that will do it for me, thank you for watching, tune in tomorrow to the sunday show when we will have the results of a brand-new nbc news poll. the congressman joins us to discuss his race against senator cruise. that is tomorrow right here on msnbc. follow us on x, instragram, and threads. you can also listen to every episode as a podcast for free. scan the qr code on your screen to follow. to follow. i couldn't comprehend.

jessica bullman: i remember telling my mom, like, i'm going to get you through this. and she looked me in the eyes and said, jessica, how am i supposed to get through the rest of my life? andrea canning: what do you find in his phone? private pictures sent to him. were they his wife? they were not his wife. i was not the kind of wife that went through my husband's phone. andrea canning: did you think that maybe this other woman on todd's phone might have had something to do with his murder? kevin brewer: we don't rule anyone out. we begin to get video from several different locations. we see someone, same clothing, the glasses, the hat, going from place to place. they started asking me a lot of questions. do you recognize the gate? do you recognize the way she's walking? kevin brewer: whoever this woman is has had this murder planned and very well planned. andrea canning: a dangerous killer, a devious plot, who was behind it? it came as a shock, complete shock. [music playing]

andrea canning: look carefully and ask yourself, whether you can trust your own eyes? is this video of a man, a woman, a murderer? did you think that was the killer in the video? i don't know. andrea canning: is it the same person here, and here, and here, or not? hard to say, and yet, everything hinged so much on these videos-- detective: correct. andrea canning: --everything including a murder trial woman: we the jury-- andrea canning: --that would be years in the making and a mystery that began with a body in an almond grove just west of bakersfield, california. reporter: farm workers who found the body of todd chance in this almond orchard the morning of august 25. andrea canning: the year was 2013. todd chance was 45, his wife jenea, an elementary school

principal, said looking back nothing stood out about that ordinary sunday morning, august 25, how did the day start out? it was a typical day. that was after the first week of school. and i was working on my school safe plan. i had gotten up early that morning, came downstairs, and then i was surprised to hear todd up. and he just said that him and his dad were going to go to the gun show. when he walked out the door, i just said later. andrea canning: that was around 7:30 or 8 jenea said. she turned back to her work and said, at some point, her two teenage daughters, sarah, then 15, and samantha, then 13, came downstairs. jenea chance: i was doing laundry, and i had a delivery coming in between 10 and 12 that day. the girls were down. we all put the groceries up together. andrea canning: later, jenea's oldest daughter from her first marriage, jessica, stopped by to pick up some old furniture. jessica was there when detectives arrived.

they had pulled up, and i looked at my mom. and she was just like, jessica, wait here because we all three were outside by my car. so i had them stay outside with me. and i just remember thinking, like, that's not normal. andrea canning: you have a difficult notification to make. yes, we do. andrea canning: kevin brewer was a kern county homicide detective. he headed from the almond groves to the chance house. when me and my partner pulled up to the residence, mrs. chance was outside. we asked her to come inside. i had her sit down on a couch. i totally assumed it was a car accident. andrea canning: but the detective told her todd's death was no accident. they said that he had been shot and that he had been left. andrea canning: shot twice in the chest at point-blank range. jenea's husband of 17 years had been murdered. that is a shocking piece of news. it was unbelievable. i couldn't comprehend. andrea canning: why would anyone want to kill him? that must have been immediately going through your mind.

right. he was such a likable guy. he didn't hang out with a rough crowd, you know. he wasn't into drugs. he wasn't into gambling. it's very baffling. andrea canning: soon her daughters heard the awful news too. jessica was just crying the whole time. and my mom was just-- she was shocked. andrea canning: it was a murder investigation. the clock was ticking, and the detectives needed information. shock or not, jenea had to help. detective: jenea, correct? i keep wanting to say janine, jeanine, jenea? andrea canning: one of the detectives recorded the conversation as they asked jenea what todd had been planning that day. jenea chance: 7:30 to 8 this morning is when he left. andrea canning: she said todd told her he was going to pick up his dad on the way to the gun show. detective: and then todd's cell phone carrier is verizon. jenea chance: yeah. andrea canning: soon, todd's parents travis and diana arrived. diana chance: are you sure that it's todd? i mean, are you sure? you got officers with badges and guns saying all of this.

and you're looking around at the people in the house. and in the back of your mind, you're thinking this can't be true. this is a dream. andrea canning: detectives had questions for them too, trying to establish a timeline. they soon noticed something wasn't right. kevin brewer: the last you heard, was he supposed to go the gun show with you this morning? travis chance: i didn't talk to him today. andrea canning: travis hadn't talked with his son that morning about the gun show. and there was something else. todd's body was found west of town, the opposite direction from the gun show. diana chance: i don't understand why he was way out west of town like that. kevin brewer: that may not be him going through the west side of town. that may be him taken to that area. andrea canning: in other words, maybe whoever killed todd brought him there. detectives didn't have a lot to go on at this point. so they kept asking questions.

we know todd was a gun lover. did you check his guns to see if any of them were missing, just on a hunch? we did. my partner asked jenea if there were any guns missing from the house and if she could go check. and she told us she was-- she was sure they were all there. and he asked her again, just please go check. and she finally came back and told us that one of the revolvers was missing. and one of them was missing? jenea chance: yes. kevin brewer: and that is the-- jenea chance: the 38 and the holder. initially, i thought he might have taken the gun with him just for protection, or he may have taken it to the gun show to trade it-- that's common-- or sell it. but there's no gun found with his body, correct? that's correct, no gun found with his body. so this gun is now missing. yes it is. andrea canning: a man who seemed to have no enemies had been shot to death on a bright sunday morning, no idea who did it, or why, or who might be next.

are you fearing for yourself or your family with a murderer on the loose? yes. andrea canning: coming up-- todd's body was right here, his wallet was still in his pocket. we noticed at the bottom of todd chance's tennis shoes had no dirt on them at all. andrea canning: a curious set of clues, where would they lead? it was my first thought that he had gone someplace maybe and stopped for gas or food in the morning and had been carjacked. so you put a bulletin out? kevin brewer: absolutely. yes, a lot of law enforcement looking for that car that morning. andrea canning: when dateline continues. [suspenseful music] ♪♪ when your child has moderate-to-severe eczema, it's okay to for them to show off. show off their clearer skin and noticeably less itch with dupixent. because children 6 months and older with eczema have plenty of reasons to show off their skin. with dupixent, the #1 prescribed biologic by dermatologists and allergists,

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andrea canning: it took detective brewer only 15 minutes to get there. kevin brewer: i get a phone call from our communication center, that there's been a body, dead body located in a field, actually not very far from my house. i was kind of worried that it might be somebody we knew. andrea canning: oh, wow. that probably doesn't happen very often. no, it don't. does it happen very often at all that you would find a body in an almond grove like that? in our county, yes, it's far too often, far too often. andrea canning: there are a lot of almond groves in kern county, which is known for agriculture. almonds are one of its biggest crops. and the groves crisscrossed with dirt roads are a perfect place for a killer to hide a body. todd's body was right here. his sunglasses were right up here. andrea canning: to brewer, it wasn't clear at first how todd died, but there were clues. he had obviously not been dead long. we could all see that. andrea canning: how long did it take to identify

who this person was? we identified him very quickly because his wallet was still in his pocket with his driver's license. andrea canning: and nearly as fast as they found todd's id, they found his cell phone. detective brewer thought that seemed odd. the cell phones are typically taken and used or discarded away from the body or just left. it was odd that it was just 20 or 30 feet away. andrea canning: there was a bullet hole in todd's hand, apparently a defensive wound. and once todd's shirt was off, brewer could see he'd been shot twice in the chest, no blood at the scene. none of the bullets were recovered at the scene. andrea canning: and in this dusty place, the soles of todd's sneakers were clean. what we thought was odd because of this very powdery dirt that's very common out here, we noticed at the bottom of todd chance's tennis shoes had no dirt on them at all.

