>> did you look at derek in the courtroom? >> yeah, i looked, but he didn't look back. there was no reaction to what any of us were saying. >> many believed derek alldred has cindi pardini to thank for his time behind bars. >> cindi was the one to bring them altogether. she is the hero. >> i walk forward every single day and every day that i walk forward i am walking further away from this situation. >> does it also give you comfort in knowing that the prison that derek alldred is and is no four seasons? >> exactly. he's just my first love. hello, i am craig : melvin,h and this is dateline. you have one that got away?

>> he was my first love >> the guy who disappeared? except, in her case he really disappeared. >> he is going to call me and a couple of days. he never called. his family and agony. >> america's most wanted. a rookie detective finally broke the case. >> i said, oh my gosh, they got him. >> a strange phone call, revealed a secret. >> david needed to be gotten rid of it >> we got the real story. >> a bombshell revelation. was she really a bereaved x? or just maybe a black widow? >> she is in the middle. hello, and welcome to dateline. for years, judy carlson lived in the most painful kind of limbo, her son, david, had disappeared

without a trace, the case went unsolved, cold for more than a decade, before rookie detective, donald velazquez was assigned to investigate. she uncovered a twisted tale of love gone bad and a grisly family secret. but the detective still needed to know, what more was at the heart of this crime? here's keith morrison, with buried secrets. it is a strange thing that happened among the marshes, the soft soil, here in coastal florida. things have a way of coming up, things buried in the ground in the past. or both. it was july, 2003, snowbirds back up north. so no one noticed that first what was starting in land. in a town, called pembroke pines, where donna velasquez, a rookie, really, had just been

assigned to a brand-new cold case unit. >> the sergeant came into the office and dropped a box of papers right on my desk and said, here, see what you can do with this. and i began to wonder, is this a test to see, could she really do this? >> that the case was a challenge was an understatement. and now an all but forgotten mistry, 15 years earlier, a man named david jackson, the fire offered no hints, no pointers, nothing, beyond the basic file. to unearth the truth, even the rookie cop knew she would have to learn about the victim. so, she began with something easy, she found david jackson's mother, judy carlson. judy's son actually, who called him on. >> he says, are you sitting? i said yes. they said, they reopened his case.

>> the detective and the mother talked about david for hours. she loves talking about the boy, even now to us. >> david was my first child. he was just -- left everything and everyone. >> happy birthday to you. >> he would walk in the room and everyone would just be a magnet to him. >> david jackson was the eldest of judy's three children, and mark jackson idolized his brother. >> he looked out for me, he was out there with his friends, with everybody. >> bill brown was one of those friends. in 1982, after high school, brown and david jackson worked together at burger king, where david became a manager. brown also had a front row seat to the budding romance between jackson and a pretty 16-year- old coworker, named margaret. >> they were together and that is awesome, i mean, if you can find love, that is what we all want. >> so, all these years later, detective velasquez made a visit to the woman who had

fallen in love with david jackson. happy to help, she told david. same thing when we called on her to talk about the day. >> he was a very good-looking man, you know, we just had an attraction to each other and started talking, sweet nice, kind, swept me off my feet. he was a good guy. >> but as she talked it became clear, deep emotions would not stay beneath the surface. >> i was young, i was still going to school. this was my first love. >> two youngsters in love, and then, well, things happened don't they? >> i got something to tell you, they say she is pregnant. >> judy was surprised, a little worried, maybe, but nowhere near as worried as barbara's parents, particularly her dad. an ex-marine, not very impressed with young mr. jackson. or so judy heard. >> he didn't like him, i don't

know why. >> still, david said his mother was walking on air. >> came home one day and he says mama, i'm going to have to sell the truck and he said why? and he said i'm going to be a father and a husband, i am going to have them. >> so, a pretty girl and a handsome boy got married, big wedding too, even though they were just kids. very soon parents also to a son, john jackson. and they fought, made up, fought again. babies having babies is no easy thing. >> they were just too young. it was difficult for him and it was difficult for me. >> so, who was the first person to say you need a divorce? >> my dad. >> how did david take it? >> he was just like -- let's just find somebody, some lawyers. >> get it over. >> and that was it. >> the two divorced in 1985. david arranged weekend visits with john. >> how were they together? >> wonderful. johnny just wandered to him,

