>> i'm sorry, jack. >> reporter: jack and tanna set up a charity to help other victims of violent crime. it's called marc's place. >> were going to try to move forward with something positive that we think marc would be very proud of. >> reporter: on a false onset, they gathered family and friends together to remember their son and finally say goodbye. >> i tell people all the time, hug the ones you love. let them know, because you never know. in the next moment, they may be gone. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i am craig melvin. thank you for watching. watchin hello. this is "dateline". all i could see was the dark hallway with the light coming out of a door.

what am i going to see? how bad is this going to be? worst case scenario was going through my head. >> lisa and kevin, they married, blending their lives and children. >> one big happy family over there. >> with enough love to welcome a foster daughter with a troubled past. sabrina. >> when she was told about being placed with them, she was ecstatic. >> a happy home until it was ripped apart in a single night. >> oh, my god. >> lisa stabbed. >> the blade was actually bent. it takes a lot to bend a knife blade. >> the killer none other than sabrina. >> i couldn't believe it. a loving mom murdered by the foster daughter she had opened her home to. what no one could understand was why. >> something else had to have been at play here. pl >> indeed. this case was about to get a lot more complicated. stories of a diabolical plot brewing behind closed doors. >> this is really just betrayal on top of betrayal on top of

betrayal, isn't it >> and an obsession that would not be denied. >> it was like i want this. this is how i'm going to get it. is >> welcome to "dateline." please know who killed lisa knoefel but this would prove to be anything but straightforward. it is a y done it in the investigation unlocking a deep secret and darker plot than anyone could imagine. here's josh mankiewicz with "deadly betrayal." >> there comes a time in most cops' careers when they see something so horrific they'll do just about anything to forget it. even though deep down, they know they never will. for officer randy mullenax that moment came in november 2012 on a call to chagrin drive in

willoughby hills, ohio. >> have you ever had a scene like this before? >> never. i've never seen a crime scene like that, and i hope i never have to again. o it was bad. >> finding out what happened that night on chagrin drive and why would ultimately lead investigators on a journey that would reveal accusations of a diabolical murder plot and a series of betrayals that tore apart an american family. that journey would begin when this house of horrors was still the loving home of lisa and kevin knoefel. a couple whose friends describe as destined to be together from the moment they met. >> i remember her talking about him, and she had nothing but great things to say. >> lisa's close friend kayleen and karl lessmann were the unofficial chaperones of lisa and kevin's first date.

>> we got along right way. >> i mean, he fit right in. seriously. i can totally see why she was drawn to him. i mean, you really can. >> kevin was just as drawn to lisa according to kevin's sister chris ann sutton. >> i remember kevin telling me he met somebody and her name's lisa. i think i really like her. >> both kevin and lisa had been married >>before and both had children. lisa had megan. kevin had cody. >> kevin was always good with children. >> linda cover is a family friend who's known kevin all his life. >> good father. >> good father. >> dedicated father. >> absolutely, absolutely. >> kevin was a jack of many trades. a truck driver, a school bus driver, an emergency medical technician. lisa dedicated her life to social work, helping and caring for sexually abused kids. kayleen was one of lisa's coworkers >> she just wanted to help people. we work in a sex abuse unit,

and that's a very difficult subject that a lot of people can't deal with, but she prided herself on helping these families and being able to help, you know, make a difference. >> everyone admired lisa's selflessness, her friend carrie ward also worked with lisa. >> she took in foster kids while she was a single parent and was raising her own daughter by herself. >> that feels like sort of going the extra mile and then some. >> she did. she was always there to help anybody that needed. >> one year after kevin and lisa met, they married. >> the wedding itself, i mean, was fabulous. the reception was great. >> a year and a half later, lisa and kevin announced the arrival of a baby of their own. hailey. of lisa was on top of the world. >> megan, she loved like crazy, of course, but she really wanted another child. >> but lisa felt she had more to give. two years after hailey's birth, she decided to invite 16-year- old d foster child sabrina zunid into her home and to make

sabrina part of the family. >> everything was going really well. she fit right into the family. lisa, i mean, couldn't talk highly enough about her. >> but the happy times for the knoefels' blended and now extended family would come to a catastrophic end on that november night back in 2012 when lisa knoefle was burtally stabbed in her home. ilat >> when i herd it was lisa and who did it i couldn't believe it. it's like, you're kidding me. >> a devoted mom attacked in her own home, enough to shock any family but the story behind this crime coming up. >> the blade was actually bent.

