loss of innocence or naivety. but an enduring lesson in how not to be a human being. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline". i'm andrea canning. thanks for watching. thanks>> i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> and this is dateline. yuck >> when i found my mom was missing i fought tooth and nail. we searched that entire summer, day and night. i even got hypnotized once trying to communicate with my mom to help her tell me where she was. i did everything i could possibly do. >> rachel anderson had one great passion. >> she would've had a child every year if she could. she just loved being a mom so much. >> and with kids at home it was extra scary when someone started stalking her.

>> we were talking late at night and she got real panicked and said, i think they're somebody outside. >> watching her every move. >> knowing where she's at in her house, which lights were on. >> making disturbing calls, with a disguised voice. >> it's really a matter of time. >> suddenly, rachael disappeared and a desperate search began. >> you can see the vastness and all the various places that you can conceal a body. >> months went by. the case stalled. then, investigators learned that the plot might be bigger and darker than they ever could have guessed. >> it's a very tantalizing thread that comes together. >> absolutely. >> whispers that rachael was the victim of something of out of the hitchcock movie. a moment of pure evil. >> he had a look on his face that i could describe as satan. >> and just maybe a second woman in the crosshairs. >> if the stories were true, then you had married a

stranger. >> exactly. >> hello, and welcome to dateline. the story you are about to hear begins with an all too familiar tragedy. a vivaciously woman disappears and police put the men in her life under a microscope. that's how this mystery started. but as detectives followed the clues, the case took a turn so diabolical, it could have been ripped from a script of a hollywood thriller. and just maybe it was. here's dennis murphy with secrets of the snake river. >> a country so beautiful as the pollutes, the bean fields and wheat fields running ups and down, hug eastern eastern washington as far as the eye can see.

it's hard to imagine anything bad happening here. but gaze and listen closely, and sometimes you'll uncover secrets in the shadows. murder and betrayal as close as the strangers sleeping beside you. here in the city of clarkson, a 40 year old single mom was raising her two young sons. she also had two older daughters. rachel anderson was her name, just five foot and a bit, and how susie jefferson enjoyed her company. >> we were just friends from the get-go. she was just spunky and fun, and she just love to laugh. >> her grown daughters were out of the house. amber -- >> she was my hero. she was my everything. she just had a really fun spirit about her. >> ashley -- >> she raised us, gave us everything we needed. and taught us everything we

needed to know. >> rachel have been married and divorced three terms times when by the spring of 2009, a new men had entered the picture. >> she told me she had met somebody. they'd gone out on a date. and that she was very impressed because he wanted to have a blessing over the food. as she thought that was just wonderful. >> a publicly christian man with a notorious gangsters last name. charles capone. >> i asked her out for dinner, and we went to dinner. and we found each other attractive. >> what made you laugh about her? >> how she looked at life. everything is to be absorbed. everybody should have the time. nobody should fight. >> rachael told her daughters about charles. how kind and handsome he was and successful. he owned a busy auto repair shop in moscow, idaho. >> he did services on peoples cars for no charge, to help people who don't have the money in the community. >> the new couple were soon regulars at sunday worship. charles found himself with a new business partner. >> she started helping me with the shop. she had the office totally changed around, working more efficiently and saving me money

in just a matter of two months. >> rachael and charles dove headlong into whirlwind romance. introducing may, they look to november. the newlyweds made the their home at rachael about 30 miles south of rachel's of charles auto shop. rachel sons, lived with them. >> took the kids fishing, they've never been fishing before. she throw on camo and go hunting with the guys. >> but the thrill was gone not more than a month after the wedding. the couple went their separate ways. lonely charles moved into his shop for a while until a friend offered him a place to stay. separated, but their lives remained curiously entwined. >> we were talking all the time, we're either getting along, or not getting along. we could have one phone call that was just enjoyable. talking about things that need to be taken care of. then we'd have one phone call where we were just going at each other. >> as winter turned to spring in 2010, rachael and charles did have something to talk about, strange unsettling things were happening to rachael.

