am glad that you are ending the show healthy and i'm glad you are here with us and you are always a brilliant superstar with us. and with that note, i wish you all a good night and i am so blessed to be back here with you again. i missed you these last weeks. you can catch the nightcap again on saturdays, tomorrow night, at 11:00 p.m. eastern. for now we will sign off. for all of our colleagues, thank you for staying up late yet again. i will see you at the end of monday. monday. taylor was a force to be reckoned with as a police officer and as a mother. to match wits against bad guys-- that is what drove her. keith morrison: she was missing? she was just off the map? correct. something is absolutely not right.

i was suspicious of everyone. man: taylor's live-in girlfriend, we questioned her multiple times. she had serious issues with her ex-husband. the divorce had been pretty nasty. i wanted her to be found safe despite all the bad stuff that had happened. woman: she was the last person that taylor wright had been seen with. what can we prove? what can we disprove? there was $100,000 missing. you had to follow the money. absolutely. we believed we would find evidence out there. man: the necklace, that was the key. keith morrison (voiceover): the investigator who vanished and the mystery left behind. barbara evanson: it's kind of like a roller coaster. you're just hanging over the edge, and you're just waiting to drop. [theme music] keith morrison (voiceover): they could feel it in the heavy air, barometer

plunging, impending sky. it's so big, we would see devastating wind damage throughout the state. keith morrison (voiceover): this one, hurricane irma, they'd heard was huge, category 5. it could hit hard here in pensacola, florida. it was september 2017. a school administrator named casandra waller went about the usual preparations. schools would be closed for this one. and one unusual preparation-- the love of her life, taylor wright, was moving in with her, here in her tidy little ranch house until, storm bearing down, taylor announced she was running an errand, and she didn't come back. it started that way, as a simple missing person case. keith morrison (voiceover): but if you ask chad wilhite and jeff brown, then detectives and partners, they'll tell you nothing is simple in police investigations. and this one? far from it, though, at first, it

didn't look like a case at all, except maybe the case of a lover who'd changed her mind and a jilted party who'd chosen to file a police report. still, the detective who received it followed standard procedure. he handles it like any other missing person case. he tries to reach out to the reporting person, which was casandra waller, who was the girlfriend of taylor wright at the time. keith morrison (voiceover): the story casandra told was complicated. taylor, she told the responding officer, had just gone through a messy divorce. she'd lost custody of her child. and though she was smart and knew how to defend herself, her life, even with casandra, was not exactly stable. keith morrison: had they been together a long time? they hadn't been together too long, maybe several months, if i remember correctly. so a fairly new relationship? yes, sir. was there any indication of any trouble in that relationship that she may have just run off somewhere?

we had learned after speaking with casandra that there had been some infidelity issues, possibly some drug abuse issues. keith morrison (voiceover): so was she actually missing? or had she simply left? casandra seemed worried enough. she even called taylor's friends and family. casandra called me and told me, like, taylor's missing. keith morrison (voiceover): barbara evanson was one of taylor's best friends. and she was concerned right away. if taylor had just walked out, she, barbara, would have heard. but casandra? she'd never heard of casandra. barbara evanson: and i'm thinking, who the heck are you? and i was like, ok, that's nice. but who are you? and i'm like, i'm not telling you anything. so i put the brakes on it, even though i'm very concerned that taylor's missing. keith morrison (voiceover): casandra also called a woman named nancy murchison, who helped raise taylor as a teenager.

and she'd heard of casandra, knew she was a friend. but-- after taylor went missing, she called me and said, you know taylor and i are in a relationship. i said, no, no, i didn't know that. so she didn't tell you? no, she didn't tell me. well, i mean, when taylor went missing, here's this person, casandra, she just moved in with and-- [sighs] the more the story unfolded, i started thinking, is she involved in this? keith morrison (voiceover): the question the police had to consider, too-- if this taylor person hadn't just left, then did casandra have something to do with whatever did happen? they went to her house, searched through taylor's

belongings, her papers. and during the search of all these files, that's when i discovered the check, the $19,000 check. keith morrison (voiceover): a cashier's check, as good as cash. if taylor was running away, surely she would have taken it. she would know, being in law enforcement, you wouldn't use your debit card or your credit card. we could track that. so if i'm gonna leave and disappear and start a new life, i'm gonna take a cashier's check that i can cash and take $19,000 with me. why would you leave that? keith morrison (voiceover): police put a note in their daily report. and a local reporter noticed, called her sources. they had confirmed she was reported missing, but said there was no foul play suspected. but they did say they had reason to believe that she had left of her own accord. keith morrison (voiceover): but emma kennedy, then a reporter with "the pensacola news journal," filed a story anyway, and the paper ran it for a very particular and surprising reason. usually the newspaper, we wouldn't write

about a missing person, especially if we believe they were a runaway or there was no foul play. but given that she was a former police officer and a private investigator, that was obviously unusual circumstances. so we did put something out about her being missing. keith morrison (voiceover): a former cop? a current pi? a very different sort of missing persons case, but meaning what? keith morrison: taylor had been, at one time, a police officer. did that factor into what people were thinking about in terms of this case? like, she'd know how to handle herself. we knew that, and we knew there was a possibility that, well, if she really wanted to disappear, she could. and obviously, we knew she could physically handle herself as well if there's some kind of possible attack. what were you dealing with here? when we started looking into her phone hasn't been in use in several days, ok, maybe there is something more to this. and we need to start digging a little bit more deeper. keith morrison (voiceover): and so, after 10 days, police asked casandra to come in and talk

to them at headquarters. she agreed, apparently willingly. but as she waited for the interview to start, she sat in the room alone and cried. she wouldn't be alone long. there was a lot to talk about, questions designed, of course, to find out what happened to taylor wright. coming up, tension and tears in the interrogation room. was she cooperative? very cooperative. keith morrison (voiceover): what would casandra reveal? keith morrison (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. protect against rsv with arexvy. arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. arexvy does not protect everyone

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less than six months. but as casandra told the police, when you know, you know. the question police had was, did casandra know something she wasn't revealing? we questioned her multiple times, actually. went out to her house and questioned her. she came to the police department. we questioned her there at the police department at any point. keith morrison (voiceover): this was 10 days after taylor disappeared. detectives wilhite and richard gigliotti asked the questions. keith morrison (voiceover): they had asked her to bring in all her electronics, the tools that help solve so many mysteries these days. keith morrison: was she cooperative? very cooperative. she gave us access to anything and everything we asked for, whether it be her phone, her personal laptops, her work laptops. keith morrison (voiceover): but casandra didn't bring in taylor's computer. told them she'd already had a good look at that, snooping for clues about where

she might have gone. now, she told the detectives-- keith morrison (voiceover): so they asked, what did casandra find in taylor's computer? keith morrison (voiceover): casandra seemed on the verge of tears again. the detectives noted that and asked her to just talk about her girlfriend. keith morrison (voiceover): casandra told detectives that after taylor got divorced in 2015, she dated both men and women. then she met casandra online, and it got serious pretty quickly. then, over that summer, casandra

discovered taylor was sneaking off to mississippi to see another woman. but after five months of some serious ups and downs, the romance was very much on, and taylor was moving in. it was casandra's birthday. keith morrison (voiceover): taylor was happy too, she said, but stressed, very stressed. she was facing a big court date. it was four days away. arguments over money and child support for her seven-year-old son had not been settled. that day she disappeare, taylor had gone to run some errands with an ex-law enforcement buddy named ashley mcarthur. ashley had been a csi investigator for the local sheriff's office. after they left midmorning, said casandra, she texted taylor--

