back. >> i had the biggest smile you could dream of. that's something -- that's what i want back. i'm going to go for it. >> i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline". >> my mom found her. she said it looked like she might have slipped in the shower. she was in the fetal position in this bathtub. >> you could see marks on jessica's neck. >> police said we're going to rule this as a homicide. >> detectives using new technology to view this crime scene and extreme detail. >> there's no forced entry. no tool marks. >> there was blood on the couch. >> who could've done this? >> they say that usually is someone close. >> an investigation focusing on friends and family.

>> he brought up his association with a motorcycle gang. he came off as kind of a tough guy. >> we fooled around a little bit. just like, teasing, sibling teasing. i guess you can call. it >> he threatened to take out my whole entire family to get custody of our kids. >> wow. >> a chilling story. danger and duplicity. >> we were trying to figure out who did this. he knew the whole time. >> this is the ultimate betrayal. >> hello and welcome to "dateline". >> jessica nelson was a hardworking single mom polluted on her little boy and kept her loved ones close. then one morning she was found dead in the house she shared with her son. the discovery left her family shattered, but their ordeal would just beginning. detectives would soon discover someone close to jessica was living a lie. hairs keith

morrison with "evil intent". >> it was 9:00 in the morning on the 20th with june, 2015. omaha, nebraska. missy nelson's morning ritual was interrupted by a phone call. it was the bank where her daughter jessica worked. she was an hour late. >> i was like, what, what do you mean she's not there? they're like, we she's not here and we've been clogging. her and she's not answering. >> the thing was, jessica was never late. missy tried calling her. no answer. panic now she ran to her car. was jessica at home, sick? >> it's like, let's call her on the way over there. i was thinking, i don't know where she's at. and then i started to think, really bad things. maybe she was in a ditch somewhere passed out. maybe she was in a really bad car accident. >> did you know it was something bad? >> i felt something was wrong.

so, i get over there and her car is in the driveway. i'm like, ok she is here. she's not in an accident. but why isn't she answering the phone? >> the door was locked. so, missy used her key to let herself in. >> i walk in and her house is really dark. i can't find her and it's like, everything is dark, so i don't know where i am going. and the bathroom is the first door on the left. the door was closed by here water running. i'm like, ok maybe she's in the bathroom. i opened the door and i turned on the light. and she was in the bathtub. the water was running. it was up to her nose. she was in there like this. she had something in her hand. it was the phone call record. i didn't understand. i started screaming. i had my cell phone so i called 9-1-1. >> 9-1-1, do you need police, fire, rescue? >> my daughter's dead in the bathtub.

>> i do understand a word you're saying. what's going on? >> i just found my daughter -- i just found my daughter died in the bathtub. and it looks like she slipped and i don't know how long she's been in. there >> i drain the water thinking it could help her but. she was already gone >> you could tell? >> i could tell she was blue. her face was our weird pattern on her face like a checkered. but her body was still a normal color. >> i can't imagine that. >> it was horrible. it's like a nightmare. i still see it. one of the worst feelings in the world. you look at your daughter because she's gone. >> by the time just his father harry got there -- >> there was a policeman in the driveway. >> not far away he found missy, a wreck, a mess. >> i hugged her. what's going on? what do we know? we don't know anything. >> had she slipped in the shower? >> he thought that first by thought saw that mark on her neck and the court in her hand.

i didn't think there was something right. she shouldn't have had her phone charger there. her phone wasn't there. >> you didn't know what to think? >> i didn't know what to think. i was devastated. i wasn't even thinking at that point. >> first responders trained to keep an open mind, weren't sure what to think neither. >> it wasn't an obvious homicide. they didn't know if it was medical emergency. because we find people like that that have suffered a stroke or her tic tac, or something similar kind of situation. so they really didn't know what they had. >> on the side detectives derek and ryan davis. >> i do a cursory walk through the residents. they so show me where jessica was at. she's in the bathtub. oddly enough, her clothes were in the bathtub with her. >> but not on? her >> not on her. no, they were laying near her feet. the coach in the living room had blood all over it. my initial reaction was maybe there was some sort of medical emergency that occurred on the couch. she had gone to the bathroom to

