that'll do it for me. thanks for watching. on behalf of my team, we want to wish you happy holidays. follow us on x, tiktok, blue skies using the handle at weekend capehart. you're being looked at for it. craig melvin: imagine you're shaken in the dead of night. my ears were ringing. i thought i was dreaming. craig melvin: in bed right next to you, your husband--

murdered. hard to get that one out of your head, isn't it. yeah. craig melvin: and here's the twist-- you're the suspect. craig melvin: could she have been the killer? or was someone keeping a secret? i said, what did you do? what did you do? [theme music] hello, and welcome to "dateline." it's the stuff of nightmares. an intruder creeps into your bedroom in the middle of the night and opens fire. but for melissa oxley, the bad dream was all too real. she told investigators she'd been startled from her sleep to find her husband,

ben, dead from a gunshot blast. it seems strange, the thought that no one else in the house was hurt-- including melissa, who was sleeping side. stranger still was who the killer ultimately turned out to be. here's keith morrison with "while they were sleeping." keith morrison: it was cold the night the full moon rose, february cold, in the desert valley that spilled down from reno, nevada. and in that moonlight all silver pale, the wind in the dead of night worried at the gray ends of winter grass, whipped and cried up the drive way round the corner of the house, whistled past the unlocked door. something evil afoot, something here inside. when the moon peered through the window and into the master bedroom, a little after 3:00 in the morning--

keith morrison: strange, the things that happen to people under a full moon-- good people, not so good people. under that moon that night, it was hard to tell which was which, who was who. this is a case built on lies, and deception, and a cat and mouse. who knew what it was? keith morrison: but the story, when it began back in 2005, it was about love-- or what certainly felt like it. in fact, fair to say it was two kinds of love. there was what happened to ben when he met melissa. scott graham: as soon as he met melissa, he was something i'd never seen. just, you know-- just for no reason he'd call her and say i love you. he was a changed man. he was happy absolutely, he was happy. melissa really made the difference. keith morrison: and if anybody would know, his best friends would, cindy and scott graham. ben was family.

i mean, he was family. keith morrison: and then there was ben's other love, brightest thing in his life, the one good thing that came from his first marriage-- alyssa. everybody said that he loved me more than anything, and i think it's true. keith morrison: quite true, of course. so there was a little jocking at first, two women, one man-- even if one of the women was just three. our first date, alyssa was there. we were eating, and i was just trying to talk to ben and kind of get to know him. and she's like-- alyssa's like, don't talk to my dad. i remember meeting her. i didn't really like her. um, she was talking to my dad. keith morrison: more than talking to him, as it soon turned out, ben and melissa moved in together just a month later, sort of thing a three-year-old finds hard to understand. and she said, i love you. and i said, don't talk to my dad that way. keith morrison: but as we said, it was a love story--

then, for both of them. s jamie [inaudible],, the friend and future bridesmaid, put it-- he was truly her best friend. and he was the best dad. that's all he cared about was alyssa. that was his priority was to take care of her. keith morrison: so it was melissa, and ben, and alyssa-- the threesome. he was so involved in every aspect of her life. they were really like two peas in a pod. keith morrison: and one september day in 2006, as the sun was setting into the sierra nevada mountains, ben and melissa got married. the ceremony, at nearby lake tahoe. melissa was a glowing bride-- alyssa, the little flower girl. jamie: it wasn't just melissa and ben getting married. it was melissa marrying alyssa, too. keith morrison: seriously. they made a particular ceremony of it. man: alyssa, will you promise to share in the love of this family? if so, will you please say i will? i will. i got her a little bracelet and had it

engraved letting her know that i always love her as my own and gave it to her that day. keith morrison: and from that moment on, alyssa called melissa mom. keith morrison: how'd it make you feel? happy, very happy. keith morrison: ah, what a happy couple they were, a happy family. just for her to be my wife now is just-- it's a blessing. melissa oxley: that's what you wait for all your life. keith morrison: what were your plans? to buy a house, and to have babies, and have a family. keith morrison: they eventually moved here, a three bedroom ranch in the carson valley looking up toward the sierra nevadas. alyssa spent half her time with ben and melissa, the other time with her birth mom, ben's ex-wife, dawn. but above all, what ben really wanted was to have his little girl permanently. he never thought that he could have his daughter.