andrea canning: todd hadn't walked in that almond grove, not that day. to brewer, it was clear he was shot somewhere else, driven there dead or dying, dragged from a car, and just left. diana chance: he was born about 10:00 on a sunday morning. it's ironic that he was killed on a sunday. andrea canning: todd chance was a local boy. he and his younger brother scott grew up just outside of bakersfield in a farming town called shafter. it was here that chance's learned to love the outdoors, whether on horses, or offroaders, or raising pigs. they come in from school one day and said, hey, he says, we want to buy some pigs and get into the ffa. you want to what? andrea canning: diana and travis got their boys those pigs and a membership in the future farmers of america. and that was only the beginning. was todd a country boy?

he was a cowboy. andrea canning: what was it about that lifestyle that he liked so much? travis chance: the romantic part of it, i guess, of being a cowboy. he liked the boots and hats, didn't he? the boots, the hats, the shirts, the pants, just the lifestyle of it. andrea canning: like his dad, travis, cowboy todd also loved fast cars. mustangs, we had a '76 cobra ii when todd became of age to drive. and we just gave it to him. everybody liked that car. it didn't have the big motor in it, but it had all the good stuff, disk brakes, and air conditioning, and power steering. and what about the girls? did it do well with the ladies? oh, it was a chick magnet, yes. when he went to bakersfield college, he was up there for a few years. he was trying to get into the police department. he took political science up there and thought he wanted to be a cop. and every day, there were notes on the windshield

of the car from some little girl that wanted to have him call her, liked his car, thought he was cute. andrea canning: it wasn't his car though that caught jenea bullman's attention. it was his cowboy ways. they'd met when they'd both worked at a local drugstore. i was a cashier, among other things. and he was in asset protection. and then, casual conversation-- i was going to a concert-- i walked by and said, i should have invited you. you're a cowboy-- because none of my friends listen to country music, except for i did. andrea canning: from that moment says jenea, todd was smitten. jenea chance: and so then he pursued me. andrea canning: but jenea had been burned by her ex, who left her while she was pregnant with jessica. so she was cautious with todd. jenea chance: he was very good looking. i kind of thought he was a ladies man and a player. and i wasn't interested in that at all. i had already been married once. and i kind of had come to the conclusion

i wanted to find some ugly fat man too that would cherish me. andrea canning: but todd surprised her. jenea chance: he was very doting, very open the door for me, and anything i needed, a gentleman, yeah, very much so a gentleman. andrea canning: the gentleman eventually popped the question. tell me about the proposal. it was valentine's day. and we went out to dinner. and he had all these opportunities. and i think he just kept psyching himself out and didn't do anything. andrea canning: did you know what was coming? i did not. finally, when we were in his truck, he passed me a note that said, will you marry me? check yes or no. and then afterwards, of course, i said yes. andrea canning: at the wedding, todd made sure jessica knew they were a family. photographer: on the count of three, go, 1, 2, 3. jenea chance: yay. jessica bullman: i was a miniature bride. i had a white gown on with my mom. and we had our hair the exact same way. and i was presented with a bracelet from todd. you kind of hit the jackpot with stepdads.

oh, 100%. 100%. andrea canning: the 1976 cobra was long gone by the time todd was killed, but not his love for cars. by then, he drove a souped up 2011 mustang. he loved cars. and he was just like-- he would always call us when he's a little bit from the house and be like, can you hear my exhaust? andrea canning: was it like, i've arrived? telling everybody, the whole neighborhood. this was your dad's-- sarah chance: that was his baby. --like fourth child? sarah chance: yeah. [engine roaring] andrea canning: todd babied his car. he had a lot of fun with that car. and detective brewer thought maybe someone else wanted to have fun with it too. are you starting to think that perhaps someone wanted todd's car? it was a nice car. yes, it was my first thought, that he had gone someplace maybe and stopped for gas or food in the morning on his way to pick his dad up and had been carjacked. that was the number one theory i had when i looked for his body. and when the relatives began to tell us,

there's just no problems. there's no one known. there's no reason for this that they know of. so you put a bulletin out. absolutely. yes, a lot of law enforcement looking for that car that morning. andrea canning: soon detectives got their first big break. kevin brewer: we get a call from our communication center, and we're told that todd's car has been found. we have the car. it's uh-- jenea chance: ok. oh, you have the car? this is a big deal. yes, it is. andrea canning: a big deal that was about to drive the case in a whole new direction. coming up-- the car is a little dusty, but it's in very, very pristine shape. how odd is that, that this car is dumped and todd's gun is right there? yeah, it's very odd. usually, the gun if it's not taken by the suspect, it's at least concealed or attempted to be destroyed. andrea canning: did he ever carry a loaded gun in his car? never. yeah, never. and now you're thinking todd might actually have been targeted.

yes, that's correct. andrea canning: when dateline continues. [suspenseful music] patients who have sensitive teeth but also want whiter teeth, they have to make a choice- one versus the other. new sensodyne clinical white, it provides 2 shades whiter teeth as well as providing 24/7 sensitivity protection. patients are going to love to see sensodyne on the shelf.

patients are going to love to see todd chance loved being a dad. they were stuck at the hip, him and his girls. i can't imagine him not ever having kids. andrea canning: todd and jenea didn't stay at that drugstore. todd got work as a truck driver. and as the girls got bigger, he only drove routes that kept him close to home. jenea was the ambitious one, even while working as a cashier, she'd been going to college pursuing an education degree. after graduation, jenea found work as a teacher. she worked her way up, and in 2009 was promoted to principal of a big elementary school in bakersfield. i actually never went in with that ambition. i wanted to be a teacher. i wanted to educate children. i had a motivation to make public education better. and so it just naturally went in that direction. andrea canning: how important were those kids to you

at your school? very, very important. andrea canning: jenea's job was demanding. so todd became the parent who would care for a sick child. he would stay home. he would be the one staying home. yeah, he'd always volunteer if there was a sick child. oh, i'll stay home. that's me. yeah. andrea canning: jenea said she couldn't have gotten so far in her career without todd. i've had people tell me before, how do you do what you do because i did put in a lot of hours. i bring a lot of things home and work on it. and how do you do that? and it's because i have a fantastic husband at home that helps me meet all the needs of my family and be able to do this job. andrea canning: that seemed to be just the way todd wanted it. he was essentially my dad because my dad wasn't really around, especially during my teenage years. and i gave my parents like the good old teenage stuff. and he was the one always there by my side getting me out of trouble and helping me. he was my special person. andrea canning: was he happy being that girl dad?

sarah chance: i think so. samantha chance: yeah. he never complained or said that he wanted boys with us. i mean, i did tons of stuff with him like that. sarah was his boy. andrea canning: sarah loved shooting and offroading with her dad. samantha often came along for the ride. usually, jenea worked in the summer, but the summer of 2013, she didn't. and the entire family carved out time for each other. we went to the beach. we went to san francisco. we went to vegas. it was perfect timing, and we had the money. and it was a really good summer, probably the best summer i had. it was a happy time for the chance's, probably felt like it would never end, but it did that terrible sunday in august. so how is it here in the house now without your rock, without todd? it's very difficult, just different milestones that you come across not even thinking that you're coming across.

you get in the refrigerator and there's something that you know is only his, that he's the only one who eats that, and it's still there. there are so many ways people can react when a loved one is killed. some cry uncontrollably. some just can't function, but that wasn't jenea. jessica bullman: in a crisis like that, she'll make a list. that's just how she is. i think that's her coping mechanism is just to keep busy. andrea canning: on the day her husband was killed, the detectives asked jenea for some help. she says that was just what she needed. detective: do you guys have separate accounts or joint accounts? jenea chance: it's a joint account. detective: it's a joint account. jenea chance: yeah. they wanted me to go into my bank account and to see what purchases he had made that day and then also on the like the 24th. and then they asked me to pull up his text messages through my cell phone provider. and i felt like they were giving me something to try

to figure out what happened. detective: and the debit card has not been used since last night at the taco loco? jenea chance: yes. andrea canning: jenea gathered phone and bank records for the detectives. you've been quite a bit of help. ok. we're able to cross stuff off and-- jenea chance: i feel like i should remember something else, but i-- it was just a regular day, same old-- same old nothing. andrea canning: and then the detectives left to check out the report that someone had found todd's car. kevin brewer: what we found here parked against the curb here and facing this way was the victim todd chance's black mustang. andrea canning: todd's car had been left 20 miles from the almond orchard on a residential street called tigerflower that had seen better days. neighbors had called the police to report a parked car that seemed too nice for the area. kevin brewer: they were worried that someone might steal this car. and we're told, just kind of right up front by the neighbors, as soon as we arrived that it's

