and so speaking to her, i guess the only thing that i could say, is that i'm sorry. but i am always here for her. >> we are sorry but you say that you also did the right thing. >> i did do the right thing. if this was me? and i died fighting for justice for my daughter, i would hope that everybody would just tell the truth. >> but the truth, sometimes as murky and hard to see, as the desert with night closing in. what with all of those secrets, and old bone scattered about. unchanging. >> i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> i was shocked. things just didn't add up. >> it was the last place you would expect to find a gruesome crime scene. quiet neighborhood. a lovely home. this friendly couple.

>> i think it's hard not to love tammy. >> they were very happy. very happy. >> it seemed to be a simple case of a robbery gone horribly wrong. >> we realize that he was dead or dying. >> but nothing about this case with simple. not the marriage and not the murders. >> it just kept getting more red flags coming up. >> the surprises just kept on coming. >> he said, can i talk to in private? >> what dork force claimed two lives? >> i feel like she still. i feel her with me. >> hello. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> hello. and welcome to "dateline." it was a quiet afternoon at the park are housed. tammy and her husband brett were both at homes when suddenly gunfire erupted, leaving two people dead and police racing to the scene. the sole survivor would share a

tale describing an unlikely intruder and a desperate fight to survive. but what story would the evidence tell? here is andrea canning with "mystery at ascot estates." >> life seems to move just a little slower in south carolina. afternoons in columbia can be spent on the meandering saluda river or nearby lake murray. and tucked away inside this capital city is ascot estates. we're old southern charm mingles with new money. not much in the way of drama here. until april, 2012. friday the 13th. when something sinister happened. >> i turned on the news and saw the double murder. >> totally confused because there is no way of knowing for sure what is going on. >> it was my husband who called me and said something terrible had happened.

and i said, what happened? >> what happened would become the center of a mystery. a who done it that began with a frantic 9-1-1 call. >> who shot your wife? >> a friend of mine, brian. >> is he still there? >> the call came from a most unusual place. the gracious home of well liked husband and wife brett and tammy parker. the parker's were a golden couple. each with their own special guests. tammy was raised in a small town near columbia, but left to go into sales where she was immediately successful. best friend, angela leon. >> i think it's hard not to have loved tammy. she was vibrant and outgoing and full of life. full of energy. always positive. >> did she turn heads? >> tammy was the kind of person that she didn't even notice she was turning heads. >> during one of tammy's sales calls she met columbia businessman ben staples. they became close friends.

>> could tammy sell anything? >> she could sell anything. it is just our personality. everyone liked her. >> and tammy had something else that set her apart. talent. >> i can't remember the first time i heard her sing, but i was amazed. amazed at how great she was. >> tammy sang with a local band, jumpstart. woody woodward was lead guitarist in one of her biggest fans. >> voices like that are just gifts. somebody gives you that from above. >> friends thought she could take her talent big-time. but tammy seemed happy to remain in columbia. one of her gigs was at her friend ben staples annual barbecue. is this time tammy's stage? >> well yes, she enjoyed this. tammy was an entertainer. she didn't just stand up there and sing. >> along the way, in 1996, tammy met and married a local boy, brett parker. a medical supply salesman. he had been a star athlete in high school. his aunt sandra hunter says he

was always throwing some kind of ball. >> playing football and softball and baseball. and he was an all american kid. >> an injury sidelined any thoughts of a career in professional sports. so brett took up amateur softball. that's how he met one of his closest friends howdy bear. >> no doubt, brett was one of the best softball players ever played with. >> when tammy came into the picture, bear knew his friend had found his match. >> tammy was precious. i'll never forget that. i knew they were going to get married it was just a matter of time. >> howdy and his wife would tag along to semi-singing gigs. and saw a lucky man in love. >> they were fun to be around. no doubt in my mind he loved her. >> both tammy's friends and brett agreed. the couple just clicked. did they seem like a good fit for each other? >> they seemed to do well together. they seem to have some of the same dreams and ambitions. >> did you like tammy?

