i'm craig melvin, i'm natalie morales. this is dateline. >> i could see was a dark hallway, light coming out of the door. what am i going to see? how has is going to be? worst-case neural was going through my head. >> lisa and kevin, they married putting their lives and children. >> it was one big, heavy family over there. >> with another love to welcome a foster daughter with a troubled past, sabrina. >> when she was told about being placed with the knoefel family, she was ecstatic. >> a happy home until it was ripped apart in a single night.

lisa, stepped. >> the blade was actually bent. it takes a lot to bend a knife blade. >> the killer? none other than sabrina. >> i can believe it. >> the loving mom, murdered by the foster daughter that she'd opened her home to. when no one could understand was why. >> something else had to have been a play here. >> indeed, this case was about to get a lot more complicated. stories of a diet follicle plot brewing behind closed doors. >> this was really just betrayal on top of betrayal on top of the trail. >> ad and an obsession that could not be denied. >> it was like, i want this. this is how i'm going to get it. >> welcome to dateline. please knew who killed lisa knoefel. this case would prove to be anything but straightforward.

it is not a who done it, but why done it? the investigation, unlocking a secret and a darker plot that anyone could imagine. here is josh make awaits with deadly betrayal. >> there comes a track time in those cups careers when they see something so horrific that they will do just about anything to forget it. even though deep down, they know they never will. for officer randy -- , that moment came in november 2012. on a call to chagrin drive in willow bee hills ohio. >> have you ever seen a scene like this before? >> never. i've never seen a crime scene like that. never have to again. he was bad. >> finding out what happened that night on chagrin drive and why, would ultimately lead investigators on a journey that would reveal accusations of a diabolical murder plot and a

series of b trails that tore apart an american family. that journey would begin when this house of horrors was still the loving home of lisa and keven knoefel, a couple whose friends describe is destined to be together from the moment they met. >> i remember her talking about him. she had nothing but great things to say. >> lisa's close friends -- where the unofficial chaperones of lisa and kevin's first -- >> we got along right away. >> he fit right in. seriously. i can see why she was drawn to him. i really can't. >> kevin was just as drawn to lisa, according to kevin sister. >> i remember kevin telling me that he met somebody. her name is lisa. i think i really like her. >> both kevin and lisa had been married before and both had children. lisa had meghan. kevin had cody.

>> kevin was always good with children. >> this is a family friend who has known kevin all his life. >> good father. >> good father. >> dedicated father. >> absolutely. absolutely. >> kevin was a jack of many trades. a truck driver, a school bus driver, an emergency medical technician. lisa dedicated her life to social work, helping in caring for sexually abused kids. kaitlan was one of lisa's coworkers. >> she just wanted to help people. we worked in sex abuse. that's a very difficult subject a lot of people can't deal with. she really prided herself on helping these families and being able to help, you know, make a difference. >> everyone admired leases selflessness. her friend, carry, also worked with lisa. >> she took in foster kids while she was a single parent and was raising her own daughter, by herself. >> that feels like, sort, of going the extra mile and then some. >> she did. she was always there to help

anyone who needed it. >> one year after kevin and lisa met, they married. a year and a half later, lisa and kevin announced the arrival of a baby of their own. haley. lisa was on top of the world. >> with megan, she loved like crazy, of course. she really wanted another child. but lisa felt she had more to give. two years after haley's birth, she decided to invite 16-year-old foster child, sabrina zunich, into her home. and to make sabrina part of the family. >> everything was going really well. she fit right into the family. lisa couldn't talk highly enough about her. >> but the happy times for the knoefel's blended and extended family would end catastrophically on that november night back in 2012 when lisa knoefel was brutally stabbed in her home. >> when i heard it was lisa and

who did it ... i can believe it. it was like, you are kidding me. >> a devoted mom attacked and her own home, enough to stun any family. but a crime this vicious? the first responding officers arrived at a frantic scene. coming up. >> the blade was actually bent. i just are shaking my head. i couldn't ... it takes a lot to bend a knife blade. >> one deadly betrayal continues. what can i du with less asthma? with dupixent, i can du more..

