a grand home for his family that no longer exists. the passion of this project began with family. was your late wife who found the place? yeah. dennis murphy: hanna thought she'd have a lovely life with her baby in the garage apartment. john hove: yeah. and now, they're both gone. but i'll finish the house, like i promised. dennis murphy: at the end of the day, he says, no lavish home, no amount of money, can take away the pain of losing his only daughter. [music playing] rtment. police department. [wailing] bj horn: he looked like he was trying to save his wife. he was doing cpr. you know, it was an emotional situation.

stacy downing: he just looked very distraught. he said, my wife killed herself. we were just told that she was dead, that she had hung herself. larry rothman: families want answers, especially in cases where there's suicide. my job right out of the gate was to help investigate what happened. the noose around her neck, i paid particular attention to that and just how loose it was. angie borders: could that extension cord have held amy? could that extension cord have hung her? bj horn: i just had this gut feeling that something is off. jeanne winchester: they found someone that amy was talking to. it was a man. i was just shocked. she was having an affair. she had had a conversation with this person on the final day of her life. you have to step back. am i heading in the right direction? this case had a story to tell. larry rothman: let's find out what happened in that basement.

hello, and welcome to "dateline." amy allan enjoyed simple pleasures. a stay-at-home mom, she gardened, kept fit, and adored her daughter, ashley. that's why her family was in disbelief when they were told amy had killed herself. turns out, amy had secrets. investigators discovered her life and her death were more complex than anyone knew. here's stephanie gosk with "what happened in the basement." stephanie gosk: it started here, at a favorite hangout, right at the bar. to the casual observer, jimmy and amy allan looked like any other couple killing time over a beer. but there was something else going on. buried secrets, wounded feelings,

a glance at a phone that will speak volumes when the truth comes out. dispatcher: 911. what is the address of your emergency? ok, what's going on there? dispatcher: how was she trying to kill herself? jimmy allan: i pulled her off and i-- dispatcher: ok. does she have a noose around her neck right now or-- dispatcher: ok. somebody call-- stephanie gosk: bj horn was the responding officer. bj horn: the call came in at, i think it was a little bit before 9:00 pm. i just walked into the house and it was strangely quiet. did you think you were in the wrong place? i did. police department. police department. and it wasn't until i yelled a couple times, you know, police, police, that i heard somebody. jimmy allan: hello. help, please! bj horn: yes. she was down in the basement.

stephanie gosk: it was jimmy allan performing cpr on his wife, amy. bj horn: how long has she been down? do you have any idea? do you have any idea? stephanie gosk: in just a few minutes, the emts arrived. after they began lifesaving efforts, jimmy seemed to become hysterical. bj horn: i knew it was a stressful environment anyway, and that was only adding to the stress. jimmy allan: [wailing] their focus needed to be on saving amy's life. you want to come upstairs with me real quick? ok. it was an emotional situation. i'm just trying to figure out, you know, where this all started and how we ended up here. did she make any statements at all? stephanie gosk: in a rush of emotion, a story spilled out. they had drinks at the bar. amy walked home, wound up in the basement. and then--

bj horn: does amy have a history of mental illness or anything like this? nothing? nothing in her background at all. stephanie gosk: their 15-year-old daughter, ashley, was at a football game at her high school. jimmy called her. then jimmy called his parents. stephanie gosk: amy allan and her husband, jimmy, had moved to michigan from ocala, florida, with their daughter only a year before. bill and stacy downing live next door. what was your first impression of them when they moved in? they just seemed really nice, like a nice young couple. i remember asking them, you know, why would you move from florida, where it's warm, to experience michigan winters? and she said that that was his dream job

and he was just really excited about it. stephanie gosk: jimmy handled video production for an auto accessories company. amy took care of ashley and the house. bill downing: friendly. she was kind of reserved and shy. he was more outgoing. they were planning on living there for a good while. stephanie gosk: jimmy was into fitness, physical and mental, he liked to say. and he encouraged amy too, from rollerblading to rock climbing to running. did they do this stuff together? were they active together? yeah. i know that they would run. and just a few blocks away, there's a really nice park with wooded trails. and i know that they would go running there together. stephanie gosk: amy's dad, jay winchester, got the news from jimmy's father. billy, jimmy's dad, called and said, basically, i got some bad news. amy's dead.

