nights, soccer games, the danc resigh talls, and birthday parties and library visits they were all there. the precious, chaotic rhythms of a family that once was. proo that there was a time when all was as it should be. proof also, that time is gone, forever. >> and then there was the da planner when the sweet, mundan details of paige's life an those of her children were mad real once more. the family nights, soccer games, the danc resigh talls, and birthday parties and library visits they were all there. the precious, chaotic rhythms of a family that once was. proo that there was a time when all was as it should be. proof also, that time is gone, forever.

>> she was a beautiful woman smart woman, she didn't mean t travel those paths >> she was a mother of five, with a double life >> she loved her churc lifestyle, and our onlin dating lifestyle >> talking about casua encounters of people who aren' using real identities. >> and then she was murdered >> i am appalled that she wa found that way >> somebody wanted to make a statement. >> what would her life revea about her death? >> she had had communication with at least two other men, >> he asked me to know who she was saying >> from the shadows of the internet, to the depths of the human heart. >> he was very controlling, an he was losing control. ♪ ♪ ♪

>> december 1st, 2011, one o those days that make teeth chatter, joyce creek, rod, damp dismal. by then 21 years old was there in the end of his glas insulation shop at washington. half a mile north of spoke can when's phone messaged. >> it was from logan >> logan, his younger sister a school >> i remember she said i'm cold, come pick-me-up. >> but where was their mother? wasn't she supposed to be there? austin dutifully trooped aroun to collect his sibling, as the cold gray afternoon darkened >> i couldn't take her to my mom's house because no one answered the phone and i had n way to get and so i just too them to my dad's house where i

had a key. >> evening came, no word fro mom. the kids called her cell, no afraid more like irritated. >> please come home. >> it had happened by then o course, though as the children fed it down at their father' house, they never guessed it wouldn't for days. that everything about life was different now. that nothing made any sense at all. >> unbelief, it was unbelief >> a friend name summer star put the words to it so impossible that she, of al people >> it was hard to wrap you mind around that it ha occurred >> but apparently it was possible. chanin, mother o five, was dead. wait. it mad your skin crawl. and she was s many things. mother, artist, o the brink of something new >> she was funny. she wa

vivacious. she likes to joke around and have a good time. but classy, always very, ver classy >> her son remembers how she stood out. even if embarrassed a little >> she would embroider the names and numbers on the shirt and hats >> the only team with our name and numbers on the hats. >> she tried to keep faith i their lives, too >> how was she with the kids >> i wouldn't hesitate sayin she was a good mother. >> this is their dad, clay starbuck, when he was away i florida when he saw her. >> i told her, you know, i lived in alaska. she probabl thought she was lucky sh wouldn't see me again. >> but she did. they married within months. they were i alaska, where clay worked on the pipeline and started a family right away. there wer issues. aren't there always? clay wasn't as interested in church, not the way she was. she wanted you to be there >> yeah. i wouldn't meet her

there. it is a big issue >> i'm not sitting here saying it had to be my way or she was wrong. that's not an issue a all. we were different >> they divorced in 2000. it lasted ten years that time, yes, that time. full of hope an goodwill, they tried again i 2006, they remarried. and move to washington state, set up house in deer park. clay commuted up to his job i alaska, which means he had t be gone weeks at a time. whe he came home - >> the kids and i were about playing catch, playing frisbee playing basketball >> all fun >> so, it wasn't uncommon -- i know she had said it several times, making reference to m being a disneyland dad. that probably was true. she was making dinners and taking care of the kids and trying t maintain the house >> it was up and down, good an bad. >> she and i never fully recovered. >> it was 2010 when the clouds of the divorce came a second time. they decided to live

apart but close to each other. he got a house near chanin. th two oldest went with him. an the three youngest went with their mom. in 2011, clay was o disability, a back injury. h was able to share parenting, like swapping days taking th kids to and from school. >> i would take them to school and sometimes she would pick them up. it just worked out. a least did it until tha afternoon 2011, the day that chanin failed to show up a school. they weren't worried said clay. they knew chanin ha

started dating again. maybe sh went out, lost track of time >> so, my thoughts were di anything happen to her >> she was with a guy. >> she was with a guy and it probably went late. having a good dinner. >> the next day, one of th kids texted grandma in florida and asked had she heard from their mother? she had not. and that, said melanie, wa alarming >> i texted chanin. and i neve got anything back. and i cal ed. and the phone box was full and i knew something was wrong >> she felt the panic rise i her throat. called her brother and unlikely chanin would no return her calls >> they talked every day >> they talked every day. they knew what was going on in each other's lives. mom tried t contact chanin and tried t talk to the kids >> they called the cops an asked them to check chanin's house.

>> it was in even thing. it was, you know, find her >> had a good look aroun outside and left. chanin's family in florida insisted something was wrong, had to be and chanin's friend, summer, said, she would never not pick up her kids at school an ignore their call. >> she doted on her kids. sh loved them >> it was saturday morning before chanin's mother got through to the sheriff's office. and a deputy wen around the house. two deputies went inside. and right away, radioed for backup. they had found chanin. she was dead. he body on her bed and displaye in such a way that detective knew her killer had more tha just murder on his mind. comin up - >> and i just backed up. and i screamed, no, no. can't be. it

can't be true. >> the crime scene would raise more questions than answers, and so would a tip from someon close to chanin. >> she said, look at her computer. it will tell you wha you need to know >> the crime scene would raise more questions than answers, and so would a tip from someon close to chanin. >> she said, look at her computer. it will tell you wha you need to know >> when dateline continues

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squad cars, violated the peaceful neighborhood in dee park, washington. something bi going down at chanin starbuck' house. >> there's a lot of crime scen tape and a bunch of detectives outside our house. >> when chanin's son, blake, drove up the street where sh livid lived, he stopped cold >> the news was spreadin beyond the crowded street. whe chanin's friend saw her, all she could think was about th kids >> where are they? i don't know. they've just lost thei mother. they lost their mom. >> and thousands of miles away in florida, chanin's brother steven, heard it first from th local sheriff and phoned his younger sister >> i called and told amy, yo need to meet me at mom's. sh could tell something was wrong and she started crying immediately. >> i knew. >> i high-tailed it to mom's we walked in together. >> he broke the news >> looked at mom and told he she was gone >> and i just backed up. and i

screamed, no. no. it can't b true. but she was. she was gone >> the detectives didn't tel anybody about that, at first that chanin had been lef mostly naked on her bed, posed pornographically, with a sex toy. and before she took her last breath, detective mik rickets knew, she suffered >> she was tortured and beat badly. >> inconceivable. why woul anyone do such a thing? and wh her, when she was just startin over in life? after she an clay called it quits the secon time in 2010, she went back to school, to become a dental assistant. >> she presented herself in very modest, very con servetiv family sort of way >> these are chanin' classmates. they looked up t her. as a den mother and older sister >> she was the epitome of dental assistant her big teeth and her smile and her laugh. i love her laugh >> very approachable >> as busy as she was, said he school friends, she always

