and lisa smith has done her best to restart life. she lives in hawaii now. far from the wreckage of that california life that never was quite as perfect as it looked. it's painful to remain there. so it's starting fresh. it feels like sanctuary. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm andrea canning. thank you for watching. [music playing] a wild and funny texan,nings who everyone seemed to love. chris cravey: caring, loving, compassionate. andrea canning: so why did she have this strange premonition? laura love: ashlea always felt like she was going to die young.

andrea canning: the call came on black friday. laura love: she said ashlea's apartment's on fire. chris cravey: when the coroner pulled up, my heart broke. andrea canning: and this fire was no accident. they had conducted surveillance at ashlea's apartment. keith morrison: they're going back to the place where ashlea worked. yes, sir. chris cravey: they were going after tens of thousands of dollars. andrea canning: but was money the only motive? or was there something else? there were a lot of rumors going around that ended up being true. chris cravey: i couldn't believe that somebody could do that to her, just pure evil. hello, and welcome to "dateline." ashlea harris had no shortage of admirers. family, friends, coworkers, even her ex sung her praises. so when she was found dead after a suspicious fire consumed her apartment. police were baffled. this was no accident, but were the clues to who killed ashlea now up in smoke. it would take a determined detective

and the discovery of a stolen key to unlock this mystery. here's keith morrison with "black friday." [cicadas chirping] keith morrison: a hot august night in texas 2014. the lone figure knew where to go. knew where the store kept the cash. grabbed $18,000 and was gone. but it was only money and no one got hurt, not that time anyway. the story begins here, in fort worth, texas, which turned out to be the perfect growing up place for a rough and tumble, free spirit named ashlea harris. i was around 10 when she was born. and so the perfect age to pretend she was my baby. keith morrison: melissa hill is ashlea's eldest sister. she marched to the beat of a different drum.

she would wear just things that did not match. her hair was just-- didn't seem combed, you know. so she was never the little princess type. no, no. keith morrison: there were three girls in the family. ashlea was the baby. their mom, monica, remembers how ashlea loved sports, and music, and art, and bingo. monica: it was our mom and daughter bonding time. and she'd just get all giddy and excited. keith morrison: by the time she got to high school, ashlea had lots of friends, even a boyfriend. and she was devoted to her two dads, her father, tommy, and her stepfather, chuck, both retired police officers. didn't she talk at one point about getting into, actually, your line of work? she was interested in policing. yeah, i think that she took unique interest in it. keith morrison: but after high school, she ended up working for a short time at blockbuster video.

and that's where she met a customer named laura love. and i walked around the store for a little bit, and just kept looking at her, because she was so beautiful. keith morrison: laura wanted to meet the girl behind the counter. they became friends. and then something more. laura love: we hung out for a few months, for like eight months before it ever really got there. keith morrison: by that, she means she and ashlea fell in love. it was a lot of growing up. she had to work through her feelings. being gay isn't necessarily an easy thing. and it definitely wasn't easy 14, 15 years ago. keith morrison: oh, no, it wasn't. was there a coming out period during which she sort of-- monica: i believe it was 2004. she come over to the house. and she goes, mama, i got something to tell you and chuck. i just want you to know that i was gay.

and i said, well, ashlea, i already knew it, but you need to give me some space. i need some time. keith morrison: so monica took some time, prayed about it, came to this conclusion. i can't imagine god giving me this child, and living with her and raising her, that he would want me to stop loving her. it wouldn't make any sense at all. yet, for a long while, monica wasn't comfortable with ashlea's new relationship. though, laura said she and ashlea were good together. laura love: she was just always very giving and very-- what else can i do for you to make you happy? keith morrison: the romance lasted more than three years. and then it was over. but they remained friends. and laura remembers how happy ashlea was when she started working at american eagle outfitters at the hulen mall in fort worth.