and i was like, yeah, you can. you could. keith morrison: and he did. he won custody. it was him and his daughter, and that's what he had always wanted. keith morrison: and then the little household grew, melissa's teen-aged brother craig moved in. and then winter came, and the wind. and on february 20, 2008, the moon rose full over the carson valley. after dinner, ben, melissa, her teenage brother craig and little alyssa settled in the den to watch a movie. melissa remembers falling asleep on the couch, waking up with a start. thinking i was late for work, it was like 2:30 in the morning. and i was like, oh, i'm not late. so i went and got in the bed. keith morrison: crawled in with ben, she said-- moonlight on the covers, warm inside. about an hour later is when i was woke up by the smell and then a loud noise. and my ears were ringing. at first, i thought i was dreaming.

a smell? yeah, it was the smell of the gunpowder. keith morrison: the gunpowder smell. mm-hm. keith morrison: as she told it, she looked over to ben, saw by the light of the moon he appeared to have slept through whatever it was. she nudged him. he didn't stir. i was like, ok, i'll go check it out. so i walked around our bed and got about halfway down the hallway and realized that our front door was open. but you didn't see anybody. nope. keith morrison: halfway down the hall, she said, cold air rushing in, she knew something was very wrong. so she ran back to the bedroom, turned on the light. i went to go wake him up, and then i could see him. keith morrison: yeah, hard to get that one out your head, isn't it? yeah. keith morrison: and thus her call to 911. and the detective who rushed over to find out what happened and discovered that he could not tell.

you've got the wife. you've got a small, six-year-old child. and you've got a 15-year-old boy in the house. and you've got everybody saying they don't know what happened. how did everyone else survive that night without a scratch? coming up, the investigation begins, and melissa is at the very center. craig melvin: a dramatic police interrogation, when "dateline" continues. let's review. okay. we're not gonna talk about traffic or weather. if anyone brings up lawn care, i will handle it. hosting can be extremely difficult for young homeowners turning into their parents. oh, are you done with this? i'll just take that. okay, he's still drinking. right. oh, look what the cat dr-- no, no. let's try again, if you wouldn't mind. it gets ugly. you can either take it off or i'll take it off you. yeah. progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home

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a nose in need deserves puffs indeed. america's #1 lotion tissue. deservesmelissa oxley: i was just confused and shocked because at this point i still felt like i was asleep. keith morrison: on february 21, 2008, at 3 o'clock in the morning, melissa oxley called 911. keith morrison: it certainly was. ben oxley had been shot point blank in the head. and yet, melissa lying in bed right beside him was unharmed. she ran then into alyssa's room to check on her and call 911. and, of course, alyssa-- then six years old and completely unaware of what had just happened-- asked to see her father. i want to go see my dad. i want to go see me my dad. and i just told her you can't. you can't go see your dad. keith morrison: ron elges was the detective who got the call. keith morrison: do you remember getting that call?

yeah-- because i was sleeping. keith morrison: he woke up fast to a very big problem. the killing just didn't make sense. appearing like a ghost has done this-- no evidence, no weapon, everybody in the house says i don't know. a ghost? yeah, that's what it feels like because you have no idea. keith morrison: how was it possible melissa hadn't seen the person who'd shot ben? she'd been lying right next to him. why was she unharmed? that's kind of a test. your little red flags start popping up. you start thinking, ok, this doesn't seem right. keith morrison: and had craig, melissa's teenage brother, truly slept through the whole thing as he claimed? i opened my eyes, and right in my face was a bunch of barrels from a machine gun. keith morrison: it was police guns he was looking at, police who had already discovered shotgun shells on craig's bedroom dresser. here comes another red flag. is this a possibility? is he faking? keith morrison: melissa, craig, and little alyssa

were taken to the sheriff's department at 4:00 am, an hour after the shooting. melissa's best friend, jamie, got a phone call. it was alyssa, and she was just hysterically crying. i'm at the police station. come down here. come down here. my daddy's been shot. keith morrison: by the time jamie arrived, melissa was already being grilled by detectives. keith morrison: detective elges had questions, lots of them. so many things about this murder didn't make sense. keith morrison: maybe it was the man ben warned her about, she said-- a rough customer who once dated ben's ex-wife, dawn, and apparently threatened to kill both dawn and any man she'd been with. was the story true? just to be safe, detective elges sent officers to dawn's house where they woke her up, sleepy but unharmed,