they loved each other. >> they all moved on. a couple of years later, barbara married again, michael wolf, an ex-military man like her dad, about the same age as her dad too. >> your dad and your new husband are probably saw eye to eye a lot. >> they sure did. they had a lot in common. they would talk a lot. >> wolf took barbara and john to live with them in arizona. but david wanted to be a part of his son's like, so he traveled out west to see the boy. >> went out there with a friend of his and saw johnny with three days, i got pictures of johnny and like an old western town and everything. >> maybe it was something about the distance, said barbara. >> they became very good friends out in arizona and we used to talk a lot. >> she felt deep in her heart, she said it never did go away. >> i will always love david. >> and then, it was june 25th, 1988. david's brother, mark, was flying into town to pick him up at the airport.

but when mark arrived, he waited and waited. no david. and mark jackson had a terrible feeling. >> no matter what he would have been there for me. i knew something was wrong. something that had happened. >> oh yes, very bad. and as the rookie detective, donna velasquez, that something was reaching up from the mud to tell her it's long neglected story. >> the case was both cold and baffling, but maybe nature in south florida could help the investigation. coming up. >> crazy weather, the water table that we have, if you were ever buried in there, somewhere along the line he is going to pop up. >> when dateline continues. ne it's tough to breathe and tough to keep wondering if this is as good as it gets.

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keith morrison: it was june 25th, 1988, fort lauderdale, the day the mystery began when a young man named david jackson failed to meet his brother, mark, at the airport. it was june th25th, 1988, fort lauderdale, the day the mystery began, when a young man, named david jackson failed to meet his brother, mark, at the airport >> it was a gut feeling that something was wrong and i knew it. >> 15 years later, detective, donna velasquez relived that i think i could his ex-wife, barbara, reliving in arizona got a call from david's worried mother. barbara said, she wasn't worried. not then.

>> okay, he's with one of his her girlfriends. we are doing a missing person report and i said, no. he's going to call me in a couple days, i know he is, he is going to call me. and he never called, he never call. >> when they turned into the next, police, family, everybody trying to find him, couldn't. >> started looking, searching. through pipes, little ridges on the dirt roads, anywhere. to see a car doing a u-turn. >> i want to that one? >> that went on until they found his car. >> which, more than three months later found at an airport. >> so, did he just take off? his close friend didn't think so. >> maybe he got on a plane and maybe he wanted to do something different? no, he wouldn't do that. >> david had been preparing for

the arrival in two weeks of his 5-year-old son, john, this was a big one, a long, summer visit. >> he was preparing? >> for johnny, yeah. he wanted it to be perfect. >> and right in the middle of preparations he vanished. it makes sense. but the days turned into weeks, months, years. not a sign of david, the police went on to newer cases, but his mother never let up, phoning maggie, writing, she knew david was out there somewhere. >> america's most wanted and i thought, maybe i can handle a picture of him on the back of a semi. so i got a list of the big trucking companies ended all of the letters, but it took me a long time to finish any letter about him. because i didn't want the ending to be like i thought it was. >> it was, she said, a horrible limbo. a horrible piece of her still hoping for good news, part of her morning we lost.

>> i found a therapist right away and she said, take like 20 minutes out of every day, scream and cry in the morning or scream and cry at night. >> does anybody know what it is like for my mother? now, years later, the investigation was back in high gear. she told velasquez, in some corner of her heart, she hoped david might just turn up safely sunday. the detective, however, was not inclined to also. she did not, for a minute, think he was still alive. had he died accidentally? surely a sign of him would appear. no, she believed, when bodies are unfounded is because somebody has intentionally hidden them. but david jackson might show up, just not alive. >> on my wheels started turning and i start thinking, you know, we live in florida, with a crazy weather that we have and the water table that we have, if he were ever buried anywhere, somewhere along the line you

are going to pop up. >> maybe, the detective thought. remains had popped up. after all, it had been a decade and a half since he disappeared, so she googled unidentified remains. it led her down an and endless internet trail. >> and it is probably going on 10:00 or 11:00, where the heck is that old girl. >> one after another, a dead- end, until she got one created by a florida medical examiner. promising, but exhausting. >> i am there, typing away. typing and typing and it pops up about 100 matches. >> she was determined, she finally whittled it down to a possible three. >> one of them really stands out to me, it is white male, and it says, over six foot, david is a tall guy. he is a white male. possibly. >> these particular bones, just a few, a partial skeleton,