and i just broke down. i mean, it was crazy. what were the details that billy shared with you about how she died? all i knew at the time was that she had hung herself. stephanie gosk: but then the police told amy's family she had not actually died yet. she was on life support. they rushed to the hospital in ann arbor. heather, amy's older sister, was with them. you went to the hospital. heather winchester: yes. she was on life support. yes. and you were probably there for a really long time. we were. stephanie gosk: jeanne winchester is amy's mother. jeanne winchester: we were able to go to the hospital. we were able to at least talk to her, hold her hand, tell her goodbye. stephanie gosk: after three days in the hospital, amy allan was taken off life support. she was a runner, a rock climber, an animal lover, a homemaker. what happened to amy on that late summer day? why would she want it to be her last?

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let me set the record straight. are people born wicked? or do they have wickedness thrust upon them? oh! -ah! [ laughter ] no need to respond. that was rhetorical. hm, hmm. stephanie gosk: the morning after the tragedy at his home, jimmy allan headed next door to talk to the downings. he looked like he had had a rough night. and the reason why he came over, he said that he had been on the phone with his mom and his mom did not want him to be by himself. stephanie gosk: later that day, police were back at the allan house. michigan state police detective larry rothman

led the investigation. larry rothman: families want answers. especially in cases where there's suicide, families want answers. this could be just as it seems, a husband who found his wife who had taken her own life. correct. i think i even made that comment to bj horn on the phone call, when he called me, that it sounds like a suicide to me. stephanie gosk: the police spent much of the day going through the allan home, and with jimmy's help, they began to piece together the events of amy's last day. it started, he said, like every other. just listening to music and making lunch and breakfast, smile on her face. stephanie gosk: around 7:30, amy sent ashley off to school and jimmy went to work. he came home at lunch for a nap. phone records show that amy was home all day texting with a friend. ashley had a friend over, kayla, after school. amy picked her up, and i was just kind of in bed,

and they came here. she made everybody dinner. 6:30, we rolled out to take them to the game. stephanie gosk: just after 6:30 pm, amy and jimmy dropped ashley and her friend at their high school football game. around 7:00, amy and jimmy wound up at that local pub, jr's. jimmy told police that as they sat at the bar, they were fighting about their future. jimmy says he was tossing around the idea of selling the michigan house and moving, maybe to north carolina. jimmy allan: she said a couple of times, oh, that's not going to work. and she's normally positive and was sort of down and negative. and we started to disagree about it. and she's like, you know, i hope that works out for you. and i'm like, what do you mean, me? i'm talking about our life. stephanie gosk: jimmy says they were both fuming when they left the bar. she headed home alone. he got in his truck. at 7:51, a security camera caught her walking away from the bar and toward their house

just down the street. jimmy got home first, then amy. jimmy's version of what happened next was specific, almost to the minute. and it went like this. around 8:00, jimmy looked for something to watch on tv and amy went down to the basement. jimmy went to check on her. she's petting louie, one of our cats. and like, what the hell are you doing in the basement? stephanie gosk: and then amy lashed out, according to jimmy, insulting him and swearing at him. approximately 8:15, jimmy says he went back upstairs and started watching a show starring jim carrey. about 8:40, jimmy says he realized it was time to pick up ashley from her game. he went to get amy and says that's when he found her hanging. so i was able to grab the actual cord, like lift her up and grab it off of there and then let her fall to the ground, and immediately do that and started, you know, check for a pulse. bj horn: were her feet off the ground? yeah.

