tv Dateline MSNBC July 31, 2022 12:00am-1:00am PDT
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the girl for who justice is denied. in 2018, gary dunn found himself in handcuffs again, after two incidents that occurred on the same night both unrelated to nona dirksmeyer. dunn pleaded no contest to attempted kidnapping and indecent exposure. he was sentenced to 15 years, barring new evidence, the state does not plan to file charges against him for a third time in the nona dirksmeyer killing. >> that is all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin, thank you for watching. i'm craig melvin. and i'm natalie morales. and this is dateline. >> it happens on tv, doesn't happen to your. family to your brother. but it does. >> no one thought it could happen to him. it was a tough guy, prepared for anything. >> y'all would say, anyone tries to break in here, all caleb. >> instead, he was killed. stabbed in his own home. >> you sure your dad's cool to the touch? >> his son and daughter in law
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stumbled into a terrifying scene. >> that's when i saw the gun. >> they said, we're going to have to kill you. >> now, a strange story that only got stranger. >> they had purple gloves on. >> and they had blue, fuzzy gloves. >> something isn't right here. >> could he have killed his own father? what really happened in that house? >> i did not do this. >> then, a witness came forward and changed everything. and this bizarre story, the strangest thing of all was the truth. >> he planned for any scenario. except for the one that happened to him. >> hello, and welcome to "dateline". ken mortensen was a strong minded man who had built fortune and a fortress to protect it. and then kay was attacked, turning his home into a bloody crime scene. how, police wondered, could someone so vigilant be taken by surprise? it was a riddle that threatened to destroy kay's family
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until someone with an explosive secret revealed a horrifying truth. here's keith morrison with "mystery at payson canyon". >> there are people on this glorious, sunkissed planet of ours who get up each morning to the miracle of being alive and worry. not that there aren't things to worry about, of course. whether we can do anything about them or not. but some people worry a very great deal indeed, and do try to be prepared for whatever. and one of those prepared people was a brilliant retired university professor named kay mortensen, whose sister was a woman name fern. >> i said, well kay, what would happen if i'm not prepared and i'm hungry? or my kids are hungry? can we come to your house? and he said no, i'll probably just shoot you. so, he said it jestingly. but he was definitely willing to protect what he had. >> oh yes, he certainly was. and sure enough, one night --
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>> 9-1-1. what's the address of your emergency? >> but we're getting ahead of ourselves. what happened that night was a long time coming. it was long before that when kay became a survivalist. with attitude. >> he knew exactly what he thought about everything. and even though he knew what he was saying was going to be outrageous and not accepted, he would say it anyway. >> he had a black belt in karate. he owned scores of firearms. kept guns in just about every room of the house. and in all of his cars. a fully stocked, concrete bunker, outside his home in payson, utah. >> he had food. he had everything there. water, a way to go to the bathroom, magazines, books to read. >> kay was very clear about it with his wife darla. >> and he would say, this is
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where you and i are going to end up, because there is going to be a nuclear war. >> i would say, i don't want to live if everybody else is. dying. [laughs] so, he was a true patriot. he worried about things and wanted to be prepared for the civil war that was going to erupt. so, he was little over the top. >> darla wasn't thrilled about it. but she accepted him and his radical views. after all, they were still kind of in their honeymoon phase. >> it was all kind of surreal. i think we both felt like we were back being teenagers again. [laughs] so -- because we both hadn't really had love for quite a few years. >> they found each other late in life. after both had raised families. kay had three adult children by then. one of whom, his eldest, roger, stayed close. >> he was my best friend. we did everything together. >> mind you, roger was not at all like kay. for one thing, he'd suffered a brain injury in an accident years ago. so, unlike kay, he couldn't
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work much. lived on disability. but he liked to hang out with his dad. >> we lived less than a mile apart because we did enjoy spending so much time together. if i ever needed needed help, he would be there in a minute to help me. >> although, said roger's wife pam, it wasn't always easy. that's just the way kay was wired. >> roger's dad was a very strong willed person. it was his way or the highway. >> so, roger learned early to shy away from confrontation with his father. >> not at all how it was with his new love, darla. when she was around they said kay's tough hide melted. >> we knew then that he really loved her and that he was willing to compromise. and do something so that he could make her happy, also. >> did it seem to kind of soften him up a little bit? >> yes. >> yes, it did. a lot.