a location where a lot of the drug addicts and the homeless people gather. what is the condition of the car? the car is a little dusty. it looks like it's been outside town. and it doesn't take long for a black car in our town to get dirty. they're dirty within a couple of days after they get washed. so it's not coming out of the car wash. i can tell that, but it's in very, very pristine shape as far as the car itself. andrea canning: brewer appeared in the window. he saw a car key on the floor and a gun that fit the description of the one missing from the chance house. and he noticed the car was unlocked. we found the gun in the car, and not just in the car, it was in the driver's floorboard, half of it sticking out from the floor mat, where it was just really visible. how odd is that, that this car is dumped and todd's gun is right there? yeah, it's very odd. usually, the gun if it's not taken by the suspect,

it's at least concealed or attempted to be destroyed. we have a lot of them dumped in our canals, in fields. there's just a lot of places that you can conceal weapons or destroy them where we never find them. andrea canning: here's the thing, according to todd's daughters, he was really careful with his guns and kept them secured. did he ever carry a loaded gun in his car? never. yeah, never. samantha chance: he would always load them once we got there and then take them out when we were finished. yeah, they're always in the back. this was all about his safety. yes. yeah. andrea canning: the car in pristine condition with its key on the floor, a gun that could be the murder weapon left in plain sight, to brewer, the scene didn't add up. well, our carjacking theory now is showing less and less evidence, especially with the car being left open and the gun left inside it. that was just so, so rare and unheard of that a carjacking now is not in my mind anymore. it's something else.

andrea canning: the detective thought it looked like part of a plan, as if someone left the car and the gun in that spot on purpose, hoping they'd get stolen. and now you're thinking todd might actually have been targeted? yes. that's correct. the plot really thickens with this turn of events. yes, it does. andrea canning: his family had assured the detectives todd had no enemies, but it was starting to look like they were wrong. coming up, what do you find in his phone? kevin brewer: it appeared to be private pictures sent to him of nude and partially nude female. were they his wife? they were not his wife. what does that tell you right there, things weren't so perfect in the chance household? yes. andrea canning: a mystery woman in todd's phone and another on camera. kevin brewer: the neighbors across the street see a middle-aged woman get out of this car and walk around the corner. andrea canning: when dateline continues. [suspenseful music]

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i'm richard lui with the news update. president joe biden travels to florida for the second time in less than two weeks. this time touring damage caused by hurricane milton. at least 17 people were confirmed dead in that state. the storm making landfall as a category three hurricane wednesday near siesta key, florida. a man killed in a mock colorado mine accident where 20 others were rescued was identified. patrick dwyer was a 46-year-old father and tour guide. he died after an elevator malfunction. for now, back to dateline. f co, all my girls, we all slept in bed together. and i couldn't sleep. andrea canning: jenea wasn't the only one losing sleep over her husband's death. at the sheriff's department, detective brewer and his team were working overtime to figure out who killed todd.

they needed to turn over every rock and consider every scenario. for example, according to jenea, todd said he was going to the gun show with his dad, but todd's dad hadn't heard from him. do you think that it was possible that todd had lied to jenea and was actually going somewhere else and used that as an excuse? yes, i thought that might be a possibility also. i don't-- i try not to rule anything out. i can't rule that out that todd's maybe got another destination he's headed to and it's not his father's. that he's not sharing with his wife? yes. andrea canning: if todd was hiding something from his wife, what was it? soon enough, todd's cell phone, which police found not too far from his body in the almond grove, revealed a clue. what do you find in his phone? we find a lot of just general text messages between him and his wife and him and his children. there's a normal vacation pictures and pictures of the daughters. and then near the end of the camera roll,

we find some very odd pictures. what were they? it appeared to be private pictures sent to him of nude and partially nude female. were they his wife? they were not his wife. what does that tell you right there? things weren't so perfect in the chance household? yes. do you immediately suspect that todd is having an affair? i think it's possible at this point. we need, of course, to identify who she is. andrea canning: detectives needed to track down that unknown woman. and soon there was another clue about who may have parked todd's car. the neighbors across the street see a middle-aged woman get out of this car and walk around the corner. andrea canning: they said the woman was wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses carrying something. the neighbor said around 9 am, she scurried off on foot, heading south on a street called dennen. so this becomes another piece of your timeline?

yes, it does. as you start to put these pieces together, where do you go about looking for video? everywhere. andrea canning: right away, they found a house with two security cameras and more clues. here at 9:03 am, the day todd was killed, you can see a person heading south at a good clip from the direction of todd's car. hard to tell if it's a man or a woman, but based on the eyewitness accounts of a woman leaving todd's car, the fact that few people walk in bakersfield and this person was walking in the right direction at just the right time, brewer believed it had to be her. anything identifiable on the woman? the videos are taken from across the street. and it's difficult to make a facial identification, but she's got kind of a distinctive very fast-paced walk. it's kind of like the arm swing what was up and away from the waist. andrea canning: aside from that distinctive walk, it was hard to see much, but this person

seems to be carrying a plastic bag and backpack. when we leave the video on and you don't see her walk back, then we know that she's gone. in this case, it was south. and the street she's on is going a dead end into a major thoroughfare. andrea canning: dennen street dead ends at panama lane, which goes on for miles in two directions. kevin brewer: she's either going to go east or west. so the detectives are sent out both directions. andrea canning: they found security video from a gas station to the west, shortly after 9:00 am, but no mystery woman. kevin brewer: so the attention now is moved to the east. and that's over the overpass of highway 99 and down into a pretty good sized shopping center. andrea canning: where they found lots of security cameras and lots of video. kevin brewer: we begin to get video from several different locations in that shopping center, which included a starbucks, a lowe's, and the walmart. do you see anyone fitting that description in the video

that you obtained? we do. we begin to see someone, same clothing, the glasses, the hat. there's the plastic bag and the backpack. and then she does something, of course, in starbucks that's just extremely bizarre. what did she do? she goes to the bathroom and then she comes out wearing different clothes with dark-colored sweats over the top of them with the same backpack and the same white bag. andrea canning: look behind the woman paying, that's their suspect. and she's changed shoes also. andrea canning: wow. what is going through your mind as you're watching this video unfold? once i saw that she did not make a purchase, that it's now very obvious to me that this woman went in with the intent to change clothes and conceal herself from us or anyone else that would see her leaving that area. is this a hot day in bakersfield? august is extremely hot, yes.

even people that jog usually don't wear sweats in this weather in our town. long clothing and especially clothing over clothing, very unordinary. that stood out to you? yes, it did. andrea canning: but there were more subtle clues that took the detectives some time to see. we, of course, viewed the video, me and my partner, and other detectives over and over. and we kinda of all key in on what looks like a yellow round lid that's visible through the light-colored white plastic bag she's carrying. andrea canning: detective brewer believed that was a canister of disinfecting wipes. kevin brewer: and if you're leaving a crime scene, i know what you did with those. you're wiping your crime scene behind you. andrea canning: coming up-- i was not the kind of wife that went through my husband's phone. i was never looking for anything like that because i was so secure in my relationship. andrea canning: todd's mystery woman revealed. diana chance: he really fell for her, i think,

harder than i thought he did. andrea canning: and that woman on camera, what's she up to now? kevin brewer: whoever this woman is has had this murder planned and very well planned. andrea canning: when dateline continues. [suspenseful music] hey, get your head in the game, son. the scout from football college is up in the stands. maybe i'd rather go to school for insurance. i didn't raise no insurance man. but you did, dad. football's your passion. but mine is providing around-the-clock protection to progressive customers who bundle home and auto. jamie, we need you out here for football. you're giving up on your dream, james. no, dad. i'm giving up on yours. no, james, wait! oh, that's not the exit. subject 1: who's coming in the driveway? subject 2: dad! dad! dad, we missed you! daddy, hi! subject 3: goodness! my daughter is being treated for leukemia.

