>> yep. good description. description >> robert ferrante was sentenced to life in prison. at the time of the interview autumn's family thought they had gotten justice. the anger towards her husband had been overshadowed by all the what if's. >> not only do i grieve autumn and the loss that she is to me and to us as a family and to our community and friends, but also her patients. my heart breaks for her patients. >> reporter: it was all that she ever wanted to do, help others. now that chance is gone. e. swept away way too soon. n. that is all for this edition of dateline. thank you for watching. tching

hello and welcome to dateline. the story you are about to see centers on the death of a military man thousands of miles

from the battlefield a dedicated officer who survived were zones only to be caught in the crossfire of a lover's triangle. here is keith morrison. >> what was she thinking? when she went to the computer? when she typed in those five little words? did she not understand where those little words might lead? >> caller: i need an ambulance. >> caller: okay, what is your name? >> caller: michelle. >> michelle their was no doubt about it dissatisfied. here she was young, successful, attractive, and yet it wasn't exactly boredom that was eating at michelle. after all she was starting a new career as a psychologist often counseling troubled

couples. >> she was relatively new with her license. i think that was her first real job. >> of course michelle would have laughed at the notion notoriety that melissa stoddard diaz would be poking around in her past. >> michelle from everyone i have spoken to wanted to be somebody and really worked hard to get to where she got her new degree and became a professional. >> but then michelle, even at an early age always seemed confident about getting what she wanted. she was 16 when she started dating marty. marty was a couple years older, bright, friendly, had big plans. he wanted to be an astronaut. he went to the air force academy. she was 20 when she married him at the famous chapel outside colorado springs. >> marty, you may kiss your bride. >> this was back in 1999 1991

when marty was all she ever wanted. before she talked to that psychologist, agreed to record for the record her thoughts about the weird events yet to come and those happy days with marty, too, of course. >> we did everything together. he treated me very well that that we had the perfect relationship. we were best friends. >> he was the dashing young officer back then. she, his lovely bride. the future she imagined an endless honeymoon in which his air force career would take them to exotic destinations all around the world. she just didn't imagine that world would be unromantic air force outposts in oklahoma, alabama, and florida, and finally fayetteville, north carolina. they arrived in 1999. marty was captain theer by then, flew one of those large c- 31 cargo planes.

all that time alone not so easy on a marriage as she revealed during those tape-recorded interviews with psychologist. >> shall talked about a few problems in the marriage primarily growing apart over the years. marty was away for extended periods of time. she had a hard time with it and was getting more difficult, she was lonely. >> he would be gone for months, and when he came home military families have come to know that adjustment period all too well. they bickered, they argued about her housekeeping, his job, about having children, he wanted them, she didn't. she was worried she would be stuck raising them by herself in a town where she was already miserable and lonely. >> here i was in fayetteville, "loserville" >> that was actually about that

time "it" started. just a few keystrokes, see what might happen. sexy brunette seeks rendezvous man. and before long her internet inquiry got a response from "hendry" his name was john, john diamond. >> john loved women, he was a ladies man. john always had girlfriends. >> so debbie could certainly see her brother was spawning to a solicitation like michelle's. my brother has got a great personality. he is an attractive guy, and you know, his personality makes him that much more attractive. >> then a few days after meeting online they met in person at a local restaurant. >> he was charming. he was funny-- talked about movies and music and things that me and marty would talk about. >> john diamond wasn't army

staff sergeant, trained as a sniper, highly regarded, decorated, had been in the service. >> he was a playboy himself. he had been married and had a child from his first marriage, and he left the first wife and married, they had a son together. >> michelle didn't know that john was still married, but maybe it did not matter, at least not for him. she loved the sex, the attention comedy excitement. >> he was very attentive, he was very affectionate, he was very adoring, yeah, it felt great. >> what made her so desirable to him? >> i think it was just the sex. he was smitten with having sex with her. >> for michelle it was more lust than love. >> she said marty was the love of her life, and that she never loved john diamond.

