...plus up to 400 dollars off her wireless bill! wow! cheer on team usa with xfinity internet. and ask how to save up to $400 a year on your wireless bill when you add xfinity mobile. get started today. . i'm craig melvin. and i'm natalie morales. and this is "dateline." natalie morales, and this is dateline. >> i am being followed, there are threats on my life. i know we're in danger, i know we are. >> it's a riveting mystery that started in a place of glamour. >> it became a destination for a rat packs, for frank sinatra -- >> and a place of murder. the wealthy air to this legendary hotel, dead. >> he was my father. he -- >> now, police said she was next. so it when the shadows are

gunning for her. >> my suspicions are growing and growing by the minute. >> so who is behind all this? but plenty of suspects and plenty of motives. jealousy, greed, someone had 10 million reasons to kill. >> if you look back and say, my god, i can't believe what i saw. >> you are not going to believe it either because in this case, there is a final terrifying twist. >> i see him arriving with the crowbar. >> but hello and welcome to you "dateline". ben novak junior was a successful entrepreneur and this wealthy son of a miami businessman. then, he was found bound and bludgeoned to death in a new york hotel room. who wanted ben novak dead? in this case, there was no shortage of suspects or,

possible motives. but a mysterious letter will lead detectives in the direction no one expected. here is dennis murphy with family affair. >> if ever there was a little girl lost, it was may a bond. >> from when i was little, i was always in the way. >> she survived a mother daughter relationship quite unlike any you've ever heard. >> my mother is my cactus. you will eventually get her. >> and at the intersection of blood and mom money, -- there's plenty of both just ahead. >> it's really an amazing, unusual, frightening story. >> what ended so badly in a darkened hotel room with the curtains drawn, has its beginnings really in the warm sense of south florida. >> not the south beach of today with its hot bodies and

pulsating dance clubs. that's all marketing reinvention of a much older miami beach. we need to go back 50 years or more. caddies could tell fans were pulling into the newest, glitziest hotel and the east coast, the fountain would. >> it should be a great city. >> a hotel real or dealer called ben novak builds it. steven gaines wrote about the era in his book fools paradise. >> it became a destination for the rat back, frank sinatra, a lot of major stars were appearing. lots of movies were shot there. >> novak was the king and he needed a queen to preside over his aqua colored palace. he found one in the former coca-cola model named bernie's. with her effortless charm, bernice turned out to be the perfect hostess to greet the celebrities, gangsters, and just plain guests, who made the fountain blew the scene of its day. queen ben and queen bernie's

lived over the store in the penthouse suite, then came along the young prince, ben novak junior. >> he was a spoiled kid, he was a brat. >> ben junior, don't call him benji, would be trotted out to shake hands with the vip's. then it was back up the hotel elevator home. birthday cakes came from room service. and the kids who came to the birthday party were complete strangers to him. just kids who are passing through the hotel. >> the friendless lonely boy disliked by his father's help lost himself in the fantasy world of batman. the superhero be came and obsession, even as an adult, ben junior was still amassing a floor to ceiling collection of batman memorabilia. he even bought a bath mobile from the old tv show. but there was no holding off the real world and change. just as the rat pack faded away, so too did the fountain blue. by the late seventies, miami beach was regarded as a stale

place for old people. ben novak senior lost the hotel to bankruptcy and died not long afterwards. the sun, ben junior, all grown up now, stayed in the hospitality business and made his mark. he created a company run out of his home here that organized conventions at big hotels. like his father, he was a hard nosed businessman, and in time, he was grossing $50 million a year. and like his father, he needed someone like his mother to mix and mingle with the clients. he found that woman in a recent emigrate from ecuador, her name was marshy, and she had a little girl named may. >> why do you think the came a couple and not just passing the night? >> my mother's a lot of fun. she definitely partied. >> when ben junior met mercy, she was partying for tips as a stripper in a sleazy miami club. supporting herself and her little girl. she did very well with it? >> she did very well. my mom is a survivor. she could do anything.