>> oh, i loved her. >> they had two children born eight years apart. and in the spring of 2012, a family in upscale ascot estates appeared to be living a charmed existence. then came the afternoon of april 13th, and that call to 9-1-1. it was brett parker. >> please get somebody over here. >> okay, i need you to stay on the phone with me, okay? >> tammy was dead. and there was more. someone else lay dead in that house. it was a double murder. a cold blooded crime that would look more chilling with each new detail. >> coming up -- who exactly was the friend who now lay dead inside the parker 's house? >> the first question i asked was, what was his relationship with this man? he said can i talk to you in private? >> when "dateline" continues.

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had suddenly become the scene of a deadly crime. >> please get somebody over here. >> okay, i need you to stay on the phone with me, okay? >> home security video shows brett parker calling 9-1-1 outside his house. collapsing on the ground as he describes what happened. a violent robbery that left his

wife dead. >> listen to me, i understand you are very upset. but is your wife, is she breathing? >> no. >> and there was more to the story. brett had killed the perpetrator in self-defense. >> i shot him. i think i killed him. >> veteran investigator stan smith headed to the scene. what is your first interaction with brett parker? >> he was sort of heavy breathing. at one point in time he lays down on his back, as if he is suffering, almost in pain. >> inside stan smith walked into a gruesome scene. the body of brett's wife tammy was in a bathroom. and lying nearby was a man named bryan capnerhurst, dead in an alcove not far from the safe where brett kept his money. >> it appeared tammy parker was seated at the desk in the office area and that the shooter shot her from the back. half of her torso was inside the bathroom, half was in the office area. so, she definitely tried to flee.

as far as bryan capnerhurst, he was found slumped over on his right side. he was shot multiple times in the face, in the chest. in the side, the legs, the foot. >> the investigators were surprised when brett told them bryan capnerhurst, the man he had shot, was a family friend and frequent visitor to the house. in fact, brett said he was in the bathroom when bryan arrived for a meeting and he told him to just go upstairs and wait. suddenly, brett heard shots. >> he ran upstairs and was greeted at the top of the stairs by bryan capnerhurst holding a gun on him. and ordered him to the safe which was in the alcove area of the active. as he walked by the office, he saw his wife legs, and he surmised that she was shot. he was taken to this alcove area and on the way he realized or recalled he had a gun in the safe, in that area. he said he made a decision at he knelt at gunpoint to grab the gun and try to get to capnerhurst before capnerhurst shot him, basically. >> so he turned around and caught bryan off guard?

>> that's the way he explained it. >> by shooting? >> right. >> he said he realize his wife died was dead or dying and then he went and called 9-1-1. >> police recovered two guns from the scene. brett's 410 revolver, the gun he kept on his safe and used to shoot bryan. in bryan's hand, police found a nine millimeter pistol that had been used to kill tammy. near bryan's body was his open gym bag with ammo and an empty magazine clip, clearly visible on top. to investigators, it looked like brett parker had fought for his life, shot a man in self-defense and had just lost his beautiful wife. the big question was why. why would such a good friend turn on them? >> one of the first questions i asked him was, what was his

relationship with this man? he said, could i talk to you in private. and that's when he told me that he was a sports bookie. >> brett worked a day job as a full-time medical salesman. but on the side he had been a bookie for years. >> everbody knew that. >> did it concern you or was it just -- >> it was small town. that was something that i didn't even think about. >> and brett was not the sopranos break your leg style type of bookie was bright a gentle bookie? >> oh, very, very. everybody says that he delivered his money. brett was a good bookie. >> brett also told investigators that bryan capnerhurst, the man he had