>> and marty, he was in the dark, of course. when michelle told them their marriage was in crisis, and they needed to see a counselor- - >> he wouldn't agree to counseling. he was shocked. >> michelle got her own place and spend much of that steamy fayetteville summer with john diamond. >> he was so attentive. he would rub my feet for five hours if i wanted him to. >> she challenged him in ways he had never been challenged before. >> wolverton, reporter with the fayetteville observer. >> she was strong, intelligent, and exciting for him. >> but was enough for her? apparently not. because, after three months on her own rachelle went back to marty. >> she felt like the marriage could survive despite everything that had happened, that they could make it. >> so john and michelle's six month affair seemed to be off,

but then, it was apparently back on. the two traveled to the tropical island where michelle interviewed for a job at a local university. and later that fall a romantic rendezvous you at the raleigh hotel for michelle's 30th birthday. but michelle as she would later tell the psychologist insisted it was just a relapse. >> i knew that i loved marty, and i knew that i wanted to make it work in my heart. >> but john diamond was devastated or so said michelle. >> he said specifically, i'm glenna going to kill myself. i can't live without you. i'm going to drive my car off a bridge. >> it was awful, said michelle. diamond kept calling made a scene at her office in front of some students she taught, even threatened to call marty and tell him everything. so nearly a week after that romantic night in raleigh

michelle says she met john at a local restaurant to end the affair. gently, but for good. >> we had the whole talk, yes, we can only be friends. this can never happen again. he seemed very calm, very rational. >> so now it was december, time for peace and joy, christmas parties. one in particular at which the spirits flowed, and the fuse burned down to its explosive end. somebody was about to die. and somebody else wasn't taking any chances on missing. coming up. >> it wasn't like bang bang bang. it was bang, pause, bang, pause. >> which sounds more like what execution? >> you could take it that way, yes. >> when dateline continues. lin hashtag still not coughing?!

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because it actively shields the enamel to defend against erosion and cavities. i think that this product is a game changer for my patients. it really works. regina king is in our studio looking radiant as ever. don't cover up your glow. ♪♪ flawless. all eyes on you. skin esteem is a beautiful thing. ♪♪ here in the heart of the american bible belt on the fringe of vast sprawling army and air force bases like a patient accommodating landlord is fayetteville, north carolina. imagine most of a suburban strip mall devoted to strip clubs, and a downtown which is

charming, elegant even, and a scene about everything. it's all 10 fayetteville, the tower marks the spot where the constitution was ratified standing on what was a slave market and sherman fought battles here in the civil war. but now it's a military town and 160,000 acres back there is the army's fort bragg where soldiers prepare to go to war, nestled beside that is air force base. two institutions two professional military men, one woman. and that woman, michelle theer found herself caught between marty, her husband, and her former lover, john diamond, who just wouldn't go away. >> i told him i don't want to leave my husband. i never told him i loved him. i never said i want to be with

you. i mean i think i was pretty straight up. >> so now with the holiday season in full swing and a new commitment to her marriage michelle and marty were on the road to raleigh for a night out traveling with them was another couple from her office. >> they had gone to this christmas party that she specifically asked her boss if marty could go. >> it was over early since marty had to fly first thing in the morning. so now it was 9:30 p.m. marty, michelle, and the coworkers prepared to leave the restaurant. then an interruption. michelle excused herself, made a brief phone call out of earshot of the others. than the drive to fayetteville, one hour. they dropped the other couple at michelle's office, then left for home, stopped on the way for gas, and then sitting at the gas pump michelle told marty she had forgotten

something at the office. >> we ended up turning around and going back to the office to get some stuff that i needed so that i could stay up and work that night. >> marty parked behind the office building. michelle walked up an outside staircase, disappeared inside. marty waiting in the car. apparently he got impatient, headed up the stairs to check out michelle, and that's when it happened. she found him she said at the bottom of that outside stairway. she could see the blood. she ran to the nearest store, called 911. well i need an ambulance. somebody shot my husband. 2500 redford road-- >> caller: somebody shot your husband? where are you at? >> caller: i don't know. >> within minutes fayetteville police and paramedics arrived, and they found michelle cradling her husband in a pool of blood, but it was too late. marty theer was just dead. he was just 31. because he was an air force

captain army investigators were on the scene including police making this a joint investigation. both teams are eager to speak to the only known witness, michelle theer. special investigations agent vince pastillo. >> she said she heard three bangs. she opened the door and noticed her husband was laying at the bottom of the stairs. >> she told them she thought she saw somebody moving in the bushes near the stairway, but she wasn't sure. >> initially i think police were looking at, perhaps, a robbery of some type. >> detectives combed the parking lot and surrounding area but found no one on this cold, dark december night. >> there was a man who lived behind the office building, who heard the shots fired later said that he said somebody is

getting murdered out there, because of the order in which the shots were fired. they were very calculated. >> it wasn't like bang-bang- bang, it was like bang, pause, bang, pause. >> which sounds more like what, an execution? >> you could take it that way, yes. >> at the top of the stairway, or if you please. bullet holes in the walls, suspenders looked like he was at the top of the stairs shot from down below. >> i think that's what made him roll down the stairs, and the final shot was to the back of his left ear, the kill shot, close range. >> they found shell casings in the parking lot appeared to be from a nine millimeter handgun, but there were no fingerprints, no footprints, no useful dna. but investigators did find marty's wallet still on him complete with cash and credit cards. >> marty theer was not robbed .