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>> so, kay and darla got married. >> married couple -- >> and they were as happy as either one of them had ever been. >> he'd say, what else do we need to do? we're retired. we have plenty of money. we'll just have fun. >> kay was a rich man. made most of his money buying gold at 250 an ounce, said darla. >> he just had the foresight. he was always -- you know, the dollar bill is not going to be worth anything. >> he put his money into a trust, so that roger and his other children would inherit everything once he was gone. heaven knows, he wasn't spending it. worth millions but -- >> he was very frugal. very frugal. and i just used to say to him -- i said, when is it you are going to spend your money? you know? what are you waiting for? >> so kay promised darla he'd travel with her. see the world. but he made sure his bunker was stocked. and he kept his guns close to hand. just in case.
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and then it was november 16th, 2009. darla was away watching her granddaughters. kay was alone at his house in payson. >> 9-1-1. what's the address of your emergency? >> it was evening when the call came in. >> i have help on the way but i just need to get some information. are you sure that he's dead? >> darla was on her way home. her cell phone chirped. it was a neighbor. >> and he just says, well something terrible has happened in payson canyon. he says, i think it's at your house. >> darla's might flashed to kay and his guns. >> and i thought, oh my gosh, he's probably shot somebody. an invader or something. >> she phoned a family friend named chris. >> i said something is going on, i'm alone. i just need somebody. can you come down to be with me? >> chris rushed to meet darla at the foot of the canyon. police had blocked off the road that led to kay and darla's house. but now darla and chris thought exactly the same thing. >> kay probably shot someone. >> turned out kay never got the
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chance. >> you sure your dad's cold to the touch? >> coming up -- roger makes an agonizing discovery. and stumbles directly into murder scene. >> they said, wrong place, wrong time. >> when "dateline" continues. it's not always “picture perfect.” plus i'm dealing with bleeding from uterine fibroids. enter myfembree, a once-daily pill for women with heavy menstrual bleeding due to uterine fibroids. with myfembree, heavy bleeding went down by 84%. serious risks include heart attack, stroke, and blood clots. don't take myfembree if you've had any of these, or have uncontrolled high blood pressure, are over 35 and smoke, could be pregnant, or have or had osteoporosis, liver disease, undiagnosed vaginal bleeding, certain cancers, or an allergic reaction to it. don't use longer than 2 years as bone loss may occur. pregnancy loss can occur, and changes in periods may make it hard to know if you're pregnant. if you think you are, stop taking it right away. other risks are depression, suicidal thoughts or actions,
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that could defend himself against just about anything. >> he would always say if someone tries to break in here, i will kill them. >> but life, no matter how well we prepare, is full of rude surprises. as it was for kay mortensen. it was november 16th, 2009, just before thanksgiving. >> we have the police on the way to help you there. are you sure your dad's cold to the touch? >> kay did not shoot some intruder, as he long promised he was prepared to do. no, someone killed him. without firing a shot. >> yes, he's leaned over, face forward in the bathtub with his throat sliced. >> and the man on the phone reporting the crime? roger mortensen. kay's eldest son. >> they sliced his throat? >> it wasn't long before kay's wife darla had made it to the mouth of the canyon, and was led to the command post that was set up beyond the hill
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before their home. that's when they gave her the news. >> your life just comes tumbling down. you had it all planned out, you thought you know what is was going to be, then everything is gone. >> kay caught off guard? not kay, thought dara. impossible. but that seemed to be just what happened. at least, that's what roger and pam told the police and later us. and a very strange story it was. that began, they said, when pam received a pie at work as a gift. >> we knew how much he loved that pecan pie and she decided after work to take him the pie. >> so they went to his house, intending to drop off the pie and then leave. but when they got there, they said, there was an unfamiliar car in the driveway. pam said she knocked on the door and a young man answered. >> i said is kay here? he said yes he is, he's here top drop off a pie. i said we were just here to drop off of a pie. and they said, go right in. i got to about the landing when i was asked to come back down, i heard the door shut.
