there's a 450 mile stretch of agricultural land tended by mexican and mexican american laborers for generations. it is in those fruit and almond fields where manuel munoz is connection of collection of short stories called the consequences takes place, and where a young munoz, his siblings and his parents all worked. the consequences depicts the realities of life for so many families, from the physical toll of the labor to the ruthless roundup by la migra. the consequences is an unflinching work that every american should read right now, so don't miss this painfully timely meeting of the velshi banned book club, featuring the consequences and the award winning author manuel munoz. that tomorrow at 10 a.m. that tomorrow at 10 a.m. eastern. i hope you'll that tomorrow at 10 a.m. eastern. i hope you'll and i'm supposed to be forgiving? i have to work on that one. stephanie connell: they just loved to be together. mickie keller: she was so shy, so timid. john connell: he was the life of the party. totally in love with each other.

kelly richards: he was face down on the ground. she was bleeding very heavily from the back of her head. it looked like an execution. the only thing we had to pursue is this strife within their family. he said, if anything ever happens to me, she did it. how many times did people say to you, she's got something to do with the murder? more than once. he lied and said, joey was my best friend. that was really when everything started to click. liar. conniver. killer. [dramatic music] josh mankiewicz: if life is a journey, then life with the connells was a white-knuckle ride. they're crazy. [uplifting music] josh mankiewicz: rowdy, reckless, combative.

the family connell almost always fought harder with one another than with anyone else. yeah, somebody's always upset with somebody. and then eventually, it gets settled. yeah. josh mankiewicz: well, not always, but we'll get to that. the connells are brought to you by wilmington, delaware, a hardworking city where generations of families fought for the good life. the connell family built a beautiful house on five acres, where the boys found lots of ways to get in trouble. joe was crazy. i mean, there's pictures of him jumping cliffs, driving through rivers. josh mankiewicz: mom and dad split up when the kids were almost grown. john was the eldest. kelly was the baby. and right in the middle was joey, gifted, funny, and john says, a piece of work. he was the life of the party, always kind of a loud, obnoxious type of a person.

he was a loud, obnoxious guy. - yeah. - in a good way. yeah, oh yeah, in a good way. he was really fun to be around. josh mankiewicz: this is mickie, their mother. we came to understand an open secret in the connell clan, that in mom's eyes, joey could do no wrong. i've been told that of all your kids, joe is your favorite. who said that? all your other kids. they do that. true? well, no, i don't want to say that. don't get me started. so what? he was your favorite. ok. ok. because? he had a special personality, that was always happy, always inquisitive, always teasing me. he was always teasing me. josh mankiewicz: joey connell was doing well as the co-owner of a small business called c&s auto. and then life went from good to great

when he found olga, a russian woman from siberia. he met her online, and his mom had no problem with that. in fact, she loves talking about how she met olga. the door opens, and i see joey's face. i'm like, hey. and he goes, mom, i've got somebody for you to meet. well, poor little olga, she was so shy. she kind of looked around the door. and joey kept saying, come on in. come on in. she's going, ok. and she came in. she started talking to us, and it was really nice. you could tell she was such a sweet person. josh mankiewicz: mickie couldn't have been happier when her joey decided to marry olga. the only thing missing was a diamond ring. and that became the doorway to the connell family feud. tell me about that ring. oh.

i did something, and i'm not sorry i did it. ok. ok, let me-- let me-- let me see if i got the details of this correct. mickie keller: ok. - ok? mickie keller: yeah. josh mankiewicz: your former husband gave you a ring at one point, which you then passed on to kelly, thinking maybe she'd wear it when she got married. yes. josh mankiewicz: again, that's kelly, joey's little sister. and then when joey's going to marry olga, you want that ring back. yeah. but instead of asking kelly for the ring back, you just go over to her house and take it. i asked her if i could wear the ring. i said, kelly, can i wear that ring? i'm going to mexico with jerry. josh mankiewicz: jerry is mickie's new husband. she said, ok. josh mankiewicz: actually, the ring wouldn't be going on any vacation. mickie gave it to joey. he took out the diamonds and had them made into his bride's shiny new engagement ring. mickie knew kelly wasn't going to like that.