bj horn: uh. i don't even know-- i mean, i assume so. when i glanced down there, i saw there it looked like an upturned kitty litter pail. bj horn: huh. stephanie gosk: jimmy said he just couldn't understand why she did it. bj horn: has she ever tried anything like this before? she never had anything ever, like no mental instability. none of us have, you know, psychologists, psychiatrists, no money trouble, no-- i mean, this is like the pinnacle of, you know, best job i've ever had. i make great money. she's a stay-at-home mom. she takes care of the five cats, the pool, and is there for my daughter doing sports and activities. stephanie gosk: when it came time to question jimmy's 15-year-old daughter, ashley, detective rothman agreed officer horn should handle

that very delicate job. she was clearly upset. i can't imagine what she was feeling, but i kind of wanted to get her side of the story. stephanie gosk: jimmy and his mother stayed with ashley as she answered questions. bj horn: were your mom and dad fighting at all yesterday, that you recall? no. everything was normal when i left. bj horn: is your mom ever talked about being depressed or, you know, wanting to hurt herself or anything like that? never, ever? stephanie gosk: amy's family remembers how close she and ashley had always been. they just couldn't wrap their heads around the idea that she would take her own life. jeanne winchester: when i first heard it, i was in shock and thought, you know, ok, this is what happened. and then, you know, you wake up and say, no, that's not what happened. i don't believe it. you're going to ask me to believe that my daughter would have done that, left her daughter that she adored, and would leave herself, obviously,

there for her own daughter to possibly see that? stephanie gosk: amy's mother wasn't the only family member who thought there was something wrong with this suicide story. before the winchesters headed home to florida, they had one more stop to make. heather winchester: we went to the tecumseh police department to let them know our thoughts and feelings. mr. clean magic eraser... wow - where has this been my entire life? having to clean with multiple products is a hassle. with magic eraser... i use it on everyday messes. i even use it on things that i think are impossible to clean. you need mr. clean magic eraser in your life. some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking allstate first. like you know to check the weather first, before sailing. it's gonna get nasty later. yep. hey! perfect day for sailing, huh?

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stephanie gosk: they had rushed to michigan to tell amy goodbye. now that she was gone, amy's family wasn't just brokenhearted and confused. they were also angry at her husband, jimmy. it had taken 14 hours to get the news about their daughter. they almost missed that goodbye. because we were just told that she was dead, end of story. and that was after, 14 hours after everyone else knew about it. you know, when there's an emergency-- stephanie gosk: you call. you call. we went to the tecumseh police department and spoke with them to let them know our thoughts and feelings and to find out what had happened from their eyes, their point of view.

stephanie gosk: the winchesters told police they had doubts this was a suicide. police had some concerns of their own, starting with jimmy's behavior when they responded to his 911 call. what stood out for you? jimmy was emotional. i would describe it as crying, but it was really more yelling and moaning. but although he's making a lot of noise, there's no tears. stephanie gosk: stacey and bill downing had the same reaction when they saw jimmy that next morning. the biggest part for me was when he would just cry, sob, you know, shaking. and then his eyes are completely dry. it was just-- you never saw a tear. mm-mm. stephanie gosk: police had more questions for jimmy allan, but he and his daughter had left the state.

just a few days after that awful night, jimmy and ashley packed up their cats and their belongings and drove down here, to ocala, florida. this is the place where it all began, where years before jimmy met amy, a quiet girl with a complicated past. what was amy like as a little kid? very girly. always wearing dresses, reading books, playing with the little play makeup. stephanie gosk: she grew up with two sisters, heather and amanda. life seemed predictable, until amy was in middle school and then things took a drastic turn. she was acting a little bit different, and my mom was out of town. i ended up reading her diary, and so that's how i found out and called my mom. stephanie gosk: 13-year-old amy was pregnant. she was in eighth grade when she gave birth to a baby boy, caleb.

it had to have been a real shock. yeah, it was. and how did she handle that, being a high school student and being a mom? well, she just did what she could on her time and we did what we could when she couldn't, just filled the gap. stephanie gosk: amy went to prom with her new boyfriend, jimmy allan. her parents say jimmy seemed to accept her even as a teenage mom. caleb was three by then. and that might have been part of the reason she was attracted to him, because he knew that she had caleb and was still interested. stephanie gosk: amy was in love and at 19 found herself pregnant again. the young couple got married and now they had two children, caleb and baby ashley. jimmy was always a good hard worker and a good provider for them. she stayed home as a mother and a wife.