and discovered that the man in question was hundreds of miles away when the murder happened. so, again, the questions were for melissa. keith morrison: alyssa was six by this time, was the only person who remembered seeing anything unusual. she told the detective right away. she saw a shadow in her doorway looking at her, and then the shadow left. she went back to sleep. and then melissa came in and grabbed her and was talking to 911. keith morrison: the detective discovered the bullet that killed ben was a number eight birdshot, same ammunition they discovered in craig's room. and so the question to craig--

keith morrison: and, sure enough, when they tested craig for gunshot residue or blood cast off, he was clean, could not have fired that gun. and so back to melissa. keith morrison: because there was blood on melissa and gunshot residue-- keith morrison: melissa's friend jamie was there when she came out of the interrogation room.

i mean, melissa just dropped to the floor when she saw me. and she had a little bit of blood on her. she just said, i didn't do this. and i'm like, i know you didn't do it. keith morrison: but jamie knew there were others, and not just the police, who were very suspicious of melissa. jamie: she's the prime suspect. she's the wife. she was laying in bed with him. it doesn't make sense that she wasn't shot. did melissa do it? um, well, jeez, i hope not, but i mean, she could have. why wasn't she shot? i thought if she did commit the murder, she's gonna make a mistake. you can only live that lie so long. craig melvin: coming up, a new clue, what police believe might be a reason for murder. a $400,000 life insurance policy, she had the motivation to want this to happen. craig melvin: when "dateline" continues. [coughing] hi susan, honey? yea. i respect that,

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keith morrison: melissa oxley was just 27 years old and already a widow. her 36-year-old husband ben, shot dead while he slept in bed right next to her. as far as she could tell, said melissa, the shooter managed to break into the house, walk right into the master bedroom, shoot ben without harming her, and leave not a trace of evidence behind. the case boggled detective ron elges' mind. is there somebody who doesn't like him? is this is a murder for hire pay?

is this-- you know, what could this be? keith morrison: melissa's closest friend believed her when she insisted that she had nothing to do with it, that, in fact, she lost the love of her life, and that now she and those around her were probably in terrible danger. because you don't know who did it. you don't know if they're gonna come back for melissa, if melissa was supposed to be in that. keith morrison: melissa, meanwhile, tried to be a source of comfort for her six-year-old stepdaughter alyssa. the little girl's father had been her world, leaving her now in a world of chaos. and with her home and love nest now a crime scene, melissa and alyssa moved in with the woman who'd been bridesmaid at the wedding, jamie [inaudible].. and it was at night when the curtains were drawn that jamie watched melissa reeling with pain. jamie: i mean, nights of crying in the middle of the night. i would hear her. i just kind of went and laid in bed with her. i didn't sleep, couldn't sleep.

just getting into bed after that happened. i didn't want to. keith morrison: so where would you sleep? on the floor. keith morrison: and if the pain and suffering of losing her husband wasn't hard enough, melissa was the lead suspect-- and not just in the eyes of the police. because nobody, including the public, including the families, had any idea why this would happen. so they're all grasping at straws to try to figure out this possibility, that possibility. keith morrison: ben's sister was certain that melissa arranged ben's murder and wasn't afraid to make it known around town. she had quite a little following of all these people because it's always the wife, you know. keith morrison: so did that mean little alyssa, just 6 years old, so vulnerable, was living with a murderer? alyssa began to spend more time at her mother, dawn's, house. and one day while she was there, ben's sister warned her about the stepmom she'd come to love. she told me that she though my stepmom

killed my dad that night. it must have been pretty weird to hear that. yeah, i didn't believe it, but-- didn't believe it at all? keith morrison: but if alyssa didn't believe it, others did. and before long, they had more ammunition because of something else detective elges discovered. a $400,000 life insurance policy. it sounds a lot like she was-- she had the motivation to want this to happen. keith morrison: and once again, melissa found herself answering difficult questions. i didn't even know of an insurance policy. i guess i was sort of naive to it. we were looking at it for retirement. keith morrison: but while the investigation went on, the insurance company held back any payments while the whispers went around. it was shocking, really. ben had been dead just, what, a few months?

