this time to see which ones mike mclelland worked on. >> there was only one common denominator for those two prosecutor prosecutors. >> when "dateline" continues. robinhood believes now is the time to do money.

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i'm dara brown with breaking news from nashville. police say massive nashville explosion was an intentional act. the national chief of police said possible human remains have been found near the site of the blast. the mayor has issued a state of civil emergency for the affected area as well as a curfew in effect until 4:30 p.m.

sunday. now back to "dateline." six days after the murders of mike and cynthia mclelland, hundreds of mourners packed this church for their funeral. the flag draped casket contained mike's body and cynthia's ashes, together for eternity. their extended family united in grief bid them an emotional farewell. >> i carry a lot of things from them with me. they taught me very well. >> they helped a lot of people before they left this world? >> they really did. they made a large impact on a lot of people. >> a beefed up multi-agency task force bound to catch whoever killed the mclelland's and mark hasse. investigators had seen that ford crown victoria on video roaming near the mclelland home and

thought it might be a police car. the terrible possibility it might be one of their own had to be ruled in or out immediately. >> we checked with every law enforcement agency in the area and identified where every police car was in the area and none of them were even close to where this image was captured. >> next, they looked for anyone who for any reason had issues or disputes involving both prosecutors. >> there didn't seem to be anybody in that group of people that were upset enough that they would want to commit homicide. >> but there was one defendant involved in a felony they couldn't ignore. >> there was only one common denominator for those two prosecutors. >> which was? >> that was eric williams. >> eric williams? who was eric williams? he was a former deputy sheriff and long-time attorney with an office right across the street from the courthouse. in 2010 he was elected by the

people of kaufman to be justice of the peace. shannon a bare worked with him and said he had a sharp legal mind. in fact, he was a member of mensa, the organization for people with super high iqs. >> he was a great judge. i liked having him there. he was very fair. >> williams married for 15 years was a strong advocate for children. he specialized in child abuse cases. lieutenant stewart often worked with him on those cases. >> how do you think he was perceived amongst his fellow colleagues, other attorneys? >> i think that he had a lot of respect with his peers. he was kind of the go-to guy for family law. >> i know he had a love for children. >> tara williams belmare knows that better than anyone. she was his sister. >> he was a good uncle. never missed their birthdays.

>> she said growing up her big brother was her inspiration. he made eagle scout, went to college, law school, became a successful attorney. he also served as a captain in the texas state guard. >> he was driven. he was ambitious. he wanted to make us feel proud of him. >> so tara and the legal community were stunned in 2012 when her brother, the newly elected justice of the peace, got into trouble with the law. williams was accused of stealing three computer monitors for his personal use from the county i.t. department. here's surveillance video showing him carrying boxes of computer equipment. >> it just seems odd that someone like that would bother to steal a few computer monitors. >> exactly. it was just kind of shocking that someone would go and do that. >> williams found himself on the wrong side of this police interrogation. >> okay. judge, before we get started,

i'm going to read you your miranda rights. you're an attorney and. >> i know you have to read them. >> he took the monitors and claimed he needed new equipment for his office. >> it's been an ongoing kind of thing where i told the i.t. people, i need to keep improving things. >> i understand, but you hadn't put any riten request or nothing like that? >> no. >> documented it. >> no. >> mark hasse and william mclelland knew him as a colleague. as boss, mike rarely tried cases but because williams was an elected public official, he made an exception and teemed up with mark to prosecute the case. christina said her stepdad believed williams had violated the public trust. >> i think it did offend mike on a basic level. these people elected you, you're supposed to be doing good things for the kmucommunity, not steal

from it. >> he was found of guilty of theft and he lost his license and ability to practice law. now a year later both men who prosecuted him were dead. >> did you bear any of those men a grudge? >> no, absolutely not. >> the media got interest in williams and just days after the mclelland murders, he was -- >> he strangely swept in on his segue. >> has anyone suggested you are a person of interest? >> no. >> after the denial, his sympathies. >> my heartfelt condolences go out to both the mclelland family and the hasse family because they were in public office doing the right thing and for some reason they were not aware of, they paid the ultimate price for that. >> williams was known to be a bit of an odd duck, but a murder

