yesterday. >> a few feet but an unbreakable divide. but it's a matter of father versus son. >> that's all for this edition ofr this edition of

returned from a tour in afghanistan, he had no idea the enemy would be much closer to home. >> my husband got out to see if some guy needed help -- >> multiple gunshots to his face and head. >> i don't know where my husband is. >> he had only been back for such a short period of time. it was tragic. >> my heart sunk. >> sergeant vincent goslyn junior, a 28-year-old father of five had served in the army for seven years as a quartermaster and mechanic. did vince ever expressed to you what it meant to him to serve his country? >> he absolutely loved it. >> tim hamilton is vince his cousin. but as he explains it, they were much more than that. were you kind of like a big brother to vince? >> yeah. was him it was like, i don't

know, we had a bond. he had an outgoing personality, he had a crazy little grin. you always knew when he was doing something mischevious. >> and tim recalls the mischief they both got into in the small michelin town called cadillac. >> we will go play in the creeks, go fishing. we actually build a rough out of old barrels that we threw in the water and tied sticks to it, never floated -- >> sounds like huckleberry finn. >> yeah. >> but vince's childhood story wasn't always so ideal like. >> vince is mom, left at eight -month-old. so he was raised with his dad. i think his dad was married to six times. that was a little tough on him. >> janet madison considered herself vince's surrogate mom. she says growing up, he spent a lot of time at her house.

her son was vince his best friend. >> he was just like one of the other boys. he was always there. they did everything together. >> it seems like you do had quite a connection? >> we did. >> what was that all about? >> i think a lot of it was i never judged him. vince was the purest tattoo kid, the droopy pants, the spiked hair. i just treated him like me and you. >> and then one day he came to her with some life-changing news. was he scared finding out he was going to be a dad? >> he probably was scared, but he was afraid that i would be mad at him. i wasn't mad at him. >> vince had two sons from two relationships by the time he was 18. but janet says that he only ever saw them as blessings. how is vince as a dad? >> he was awesome. he changed their diaper, he cleaned up the puke. he didn't care. his kids were his world. >> then, someone else entered

his world, a home time curled name jessie hall. >> vince loved her unconditionally and you could see it. he was happy, he loved her. >> and janet says he started to settle down, moved in with jessie's family and quickly bonded with her dad, a vietnam that. he was the one who suggested the military might be a good way for vince to get on the straight and narrow. so vince joined the army in 2005, he was 21 years old. >> this is a boy who's gone from baggy pants and spiky hair to now he's going to have the military cut in the uniform. i mean, that's like a one 80? >> it is a one 80. it's what he needed. >> you must have been very proud of him? >> i was always proud of him. i'm still proud of him. >> with vince career heading in the right direction. he took another big step and popped the question. jessie said yes. >> there was a connection

between them to, they loved each other to death. they would argue, i think they had just argue to make up. >> some people say that that's the best part? >> it is. >> after the wedding, kids soon followed for the happy couple. two girls and a boy. as a sergeant in the army, vince spent a lot of time overseas so it was up to jessie to handle the home front and take care of the kids on her own. >> it's not easy having a husband who is away. it takes someone special to be able to endure that and get through that. >> tim says somehow jessie and vince made it work. >> when we see him, and jessie in them as a family, they looked like a great family. >> by 2012, vince and jessie had been married for six years. despite some bumps, tim thought that life was good for vince in his family. but shortly after returning from afghanistan, vince his

second tour there, tim got an unsettling call for him. >> the sound of his voice, it was as if something happened and he wanted me to know. but he wouldn't tell me anything. >> a few days later, on february 3rd, vince and jessie went out to dinner to celebrate his return at a place called oh charlize. they started driving home back to the base, then turned off the main drag onto this dark and winding road. evil was waiting. >> i don't know where my husband is. >> coming up. a wife's harrowing tale. >> i just stopped on the side of the road. my husband got out to see if some guy needed help. >> soon after another driver makes an alarming discovery. >> i stopped, started to yell at him to see if he was awake and alert. >> when "dateline" continues.