>> when are sea left behind her stripper pole to marry ben novak junior. but the little girl felt like so much excess baggage in her mother's new relationship. she was dispatched to boarding school at the age of eight. >> did you feel like you've been shipped off? >> kind of. >> you had a tough childhood? >> best thing is that it's over. >> then junior and her mother lived in a 2 million dollar fort lauderdale state with a boat out back. his elderly mother, her niece, live not far away. but may, the step fought daughter, was never going to be a good richmond trust fund kid. she grew up tough and hard, estranged from her mother. paying her own way with bartending and waitressing jobs. she had two children young and sweated the bills. it was the grandchildren that ultimately fog some of the ice between mother and daughter. >> she may have been a horrible mother but she was the best grandmother. she did everything with them. >> and ben junior warm to may. the one-time lonely prince

belatedly seemed to recognize a kindred spirit in lonely, neglected may. >> he saw me as his daughter and i did see him as my father. and he had no children of his own. >> ben, after his own stunted childhood, finally found in his grandchildren some kids who wanted to play with all his batman stuff. >> he did a lot of the grandfather things with them. a lot of, i, think why we saw so much of each other was because of those two boys. >> when she was in her late twenties, ben junior asked made to become part of his very successful convention organizing business. she would work alongside her mother and his mother, bernie's. it had taken 20 years, but they were finally becoming a family. >> i actually got older and got into the business, he was there indicted me and showed me how to do things. >> in the spring of 2009, bernice, in her late eighties, had apparently slipped and took a nasty fall one coming out of her fall car.

she struggled into the house and died. may thought the time had come. for years, ben had been asking her to consider becoming his legally adopted daughter. she thought it would be the perfect father's day gift for him. >> i started thinking we bernice had just passed and it would be something nice for him to be like, ok, you do have a daughter. because i do feel like i have him as a father, to this day. so it never got legally changed. the paperwork is still on his desk. >> it never got attended to because of the brutal event three months after bernice's passing. ben, north, sea and may we're putting up another big convention in a hotel in new york suburban district county. just after 7:30 sunday morning, on july 12th 2009. the last day of the convention. who tell security got the urgent call. something very bad had happened in one of the sweets. a 58-year-old man had been

found bound and bludgeoned to death in the bedroom. ben novak junior, the one-time prince of the fountain blue, had been murdered. >> coming up. the investigation begins. >> but comings and goings of every room, every guest -- >> 150 rooms. >> when dateline continues. line continues i know a thing or two about cars. and, sometimes, buying them can make you tight in the chest. but with carvana, i can finally breathe easy, buying my car 100% online without any tense negotiation. smells like the internet. shop now at carvana.com. when i'm not racing, i'm personalizing, just like how carvana lets you personalize your financing. you can customize your down payment and monthly payment in a matter of minutes for some truly dazzling results. financing has never felt so fabulous.

is olay better than your clean beauty? olay has 99% pure niacinamide. it's derm-tested. and now, it's cleanest formula with hydration that beats the $400 cream. tried. tested. never bested. shop at olay.com trelegy for copd. ♪ birds flyin' high you know how i feel ♪ ♪ breeze drifting on by you know how i feel ♪ [man: coughing] ♪ it's a new dawn, it's a new day... ♪ no matter how you got copd it's time to make a stand. ♪ ...and i'm feelin' good ♪ start a new day with trelegy. no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function. it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia,

and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. it's time to start a new day. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. and save at trelegy.com. introducing aleve x. ask your doctor ab it's fast, powerfulgy. long-lasting relief with a revolutionary, rollerball design. because with the right pain reliever... life opens up. aleve it, and see what's possible. the sprawling hilton hotel, in

new york was close to 2000 amway convention airs, that summer in 2009. one of the suites had become a homicide site. sergeant terri wilson, from the local police, would lead the investigation. >> i couldn't believe what we saw, i went in the room, and there was a victim, hog-tied, on the floor. and it was a bloody mess. >> what does that tell you? this was a targeted individual. >> is it true his eyes were also gouged out?

>> yes, yes. >> sergeant wilson learned that the victim was banned novak, junior. a name that meant nothing to him. the murdered man's wife and stepdaughter had been escorted to a nearby hotel room, so investigators could take their statements. the wife of 20 years, marsai, told sergeant wilson that her husband had been working on convention details all night, it didn't go to bed she, thought until about 6:30. >> she then went downstairs to oversee getting breakfast organized for the convention attendees. >> did you verify that the wife was in attendance at the breakfast? >> we did, yes, we confirmed what she was saying. >> >> the stepdaughter, who manage the company money on these road trips, confirmed her mother story of coming down to pitch him with breakfast. >> i was thinking, yes, there are a lot of people, i wanted to take any help i could get. >> after the breakfast rush, marquee says she called her