the other thing was it was a very cold night. not a night where a prowler would be out on the streets just looking to find someone. it made it very suspicious. >> investigators couldn't imagine who would want to kill such a wonderful man like captain marty theer. but, of course, out of his dark parking lot assuming what you've heard so far is the real story and as you will see, the question of what was true and what wasn't could be very tricky indeed. >> michelle said she had gone back to the office, because she forgot something. so what took so long? coming up. there was a wrapper that had been opened in the trashcan. it was almost like a scene where she had just gone upstairs and sat and waited for a few minutes. >> for what? when "dateline" continues. when.

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new reaction now as a result of the presidential election berber operate throughout this country. >> we are getting a look at what a donald trump administration will look like. >> president-elect trump will likely inherit a chaotic situation in the middle east. >> firefighters on both coasts battling dangerous places. >> the federal reserve is widely expected to lower interest rates. >> in el paso. >> from philadelphia. >> in israel. >> from msnbc world headquarters. it was a week before christmas, 2000, and fayetteville was aglow, but not everywhere with the lights of christmas. and a few hours after air force captain marty theer turned up dead in the parking lot of his wife's office building the news was out, and it was big.

michelle theer told police she was inside her office looking for a book when she heard someone firing outside. >> by all accounts, assassination. >> district attorney of fayetteville at the time. >> somebody went to kill marty theer that night. there was no evidence of robbery, no evidence of any other thing going on here. >> though inside michelle's office what they found seemed well, a little odd, maybe? >> she had gone to the bathroom, they told her it had not been flushed. there was a candy wrapper in the trashcan. it was like a scene where she had gone and sat and waited for a few minutes, because obviously finding a book wouldn't take very long. >> strange, hard to know what it meant, if anything. as dawn approached michelle was allowed to go home and later that morning her bus arrived. so the cops talked to him, too.

>> during the interview it came out she was having marital problems and was having extramarital affairs. >> funny michelle had mentioned anything about that, so detectives went to her house to follow-up, and sure enough, michelle did admit having an affair with staff sergeant john diamond. michelle also said she hadn't spoken to diamond in two days. but when pressed, she remembered trying to call him unsuccessfully just before leaving that christmas party about 90 minutes before marty was murdered. the detectives decided to check their cell phone records and discovered-- >> they had been calling each other regularly, a minimum of 20 times per day. >> attacked its paid a visit to john diamond, who freely admitted having a sexual relationship with michelle but claimed she was just one of many ladies in his life. as for the night of the murder he had an alibi, he was home with his family watching a movie.

still, michelle have harbored some sort of suspicion about john diamond who was now a person of interest. not long after the murder as she told detectives and that psychologist, she went to see diamond, conduct her own investigation. find out what he knew about marty's death. >> i said do you know anything about this? do you know anybody who had anything to do with this? he said no, i would never do anything to hurt you and i know how much you loved him. i believed him, and he looked so trustful. >> mind you, as police were soon aware michelle had many opportunities to question her friend, john, after her husband died. >> they were witnesses saying he parked down the side street and walked through their yards, going in the back door of her house >> he couldn't go away? >> not commonly the ways widows grieve, spending the night with the person of interest in her husband's murder. but michelle said she needed

support from someone. anyone. >> she felt more alienated from family and friends, and more threatened by the police. the only person in her life who was willing to be there for her was john diamond. >> intact just a few weeks after marty's murder john and michelle drove to florida for a long weekend. michelle wanted to see a former professor for grief counseling, she said later. diamond stayed with his sister, debbie. >> he acted as if nothing was wrong, because he knows he didn't have anything to do with it. he didn't shoot him. >> so, who did kill captain frank martin theer? was a possible john diamond actually executed his romantic rival? he may have had a motive, police were very suspicious, but the physical evidence was, frankly, rather weak. so, detectives kept digging in