clean herself off and had collapsed and succumbed to whatever medical emergency she was having. >> there was an any obvious signs of travel on her body. >> she had a small bruise on the side of her neck. it didn't look like any sort of -- >> could've got it anyway? >> yeah, it doesn't look like she was assaulted. >> but there was something off, to. didn't quite look right. they decided to treat it like a homicide. >> because you only get one chance of this. so, if you go in and you go guns blazing and you try to rush through things, you're going to miss things. >> the csi people arrived. use dailies or scanners to quickly take billions of measurements and create this virtual representation of jessica's house. 3d. so, more accurate than any photo. and then they removed it just his body. and yes, detectives could see homicide was the right call. >> when we were able to actually look at her eyes, it was fairly evident that there had been some sort of

strangulation, asphyxiation. or at least that took place. >> one of the things we noted right away was that she had longer fingernails. and one of those fingernails was quite evidently bent back. and we knew that there was a chance then that if she had fought back against her attacker, there is potentially the any there. >> the next day, the autopsy confirmed that jessica had indeed been strangled to death. >> there was a slightly good sure mark around her neck. that was disrupted. it was almost appeared that there was possibly a hand -- >> her hand maybe trying to pull the logic remarks were quite kind of intermittent. >> one more thing the autopsy revealed. she had been sexually assaulted. >> the first thing that goes through your head is why? how? who? i mean, everybody is a suspect and nobody is a suspect. who could've done this?

why? >> did she have any enemies? >> none that we knew of. >> coming up -- the man in jessica's life and her volatile relationship. >> she would close every other week. me and jon had a. fight >> and then, did a facebook post to put her in danger? >> she just put out there that she was alone. and she did it without even realizing. >> so if anybody was following her they would've known? >> yes. >> when "dateline" continues >> when "dateline" continues so you have round-the-clock protection on all your stuff. like that cardboard tv. i told props to switch that out. okay, everyone, that's a wrap. [ bell rings ] wait, you faked this whole thing? i knew it was the quickest way to see you. i'm sorry, jon, but i'm already in love with insurance. you know that's weird, right? well, any weirder than faking a burst pipe? got a little carried away. yeah.

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a close family and friends who are like family. missy and harry nelson had, three kids, kids partners, grandchildren until -- until the morning they found jessica, just 28 years old, dead in her own bathtub. but who was she? detectives needed to know. and so did we. >> everybody loved her. >> very smart. >> jessica was ashley and matt's big sister. >> she was very outgoing. she always wanted to have fun. but older we got, the more she was kind of like another mom to us. she would always be there, even if we were fighting, if we

needed her she was there. >> big sister to the whole extended family. her cousins, her close friends who were more like siblings. her siblings close friends who are more like relatives. >> she was always really nice to everybody. >> laura wonder had been a friend since grade school. >> she just wanted to have a good time, she was i wouldn't say crazy but she was -- >> goofy? >> goofy. she did whatever she wanted to do. >> and that held true and her choice of men. her forced serious boyfriend was him. >> with the tattoos and stuff, he seemed to be something that she would've been into because she had a few tattoos as well. >> his name was john mcdowell. he and jessica were good together, and sometimes not. >> she would call us like every other week, can you come and get, meet me and john how to fight and i'm not staying in their. so we will drive to missouri valley, and a couple of weeks late issues back out there. >> a year in, there are still

no wedding. but there was a baby. dominic, dom. >> i just remember everyone was so excited wanting to meet him. >> she loved him. i think it was just an instinct she had, to be a mother. she wanted to be the best mother she could. that drove everything else. >> and then one day, dom was still small it all seemed to come apart. >> they were doing okay, until he left her a voice mail. >> an unintentional voice mail. and the message that was left was bad. very bad. >> talking to friends he didn't know he left her a voice mail saying that he slept with another girl, and that was it. she was done. so i helped remove that day. >> she must have been so upset? >> she was. she was devastated. >> to get an accidental voice mail from the guy -- the father of your baby. i slept with

another woman. >> kind of bragging about it. you should've seen the one i was with. >> and that's why jessica liked it to be a single mom. better she decided to concentrate on her little boy the center of her life, dominick. >> she did everything she could for her son. just try to do it right, paid bills, i have things that i want him to have, i have to pay for those things. >> so she worked? >> 2 to 3 jobs. >> how does a person even do that? >> i had no idea. >> that was a dream job. >> by then jessica and dominick lived in a little house on a north side of town. >> it wasn't very big, but dom had the bigger room and she said while he has more toys and his bed has a slide. i said he has a slide? and she said yeah he needed a slide. and i was like sure he needed a slide. she gave everything up for him.