seemed to have time for anyone who needed her >> she was very strong. to b able to do that. that is a ver hard program >> sure. >> especially with children. >> yeah. with a family, to ten to and she was top of th class. she graduated wit honors or something? >> yes, she did. an excellen student, with, finally, some prospects of her own. her ex clay, said he was happy abou that >> we were looking forward t our whole family was >> including you >> absolutely. >> but here was the strang thing. it appeared to he friends that chanin was in som sort of crisis in the months before her death. she wa upbeat one minute, distraugh the next >> she's not public. she doesn't want her business know everywhere >> there aren't that many of those people left. >> but we would come int school, come into class in the morning and we could see her crying in her truck. >> was it her ex-husband? he

kids? or maybe some new man. there were one or two, new men that is. >> and there were a couple o times i could ask her if she was dating. she showed me picture of this one guy, her friend that they would chat. >> met them online, said chanin. summer starks is the one who encouraged her to ge out there, get dating again. >> i tried to set her up and i didn't work out. but i said wh don't you go date, just go out >> nothing serious though. not yet. maybe she was finally having fun >> i thought it would be great if she could have just focusse a little portion of herself, lived a little bit. yeah. sh deserved that. >> of course she did. and he love life wouldn't have been anybody else's business, if it hadn't been for what happened. but now detectives went diggin into hidden places. people she saw in private, things she did she might not want the world t know. if there were secret, an oh, there were, they were abou to be exposed. coming up one o

those secrets was right here o the dead woman's cell phone. >> there was a text message to chanin, asking her to pose a specific way >> the pose, it was on investigators had seen befor at the crime scene >> i'm appalled that she was found that way. awful and it's embarrassing for her. i' embarrassed for her. it make me mad >> there was a text message to chanin, asking her to pose a specific way >> the pose, it was on investigators had seen befor

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certainly someone thought that shannon deserved one lead detective mike rickettes. >> chanin was posed on her bed in a manner to bring disrespec to her >> and though chanin was blessedly beyond embarrassment to her, family and friends, as you can well imagine, were not >> she had so much going for her for it to all end like that. the way it ended, she di not deserve that at all. she did not deserve that whatsoever >> i'm appalled that she was found that way, you can know awful and it's embarrassing fo

her. it makes me mad >> who could be so cruel? well of course it's the homicid detective's job to figure that out. >> could mean many things. i could mean somebody close to her who is very upset and angr with her or it could mea something else >> the investigation began the very day chanin's body was found. and as luck would hav it, among those just beyond th yellow police tape that nigh was a man police surely woul have looked up sooner or later khan chanin's ex-husband cla was clearly looking for them his ex-wife was missing. was she okay >> he was asking to talk to th lead detective. he wanted some answers. >> first responders at the scene wouldn't tell hi anything about what was foun inside the house, not even tha chanin was dead. an ex-husband after all is no longer next of kin. he went to the sheriff' station. i said come in. w need have a chat and he said your jacket says major crimes. what's going on? nobody will tell me anything >> the detective broke the

news. chanin was gone. waite for clay to collect himself, and then - >> i started by asking him ver simple things. give me a littl bit about chanin's history. wa she on medication? does sh have any enemy, you know. an what i ask everybody in that situation, what do you think happened >> and he asked me, do you kno anybody who wants to harm her? do you know who she was seeing were you over there? when di you see her last? do you hav any idea of these things >> clay recalled telling the detective he knew his wife had been dating again. in fact h was pretty sure he said that chanin had a profile on website that caters to mormo singles. >> last i knew there was a planet website and i don't know. i don't have any idea wh she's seeing. you'd need t

look or talk to somebody else. >> they talked to plenty o others. that was just day on of of the investigation and logical step in a case lik this, the ex himself would hav to be checked out thoroughly but right then the detective had no more from clay starbuck >> i said we'll talk to yo again later. why don't you tak care of your kids. >> but even as he left the station, detectives recall clay starbuck seemed eager t help >> he said look at her phone and her computer. it will tell you what you need to know. >> no detective worth his salt needed to be told that. chanin starbuck's cell phone was righ there in the bedroom. couldn't miss it, said detective lyle johnston >> the phone was on a tabl right next to her bed a couple of feet from the body.

>> like she'd just been usin it >> correct, right. >> i wanted to look at the cel phone right away because i would tell us who she may have been in contact with last. >> there was a text messag from clay thursday morning telling chanin he had ca trouble, asking chanin to take the kids to school. and late exchanges about who would take them up. not terribl interesting stuff, except that wasn't all they found on chani starbuck's phone. and the what else that was there was very interesting. >> she'd had communication with at least two other me that appeared that she was planning on meeting with one o two of them. >> now that got the detective' attention and fairly jumped at them a particular text, a very specific, very explicit one. >> there was a text messag that was to chanin asking he to pose a specific way >> the hair rose on ricket's neck. that was almost exactl the way the killer posed chanin's body. a coincidence

the detective had to think i was anything but >> there were normal tex messages and then they moved into more sexually suggestiv text messages. >> investigators took a hard lock at two men chanin seeme to have contact with the day o her murder. one guy posted a picture of himself. but -- >> we found that he ha actually stolen it from anothe person's website, a doctor who lived in new york city >> who was this mystery man an what was he hiding? when dateline continues ♪ it's the most wonderful time of the year ♪ it's spring! non-drowsy claritin-d knocks out your worst allergy symptoms including nasal congestion, without knocking you out.

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whether our's top story.

china started a fire jet drill over the taiwan straight more than 71 planes crosse into the south govern guy lens airspace it was just after the taiwanes leader met with house speake kevin mccarthy and just one week after bein released from the hospital for bronchitis pope francis led the eastern vigil at basilica. they are having holyee wk as christians prepared to celebrate easter sunday. for now back to dateline strange the small things tha can offer comfort, however col in the midst of horror. once long before her death, chani told her mother how she wanted her funeral to be. more of a talk and now a blessing in the midst of so much grief >> so mom was able to give chanin what she wanted for a funeral, if that was something you really want. >> her old classmates went t

the funeral and brought alon the candy they used to share cramming for tests >> i felt kind of silly, but i brought some to her funeral. but then i didn't feel so sill because someone else brought chocolate too and set it u there. so i didn't feel so silly. >> but nothing could sweeten the bitterness, nothing. >> the children were allowed t see her and i remember one o them saying he was look at her he said "it doesn't look lik mom." and i don't think he eve recognized her >> that's how badly she'd been beaten. it made her family furious someone had done tha to her. so in the days tha followed, they seethed, quit unaware that investigators thought they had a huge brea in the hunt for her killer meet detective mike rickets. >> they were normal text messages. then they moved into more sexually suggestive tex messages >> on the last day she was see

alive, chanin exchanged text messages with men she ha apparently been seeing rocketing to the top of th list of potential suspects i the gentleman who sent their sexually explicit text askin her to pose a certain way, tak a picture and send it to him >> it was alarming because the text mimicked somewhat what we found at the crime scene. as far as chanin being posed. >> chanin did not take or send the picture. but the request wasn't just a red flag. that was a canon shot. within a matter of hours, the detective had that man on the phone. after all, his number was righ there on chanin's cell >> i told him who i was and asked if i could come speak to him, and he stated yes >> he was a car salesman fro spokes an named tom walker. in his statement said he ha nothing to hide. >> i said good morning, sexy she text me back 14 minute later and said good morning, handsome >> walker admitted trying to sext with chanin starbuck that