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the love and hope that marked the knoefels' newly blended family vanished forever on a cold november night in 2012. >> 911, what is your emergency? >> at about 1:00 a.m., the willoughby hills police received a 911 call from the knoefel house. >> you're going to kill my mom. >> the caller was the knoefels' 13-year-old daughter megan. she said her mother lisa was being brutally stabbed right

before her eyes. >> stabbing my mom with a knife. >> who has a knife? i have a female yelling on the phone. someone else has a knife. >> megan was screaming. yelling at somebody to stop, you're killing her. stop, you're hurting her. why are you doing this? >> oh, my god. oh, my god. my mom's going to die. >> in the background, lisa can be heard pleading for help. >> call 911. >> what is going on? >> oh, my god. >> it's really chilling to listen to. >> you're gonna have to take a deep breath. i cannot understand you. >> my mom's gonna die. >> first responding officer randy mullenax arrived at the knoefel home and found megan frantic at the front door. >> she's waving her hands, you need to hurry. hurry, hurry. >> mullenax learned kevin knoefel was away on business leaving lisa, megan, hailey, and their foster daughter sabrina at home. >> worst case scenario was going through my head. what am i going to see? how bad is this going to be. >> it was far worse than he could have imagined.

out of the master bedroom came the knoefels' 18-year-old foster daughter sabrina holding a knife. >> it looked like she literally showered in blood. >> mullenax ordered sabrina to the ground where she was cuffed. he then went to the bedroom where he found lisa knoefel on the floor. >> i could barely even see flesh color. there was that much blood on her. i knew there was nothing i can do. >> the coroner would later determine lisa had been stabbed and cut at least 178 times. sabrina's weapon was a 15-inch bread knife. >> the blade was actually bent. i just started shaking my head because i couldn't -- it takes a lot to bend a knife blade. >> with sabrina zunich now booked and in the lockup, detective ron parmertor began the investigation. >> this wasn't a case in which you had to wonder who was responsible.

>> that's correct. we knew right away it was the foster daughter. >> this looked like a case that could be shut as quickly as it opened, but if that were true, we wouldn't be telling you this story. this turned out to be one of the most unusual cases we've ever come across. police would end up investigating not just who but why with answers as stunning as they were disturbing. as dawn broke that cold november morning, detective parmertor began with his perpetrator, sabrina zunich. >> i first noticed that she was a very small girl, very frail girl. >> sabrina started describing the moments leading up to the murder. she'd had a migraine she said. while everyone else slept, she walked into the knoefels' master bath to get some ibuprofen, and that she said is where her memory went blank. you didn't think anybody could stab somebody that many times and not remember any part of it? >> no. i mean, i tried all different ways to get her, you know, to come out and tell me what

really happened and she was not giving it up. >> and then sabrina asked for an attorney bringing parmertor's interrogation to an abrupt and frustrating halt. you thought, whatever else we're going to get, it's not going to come from her. >> exactly. >> so parmertor consulted those who arguably knew this teenaged ward of the state better than anyone, sabrina's social workers. >> she had some issues with her family growing up. her grandma took custody of her about the age of 3. >> case manager nicole corbett said sabrina struggled with having been abandoned by her parents at a very early age. she ended up in the juvenile system after stealing from her grandmother to pay for drugs and alcohol. >> she worked a lot in counseling, how to cope and how to manage with everything she was going through. >> eventually, nicole helped place sabrina in the knoefel home. >> she just wanted to be a part of something, a part of a family.