and melissa was dating already. it was soon, sort of. but it was like if i didn't do it then, you almost would get stuck in this rut of never doing it. i would've just kind of hung up the towel and been done. put on a black dress and be a widow the rest of your life. yeah. keith morrison: detective elges, of course, was keeping track and trying not to be judgmental. she has to do what she needs to do to heal. it doesn't mean i wasn't paying attention to what was going on. keith morrison: but at months passed, and elges scratched away at the few paltry leads that went anywhere at all, a certain clarity began to emerge. despite his own early suspicions and those of others, hard evidence against melissa just didn't materialize. in fact, said elges, he couldn't help thinking-- she probably didn't do it. she was so startled, she went into a fight or flight response and just jumped out of bed and then went to a normal reaction, which is what's going on. and that's when she discovers she's--

then she discovers he'd been shot. keith morrison: but there was another reason melissa dropped down the detective's list of suspects. and that reason was a certain someone else who it became clear did not like that love story we told you about, not one bit. i said, what did you do? what did you do? and she said, what do you mean, what did i do? you've known me all these years, and you would think that i would do something like that? and i said, absolutely. craig melvin: coming up, a whole new theory of the crime with a whole new list of suspects eager to share secrets. craig melvin: when "dateline" continues. many remedies you take for chest congestion only mask the symptoms. you're gonna love this property. try this. mucinex 12 hour treats the mucus

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hi, i'm richard lui with the news update. thousands of travelers taking to the roads and skies this holiday weekend. train travel was hampered in the northeast corridor with thousands of passengers waiting for hours. u.s. central command is investigating after a navy fighter jet was shot down by friendly fire sunday. they say the u.s.s. gettysburg mistakenly fired on and hit that jet. the two navy pilots safely ejected over the red sea. for now, back to dateline. r considered her the primary suspect in her husband, ben's, shooting death. they'd shifted their focus to another woman in ben's life, someone they believed held a grudge. investigators were about to bring her in for questioning, and the story she'd tell would the case in a stunning new direction. here again is keith morrison with "while they were sleeping"

scott graham: if you knew ben, there's no way that you'd want him dead. i couldn't think of anybody that would want him dead, you know, besides dawn. keith morrison: dawn, dawn oxley, ben oxley's ex-wife, alyssa's mother. even as more than a few local gossipers pointed suspicious fingers at melissa, ben's best friends told each other-- everything in me said that dawn had something to do with that. keith morrison: of course, just a few years back, that sort of thinking would have been unimaginable to dawn and ben's best friends scott and cindy graham, not dawn-- dawn, the force of nature, the center of any room she was in. i don't know if it's, uh, manipulating or what, but everybody agreed with dawn. as long as dawn was happy, then we're all happy. keith morrison: but after five years of marriage, neither ben nor dawn was happy, and the marriage

went up in flames. ben had cheated on dawn. i could see that this probably wasn't gonna be something that she was ever going to get over. keith morrison: dawn changed after that, said cindy, didn't seem to want to act like a parent anymore. she met a guy, and she would stay the night at his house. i mean, when her kids are calling up saying, we don't have any food in the house. can you come and bring us food? there's a problem. keith morrison: and so when dawn and ben went to court to fight for custody of alyssa, cindy had to tell the truth. i told the judge that dawn wasn't taking care of her kids anymore. they weren't a priority. they weren't-- they weren't even number five. keith morrison: when ben won custody of alyssa and more than $200 a month in child support, dawn was devastated. this is her mother, sheri rosten, a retired deputy sheriff. she would sit in the garage and just bawl

about not getting her day in court. this was eating her alive. yeah, it was really taking its toll on her. keith morrison: dawn started drinking, heavily. her teenage son, devon, watched his mother fall apart. she was starting to lose jobs. it's like all hell broke loose keith morrison: but murder? remember, the police went to see dawn just a couple of hours keith morrison: in fact, she happened to be sharing her bedroom with a 21-year-old family friend named james matlean. keith morrison: we watched a movie, went to bed. yeah, that's our story, and that's it. keith morrison: not exactly a convincing alibi any more than the obvious fiction that james, the new man in her life, was just a friend. even less convincing-- when detective ron elges learned