suspect? >> it seems so farfetched that a justice of the peace, a man who served his county as an attorney, a judge, also as a deputy sheriff would then suddenly turn into this serial killer. >> no one wants to think a lawyer would do that, a person who was a public servant would do that. >> in fact, he was among the many people investigators had already looked at after the hasse murder. >> what was his alley ibi at th time. >> he said he was home. >> he also had his arm in a sling and his excuse was he had frozen shoulder and wasn't able to use his right arm. >> he on took a gunshot residue test at his house and passed and after the mclelland murders, vectoinvestigat investigators checked whether he owned a ford crown victoria? records showed he did not. the case was still stalled. but soon the task force would

get one of those lucky breaks they had always hoped for. it came out of the blue and gave the investigation some much-needed juice. coming up -- a special prosecutor goes on high alert. >> i get on the phone with my wife and tell her to make sure she knew where the kids were, get inside and keep the doors locked. >> and a stranger calls with a stunning revelation. >> i can tell when i listen to his voice, this is it. this is the real thing. >> when "dateline" continues. so i can lock in moisture. we've got to have each other's backs... cerave. now the #1 dermatologist recommended skincare brand.

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i've cooperated with law enforcement. i certainly wish them the best in bringing justice for this just incredibly egregious act. >> eric williams was making the tv interview rounds. he hadn't sat down for a formal interview with investigators because of his connection to both mark hasse and mike

mclelland, investigators had to take a serious look at him. >> on the surface it may seem impossible because he's a lawyer, judge, successful. the more we learned about him, the more viable he became in our minds as a suspect. >> just the year before williams had been prosecuted for theft by hasse and mclelland. >> you must be chomping at the bit to talk to eric williams. >> obviously, we wanted to talk to him. he was still represented by lawyers. >> lawyers who kept williams from talking, but then two weeks after the mclelland's were killed in their home, the special prosecutors got a big opening they hadn't seen coming. >> we get an email back from the lawyers saying we no longer represent eric williams. >> they figured this was their one window to talk to him, and they knew they had to get it right the first time before he lawyered up again. so fbi profilers came up with a strategy. send over a top level texas ranger so williams would be more likely to let him in.

>> the idea that that would fit with his ego? >> yeah. he would view a major of texas rangers as someone equal of his intelle intellect. if you sent someone of lower rank he would dismiss them. >> the ranger and local cop familiar to williams went to his house carrying a hidden tape recorder. >> did it work? >> worked great. >> williams let them in without a search warrant. the subject quickly got around at guns. williams said he had been forced to sell his weapons to raise money since he could no longer practice law. >> i've got lots of guns. >> i've been living. >> how do you think i've been living? >> selling guns. >> yeah, for two years. >> you don't have anymore? >> i got one gun i'm trying to sell. >> i don't have any guns except one gun and so he let them look around and they began finding gun parts. >> gun parts, some very specific

gun parts that appeared to match the type of automatic weapon used in the mclelland killings, and at the same time the fbi discovered williams had done computer searches on hasse and mclelland before the murders. >> he specifically told them that he had not ever searched the two victims before the murders. >> now you've got him lying? >> yeah. >> that lie and those gun parts were enough to get a warrant for a more thorough search of his house. investigators, including a crack fbi evidence team, were back the next day. they went room to room, then to the garage, and bingo. >> in a filing cabinet in the garage there was a manual for a ford crown vic and there was also a title to a crown vic. >> the task force, of course, had been looking for a crown victoria. this one was registered under a false name. >> that must have been a real big moment, finding that registration. >> that was huge.

