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.

in alabama there is my those hamburgers and some of the best french fries. >> reporter: he was not around with this be took place. >> that is what he set. >> reporter: who are you looking in the eyes? >> a cold-blooded killer. welcome to "dateline".

cindy henderson and michael reese needed the same thing. change. the relationship was a second chance at love for both and they fell hard. then after five years of marriage, tragedy. now investigators would have to sort through small town gossip to sift out the truth and uncover a killer. here is, even the devil went to church. >> reporter: in rural alabama where churches outnumber streetlights, faith is a way of life. >> i grew up in the church. everyone i knew went to church. faith is huge part and always has been a huge part of southern life. >> reporter: it is how the people of course, a small town outside of birmingham come together to celebrate life in the word.

>> the values are integrated into every bit of southern society. >> reporter: when salacious rumors involving a church started swirling, the god- fearing folks who live. hope the whispers were not true. but they had to wonder. >> even the devil went to church. >> reporter: on a cold february night in 2015, the truth began to emerge. >> reporter: she said she cannot find her husband who was supposed to be home. police arrived quickly. very quickly. the station was right across the street. small town, remember. officers into the home and made a call their own. >> we had been called by

assistance by the morris police department.>> reporter: he was on call that night for the jefferson county sheriff's department. >> you arrive on the scene what you see?>> morris had the whole scene taped off with crime scene tape and i walk in the front door there is a table turned over inside, right inside the door. i could see the victim lying in the back door area. through the hallway. >> reporter: a victim? a man. yes shot to death. it was clear to the detective he had a murder on his hands. either many murders like this in morris? >> no. it is very rare. morris is a small town. >> reporter: this must have been a big deal. who are you told us the victim? >> michael reese. >> reporter: michael reese, 40 years old had been killed in his own home. the only potential witness was

his wife, cindy breezwood called 911. she was outside being cared for by police officers while detectives took in the crime scene. >> i needed to see what the scene looked like and i wanted to see where the body was, what the position was, anything that i could tell right away. >> reporter: where was the body? >> it was a new construction area that was being built onto the existing house. his feet were at the back door and he was laying forward into the unfinished room. >> reporter: michael had been shot once in the back of the head. >> reporter: is is anything to you when someone shot from behind like that in the head? >> it gives us an indication that someone did this to him, not that it was self-inflicted. >> reporter: was the house ted. telling you anything? >> the house was consistent with what cindy had reported on the 911 call. there were things turned over. >> reporter:.it looked like about three?

>> yes, man. >> reporter: whatever happened it was soon after michael got home. investigators noted, his dinner was a burger and fries from a popular fast food joints that untouched on the table. the detective had to wonder if michael had surprise a burglar and pay it forward with his life. or does someone have it out for him? what are you being told about michael reese? >> nothing at this point in time. the morris police officers knew him from living across the street but not on a personal basis. >> reporter: michael's friends and family would fill in the gaps for the detective. and in the process, lay bare secrets that would rock the small, religious community. one of those secretly to michael's killer? coming up. michael, it seems was loved by everyone. >> he was a huge part of so many people's lives and then he was just gone. >> he was kind soul. >> reporter: investigators wonder if his wife knew something different.

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>> i could not fathom what is going on.>> reporter: josh freeman was one of michael's best friends. >> he was like an uncle to my kids. he was a huge part of so many people's lives. such a rock to so many people. and then he was just gone. i mean, nobody had a chance to say goodbye. i talked to him three days before he died. never think that was going to be the last time that you talk to him. >> reporter: josh and michael since the seventh grade and said his friend was smart, a computer whiz who worked in i.t. at a hospital in birmingham. >> he was the computer nerd as we told him. >> reporter: more than that, he was funny and kind it was always there if you needed him.>> i think the fact that he is not going to be there anymore, you don't even know how to work that out.>> reporter: a cousin to michael's wife cindy was also reeling

from the news. >> it was devastating. he was just a kind soul. >> reporter: her heart broke for cindy. her husband was gone and it was a tragedy cindy had experienced before. she lost her first husband to suicide eight years earlier. >> she sort of withdrew within herself more than anything. i think that she did not have any motivation or maybe any hope that life is going to get any better anytime soon. >> reporter: but all that changed in the spring of 2008. she and a mutual friend of michael's thought he might be a good match for cindy, his first very involved in the church and very family oriented. >> reporter: they started dating, much to do a light of their family and friends. were you happy for them? >> absolutely. if anybody deserve to be happy it was michael. >> reporter: these were two people who are now coming together for a fresh start. >> absolutely. they both have their bad times

