and it's kind of just, kind of bonded like, hey, this is part of lisa now. each krak i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> i just got home. and i opened the door. and my husband is dead on the floor! >> a husband and father, suddenly gone. >> did he hit his head? did he have a heart attack? >> something is wrong. there's a lot of blood. >> then they found the bullets. he had been shot with two different guns. >> does that mean two shooters? >> one would argue that. >> detectives would unravel a staggering plan of evil.

>> it was a game. everybody else was basically collateral damage. >> it just destroyed my heart. i'm angry now and i was never a very angry person. >> hello and welcome to "dateline." in the eyes of his daughter, randy baker could do no wrong. he was her rock and a mentor for countless others. randy dedicated himself to a deeply personal mission, counseling others to overcome addiction. it was a battle he, too, waged as a young man. so when randy was found dead, investigators wondered, did someone from his past put an end to his future? or was there trouble closer to home? here is keith morrison with "the secret keepers." >> reporter: it was a warm colorado morning on the ripe

side of summer. the road beneath his wheels, the vast blue canopy above, renewed possibilities in his heart. randy baker, recovering heart patient, cruised through the sun to the job he loved. better now. back to sweet routine. so why this morning fatigue? randy felt the warm day wrap his big body like a sleeping pill. he struggled to lift his leaden eyelids. so tired, so tired. >> what was told to me was that he probably fell asleep and swerved. >> reporter: it could have been catastrophic. it wasn't. his pontiac took a ding. but the cops who responded said

he seemed okay. >> these officers had made sure he was all right and essentially let him off with a warning. >> reporter: perhaps those cops didn't know. it was the fifth time he'd dozed off at the wheel. his fifth brush with death in a month. lucky for a moment. here on the last day of his life. >> 9-1-1, what is your name? >> kelly baker. >> reporter: next morning, wednesday, august 16, 2017. 8:30am. >> ok, tell me exactly what happened. >> i just got home. and i opened the door. and my husband is dead on the floor. >> reporter: officer doug medhurst of the greeley, colorado, police got the call. found the big quiet house at the end of a fine, leafy cul-de-sac, where a shaken kelly baker was waiting. >> when i got here, kelly baker was sitting on the steps over there. >> reporter: just right there? >> i asked her what had happened. and she told me her husband randy baker was dead in the

house. >> reporter: she'd been away overnight. and in the morning, she opened the garage door. and there he was. >> so randy baker was layin' right here. his torso was laying in the hallway. and his head was inside the door frame here, was right in front of -- >> reporter: a little -- >> that sink. >> reporter: pool of blood down there, huh? >> in a pool of blood. he was laying on his right side and obviously dead. he had a bag a fast food with him and a drink cup from the local fast food restaurant. >> reporter: as if he'd just picked up his dinner. >> it's what it looked like to me. he was layin' on the floor with that spilled next to him and his cell phone layin' there. >> reporter: kelly, the victim's wife, gave officer medhurst a little background. randy had a bad heart. his health was failing. and he'd been falling asleep at the wheel. >> i continued to talk to kelly. and randy's sister carol baker had arrived. >> reporter: as the women huddled with officer medhurst, trying to make sense of this awful thing, the coroner's investigator arrived. >> i told him of the health issues. and i believe he spoke to kelly baker as well. and then he did a cursory examination. and he told me that he thought

possibly he died of natural causes with all the health issues. >> reporter: did that surprise you? >> well, wasn't sure. i mean, it was possible with the health issues. but i didn't really know at that time. could be anything. >> reporter: indeed. kelly called randy's daughter, her stepdaughter. betty winick knew her dad's heart would eventually give out. >> i -- i pictured the day for a really long time. but you never can picture it like the -- i was angry. i didn't think i'd be angry. but i just remember yelling at my husband to get there faster. 'cause i didn't believe it. >> reporter: i'm just trying to put in context what that morning must have been like for you. it just can't put -- i can't. >> i put on a strong face for people though. so because there was -- kelly was there. my aunt carol was there. and the police were still there. i -- i broke down for a split