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-- newly blended family, vanished forever on a cold november night in 2012. >> 9-1-1, what is your emergency? >> please. >> at about 1 am, the police received a 9-1-1 call from the house. the caller was the knoefel 13-year-old daughter meghan. she said her mother meghan was being brutally stabbed by before her eyes. >> they're stabbing my mom with a knife. >> who has a knife? >> i have a female yelling on, the phone someone has a knife. >> megan was yelling, screaming, telling someone to stop. you're hurting, why are you doing this. >> oh my god. >> in the background, lisa can be heard, pleading for help. >> call 9-1-1. >> what is going?

on >> it's really chilling to listen to. >> take a deep breath. i can't understand you. >> first responding officer randy -- arrived at the knoefel home and found meghan frantic at the front door. >> she is waving her hands, you need to hurry, hurry. >> he learned that keven knoefel was away on business, leaving lisa, macon, haley, and their foster daughter sabrina home. >> worst-case scenario was going through my head, what am i going to see, how bad is this going to be. >> it was far worse than he could have imagined. out of the master bedroom, came the knoefel 18-year-old foster daughter sabrina, holding a knife. >> it looked like she had literally showered and blood. >> he ordered her to the ground, where she was cuffed. he then went to the bedroom, where he found lisa can a full on the floor. >> i could barely even see flush color, if there was that

much blood on her. i knew there was nothing i could do. >> the corner would laid it determined lisa had been stabbed and cut at least 178 times. sabrina's weapon was a 15 inch bread knife. >> the blade was actually bad, i started shaking my head because i couldn't, it takes a lot to ben and i played. >> with sabrina now booked and in the lock-up, detective rob -- began the investigation. >> there was a moment in the case when you wondered who is responsible? >> that is correct, and right away it was the fostered out. >> this looked like a case that could be shot as quickly as it was open, but if that were true, we wouldn't be telling you the story. this turned out to be one of the most unusual cases we have ever come across, police would end up investigating not just to, but why, with answers as stunning as they were disturbing. >> as dawn broke that cold november morning, detective --

began with his perpetrator, sabrina -- >> i first noticed that she was a very small, girl a very frail girl. >> sabrina started describing the moments leading up to the murder, she had a migraine she said, while everyone else slept she walked to the knoefel master bath to get some ibuprofen. that she said, is where her memory went blank. >> you didn't think anybody could stab somebody that many times and not remember any part of it? >> no. i tried all different ways to try and get her to come out and tell me what really happened, and she was not giving it up. >> and then, sabrina asked for an attorney. bringing the investigation to an abrupt and frustrating halt. >> you thought, whatever else we are going to get, it is not going to come from her. >> exactly. >> so he consulted those who arguably knew this teenage war of the state better than anyone,

sabrina's social workers. >> she has some issues with her family growing up. her grandma took custody of her at the age of three. >> case manager -- said sabrina struggled with having abandoned by her pants at an early age. she ended up in the juvenile system after stealing from her grandmother to pay for drugs and alcohol. >> she worked a law in counseling, how to cope, how to manage with everything she was going through. >> eventually, nicole helped place sabrina in the knoefel home. >> she just wanted to be a part of something, a part of a family. i notice what she wanted more than anything, someone she was told about being placed with the knoefel, she was ecstatic. >> it turned out the knoefel love and care was just what sabrina needed. >> she was going to class, getting good grades, i think she was thriving in their home. >> which made the news that it was sabrina who had brutally stabbed lisa all the more

baffling. >> i still can't see the sabrina that i know being violent towards anyone, let alone what she did. something else had to have been at play here. >> detective ron was thinking the same way. he wanted to talk to kevin about what that something else might be. but he held off. >> i was given -- he needed time to deal with the tragic death of his wife. >> according to his sister chris and, kevin was an emotional wreck when he heard what happen. >> i am sure there was some guilt, because he worked nights, and he was not home. he never thought this would happen. >> did you think he had anything to do with this? >> no. >> and you could definitively prove that he wasn't at the house at the time? >> absolutely. he was on the ohio michigan border at the time. >> still, he felt kevin might hold the key to solving the riddle of this case.

