marc santia: it was a tough one to cover, because you would get caught up in bob and the alternative lifestyle and joe. but then you would always come back to jane. justice for jane. jane's free. she's free because bob is gone. and so now she can rest and be the angel that she is. [music playing] hello, i'm andrea canning, and this is "dateline."er. he's evil. he's pure evil. he is that character in those horror movies. andrea canning: he hid in the shadows, a killer in a mask.

he's clearly a brilliant individual, a brilliantly scary individual. andrea canning: his target, a doting young mom. she was a gorgeous strawberry blonde who loved her son more than anything in the whole world. she was so scared. andrea canning: he struck once. would he kill again? and would she be next? you're just so shattered and hurting so bad. andrea canning: imagine being hunted in your own home, held a virtual prisoner, your children in danger from a man with a blueprint for murder. i was terrified. andrea canning: she will face down evil and come forward with a new revelation that will make your jaw drop. what i did was wrong. there are no words. i have everything to lose.

hello, and welcome to "dateline." it was a brutal crime, and right away, one woman said she knew what happened. it would take years to bring the alleged killer to trial. but the verdict was far from the end of this case. it's a story of obsession and control that will keep you guessing till the very end. here's the killing in cobb county. a new attraction can be so exhilarating, but not always. sometimes attraction turns into a dangerous obsession. lottie spencer says she knows all about that. he'd show up at my job. he would show up at the store. no matter where i went, he would be there. andrea canning: lottie says she had a stalker, a teenager who got into her house, into her car, and worst of all, into her head. lottie spencer: i wouldn't go out to the mailbox without a gun. i was terrified. he had total control over you, it sounds like. pretty much. andrea canning: lottie could feel it in her bones. something bad was coming, and she felt powerless to do

anything about it. i knew that he was watching. and then just-- i just-- i mean, here it comes again. andrea canning: life used to be much simpler for lottie. in the fall of 1995, she moved to cobb county, georgia, just north of atlanta. she lived in this house with her daughter, christina. lottie spencer: this is an upper-scale neighborhood. me and christina were always outside. and my life was really good. i was really happy. andrea canning: their downstairs neighbors were karmen smith and her son, nick. five-year-old nick had sparkling blue eyes and a million dollar smile, just like his mom. kristen horan is karmen's sister. she was a gorgeous strawberry blonde, feisty, very outgoing young woman who loved her son more than anything in the whole world. they were just like, you know, two peas in a pod. andrea canning: it was a monday afternoon, the week before halloween.

nick and christina got off the school bus and walked home together. cobb county prosecutor jesse evans. first thing they did is go downstairs to see if they could find nick's mom. her car was there. she should be there. andrea canning: while christina stayed by the door, nick went inside. someone was there, but not his mom. nick turned the corner, and he saw something move across the bedroom, down the long hallway. andrea canning: it was a dark figure wearing gloves and a mask. the stranger suddenly stabbed nick and left him for dead. as he's laying there on the floor, he actually sees his perpetrator run from the house. christina began really freaking out. she was terrified. andrea canning: christina ran upstairs to her apartment to get help. her babysitter, catherine, was there with her boyfriend, scott. they hurried downstairs. christina started walking towards the sliding glass door. and i grabbed her shoulders and i stopped her, and i said, don't touch anything.

andrea canning: the glass door was smeared with blood. the scene inside was unspeakable. somebody said, oh my gosh. there's nick. and you could see him through the window on the floor in a pool of blood. scott: i said, get out of here. go down the street. and she said-- - yeah. - --what are you going to do? i said, i got to get that boy out of there. i'm not leaving without that boy. andrea canning: scott grabbed an axe from the garage for protection then dropped it when he realized how desperately nick needed help. he wasn't breathing at the time. i smacked him a few times, and nothing happened. and so i started screaming at him and started smacking him harder and telling him he wasn't going to die today. and all of a sudden, he kind of bolted up. at that point, i said, you're alive! andrea canning: scott picked up the little boy and bolted from the house. he squeezed nick tightly against his chest, trying to staunch the bleeding. catherine: he was running, and he was yelling down the street, call 911! call 911! he's [bleep] up!