i said, she's going to have a fit when she finds out. joey says, well, mom, i'll go get some zirc-- zircon-- zircon-- how do you say it? zirconia. yeah, put in. and maybe she won't know. i said-- i said, ok. so we did that. josh mankiewicz: that's right. they swapped out the diamonds for cubic zirconia. i returned the ring. the phony ring? yeah, and joey got the diamonds. so-- wait a minute, how can you do that to your daughter? because i know she didn't need it. josh mankiewicz: you can probably guess what happened next. kelly figured it out. and when she did, she was not happy, not at all. she felt kind of betrayed, i think. well, joey needed it. he's more important. well, at that particular time, he needed the ring. and i was sorry i had given it to kelly

because if i still had it, there wouldn't have been a problem. josh mankiewicz: problem is putting it mildly. you see, olga had no idea the diamonds in her stunning engagement ring had belonged to kelly, until kelly sent her a nasty text, right in the middle of olga's private wedding with joey in the virgin islands. and saying, i know where your nice new ring came from? basically, it started getting really nasty. josh mankiewicz: john's wife, stephanie, remembers it well. it just upset joe so much because it upset olga. and he was so protective of her. she, like, crossed the line when she did that. josh mankiewicz: joey then sent kelly a blistering text of his own. and the nasty back and forth continued. and pretty soon, the wedding day was ruined. as soon as he got home from his honeymoon, he was calling you, telling you all about it. he was so upset. he was screaming at the top of his lungs to everybody.

you guys try to mediate this at all? when joe was upset, you really can't calm him down. he was upset, and he was going to be upset for a while. josh mankiewicz: and that was not the end of it, not even close. the feud went nuclear a few weeks later, when someone broke into joey and olga's apartment and stole a lot of olga's jewelry, not the engagement ring-- she was wearing that-- but precious stuff that included some heirlooms from olga's late mother. joey just knew who was responsible. he made that quite clear to officer kelly richards when she responded to the burglary call. joe was angry. to him, the burglary was personal. josh mankiewicz: joey said it was his sister, kelly. she was behind it. of that, he was certain. and olga was beside herself. she was very emotional at the time and very upset. i had gotten a chance to sit with her for a few minutes

and attempting my best to make a bad situation a little bit better. josh mankiewicz: there seemed to be no getting over this because now, olga had been wounded in the war between the connells. his reaction to the burglary, i think, more than anything, was that he was angry that she was so hurt, you know? josh mankiewicz: detectives questioned kelly and her boyfriend and launched an investigation. in my line of work, i see family disagreements sometimes turn into something much worse. either of you ever worry that this was going to go so far that it couldn't be brought back to normal? not at that point, no. josh mankiewicz: that's the backdrop for what came next. it was late on a september night, when the calls started coming into the new castle county police department. josh mankiewicz: a young woman had been shot multiple times right outside her home.

even the witnesses could tell, she wasn't likely to survive. coming up, a violent attack. who was the shooter, and who was the target? it looked like an execution to me. how many shots fired? in excess of 20. and not far away, hidden under some bushes, another horrifying discovery-- one of my fellow officers let me know, we have a second body. josh mankiewicz: --when "dateline" continues. these sheets feel amazing! i added downy ultra soft to the wash! i wish we could get out of dinner with ben and kate. it's them... hi, oh you have to cancel! downy ultra soft is not only luxuriously soft and fresh, it breathes life into your laundry.

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♪ ♪ with so much great entertainment out there... wouldn't it be easier if you could find what you want, all in one place? my favorites. get xfinity streamsaver with netflix, apple tv+, and peacock included, for only $15 a month. (800) 403-7539. that's one (800) 403-7539. a neighbor. (800) 403-7539. a neighbor. >> sees the. laying on the josh mankiewicz: it was nearly 2:00 in the morning on september 22, 2013. terrified residents of the paladin club condominiums, a nice, leafy complex in wilmington, delaware,

were ducking behind their windows and calling 911 to report shots fired. a woman was lying on the front sidewalk, blood marking where she'd fallen. josh mankiewicz: corporal kelly richards, the same officer who'd responded to joey and olga connell's burglary, was among the first on the scene. on the night of the shooting, when the call came in, i was working in the area. i was very close by, and i was able to respond out very quickly. josh mankiewicz: paramedics were already there. and the first thing that i noted is that they were working on a female's body that was laying right here on the ground. i ran down, and i noticed that she was still alive at the time that i had arrived. josh mankiewicz: corporal richards made some basic and important observations. a gunshot wound to the cheek. she was bleeding very heavily from the back of her head.