part of it, i think, was jimmy not wanting her to get out into the working world. stephanie gosk: and what jimmy wanted, the family would later tell police, is what jimmy would get. it would be even the simplest, would you like to go to lunch? well, i need to check with jimmy. there was just a bunch of little rules that i had to follow. we couldn't eat without asking. we basically had to ask to do anything. stephanie gosk: looking back on his childhood, son caleb says he got spanked a lot, even as a little boy. but that wasn't all. so if i would get in trouble at school, their way of punishing me was i needed to sit on my bed and stare at the wall all day and night. i could come out to use the bathroom and to eat food. she said during the harder times that she would try to stick up for caleb, try to make her voice known, but it would always come back to whatever jimmy wanted. and i just said, i can't.

i can't take it anymore. stephanie gosk: after caleb turned 17, he went to live with his grandparents. a few months later, a family argument turned the rift into an all-out war. the family says jimmy told amy she couldn't speak with them anymore. did you miss her? absolutely, i did. stephanie gosk: and did you have a feeling back then that jimmy was keeping her from you? absolutely. on my graduation, i wasn't sure if she was going to show up or not. stephanie gosk: but she did show up. it was one of the last times amy's family saw her alive. a year later, police were digging through the life she left behind, her phone, her computer, and learning more about jimmy. angie borders is a lenawee county prosecutor. angie borders: it's clear from speaking with the family that he isolated her from her personal, her side of the family. he cut caleb, her son, out of her life.

he actually monitored her locations because you could tell when he'd say, you're at mcdonald's, why, meaning he knew in the moment that she was in a mcdonald's line. stephanie gosk: prosecutor phoebe meyer says the digital evidence, phone and computer records revealed a woman who did not seem on the verge of suicide. she was planning meals and holidays and vacations. and obviously with george, she was planning to meet up with george the next month. stephanie gosk: george? it turns out that digital record also revealed that amy had a double life involving someone named george. it was her deepest secret. or was it? when you want something... you pursue it. and with vitiligo, the pursuit for your pigment is just the same. it's time you found a proven choice to help restore what's yours. opzelura... is the first and only... fda-approved prescription treatment

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it's our son, he is always up in our business. it's the verizon 5g home internet i got us. oh... he used to be a competitive gamer but with the higher lag, he can't keep up with his squad. so now we're his “squad”. what are kevin's plans for the fall? he's going to college. out of state, yeah. -yeah in the fall. change of plans, i've decided to stay local. oh excellent! oh that's great! why would i ever leave this? -aw! we will do anything to get him gaming again. you and kevin need to fix this internet situation. heard my name! i swear to god, kevin! -we told you to wait in the car. everyone in my old squad has xfinity. less lag, better gaming! i'm gonna need to charge you for three people. hi, i am richard lui with a news update. house speaker mike johnson

urging the ethics committee that not to at least a report on matt gaetz's other than misconduct and drug use. president-elect donald trump has picked aides to serve as attorney general of the united states. be associated press reports pete hegseth had been flagged as a possible quote, insider threat in 2021. fellmeers of the national guard alerted numbers of the national guard hegseth had a phrase used by white supremacist tattooed on his inner thigh. for now, back to dateline. . but her family wasn't buying his story. was amy suicidal? to find out, detectives would have to dig deep into her private life. what they were about to uncover would leave everyone stunned. back to stephanie gosk with "what happened in the basement." stephanie gosk: it was just about the biggest surprise of the investigation. police had discovered that amy, shy, submissive amy,

had a double life with a man she met online. his name was george. when you discover a boyfriend on the side, that potentially blows this case up, right? don't you, in that moment, suddenly have to consider a whole host of new possibilities? we certainly did. and it's our duty to do that. how long had this relationship with george been going on? three years. and it was fairly significant amount of communication between them. and we also learned that they had met up a couple times. this communication was what, sexual? it was definitely intimate in nature. stephanie gosk: police learned that george was married and living on the east coast. amy's family got the news from detective rothman. all's he told us was that they found someone that amy was talking to, but that's all he said. and we could tell by the way he said it, it was a man. and i was just shocked.

stephanie gosk: george and amy talked and texted a lot. they were all very positive. i mean, she was a completely different person when she talked to george. she was happy. she was optimistic. stephanie gosk: and they messaged right up through amy's last day, even here at the bar. look closely. you'll see amy checking her phone. what do we now know about that moment? what was she looking at? she was looking at a text from george. my first thought was, here's a possible motive. jimmy found out about george. stephanie gosk: one month after amy died, jimmy was back in michigan to pick up some things and agreed to sit down with detective rothman. jimmy talked about his life, his wife, and his regrets.