"everything good?" and taylor responded, "i'll tell you about it when i get home." a few hours later, casandra texted again-- "are you ok? could you reply?" no answer. and then, a little later, ashley called, worried. said they'd gone riding just to get her mind off her troubles. keith morrison (voiceover): whatever it was, taylor apparently needed time to think about it, said casandra. and she went to some bar after she left ashley's place, thus not turning up in time for a planned dinner. by 7:30 pm, casandra was really getting angry. and then finally, a message from taylor-- "i'll call you later. i'm not angry with you, and i should have called, but i just needed to think. i am trying to get my life organized and on track." that was just too bizarre, said casandra.

why would taylor say that the weekend she was moving in? keith morrison (voiceover): and close to midnight, ashley said she finally did. keith morrison (voiceover): the text from taylor to ashley said, "i'm ok. i just need some time to think. the move and court is very stressful. i need a few days to myself. everything is ok. i am not doing anything bad." well, that angered casandra even more. casandra texted taylor, "i'm saddened that you can text ash, but not me. you need some days to yourself? what is this all about, taylor?" which led to this uncomfortable question

for casandra keith morrison (voiceover): but do we ever really know the secret places in the lives of our friends? and if we do, would we ever reveal them? so detectives decided to push casandra. was there something she wasn't telling? coming up. keith morrison (voiceover): a gun with one bullet missing. keith morrison (voiceover): when "dateline" continues.

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push through his extreme agenda. >> don't miss the weekend saturday and sundays on msnbc. . t . yes, taylor wright was moving in with her girlfriend, . casandra waller, but their romance was nearly derailed a few months after it started, when taylor started sneaking off to see an old girlfriend. so now that taylor was gone somewhere, all kinds of possibilities. the concern for casandra was that taylor may have ran off with another woman. a woman she had met and had had a dalliance with. correct. so this is kind of a personal life blowing apart here. it could be. keith morrison (voiceover): and in fact, said casandra to the police-- keith morrison (voiceover): ashley's house? why? she was hurt, of course, and angry, she said. but she agreed. and once she was there, she realized taylor

had asked ashley to mediate. taylor called it an honesty night and said she'd confess everything to casandra and ashley, too. keith morrison (voiceover): infidelity wasn't the only issue, said casandra. she suspected taylor may have used drugs, something that could jeopardize casandra's job in the school system. keith morrison (voiceover): honesty night, revelations for casandra.

but now, three months later, taylor had left or something. and casandra was angry, very angry, and texted taylor, "right now, i don't want you at my house. you have lied and lied again." keith morrison: so what would you say your potential suspect list was early on when you realized that there was some serious problem here? obviously, it would be casandra waller because they're in the relationship. keith morrison (voiceover): they searched casandra's house and found a gun, a six-shot revolver with one bullet missing. but casandra told them it wasn't her gun. she got it from a friend after taylor left or vanished or whatever it was. keith morrison (voiceover): and then things changed dramatically in the interview room. casandra had reported a missing girlfriend. the detectives asked her if it was something worse than that.

keith morrison (voiceover): this was a woman shaken, not just from being questioned and being looked at as a possible suspect, but quite apparently, also with the loss of the woman she'd fallen in love with. keith morrison (voiceover): so they sent casandra home, checked her alibis, looked through her phone records, and eventually they decided casandra had nothing whatever to do with what happened. just wasn't a viable suspect.

casandra wasn't trying to hide anything. keith morrison (voiceover): so she was eventually cleared. and later, she talked about her grilling by police. i mean, it's like rapid fire. they're, like, going really quick. did you kill taylor wright? you know? they-- and i lost it. at that point, i broke down and i cried. i maintained my innocence in this entire thing. keith morrison (voiceover): after hours of talking to detectives, she said the whole experience left her shaken to the core. it's one thing to worry about where your loved one is, but then when you're looked at, it's scary. detective (on recording): did you hurt her? keith morrison (voiceover): yes, her chat with detectives may have seemed harsh at times, but still, the detectives learned things, things casandra may not have felt were important at the time. they'd keep that to themselves for now and dig deeper into the background of the missing young private investigator's life, a backstory or a series of rabbit holes.

coming up. brian muhlbach: i posted that one of our investigators, taylor wright, was missing. within a couple days, calls were flooding in. keith morrison (voiceover): could taylor's boss help this case? if she wanted to disappear, she could do that at a moment's notice. she knew what people would look for. keith morrison (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. (♪♪) i'm getting vaccinated with pfizer's pneumococcal pneumonia vaccine. so am i. because i'm at risk for pneumococcal pneumonia. (♪♪) i'm getting prevnar 20 because pneumococcal pneumonia could put me in the hospital and my risk is 6 times greater because i'm over 50. the cdc just expanded its recommendation for those 50 or older to get vaccinated. you're also at risk if you're 19 or older with certain chronic conditions. prevnar 20 is proven to help protect against both pneumococcal pneumonia and invasive pneumococcal disease in just one dose. don't get prevnar 20 if you have a severe allergy to its ingredients. a weakened immune system may lower your response. common side effects include

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the advisory says the teen alcohol could prevent about 20,000 deaths per year. now let's go back to dateline. dateline. keith morrison (voiceover): casandra waller knew all too well that her girlfriend, taylor wright, had unresolved issues, and she shared them with detectives. casandra waller: i just laid everything on the line with them. i said, look, she's just got a divorce. there's a child involved. keith morrison (voiceover): nobody's past is perfect. and taylor's? well, there was plenty of baggage, yes. but somehow, magically, wonderfully, it was going to work out after all. casandra waller: i was so excited about taylor moving. we decided that we were in a monogamous relationship. it was like, yeah, this is-- this is it. keith morrison (voiceover): except maybe it wasn't. casandra went over it and over it. what happened that last day? taylor gave me a hug and a kiss, and i said, well, you guys have a good day. keith morrison (voiceover): that's what taylor and her friend ashley

went off to do their errands. ashley was one of taylor's, like, number one friends. and they both were in law enforcement before. they were close friends. keith morrison (voiceover): everybody seemed happy, nothing amiss. but later that day, said casandra, the mood got heavy, uncertain. casandra waller: it was probably about 5:00. i'm starting to get a little frustrated. i text taylor, and i get nothing, and call taylor, and i get nothing. keith morrison (voiceover): and when she texted ashley an hour or two later, where was taylor, she was shocked at the answer. this was probably 6:00, maybe 7 o'clock at night. she goes, what do you mean she's not home? keith morrison (voiceover): ashley said taylor left her house around 5:00, took an uber downtown for a drink, saying she was stressed out. no idea where she went or how to find her. so casandra stayed home and waited, half annoyed, half concerned. and on into the evening, her phone chirped with that text message, the one that was