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and when i turned around, that's when i saw the gun. >> what was it like to see that? >> it was a shock. as soon as we turned around and saw the gun, another guy started walking down the stairs, he had in his hand a wad of zip ties. they turn to us and said, your here at the wrong place, wrong time, pull out your hands. >> the intruders zip tied their wrists, force them down on the living room floor. then zip down their ankles. >> while we were down they said, we're sorry, you've seen our faces, will have to kill you now. >> pam, quaking in terror, she said, looked up at a picture of jesus hanging on the living room wall. >> i kept thinking, heavenly father, if you really love me and care for me, please make us get through this. and it calmed me to keep looking at that picture of christ and to be able to help
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roger stay calm. >> that really had an impact on you? >> when it did. >> why? >> it brought me comfort, it brought me peace to know that. >> even if they killed you. >> to know that, my heavenly father loves me and he would do the right thing for me. >> both men left the room, they said, then roger began praying allowed. he was in midsentence when he said when the men walked back in, and something quite amazing happened. >> what my wife looks back at me and she says the quiet, they're back. and one of them says it's okay, keep praying. and they both folded their arms and bowed their heads and listened to me as i continued this entire prayer. >> how weird is that? >> when i got done with the prayer we both sat down and their demeanor changed at that point. one of them looks at us and
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says, well, we've decided we will not kill you. we've decided we are going to tell you a story you need to relay to the police. >> but was that story that the instructed to him to say? that three black men with ski masks, three, not two as they actually were. and black, not white, as they actually were. and then, said roger, they took his drivers license and said they would know if they ever told the truth and if that happened they would hunt them down and kill them. then the two men left. roger and pam waited a while, got off the zip ties, and roger ran upstairs while pam dialed one 9-1-1. she was on the phone with the operator when roger found his father upstairs in the bathroom. >> and i saw my father kneeling over the bathtub. his feet were tied, his head was down in the bathtub. >> inconceivable. tough, resilient, armed to teeth, murdered with his own kitchen knife?
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what a story. -- erik knutson as one of the lead detectives. he was sitting in the office when, from up of the house, the first officer to talk to pam and roger called them. >> i said, you know, something isn't right here. it seems, from his perception that something was staged, or something was not normal for crime as vicious and heinous has this. >> something about this bizarre story did not sit right. he just could not put his finger on it. not yet, anyway. >> coming up, problem was, that bizarre story got weirder by the minute. >> they had blue fuzzy gloves. >> when "dateline" continues
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>> the death of kay mortensen was horrific, humiliating. helpless to defend himself inside his own sacred fortress. the killer had been him over his own bathtub. slashed his throat several times, stabbed his neck. all those guns and not a single one fired. it seemed so personal. sergeant eric knutson of the utah county sheriff's office got a briefing from the first officer on the scene,
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who turned on his audio recorder when he met kay's son roger, and roger's wife pam. roger had found the body was already suggesting possible killers. >> he told me he had appointment for lunch at noon with a guy named mike kip, discussing $25,000 worth of guns. >> mike kip? mike was kay's former student. >> roger and pam identified him real quick, saying he's involved. he owes my dad money. he's the one that did this. >> roger told detectives that kay was holding a collection of mike's weapons. about 30 of them, mostly pistols and rifles. and some shotguns. kay put the guns in his bunker. roger thought there might be a grudge involved. when detectives went to look for the guns they were gone. >> so we pull in michael kip and we interview him and we can get his alibi, its quick. >> nothing suspicious about it, it turned out. mike had not nothing to do with
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kay's murder. he simply needed money and kay agreed to buy his guns. by now, tips were coming in. >> and this female said is the baker boys she said, the bakers boys who did this. >> the baker boys were brothers who fairly or not, had developed a reputation as the towns troublemakers. detectives found them. they had solid alibis. then the next day another tip. a woman who implicated her own husband. >> he came home last night in the timeframe before the homicide. he grabbed a bunch of stuff, including a knife. and he's been looking for guns. so, i know he's involved. >> but the woman's husband was eventually eliminated as a suspect. detectives hoped maybe the stolen guns would lead them to kay's killers. >> and we recovered a lot of firearms that were stolen. but again, none linked. >> that just highlighted
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another aspect of the mystery. kay, remember, collected firearms and had close to 100 valuable guns locked up at his house. yet, the thieves just stole the cheaper ones from the bunker. >> pretty bizarre robbery, to take those guns and not take the far more valuable collection that kay had. >> agreed. >> in fact, the inside of kay's was pristine, untouched. no sign anybody had stolen anything. if this was a home invasion, it was an odd one. but by then, truth be told, detectives were already honing in on the two people who admitted they were there the whole time. kay's son roger and his wife pam. >> you sure that he's dead? >> starting with that 9-1-1 call they made. something odd about it. >> it didn't sound how i would think that a phone call should be made to 9-1-1 right after discovering your father had just been killed with the throat cut and zip tied in a bathtub. >> roger and pam, said the detectives, appear to be an emotional.