about a trip to a 7-eleven store, middle of the night, about an hour and a half before the murder. why are they hiding little pieces that seem insignificant to what is going on? and then we started to do surveillance on them. now they're starting to get worried because they think we're watching them. keith morrison: surveillance photos show dawn with james matlean and her two daughters, brandy, her 13-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, and alyssa, 7 by this time. that's right. a year into the investigation, little alyssa was back with her biological mom. with ben dead, the courts had slowly weaned her back there permanently. so there you are, still trying to grieve the loss of ben at the same time as alyssa is being pulled back toward dawn. yeah, the lost of both of them, truly. keith morrison: and while the police were watching dawn, dawn was telling her children-- including brandy-- that the real suspect was melissa. keith morrison: she confidently told you that it was melissa

who committed this murder. yes. keith morrison: brandy was hearing that from her mother, dawn, who she could see was drinking too much, getting duis, spending more than a few nights in jail. they started getting arrested. dawn and james both, we were finding reasons to take them to jail. keith morrison: and while they had james, they asked him, point blank, about the murder of ben oxley. did i kill ben? no. do i know who killed ben? no. did dawn kill ben? no. do i know anything about the murder? no. were you and dawn in anyway involved in the planning of the death of ben oxley. no! ok. i'm looking you in your eyes, i did not kill him! keith morrison: but that was it-- lots of denials, no real evidence. a year and a half had gone by since the murder, it was the summer of 2009. keith morrison: on toward cold-case territory. getting there. keith morrison: then, one afternoon, as detective elges was recovering from a night on the graveyard shift, his cell phone rang.

it was dawn oxley. she basically said she couldn't take it anymore. she wanted to talk. what were you thinking on the way to see her? it's about time. keith morrison: the detective drove over to dawn's house. she was inebriated. keith morrison: but she had quite a story to tell about james, about how he offered to murder ben. keith morrison: hours later, she said, james woke her up from a sound sleep and told her ben was dead. but that, she said, is all he told her, all she knew. keith morrison: but was that really all she knew? dawn, remember, had a 16-year-old son named devon

who, detectives learned, was at home and listening in the hours before ben oxley was murdered. so if anyone could confirm dawn's version of events, surely, it would be devon. but he wasn't talking-- not yet, anyway. craig melvin: coming up, the question haunting this whole case. what's our evidence? craig melvin: was there any proof against anyone? prosecutors were about to make a deal to get the evidence they'd need. detective: do you want to talk about this case? you know i do. craig melvin: when "dateline" continues. i told myself i was ok with my moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis symptoms... ...with my psoriatic arthritis symptoms. but just ok isn't ok. and i was done settling. if you still have symptoms after trying a tnf blocker like humira or enbrel,

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keith morrison: finally, the story of ben oxley's murder, bit by bit, was leaking out. but could dawn's version be believed that she had nothing to do with it? here's what dawn's mother, sheri, thought. i can see her sitting there saying, god, i wish he was dead. and i can see james going, you want me to go kill him for you? and her going, whatever. it was more of a disbelief than an affirmation. keith morrison: that's the story dawn told, too-- that she did not want james matlean to kill her ex-husband. detective: do you want to talk about this case? you know i do. detective: ok. keith morrison: it was now the fall of 2009. dawn was in jail for a dui and agreed to talk in more detail about the night of ben oxley's murder. and he said, do you want me to go do that?

i was sitting there going, are you serious? are you kidding me? all i know is he's on the phone. he was asking me if he wanted me to go-- if i wanted him to go take care of ben, and i was saying no. keith morrison: and then she went to sleep, she said. and the next thing she knew, james was back. he woke me up, and he said it's done. and i was ha-- totally drunk. and then turned around, and now i'm waking up out of a dead sleep. and i'm like, what the hell are you talking about? he said, the cops are gonna be here. seriously, right now, you're telling me the cops are gonna show up at my house because my ex-husband's dead? keith morrison: and she did not take part, she swore, not at all. i didn't drive. i was not-- i didn't. i did not go anywhere. i did not plan this. i did not want ben dead. keith morrison: so truth or fiction? there was no solid evidence either way, nor that james matlean killed ben oxley, only dawn's story. at which point, tom gregory, who was

the assistant district attorney, decided he needed her help. you love to get everybody involved in the case. but there's a reality, in many cases, that sometimes you need the help of one of the people involved to get the main person. keith morrison: and so dawn oxley was offered a limited immunity agreement. cooperate with the prosecution, testify truthfully against james matlean, and you won't be prosecuted-- a sort of get out of jail free card. keith morrison: why go ahead and make that deal with her so soon? you had her statement. why not hold off for a while and be patient? and then you can get them both. let's say we don't do the deal with her and we go out and arrest him, what's our evidence? keith morrison: dawn signed the agreement, and james matlean and was charged with first degree murder. but the end of the story? no, no, not even close. the truth had been hiding, but it was itching to come out. young devon, remember him, dawn's son?