>> outside special prosecutor werske was on hand to give legal advice. >> one of the fbi computer techs came out and said, mr. werske, i don't mean to alarm you, but eric williams has been searching you and mr. shook on your computer. >> what was the first thing you did? >> i got on the phone and told my wife to know where the kids were, don't answer the door. >> what did she say? >> i could hear the fear in her voice and i knew right then we had to put him in jail for something. it became very personal, a matter of life and death for us. >> back inside searchers found something interesting, a scrap of paper with two handwritten numbers. >> so they collected it because it was near the computer. thought it might be important. >> and it was. a sheriff's deputy recognize the the u..er i.d. for the county crime stopper's crime line. the first core responsibility the from a tip early in the

hasse case. the tipster claimed to have overheard two men in a bar saying they killed mark hasse. that meant the tip came from williams computer. a follow-up search also revealed williams had searched several how to websites. >> one of the websites was how to throw the police off an investigation by sending in fake tips. >> the second number on that scrap of paper was even more important because it turned out to be the real thing. it matched back to that computer message that gave details about the hasse murder weapon and also threatend more killings. >> so we knew right then that that tip that had come into the command post was sent by eric williams and we knew right then we were going to be able to put eric williams in jail. >> he was arrested, not for murder but for making a terrorist threat about killing a judge. >> we just didn't know if we had enough evidence to convict him. >> they just had to figure out where the evidence might be. >> did you think that eric

williams had a hiding space? >> we began to suspect if it's eric williams and we know what cars were used, there may be a storage unit or some secret place that he may have access to that we haven't found. >> at least now, ten weeks after hasse's murder, the investigation was finally on a role. >> we go home that night to get a good night's sleep and i wanted for the first time in weeks to see my son play a little league game. >> but the next morning his parenting plans were dashed by work again. his phone rang. it was a friend of eric williams who had heard about his arrest. >> he said, mr. werske, i have something to tell you about eric williams. i think i may have rented him a storage unit. i could tell this is it. this is the real thing. >> so little league was out? >> unfortunately, little league was out. my son went three for three. >> but you were headed to a storage unit? >> this is too important. >> i got on the phone with the texas rangers.

i said, this is it. i think we found it. >> coming up -- >> found what exactly? even seasoned investigators would be blown away. >> this is one of those moments that i'll never forget because it was just, wow. >> when "dateline" continues. ♪ but come ye back when su-- mom, dad. why's jamie here? it's sunday. sunday sing along. and he helped us get a home and auto bundle. he's been our insurance guy for five years now. he makes us feel like we're worth protecting. [ gasps ] why didn't you tell us about these savings, flo? i've literally told you a thousand times. ♪ oh, danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling ♪ i'm just gonna... ♪ from glen to glen

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the hot spot in the investigation was now a run-of-the-mill storage unit. number 18 to be precise in sagonville, texas, 14 miles from the mclelland house. eric kasper of the texas rangers was part of the task force caravan racing to unit 18. >> everybody was running and gunning. everybody wants to be there. >> we were all filled with expectations. making bets. the white crown vic's going to be there, no, it's not. we're going to find the murder

weapon. ranger casper did the honors. >> this is one of those moments i'll never forget because it was just, wow. >> what did you see? >> we saw the white crown vic, the car we had been looking for all those days, all those man hours and there it was and we knew finally we had eric williams. >> but there was so much more. police uniforms and bullet proof vests. more than a half dozen police batches, thousands of rounds of ammo and enough guns to supply a small army. >> he's got six or seven weapons of the right caliber could have been the mclelland murder weapon, five or six weapons of the right caliber that could have been the hasse murder weapon. >> did you think one of those guns had to be the murder weapon. >> i felt like our chances were pretty good because there were just so many in there. >> the guns and ammo were sent off to the lab for testing. inside this treasure trove of bad intentions there were also pickle jars filled with liquid. later identified as homemade