he was her world. >> in fact just because the last word on facebook the night she died when dom was at his dad is i am such a mess when dom is gone. >> she had lost the remote and thought it was the worst 15 minutes of her life. >> she was lost without dominick because he could find the remote. >> but, -- >> she just put out that that she was home alone. and she did it without even realizing. >> so if anybody was following her, they know. >> they would know. >> but of course someone was following her on facebook. maybe even quite a few someone's. but finding the one with evil intent, not so easy. >> investigators start the surge with jessica's acts and soon hear some troubling stories. coming up. >> she would post pictures, and if she's around just another guy, even though they were just

friends, john, you could tell that he was a little like, who's that? >> her sister ashley's acts raises eyebrows to. >> he threatened to take out my whole entire family to get custody of our kids. >> wow. >> when "dateline" continues. >> when "dateline" continues. and prevent my next attack. don't take if allergic to nurtec. most common side effects, in less than 3%, were nausea, indigestion/stomach pain. treat & prevent - all in one. ♪♪

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to harm jessica nelson? that question baffled her grieving family. with the vibrant young

mom was found sexually assaulted and strangled to death in her bathtub. her loved ones wondered if a facebook posts had alerted jessica's killer that she was home alone that night. now investigators were about to drill down on her personal relationships. and at least one of them was complicated. once again here's keith morrison with "evil intent". >> word of jessica nelson's death spread quickly, if incoherently, among her friends in omaha. >> i got a phone call from a mutual friend of ours. she was so hysterical i can understand what she was saying. i thought she said that dom had been killed. so, i got off the phone with her and i called john. and he said, they found jests dead. and it was just unreal. i just couldn't believe that. >> laura's friendship with jessica had drifted a bit after high school, but by 2015, it was a little unusual. laura and jessica both had babies with

john. laura dated at first. but it was after she broke up with john that her son christopher was born. and that was not long before jessica got pregnant. >> i found out when i was six months pregnant with our son that him and jessica had been dating. or just started dating. >> two women, two children, one man. >> i wanted to be mad at her and i couldn't, because she was just too nice. >> anyway, pretty soon, john was no longer in the picture for either of them. then, a single mother's, laura and jessica reconnected so their sons, half brothers, could bond. >> our kids met each other and they got to play together. >> now her friend was dead. and the father of both their sons was sitting in the police station answering questions. >> when was the last time you're actually at the house? >> i could even tell you for sure. >> ballpark. >> probably been three months..

>> so when did you actually last see jessica? >> when she dropped my son off last night. >> which meant john was the last known person to see jessica life. except for the killer. unless he was the killer. detectives brought in jessica's family members and friends and questioned them on about john. i >> think everybody kind of had their own impression of jonathan. >> and some of those impressions were not flattering. >> she would post pictures, you know, of us just i with friends. and if she's around just another guy, even though they were just friends -- >> right. >> john you, could tell he was a little who, is that? >> jealous. >> yeah. >> did just cook trust john? >> no. >> no. >> i knew she was planning on filing for sole custody of dominick, because she was just tired of it. because you know, half the time when it was john's time to take him, he refuse. >> they have these fights over dominick. over custody. over

money. jessica was routinely upset with him. >> john seemed to be trying to minimize those issues. >> you guys don't have issues or -- >> no. >> or at each other's throats or anything like, that? >> and it's the biggest thing we might fight about is, she's like, you have a pair shorts thy bought two weeks ago, and i haven't gotten -- >> you need to find them? >> okay. >> after a few hours of questioning they let john go. with a warning, he was suspect number one. and they kept an eye on him as they investigated other men who had crossed paths with jessica. >> we were interested in any male partner she had recently been introduced. to anybody at all that could have been showing interest in her, communicating that with her via social media or any other means. that maybe seemed kind of unwanted. >> can you tell me is there anybody seeing what she's seeing right now up until recently? and i'm talking about

any, even casual hookups, one integrate while hookup. anything at all? >> i know her last took up was with a high school crush that had come back to town. he doesn't live here. >> he was a high school crush and he's in the military. so, when he was home on leave she would hang out with him for a few days. but then that was it. he was gone again. and i know she seat over there once. >> detectives looked into his whereabouts the night escalates killed. he was nowhere around. couldn't have been him. thing was, it had to be someone close. someone she knew or trusted. someone with a key, maybe? after all, there was no forced entry. but the door was locked when jessica's mother arrived in the morning. and then her family told police about someone who had been violent towards jessica's sister, actually, just a few days before the murder. >> i was going through divorce and my ex was not so nice. he