oh, she loved it. keith morrison: she was an assistant manager and good at it, said her boss, chris cravey. just her personality-- caring, loving, compassionate. she just loved life. mm, yeah. keith morrison: and she loved taking videos of her life, lots of them at work. i'm extremely tired. and this right here is not even helping. look at my eyes. it's horrible. she had this laugh. it was so infectious. keith morrison: they weren't all like that, however. employee lindsay green said another assistant manager, carter, was very different from ashlea. she taught me how to love myself to a point. carter just taught me work-related things. not a jokester. right. keith morrison: but, ashlea, polar opposite, and popular. this is what cold looks like. i'm so hood. keith morrison: so work was going well. her love life, not so much.

and then one night, ashlea went out with friends, and april moffitt was there. and i was there waitress. and she was having a bad night. and i was trying to pull her out of her shell. she wasn't having it. so i just-- fine. keith morrison: april gave up on her grumpy customer, until months later they connected on social media. they met for a dog walk. ashlea brought her dog, nala. april brought cooper. and everyone clicked. what was it like when you first started going out with her? she has a magnetic like force to her. like, it's hard to not instantly love her. keith morrison: so by the summer of 2014, life was good for ashlea-- her social life, her job. though, she did hit a bump of sorts in august, when someone stole $18 grand from the store safe.

and it was ashlea who realized the theft had occurred and reported it to you. correct. keith morrison: she even helped id the suspects. with her interest in police work, ashlea thought she might have a calling here. she wanted to go on to loss prevention and work for our home office at american eagle. keith morrison: she was 31. she had all kinds of plans. but on the morning after thanksgiving, black friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, chris cravey's phone rang at home. it was our other assistant manager, saying, chris, ashlea's apartment's on fire, and we can't get her on the phone. i threw clothes on as fast as i could get, started driving to fort worth, and followed the smoke trail and the sirens. andrea canning: coming up, no one would have guessed where that trail would eventually lead. we were asking if we could talk to ashlea or where she was at.

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experience possibilities through sport at challengedathletes.org. and see "wicked". keith morrison: it was the morning after thanksgiving, black friday. laura love had only one thing on her mind. laura love: black friday was my favorite day of the year. i love to shop and save money. keith morrison: but laura's black friday was about to turn very dark, indeed.

i got a call from a friend of ours. and she said, ashlea's apartment's on fire. keith morrison: ashlea's friends arrived at her apartment parking lot to something like chaos. lindsay green: there was multiple police cars, crime scene was there. keith morrison: fort worth detective jerry cedillo and his partner, ernie pate, sped over there too. jerry cedillo: there was a crowd that was starting to gather. the next thing you know, we have about 40 to 50 friends, and family, and coworkers. and then we had residents that were just looking from balconies. so we had quite a crowd out here. keith morrison: by now, firefighters had squelched the flames. and the detectives walked up the steps to ashlea's door. when you went into that apartment, what was that like? it was-- it was very disturbing. keith morrison: a woman's lifeless body was lying face down on the bedroom floor. we waited until she was turned over and we got to go look at her face. and she was also identified by some of the tattoos. keith morrison: and then they knew. the victim had her name tattooed on her rib cage--

ashlea harris. outside, ashlea's friends were totally in the dark. chris cravey: when we were asking if we could talk to ashlea or where she was at, they just said that she's unavailable right now. keith morrison: ashlea's boss, chris cravey, had just arrived and was trying to get some answers. for a couple of hours, we just assumed that she was being taken care of. keith morrison: and while they waited for information, investigators were realizing this was no accident. it was obvious that she had been beaten, due to the amount of blood that we found. and then we observed that her arms were bound behind her back and her ankles were also bound. keith morrison: it looked, said the detectives, like ashlea had been fighting back against a truly vicious attack. she had been beaten and possibly tortured. we later discovered that her neck had been slit. keith morrison: not only that, the fire looked suspicious. so veteran arson investigator, wallace hood, was called to the scene. and i noticed that there was fire damage on the bed.

and i also noticed that there was some fire damage to the victim. and i also saw what looked like a bottle of alcohol. fire damage actually on the victim, so like somebody set fire to her. there was some-- it looked like there was some burn marks on her. what did you ultimately determine about the fire and how it got started? there were several points of origin. and that's an indicator of a intentionally set fire. sure. so somebody took that rubbing alcohol, poured it here, poured it over there, poured it here. yes, sir. keith morrison: chris cravey, standing in the crowd outside, watched his worst fears roll up in front of ashlea's apartment. i think it hit me like a sack of bricks once i saw them start taping it off for a crime scene. and when the coroner pulled up, my heart broke. i lost it. keith morrison: and then the detectives, looking very stern, came outside to ask some pointed questions.

