the meanest, cruelest, most heinous crime. i don't know that i'll ever get over it. >> they seemed like the ultimate power couple. >> she told me she will be traveling on secret missions. >> he had all the medals, silver star, purple heart. >> glamorous military careers, but was it all camouflage? >> the bs alarms are going off in my head like you wouldn't believe. >> did they have something to hide? >> we start doing surveillance. >> maybe you got a crime here? >> yes. i'm thinking to myself, this can't be true.

>> we were just like in disbelief. >> what had happened to her last husband? >> whoever did this was very evil. >> the hurt, the anger. it makes you question everybody. it seems alive, somehow, here in the foothills of tennessee's appalachians. the creeping tendrils of mountain mist that snake and swirl. like lies. there is gold in there, somewhere, so they say. the sort of place where you could strike it rich, or maybe get away with murder.

>> very scary. >> shocking. and devastating. so, after that mysterious death here, who can anyone trust? dearest friends? >> the word betrayal come to mind? >> oh, absolutely. >> brothers in arms? >> it's beyond disturbing. >> closest family? >> she looked at me as if she wished i was, dead. >> maybe no one. >> we were always looking over our shoulder. >> it might still be, had it not been for -- him. >> pretty shocking stuff? >> i don't think i will work anything like this again in my career, just because of the different twists and turns. >> yes. in that toxic swamp of secret identities, of heroes and villains driven by greed, lust, power, -- >> whoever set this up and did this was very evil. >> oh, so many lies. >> everything that you are taught as a kid, was a lie.

>> this place, where the story begins, seems created not for lies, but for love. the tranquil waters and soft sunsets of back bradenton, florida. >> and though the local sheriff's office seems like it's an unlikely place for love, but here's where it struck a county detective named bobby mcclancy. >> you have anything to say bobby? >> i have a lot to say. how many hours do we have left on the tape? >> a funny man. >> oh welcome to the kitchen. >> and very kind said his neices, not just to people. >> we would be excited to go over and see like you got a new animal, you know, like he got us a little turtle as kids. >> he was a real animal guy? >> he was. >> good night kristen. >> loved his nieces too.

>> used to take us out on the boat, he just always took care of us. >> just like he took care of his sister kathy when they were kids. >> was always like the two of us doing everything. >> causing havoc? >> yeah. >> as a sheriff deputy, said his sister kathy, he once faced down a violent gang. >> they had knocked him to the ground and took his gun and everything and beat him up. as a matter of fact, i believe that they fired a shot but it missed. >> so he barely made it through that one? >> yeah. >> his marriage couldn't take it, and bob mcclancy sought love elsewhere. and then a southern bell at the sheriff's department and aloof secretary known as the office wiz caught his eye. her name was martha anne >> was he crazy about martha anne? >> yes he was. he really was. >> i always respected my mom.

>> she was very charming. highly intelligent. >> shawn was adopted as the baby, met jen as a teenager, she became his wife. where sean was from was not discussed at home, but then he had martha anne, the only mother he had ever known. >> a mother is the sun and the moon and the stars to a little kid. did it feel like she was? >> i was always told since a young age that, the only people you can trust, completely, are your parents. >> in the mid 90s, shawn's mom martha anne was going through a painful divorce and then fell for the detective, bob. >> bob was very down to earth. and he taught me a lot of things. >> like what? >> how to be a man. how to be a real person.

>> sounds like you liked bob? >> i liked bob a lot. >> in 1995, bob and martha anne got married. and on holidays, bob's sister kathy got closer to martha anne. >> we would go out shopping, that was our big thanksgiving. bobby would stay home, the girls would just take off and go shopping. >> bob and martha anne retired in the late 90s, left florida, and bought a big secluded hillside cabin in east of tennessee in the shadow of the smoky mountains. not far from where martha anne grew up. a place where you could forget being a cop and all that violence. by then, shawn and jen had their own family and visited from time to time. >> bob especially. >> oh yeah. >> he would treat our kids great. >> he was fond of them? >> he was the real deal. >> martha anne went back to work, accounting job. she loved numbers. they made time for friends too,

like debbie hartman. >> we met in church. bob and martha and just became very dear friends. >> and in martha anne, debbie found her soulmate. >> she was what i would refer to as the quintessential southern lady. she was like a sister to me. we had the same type of upbringing, the same type of morals, we had fun together. we enjoyed sharing recipes together. she had two boys, i had two girls. we would talk about our children. we were just were very, very close. >> over the years they shared cookouts, road trips, church events, just like two peas from the same pod. you could just see, said debbie, how much bob and martha anne loved each other. >> never once did i hear them argue or have a sour word against one another, never. just very loving. like the perfect couple. >> and then, may 2006, when martha anne was at work.

a family friend stopped by to see bob at home. in front of him, well -- he called 9-1-1. >> 9-1-1, where is your emergency? >> coaker creek. >> martha anne got home, then called for her friend, debbie. >> she is screaming, she is saying, bob's dead. i'm like, bob's dead? >> coming up, what happened to bob mcclancy. i cried for ten hours, i can't believe we lost such a great man. >> shocking. >> the two of us just cried our eyes out. next thing you know, the sheriff comes down and i'm like, what in the world is going on? and she's like, i don't know. >> when dateline continues.

it was the 15th of may, 2006,

and coaker creek eastern tennessee. 5 pm. >> 911, where is your emergency? >> i just walked into the residence the mclelland c residents, mr. maclean see appears to be beside or. >> bob mcclancy, 56 years old, lying in his favor recliner. the body was already cold, the neighbor said. >> different hung up and waited for first responders. >> i was a detective, i had been addicted for almost a year. >> travis jones, than a detective with the monroe county sheriff's department was one of the first to go in the house. >> what did you see when you got there? >> i felt robert mcclancy in a recliner. he had a pistol in one hand, an empty bottle of pills in the other hand. >> have you ever seen such a thing? >> no. >> the gun hadn't been fired.

there were pills strewn all over bob mcclancy's body. a white phone around his mouth pointed to an overdose. a do not resuscitate note signed by bob mcclancy and left in the kitchen, said he wanted to die. >> did you see this do not resuscitate order? >> i did. >> it looks like suicide. and martha ann had to spread the dreadful news to bob's nieces and family in florida. >> when you got the call, what does it do to you to hear that about somebody you are so close to? >> we were in disbelief. >> it's like a nightmare. >> yeah. >> shocking. >> i can't imagine. >> when she told me he took an overdose and killed himself. >> do you still remember that moment? >> yes, i do. >> it affected me quite a while. >> shawn as well was griff striking -- stroke in when he heard about his stepdad. >> i think i cried for ten hours driving from florida to tennessee. i couldn't believe we lost such

a great man. >> but, shocking as it was, to those who knew bob mcclancy, it was not a complete surprise. why? four letters, ptsd. post-traumatic stress disorder. back when the vietnam war was -- sneaking into the bloody, dumps bob volunteered to go as a marine. it took its toll. as did life-threatening injuries during his police career. bob had been on heavy medication, but still suffered flashes, nightmares, depression. >> he said to me one day, i'm having a rough time at the moment. i haven't been sleeping well. he said, so, i will get up and i will sit in the chair in the hallway, and what worries me is if i fall asleep in the chair, and maybe are -- martha ann would get up to go