>> why keep going, you have your suspect, she has the weapon in your hand? >> i'm just doing my job as a detective. i was trying to find out why. >> it was the one central question that continue to plague detective and drive him forward. >> you are crossing your fingers and thinking we really need a break. >> yes. >> and then one day derives. >> one day sabrina decide she wants to tell us what happened. >> and the story sabrina ultimately told, was far more complicated and twisted than anyone could have imagined. >> coming up, investigators hear stories about tensions in the knoefel's seemingly happy home, should by sabrina saad behavior. >> it made lisa uncomfortable? >> lisa was happy with, it no. >> when deadly betrayal continues. ya continues. of seven hundred and thirty dollars. (customer) that's something. (burke) get a whole lot of something with farmers. ♪we are farmers.bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum♪

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murder cut through -- ohio like a wind. >> i'm shocked. lisa was a nice person. she was a good mom, she was a good wife. >> for someone of that much beauty, and that much giving of herself, to just be taken from us like that is just too much. >> finding out that the foster daughter --

and it up committing her murder, only added to the collective pain and suffering. >> the trail is the perfect word for what happened. somebody hurting her, that she had taken and i can't even imagine what you must have been going through. >> as detective -- worked the case, he learned there had been growing tension within the knoefel home right before the murder. and the source of that tension, was sabrina. >> she got along great with kevin, and she did not get along well at all with lisa. >> he discovered lisa had become frustrated with sabrina's behavior towards kevin. >> she was fascinated with keven, she seemed a little vivacious in my eyes. flirty. like flaunting herself. >> and detectives learned on text on lisa cell phone that

sabrina's flirty behavior had begun to take its toll on lisa and kevin's marriage, sabrina was demanding keven time, and keven was making himself available, to available as far as lisa was concerned. >> you have one actual text from lisa to kevin in which she is saying you are getting too close to lisa. >> in fact, lisa wrote cut the dam cord. spending too much time with her, and less with the real family, thanks a lot. lisa also became concerned about the relationship sabrina hard with her daughter haley. >> she acted like a mother to haley, on a regular basis. >> it may listen comfortable. >> lisa was not happy with, it no. >> it seems like one on things everybody agrees on is that sabrina was fixated on, fascinated with haley. >> she was. i think she was infatuated with

the whole family, and she wanted to be biologically in that family. >> he learned that just weeks before the murder, tension between lisa and sabrina had reached the breaking point. after 17 months under the roof, sabrina was told it was time to pack up and get out. >> sabrina got very upset, knew that lisa was the one initiating the action. >> and why, snap? >> yes. >> but right now, all that was just a theory. then, six months after the murder, the investigation took another turn. you learned sabrina was ready to talk. >> she starts telling her story, she starts sobbing, tears are coming down her face. >> sabrina told dateline the same story she told police. a story of a young girl bouncing through the foster

care system, always dreaming of a better life. >> i wanted a new beginning, and to put the past behind me. i wanted that picket white fence, the dinner on the table with siblings, and something i never had. i wanted that structure of a family. >> so when the knoefel's opened her door to sabrina, it was a dream come true. >> my first impression of keven was carrying father, somebody that was willing to get to know me, and want to know me. >> and then, there was lisa. >> my relationship with lisa, it was, at first good. we would all spend time together, we would go swimming in the backyard. i felt a part of the family. >> then, sabrina confirmed why -- had already heard. the good times quickly came to an end when sabrina and lisa started arguing. according to sabrina, lisa began thinking of her as more

faster than daughter. and sabrina did not like that. >> i felt like the outsider, i felt in a certain type of way, and not accepted. >> she admitted her close relationship with both kevin and haley had become a major source of friction with lisa. >> she doesn't like the fact of how i am acting with haley, and wouldn't let haley come around me, not even give me a hug at night. it really hurt me. >> and then came the moment when sabrina said lisa told her it was time to go. >> she was very blunt about, and she was like, i'm sorry, i don't want you here anymore. my life was shattering before me. the betrayal, the abandonment, all of that came to surface. >> two weeks later, sabrina says she quietly carefully walked into lisa's darkened bedroom, with a knife in her hand. >> i was in the room for a good