did someone know something, see something? lindsay green: at that point, they start-- the police start shuffling us into the office. and they tell us that even if we try to leave, we could be arrested. i mean, that told you something very bad happened in there. yeah. keith morrison: one person not in the crowd that morning was ashlea's girlfriend, april moffitt. about 1:00 pm, april got a text from one of ashlea's neighbors. hey, have you checked on your girl? there was a fire in her apartment. and immediately, i thought-- nala, ashlea's dog. keith morrison: april assumed ashlea wasn't at home. i was like, holy crap. keith morrison: and then she got a message from another friend, saying simply, call me. and i called her, and i said, where is-- like, where is ashlea, where is nala? and she was like, nala's fine. and i was like, well, where is ashlea? and she was like ashlea's gone. and it didn't register.

keith morrison: yeah, like, gone, what do you mean gone, huh? april moffitt: yeah, and then i said, well, is ashlea ok? and she said, no, april, she's dead. and i was sitting on my bed. and i threw my phone on the ground, like that's not real. keith morrison: when reality settled in, april, and all of ashlea's family, and friends, and even the police had to wonder, who would do such a thing to such a good sweet person? ashlea harris had no enemies, did she? was someone stalking ashlea harris? coming up-- i saw a vehicle parked there that i'd never seen before. andrea canning: but someone had seen it before. chris cravey: i said, i know whose car y'all are asking about. andrea canning: when "dateline" continues. [♪♪] did you know, there's a detergent

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keith morrison: ashlea's mother and stepfather were out of town when the news began arriving in awful, jagged bits. first they heard about the fire. and monica prayed ashlea wasn't hurt. and then ashlea's father, tommy harris, called. i saw chuck getting off the phone. and i saw him wiping his tears. and i knew that my prayer wasn't answered.

keith morrison: chuck couldn't reach ashlea's sister, so he left a message. and not two minutes later, my husband called me. and he said, where are you? i need to come to you. and i said, what is wrong with my mom? what happened to my mom? and he said, it's not your mom, it's ashlea. and i mean, it just comes like a blow. keith morrison: back in fort worth, police were still rounding up people gathered outside ashlea's apartment. not among them was april. april, in fact, hadn't seen ashlea for a few days. their romance had hit a bit of a bump. that night, we talked briefly about me coming over after i got off work. but then i went home. keith morrison: but someone else was there. her name was alexis torres. jerry cedillo: alexis torres was the last person to see ashlea alive and was the actual-- the last person

to leave her apartment. that is certainly somebody you would want to talk to. obviously, yes, sir. keith morrison: alexis said she and ashlea had gone to an early thanksgiving dinner with friends in ashlea's complex. so you had thanksgiving dinner and that was-- i think it was around 12. keith morrison: sure. and then hung around for the afternoon. yes. keith morrison: but ashlea had to work that night. jerry cedillo: well, ashlea's shift was supposed to be from 7:00 pm until 3:00 am. and alexis agreed to come over during the time that she was working to basically take care of ashlea's dog. keith morrison: then alexis told the police, and later us, that she went back one more time, after ashlea got home from work. how long did you stay? i stayed for an hour. keith morrison: that would make it 4:00 am. if alexis was telling the truth, the police had the beginnings of a timeline. but before they could check her story, or anyone else's for that matter, a neighbor gave them more to work with. an ex-cop named, steve lee, had noticed something about 6:30 that morning. so you're out here on the deck having a cigarette,