husband up in the room. no answer. >> and then she comes back eight at 7:30 and find some? >> yes. >> she told detectives that she tripped over the body, then bolted over out of the room, to yell for help. >> our security guard was holding at the end of his feet, and marshall was continuing to lunge toward the body, howling and screaming at the top of her lungs. >> when marshy later told police about the timeline of the murder, the computerize key confirmed her recollection. >> she had been there just after midnight. >> there had been no activity up until midnight? >> going up until the door, and then runaway, telling us that she ran away from the inside. >> if markey had been downstairs helping with breakfast, and nokia they're than the wife's head opened the door since midnight, who then, had admitted the killer or killers? an early on mystery. >> this woman, meanwhile, had

been summoned to her hotel suite by the manager. >> i asked what happened, and they said he's gone. what do you mean he's gone? try, go do something. the hotel guards wouldn't let her in the room. >> the officer said it was a bloodbath in. they're >> a bloodbath that sent her mother into hysterics. >> she's emotional, she's whaling to you? >> she's throwing herself on the floor. she says, i think they are after all the convention money, it had to be a robbery, they know we have money, somebody must have been watching. >> unusually, the business ran on cash. the exhibitors would turn over their dollars to the stepdaughter may, and her assistance onsite. this weekend they had taken in over $100,000. that money was not being kept in the hotel safe behind the desk. rather, it was being stashed in closets, under the beds of the staff members. question. had an insider, who knew about

their business, tortured ban to cough up the cash? >> so you are in motivation country, right now. >> we are trying to figure out what's going. on >> they didn't get anything from him, so a horse i'm scared, not just for myself but for the staff. >> if someone had been roaming the hotel hallways, with money and murder on their mind, there were 2000 potential suspects. a detectives nightmare. >> we decided we were going to download the last of the entire hotel. >> the comings and goings of every room? >> 450 rooms. it took us that much. >> the hotel was bristling with security cameras. unfortunately for the investigators, none were in the hallway outside the murder room. one of the first things the cops did was to round up all the cash. and get it stored in the hotel safe, until the banks opened in the morning. then sergeant wilson posted a guard at the hotel room, being

shared by the mother and daughter. before that sunday night was over, the two women would have another round of questioning by the detectives. >> they totally drills me, and you get mad. so first, i was fighting back. of course. >> they asked you the question, did you do? it >> correct. >> and one of the cop said, they have to ask these questions, and i said do, you have to get right here and ask the questions. >> this woman was a veteran westcott west chester county detective, she led some of the questioning. >> the daughter, what did you make of her? >> pretty much, i got a feeling she was being honest. but you never know, people are deceptive. >> the cops went through narcy and her story once again, hoping for some investigative nugget. >> and she was grieving, exactly, a widow, we need that information, the last person that saw her. >> narcy told attractive there was something of value miss missing, a gold bracelet spelling out bans name in diamonds. an expensive watch was still on

the bed lying in blood. as well as an unexplained broken stem from a cheap pair of sunglasses. and then there was the matter of her husband's huge batman collection, a rare collection valued at $43,000 he was planning on selling. >> that might have been a motivation for murder? his action in life. he had a valuable comic, someone else wanted it? >> correct. >> sunday was over. on monday, the cops would hear about the novak's type of sex games, on monday, when mother and daughter started to go for one another's throats. coming up -- >> the suspicions were growing and growing by the minute. when "dateline" continues. dateline" continues. in america according to j.d. power. number one in reliability, 16 times in a row. most awarded for network quality, 27 times in a row.

proving once again that nobody builds networks like verizon. that's why we're building 5g right, that's why there's only one best network. a lot of people think dealing with copd is a walk in the park. if i have something to help me breathe better, everything will be fun and nice. but i still have bad days... flare-ups, (cough cough) which can permanently damage my lungs. my lungs need protection against flare-ups. so it's time to get real. because in the real world... our lungs deserve the real protection of breztri. breztri gives you better breathing... symptom improvement, and flare-up protection. it's the first and only copd medicine proven to reduce flare-ups by 52%. breztri won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. it is not for asthma. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition... or high blood pressure before taking it. don't take breztri more than prescribed. breztri may increase your risk of thrush,

pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling... problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. for real protection, ask your doctor about breztri. ♪ ♪ here we go. ♪ ♪ ♪ so i'd like to know where you got the notion ♪ ♪ to rock the boat don't rock the boat, baby ♪ ♪ rock the boat don't tip the boat over ♪ ♪ rock the boat ♪ ♪ don't rock the boat, baby ♪ ♪ rock the boat ♪ see disney's jungle cruise. it's time to rock the boat, america. who had bound, gagged, and