morning, but he denied he ha been anywhere near her house he said he was at work and a funeral that day. were you a work all day thursday? >> except for the funeral, yes >> except for the funeral? >> yes >> did you have any involvemen in her death >> no. >> investigators took a dn sample and set about taking hard look atom walker's alibi. the problem is they stil weren't exactly sure whe chanin was killed. and besides they still had lots of other people to interview. that' what happened in a murde investigation. everybody get pulled, in especially thos closest to the victim. detectives even called chanin' eldest son austin in t question him >> when is the last time you saw her. they asked me how our relationship was >> austin lived with his fathe and said he was closer to hi dad since his parents split up and did the question seem cruel? the adult son had to be looked at, eliminated if possible >> did it feel weird to be put in a position like that. >> yeah. he tried more leaning on me like did you do it, di

you do it it wasn't like i kno you did it. it wasn't like that. maybe stand up and i actually cut glass. i had some older cuts on my hands. wher did you get that one from? >> of course, they talked to the other man in the family too, blake, then 18. and naturally, the ex-husband clay. what wa he doing on december 1st, th day she went missing, the da she likely died? >> he told me his carer ha broken down in deer park >> clay said he spent the da fixing his car, never sa chanin at all. so who, i anyone, was chanin with that day. as detectives continued t dig that >> found what might be a answer, right there in chanin' phone. a message from different man, one named joh wilson >> hey, chanin >> wilson also seemed to b messaging chanin on her phon using another name, just wonderering 06 >> it appeared from th communications they were tryin to meet, set up a date, or the were going to meet on december 1, 2011. >> the very day detectives believed chanin was murdered

but when they traced the phone no, ma'am new mexico from whic this john wilson called, the found themselves looking at public pay phone. but when the google names, they found profiles on dating sites and facebook and quickly realize this man wasn't who he appeare to be. >> it was a pretty minimal site >> and a photograph purporting to be this john wilson guy >> correct. an we found he had actually stolen it from anothe person's website, a doctor who lived in new york city >> so now you know john wilson is not the person you see on the screen >> correct >> a phony picture, a phanto who was clearly interested i keeping his real identity secret. but why? exactly who was this latest mystery man? >> thanks, and i look forwar to hearing from you. bye >> the very day detectives believed chanin was murdered but when they traced the phone no, ma'am new mexico from whic this john wilson called, the

found themselves looking at public pay phone. but when the google names, they found profiles on dating sites and facebook and quickly realize this man wasn't who he appeare to be. >> it was a pretty minimal site >> and a photograph purporting to be this john wilson guy >> correct. an we found he had actually stolen it from anothe person's website, a doctor who lived in new york city >> so now you know john wilson is not the person you see on the screen >> correct >> a phony picture, a phanto who was clearly interested i keeping his real identity secret. but why? exactly who was this latest mystery man? >> thanks, and i look forwar to hearing from you. bye >> coming up - >> he completely stressed out. he is completely worried about his personal life, his professional life. >> how do you track down a guy determined to hide >> he is doing everything from public locations >> what does all this sort o thing tell you >> well, it caused us a lot of concern. this certainly coul

be our suspect >> one detective would try his luck with an instant message >> i said i need to talk wit you about chanin starbuck. i bet it wasn't 20 my phone rang >> when dateline continues build up its not as hygenic as but her moderate to severe eczema could make it hard for her. my skin was so itchy. and my outfit was uncomfortable. now, my skin's not as itchy. now we're staying ahead of her eczema. there's a power inside all of us, to live our passion. and dupixent works on the inside, to help heal your skin from within. it helps block a key source of inflammation inside the body that can cause eczema. so they can have clearer skin and less itch. serious allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems such as eye pain or vision changes including blurred vision, joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection.

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happens. it looked like that's what chanin starbuck dead. i said we'll get on line. sh said i'm online. i'm own lin for a dating site. >> it's not uncommon for thi day and age to online date >> and she wouldn't have put herself in danger or harm's wa whatsoever >> you wouldn't think. >> no. >> but in fact that wa something chanin's children di worry about. a lot >> i'm sure you know datelin nbc and how to catch a predator. i've seen that, an it's where weirdos go on the internet. so we were all afrai she was going to meet this one weirdo that was on the internet >> now those sons were eager for investigators to find thei mother's killer. and detective were, in fact, chasing down new lead in connection wit chanin's internet dating >> if there's a murder investigation, there's no ston

unturned >> hiding under one particular rock was one very likely suspect. the man calling himself john wilson who planne to meet with chanin on decembe 1st, the last day she was seen alive. detectives quickl figured out he was some kind o impostor, had posted a fak picture in his online dating profile, and had bee communicating with chanin from locations clearly designed t hide his real identity >> they were all public place, public phones, universities, places like that >> boy, this guy's bee careful. >> right. he's doing everythin from public locations. >> what does all this sort o thing tell you

>> well, it caused us a lot of concern that this certainl could be our suspect >> to trace one of those pay phones he used to call chanin, it was here outside university library. it happene to have a surveillance camera. was this john wilson? only one way to find out. detective johnston sent him an instant message of his own >> identified myself as bein from the shoyeriff's office an said i need to talk to you about chanin starbuck, and i bet it wasn't 20 minutes befor my phone rang. >> it was him. he said yes, he knew chanin starbuck, yes, the two had been seeing each other but -- >> he was very reluctant t identify himself >> sounded a bit shaky distrustful. >> it was obvious he didn' seem to believe i was with the sheriff's office either. >> mike rickets was in on th conversation and scribbled a note to the detective. >> tell him we need to have hi true identity shortly or i'm going to post this picture and

show it all over the media, an i will find out who he is. >> and at that point, he tol me his true name >> suddenly wanted to cooperate? >> well, he didn't really want to, but he expressed the fac that he had been having an affair. he was married >> that was his explanation fo the fake name, the skulkin around, hiding from his wife he said. his name, his rea name was john kenline. he was school teacher. he agreed to talk to the detectives i person, but asked to have th conversation at the office o his lawyer, a man named robert cosi >> he is completely stressed out. he's completely worried about his personal life, his professional life. >> this interview is done with your permission and your attorneys? >> yes >> so tell me, if you can, how december 1st panned out? >> december 1st, the last da chanin was seen alive. detectives already knew th answer from messages o chanin's phone the man the

were talking to had plans to meet chanin at her house. bu they wanted to see if he'd tel the truth. >> at 10:30 i was at her house knocked on the door. >> what he told us was that he had made prior arrangements to meet with chanin >> so he actually went to he house? >> he did go to her house. >> only she never answered the door, he said. so then he went to a public phone to call, lef a voice message. he even stopped by her house again frustrated, peered through her windows. didn't see anything he said. and then he tol detectives he spent the rest o the day and into the evening exchanging messages with chanin >> i texted her and i got text message in reply from her that said did you come over? and she says something to th effect of how about tonight or later tonight? >> he really wanted to see her >> right >> but never did? or at leas said he never did? >> right >> there was, however, a problem with his story. fo much of december 1st, he couldn't tell detectives i anyone had seen him. in othe words, no one to really back u important portions of hi alibi. lead detective mike rickets didn't know what t

think. >> here is an individual who i going to great lengths to hide his identity, but at the sam time, here is an individual wh is being as detailed as he possibly can in providing us a much information as he can. so i was on the fence but someone we had to investigate. >> boy, did they ever. to se if the school teacher, chanin' mystery man was telling th

truth or trying to cover up crime, detectives waded throug all of his communications with her. >> we didn't let the idea that he could still be our killer. don't remember the number of days. but it was a week or two that we realized chanin ha called 911 >> 911? spokane county sheriff detectives were about to discover a new piece o evidence. it was a recording erie and garbled and fleeting, and it might just be enough to help solve a murder. coming up -- >> the records we get from a phone company reflect a 91 call >> a break and a shock >> 911, what are you reporting hello? >> it hit me really hard. it was like a rock in my stomach. >> when dateline continues