i know that's what she wanted more than anything. so when she was told about being placed with the knoefels, she was ecstatic. >> it turned out the knoefels' loving care was just what she needed. >> she was going to class. getting good grades. i think sabrina really was thriving in their home. >> which made the news that it was sabrina who had brutally stabbed lisa all the more baffling. >> i still can't see the sabrina that i know being violent towards anyone, let alone what she did. something else had to have been at play here. >> detective ron parmertor was thinking the same way. he wanted to talk to kevin about what that something else might be, but he held off. >> i was giving him his space because i thought he needed time, you know, to deal with the tragic death of his wife. >> according to his sister, chris ann, kevin was an emotional wreck when he heard what happened. >> i'm sure that there was some guilt because he worked nights,

and he wasn't home. he's like, i never thought this would happen. >> did you think he had anything to do with this? >> no. >> and you could definitively prove that kevin wasn't even in the house at the time. >> absolutely. kevin was on the ohio/michigan border at the time. >> still, parmertor felt kevin might hold the key to solving the riddle of this case. why keep going? you got your suspect and she's got the weapon in her hand. >> i'm just doing my job as a detective. i was trying to find out why. >> it was the one central question that continued to plague detective parmertor and drive him forward. you're crossing your fingers and thinking we really need a break. >> yes. >> and then one day it arrives. >> one day sabrina decides that she wants to tell us what happened. >> and the story sabrina ultimately told was far more complicated and twisted than anyone could have imagined. >> coming up, investigators

hear stories about tensions in the knoefels' seemingly happy home. triggered by sabrina's odd behavior. >> it made lisa uncomfortable. >> lisa wasn't happy with it, no. >> when "dateline" continues.

here's morikawa in a tough spot. off the comcast business van. look out! where did the ball go? oh, wait there it is. back in to play! and that's in! what an impossible shot! news of lisa knoefel's bloody murder cut through willoughby hills, ohio, like a blistering winter wind.

>> i was shocked. lisa was a nice person. she was a good mom. she was a good wife. >> for someone of that much beauty and that much giving of herself to just be taken from us like that, it's just -- just too much. >> finding out that the foster daughter lisa welcomed into her home ended up committing lisa's murder only added to the collective pain and suffering. >> betrayal is the perfect word for what happened. i mean, somebody hurting her that she had taken in. i just can't even imagine what she must have been going through. >> as detective ron parmertor worked the case, he learned there had been growing tension within the knoefel home right before the murder, and the source of that tension was sabrina. >> she got along great with kevin and she did not get along well at all with lisa. >> parmertor discovered lisa

had become frustrated with sabrina's behavior toward kevin. >> she was fascinated with kevin. she seemed a little vivacious in my eyes. flirty. like flaunting herself. >> and parmertor learned from texts on lisa's cell phone that sabrina's flirty behavior had begun to take its toll on lisa and kevin's marriage. sabrina was demanding kevin's time and kevin was making himself available, too available as far as lisa was concerned. you have one actual text from lisa to kevin in which she's saying you're getting too close to sabrina. >> yes. >> in fact, lisa wrote, cut the cord. spending too much time with her and less with your real family. thanks a lot. lisa also became concerned about the relationship sabrina

had with her daughter hailey. >> she acted like a mother to hailey. on a regular basis. >> it made lisa uncomfortable. >> lisa wasn't happy with it, no. >> it sounds like one of the things that everybody agrees on is that sabrina was fixated on, fascinated with, hailey. >> she was. i think she was infatuated with the whole family and she wanted to be biologically in that family. >> parmertor learned that just weeks before the murder, tension between lisa and sabrina had reached a breaking point. after 17 months under the knoefel roof, sabrina was told it was time to pack up and get out. >> sabrina got very upset, knew that lisa was the one initiating that action. >> and what? snapped? >> yes. >> but right now, all that was just a theory.