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serious allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems such as eye pain or vision changes including blurred vision, joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines without talking to your doctor. ask your eczema specialist about dupixent. ask your eczema specialist diana and travis chance had just lost their oldest son todd. in those first days, it was hard to know what to do. so they just tried to be there for jenea and their granddaughters. every night after the murder, diana and travis chanc lost their oldest son, todd. those first days it was hard to know what to do. so they just tried to be there e and just for ourselves too. andrea canning: meanwhile, the investigation was moving fast. detectives found video from a gas station near the almond grove of a car that

looked like todd's mustang. can you see who's driving the car? you cannot. the windows are up and the cameras are just not clear enough to see. andrea canning: it's barely clear enough to make out the car, but just at the right time, 8 am, it's heading toward the almond grove. and then 26 minutes later, the car is seen heading back toward town. another 30 minutes go by. it's 8:57 am, just about the time todd's body was found. here's his car again, passing a gas station around the corner from the spot where it was abandoned. the more detectives looked, the more video they found. here's their suspect after leaving starbucks in different clothing, crossing the parking lot, and heading toward a nearby lowe's. it's hard to make out until the suspect gets closer to the store. now the dark shirt, baseball cap, backpack, and plastic bag that brewer believe held the disinfecting wipes, can all be seen.

they're not perfect, but they certainly are telling you a story. kevin brewer: yes, they are. and they're giving us a very good timeline as to what happened after this car was dropped off in a neighborhood. andrea canning: to brewer, it seemed his suspect knew her steps ahead of time. kevin brewer: this woman is going from place to place. she's doing something everywhere she goes that we get video. she's changing clothes at starbucks. she's what appears to be discarding items in front of the lowe's. she's putting her purse inside the backpack at lowe's, bent over behind a bunch of crates of manure. andrea canning: then at 9:22, the suspect leaves lowe's and heads toward walmart. kevin brewer: then she walks into the side door of the walmart and straight to the payphone. andrea canning: and pulls out a piece of paper. kevin brewer: she's already got numbers wrote down, indicating that whoever this woman is has had this murder planned for some time and very well planned.

andrea canning: she then discards evidence. kevin brewer: she goes outside past the store. and she walks someplace there's no cameras. and a few seconds later, she comes back, and we no longer see the bleach white bottle. so we're thinking that she's gone to a trash can. andrea canning: her next step seemed to have been planned out too. 23 minutes after she made that phone call, a taxi arrived and whisked her away. now brewer needed to figure out where. back at the chance home, jenea said she tried to keep track of the fast-moving investigation. are you asking them, do you have any leads? do you have any suspects? jenea chance: yes. yes. what answers are you getting? nothing. we're working on it. nothing. they were very-- it was very consistent. nothing. we're working on it. we'll let you know. and that's-- that's all i could get. andrea canning: it's not unusual for detectives to play their cards close to the vest.

all the while, they were uncovering more information, like the identity of the woman who'd sent the racy photos to todd's phone. it was his old girlfriend, a woman named carrie, whom he'd met in the early '90s, while cruising in that '76 cobra. she became his first big love. diana chance: he really fell for her, i think, harder than i thought he did because the first thing i realized was they were going to get an apartment together. and i said, ok, but it wasn't ok. you didn't want him to leave yet? no, i didn't want him to leave yet. he hadn't finished at college. and i wanted him to get his degree there and get set up in his-- whatever his ambition was-- to either be a cop or whatever-- get that all decided, but he had to move in with her. they were pretty serious. did you like carrie? not at first.

you know, how mothers are. nobody's good enough for their boys, or daughters, or whatever, but she grew on you. yeah. andrea canning: todd and carrie were together for five years. and then in 1995, it was over. by '96, jenea and todd were getting married. was he to your knowledge having any communication with this woman? no, no. it was just a name that i had known from many, many years before. what he'd tell you about her? we would only talk about her like at the beginning of our relationship, talking about past relationships, but it was someone that, you know, he was involved with but they broke up. andrea canning: but now police told jenea, based on their investigation, todd had recently been in touch with carrie, and it wasn't just a, hey, how are you? it was rated r. i was not the kind of wife that went through my husband's phone. i didn't. in my mind, i was thinking he could have hid stuff from me because i never paid attention. i was never looking for anything like that because i was so secure in my relationship.

andrea canning: but then jenea said she started to wonder. did you believe, though, maybe there was a chance he was living some kind of double life? i was contemplating it, but it was terrible because i'm thinking, why do i need to know all this, you know? do i want to wake up with a memory of my husband that i had on the 25th when i woke up that morning, you know? andrea canning: maybe she didn't know her husband as well as she thought. coming up, did you think that maybe this other woman might have had something to do with his murder? kevin brewer: absolutely. if there's some kind of an affair actually going on, there could be a reason why carrie would kill him. at this point i'm thinking, oh my gosh, she did it. andrea canning: when dateline continues. [suspenseful music] dupixent can help people with asthma breathe better in as little as 2 weeks. so this is better. even this. dupixent is an add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma that's not for sudden breathing problems.

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but who was it? and where was their suspect going? his widow jenea thought she might know the answer. at this point, i'm thinking, oh my gosh, she did it. andrea canning: she meaning, todd's ex carrie. to jenea, it was the only person she could think of who might have a grudge against him. todd's parents knew there had been issues in the past. it had been an ugly breakup. things didn't turn out so well for todd and carrie. i don't want to get into that. they parted ways. we don't really know exactly what the circumstances were. we would ask todd, and he just didn't want to talk about it. andrea canning: but detectives needed to know. did you think that maybe this other woman that you found on todd's phone might have had something to do with his murder? absolutely. we don't rule anyone out until we have an absolute suspect. and we absolutely couldn't rule carrie out. andrea canning: detective brewer learned that after years of not talking in may of 2012, carrie, now

a dental assistant and single mom, connected with todd on social media. as the detective looked through their exchanges, he noticed they started off innocently enough, but then something caught his attention from april 2013. todd asked carrie, want to play? she responded, no way, married man, but remember, carrie had sent those racy photos detectives found on todd's phone. do you kind of just run through what a possible motive could be for someone like that? kevin brewer: oh, absolutely, if there's some kind of an affair actually going on between carrie and todd that there could be a reason why carrie would kill him. andrea canning: so detective brewer went to talk to carrie. and as his investigation continued, he called jenea to the sheriff's department with some news. and the police asked you to come in? yes. actually, they asked me to come in to pick the car up. they said they were releasing the car. and so i called my father-in-law-- and i said because it's a stick and i don't drive it.

i never drove his car. and after all this, i really didn't want to drive his car either. and she called me and said, they're going to release todd's car. will you go with me to pick it up? she said take it to your house. i don't want to ever see it again. so we went over to the house. diane stayed there. and i went with her. andrea canning: jenea and travis drove together. travis chance: we walked in and they put us in this little concrete room. detective: can you guys just have a seat right in here? we'll be with you in a few minutes. ok. travis chance: and i'm looking around. i'm going, man, this looks more like an interrogation room than a waiting room. andrea canning: though travis and jenea both sensed something was off, they didn't have much choice. so they waited. jenea chance: this doesn't seem like we're picking up a car. andrea canning: if the police did know something, they weren't sharing, but jenea offered her own theory about why her husband might have been killed. it was like gang related. they will have these little 14-year-olds that will come

and say they did it all to take the heat because they don't get in as much trouble. travis chance: i can't imagine something happened like that to todd. andrea canning: it was four days after the murder, and travis was still visibly shaken. travis chance: i lay down at night thinking about it, wake up in the morning or in the middle of the night. everything's kind of a blur, but detective walked in and said, we're going to have you guys look at videos. and mr. chance, we want you to look first. andrea canning: investigators wanted him to look at all the security camera footage they had gathered. what did you see in the video? i saw a lady walking down the street, different things. they're just saying, do you, do you recognize her? andrea canning: travis told them he didn't. they also asked jenea. the videos from up overhead and just walking back and forth-- and they kept telling me-- they go, do you, do you recognize the gate? do you recognize the way she's walking?

andrea canning: that distinctive walk brewer had noticed, but jenea says she didn't recognize it or anything about the person in the video. i was totally thinking when i was watching that, i was looking for the other woman. andrea canning: the other woman meaning todd's ex carrie, but if jenea thought they were asking her to help id carrie in the video, she was dead wrong. coming up, detectives have their eyes on someone else. i thought, oh my gosh. they suspect her. andrea canning: someone much closer to home. are you joking? it came as a shock, complete shock. it was hard. everything was just being thrown at us and just-- it was crazy. andrea canning: when dateline continues. (♪♪) (♪♪)