she was dressed very nice. she had jewelry on. and i noticed that i knew-- i knew who this person was. josh mankiewicz: richards realized she'd come full circle. she'd spoken with this woman, even tried to comfort her a few weeks earlier, right here at the paladin club condos. the woman bleeding out in front of her was olga connell. richard stopped to relay the id to police headquarters. and when i came back down, one of my fellow officers that was on the scene with me let me know, hey, richards, we have a second body. josh mankiewicz: there were tall, heavy bushes along the front of the building back then, and underneath them, a man's body, shot in the back of the head. he was face down on the ground. he had his head resting like this in his arm.

and his right hand was laid out in front of him, holding his cell phone. josh mankiewicz: she leaned over and took a closer look. i recognized and noted him to be joseph connell, olga's husband. josh mankiewicz: joey connell was already dead. by then, olga was in an ambulance. she died on the way to the hospital. the distraught couple who had spoken with corporal richards just weeks before, who blamed a sister for stealing some precious heirlooms, had been murdered together in a hail of bullets right in front of their home. prosecutor colleen norris arrived at the scene a few hours later. it looked like an execution to me. josh mankiewicz: olga's ring was still on her hand. her keys were sticking out of the lock on the front door. it just seemed like it was a very purposeful killing. how many shots fired?

in excess of 20, i think close to 25 shots, from two different types of ammunition. josh mankiewicz: lead detective jamie leonard said witnesses had seen little but heard plenty. they heard two different types of gunfire, and then another caller who had indicated that he had heard two male voices outside and a scuffle. josh mankiewicz: by morning, detective leonard had a clearer picture of how the killings unfolded. it was two gunmen, he said, who were lying in wait for joe and olga, as they returned from a night out. so they parked their car for the night up the sidewalk here, come walking down, begin to walk up to their front door. olga makes it to the front door. josh mankiewicz: the detective believed olga's killer was hiding in the bushes to the right of the door. that's when the attack happens absolutely, exactly at that point in time. she gets her keys into the front door. josh mankiewicz: the second shooter, he believes, was waiting in a car. so when he gets out of the car, it's simultaneous to when this other guy is engaging olga.

josh mankiewicz: joey's attacker was armed with 9-millimeter rounds. the spent shell casings told the story. joe runs to that corner. by the time joe gets to that corner, he's taken probably three non-fatal gunshot wounds, all to his lower torso. he gets behind that tree, gets tripped up on this guy wire. he gets bludgeoned, and then that person shoots joe four times in the back of the head. josh mankiewicz: a team of assassins. what are you thinking at this point? well, at this point, the only thing i really had to base any theory that i may have is this strife within their family. tempers flare, and people make decisions, whether they be thought out or whether they be snap decisions, that result in things like what happened to joe and olga. josh mankiewicz: as detectives would later learn, the murders of joe and olga connell were anything but a snap decision. coming up--

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>> need a katrina level type of response that is rebuilding to make sure it won't happen again? you've obviously made a decision to resign. >> are there. >> any lessons that can be learned. >> as you're talking to. >> members of your. >> congregation. >> what. >> do you tell. >> them about how to stand up for their own moral beliefs, but still. >> find. >> find. >> grace in [dramatic music] josh mankiewicz: it was sunday morning. the murders of joey and olga connell were only a few hours old, and the rest of the connell family was asleep, apparently unaware their world had already changed forever. it was joey's best friend, jay cos, who first heard the news. he and another friend had just driven by to pick up joey for a trip to the mountains and found themselves entering a crime scene. there's yellow tape and police cars and ambulances.

josh mankiewicz: they told a police officer they were looking for joe connell. and he said, well, i can't talk to you now, but you're going to have to follow me down to the station and answer some questions. josh mankiewicz: jay had known joey and his family since they were kids. and at that point, we definitely knew it wasn't good. josh mankiewicz: jay says he had a growing sense of dread as he answered questions about joe and olga. they finally let us know that he and olga had died, and it was a total shock. josh mankiewicz: jay called a friend who reached out to the family. police were already talking with mickie, who remembered very little of that conversation. how do you say it when you're like a zombie? i was like, i heard it. i believed it. i was like in a state of mind that i can't quite describe. what did police ask you?