what'd you see? i saw a vehicle parked there that i'd never seen before. keith morrison: what was that vehicle? it was a black older infinity, sedan. keith morrison: to the observant ex-cop, that seemed worth noting. did it stay there for a long time? it was there when i left for work at about 7:40. keith morrison: detectives also talked to a neighbor who lived directly below ashlea. he had heard noises, heavy breathing coming from ashlea's apartment, just before 8:00 am. a few minutes later, the fire alarm started going off. water started coming down into his apartment. keith morrison: and that's when the neighbor saw a black infinity g35 driving away. armed with this new information, cedillo went back to alexis torres. i asked her if she knew anyone or if ashlea knew anyone that drove a infinity g35. i never gave her a color. i simply asked her about a g35. keith morrison: alexis said, no. after he's done asking me questions,

i walked outside and sat down on the brick. and i believe it was chris that was there. keith morrison: that would be chris cravey, ashlea's boss at american eagle. alexis told him that police were asking about an infinity sedan. and chris made a beeline for detective cedillo. i approached him and i said, i know whose car y'all are asking about. and he says, i just to make you aware that i have a former employee that did drive a infinity g35. keith morrison: her name, he said, was carter, carter cervantes, that business-like assistant manager, who worked with ashlea. so then i asked him, you know, what color is g35 that she drove? and he mentions that it's a black one. what was that like, to hear that? well, it beats hearing the color red or white. keith morrison: and by the way, chris told detective cedillo, carter left american eagle because she was fired. cedillo filed that away, and sorted

through the crime scene, and talked to witnesses. and a day that began at 8:30 that morning didn't end until 1:00 am. did you get any sleep? no, sir, i didn't. keith morrison: the story about carter cervantes and her black infinity was just bugging him. well, i'm thinking about the case. and i'm thinking, where do i go from here? keith morrison: might have tossed and turned all night thinking about that. but something inside him said, nope. i'm not going be able to get any sleep, i might as well go back out there and see what i can find. keith morrison: wouldn't be his first wild goose chase. he had carter's address. so the wee hours of saturday morning, he drove over there. and what do you know? jerry cedillo: i saw a black infinity backed in right in front of their apartment. keith morrison: but he didn't knock on her door. i just going to go ahead and basically sit here and watch the vehicle to see if it moved. keith morrison: for more than four hours, he sat in his car, cold, but patient. and then about 8:00 am, saturday,

he saw the lights of the infinity flash, as if somebody was unlocking it remotely. i see the male enter the driver's seat of the vehicle. i then see a female enter the passenger side of the black infinity. keith morrison: they drove off. the detective followed. and after a few minutes, the infinity pulled into, of all places, the hulen mall. so there they are, they're going back to the place where ashlea worked, where the american eagle was. yes, sir. but what would they be doing there? well, that was-- that was the million dollar question. andrea canning: coming up. i asked him, what are you doing here at the mall? he said that he had dropped his girlfriend off to pick up some papers. andrea canning: a routine errand or something else? when "dateline" continues. long after guests leave, viruses and bacteria linger. air fresheners add a scent. but only lysol air sanitizer helps erase the trace, eliminating odor and killing 99.9% of viruses

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hi, i'm richard lui with a news update. the world continues to

remember the 39th president, jimmy carter, this morning. he died sunday at the age of 100 , nearly two years after entering hospice care. he was the longest living former president. president biden called carter a dear friend and that the world lost a statesman and humanitarian. biden announced in a statement the u.s. will hold a national day of mourning for carter on january 9. for now, back to dateline. . after celebrating thanksgiving with friends, ashlea harris headed to her job at the mall to get ready for black friday. but nothing could have prepared her for the horror she faced when she returned home. ashlea was brutally murdered and her apartment was set on fire. a neighbor told police he noticed a car around the time of the killing, a black infinity. they later learned that was the same model a former coworker drove. coincidence? detective jerry cedillo was about to find out. here's keith morrison with "black friday."

keith morrison: on the saturday morning after black friday, 2014, homicide detective jerry cedillo followed a black infinity into the parking lot of the hulen mall. he watched as the passenger, a woman dressed in darkish clothes headed inside. she fit the description he'd be given of 25-year-old carter cervantes, a former coworker of ashlea harris. the male driver stayed in the car. so cedillo called his partner, ernie pate, asked him to check up on the guy. and when i approached the car, and then the person identified them self as david mallory. keith morrison: david mallory was carter's live-in boyfriend. he too was a former employee of american eagle. i asked him, what are you doing here at the mall? he said that he had dropped his girlfriend off to pick up some papers at aeropostale, where she was a manager. keith morrison: so perhaps it was just that, david giving carter a ride to pick up some paperwork at her new job, at aeropostale.