in our lives so we thought that this was good. >> reporter: the couple married a little over a year later with the blessing of cindy's younger brother, chris henderson. how did you feel when cindy told you she was going to marry michael? >> he was a great guy. who would not want to have them as a brother law? everything i do about him in every interaction i had with them have been great. so, yeah, that was exciting. >> reporter: did cindy seem happy again later after everything should been through?>> absolutely. my husband even said that he had not seen her that happy in many, many, many years. >> reporter: like many couples in this bible belt community faith was the cornerstone of their relationship. soon after they married, cindy asked michael to join her church, where she served as music director. and he did not hesitate. >> he decided to get baptized in the baptist church even though he had grown up methodist. >> i felt that that was going to allow him and cindy to grow

even closer in their marriage and as christians. >> reporter: but five years later come the love story between michael and cindy had ended in sudden and shocking violence. it was detective street who told cindy the apple news of her husband's death. now he needed her help solving michael's murder. >> reporter: they spoke with for just five hours after the murder. was this about figuring out if there was anyone that had issues with in that kind of thing? >> absolutely. we went over what they did that day >> reporter: cindy told the detective that the day had started like any other and michael dropped her off at the courthouse where she worked as an accountant for the county before heading to his i.t. job. after work he swung by to pick her up at 5:00.

cindy said after helping her mother she and michael went to church from 6:00 until 7:00. milos is in alabama fast food chain. known for its seasoned french fries. as soon as the couple got home with her food, cindy said she realized they needed a few things from the grocery store. >> she went inside and sat the food down and hollered at michael saying, i'm going to run to piggly wiggly and get some items. >> reporter: when she returned -- >> i saw the mess and grabbed a landline. the cordless phone. >> did you holler for michael? >> i did. >> reporter: the detectives asked cindy if she had any idea who could have done this.>> i really don't know. honestly. >> reporter: there had been a contractor at the house building the extension.

she doubted it was in but it was a potential lead for detectives to run down. and there was someone else detective sreit needed to ask cindy about. he heard rumors, gossip, people had seen things. things that might reveal the motive for michael's murder. >> he was a pastor at sardis baptist. >> reporter: coming up. at least rumors about cindy. >> she told me that none of it was true and i believed her. >> reporter: this is the woman in charge of the choir at church. it was a kind of gossip that spreads fast, especially in a small town.>> we had complaints of people were having intercourse in the parking deck. >> reporter: when dateline continues.

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the murder of 40-year-old michael reese had investigators scratching their heads. homicides did not happen in morris, alabama, especially not across the sreit from the police station. detectives spoke to cindy reese for hours taking a step by step through the night of the mortar. but there was something on detective sreit's mind.

something delicate that he needed to talk to cindy about. it had to do with her and a man who was not her husband. >> we had some complaints of people were having sex in the parking deck. >> reporter: the county employee parking deck. they detective was told it was cindy being intimate with a man and a pest-control truck of all things. it was a lead the detective and medially shared with his partner, sergeant ellen scheier. >> sergeant sreit called me at home the night the homicide occurred and look me up and said you were never going to guess whose homicide i am working. michael reese. and then told me that cindy is the one that was in the parking deck. >> reporter: the investigators soon learned the rumor had made the rounds in morris. cindy's cousin said she heard about it from cindy herself. >> she said none of it was true and i believe her. >> reporter: this is the woman who is in charge of the choir at church and spends many days a week going to church. >> yes and always had. everything about her life up until that point was completely

pure. >> reporter: what was even more outrageous, was who cindy was accused of being in the truck with. it was the pastor of cindy's church, the pastor who baptized michael. his name was jeff brown. >> the elders of the church said they had seen them in the car together. and they were accusing them of an affair and i said, ergonomically, that is not even possible. >> reporter: the two of them cannot fit in the car to have a sexual act because of their size? >> yes. yes. it did not even make sense. >> reporter: at the time jeff they got in it a job at a pest- control company and his truck had a two-seater cab and cindy and her cousin agreed the rumor was laughable. did you ask how michael was handling the rumors?>> i did and you know, she acted like he did not believe him either and they were working through things.