i don't remember. well, i'm guessing one of the first things police asked you was, who had it in for your son and daughter-in-law? i don't remember what they asked me. i really don't. josh mankiewicz: police recorded that death notification with mickie and her husband, jerry. and as you'll hear, just six minutes after they broke the news, police did indeed ask-- don't know. >> what you complain about having. >> problems with anyone. hey, did you tell. >> them about. >> the robbery? >> oh. >> you know. >> that somebody. >> broke into their house? >> broke into their house? >> no, no, no. josh mankiewicz: and it was right about then that kelly, a suspect in that burglary, walked up the driveway with her brother, john, and his family. and then we saw kelly come, and she was behind him.

and when she got halfway up the driveway, she just fell down on the ground, crying and crying. and i had to pick her up. josh mankiewicz: on that same police tape, kelly sounds hysterical. josh mankiewicz: most of the family went down to the police station, where the ring, the feud, and the burglary came up in separate discussions with detectives. prosecutor colleen norris was involved in the investigation from the start. there had been a lot of discussion in interviews that kelly was a suspect in that burglary and that perhaps the murder had something to do with that burglary. and so that's so you get pointed at kelly connell basically that night. absolutely, right away. yeah. josh mankiewicz: in fact, it was joey connell himself who was pointing the finger at kelly.

their brother john remembers joey's chilling words. he said, if anything ever happens to me, kelly did it. if anything ever happens, make sure you go to kelly first. josh mankiewicz: so they did. detective justin breslin of the new castle county police department conducted the first of several interviews with kelly connell. josh mankiewicz: kelly had pulled herself together by the time she sat down with detective breslin and talked about the family feud. how bad was the bad blood in that family? it was bad. josh mankiewicz: and she confirmed it all started with that ring, which, by the way, did not come out of a gumball machine. it cost kelly's dad about $20,000.

it. it was just something to. >> be. >> kept in the family. >> 30 diamonds. like. like a solitaire. it wasn't like. solitaire. it wasn't like. >> oh, no, it was. josh mankiewicz: as she drew that picture, a couple of things became clear. kelly had plenty to be angry about, and she had no trouble recalling the details and design of the ring. that kind of screwing over one family member to give something to somebody else, i mean, that can be a motive for all kinds of things. yes. and it gave us much more to work with after hearing kelly's account of it. josh mankiewicz: in kelly's account, she was the victim.

can read his texts. f i mean, you've got money at play here. you've got jealousy at play here. you've got betrayal. right, because what it ultimately does is this feud between the two of them gets so inflamed that now they're getting court orders. they're getting restraining orders, protection from abuse orders, that olga is seeking against kelly because of text message conversations that are heated. josh mankiewicz: kelly talked about that, how ridiculous she thought it was that joe and olga had taken her to court. she pointed out a judge had denied her brother's request for an order of protection. josh mankiewicz: kelly suggests that her brother lied about things, like the ring.

josh mankiewicz: in the room with the cops, kelly appeared angry, bewildered. josh mankiewicz: and full of raw emotions, which careened from resentment, to grief, to fear. josh mankiewicz: and there, at the new castle county police department, with the walls may be closing in a little, came a shot of reality. being suspected of the burglary had suddenly become the least of kelly's problems. to. we're just trying to get as much information as we can. >> i didn't see that robbery. and i don't want to be connected to my brother. >> i'm not. i'm not saying that >> i'm not. i'm not saying that you did. all josh mankiewicz: every look, every nuance was being recorded. police would later study this tape and wonder, is this grief--

josh mankiewicz: --or guilt? coming up, from adoring sister-- i was the little pain-in-the-butt little sister that followed joey everywhere. josh mankiewicz: --to possible suspect-- she knew right away that our suspicions were that she was somehow involved in it. --when "dateline" continues. [coughing] copd is an ugly reality. do you have his medical history? i watch as his world just keeps getting smaller. but then, trelegy helped us see things a little differently. with 3 medicines in 1 inhaler, trelegy keeps airways open for a full 24 hours and prevents future flare-ups. once-daily trelegy also improves lung function,

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vote. hegseth will now lead the nation's largest. department with more than 3 million personnel and a. >> budget of. >> more than $850 billion. for >> more than $850 billion. for now, back to dateline. josh mankiewicz: kelly connell spent hours with police that first morning after the murder of her brother, joey, and his wife, olga. josh mankiewicz: she gave police detailed information about joey's life, olga's life, their friends, their co-workers. but kelly understood what they really wanted to know. she knew right away our suspicions were that she was somehow involved in it. and she saw it coming. she knew. before we even said it, she knew what our thoughts were. it was one of the first things that crossed my mind. that you were going to be a suspect?