to the restroom, maybe i will attack her. he said, i'm having issues. he said it kind of worries me. >> martha ann told debbie she was very troubled. >> she said, i'm trying. when i'm at work, he will get into his pills. she said bob is abusing it. >> bob's sister kathy had also seen warning signs. >> how did you become aware that ptsd was really beginning to come a factor in his life that had to be dealt with? >> we have been out for thanksgiving, he had explained to me that right after the holidays there was a program, he was going to enter it. >> now it came up he was going to do that program and i found it shocking. >> shocking? >> yeah. >> he never seem like that it all? >> you never seem like. that >> just happy, jovial guy. >> yes. >> bob's new year's resolution for 2006 was to finally beat ptsd. and in january, he set off to nashville for an attentive six -week program run by the va. soon after he got there, he

called a sister kathy with hope and his voice. he had made a new friend. his roommate, charles, one by chuck. >> he went and said he finally found somebody to talk to who understood one when he went through in vietnam, because chuck was there. >> you need someone who's been through the same thing. >> he, yeah right. so he was happy. >> bob's new veteran french quiz no average runt. he was the very model of a war hero. special forces airmen, citation for valor, most -- operations. he was invited to the presidential inauguration. chalk was a sort of tonic that bob needed. >> this relationship continued after the program was over right? >> yes. after they got out of the program in february bob spent most of his time with chuck. they did handymen's jobs at each other's home. >> bob kind of replaced everybody else with chuck.

chuck was everything. >> but, bobs ptsd persisted. >> martha ended what she could to pick up bob's spirits, though that seemed to backfire when she got to make over. >> she had had her hair cut short and blond. >> big change? >> yes, i was like, oh my god. you look beautiful. she said, i'm certainly glad you like it because bob doesn't like it at all. he had a fit that i had caught my hair off. i said, a lot of men like women with lady with long hair. >> when martha and was at work, chuck kept an eye on bob. >> chuck was right there. >> bob wasn't a downward spiral. martha and complained that bob was abusing his anti depressants, and martha anne and chuck found themself managing one painful scare after another.

in one episode, they rushed bob to the va hospital more than three hours away passed out of the in the car. >> out of it. i understand they had to stop the car to do cpr on him. >> bob was stabilized, after he was deemed well enough, sent home. two days later, on the monday in may, martha and got up early and went to work as usual. she had arranged for chuck to check in on bob that afternoon. it was he who found bob, call 9-1-1. >> w arrived later to find police cars and ambulances and a frantic martha ann. >> so, the two of us just sat there and hugged each other and, bold, and just cried our eyes out. it was horrible. bob is dead. in the next thing you know, the sheriff comes out with chuck,

in a t-shirt, and i am like, one in the world is going on? >> she's like, i don't know. >> so, they drove off with chuck. >> coming up, police have some questions for chuck. >> they came in and found your friend. >> it wasn't because it he was rushing around an upset? >> no. he was calm. it was suspicious. >> maybe you got a crime here? >> yes. >> when dateline continues. >> when dateline continues. everyone's gonna need more tide. it's a mess out there. that's why there's 85% more tide in every power pod. -see? -baby: ah. (josh allen) is this your plan to watch the game today? (hero fan)y there's 85% more i have to watch my neighbors' nfl sunday ticket. (josh allen) it's not your best plan. but you know what is? myplan from verizon. (vo) football season is here. get nfl sunday ticket from youtubetv on us. a $449 value. plus, get a free samsung galaxy z flip5. only on verizon.

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husband bob, died of an overdose and ptsd medication, and she couldn't even get back into her own house. so her best friend debbie, and her husband, took her in. >> the three of us just, you know, why? what happened? crying, all night long. just sobbing, and in disbelief that bob was gone. >> to be there for my mom, i left immediately and drove through the night. >> and shawn was filled with a flood of sorrow and guilt that he hadn't been there for his stepdad bob, as bob had been there for him. >> bob took care of me, every day.

>> it will make you feel close to a person? >> it did. >> then he tried, in vain, to ease martha anne's grief. >> i will talk about fun things we did with bob. >> that wouldn't happen anymore. then i would start balling, then she would start falling with me. >> to make it even worse, bob's best friend chuck had been taking away by sheriff's deputies. >> debbie watched as martha anne trying to deal with her own sorrow as she planned her husband's funeral, anxious at the same time for her friend, that the small town cops had the wrong idea about chuck. >> i said, you know, this was bob's best buddy. you are grieving for bob, now you have to take care of chuck. >> a tough situation. >> it was about to get tougher. courtesy of the sheriff deputy travis jones. something strange here, he thought. he in the other detectives. they held chuck for questioning.

for one thing, why was he so cool? his best buddy was lying there dead. >> he wasn't kind of rushing around at all upset? >> no. >> calm? >> he was calm, which was kind of suspicious minute self. to come in and find your friend dead, and he was calm. >> as he had been calm, and kind of strange on the 9-1-1 call. >> mr. mcclancy ax plate -- appears to be expired. >> the operator said he should try to revive bob. >> if you want to do cpr i can give you instructions? >> we do have a do not resuscitate order on him. >> chuck didn't seem to want to save his own friend. that do not resuscitate seemed to convenient. >> maybe you've got a crime here? >> yes. >> travis jones wasn't alone. bob sister kathy had her doubts as well. kathy knew bob suffered from ptsd and took medication, but

she refused to believe her brother would kill himself. >> he could have part of his finger hanging off, he would duct tape it up and keep going. >> yeah. that's the kind of guy you saw as well? >> yeah. >> so, uphill popping brother did not make any sense to you? >> no, did not. >> suspicions deepened. a week later when they travel to bob's funeral in tennessee. deep in their grief, they saw friend who reported bobs death to the police and was back in the community as police continue to look into it. his name was chuck chuck kasmeryk >> how would you describe him? >> there was something very creepy. >> when he stared a you would like he could stare through. >> he seems like a tough military guy. >> there was a look about him. >> the cold stare. >> yeah. >> then kathy got a copy of the

9-1-1 call, and what you heard, it sounded like the verbal equivalent of 1000 yard stare. >> mr. mcclancy appears to be expired. >> i played the tape, i played over and over, wrote down what was word for word. it didn't make sense, a couple of things. first he said he didn't touch the body, then he told the 9-1-1 operator when he asked about cpr, he said he didn't need it. he was already gone. if you didn't touch the body, how would you know he was gone? >> how do you go on after that when you are full of these dads and suspicions? >> you go on, you don't have a choice. but i knew i would not let it drop. >> in the end, even though chuck was questioned at length, everything he did put under a microscope, this is suspicion appeared to be unfounded. >> the coroner actually ruled it a suicide.