just shot and killed, was in the bookie business, too. as a matter of fact, he worked for brett. bryan was also an unlikely bookie. a former high school athlete, he was a family man who worked for a county recreation commission and coached kids sports teams. tammy had spoken kindly of him. >> i think she thought he was a nice guy. she must have thought a lot of him because he was in her home. with her children around, and tammy was very protective of her children. >> and i think she trusted him? >> right. exactly. tammy had always looked out for him. getting an extra large for him, taking care of him. >> but investigators found out there had been a problem in that bookie business, and it all boiled down to money. brett owed bryan a good chunk of the profits, $20, 000, and he had been slow to pay up. >> bryan was going to go for their basically until brett i have had enough of this, you only money. >> smith learned that bryan capnerhurst had money problems. so, it looked like he went to the parker's to demand money he was owed and take whatever else was in the safe. tammy had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. what do you miss most about tammy? >> her laugh. just her being. she would always call. she always made sure we had our girls nights out. we haven't done that since she was killed. >> it was all so sad.

the parkers with their children had just returned from a family cruise, tanned and smiling. a relative on that cruise told brett's aunt sandra hunter, it had been a wonderful trip. >> she said that that was the happiest she had seen brett and tammy. >> and now brett's friends saw a man in pain after losing his wife. >> he'd just breakdown crying. and he would cry all the time. >> as for shooting bryan, howie believed his friend had to do what he had to do. >> he didn't have a choice. it was either him or bryan, that's the way he told us, over and over. you know? >> to those grieving for tammy, it seemed that at least there had been some terrible justice for bryan. >> people that loved tammy so much, you know, you couldn't help but feel that he may -- maybe people thought maybe he got what he deserve. >> investigators told reporters that tragic deaths were the result of a robbery gone bad. it seemed like a cut and dry case. but things aren't always what

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double murder in ascot estates was a robbery gone very wrong. the unlikely intruder, the parker's family friend, bryan capnerhurst. brett parker told the investigators that his friend bryan had shot his wife hatami in a botched robbery attempt. then brett, in fear for his own life, killed his friend. it looked like self-defense. but sheriff leon lott knew they couldn't close the case without thoroughly checking out brett's story. >> there were three people there and two of them were dead. we had to rely on him to explain to us what happened, so we listened to everything that he was saying and then we would go back and check it. >> investigators went over brett's account, starting with the moment bryan entered the house. before long, something unusual came to their attention. brett told police he was sitting on the downstairs toilet when he heard the shots

ring out. but one of the female crime scene investigators notice this. the toilet seat was up. >> our csi lieutenant is a female, and she made mention of that because it particularly bothered her. >> of course, it takes a woman to notice that. >> right. >> as they poured over crime scene photos, another small but important detail jumped out. bryan's jim bag with ammunition and an empty magazine clip big visible. >> the unusual thing about it, those items were found on top of the clothing of the items in the bag. >> unusual because of what they noticed on the home security video that captured bryan arriving at the house. >> if you look at the video, the way bryan nonchanlantly threw that bag over his shoulder, those items would've gone to the lowest point in the bag. so it is almost like those items had been policed there. >> and there was more that didn't seem to quite add up. investigators took a hard look at the timeline of the crime as brett described it. that home security video showed bryan arriving at brett's at

12:31 pm. brett called 9-1-1 had to report having shot bryan at 12:42. >> what happened? who shot your wife? >> a friend of mine, bryan. >> police believe the confrontation should have only taken a couple of minutes. so why, they wondered, had brett taken nine more minutes to call 9-1-1? police were also curious why with his wife shot inside, brett had come outside to make that call. >> if it were me, i would've been inside with my wife. trying to administer cpr, first aid to my wife. and he didn't appear to have any blood on him at all. >> was that strange that he didn't have blood on him? >> it was. >> investigators picked through every detail in brett's account and found that while he had been upfront about his illegal bookie business, he wasn't upfront about everything. >> we recovered certain things from brett. like when we asked if he was involved in adulturous affairs he told us. no within 24 hours, he told us we found out that wasn't true. there was a series of text messages of a sexual nature, indicative of an affair. >> they started looking looking at the evidence versus what he said. and over a period of time, it