that i was going to be a suspect. i was being kept separate from people. josh mankiewicz: kelly's answer to the big question isn't much better now than it was then. what kind of alibi did you have for the time of the murder? i can't remember right now. i believe i was just home that night. josh mankiewicz: her alibi wasn't the greatest. kelly was recovering from major surgery at the time of the killings, but she wasn't incapacitated. and anyway, someone else could have done it for her. police wanted to interview you more than just once, right? yes. josh mankiewicz: how many times? in the first three days, i was called in about four times. and you went in each time? kelly connell: yep. - no attorney? - no. josh mankiewicz: and answered their questions? yes. what did they want to know? they wanted me to tell them more. they just felt like i wasn't telling them everything. so i would go in there and just rack my brain and just tell them anything i could think of. and i would leave and get a call the next day. kelly, we need you back in. i'd go in. they're like, you're not telling us something.

well, that was my question. was there anything you weren't telling them? no. no, not that i could think of. josh mankiewicz: the late joey connell had made his feelings about his sister kelly quite clear. he was saying he was scared of me, that i was going to come hurt him and his wife. there's no question there was some significant animosity there between you and your brother. and it's not a big leap to think, he hated you. he made you hate him. right. josh mankiewicz: according to kelly, the really sad thing was this, she grew up adoring joey. i was the little pain-in-the-butt little sister that followed joey everywhere, always wanted to do everything. him and his friends and my other brother, whatever they were doing, i'd want to join in. josh mankiewicz: you wanted to follow him around. did he want you to follow him around? not all the time, not when i was younger. as we got older, we had all the same friends,

and we did a lot of stuff together as we got older, grew closer. what was he like growing up? he was a prankster. he was outgoing. he was always fixing stuff, riding dirt bikes, fishing, boating. it was just-- he was an outdoors guy. he had some serious mechanical aptitude from the time he was like a little kid, right? i remember him taking apart his bikes as a little boy just to have something to put back together. so when he ended up working on cars for a living, that didn't really shock you. we expected it. josh mankiewicz: kelly said she was proud of joe when he bought into c&s, that nice auto repair shop. it was a perfect fit for him. you would walk in and feel like you were in a high-end auto shop. it was very new and clean, big office, huge, huge shop. and everything was new and clean in it. olga out front? she was-- dressed beautifully in her elegant clothes, so you'd be greeted by this beautiful blonde russian woman

in a clean office. no, she wouldn't let anybody touch the walls with their dirty mechanic fingers. josh mankiewicz: the way she's talking about joe and olga makes it hard to imagine kelly wanted them dead. even so, the suspicions lingered, even among those close to her, that kelly could have been involved. that was definitely in the back of everybody's mind i think my mom especially kept saying something about that. she thought, what, kelly had somehow gotten joe killed? i would say so. or been responsible for it? yes, yeah. josh mankiewicz: but even as police examine the fault lines in the bedrock of this family, they had to wonder if maybe there was more to joe and olga's lives than even their own family knew. coming up-- it seemed like joe and olga were spending an awful lot of money, more than what we could afford. i mean-- you thought maybe they were living a little higher on the hog than circumstances

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only on msnbc. >> each week on my podcast, i'm joined by uniquely qualified guests who help me take a big picture look at the issues, like representative jasmine crockett, late night host seth meyers, former attorney general eric holder, and many more. why is holder, and many more. why is this happening? listen now. josh mankiewicz: in the first days after the connell's murders, police got an earful about joe's feud with his sister, kelly. and then, as the investigation widened, police heard from people like jay cos, who said joe connell was easy to get along with. he would do anything for anybody if you asked him, and he would never let you down. josh mankiewicz: easygoing and generous, joe was happy to take olga out to expensive restaurants and fancy stores and to hang out with her russian friends. i think routinely they went to the russian market in philly and got their grocery shopping done. and they got all of olga's favorite things.