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a murder to put the intimate parts of life on this play they had tracked down tw suspicious man shannon was dating, one a teacher was at the house on the day she likel died, the other sense shannon racy text message that almos mimicked a crime scene they offered alibis, of course but since the detectives didn' know exactly when shannon died they couldn't check them out funny. one little break could make al the difference >> it hit me really hard. it was like a rock in my stomach. >> detective mike ricketts wasn't expecting it, not at all, that piece of evidence tha suddenly surfaced weeks into the case. his colleague, detective lyle johnston ha just gotten a record of th calls dialed from chanin's phone, and there it was, staring back at him. >> the records that we get fro the phone company reflect a 91

call >> a 911 call. 9:17 a.m. december 1st, not long after chanin dropped the kids off at school. the 911 operator faile to properly file the call with the sheriff's department. an you may not know this, but som cell phones don't store 91 calls in their call list, an effort to protect callers in dangerous situations, like somebody who had been kidnapped, say. all that and detectives trying to solve a murder had n idea chanin called 911 until they got the records from he wireless carrier. were you abl to find out what was in the 91 call? how long it lasted? when it came? >> yes, they were able to, based on date and time, find a recording of the exact date an call >> it was just 28 seconds long it started with a noise. could you hear it? >> you could. and unfortunatel for the 911 call operator, i

believe he talked over it an he didn't hear it. >> 911, what are you reporting >> so brief, so garbled bu listening to it now, the became convinced this must hav been chanin as she was being attacked. 9:17 a.m >> 911, what are you reporting hello. >> what it sounded like as i someone was struggling over th phone, and you could definitel hear a female's voice kind o ugh, and that's about all it amounted to. >> but who was the attacker? the car salesman? the teacher? or somebody else? now th investigators had to go back over those alibis and compar them to the time of that 911 call. they started with th salesman, tom walker >> were you at work all da thursday >> except for the funeral. >> his phone never pings off any of the towers in the dee park region. he is at work o december 1. he attends a funeral. we confirm that

>> the salesman, the guy who sent the racy request for photo was in the clear. that left the school teacher, joh kenline. he admitted he wa actually outside the deer park house that morning, 10:30. but in the hour before that he whe it appeared chanin was being attacked according to the 91 call, he said he was not a chanin starbuck's house, but a a starbucks in spokane, gettin coffee. a specific frappuccino the store happened to have a record of selling. i heard there was a great to do abou whether he ordered a ver specific and unusual drink >> correct. that is the case he purchased coffee at about the same time the 911 call cam in. just a little variation of time but well within the tim frame that he couldn't hav been at starbucks and he couldn't have been in deer par at the same time >> and so the man who once

looked so suspicious convinced detectives he was telling th truth. >> they looked at him ever which way you could be looke at. they check out every par of his story and every singl fact, everything that he tol them checked out 100%. >> now he just had to deal wit his wife. and detectives, they went through the list of possible suspects. chanin' killer was still out there, killer who judging from th story chanin's friends wer telling might have bee building up to an attack during the last six months o chanin's life said summe starks, her friend was convinced somebody was out t get her. >> chanin's house had been broke into quite a few times and minor things would b missing, or the barbecue would be messed up, knocked over lights would be unscrewed. you could tell somebody had been i but things went missin

sometimes. odd things you woul notice weren't right when yo would come home. >> chanin filed police report. the incidents were investigated. but never solved chanin had been accusing clay. >> chanin thought clay was behind everything that was happening. that he was tryin to scare her or trying t assess a way into her home >> but police didn't find an evidence of that, and clay sai the idea was ridiculous. besides, he said he was in alaska when at least one o those strange disturbances supposedly happened. >> at first i was like no way, i didn't do that. and then the date hits me, well, for sure i didn't do that. i wasn't eve -- i wasn't even here. >> in fact, he said he and chanin got along better than most divorced couples. >> chanin and i made thing work. we would text or say hey i'll get the kids. i know next week is my weekend, but can yo take them that weekend

>> but now that chanin was dead, detectives had to rethink thei suspicions as related to the by summer. and she wasn't th only person who viewed chani and clay's relationship throug something other than ros tinted glasses. chanin's siblings, for example, who sai chanin accused clay of cheatin on her that was the reason for both breakups. the last breaku was so nasty, in the month before chanin died, clay stopped paying child support >> we were paying her rent >> power >> providing food for he children >> she was going to the food bank for food. >> my mother was paying for he school and her computers >> fascinating how the issue of a divorce can seem to chang depending on who's doing the looking. now the detective were. and they at least bega to make that kind of progres that comes from dead ends. >> i was able to eliminate tom

walker. i was able to eliminat john kenline >> and so one name they hadn't quite been able to cross off their list seemed more and mor important. >> clay starbuck was never eliminated as the suspect. >> clay starbuck, th ex-husband and by now they had something else to consider. slew of unflattering tidbits from chanin's family >> he was constantly trying to belittle her, make her fee like she was inanimate >> i always thought he was a creep. >> and those dental school classmates were also eager t pass on a few of the stories chanin told them about clay. >> he was always bugging her, guess if you will, wondering what are you doing or can yo do this or just trying to keep her in -- tabs >> yeah. >> chanin told them that cla wouldn't leaf her alone, was some kind of control freak they didn't know clay, o course, never met him. but

their opinion went from bad to worse when chanin came int school visibly upset one day when clay sent her a gift, a sex toy. >> it was in a gift bag, if yo will, hanging on her door knob with a note from clay that sai here enjoy. i can't have you s you can have this. or somethin like that. >> he was very jealous. he was very controlling and he wa losing control >> coming up - >> he told me that he had to g back and forth to his residenc four times that day. >> a home surveillance camer provides a clue that reboots the investigation. >> what did you think when you saw that >> well, i thought that he was lying. >> when dateline continues