10 to 15 minutes, and it was a constant battle in my head. just do, it don't do, it just do it. >> in the end, it was sabrina's darker side that 10. >> she wakes up, and she thought i was megan. she was like meghan, go to bed. >> i completely froze, and then she says up in her bed and she was like meghan -- and she realized it was at meghan, and that is when i did. i remember her yelling to stop, i remember megan coming in and sending a hand on my shoulder and saying stop. and i just nudged her often told her, megan, don't. >> hangar, which triggered by a teenager's feeling of abandonment leading to murder. for -- her story made perfect, if tragic sense. >> you believe sabrina? >> absolutely. >> but sabrina was not done. when she was about to reveal, would send this investigation hurdling into a completely new

and alarming direction. sabrina told detective -- she didn't act alone. >> i couldn't have done something like this if i didn't have an outer influence. >> coming, up sabrina dropped a bombshell claiming that getting rid of lisa was actually someone else's idea. when deadly betrayal continues. dly betrayal continues ♪ ♪

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here's what's happening. russia, continuing to bump our southern in eastern ukraine, despite four a truce called by pope francis. according to ukrainians, a three month old was killed in an apartment block in odessa. 15 others were injured. a firefighter was killed in a ceiling collapsed while responding to a fire in brooklyn. timothy cline, 51 year, old eight other firefighters were injured in the lungs. now, back to dateline. eline.k to dat

welcome back to dateline. i'm natalie morales. sabrina zunich confessed to fatally stabbing her foster mom. now, the killer had even more to reveal, claiming she didn't act alone. continuing on with deadly betrayal, here is josh mankiewicz. >> detective always knew who killed lisa knoefel. now, he felt he understood why. sabrina had told him that lisa was about to crush her dream of remaining part of the knoefel family. >> she hated lisa. >> that feels to me like motive. >> absolutely. >> i hated lisa, but it was only because she was triggering a lot of past issues. >> but there was more. there was, said sabrina, someone else. >> it is not all my fault. now, i take responsibility

because i did what i did. i know it was wrong, but if it weren't for him, it would not have happened. >> if it were not for him. sabrina was referring to her foster father, kevin. >> i was doing what kevin told me to do. that is what it comes down to. >> it was a astonishing confession. she told -- heated lisa more than she did. it is a feeling she said that kevin shared with her, slowly, over several months. >> started through texas, man, i wish she was dead. or, i can't stand her. she just needs to go. >> according to sabrina, kevin also revealed that lisa had multiple life insurance policies and that she was worth more dead than alive. >> you had sense for a long time that there was something going on, that sabrina was in talking about. did you think this was it? >> i didn't think it was this involved. >> just as it had seen that sabrina story couldn't get any more twisted, she dropped a

second bombshell. >> her story was that kevin and her were having a sexual relationship and it was going on for, probably about 6 to 8 months prior to the homicide. >> i absolutely fell in love with him. >> kevin, sabrina said, promised to the world. and played on her love of three year old hailey. >> he promised me that we were going to have our own house and that i could take over the role for haley, mother figure. and i'd go to college. do everything that i ever wanted to do in life. >> and then, she said, kevin finally convinced her that the only way to realize that picket fence dream was to kill lisa. >> it just are good at getting more concrete. more of, you want to do it. you know? this is what we could have. if, you know, if we do this ...

when you're in love, you will do anything for that person. >> according to sabrina, they first discussed the idea of sabrina shooting lisa. then, they considered hiring a hit man. then, after several months, they finally settled on the sabrina stabbing lisa in her sleep. >> kevin picked out this bread night and it was a foot long. it had a rigid bleed. he said to use this one pikas it would do more damage on the inside. take ring, necklace, all of that, as if someone came in. and burglarized her. >> are you kidding me? >> when kevin's friend, linda, got wind of sabrina's story, she was dumbfounded. >> i thought that it was absolutely crazy. there is no way. i cannot even believe that he

would begin to do anything like that. >> neither could kevin's sister, chris and. kevin, she said, love lisa too much to want to harm her. nor would he ever do anything to risk the safety of his children. >> he would not put his kids in harm's way. i include meghan in that. he thought of meghan as his own daughter. >> no, when she said, could be manipulated into committing such a violent act. >> this is the act of one person and one person only. >> according to linda, sabrina's story was a web of lies. woven together by a deranged and troubled teen, whose fantasy of having a life of kevin and healy pushed her over the edge. >> i think she imagine the relationship that didn't exist. it was like, i want this. so, this is how i'm going to get it. >> as for the alleged affair, do you ever see anything