threatened to take out my whole in fact tire family and then myself, just to get custody of our kids. >> wow. >> and the week before that he visibly assaulted me. >> he pinned or on the floor and had bruises on her arms. >> he'd been arrested. was facing charges for a domestic assault. the men a man who had been violent or threatening family? detectives checked out his alibi. the night of just his murder. but they also went looking for anyone else who might have had access to just goes home. like maybe some spurned lover. but apparently, there weren't any, spurned or otherwise. >> everybody when i asked that question they would say, that jessica often referred to the only man in her life as dominick. her other man was her job. and that's all she wanted to concentrate on, was her work and providing for dominick. >> but sometimes, jessica had friends over for saturday night gatherings when dom was at johns. and the last one, maybe ten-year days before she was

killed, came with trouble. >> jessica was freaking out. she's like, are they doing a drug deal in my house? >> coming up -- >> the you've kind all kinds of stuff on people cellphones? >> oh gosh, yes. absolutely. >> investigators discover odd text messages on discuss one. >> there was just something word about it. maybe we didn't figure out who this person is. >> when "dateline" continues. >> when "dateline" continues. or atopic dermatitis under control? hide my skin? not me. by hitting eczema where it counts, dupixent helps heal your skin from within, keeping you one step ahead of eczema. hide my skin? not me. and that means long-lasting clearer skin and fast itch relief for adults. with dupixent, you can show more skin with less eczema. hide my skin? not me. serious allergic reactions can occur that can be severe.

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kennedy space center in florida. if successful, the unmanned capsule will make a six-week test run around the moon and back. now back to dateline. back now back to dateline >> welcome back to dateline, i'm natalie morales. jessica nelson had been murdered in her nebraska home. her ex boyfriend john mcdowell was a prime suspect and then investigators discovered there was a party at jessica's house before she was killed. and the list of potential suspects was about to grow. meanwhile jessica's friends and families were galvanized by their grief, but could her killer be among them? here again is keith morrison with evil intent. >> it was a week before they could have a funeral for jessica. a small, sad service for family and friends, is what they expected. but it wasn't small. not at all. >> it was overwhelming. just to

see that many people knew her, or at some point had cared enough to show up and say hey, we're sorry. >> and some of the young men vowed revenge as they wore their justice for jessica bracelet, her brother, matt, her brother's best friend also named matt once lived with him who knew jessica like a sister. >> he was with us throughout everything, like another son. what you need help with, people would bring over food, he's there helping us carry it in. that kind of thing. >> and helping out, grieving was john mcdowell, just because axed. he may have looked like a tough guy but police had checked his alibi. he could not have been the killer. >> we were also able to look at his cell phone locations. they

were exactly where he said he was. at no point did his phone ever put him near jessica's house. >> john did not kill jessica. and when he first learned he she was dead. >> i just felt completely lost, i was trying to figure out how it was going to tell my son that his mother, which was his world, was no longer here. i didn't want to do. >> he tried, but even at jessica's funeral, her son then just six years old, didn't seem to comprehend. what was that like for you? >> it was horrible. especially with her being right there though and he still wasn't comprehending that she wasn't with us anymore. >> that was one of the detectives or tracking down, while they didn't know who. the sisters acts, the guy who had

been charged with salt? he had a solid alibi. but what about the men who had attended just a small party? one party in particular. >> one of her friends invited her boyfriend, her boyfriend invited some of his friends, those friends invited others. so as this get together kind of went on in the evening more and more people weren't showing up to jessica's residents, whom she didn't know. >> what does that do to an end get investigation? >> it opened our suspect for quite a bit. >> especially after friends told detectives that jessica thought something illegal was going on in her party. asking them -- >> are they doing a drug deal in my house? this is not okay. >> i just know that he came outside and said hey, that guy in there he's got pills if anyone needs any. >> so i want to know exactly who invited this guy to jessica's house that night. who thought that would've been okay to do? >> the answer? complicated