>> and then, in the weeks and months after bob's death, as suspicions dissipated like the mist in the surrounding hills, chuck could once again walk with his head held high. >> when we did the veterans parade and knoxville, they put him on the top because he was the most highly decorated -- >> after the awful tragedy of bob's death, chuck got on with his life again and said goodbye to his dear friend, and comforted bob's widow, martha anne. oh boy. >> coming up, he's lost his best friend, she lost her husband. >> two grieving friends, a growing feeling. >> it was like somebody had just dropped a bomb on my head. a cruise ship courtship? >> i looked at her and said, are you and chuck together? >> when dateline continues. >> when dateline continues. feeling better? on top of the worlddddd!!! before advil. advil targets pain at the source of inflammation.

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starts in jacksonville, florida, authorities say a gunman killed three people in a racially motivated shooting for killing himself. according to police, the suspected shooter sent manifestos to law enforcement, medial bliss, and his parents. the fbi is investigating the shooting as a hate crime. the attack comes as thousands commemorated 60 years since martha drink juniors margin washington post. joe biden and vice president kamala harris will observe the adversary by meeting with kings family and organizers of the 1963 gathering. now, back to dateline. now, back to dateline. in the wake of bob mcclancy's death and may 2006. it was only natural, said debbie, that martha anne stay in touch with chuck. they shared a tremendous loss. >> chuck lost his best friend,

martha ann lost her husband. their coach misreading. they are helping them each other through. this >> there was something else. >> chuck said that he was not feeling good. she was having issues with her back. >> but may sense and would produce her tours at home. bob loved animals. but the menagerie was too much for martha and. so her son, shawn, helped her downsize. >> bob had an animal rescue in his home. he had seven dogs. a couple of cats, chickens, some goats. she started to get rid of all of these animals as soon as he had passed away. >> then there were other changes. weeks after bob's death, martha and invited debbie and her husband to celebrate chuck's birthday. dinner at chuck's place.

>> when we got there, martha and dining room set was in chucks dining room. >> what did you think when you saw that? >> i said, your furniture is up here? and she said it's certainly suits his house a whole lot better than mine. >> but they are just? friends >> they are friends. they are. friends. >> still, how close were they getting? >> i called her one day and i said -- they are taking a cruise. >> debbie and her husband had gotten an incredible deal on the weeklong caribbean cruise. >> and she said, do you think chuck and i can go along on that cruise? and it was like someone had just dropped a bomb on my head. >> chuck and i? >> i said if there are still spaces available, i am sure she would be able to accommodate you. >> it turned out, there was still space. and martha and and chalk shared a cabin. >> so we are on this cruise ship and every bit of it they are dressed matching.

>> now, at mealtimes, when the waiter took orders, chuck spoke for martha ann. >> chuck would speak up and say, the lady will have -- and then he would order for her. >> when guests around the table rolled their eyes, said debbie, martha ann went stiff. >> she said my mother taught etiquette. and a waiter would never have the nerve to speak to a lady. >> oh, my goodness. >> we were all just speechless, we were like, hello? do you know what century we are living in? we are allowed to order for ourselves. i was just absolutely floored that you would make a statement like that. a waiter would never have the nerve to speak to a lady. >> wow. >> and i thought, never one that is not chuck. but he would know what's right for to use, excuse me. >> debbie outlast confronted her good friend and that is when the other shoe dropped. >> i looked at her and i said, are you and chuck together?

and she said yes. and i said are you going to get married? and she said heavens no! >> though she was surprised, debbie wanted her good friend to be happy. and when the docked -- ship docked in mexico, they went shopping and went back to the liner and compare their treasures. >> i said, what did you guys get? and martha and said, you will just have to wait and see. very mysterious. and it was kind of fun. >> a few weeks after the cruise, and months after bob's death, martha ann invited debbie and her husband to lunch. >> she said i have something to show you. and i said to her, is this our

cozumel surprise. and she pulls out a ring box that has the most gorgeous ring that you would never lay eyes on. it was breathtaking. >> rings? >> and i went, oh my god! this is exciting. i can't believe it. >> they were not getting married immediately, but when that time came, martha ann assured debbie, she would play the supporting role. >> she said i want you to be the maid of honor. and i said i am excited, i would love to be! i am ecstatic for you. and i would be glad to be are maid of honor. >> big deal to be asked? >> big deal. >> so, in spite of the apparent sticking around, thought debbie, there was something almost poetic about the romance between martha ann and chuck. and maybe even bob would approve. >> i was just happy that the two of you have found one another. i know we have lost someone dear to us but something good has come out of this. so congratulations! >> and besides romance, there was so much more to celebrate. martha ann and chuck were going

places. they were about to be transformed from local tennessee romantic partners into a sophisticated washington, d. c. power couple. only in america. coming up. >> she met a man from the fbi and she would be traveling on secret missions. >> flying on air force two, or something? >> right. the vice president. >> martha ann sudden change of fortune. >> sitting at my house is this gorgeous 350,000 dollar motor home bus. >> wow. >> and it was to die for. when dateline continues.

it was five months or so after bob step, late 2006. martha ann and chuck were about to move up in the world. martha ann broke the news to bob sister, kathy. she had parlayed her office wizardry into a big high-profile adventure with the federal government. she would be spending time in washington, d. c.. >> she told me one day that she met a man from the fbi and he offered her a job as a secretary. she was getting a security clearance and she would be traveling out of the country on secret missions. >> as a secretary?

>> yes. >> it wasn't long before martha ann was promoted, as she told kathy. she was transferred to the state department. very hush hush. she had a limo at her disposal, two passports, and with a government pension would have no worries again. her schedule filled up fast. she was moving in the highest circles. she was already working for, or flying on, air force two? >> with the vice president. >> including traveled to undisclosed locations. >> she is hard to get a hold of? >> there was no way of getting hold of her. >> john, though he moved to tennessee with the wife in the kids and became a bridge inspector, couldn't reach his mom either. >> i would call my mom to check in on her.

and she would go missing for a month at a time, two months at a time. you could not reach her by cell phone or home phone. as we find out, she's out traveling the country. >> though she was clearly very busy, martha ann along with chuck, carved out time giving back to volunteer. together, they traveled the country, visiting military facilities. they presided over dedications and ceremonies honoring troops. chuck handed flags to war widows in cemeteries. >> chuck would go out with all these medals and he would go to a local high school and two veteran parades. >> he also re-connected with the guys that he had served with way back when. they were called old times. >> when i first met chuck, he had just started his training. he fit in like all the other guys. he was one of us. >> he seemed to be a nice guy. >> bill walter and p. j. koch are combat veterans who, with chuck, were gunners in some of the most powerful gunships in vietnam.

they lost touch, easy to do in such a sprawling military. but, decades later, p. j. ran into chuck and a reunion -- called the specter association. >> it was kind of good to see the guy who is the guy was served with. i understood he completed his career like i did, i served 22, years bill served 30, we gave our whole lives to this unit. >> back in the old days, said bill, chuck's nickname was kaz now kaz has gone up to the lowest ranks to the highest. >> and i said hey, kaz what's up? he said i retired here years ago. >> i said, what was your rank? >> he said i retired as a chief. >> i said really? >> chuck flashed his metals.