>> it was a moonless february night in hopkinsvillel kentucky around 8 pm. one of frantic call came into 9-1-1. >> 9-1-1. >> yes, i just stopped on the side of the road. my husband got out to see if some guy needed help. >> jessie gaza and told the operator that her husband sergeant vincent gauze lynn had

been shot when he tried to help them motorists stranded on the side of the road. jessie was hysterical. >> listen to me. listen. listen. i can't understand a word you're saying. you're gonna have to calm down and talk to me. >> as she tried to calm down, just to the operator after being shot, vince came back to their car but was unable to get in because a man was pulling him back. >> my husband tried getting into the vehicle. he couldn't get into the vehicle. he screamed for me to go. >> jessie said she drove away as her husband instructed. >> i don't know where he is anymore. >> minutes later, another 9-1-1 call came in. >> there is a guy that's been killed. he's dead. down the road from my house. >> this is the man who made the call. walter ferguson said he was getting ready to visit his cousin when he heard the gunshots. >> around here we hear a lot of gunshots, i didn't think anything of it, i got into the truck come down the road, and as soon as i crossed the hill but i saw the truck lights came on and he just bolted off. >> what did you do when you saw

this truck? >> well, i went and turned around and as i came back around i made sure my high beams were on and i saw his body. >> they're on the side of the road, walter spotted a man lying face down in the dirt. >> so i stopped, tried yelling at him and talking to him to see if he was away, alert, something. i started looking for my phone and i didn't have it on me so i had to zoom back to the house, call 9-1-1. >> christian county detective ed stokes raced to the scene. >> we were just notified that there had been a shooting on fidelio roads and one male possibly deceased. >> tell us what you see when you arrive at the scene? >> the first thing i noticed was sergeant goslyn laying in the gravel, with a large amount of blood around the body. >> could you tell if he had been shot? >> we found would appeared to be gunshot wounds to the head, and the shell cases laying near the body and so that backed up

the thought that he had been shot. >> he was shot into the head, and the face? >> correct. >> was this personal? >> it's personal to me, because that person that shot him nine times wanted him dead. >> while detective stokes work the crime scene about a quarter of a mile down the road, deputies were talking to jessie. >> she was hysterical. crying. almost sometimes we couldn't understand what you are saying. >> there's jessie on her knees collapsed on the south of the road. >> this was a wife who had been through a traumatic situation? >> she had just watch her husband get shot multiple times, yes. >> detectives took jessie back to the station to get her statement. her stomach it seemed couldn't take the horror she had just witnessed. >> i'm gonna be sick. >> well let me go get you a garbage can. >> by now, the attorney at the time had been notified. >> what did you think when you

heard that a soldier from fort campbell has been gunned down, he's barely been home from his tour of duty? >> it hurt. we take great pride as having fort campbell in our community. the fact that our soldiers protect us every day, we wanted to make sure that we had justice for him. >> was jessie able to describe the person who shot her husband? >> she initially described him as a black man, and i believe that's pretty basically all the description she was able to give. >> jessie also describe the killers car. >> what kind of car? >> an old one. one of the big ones. >> what color was it? >> i don't know. like reddish brownish color. >> it wasn't much for police to go on, and to make it even more difficult, the eyewitness walter ferguson had seen something different. >> describe the truck that you saw speeding off? >> as he passed me i could see

that it was a white truck and i saw the four by four on it, but that was about as much as i could see on it. >> so the witness had seen a white truck, and jessie said she saw a reddish brown car. investigators had a lot to sort out. a murdered soldier, a distraught wife, an unknown motive, and a giant secret about to be discovered. >> jessie revealed a bombshell about her husband that could blow the case wide open. coming up. >> he had told me that he had bought a large quantity of methamphetamine's and he said we are now in debt to bad people. >> if the story checks out, that's pretty serious. >> if we prove that, yes. >> when "dateline" continues.