she told her friends someone was stalking her. >> we were talking late at night and she got real panicked. and she said, i think there is somebody outside. >> and then came a rush of disturbing phone calls. no caller i. d., disguised voices. >> it's funny, you just don't get it. >> she gave her friend jennifer the lowdown. >> what kinds of things were going on with her? >> this phone calls, distorted voices. >> creepy movie kind of stuff? >> knowing when she's in her house, which lights were on. >> not just i know we are, i know we're you are in the bedroom. >> i know what time you came home last night. what time you left today. just watching her every move. >> it's really a matter of time before we get your cellphone number. >> charles meanwhile told rachel he was getting the same kind of disturbing calls. and in april, it got worse. rachel's vehicle was vandalized more than once. tires slashed, windows broken. charles volunteered to fix her car, even though they were living apart. he gave her a loaner suv to drive.

rachael was pretty sure who was behind all this scary nonsense. a guy she'd gone out with a few times and had developed, she thought, an unhealthy thing about her. rachael went to the county sheriff's office and told her story to then captain dan. >> she was extremely frightened. she believed an individual that she had dated for a couple weeks, by the name of william, was the one stalking and harassing her. >> so when rachael left that day, what was the plan? >> she was going to essentially put that together the instant formation that she had. and then we were going to me again that friday. >> did you see the her again, captain? >> i talked to her on the phone by never saw her again. >> not long after leaving the sheriff's office, rachael applied for a restraining order against william. it was the weekend, the two boys had visitation with there dad. that it wasn't until mid morning the following monday, that people began to realize

that something had gone very wrong. rachel's daughter amber got a message that her mom hadn't shown up for work as a medical technician. >> totally unlike her. >> yes. i knew immediately that it was bad. >> amber got word to sister ashley and they raced to their mom's home. when there was no answer at the door, they called the police. captain halle dispatched his lead detective jackie nichols. >> there were several people in the front yard. rachel's daughters, and they were frantic. i searched the house looking for any types of evidence. >> nothing. >> no. >> last time i saw her she said, i think this will end in my death. >> where was rachael anderson? an all out search uncovers and ominous clue. coming up. >> the vehicle was left unlocked with her purse in plain sight, with the keys sitting in plain sight. >> what woman leaves her purse behind? >> it was a bad sign. >> when dateline continues. now i have a battery-operated heart pump. my tip is stop thinking this can only happen when you get old.

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ones were filled with dread when she failed to turn up her job as a medical technician that monday morning in 2010. >> she would've never left her children. she would not have left her sons. not for a minute, not for a day. >> investigators had a few bare facts to work with. they knew rachael had canceled that friday meeting with the captain dan hallie about the stalking incidents. detectives could find no atm or cell phone activity since a voice mail rachel left at 8:09

friday night. that meant rachel had been off the grid nearly three days. >> i knew there was something very, very wrong. >> you'd swung into action? >> i had about 1000 flyers printed at staples. >> monday afternoon, law enforcement pinged rachel's cell phone and got a weak echoe just across the snake river from her home. >> we had a lot of people out into the field that night. also use the bloodhound to do a live search. >> the search was futile. early the next day, tuesday, captain hally formed a regional missing person tax. force >> so what's on your white board? >> the former boyfriend. ex husband. >> family. >> there's been a neighbor that lived across the street from where rachel that had some suspicious behaviors he'd ask rachel out on a date. she turned him down. and then he left town very abruptly. >> i mean that's certainly

suspect. >> we were checking hospitals, travel information. we check every breath ticket that was still that. weekend >> and early lead may have come when rachael talk to sherisse captain dan hally the week before. she told him that day she was terrified as the guy messing with her. but the captain had a different stocking suspect in mine after rachel told him she was divorcing charles. so, an early start for investigator was charles is. shop >> so who's the guy you? met >> he was easygoing, very cordial. he's been cooperative. >> i didn't have anything to hide. what was i going to hide? here they come, driving up. as like, come on it. >> charles assured police he had nothing to do with a stalking or damaging of her car. >> you're not vandalizing the vehicle? you're not scary watching her house? did you slash her tires? >> absolutely. not >> did you --? absolutely not. >> in fact, charles still the cops, he was helping us rachael get to the bottom of the harassment.