second and then composed myself. and i was okay. >> reporter: she had to tell her mother, dori, about randy's death. it wasn't easy. dori and randy had divorced years before. but she still loved him. >> i could tell she's been cryin'. i said, "betty's what's wrong?" and she goes, "dad's gone." and i said, "no, no." and she goes, "mom, they found him. they found him this mornin'. but i said, "betty, something's wrong. something's wrong. something's wrong. >> reporter: thing is, back at the house that morning, officer medhurst was thinking the very same thing especially after kelly told him the pontiac was missing along with his keys and his wallet. could be some innocent reason of course. he had dinged his car. so maybe he had taken it in for repairs. >> so i ask kelly if there was a mechanic that randy used. and she named a local mechanic. and i called them. and i said, "is this car there?" and they said, "no, it wasn't there." >> reporter: so where was it? had he driven it home? did he have it when he bought his mexican takeout?

the owner of the restaurant showed me their video surveillance. i was able to find a car. it appeared to be randy's driving through the drive-thru to get an order matching the food that i found next to him, his body. so now you know a lot more. i knew the car had made it to greeley. >> reporter: and probably all the way home, with randy. but after that? >> i had no idea. >> reporter: two days later, medhurst got the news. during the autopsy, the medical examiner had taken a closer look, scraped the blood away from randy's head and shoulder. and what do you know? >> my phone started ringin' off the hook. and the investigation sergeant notified me that randy had died from two gunshot wounds. >> reporter: what did you think when you heard that? >> i thought, "boy, i was right." >> reporter: natural causes? please. this was murder.

>> reporter: who would want randy baker dead? questions for randy's loved ones roadway reveal a dark time from his past. coming up -- >> i just thought it was possible somebody got released. s possible somebody got released alright, guys, no insurance talk on beach day. -i'm down. -yes, please. [ chuckles ] don't get me wrong, i love my rv, but insuring it is such a hassle. same with my boat. the insurance bills are through the roof. -[ sighs ] -be cool. i wish i could group my insurance stuff. -[ coughs ] bundle. -the house, the car, the rv. like a cluster. an insurance cluster. -woosah. -[ chuckles ] -i doubt that exists. -it's a bundle! it's a bundle, and it saves you money! hi. i'm flo from progressive,

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>> reporter: betty winick's father had a very bad heart.

she knew she could lose him soon. thought she was ready. but, she wasn't, not at all. grief like a sledgehammer. >> i don't know if you watch grey's anatomy, but that term, "my person." yes, he was my person. so i went to him for anything and everything. >> reporter: of course, police knew randy had been shot to death and his killer must have taken his car, but they didn't tell betty, or the rest of the family. not right away. >> they kept asking about guns, and i was like, "all right, this is weird." >> reporter: so after a couple of hours, they told you what? >> my father's case was considered a murder case. i think in the back of my mind i already knew it wasn't a natural death. >> reporter: by this time, detectives had pieced together randy's final hours. had collected security camera footage showing randy leaving work at about 5:35 pm, and that video from the mexican take-out

place at 7:30. >> thank you so much for choosing santiago's. >> reporter: the restaurant is about a ten minute drive from the house, meaning randy must have been murdered around 7:45. but by whom? the answer, police knew, might depend a lot on randy himself, something in his behavior, his life, which betty told them, had been rough sometimes. >> he was a counselor since i was four or five. >> reporter: what kind of counseling did he do? >> drug and alcohol addiction counseling. >> reporter: he had some experience with that? >> yes, he had a lot of experience with that, so. >> reporter: what did you know about that? >> not a lot. he didn't like to talk about it. just that he almost died. >> reporter: when randy was 28, a strapping bear of a man, 6'5" tall, he was a lineman for the local power company. dori baker, betty's mother and randy's first wife, could tell that story. >> he was on the line and -- and he got a jolt. he -- he -- he was electrocuted. >> reporter: he was never the