>> was this case a top priority, you have an american soldier gunned down and a shooter on the loose? >> every detective we had was working this case. >> did you worry about the safety of others? >> at first is always a thought in our mind, we is this a serial killer? because we had no motive yet, so yes it was very important. >> back at the sheriff's department, 25-year-old jessie goslyn continue to speak to detectives. she was emotionally and physically distraught. >> i'll get you some water. >> and she kept asking about

her husband. jessie still hadn't been told if he was dead or alive. >> your stomach feel any better? >> not really. >> is there anything you need? >> no. >> okay. >> my husband. >> okay will just sit there and relax. >> i want my mommy. and i want my kids. >> finally, the detective came back and broke the news about vince. >> he was pronounced dead at the scene. i'm really sorry for your loss. >> the tragic news of fences murder spread fast throughout the base and to family members. janet, vince's surrogate mother got a call from jessie's mom. >> and she said, janet, there's been an accident, vince has been shot. and i was devastated. i was like, what?

what do you mean he's been shot? >> vince cousin tim immediately left his home in virginia and travel to kentucky, still in disbelief. >> how can you survive two times in afghanistan come home to be shot by some worthless thug? that didn't even know him. >> you must have felt horrible for jessie and for the kids? >> absolutely. i must of call directly 50 times. i was trying to figure out what was going on and be there for her and the kids. >> by now, jessie had left the christian county sheriff's department and headed home. >> she's picked up by a friend. >> the day after the murder local police and agents from campbell were canvassing the goslyn neighborhood. this was an army investigators and local investigators?

>> it is. >> they knocked on the door of william ray, the couple who lived next to the gaza lens. goslyn what they had to say was so compelling that they asked them to come in for an interview >> you said you have some information about something that mrs. goslyn had told you pertaining to some trouble her husband was in? >> somehow or another they got involved with a drug dealer. at least $20,000 of meth. and god jump and stolen away from him. well, being that happen, these guys were supposedly after him, for the money. >> the rays explain to the investigators that they had told him about the drug dealers weeks before. >> she seemed worried at all about what was going on? >> she's been on pins and needles ever since this has happened. she's been scared. she's feared for her life and her children's. >> okay. they ever say who these people were? >> no. >> or where these people were from? >> no never said a word about that. >> later that day, the detective stokes said that she convince jessie that she should talk to military investigators tell them what you told local

police. it turned out to be a fateful decision. >> jessie gets in with the friend and they go to the headquarters. >> with k wray sitting next to her for support jessie gave a detailed explanation about why she turned down that deserted road. she said as they were driving home, she was at the wheel and she started to feel sick. vince suggested they pull over. >> he said there's a road, turned down there. i turned down the road. he told me to drive until there was a spot we could pull off. >> he said that is when they saw the vehicle and vince got out to help. not long after she heard gunshots. >> i heard like, two, maybe three like popping sounds. and my husband had rounded the hedge of the passenger side of the vehicle. he was trying to get in.

and the guy was behind him and he kept pulling him back out. and he was hitting him. oh my husband kept saying was, go, drive, go, get out of here. >> she described a chaotic scene with a random motorist, but then investigators asked her about vince's involvement with those drug dealers. suggesting perhaps that it wasn't so random after all. jessie told them what she knew. >> he told me that he had bought a large quantity of methamphetamine's. he said, we are now in debt to people, to bad people. about $20,000. >> we have to check into his drug usage if we could find anything else from friends and family if he was using or even dealing drugs. >> if this story checks out, that's pretty serious? >> if we can prove that, yes. >> while jessie did her best to give the investigators leads, police working the case in the

field got a new lead of their own and it sent them in a very different direction. >> coming up. did vince's killer threatened jessie to? she was getting text messages from this man? >> that's what she indicated, yes. and that he would kill her and her children if she didn't comply with what he was telling her to do. >> when "dateline" continues.