>> reporter: but soon she started to hear things that made her wonder if city's relationship with pastor jeff had crossed the line. does something start to feel a little off? >> cindy started telling me that she had started working out . she said i am walking with jeff. and that is when i started thinking, this really, really does not feel right. >> reporter: these two feel closer than pastor and parishioner? >> right. >> reporter: now cindy's husband was dead, shot in the back of the head and sergeant sreit was looking for answers. using a gentle touch, he asked cindy about the most intimate details of her private life . cindy quickly admitted she and michael had been having marital problems.

she revealed she turned to pastor jeff for solace. she said the relationship started off innocently enough, but -- still, she was adamant the rumors about them having sex in the parking deck were not true but said the elders in your

church could not be convinced otherwise . she left the church and her position as music director pick the detective knew there had to be more to the story. >> reporter: there it was. what were you thinking? pretty scandalous. >> absolutely. an affair and a southern baptist church is bad enough and then it is coming in in the middle of a homicide. makes a suspect.

>> reporter: and that led the detective to his next question. did you shoot michael? she admitted she was an adulterer, not a murderer. she told the detective there was no reason to kill her husband. michael already knew about everything. she said they were trying to make their marriage work and had even gone back to disney world for a second honeymoon. of the three people in this love triangle, michael was dead, cindy claimed she was innocent, and that left pastor jeff. what would he say?

investigators were about to find out. was this affair a fall from grace? or a motive for murder. tough questions ahead for the pastor. coming up. jeff brown seemed as shocked as anyone by the death of his rival. but this is what mattered most. he claimed to have an alibi. he was not around when this motor took place. >> that is what he said. >> reporter: when dateline continues.

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annual finance target of $300 billion to help developing nations deal with the impacts of climate change. president biden congratulated the agreement saying it puts the world on a safer path to a better future. hyundai motor north america announced it will recall more than 42,000 vehicles, due to a wiring issue. the vehicles have transmission second shift out of park without the brake pedal. having to be applied, increasing the risk of the crash. for now, back to "dateline". welcome back to dateline. i am andrea canning. michael reese had been shot dead in his home and his wife cindy admitted having an affair with pastor jeff brown. next, police were about to put the pastor in the hot seat. where it was not his answers, but his body language that spoke volumes. continuing now with, even the devil went to church. >> reporter: was in an hour after police finished interviewing cindy reese about the murder of her husband, they

brought in jeff brown, the man who had been cindy's pastor and her not so secret lover. >> reporter: but detectives had words. they considered jeff a suspect and told him so. >> reporter: as you watch him he seems sort of nonchalant as you bring up the apparent. >> he was very defensive about the affair. he was grabbing the arms of the chair so tightly that his knuckles were white. trying not to give away any indicators of

deception. >> reporter: at this point jeff had been fired from his job as the pastor because of the apparent said he and his wife are getting a divorce. he also admitted it more than concerned him that cindy and michael were still sleeping together. but he said it was not a motive for murder. besides, he seemed to have a good alibi. the city was 50 miles away at the time michael was killed. jeff had no problem answering detective streets next question.

after more than an hour commented to get slaughtered and go.>> even though i had suspicions, i did not have enough probable cause for arrest. >> that the investigation was just getting started and so many leads to follow and questions to answer like who was pastor jeff brown? detectives learned this married father of two with one on the way had an eclectic past. where had he come from and what kind of job study done? he is driving a pest-control truck?>> in the military previously.>> and marine. >> reporter: he worked as a police officer for two years, for a moving company and he was a hairdresser. >> he was a jack of all trades and good at nine, i guess. >> reporter: as you can imagine in tiny morris, alabama, his mother was the talk of the town and everyone had an opinion.

the town's building inspector did. and he thought jeff was obsessed with cindy. >> i saw him in the park of the time sitting on the bench, looking at cindy's house. was he waiting for michael to go to work or waiting for cindy to come out? i mean. you know, what was he doing down there? >> reporter: there was a one- story cindy's cousin heard about jeff literally getting between michael and cindy. it happened after they moved to a new church. what happens to pastor jeff? >> he starts showing up at the church and there were even elders at the church that said when he would arrive, if cindy and michael were already seated that sometimes he would even come and sit in between them.>> reporter: what?>> yeah. that is what i had heard. >> reporter: the more please looked into jeff, the more they found people who did not like him. >> what had you heard about jeff brown around town? >> can you say man horror?