the arcane world of phone records. boring, but sometimes revealing. and, one california number in particular caught their attention. a call from diamond to one of his army buddies at fort bragg. >> so we asked them if diamond had any access to any weapons. he said that he loaned diamond his personal pistol. >> which just happened to be a 9 millimeter beretta pistol, the same kind of gun that killed marty theer. >> john diamond had actually allowed the gun from him during the timeframe of when the murder occurred john diamond had possession of it. expected tie actives were convinced diamond not only had access to a gun, but maybe the word murder weapon. did he still have it? well apparently not, because it just a short time after about his buddy asking about the gun

diamond made a call to fort bragg and reported that his car, which he claimed to have left in the base parking lot had been broken into, and one of the things stolen from it was a nine millimeter handgun. >> when we got there the passenger door had already been opened, and there was a pile of glass sitting next to the panel on the passenger side. but if you look on the inside there was very little glass. >> what did that tell you? >> he had the door open when he broke the window and then tried to make it look like it was broken in. >> a bogus break-in? military police sure thought so. john diamond was arrested for admitting that he brought an unregistered gun on base. clearly diamond was now the prime suspect in the murder of captain marty theer. but, was he really the killer? coming up. a secret about john and michelle's steamy affair becomes very public.

>> she was taking him to these sex clubs and saying it's okay go if you want to have sex with her that's fine. and he just, well, okay. >> when dateline continues. lin jason! boop! friends. let's go, let's go, friends! hold onto your dice. woohoo!! -nice frosting, pratt. -thank you! how we doin', keke? tastes like money to me. i can't go back to jail! wait, did you rob my bank? -hehe. -are we winning!? -ha ha ha! -oh boy! yeah! money, power, friendship. let's go! no more gross cough syrup. we all want you to feel better.

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hi, i am richard lui with a news update trade stocks rising to new heights friday even during a shortened day of trading. dow and s&p closed at record highs and clinched their best months of the year so far. and it looks like the movies are officially back. domestic box office expected to hit a post pendant effect pandemic high. moana 2, poised to finish with $150 million leading to one of the strongest thanksgiving weekends in history. for now, back to dateline. welcome back to dateline.

i am craig melvin. army staff sergeant john diamond was arrested for admitting he brought an unregistered gun onto a military base. the same type of weapon used in the fatal shooting of his lover's husband. he was now investigators' prime suspect, but, they needed more evidence continuing with our story here is keith morrison. >> a few weeks after the murder of captain marty theer a fayetteville police detective named ct williams was asked to have a look at a couple computers seized from michelle theer's home, see if they might contain any clues. >> i was just looking for documents or text messages, or emails. >> like an onion he peeled back the layers of text which now they have been deleted reappeared under his expert touch. boxes of deleted documents, 88,000 of them, buried deep inside michelle's hard drive, and how it spilled some of michelle's most intimate sexual

secrets. >> she seemed to be seeking affairs with a number of people over time. she was looking for an alternative lifestyle. she was taking a partner and export for clubs. >> that would be carolina friends, a swingers club that boasted over 10,000 members, and within michelle's lengthy list of emails detectives also discovered that not-so innocent inquiry she typed seeking a rendezvous man, that was john diamond, of course, replied, and who the email trail revealed quickly joined michelle in the lifestyle. >> she was taking him to these sex clubs and saying it's okay go you know if you want to have sex with her that's fine, go, i am fine with it. and he just like, wow, okay. >> but, as investigators searched through the email they could plainly see a story as old as time. john diamond fell head over heels in love with michelle. >> here is her little puppy to

be controlled anyway she wanted to control. whatever she wanted, he was at her beck and call. >> hundreds of hundreds of lovesick emails, john appeared to be a man obsessed. i can't wait till you come back so we can take care of each other. you know, sex, sex, sex, and of course, more sex. i know we are meant to be together and are kindred soulmates. i will always love you no matter how you have hurt me. >> you could tell there was a change to a completely, totally enamored with her. he wants to be with her, his plans were to be with her to keep the woman he was totally in love with. >> even kill the man she was with? >> push him away in some ways, but completely pushed him away. i think she was manipulated at that point. >> manipulated him into

murdering her husband? why would she want to do that? >> it was a $500,000 life insurance policy that had been taken out in 1999 on marty theer. >> and the sole beneficiary, michelle theer. john diamond's family was outraged at such a theory . they were convinced michelle typed all those emails and send them to herself to steer investigators away from her and to diamond, so she would take the rap? >> he never once expressed to me so if you come with me with a handwritten letter i will ever believe that. he told me he did not want to marry her, he did not want to spend the rest of his life with her. >> according to debbie it was michelle obsessed with john and never more so than when she took two wedding rings. >> i think she was obsessed