cedillo decided to go inside. the mall was open, but the stores were still closed. jerry cedillo: and i happened to go up to aeropostale and there is a manager that's actually in there working. and i was able to confirm that carter cervantes did not work for him, and he doesn't even know who she is. well, so much for that story. yes, sir. keith morrison: cedillo turned his attention to finding carter cervantes. no luck. you didn't see her at all in there. no, sir. did anybody see her? no, sir. keith morrison: so cedillo had a disgruntled employee coming back to the mall where she'd been fired. her boyfriend was telling lies about a job she didn't have, and a car that looked like hers had been spotted at the scene of a murder. detective pate still had david mallory out in the parking lot and was looking for a reason to hold him. he said that he had a driver's license, but he didn't have his driver's license with him. keith morrison: reason enough. he arrested mallory and brought him in for questioning. but carter seemed to have vanished,

wasn't anywhere in the mall. but then police went to her apartment complex. and there she was. where was she in the apartment complex? well, she initially was in the-- in the laundry room. keith morrison: calm as you please, she agreed to answer questions, without a lawyer, down at the station. jerry cedillo: and do you go by carter or carol? carter. keith morrison: somehow, she had switched her dark clothes for bright pink scrubs. so how did you end up in fort worth? i had a job opportunity with american eagle outfitters. keith morrison: oh, yes, carter's american eagle connection. detective cedillo had already heard a thing or two about that. carter had worked at the fort worth store for about four months and was businesslike, but unlike ashlea, she wasn't a very friendly assistant manager. she did, however, make an impression on some younger clerks, like liza schoenthal. liza schoenthal: carter was very smart, very deep. she was good at reading people and knowing

how to converse with them. you could tell that she was well educated. she just had a lot more to her than most sales retail managers do. keith morrison: but detective cedillo knew something else about carter and david mallory, something very important. remember that burglary at american eagle three months earlier, carter and david mallory were the primary suspects. and ashlea harris was the one who discovered the money missing. and when ashlea came in to open the store, she found the safe open. keith morrison: ashlea knew it was carter who closed the night before. and when she showed her boss the security video view of the burglary-- she pointed at the monitor and she said, that's david mallory. i said, who's david mallory? and they said, it's carter's boyfriend. keith morrison: the math was easy. ashlea figured carter set up the burglary, and david carried it out. carter got fired. david sort of disappeared.

and both heard that it was ashlea who identified them. they hadn't been charged, not yet. but-- the case was, basically, actively being investigated when this happened. keith morrison: and now, three months later, here was carter talking to the police, who were growing suspicious that she and her boyfriend were connected to ashlea's murder. why am i here? well-- keith morrison: cedillo started off easy. so were you raised in amarillo, or just-- no, i'm actually from lubbock. is your family still there? yes. mom, dad, brother, sisters, or what? i don't have any brothers, but i do have two sisters, and they all still live in lubbock. so have you seen your mom and dad in a while? no, i've talked to them every day on text message and snapchat, but i haven't been home in-- keith morrison: more friendly questions. and where did you go to school? west texas a&m university. keith morrison: cedillo asked about thanksgiving-- small talk. jerry cedillo: what did you make? i made turkey. and there was stuffing, and mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole, and this cabbage bacon salad

that my mom really likes to make, but i don't think david liked it very much. keith morrison: except this wasn't really small talk. detective cedillo was paying close attention. all right, so let's start with this morning. - ok. - all right? this morning. ok. what time do you get up? about 7:30, 7:45. and then what happens then? and then we talked. and i went back to sleep. and when i woke up, he wasn't there. ok. keith morrison: he had heard enough. i know that's a lie. no, it's-- no, it's not. jerry cedillo: you know why i know it's a lie? why do you know it's a lie? jerry cedillo: because i saw you come out of your apartment and get in the passenger seat of that car. and i saw him drive out of there. that's why i know it's a lie. keith morrison: cedillo was tough, but carter cervantes wasn't giving an inch. andrea canning: coming up. jerry cedillo: there's an actual human grave that's been dug. a fresh grave? fresh grave. andrea canning: when "dateline" continues.