call 911! andrea canning: lottie was at work when she got a frantic call from her daughter. lottie spencer: she was hysterical. she was saying that nick was hurt. and i drove home as fast as i could. i was screaming for christina and nick, but they weren't there. andrea canning: lottie didn't see karmen either. but when police officers arrived at the scene, they made a terrible discovery. the vivacious flight attendant and devoted single mother was dead. she'd been strangled. karmen smith was just 30 years old. lottie spencer: and you're just so shattered and hurting so bad. and you're so thankful that happened to nick and karmen.ut andrea canning: karmen's sister kristen and brother-in-law jim barely had time to process the news about karmen before learning that nick was fighting for his life. they rushed to be at his side. we went straight to the hospital.

you must have been thinking, how could someone stab a five-year-old, your nephew, approximately 18 times? that's a monster. kristen horan: exactly. yeah. jim: i will never forget walking into that hospital room. sorry. but yeah. and then you-- you have to come to grips with reality. andrea canning: and it was a grim reality. after emergency surgery, nick was in critical condition. he looked so little, so fragile in his hospital bed. you never think that you can be touched by something like this when you've got the perfect family. andrea canning: he'd been stabbed 18 times and had lost a dangerous amount of blood. but he survived. nick was going to make it. it was nothing less than a miracle. there was no easy way to tell him about his mom, but he had to know. and even 18 years later, nick remembered

it like it was yesterday. my dad and my aunt told me that my mom didn't make it. and i mean, i didn't really understand it then. i still don't really understand it. andrea canning: it was such a senseless act. nick and his family could only grieve and wonder why. but back at the apartment, now a crime scene, a chill ran through lottie. she told police she could explain exactly what happened. i told them that i had somebody that had been stalking me. and it was my belief that he was the one behind what happened to nicholas and karmen. andrea canning: coming up, who was this man in the mask who would kill the young mother and try to kill her son? he's pure evil. he's a monster. andrea canning: a chilling story of hunter and hunted. lottie spencer: he has always told me that he can get

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...i'm keeping it off,... ...and i'm lowering my cv risk. check your coverage before talking to your prescriber about wegovy®. it is a haunting memory, impossible to forget. nick smith: it definitely changed my life course completely. so i remember it pretty well. andrea canning: nick smith was only five years old when a masked man stabbed him 18 times

and killed his mother, karmen. while recovering in the hospital, nick was told his mother was gone. do you remember your mom? not as well as i wish i did. most of my memories are just stories i've been told from other people. andrea canning: karmen's sister kristen and her husband jim helped raise nick. bedtime stories were often about his beautiful mother. kristen horan: she was very athletic. she was in swimming and basketball, softball, track. and she was in the homecoming court, prom queen. she dated, you know, the football player. she was a cheerleader. i remember her liveliness. she was very vivacious, very beautiful, and very fun, you know. she had nick fairly early in life and did a great job of working and providing for nick at the same time. andrea canning: do you just feel robbed that you never got to experience all those things a mother and son get to experience together? definitely. there's a lot of people in my family say that i act just like her. i just know that she was a happy person.

andrea canning: a happy life that ended in an appalling act of violence. the police officers who discovered karmen's body got an immediate emphatic lead from her upstairs neighbor, lottie spencer. did you know immediately-- mm-hmm. andrea canning: --who had done this-- mm-hmm. --who had committed this-- i knew. andrea canning: lottie was certain it was the work of a teenager named waseem daker. waseem and lottie had a history. she said it would explain the hideous attack. she told detectives her story. things had started so innocently. don't they always. white, push it up! come on! lottie spencer: i met him at the paintball field playing paintball. so we just met by being teammates on the same team. andrea canning: lottie was the captain of her team, kind of a den mother to the other much younger players, especially waseem, a georgia tech student 12 years her junior. he didn't have anybody else that he can open up and talk to or share his thoughts