very confusing to casandra. casandra waller: i get a text from taylor saying, hey, i just-- i need some time to get my head clear. like, i need a few days. keith morrison (voiceover): a few days? it just kind of seemed odd, basically. something would have happened in a matter of a couple of hours to change you completely. right. keith morrison (voiceover): but that was it. no explanation. taylor's boss at the investigations firm, brian muhlbach, said taylor was one of the best investigators he had. taylor loved her job as a private investigator. she loved going out and switching up those roles and having different covers and going out and doing the surveillance. it was definitely her passion. keith morrison (voiceover): and she knew all the tricks of finding people or making herself disappear. if we were looking for somebody that didn't want to be found, taylor was the person to find you. if she wanted to disappear, she could do that at a moment's notice. she knew what people would look for. keith morrison (voiceover): but once the detectives had

talked to casandra, they knew whatever had happened, this was going to be a case for them, especially with how bad things got between taylor and her ex-husband. yes, they heard a lot about that from casandra, too. in fact, police suggested she phone the ex-husband in north carolina. so i called jeff. and i told jeff what was going on. keith morrison (voiceover): jeff was jeff wright, taylor's ex. they'd been married 10 years. jeff was a marine at camp lejeune, north carolina. and because their son, drake, lived with him, casandra offered jeff a warning. she could be going and trying to kidnap the son because she doesn't have custody. and then they could disappear off the face of this earth. keith morrison (voiceover): meanwhile, word was spreading around pensacola. brian muhlbach: i actually saw a facebook post by her girlfriend, casandra, saying that she hadn't heard from her in a while. and, well, i knew that was strange and tried to call taylor myself, and she didn't answer,

which i knew, at that point, something was wrong. and i got on my business facebook page, and i posted that one of our investigators, taylor wright, was missing. and within a couple days, calls were flooding in. but most of it was just theories. keith morrison (voiceover): theories like maybe some target of one of her investigations harbored a grudge and took revenge. if there was somebody potentially mad at her because of private investigations issues, but we found nothing in there that would lead us that way. keith morrison (voiceover): so then the detectives dug into taylor's background and learn that her story was unusual. taylor had a rough start. at 13, she was in foster care, but then had been taken in by a neighborhood family that truly cared for her. and she was just so pathetic-looking. she had this wet, stringy hair and was small anyway,

but she looked so frail. and i don't know what it was about her, but i just said, you can come stay with us. like a little lost soul who had to be rescued, huh? yeah. keith morrison (voiceover): child welfare officials quickly gave nancy and her family their stamp of approval. they had to run background checks on all of us. we weren't a foster home, but they did allow her to come and live with us. she moved in and immediately became part of the family. just like that? just like that. keith morrison (voiceover): nancy's son, daniel westhoff. daniel, what-- [chuckles] what was that like? you suddenly have a sister. like she said, it just-- she fit right in. and i guess she just really wanted a family. and so i think she adopted us as much as we adopted her. keith morrison (voiceover): taylor lived with nancy murchison and her sons for most of her teen years and stayed close. and nancy saw her a week before she disappeared,

hadn't heard from her since. she would come and sit in my lap and put her head on my shoulder and say, "i love you." just so sweet. but, you know, to so many others, she was, you know-- she was tough. keith morrison (voiceover): tough indeed. wore a necklace with a bullet on it. back when she and jeff wright were married, she did more than just keep things together when he was away on his many combat tours with the marines. she was out patrolling the streets of jacksonville, north carolina, as a police officer, and she was good at it. i thought she was an absolutely amazing person. keith morrison (voiceover): barbara evanson, taylor's friend, remember, was also a cop, in fact, was taylor's superior officer. keith morrison: was she friendly? oh, yeah. that's an understatement. [laughs] taylor was one of those people that she wanted to be friends with everybody.

keith morrison (voiceover): taylor was on the small side, but, said barbara, she could and did handle big bad guys with aplomb. keith morrison: being a police officer, you need to know how to exert quiet control, right? how did she do that? she did a very good job of that. your first level of force is your presence. she had the presence about her. people didn't pick fights with her very often. i don't think that anybody really wanted to know whether they were going to get handcuffed and thrown in the back of a car by a 120-pound woman or not. keith morrison (voiceover): and now, in the middle of some big life changes, she was suddenly gone. keith morrison: well, what did you think when you saw that taylor had sent a text to casandra saying, "i just need to be alone for a while"? that's not taylor. something is absolutely not right. she would never say, "i need to be alone." if anything, she would have called nancy and said, "mommy, i need you." i mean, that's just who taylor was. if she felt like she was in a bad situation, she would call someone. so that was an immediate red flag.

keith morrison (voiceover): but there was no call to nancy. taylor even stopped calling drake up in north carolina with his dad. she always talked to him and then just suddenly stopped one day. keith morrison (voiceover): detective jeff brown. made it even more concerning. keith morrison (voiceover): so they circled back to that last day taylor was seen, the day her friend ashley mcarthur said she'd been so tense, skittish. time to talk to ashley. and now taylor's story would get a lot more complicated. coming up. keith morrison (voiceover): questions for ashley, very personal questions. keith morrison (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. if you're frustrated with occasional bloating or gas,

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ic] to help relieve your occasional bloating and gas. keith morrison (voiceover): there's a time, when a person goes missing, the brain says, something bad has happened. the heart says, keep looking.

going on two weeks after taylor vanished, the detectives were following this very slim thread of hope. she knew how to disappear. chad wilhite: i think as time progressed and we started learning, she hasn't contacted her kid, ok, there's probably something more to it. keith morrison (voiceover): there's a basic rule-- talk to the person who last saw her alive and well. and that would be her friend, ashley mcarthur. chad wilhite: they were very close friends. they would go hang out, go grab a beer, and go to dinner. they went out of town to, you know, college football games together. they were very good friends. keith morrison (voiceover): they had been introduced by ashley's husband, zack, who worked with taylor in the investigations firm. zack was ex-police to a former sheriff's deputy. so three veterans of law enforcement, who all spoke the same language, in a way. and soon, taylor and ashley were great pals, even though their lives were quite different. ashley also has this pensacola

automatic amusement business that her and her parents run. keith morrison (voiceover): a well-known and successful business that supplied pool tables and jukeboxes and such to local bars. so while taylor was still struggling to find her footing, ashley was an established married mother of one, juggling family and a small company. but she always seemed to have time for taylor. and now for the effort to find her. keith morrison (voiceover): where did she go that last day ashley saw her? keith morrison (voiceover): ashley confirmed what casandra told them. she and taylor spent that day running errands. first to ashley's office, then briefly, back to casandra's place. keith morrison (voiceover): no idea. and she never asked.