same after that. heart permanently damaged, terrible pain, depression. not hard to guess the next part. he tried to escaped his misery with drugs. >> there was just so much pain there. >> reporter: yeah. >> and -- and he didn't know what to do with it. >> reporter: he wallowed in his addiction. got so bad he was even dealing drugs. but then, after three hard years, he cleaned up his life. no more drugs or dealing, and that's when he promised to help others get clean too. it's what made him a committed counselor, as much as anything else, yeah? >> pretty much, pretty much. >> reporter: randy helped a lot of people. strangers, friends, family. one of his nephews, having trouble with drugs himself, texted this father's day wish in 2015. "my dearest uncle, not only have you been a role model and inspiration to me, but the closest person i have ever had as a real father figure. thank you for believing in me and happy father's day." so randy triumphed over his

demons. even got his health back, and then one day a local hairdresser named kelly entered their lives. >> reporter: and she actually cut your dad's hair, and your mom's hair too? >> yes, yup. we lived a few houses away from each other. >> reporter: well, tell me about her. >> very cute, very sweet and quiet. and when i saw kelly actually look at my husband with the look that -- i knew i was in trouble. >> reporter: what -- that's-- >> that my marriage was over. >> reporter: what was the look? >> it was -- she was gaga over my man, and i said, "yeah, it's over." >> reporter: she was right. dori found herself replaced by kelly the hairdresser. >> it broke my heart. i -- i was very depressed. >> reporter: were you angry at him for a while? >> i think i was young enough that i didn't understand it. we were actually pretty close. they were married 18 years. i called her mom. >> reporter: kelly set up her new hair salon in randy's basement, and randy reveled in his new life.

kelly, her kids, his kid and the other love of his life, his harley. >> harley davidson road king, i think, like, '95. it was his thing, and he didn't ride it often, especially the last, like, 10 years, 'cause he was sick. >> reporter: his heart again, cardiomyopathy. wasn't easy, for him or kelly. >> he was on many medications. she would do, like, clean -- the house was pretty big. and, you know, she would be the caretaker, even though he didn't need one. >> reporter: but betty said randy wanted kelly to care for him, and she did for years, until she just couldn't anymore. >> she was 11 years younger, and i think it was starting to get to her that she was still kind of pretty young. >> reporter: it was in the spring of 2017, when randy was recovering from open heart surgery, that kelly said she couldn't take it anymore, and moved out. >> and at first i was like, "i

can kind of -- kind of understand that." >> reporter: but two months later, randy was dead, and police were calling in family members to tell them exactly how he died. kelly had trouble dealing with it. still, they asked for her help. >> i can't -- i can't do it. i just can't. >> reporter: but she calmed herself, and she did mention randy's dedication to his job. >> he was a very good counselor and he wanted to change and help these people. >> reporter: but, said kelly, he'd been one of them once. so maybe he'd made some enemies. >> he was a huge drug dealer. >> okay. >> and i don't -- i just thought maybe it's just a possibility somebody got released because if randy didn't go to prison, then he must have narc'd on, or maybe that's not the right word. >> reporter: and then, they

looked at the bullets that killed randy baker more closely. he wasn't shot with a gun. there were two. two guns. so a drug-related hit? maybe kelly was on to something. coming up. two shooters? >> one could argue that. >> reporter: another side of randy baker. >> i just couldn't take it anymore. >> reporter: and another man enters the picture. >> have you been seeing anyone else? >> do i have to answer that? >> reporter: when dateline continues. and at the heart of them all... is a home. that's always been at the heart of lowes. and on our 100th birthday, our wish is to put yours a little more within reach. so let's talk possibilities. we'll help you find it, design it. diy it. and install it. let's bring your dreams home. we're lowes. home to any budget.