stephanie gosk: when he first talked to police, he said amy was happy, but now the story was different.

stephanie gosk: the questions got personal. jimmy revealed he cheated on amy once or twice. stephanie gosk: a few minutes later, as jimmy was getting ready to take a polygraph, the examiner returned to the question of amy's fidelity. and now it wasn't hypothetical. the investigator was telling him something.

stephanie gosk: but detective rothman had pages and pages of proof, which he showed jimmy when he came back in the room. stephanie gosk: those text messages, they get pretty graphic. they do. and those were only a snippet of the text messages that we had. stephanie gosk: he looked shocked. he really did, and also silent. and he's not known to be silent. he talks a lot. and he will have an explanation for everything. and he didn't have any words.

so he didn't believe it at first. no, he didn't. stephanie gosk: so much for the motive. so now you've kind of got to step back, don't you? larry rothman: yes. and if he did kill his wife, why would he do it? i did this throughout this investigation. you get going, you get going, and then you have to step back and then take a look. ok, am i heading in the right direction? stephanie gosk: so maybe it was suicide. time for the detective to take a second look at the evidence. maybe he was missing something. swiffer duster traps 4x more dust, for a clean even mom approves of. that reach! making hard to reach... so easy. swiffer. wow. the mother of all cleans.

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stephanie gosk: jimmy allan seemed legitimately rattled by the news that amy had cheated on him. stephanie gosk: after that police interview, jimmy went back to live with his family in ocala, florida. amy's older sister lived just a few streets away. heather winchester: literally just coming out of our neighborhood, i would have to pass their house. it was a reminder every single day, seeing his truck out there, my sister's car out there. stephanie gosk: three months after amy's death, michigan police got the autopsy report. the medical examiner ruled her manner of death indeterminate, pending additional investigative information, meaning he couldn't rule it a suicide or a homicide.

jimmy did take that polygraph, but it was inconclusive. no help there. and one other thing. jimmy had no defensive wounds on his body. nothing to indicate he struggled with amy. larry rothman: i worry about the evidence. and if the evidence proves that someone didn't do something, that's just as important to me as if it proves if someone did do something. stephanie gosk: investigators repeatedly returned to the body cam video that captured key moments of amy's final hours, looking for clues to jimmy's state of mind. larry rothman: when he's up in the kitchen talking to his parents, he's got his face covered. and as soon as i would direct him, to ask him a question, he would turn and turn it-- the emotions turned off, just like a light switch. bj horn: where are they? where do they live at? florida. bj horn: oh, ok. stephanie gosk: one moment stood out for everyone. it was during all that chaos, when an emt rushed through the kitchen and revealed that amy still had a pulse.

stephanie gosk: the emt comes upstairs and says to him, jimmy, your wife could live, effectively. he drops his hands. and i believe he mouths like the f word. and his reaction, his body language said one thing. and it didn't say a good thing to me. stephanie gosk: jimmy also said something very specific that investigators found suspicious. he repeatedly said that amy was hanging or dangling. remember this exchange? bj horn: were her feet off the ground? yeah. bj horn: uh. i don't even know. i mean, i assume so.

bj horn: so after they transported amy from the house, i went down to the basement, just kind of took one more look at the scene. stephanie gosk: what struck you? bj horn: right away i noticed that the ceilings appeared to be low. i found it a little bit surprising because jimmy had told me that she was hanging. stephanie gosk: detective rothman showed us the basement. so, larry, when you come down here for the first time, what's your very first impression? just how small it is, how the ceiling, how short the ceiling is. i mean, it's right here. there just isn't a lot of room-- there isn't. --between us and the ceiling. no, there isn't. i'm only 5 foot 6 and i can reach the top. with the extension cord and the height of this subbasement, it just didn't seem to add up that she could have hung herself the way it was described by mr. allan. without being too graphic, you need some height. correct. correct. stephanie gosk: and what about that extension cord? could it really have been used in a hanging? to find some answers, detective rothman reached out to a forensic engineering lab