but anyway, taylor was fine, same as ever, until she asked ashley to stop and run into a convenience store and buy her a mid-morning beer. keith morrison (voiceover): but ashley decided to shrug it off. she said she could see that taylor was pretty stressed about an upcoming court appearance with her ex-husband. keith morrison (voiceover): so ashley said she suggested they go ride horses for a while for therapy. chad wilhite: ultimately, they made it out to a family farm in milton, florida. keith morrison: how far away is that? it was probably close to 45 minutes to an hour. keith morrison (voiceover): by 4:30 pm, they were back at ashley's place, and taylor got ready to leave.

keith morrison (voiceover): ashley said she didn't exactly see taylor get into the uber, but-- keith morrison (voiceover): and to ashley, that slim thread that taylor was alive was not slim at all. the taylor she knew, she could handle herself just fine. keith morrison (voiceover): why would she be a target? well, ashley said she didn't know what was in that bag taylor picked up-- money, gun, drugs?

maybe. ashley said she knew taylor had been using, and she was concerned about the dangers that might pose. keith morrison (voiceover): and one more thing, ashley said it was a little strange. that last day, she noticed taylor had two cell phones. she didn't know why or what that second number was. keith morrison (voiceover): no problem, said ashley. she turned it over.

and detectives moved on to more sensitive questions. keith morrison (voiceover): not quite sure, said ashley, because she seemed to be interested in other women. in fact-- keith morrison (voiceover): so this question-- keith morrison (voiceover): taylor's ex-husband.

detectives already knew a little about that battle. time for a deeper look into taylor's marriage and that ex-husband. coming up. i've never seen her like that before. so angry. she was so hurt. keith morrison (voiceover): a surprising confrontation leads to an ugly battle. he kept saying, i'm videoing you. i'm taping this. and she poked him in the chest and said, "good. video this, too." and he called the police. keith morrison (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. ahh. it's a good day to cough. oh no. bye, bye cough. later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours!! not coughing at the movies!? hashtag still not coughing?! ahh! mucinex dm 12 hour

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get xfinity streamsaver with netflix, apple tv+, and peacock included, for only $15 a month. you can save. keith morrison (voiceover): homicide detectives here in pensacola couldn't miss it. it was obvious in every conversation. when taylor and jeff wright split up, it got ugly.

barbara evanson: in any relationship where someone just outright says, i want a divorce, and you're not really sure why, that mudslinging is going to begin. keith morrison (voiceover): so, more history lessons. and given it's a divorce we're talking about, there had to be two versions of history, maybe even three. there's her side, his side, and the truth. and nobody really knows the truth. it takes two people. i think that they both played a lot in the ultimate demise of their relationship. keith morrison (voiceover): nancy murchison said things really began to go sour when the military transferred jeff to florida. there was a silver lining, though. taylor wasn't a cop anymore, but-- nancy murchison: it was an opportunity for her to stay at home, be a mom. that was a good period. i think she made the best of it then, you know, getting to stay at home with drake. keith morrison (voiceover): as nancy saw it, taylor took on all family responsibilities when jeff was away for training or on assignment somewhere.

her be all and end all was jeff. everything jeff did and said, she supported. she handled everything while he was deployed. keith morrison (voiceover): and then, according to nancy, on their 10th wedding anniversary, no less, it all came apart. as nancy heard it, taylor got all dressed up for a fancy dinner, and he-- total surprise-- told her he wanted a divorce. you know, she was betrayed. betrayed how? he had promised her that if she would move to pensacola area, that there would be no more deploying. he would be home all the time. and instead, he asked for a divorce. keith morrison (voiceover): daniel, who'd spent his teens with taylor, could see how upset she was. i think what was most disappointing was, is, she thought that they would all be together finally

and, you know, live the typical american dream. sure. give her son the family that she wanted to have. she wanted to give him the right kind of upbringing. right. exactly. [gasps] you won the wish. now you have to make a wish. keith morrison (voiceover): initially, taylor shared custody of their son, said nancy. did you make your wish? keith morrison (voiceover): but without a steady job and a stable place to live, she eventually agreed, reluctantly, that the boy would have a better home with jeff. and taylor seemed to fill the emptiness in her life with a series of relationships, both male and female, and a vow to get even with jeff. i've never seen her like that before. so angry. so angry. but, you know, i think it was she was so hurt. keith morrison (voiceover): the hurt culminated at jeff's house, she said, when taylor got frustrated.

he kept saying, i'm videoing you. i'm taping this. i've got proof that you're acting this way. and she had gone up to him, i think, and poked him in the chest and said, "good, video this, too." and then she left. he called the police. keith morrison (voiceover): taylor was arrested on battery charges. jeff dropped the charges, but the damage was done. you can't be a cop after that. you can't be. they're not gonna-- they don't hire you. keith morrison (voiceover): it was now all-out war, especially played out when dividing marital assets. and taylor dug herself into a foxhole over one issue in particular, which was this. when they got married, they combined their money, his

and hers, and invested it. but a big chunk of it came from a large insurance settlement taylor got after a bad car accident. nancy murchison: she was awarded $100,000 from that accident. and then when she and jeff got married, they said, we'll put our monies in there with my fund. well, in the state of florida, it then becomes marital assets. keith morrison (voiceover): but taylor didn't agree with that. ok. keith morrison (voiceover): she believed that before their money was added up and split down the middle, she was entitled to take out her insurance settlement, the 100,000. she thought it was hers. but in any marriage, you know, property shared. and so it was just kind of that little tug of war, i guess you could say, for what percentage goes to jeff, what percentage goes to taylor, or does it all go to one or the other. and that's what the court case was going to start figuring out that taylor

was going to be going to. keith morrison (voiceover): and meanwhile, the judge froze the accounts, meaning neither taylor nor jeff was to touch a cent of it. but somehow, taylor managed to withdraw that disputed $100,000 from the account. jeff was furious. so was the judge. money can make even the most godliest of people turn bad. and i think that taylor felt betrayed. i think that jeff felt betrayed. keith morrison (voiceover): the judge ordered taylor to bring $25,000 to the next hearing or face a contempt charge, possible arrest. taylor vanished four days before that court date. was she hiding, hiding the money and herself from that court order? keith morrison: was it clear what she had done with this $100,000, where she put it? was she hiding it? what? not till we got the bank records back. keith morrison (voiceover): which told only part of the story.

what role did that money play in taylor's disappearance? maybe the ex-husband, jeff, could help them with that. coming up. jeff wright: she was very directly saying, i do not want to be with you anymore. this is not working for me. and i want this marriage to be over. keith morrison (voiceover): jeff wright tells a very different story about his marriage and his ex-wife, taylor. did you ever feel threatened by her? [sighs] yes. she was hostile with a very specific intent. and the intent was to get full custody of drake and for me to have surrendered in the process. keith morrison (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. protect against rsv with arexvy. arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine.