turned up during construction of a walmart parking lot. not far from the place where david lived. surfaced just a year after david died, have been gathering dust in storage for 15 years. the detective went to see a forensic anthropologist. with the doctor measured the bones-- >> she comes out and she says, no, it is looking like he is only about five foot nine. >> still, she had a hunch that she had finally found jackson. and she wasn't the sort of person to give up on a hunch. >> and i said, can we please do this one more time? she comes back and she goes, honey, she goes, i was wrong the first time, she says this person is anywhere between 5'9" and 6'1". i said oh my gosh, >> they got dna from david's mother and waited for a lab to compare the sentence on 10 days later, detective velasquez called the facility. >> she comes to the phone and she says, we hope you are sitting down and i said why, we

got a 100% match. >> oh my gosh and i said what? because i am not believing that i am hearing what i am hearing. >> 15 years after he disappeared, david jackson had finally been found. the question now was, what happened to him? how did he end up here? coming up. a strange coincidence? or was it? >> it is an eerie feeling that he was in an area that i didn't even know about. >> when dateline continues. lin n hydrates for a full 48 hours. because a lot can happen in 48 hours. cetaphil. we do skin. you do you. everybody wants super straight, super white teeth. they want that hollywood white smile. new sensodyne clinical white provides 2 shades whiter teeth and 24/7 sensitivity protection. i think it's a great product. it's going to help a lot of patients.

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it was good detective work that identified david jackson. earthly remains, what was left of them. pure chance partial skeleton was found at all. >> they were getting ready to build a walmart, a construction worker came across the bones. they went out and dug up a bunch of bones. they were found about a year after he disappeared and set in work for 15 years. >> that there all those years, even as those who love to david held out a shred of hope that he was alive somewhere. >> as far as i know he was disappeared, he was missing. >> but now the detective velasquez had a hard truth to tell. david jackson was dead, not missing.

and the way he had been hidden made it perfectly clear he had been murdered all of those years ago. most likely be cut before his friends or family even notice, which put a final period on his mother's lingering hope for his return. and apparently an ex-wife's what if's. >> were you seriously thinking, maybe someday i will. >> when it is your first love, you are always think-- you know, while what it work? what if? >> strange how things turn out. barbara had moved back to florida, remarried again, had a daughter, took a job at walmart. but still held a candle for david, even as he lay under the ground, practically next door in the very walmart where she worked. >> what did that do for you? >> it is an eerie feeling that he was in that area. that i didn't even know about. >> an odd coincidence. too odd, maybe?

detective velasquez called barbara. barbara seems to have no problem talking about david. >> she said she cared about him a lot. i say, well, how is david as a father? well, david became abusive towards johnny, physically and emotionally, verbally. >> wait a minute, this is a whole new wrinkle. up to now everything about david's history have been squeaky clean. >> as an investigator and as a mom, i began to say did you ever call the police? she says no, i never called the police, i just thought he would change. she proceeds to tell me that i documented the injuries with photographs. never produced any photographs for me. >> because, by the way, barbara changed her story, says it was her father, not her, who accused david of abusing his

son. >> my dad was looking to counselors and having him evaluated and up like that, because i would just be like, this is david, you know? what are you talking about? of course, the detective couldn't talk to barbara's father about abuse or murder or anything else. harry britton had been dead for years, but barbara had more information the detective. she recalled a troubling conversation she had had with david. at the time, barbara said, david was working for coca-cola, delivering the product. >> he told me that someone was placing drugs on his coca-cola truck and through his route, they were being taken off of the truck. i said, while. that's pretty serious, and she says yeah. >> interesting. >> berry. >> to detective velasquez, that sounded like a made up story, almost as if she was trying to divert suspicion away from someone.