josh mankiewicz: police got a slightly different take on joe when they paid a call on his business partner, chris rivers, just hours after the murders. the first words out of his mouth cast joe connell in a different light. i asked him, do you own a business with joe connell? his response was, what did he do now? what did he do now? right. josh mankiewicz: chris joined police at the station and talked at length about joe and olga. at first, police did not tell him that they'd been killed. and then what kind of stuff he's got himself tangled up. got himself tangled up. >> in recentl josh mankiewicz: they covered a lot of ground, work, family, the business, and some less than flattering things about joe connell that we'll get to later. chris told them he'd tried to meet up with joe and olga

at olga's birthday dinner the night before, that he'd been texting them all evening, but that in the end, he wasn't allowed in. josh mankiewicz: after he'd answered most of their questions, police broke the news. joe and olga connell had just been murdered. josh mankiewicz: he took some time to pull himself together and then spoke some more about his business partner and his business partner's wife. what did chris have to say about olga? he spoke about how they met, that that was more or less an internet type dating thing. josh mankiewicz: that's how detectives learned olga had been married once before. she'd met that guy on the internet, too. his name was kemal, and his family was from turkey. what do you know about that marriage?

that kemal's family wasn't 100% behind his decision to marry olga. josh mankiewicz: there was some tension with the in-laws, i guess. - oh, yeah. she didn't like them. and they didn't like her? no, they didn't like her. she wasn't from their country, didn't really follow along with the customs that they had. josh mankiewicz: olga did follow one family custom, the one where the wife gets the trinkets. kemal gave her some family jewelry, which olga hung on to, even after she'd let go of kemal. again with the jewelry? yes. josh mankiewicz: and since some of those joules were likely taken in that burglary, police had to wonder if olga's first marriage was somehow connected to this. did her ex want the jewelry back? no. did his family want the jewelry back? i think his family did. but in talking with olga's friends, he would never push for that. josh mankiewicz: at the same time, they were getting tips that olga

may have been the target of a different kind of threat. she was russian and had a lot of russian friends. it was at that point in time that he made mention of the russian mafia maybe involved in this. - that was one of the rumors-- - rumors, yeah. --that we heard on the street. it was the russian mob. everybody insisted it was that. josh mankiewicz: people talked about joe and olga's spending, how she drove an expensive baby blue mercedes sl 550, their deep sea fishing trip off key west, the shopping sprees and expensive restaurants with olga's russian friends. even john and stephanie wondered about all of it. it seemed like joe and olga were spending an awful lot of money, more than what we could afford. i mean-- you thought maybe they were living a little higher on the hog than circumstances would explain? yeah. so that fit with maybe something illegal or something that they weren't telling you about. - oh yeah, definitely. - yeah. josh mankiewicz: those suspicions were not shared by everyone.

no, not the russian mafia, no way. josh mankiewicz: to anyone who suggested olga might be connected to something criminal, impossible, said mickie. olga was an angel. i loved her. she was so different. that girl was so kind. and she was thoughtful. she was beautiful on the inside and outside. she just wanted everybody to feel good about themselves. and she really loved joe. and they just loved to be together. you could tell. oh, yeah. that's why she worked there as the receptionist at c&s because they didn't want to be apart at all. that's kind of sweet. yeah, it is. josh mankiewicz: and what did you think of olga? she was great, perfect fit for joe. he went from wild to tame, instantly. and i'm like, wow, he's really doing good. josh mankiewicz: he's not kidding about the wild part.

long before he became a devoted husband and business owner, joey played on the dark side, and maybe that's what cost him and olga their lives. coming up-- how many years? he got seven. josh mankiewicz: --joey has a new address and a new look. he came out huge, like the hulk. he would literally be popping out of a white t-shirt. josh mankiewicz: 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

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trying to take off the parts and then trying to put them back together again. josh mankiewicz: and as they looked into joey's murder, investigators heard other kinds of stories because joey had his demons too. long before he met olga, joey was a hard drinker with a hot temper. and in the fall of 2003, those two traits combined to get the best of him. he was 29. he met some girl and just fell in love with her. josh mankiewicz: and one night, they went to the tailgates bar. joey got drunk, really drunk. and then some guy started hitting on his girlfriend. the next thing you there's a fight. yeah. and it ends up out in the parking lot. john connell: yeah. josh mankiewicz: joey always insisted that the rest of it was a blank. he got hit over the head with a mirror bottle, and he doesn't remember after that. but he went out to his car and grabbed a shotgun out of the trunk. which was unloaded. it was unloaded.