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arexvy is number one in rsv vaccine shots. [gentle music] narrator: once upon a time, jeff and taylor wright were made for each other, both smart and strong, both committed to public service.

and they shared a son, but time and circumstance and marital battle. when taylor seemed to vanish from the face of the earth, nancy must have been one of the first to think the obvious. were you a little suspicious of jeff? of course. absolutely. i didn't know anyone that wasn't suspicious of jeff. narrator: so how did something that started out so good end up so bad? jeff's version, way back at the beginning, when he first saw her, he was bowled over. jeff wright: our first date ended up with us throwing knives at a dart board. she liked to lift weights and to flex her guns, you know. ok. we're getting ready to start the engine. narrator: she was different. here we go. let's do it.

narrator: smart. jeff wright: taylor's batting indiscretions, take three. narrator: competitive. oh, yeah. narrator: never dull. jeff wright: she could wear a dress and look very pretty. but don't bite off on that as for who she was. this was a card that she could play. she was hot, and she knew it. narrator: but the quality that really attracted him-- jeff wright: strength, the strength of her personality. i respected her ability to handle herself. i respected her drive. narrator: that drive turned into an ambition to join the marines. jeff made a career out of it. taylor couldn't after that auto accident left her with severe injuries. but when jeff was stationed at camp lejeune in jacksonville, north carolina, taylor found her own way. jeff wright: since the time she was a very young girl, she knew that she wanted to be a police officer. did she like it as much as she thought she might? what sustained her was the ability to match

wits against bad guys. narrator: matching wits. she loved poker, he said. what did she like about the process of a poker match? she really enjoyed the-- the psychological aspect of understanding an opponent. and to see defeat on the face of the other? to know that they had been beaten, yes. narrator: jeff was often deployed on combat missions. and so at the end of her police shift, taylor came home to an empty house, but not for long. in 2010, baby drake was born. did she stay a good and attentive mother throughout the-- this period? she was very much an ideal mother. narrator: the hours weren't ideal for parenting, but her career was taking off. she shattered the glass ceiling, became swat-trained. you called her a badass. jeff wright: taylor was a badass in the sense that she was physically strong.

she was mentally strong. she had endurance. she had dedication. she was a force to be reckoned with. she would walk into a room and people would know she was there. what she wanted, she got. and that quality can be harnessed for very good things. and she did harness it for good things as a police officer, and as a wife, and a mother, and a friend. [suspenseful music] narrator: but that didn't last, said jeff. she left the police. the marriage began falling apart. jeff's version, though, is very different than nancy's. he didn't betray her, he said. quite the opposite, in fact. jeff said it was taylor who wanted the divorce. jeff wright: she was very directly saying, i do not want to be with you anymore. this is not working for me, and i want this marriage to be over. narrator: they went on for a while, unhappily. more bad days than good, said jeff. jeff agreed the final blowup was their 10th anniversary. they were having dinner. i was very much advocating to give

it another good hard go. less so from her, though? i mean, she was not as keen on it as you were? jeff wright: correct. so that 10th anniversary dinner was me finally laying down an ultimatum, saying, i want this marriage to work. i want, for the health of drake, i want all of this to work. narrator: but it didn't. and soon it was war of the roses. she wanted to see you surrender? i offered her half of my paycheck, all the money, half custody of drake within the first couple of weeks of the divorce process. i said, the ill will that a bad divorce will cause is not worth it. and she rejected it. narrator: he had some regrets, he said, like calling the police during that confrontation. he said he felt like she was trying to provoke him to get him to hit her. he also said, he didn't want to ruin her career. but ultimately, it was taylor's withdrawal of that $100,000 from their joint account that set up the legal showdown. so when she disappeared, was she trying to avoid

that court date in four days? jeff said he didn't know, but he worried she'd show up in north carolina and snatch drake. did you ever feel threatened by her? yes, i-- i felt threatened. she was hostile with a very specific intent, and the intent was to get full custody of drake, et cetera, and for me to have surrendered in the process. narrator: a lot of baggage. perfectly understandable they'd look hard at jeff, but not for long, said assistant state attorney bridget jensen. what kind of reports were you getting back from investigators? well, actually, think the ex-husband was ruled out relatively quickly, simply because he was in the military. and we knew that jeff wright was not in florida at the time taylor went missing. narrator: so jeff was cleared. he contacted taylor's friend ashley.

he said to find out if she knew what happened. jeff wright: from cass, i learned the name ashley mcarthur, found her on facebook, and i started a dialogue with her. narrator: jeff had an idea that taylor was still alive and that the missing money might have something to do with it. the money wasn't the concern. finding taylor was the concern. you can always make more money, but you can't replace a human life. and i can't replace the mother of my child. [suspenseful music] narrator: but where was the money? find that and maybe they'd find taylor too. coming up. this was one of those cases where you had to follow the money? absolutely. narrator: could they find that missing fortune? cell phone clues were about to help. and we're like, ok, now we're really on to something. narrator: when dateline continues. (♪♪) i'm getting vaccinated with pfizer's pneumococcal pneumonia vaccine.

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cassandra waller. was distraught and not getting a whole lot of information from detectives about the investigation into the disappearance of her girlfriend, taylor wright. but one person who was trying to help her was taylor's friend, ashley mcarthur. ashley helped reaffirm and calm me down a little bit. she was there for me. narrator: therefore, the police too, always ready to answer their questions. called them periodically to see how things were going.

the update was grim. taylor had been missing for more than a month. no leads, except, that is, for the $100,000 taylor took from a joint bank account with her ex. this was one of those cases where you had to follow the money to know what happened? absolutely. narrator: but that would be harder than expected because no one knew exactly what taylor did with it. detectives had found the $19,000 cashier's check at cassandra's home. but where was the rest? so hiding money. so we knew that that cashier's check was still a valid cashier's check, and that the money was still in that account. narrator: the detectives also knew that taylor probably hadn't gone too far because they found her passport too.

well, she didn't have a legal way to get outside of the country without her passport. you're eliminating all the possibilities? yes, sir. narrator: eliminating was good, but it also left detectives very little to work with. so they took a deep dive into taylor's phone and financial records to see if they revealed where the money went. ashley's phone, too. that would help them nail down an official timeline for the day taylor disappeared. it was just like, ok, let's start trying to corroborate her statement through the cell-phone records. narrator: they also tried to track down the uber taylor took from ashley's place. if they found that, they'd finally know where taylor went next. we checked all local cab companies. we checked uber. i think we checked with lyft as well. narrator: but-- we could not find anyone that had went to that address to pick her up. you looked at me-- narrator: so they went back to ashley's interview, reviewed her statements about those last moments

with taylor. ashley said she offered to drive taylor to her car instead, but taylor insisted on uber. ashley never saw taylor get into an uber or leave her driveway. and if taylor did go to a bar, she didn't leave a trace of her presence. detective willhite: most people use their credit card to pay for anything at a bar. so when we couldn't find any usages on that, ok, did she really go and have a drink? so how did she get there? so after she was with ashley that day, she just disappeared off the map? can't find evidence of her anywhere? correct. mm. those phone records were suddenly more important than ever. but when they finally got them, they only seemed to add to the confusion.