bludgeoned to death ben novack

jr.? >> the scene was overwhelming. just thinking, oh my god. >> in this case, the detectives are a victim-ology would play a big role. finding out who the murdered person was, as well as the people in a circle of friends, his enemies. >> this is the address? here >> detective allison carpentier along with detective nelson would piece together an unflattering family portrait. >> in the beginning we didn't offer this was an affair, domestic, and random act? >> they cavill together the story of ben jr.. the while the son of a famous miami beach man with his eccentric batman collection. the wife from modest beginnings, the stepdaughter welcomed late to the family circle. >> we're still learning the dynamics of the family, how may was a stepchild. it took some time to learn about the family. >> the novack novak's came like the cast from a bad reality show. but good old fashion robbers

were number one in the homicide. >> a lot of guys don't like his style. >> that's correct. >> he could've cultivated enemies along the line. >> they're a lot of people who didn't like him? >> on the monday following the sunday morning murder, narcy took her daughter to the more to identify ben's family -- corpse. well >> i'm throwing up in the garbage can, detectives are right there and everything else, and we'll turn around and she is just staring at him. there was no emotion at all. from her. >> that monday, late into the night, narcy and her daughter were interrogated by the detectives. >> i should've been there and i wish i got killed with him. >> detective carpentier broached the sensitive subject of the couple sex life. >> i know this is hard -- >> with do you want it to leave? >> yes. >> with the male detective out of the room, detective carpentier managed to win narcy 's trust.

she found out that ben's into bondage. >> did you like it -- >> now here he'd been tied up. >> right. >> in the homicide. did you think that this is a sex game gone wrong? >> we brought it up to her and i confronted her out on that in the interview. >> no, when i left ben -- he was not tied up. >> i just found it odd that the way he finds pleasurable, he's killed in the same way. >> because she was the spouse, the questions for narcy got sharper as the night were on. was she in on the murder? >> if i'm being asked if i let the men. no i did let the men. >> all the while, may have been outside eavesdropping in on her mother's interrogation. getting chills. >> may said that to me somebody told her it was a bloodbath. i don't remember anything blood. blood is red.

>> just listening to her talk to detectives, nothing was making sense. >> when she heard her mother described tripping over the body and reaching down to touch ben, alarms went off. she's seen her mother shortly after that. >> i'm looking at her and there is no blood on her. >> in a scene that was described to you as a bloodbath? >> as a bloodbath, correct. and i'm looking at her from head to -- toe >> and you don't see any evidence. >> i don't see any evidence on her. what's >> going on in your head? >> suspicions are growing, and growing by the minute. and i'm thinking that i'm a horrible human being for thinking my mom could do something like this. >> for 14 relentless hours, homicide actives tried to pin back narcy novack's years. grilling her as if she masterminded her husband's murder. >> we did you -- >> she never went to the bathroom, the detectives would come in, question her, she would just keep going flowing. nothing would stop. >> question, had been hired a

key escort girl to tie him up? >> she snarked the idea and told them to turn it down. >> have compassion, please, have mercy. if there is an electrical chair and i am a suspect, give it to me right now. put me out of my misery. i want to die. >> shortly after 9 pm, detective carpentier brought up the idea of a light detective test. >> i take 100 like detectors. i do whatever you want me to do. >> at this point i'm hoping that i am completely wrong. if she takes this polygraph tests, and she passes it, then i'm just going crazy my own head. there is no way that you could have done this. >> may also agreed to be polygraph to. but then mercy got cold feet about taking hers. >> so we ask, what's wrong with you? why don't you take the light detective test? >> the mother finally agreed to the polygraph. may would pass her test. but -- >> how did the light detective

test go for narcy? >> it can go. well >> she flunked it? >> yes. >> when the cops were finally done with the two of them for the night, may finally confronted her mother. >> i asked her to her face -- >> you have something to do with this? >> i did. i got interface. and they had pictures of the crime scene and i smacked them in her face -- >> you think that she killed ben junior? >> i think that something to do with it. i didn't think she did it herself, personally. >> the cops had only started to peel back the many layers of the novack family story. there is still so much about these people they did not know. >> coming up -- >> i see my mother coming at me with a crowbar. >> when dateline continues. when dateline continues here. new aspercreme arthritis. full prescription-strength? reduces inflammation? thank the gods. don't thank them too soon. kick pain in the aspercreme.