then six months after the murder, the investigation took another turn. parmertor learned sabrina was ready to talk. >> she starts telling her story. she starts sobbing. tears are coming down her face. >> sabrina told "dateline" the same story she told police. the story of a young girl bouncing through the foster care system always dreaming of a better life. >> i wanted a new beginning, and to put all the past behind me. i wanted that -- that picket white fence, the dinner on the table with siblings and, you know, something i never had. i wanted that structure of a family. >> so when the knoefels opened their door to sabrina, it was a dream come true. >> my first impression of kevin was caring father, somebody that was willing to, you know, get to know me and want to know me. >> and then there was lisa. >> my relationship with lisa,

it was at first good. we would all spend time together. we would go swimming in the backyard. i felt a part of the family. >> then sabrina confirmed what parmertor had already heard. the good times quickly came to an end when sabrina and lisa started arguing. according to sabrina, lisa began thinking of her as more foster than daughter, and sabrina didn't like that. >> i felt like the outsider. i felt kind of abandoned in a certain type of way and not accepted. >> sabrina admitted her close relationship with both kevin and hailey had become a major source of friction with lisa. >> she doesn't like the fact of how i'm acting with hailey and wouldn't let hailey come around me. not even give me a hug at night. it really -- it hurt me. >> and then came the moment when the sabrina said lisa told her it was time to go. >> she was very blunt about it,

and she was like, i'm sorry, but i don't want you here anymore. my life was shattering before me. the betrayal, the abandonment, all that came to surface. >> two weeks later, sabrina says she quietly carefully walked into lisa's darkened bedroom, a knife in her hand. >> i was in the room for a good 10, 15 minutes. it was a constant, like, battle in my head. just do it. don't do it. just do it. >> in the end, it was sabrina's darker side that won out. >> she wakes up and she thought i was megan and it was like, megan, go to bed. i completely froze and then she sits up in her bed and she was like, megan, go -- and she realized it wasn't megan and that's when i did it. i remember her shouting, bree, stop, and i remember megan coming in and setting a hand on my shoulder and saying, bree, stop and i just nudged her off and told her, megan, don't.

>> anger triggered by a troubled teenager's feeling of abandonment leading to murder. for ron parmertor, sabrina's story made perfect, if tragic, sense. >> you believed sabrina? >> absolutely. >> but sabrina was not done. what she was about to reveal would send this investigation hurdling in a completely new and alarming direction. sabrina told detective parmertor she didn't act alone. >> i couldn't have done something like this if i didn't have an outer influence. >> coming up, sabrina drops a bombshell claiming that getting rid of lisa was actually someone else's idea when "dateline" continues.

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the uk is set to have its first black leader ever also for your. he won the labour party leadership contest saturday taking almost 52% of the vote. he was born to a zambian mother and welsh father. once he take his position, they will have -- now back to "dateline." welcome back to "dateline." sabrina zunich confess to stabbing her foster mom and now the defense has -- we continue with deadly betrayal. here's josh mankiewicz. detective ron parmertor always knew who killed lisa

knoefel and now he thought he understood why. sabrina had told parmertor lisa was about to crush her dream of remaining part of the knoefel family. >> she hated lisa. >> that feels to me like a motive. >> absolutely. >> i hated lisa, but it was only because she was triggering a lot of past issues. >> but there was more. there was, said sabrina, someone else. >> it's not all my fault. now, i take responsibility because i did what i did, and i know it was wrong, but if it weren't for him, it would not have happened. >> if it weren't for him. sabrina was referring to her foster father, kevin. >> i was doing what kevin told me to do. that's what it comes down to. >> it was an astonishing accusation. sabrina told ron parmertor kevin had grown to hate lisa even more than she did. it was a feeling, she said, kevin shared with her slowly over several months. >> started through texts.

man, i wish she was dead. or i can't stand her. she just needs to go. >> according to sabrina, kevin also revealed that lisa had multiple life insurance policies and that she was worth more dead than alive. >> you had said for a long time that there was something going on that sabrina wasn't talking about. did you think this was it? >> didn't think it was this involved. >> but just as it seemed like sabrina's story couldn't get any more twisted, she dropped a second bombshell. >> her story was that kevin and her were having a sexual relationship and it was going on for probably about six to eight months prior to the homicide. >> i absolutely fell in love with him. >> kevin, sabrina said, promised her the world and played on her love of 3-year- old hailey. >> he promised me we were going to have our own house and i could, you know, take over the