yet. >> reporter: it is dateline and we have heard worse. >> i heard it was not his only girlfriend and he was a cad. >> reporter: and her cousin agree. >> the only opinion i had, he is a con man and he tries to warm himself into environments to make himself look better. and to get what he wants. >> reporter: and what he wanted was cindy, according to her mom judy, michael knew all about it. >> he said jeff is trying to take my wife. >> reporter: what advice you give to your son-in-law?>> i said, michael are you sure? and he said, yes. and he said i am afraid of jeff and i said, do you think jeff might hurt you?, and he said yeah, i know he would it be got the opportunity. >> reporter: her son-in-law may have been right. detectives were surprised to learn that about a month before the murder, jeff allegedly asked two of his coworkers at a

moving company to kill michael. >> he was offering up his car and some possible money after the deed was done. >> reporter: the men reported jeff to a different police department, not the jefferson county sheriff's office. that is what the detective was only hearing about it now. this is a nice gift to your investigation. >> absolutely. >> reporter: things were not looking good for pastor jeff but he did have that one thing working in his favor. he was not around when the murder took place. >> that is what he said. >> reporter: detectives waited on his cell phone records hoping to prove or disprove his alibi. meantime, they turned their attention back to cindy. it was something they needed to their. one of the clues i know that really stuck out to you involved food. >> correct. as bizarre as it sounds, yes. >> reporter: unusual clue involving fast food gives investigators something to chew on.

and a trip down the money trail reveals new details about cindy's affair. coming up. she is basically laying out the love triangle right in her office. >> that is correct. >> reporter: was jeff brown a kept man? >> there was a file and inside of it was the lease for the apartment that she had rented for him. the car note. >> reporter: she is paying for everything. >> she is paying for everything. >> reporter: did you hope at this point that one of them would turn on the other? >> we were counting on it. >> absolutely.>> reporter: when "dateline" continues. chew. zz. 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, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c

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a week into the murder investigation of michael reese, detectives had questions for his wife cindy. thing she told them or not adding up. beginning with that 911 call when she said she could not find her husband. >> what was strange to me is as soon as i walked in the house, i could see the victim lying in a backdoor, which was standing wide open. it would have been hard for her to be looking for her husband and not have seen him playing they are. >> reporter: and her description of a possible burglary gone wrong, on closer inspection the detectives were not so sure. was the burglary theory making some sense? >> the first thing i noticed was there was no forced entry into the residence. >> reporter: as for the

construction worker who had access to the house, he had a solid alibi. >> his alibi was he was actually in church and we were able to verify that. >> reporter: police were becoming more suspicious of cindy and they wondered about the death of her first husband by suicide. a gunshot to the head. >> we did reopen the case and look at it but we cannot find anything to validate that she was responsible. >> reporter: put their list of clues in this case was growing including a highly unusual one. >> in alabama there is my those hamburgers. and they have absolutely some of the best french fries, i would have to say in the world. >> reporter: and everyone around here knows you have to eat those fries while they are hot. police were puzzled when cindy said, on the night of her husband's murder she dropped off the bag filled with burgers and fries and told michael she was off to buy groceries at the piggly wiggly.

and that was the red flag moment for you that cindy did not stay and eat her fries.>> that is as bizarre as it sounds, yes. >> reporter: and not only that, cindy said she raced off without eating because she needed orange juice and lunch meat for the next morning.>> there was ample lunch meat and orange juice inside the fridge and there was no need to go to the store immediately. >> reporter: and what happened next, also made detectives ears perk up. she told them as she was headed to the grocery store her phone rang. if cindy was claiming she was trying to make a marriage work, detectives wondered why she was meeting with her ex-lover to give him money. the wheels must be spinning now as the stores are completely adding up. >> right. >> reporter: with a warrant in hand they searched cindy's office.