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starbuck was murdered, we told her friends and family that he ex-husband clay had been controlling. still, says summe starks, it seemed almost like joke the first time chanin wondered outloud if clay mid try hurt her >> i told her quit being s dramatic. she's kind of being drama queen. and you know, that's ridiculous. that only happens in the movies or o "dateline." and i just sai you're just so full of it. >> but according to summer chanin was scared, particularl after the windows were mysteriously shot out of the car parked in her driveway chanin changed the locks in he house, didn't even give th kids a key, telling friends sh was afraid clay would find a way to steal a copy. >> she was very vocal about he fear that he would kill her. >> reporter: hardly surprising those stories would tend to pu a sinister spin on everythin that police observed about clay, starting with that very firs police interaction the day chanin's body was discovered detective dressback though something was off the moment

clay arrived at the station an he told clay the news. >> and he goes, oh, my gosh, what happened to my wife. said, well she's dead. and his knees buckled and everything became very histrionic cryin and wailing, and that was okay for a while. but it became ridiculous >> reporter: ridiculous? >> it became ridiculous. >> reporter: even more ridiculous, more suspicious, said the detective, was when clay, told he was free to go didn't >> then i couldn't get rid o him. he would not leave me alone. >> reporter: kept wanting to talk >> he kept wanting to talk what he kept telling me was th same thing over again. look on her phone, look on her computer, that will tell you everythin you need to know >> reporter: it's suspicious t you but it's not reall evidence. is it? >> no, not necessarily. it's suspicious, circumstantial, bu suspicious to me >> reporter: which meant tha right there on day one cla needed to be checked out but good, and they began with hi

alibi for that decembe morning. remember, clay's da started with car trouble and his text to chanin. asking her to take the kids to school. he said he spent much of december 1st walking between his home and the spot the car broke down, about a mile away. >> he told me that he had to g back and forth to his residenc four times that day to work on his car and get tools, to eat, to take a nap. >> reporter: but detective couldn't find anyone along tha route who remembered seein clay. and another odd thing, his cell phone was off for several hours, no pings to trace. but in the area cla said he walked, a little sho leather produced a stroke of luck attached to a house >> there was a camera on the side of the house. >> reporter: a hom surveillance camera pointed in the very direction the remembered clay telling them h walked. and no sign of clay as far as they could tell >> i mean, there's n indication that he ever passed by there that day.

>> reporter: what did you thin when you saw that? >> i thought that he was lying >> reporter: one statement tha looked like a lie, one dea cell phone, a complaint abou overdue child support and bunch of tales about alleged threatening behaviors, which try as they might, the couldn't verify. the detective didn't have enough for a arrest let alone a murde charge. they needed somethin more, something to tie cla directly to the crime scene. and? enter the dna >> i believe it was januar 24th, 2012, when i obtained th initial dna report >> reporter: they had submitte several samples from chanin' body for dna testing. though the most important thing would be from her neck where she was strangled and her fingernail as she fought off her attacker some of the samples came bac labeled unknown male. whic didn't match any of the know suspects, but some other of th dna material could be narrowed

down to a very small pool of candidates. starbuck male. >> clay starbuck or austin starbuck or blake starbuck >> reporter: there was n getting around it, dna didn' lie, after all. detectives wer now convinced that a starbuc male killed chanin. but whic one? was it possible one o chanin's own sons killed her not a chance, said detective rickets. >> we obtained records tha indicated they were at work an at school. we eliminated the as suspects. >> reporter: only one man left standing now, but not for long on february 6th, 2012, two months after they found th body of chanin starbuck, the arrested clay and charged hi with murder. it was the moment chanin's siblings and mother had been waiting for >> when clay was arrested, i was a big relief >> we felt as though cla should have been arrested righ off the bat. >> i knew that he was the on that murdered her.

>> reporter: it was, of course a victory for the detectives too, but it came at a terrible price. >> i didn't want it to be clay starbuck. i didn't want to tak those children's father from them >> reporter: chanin and clay's five children, still in shoc over their mother's death, now had another blow to absorb chanin's brother was especiall worried about the three youn children in the family >> that means they have no guardian then, so we all jus decided that it would be bes that we try to get custody o the kids and get them out of that situation >> reporter: but the starbuc children weren't going anywhere. austin, just 21, filed to be the guardian for his younger siblings so they could all stay together an fight together for their dad >> it's hard to grieve, yo know, over our mother when we're fighting for our dad's innocence. >> reporter: yes, they said,

their dad was innocent. and if that meant sacrificing their mother's good name to save their dad, so be it. coming up >> she lived a whole different lifestyle. she lived her churc lifestyle, her homelife styl and then her online dating lifestyle. >> the things we were able t find and confirm on the laptop were not normal dating relationships. most of those relationships can be confirmed that they were only sexual i nature >> reporter: chanin's privat life was about to become ver public >> we can verify at least te men that she was meeting wit electronically, most of whic she had met one on one >> a string of strangers, no potential suspects. when dateline continues

away things. fit together with away things. ♪ ♪ that's our thing. ♪ ♪

mario! that'woo-hoo!ing. [ ominous music playing ] woo-hoo! i >> first the of rest of clay

starbucks for the murder of hi ex wife shannon starbucks youn to be playing out like a movie plot, in hindsight it seemed obvious that these two shannon's close friends an family - >> we knew that clay killed he just because he had been stalking her, causing her so much grief, we knew what he di to her but, you might be surprised to hear the star book childre weren't buying any of it so you believed that your da is innocent? >> yes >> there's no way he could'v possibly done this >> no. >> arguably the only witnesses with ringside seat - where their five kids, and those kids, every single one including the three youngest set, marshall and logan rall to their father's defense. >> he is innocent and he didn' do it. he is a nice, caring lovin person >> i mean, why would you kil

your ex-wife - >> that you still love >> that you still love and leave your five children perilous >> yes so often what a famil looks like depends on who' doing the looking. the kids? all their lives they said it was their father who was the long suffering one, not thei mother. in fact, they said their mother chanin was no always what she seemed to be over the years, they said, she would up and leave, taking the with her, to live with other men. more than once. for month at a time. but they said their dad would always take her back >> even through all this, he would always say he loved her. i remember just through this last divorce he would say that -- like no matter what, he could forgive her and take her back >> reporter: the older starbuc boys said it was patentl obvious to them that the cas against their dad was a frameu from start to finish

>> there's no physical evidence >> there were a couple times where i actually laughed out loud reading what they had sai in there and how ridiculous th story is that they put togethe of what he did and how he di it >> reporter: none of it, the said, beginning with the dna evidence detectives found so incriminating, that male starbuck dna, in all likelihood, they said, came from one o them, austin or blake. but i couldn't have come from th youngest, marshall, who learne in the process that he was not clay's biological son, was conceived during a relationshi chanin had after their first divorce. murder, as we say exposes all kinds of secrets >> the evidence they have is trace dna. it's like i go up t you and touch you on the hand. it's that small. >> reporter: but there i starbuck dna >> yeah. >> reporter: and there are som who have said, if it's not him was it one of you guys >> there's starbuck dna in the starbuck house

>> kind of funny how that works, right? we all lived there. m dad lived there months befor this happened. his hai everywhere, his sweat. >> the kids coming over back and forth from our house to he house. >> reporter: according to th starbuck children, their fathe was essentially a victim of kind of marital profiling. a suspect simply because husband and ex-husbands of murde victims are always suspects. i not for that bias, they said the investigators would have found the real murderer. >> the evidence is shoddy. >> reporter: and there's s many other possible suspects they say. take this theory o blake's. not long after clay's arrest, there were news report about a man named israel keys. he was arrested for murdering young coffee barrista in alask and later admitted he'd killed many more people, some i washington state. a serial killer whose family hailed from, of all places, a town just a few miles from chanin's house.