role for hailey, you know, a mother figure and i'd go to college. do everything that i ever wanted to do in life. >> and then she said kevin finally convinced her the only way to realize that picket- fence dream was to kill lisa. >> it just started getting more concrete, more of, you want to do it? you know, this is what we could have. if, you know, if we do this. when you're in love, you will do anything for that person. >> according to sabrina, they first discussed the idea of sabrina shooting lisa. then they considered hiring a hit man. then after several months, they finally settled on sabrina stabbing lisa in her sleep. >> kevin picked out this bread knife and it was about a foot long, and it had a rigid blade,

and he said to use this one because it would do more damage on the inside. i was supposed to take her ring, her necklace, all of that as if somebody came in and, you know, burglarized her. >> are you kidding me? >> when kevin's friend linda cover got wind of sabrina's story, she was dumbfounded. >> i thought that it was absolutely crazy. there was no way. i can't even believe that he would even begin to do anything like that. >> neither could kevin's sister chris ann. kevin, she said, loved lisa too much to want to harm her. nor would he ever do anything to risk the safety of his children. >> he would not put his kids in harm's way. and i include megan in that. he thought of megan as his own daughter. >> no one, she said, could be manipulated into committing such a violent act. >> this is the act of one person and one person only.

>> according to linda cover, sabrina's story was a web of lies woven together by a deranged and troubled teen whose fantasy of having a life with kevin and hailey pushed her over the edge. >> i think she imagined the relationship that didn't exist. it was like i want this so this is how i'm going to get it. >> as for the alleged affair -- did you ever see any hint of anything inappropriate between kevin and sabrina? >> absolutely not. >> no. no. that's not my brother. >> sabrina, they said, turned on kevin and blamed him for everything hoping for a plea deal. so what's going on here? sabrina lying to save her own skin? >> absolutely. absolutely. >> not according to detective parmertor. you're convinced there really was a plan between her and kevin? >> yes. >> and that there was affair, despite the lack of hard

evidence. she had no proof. there's no love letters. >> no. >> there's no photographs, there's no videotape? >> no. >> how do you know it happened? >> took sabrina on her word. every time we interviewed sabrina, she always told us the same story. >> and it rang true? >> absolutely rang true. >> and parmertor said he was suspicious of kevin even before sabrina came forward. several weeks after the murder, parmertor asked kevin to come to the station for an interview. kevin brought along his attorney. >> he would only answer the questions about his wife's work. >> and nothing about the murder? >> nothing about the murder. >> parmertor also became suspicious of how kevin began filing claims for lisa's $800,000 in life insurance within hours of lisa being pronounced dead, and then he started spending the money. >> he was buying cars. he was buying a camper. he was remodeling his house

inside. >> all with lisa's insurance money. >> all with lisa's insurance money. >> all of that was enough for detectives. three months after sabrina accused kevin of manipulating her into killing lisa, detective parmertor arrested kevin and charged him with plotting the murder. sabrina agreed to testify as the state's star witness. in exchange, the district attorney's office agreed to recommend that sabrina receive a reduced sentence. >> you're taking the word of an admitted murderer here. >> correct. >> even though she's clearly got a reason to lie about this. >> yep. i believe what she's telling us is the truth. >> but with would a jury agree. >> coming up, testimony that kevin had talked about divorcing lisa and wanting sabrina to live with him. >> i thought it was a little odd that he wanted to take a 17- year-old girl alone in a home with just him.

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ask your eye doctor about tyrvaya. in the spring of 2014, kevin knoefel's trial began. >> she was the perfect patsy. >> young, impressionable. >> idealist. >> and anxious to have a guy love her. >> yes. >> and so he manipulated her. >> yes. >> but this was no slam-dunk.

kevin denied all charges and prosecutors acknowledged their case was based primarily on the word of sabrina, a young woman with plenty of reason to lie. this puts you in a difficult position it seems to me. i mean, you are defending the character of this cold-blooded murderer and the fact she can commit this murder is all on someone else. >> not necessarily on someone else but together with somebody else. she would never have done this by herself. >> without any direct proof of the alleged affair, prosecutors began by calling those who say they saw signs of inappropriate behavior between a foster father and foster daughter. sabrina's teacher willie smith described spotting kevin with sabrina at the school one afternoon. >> she moved toward sitting in his lap inside his legs. >> what did you do at that point. >> i did a double take, kind of, really? >> then nicole corbett,