matters even more. friends told detectives that the men could invited the drug dealer, also tried at the party to initiate some kind of sexual encounter with jessica. >> he was in the bathroom and she want to go grab a towel and he said hey, can you grab me a tell. he lead her into the bathroom and then he was like, do you want to stay here with me? and she said no i just want to tell. and he said, i guess he tried to close the door and all that stuff. she said no, opened the door and walked away. >> now they had to track him down, him and every male that attended the party. how long did you spend on this? >> we spent several weeks, that's all we were doing those attempting to identify these people. locate them, interview them and go through the same vetting process as far as getting a timeline, and that'll buying them. as everybody else. >> we were taking dna samples from every single person we talk to. >> at the same time, they asked one of their tech investigators to look for clues in jessica cell phone. you find all sorts

of stuff on people's cellphones? >> oh my gosh, yes, absolutely. what was remarkable about this, when you say all kinds of stuff, on this one, it was pretty much just one thing on their. pictures of her son. >> this kind of stuff? >> her life completely revolved around him. >> but there are text messages to. lots of them. some were pretty interesting. >> one of the last people she was communicating with, someone who was named matt kidder. >> he was a friend, who had grieved with the nelson family and was like a second brother to jessica. always had an easy teasing relationship, so of course they texted each other. but officer didn't know any of that when the texts caught his attention. >> there is just something weird about the. just the way that he would be constantly asking her, basically, out to do stuff. he would say hey do you want to go bowling? >> and she would be like you know what, i gotta clean up the house. and then he would be

like i can come over and maybe help you clean the house. and then she would reply like oh, you know what, i'm almost done, don't worry about it. now i'm really tired, i'm just gonna go to bed. something like that. it was like this over and over. so i talked to the sergeant who was in charge and said, that maybe we need to figure out who this person is. >> jessica's friends and family said that sort of back and forth was quite typical of their relationship. >> it was just like brother and sister type of thing, he gets smart with her, and they would be on the way. nothing to see here. but of course detectives had to dig a little. who was this math kidder, whom the nelson's loved like their own? >> in the interrogation room. matt opens up to police revealing that he feels guilty he didn't stop the killer. coming up. >> i feel like i was there and i could've done something if i drove by that night, or if i had known. >> when "dateline" continues. >> when "dateline" continues. hurry up dad!

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often a collection of stories. whodunnit stories, yes. but also, love, loss, regret. john mcdowell was innocent. but he didn't feel innocent. >> the only thing that went through my head is that it was all my fault. if i would've never messed up we would've never split up. and i would've been there to protect her. >> i still think you still feel that we are little bit, don't

you? >> yes, sir. >> did she intrude upon your thoughts a lot? >> yes, sir. >> so many stories. witnesses, family, friends of the victim. like matt kidder. >> when i got the call, i walk out of the room to make sure the sky wasn't on fire. no, jessica, wouldn't be dead. >> when detective davis interviewed matt, he encountered a man still apparently grieving. >> she had a really good heart. >> yeah? >> good mother. good friend. she -- i don't think i've ever heard her not put herself out for somebody in need. >> as so davis was sympathetic. and matt opened up. talked about his brotherly teasing relationship with jessica. >> me and jessica, we always had the relationship where we have inside sexual innuendo

jokes. even though we have never had interest in each other like. that i've kind of always enjoyed -- that being able to do around would somebody without, you know, it's never going to lead anywhere, so it's like everything is on the table. >> and like brother and sister, he said, they sometimes get physical in a playful way. >> we'd fool around a little bit, but i, mean -- >> what do you mean? >> it's just kind of like she would pinch me, i would poke her in her side. just like teasing. sibling teasing, i guess you could call. it >> okay. >> kind of like flirting, no? >> not quite like -- i don't know, maybe. i didn't consider it flirting. it was unlike, as far as i know she was never interested in me. we were just friends. >> and after jessica was murdered, it was matt who vowed to take revenge and told detectives he felt so guilty for failing to protect her. >> i would do anything for my friends. >> okay. >> i would die for them if i had to >> okay. >> it's just, i know it's stupid, i talked to her mom because she's going through the same thing. i shouldn't put it

on myself but, i feel like i was there and i could've done something. if i drove by that night, or if i had known. >> after all, he was at work that evening close by. so he said he struggled with regret even as he tried to figure out what happened. >> i have an overactive imagination, or brain. whatever you want to call it. >> whoever did it, said matt, must have been waiting to find her home alone and must have seen her facebook post. the one about her son dom being away that night. >> it has to be 1 million shot to get there without dom being there. like, if they're watching her facebook feed to go in. somebody had to be watching the house for a while to know that she was 100 percent alone there. >> maybe, he said, maybe it was more than one guy. >> i'm fairly strong guy. i have weaknesses, my body is pretty -- so she can take my [bleep] so it is a makes sense for one person. >> he knew something about bad guys. he'd spent some time in prison, he said, for something he didn't do. attempted sexual assault.