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were harmed in the code. legend now back to dateline. were harmed in the c>> welcome . i'm natalie morales. army sergeant vince goslyn had been shot nine times on a desolate kentucky road. at first his wife jessie told police the couple had stopped to help a stranded motorists who attacked vince. later she told investigators that her husband was deep in debt to drug dealers. now she was about to reveal a chilling new details about that deadly night. once again here's andrea canning with "evil was waiting". >> one day after the murder of sergeant vince goslyn, the investigation was unfolding fast. in the field, detectives were gathering evidence and talking to witnesses. and at fort campbell, the interview rooms were filling up. >> in one of those rooms jessie goslyn.

>> when you have drug dealers that are after you, you never know what's going to happen. >> jessie had given law enforcement a possible motive for her husband's murder. she said vince owed money to drug dealers. a lot of money. >> do you know who the drug dealers where? >> no, i don't. >> prosecutor pryor was getting regular phone updates about all the witness interviews. but to her, jessie's was the most important. jessie gave police a key new detail. she said on the night of the murder, one of those drug dealers contacted her. >> did you have to talk to drug dealers directly? >> she was getting text messages from this man? >> that's what she indicated. yes. and that he would do harm or kill her and her family. her children. if she didn't comply with what he was telling her to do. >> that's when jessie admitted it she didn't drive down fidelio road because she was feeling sick. >> i got a text. >> okay. >> that told me to turn on the road.

>> what did the text say? turn on this road or turn on the next? what do they say exactly? >> it told me to turn on the road after the stoplight... >> okay. >> if you do not, your whole family is dead. >> she said she felt she had no choice but to go through with what the man said. even though she suspected something bad was about to happen. >> i kind of figured we're going to go down here and you're going to get your -- beat. >> as jessie's interview on fort campbell said headed into a second hour, sheriff detectives across town worked on track and down the truck scene leaving the murder scene. figuring they could find the truck, they would find the killer. >> i heard about three or four shots. >> walter ferguson, the witness who described seeing a white four by four truck speeding down the road, gave police more detailed description of the vehicle. >> the headlights were higher than my hood, so they were like my in my eyes. >> so like a lifted truck? >> yeah.

>> was it loud? >> it was very loud. >> detectives quickly found neighbors who told them they had seen a truck just like that many times in the neighborhood. they searched dmv records and found the truck. it was registered to a former soldier who had lived on base at fort campbell. 24 year old jarred long. >> jarred was very much a person of interest at that point. >> he's not base anymore. >> no. >> where was he? >> we didn't know. >> so detectives stokes says law enforcement immediately got busy trying to find him. >> we actually put a locator out all surrounding states and counties from here to colorado, where he was from. and in fact, he was stopped about by a trooper in colorado. >> he must have really hightailed out of kentucky to get colorado that fast. >> quick. >> when he was pulled over, was he driving a raised, white truck. >> he was in a light gray dodge

pickup truck that was lifted with large tires and loud exhaust. matching the description of our witness. >> so you're thinking you might have your man here? >> yes. >> he might have thought he had his man. but police decided the fact that jarred's truck matched the description of the eyewitness was not enough to arrest him. >> they stalled as long as they could, i think. and ultimately had to let him go. >> that's potential evidence driving away. who knows what is in that truck. >> exactly. >> what's in his clothes. i mean, it's all could be destroyed. >> that was all evidence, potential evidence that we wanted to get our hands on and no ability to do so at that time. >> that's tough. >> very tough. >> but detectives pressed on. and while trying to figure out who jarred long was and why he would want vince dead, they uncovered new information about their main witness. jessie. >> coming up -- >> jessie's neighbors reveal that they too had seen jarred's

trucks outside jessie's house. >> how often would you see it there when was vince deployed. >> maybe two or three times a week. >> when "dateline" continues. believe your healthcare should evolve with you, and part of that evolution means choosing the right medicare plan for you. humana can help. with original medicare, you're covered for hospital stays and doctor office visits but you'll have to pay a deductible for each. a medicare supplement plan can cover your deductibles and co-insurance, but you may pay higher premiums and still not get prescription drug coverage. but with an all-in-one humana medicare advantage plan, you could get all that coverage plus part d prescription drug benefits. you get all this coverage for as low as a $0 monthly plan premium in many areas. humana has a large network of doctors and hospitals, and telehealth coverage with a $0 copay. so