an ex-wife would of course qualify as an person of interest in a case like this, but as we learned, barbara had an alibi, she wasn't anywhere near florida, she's. when david disappeared. >> i was not in florida, i was in arizona. in the apartment. i was nowhere around there. >> and lacking any further evidence, detective velasquez was installed, dead in the water, unless maybe the man barbara was married to at the time knew something, like a wolf. a little checking revealed wolf had been married seven times, number six, a woman, named nancy graham, lived in alabama, velasquez called her. >> i told her, i am investigating the disappearance of david jackson, and she said to me, how much evidence you have against him? and i said, i can't discuss the evidence with you, but i can tell you that it is enough for

me to put them away right now. i was just totally bluffing, i had really nothing, i am just throwing it out there, you know, fishing that long line, if someone bites i am reeling it in, and she goes honey, she goes, let me call you back. the minutes ticked by, velasquez waited by the phone, and when nancy called back, what she said lou the case wide- open. >> she started telling me about who was involved, how it happened, where it happened, what they did, how they did it, how they planned it. >> they? why, yes, they. and, by the way, beware the sting of an ex-wife's tail. >> she says, i am going to tell you everything you need to know. >> michaell wolff's ex-wife, nancy, has a jaw-dropping story to share, and it will send the investigation into overdrive. coming up.

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hi i am richard lee with a defense update, defense secretary, lloyd austin has ordered ship to the middle east. the move comes as iran and proxies in gaza and yemen that had to attack israel in retaliation for 2 strikes that killed hamas and hezbollah. and, harris has secured enough delegates for the democratic nomination. she is conducting final interviews for the president this weekend and is expected to attend her first rally with the vp candidate, tuesday. for now, back to dateline. welcome back to dateline, i am craig melvin. divorced dad, david jackson, had been murdered, his body, buried in a shallow grave. then, years later, a stunning

development, rookie detective, donna velasquez, tracked down a woman, who claimed david's killer had confessed to her, in detail, but there was one staggering new wrinkle, was david jackson's murder a family affair? once again, here's keith morrison with buried secrets. david jackson was murdered in 1988 in florida, that much, detective donna velasquez could say for certain, but the rest? after more than a year of phone calls and late nights, all velasquez had come up with was an increasingly complicated way of stories and relationships. david jackson was married to margaret brendan just like david. barbara went on to become the fifth wife of a man named michaell wolff. they divorced, and he later married two more times. but now, finally, a woman named

nancy was sitting with detective velasquez, telling police she knew everything about what happened to david. >> can you tell me again? >> how did she know? according to the ex, michael drank a lot. and the story wolf told, according to the ex implicated more than just himself. here's what happened, as nancy heard it. wolf and harry britton, barbara's father rented a hotel room on that long july night. invited david. >> and when he gets at the hotel, they have a very small conversation, and michael shot david in the head.

>> after which, as nancy relates the story-- he did not spare the detail, said nancy. >> and sure enough, i mean, that was consistent with the investigation. >> along with that story came what sounded like a motive. disappeared, he remembered, after he was preparing for a visit from his 5-year-old son, john. >> they decided that david needed to be gotten rid of, because they never want to david to be in johnny's life. >> david was murdered in cold blood just to keep him out of his son's life? >> boom, it clicked for me all of the sudden, i said, well, that is over child custody, that is why he is not here today. >> that was the motive? >> that was the motive.

>> was that confession of an ex- wife a motive? or just alcohol fueling a lie? it was enough to bring about the arrest. october 2004, michaell wolff, found living in ohio. but an arrest does not an conviction make. as michael cooled his sober heels and an ohio jail, he professed his innocence to anyone who would listen, including the local police. to whom wolf sent a letter, in which he claimed all he knew of a crime centered on a conversation with his ex-wife, barbara's father, harry. if you months before the murder. he was a reporter with the broward palm beach "new york times" red michael's letter, all michael would admit to was meeting harry in a park near the walmart overlooking a place where david's bones would later come out of the ground. >> michaell wolff said that he had basically pointed over to that plot of land and said, well, if you needed to bury a body, that would be a good

place to do it. and then he concluded his letter with, and i don't know if he had listened or not. >> apparently he did. >> if michaell wolff had really not known anything beyond that point it would get him off the hook. and it would leave it all in the hands of harry. >> so, michael is pending the murder on no one, but harry, who was safely dead and could tell no tales. but now it detective velasquez believed she had enough evidence to bring michaell wolff back to florida to stand trial for the murder of david jackson. >> we did get an arrest warrant and after a couple of days were flying out to ohio to extradite michaell wolff dr. florida. he said some pretty harsh words, it is not very ladylike if i say it though. >> you can say. >> he said i'm-- >> this was it, velasquez had her moment, finally, after 15 years, she made sure someone was going to be held accountable for the death of