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randy baker's life began in the same random way all life begins. but it's end? that was no accident. somebody, or somebodies, made double sure. with two bullets from two different guns. >> does that mean two shooters? >> one could argue that. >> you didn't know. >> no. >> veteran detectives chris onderlinde and mike prill were assigned to the case. it was still early. lot to figure out. >> we're still just trying to get ahead of the ballgame or catch up --

and find out what everyone's statements are. where were they? what issues there may or may not be there. >> first they had to clear the usual suspects. they'd brought kelly in of course. she was the murdered man's spouse. so, would she benefit from his death? >> did randy have the, like, life insurance policies or anything like that? >> yes. there was actually two. but they're $5,000 each. so a total of $10,000. >> pretty nominal amounts. >> so not really worth killing somebody for-- >> right. >> as for their relationship, well, kelly offered a different view of randy. >> so you're separated. what was the reason for the separation? >> randy was just kind of mean and i just couldn't take it anymore. >> she explained that randy was not necessarily nice to her. often that he was volatile. that she had moved out of the home and was staying with her friend, teri. >> then, about an hour and a half into the interview, the detective kinda off handedly asked kelly a question she clearly didn't want to answer. >> have you been seeing anyone else? >> do i have to answer that? >> what's that? >> do i have to answer that? >> you don't have to. >> i'm not answering. >> well, now that was interesting.

a non-answer like a neon sign. couldn't ignore that. >> i don't wanna be a jerk or anything, but it's just the harsh reality of this drill. so is there someone we need to talk to? >> yeah. teri's brother, clint laeger. >> what did you think when you heard that? >> unfortunately, it's not an uncommon thing. okay. she's -- she's having an affair. does that -- does that mean clint could be a suspect? well, obviously we're gonna ask and talk to him. >> and they did. and clint admitted the affair. he and kelly were together, in bed, all night the night her husband was murdered. kelly baker, meanwhile, told her step daughter, betty, what it was like to get what felt to her like the third degree. >> she was like, "they almost treated me like a suspect." she was like, "i guess that's normal though, 'cause i'm the -- like, was almost an ex-wife, and i had left." >> betty's head was in a haze during those first few days after her father's death. and, desperate to have something

to remember him by, she asked if she could have her dad's harley. and so, it was a shock when her stepmom told her it was gone. >> she said that he sold it. and that it's not in her hands. she knew nothing about the sale, essentially is what she told me. >> and that was the last of it? >> yes. yup. >> odd. why would he sell his prized bike? and then -- just as the detectives were starting to dig into that puzzle, what do you know -- five days after randy baker was murdered. somebody found his missing pontiac. >> this is randy baker's pontiac g6. this is the one he was driving the day he was murdered. >> so how does it wind up here in the police lot? >> a citizen actually called from south greeley. and spotted it in a -- in an alley down by the college. it had been abandoned. the plates had been removed. and the key was locked in on -- inside on the floorboard. and the car had obviously been wiped down. >> who ditched the car? the investigators didn't know. but the police asked the public

for help. and a few days later, a tip came in. randy's pontiac had been listed for sale on facebook. >> and so we followed up on that facebook post and tracked down this -- this female that was trying to offload randy's car. >> i -- i didn't know, i really -- >> don't start. don't try the tears. i don't want to get to that extent -- and that led to yet another career criminal to another to another. >> a motley crew. they brought them in. asked some personal questions like, "where were you when randy was shot? how'd you get the car?" and that's when this ragged band of walking felonies offered up a true shocker. they'd gotten the car, they said, from someone close to randy baker. someone not named kelly. >> coming up -- >> cell phone secrets reveal a

loved one, with no love lost for randy. >> the phone records were confirming that there was a seething hatred between the two. there's an invisible threat in your backyard that could cause deadly heartworm disease for your dog. but not if you protect him every month with heartgard plus, the #1 choice of dogs. digestive and neurological side effects have rarely been reported. ask your vet for heartgard plus. before voltaren arthritis pain gel, my husband would have been on the sidelines. but not anymore! an alternative to pills voltaren is the first full prescription strength non-steroidal anti-inflammatory gel

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hello. i'm dara brown. the u.s. set another coronavirus vaccine with more than 20 million shots administered this past week. nearly 40% of american adults have received at least one dose. but health officials warn the country can't let its guard down yet and covid precautions are still necessary. and a capitol police officer was killed yesterday after a man wielding a knife rammed his car into the barricade. the suspect, who was shot by police, later died at a hospital. now back to "dateline."

welcome back to "dateline." i'm natalie morales. five days after randy baker was murdered, police made an intriguing discovery. his pontiac, which had been missing, showed up in an ally and had been listed online for sale. after a parade of criminals connected to the vehicle, detectives learned the person behind the car sale was someone close to randy. they were bound by blood, almost all of it bad. once again, here is keith morrison with "the secret keepers." >> reporter: families can be such a fascinating little study, can't they? most are warm, protective, loving. but randy baker's family? well, consider this. the person who gave randy baker's car to those criminal bottom feeders was none other than his big sister, carol. >> she had received the car within about two hours of randy's murder.