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had been murdered, and his family was trying to understand life without him. i mean, he's everywhere in this house. what do you miss most about him? just having him to talk to. that was like when we went to bed at night, that was our downtime, no kids around, and just talk about what was going on for the next day and our plans. that's what i miss. andrea canning (voiceover): four days after todd's murder, jenea and her father-in-law had gone down to the sheriff's office to pick up todd's car. that's what they thought, anyway. andrea canning (voiceover): travis and jenea had both said they didn't recognize the woman in the videos, but detectives kept asking jenea questions. i really thought, they're still trying to help me out. they're trying to solve this for me. andrea canning (voiceover): as jenea sat there watching

video of the person detectives believed killed her husband, she says it gradually began to dawn on her, todd's ex-girlfriend wasn't the suspect at all. and i realized, oh, my goodness. they think it's me. andrea canning (voiceover): she was right. detectives told her flat out they thought she was the woman in the videos. they thought she was the one who killed todd. suddenly, jenea was in the hot seat. she said they began pressing her. they were getting rough with me. but i handle rough well. i'm a principal of an elementary school. i get parents that come in, and they are mad as anything. that's fine. they're not mad at me. they're mad at the situation. i can handle that. andrea canning (voiceover): but jenea said detectives kept at her. i've never been talked to like the way he was yelling at me. and then i just-- i did ask him to stop yelling at me, and he wouldn't. and so then i said, i want an attorney. and then they arrested me. andrea canning (voiceover): jenea was charged with todd's murder.

it turned out when detectives asked her to come pick up her husband's car, they had other plans all along. so this was a bit of a ruse to get her in. yes. andrea canning (voiceover): it may have seemed like a sudden turn of events, but the thing was, detective brewer had suspicions about jenea from the very beginning. he thought her reaction to the news of her husband's murder didn't seem quite right. that's why investigators decided to secretly turn on an audio recorder as they talked to her on that first day. andrea canning (voiceover): later, as brewer watched and rewatched those videos, he became convinced that the woman who'd been caught on camera was jenea. when he confronted her with the videos at the police station, her reaction only confirmed his suspicion. usually, if it's not you in the video, i get an outburst of anger. like, who is that woman? you think that's me?

and what i get at one point from her is, well, that can't be me. that woman's too heavy. are you convinced at this point that jenea is your killer? absolutely. absolutely. andrea canning (voiceover): while jenea was being booked for murder, her house was getting turned upside down by detectives looking for evidence. todd's mom was there. diana chance: i think it dawned on me, then, when they did the search warrant because they were taking all the computers and all the cell phones, all the electronic stuff, and i thought, oh, my gosh. they suspect her. that's got to be a huge blow. it was. andrea canning (voiceover): now, along with mourning their son's death, diana and travis had to stomach the idea that their daughter-in-law might be involved in his murder. but jenea's daughters weren't having it. are you joking? it came as a shock. complete shock. oh, i know. andrea canning (voiceover): the girls were in danger of losing the only parent they had left.

it was hard. everything was just being thrown at us. and just, it was crazy. i just wanted to see her and hug her. like, that was it. that was all i was thinking about. andrea canning (voiceover): the case was soon the talk of bakersfield. reporter: deputies arrested chance's wife, leslie jenea, the principal at fairview elementary school. what was it like for you being in jail? it was the worst, worst experience. and i'm thinking, how can this happen in america? and then i was so worried because of what was going on at my house with my girls. andrea canning (voiceover): there was nothing jenea could do, but wait for her arraignment. she figured jessica would be in court and was anxious about being able to see her. i know she's going to want me to look at her, and i can't see, because i didn't have my contacts, and i didn't have my glasses. they were taken away from me, and they wouldn't let me take them to court. i wanted to look at my daughter. i wanted to look at a familiar face. andrea canning (voiceover): but that didn't happen because jenea never made it inside that courtroom. andrea canning: so you arrest jenea. you have her in custody. and then four days later, a big twist

comes along in this case. it was for me. yeah, it was a big twist. andrea canning (voiceover): coming up. are you capable of murdering someone? no. no. did you plan the murder of your husband? no. andrea canning (voiceover): a turn in the case. did detectives jump the gun? what they did, i believe, is arrest now and investigate later. they always look at the spouse. they have to. - and i knew that. right. i had no problem with that because i had nothing to hide. andrea canning (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. ♪♪ when your child has moderate-to-severe eczema, it's okay to for them to show off. show off their clearer skin and noticeably less itch with dupixent. because children 6 months and older with eczema have plenty of reasons to show off their skin. with dupixent, the #1 prescribed biologic by dermatologists and allergists, they can stay ahead of their eczema.

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grow what feels good. andrea canning: how much did you miss him? a lof of times, i still miss him. daughter: oh, yeah. andrea canning (voiceover): after todd chance's murder, his daughters were consumed by their loss. stuff that pops up and you're like, god, he would have loved that. i would see something and be like-- and my immediate thought was, oh, i got to tell my dad. and i can't. andrea canning (voiceover): then, just four days after losing their dad, their mom was taken away, too. she was under arrest, charged with todd's murder. but just as jenea's daughters prepared themselves for her court appearance, they got some good news. the da decided not to file charges against jenea. prosecutors thought the blurry videos wouldn't be enough to convince a jury and told the detectives to go back to the drawing board. people who knew jenea as a principal told our affiliate kget in bakersfield, there was no way she was a killer.

she's well respected. she's hardworking. loved by her students and staff. andrea canning (voiceover): after four nights in jail, jenea was free to go. we sat down with her three months later in november of 2013. she talked about the moment her lawyer broke the news to her. he said, you'll be going home. and the weight just lifted off me. she was relieved, but also annoyed that police wasted precious time on her, instead of following other leads. what they did is, i believe, is arrest now and investigate later. they always look at the spouse. they have to. and i knew that, right. that was perfectly fine with me. get me out of the way so you can get on to bigger and better things. i had no problem with that because i had nothing to hide. they're looking at me like crazy. look at me. i'm the most boring person in the world. andrea canning (voiceover): detectives weren't buying it. they believed jenea knew months before todd was killed that he had connected with his ex, carrie.

andrea canning: is it possible that you were seeking revenge on your husband, that you were angry with him? it's not possible because i didn't know. i would have talked to todd about it. i mean, that's-- no ifs, ands, or buts. you know, i've been married before. i've been in that situation before. and i walked away. we separated, and that was what was-- that's what happened. are you capable of murdering someone? no. no. did you plan the murder of your husband? did you kill your husband? no. no. i loved my husband very much. andrea canning (voiceover): she says her daughters were eyewitnesses who could prove her innocence because they were home with her the morning todd was killed. what time did your daughter wake up, or what time can you be placed here by someone? that i know of, i believe my daughter saw me around 10:00. but i believe my other daughter, she told my attorney that she came down at 9:30 and just came down the stairs and saw me working over on the table and then

went up and went back to bed. and i didn't even know she came downstairs. andrea canning (voiceover): the support of her girls never wavered, but her in-laws, that was another story. andrea canning: do they think you're guilty? i think they do. i think the police officers or the investigators have told them such that there's-- i think they've just told them no ifs, ands, or buts. we know it's her. and they believe that, which is tough. andrea canning (voiceover): diana and travis did, indeed, believe that their daughter-in-law, who vowed to love, honor, and cherish their oldest son, had done the unthinkable. when it first started, i didn't want to think it was her. i got all these thoughts running through my head. i didn't want to-- i didn't want to think that she could kill my son. andrea canning (voiceover): but travis, who had initially not identified the woman in the videos as jenea, had come to a painful conclusion. he now believed it was her. andrea canning: is this a shock? well, it's coming pretty fast. it's like, i'm telling you, your son's dead. you don't want to believe that.