in nearby livonia, michigan. and it became such a critical part of this story, didn't it? it did. you know, it doesn't matter what our hunches are. it doesn't matter what we think happened. it matters what the evidence says happened. stephanie gosk: scientists at the engineering lab conducted experiments to see what would happen to that extension cord if amy had hung from it. the results showed the cord would have stretched and amy's feet would have hit the basement floor. this was physical evidence, scientific physical evidence that proved that jimmy's story just didn't add up. stephanie gosk: and when a leading forensic pathologist looked at the findings, together with the police and autopsy reports, he said amy's death was a likely homicide. did you think in that moment, now we have a case? yes. and i charged it then. i think that day. where was jimmy? was he in florida? yes, back in ocala with his fiancée, apparently getting

married that week. stephanie gosk: here in sunny ocala, jimmy was apparently moving on with his life and making plans to get married again. but five days before the ceremony, he was arrested for amy's murder. the honeymoon was on hold. jimmy allan was going to trial.

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it was a warm september day, just like the day jimmy allan said he found his wife, amy, hanging in their basement. now, three years after her death, jimmy was going on trial for amy's murder. this was prosecutor angie border's first murder trial, and she knew it wasn't going to be easy. what did you think was the weakest part of your case? i mean, we just didn't have a smoking gun. we didn't have a solid motive. stephanie gosk: but the prosecutor and amy's family did have a theory. and it went back to amy's last night at the bar, when jimmy says she stood up to him, and later in the basement, when she insulted him. her dad, jay winchester. jay winchester: i think amy pushed back. and he ain't used to that. i think she pushed back hard. i think that that's very well could be what happened. and i think when she got in that house, she raised hell. and i think it pushed him to a point

that he hadn't ever been to before. and i think he went a little too far and then just kept going. i think that's what happened. stephanie gosk: but that just didn't make sense, according to jimmy's lawyer, daniel geherin. daniel geherin: if you look at the basic times, 8:00 pm arrival home, 8:52, 911 call, with a 9:00 or so planned pickup of ashley. 52 minutes. the people want you to believe that jimmy allan, for reasons nobody explains or guesses or understands why, snaps after 15 years of marriage, brutally kills his wife, goes up into cover up mode, does all of this cover up, and then gets the police there at 8:52 to start showing them evidence of this hanging. stephanie gosk: the defense attorney said the evidence shows that while amy was in the basement, jimmy was upstairs doing exactly what he said he was doing, watching tv. daniel geherin: the phone searches they get from jimmy's phone, that shows that he's looking at searches for jim carrey movies and other showtime shows--

stephanie gosk: the defense presented a letter from a noted forensic pathologist who examined all the evidence and said it looked like suicide, asphyxia due to hanging. - --under penalty for perjury. - i do. ok. stephanie gosk: when jimmy's father took the stand, he talked about what he witnessed in the days following amy's death. he said jimmy was a genuine wreck. he seemed somewhat composed but totally shattered and almost empty, if you would. i'd never seen him like that before or since. stephanie gosk: in the end, the defense argued it was amy's behavior and amy's emotions that led to her death. to make that point, amy's own daughter testified in her father's defense. back when she first spoke with police, ashley said everything seemed fine, but now, she recalled, there were signs of trouble. daniel geherin: did you notice anything from your vantage point that was a problem that you-- behaviors or issues that you saw when your mom was drinking alcohol?

um. two things, yes. my mother overindulged in alcohol frequently, and she became intoxicated very easily and frequently as well, which would cause her to be not herself at all. she would be meaner and more violent. stephanie gosk: geherin argued that drinking was just one of amy's problems. she was not talking to her family. we had, unfortunately, isolation, drinking, odd behavior, the guilt of a very graphic and long-term affair, unbeknownst to jimmy and his daughter, that ultimately led to her very sad and tragic death on friday, september 14 of 2018. stephanie gosk: when prosecutor angie borders laid out her case, she started at the beginning, the night of september 14. jurors watched the body cam videos. first responders and neighbors testified how jimmy's emotions seemed over the top or faked or nonexistent.