just kept getting more red red flags coming up. >> tammy's best friend angela leon didn't know anything about the investigation. but she had a gut feeling something wasn't right. she called up the sheriff's department to say she thought brett was lying. >> i reached out to them and wanted to make sure they knew that there were people that had a different side of the story. >> brett continued to insist it was self-defense. but within a week of the shooting, he had gotten a lawyer, david fedor. the sheriff had told us he thought it was a little odd that brett retained a defense attorney so quickly when he was claiming he was a victim. >> anybody that is in a situation like that that doesn't retain an attorney immediately needs psychiatric help. >> his attorney said brett was no killer. he was just defending himself after bryan showed up to steal his money. >> capnerhurst went over there specifically to rob the people. tammy was there. he shot her first and we assumed he was going to shoot brett. and brett got the drop on him instead.

>> what motive could he have to shoot her? >> the motive he would have to shoot her was getting the money out of the safe and having no witnesses. >> why carry out a burglary when you know the wife is home? >> you're guess is as good as mine. >> i think some people just find that hard to believe. >> sure they do. people find it hard to believe that airplanes fly, but it happens. >> brett parker met directly with sheriff leon lott. he even invited the sheriff to the house to show him the crime scene. >> why carry out a burglary when you know the wife is home? >> you're guess is as good as mine. >> i think some people just find that hard to believe. >> sure they do. people find it hard to believe that airplanes fly, but it happens. >> brett parker met directly with sheriff leon lott. he even invited the sheriff to the house to show him the crime scene. >> he wanted to walk me through the house to demonstrate what had happened. and after that meeting we sat at the kitchen table and and at that point was the first time i told him i just didn't believe him. >> the sheriff was now

convinced that brett was no victim. he was the mastermind of a cruel and a highly unusual plot to kill his wife and frame a friend. >> he'd gotten away with his gambling for so many years. what else was he going to get away with? >> three months after the murders, there was startling news. >> the richland county sheriff 's department says parker is lying. >> brett parker was charged with two murders. why do you think it took so long? >> because they didn't have a case, is what i find. >> as the case headed to trial, there were no witnesses, no video of the crime and little forensic evidence pointing to either brett or bryan as the real killer. >> it was a high profile case. two killings in a small town. they wanted to make the most of it. >> coming up -- the trial opens with a bombshell. not about him, but about her. >> was your relationship with her more intimate? >> when "dateline" continues.

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here's what's happening. last night, georgia senator raphael warnock and former football player herschel walker faced off in the first televised of debate before election day. it's one of several nation wide to control which party takes control of the senate after midterms. and the department of defense announced an additional but -- to support ukraine's defense needs. bringing u.s. funding to more than three billion dollars. now, back to dateline! dollars ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> welcome back to "dateline." i'm craig melvin. brett parker was heading to trial, charged with a double murder of his wife tammy and their friend bryan capnerhurst. brett admitted shooting bryan in self-defense, though he claimed it was only after bryan

killed tammy. but prosecutors were prepared to show brett had plenty of motive to want his wife dead, including a revelation that would stun even tammy's best friends. back now to andrea canning with "mystery at ascot estates." >> in august of 2012, columbia, south carolina, was reeling from the news that brett parker, the only survivor of a tragedy which left two people dead, had himself been charged as the cold blooded killer who masterminded the whole plan. brett's family and friends believed he was a man wrongly accused. >> he just wanted him to know that he was innocent. every time he said i did not do it. >> even tammy's close friend, former bandmate woody woodward, had a hard time believing brett was guilty. you had no reason to doubt brett it sounds like? >> i believed him. they actually called me as a character witness and i told him i would be glad to, because i did not see him doing this. >> when the trial began in may, it was a courtroom divided. on one side, brett's family and friends, including his and tammy's teenage daughter. on the other side, friends and family of tammy and brian sat together. they wore blue, tammy's favorite color, as a show of unity against the man they believe murdered both victims. >> there were shots fired in the home. >> in her opening statement,