>> and chuck says, you guys should check your classified records. the va checked my classified records and i found out i got a bunch of high letters from my operation in vietnam. >> chuck invited p. j. to his home in knoxville tennessee. >> i personally saw these awards on the wall at his house up in tennessee. >> what did you think when you saw them? >> i was floored. i said, that's really great, you've got these. he said oh yeah, the finally released them from classification, here they are. >> chuck had an idea. he figured the specter association could benefit from martha anne's high political savvy. >> wow, hey, anybody who volunteers to help is great. >> as the months went by, martha anne carved out time from his schedule to become association secretary. >> she was our recorder. >> yes. >> she was really good at taking down notes and making paper and so forth.

>> association members were so impressed with the couple, that chuck was promoted to the board, he and martha traveled representing and making a mascot. there was time for fun as well. they reveled in the newfound happiness. they enjoyed the new responsibilities and of course also decided to live a little. >> just under nowhere, they said, we would certainly like to have an rv. my wife says, well my boss is selling a beautiful rv. of course they went and looked at the rv, they liked it a lot. so, they made him an offer. >> right next to the rv, chuck noticed a garage to anniversary edition corvette. tempting, we even though he had a mercedes convertible already. >> i said, i like corvette as well. show me that. next thing you know, they bought the corvette as well. >> pretty soon they were parading nor knew cars for

their friend debbie. >> a hair knock on the door, i opened the door, sitting in front of my hills is this gorgeous, 350,000 dollar motor home bus. >> wow. >> it was to die for. this is when the wealthy of the wealthiest drive. it had been custom-made. >> to debbie and others, martha ann and chuck had made it. they put bobs painful death behind them, and we're now a high powered couple doing good things, living well. the sort of success a person wants to share. in early 2008, chuck relished the opportunity to share with a group of young people, stories about his many combat exploits. what do you know? he made his speech and there was a reporter in the room, writing it all down for the local paper. oops. >> coming up, she said, there is more to this story. >> new lives that seemed like a dream. but chuck and martha ann were

in for a very rude awakening. >> the bs alarms are going off in my head like you wouldn't believe. >> when dateline continues. [announcer] carvana has hundreds of thousands of five star reviews and counting. to be honest, i thought it was almost too smooth, financing, every step. there were no surprises. well, my monthly payment did come out lower than expected. financing my car with carvana was super smooth. [announcer] finance your next car with carvana today. after advil. feeling better? on top of the worlddddd!!! before advil.

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and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. amazing, isn't it? home of the xfinity 10g network. how life can change on a dime? >> in the spring of 2006, martha ann was burying her husband, a great love, bob mcclancy. by the end of the year though, she had rebuilt her life and had a new partner, chuck. in the meantime, bob sister kathy had questions for martha ann about chuck, but couldn't reach him. what with the state department, travel schedule, and air duties -- >> i wanted to give him the

benefit of the doubt, but at the time when i told my oldest sister what was going on, she said oh, there is more to the story. >> kathy still wanted answers about her brother's death but, you know how people can start to sound like broken records? >> i think why family, friends, probably everybody was tired of hearing me say this isn't right, i know something had to have happened. >> when martha ann found the time to respond to kathy, she told her she was imagining things. >> did she accuse your meddling? >> yeah. she said, your brother always said that you always had to get in people's business, you can never just let things lie. >> and i guess that was true. i don't stop until i find out. >> then she said, martha and got even more snippy. >> she literally told me i needed psychiatric help. i needed to get over the fact that my brother killed himself. i said, i will never, i will never believe that. >> kathy was in the only one getting the brush off from martha ann. remember how martha ann decided that when she eventually got married her best friend debbie

would be the maid of honor? at the monthly corvette club in -- debbie got a surprise when she asked new members to stand. all of a sudden i hear this, hi, my name is chuck kasmeryk we've bought a new addition corvette. >> hang on a second -- when he got up in the back that day, and he said i'm check this is my wife, this is the first you knew they were married? >> this was how i found out. >> you must have been asleep that day when you are made of honor? >> i must have been. >> so i said chuck, you know, actually i was kind of hurt. >> not surprised. >> i said, you know, when did you all get married? >> oh, we went on a cruise and we got married on the beach down in some island. >> i said, wow. you know, i'm happy for you. >> and it still hurt, but i am happy for you. >> rude awakening, but nothing compared to the morning early in 2008, soon after chuck gave

his speech to a group of students eager to hear about his many and heroic combat experiences, and a story about chuck's dog appeared in the newspaper. read it reacted with outrage. at the same time, the walter reese hearing about chuck from another veterans group. >> he is telling all of his war stories, these guys were like, we never have even heard of you before. we had these reunions for 30 summoned years, this is the first one. your name isn't anywhere on here. >> special forces guys like bill and b j. didn't brag about their service. >> i am like, he is just some guy spouting off, talking trash, trying to impress his buddies. >> people want to aggrandize their service, right? >> yes, some guys do this, but it is very rare around our people. especially if you are doing it

in front of our own people. >> the veterans called chuck out. >> chuck went home, all mad, because they challenged him. they cannot challenge me. >> chuck sent the group's official military records, just to prove he was telling the truth. he also told them, due to an emergency, he would be dropping out of circulation for a while. he wouldn't be able to attend any more reunions anytime soon. >> and the bs alarms are going off in my head like you wouldn't believe. >> then on the others and form the air force, than the air force contact with endurance administration. >> i want to check this guy out. >> the job fell to federal marine and inspector general here in -- this is a case of a career i don't think a working thing like this again just because the different effects -- twists and turns. >> twists and turns that would end up leading to a chilling conclusion. right away, here is what made her.

>> the people who had served with him were warm fanatic that he added participated in these missions he specifically talked about. iran hostage missions, being on the fall of saigon, vietnam. >> the city was there -- he said he was there for all the big stuff? >> yes. >> first up was to check his service record, so we went back to the air force and was surprised by what he found in chucks files, not what he expected. >> his records did contain items substantiating significant combat service in vietnam, and after vietnam. >> did he have a silver star? >> purple heart. >> some very high. >> this is big deal stuff. >> very high awards. they were substantiated by names, and socials, and names of missions, dates that these missions took place. >> so, as far as the air force knew, he was on the up and up. >> yes. >> which presented a dilemma for the da investigator. >> you got really good-looking documents that are sitting in somebody's living room and saying, these are bs? >> yes. >> from the air for service members that i heard served

with him, every one of them was emphatic that he did not participate in any combat it all. >> at all? >> yeah. >> he went back to the air force and ask them to double check. >> the air force really started pouring over these documents and commissions and the order numbers, and rather quickly determined that these were all forged documents. they were not legitimate. >> as chuck had been in the air force, yes, but no act of heroism. chuck had doctored old mission orders, putting his name, and official looking stamps, all convincing enough he was able to get the documents entered into his own air force record. >> they got to an awful lot of trouble to lie about his service. >> he did. >> if you lied about his service, they wondered what else the phony war hero might be hiding? so he kept digging, because down deep, where it really gets mucky, evil waves, and quite

possibly, evidence of an unimaginable crime. coming up, nate would launch a special investigation to learn the truth. >> we started doing surveillance on charles and martha ann. chuck in a wheelchair? exactly what were they up to. a crime far darker than anything investigators imagined. >> it just, really, really gave you the sense of whoever did this was very evil. when dateline continues. when dateline continues. ion back pain... yo! uh! ha! ha! [dog bark] what? my back feels better. before advil... new advil dual action back pain fights back pain two ways. for 8 hours of relief. type 2 diabetes? fights back pain two ways. discover the ozempic® tri-zone. in my ozempic® tri-zone, i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults