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uncaring, even callous. even though they claimed the gunmen stood over them, kept them hostage for almost two hours. at first, pam couldn't seem to describe the man. >> okay. did the guy that had the gun. what did he look like? was he a white guy, black guy, hispanic? >> she seemed uncertain even about the number of gunmen. >> how many were there? how many guys were? >> there could have been three. >> but listen to what happened next. roger took the phone and changed the story. >> were they white, black, hispanic? >> they were white. >> three white males. okay, how -- >> two white males. >> two white males? >> roger explained the reason for all the apparent confusion, that if they ever revealed what their captors looked like they would be hunted down and kill. did you buy that? >> not really. i didn't. they didn't appear fearful. they were saying it. but they were really acting fearful. >> anyway, why would vicious killers not have killed them, too? the night of the murder, they were interviewed.
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>> my name is eric by the way. >> did they seem nervous or agitated? >> not really nervous or agitated. just kind of unemotional. >> even at times, cold towards the victim's father. >> he was a -- far and he says his mouth everybody. >> and as they told their stories. detective started noticing subtle differences. >> and they had blue, fuzzy gloves. they looked like women's winter driving gloves. or something. a physique. >> they had -- i know they had purple gloves. purple, you know, your medical gloves. >> lots of details in which they didn't agree. so sergeant knutson employ a well-known prerelease interview technique. he got tough. accusing. >> quite frankly, i think this story is a bunch of crap. i think this story is a bunch of crap that you and roger have come up with. okay? >> i'm sorry you don't believe me. but -- >> i'm trying to. >> does it sound too rehearsed
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-- or. >> yes. >> okay. >> i want them to say i had nothing to do with this. you know? detective, you're crazy. i had nothing to do with this. that is what i wanted to hear. and it never came up. >> but listen to what did come out. >> is your husband capable of killing somebody? >> i need to get a drink. >> i wouldn't hope. i mean i wouldn't think he is. i wouldn't think that he's capable of killing his father -- >> a search of roger and pam's home showed they appear to be in financial trouble. detectives found collection notices and and unsent mortgage coupons. suggesting at least, that they were behind in their house payments. >> i know we're in a lot of that. but we -- i, personally -- would not have my father in law killed for his money. >> and yet, as roger told the detective -- >> i can get a big share of my dad's millions, to. >> within days of the murder,
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pam and roger agreed to go back to the house with detectives for a videotaped retelling of their intruder story. >> at the front door, my wife was holding a pie right here. >> did that provide you any useful information? >> it provided useful information as far as more circumstantial evidence that they are not being 100 percent truthful. >> once again, detectives heard foggy memories. >> she either knocked on the door or rang the doorbell. i believe she knocked on the door. >> they heard dialog that sounded like a bad cry movie. >> he pointed at us and said, your here at the wrong time. put out your hands. >> but then there was that same strange lack of emotion when roger described what should have been the worst moment of his life. >> came back downstairs and my wife was talking at the time to 9-1-1 dispatch. and i said, he's dead.
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>> roger and pam took a polygraph test. and what do you know? roger was found to be deceptive. and pam was jumpy. the operator couldn't complete the task. but still roger and pam swore up-and-down brought they had nothing to do with it. they were victims themselves. truth be told, the police needed some real evidence. when out of the blue, something arrived. >> investigators are confronted with new evidence and strange does not begin to describe it. someone saw the killing in a dream. coming up -- >> i have a photo lineup drawn up. and she puts her finger on it, she puts it right on roger's face. >> when "dateline" continues. design delivers fast, powerful, long-lasting pain relief.
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house doctor saying it is a rebound case and not a new infection. president says he has no symptoms and it's continue to feel quite well. in las vegas, a tense summer thunderstorms have drenched parts of the city. rain is leaking from casinos see leagues leaving pools of water sports betting places. the storms are part of a weather system that may linger over the areas over the weekend. that's going to the national weather service. now back to dateline. w back to dateline >> welcome back to "dateline." i'm craig melvin. police suspected roger and pam mortensen were cold blooded killers. to investigators, their story about finding kay mortensen dead at the hands of two armed intruders did not add up. and with kay gone, roger stood to inherit a fortune. soon, an unlikely witness would bolster the detectives case with her own chilling tale of what happened that night. continuing with full "mystery
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at payson canyon" here is keith morrison. >> within days of kay mortensen's murder, his family found some deeply troubling reports. on to kay's own son roger and roger's wife, pam. darla said she could not believe it at first. >> i was just adamant that they could not have done it. i was their biggest defended. >> but then detectives asked her to listen to roger and pam's recorded statements as defendant statement. >> they told lies and it just put more suspicion on them. >> gradually, her conviction grew saying for's sister, fern. >> i couldby the fact that they were thinking of roger's involvement. >> there were just so many things about roger and pam story that did not make any sense to fern. and there was something else, too, a possible witness.