the prosecutor minced no words. brett parker had committed a terrible crime then elaborately covered it up. >> as you listen to the details of this case, you will be firmly convinced that it was brett parker who not only had the motive, but actually did kill tammy parker, and then bryan listen capnerhurst. >> when the trial began in may, it was a courtroom divided. on one side, brett's family and friends, including his and tammy's teenage daughter. on the other side, friends and family of tammy and brian sat together. they wore blue, tammy's favorite color, as a show of unity against the man they believe murdered both victims. >> there were shots fired in the home. >> in her opening statement, the prosecutor minced no words. brett parker had committed a terrible crime then elaborately covered it up. >> as you listen to the details of this case, you will be firmly convinced that it was brett parker who not only had the motive, but actually did kill tammy parker, and then bryan listen capnerhurst. >> prosecutors wanted the jury

to know that the parker marriage wasn't what it seemed. brett had strayed. once with an out of town woman and several times with a local bank teller. lindsay mullins testified that they met, they texted, and that he shared some confidences about his marriage. >> he said that he slept upstairs and she slept downstairs. >> but the parkers had more problems than just brett's affairs. they called ben staples to the sand, a parker family friend. >> what did you know about the marriage? >> well, as the years went by, she was unhappy. she had conversations, we had conversations. brett did not believe in god and going to church. that was important to her. >> to them, that revealed another bit of evidence about the parker's shaky marriage. this one a bombshell. >> did your relationship become more intimate. >> yes. >> at approximately how long ago was that. >> about three years ago. >> and did that end?

>> it did. it did not end our friendship. we remained best friends until her murder. >> the public admission of the affair was a total shock. even to those closest to tammy. >> so, this was a secret she can't from her girlfriends? >> she did. we always felt like ben probably loved tammy, because how could you not love tammy. and we didn't know them that well. so, we didn't think that had happened. >> lanny gunther, an old friend and fellow bookie, testified that four months before the murders brett was talking about separation. >> my advice to him, being that it was coming up on the holidays. for him to try to go home and work out with tammy and at least get through the holidays for the kids sake. and then after the first of the year, for them to try to get back together. and if separation was their option then, then so be it. >> a bad marriage is one thing, murder is another. so, prosecutors turned to a different motive, money. unbeknownst to tammy, brett was in deep debt.

he had made the biggest mistake he bookie can make, he gambled himself. and brett was it too good at it. >> gunther told an investigator bright obtain big money. i just told him about the debt that brett had. his own account. the hundred thousand, 1000. >> and this was not the first time brett scrambling have been a serious issue. >> he was caught before it is a serious amount of debt. his father bailed him out, about $100,000. >> the state try to convince the jury that killing tammy had been brett's we out of a shaky marriage and his gambling debt. tammy had taking out a life insurance policy. >> $868,000 was the ultimate amount. >> who was a beneficiary on that? >> brett. >> tammy also had close to $200,000 in a 401k. combined with the insurance, nearly $1. 1 million all left to brett. what kind of man sets up his friend to take the fall for

murdering his wife, and then he murders the friend and leaves him with a legacy of having murdered somebody. >> he wanted to perpetuate this lifestyle. he wanted to continue to gamble. he wanted to enjoy the girlfriends. and tammy was a hindrance to him. he felt like this is was his way out. >> in court, the ugly accusations seem to get to brett, as the medical examiner testified about tammy's fatal injuries. brett said he fell ill and was rushed to the hospital. brett was back however the next day, to hear the prosecution present evidence it said proved he planned the murders, framed his friend and then covered it up. here's how they said he did it. first he shot and killed his wife in that upstairs office. then at 12:25 pm, brett's own