>> reporter: and she's gotta be involved in this somehow. >> right. >> reporter: how did carol baker get her dead brother's car? investigators didn't know, but they had reached at least one conclusion. >> carol's a little simple. >> reporter: she have a little trouble keeping up with things? >> yeah. she seemed to answer questions fine, but at the same time, i think at one point she even said, "i'm slow." >> reporter: and then there was something else. >> we were learning that randy and carol's relationship was -- was strained - - so much so that they preferred not to be around each other. >> reporter: betty said the tension between randy and carol went way back to their childhood days. >> and he would talk about how she secretly loved being an only child, and once he came she, like, hated it, was his version. and then she would talk about how she would pick on him. >> reporter: not the best sibling relationship. >> no, not what i'd want for my kids to have. >> reporter: once grown, randy went his way, carol went hers.

randy ended up in college, carol did odd jobs. both married and started families, but said randy's first wife dori, carol could never leave well enough alone. >> she tried to ruin everything. she tried to ruin our relationship from the beginning. >> reporter: it worked. carol was the one who introduced kelly, the hairdresser, to randy. betty was just a little kid when her father married kelly. but she was old enough to see her dad's relationship with his sister did not improve. >> it was kind of kelly and carol versus my dad a lot. and it became that way big time once all of us kids were out of the house. >> reporter: now that certainly caught detective prill's attention. carol did not like randy and carol had access to his house. who was the last person known to have been in the house before the shooting occurred? >> carol. >> reporter: that's right, carol told detective onderlinde she'd gone to the house that night to do some chores for kelly. >> she was, you know, the last person at the house, roughly an hour before randy was murdered. she drew the blinds, put the dog in the kennel. and then she left and -- drove

to an aunt's house a couple blocks away and that she was there for the rest of the night. >> reporter: the hounds had the scent, or so they thought. all they needed were the granular details. and that's when the investigation took a deep dive into the greatest keeper of secrets in the 21st century. the cell phone. >> they have to have those phones. >> reporter: you take 'em away, my goodness. >> and what's inside? what stories they tell. >> reporter: detective prill's specialty is phone forensics. meaning, he can coax those phones to give up who was calling whom and when and where they were what they said in text messages. the detective hunkered down in his cubicle. how much time did you spend in here? >> somewhere around 12 hours a day, seven days a week, for a month. >> reporter: the detective had seen his share family spats and lusty intrigues over the years.

but, he'd never seen anything quite like the story told by those cell phones that spring and summer kelly and carol, exchanged roughly 4,500 text messages. an average of 50 a day. how close were these women? >> well, the 4,500 text messages alone is -- >> reporter: yeah. >> -- mind numbing. but the -- the constant -- exchange of i love you's, i love you, sister, i love you, sissy, i love you to the moon and back. >> reporter: and while that was going on, kelly was also texting her husband randy, who was still recovering from that open heart surgery. no hearts and flowers there. >> she's saying, it's been 14 years. do you hear me? 14 years. i don't want any more death. so i shut you out. >> reporter: wow. >> at 8:48, she's saying that, but then she's telling carol, "i love you so much." >> reporter: that was two months before the murder, right about when kelly had moved out of the house. through texts, prill could plainly see that randy still had hopes of salvaging the marriage. >> it was difficult to read through his inner feelings for her.

he didn't want her gone. he wanted her home. >> reporter: right here at his desk, mike prill was seeing what looked to him like, motive. >> the phone records were -- were confirming that there was a seething hatred between the two, towards randy. >> reporter: still, both kelly and carol had unassailable alibis. carol had been with her aunt at the time of the murder. kelly had been miles away with her lover. but then, detective prill found this. >> this message carol sent to kelly baker, where it said, "put it under sonia." and then a phone number. >> reporter: "put it under sonia." put what under sonia? >> well, about 10 minutes after that message, kelly baker added this phone number in her contacts under the name "sonia." >> reporter: who in heaven's name was sonia? coming up -- an arrest in the case! >> he just ran into the garage, dumped his -- vest that had a .357 revolver inside of it, and came out and surrendered.