he said the estranged couple together went out looking for the obsessed ex-boyfriend to store him out. >> she tells me about him and then we go driving over to his house, because there's a pay form right near his house. it was one of the payphones he was making phone. sir >> you thought he was the soccer? >> we just thought he was still involved with her because he had this huge on rachael. >> charles went on to tell the investigators he had seen rachel since friday night when she stopped by the garage to pick up her car. it wasn't ready. >> he described how she was upset because he's working on her car -- >> charles said rachel then left to buy a computer. she couldn't find what she wanted but returned with a six pack. they drank a few of the beers, he said, and she left. >> what's the picture coming together for you? >> were trying to keep all options open. because i was concerned that she might have been impaired. that evening and could've

driven off the road. >> a benign kind of explanation for why she's gone missing? >> right. >> a few hours later, this theory was doused when they located retails suv. and a convenience store that double as a bus station not far from her house. >> the vehicle was left unlocked with her purse in plain sight, with a key sitting in plain sight. >> what woman leaves her purse behind? >> it was a bad sign. >> and the detectives had to consider another scenario. had pretty, five foot four inch rachel, hundred and 20 pounds soaking wet, offered an easy target for an abduction by a stranger unknown? while detectives were doing their official thing, rachel's loved ones were widening their increasingly the lead desperate search all across. >> we were handing flyers from here to cool facts. east, west, north, south, we were out every available minute. >> it was as the she was just swallowed up. >> coming up. finally, a break. police learned there was somebody else with charles capone, the night rachel disappear. but something doesn't add up. >> he provided a timeline for that evening.

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of four, had vanish. and it was a job of captain dan hally and the missing person task force to find out what had happened to her. >> rachael has not helped a bus? she's not in anybody's emergency room? >> no. >> you suspect foul play?

>> absolutely. >> the investigators started working through their way through a list of suspects. starting with the men who wanted to be in rachel's life. there was the neighbor who try to take her out and had been turned down. he had an alibi. that left with the old boyfriend neared slim. who rachel said she was afraid. of but he could've count for his whereabouts when rachael missing. >> the former boyfriend was not playing out? >> correct. >> you had to follow all the leads? >> absolutely. as these thread started we, would follow them as we could. but charles capone was the one that was never dead in. >> captain dan hally had been suspicious of charles ever since rachel stopped by to make a stalking complained about the ex-boyfriend. but that same day, rachael had also told the captain she was in the midst of divorcing charles capone. the grounds, she said he try to choker. that was a huge red flag. captain hally advice her to get a restraining order right away, against very strange husband.

rachel didn't want to hear that. >> she was agitated because i'm telling her that your soon to be ex, it is charles doing this, not slim. >> two days later, on the friday she vanished, the captain's phone rang. >> she called me as she told me that she was going to see charles at night. she was going out to tell him that they were done. >> what did you tell her? >> i told her don't go. i said he's dangerous, do not go up there. >> charles's account of that night was looking sketchy. and the cops could suspicions grew after charles decided to stop cooperating. >> they suggest maybe should go downtown -- >> on the 21st. >> you don't do that? >> no, i talk to my attorney he said you don't have to go down there. >> the car mechanic had a secret he knew the police would uncover. it turned out that the publicly pious pray over his pancakes christian had a past that rachel and her family knew nothing about. a back story that included prison time, bank robbery and assault. but the one time fellon had apparently changed.