sabrina's social worker/case manager testified about a strange call from kevin just a month before the murder. kevin, she said, admitted his marriage to lisa was in trouble and said they were considering divorce. >> what was your reaction to this? >> i was surprised. i didn't know they were even considering splitting up or getting divorce. >> kevin, she said, asked whether in a divorce he would be able to take sabrina with him as opposed to her staying with lisa. >> i just thought it was a little odd that he wanted to take a 17-year-old girl alone in a home with just him. >> prosecutors next showed jurors cell phone activity, more evidence, they said, that indicated kevin and sabrina were having an affair. kevin was texting it sabrina way more than he was texting his wife? >> substantially more. >> within a two-week period, kevin and sabrina texted and called each other almost 1500

times. that compares to just 200 calls and texts between kevin and lisa. prosecutors then turned jurors' attention to kevin's behavior after lisa's murder. david strunk was one of kevin's close friends. strunk testified that kevin seemed desperate to the visit sabrina in jail. just one day after the murder. >> he told me that he just wanted to let her know that he was still there for her. this was a person that had just killed his wife and i was shocked he would want to have contact with her. >> according to the prosecutor his real reason for wanting to see sabrina up with to keep her from talking to police. and telling them about kevin's involvement in the murder plot. >> the trip to the jail was certainly huge. >> s please of prosecutors were

with her case at bar, they knew it would stand or fall on how the jury responded to their next witness. you guys right? >> i was worried. they listened, everyone listened. as sabrina told other night she took lisa's life. >> i started to stab her. i just raised the knife up and went down on her. >> why is it you could violently and brutally stabbed her repeatedly 170 at times? >> because i was manipulated to do it. >> by who? >> kevin. >> what did you think? >> sabrina was a strong witness. >> i felt she did a good job. >> maybe so but without anyone to corroborate her story, prosecutors feared the jury still would not believe it or her. enter the next witness. sabrina's high school friend

autumn pavlik. she testified she had for 10 knowledge of the murder plan and kevin's involvement in it. >> there was a phone call we had and she asked me if i was able to get her a hit man. >> were there any other people in the room at the time? >> yes. >> how could you tell that? >> i could hear the defendant in the background talking. >> she then testified that they discussed the idea of paying a hit man by delivering drugs for them and that is when she said sabrina handed the phone to kevin. >> what did he ask you at the time? >> do you need me to take you to run drugs? >> what was that in reference to? >> the hit. >> autumn said she backed out of the plan altogether. finally i said, sorry, i can't help you. i don't want anything to do with it. >> but she was willing to help the detective with his investigation. after hearing her story,

parmertor asked her to call kevin and talk about the hit man. thinking kevin might implicate himself. prosecutors played that recorded phone call in court. >> the only thing i am worried about is that whole hit man thing. >> i obviously don't know. she talked a big game about a lot of things. >> on the call, kevin never admits no anything but -- about a hit man but detective parmertor says his black of surprise is an indication of guilt. >> if you have information about the murder of my wife, please go to the police. he never said anything like that. >> in fact, when detective parmertor called kevin two days later he made no mention of autumn's call and claim to have a vague recollection of

who autumn was, even though he had just spoken with her. >> the name doesn't ring a bell but i think she was friends with her at school. >> reporter: kevin was trying to keep the police from finding the one person other than sabrina who could link him to lisa's murder. >> clearly a lie. >> prosecutors were confident jurors had all they needed to convict. but now it was the defense is trying to make his case. and kevin knoefel's attorneys were not going to leave that courtroom without a fight. >> coming up, the defense tries to undercut the prosecution's from us arguing there was nothing going on between kevin and sabrina. >> there were maybe 12 witnesses that if they see any form of abuse they have a mandatory duty to report. >> and none of them did? >> all of them testified they didn't. >> when "dateline" continues.