and feelings with. so you felt kind of like a big sister to him. that's exactly how i felt. andrea canning: daker was a bit of a loner. he latched on to lottie. started calling her at work, at home, and wouldn't stop. i told him that, you know, i have a life, and you're just taking too much of my time. and then he would cry. and then i knew that there was a problem. andrea canning: what was a nuisance at first lottie says quickly escalated. her phone started ringing off the hook, up to 100 times a day. why didn't you just stop talking to this person? i should have. i felt really sorry for him. i really didn't want him to get into trouble. it sounds so crazy. but maybe that also says about you that you're a good person. or a very foolish person. andrea canning: foolish, lottie says, because daker's stalking became bolder, increasingly bizarre. lottie spencer: he just started flipping out, yelling on the top of his lungs that he's going to-- he's going to get me and slit my daughter's throat in front of me. and i would come home from work,

and there would be a pair of my underwear on my doorknob or, a few days later, a bra. what message is he sending with that? look at me. i'm getting into your place and getting away with it. there's nothing you can do to stop me. another time, i came home early and went into my bedroom, and there was waseem daker naked, wearing garter hose and a garter belt, looking at himself in my mirror. this is any woman's worst nightmare. mm-hmm. andrea canning: lottie says things reached a tipping point when, once again, daker threatened her and her daughter, this time while brandishing a knife. he has always told me that he can get away with the perfect murder. his plan was in the making. andrea canning: finally, lottie decided to let the justice system take over. daker was arrested in august 1995 but released on bond. a judge ordered him to stay away. he didn't and was arrested again in september. this time, he was sent to a psychiatric hospital

for evaluation. prosecutor jesse evans. he's got some severe issues with obsession. i don't think that he has the ability to feel compassion for other people. he's clearly a brilliant individual. he's also a brilliantly scary individual. andrea canning: while daker was hospitalized, lottie packed up and moved to the house in cobb county, about 20 minutes north of atlanta, where karmen and nick lived downstairs. yes. andrea canning: --to try and escape him. mm-hmm andrea canning: in october, on friday the 13th, waseem daker was released from the hospital. less than two weeks later, karmen smith was dead. and lottie spencer was overwhelmed with guilt and anger. waseem daker is evil. he's pure evil. he's a monster. andrea canning: and that's what lottie told police. she said her stalker must have been the one behind the attack on karmen and nick. but why? daker was obsessed with lottie. he'd never met or even spoken to karmen, or had he?

lottie thought she knew the answer, a phone call she says daker made to karmen's phone a few days before the murder. it was friday the 20th. and like daker's style, the calls started coming in. and the phone got put off the hook. and then i could hear her phone ringing. andrea canning: karmen answered, then hung up abruptly. what was said, nobody knows. but karmen told her sister and brother-in-law that the call was from lottie's stalker. she said, i'm going to go get a hammer and put it next to the bed. and i remember laughing, thinking, if that guy decides to get in the house, he's in trouble. but you really never think that it would go to where it went. we had talked about her, you know, packing some stuff and coming to stay with us for a while. andrea canning: lottie says seeing karmen's reaction to daker's call was heartbreaking, and she did what she could to help her neighbor feel safe. lottie spencer: from the entryway from within her dwelling was the sliding glass door. and so we just barricaded the door with some wood.

she was so scared. she was shaking, and just she was so scared. andrea canning: just three days later, that glass door was open and smeared with blood. and waseem daker was the lead suspect in a horrible crime. coming up, evidence at the scene of the crime. jesse evans: there was a broken knife blade and hair and fiber evidence that was recovered off of karmen smith's body. andrea canning: will it be enough to catch the killer? lottie spencer: he was getting away with murder. he's getting away with exactly what he told me he would. andrea canning: when "dateline" continues.