>> i'm going and doing everything normal person does. because i always feel like, ok i paid my debt. let me go in and do something good. >> the cops weren't so sure and we're now chasing down his friends. including his good pal david stone. a married high school baseball coach and employee at the moscow, idaho, maintenance department. to the investigators astonishment, david volunteered that evening hanging out with charles and rachael at the garage, the friday night she went missing. >> now you've got another guy, someone with information? >> somebody with information immediately raises the question. why didn't charles capone ever mentioned david stone to be during the entire time i interviewed him. >> three days after rachel was reported missing, the task force detective sat david stone down and grilled him. >> he provided a timeline for that evening. and it was different than charles capone's timeline. >> the husband's friends told cops rachel came by around 5 pm

and waited for charles to finish her car. david stone says he then left to get some food and a&w, and when he got back to the garage around eight, rachel was gone. stone said he drove charles to a local bar, swung by his home for a while, then went out later to pick up charles at the bar. many of the investigators knew david stone and his wife alyssa. she worked in moscow city hall as a grants writer. >> who is david? personality? >> someone that was very caring, a really good step that. was on the volunteer fire department. >> charles capone, were they friends? >> yes. >> did you know rachel. ? >> i knew her only from church. >> alyssa knew her husband was at the garage that friday night and said nothing seemed amiss. >> what did he say was going on?

>> he said he drop charles off at mingles and that there had been some interaction with rachael. that was not happy and charles said he wanted to have a drink. so, he dropped him off and he was gonna go back and pick himself and take him home. >> intriguing, perhaps. but the two friends mismatched stories did nothing to advance the cop's case. with rachel still missing, there was no evidence in actual crime had even occurred. all they had with their suspicions about david stone and charles capone. >> now you've got two different versions. >> different versions, they were supposedly together but they're telling two different stories. >> tangled somewhere in the differing accounts, the cops thought, there must be a buried clue about what had happened to rachael. meantime, her heartbroken doctors did what they could to fill the awful hours. >> organizing searches, building a web page and pressuring the police. >>. >>. . ,. an affair slim if true. >> this is a very tantalizing scheme that comes together. this is tough of. movies >> absolutely. >> coming up. police realize another woman may also be a target. >> we wanted her to know that she was potentially endanger herself. >> when dateline continues.

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i'm craig melvin. rachael was missing. her husband charles capone and his friend david stone told police they were with her the night she vanished. but the timelines they provided did not match, making investigators suspicious. now, a third man was about to start talking. and what he had to say was explosive. here again is dennis murphy with secrets of the snake river. >> the high and low search across the eerily beautiful pollutes country, for any

search of rachel anderson was turning up. nothing months after her disappearance, detectives were convinced they had identified their prime persons of interest. rachel's estranged husband charles, and his churchgoing buddy david stone. but the investigation had stalled and was at a parent dead and. no secret what's the biggest obstacle was four lead investigators captain dan hally and detective jackie nichols. >> it's an axiom in law enforcement nobody, no crime. >> at this point we don't even know we have a death. we believe that in our gut. >> as the cops dug deeper into the background of the husband's friend david stone, the case suddenly became way more complex. a mind-blowing theory. maybe this wasn't just about one wife, rachel, maybe it was about to. the investigation had led them to the city maintenance yard were stone worked. fellow employee there had related a conversation he'd had with david stone a while. back >> is surfaces that there

had been some conversations between david stone and this individual. about a plan to kill stone's wife for $10,000. >> then stone, the story went, came back sometime later and told the maintenance yard guy to forget they talked. he deranged a plan before murder. >> and later, that deal was canceled because stone had reached an agreement with charles capone that they would kill each other's wives. >> i'll kill your wife, if you will kill mine? >> this is the stuff in the. movies >> right. it is. absolutely. >> to be specific, a 1950 alfred hitchcock thriller titled strangers on a train. in the movie, to strangers each agreed to commit a murder for the other. did capone and stone each agreed to do in the others? wife could that be? >> do you believe it? >> i think there was something to it. >> mr. sewn is alive and well among us? did you talk to?