david jackson. >> it was the culmination of 15 months of such a long, grueling, up and down, tiresome investigation, of nights of not sleeping, of days of going to work and living off of coffee and i thought, you know what? this is what it is all about. >> it was november of 2007, when michaell wolff went on trial for murder. after so many years, any physical evidence that might have been tied to the crime was long gone, and what prosecutors did have was the verbal confession and drunken story his ex-wife said he had told her. then, checkmate. another ex-wife told police virtually the same story. >> shot him in the head. and he-- he told me that he had a silencer on the gun. >> how she too was called to the stand. that was enough. the jury was out less than an hour. the verdict was guilty. and the sentencing? life in prison. david jackson's family had killed michaell wolff.

not just to condemn him, but to ask him a question, because there was still a piece missing. something that still didn't make sense. what was david doing in that hotel room the night they killed him? why did he walk into that trap? >> why would he go to a motel to meet mr. britton, mr. burton was 10 minutes down the road, i me david is not a stupid child at 24. why did mr. britton want to see him at a motel? >> there would be no justice, told wolf, unless everyone involved was held accountable. inside the courtroom. david's brother recounted the state's attorney. >> he is going to tell you. i saw it in his eyes, he will tell you. and then we got the rest of them. >> in fact, it was just two days later, when wolf finally confessed the true measure of his guilt. he gave police, firsthand, his unedited version of events the night he said they buried david jackson. shifting florida clay.

was someone else involved? oh yes. said michaell wolff. she certainly was. coming up. >> go to that hotel? >> david comes out a little while later, all bruised up ready to go out. >> when dateline continues. lin get all-day and all-night heartburn acid prevention with just one pill a day. choose acid prevention. choose nexium. is it menopause or something else? the menopause journey has stages. learn about yours with clearblue menopause stage indicator... that tracks your fsh hormone levels... combining them with your cycle data. what's your menopause stage?

keith morrison: in november of 2007, the man who shot david jackson to death was found guilty of the crime and sent to prison in november of 2007, the

man who shot david jackson to death was found guilty of the crime and sent to prison for the rest of his life. a couple days after he was sentenced, will send out word he was ready to tell the rest of the story. sure, he said, he was the trigger man and yes, his father- in-law was determined to get rid of david, permanently. but to set their trap and lower david to the kill site of the motel, they needed bait and that bait said will, was barbara. barbara, who did not require persuasion, quite the contrary, said mr. wolf. >> barbara britton is in the middle. from what i was able to learn about david, he would have never gone to that hotel room to meet harry britton. he would never have gone to that hotel room to meet michaell wolff. we agreed to come meet barbara. >> the woman who wept tears of love work on her long-lost david, who profess to have held a torch all those years was the very same woman, said wolf, who called david on the phone and

enticed him to go to that hotel room. to be killed. >> they needed to use barbara as the war, because david will have feelings for barbara. >> evidence? david has a room key according to the journalist. and heard david take a phone call just before he went out. >> pretty sure it was a woman. david takes the phone, goes into his room comes out a little while later, his all spruced up, ready to go out, he's got a smile on his face, he is combing his hair, he is putting on his cologne and david jackson left the apartment and that was the last that any of his friends saw him at that point. >> what really happened at the motel? wolf said he hid in the bathroom when david arrived. >> barbara answered, he was glad to see her, so he walked in and sat down at the end edge of the bed and barbara had a stun gun and barbara hit david with a stun gun. >> but the stun gun malfunctioned, so wolf stepped out of the bathroom with his