with him, she can control him, she can control the situation. >> she wanted to control it, and if she gave him a wedding ring and he wore it? wouldn't that give her all kinds of reason to claim he would do anything for her, including kill her husband? >> it could be. i don't know. what i got from him after he was arrested was he didn't want anything to do with her. nothing. >> with or without michelle john was in big trouble, so he lawyered up with attorney corey brewer. >> believe he was an innocent man that any interpretation of the evidence is consistent with sergeant eyman not being the shooter. >> but military investigators were convinced diamond was the trigger man and decided to proceed with the case against him, and michelle remained free , and what did she do?

well, she left town. >> i think she planned to kill her husband a long time ago, i think she waited and researched and waited for that right person that would look and fit the part to pin it on. >> if that was true michelle's plan was working perfectly, because in a few short weeks john diamond would be on trial for murdering her husband. coming up, the prosecution's case against john, and the defense's case against michelle. >> michelle theer was a brilliant, cunning, ruthless woman, who wanted her husband did. >> when dateline continues. es. ? billy: no. grandma: generating offer... carvana can pick it up tomorrow! billy: that's an amazing offer. announcer: sell your car the easy way with carvana. - bye, bye cough. - later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours!! not coughing?

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in the dead center of fort bragg, north carolina, is a nondescript red brick building. this is where army staff sergeant john diamond found himself a prime suspect in the murder of air force captain marty theer. >> military justice is much more swift than civilian justice. he goes to the article 32 hearing on monday immediately find cause, and they charge him. >> nine months after the murder in a small fort bragg courtroom diamond went on trial before a military jury. >> diamond was very cocky at the beginning. he would laugh and joke with reporters in there. he was just so sure that he was

going to be acquitted. >> but, john diamond wasn't a star of his own trial, michelle was. she was free as a bird then, though still under investigation by fayetteville civilian homicide cops. and, here she was, called to testify at her former lover's military trial. >> she shows up, her hair is like a red color, she's lost a bunch of weight, and she has got a gaggle of media following her into the building. >> it was all image, no substance. michelle took the stand, but took the fifth. the prosecution's case against diamond, its accusation was simple, driven by a session for michelle he conspired with her to kill her husband by borrowing the gun, arranging to be in a position in that dark parking lot, waiting until marty theer placed himself in the kill zone at the top of the staircase as i michelle's

office, and fired five shots that killed him . as for diamond's alibi that he was home with his wife watching a movie that now ex-wife came to court and told the jury the evening was not quite like that. halfway through the movie his phone rang, she said, and suddenly he was gone. what's more-- >> her mother heard him come home in the wee hours and washed clothes. >> true? maybe not said detention detective brewer. >> she was afraid of the government. i don't think that she was telling the truth. >> had she been pressured? sites, said the defense, there was no dna, no footprints, no fingerprints to prove diamond shot marty theer. diamond was a trained sharpshooter, but most of the shots were badly and, must have been the work of an temperature

amatuer. >> so he gets a gun and gives her the gun. now she didn't think he was going to kill him. expected she just use him? >> she said this up to kill her husband, because she wanted the insurance money and for sergeant diamond to take the fall. michelle theer was a brilliant , cunning, ruthless woman, who wanted her husband dead. >> the military jury however didn't see it quite that way. >> the verdict was swift. guilty as charged. and from that moment on his demeanor changed. i mean it was like somebody just sucked the air out of him. the bravado just shriveled

away. >> diamond was sentenced to life in prison without parole. by the time they learned his family was furious, expect him to be framed. >> you don't go on. and miss and what if's. show me blood, show me a gun, show me the timeline that works. show me those facts. i'll believe until the day i die that she killed her husband, that she planned to have my mother go down for it so she could live this happy wonderful life. >> serious thing, that. as john diamond settled into prison people could see to their great disapproval that michelle went on with a life uninterrupted, and then quite suddenly they didn't see her at all. because michelle theer disappeared. coming up. michelle wasn't just a missing woman, she was also now i wanted woman.

>> there is some speculation that she was tipped off that she had been indicted, because she seemed to really sort of fall off the face of the earth. >> when dateline continues. es. why just give a gift, when you can give a gift with meaning? shutterfly, make something that means something. enjoy 40% off your order with code gifts40. order now for holiday delivery.