>> yes we. did >> well what a conversation. the cops are telling me you're trying to kill. >> we wanted her to know that she was potentially endanger herself. >> you get some devastating news. but you continue to share a house with him? >> i did. i remember many times went i would question david and say, something's not right. >> david stone was able to convince alissa that the cops had dreamed up the murder plot story as a way to put pressure on him to turn against his friend. and putting pressure on that friend, charles capone, is what happened next. he'd been found in possession of a gun, a big no no for a former felon. couple and was placed in the county jail while awaiting federal charges on a far arm violation. in a cell, the visiting detectives had his full attention. >> and i get this interesting video visit from dan hally and jackie nichols.

>> essentials open up with today, charles you're gonna tell me you killed rachel and where her body is. and his response was, will you only got one of those right. by didn't kill. her >> if charles didn't kill her, who did? the investigators landed hard on david stone. the only other person known to have been with rachel that night. >> when we confront him with, still we know you got blood on your hands, his response was he just sat back and said i need a drink of water. never denied it. but that's when he wanted his attorney after that. >> with no reason to hold him, david stone was free to go home to wife alyssa. the woman cops feared he wanted dead. but not charles, he was about to be put on ice. five months after rachael disappeared, he pleaded gayle team to the federal firearms charge and was sentenced to almost three years. so capone was and going anywhere. but still, the task force investigation focused on him and stone appear to be on at a dead end. the missing woman's daughters were in limbo to. >> it just went on for years. one nightmare. >> as happens, rachael became old news and the case received it from the headlines.

fresh cases demand the attention of detective jackie nichols. no problem, she took to looking for rachael on her days off. >> if you look around here, you can see the vastness of the countryside here. and all the various places that you could conceal a body. >> going up into the mounties, coolly's. >> mountains, ravines. we even did some searches based on psychic visions and. dreams >> all really? >> rachel's family hat at as much of the dead and as the cops. also turn desperately to the supernatural. >> we did some pretty extreme things to find her. i even got hypnotize wants to try to communicate with my mom, to have her tell me where she was. >> the hunt for the slightest race of rachael continued for years. meanwhile, david stone was on the street, and by 2013, his fellow suspect buddy charles capone was about to be released from jail. >> i said, now is the time. we have to charge these guys.

we have to charge them both. this case wasn't going to get any better. >> the idaho county prosecutor agreed, and on may day 2013, three years after rachael vanish, david stone and charles cupola, were charged with her murder. they pleaded not guilty. >> in the preliminary hearing, prosecutors laid out their theory of the crime. producing that maintenance yard worker who told the story about charles and david's allege, you kill my wife, i'll kill your's plan. stone's wife alyssa hung on every word. frightening connections were being made in her. and when that came the sudden awful a rare nurse that the sheriffs officers may have been right at all after all. her cousin did what her dead. she immediately filed for divorce. >> the pieces all came together for me. >> and this a's a count of him going to a coworker and saying, i'll give you 10,000 bucks if you'll kill my wife? you. what do you think of that story? that he was soliciting someone

to kill you? >> i'll never know. >> this is beyond marital deceit. >> oh yeah. >> if the stories were true, then you had married a stranger. >> exactly. >> who is dave stone? >> it's a mystery to me at this point. >> some of the things that came up in that preliminary hearing, i look like a monster. and i'm not. >> coming up. david stone tells a chilling tale of what he says happened the night rachael disappear. >> he looked at me, i looked in his face that a guy had described a seat. and >> when dateline continues. viruses and bacteria float all around us. unlike air fresheners, only new lysol air sanitizer