between kevin and sabrina? >> absolutely not. >> now. no. that is not my brother. >> sabrina, they said, turned on kevin and blamed him for everything. hoping for a plea deal. >> so, what is going on here? sabrina lied to save her own skin? >> absolutely. absolutely. >> not according to detective. >> you're convinced there was a plan between her and kevin? >> yes. >> and that there was an affair, despite the lack of hard evidence. >> she had no proof. there's no love letters. >> no. >> there is no photographs. there's no videotape. >> no. >> how do you know it happened? >> took sabrina on her word. every time we interviewed sabrina, she always told us the same story. >> it rang true. >> it absolutely range from. >> he said that he was suspicious of kevin even before sabrina came forward. several weeks before the murder, he asked kevin to come to the station for an interview.

kevin brought along his attorney. >> he would only add so the question about his wife's work. >> nothing about the murder? >> nothing about the murder. >> he also became suspicious of how kevin began filing claims for police is 800,000 dollar life insurance within hours of lisa being pronounced dead. and then, he started spending the money. >> he was buying cars. he was buying a camper. he was re-modeling his house, inside. >> all with leases insurance money? >> all with leases insurance money. >> all of that was enough for detectives, three months after sabrina accuse kevin -- detective arrested kevin and charged him with plotting a murder. >> sabrina agreed to testify as states star witness. in exchange, the district attorney's office agreed to recommend sabrina receive a

reduced sentence. >> you're taking the word of an admitted murder here. >> correct. >> even though she clearly has a reason to lie about this. >> yes. i believe what she told us was true. >> would a jury agree? >> coming up ... testimony that kevin had talked about divorcing lisa and wanting sabrina to live with him. >> i thought it was a little odd that he wanted to take 17 year old girl, alone, in a home, with just him. >> when deadly betrayal continues. continues. simparica trio is the first and only monthly chewable that covers heartworm disease, ticks and fleas, round and hookworms. dogs get triple protection in just one simparica trio! this drug class has been associated with neurologic adverse reactions, including seizures. use with caution in dogs with a history of these disorders. protect him with all your heart. simparica trio.

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knoefel's trial began. the charges? complicity and conspiracy to commit aggravated murder. kevin was also charged with sexual battery related to sabrina. >> she was the perfect patsy. >> young, impressionable ... >> idealistic. >> anxious to have a guy of her. >> yes. >> so, he manipulated her. >> but this was no slam dunk. kevin denied all charges. prosecutors acknowledged that their case was based, primarily, on the word of sabrina, a young woman with plenty of reason to buy. >> this put you in a difficult position, it seems to me. i mean, you are defending the character of this cold blooded murder. the fact that she committed

this murder is all on someone else. >> not necessarily on someone else, but together with somebody else. she would never have done this by herself. >> without any direct proof of the alleged affair, prosecutors began by calling on those who say they saw signs of inappropriate behavior between a foster father and foster daughter. sabrina's teacher, willie smith, describe spotting kevin with sabrina at the school. one afternoon. >> she moved towards sitting in his lap, inside his likes. >> what did you do at that point? >> i did a double take, kind of, really? >> that, sabrina social worker, case manager, testified about a strange call from kevin just before the murder. kevin, she said, admitted his marriage to lisa was in trouble and said they were considering a divorce. >> what was your divorced that statement? >> i was surprised.

i didn't know they were even considering splitting up or divorce. >> kevin, she said, asked whether, in a divorce, he would be able to take sabrina with him, as opposed to her staying with lisa. >> i just thought it was a little odd that he wanted to take a 17 year old girl, alone, in a home with just him. >> prosecutors, next, showed jurors cell phone activity. more evidence, they said, that indicated kevin and sabrina were having an affair. >> kevin was texting sabrina way more than his wife? >> substantially more. >> within a two-week period, kevin and sabrina texted and called each other almost 1500 times. that compares to just to 200 calls and texts between kevin and lisa. prosecutors then turn jurors attentions to kevin's behavior after lisa's murder. david strzok was one of kevin's close friends. strzok testify that kevin