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remember that woman who suspected her husband was involved? well, police found him here insults bring city on a drug binge, there were high on mid. one of the people there, a womand called cammie bills, told detectives she had a story to tell about a dream sheet had. >> she describes and what she calls a dream, seeing someone get killed. she describes being outside of her room, she describes a female off to her left crying in hysterics, and she describes three or four males in the bathroom. and she says there's one male who i think is related to the female. >> now remember, the woman was on methamphetamine reporting now what you saw but report in which he dreamed she saw. still, you never know till you ask. >> so, i have a photo line of drawn up, and she stares at it,
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puts her finger on it. she puts it right on roger's face. >> the next day, detectives took cammie to kay's house, showed her the crime scene, and again, she named roger. >> i can see roger's arm and he's pointing at kay. >> you don't hear a story like that and say, wow, that's a piece of crap, and go on from there. >> not when you give up that much of detail. >> the story was hardening by the minute. you wanted the studio? >> oh man, it threw me through a loop. >> when pam and roger attended kay's funeral, the tension was thick. >> it was very difficult to be there because everyone wanted to know what happened that night. >> but they can say anything, said pam, the detectives told them not to. >> and my sister comes up to me at one point, and she says, tell me what really happened? and i say, i'm sorry. i cannot talk about this. >> shortly after roger and pam
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took the polygraph test and were told about their dismal results, they hired a lawyer. few of the members of the mortensen understood why they did that. >> i tried to say, what would i do if i was in their situation? i would do everything i could to help get these people who causde such horror in their lives and murdered kay. >> on the advice of their attorneys, roger and pam stopped talking. and the lopsided rift between the mortensen family widened. chris andrus, the night the woman called the night of the murder, was one of the few people to support roger income. >> they were left to hand out and dry. >> how did you feel about that? >> i was so angry. i was so so angry. i couldn't believe that you could love somebody and do that to them. even if i thought roger had done it, i would not of
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abandoned him. >> and they did. >> absolutely. not only did they abandoned him, they crucified him. >> months went by, they were headline news in utah. but the evidence linking them to kay's murder made them free. day-by-day, they went about their business, as if their lives were still quite normal. >> then in july 28, 2010, utah prosecutor took a dramatic step to break the logjam. he presented the case against roger and pam to a grand jury. >> so i call a grand jury? >> we thought a grand jury was a great tool to force them to come in and talk. >> it was a secret proceeding. no defendants, no defense attorney. only prosecutors, police, some members of the mortensen family, even some of
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pam's coworkers, all in front of 16 jurors, whose job was to describe whether or not they should charge roger and pam with kay's murder. and in just over an hour, the jury decided to indict. >> so it did that say to you? >> there was enough to proceed. >> it's sort of reinforce what you already thinking? >> it did. >> and that same day, eight months after kaymortensen was found dead in his home, roger and pam were deposited in the county jail. chris andrus, the family friend who still believe that they were innocent, went to julie's sister. >> i said julie, we need money to -- we've got to get him a separate attorney. can you help me? there is millions of dollars in the trust. she told me her words were not red met penny would be spent on his defense. >> julie said she did not use those specific words, but she said, their family was advised
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by their attorney not use kay's money for roger's defense. meaning that roger would have to rely on a public defender. were pam and roger the cold hearted killers their family believe them to be? of course we, and everybody else, just have to know. >> coming up -- roger and pam face some tough questions. >> as the interrogations continue, your stories did not stay the same, according to the police at least. >> when "dateline" continues. eyes, and double vision made things look like this. but then my doctor recommended tepezza, a prescription medicine that treats thyroid eye disease. with my symptoms under control, things are really opening up. (vo) in a clinical study, nearly 7 out of 10 patients taking tepezza saw improvements in double vision. and more than 8 out of 10 patients had less eye bulging.