remember, ashley told the detective she and taylor went to a family farm about 45 minutes outside pensacola. but when detectives examined all the cell-phone data, it told a completely different story. detective willhite: it showed that, well, no, they never went out to a farm in milton. they actually went to a farm in cantonment, florida, which is the complete opposite direction of milton. how far out is that? probably another 30 minutes, the opposite way, i would say, of where she said she was, easily. narrator: half an hour apart, and as their mapping revealed, along completely different roads. milton was to the east. cantonment was to the west. i mean, i can't imagine what your reaction might have been. we're like, ok, well, now we got to figure

out why she's out here. - yeah. where was she at? and why was she out there? and why didn't she mention it? why would she lie to us about where she was? right. right. narrator: on a hunch, a colleague suggested detectives run ashley's maiden name britt through a property database to see if her family had properties in cantonment. and surprise, surprise, they did, located on, of course, britt road, the sprawling farm owned by an aunt and uncle. and it matched the location of the cell-phone activity. detective willhite: it's right in the middle of that one particular tower she keeps banging off of up there. right. there's a pie chart, basically, and it's slap in the middle of it. wow. and we're like, ok, now we're really on to something. doing something up there? absolutely, and taylor's phone records coincide with that as well. correct. narrator: so why did ashley lie? what was she hiding?

they asked her down to the station for another talk, only this time they had a plan, one they believed would lead to a big break in the case. coming up. at this point, she is our prime suspect. narrator: when dateline continues. jen loved her gain hibiscus hula flings. until brad moved in and brought along a few new exciting additions. and they discovered that when they mixed their scents. ♪♪ they were more than just soulmates. ♪♪ they were scentmates. ♪♪ ♪♪

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arexvy is number one in rsv vaccine shots. after a month, doubt had become a virtual certainty. taylor wright was not just missing. she was dead. and her friend ashley had been lying all along, her lie exposed by electronic records showing where her phone traveled the day taylor disappeared. that's what we're like, ok, she's been killed. ashley was the one who did it. this is-- this is where she's going to be at. it was a large parcel of land with woods all around it. if you're looking for a body, that's not necessarily going to be easy to find. it's a needle in a haystack. narrator: though they were sure taylor was dead, they had no actual proof. but the clear evidence that ashley had so blatantly tried

to lead them astray was enough to obtain three search warrants, not only for the wooded property, but her home and office too. now, secrecy was critical. and when ashley called for updates, detectives were now extra careful about what they revealed. ok. she's obviously digging, trying to see what we know. so at that point, we-- we all just agreed that whatever we talk about stays in this office. it don't go out. narrator: when it came down to carry out the search warrants, they decided to do them simultaneously and devised a plan to get ashley to the station. we set up for her to come in to get her under the ruse that she's going to get her phone back, that she's allowed us to download. narrator: once there, they'd question her about the phone records. and if their suspicions were correct, that the search parties found taylor's body at the farm,

they'd arrest her on the spot. as ashley settled in, she had no idea they no longer saw her as the helpful friend. at this point, she is our prime suspect. narrator: detective willhite and a colleague stayed at the station to question ashley, while detective brown went to the farm to supervise the search party. jeff brown: we would team up with search and rescue. they had their canines out there to help us out. narrator: meanwhile, back at the station, detectives did what they could to give him time to search by prolonging the interview. but after half an hour or so, the tone turned decidedly more serious. we confront her with all the cell-tower information.

ashley suddenly seemed to be at a loss for words. she started taking more defensive body postures, crossing her arms, crossing her legs. she's starting to appear to feel a little bit more uncomfortable with the situation, the line of questioning. narrator: especially when detectives showed ashley evidence that she'd actually gone to a farm in cantonment.

i gotcha? odd response to being caught in a lie. and then, the detectives upped the ante. the day after taylor disappeared, her phone was still pinging away in exactly the same locations as ashley's phone. at one point, taylor's phone was even pinging at ashley's house. no denials or admissions. and ashley remained remarkably calm as she stuck to her story. this is a woman who worked csi. she would have had to have some information about how police solve crimes. yeah. i would assume she would, too, especially with zach being in law enforcement for several years.

narrator: just the same, detectives turned up the heat, hoping ashley would break. feel inside when he or she recognized that you have all this information. and that's what i ultimately told her during the interview is like, you can either tell us where she's at. we're going to ultimately find her. narrator: out of the farm, detective brown and his team had been combing through dense wooded areas for hours. the investigators that were interviewing ashley were texting me, you know, have you found anything? have you-- you know, and i'd have to say, no, nothing yet. we're still looking. narrator: downtown, detectives were running out of time and getting nowhere with ashley.

the interview came to a screeching halt. you had all this evidence, but not enough to actually affect an arrest at that point. we had no body. narrator: no confession, no body, no evidence that taylor was, in fact, dead. so they hid their disappointment

and watched ashley walk away. no telling what would happen now. coming up. what really happened out there in the woods? new questions for ashley, her husband-- did you kill or participate or do you have any knowledge? hell no! narrator: --and her cousin. if you helped her in any way-- no. i-- i-- no, not-- not on that. narrator: when dateline continues. dry eyes still feel gritty, rough, or tired? with miebo, eyes can feel ♪ miebo ♪ ♪ ohh yeah ♪ miebo is the only prescription dry eye drop that forms a protective layer for the number one cause of dry eye: too much tear evaporation. for relief that's ♪ miebo ♪ ♪ ohh yeah ♪ remove contact lenses before using miebo. wait at least 30 minutes before putting them back in. eye redness and blurred vision may occur. ♪ miebo ♪ ♪ ohh yeah ♪

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speaking of that, the judge in trump's hush money case denied his bid to dismiss the case and ordered mr. trump to be sentenced on january 10. this 10 days before inauguration day. the judge did note that there will not be jail time. now, back to dateline. da detective jeff brown was beyond frustrated. he and his team had spent hours searching the farm on britt road, hoping to discover what happened to taylor wright. but they found nothing. and because of that, ashley, their number one suspect, had just walked out of the police department. it was disappointing that i wasn't able to send him that text, you know, we got her. narrator: and then, not more than 10 minutes later, just outside the farm property line-- jeff brown: we believe we found something. and when we look, you can easily see what-- the top of a human skull kind of

encased in concrete and potting soil. wait, wait, wait a minute. but you could actually see the top of a-- of a head? you-- you could see the-- the very top part of it. narrator: and when they removed the concrete, they found mostly a skeleton. then we also found her necklace, and that was the key. narrator: that bullet necklace she always wore, found where her neck used to be. after six long weeks, the search was over. it was definitely taylor. how was she killed? they found what appeared to be a gunshot wound in the back of the skull. execution? it's what it appeared to be. this suggests that she was taken completely by surprise. by one of her friends, yes. narrator: right away, detective brown notified his partner back at the station, arrest her. how did she behave then? she was, i believe, a lot more quieter that time.