well, why would you think it was israel keys? >> because he has killed ove ten women. he admitted to four in washington. he was arrested a month about after my dad, so he wouldn't have been on the radar until then >> reporter: serial killer maybe. but here's the bigges reason they don't believe thei father is a murderer. it was the children's bombshell. thei mother had been keeping dangerous secret, they said, a secret life, one austin said h figured out when he was just 8 >> she lived a totally different lifestyle. she lived her church lifestyle, her home lifestyle and her online datin lifestyle. >> reporter: to hear the starbuck kids tell it, their mom known to most as a prim an proper mormon home maker lived a racy and risky personal life a secret from even her closest friends and family but impossible to hide from them

the kids >> it wasn't normal online dating. it wasn't like she didn't meet some guy and b with him for three, four, five months to a year at a time. sh was with him for, you know just a short visit. you know on to the next one >> reporter: was it true sitting in jail awaiting trial clay told his public defenders derek reed and jill gannon neagle, the same thing he said to sheriff's detectives, loo at her phone, look at he computer >> the things that we were abl to find and confirm on the laptop were not normal datin relationships. it was sexual relationships. and most of those can be confirmed tha they were only sexual in nature >> reporter: and explicitly so >> explicitly so >> reporter: with videos and photos and you name it >> yes >> reporter: all there on th laptop, evidence of trips to meet men she had connected wit online but didn't know i person until she made them completely vulnerable to them, these strangers.

>> several men. i don't thin that we can even give a number of the amount at least e-mai addresses. >> reporter: two, three, ten 15 >> ten would be a minimum, i would say. >> we tried to keep it as clos to the incident as possible, and in november of 2011 -- >> reporter: the month leading up to her murder >> -- we can verify at least ten men she was communicatin with electronically most o which she had met one on one and we can verify that >> reporter: every one of them a possible suspect. at least that's what clay's publi defenders thought. well, investigators had ru down leads from chanin's phone the lawyers said. that crack team of detectives didn' follow up on any of th potential leads from her laptop. it was there. they had it, right? >> it was there. they swabbe it. at some point somebody

suspected something. i'm not quite sure why they didn't follow up. but isn't this al just a smoke screen? because the evidence is pretty clear that clay starbuck's alibi doesn't hold up and the alibis of other people do >> the alibis of the ones they looked into. >> reporter: so armed with the evidence they found on tha computer alone, defens attorneys were confident the would instill in the jury at the very least reasonabl doubt. as the day of the trial approached the starbuc children were giddy with the anticipation that soon dad would be coming home to stay >> i know he didn't do it. w need to fight for our dad' innocence, get him out, so w can go back and hit it on th head again and find out who di it and solve it. >> reporter: coming up. at trial, the jury hears

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your hours top story, th justice department opened an investigation into the potential leak of classified pentagon documents the detail ukrainian militar information. u.s. government believes the documents appearing online o authentic, pending ful investigation every viewpoin to senior u.s. official wh spoke to msnbc news. and, ben forensic says forme prosecutor at the nurember trials who secured convictions against 20 to nazi death squad commanders has died. he was 103, france was the las living prosecutor from the trials now, back to dateline. >> every trial for murder ha this simple question at it core -- whose version of the truth will the jury believe? and in the case of chani

starbuck, the two competin realities set for display coul not have stood in starke contrast >> we'd been waiting over year for this moment >> i guess you could say i'm o a mission. i want him put away >> reporter: the divided famil couldn't have been farther apart in the small spokane county courtroom when the tria began in may 2013. the prosecution set out to prove clay starbuck was a jealous, controlling and ultimately violent man who murdered his devout and long sufferin ex-wife. well, the defense prepared to argue that chani herself recklessly courted danger and, quite possibly died at the hands of one of th many strangers she met onlin for sex. to chanin starbucks'friends and family who heard in advance what th defense had planned, it sounde like an old fashioned smea campaign >> that's all they had to go on. that's the only thing that

they could turn chanin into wa this awful person. >> she wasn't a sexual deviant she wasn't -- she wasn't running around sleeping with everybody in deer park and spokane. >> reporter: the state presented its case first argued in court by deput prosecutor larry steinmetz, an he began not with sex but with that other less titillatin root of all evil -- money. the jury heard from summer stark that chanin didn't have any. >> with respect to mis starbuck's financial situation how would you define that? >> dire. >> do you know whether or no miss star buck had bee receiving any child support or spousal maintenance from mr. starbuck during that tim period >> she had told me she did not >> reporter: clay owed mor than $9,000 in back chil support. eliminate the ex an his financial obligations woul die with her, thus a money motive said the prosecution.

and then they brought it up -- sex. or rather chanin's love life, not the sex life the defense had in mind, but the romantic kind that sometimes produces jealousy, the other age-old motive for murder. >> miss starbuck now a singl woman dating other men, much t the chagrin and dismay of th defendant clay starbuck. >> reporter: chanin's newfound romantic freedom enraged clay. one of the couple's friend testified that clay seemed unnaturally obsessed with hi ex-wife's personal life. >> he basically gave me litany of things about chanin, about what she was doing and how she was seeing lots of other men. >> reporter: and one of th kids'teachers testified that she heard clay predict something that sounded to he quite chilling >> he said, i wouldn't b

surprised if we found her dead i wouldn't be surprised if w found her with her throat slit open >> reporter: then the view fro the detectives who testified how it seemed to them clay was just a little too eager to direct their suspicions away from himself. and towards some anonymous online lover >> i don't very often have people pushing at me a piece s much that it pushes everything else, all the other informatio out. just constantly pushing that at me >> reporter: jealous, resentfu and on the morning of december 1st luring chanin out of her house with a phony story about a broken-down car. remembe clay texted chanin, asked he to take the kids to school then shut off his cell to avoi detection, or so said th prosecutor. a killer laying trap >> getting the children out of the house, staking out the house, entering the house, waiting for ms. starbuck t

return >> reporter: they played tha snippet of a 911 call that the prosecution said confirmed the time of the attack >> 911, what are you reporting >> reporter: then an exper told the jury about the dn they found on chanin's neck. >> is this ystr match that you described an exact match t clay starbuck and the male bloodline of his family? >> yes >> reporter: the dna had to be clay's. he was the one with th weak alibi. and detectives had already cleared his sons though the prosecutor called them as witnesses anyway >> during the school week, wha time would you normally go t school >> it was just after 9:00. >> on december 1 of 2011, di you work that day? it woul have been a thursday >> yes, i was. >> reporter: and someone els cleared by his alibi, john kenlein, the married teacher

was forced to appear, admitted being unfaithful with chanin >> we engaged in a sexua relationship yes >> he was not here to be ashamed but to testify about curious messages he received from chanin's phone, message sent long after the 911 call >> and again, sir, could you read that? >> did you stop by, question mark, question mark, questio mark. do you want to come over tonight? >> reporter: those message found on chanin's phone, investigators believe, could only have been sent by chanin' killer. and by this time you believed she was dead? >> right. based on the 911 call, we believe she's deceased an yet someone is using her cel phone to communicate >> reporter: and to prove it must have been clay who sent those messages, they entered into evidence this seemingly innocuous text message fro around 3:00 p.m. tha afternoon.