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meanwhile, detective stokes and others from the christian county sheriff's department thought they were on to something. they believed they located their truck from the crime scene and knew the name of the driver, jarred long. now they needed to know why he would be involved in vince's murder. >> our units detectives along with the agents from fort campbell did a canvas on post. >> and what they discovered was a bombshell. neighbor said they had seen jarred's truck and not just in the area, but parked in jessie 's driveway. kay ray live next door. >> i would see him driving the truck, with her and the three kids. i would hear her driving the truck with three kids. >> and what she said next really got the investigators attention. >> how often, on a weekly basis, would you see that vehicle there? while vince it was deployed?

>> maybe two or three times a week? >> as he looked deeper into this potential relationship between jarred and jessie, how serious was it? >> from what we could gather, they live together on base. and if sergeant goslyn came home for any reason, then jarred long would leave for a couple of days while he was here. >> it was stunning. stokes was now convinced jessie was not their devoted army wife she seemed to be. instead, she was at the center of a deadly love triangle. both men in love with jessie. >> correct. >> jessie in love with one man? >> i believe so. >> to the detective, evidence that jarred and jessie was a couple was piling up. like when police ran the plates of the car jessie was driving the night of the murder. >> it came back to jessie goslyn and jarred long. >> they owned a car together. by now, police had had enough of jessie's shifting stories and confronted her with what they knew. >> jessie, we know there were no black guys.

>> yes there was. >> no, we know whose truck was there. >> everything that the eyewitness said has been true. >> no. >> yeah, very true. >> no. >> he told her they knew all about her romantic relationship with jarred. jessie admitted she and jarred hung out together but continued to deny there was anything sexual between them. >> she said they were friends and he stayed there on the couch and that was it. >> jessie admit she were and vince were going through a tough time. but she claimed they were working things out. >> i have always reassured vince that i'm not just gonna walk away from you. i'm not that person. i'm not gonna leave you. we were planning on going to marriage counseling. he actually called friday, before we left. >> besides, she said vince knew all about jarred. >> vince knew that he had been sitting at the house.

>> but investigators didn't believe her. more than three hours into jessie's interview, after repeatedly denying she and jarred had a romantic relationship. >> because we did not have sex. >> jessie finally changed her story. >> there was times when i was drunk. yes, i'm sure we had sex. i knew that jarred loved me. >> right. >> and i know he loves my kids. >> okay. >> he shot him nine times. >> when investigators told prosecutor lynn pryor that jessie had admitted to having a romantic relationship with jarred, she knew this was a big moment. >> they were planning a life together. >> that could be a motive. >> absolutely a motive. because who was in their way of being together for the rest of their lives? her husband. >> and jessie had another possible motive. as a military wife she would receive a big payout from her husband's life insurance policy. $450,000. >> she certainly could have benefited greatly from the death of her husband. >> before jessie's eight-hour interview was over, she had admitted to seeing jarred the

day before the murder. >> he wanted to meet me at the motel when he was in. i said, fine. we had lunch and we talked and we did have sex. >> but it wasn't the sex investigators were worried interested in. jessie had one more story to tell. she claimed that jarred talked to the drug dealers and if he roughed up vince, somehow that would satisfy. them she said jarred told her what her job would be. >> and he told me, you need to meet me on this road. you need to pull down to the shoulder where you can pull off. i'm gonna set your husband straight. >> but the prosecutor and detectives weren't buying it. instead, without realizing, it jessie had finally given them what they needed. why is there now enough to arrest her? >> because she has admitted her part in getting vincent to the