gun. >> he said, so i had a gun wrapped in a towel and he showed me like this he says i fired in one chart and about that time, harry britton came into the room and said, he is not dead yet, he is still breathing, shooting a so he says i shot him again and that shot killed him, and they put david's body in the back of harry's bw. and transported it to the site, where they had already pre-dug the grave, so they had to do is just lay his body in there and cover him up. >> that wasn't the end of wolf's tail. a year after the murder, he said he got a call from harry britton. >> he had learned that they were going to build a walmart there where they-- >> where the bones were. >> where the bones were. and harry, michaell wolff said, told him, he you have to come back down here almost as an order. >> wolf flew back to florida. >> michael says that he went out there and collected what he could find, put them in a trash

bag and then he went back to barbara britton's family's house and put the phone bones out for the trash in a plastic bag. >> michaell wolff's story seemed to tell it all and to cast barbara britton in a leading role. and once you heard that story, detective velazquez was convinced barbara, determined to keep david away from their son, was a full partner in his murder. >> what are the chances that either michaell wolff, or harry britton forced her to take part in this scheme? >> forced? >> yeah. >> you don't have to force a willing participant. >> and you believe she was willing? >> yes. >> the detective couldn't help remembering what barbara told her, when she heard david's bones had been identified. >> strangely enough, the first thing she said to me was, how many bones you have? >> come on. >> she had participated in retrieving those bones and they thought they had gotten them all.

when they have left about 50% behind. >> all this time, said the detectives, she just knew barbara had been lying. now, she had the goods. we asked barbara about all of this, of course, about her ex- husband's allegations that she was deeply involved in the murder, and she denied it. >> and you had no part in killing david? >> no, i did not. i have no knowledge, i have no part. and you know, little lies here and there that might keep changing his story. i just think it is just psychotic, it is just psychotic for the things he has said. i was 21 back then, i was very, like, i don't think i could plan much, you know, i'm not stupid but i am not that smart, you know? >> now, said barbara, it was all michaell wolff's doing good his guilt, she said, his strange behavior during their time in arizona, particularly the weekend david disappeared. the weekend when, barbara says,

her ex-husband was not with her at home. >> he would always go on business trips and every time i asked he would tell me, don't worry about it, i have got business to take care of. >> but she knew nothing at all about the murder, she insisted. until the penny dropped, during a conversation years later, with her father. >> i wonder, you know, i wonder what he is doing, i wonder if he is coming back i wonder where he's at or what happened and he would just be like, you don't have to worry. you know, he's not around to bother you. >> what was that like to deal with? >> very, very rough. you know, it's like-- it's my dad. it's my dad. i couldn't accept it. and what satisfaction did it get? i mean, did it satisfy him? because it sure didn't satisfy me. >> still, in december 2007, it was detective velazquez that got what she wanted. she worked hard to prove what she believed to be true. that barbara was an integral part of the plot to kill david

jackson and finally, now, barbara was arrested and charged with murder. now, perhaps, a jury could answer the question. you believe this woman, a woman, whose hands shook and tears flowed at the mere mention of her departed ex- husband? you believe the things she said? >> all this time he is missing. >> dateline returns after the break. and less itch. because you have plenty of reasons to show off your skin. with dupixent, the #1 prescribed biologic by dermatologists and allergists, you can stay ahead of your eczema. it helps block a key source of inflammation inside the body that can cause eczema to help heal your skin from within. many adults saw 90% clearer skin, some even achieved long-lasting clearer skin and fast itch relief after first dose.

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keith morrison: barbara britton, the woman who sobbed at the mere mention of david jackson's name, was now in jail awaiting trial for killing him. barbara a britton, the woma who saw the mere mention of david jackson's name, was now in jail, awaiting trial for killing him. exactly where barbara belonged, said donovan velazquez. >> she made it happen, she was the instigator. >> as well as being the woman in the middle? >> i had no doubt in my mind that she was the catalyst. >> barbara, meanwhile, maintained her innocence, claimed there was a certain reason michael lied about her that way. it was payback, she said, for something that happened when they were married. and here came another one of those odd stories. earlier, remember, there was the one suggesting drug running on david's delivery truck. now, a story about michael and gun running. >> i was putting away laundry one day and i saw a dress shirt

pocket and there was quite a bit of money there. and when he got home from work that night i confronted him on it and he told me that he was doing gun runs. >> barbara said she told the police about wolf's gun run. >> and he got mad and he told his cellmate that is it. >> you pay the price? >> yeah. >> interesting, if true. will hasn't commented, but keith, barbara's defense attorney thought will have a much more practical motive >> michaell wolff was initially offered a 15 year plea deal. to take 15 years and testify against whoever his accomplices might be. >> sure. >> lo and behold a week after the jury convicts him of first- degree murder there was an option at that point to maybe get that 15 years back. that was his motivation. >> in other words, said