seemed desperate to visit sabrina in jail. just one day after the murder. >> he told me that he just wanted to let her know that he was still there for her. this was a person who had just killed his wife. i was shocked that he would want to have any sort of contact with her. >> according to karen, kevin's real reason for wanting to see sabrina was to keep her from talking to police and telling them about kevin's involvement in the murder plot. >> the trip to the jail was certainly a huge. >> as pleased as prosecutors were with their case, so far, they knew it would stand or fall on how the jury responded to their next witness. >> you guys worried? >> i was worried. >> they listened. everyone listened. a sabrina told of the night she took leases life. >> i started to step her. i just raise the knife and went

down on her. >> why is it that you would violently and brutally stabbed her, repeatedly, 178 times? >> because i was manipulated to do it. >> by hope? >> kevin. >> what did you think? >> sabrina was a strong witness. >> i felt she did a good job. >> maybe so. but without anyone to corroborate sabrina's story, prosecutors feared the jury still wouldn't believe it or her. enter the next witness. sabrina's high school front, autumn. >> autumn testified she had firsthand knowledge about the murder plan and kevin's involvement in it. >> there was a phone call that we'd had. she had asked me if i was able to get her a hitman. >> could you tell me if there were any other people in the room at the time? >> yes. >> how could you tell?

that >> i could hear the defendant in the background, talking. >> autumn then testified she and sabrina discussed the idea of paying a hit man by delivering drugs for him. that is when she said sabrina handed the phone to kevin. >> what did he ask you at that time? >> do you need me to take you to go drive drugs? >> what was that a reference to? >> the hit. >> autumn said she ultimately backed out of the plan altogether. >> finally, i said, sorry. i don't want anything to do with it. >> autumn was willing to leader help detective palmer with his investigation. after hearing autumn story, palmer asked on to call kevin and talk about the hitman. thanking kevin might implicate himself. prosecutors played that recorded phone call in court. >> the only thing i'm worried about is that whole hitman thing. >> i honestly don't know. you talked a big game about a lot of.

thanks >> on the call, kevin never admits to knowing anything about a hitman. but to detective palmer, his calm manner and apparent lack of surprise suggests a prior knowledge of the plot. >> never says what are you talking about? we never had any conversations. if you have any information about the murder of my wife, please go to the police. never says anything like that. >> in fact, one detective palmer called kevin just two days later, kevin made no mention of autumn's call. i claimed to have only a vague recollection of who autumn was, even though he just spoke with her. >> last name doesn't ring a bell, but i think she had a friend named on him at school. >> as the prosecutor saw, kevin was trying to keep police from finding the one person, other than sabrina, who could link him to lisa's murder. >> clearly a lie. >> prosecutors were now competent jurors had all the

needed to convict. but now, it was a defense's turn to make their case. keven knoefel's attorneys weren't about to let sabrina leave that courtroom without a fight. >> coming up ... the defense tries to undercut the prosecution's whole promise, arguing there is nothing going on between kevin and sabrina. >> there were, maybe, 12 witnesses, if they see any form of abuse, they had a mandatory duty to report it. >> none of them didn't. >> all of them testify that they didn't do it. >> when deadly betrayal ... o our skin, what if it could feel differently? say hello to opzelura for the treatment of mild to moderate eczema. opzelura is a steroid-free cream proven to help clear skin and significantly reduce itch. do not start opzelura if you have any infection as it may lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you are being treated for an infection;... ...have tb or have been in close contact with someone with tb;

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attorney felt quite confident as he prepared his counter punch before the late county court. >> did kevin have anything to give leases murder? >> now. >> did he have any sexual relationship with sabrina? >> no. there is not one piece of physical evidence that tied kevin to any of this. >> he began by trying to dismantle the evidence the state presented. he challenged the county employees who have testified they believe kevin was acting inappropriately towards sabrina, asking why they didn't report such behavior before the murder. >> at that time, if you have a serious concern, you would offer [inaudible] >> i would have filed a report if it was a

serious concern. i just did not file a report on this. >> there were eight, maybe 12 witnesses that are mandated [inaudible] if they see any form of abuse, they have [inaudible] >> and all of them testified that they didn't do it. >> no one reported in behavior he said because there was nothing to report. >> lisa, ironically, was a mandated reporter. she never reported it. >> he then addressed a large number of text between kevin and sabrina. >> i don't find that shocking. >> neither did kevin's sister, chris and. >> there are more texts between my husband and one of my daughters and my husband and me. it doesn't mean anything. >> but what about those who testified that kevin acted suspiciously immediately after the murder? >> i don't think i'd want to come home and find out that my