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tepezza is an infused medicine. patients taking tepezza may experience infusion reactions. tell your doctor right away if you have symptoms such as high blood pressure, fast heartbeat, shortness of breath, or muscle pain. before receiving tepezza, tell your doctor if you have diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease or ibd, or are pregnant, or planning to become pregnant. tepezza may raise your blood sugar even if you do not have diabetes and may worsen ibd such as crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. (jeanne) my world is more than just my eyes. (vo) ask your doctor about tepezza. and visit mytepezza.com to see jeanne's before and after photos. i didn't win the lawsuit, but everybody knows i wrote that song. flo? gosh, it's been forever. you look fantastic. it's jon. hamm, from the blind date we went on years ago. ah, the struggling actor who didn't believe he could save with snapshot based on how and how much he drives. i'd love to talk about it over dinner sometime. well, i usually don't talk on the phone during dinner, but for potential customer tom hamm,
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with roger's own family and many of their one time friends, joined a lineup against roger and pam mortensen, as they sat in jail, charged with murdering roger's father kay and their day in court. the evidence against them? there strange demeanor, their alleged financial troubles, roger's failed polygraph. but mostly, according to detectives, the bizarre and ever-changing story of that they told about the night of the murder. what was the truth? we asked the only people who knew for sure, starting at the beginning, with that strange 9-1-1 call. >> who held you hostage? >> i don't know. >> viewers hear the 9-1-1 call and are like, wait something's wrong here.
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people scream on 9-1-1 calls. they are crazed. >> i think i was in a lot of shock, and i don't know the real reason why i was -- i could stay as calm as i can. but i just, that is my personality, that's the type of person i am. >> and although she didn't sound like it, she was terrified, she said. their captors had just said they threatened to kill them, if she told the truth. >> so, when the 9-1-1 operator asked me how many where there, i was totally confused what to say. do i tell the truth? which is what i wanedt to do. >> rogers said he knew exactly what he had to do when he said he discovered his father in the bathtub. >> and i hollered down to her when she was still on the phone, telling her the exact truth, we are going to get these guys. >> but pam said, she still couldn't spit it out. >> i was kind of staggering through what was going on.
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maybe there was two, maybe there was three, because i did not know. i was terrified for my life, still. and i didn't know what i should've said. >> what about their police interrogations when their stories did not match? >> i thought their gloves where one color, she thought their gloves were different color. other than that, our stories were basically the same. >> they both cooperated fully, said roger. kept talking for days. even as police brought up one accusation after another. >> there was an inheritance involved. >> yes. >> and you talked about that with the police? >> i may have, i'm not sure. >> well, according to them, you talked about, and it provided one of the classic motivations that children have for killing their parents. cops run into it all the time. right? >> they say they do. >> and that's clearly what they were thinking when they talk to you. >> yes.
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>> did that make them clear? >> they didn't make very much clear to us. they just said we were not being cooperative with them, even though from the very beginning we told them everything that happened. they just didn't believe it. they didn't believe that two people would kill one person and leave two more alive. >> perhaps. but what about roger and pam's apparent financial troubles? >> we were not having any financial problems. if we were having financial problems, my father would be glad to help us. we have the type of relationship. >> they were certainly not debt free, they said, but it didn't amount to a whole lot. and as for the pile of unfiled mortgage coupons. they simply started paying online, they said, like everyone else. and as for that failed polygraph test, roger said he was never been asked to take it. remember, he's on disability, which was -- short term memory loss and
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confusion and the sort of thing that would make a polygraph quite useless. >> i said, how could i have failed? i did not do this. >> so, was he lying? or did police have it all wrong? >> they didn't know how to proceed. they could not find fingerprints because the people had gloves on. they did not find a gun because they took it with them. they did not know what to do, so being confused, they went after the easiest subjects they could find. it was us. >> the days piled up. a month, two months. four months in jail, waiting for their day at court. a day for which roger's lawyer wasn't quite so eager as they were. >> we had a case that i believed in. we had a case that i thought we could defend. at the end of the day, i was scared. >> and no one was prepared when one cold winter day, in the utah county sheriff's office, the phone rang.