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swirl. like lies. there is gold in there, somewhere, so they say. >> chuck would go out with all these medals and he would go to a local high school and two veterans parades. >> he also re-connected with -- martha who had never dawned a military uniform in her life showed up at a veterans retreat and claimed that she too had rank and metals and combat experience, she showed off a purple heart. >> several of the attendees at this retreat particularly remember her talking about working at the pentagon being at the pentagon during that

9/11 attacks. and charles was also telling people that she is a full bird colonel. >> nobody questioned her then? >> no. they believed her. >> but nate discovered that military glory, that big time government career didn't exist. any of it. there was no high-profile state department job in washington d. c., no travel abroad air force two with the vice president, no secret undisclosed locations. they were all the fantastic stories of tough sophisticated con artists. a con that wasn't about social prestige either, it was about cash. chuck and his documents? >> i knew we had a very substantial fraud case because those documents in particular were used to get benefit money from the va and social security

documents a source documents that gave legitimacy to his. claim >> chuck was claiming thousands of dollars a month and disability payments. then, look at this. it looked like was martha ann was helping chuck. for example, she signed on statements we for supporting checks claim for 100% disability. >> she claimed that he wouldn't be able to feed himself. help himself, he couldn't bathe, he would wander around the house aimlessly. >> guys in bad shape. >> really bad shape. he should be getting more money from the va than but they are paying him. >> tonight it looked like he uncovered a major scam. and if chuck was scamming at the va, what was martha ann up to? nate ran her name and what do you know, martha ann she was getting social security disability payments herself. >> she claimed to have back

issues where she couldn't walk, she was wheelchair bound. >> and he did find out that martha ann was entitled to some of her dead husband's benefits. she was coming. more they were calling the government for about $10,000 a month. nate wanted martha ann and chuck to be charged with fraud. but he needed proof that they were lying about being disabled. so -- >> we started doing surveillance on martha ann and chuck. >> nate got in the back of surveillance a van with a camera and waited. >> we had several agents participating in surveillance. >> and it wasn't long before martha and and chuck appeared outside their home. here they are, supposedly disabled people. but by the look of it, perfectly fit. >> we observed them doing hours and hours of yard work. outside of their home.

>> strenuous stuff. >> very strenuous stuff. for hours at a time. in their knoxville house. watch them pressure washing their driveway and house. clearing brush. >> bending over, no sign of back trouble, lifting heavy objects. but look at this. here they are arriving at the va for one of chuck's regular assessments. you assume that they were gonna change? >> we quickly found out that this was the case. >> martha ann lifts a heavy wheelchair out of the car. she wheels him into the center. sometimes when they followed martha ann -- >> she was moving pretty good where you would sweat trying to keep up with her. >> and when martha ann had her appointments? she and chuck would switch positions. >> it became humourist. >> the couple had only one wheelchair so nate got to thinking. and -- here's how dr. seuss would

write it, and then nate got an idea, a wonderful, devious idea. which is true in a way, isn't it? >> yes. >> what if nate arranged the schedule so that martha ann and chuck had their appointments at the very same time. who would get in the wheelchair there, he wondered? what happened? >> coming up, a conniving couple caught in a trap. >> this can't be true. >> when dateline continues.

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investigator nate had such a trap. he knew martha ann and chuck had one wheelchair as they faked disability. so he set up appointments other security facility at the same time. >> so they arrived at the facility and then, as we suspected, they only had one wheelchair. so charles, instead of using a wheelchair, he had a walker. and a cane.

>> a walker and a cane? >> both. >> and a knee brace. >> still flooded. he was toting an oxygen tank as well. >> as chuck fumbled his way inside, nate and his agents were waiting. busted. >> i interviewed charles. we pulled him into an office. and then martha ann was being questioned by another va agent and social security administration. >> martha ann and chuck kaczmarczyk had been found out. chuck was no decorated hero. he was never in combat. no silver stars. no purple hearts. those ribbons, all fake. and martha, had never walked the hallways of the pentagon as a marine colonel, much less present at a 9/11 attack, or flew on air force two. they confessed to perpetuating

a complex and massive fraud and fake disability claims. how do you and your agents ever encountered anyone as complex the fraudulent? >> i'll never work another case like this in my career. >> but another sinister detail was about to unfold. family and friends were only finding out about the fraud over early morning coffee, martha ann's best friend debbie was reading her newspaper. >> i'm thinking to myself, this cannot be true. this cannot be true. so i start yelling at the top of my lungs. jim! get up! you have to see this. >> debbie's husband, jim, is a marine veteran. they couldn't believe what they were reading. >> fooled the federal government, stole money from the veterans. >> was it money that mattered? >> no it was the fact that they got it out of a veterans pockets that need it. that is -- that just sticks in my --

that hurts. >> it must be something to know that this woman who was your best friend hid herself from you and conned you all these years. >> absolutely. she took me for a complete sucker. >> chuck too. >> he would go and present the flags to the widow of a veteran who had lost his life. that is cruel. the people that he took in under that do not deserve that. >> and it wasn't long before sean and jen were reading online in disbelief about shawn's own mother martha ann caught in and outrageous fraud with chalk. >> we found out the day after that they were arrested on eight federal indictments. >> that's how you found? >> that's how we found out.

>> major hard stop. >> very overwhelming. >> martha ann stole her dead husband's valor. >> she never says shared a single day in any armed services. she assumed bob's purple heart and told these veterans groups that that was her purple heart that she received in 9/11, pentagon attack. >> by early 2013, martha ann and chuck were sentenced -- >> chuck has 30 months federal, and martha ann got 20. >> they spent most of their ill gotten gains, of course. so before her prison sentence, martha ann decided to sell the house for restitution. >> she started boxing up all of her belongings and selling things. closing up the house. >> but martha ann was a notorious pack rat. she had kept everything. trunks full of clothes, thousands of pages of receipts, contracts, documents. so what did she do? she gave them to her son shawn and his wife jen for safekeeping. >> she asked me to do something,

i will do it. >> in a way, i suppose, if she gave things to you then the feds, or the other investigative agencies, wouldn't have access to them. >> well yes. >> but when those boxes of records arrived, sean and jen dived and ravenous lee to see what they could uncover. >> who keeps all of those documents? >> 30,000. >> that must have been some job going through all of this stuff. >> it was overwhelming. it was. >> i did feel conflicted about digging into my mom's affairs. but i had to know the truth. >> then, shawn turned on one of the computers his mom had sent for safekeeping. he intended their kids to use it, so he wanted to make sure it was clean. he checked the trash bin and could not believe what he saw. >> there were photos of my stepdad, bob, deceased. >> dead. >> dead. there are many photos in there.