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>> almost four years after the weekend rachael anderson never came home, her family believes they might finally get some answers. police had arrested her estranged husband charles cohen and his pal david stone, in connection with her death. but in september 2014, it was only charles capone in the courthouse facing a murder charge. >> we are convinced that you will find the only possible verdict. find the defendant charles

capone guilty of first degree murder. >> as the trial open, the states case had zigzag another and predicted turn. the maintenance yard worker had backed out on his murder for hire story i wouldn't testify to it. so now the jurors wouldn't hear of the jussie, you killed my wife, i'll kill your's story. but rather a straightforward and then the less terrifying story about a lousy marriage turned fatal. county prosecuting attorney bill thompson and deputy prosecuting attorney mia knew they had their work cut out for them. >> our approach was convinced the jury through the evidence, not only that rachel is dead, that there is only one person in this world who could've been responsible for it. and that's charles capone. >> what was the biggest hill to climb in this? >> because we didn't have a body, it was mostly circumstantial case. >> media took the lead and called a parade of witnesses, to convince a jury that rachael was indeed dead. her exposition had missed a

call from her at 8 to 9 that friday night. >> and that was the last contact i've ever had with her. >> rachael's two sons testified they've never seen their mother again after that friday. >> have you seen your month since? >> no. >> to show jurors just how nasty charles and rachel's divorce was, they played back some of those erie stocking phone calls. >> it's funny, you just don't get it. >> i'm very concerned for her safety and well-being. >> captain dan hally had testified that the defendant had been those head game calls all along. capone even admitted as much to him. >> he told me that he had been involved in the stalking and harassment. >> yes, and i know she was afraid. >> actually an amber, the daughters, recounted the terror of their moms ordeal. >> she had the feeling like her life was going to end a -- dreadful feeling. >> the prosecutors zeroed in on

charles this character. jennifer nordean recalled when her what her friend neck looked like after charles allegedly attacked rachel, for months before she disappeared. >> i observed that she had some red, dark colored marks on her neck. >> then prosecutors produce a business -- an actual eyewitness who saw charles arguing with a woman outside his auto shop that fatal. night >> she jumped out of the car, flailing her arms. right up into his face. >> raise your right hand before? >> you do formerly swear -- >> so far the testimony was all appetizers before the prosecutors and main course. their head snapping, all or nothing star witness. none other than charles is good buddy david stone. no longer a codefendant for murder, now the man pointing the accusing finger. >> david stone. >> so majority to the witness stand began a year earlier during the preliminary hearing when capone whispered something to. him >> charles leaned over to me and said, you shouldn't even be here.

and i thought, how right you are, you -- >> a shaken stone listen to the states mounting case against him and decided he wasn't going to take the fall for charles. >> the prosecution did a real good job making me out to be a monster. and i'm not. >> they told you something like, we know there is blood on your hands here. >> that was probably one of the things they said. >> in cop talk, they flipped you. they flipped you against him. they were going to give you some consideration and exchange -- >> it had nothing to do with me telling the story. >> stone says there was no deal with the cops. rather, his passer convinced him to come clean. >> through numerous visits, we prayed and closing prayer that the truth would set me free. >> maybe so, but the prosecution counted on his testimony to put his former friend away for a, long, long time. >> do you know the defendant charles? i do.

>> once on the, sandstone set off on his tail about the events of friday, april 16th, 2010. >> i was inside the shop. and i heard a noise. what >> kind of noise? >> a kind of thud or a bang, just something kind of loud. >> when he looked outside. a struggle. >> i came around, closer toward the back side of rachael's car. rachel is on her. back and charles was on top of her strangling. her >> was rachel living? >> very little. >> what did you say? >> i said what are you doing? and he turned around, he looked at me, have a look on his face that i could describe as sweeten. and he told me, to shut up! get a hold of myself. you're in this with me now. i know where your family is at. >> why didn't you intervene at this point? >> fear? >> what were you afraid of? >> i'm watching somebody kill

his wife, i don't know what he's going to do to me. >> two men moved rachel's body into the shop. david stone testified they ditched the loaner vehicle rachael was driving at the crew venus store near her home and then returned to stone's garage. after that, stone said he went his job site and rounded up some old truck tire snow chains like these. they wrapped up rachael's body. >> once we place rachel across the chains we rolled her across the. chains then he's >> then he said they'd put rachel's bodies weighted down body in his suv. with david stone at the wheel, they drove south and onto the bridge over the snake river. >> he just said stop. i put the jeep in park and got out, open the hatch game, we pulled rachael out. went to the side of the bridge, through her over the side. >> prosecutors interrupted stones narrative to pay play