wife was butchered. and that have other people criticize what my a motion or response to that situation was. >> kevin's brand, linda, agreed. even if the emotional response was to try and visit sabrina in jail, just one day after she murdered kevin's wife. >> i thought about that. i'm thinking, he might have wanted to say, why the hell? what's the matter with? you >> she also thinks that kevin was a fairly judge for filing his wife's claims as quickly as he did. kevin, she said, had to think about the welfare of his children. >> now, i have to be the sole support. now, when am i going to do? >> a great deal of the states evidence were witnesses say he's not acting the right way, not normal. as soon as someone could tell you what normal is, i will be happy to adopt as a notion. >> he implied that same criticism to kevin's muted response to the mention of a

hit man with autumn's recorded phone call. >> was he supposed to do? be angry? was he supposed to be defensive? if he ... >> i think what he was supposed to be was something. >> that is kevin's demeanor. you can't pass judgment on that. >> what about autumn's testimony that he spoke directly to kevin about hiring a hitman to kill lisa? he dismissed that testimony as being inconsistent and unreliable. during cross, he asked autumn to read the transcript of her initial interview with police when she was asked if kevin was ever a part of her conversation with sabrina about trying to hire a hitman. >> would you read me your answer on page 32, line three? >> no, well, now. we're on the phone. she didn't really talk about it in front of him. i don't think he knew that i knew. >> thank you. >> she acknowledge that kevin

was never present or on the phone during this conversations about killing lisa. >> but he knew that it would be his cross examination of sabrina that would determine kevin's fate. >> [inaudible] >> hello. >> sabrina is a seriously disturbed human being. >> the murder itself, he said, it was all the prove the jury would need of that. >> to recognize this knife? >> yes. >> when you began slaughtering lisa, this knife was straight. wasn't it? >> yes. >> and you attacked her with such vigor and force, anger and rage, you managed to put a 20-degree bend in a stainless steel knife. right? >> he continue to press, hoping that sabrina was motivated not by manipulation by kevin, but by her hatred for lisa. >> you used the [inaudible]

food to be okay to murder mike hines wife. correct? >> now. it was [inaudible] that came into a. yes. a justification, a rationalization? now. >> in the end, sabrina never wavered from her story. still, he felt he damaged her credibility. >> by the conclusion of her testimony, there shouldn't have been no question that she was not liable. >> but that was four jurors to decide. it took them just under ten hours to deliberate. >> we have a verdict. >> guilty, on all counts. >> guilty of sexual battery and charged in the indictment. guilty of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder. guilty of [inaudible] >> keven knoefel was sentenced to life in prison. at the time, linda had this to say. >> you think an innocent man's in jail? >> absolutely. absolutely.

i mean, i would stick my life on that. >> sabrina also experienced a life sentence. but will be eligible for parole and 30 years. as recommended by the state. prosecutors feel justice was served. but lead prosecutor is quick to point out that cases like these bring a little satisfaction. >> this is really just betrayal on top of betrayal on top of betrayal. i mean, you have kevin betraying lisa. sabrina betraying lisa. then, you have kevin betraying sabrina, ultimately, sabrina betraying kevin. >> yeah. it's a perfect circle. >> the criminal cases have concluded. but the legal battles continued. lisa knoefel -- and father. in february of 2017, the girls were awarded $8 million in damages. the court also awarded them more than 1.2 million in

damages against kevin for the life insurance paid outs received after lisa's death. releases daughters, it was another measure of justice. but it was small solace for the loss of someone so priceless. >> that is all for this edition of dateline. i'm natalie morales. thank you for watching. you for watching >> paige, this is carol. i just saw something on tv about you being gone since thursday night. i hope you're all right. oh my god. oh my god. >> paige, if you get this, please, please call somebody. everybody's worried about you. everybody's looking for you. please let us know you're ok. paige was a woman with a premonition. >> we found out she had this second life. >> quite obviously it's dangerous. >> she had been playing a risky game. >> that opened up the door to