definitely a different side of ashley that we hadn't seen or noticed yet. narrator: then, phone calls. family had to be told. nancy had to be told. taylor was dead. i had hoped against hope that someone just, you know, was holding her somewhere. it was soul-crushing. did they tell you how she'd been found? i didn't ask until i had to process it. yeah. i didn't want too many details, honestly. it was enough. narrator: and then a call that was also investigation. did ashley have help? jeff brown: it was always a concern. because of ashley's size, she might have needed help moving, you know, moving a body. narrator: and so they called ashley's husband, zach mcarthur.

they asked him to come down to the station and got straight to the point. did you kill or participate or do you have any knowledge? zero, jason. absolutely none. if any person in this world was like, hey, zach, come help me do something, i would run from that [bleep] as fast as i could. narrator: and zach had an alibi. he was cleared. but there was one more possibility, a young man named kyle britt, ashley's cousin. he lived on that farm. and when detectives searched ashley's phone records, kyle's number came up repeatedly right around the time taylor disappeared. in other words, these are phone calls for a specific purpose? correct. correct. narrator: they pulled him in, questioned him for seven hours. she's not going to go down alone, and she's going to take the world

down with her if she can. so if there's any kind of conversation that you had with her-- i mean, any-- if you helped her in any way-- no. i-- i-- no, not-- not on that. narrator: kyle insisted he had an alibi. and then, they understood the reason ashley kept texting him. jeff brown: like, hey, are you out at the farm today? and he responds, no, i'm not. i'm at school. narrator: of course. ashley was calling kyle to make sure he wasn't around. ashley went to jail while prosecutors built their case. but she wasn't there very long. these are her attorneys, barry and john beroset. there was a lack of criminal history, substantial ties to the community. so the judge set a bond. narrator: and out she went on bail, which didn't sit well with some people. she's walking around free while, you know, taylor's dead.

and it just seemed like it was the biggest slap in the face. narrator: what to do? a little digging revealed three months before ashley was arrested she was accused of stealing from her parents' business clients. tom williams was an assistant state attorney. i'm a fly on the wall hearing this and think there's a good fraud case here. narrator: if convicted, ashley would go back to jail. so they went for it. the family business ashley ran split profits 50-50 with the bars that rented their jukeboxes and pool tables. but the owners of the azalea cocktail lounge found out she had shortchanged them by about $14,000. jeff deweese was the accountant. he called ashley for a meeting, but the morning of the meeting, ashley canceled. something didn't feel right. so i drove to where her business was. and as i was coming up the road, i saw that it was blocked off by fire trucks

and sheriff's cruisers. narrator: because the building was on fire. looked like arson. ashley's attempt, alleged prosecutor williams, to burn records and maybe file an insurance claim. and so while they prepared their murder case, they put ashley on trial for fraud and arson. the verdict was a split decision. she was found guilty of organized fraud and racketeering, and she was found not guilty of the arson charge. narrator: it was enough to put ashley back in jail, but that split decision worried the prosecution. the arson charge was circumstantial, and so was the murder case. mind you, those cases may have shared something else too. they were different cases with different results, but perhaps the same motive, greed. narrator: coming up, ashley on trial.

jurors want forensics. they want dna. they want fingerprints. i didn't have any of that. narrator: a bold strategy from the prosecutor. bridget jensen: there were so many possible suspects. i put everybody on the stand. narrator: when dateline continues. 60% of women experience side leaks with bladder protection underwear. try always discreet! it's rapiddry core absorbs up to 25% faster than depend and fits up to 95% of body shapes. try always discreet! designed to protect.

august 2019, almost two years after taylor wright disappeared, ashley mcarthur went on trial for her murder. ashley's seasoned lawyer said detectives

had gotten it all wrong. there's not a single piece of physical evidence that links ashley mcarthur to the murder of taylor wright, none. assistant state attorney bridget jensen had no illusions, proving that this pretty petite mother with no criminal history was a cold-blooded killer. wouldn't be easy. what about your case was a matter of concern? was there a weak spot you worried about? well, i think the fact that it was wholly circumstantial is always troublesome. jurors want forensics. they want dna. they want confessions. they want fingerprints. i didn't have any of that. well, and in this case, i guess you had a-- you had a person on trial who knew all about forensics and maybe how to protect yourself in that respect. maybe. narrator: or maybe not. but first, the prosecutor wanted to address another potential weak spot. the fact that there were so many possible suspects

was not good for the state's case. narrator: instead of shying away from that, she took it head on. i put everybody on the stand that was a suspect. you did? yeah. i wanted the jury to see each of these witnesses testify, to look at them, to judge their credibility. narrator: she started with taylor's ex-husband, jeff wright. asked him about their contentious divorce and the money taylor took against court orders. bridget jensen: was taylor in trouble with the court about that? that's correct. you were in north carolina at this time? jeff wright: that's correct. - ok. and-- narrator: there was also ashley's husband and her cousin kyle. and, of course, the prosecutor called taylor's girlfriend cassandra. bridget jensen: now, do you see ashley mcarthur in the courtroom today? i do. during the trial, that was my first time seeing ashley. and it was the most uncomfortable feeling. narrator: she was the picture of a grieving lover, choking

back tears when shown a photo of that bullet necklace, the one found on taylor's skeletal remains. bridget jensen: if you'll take a look at that and see if you recognize it. i do. i think once the jurors actually saw each of these witnesses, it was clear that it was not any of them. narrator: on day two of the trial, the prosecutor focused on ashley's image. ashley mcarthur was not this meek, you know, submissive, mild-mannered, you know, little mouse, which is what she looks like. narrator: instead, jensen wanted the jury to see ashley as cunning and heartless. she called to the stand three women who told a disturbing tale about ashley. it happened, they said, the night before taylor went missing. i heard her say, how much cocaine would it take to kill somebody? narrator: and then a friend of ashley's testified that she drove ashley to a strip club called babes, where ashley

bought $250 worth of cocaine. she said that she was going to put it in taylor's beer. narrator: she said the next day she asked ashley what she had done with the cocaine. bridget jensen: and what did she tell you? that she put it in her beer and taylor spit it out because she said it tasted sour. bridget jensen: ok. so to hear these conversations-- and it wasn't just with one girl. it was with three. the defense attorneys were saying, well, yeah, that's just-- just hearsay, that, you know, maybe it happened. maybe it didn't happen. of course. and that's what great defense attorneys do say. you have to minimize something that is that damaging. narrator: even though she didn't have any physical evidence tying ashley to the murder, ashley was the last person to see taylor alive. and the prosecutor did have one powerful exhibit, ashley's police interviews and the lies she told police. the jury heard ashley confronted with cell-phone records that put her at the very place where taylor's body was found.