for jurors a recording made at the bridge. >> he was pulling the package out and i assisted him. and we proceeded to the side of the -- and threw the package over the side. >> was in the package? >> the body of rachael anderson. >> into the fast moving river, never to be seen again. >> what would the jury make of this man given's them such critical evidence? a play by play of the crime itself? >> you know they're going to hit this guy. >> that's the reality of the case. >> did it matter whether the jury sat in moral judgment of your star witness? >> no. they won't like that he didn't intervene and he helped dispose of her body. but that doesn't change the fact that he witnessed what he did. >> as the state rested, it looked ironically, as though is star witness would prove to be the best thing the defense had going for it. david stone, with the jury believe a word he said?

>> coming up. >> the other man at the center of this case. charles capone takes the tough questions from us. >> this whole threat of this thing. i'll kill your wife if you kill mine. did that happen? >> when dateline continues. line continues meet arexvy. ( ♪♪ ) the first fda-approved rsv vaccine. arexvy is used to prevent lower respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. rsv can severely affect the lungs and lower airways. arexvy is proven to be over 82% effective in preventing lower respiratory disease from rsv and over 94% effective in those with these health conditions. ( ♪♪ ) arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain,

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they had done the surgery to remove all the toes that it really hit me. you see the commercials. you never put yourself in that person's shoes until you're there. (announcer) you can quit. call 1-800-quit-now for help getting free medication.

>> you may find yourself in a quandary as to what actually happened. >> charles capone's defense team had to convince the jury that their client had been strangled his estranged wife rachel and tossed her body into the snake river, with the help of his friend david stone. charles had maintained his innocence. >> this can be what's going on life right now. i can't be at this point right now, sitting here, with a guy from dateline. >> with a guy from dateline is here because of what is believed to have happen on that friday night. >> his attorney strategy was three full, discredit the buddies damning eyewitness testimony. so reason about reasonable doubt about the states evidence. and offer alternate suspects. right off the bat, they suggested to the jury that there was another person who just might have had a hand in rachel's disappearance. maybe that infatuated one-time boyfriend, william slim. he died before the case came to

trial. so the defense attorney asked daughter amber what she knew about him. >> do you also did your mother also consider another person? >> yes. >> and was that william slim? >> yes. >> and was the boyfriend perceived as a menace? >> the defense produce a request for a restraining order against him that rachel had filled out. during cross examination, the defense got detective jackie nichols to concede another connection between rachel and slim. >> i recall seeing letters from william slim. >> after seeding the thought with jurors that maybe someone other than capone did it, the defense team turned his sights on the cops. all the things they hadn't found in their investigation. for starters, there was no physical evidence recovered at charles is garage. >> do you are coursing signs of his struggle outside. >> that's correct. >> and when cops recovered rachel's vehicle, there were fingerprints but not capone capone's. >> they didn't match anybody in the system.

>> but attacking the evidence would be enough. justice for the prosecution, the defense case lived or died on the credibility of david stone. during a grueling, day long cross examination, charles his lawyer attacked david stones ferocity and his motives. david claimed he helped dispose of rachel's body and then kept quiet all those years, because he was in fear of his life from charles. and yet, they continued to paul around. >> why did you keep that contact every day? >> i kind of like to know where someone's at if i'm concerned about my safety. >> capone's suggested that david stone was only out to save his own neck. >> and where you hope infringe for leniency? >> and still. >> an hour after hour, the lawyer hammered away at david, who easily admitted to lying his way through any number of police interviews. >> do you feel your words might not be credible? >> based on the fact that i've been lying for three and a half years? wouldn't you?