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how much you can save. just three days before she was killed, karmen smith told family and friends she'd gotten a call from waseem daker, the man who'd been arrested for stalking her neighbor. it was the strongest allegation yet, connecting the victim to the suspect. investigators tipped off about that call by lottie now closed in on daker. did you execute a search warrant on his house that night? we did. andrea canning: john dawes was a homicide detective with the cobb county police department.

in his room, we found a piece of paper with the address where this crime occurred. we found a torn up letter that was his words to lottie spencer. andrea canning: daker's torn up letter to lottie was hateful and threatening. prosecutor jesse evans. he specifically talks about having plans and backup plans to exact revenge on lottie. and the worst part about the letter is you get to the end. he says, but i'm going to let you live. i'm going to get revenge on you, but i'm going to let you live. andrea canning: to police and prosecutors, this wasn't just a rant. it looked like a blueprint for murder. now, they tried to link daker to the crime scene. some of the important evidence that we start with is the hair and fiber evidence that was recovered off of karmen smith's body. there was a broken knife blade. it was a fairly clean crime scene other than that. andrea canning: karmen had small puncture wounds on her back and terrible bruising, suggesting a ferocious struggle.

she had been not only tortured and murdered, but she had been undressed at some point and redressed. andrea canning: at karmen's bedside, the hammer she'd wanted for peace of mind, never touched as she fought for her life. not far away was the suspected murder weapon, a piece of rope. crime scene technicians dusted for fingerprints and collected blood samples. the evidence was sent to the state crime lab for analysis. the lab tests kept coming back without the physical evidence that we needed that linked him to the dead body of karmen smith. that's when we knew that it may always be a circumstantial case. andrea canning: and the circumstantial part of the case was just too weak to make an arrest. prosecutors still believed daker was the only viable suspect in karmen smith's murder and the stabbing of her son, nick. but they didn't have the evidence to prove it. the investigation stalled.

so waseem daker walked away from the murder. he walked away from the murder but not from some accountability. the police felt like they had a viable way of charging him with aggravated stalking. andrea canning: daker was arrested and charged with stalking lottie spencer. there were multiple witnesses, friends of hers, friends of his that actually observed firsthand some of these stalking activities that were occurring at her apartment, either by hearing the phone, hearing him knock on the door at all hours of the night, seeing him come by. andrea canning: daker was convicted in september of 1996 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. it was the close to the worst chapter of lottie spencer's life. but it wasn't a happy ending. did you feel like you had some peace in your life again-- no. andrea canning: --when he was behind bars? no, i mean, because he was getting away with murder. he's getting away with exactly what he told me he would. he needed to pay for what he did to karmen.

andrea canning: after the trial, lottie decided to leave georgia to try to start over. nick smith went back to the same school and the protective embrace of his family. nick smith: i kind of just went back into the normal routine. i think that was the best way that i could have dealt with it. and i think my family did a pretty good job of trying to keep my life as normal as possible. andrea canning: and during the next 10 years, nick's life did finally return to normal. but in 2006, daker was released and moved nearby. all the terrifying memories of the masked man wielding a knife came rushing back. police decided to provide security to keep nick safe. we would have a cop sit outside of our house at night, and we had cameras installed in my house and on the outside just as a precaution. andrea canning: lottie says she was also looking over her shoulder. tell us about the day that he got out,

that he was a free man again. not a good time. were you waiting every day for the phone to ring or that bang on the door? yeah. that was starting to unravel again. andrea canning: coming up, the fear begins all over and so does the push for justice. you had your smoking gun. absolutely. andrea canning: it's another trial for waseem daker. and just look who's addressing the jury. when "dateline" continues.