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i have one, too. i'd be so lost without mine. we are talking about mentors, right? yes. a mentor can guide you. support you. and unlock your potential. being a mentor can be just as life-changing. you can create opportunities. and inspire the next generation. helping someone find their path can transform your own. so find a mentor. or become one. wait, can i do both? you know what? let me ask my mentor. of course, you can. bring someone along on your journey. and see where it takes you. keith morrison: it was late saturday morning, the day after black friday. 25-year-old carter cervantes was talking to detectives and lying through her teeth. i know what i did this morning. i know where i was. i know where i went. keith morrison: detective cedillo certainly knew where she went, the hulen mall. but she kept insisting she'd been at home all morning.

you're about to make the biggest mistake of your life, you understand me? keith morrison: and you still wouldn't confess to it. she wouldn't budge. i got up. i went and put the laundry in. and i went and checked my email. that's all-- you found me on my apartment complex. jerry cedillo: so david's a liar. keith morrison: then, when the detective stepped out of the room, she did something interesting, maybe incriminating. she took a drink, puts the bottle down. she picks it up again and before she can take the second drink, she stops midair, spills water on herself, puts the bottle down and just stares at it for about 10 to 15 seconds. she then reaches over and grabs a tissue from the table and starts wiping down the bottle. and then wipes down the mouthpiece. what did that say to you? jerry cedillo: well, that she was afraid that we were going to obtain her dna from the bottle. keith morrison: after that, police let her go, david mallory too. but detectives had a theory cooking, that carter and david killed ashlea out of revenge for being fired for the burglary, but they also wanted ashlea's keys to the american eagle.

because they were planning to rob the store again. those keys were the only thing missing from the murder scene. and when store manager chris cravey looked at his surveillance video from earlier that morning, he told police what they wanted to hear. describe what you saw on the videotape. somebody dressed in dark clothes with their face wrapped walk right up to the store and try to get in with keys. keith morrison: that, he said, was carter trying to pull off another bigger burglary. police just knew. one day after killing ashlea and taking her keys, carter was trying to break into american eagle, where this time tens of thousands of dollars, the black friday profits, were in the safe. but the key didn't fit because after ashlea was murdered, chris cravey changed the locks. chris cravey: i wasn't going to take any chance on whether it be a deposit or them harming

somebody else in the store. we needed to lock them out. keith morrison: the detectives pulled the surveillance video. and look at this, carter slipping away from the mall, having already changed from her sweat clothes into pink scrubs. had to be trying to fool potential trackers, they thought. this was after she would have spotted police talking to david in the parking lot. and then she walked all the way home. over the next few days, police got a warrant for carter and david's cell phones. that camera app, so useful. jerry cedillo: well, we learned that they had conducted surveillance at ashlea's apartment weeks before that. they had a picture of her apartment, her actual door to her apartment. and they had pictures of her vehicle, the white dodge ram pickup. keith morrison: in early december 2014, carter cervantes and david mallory were arrested and charged with the murder of ashlea harris. cold comfort for ashlea's sister.

it's just such a loss and it's so pointless. i just don't understand how people could do that. keith morrison: they were tried separately. but the cases against them were virtually identical. do you recognize this disk? keith morrison: assistant da kevin rousseau led the prosecution. on state's exhibit 1-- keith morrison: ashlea deener assisted. from the witness stand, detective cedillo helped lay out the case. kevin rousseau: were you also able to conduct a search of her apartment, and her vehicle, and things like that? yes, sir. kevin rousseau: and did you find a receipt that proved to be helpful? that's correct. keith morrison: the sales receipt showed some odd purchases on carter's credit card. she had purchased two shovels. she had purchased a tarp. she had purchased gloves. keith morrison: why was that significant? because of a discovery way out in the texas scrub, a discovery worthy of a horror movie.