and remember the concrete and potting soil covering taylor's body? the jury saw a video of ashley at a home depot the day after taylor disappeared, buying-- man 1: two bags of potting soil and the bags of cement. narrator: but one thing was missing, the why. why would ashley kill taylor, a woman she seemed to like so much? a motive as old as time, money. it all came back to that money. taylor was trying to hide it from her ex-husband. she'd given a big chunk of it to ashley to hold for safe keeping. bridget jensen: there was a $34,000 cashier's check that was deposited into a joint bank account with ashley

mcarthur and taylor wright. narrator: ashley was supposed to go to the bank and repay her the day taylor disappeared. she delayed it before. so taylor texted her. this is way too important for me not to do today. i'm under a court order or my ass will get thrown in jail. but ashley couldn't give the money back, because she'd already spent it. here's ashley at walk-up atms, moving taylor's money around. one was showing ashley mcarthur withdrawing $8,300 the day after she deposited taylor's $34,000 cashier's check. narrator: so was ashley spending the money on herself? well, no, not exactly. it turned out she was spending it on this man, brandon beatty, the owner of sticks billiards, a convicted felon. the two were having a long-term affair, and she was playing the sugar mama with taylor's money.

bridget jensen: was she buying supplies at sam's club for your business? yes, ma'am, she did. bridget jensen: ok. in approximately august of 2017, did she buy your motorcycle? i'm not sure of the date, but yes, she did purchase the motorcycle. bridget jensen: ok. do you know how much that motorcycle cost? brandon beatty: i think it was like $8,000 or maybe just a hair more. bridget jensen: did ms. mcarthur also buy you a boat? yes, ma'am. bridget jensen: how much was that boat? 30 grand. narrator: after four days of testony, the prosecution rested. there was no question in my mind, and i hoped that there was no question in the jurors' minds that ashley mcarthur is the one who killed taylor wright over money. narrator: but the defense attorneys didn't agree, and they were confident they could prove it. coming up. how does someone kill someone and then take the body and hide it there without anybody knowing about it? narrator: no forensics, no case.

what would the jury decide? my understanding is we have a verdict. you could have cut the air with a knife. narrator: when dateline continues. protect against rsv with arexvy. arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache and joint pain. arexvy is number one in rsv vaccine shots. rsv? make it arexvy. we're in a volcano. to test finish ultimate against tough burnt-on stains. finish ultimate breaks them down, cuts grease, and boosts shine, for the ultimate clean. even on the toughest stains. hi. i use febreze fade defy plug. and i use this. febreze has a microchip to control scent release

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is that love island? from the start, ashley macarthur's defense team, father and son barry and john beroset had a strategy, attack the state's case. we focused on the fact that they did not have forensic evidence to connect her to it.

narrator: the defense reasoned, with no dna at the crime scene, no blood evidence, no murder weapon, no proof even of where taylor was killed, the jury could easily find reasonable doubt. we told the jury, look, you may not like ashley. you may think she's a liar. maybe you think she stole money. but you know, in this trial, she wasn't on charge for theft. narrator: john and barry beroset took turns chipping away at the state's case. every law enforcement officer who searched the crime scene for evidence admitted the turning up nothing that pointed to ashley. and it wasn't just the farm. the defense called the crime scene supervisor who helped search ashley's house and three vehicles. man 2: are you aware of any evidence that was collected that established that ms. macarthur killed taylor wright? no. narrator: on top of that, they argued that ashley wasn't physically capable of pulling off the crime, of carrying

taylor's dead body over a fence to the adjacent property where they found it. the defense put ashley's chiropractor on the stand, who testified she'd been in a car accident several years earlier and left her with a bad back. she was having trouble traveling, sitting or standing, lift overhead, lifting objects off the floor. narrator: and the defense argued, no one at britt farm saw anything out of the ordinary during the time taylor was missing, ever. the question is, how does someone kill someone, shoot them in the back of the head-- there's got to be a lot of blood-- and then take the body just over the fence, and-- and hide it there without anybody knowing about it? narrator: the defense continued to try to pick apart the state's case, like that video of ashley buying potting soil and cement. the concrete that was found on the body was very coarse,

had stone-like pebbles in it, like you might use on a sidewalk. narrator: but that's not how the home depot employee described it. bridget jensen: is the concrete that this lady purchased, is it textured? no, ma'am. it's like a fine dust. are you suggesting that that wasn't the same concrete that-- absolutely. narrator: --and what wound up on the farm? absolutely. but what a remarkable coincidence. somebody goes and buys concrete and potting soil. a victim is found buried not very effectively in concrete and potting soil. burial appears to be around the same time. you go back to the photographs, the concrete on top of the body was not fine like dust. narrator: as for the three women who testified, they heard ashley talk about poisoning taylor with cocaine. on cross-examination, they admitted they'd never seen any cocaine, not even the woman who drove ashley to buy it. john beroset: did you see any drugs? i did not see any drugs get handed off. no, sir.

so you didn't buy their stories at all? no, not at all. narrator: and finally, motive. the prosecution claimed ashley had killed taylor over money. but the defense said, that's ridiculous. she was from a family that was well-to-do. so it wasn't like this money was the last straw. i had to kill somebody in order to keep her quiet. narrator: and john beroset told the jury ashley had good reason to be spending some of that $34,000 taylor had given her. ashley mcarthur loaned taylor wright some money, and some of this was due back to ashley for that loan. narrator: father and son felt pretty confident they'd sown enough doubt as to whether or not ashley had committed premeditated murder. so when the jury went out, what were your hopes, fears, expectations? our hopes were that they'd find her not guilty of first-degree murder. narrator: nancy and daniel, who'd sat through the trial, had very different hopes. the not knowing was awful.

i was nervous. what about you, nancy? i was anxious. you know, in your mind, you're going oh, my god, what if they ca-- well, what if she's found innocent? narrator: they wouldn't have to wait long to hear the jury's decision. my understanding is we have a verdict. narrator: just three hours. taylor's friend barbara evanson held her breath. so the jury came back. what was that like? an absolute tense moment. you could have cut the air with a knife. narrator: the judge's clerk read the verdict. we, the jury, find the defendant, ashley mcarthur, guilty of first-degree premeditated murder with a firearm as charged in the indictment. when they read the verdict, that is the only time ashley mcarthur showed any kind of emotion during that entire trial. narrator: ashley's flash of emotion quickly reverted to the stone face she'd maintained through the trial. but cassandra, seated behind her,

could barely contain herself. we got the verdict that we had been waiting for for two years, when we finally got the justice that taylor deserved. judge: i'm going to sentence you to life with a mandatory minimum 25 years, state prison. narrator: but those who loved taylor, friends and family members close and far, still suffer. as you look back over the experience, how has it changed you? you know, in-- in so many ways, i-- i feel that i was robbed. you know, i love her and miss her. and that will never stop. narrator: even taylor's ex-husband felt cheated, having never got the chance to heal the deep rift between them. i wanted our relationship to be repaired to the point that when drake got married that she and i could dance together at his wedding, and-- and smile, and-- and be friends again.

narrator: but family and friends agree, it was taylor's son who lost the most. at seven years old, his mother, gone forever. one of the most important things is for him to know how much his mother loved him and how proud of him she was. ok. you can pull it. you won the wish! now you have to make a wish. barbara evanson: and most of all, she loved drake-- did you make your wish? barbara evanson: --more than her life itself. [smooch] i love you. [upbeat music] i got a phone call. something was wrong with brandy. she's not moving, and the car is running. emergency vehicles, officers, and that's