napal napalm. >> unbelievable. it was a tactical operator's office. >> the lab results came back on all of those weapons, nothing matched. the murder weapons were still missing. >> that's got to be extremely frustrating when you feel like, well, one of these guns i'm sure has got to be the murder weapon. >> oh, yeah. we were positive one of those guns was going to be the murder weapon. >> even without the guns, the prosecutors believed there was enough evidence to finally go forward. on april 18th, 2013, ten weeks after mark hasse was gunned down and three weeks since the mclelland's were killed, eric williams was charged with three counts of capital murder. prosecutors said the motive was revenge. >> one thing i found out about eric williams, the first big thing that went wrong in his life, this was how he was going to react, with rage and

homicidal violence. >> it all seemed so senseless to the mclelland's daughter, christina. >> this started over three computer monitors and now three murders. >> normal people don't do that. >> god bless the united states and the great state of texas. >> eric williams went on trial for murder in 2013. >> williams wasn't on the trial for the murder of mark hasse or mike mclelland. >> why not try the murders at the same time? >> what if something went wrong in the first trial? >> we wanted to have the ability to try him twice and make sure he got justice. >> christina sat in court and had to re-live the deaths of her parents. >> what gave you the strength to go to court every day? >> showed up every day for the three people who gave their lives for something, they stood up and they did what they were supposed to and they died for it. >> this is my chance to tell you

the story of the murders of mike and cynthia mclelland. >> prosecutor bill werske thought if he could prove he killed cynthia, that would obviously show he killed mike. >> there's a story of a massive law enforcement investigation, state, local, federal agencies working together to build an air tight case. >> one of the first witnesses called, c.j. tomlinson, dallas police officer and friend of the mclelland's. c.j. told the jury how he and his parents found the mclelland's. >> i took a couple more steps inside the residence. i was hollering for mike. mike, mike, mike. >> for three days prosecutors brought a blizzard of witnesses. they told the jury williams had been linked to that tip that came in after the mclelland murders. >> he sent an email to law enforcement to claim credit for the murders thinking law enforcement could never figure

it out. he was wrong. >> investigators didn't have the murder weapon, but they had something else, a bullet they found inside a bag taken from williams' storage unit. >> you know this is what you and your team recovered? >> yes. >> a ballistics examiner compared that single unfired bullet to the shell casings found at the murder scene and came up with a match. >> that live round was ejected from the same weapon that killed the mclelland's, so that was a big moment for us. >> and prosecutors thought this security video nailed the case down. they said it traced the movements of eric williams and the crown vic on the morning of the murders. >> approximately 6 a.m. real time. >> that's when williams in his black suv pulled up to the entrance of the storage unit according to the prosecution. at 6:12 a.m. the white crown victoria pulled out. by 6:42 investigators knew the

mclelland's were dead or dying on the floor based on the motion detectors in the home security system. at 7:00 here's that white crown vic coming back through the entrance and 17 minutes later that black suv pulled out. >> he committed this crime. his acts alone condemn him to be found guilty of capital murder. >> the prosecutors said they had a lot of circumstantial evidence, including the crown vic and that matching bullet. >> ladies and gentlemen of the jury -- >> but the defense was about to tell the jury what the prosecution didn't have. >> eric williams did not commit these murders. >> defense lawyer matthew seymour laid into one of the state's star witnesses, that ballistics expert. he reminded the jury investigators never found the murder weapon. >> you don't have access to that firearm? >> correct.

>> he tried to poke holes in the matching bullet theory. >> some could say they're not a match. >> yes, potentially that's not true. >> if i could break the chain from the live round recovered from the storage unit and the mclelland shooting scene, i might stand a chance. >> the defense didn't see the need to call any witnesses. >> our position was the state had not fulfilled their obligation to prove the elements of the indictment. it was just that simple. >> there is no known murder weapon in this case. there's no one who can place eric williams in that scene at the mclelland home, no one. >> finally, this case that had rocked the justice system was about to be decided by the jurors. they needed only 90 minutes to reach a verdict. >> we the jury unanimously find the defendant eric lisle williams guilty of capital murder as charged in the