and then they tell you that his wife is the one that did it. you don't want to believe that either. it's just kind of like a nightmare. you keep wanting to-- somebody to slap you and wake you up. andrea canning (voiceover): while her in-laws suspected her, jenea still wondered about todd's ex, carrie. but detectives had already gotten past her. carrie and todd had stopped communicating months before his murder. they never had an affair or even met in person. and the mystery woman in the video, brewer said, didn't look like carrie. there was just some things about carrie and the way carrie walked, carried herself, and her physical features, that told me that this is not the same woman on these videos. andrea canning (voiceover): most importantly, she was with her daughter and some friends several hours away near the mission san juan capistrano when todd was killed. kavin brewer: and combine that with her car getting a parking ticket because she parked somewhere she shouldn't have, we were also able to confirm the parking ticket with the date and time. andrea canning (voiceover): as far as police were concerned, carrie was in the clear.

but jenea was more determined than ever to clear her own name and find her husband's killer. as much as i have brought up my girls, and it doesn't matter what other people think, yes, it matters what other people think, you know? it does. it matters for my family and my community to know. you know, plus, we deserve to know the answers. what happened to this great man? andrea canning (voiceover): jenea told us a cold case wasn't an option, and it wasn't for detective brewer either. he kept digging. kavin brewer: we found, after searching her home, that there was several life insurance policies that had been taken out for todd. several? several. totaling how much money? we totaled, i think, three or four of them at close to a half a million dollars. andrea canning (voiceover): as suspicious as that sounds, jenea said she and her husband had each taken out policies naming the other as beneficiary. they were taken out 8 and 10 years ago.

our policies are very old. andrea canning (voiceover): jenea was also the main breadwinner of the family. she said she didn't need the money. andrea canning: did you receive or are you going to receive any life insurance money? i have not received any life insurance money. and that's because the investigators have put a halt to that. i wish i could get my insurance policies just to hire an investigator and do this right. but i am frustrated at this point, extremely frustrated. andrea canning (voiceover): she wasn't the only one. it would be three years before anything changed with todd's case. but a whole lot would change with jenea. just wait until you see her.

[music playing] how much do you miss him? i miss him-- andrea canning (voiceover): when we spoke to jenea chance in 2013, she was out of jail, but still the prime suspect in the murder of her husband, todd. andrea canning: does your gut tell you that they're going to arrest you again? no. no. it doesn't, but i still have that uneasiness. i feel confident in my innocence, that i think there's no way. they can't. andrea canning (voiceover): and she was right. they hadn't. years passed. todd's murder remained unsolved. and jenea began to collect on his life insurance policies, except for one policy that todd's parents found out about and thought they could contest. we paid a lawyer to tell us how to take that away from jenea and give it to the girls. and we went to court. andrea canning (voiceover): we did, too. it was 2016, three years after we first met jenea.

when she arrived at court, we barely recognized her. that slim woman in dark pants and a polka dot top is jenea. she shed nearly 100 pounds from lap band surgery, a woman transformed. she strode confidently into court. but once inside, she agreed to a settlement. andrea canning (voiceover): travis and diana got what they wanted. the money went to their grandkids, not jenea. all in all, it was a good day. we accomplished what we've been trying to do for over a year or so. travis chance: trying to keep her from getting the money. diana chance: to keep her from being rewarded for-- travis chance: what we think she's done. andrea canning (voiceover): they hadn't seen jenea in a while either. andrea canning: were you shocked at her weight loss? yeah. yeah. we saw her at some-- sarah's softball games. and we were standing about-- yeah, we did.

--50 feet from her and didn't recognize her. and i said, she's less than half the person that she was before. andrea canning (voiceover): jenea's daughter say the weight loss brought their mother obvious joy. andrea canning: did you notice a change in your mom's-- yeah. you know, a skip in her step? yeah. [laughs] she was a lot happier. you can just see she was more herself. like, she wasn't holding back at all. she would dance and, like, just be-- she was more confident. yeah, more-- yeah, exactly. more confident. andrea canning (voiceover): three years after todd's death, jenea seemed to be moving on, but detective brewer wasn't. months turned into years, as he slowly gathered evidence, trying to nail down every detail. i would get up and think of, did we think of this? did we think of that? and about every two or three months, something else would pop up that we didn't notice right up front. andrea canning (voiceover): like the time he was looking through photos from the search of the chance house, and something caught his eye. kavin brewer: it's a picture of todd and jenea and their two girls. they're in some type of a crime scene dress-up.

so as i go through the financial records, i notice an expenditure to the mgm grand in las vegas. andrea canning (voiceover): it was from that great summer before todd died when the chances took all those vacations. and i see "csi the experience." and i've never heard of it. andrea canning (voiceover): it's based on the popular tv crime drama. brewer raced to las vegas to see it for himself. kavin brewer: it was a huge exhibit with three different scenarios. and of course, one of them is a woman who murders her husband and dumps his body in the desert. wow. yes. that's exactly what i said-- wow. andrea canning (voiceover): brewer saw parallels to his real investigation. the csi exhibit showed how detectives can track a suspect's cell phone. the suspect in the video used a payphone at the walmart. another display showcased shoe prints at a crime scene. remember how the suspect in the video changed her shoes at the starbucks? andrea canning: was it almost like the principal

had gone to some form of like murder school? exactly. andrea canning (voiceover): if jenea had learned how to wipe down a crime scene, it might explain why investigators were only able to get one fingerprint off todd's mustang. whose fingerprint was it? jenea's. andrea canning (voiceover): what made it suspicious was that it was on the driver's side door. andrea canning: did she ever drive todd's car? she told us she hadn't. andrea canning (voiceover): something she told me, too. because it's a stick, and i don't drive it. andrea canning (voiceover): but the evidence inside the car told investigators something different. they found jenea's dna on both the steering wheel and the gearshift knob. places that it should not be if you're not the driver. andrea canning (voiceover): she also told everyone she hated guns. yet that summer of fun included a family shooting trip just weeks before todd died. here's jenea with the very gun found inside todd's mustang, the gun police proved was the murder weapon. all of this evidence was circumstantial, of course, but some evidence was harder to explain away.

investigators had found more security videos. this one showed where the taxi took their suspect after it left walmart. kavin brewer: she gets dropped off at a sam's club in the front. and she walks away from there. andrea canning (voiceover): that location was key because it was only a mile away from todd and jenea's house. the next camera captures the suspect even closer to their house. it's 10:10 am on the day todd was killed. the figure is in different clothes and appears to be running. and in the suspect's hand, you can see a piece of paper. i'm thinking that's probably the numbers for the taxi cab that she's going to discard. she doesn't want to be caught with that. andrea canning (voiceover): here, just around the corner from the chance house, a few minutes later, another fleeting image. brewer thought that was jenea racing to get home, and that she had to be the killer. the videos alone hadn't been enough for the da before, so brewer kept digging. he discovered that three weeks before the murder, jenea

made a purchase at a walmart she never otherwise shopped at, the one where the suspect had used the payphone. so we went back to the walmart, of course, and pulled the video for that transaction. andrea canning (voiceover): the video clearly showed jenea at the walmart. kavin brewer: and we find something that's just really, really bizarre. and for me, it was the absolute turning point of the case. what was it? she walked up to the greeter, and she begins to talk to him. and she raises her hand up to her ear, like this. what do you think she was doing? i believe she asked that greeter where the payphone was. andrea canning (voiceover): the detective knew jenea had a work cell and a personal cell, so he believed there was only one reason she would need a payphone-- to make her plan work. and then he got the last piece of the puzzle. her laptop had been sent to the fbi lab for analysis, the one she'd said she'd been using when todd was killed. finally, the results came back. no one had been manually manipulating that computer until about 11 o'clock in the morning.

no one's typing on keys or searching. no one's moving the mouse. no one's typing keys. but that was her story, that she was on the computer? that's correct. the alibi is now gone. andrea canning (voiceover): december 1, 2016, more than three years after todd's murder, they had enough to arrest jenea again. andrea canning: how did it go down? kavin brewer: we had a team follow her back from her office, and she was stopped by a patrol car. the officer told her that she was stopped for a traffic violation. and then i just walked up as he got her out of the car and told her that she was under arrest for the murder of her husband. wow. and what was her reaction? she said, are you kidding me? and i said, no, ma'am. we are not kidding you. andrea canning (voiceover): coming up. andrea canning (voiceover): jenea's daughter, jessica.