home security camera catches someone peering through the blinds. prosecutors believe it was brett waiting for bryan to arrive for a meeting brett himself had arrange. gunshot residue was found on those blinds, proof the state said, that brett had already fired a gun before bryan even arrived. >> at 12:25, who is that peeking out of the blinds? that was somebody, in our opinion, who had just done this heinous thing and was nervously awaiting his fall guy to show up. >> after killing bryan, his fall guy, prosecutors said brett staged the crime scene and planted that gym bag and ammunition. >> i guess the idea that was supposed to be some kind of murder by. >> and placed the gun he'd used to kill his wife in bryan's hand. there is no way bryan brought that gun to brett's house, affront has defied. >> did you know whether bryan had a gun? >> no, but heck no he did not have again. bryan was scared of guns. there was no way on this earth that bryan capnerhurst had a pistol. none. zero. it did not happen.

>> and there was something else -- >> that gunshot to the forearm -- >> bryan had suffered a major gunshot wound to his arm. but he was still clutching the gun as he lay down on the floor. a medical examiner testified it's unlikely the gun would have stayed in his hand. >> in my medical opinion, based on the shots to the arm, the forearm and falling over, i believe that the gun fell out of his hand. >> the gun had been placed in his hand. >> the prosecution had made its case. now it was time for the defense to fight back. >> they had no proof whatsoever that he shot his wife. it was completely circumstantial. >> the defense was about to tell the jury that bryan capnerhurst, not brett parker was the real villain. >> coming up -- brett's team produces a powerful witness to back up his story. his teenage daughter. >> i was there and i remember --

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michael is back. and he's more dangerous. maybe the only way he can die... is if i die too. [ screaming ] >> brett parker had declared a resounding not guilty to the murder of his wife tammy and friend bryan capnerhurst. from the day it happened to this day in court, he insisted that he was the innocent victims of a robbery gone bad. >> who shot your wife? >> a friend of mine, brian. >> is he still there? >> i shot him. i think i killed him. >> defense attorney david fedor said the accusation that brett plotted to kill his wife and then framed his friend was too

farfetched to believe. >> i think brett is a fine young man, he is not a genius. it would've taken an einstein to set this thing up. >> would it take a genius though to concoct a plan like that? >> i think i'm fairly bright and i'd be damned if i could've thought about that. >> bryan capnerhurst fired that handgun -- >> in court, brett parker's attorney said bryan was a desperate man with far more motive for murder. >> a man that was at the end of his rope. who had a desire for money, and a plan for violence. and the evidence in this case have been proven. >> still, the defense thought it had an uphill battle, he knew it didn't help his case that his client was an unfaithful husband and gambler. >> they showed he was a bad man because he gambled. he had an affair. they said that was another thing that showed he was a murderer. it was just ludicrous. >> from the start, fedor and co-counselor mark whitlock wanted the jury to know, okay, sure, brett is a gambler himself was deep in debt, but he was in debt to an old friend he'd known since he was 15. >> you weren't worried about that? >> i've never been worried about brett. >> if you had called you and said look i have a problem, you

would've written the whole thing clean for him? >> yes. >> you never put any pressure on him? >> no sir. >> and that life insurance policy the prosecution suggested was a smoking gun? the insurance agent testified brett wasn't even all that interested in a policy on tammy. >> did you attempt to sell him insurance on his wife? >> yes. >> were you successful in selling him insurance on his wife? >> i was not. >> tammy had taken out the insurance on her own, and instead of claiming a dime for himself, brett had already signed the insurance money over to his kids. >> did he tell you directly that he wanted this money to go to the children? >> yes. >> and remember those downstairs blinds? the ones with the gunshot residue the prosecution said had been left by brett before bryan even arrived? proof that he killed tammy ahead of time and then look through the blinds to see bryan coming? >> they stated that, but they didn't prove it. >> a defense expert suggested the fine particles were drifted to that blind, even days later.