and the key to finding it was right there on carter and david's cell phones. they would text each other longitude and latitude coordinates. and that led us to a remote area near abilene. what was there. as soon as we got to where the spot says, you're there, we look up and there's an actual human grave that's been dug. a fresh grave? a fresh grave. keith morrison: prosecutors believed the original plan was to kidnap ashlea, kill her, and put her body in that grave. she was killed in her apartment, the prosecutors thought, because she fought so hard. what is that? this is a glock 19 semiautomatic pistol. keith morrison: in fact, investigators believed ashlea harris was pistol whipped. so when this glock 19 was found in the black infinity, prosecutor deener had it tested. the results were both sad and conclusive. it came back positive with ashlea's dna on the gun.

so that was very significant. there was blood adjacent to her be and blood spatter on the bed. this was not an easy death. keith morrison: hearing all this was so hard on ashlea's mother, monica, and loved ones, like april. april moffitt: i thought i could handle it. mm-mm, nope. so i went out. and i went back into the room where monica was. and she was consoling me. and she shouldn't be consoling me. keith morrison: the brutality of the murder was never far from the prosecutor's minds. i just thought how painful and how awful the last few minutes of her life would have been. and terrifying, right? and absolutely terrifying-- absolutely terrifying. ashlea deener: stacey said the third one. keith morrison: but even that, they said-- even that appeared to be part of the plan. this wasn't just about robbery or even revenge, said prosecutor rousseau. there was discussions that carter cervantes had had with people where she expressed certain--

i guess you can call them fantasies involving killing people. keith morrison: liza schoenthal remembers one such discussion at work. liza schoenthal: it was just us, and we were folding clothes. and she mentioned that she had thought about killing someone before and whether or not she could watch them die. keith morrison: as if the murder wasn't shocking enough, prosecutors were pretty sure ashlea's murder was a thrill kill, planned by a sadistic young woman, who thought she was smarter than everyone else. but tiny, meek, carter cervantes admitted none of that. she still had a plan, concocted all by herself, to explain why she, too, was a victim. andrea canning: coming up, a vicious killer-- you wanted to see the death penalty. the death penalty was what i wanted. andrea canning: --or a young woman forced into a life of crime? defense attorney: were you were in pain? [sniffles] yes. i was screaming.

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powering possibilities™. ♪ ow! whoa! watch where you're going. yeah mom, pay attention. what if it's a concussion? hang on, i'll look it up. uh... i'm probably fine... probably? we noticed something wasn't right and got her to a doctor. i thought i was okay, but i had a concussion. sometimes, it's hard to tell on your own. don't mess with your melon. if you hit it, get it checked. keith morrison: don't when people talkelon. about the trial of carter cervantes, this is what they remember. defense attorney: state your name for the record, please. my name is carter carol cervantes. keith morrison: against the advice of her attorneys, carter cervantes took the stand. gone was that criminal mastermind. here sat a helpless victim.

she gets up on the stand and it was insane. keith morrison: carter said it with all her boyfriend, david mallory, controlling every aspect of her life. i was very afraid of david. defense attorney: how afraid of him were you? i thought he was going to kill me. keith morrison: this is where carter's defense truly began. she told the jury she was a woman enslaved by her sadistic lover. he was telling me what to drink and what to eat. and he made me have sex with him in the movie theater. keith morrison: and he had that gun, the glock, she said. used it like a threat. and it scared her. i did not feel comfortable with that weapon. keith morrison: she told the jury she was asleep at home when ashlea was being murdered. she didn't know where david had gone. but somehow, he wound up with a set of american eagle keys.