devon finally decided itime to reveal what he overheard the night of the murder. devon: my mom was like, i want ben to die. i just want him dead-- uh, yadda yadda. and james said, i'll go out and kill him right now. you just say the word, and i'll got out and kill him. and she was like a broken record. she was just like, i want him dead. i want him dead. keith morrison: sound like a woman who was shocked when the murder happened? but there was more. it was after that when james matlean told his attorney, ken stover, it was time to tell the whole story. i could tell he was telling the truth. and over the course of 15 months, he's always told the same story. keith morrison: so now comes another story-- james's story, not a love story this time. nobody could believe that i did what i did because i've never done-- never been a violent person. keith morrison: james matlean did not have an easy start in life. by the time he was a teenager, he was drinking, doing drugs, stealing things. i had pretty much given up any hope on continuing

successfully in life. keith morrison: dawn, after her marriage to ben, befriended james, made him feel rescued, gave him a place to live. he had just been paroled from prison after doing time for stealing a truck. kind of gave me a sense of hope that there was somebody out there besides my mom who cared. keith morrison: at dawn's house, james discovered what others had, he said, as long as dawn was happy, everybody was happy. and if she wasn't, well, then james could not be happy either. she was very, very upset at the fact that she lost alyssa. keith morrison: and she went on rants, he said, about ben oxley-- a man james didn't know, had never met. but he listened. keith morrison: kind of felt like you were in love with her? yeah, for a little while. it gave me a sense of, uh, feeling wanted. keith morrison: and then he realized, he said, she'd never be happy-- unless he fixed what was upsetting her. i just wanted-- i wanted to make dawn happy. so what happened?

dawn and james' stories begin the same way. february 20, 2008, a night of heavy drinking at dawn's house, a heated conversation about ben oxley, james asking dawn if she wants to have him killed. but that's where the stories diverge. dawn remembers, says, she told james, no, don't do it, and fell asleep on the couch. but that's not james matlean story. james matlean: she was ecstatic about what was happening. she was happy that i was going to kill somebody, you know. keith morrison: it was after midnight. dawn drew him a diagram of ben oxley's house, said james, so he could find his way to the bedroom. then he went to the 7-eleven, drew $40 out of the atm with dawn's bank card. and then, together, he said, they went to the walmart. dawn waited in the car while james did the shopping-- shotgun shells, gloves, a flashlight. she was just very happy about it. i mean, like you would imagine a kid going to disneyland,

you know. keith morrison: but there was a problem. they'd forgotten to bring the diagram of ben's house with them. the plan wasn't for dawn to go in the house. the plan was for me to go in the house. and, uh, i didn't know-- - how to get in. - how to get in the house. keith morrison: or where the bedroom was. or where he was-- where the bedroom was. so dawn had to go inside. keith morrison: the front door was locked, so dawn took him around back, he said, where a sliding glass door was unlocked. and they eased their way in and walked down the hall. then, said james, dawn pointed him towards the master bedroom. and i turned around. and she was going into alyssa's room. going into the room? yeah, she was about half her body was into the room. she said that she was gonna take alyssa with her. i said, you can't take alyssa. keith morrison: was this true? remember, alyssa, just 6 years old at the time, told police she remembered seeing someone in her doorway.

keith morrison: and then, said james, he walked into the master bedroom, saw ben and melissa sleeping in the moonlight. and i raised the gun, and that's where everything in my mind that should have happened three or four hours ago happened. i started thinking why am-- why am i here? something i heard to my left-- a sudden noise. yeah. and as i turned and jerked to see what it was, i pulled the trigger. keith morrison: he ran then, he said, left the front door wide open, caught up to dawn at the truck. keith morrison: who drove? james matlean: she did. i started yelling at her when we got in the truck. keith morrison: the truth, said james matlean, all of it. dawn knows the truth. and i know the truth. and that's all that matters. i'm taking full responsibility for what i did.