i do, your honor. stephanie gosk: but what struck bj horn right away that night was amy's neck. and i really didn't see any sort of typical injuries around the neck that i would normally would have seen in a hanging. so i definitely took note of that. stephanie gosk: officer horn's suspicions were confirmed by doctors and at least one nurse who treated amy that night. no visible injuries. angie borders: no visible injuries. in your training and experience, having dealt with many suicides, is that strike you as odd? it was a red flag. stephanie gosk: and while amy's neck showed no dramatic external injuries, prosecutors said damage inside her neck showed evidence of a chokehold. with that in mind, angie borders asked caleb to testify about a fight he had with jimmy years before. i was choked from behind on the floor for multiple seconds. it felt like forever during the incident, and i was gasping for air, grabbing for anything, trying to get away from him.

in my training and experience, when jimmy gets mad, jimmy goes to a chokehold. i believe jimmy placed amy into a chokehold, and that's how he rendered her unconscious, and at that point attempted to stage it as a suicide, by putting the ligature around her neck. stephanie gosk: what's more, the prosecution argued, amy seemed happy, not suicidal. she was looking forward to things. and that's where her secret lover, george, came in. the judge asked us not to show his face. stephanie gosk: they met once for coffee in the spring of 2017, and a few months later, they met again.

stephanie gosk: the relationship settled back into texts and video chats. but then on amy's last day, they talked about a plan to meet again, and soon. officer: but the most important testimony, according to the prosecutor, came from the scientist who ran those extension cord experiments, dr. elizabeth buc. elizabeth buc: the question at hand was, was this extension cord used in a suicide or not. the first night-- stephanie gosk: dr. buc showed us what she showed the jury. her team built an object that weighed 140 pounds.

we wanted to incorporate not only mrs. allan's weight, but also her height. stephanie gosk: dr. buc says her team used an extension cord identical to the one found around amy's neck. they looped and tied it the same way and then suspended the object from a hook placed at the height of the allan basement ceiling. now the collapse. she touches the floor. the elongation is occurring. stephanie gosk: it's still happening. we're actually watching it still happen. elizabeth buc: and the knots are tight. and she's not dangling. this is on the floor. that's correct. stephanie gosk: in court, dr. buc told the jury that the cord found around amy's neck showed no sign of stretching. elizabeth buc: the first question that detective rothman asked was, can an extension cord suspend 140 pounds? the testing was performed. the answer is no. stephanie gosk: in his closing argument, jimmy's defense attorney tried to pick apart the results

of dr. buc's testing. but what do we know now about dr. buc's opinion? dr. buc's opinion, frankly, is offensive. and i think kind of laughable. how is it possible-- stephanie gosk: the defense also said the prosecution's theory that jimmy choked amy was pure speculation. jimmy had no defensive wounds on his body and his dna was not found under amy's fingernails. as for george, the defense said that relationship was nothing more than a fantasy. you know, the people want to say this thing she was looking forward to, to break free. it was three years, three years. and they have three years to meet and they meet one time for two hours. stephanie gosk: on the eighth day of the trial, the jurors got the case and they considered two charges, first degree murder, which assumes premeditation and second degree, which does not. on the second day of deliberation, they had a verdict. court employee: you do say upon your oaths that you find the defendant guilty of the lesser offense

of second degree murder. you were there for the verdict when it was read. what emotion did you feel in that moment? it was a relief in one way, because i felt like we finally got justice. amy finally had a voice. but on the other hand, their family's broken. our family is broken. there are no winners here. stephanie gosk: jimmy was sentenced to 20 to 45 years in prison. when jimmy stood up to put his cuffs on, he just turned around and waved bye to everybody. stephanie gosk: can you describe the wave to me? how did he appear? sure. it was like-- it was almost like goodbye forever. like, don't wait for me kind of wave. and it was almost sad to watch it. stephanie gosk: her family likes to talk about amy in happier times, the shy, sweet young woman who loved

children and animals, that graduation day when she showed up and everything seemed right with the world. and they talk about how she liked to rollerblade here at this park in ocala. right there along the trail, the winchesters planted a tree, and in the shade, a memorial to the daughter, the sister, the mother they lost. it was their way of bringing amy home. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm andrea canning. thanks for watching. good morning and welcome to this saturday edition of "morning joe: weekend."