>> reporter: so who was the killer? >> i just remember him telling me. >> reporter: feel like falling off the bench? >> yes! >> reporter: when "dateline" continues. ♪♪ (car horn) ♪♪ turn today's dreams into tomorrow's trips... with millions of flexible booking options. all in one place. expedia.

>> reporter: all those hours spent poking around kelly and carol's phones were yielding splendid results. like the name sonia. who was she? well, in fact she was a he. and not exactly a guy you'd bring home to your mother. >> he had ties with -- a white

supremist gang prominent in colorado, a prison gang by the name of 211 crew. >> reporter: he goes by "griz." but his mother named him kelly. and who would his mother be? >> he's -- a s -- a biological son of carol baker. >> reporter: yep. carol's son and randy's nephew. >> not a nice guy. >> no. >> reporter: griz had a long prison stretch under his belt for attempted murder -- he also, on close examination, had a significant presence on that string of text messages prill uncovered. >> i came to realize that carol was forwarding text messages from griz to kelly baker. >> messages to do what? >> well, in the end, it was certain to me, to murder randy. >> reporter: police here in greeley had never seen anything like it. a wayward wife, a dim-witted sister, a gang-banger nephew, had they all conspired to kill their uncle/brother/husband? about 5 weeks after randy's

murder, police brought kelly back in. and she was chatty as she offered up more theories about the murder. >> i leave my garage door open. what if somebody was in the garage when i left at 5:45? >> reporter: at this point, detectives did not show their cards. they had a plan. >> i wish you guys luck. >> oh, thanks. well, i'm glad you're doing fairly well all things considered. >> reporter: next, they brought in carol, randy's sister. they let her believe they had connected her son griz to the murder and then they let her think that kelly had just sold her out. and that's when carol folded like a cheap tent. said the mastermind behind the murder was kelly. >> why did she feel she had to murder randy baker? >> she said he'd never leave her alone. >> reporter: and after implicating her sister-in-law, carol gave up her own flesh and

blood, her son kelly raisely, aka "griz" >> so that was the plan. that -- that kelly raisley was gonna shoot and kill him. is that correct? >> or some other way. >> okay. >> i think i need an attorney. >> you do? okay. well, you're under arrest for first degree murder and conspiracy for first degree murder. >> reporter: they arrested kelly that same day, and charged her with murdering her husband. and after they gave randy's daughter betty the news. >> and i just remember sitting down and him telling me like, "we've arrested -- kelly and carol." >> feel like falling off the bench? >> yes. i stared at my phone for quite a while, shaking. >> reporter: and griz -- was holed up at a friend's house near denver. >> the house was surrounded. he just ran into the garage, dumped his -- vest that had a .357 revolver inside of it-- and came out and surrendered. >> reporter: griz stewed in jail

for seven months. and then he wrote to prosecutor robb miller. >> he wrote a letter exaggerating how he committed the crime, but ultimately admitting to it, saying, "i've been played by these two ladies--" >> reporter: pretty soon griz was cutting a deal. arrangements were made for -- griz to confess the entire murder in exchange for the state not pursuing the death penalty. >> reporter: griz was specific. his mother and kelly had pushed him to do the killing. mom drove him to the scene, dropped him off, and he shot randy as he walked in the door. >> did you honestly know you had hit him in the head when you fired? >> i seen it. >> reporter: and to solve the mystery posed by the forensics, two guns equalled two shooters? nope. >> why'd you bring two guns? >> um. i always have two guns on me. >> reporter: that's just how he rolls. and after the killing, he explained, he drove off in randy's pontiac.