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hi, i'm richard lui with a news update. in ireland, woman was awarded $250,000 by civil court jury who claimed mixed martial arts fight are conor mcgregor brutally battered her. she said it left her heavily bruised and suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder.

singer collett came out as he said he was outed by someone. the singer shared a rainbow flag imogen with their you all go. next topic please. for now, back to dateline. prosecutors believed karmen smith had been murdered at the hands of waseem daker, her neighbor's stalker. yet with no physical evidence tying waseem to the crime, they couldn't prove it, and the investigation stalled. years passed. but a determined detective was about to take a new look at an old clue and turn this case from cold to red hot. once again, here's the killing in cobb county. after 10 years in prison, waseem daker was a free man but still a suspect in the murder of karmen smith and the stabbing of her son, nick. he was still terrorizing you in some ways. mm-hmm.

just the fact that he was out was kind of terrorizing. he is that character in those horror movies. he's like your worst nightmare. andrea canning: after his release, daker got a job and moved to suburban atlanta. he was a free man and enjoying life. here he is skydiving and loving it. is that you, jackie? no. no? andrea canning: daker's freedom galled homicide detective john dawes. the karmen smith murder was now officially a cold case. to dawes, daker was the one who got away. does a case like this haunt a police department? absolutely because these cases go home with you in your mind. andrea canning: but for years, dawes couldn't do anything about it. and then, just by chance, he was sent to a dna training seminar in 2008, a random assignment that would change everything. back in the mid-'90s, very, very little at all could be done with the hair except to say the color of the hair. now, when there's any tissue from the root on the hair

whatsoever, it takes just a minute amount of tissue to come up with a full profile dna. andrea canning: it's called nuclear dna testing, and dawes immediately thought of karmen smith. karmen was a strawberry blonde, and he remembered the short dark hairs recovered from her body, not hers, under layers of bedding. i felt it was invaluable evidence if there was enough tissue on that hair that was underneath her sweater. andrea canning: dawes brought one of those dark hairs to a dna lab in texas and waited. it was almost 15 years after karmen smith's murder when the call came in. there was a match. they have identified waseem daker's hair, him and only him to the exclusion of all others, on the dead body of karmen smith at the time she was found. you had your smoking gun. absolutely. i got a call from detective dawes. i was very happy. but it was really hard for me to have

to go back and tell the story of the things that he did. andrea canning: lottie dreaded the thought of testifying in open court in front of daker, but she knew there would be no avoiding it. daker was arrested and charged with murdering karmen smith and stabbing her son, nick. his trial started in september of 2012. bailiff: all rise. andrea canning: prosecutor jesse evans was there for the state. this case, ladies and gentlemen, is about obsession, revenge, and choice. andrea canning: evans argued that daker was a violent stalker and that his obsession with one woman led to the murder of another. you can't get inside the mind of a psychopath and figure out why they chose to kill. some people are just mean. andrea canning: evans said daker had left a trail of destruction and those critical hairs. a cold case solved by advances in dna technology, proof positive that defendant waseem daker is a killer.

andrea canning: defending waseem daker was waseem daker. initially, i want to point out a couple things. there's three principles of law that i want to give you. andrea canning: before he took over his own case, daker had been represented by an experienced father and son team, michael and jason treadaway. they were still advising him and believed the state's case was vulnerable. they had no case without those hairs. that's why they didn't go forward initially. they didn't have a case. and they knew it. andrea canning: their advice to daker? focus on those hairs, and don't obsess about lottie. this case had to be defended by attacking the science of the state's case. andrea canning: but daker couldn't seem to let go. his focus from the start was his relationship with the state's star witness. i've been in her bed. i've been in her sofa. andrea canning: it was a romance, daker said, intimate in every way. lottie insisted that was not true. some of the things he said had to be just really

beyond frustrating, that saying you two had a sexual relationship. you know what? there was no relationship, so there's nothing, you know, more that i can say about that. did he ever try and do anything like kiss you or, you know-- lottie spencer: no. --since he's so in love with you and-- never once. never once tried to kiss me or anything. andrea canning: when daker finally turned to those hairs, he called on dr. greg hampikian. the prominent dna expert challenged the state's key evidence, the nuclear dna test matching daker to karmen smith that was done on the root tissue of a single hair. the problem, hampikian says, is none of the hairs recovered from the crime scene had any roots. there were hairs taken from the body, and they were all clearly indicated on the reports as having no root. that's something you could do with the naked eye. and of course, the expert at the time used a microscope. are you 100% sure the original hair had no root? the records all state that.