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>> coming up, the unexpected call, the truth revealed. a surprising ending you will not believe. when "dateline" continues. “picture perfect.” plus i'm dealing with bleeding from uterine fibroids. enter myfembree, a once-daily pill for women with heavy menstrual bleeding due to uterine fibroids. with myfembree, heavy bleeding went down by 84%. serious risks include heart attack, stroke, and blood clots. don't take myfembree if you've had any of these, or have uncontrolled high blood pressure, are over 35 and smoke, could be pregnant, or have or had osteoporosis, liver disease, undiagnosed vaginal bleeding, certain cancers, or an allergic reaction to it. don't use longer than 2 years as bone loss may occur. pregnancy loss can occur,
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her ex husband, martin bond, he and a friend went to filthy kay's to steal his cousin's gun. >> they pulled out their guns -- he was unwilling at first but he eventually did. >> bond, she said, told her everything. >> he said, that they took him to the bathroom and bent him over the bathtub and cut his
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throat, and then -- >> he just said right after that they heard the door the doorbell ring and it was the two. >> the two? we're roger and pam. and we know the rest of the story. rachel bingham kept the secret for months until finally her conscience got the better of her. she told the police one more thing. how the crooks got the drop on kay mortensen. it turns out that bond's father knew k. glitches why go kay welcomed him in and turned its back to his killers. >> he had planned for any worst-case scenario, except for the one that happened to him. >> in that there are so many ironies aren't there? >> there are many attorneys. >> the biggest perhaps, roger and pam's crazy story about armed intruders was true all along, though sergeant knutzen still had trouble believing it.
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>> i could pick up a case and and i can read through it and i can see discrepancy, after discrepancy. i can see -- >> but can you see where maybe that isn't enough? >> yes. >> as for treating as possible evidence, the dream sequence of a girl on meth? this is evidence? >> well, it more circumstantial evidence. it's a lead. >> would you even call that circumstantial evidence? >> it was definitely a follow-up. >> it's a dream! >> it's a good dream. >> and in the end, the prosecutor admitted he and the detectives got it wrong. >> based upon the new physical evidence that we have located, we anticipate dismissing the charges against roger and pam mortensen tomorrow. >> roger and pam were finally free. >> those four and a half months seemed like four and a half thousand years. what i felt like i was in there forever. >> pam gone a standing ovation
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from an unlikely crowd. >> as i was walking out of that big dorm area, there was 90 women clapping and cheering for me. they knew i was innocent. and for me, having the situation that we dealt with with roger's family turning against us, friends turning against us, to have that support of those people that people would consider criminals, to have them cheer and yell and scream was a very emotional thing for me. >> pam wanted the prosecutor to issue a public apology. that would help make up for all they cost them, she said. we offered the prosecutor this public forum. >> am i sorry? yes i am. i have no problem with saying that i made a mistake. we did not try to defraud anyone, we did not try to lie, we didn't try to fabricate anything, but we made a mistake. >> pam and roger filed a
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lawsuit arguing that the prosecutors and detectives lied to the grand jury. but just a few weeks later ruled that grand jury, witnesses and prosecutors were immune from civil litigation. so, the judge dismissed their case. >> so, let me understand this, the police come to your house, you're arrested, your names are dragged through the mud, then somebody gets the right guy, and they say, well, goodbye, see you later. >> exactly. >> as in so many cases, bond and reddy ended up blaming each other. >> reddy got 25 to life, bond is doing life without parole. the star prosecution witness? rachel bingham. and if she hadn't come forward, would two innocent people be in prison today? it's going to chase you for a while. >> a little, but i can put it behind me. the case is closed now. what i'm happy about for me,
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personally, is the family has closure. >> but do they? it isn't just kay's murder they must live with, but also the wreckage of god knows how long of the family's story. >> i had emotions of happiness and relief, but there's still some regret that i did not support roger and pam. from the beginning. >> it changes your perspective on the world, it really does. >> and, by the way, said roger and pam, a little piece of advice. if anything happens and there is any dealing with law enforcement, you don't say a word and you get an attorney. >> as for darla, who finally found the love of her life, what was there to say? >> the moment of sunshine snatched away. >> yeah, you just take one life, it's not always what you expected.
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when you're a young girl, you have all your dreams of what your life's going to be. and somehow, it doesn't just work out that way. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin, thank you for watching. >> i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline. " >> jodi became travis's drug. he very much recognized how bad she was for him. but she kept showing up in his life, and just like a drug addict he kept letting her right back in the door. >> her trial riveted the country. >> we the jury find the defendant as to count one, first degree murder, guilty. >> jodi arias, who brutally murdered her lover, was facing a possible death sentence. >> did he ever think that she would do what she did? who would think that?
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