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authorities weren't done with her, yet, but, would they be able to track her down? here with a conclusion of deadly ambush is keith morrison . >> federal prison, doing time doesn't come much harder than it does here. this is where john diamond was serving a life sentence for murdering air force captain marty theer grade but his former lover, michelle, seemed to have dropped right out of sight. where was she two people went seeing her around fayetteville. the d.a. meanwhile was convinced she must have conspired with john to kill her husband. she was the brains, he was the brawn, or in this case, the shooter. though it was all circumstantial said greg butler, it was persuasive. >> there i don't think there was any question as to who was involved, diamond and her together. >> the evidence, the life insurance, the affair, the

access to a murder weapon, the emails, the cover-up taken together it was enough to convince a grand jury. and finally in may, 2002, nearly 18 months since her husband was killed michelle theer was indicted for first- degree murder and conspiracy. but arrested, no. why? >> there is speculation that she was tipped off that she had been indicted, because she seemed to really sort of fall off the face of the earth right before that came down. >> michelle theer vanished. no one, not even her family knew where she was. lauderdale by the sea is a charming little town just north of miami. quaint and quiet, low profile. in the summer of 2001 cindy, the local landlord, met with a woman who wanted to rent a room at her cottage. >> she gave her name as liza

pendragon. she seemed well spoken, intelligent. she told me she was on the run from an abusive boyfriend in california. >> she made friends around the neighborhood before long she had a new boyfriend. liza was really michelle, of course, kept in touch with her family very carefully, secretly . she only called on payphones for example, and rarely at that. >> two months after michelle arrived in florida she asked her boyfriend to call her parents and passed on a message using payphones she told him and maybe he forgot or perhaps she didn't tell him why, but he called from his parents's house phone. u.s. marshals were monitoring, they looked up the number that had called michelle's parents. >> the database told them that this woman had a son in his mid- 20s who lived in south florida. >> did he know the missing michelle? the cops found him, staked him out, then followed him to that little white beach cottage,

where he and michelle were in for a big surprise. >> following a developing story out of florida a woman wanted for the murder of her husband a pope airman has been arrested in florida. >> at the time of her arrest inside the apartment we found magazines describing ways to go undercover in the united states, obtain new identity. >> books tall so i'm learning spanish, travel guides for certain latin countries, an array of fake ids, and then there was michelle's appearance >> she changed her appearance, cut and dyed her hair, had plastic surgery done. >> do you have anything at all to say? >> michelle, her face still red and swollen and smeared with ointment from cosmetic surgery was driven back to fayetteville. she was charged with first- degree murder and locked up without bail. and two years later in september

after turning down a plea deal that would have imprisoned her for 10 years the prosecutor laid out his case against michelle theer. the prove, for one thing, all those intimate emails manipulated into a frenzy and made him/her fall guy.

went upstairs to check on her. and thus walked into an ambush. >> when they left there would have been no way to have reason to believe in black lessie had known to prior conversation with michelle theer. he was going to leave him outside the door, murder her husband. >> that was your smoking gun? >> that was the smoking gun that tied her to it. >> michelle didn't testify, nor did john diamond. her attorney belittled the state's evidence as thin and circumstantial. among those speaking for michelle, dr. debbie layton- full. she was hired by the defense to interview michelle about her relationships to testify as expert witness.

those were the conversations excerpts of which you heard earlier. the doctor told the jury michelle wasn't manipulating diamond by stopping their illicit romance. inability to be decisive. that's not unusual with affairs. >> besides claimed the defense being with another man didn't mean michelle was also involved in murder. the two sides battled through three mac months of trial time from labor day past thanksgiving 11 week trial, three-hour deliberation. the verdict, guilty. >> she stood up, they put the handcuffs on her, and she walked out of the courtroom, and she never looked back into the courtroom area not even toward her family. >> michelle theer was sent to

him with killing a prison halfway across the country from her co-conspirator john diamond . now these former lovers shared only one thing, a life without parole. his supporters are heartfelt in their certainty that she was the bad one, that she did it all, that he didn't do anything. >> and her supporters say he did it without her knowledge because she was breaking up with him. >> michelle theer rolled the dice. a deal would have released her before long, instead, the woman who followed her dissatisfaction to an internet romance went on trial, and as a result, will die in prison. >> that's all for this edition