>> if you have an air handling system, like we have in most buildings and houses, over a period of time it will be sucked through the intakes and distributed fairly evenly, through a place. >> did he tell you directly that he wanted this money to go to the children? >> yes. >> and remember those downstairs blinds? the ones with the gunshot residue the prosecution said had been left by brett before bryan even arrived? proof that he killed tammy ahead of time and then look through the blinds to see bryan coming? >> they stated that, but they didn't prove it. >> a defense expert suggested the fine particles were drifted to that blind, even days later. >> if you have an air handling system, like we have in most buildings and houses, over a period of time it will be sucked through the intakes and distributed fairly evenly, through a place. >> and that curious matter of the toilet seat being up when logically it should've been down? >> that's the bathroom that the defendant had been using? >> yes.

>> when the prosecution tried to enter that as evidence in court, the defense successfully objected. brett's attorney told us it was just a family habit to leave the toilet seat up to make things easier for their young son. >> he has a six-year-old child. every time the child comes in from school, he runs to the bathroom right away. brett and his wife always put the seat up. >> he hears shots fired in his house and he is going to think about putting the toilet seat up? >> it's an automatic reaction if you do it every day. >> it was explainable behavior. the motive was flimsy said the defense. now it attacked the states forensic evidence. the defense use the amount of gunshot residue found on brett's hands to undermine the theory that bright had shot his wife with one gun, and his friend with another. arguing there just wasn't enough gun residue on his hands to have fired both weapons.

>> if he fired both 9 mm and the 4:10 revolver, in combination, i would expect his levels to be very high. >> what did you find in this case? >> well, his levels are consistent with someone who has fired a firearm, certainly, but they are not extremely high. >> the defense argued that brian did have gunshot residue on his hands, proving he could've killed tammy. >> certainly that is not the only way in which gunshot residue can be had, but it is consistent with firing a gun. >> and there was the prosecution's theory that the gun in bryan's hand had been placed there after his death. that he could never have held on to it after being shot himself. the state claims that it would've been impossible for bryan to have that gun in his hand, given the severe injury that he sustain to his arm?

>> the was hogwash. many people have a death grip. if you are shot and you have something in your hand, you squeeze it tighter. >> and the idea that bryan would never have had a gun? a friend of brett's, robert bauer says that that is just not true. he wasn't asked to tell the story in court, but says that a month before the killings, he was at the parker home and saw bryan handling one of brett's guns with ease. >> he took all the bullets out, and handed me that, he didn't hand me the revolver he had taken the bullets out. and then i heard his friends say that he would never hold a gun but i just saw him there. >> bryan had given him a gun for protection, and in a dramatic move, the defense brought in a witness to confirm that. brett and tammy's 14 year old daughter broke. >> bryan and my dad were discussing a gun that my dad

had this, and they were just talking about how they thought it was good for him to have safety at his house to protect bryan's family. >> having young brooke parker testify was controversial. but brett's aunt know brooke believed her father was innocent and wanted to take the stand. >> she had some information that needed to be given and she did what she felt like she needed to do. >> she wanted the jury to hear her story, no matter how difficult it was to tell. >> i witnessed them talking about how he was giving a gun to bryan. i'm not lying about that. i was there and i remember. >> it was a tragedy that had stirred up the quiet waters of this carolina community. soon a jury would have to decide who was to blame. but before they did, the defense wanted them to hear from the only person alive who really knew would happened in

the house that day. brett parker himself. >> coming up -- >> did you ever have a plan to shoot and kill your wife? >> never. i would never hurt tammy. >> but would the jury believe him? >> as to the charge of the murder of tammy parker with the jury unanimously find the defendant -- >> when "dateline" continues.