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keith morrison: it's a rare thing to sit in a jail house room such as this while a murderer confesses, chapter and verse-- denial, the more common language here. i pulled the trigger-- keith morrison: but james matlean did not shrink from it. he murdered ben oxley in his sleep and must live with what he did for the rest of his days. i'm afraid to deal with what i actually did. keith morrison: in december 2011, he told his story in court. it was after the da took the death penalty off the table, and james decided to plead guilty. and that's when melissa, sitting in the courtroom, heard for the first time about something else. james was supposed to kill her, too. dawn asked me if i would kill melissa. i just automatically just said, yeah. keith morrison: there was a bullet there for you. what was it like to hear that? unreal. do you believe that she was in the house that night? i do-- which makes me sick.

i have a harder time with dawn than i do james. because if it wasn't for her, none of it would've happened. keith morrison: and that's where melissa oxley and james matlean's attorney, ken stover, firmly agree-- only half a measure of justice since dawn is protected by that immunity agreement she signed with the da. ken stover: james is not the type of boy who's going to go out and commit a murder in the hopes that dawn will find it acceptable. he didn't do this as a surprise gift. keith morrison: dawn herself declined our request for an interview, though her mom, the retired deputy sheriff, has remained in her corner. i know that-- that a lot of people believe that, that it was a blatant conspiracy on her part. but i don't think dawn really wanted ben dead. i don't think dawn was there. you're trying to hold it all together, all the way along and even now.

you gotta understand-- ben was a good guy. they had their problems. everybody loved him. he didn't deserve to die. keith morrison: so for the time being, it's a he-said, she-said story. and the da's deal with dawn, to the dismay of james matlean's attorney, means she may never face a murder charge. ken stover: the prosecutor made a deal with the devil. now we just need to show them how far in hell she is. keith morrison: deal with the devil? well, the da said without dawn's testimony at the preliminary hearing, the murder charge against james would never have stuck. but dawn wasn't totally off the hook because there was one possibility still. if the da could find hard evidence that dawn lied when she was given that get-out-of-jail-free deal for implicating james-- it's still an open book on dawn oxley for murder.

if somebody comes in today with credible evidence that shows she did, in fact, go, we can prosecute her. keith morrison: in 2011, dawn was sent to prison on another offense. she pleaded guilty to using her teenage daughter, brandy, to sell prescription drugs. keith morrison: was she kind of employing you as her assistant in that business? i was driving, yes. keith morrison: dawn was released from prison in march of 2014, but not to be the mother of alyssa. the judge terminated her parental rights. both alyssa and brandy went to live with melissa, who offered them a kind of family life they didn't know with their biological mom. it is a family, and that's what i need. keith morrison: one more thing to do. in 2011, having pleaded guilty to murder, james matlean prepared to be sentenced. keith morrison: is there redemption for a person like you? i don't know.

i don't expect anybody that i've harmed or hurt to forgive me for what i've done. you look in the lens as you said that. you're talking to them, right? i'm basically talking to melissa. i'm sorry. keith morrison: in exchange for his guilty plea, the da agreed to recommend that james could be eligible for parole after serving 24 years. final decision-- up to the judge. defense attorney stover made the argument. life with hope, judge. keith morrison: and then melissa took the stand. emotionally, the damage you have caused me is almost unbearable. for alyssa, you crumbled her foundation and everything she knew to be right and true. and as hard as this is to do or believe,

i also want you to know i have found it in my heart to forgive you. keith morrison: and then james matlean got his sentence. for the murder charge, you're sentenced to life in prison. keith morrison: life without parole-- ever. afterwards, the little girl in the middle of the family drama turned to melissa with a remarkable request. alyssa asked to meet with james and was ushered in to see him before he was whisked away. i told him that i decided to forgive him, and that i wanted him to have hope. keith morrison: and she wept then, tears of forgiveness-- a lingering grief for her father. and as for melissa? after the trial, she told us, she was ready to move on. keith morrison: where will you keep ben? he will always be in my heart. he'll never be forgotten, but we do have to go on.

we still have to be here and live day-to-day life. keith morrison: if he's looking down and watching you, what would he think about his daughter? i think he still loves me, and that i'm doing much better than i was at my other house. do you miss him? yeah, i miss him a lot. you're a pretty strong kid, aren't you? yeah. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. [theme music] i did what i had to do. hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline." craig melvin: what if you ripped away from your family? when you live in fear, it changes you.