the airport can be a real challenge for new homeowners who have become their parents... okay, everybody, let's do a ticket check. paper tickets. we're off to a horrible start. ...but we can overcome it. we're not gonna point out our houses, landmarks, or major highways during takeoff. don't buy anything. i packed so many delicious snacks. -they're -- -nope. would you say, ballpark, when group two is gonna get boarded? 2 hours and 58 minutes. progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. someone should've left home earlier. start your day with crest 3d white and from mochaccinos to merlot, home and auto when you bundle with us. your smile will always be brilliant. crest 3d white brilliance. 100% stain removal, 24 hour stain resistance to lock in your whitest smile. crest. the #1 toothpaste brand in america. verizon launched the first 5g network and now we want to be the first to give everyone the joy of 5g, by giving every customer a new 5g phone. old customers. new customers new 5g phones when you trade in your old ones. upgrade your phone. upgrade your network.

you need an ecolab scientific clean here. and here. which is why the scientific expertise that helps operating rooms stay clean now helps the places you go too. look for the ecolab science certified seal. (customer) hi? (burke) happy anniversary. now helps the places you go too. (customer) for what? (burke) every year you're with us, you get fifty dollars toward your home deductible. it's a policy perk for being a farmers customer. (customer) do i have to do anything? (burke) nothing. (customer) nothing? (burke) nothing. (customer) nothing? (burke) nothing. (customer) hmm, that is really something. (burke) you get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. see ya. (kid) may i have a balloon, too? (burke) sure. your parents have maintained a farmers home policy for twelve consecutive months, right? ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ welcome back to dateline, i'm (burke) start with a quote at 1-800-farmers.

craig melvin. was never see novak involved in the murder of her wealthy husband. she told detectives that van enjoyed it when she tie them up, similar to the way he had been found. she also failed a lie detector test. even so, investigators had no evidence linking her to the crime. but there was one person convinced of new york city's

guilt, her own daughter. maya. and she was about to put yourself at risk to prove it, here again is dennis murphy, with family affair. >> the cops were spool-ing through hours of television footage, looking for -- a homicide investigation was underway. >> as far as we're concerned, everything is on the table, until the investigation either stalls, or someone is arrested. the body have been novak junior was with the medical examiner. mother and amara daughter, attach now by blood only, only returned to florida separately. -- she was collecting her things from her parents house when she stopped and the guest cottage we urban had his home office. she was snooping through his files for the detectives when she turned to see her mother upon her like a fury. i see my mother coming at me with a crowbar.

and i very quickly, saw her swing it and she got this and on me with a crowbar. >> it was literally the final blow for maya. she was calling the a traitor. >> she knew that you were giving evidence against her? could you have backed off at that point? could you have been a good little daughter and falling in line? >> no, it's not in me. i knew what she had done was wrong. even though she was my mother, i knew she was wrong. >> the battleground between mother and daughter then moved from the novak house to the courthouse. i take no prisoners fight over the will. may was giving the cops her theory. her mother had murdered her stepfather for the inheritance. we narcy, as the beneficiary, stood to get a 10 million dollar estate. lock stock, and that mobile. >> at this point, my mother was to get everything. and i was actually like, you are going to get away with

this. >> the daughter filed a civil suit against the mother, arguing the probate court shouldn't award narcy bends money because she had him killed. the judge ended up freezing bans assets while the court looked into the daughters allegation. but may said her mother had already by then illicitly cleaned out the safe deposit box, kept biden and his mother. >> was she on the list of people that had to keith to get out? >> no she was not, know she was not. she told him a story. >> she did. >> he had been dead for a week at that. point >> narcy was seen leaving the bank with a duffel bag, with police scrutinizing her every move, and may hounding her, was narcy hired new york attorney howard ten or. he says now if he did have the authority to go into those safety deposit boxes. he also disputed the contention that gnarly was involved in her husband's death. >> she had absolutely nothing to do with it, acted

consistently with how anyone else would act in that situation. >> and the defense attorney urged anyone looking at the case to follow the money in ben's murder. down they are in the fine print of the will, it shows that may, the daughter, may have had her own reasons for wanting ben dead and her mother accused. >> if somehow nurse he was removed from the line of inheritance, the daughter, would get $10 million to her children? >> that's right. >> with nursing out of the picture, may would get a flat $250, 000, and her boys the rest of the 10 million dollar estate. narcy started offering her own theory of the crime, may did it. >> she accused me. >> of arranging to kill ben? >> correct. >> for the money? >> yes. >> the mother and daughter finger-pointing accusations continued without cease-fire, even as the attorney and his