>> there were photos of bob mcclancy lying dead in his recliner in 2006. >>what was it like to see those pictures? >> disturbing. >> here where the pictures that told an entirely different story to what shawn and jen knew. >> one picture, bob would have a pistol, and in another picture he would have a bottle of pills in the other. and another picture, bob would have a bottle of pills and nothing in the other hand. >> it was odd how he was in the chair. the way his leg was placed, looking back at, that you could tell that that was body manipulation. >> the pictures didn't appear to be police photos because they were all apparently taken before any police arrived on the scene. >> so you called the cops? >> right away. >> shawn, conflicted, was suddenly faced with the prospect that he may be implicating his own mom. torn, he called nate, the va investigator, and began to tell him all about bob mcclancy's death in 2006. >> he said i want to talk to you about this and get it off

my chest. if there is nothing to it great, g but i think it needs to be investigated. >> it was a pulling string. >> yes. >> and now the string lead back in time, six years back. to that business all afternoon in the tennessee hills when chuck called 9-1-1 to report a suicide. >> it was part of a very complex, evil scheme. that was the sense that i got when i first saw the photographs. >> so maybe this was not after all just a fraud case. maybe, he thought, someone had gotten away with murder. coming up, the old suspicions about chuck. what had happened to the investigation all those years ago? >> it was devastating. i felt guilty. >> like you blown it? >> yes. >> when dateline continues. on top of the worlddddd!!! before advil. look at the limited time with

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>> here are the hours top stories in jacksonville florida, authorities say three people were killed in a racially motivated shooting saturday before the gunman killed himself. the identities of the three victims have not been publicly released. the fbi is investigating the shooting as a hate crime. in an oklahoma, a shooting at a high school football game left a 16 year old boy dead. at least four other people were injured, so far, no arrests have been made. investigators are still searching for a person of interest. now, back to dateline. ateline. the special agent nate had martha ann mcclancy and chuck kaczmarczyk for fraud, but his investigation was about to take a sudden turn to evil. he had learned about the

suspicious photos sean and jen found on the computer that martha ann had given them. pictures of bob dead. >> shawn has contacted the u. s. attorney saying i have some information that you might know, that you might need. >> there are a lot of conversations between sean and nate, nate and i. >> need learned that there had been investigation into bob mcclancy's death six years earlier. remember the detective jones? >> i just walked into the residence. it is the mcclancy residence. the mr. mcclancy appears to be expired. >> what that -- avoiding cpr on his best. friend and was staging that perhaps too convenient, do not resuscitate order. it turned out that the detective had good reason to want to question chalk. after he discovered a digital camera inside of a backpack. who found the camera? >> i did. >> did you assume anything about its ownership, or

anything like that? >> i just assume that it belonged to the residents, the mcclancy. >> did you think that as you are opening it up, maybe i should be doing? >> this it didn't cross my mind at the time. it was standard practice. >> on the assumption that it you needed to have a -- did not see need a search warrant for that guy's camera? >> yeah. >> on the camera where pictures of the deceased, bob mcclancy. his body positioned differently than the way the police found him. they were the same pictures sean later found on the computer, some showing bob mcclancy holding a revolver, others the revolver and the pill bottle. what did you think when you saw that? >> that we had a staged scene. >> a staged scene, so maybe of a crime? >> yes. >> that's when the detective

decided to question chuck. >> we took him down to the sheriff's office. >> the sheriff's office confronted with the photo evidence, chuck's story changed dramatically. his first statement to the police had been that he arrived at the house after bob died and called 9-1-1. now, he said, when he arrived, bob wasn't quite dead. but was taking his last gasps. >> he had come home, found mr. mcclancy -- said he was still alive. he was barely breathing. >> chuck said he was the one who staged the scene and took the photos because he didn't know bob was going to die. and hoped that photos of his friends suffering could leverage better benefits from the va. >> did you think that he could've killed his friend bob? >> i thought was possible. >> at the time, detective jones believe that he had at least a case of negligence. >> the negligence cause death, that was the evidence we had at the time. >> if he had moved quicker or

called 9-1-1 sooner, or try to do cpr or something, he would've been alive? >> he let him die before he called 9-1-1. >> chuck was charged with tempering with evidence and criminal negligence. >> so it seemed like you had him then. >> that's what we thought. >> but that's not what happened. before the case could go to trial, a judge ruled the photos taken by chuck were not admissible in the court of law. why? the camera belonged to chuck, not bob. and detective jones had gathered the photos without a search warrant. the case against chuck kaczmarczyk collapsed. >> go back to that time when you got that ruling, and was basically thrown, out you weren't going to get that case at all, what was that like? >> it was devastating. >> did you feel as if you were responsible? >> i did. i felt guilty about it.

>> like you had blown it? >> yes. >> six years later, in 2012, chuck was a convicted con man. investigator nate was looking at the very same images on the computer. >> i knew that the local sheriff's department had some suspicions that chuck had done something but weren't able to substantiate anything through charges being able to stick. >> but the nate, maybe chuck was up to his lying eyeballs and mcclancy's death. >> it gave you the sense of, whoever said -- set this up and whoever took these pictures was very evil. >> chuck had taken the pictures. but what were they doing on the computer shawn got from his mother, martha ann? then, nate and the state investigators who joined him, they came up with the plan. they'd put sean and jen on the spot. they would get sean to spy on his mom. shawn was about to become an undercover agent. coming up --

what's it like to phone your mother knowing that you are going to be putting her on tape? >> it had to be done. i asked her why the pictures were. there >> she said, photos of bob? >> when dateline continues. advil targets pain at the source of inflammation. when pain comes for you, come back fast with advil liqui-gels. kayaking is my thing. running is awesome. but her moderate to severe eczema would make her skin so uncomfortable. now i'm staying ahead of it. dupixent helps heal your skin from within. 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. don't change or stop asthma medicines without talking to your doctor. ask your doctor about dupixent. icy hot.

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row=12> it should be noted that shawn's relationship with his mother martha ann, was never particularly warm. martha ann wasn't exactly the cuddly protective type. >> i think i was more scared of my mom, looking back. remember, shawn had been adopted as an infant by martha ann and her first husband and he said his mom was strict,

quick to punish if you crossed a line. >> he knew it was a, your life was not going to be as pleasant for a period of time. >> what did you think when you saw her treating sean that way? >> it made me angry. >> even so, shawn tried to stay loyal to his mom. but now, he was about to go against her in a way he had never imagined. he had seen the photos of dead -- bobsled, body contact and the agent, and now he and jen were turning up things for the investigation. >> we were coming across all these -- what we would call -- crazy, crazy documents. we couldn't wrap our brain around them. >> one of those documents was bob's will. bob had married before he had married martha ann he hadn't seen his daughter in a long time. >> he wanted nothing to do with her. i don't want you to know better death. i am leaving you $1 of my