indictment. >> guilty of capital murder. >> you heard the word guilty? >> that was a gift. probably a gift for everybody else because they don't believe this would have stopped at the end of these killings. >> there's a sad postscript to this case that raises a painful question. could williams have been stopped after the hasse murder and before the mclelland's? did they have to die? >> we're going to find you. >> in a haunting irony, mike mclelland always thought williams was likely the killer. >> he certainly suspected it was eric williams after mark hasse was shot. he made no secret what his opinion was and i had numerous conversations where he said, bill, it's eric williams. >> williams was one of a handful of possible suspects early on in the hasse case, but there was no evidence on him and even with his conviction for theft, he had a good reputation. >> we had several discussions about it. of course eric's name came up in the discussions but it doesn't matter what you think if you

can't prove it. >> and now this former justice of the peace was a convicted murderer. how? why? >> was he living a double life? >> i think he was. most people were followed by his exterior. he looked so normal. he looked so average. he had the trappings of success being a lawyer and judge. but behind that mask was a homicidal psycho path. >> angry at the world? >> yeah. i think he had a dark, cold heart. >> this case was far from over. prosecutors had won, but they were saving their best witness for last. investigators always suspected eric williams did not act alone, and he didn't. they're about to hear from his accomplice, someone who will take you inside the mind of a murderer. coming up -- >> you just can't make this stuff up. you think this is a hollywood movie. >> a moment-by-moment account of a plot more chilling than anyone

realized. >> as you're driving away from the scene of the hasse murder, what was his mood like. >> happy. >> what is your mood like? >> happy. >> lets you know what type of dark ps was going on inside their hearts. >> when "dateline" continues.

we, the jury, unanimously find the defendant guilty. >> they won a guilty verdict against eric williams, but prosecutors didn't have time to celebrate. the jury would now decide whether he should get the death penalty. in a rare legal move, prosecu prosecutors had saved some blockbuster evidence and a star witness for just this moment. as investigators figured all along, williams hadn't acted alone. he had an accomplice. it was this woman. his wife, kim. they had been married for 15

years but now she was about to testify against her husband. >> it was a cold day and there was excitement in the air. >> witnesses to the hasse murder, you remember, said the shooter jumped into the passenger's side of the get away car, so police always suspected williams had help. soon after he was arrested kill williams was brought in for questioning. >> investigators spent hours talking to her. >> prosecutor werske was watching the interview. >> she was just not going to give up any information. she talked about her husband, what a great guy he was, how he wouldn't hurt anyone. >> then an fbi interrogator growing impatient got tougher. >> he raised his voice with her and was telling her that she knew that those people had been killed. >> then she broke, and what she told them was startling. she said not only did she know something about the murders, she

helped her husband carry them out. now during the penalty phase prosecutors plan to use her testimony to make sure the jury would give him a death sentence. >> she led us to a lot of evidence, and i think it was important for the jury to see and have all their questions answered. >> he came up with a plan to dress like law enforcement. >> they were a husband and wife murder team and they went through a dress rehearsal the night before the mclelland murders. >> he was modeling them for me. >> describe to the members of the jury what he was modeling for you the night before. >> i want to say he looked like he was in the army or s.w.a.t. he had a bullet proof vest, he had sheriff on the front. more than likely mrs. mclelland was going to the door and he was going to introduce himself as a policeman. >> and the next morning, she said, she acted as lookout in the crown civ as her husband went inside to murder the

mcmclelland's. >> if someone came, was there a plan you were supposed to do? >> yes, he told me to honk the horn. >> if these had been revenge killings of mike mclelland and mark hasse, why did cynthia have to die? >> he would be there as a witness and he described it as collateral damage. >> and prosecutors wanted the jury to know how callous eric and kill williams were after killing two people in cold blood. >> we had steaks on the grill and eric cooked those. >> at your parents' house. >> at my parents's house. >> were you all celebrating with stakes? >> that's correct. >> they couldn't tell her about the hasse case but now they were free to use mark's murder to cement their argument for the death penalty. >> we had an air tight circumstantial case on the hasse murder. >> kim williams said that morning she drove the get away car. >> as you're driving away from