family -- the mother ignored her daughter in a dog sunglasses and a scarf. the daughter brought her sons. >> one of the bodyguards flashed his gun at my kids. >> in packing the case there is any doubt of these kinds of gestures? >> yes, she threatened her own grandkids, i always said, she would never do anything to the grandkids, she loved those kids. >> there was a mother daughter wore. but the detectives were about to learn that there was another close relative of interest in this toxic family affair. and more crimes to investigate. perhaps, even another murder. >> coming up,, a clue that could turn the case upside down. >> this is shocking. and it could be a big break. >> when "dateline" continues. n "dateline" continues whether it's a year old or a few years old. we wanna buy your car.

so go to carvana and enter your license plate answer a few questions. and our techno wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot and pick up your car, that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car, and say hello to the new way at carvana. is olay better than your clean beauty? olay has 99% pure niacinamide. it's derm-tested. and now, it's cleanest formula with hydration that beats the $400 cream. tried. tested. never bested. shop at olay.com is struggling to manage your type 2 diabetes knocking you out of your zone? lowering your a1c with once-weekly ozempic® can help you get back in it. oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! my zone... lowering my a1c, cv risk, and losing some weight... now, back to the game! ozempic® is proven to lower a1c. most people who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it.

and you may lose weight. adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. in adults also with known heart disease, ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. ozempic® helped me get back in my type 2 diabetes zone. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. don't take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. looking to get back in your type 2 diabetes zone? ask your health care provider today about once-weekly ozempic®. oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! you may pay as little as $25 for a 3-month prescription.

you need an ecolab scientific clean here. and here. which is why the scientific expertise that helps operating rooms stay clean now helps the places you go too. look for the ecolab science certified seal. welcome to allstate. where our new auto rates are so low, ♪ you'll jump for joy. ♪ here, better protection costs a whole lot less. you're in good hands with allstate. click or call for a lower auto rate today. you're in good hands with allstate. did you know prilosec otc can stop frequent heartburn before it begins? prilosec otc uses a unique delayed-release formula that works to turn down acid production,

blocking heartburn at the source. with just one pill a day, you get 24-hour heartburn protection. take the prilosec otc two-week challenge. and see the difference for yourself. prilosec otc, 1 pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. mother and daughter each had a 10 million dollar motive for murder, as the detective sought, but sergeant terry wilson was focusing on narcy. he knew we did not have enough to charge her, at least not yet. she had an alibi for the assume time of the murder the case against her was circumstantial. so someone else must have gotten into the room and told her husband, but who? >> been seemingly out of nowhere, anonymous letter

fluttered on to the desk of a detective away from the crime scene. this officer had been an investigator in florida, and personally knew nothing of the case, and his department was not involved. >> there was other people that had heard the name, i was not one of them, until i talked to detective wilson in new york. >> the letter, written in spanish, was nothing less than a blueprint to the murder, naming names inciting motivations. >> this is shocking and it could be a big break. sergeant wilson, up in west chester, could not wait to see it. >> whoever wrote this letter, obviously had information inside information. >> looking back, that letterhead the whole story. the greek, the obstacles. >> the facts on the money. >> here's the gist of the letter. it claims neuroses brother, a man named cristobal, i had

hired some people to kill ben. >> -- we apparently had caught him off-guard, no and he invited us in, told us to sit down, we were happy to answer any questions we had. >> as we sit down, we sit at this kitchen table and the kitchen table is littered with papers. >> wilson another detective spied something atop the heap. >> this is just why right out in the open. like, pinch me. and we are holding the conversation with ben, trying to not focus on the table, because we don't want to draw attention to it. but >> when narcy brother left the room, the sergeants partner furiously copy down dates and other information. why would the brother, just a bus driver scraping by, the wiring money to another person in miami? >> alejandro garcia. >> the surname garcia and miami

is like murphy in boston. >> yes it is, it is. >> they began writing it all down. and security cameras began picking up narcy wiring the money from philly, but at the other end in miami. cameras are on the fritz. no luck, however. so they moved on to the brothers cell phone number. they found frequent calls to a woman in miami. turns out the phone beyond belonged to garcia. >> they talk to. or >> when the big break came was the -- a garcia with a bad eye. the database search was narrowed. >> and now we have some sort of physical description, to see if this individual is and lo and behold, he was. >> so with the boma, he comes up >> he pops up. and we get a photo. >> with alejandro garcetti is before them, they really racked