estate. >> the warning seemed especially harsh. >> i didn't know bob mcclancy. most fathers would not write something that cruel to their own daughter. i just realized, this is not adding up. it just was very, very suspicious. >> bob sister kathy thought it was fishy too. >> i know wasn't bobby's will. even said that to my daughters. uncle bobby would never put that in here. >> no, never. >> nate concluded that marks the end, the sole beneficiary forged the will. >> it came from martha ann? >> yes, the will in particular ended up being a major part of the investigation. >> and then, they discovered a curious date or dates. martha ends wedding to chuck. >> if you wait until after you turn 57 and remarried then, you can keep the benefits for the rest of your life. she ended up marrying chuck in las vegas nevada one day after her 57th birthday, which

allowed her to keep the va benefits associated with bob, for the rest of her life. >> martha ann used the same formula to gain her social insurance benefits from her ex husband. >> there were certain issues that she could not marry prior to her 60th birthday. -- >> yes, they soon got married earlier again. >> three days to the date after the first marriage. they had essentially to marriage states. >> with so much compelling evidence against martha ann and chuck, they figured it was more than a coincidence that martha ann had married the man who was most likely to be with her husband bob. if chuck had murdered bob, and martha ann who had married chuck just five months after bob's death must have known something. >> we never really believe she could be capable of killing

bob. >> just, who would do such a thing? >> well, and we knew chuck was the last person with bob. so we really didn't think martha was the one that had killed bob. i think we both believed that it was chuck. >> but, they wanted to be sure. if there was a murder conspiracy, maybe a son could find out from his mother. >> they decided to recruit sean, get him to wear a wire, place a call to his mother martha and. and ask her what she knew about the photos. shawn agreed. >> so, he was willing to make a phone call and we gave him a recording device. >> what's it like to phone your mother knowing that you are going to be putting her on the spot that way on tape with somebody listening? >> well, it had to be done. >> were you nervous? >> i was nervous -- but at the same time, -- >> you've got to know. >> you have to know. >> shawn's wife jen was

listening as the call began. >> we talked for about 45 minutes to one hour. >> he is like, hey mom, the kids were on the computer over the weekend, when i got in the trash i found like over 100 photographs in there of bob dead. >> i asked her why the pictures were there. >> and she said, photos of bob? >> she started saying, i think those are police photos, shawn. >> he said mom, these photos are not police photos. >> he has a pill bottle and pistol, and then they are not there. >> her idea of that was to say shawn, delete those photographs. that was what we were looking for. >> what do you think when you got of fthe phone call? did you think, this woman was part of it? >> i really started thinking that she is guilty. she has more of a role in bob's death, then she put on. >> nate agreed, and with this

suspicious will, the wedding dates in the photos of bob's death scene, nate and his investigated believed they were dealing with the conspiracy, that bob had not killed himself with an overdose of antidepressants, but had been deliberately poisoned. as they confronted their two suspects, one of them was about to sing like a canary. coming up, -- >> it was chuck's idea, he did it. >> a dramatic courtroom showdown, chuck versus martha ann. >> did you kill your husband? >> no sir, i did not. >> when dateline continues. astepro allergy, steroid free allergy relief that starts working in 30 minutes, while other allergy sprays take hours. with astepro's unbeatably fast allergy relief you can astepro and go!

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kaczmarczyk, to reveal finally the real story of that deadly monday in 2006. who did what, and why? then, out came the investigators, smiles on their faces, chuck talked. >> that was kind of like the combination of everything, knowing that what we had suspected was correct. >> nate understood falwell. the stage was set for an epic she said he said battle with between two major con artists. they couldn't know which story would win. nate was pretty sure the one finally telling the truth was chuck. >> we didn't suspect it anymore, now we know. >> in november 2015, in madison ville tennessee, martha and my clancy went on trial mcclancy went on trial. >> she was charged with conspiracy to commit first degree murder. >> attorney matthew rogers was

appointed to defend, accusing to interfere with her ptsd medications and conspiring with her lumberjack, to make bob's death look like a suicide. then, stealing bob's benefits. the guilty verdict could mean the death penalty. but martha ann was fully able to defend herself with an absolute blanket denial. >> she maintained her innocence from the very beginning. she made it very clear that she wanted to speak with the jury, and to tell her side of the story. >> there were no cameras in the courtroom, but microphones were allowed. >> bob was the love of my life. i couldn't have imagined losing him. and i didn't want to lose him, i didn't want to be without him. >> and besides, she testified, she didn't need to kill her husband. >> there are these allegations that you and chuck wherein some sort of financial issues? >> no sir, absolutely not. i had my own money.

i had my own funds. >> to this day, would you be better off with bob mcclancy still being around. >> absolutely. >> martha ann mcclancy did not benefit from mcclancy being dead. she would have his military benefits for his military service whether he had been alive or whether he had passed. >> chuck played martha ann like a fiddle. >> mrs. mcclancy was snowed by mr. kaczmarczyk's calm just as the government had been and numerous occasions in the past. mrs. mcclancy was another victim of mr. kaczmarczyk. >> he had never indicated to me in any way that he had lied about what he had done in the military, about one he had received. i thought he had all these awards. >> lying chuck? said attorney rodgers, he would say anything to avoid the

blame. >> what did chuck not lie about. he is a habitual liar. that is proven and documented. i was in a position to attack his credibility, that was very hard. >> it was chuck who forged bob's will, said matt and. she went along with it because of the content of the whale was what bob wanted. >> that was initially chuck's idea? >> it was chuck's idea, he did it. >> you acknowledged they had gone along with that. >> i did go along with it. >> she had no idea, she said, that chuck was planning to take those awful pictures. and one question about the flashy government job she told bob sister kathy about in washington d. c., martha and simply scoffed and said it was a joke. >> i mean, it was just a hoax that's all in the world that was. it was a hoax to, more or less, get her to stop bugging me. >> attorney rodgers took martha

and, back to the day that bob died. a normal day, she said. >> you went to work that day? >> yes sir i went to work that day. >> she didn't have a clue that anything was wrong, she testified, until she arrived home after 6 pm. >> a young detective came in and to hold my hand and he said this is going to be the most difficult thing you ever hear. she said, your husband has passed away. >> conspiracy with chap? of course not, she said. >> did you and chad have a conversation about getting rid of your husband? >> no. we did not. i don't know where he has come up with this. >> the first time she heard about a murder conspiracy was after she told chuck she wanted to divorce him, in 2012. >> i didn't know about it until much later on when this wild concocted story of having murdered my husband was told for the first time.

it was told by chuck has more sick. >> did you kill your husband? >> no sir, i did not. i did not kill bob mcclancy i had nothing to do with killing bob mcclancy. i cannot tell you anything more than what i know that he died of a drug overdose. >> and that was martha ann's story, every ward of it was true, she swore. >> if martha ann believes her husband was murdered, she would stay it wished chuck kaczmarczyk. he was there with bob mcclancy when he died. he was the one who took photographs of mr. mcclancy, and manipulated the crime of the death weather was a crime scene or not. >> but, battle of the corn artist was just getting started. and the prosecutors believed they had a strong case. >> what was the most important piece of evidence in your view? >> the most important piece of evidence, of course, was the confession taken from chuck kaczmarczyk.