>> at 3:06 p.m. chanin starbuck's phone to loga starbuck phone, send marsh a note, dad will be there in ten minutes. >> reporter: send marsh a note who besides his mother might know the nickname marsh? the youngest starbuck marshall cam to the stand. no video of th minor allowed in court >> how often would your da call you marsh >> a lot. he also called me so and marshall >> but he did call you marsh a lot? >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: yes, it had bee an intimate act, an angr ex-husband killing the mothe of his children, then stagin the scene as a humiliating sex crime, premeditated murder sai the state. and as evidence o clay starbuck's twisted stat of mind, the prosecution offered this final piece to th puzzle. detectives said they found chanin's death certificate on a wall in clay' house pinned up like a trophy. >> as a reminder, she's no longer in my life, she's n

longer going to cause me any misery or pain >> reporter: so no smoking gun but a pile of circumstantial evidence deep enough, th prosecution hoped, to bury any chance of acquittal. >> at the heart of this killin -- and i would submit th motive -- greed, anger obsession and jealousy >> reporter: and, through it all, clay and his defens waited to tell an entirely different story about a risk life and an unsolved murder. coming up, unsolved, the defense would argue, because investigators blew it righ from the start at the crim scene. >> they swabbed the face of th cell phone. they got dna. it's not his. the phone doesn't hav mr. starbuck's dna >> reporter: whose dna did i have? when dateline continues. soccer is the best.

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murdering his ex-wife, had something big in his corner, something he believed woul establish reasonable doubt chanin's laptop computer, it held evidence, he said, of his ex-wife's dangerous secret life >> we're talking about casua encounters with people who aren't using real identities >> reporter: in fact, chanin's own children were convince that one of those men must hav been her killer. >> make no mistake, there were men that she talked to the day before >> reporter: that was the stor the defense and the children were poised to tell in court and then a ruling from the judge. the evidence wa inadmissible. the children's story, the activities revealed in the laptop, the evidenc pointing to other men chanin knew intimately, it was all to

speculative, too prejudicial and it was out. the jury wouldn't hear it. suddenly a the defense table, the air wen out. >> i think the court was thinking we don't want to make this a forum to run somebody who was murdered down. unfortunately, this isn' something that's just bein made up. we didn't create this these allegations. >> reporter: clay starbuck's lawyers needed a plan b. s they went after the murder investigation itself. pointing out in court all the thing investigators failed to do >> on the right hand, they found on one of the nails what tested positive for blood. the don't test it. don't even look at it. in fact, you'll hea

from the crime lab that they intentionally swabbed around the blood. >> reporter: it was a recurrin theme for the defense -- the didn't test it. evidence collected but untouched by lab techs. and under cross-examination detectiv rickets was pilloried fo making the decision. >> did you direct anyone t collect any piece of evidenc from the master bathroom tha would be consistent with tha crime scene? >> no. >> as far as you know have you or have you directed anybody t have those items tested? >> no. >> and if there was an potential trace evidence or an evidence on that, we don't know? >> we don't, right >> the crime lab didn't test it? >> right >> reporter: but there wer also issues with the evidenc that was tested, said th defense. that cell phone, fo instance, the one th

prosecution went to grea lengths to say clay used after killing chanin - >> they swabbed the face of th cell phone and they got dna. and they got this dna and it's not his. unidentified male. th phone doesn't have mr. starbuck's dna on it >> reporter: and mor unidentified dna found o chanin's neck, where she was strangled. >> fair to say going back to the term match, that there was another contributor on the sample referenced miss starbuck's neck male contributor that has not bee identified >> correct >> reporter: whose dna was that, the defense asked? no on knows. but the presence of mal starbuck dna at the crime scen was no mystery at all. not onl had clay lived in that house but the dna could have bee transferred from children goin back and forth between parents as marshall explains. only his audio could be shown not his face. do you ever share clothe with austin now? >> if, like, all my shirts are dirty or something, i'll borro one of his shirts. and i use also blake's old sweatshirt. >> reporter: the matter of the alibi. neighbors in the area where clay starbuck claimed hi car broke down testified tha

they did see a car matchin that description parked by the side of the road >> i came up -- i go out early in the morning to smoke cigarette so i seen it parke up the street. >> reporter: austin told the court that the jury should not be suspicious about clay's phone being off that day >> why would he have it off? >> so he wouldn't be interrupted when he wa sleeping because he had back surgery and he needed hi sleep. >> reporter: yes, the back surgery. the reason clay was i deer park and not out workin on the pipeline at the time of chanin's murder. clay wa simply too weak, said his kids didn't have the physical strength to kill their mother. >> so my mom, she's 5'10", 5'11", 180 pounds. she's not a small lady. she's not big, but she's not small. >> reporter: debilitatin surgery? absolutely said clay' doctor >> he would probably still b somewhat limited after surgery

yes. >> reporter: austin also addressed that so-called troph the prosecution brought up chanin's death certificate supposedly hanging on clay's wall. it was actually his, sai austin. as executor of chanin' estate, he needed copies of th death certificate. and h wanted to keep one safe wher it wouldn't be lost. >> and where did you put that? >> the master bedroom my dad stayed at in a closet we use for a gun safe it was behind a key locked door handle >> reporter: but the sta defense witness? clay starbuck himself. >> mr. starbuck, you wer married to ms. chanin starbuck at one time? >> yes >> reporter: speaking in calm, deliberate tones, clay told th court his back surgery force him out of work which is how h came to be more than $9,00 behind in child support an alimony. >> i couldn't do anything abou it until i went back to work that was my goal >> reporter: money was n motive said the defense, and a

for jealousy, not him. his tal about chanin's online dating had been misconstrued. >> why did you tell people about that information >> concerned and to see if w could help her >> reporter: some of the officers testified that yo told them about the same sor of activity after the death of miss starbuck. >> yes. and they wer interested in anything tha could help them with the investigation as well so that' why. >> reporter: on the stand clay starbuck patiently followed hi lawyer's lead, no gaffes, no slipups. >> did you kill chanin starbuck? >> no, i did not >> thank you, no further questions. >> reporter: when it was ove clay and his defense team felt so confident they encouraged him to talk with us about th case and some things that di

not come out in court. comin up, in an exclusive interview, clay tells us why he believe he's about to go free. >> there's been many statement that have not been true from a case standpoint. >> the case has been botched i your view. >> i wouldn't say botched. there's smart people that have made elementary mistakes >> when dateline continues there's an invisible threat in your backyard that could cause deadly heartworm disease for your dog. but not if you protect him every month with heartgard plus, the #1 choice of dogs. digestive and neurological side effects have been reported. ask your vet for heartgard plus. need relief for tired, achy feet? or the energy to keep working? there's a dr. scholl's for that. dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles have patented gel waves that absorb shock

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cross-examination. >> are you jealous person? >> not at all. >> do you ever get angry >> not at all. >> miss starbuck was granted 50% of your pension did that make you angry >> no. >> did it bother you