>> i was dating a married woman. >> okay. >> and when i broke up with her, she called the cops and reported me for rape. >> but she lied, he said. a false accusation. and the nelsons supported him. >> this guy's somehow got heartbroken over this. >> this poor kid had some kind of sexual relationship and then afterwards he got in it said again in trouble for it she blames. >> yeah. >> i even knew somebody that knew her. and she told me the same thing that she was always up to no good. >> so after matt got out of prisons, the nelsons celebrated with him and his family. after all, his dad and harry nelson had been best friends for decades. just as he was best friends with jessica's brother. >> they've had my back for as long as i can remember. >> after jessica's death, matt provided a sample of his dna. said of course he had been to just his house, so if his dna happened to turn up there, well, perfectly innocent reason for that. >> i pretty much bleed in

everybody's house i go to. because i get bored and i either pick out a scrap or a cup myself on something. >> but if they were looking at him as a suspect, they had the wrong guy. >> i wouldn't be able to look them in the eye if i did this. i wouldn't be wearing justice for jessica on my wrist. i wouldn't be sharing her picture on facebook looking for the [bleep] that did this. i'm not built that way. >> no. matt kidder was virtually a member of the family. >> because we're all suffering. i feel better being around their family sometimes. >> he couldn't have killed jessica. could he? >> coming up -- stunning and heartbreaking. what this woman has to say about jessica's murder. >> never should've happened. >> because you already warned everybody about him? >> yeah. >> what her story will mean for the case. when "dateline" continues. continues. things like getting a real offer in two minutes really make roger happy.

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jessica nelson's killer had turned up no shortage of potential suspects. investigators had cleared her ex boyfriend john mcdowell and several men who went to a party at jessica's house before she was murdered. now they had more questions for her friend matt, it had been a long road but investigators were about to

hear the truth from a surprising source. here's keith morrison with the conclusion of "evil intent". >> matt kidder, the young man who was like a brother to jessica nelson, like a son to her parents was sitting in the police station three weeks after jessica's death. >> do you think i consider your suspect? >> i think you consider everybody a suspect at this point. >> okay, but specifically do you think i consider you as one -- >> i hope not. >> but by then the police did see him as a suspect. they knew that matt checked facebook the night jessica was killed, would have seen the post that reveal that she was alone, and discovered that math cell phone was near jessica's place for 17 minutes. police tech experts oscar and nick. >> right now it's about 11:00. and you're gonna see a couple more activations where he's still at work. and right there. and all of a sudden it switches. >> and that's at her house. >> yes. >> that is directly near the house. >> and there was more. the

detective had noticed a crescent shaped cut on matt's hand. it could've been made by just a custom nail bending back as she was defending herself. and they found his dna under that fingernails and on the courts were strangled with. so now the detective played his hand. >> i think you were there when this went down and i think you had something to do with it. >> and matt exploded. a stream of loud and determined denials. >> i didn't kill her. i don't know who did. i wasn't [bleep] there that night. i wouldn't be able to watch my uncle harry over the body of his daughter had done this. somebody's murdered my friend and here you are trying to accuse me of it. you arrest me for something i didn't do, especially on this, it's gonna destroy her family. >> she was lead prosecutor. >> he was narcissistic and he is a sociopath. and so if you were just watching that interview without knowing the

evidence we had, you might scratch your head and go do they have the right guy? because he was so convincing. >> but police believe that they did have the right guy. and they arrested him. for the murder of his lifelong friend, jessica nelson. >> stand up, man >> i'm not going to jail for this. >> it's not up to you. >> decision's been made. so i need you to stand up. >> it's the wrong [bleep] decision. >> that's something you can take up with your attorney. right now you need to stand up cause you're leaving here, okay? use you're leaving here, okay? >> now it was time to tell the nelson's. >> they said we have made an arrest and we have arrested matthew kidder. my head hit the table. >> missy and harry gathered the family to tell them. >> i said look around, look at everybody here, who is one person that would probably be here but isn't? and my son matthew raised his eyebrows like oh my god no.