>> and what a darkened davis story of murder, chuck was about to tell. >> coming up. >> he had said we will make it look as natural as possible. >> powerful testimony from the star witness, and from a reluctant son. >> she looked at me as if she wished i was dead. >> when dateline continues. but blendjet■s back to school sale is in full swing! blendjet gives you ice-crushing, big blender power on the go so you can whip up a mouthwatering beverage wherever you are. enjoy 15 plus blends before rapidly recharging via usb-c.

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the years of fraud, the money in position and goodwill stolen from honest veterans, were only in the background. >> martha, charged with premeditated first degree murder face the death penalty. >> a lot of work went into this case, 12,000 pages of documents.

>> cindy and mac then district attorneys who took on the huge and difficult task a boiling down a story every bit as convoluted as it was devious. to be able to tell it in such a simple story so 12 people off the street understand it that's. >> that's really complicated to do. >> that was a hard thing. >> they prosecuted a hard test it a really good strategy. >> the old case method keep it simple stupid. >> they presented the evidence obama clancy's forged whale and the wedding dates, but not chucks photos which had collapsed the case in 2006, instead, they showed the jury police photos. while shawn described the photos he found. all as he faced his own mother. >> she looked at me as if she

wished i was dead. she looked at me with the most hate i had ever seen from anyone. >> when bob sister kathy testified. >> i want to jump over the bench and choker. i thought, that won't get me any place. she just sat there. she showed no emotion. just cold. coldhearted person. >> at last, martha and fate rested in the hands of a state star witness. her lying husband, chuck, now on the stand. >> chuck began at the beginning when he met bob at the ptsd clinic in 2006. >> did he ever express anything suicidal thoughts to you? >> no. >> then bob and produced him to martha ann, said chuck. they began an affair, she began scheming to do away with bob. >> she had mentioned on several occasions that she liked to get rid of him, and if he won away, we could be together. >> she made all the.

this isn't, said chuck. >> the detective agreed. >> it showed she was the mastermind. >> it turns up before he died, that she was put in charge of all of his meds, that bob was not allowed to have any access to his own modifications whatsoever. >> days before chuck died, martha ground up the pills into something she called magic dust. >> she had fixed his favorite meal for him, then afterwards remarked that she had used magic dust on it. >> the doses got bigger, and bob more disoriented. it was martha ann's ideas said chuck, to rush bob to the va hospital. suffered apparent overdoses. to reinforce that he was suicidal. and then two days after his last trip to the va hospital.

>> i was pretty sure she was gonna give him a lethal dose of the drugs because, she was so specific about me being there at a certain period of the day on that day. >> she told him specifically, i'm going to load him up with some magic dust before i leave for work. she said, you come over and find him, he should be dead by then. i will be at work. i will have an alibi. >> even if i find him dead, just make it simple, keep it simple. make it look as natural as possible. we make it look like a suicide. >> then chuck confessed, he staged the scene. >> i took some photos, there was also a bottle of pills that i put in his hand and also a gun. >> those photos, intended as leverage to try to squeeze more money out of the va, and the gun? chuck claimed it was to honor the wishes of a former detective to die with a gun in his hand. >> you thought it was an

honorable thing to do the bob while you are planning and killing him while slipping with his wife? >> i wasn't killing him. >> you won't killing him. while you were letting him die and slipping with his wife. >> yes. >> i think there were evil but the root of their evil was their greed. >> there it was. martha had poisoned bob and truck was her willing servant. >> match made in. >> hell they wanted money. >> close to $1 million. >> the motive? they wanted to be together. and they wanted. money >> how much money? >> close to 1 million dollars. >> the prosecution rested with a scathing indictment of martha and. >> to have your husband die in stages thinking that he was losing his mind because you keep overdosing with these drugs until you get to the fatal dose. and it's hard to comprehend how some people can be that evil. >> how would the jury judge martha? >> the jury was out for quite

awhile? >> yes, scared is badly. >> we didn't know whether we had won or lost. >> sean and debbie, and kathy, they were all in court, nervous. >> hearts racing. >> i have waited ten years and i was just trying to hold myself together. >> then it came. >> we the jury, find the defendant martha ann, not guilty of defense in first degree murder. >> not guilty. a wave of disappointment washed through the room. >> i wish she would've gotten the death penalty, both her and chuck. >> the jury was unfinished. >> we the jury -- >> martha ann was guilty of conspiracy to murder. and attempted murder. >> it wasn't really a happy feeling that i'm glad justice was served. but i still thought why did you have to kill him? >> do you think they got it right that she was the one primarily responsible?

>> yes. she was a real can either. >> chuck had already made hay's deal, he had already pleaded guilty to murder conspiracy and got 25 years in prison. >> does chuck's sentence make sense to you? >> he did conspire and his sister in this. >> he was necessary to be able to prove the case against her. when you look at that, it makes sense. >> in june 2016, when it was martha ends turn to receive her sentence, she clung to a walker, faking disability again? that's with the prosecutors believe and then the judge tore into her. >> the slow poisoning, and slipping of life from an individual's exceptionally heinous. >> he gave her the max, 50 years. and although that was halved on appeal martha and may serve the rest of her life in prison. >> i am a firm believer that caramel will get you. i think it's got her.

ex best friend debbie, was relieved. >> absolutely the epitome of evil. she was the meanest, cruelest, and she didn't get away with it. that made me feel a little bit better about it. >> and for the detective who believe nearly ten years earlier that chuck was guilty, it was vindication. the fact of the matter is, if you are not with the camera and open up those photographs, we would be sitting here talking today. >> no. and justice would've never gotten served for the plaintiffs family. >> so, it came out all right after all? >> it did. it took a while, but it did. >> yes, it did. no small thanks to martha and's son, sean. >> no child should ever have to testify against the parent. >> that was the hardest thing you ever did? >> that was the hardest thing. >> and he hasn't been the same since finding out about his moms monstrous crimes. >> i think he had a lot of

trouble wrapping his head around it, and believing that she was capable of this. bob was a man of right. he was a detective, he was a marine. he would fight for justice for strangers, and there was no way that he was going to go down like that and be silenced that way. >> but, there was one more piece of unfinished business. sean, remember, was adopted. >> i had always been told that i would never find out where i was actually from. or who my birth parents would be. >> even after a florida court denied him access to his adoption records, it was determined to find his birth parents. he ended up getting in tension with ancestry dna. what do you know? >> we basically hit the bull's-eye, immediately. >> wow. >> which is crazy. >> they found his birth father, living in maine. >> it feels amazing, overwhelming. >> not long after for speaking with his birth father, shawn

traveled to meet him. they now chat regularly on the phone. and as they plan to see each other more often, shawn is discovering a whole new life. how new future. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> we had talked about how we should kill somebody and get away with it. i have dark shots, and i share them with a serial killer. >> it was supposed to be a movie. a frightening film, about a serial killer. >> he said okay, when you're turning, grate your teeth and show that you are enjoying at. >> but was it really just pretend? >> he yelled cut down on the ground, and took out ducked a, light flash before my eyes.

>>