those security tapes from before. bingo, there was garcia, in the dark shirt with somebody else. his ex girlfriend said he always wore sunglasses to protect his bed i. but he was not wearing them on that day. >> then you see the two of them, walking very fast, alejandro has the bag, he doesn't have his glasses on anymore. >> which are now -- >> apparently, as the victim reacts to the assault, he hits alejandro in the face, breaking the glasses, the glasses fall off onto the bed. >> they re-wound the tapes even further back, to the first day, and there they were there, garcia in a yellow shirt and sunglasses. the other guy casing the hotel. in one chilling scene, they check out their future victim, ben novak junior. >> and then less than 48 hours, they're going to do it. >> that's right. >> the second man's ided as a

gonzalez. wilson's team had two targets, and started with the apparent leader garcia. >> we started to hunt him down. >> the miami hunt didn't take long. garcia was picked up on an outstanding warrant, the new york cops raced him. garcia denied ever being in new york. >> next question [inaudible] >> detectives had some surprises to smoke out there when i'd suspect. they showed him stills from the footage. garcia and he suspected accomplice in the hotel. there was a tape recorder of a call between an officer and another person. standing out cooperative, the person on the tape gives them the name alejandro garcia. garcia listens silently as the brother threw him under the bus.

he denied being the hit man in that interrogation. but the message was clear. get on board now, confess, or take the fall. i meanwhile, the evidence against her narcy brother was piling up. cell phone records showed him near the murder. there was a getaway car and driver. >> who is in charge of this gang, the conspirators? >> the street boys were handling everything, that was going on. at least according to police. and who is the boss of bosses? could the 10 million dollar motive, it was only one answer for the cops. narcy novack had ordered the hit on her husband. >> obviously, he didn't report it to [inaudible] >> which started as a small suburban investigation, was now a multi state conspiracy. the decision was made to let federal prosecutors take the

complex conspiracy to try. when the two suspected hitman were offered to deal. testify against narcy and her brother, or go away to prison for what would likely be life sentences. the two confessed to be the hit man in a murder for hire scheme. what happened next shocked the prosecutors. a second murder they didn't know about. and if they didn't asked fast he said, a third was on the way. >> coming up, just who was in the crosshairs? there was a hit out on me. when "dateline" continues. "dateline" continues. 100% stain removal, 24 hour stain resistance to lock in your whitest smile. crest. the #1 toothpaste brand in america. trelegy for copd. ♪ birds flyin' high, you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ breeze drifting on by you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ it's a new dawn... ♪

if you've been taking copd sitting down, it's time to make a stand. start a new day with trelegy. no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function. it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. take a stand and start a new day with trelegy. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. and save at trelegy.com.

ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. we did it again. verizon has been named america's most reliable network by rootmetrics. and our customers rated us #1 for network quality in america according to j.d. power. number one in reliability, 16 times in a row. most awarded for network quality, 27 times in a row. proving once again that nobody builds networks like verizon. that's why we're building 5g right, that's why there's only one best network. the two hit man had confessed, ♪ ♪ know this about the jungle, everything that you see wants to kill you and can. ♪ ♪ ♪ born to be wild ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ born to be wild ♪ ♪ ♪ see disney's jungle cruise. applebee's and a movie,

now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood.

admitting to killing ben novack junior. admitting that they had been paid to do it. but still no charges were filed. then the hit man, alejandro garcia, dropped a bombshell. he claimed he also killed someone else on orders from narcy and her brother, and he had gotten away with it. the murder for hire? none other than ben novack's mother. the queen of the fountain blue, in what cops had ruled an accidental death. a slip and fall. >> who did the killing? >> a monkey wrench, reported to

be a baseball swing, hit several times in the head. >> garcia said he got paid $600 for the job. but why kill ben's 87 year old mother? because in bands will, in place at the time, if he died first, his mother, now his wife would be the primary beneficiary. but with there was nothing standing in a narcy way. >> had they succeeded, they probably never would've been caught. >> and there's more. when detectives arrested garcia, they learned a third minor murder might be in the works. someone else provided for in the will. the daughter, may. >> she was in danger? >> i always believe that she was, i just couldn't prove it, but i learned from the g.a.r. see is that there was a hit on may. >> -- he was told, she would be the next job.