there was one more revelation, too. remember randy's beloved harley, the one he supposedly sold? >> were you approached ultimately, and talked about what you'd be paid for doing this? >> kelly would give me the $10,000 and the motocycle. >> reporter: griz really wanted that harley. but he also wanted to get something off his chest, and that part is still hard to figure. >> it was important to him that people knew that randy was a great guy. >> reporter: he was, in fact, the same nephew who sent randy that nice father's day text two years earlier -- not only have you been a role model and inspiration to me, but the closest person i have ever had as a real father figure. >> how did griz explain the fact that he could kill someone after he had this great relationship with him? >> he believed that kelly and carol baker manipulated him, fed him information that he now knew was not true; that -- that randy was abusive to both carol and kelly.

>> reporter: police had also developed a more solid theory about motive. kelly, remember, had told police the life insurance was only about 10,000 dollars. >> as you dug in, what'd you find? >> we found six policies. >> what? >> yeah. they totaled more than $130,000. >> wow. >> right. >> who was the beneficiary of all these policies? >> kelly. >> reporter: the house, too, of course, at the end of that green and quiet cul-de-sac. lots of equity. >> she was looking at somewhere near $400,000 with randy dead -- >> reporter: so, a murder mystery solved? why no indeed. kelly said she was innocent. a victim herself. detective prill didn't buy it. >> this woman could enter a room and whisper lies to every ear in there and turn everyone against everyone else but kelly. she would control the room with

her lies and, remarkably, no one caught onto it. >> reporter: now all she had to do was work her magic on the jury. >> the widow baker spins a frightening tale. >> he slammed his hands as hard as he could on the table looked me right in the eye and said, "i will kill you and then i will kill myself." >> she's a manipulator. to her it was a game. >> reporter: who would win? but your first treatment could be a chemo-free combination of two immunotherapies that works differently. it could mean a chance to live longer. opdivo plus yervoy is for adults newly diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer that has spread and that tests positive for pd-l1 and does not have an abnormal egfr or alk gene. opdivo plus yervoy is the first and only fda-approved combination of two immunotherapies opdivo plus yervoy equals... a chance for more starry nights.

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welcome back. randy baker's nephew struck a plea deal with prosecutors. in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table, he admitted to killing his uncle in a murder for hire plot hatched by his mother and randy's wife kelly. now, a defiant kelly baker was ready to share her own story on the witness stand. here's keith morrison with the conclusion of "the secret keepers". >> as the harsh colorado winter melted into spring, a curious cast of characters filed into the weld county courthouse. here was a family turned secular fire squad, sordid events that ended randy baker's life. >> sometimes life --

>> kelly baker pleaded not guilty, denied she had a thing to do with the murder. well, armed with confessions and predeals from carol baker and son gris, the chief district attorney, and a. d. a. rob miller aimed to prove that in fact kelly was this ring leader of this gang of deadly relatives. >> randy baker, the wife, sister, plotting with his own nephew, to give this woman the day she felt like she had waited far too long for already. >> a little bit byzantine or something. there was some planning at work here. >> for quite some time. >> for three long months. and plan a was, well, odd. remember those falling asleep car accidents? the prosecutor said kelly spiked randy's morning smoothies with overdoses of his own meds. hoping an accident would kill him. randy's nephew griz thought that

one up. z thought that one up >> when that didn't work, grizz finished the job with two bullets. >> penalty of perjury, to tell the truth. >> and now the prosecutors needed him to tell all of the same things to the jury but listen to what happened. >> do you recall having discussions with your mom or kelly baker about a plan to harm randy baker? >> no, i don't. >> okay. grizz was clapping up. >> what was he doing there? >> he knows the game. he knows how prisons work. he knew if he quote-unquote snitched that it would be a rough rest of his natural life in prison. >> over and over grizz played dumb. >> you got a harley-davidson for this murder, is that right?