location where he was ultimately killed. in kentucky being an accomplice to murder as being the same as actually committing the murder. >> that grieving wife, hysterical by the side of the road, getting sick in front of police, was charged with her husband's murder. >> let me see your hands! step out of the truck! >> as for jarred long, because of jessie's admission that she and jarred had a plan to harm vince, police know had enough to arrest him, to. they tracked him down again. this time near his home in colorado. >> they did a felony stop and call him out. made him crawl on the ground and handcuffed him. >> they had a warrant to search his truck this time? >> colorado authorities were able to obtain a search warrant for mr. long's truck. >> they found a shell casing that ultimately was matched to the shell casing that was found at our murder scene. and they swept the truck which

eventually led to evidence that indicated a gunshot residue in several places around his vehicle. >> i need you to take that see over there. >> yes, sir. >> colorado police brought jarred in for questioning. unlike jessie, he didn't hesitate to talk about his romantic relationship with her. >> we hooked up a while. back it was sometime around september. >> and we started going out, and the next thing i knew it -- we were living together... i knew she was married. i knew it was horrible, but -- >> he also admitted to being in kentucky on the day of the murder. he says he left before dark. >> when do you think you left? >> about 5:30. >> what he didn't know was jessie had already pointed the finger at him. >> she has spoken with the detectives and she has told them about the plan that you guys had... >> excuse me? >> she puts her and vince and you at the scene.

and the witness puts you and your truck at the scene... but you need to help us out at this point, jarred and explain to us what happened. >> i believe at this point -- you need to stop and i believe i need a lawyer. because this has gone well beyond what i'm capable of, so -- >> they now had two suspects in custody. and as for that drug dealer story detective stokes says that was just a hoax jessie cooked up to throw off police. when she told the story to several people including her neighbors who unwittingly corroborated her story. did you ever find any evidence that vince was involved in some type of drug deal gone bad? >> no. >> that men were out to get him and his family? >> no we did not. we didn't find anything that would take us there other than her story. >> janet, vince's surrogate mom,

was horrified when she learned that jessie, the woman who had seemed so good for vince was now implicated in his murder. >> i was devastated. i was like, why is she not arrested. >> did you think she was capable of killing vince? >> never. never. >> why? there's divorce. why wouldn't she just get a divorce? >> do you swear that the state means given it is true -- >> but even with jessie's story and the evidence against jarred, the case was far from closed. an unexpected twist was about to put the whole investigation into a tailspin. did you worry that one or both of them could get away with murder? >> prosecutors face a major setback. could something else that jessie told police be a lifeline for both the widow and her lover? coming up -- >> i was livid. >> is their case about to collapse? >> i was devastated all over again. >> when "dateline" continues.

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jessie goslyn and jarred long we're charged with a death of a jessie's husband army sergeant vincent jarred goslyn. jessie's story had shifted several times. >> finally she told police that she and jarred had hatched a plan to ambush vince.

her confession was a linchpin for the prosecution's case. then the investigation took a stunning turn. there's andrea canning with the conclusion of "evil was waiting". >> prosecutor lynn pryor already felt she had a solid case against jarred long. and after his arrest, police found even more evidence in his truck. >> there was one spot of blood that belonged to vincent goslyn on the backpack of jarred long. >> this is bingo right here. >> this is more evidence than most of the murder cases i've prosecuted. >> how do you explain the victims blood on your backpack when you are hundreds of miles away? >> you can't. unless you're the person that killed him. >> but pryor knew the case against jessie was in as airtight. >> it was very much a circumstantial case because there was no physical evidence implicating her. >> did you worry that wouldn't be enough to get a conviction? >> somewhat. yes. jarred long was not willing to give anything to help out with implicating jessie. but we knew that it was her

involvement that got jarred to where vincent was killed. how are you going to prove that. >> with her own words. >> but then enter defense attorney mark bryant. he represented jarred long. and he had a plan that could benefit jessie, too. his strategy was to get jessie 's interview with police thrown out. >> how do you do that? >> misses goslyn had told the local police department that she didn't want to talk. she wanted a lawyer. >> i want an attorney, and i want to know where my husband is. >> so, under the law you have to break up any questioning. and they did. and they send her back home to fort campbell. >> but you might remember after that, her friend convinced jessie to go speak to the military police on base. >> jessie goslyn spend eight hours with the police after the very day she says she wasn't going to talk without a lawyer. so, just a police different police agency. >> bryant argued since jessie