>> we walked in and the first thing i saw was a picture of her and michael reese in an eight by 10 frame and underneath it was an eight by 10 frame of the picture of her and jeff brown. >> reporter: she is basically laying out the love triangle right in her office.>> that is correct. >> reporter: detectives found more. >> there was a file that was labeled jeff brown and inside of it was the lease for the apartment that she had rented for him. the car note. >> reporter: and she is paying for everything. >> she is paying for everything, that is correct. >> reporter: throughout the investigation, there were keeping the prosecutors in the loop. it was becoming clear to everyone in law enforcement two people, city and jeff might be guilty of murder. >> i think there was an idea that they wanted to be together and the way for them to be together was to eliminate michael reese. >> reporter: prosecutors set out to build a case against the former pastor and his music director. sometimes they said, the work was disturbing.

>> i don't know how many naked pictures i had to look at on the phone dump from jeff's phone or cindy's phone. >> sexting? >> yes. >> reporter: sexting that continued up into the murder but what was more important for the prosecutors was what cell records showed that night michael was shot. cindy set with michael in church, jeff sent her a text that said, keep me posted. >> when i came in i think at 6:57. right before church was out. >> reporter: prosecutors believed that text meant the two were plotting to kill michael that night. and they had even more proof. >> after they leave the church he is immediately contact him again. >> reporter: they assume city called jeff and secretly left the line open so he could listen into what was happening between her and her husband. >> at some point there is an open line of communication for around 30 minutes. that stays open all the way through, presumably to when michael was killed.

>> reporter: and they had evidence that showed when cindy got home after going to the grocery store she was still on the phone with jeff. even when to use the house phone to call 911. >> what she did not know is 911 call start recording as soon as the ring starts and you can actually hear her talking to jeff. and it is a very calm, iphone is about to die right before she is acting hysterical to 911. >> reporter: while the phone is ringing to 911 it is recording.>> yes. >> reporter: i had no idea. while prosecutors were able to gather a wealth of information from the cell phone records they cannot tell actually shot michael. the could tell however that contrary to his alibi jeff was not 50 miles away. >> it is not specific enough to say was inside the reese house but specific enough to say within hundreds of feet. >> reporter: since they had no evidence placing jeff in the house, their best guess, cindy was the shooter. >> most likely he was lying in wait either around the corner

or on a close but nearby streit. >> reporter: because the takeout dinner head up attached, they believed the murder happened as soon as michael and cindy came home. michael headed to the back of the house to let their dog and in that is when they think cindy shot him in the back of the head. and even though they cannot prove he pulled the trigger, they were not worried. >> under alabama law it does not matter. if you are involved and take substantial steps in the process , you are in for the whole deal. it does not matter who pulled the trigger. >> reporter: it was time to get these disgraced levers behind bars. detectives arrested them at the same time outside cindy's office. they had just come back from lunch together. did you hope at this point that one of them would turn on the other? >> we were counting on it. >> absolutely. >> reporter: with a trial on the rising, two lovers state tight-lipped.

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welcome back. police thought solving michael reasons murder was a simple case of geometry and in this deadly love triangle, the two

surviving members were to blame. now with trial date slimming, tension was mounting. prosecutors hoped one of the defendants would make a deal. or depression strengthen the resolve or was one of them about to crack? now, the conclusion of, even the devil went to church. >> reporter: less than a month after the murder of michael reese, all eyes were on his wife cindy. >> what is the saying? if the spouse is killed, talk to the one that is breathing. >> in the when she is sleeping with. police had talked to cindy and her lover, former pastor jeff brown and both had been charged with murder. and as he followed the case, morris resident jerry vincent wondered if one would flip on the other. when he bumped into cindy was out on bail, -- >> i said cindy, the best one to squeal gets the best deal and you know who is squealing and she looked me in the eyes, dead in the eyes and said, my

lawyer says i have nothing to worry about. the cannot prove a thing. >> reporter: who do you feel like you're looking in the eyes?>> a cold-blooded killer. >> reporter: to prosecutors the notion that cindy or jeff would squeal for the best deal had all but evaporated by august, 2015, when jeff's trial was set to start.>> there is no reason to think he would plead at that point. >> reporter: but just minutes before they started picking a jury jeff turned to his lawyer in court and told him he wanted to make a deal.>> reporter: i feel like it is one of those tv moments where you are ready to go and you have been prepping for months and then suddenly this thing is slipped on his head. >> there is some peace in knowing that he is going to take some responsibility for his part in this matter. >> reporter: jeff brown finally admitted he had a hand in the death of michael. he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and agreed to testify against cindy. her murder trial started in november, 2016. michael's family and friends like josh freeman where there. >> we had a large group of people that were there and just