so somehow, it arrives at this laboratory, and it's a hair with a root. there's real problems with that piece of evidence. andrea canning: it was a serious challenge to the state's key piece of evidence, and daker, once again, connected the evidence to lottie spencer, a liar, he said, who had ruined his life in the most treacherous way. and they would never have seized those hairs if she hadn't made all these false allegations against me. she derailed a murder investigation by making all these false allegations. andrea canning: for lottie, all of the fear and hurt from her darkest days came rushing back every time daker mentioned her name. he was enjoying it. like, he had control again. and that made me feel like-- really weak. andrea canning: jesse evans asked the jurors not to focus on lottie and to think about another woman when they started their deliberations. karmen smith's body was laid to rest, but i assure you, it was not in peace.

andrea canning: after he took his seat, prosecutor evans was anxious, uncertain what the jury would do. we were really holding our whole case together with two hairs, two hairs from the victim's body. and if there's a plausible explanation for how those hairs come back with his dna result, if there's an explanation for that, our case is no longer viable. andrea canning: it took the jury just three and a half hours to reach a verdict. jury foreman: we, find the defendant, waseem daker, guilty as to count one, malice murder. andrea canning: guilty of the murder of 30-year-old karmen smith. you know, you go all these years thinking that he got away with it, and he didn't. andrea canning: at daker's sentencing, the state called just one witness, nick smith, who was determined to face his attacker one last time. i just kind of had to not let him defeat me in a way. when waseem daker took my mother's life and stabbed me, my life was put on hold.

andrea canning: nick struggled to hold back tears. no longer will someone other than me control my life and interrupt my thoughts. he's finally caught, and i'm finally free. i love you, mom. i never wanted to use what happened as any sort of crutch or let it get in the way. i did the best i could to-- that if she was still here, i think she'd be proud. andrea canning: the judge then delivered daker's sentence, life in prison plus 47 years. but a defiant daker refused to sign the documents for his sentence. it's typical of a coward that you would act the way you're acting. and that's what you are, a coward. andrea canning: case closed. justice for karmen and nick smith. and the victory lottie had wanted so badly. but the story was far from over.

something happened at the end of the trial that would come to haunt lottie, something that would lead her to realize there was still unfinished and unbelievable business in her saga with waseem daker. a final verdict? yes. the final chapter? not even close. a stunning confession is about to turn this case around. coming up-- i couldn't let it go. i have a conscience. i have to live with me. there's a real issue here. something is going on behind the scenes that we weren't aware of. andrea canning: when "dateline" continues. (cough cough) (sneeze) (♪♪) new alka-seltzer plus cold or flu fizzy chews. chew. fizz. feel better fast. no water needed. new alka-seltzer plus fizzychews. type 2 diabetes? no water needed. discover the ozempic® tri-zone. i got the power of 3. i lowered my a1c, cv risk,

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take him back. andrea canning: waseem daker had been convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. it looked like he was out of lottie spencer's life finally and forever. it was very emotional but just so good, so very good. do you feel free, finally free? i feel like a lot of weight has been lifted, and i'm going to close this chapter and just go on with my life in a positive way. andrea canning: that was lottie in 2012. she told us she had closed that chapter. but it turns out, she didn't, not by a long shot. has turned this story completely upside down with astonishing revelations. we sat down with her again to hear her new version of things. so did not expect to be sitting here talking to you again. no. it's a major turn of events.