barbara's attorney, wolf would select barbara anyway he could. to get a reduced sentence. of course, there was the uncomfortable fact of the two unprompted confessions he had made to his ex-wives, confessions in which he portrayed barbara as a sort of black widow, intent on having david killed. >> there are two versions that he gave to each of those ex- wives. >> the stories were not entirely consistent, said attorney seltzer. besides, he said, barbara was at home the night of the murder. how does he know that? >> they phoned him from their mother's home. made some calls to her home in arizona nobody else could have been there. >> what is a phone bill of that age doing lying around grabbed for evidence by the defendant? >> the father was a meticulous recordkeeper. michaell wolff testified in his first deposition that they had no answering machine.

>> could have been somebody else in the house. >> we questioned ms. wolf about that and he said there was nobody there. >> but as the defense prepared for trial in december, something changed. >> there was no evidence discovered. >> lady mandel is the prosecutor, who inherited the case. >> and that evidence was what we consider a jailhouse snitch and he came forward and they did that michaell wolff told him he had fabricated the entire story about barbara participating in the murder of david jackson. >> the particular jail some jailhouse snitch was well known. closely for the false information provided. still, after three years in jail it was enough to get barbara placed on house arrest pending trial and then, the prosecutor met michael to ask him about testifying against barbara it didn't go well. >> the blow came to me, when he went to my getting in return? what will my sentence be reduced to? >> now the state reassess its options. >> i think, with any case you

are taking a 50-50 chance, it is the lack of forensics, the lack of physical evidence that a jury wants to's, but most importantly, again, the fact that you have a codefendant, who is giving the testimony, which was the foundation of this prosecution, who wanted something in return. >> the people who conducted the investigation, you know, deep down in their guts, are sure that she was at the center of it, did you think so too? >> what i think is a person and what i think is a prosecutor, i have to keep them separate, and while i may have believed that barbara was a full participant in this, what i can prove is totally different. >> so, you made an offer? >> we made an offer. >> barbara britton was offered two more years of house arrest and eight years of probation. she would avoid trial, but she had to plead guilty to accessory after the fact and david's murder, meaning she acknowledged knowing of the

crime, but only after it occurred. something she had always denied. >> you have got to remember i had the option to go to trial and take it. it is just taking a chance with 12 to 14 other -- >> jurors who would hear the story about an monetary control freak, who very cleverly manipulated men to get them to do this awful thing. >> right. they already know what you are there for. so they are already going to have somewhat of an opinion. >> even though she after the deal barbara was not happy. true, there was no prison time, but she was a felon now. >> you have a title over your head, it is like changing. it is very like changing. >> you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? >> yes, i do. >> velazquez joined barbara's family at the sentencing. >> stipulation and the fact that it is guilty?

>> yes. >> judge, for the record, david jackson's mother would like to speak. >> david's mother read a victim's impact statement. >> i am crying endlessly for 24 years. i wanted to die myself to be with david. >> her gaze, fixed on the woman her son once loved. >> you are guilty. michaell wolff is where he should be, in prison. your father is where he should be, and you will join them one day because that is where you should be. in . >> david's brother, mark, was not at all sure that justice was served. >> if we lose in trial, that is god's well, you can't control that. but i think it should have gone to trial. i think society-- in two years, when she comes off of house arrest-- needs to worry. >> but his mother? >> there was justice. and she is a felon now, for

life. she has got to live with all of that, i don't. oh my god, every time i get out of bed in the morning, one likes it is guilty, and the other one says felon. >> as for the detective, who now thinks a murderer got away? >> at first i was disappointed, so how to make peace with it, i want to put my head down on the pillow at night, at the end of the day she is a felon. mentally, when you are in prison here, do you ever escape that? >> as for barbara, she spent the remainder of her house arrest at her father's home, an old vw, the one that allegedly carried david's body the night he was killed. still parked outside. >> that is all for this edition of dateline, i am craig melvin, thank you for watching. watchin