for michael to make sure that he got the justice that he deserved. >> reporter: but there were others in the courtroom like cindy's uncle roy and her mother judy who held a very different view of what justice should look like. >> in my heart, my heart of hearts i know that she could not have done it. she is not a murderer. >> reporter: you knew you believed you knew who murdered michael. >> beyond a shadow of a doubt. >> reporter: who was that? >> jeff brown. >> reporter: prosecutors believed both were involved in the death but they were convinced cindy was the mastermind. her motive, -- >> getting a divorce in this community is really looked down upon and rather than her looking like someone who was having an affair and got a divorce, she could be looked at as the victim if her husband gets killed. >> reporter: off the bat prosecutors knew they needed to shatter the image of cindy reese. the god-fearing music

director.>> this christian lady, grieving widow image that she was working so hard to portray, it really made sense to show that she was not that person. >> reporter: to prove that they laid out all the evidence that had been gathered against cindy. the paperwork for the car and apartment found in our office, the cell phone data, those cold milos fries and of course her affair with their star witness, filled in a major piece of the puzzle. >> reporter: that major piece. how the murder actually went down. >> while he was on the phone with her here to pop and after the murder at a local gas station, she told him, it is done and he is gone. >> reporter: cindy shot michael, jeff claimed and he was not even there. even testified that cindy gave him the murder weapon at the gas station that night and told him to get rid of it.>> it pretty much was the final nail

in her coffin, so to speak, as far as her trial went.>> reporter: or was it? >> we hoped the jury would see that he was a liar. >> reporter: cindy's defense attorney, told the jury that cindy could not of killed michael. it was impossible. michael was three inches taller than cindy yet the trajectory of the bullet indicates his killer loomed above him. >> the angle of the bullet is on a downward angle and cindy is too short to create that angle.>> reporter: not too short? jeff brown, said the defense. robbins also reminded the jury that there was no physical evidence linking cindy to the crime. no blood, no gunshot residue. not only that he said, jeff had the motive, not cindy. would you characterize jeff and cindy's relationship that jeff was obsessed with cindy or was it vice versa. >> i would think that jeff was obsessed with cindy because she was kind of, his gravy train,

so to speak. >> reporter: do you think that gave jeff brown the perfect motive that he needed michael out of the picture to continue that gravy train? >> that is certainly motive, isn't it? >> reporter: in an effort to wrest control of the image of cindy, the defense put a risk and put her on the stand. she told the jury she did not shoot her husband and while she admitted her marriage was rocky, she said she did not want him dead and was adamant she knew nothing of jeff's plan to kill him. why did you decide to have cindy testify? >> i think she, one, she wanted to. two, i think with jeff getting on the witness stand, i think she had to. >> reporter: which image of cindy with the jury believed? the churchgoing, grieving widow, or the churchgoing, cheating widow? it did not take long to find out. the jury deliberated for just 90 minutes in the verdict, guilty of murder.

how are you feeling in the moment? >> it was great she was found guilty but she is still alive, you know. so eventually, she will probably get out and live her life and stuff and michael did not get the chance. >> reporter: on the other side of the courtroom, different emotions for cindy's family. >> heartbroken. destroyed. >> in a state of shock. really not believing what i had just heard. >> she was convicted for being an adulterous. and sentenced as a murderer. >> reporter: but cindy's cousin thinks the jury got it right. >> there was overwhelming evidence that cindy was definitely involved. >> reporter: the why is something she continues to struggle with.>> did you just get consumed by the moment and get caught up emotionally and it got out of hand? or is she a monster and that she planet? >> reporter: important questions that are unlikely to

be answered. as part of his plea deal, jeff brown received a 20 year prison sentence and cindy reese got 40 years. as for michael reese, the unwitting victim of a love triangle he wanted no part of, all that is left of him now our memories. amorous of a kind and gentle soul with a big laugh and an even bigger heart. >> reporter: how do you want people to remember michael? >> that he was a fun guy and he enjoyed life so much. he was just a good person and anybody that every knew him would tell you the same thing. i am andrea canning and this is "dateline". >> she opened her boutique and had gone to europe and was going out dancing at night. >> she was taking lots of pictures