had already asked for a lawyer, the military police should never have questioned her. the judge agreed. >> he made a decision that that confession that she made implicating our client should be set aside because law enforcement agency for military police should have followed the same rules that the earlier police department of christian county had followed during that day. >> jessie goslyn's statement was thrown out. the news hit vince's family hard. >> hearing the news that vince was killed it was horrible. but what the justice system did was unfair. when they threw that out of court, i was devastated all over again. we thought that she was going to walk away. we thought that they were going to get away with it. >> prosecutor pryor wasn't window without a fight. she filed a motion with the kentucky court of appeals. jessie and jarred meanwhile, we're out and about relatively free.

how did you feel about both jessie and jarred being out on house arrest? we just ankle bracelets? >> i was livid. i argued to the best of my ability to the judge about why someone that was charged with such a heinous murder should be out on an ankle monitor. none of the arguments that i made were convincing to the judge. >> then, everyone waited. and waited. four long years went by before the appeals court finally reached a decision. sided with the prosecution. was that moment like when you get word that it's been overturned and the statement will be allowed? >> i was very much relieved. >> pryor considered her options and concluded of the two, jarred deserve the harshest punishment. >> jarred long was the one who pulled the trigger nine times. jarred long was the one who took the life of vincent goslyn. so, we want to make sure he received the maximum punishment that he could for this crime.

>> to do that, that prosecutor needed not only jessie's videotape statement, she needed jessie to tell a jury the whole story. she and jarred plan to murder vince. >> we needed for her testimony about the reasons why they planned to kill vincent, and the way that they planned it out. >> so the prosecutor made an offer. if jessie pleaded guilty to complicity with murder i will testify against jarred, she would recommend a sentence of 22 and a half years behind bars. she agreed to this plea deal? >> she did after a long talk and very heated discussions. >> so, now, with time served, the woman who had played the victim, betrayed her husband and lover, could spend less than 14 years behind bars. some people think the sentence is too light. >> i don't disagree with that

that the sentence was too light. but after discussions with law enforcement, with family members, we determined that it was worth it to have her to be able to say in her own words what happened and why. >> a different prosecutor then took over the case against jarred long. his name was mark -- as he looked over the case, he came to a different conclusion about who was most responsible. >> i felt that the mastermind of the crime was jessie. she didn't pull the trigger, but without her, this doesn't happen. what bothered me was that the bar got set at 22 years for the mastermind of the crime. >> so he did what he thought he had to be fair and offered jarred a deal, too. 30 years in prison for pleading guilty to first degree murder. jarred agreed. >> jarred at times as being portrayed as this kind of victim.

a little bit of jessie that, she was the mastermind. but vince was shot nine times in the head and face. i mean, you cannot discount that. >> no. >> for anything. >> no, it bothered me. he should've gotten more than 30 years. >> tim, vince's cousin, was torn about jarred's punishment. >> but jessie, she should've got more time than he did. because she manipulated him. >> is that the jessie you knew? this master manipulator? >> i would see she must of manipulated us because i would've never paid her. >> i believe that she should do life. >> as for janet, the woman who stepped in as vince's mother, it's hard for her to describe the pain she feels. she watched her surrogate son go from a tough kid to a tough soldier. he became a good and honorable man. only to have it all needlessly taken away. >> he wasn't my biological child. but my heart, you can't tell

that to my heart. i loved that boy. and it's not fair that he was taken from his children or from his family. he had so much potential. he had gone so far. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline". i'm natalie morales. thank you for watching. >> i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline". >>. to hear that news and realizing that it's amber. how could that be? her life was just beginning. >> amber made friends for life. >> there was just no trying with our friendship. it just was. >> but that life didn't last long. >> amber is on the floor, face