gave me some gloves and told me to put them on. and then he handed me a pair-- a set of american eagle keys. and he said, go in and open the gate and bring me that bad ass deposit. keith morrison: and then, she said, he pulled out the glock. and he just pointed it at me. defense: pointed it at you? yes, across his body. i shook my head that i wasn't going to do it. and he said, you don't understand. there's somebody sitting outside your parents' house right now. if you don't go in, i'm going to kill them and then i'm going to kill you. keith morrison: so that's why she tried to rob the store, she said. it was that or be killed. just a couple of hours before she showed up on the security video, she said, david made it very clear to her just how far he would go to make sure, absolutely sure, that she would do what he demanded. somebody pushed me down right when

i got into the apartment. keith morrison: during the night, before the break-in attempt, she said, david brought strange men into their apartment. she heard an angry voice above her. he said, i'll make her follow directions. keith morrison: and then her story got even more harrowing. and took off my sweat pants, he pulled him down to my ankles. and-- and they raped me. raped twice, she said, sobbing, by two different men. defense attorney: were you in pain? [sniffles] yes. i was screaming. keith morrison: prosecutors kevin rousseau and ashlea deener seemed as taken aback as the rest of the courtroom. i know what i think. this is not true. keith morrison: and they needed to regroup fast. this is the biggest lie she's ever told. we know that, but you never know what the jury's thinking. keith morrison: carter had an explanation for just about

everything, even that moment during her interrogation when she wiped the bottle. she wasn't wiping off her dna. no, she said the smell from the bottle reminded her of being raped. and i was telling myself, it's just water. it's just water. it's not them. but i could still smell it. she said that she suddenly was overcome with the-- with the smell of semen in the-- in the air. and it had something to do with drinking out of this bottle of water. and i thought, now, that-- that took some work. that is one heck of a lie. and it was at that point that i put my pen down, and said, i am not writing this. i am not going to write this down. keith morrison: his voice dripping with sarcasm, prosecutor rousseau took her story apart. he showed the jury a picture. is that the-- the gun that you're talking about, that you were very uncomfortable with being in your apartment? yes. kevin rousseau: that's the one that's

lying there beside you while you're having your morning coffee? carter cervantes: yes. keith morrison: and then he drilled down into the heart of carter's story. just who were those mysterious rapists? they all-- they all spoke in a way that i would describe as ghetto, ebonics. kevin rousseau: ok, so in your mind, these are black-- black people, black men. no sir, i did not say that. keith morrison: but, said the prosecutor, that's exactly what she was suggesting. if she was going to try to play that card, i was going to make her spell it out. kevin russo: and is ebonics a term that is commonly associated with african-americans in this country? i don't know where ebonics is commonly associated with. i associate it with a certain type of speech that i also associate with the word ghetto. keith morrison: but if she was hoping to play to some random juror's racial bias, she guessed wrong. the jurors didn't believe it, not for a second. they found her guilty in less than two hours.

as for david mallory, his attorneys argued he had nothing to do with the murder. he was involved with carter, yes, but not with any killing. the jury didn't buy that either, rendering a guilty verdict in no time at all. the verdicts were some consolation for those who loved ashlea harris. i still miss her. she saw the best in everybody. even when you couldn't see it, she could see it. she had such a big heart. and this world is worse off. at least mine is. keith morrison: both david mallory and carter cervantes received mandatory sentences of life in prison with no possibility of parole. it wasn't enough for ashlea's mom and stepdad.

you wanted to see the death penalty. the death penalty was what i wanted. it's what monica wanted. but it wasn't to be. keith morrison: and now they cling to memories of their ashlea. tell me about the last time you saw your daughter, physically, in person. it was november. man: b14. keith morrison: about a week before she died, ashlea had invited monica to play bingo. monica was busy, almost said no. but something told her to stop what she was doing and go. and, oh, is she glad she did. monica: and i walk into the bingo hall, and, oh, my god, there sat that little girl of mine. and i smile at her, and i walk over, and i kiss the side of her neck, and i tell her how much i love her. you remember every syllable, every moment of that day, don't you? yes. man: g56. keith morrison: these days, monica is making new memories

at the bingo parlor. remember how skittish she was around ashlea's girlfriends at first? no longer. now, they're family. have a good weekend. when monica and i go and get our nails done, they always say, oh, your daughter is so pretty. she never corrects them. as far as she's concerned, she gained several daughters. keith morrison: and when they're all together, ashlea is there too. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm andrea canning. thank you for watching. . ♪ ♪ ♪ >> this sunday, "meet the moment." conversations with people who are having a impathis sunday, meet the moment. conversations with people who are having an impact in washington and beyond. >> there are times where i feel like