>> in the defense close, it came back again to a central question, could the jury believe david stone? >> at the end of the day, what stone is telling you, it can't be true. there is no physical evidence of any foul play, anywhere. at or near that shot. >> charles capone declined to testify in his own defense. >> and you feel comfortable in that decision? >> yes, sir. >> prosecutor bill thompson had the final word for the state. >> rachel is gone forever. he ensured that her body, her physical essence, is also gone forever. but we can't let that allow him to escape responsibility. >> after seven days of testimony, the case went to the jury. >> let me ask you that cut to the quick chase question, on friday that night, at the garage did you get her down on the ground, did you throttle your wife and kill her? >> i can tell you, honestly, no. it's a lie.

it's been being portrayed a stuff that hasn't taken place. i've done many things, that i'm not proud of. paid my dues, moved on. try to be a better person. >> the whole threat of this thing, i'll kill your wife, if you'll kill my. did that happen? >> i can't answer that for you for. >> you can answer? >> i can't. >> capone says he's made mistakes along the way. but did not kill rachel. >> i don't have that in me. i want to care about people, i want to love them. i do want to take somebody's life. one officer, he says i'm a sociopath. i have no her. and i don't care. and i haven't suffered from this. okay. >> are you a sociopath? >> no, i don't believe so. >> i've seen my share of psychologists and stuff like that. and i think i'm pretty normal. i think i'm like most meant, i just make participants. >> charles with on top of rachel strangling her. >> why does he tell us the story in court that he does? >> because he's going to get charged with solicitation for murder. how much time was he going to do for trying to hire someone to kill his wife? you know? when you try to get out of that?

>> it took the jurors nine hours to decide whether the believed david stone story. there was a verdict. rachel's family and friends were called back to the courthouse. >> when the jury came in and we stood there for what seemed like an eternity. >> madam, would you read the verdict to the jury. >> our hearts were pounding. >> is the defendant charles anthony capone, guilty or not guilty of murder in the first degree? >> the clerk read the jury's verdict. >> guilty! >> it was like this weight just was lifted from everyone. >> rachel's daughters had waited four and a half years for this day. >> so you hear the words -- >> it's just bittersweet. >> you're not getting around? >> no. all it is protecting other women and children from being harmed by him. >> charles cohen was sentenced to life without parole in february, 2015. >> david stone, who pleaded guilty, to failure to notify a death, served three years behind bars.

he was released july of 2016. >> i want to apologize to rachel's family. >> when we spoke with stone, he expressed remorse for what he had done. >> it's a day that i think about every day. and i will for the rest of my life. if i could change it, i would. >> why didn't you know will get your phone and call 9-1-1? you just witnessed a murder. >> and all the way up to, that point, i thought he was my friend. >> did you solicit a hit on your wife? >> never. >> did you want her dad in those days? >> no. >> where does that story come from? >> that's a good question. >> david stone's former wife alyssa, still doesn't know for sure if he wanted her dead. >> i bet they're very few people on earth that could put themselves in your shoes, and even understand what you've been through, alyssa. >> you know, i've been through a lot. but nothing compared to what rachel's family has been through. i don't think my pain is

comparable to what her daughters and sons have been through. i don't. >> ever since the day in november, 2013, when david stone gave his horrific tale to the cops, there have been intensive searches made of the snake river below the red wolf bridge. captain dan hally, insisted multiple agencies including the close cards and volunteers with specialized soldier sewn are to help. but the depths of this with moving snake river, have yet to surrender a body. >> is she gone forever? >> i know we're not going to give up. >> hopefully we might still find her remains. >> for the justice system, its case close. but for those rachel left behind -- >> you know, there's no truth justice. just bring her back. >> is there a new chapter opening up for you? >> it's just begun.

because when i found my mom was missing, i fought tooth and nail. so did actually. that's what we do. so at this point, it feels like the fight is over. the grieving process for me has just begun. because there's nothing left to fight for. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. >> i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is dateline. >> my whole family is just heartbroken. we're all shells of people walking around. the happiness in our life is been taken from us. >> they were high school sweethearts rearing five, strapping sons. >> it was a rowdy house, and our parents loved it. then that terrible night. >> she's got blood everywhere. everywhere. >> a mother murdered.