andrea canning (voiceover): detectives have some questions to ask and some video to show. [crying] andrea canning (voiceover): when "dateline" continues.

hi, i'm richard lui with a news update. more than 1 million people still without power in florida days after hurricane milton slammed into the coast. fuel distribution at ports around tampa bay. reports as many 75% of gas stations close to without fuel. a u.s. officials say israel narrowed down its targets for a strike on iran. sources telling nbc news it could happen at any time including during yom kippur holiday. for now, back to dateline.

of her husband, todd. she sat down with me in early 2020. tell us about that moment. surprise, dumbfounded. i thought this will all be corrected. it will all be corrected, and i'll be home. so let's talk a little bit about how things have changed since 2013. you've lost well over 100 pounds. yes, yes. i was working towards trying to lose weight prior to my husband's death, but after my husband passed away, my weight just melted off. andrea canning (voiceover): she'd had the lap band surgery before todd's death. but if jenea was hoping to start a new life, now it was shattered. on the day of her arrest, detectives questioned her daughters. detective brewer asked jessica about jenea's behavior the day todd was murdered.

andrea canning (voiceover): jessica stood by her mom. then detective brewer showed her those security videos. it was the first time jessica had ever seen them. and right away, something jumped out at her. andrea canning (voiceover): remember the backpack the suspect was carrying? in most of the videos, the color is hard to see, but here, it sort of looks red. jessica thought she recognized it. andrea canning (voiceover): when she saw the backpack, something seemed to click. [crying] andrea canning (voiceover): jessica, who had been one of her mom's most ardent supporters, appeared to come all at once to a terrible realization.

andrea canning (voiceover): and she went a step further, much further, when detective brewer asked her about the video from walmart. andrea canning (voiceover): it seemed that jessica had done a 180 and now believed her mom had killed her stepdad-- that day, anyway. by the time we interviewed her four years later, jessica had done another about face. she now says investigators duped her by showing her the walmart video, along with all the others. they show me a video that is very clearly my mother. and i thought, well, yeah, that's her. and then i just started bawling because i was like, well, if that's her in the last one, it's her in all of them because i thought they were all the same day. andrea canning (voiceover): if jessica ever doubted her mother's innocence, she says she doesn't anymore. did part of you worry or think, maybe this could be my mom?

i mean, your mind goes there. but when you look at it, it's just-- it's not her. and everything that's transpired from everything, there's no way. no way. andrea canning (voiceover): all three of jenea's daughters told me the person in the videos was not their mom, and that despite what detective brewer says, maybe not even a woman. jessica bullman: there's no way to know. especially the last one, when the guy's like running across the street, it looks like a male. you also say that your mom was not a runner. never run. never ran. or jaywalked. never jaywalked. that was a big deal. like, she would walk forever just to go across on a crosswalk. andrea canning (voiceover): as for the backpack-- you even recognize the red backpack? yeah, growing up, there was a red backpack around, but i hadn't seen it in years prior to that. andrea canning (voiceover): jenea couldn't believe police still thought she killed her husband. 'cause i'm an elementary school principal. and you know, for anyone to believe that i would do this, i understand that the investigators

don't know the relationship between my husband and myself. but they are investigators. they should have researched and known this. i'm going to go through at least some of the evidence in this case. andrea canning (voiceover): jenea's trial began on december 9, 2019. kern county prosecutors andrea kohler and art norris told the jury that the elementary school principal had not only killed her husband, she'd enrolled herself in murder 101. anrea kohler: leslie jenea chance, through her actions, prepared a very involved and detailed lesson plan on how to kill her husband, how to murder him, how to murder todd chance. and in fact, on august 25, 2013, that's exactly what she did. andrea canning (voiceover): the prosecutors believe there were multiple motives-- jealousy-- you're going to hear, ladies and gentlemen, that those photos were sent to the cell phone of todd chance. andrea canning (voiceover): --money-- you're going to hear about some life insurance policies. andrea canning (voiceover): --and something

more complicated. we both think that her love for todd had died long before that trigger was pulled. she had plenty of photographs in her office of her kids and everything else, but not one single photo anywhere of her husband. you're going to hear that-- andrea canning (voiceover): they told the jurors about the videos, the gun, how todd's shoes had no dust. and then the prosecution called a key witness, a woman who had been visiting todd and jenea's neighbor the morning of the murder. she testified that she saw the mustang pull out of the garage with todd driving, but he wasn't alone. next to him was a woman wearing a cap and large sunglasses. i would say that she was the singlemost important witness we had because, quite frankly, if you believe her,

we're done. there's no other explanation. andrea canning (voiceover): according to brewer and the prosecutors, it all added up to murder. what i believe happened is that she, at some point, had confronted todd about the photographs and probably told him we're not going to be able to argue out this inside the house with the kids. so let's go for a drive. they left the house together, clearly. they drove out to the almond grove. kavin brewer: as soon as he pulled over, i think she shot him. he had raised one arm up, as he sees the gun, in a defensive manner. shot through the hand and then into the chest, and then a second shot into the chest. art norris: pulled his body out of the car, laid his body in the dirt with his wallet there so that he would be identified, and that's important so that they could then go to the house and notify her,

and she would be at home. kavin brewer: and then she drove somewhere and cleaned the car up with the bleach wipes. art norris: she then left that location and parked her car in front of, essentially, a drug house with the gun and the car key clearly visible, so that a person possibly leaving this drug house would see it and think, hey, i've just basically won the lottery. kavin brewer: and then the location to location begins. it's just trying to keep us from ever finding out who she is. it was a great example of a case where all of the evidence just fit together. many court hearings-- andrea canning (voiceover): not so fast, said the defense. jenea has been wanting her day in court, and here it is. andrea canning (voiceover): jenea's attorney said he had actual proof she was innocent, and his star witness, no surprise, was jenea herself.

coming up. you brought into question the credibility of the detective. we did. andrea canning (voiceover): was this a rush to judgment? within four days, detective brewer was convinced that it was her. andrea canning (voiceover): all eyes would be on the stand and jenea chance. you specifically hoped that she would be caught in a lie, and you turned to god for that. i did. i spoke the truth. i spoke my truth. andrea canning (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. hey, get your head in the game, son. [music playing] the scout from football college is up in the stands. maybe i'd rather go to school for insurance. i didn't raise no insurance man. but you did, dad. football's your passion. but mine is providing around-the-clock protection to progressive customers who bundle home and auto. jamie, we need you out here for football. you're giving up on your dream, james. no, dad. i'm giving up on yours. no, james, wait! oh, that's not the exit.

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there is a body. andrea canning (voiceover): murder cases are often circumstantial. the prosecution tries to assemble a bunch of small puzzle pieces into one big picture, and the defense, its job is to tear it apart. that's exactly what jenea's attorney, tony lidgett, aimed to do. i believe if any married person gets killed, the spouse is the number one suspect, no matter what. within four days, detective brewer was convinced that it was her. andrea canning (voiceover): that's true. brewer had arrested jenea just four days after the murder and had to release her because there wasn't enough evidence. you brought into question the credibility of the detective. we did. andrea canning (voiceover): the defense said detective brewer had tunnel vision and ignored key evidence, like the fact that jenea had an alibi. daughter sarah said she saw her mom working at home around the time todd was killed. and she stated that when she woke up, she saw her mom.

her mom was downstairs, doing what she always does every sunday, which is laundry. she was watching tv, doing laundry, and looked like she was doing work at the same time. andrea canning (voiceover): not only that, the defense accused the detective of hiding evidence. detective brewer had interviewed friends and colleagues of jenea's, who watched the security videos and couldn't identify her. it was never checked into evidence. of them looking at the surveillance video-- tony lidgett: correct. --and saying-- saying that it wasn't her. andrea canning (voiceover): and, said the defense, the prosecution's key eyewitness was wrong. there was no way jenea could have been in the passenger seat of todd's car as it was backing out of the garage. the defense said todd wouldn't let anyone get in the car in the garage because the door was too close to the wall. you can't get into the passenger side where the car is parked. you actually have to back out, and people have to get in. there's just not enough room. jenea was way too big.