yes. there has been. andrea canning: it all began with a bombshell. mr. daker and i had a consensual sexual relationship. andrea canning: yes. lottie now says in the mid-'90s, she had an ongoing sexual relationship with waseem daker, that he wasn't really her stalker. he was her lover. it was something she had flat out denied for 17 years. if what you're saying is true, you lied to the district attorney. you lied in open court to the jury. you lied to me. mm-hmm. there are no words to describe just how very remorseful i am. what i did was wrong. i am taking 100% full responsibility for what i've done. the damage i have caused this man and his family is-- there's nothing i can do to take it back. nothing. andrea canning: lottie now says she lied under oath about the sex and about many of the stalking charges

she'd made against daker. did waseem threaten you-- never. andrea canning: --your life? no. did he threaten anyone's life around you? no. are you in love with waseem daker? no. i never was in love with mr. daker. and you're not today. no. andrea canning: but lottie says even though she and daker were in a relationship, she still feared him and, until recently, genuinely believed he was a murderer. i was terrified of him. that was no lie. those emotions were real. i've had the nightmares. i've lived in that fear. andrea canning: she says that fear drove her to lie to put daker behind bars. but the euphoria she felt after the verdict started to sour. she couldn't stop thinking about something prosecutor jesse evans said during the trial. lottie spencer: i learned, during the closing arguments, that karmen's lifeless body was wrapped up in five layers of bedding. and i was shocked.

and i started to get pretty scared at that moment because i had given karmen two blankets just before her death. andrea canning: they were blankets that lottie now says she and daker had slept in together. mr. daker used those blankets on a number of occasions. i mean, he was welcome in my home, and we were friends. and he had spent the night. and clearly, i knew that his dna could have been on those blankets. andrea canning: remember, karmen had been found under several layers of bedding. if one of lottie's blankets was among them, it could explain how daker's hair got on karmen's body. this isn't a maybe. this is a woman who's risking perjury charges, who's turning against her own self-interest. this is a woman who can explain this evidence. you have to take this seriously. andrea canning: dr. hampikian, who had been a paid expert witness for daker, worked on the case for free in his role as director of idaho innocence project.

he believed lottie's story was a game-changer. now there's a logical explanation of how the hairs got there. this is one of those places where you just have to shake the system and say, wait a minute. this is so obvious. he didn't get a fair trial. i couldn't let it go. i have a conscience. i have to live with me. andrea canning: so lottie decided to come forward. she filed affidavits with the court. and in 2013, judge mary staley granted daker a hearing for a new trial. but jesse evans wasn't buying lottie's new story. that's because while he was preparing for daker's hearing, he believed he found that story's real source. there's a real issue here. something is going on behind the scenes that we weren't aware of. andrea canning: coming up-- i messed up really bad. it's despicable. andrea canning: --another revelation inside a prison cell, 4,000 pages of secrets. do you think waseem daker is manipulating

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for almost two decades, here's how lottie spencer talked about waseem daker. waseem daker is evil. he's pure evil. he's a monster. andrea canning: but then she changed her story, calling him a victim. you know what? i messed up really bad.

it's despicable. andrea canning: lottie's reversal was astonishing. in the years since karmen smith's murder, she mom again, raisingfe.wase her young son in a new home. by recanting her testimony, she put all that at risk. how worried are you right now that you could go to jail for perjury? i'm very worried. i know that i'm facing prison time. and there will be severe penalty for what i do. and i don't want to be ripped away from my little boy. i have everything to lose. andrea canning: a year after daker's conviction, the hearing began on the motion for a new trial. daker, again representing himself, called dr. hampikian, the dna expert, to the stand. waseem daker: now, if a man sleeps in a blanket, can his hair transfer to the blanket? yes. waseem daker: and if a man has sex in a blanket,

can his hair transfer to a blanket? yes. andrea canning: dr. hampikian laid the scientific foundation, but daker's chances really hinged on lottie. woman: next witness. loretta spencer blatz. andrea canning: a hush came over the courtroom as a nervous lottie made her way to the stand and swore to tell the truth. just prior to karmen smith's murder, i gave her two blankets, blankets that i knew that you used in my roswell apartment. andrea canning: she acknowledged having a sexual relationship with daker. and then lottie's old list of daker's abuses started to topple like dominoes. did the defendant never threatened you with a handgun? never. waseem daker: did i ever physically threaten you-- threaten to kill you or harm you? never. did i ever steal your bras, panties, or hang them on your doorknob? lottie spencer: no. there are going to be people who will see this and think you're lying now and that you were really telling the truth before. what reason do i have? i have everything to lose. i'm doing it because this is right.