the scene of the hasse murder, what was his mood like? >> happy. >> what is your mood like? >> happy. i so believed in eric and everything that he told me. his anger was my anger. >> who was he mad at. >> he was mad at mark hasse. he was mad at mr. mclelland. he was angry because they thought -- he thought they were trying to set him up. >> what did that tell you about this incredibly bizarre relationship that these two were in cahoots with each other? >> i think it proved that eric williams was a psycho path and this was a horribly toxic and screwed up marriage. i think it lets you know what kind of darkness was going on inside the marriage and house. >> she helped her husband dispose of key evidence in the case. she recalled driving to this bridge one night and watching eric toss a black bag into the lake. >> do you know what was in the la bag. >> i knew it was guns. >> it took 12 months before they

found the bag. fbi agent laurie gibbs was there. >> opened it up and there's two guns. this is it. >> inside the bag were two revolvers. forensics would show one of those guns killed mark hasse. and one more thing, that bag those guns were in? it wasn't a bag at all, it was really a terrifying halloween mask. >> grim reaper halloween mask. >> kill williams said her husband wore it to conceal himself when he shot mark. >> you can imagine the terror that was going through mark hasse when he recognized and heard the voice. >> she also told jurors that her husband had more mayhem in mind. he wanted to kill a judge in a special way, with a special weapon. >> with a crossbow? >> that's correct. >> kim williams said he also brewed up a concoction just for the judge. you may remember there was homemade napalm in pickle jars

inside a storage unit. >> what was the nepapalm for. >> to drive in an extra [ bleep ]. >> it was one thing to say eric williams did this, fine, but that his wife was along for the ride? >> you can't make this stuff up. you would think this was a hollywood movie. they were living every day together and talking about murdering people. >> my name is christina. >> now christina in her victim impact statement would get a chance to vent her feelings. >> pretty much the only thing i have to say is [ bleep ] you eric williams. >> that was pretty much the only thing i could think of to say to him. >> did it feel good? >> it did feel good. a nice sock in the face probably would have felt better. >> the defense countered by calling dozens of character witnesses from williams' scout

master to his high school friends. the jurors weren't swayed. >> carry out the sentence of death. >> he was sentenced to die by lethal injection. given the death penalty decision, prosecutors decided not to try him for the murders of mark hasse or mike mclelland. williams pleaded not guilty to both. mark hasse's long-time friend and federal trial attorney marcus bush believes williams will still be dangerous even on death row. >> eric williams is a master manipulator. he is a very intelligent human being. he's a very deadly, proficient killer. i think he's going to be a threat to the prison guards and i think he's going to be a threat to anybody in prison. >> you're making him soundly hanni balance lecter. >> he killed three people in cold blood because they prosecuted him for stealing computer monitors. >> kim williams pleaded guilty

to the murder of cynthia and for her cooperation the other charges were disposed of. she was sentenced to 40 years in prison avoiding the death penalty. >> i'll never forget cynthia or mark. >> will you ever be over this? >> i never will be. i don't think any of us will be, ever. >> but as tragic as all of this was, believe it or not, something good came out of it. during the long ordeal, christina and that cop from dallas, c.j. tomlinson, fell in love. their families have been great friends for a long time. cynthia mclelland had always tried to play match maker. >> cynthia pretty much told me that was going to happen and she was right. she got me. >> i can only imagine how happy your mom would be looking down that you two are together. >> i can't even imagine. she would be, yes, doing some

sort of dance, i told you so and i am sure she's thrilled we got married on her birthday. that would have made her ecstatic. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." i fell to the floor. i just remember, like, she's dead, she's dead! and i was so confused. i was like, what's going on? what happened? >> a small texas town, two super close friends, and a summer night in the park. >> they have this lookout, and you could see the harbor bridge lit up. it's really pretty when the stars are out.