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mountain of debt drive brett parker to kill his wife tammy, then frame and shoot his friend bryan to death? that was the question before south carolina jury. the defense argued there was no physical evidence tying threat to the crimes. now, brett was about to confront the allegations about his troubled marriage and the day it ended head-on. with the conclusion of "mystery at ascot estates", here's andrea canning. >> what really happened inside that ascot estates home, in court brett parker confidently took the stand, eager to tell his version of events. first, he wanted the jury to know his marriage was hardly the wreck the prosecution made it out to be.

>> me and tammy got along fine. we put our kids before everything. i know that's why i could never go to her and ask for separation, because it would just destroy our kids. >> and he explained his initial reticence to explain the police about his affairs or reveal his gambling debts had nothing to do with the murders. >> when they asked me about the affairs, and i admitted it to them the next day. and as far as the gambling goes, if you know bookmakers, it's not something you just talk about. >> then, struggling to keep his emotions in check, he recounted the day of the shooting. bryan was standing there with a gun pointed at me. and told me to go to the [bleep] safe. i walked up the steps. i didn't know what was going on. i was panicked. i kept asking why? what are you doing? as we walked by the office, i

could see -- i could see tammy 's feet sticking out of the bathroom. and then i knew something was wrong. that he had probably shot her. >> when you shot him, did you have any fear at that time in your mind? >> yeah, i'm scared. but when i got to that safe i made a decision that it is going to be me or him. >> ultimately the defense wanted the jury to see that while a flawed man, brett parker was no killer. >> did you shoot in self-defense afterwards? >> yes i did. >> did you ever have a plan, a premeditated plan, to shoot and kill your wife? >> no. >> under cross examination,

brett held firm, sticking to the story he first told investigators. >> did you think it was important to tell the police truth? >> i did tell them the truth. i told them what was happening in that house. and that is the truth, and i believe, as i see it, that the evidence proves it. >> when the prosecution asked him about his infidelities, brett insisted his feelings for tammy never wavered. >> you testified you love tammy, you still love her to this day? >> i do, i will love her till the day i die. >> despite their troubles, brett said the love for tammy was always there. >> you would never do anything to hurt her? >> never heard her. i would never hurt tammy. never have. >> it was time for closing arguments in the case of the people versus brett parker. >> i ask you, with all my heart and all the love and faith i have in our jurisdiction, send brett back to his family. don't let this injustice

continue. >> brett parker is no victim. he is a greedy, selfish entitled man, and yes, maybe even charming at times, but he is manipulative and he is a killer. >> then the case was in the hands of the jury. >> what is the mood like? >> i told my wife, i said, if it is short, the i don't feel good about it. it has to take a while. >> in just three hours they were back. in the divided courtroom, the families of tammy, bryan and brett prepared to hear bret t's faith. >> as to the charge of the murder of tammy parker with the jury unanimously found the defendant guilty. as to the charge of the murder of bryan capenhurst, we the jury find the defendant guilty. >> when you heard the world guilty, what were you thinking? >> thank god. it's sad. it's not the outcome any of us wanted.

tammy is not back. now brooke has no father. but thank god he didn't get away with it. >> brett's sentence, read immediately, was life behind bars. >> it was just like, god, i've lost a friend. i lost my best friend. it was very emotional. >> does that weigh heavy on you? knowing that he will be behind bars for life? >> certainly. i'm an irishman. anything weighs heavily on me. but that, and especially, because i've defended many people i knew were guilty, this is one i thought was not guilty. >> tammy's friends keep her memory alive, in part, through her music. in the fall of 2012, ben staples held his annual barbecue as a tribute to tammy. will it ever be the same without her? >> we will continue, but it obviously won't be the same

without tammy. >> things are settling down again here in this quiet southern town. the healing has begun for the families and friends of both victims. >> i know tammy is in heaven. she was very strong in her conviction and always said that. she always said to us, i don't know about brett, but i know i will be in heaven. i feel like she is around, i feel her presence. i can hear her. she still there, i still fear her with me. i truly about her a lot. >> that is all for this and petition of "dateline", i'm craig melvin, thank you for watching. and we are 24 d