andrea canning: in a bristling cross-examination, prosecutor jesse evans portrayed lottie as a troubled, unreliable woman. did you admit to us that you had some mental issues that you were dealing with? i said i was suffering anxiety and depression. jesse evans: ok. andrea canning: evans's next move was stunning. he presented evidence that he said explained lottie's incredible reversal, letters confiscated from daker's prison cell, 4,000 pages of correspondence between the convicted murderer and the woman who testified against him. i sent him daily devotions, bible verses, encouraging cards. i sent to him a lot of information, case files. i actually feel like i'm his personal secretary in a way. andrea canning: it turned out lottie had actually been helping with daker's appeal. he gave her research assignments. she looked up cases, printed documents, mailed them to prison, and then waited for his next request.

do you think waseem daker is manipulating lottie from prison? there's no doubt. by sending those letters to him, a convicted murderer, a sociopath, she's opened the door. she's allowed him an opportunity to get back into her life. and we already know that he has a history of manipulating her. is he manipulating you right now into doing exactly what he wants? absolutely not. this is a repentive woman who is very remorseful and very sorry for what she has caused. andrea canning: but evans says those letters tell another story. he says lottie knew about the bedding and hair evidence long before daker's murder trial started and never said a word about giving any blankets to karmen. it wasn't until after she started secretly communicating with the defendant that she then made this broad assertion that, well, i had given some blankets to karmen. the problem with that is that i challenged her on it. describe the blankets. tell me which ones they were. she couldn't remember. so there's no smoking gun or smoking

blanket, in this case. absolutely. i don't think there are any blankets. i don't think there's any evidence of that. andrea canning: on the stand, lottie not only recanted her testimony from two trials but described the incredible lengths she's willing to go to help set daker free. so you believe so strongly in this, you applied for a second mortgage to help in waseem's defense, and you even took out a life insurance policy with naming waseem as the beneficiary? my daughter is the beneficiary. she would get a third, my son would get a third, and daker would get a third. but yeah, i would mortgage my house. and i would hire him the best defense that he could possibly get. andrea canning: despite all of lottie's efforts, the fundraising, the correspondence with daker, the legal research, judge staley didn't buy her new story. she rejected daker's motion for a new trial. jesse evans: the right results were reached for the right reasons. i know that we've done things the right way,

and i feel confident in the defendant's guilt. andrea canning: the ruling included a harsh rebuke of lottie. the judge said she lacked credibility. and her new testimony appeared to have been concocted by the defendant. but lottie seemed unbowed, ready to carry on her fight. somebody needs to stand up and say, wait a second. justice was not served in this case. andrea canning: and on that point, lottie's not alone. jason treadaway, daker's shadow attorney during trial, agrees. the circumstances of how daker's hair came to be on that bedding, what kind of more pivotal evidence could there possibly be? i believe the man deserves a new trial. how can you believe anything lottie says, though, now? i think when you have a man's liberty and life at stake, you have to believe what she says. how can you at least not allow 12 different people to hear her version now and let them decide if it's true or not? andrea canning: are you ever going to give up on waseem? are you in this till all appeals are exhausted? yes.

i played a role of an innocent man being falsely convicted for crimes he did not do. i've got to make it right. andrea canning: in 2016, the georgia supreme court upheld daker's conviction. he tried to take his appeal all the way to the us supreme court, only to be denied review. i have no doubt that waseem daker is a cold-blooded killer and that justice has been served with his conviction. it doesn't matter what lottie says. this case is about karmen. this case is about nick. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm andrea canning. thank you for watching.