>> the prosecutor diswhat they could, they played grizz's confession tape for the jury. >> $10,000 and a motorcycle. >> their mother was a little more talkative about how kelly was at the end of her rope that summer before randy's murder. >> we talked about how she can't believe he's still alive, and he's sickly and he doesn't want to be hear anymore. >> we got to know the real kelly baker. what became clear to us is she is a manipulator. >> so they called her a puppet master, a liar, a killer. the question was, would the jury believe it? now, the defense got its turn. and attorney robert ray turned best his very best counter attack, kelly baker herself. >> kelly baker had, in my view -- >> the jury was about to get a first-hand look at a different kelly baker.

demure, kind, long suffering. hers was a very different story. about herself, not as a killer, but as a patient care-taker. she talked about randy, in the early days. >> what was your life like during that time period? >> it was great. it was a really good marriage with him being a therapist and a counselor. we had our small issues with our kid, disciplining our kids but other than that, for ourselves, we loved each other very much. >> but then, her life, she said, began to resemble a sad bits of cinderella, but her randy was no prince charming. >> he was somewhat controlling. he wanted to tell me who i could be with and how i could do things, going out to eat with somebody else, or movie night, or just have the girls over, i was never allowed do do anything

like that. >> was there ever any violence in your marriage kwm. >> there was a small amount, yes. >> what kind of violence. >> well he wanted to physically stop me from leaving if we were having an argument. >> and that summer of 2017, kelly said she just needed a change. but when she talked to randy about it -- >> he slammed his hands as hard as key on the table, scared the crap out of me and looked me up in the eye and said i will kill you and i will kill myself because i have nothing to lose. >> with her good friend carol at her side, kelly fled. she was moving on. the decision weighed on her. >> still feeling lost, you know, am i doing the right thing, am i making the right decision. >> and despite her plan for a new life, she insisted she swore she loved randy. and she did not kill him. >> she didn't know anything about the murder, kelly baker just found the body that morning when she came to the house.

>> and really, what physical evidence did the prosecutors have? well, one little something, a killer's mistake, and excess of impatient greed. >> so the check. >> the $420 check was a huge piece of evidence in the case. >> here was their proof, said the prosecutors. and you didn't need to believe carol or grizz for this one. just follow the money. and pay attention. >> there were two text messages from randy, where he told her that he was coming home with the $420 check. >> that's right. the day he was murdered, randy told kelly he had the check in his wallets, $420. when he got home. but remember, he left his wallet in the car. and then grizz killed randy and took the car, drove away with the wallet and the check. >> at 3:46 in the afternoon, on august 16th, the same day that kelly baker found randy's body,

she cashed this $420 check. >> so how did kelly get that check? in her final moments of cross-examination, carasco used kelly herself to lay out the prosecution's theory. >> that means that you deposited a check from a dead man's wallet, right? >> correct. >> a wallet that was missing, right? >> right. >> from a car that was stolen? >> correct. >> stolen by a killer? >> right. >> who shot your husband. >> correct. >> in a murder you claim you had absolutely nothing to do with. >> correct. >> i'm done with this witness, judge. >> it was almost as if they discussed it. >> and the jury at that time at that point because to her it was a game. >> we the jury find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree. >> guilty. kelly was sentenced to life in prison. without the possibility of parole. she's appealing her conviction. despite his witness amnesia, grizz got exactly the same

sentence. carol baker got 30 years. at sentencing, she brought to court the namesake randy baker never got a chance to meet. >> this is randy james. >> betty clings to her baby randy, her daughters and her husband, but it's hard, she said, missing her dad. >> this situation has made me felt like i'm not in control of anything in my life, and the one person who made me feel like i could be in control of it was him, and i can't call him to see if i'm handling this the right way or -- >> although i must tell you, as you're sitting here talking, you've been calling on him again and again. >> and in the end, with all her smiles and boundless good

manners, randy baker's daughter is just as tough as he was. maybe tougher. maybe she just doesn't know it yet. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm natalie morales. thank you for watching. ng first up on msnbc, the nation's capitol, under attack again, just three months after the deadly insurrection. >> new reporting surrounding the death of capitol police officer billy evans. an 18-year veteran of the force. after a man rammed his car into a checkpoint. the latest on that suspect and what officials found in his travel records, as they investigate a motive. the deadly attack now amplifying security concerns across the capitol. >> this rips the scab off, and