may flip. she needed to move apartments asap. she told federal prosecutors -- the feds told today get her the money but the paperwork would take time. detective allison carpenter didn't think there was time. >> it was hard. what did you decide to do >> i decided to give the money, help the move. >> your money? from your bank account? >> yes. >> may was loaned $5,000 of the detectives own money. she promised to pay her back. she was removed from the case. the defense a managed admonished her, defying witness testimony. >> i can't sleep, if something happens to may in her children, i won't be able to. sleep >> if i hadn't moved warren i did, i wouldn't be here today, i'm very grateful. >> i narcy was indicted and

walked before the cameras of "america's most wanted". she and her brother cristobal were charged with witness tampering, two murders, and a host of other charges. >> the plot that led to the death of bin novack was a family affair. >> when the trial got underway in federal court, garcia, the hit man, testified in ice-cold to tail how he killed been novack junior. >> garcia opened the door and let them in. >> prosecutors argued that morning that there was a small opportunity for the hitmen to be let in and enable the direct assault. >> he was right in a position, gave a signal, 1 to 3, and then boom, the assault starts. >> banging in the head. >> they hit them all over the head, hit them in the ribs. >> brutally. >> the two hit men use small hand weights to pummel them. narcy looked on. >> there is a point in time,

where he is making sounds, moans. and she tosses a pillow in to keep him quiet. >> today say that narcy tells him to cut out his eyes? >> they did. >> at the trial, the brother was sobbing. a long trail of paperwork connected him to the hitmen. but for narcy it was primarily to hit man's word against hers. this, until the jury heard about the secret cell phone. on the morning when -- normalcy said that he testified against her while at the hotel. i >> come on in, coast is clear, that becomes you because it's you calling cristobal. >> that puts a right at the top of the plot. the conspiracy. >> yes. >> and there's yet another twist. would you be surprised to learn that there was another woman in the story? a person named rebecca bliss.

well bliss, a sometime porn actress and tattoo artists, which having an affair. he put her up in a waterfront apartment, and then told his her he was going to leave his wife or her. she learned of the affair and said if i can't have him, no one will. six months later he was dead, and without eyes to ever look at another woman. >> this case was narcy not wanting to be -- >> he zeroed in on the hit men's credibility, and their motivation to testify. he also attacks their allegation that was narcy in the room during the murder. >> they themselves dated that they would do anything to help themselves. in my book, they would have been willing to lie. >> was narcy in the room? >> absolutely not. >> and what about the direction, to stab out his eyes? >> it just didn't happen. >> -- she and her sons could inherit bends a state.

i >> may had narcy novack in her way. if narcy disappears, then may and her children get the will. >> that's the defense? jurors consider who gets the money? it's not just -- >> there was an incomplete investigation done in this case. i'm not claiming that anyone else committed this murder. the defense here is that narcy novack did not commit the murder. >> -- i didn't even know that my name or the boys names were in this will. >> after a nine-week trial, narcy and her brother were -- they were acquitted in only one charge, involving the theft of binge diamond bracelet. for the crime the conspirators almost got away with, the murder of bernie's novak, the conviction carried a mandatory life sentence for both.

the best part of it was, bernie's can finally rest in peace. >> after the verdict, new york city spoke with a line from prison. she said she never would've done anything to harm her husband and was innocent of all the charges. >> sergeant terry wilson and his team of detectives, the prosecutors, won their case with some big assist from the daughter. now her mother is gone and will spend the rest of her life in prison. >> she did not see what she had in front of her, she had her daughter, to grandkids that loved her, and now she has nothing. >> and greet in some amount of jealousy. >> absolutely. >> no matter what, i love my mother, she was my mother. she had grandkids that would have done anything for her. and they did. and she just threw it all away, through it all away for money. >> if you go to miami beach, the fountain room is still there, i'll spruced up with a

new lease on life. and may has a fresh new look on life to. in 2011, may welcome the new little guy into her life. a son. she named him ban after the loss, the name sake he never got to meet. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline", i'm craig melvin, thank you for watching. why wh you know when they tell you live your life passes before your eyes, you think about everything that happened, and you wonder, am i ready to die? >> he was a hollywood stunt man. but this was no hollywood stunt. >> this was a hit. >> shot four times. and left dying on the floor. >> somebody definitely wanted him dead. >> but who? and why? you will meet lots of possible suspects. >> oh my gosh. >> including this ex-wife. >>