>> up until that moment, matt kidder had been matt nelson's best friend in the world. the one he trusted implicitly. the one who would never, ever, betray them. and here they were. >> everyone who was there broke down, bawling their eyes out. >> as matt kidder waited in the local jail, evidence piled up. he talked to his father on the phone. recorded of course. >> i think she fell asleep on the couch after i left, and somebody came in behind. >> after you left? you were never there. >> that, my phone puts me there. that, my phone puts me there. >> oh. >> it's changed now from the 169 times he denied being in the house. yelling at the detective very sternly deny that he was even there. that was big. >> there was more. he got

chatty with his cellmate. told him the whole ugly story. this is prosecutor beth beninato. >> the details he gave us, they were accurate. from walking into her house. headbutting her which would explain the blood we saw and the blood patterns on the couch cushions, to the sexual assault itself, to the things that she said, to the injury on his hand and the injury on her finger. to the cell phone charging cord, this informant gave us a view on what jessica went through. >> it was about power, control. and i think being rejected by her, via text, just made him angry. he's a very angry individual. >> but isn't that a weird way -- isn't that his turn on? the more he's rejected the more he needs power and control, it's part of the buildup? >> we think so. >> which brings us to this woman. patricia springborg, the

woman who accused mat of rape. remember he went to prison, attempted sexual assault, but convinced the nelsons she was lying. it was no lie. and when patricia heard about jessica -- >> that's the hardest thing for me. because it never should've happened. >> because you already warned everybody about him? >> yup. >> her experience with matt, at first, was not unlike the nelson's. >> he warned his way into our family and none of us thought that he would do anything like that. >> so he was actually a friend of your family too? >> yes. i met him through my oldest daughter. >> wow. >> my husband taught him how to drive his truck. things like that. things that you would do if we had a teenage boy. >> sure. >> and then one day, he caught her alone at home and he grabbed her neck and tried to choke her. and she fearing he would kill her stopped struggling, and discovered

something revealing about matt. >> from what i could tell, and with my situation is the violence and stuff, is what got him. >> yes. because when you relented, it honestly wasn't a turn on for him anymore? >> yes. >> and if she hadn't given in -- >> i wouldn't be here. >> you would've been in jessica's place? >> yes. it shouldn't have happened to that girl. >> it shouldn't have. >> and she has a little boy. and it just shouldn't happen. that's why after everything that happened was, when the prosecutor asked me if i would testify for them. >> yeah. >> damn right. >> and she did. and there is one more thing. the police had

seized mat's laptop when they arrested him. and what they found, well -- >> i've seen some weird stuff. but nothing like this. it was a lot of rape videos. torture videos. and just like the combination of them, i mean, it let us know basically his intent and his mindset because what he ended up doing is recreated one of these videos that he likes and rely. where he stormed somebody, assaulted them, killed them and then left. >> matt kidder did not testify, but his defense said all the evidence, dna, cell phone tracking, the cellmate story had innocent explanations. and besides, they said he wasn't the killer, plain and simple. but the jury? they deliberated just 41 minutes, before convicting matt kidder of jessica's murder. he was sentenced to life in prison. >> the nelson's, of course, still miss jessica terribly.

and dominic? he lives with his dad, john now. and also with laura, and his half brother christopher. after jessica's death, laura stepped in to help out as much as you could. >> we were over there all the time. with dom and john and the kids all playing together, and it was just one day after the next and the next, and you just fall together. it's the one good thing that came out of this tragedy, dom has a whole family, and he's so happy about that. he says i have a mommy in heaven, and i have a mom here. >> in time, laura and john got engaged. and the nelson family grew by a few more. just one empty place. >> you never fill the hole in your life do you, when you lose a trial?

>> no. >> no. >> how often do you think about jessica? >> every day. >> every day. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm natalie morales. thank you for watching. >> welcome to the show, and julián castro in for zerlina maxwell. coming up, a federal judge in florida has unveiled more detailed inventory list of the documents the fbi took during its august eight search a former president trump's mar-a-lago residents. plus, two former top white house lawyers are expected to appear before grand jury investigating the january 6th attack on the capitol. we will cover those stories and more across the hour. but we begin with president biden speaking in his clearest terms yet