andrea canning (voiceover): then jenea herself made what may have been the most critical decision of the trial. you decided to take the stand. yes. why did you feel so strongly about that? because i know my truth. andrea canning (voiceover): jenea spent days on the witness stand and told the jury her side. that she loved her husband, that she had no idea there were naked photos on his phone so she had nothing to be jealous of. that, as the breadwinner in her family, she didn't need a life insurance payout. and perhaps, most important, she had proof that the woman in the video could not be her. the reason was very simple to understand, her attorney said. she had to wear glasses, or she was virtually blind. andrea canning (voiceover): jenea chance was extremely nearsighted. no way she could have navigated the streets of bakersfield without her glasses. and since jenea didn't wear contacts and didn't own prescription sunglasses, the defense said the woman in the big sunglasses was not jenea. detective brewer had been on the case

for more than six years. he even delayed his retirement to see it through. now, seeing jenea testify, he felt the need to pray. there are certain things that the lord is just going to have to take control of. and that's what this is. we're going to need some real help here. you specifically hoped that she would be caught in a lie. and you turned to god for that. i did, and she was. andrea canning (voiceover): the lie involved that very specific and critical detail in jenea's testimony. she had made such a big deal about the fact that she could not see without glasses, that she did not like contact lenses. it had been years since she had tried contact lenses. and they really played that. andrea canning (voiceover): jenea's defense attorney even brought records from her eye doctor. they proved she had bad eyesight and never bought prescription sunglasses. but then the prosecutor looked through the same records and found something else, something big. sure enough, it showed that, in fact, in july of 2013,

a month before the murder, that she had obtained two boxes of contact lenses. andrea canning (voiceover): on cross-examination, kohler confronted jenea with jenea's own medical records. watching in the courtroom, detective brewer knew this was the moment he'd prayed for. it was an absolute lie. and she was just absolutely caught in it and right in front of the jury. andrea canning (voiceover): cameras weren't allowed during testimony so the moment wasn't captured on video, but i asked jenea about it. andrea canning: what was your vision like at the time of the murder? are you still wearing glasses? contacts? oh, glasses. attorney: don't answer that question. oh. andrea canning (voiceover): that's jenea's attorney off camera counseling her not to respond. she ignored him. i spoke the truth. i spoke my truth there. and i know i was never wearing contacts during 2013. andrea canning (voiceover): but remember, jenea talked to us in 2013.

you were not wearing glasses in our interview, which was just not too long after you got out of jail. were you wearing contacts? i know-- no, absolutely not. i do know that there was a time that i would take my glasses off for pictures because i thought i looked better without the glasses. andrea canning (voiceover): but it wasn't just the interview. andrea canning: you didn't seem to be struggling, or even in our walk in the yard, you seemed fine without the glasses. i just don't recall that. andrea canning (voiceover): but you might recall another thing she told us back then, about wanting to see her daughter jessica in court. i know she's going to want me to look at her, and i can't see, because i didn't have my contacts, and i didn't have my glasses. andrea canning (voiceover): did you catch that? let's play it again. and i can't see, because i didn't have my contacts and i didn't have my glasses. andrea canning (voiceover): the big lie about her contacts undercut jenea's credibility, and prosecutors said there was something else jenea couldn't hide-- her unmistakable walk. the defendant had a very distinct walk, a very distinct gait.

she swung her arms. she walked very forcefully, kind of a large step walk. andrea canning (voiceover): much like the suspect in those security videos, said the prosecution. kavin brewer: the body appearance is very similar. and absolutely the walk was absolutely similar. andrea canning (voiceover): the jury, of course, didn't hear about our experience with jenea, but they had heard plenty. after jenea was caught in that lie about the contacts by the prosecution, her lawyer tried to repair the damage in closing arguments. we brought in the records. there were no prescription sunglasses, but yeah, there were contacts that were purchased. but there are 10,000 photos. and every photo has her with glasses. she always wore glasses. she didn't like contacts. i was on that-- andrea canning (voiceover): the prosecution told the jury, it wasn't just the contacts. jenea chance was lying about everything. so, ladies and gentlemen, based on all of the evidence

in this case, i would ask you to find the defendant, leslie jenea chance, guilty of the first-degree, premeditated, and deliberated murder of todd chance. andrea canning (voiceover): now, six years after todd's murder, the case was in the hands of the jury. coming up. how were you feeling? i was very confident. i thought, my goodness, they're not only going to stand up and say she's not guilty, they're going to say she's innocent, and this was a ridiculous case. andrea canning (voiceover): eight days of deliberation later, would they? how nervous were you waiting for the verdict? more than normal. when it gets past three days, i begin to worry. when it gets past four or five, i'm really worried. is it going to be guilty or a hung jury or what? andrea canning (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. dupixent can help people with asthma breathe better in as little as 2 weeks. so this is better.

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andrea canning: jenea chance had spent three years in jail awaiting trial for the murder of her husband, todd. by the time the case went to the jury, it looked like the odds were against her. but jenea didn't think so. she could almost taste freedom. how were you feeling? i was very confident. i expected to go back the next day and it be done. actually, when i would lay in bed at night, i thought, my goodness, they're not only going to stand up and say she's not guilty. they're going to say she's innocent, and this was a ridiculous case.

andrea canning: todd and jenea's daughters, who visited their mother twice a week, couldn't wait to get her home. yeah, we even have her favorite ice cream. this is the thing that she really wanted when she got out. so it's here waiting for her. oh, yeah. andrea canning: they got her room ready and hung her clothes in the closet. meanwhile, the jury deliberated. how nervous were you waiting for the verdict? more than normal. when it gets past three days, i begin to worry. when it gets past four or five, i'm really worried. andrea canning: after eight days, the call finally came in. everyone headed to court. the jury comes back from deliberating. how are you two holding up? oh, i am squeezing the hand of the da's victim's advocate. i looked at each one of the jury members, and i thought, is it going to be guilty or a hung jury or what? when the verdict came in, i thought i heard it wrong.

i seriously thought i heard it wrong. we, the jury, find the defendant, leslie jenea chance, guilty of a felony. andrea canning: the jury convicted jenea of murder in the first degree. we spoke to todd's parents after the trial. this is the moment you've been waiting for, for years. how are you feeling? mixed emotions because we're thinking about the girls. the justice for todd was good, but nobody really won. everybody lost because of what she did. andrea canning: for a while, travis and diana felt like they had lost their granddaughters too. that's got to be heartbreaking. oh, it's-- it's very heartbreaking. is there anything you would say to them if they're listening? i love them very much. we love them unconditionally. your grandparents, todd's parents, have not supported your mom. how has that affected your relationship?

we try to keep a relationship with them. they are my grandparents. i'm always going to love them, have a love for them. but the way that they see how things are with this, it makes it very difficult sometimes. they told us they miss you. mm-hmm. do you have any reaction to that? i don't know. i don't know what to say. it's complicated. it really is. it's going to take time. yeah. andrea canning: jessica told us she blamed herself. she thought she sealed her mom's fate when she told detectives the woman in the videos was jenea. i carry around this enormous amount of guilt. if i wasn't stupid in 2016 and said that comment, maybe mom would be home. this isn't because of you. i don't think it was just that comment.

i feel like they've been gunning for her for years. we all have been through a lot. and i don't want her to think that she did something wrong. yeah. you all were forced to endure a lot in a really short amount of time. it's still not over. we're still fighting. yeah. andrea canning: jenea was sentenced to 50 years to life. she'll be eligible for a parole hearing after serving just 20 years under california's elderly parole program. our second interview with her happened in jail. after the verdict, i would go to bed thinking i'm going to wake up, and it's all-- it's-- it's-- this was all a bad dream. it-- it truly has been a bad dream. what do you say to anyone who might say, well, she's crying now because she was found guilty, not because of her husband? i cried then. i just didn't cry out in front of everybody. you know, i-- i did. i-- i mourn my husband.

andrea canning: for diana and travis, the fight is over. they finally got the justice they wanted. but the loss of their son todd remains. i hope he understands that we did everything we could to make sure that he got justice. andrea canning: his dad does find comfort in one thing. well, i got to tell him i loved him many times. love you too, dad. hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline." hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline." sur. it still is. things like that don't happen to small town people. i was very scared. i was worried that i was going to be next.