>> no. >> do you think that shannon starbucks killer was trying to send a message >> i don't know. >> but make no mistake, klay starbuck had plenty to say about his ex wife shannon, about the detectives whom he believe ignored promising lead in order to hang her murder on him. >> they were after me, they ha their guy they didn't want anybody else they wanted t drive me to prosecution. >> for starters, clay starbuck to us an interview given at th end of his trial, the case was based largely on a fault understanding of the dna evidence >> it was not considered a match of dna, it was not 100 percent matched. >> it was not a full inclusion nor could they excluded. >> reporter: the starbuck dn found is actually a partia strand but can occur in nearly 1 in 300,000 males in the u.s. according to the state's crime lab, not nearly as accurate as

standard dna testing yet tha evidence, said clay, was blown out of proportion by investigators on a mission >> mishandling. really, i ca state a lot of things. >> reporter: the case has been botched in your view? is botched a big word or is i okay in this case? >> i would concur. i would say botched is fair game. there' some smart people that hav made some elementary mistakes. >> reporter: but even if tha was his dna at the scene, said clay, it proves nothing. h told us that not only had he slept in that bed for years, he'd been there since hi breakup with chanin. >> i left june of 2010. wa that the last time that chanin and i were intimate? no. not even close >> reporter: really? >> absolutely. >> reporter: feelings, hopes o reconciliation perhaps? no, no that at all, said clay. he had moved on >> at the time of chanin's

death i was seeing a gal i valdez, alaska, it was a lon distance relationship. >> reporter: you were otherwis engaged? >> i was otherwise engaged >> reporter: and he disputed all the nasty stories chanin supposedly told her friend about him, wondered wh detectives would listen to wha he considered to be gossip. sh was terrified of you and she told her friends this. and s when she winds up dead and humiliated that way, who els are they going to look at bu the person she was terrified of? >> chanin's friends that you mentioned, if they make thos comments, i don't control thos comments. i have no way of knowing what chanin told them, but i would hope that they would follow the evidence. i would hope that they wouldn' chase somebody down over a comment made off the cuff. >> reporter: and those wer secondhand stories about cla the jury never heard anyway. a

for his alibi that morning i the surveillance video, it was nothing said clay. of course the camera didn't show him o that street, he never told the cops that's where he walked an they never asked. they didn' ask you where you went >> no. >> reporter: they say you told them >> i did hear that >> reporter: are you sayin their memories are bad? or something, that they're lyin or what? >> many statements in this tha have not been true from la enforcement standpoint >> reporter: and speaking of alibi, clay said he doesn' believe the time of that 911 call means anything at all >> it is so short, you can't tell what it is. >> reporter: but a call to 911 she winds up dead, they kind o go together. so the time o death makes most sense right around that time. just after because she would have bee under attack at that point >> i don't see how with any of the evidence that's been provided in statements b witnesses that anybody can mak that assumption that a 911 cal

at a quarter after 9:00 and he death were exactly related >> reporter: for more than two hours as he talked to us cla starbuck remained unflappable, quite determinedly so. i can see why you would be quite a hard guy to argue with >> i'm an easy guy to argu with because i don't argue >> reporter: that's th problem. makes you crazy >> it doesn't make me crazy. >> reporter: no, the other person crazy >> then i suggest you ge counseling >> reporter: never angry, neve jealous, the only emotion clay starbuck pleads guilty to is disappointment. he was disappointed, he said, when hi youngest daughter told him about some explicit images she'd seen on her mother's computer. pretty upsetting for you? >> it was disappointing. i wouldn't say upsetting >> reporter: now, according to clay starbuck, murder neve crossed his mind >> she was a beautiful woman smart woman. she didn't need t

travel those paths to find men to be with. it was senseless >> reporter: and did you try t stop that behavior by killin her? >> absolutely not. absolutel not. i wouldn't kill her. wouldn't harm her. i wouldn' kick, bite, scratch anything her. i've never done anythin to hurt her. and i didn't kill her. >> reporter: he faulted once only once. the question wa about his children. what hav you wanted to say to them al these months >> you're going to end u making me get emotional. s i'll just leave it that i' just very proud of them. >> reporter: pretty tough thin for kids to handle >> it is. it is. not only di they lose their mother, they lost their dad for a period of time >> reporter: maybe forever >> it's not going to b forever. it's going to be till next week. >> reporter: clay starbuck was he said, a confident man, quit sure that acquittal was just days away. all he needed now

he said, was to hear the jur say those words, not guilty. coming up -- >> i hope after this is done and never have to see courtroom again. >> i was sick to my stomach. i was nervous. knowing what know and i know into my hear clay can did this. >> in the state versus cla starbuck - >> verdict form "a." >> the verdict and the emotional fallout. >> i jumped up and i screamed. i screamed >> reporter: when dateline continues. xible payment options to keep you covered. so today is your lucky...day [crash] so today is your lucky...day for a great low rate, go with the general.

that's some bad luck brian. and i think i'm late on my car insurance. good thing the general gives you a break when you need it. yeah, with flexible payment options to keep you covered. so today is your lucky...day [crash] so today is your lucky...day for a great low rate, go with the general. >> reporter: for more than two

weeks, discussions about the murder case sounded a little like political debates these days, polarized and as the judge sent the jury out to deliberate - >> you'll now be escorted back to the jury deliberation room. >> chanin's two families, he mother and siblings wh believed clay poisoned the children against their mothe

on one side of the great divide >> i hope that they learn th truth. >> and those very children o the other wanting nothing more than to have their father come home >> i hope after all this i done i never see a courtroom again. >> but of course it was only those 12 strangers who could decide. the hours went by. people close to the question o both sides were in some kind o agony. >> i was sick to my stomach, i was nervous. knowing in my heart, i know clay did this. all it takes is one person, on person not to believe and we have to start all over again >> not easy for any of them. but austin had an especially difficult task. a new father himself and now after fighting with his uncle and grandmother over custody he was guardian o the three younger children. an

until this moment he had been, said his siblings, like a rock funny how these things sneak u on a person. >> if you could speak to you dad and just say one thing the two of you, what would it be >> see you soon. >> yeah. [crying] >> i'm sorry abou that i miss him >> and then, then they were al in court, their opposing wishe on full display. the jury wa back >> has the jury reached verdict? >> reporter: they had been out one full day. here was their decision >> the matter of state o washington versus mr. clay starbuck verdict form a coun one reads, we the jury find th defendant mr. starbuck guilt of the crime of premeditated murder in the first degree >> reporter: guilty. his fac looked like stone. but something else going on inside

said his lawyers. how was he when that verdict happened >> shocked >> he actually thought he wa going to be acquitted. >> absolutely. >> reporter: but chanin' mother and siblings finall felt vindicated. all along the believed it was him. and now a jury agreed. >> as soon as that first guilt verdict was read, it was like ton of bricks were lifted of of us. >> and got the text, guilty. i jumped up and i screamed. screamed. i was like, yes, yes >> reporter: clay starbuck was sentenced to life in prison. weeks later he filed an appeal all five starbuck kids sai they still believe their dad was innocent, led by austin, head of the household. weigh of the world on his shoulders. >> but he was convicted.

>> there are still appeals and there are other things we ca do so it's still not over >> reporter: two years later i 2015, clay starbuck lost his appeal >> i thought it would bring me more peace than it did. i wa relieved that he was found guilty. but it didn't bring me the peace that i thought i would. >> reporter: justice, sometime what feels like justice to som doesn't to others, not at all. but this we can say. once ther was a fine and lovely woma whose life was good and useful who loved her children >> they were her world. and no matter what had happened, what was said, what's been done what's been drug up that she loves them and she wants the to be successful and have good lives. >> reporter: now, she did no deserve the way her life ended on that cold december morning your park washington >> i'm craig