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kevin knoefel's defense attorney mike connick felt pretty confident as he prepared his counterpunch before the lake county court. did kevin have anything to do with lisa's murder? >> no. >> did he have any sexual relationship with sabrina? >> no. there was not one scintilla of physical evidence that tied kevin to any of this. >> connick tried dismantling

the evidence that the state represent and challenge county employees who testified they believe kevin was acting inappropriately toward sabrina asking why they didn't report such behavior before the murder. >> at that time, if you have a serious concern, you would have filed a report, wouldn't you? >> i would have filed a report if i felt it was a serious concern. i did not file a report on this. >> there were eight, 10, maybe 12 witnesses that are mandated reporters. if they see any form of abuse they have a mandatory duty to report it. >> and none of them did. >> all of them testified they didn't do it. >> no one reported inappropriate behavior because there was nothing to report. lisa, ironically, was a mandated reporter. she never reported it.

>> connick then addressed the large number of text between kevin and sabrina. >> there are more text messages between my husband and my daughter them between my husband and me. it doesn't mean anything. >> but what about those who testified that kevin acted suspiciously immediately after the murder? >> i don't think i would want to come home and find my wife butchered and then decides what my emotional response was. >> kevin's friend linda kober agreed even if the emotional response was to try and visit sabrina in jail. just one day after she had murdered his wife. >> i thought about that and i'm thinking, he might want to say, why in the hell? what is the matter with you? >> linda cover also believe kevin was unfairly judged for filing the life insurance

claims as quickly as he did. kevin, she said, had to think about the welfare of his children. >> now i have to be the sole support? now what am i going to do? >> a great deal of the evidence in as soon as somebody can tell me what normal is, i will adopt it as a notion. >> connick applied that same argument to the criticism of kevin's muted response to the mention of a hit man on autumn's recorded phone call. >> was he supposed to be angry? was he supposed to be defensive? >> i think what he was supposed to be something. but what about autumn's testimony that she spoke directly to kevin about hiring a hit man to kill lisa? he dismissed that testimony is being inconsistent and unreliable. during cross, connick asked autumn to read a transcript of

her initial interview with police. when she was asked if kevin was ever part of her conversations with sabrina, about trying to hire a hit man. >> read me your answer on page 32, line 3? >> no, we were on the phone and she didn't talk about it in front of him and i don't think he knew that i knew. >> thank you. >> she ultimately acknowledged that kevin was never present or on the phone during those conversations about killing lisa. >> mike connick knew that it would be his cross-examination of sabrina that would determine kevin's's fate. >> sabrina is a seriously disturbed human being. >> the murder itself, he said, was all the proof the jury would need of that. >> do you recognize this life? >> yes. >> when you began slaughtering

lisa knoefel, this knife was straight, wasn't it? >> yes. >> you attacked her with such vigor and force, anger and rage that you put a 20 to 10 and a stainless steel knife, right? >> connick continued pressing showing that sabrina was motivated by not by manipulation by kevin but her hatred for lisa. >> you use the abandonment as a rationale for being okay to murder my client's wife. >> no. it was a factor that came into it, yes. a justification, rationalization, no. >> in the end, sabrina never wavered from her story but still he felt he damaged her credibility. >> by the conclusion of her testimony, there should not have been a question that she was not reliable. >> but that was for jurors to decide. it took them just under 10 hours to deliberate. >> we have a verdict >> guilty on all counts.

>> guilty of sexual battery and guilty and conspiracy to commit aggravated murder and healthy of aggravated murder is charged in the indictment. >> kevin knoefel was sentenced to life in prison and at the time, -- sabrina also received a life sentence but will be eligible for parole in 30 years. as recommended by the state. prosecutors feel justice was served but the prosecutor karen kowell is quick to point out that cases like these bring little satisfaction. this was really just pretrial on top of a trial on top of betrayal, isn't it? you've got kevin betraying lisa, sabrina portraying lisa, then you have kevin betraying sabrina and ultimately sabrina

betraying kevin. >> a perfect circle. >> the criminal cases have concluded that the legal battles continue. lisa's daughters filed a wrongful death suit against her foster sister and father. in february 2017, they were awarded $8 million in damages. the court also awarded them more than $1.2 million in damages against kevin for the life insurance payouts he received after lisa's death. fort lisa's daughters, it was another measure of justice. but it was small solace for the loss of someone so priceless. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." thank you for watching. hello. i'm craig melvin. and this is "dateline." >> she said