it happened to be hunting season. josh mankiewicz: more accurately, it happened to be stupid season. with the unloaded shotgun in his hands, joey started walking back toward the bar. that's when the cops showed up. he didn't even make it back to the bar yet. and they told him to drop the gun. and he started yelling back at the cops, real obnoxious, real loud voice. i know how he gets. he's lucky he lived through that day. joey was arrested and hit with gun charges and resisting arrest. and when it went to court, he said he's not guilty. he thought he didn't do this. and he wanted to go to trial. and the lawyer said, do not do this. you're not going to win. he said, no, i'm going to trial josh mankiewicz: again, not the smartest call. how many years? he got seven. and his girlfriend told him if he got anything over three-- she was leaving. yeah, she was dumping him. it's good when they have a number.

they offered him two years. he denied it. he should have taken it. yeah, he said, i'm not going to jail. yes, you are. yeah, he went. josh mankiewicz: and just like that, joey connell had a criminal record and a room for the next seven years at the crossbar hotel. and so off he goes to prison. yeah. josh mankiewicz: are you worried about him? i was there, all the time. don't go there. you hit me with some of these things. i went all the time. josh mankiewicz: to visit him. all the time. yep. everybody is worried about him. he's this little, skinny, 130-pound kid. josh mankiewicz: but something happened to joey in prison. the things that made joey so likeable on the outside seemed to pay off on the inside. his attitude where he comes to a party and livens everybody up, i think he did that same thing in prison.

he would make everybody laugh and forget where they were at. he made a lot of friends in there, tons. josh mankiewicz: it didn't hurt that one of his cellmates was a member of a notorious east coast biker club called the pagans. that pagan ensured joey's safety and status in prison, becoming both friend and protector. he met a lot of pagans that were really good friends of his. josh mankiewicz: in the end, joey connell paid his debt to society and was released in seven years. his family and friends say he walked out of prison a changed man, far more mature and cautious than the knucklehead who went in. he was very responsible when he came out. he did everything by the book. john connell: yes. he wasn't going to take any chances. josh mankiewicz: and they also mentioned another change. when joey walked out of the slammer, he was a lot bigger than when he went in. he came out huge, like the hulk.

i'm not exaggerating. his shirt, he would literally be popping out of a white t-shirt just talking to you. it was weird. josh mankiewicz: after he began working full days at c&s, joey didn't have as much time to work out. somehow, he maintained that buffed physique. and one of his mechanics, the observant billy corozzo, knew exactly how he was doing it. he would go in the bathroom, and he'd have all of his tools laid out, and i knew what he was doing. he'd be in there for 30 minutes. he'd have his band-aids, his alcohol, you know what i mean? joey connell was using steroids. he was also selling them. do you have any idea that your brother was using performance-enhancing drugs? yes. josh mankiewicz: he tell you that? or you just figured it out? i just figured it out. josh mankiewicz: and when she talked with police, kelly did suggest joey's illegal steroid connection

had become dangerous. josh mankiewicz: his partner, chris, backed that up. >> drugs out of the back of the shop. and i was like, what? so i searched the shop, found. >> them. >> and said to him, get them >> and said to him, get them out. i don't want it here. josh mankiewicz: olga, for whatever reason, did not complain. maybe she didn't think of steroids as bad drugs. but billy corozzo didn't think steroids were doing joey any good. you can call it roid rage, if you will. but his moods would be up and down. he'd be mad over really dumb stuff, really little stuff. josh mankiewicz: there was the time joey got into a loud dispute with a customer, not a big thing, maybe, but it made investigators wonder. among the roid rages, the steroid sales, the pagans,

and the prison stint, had joey crossed someone truly dangerous? one of the things you're left to wonder is, was he somehow involved in whatever got him killed? was he in the middle of something illegal? was he hanging out with the wrong people? and i guess you really have no idea. no. no. we were scared. just a million things running through our minds. josh mankiewicz: that was something police understood. but as they focused on new leads, the road led them back to c&s auto. coming up, maybe prison isn't the best place to make new friends. any indication that joe connell was a member or doing business with them? when "dateline" continues. deodorizer. just spray. and the

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to celebrate the life of 39-year-old joey connell, gunned down with his wife, olga. kelly, still on the outs and still under a police microscope, was feeling like a pariah. kelly connell: it just stood out in my mind that my mother never said hi to me at the funeral or looked at me and just acted like i wasn't there. that-- you know, that's something i'll never forget. i went with my dad. i stood by my dad's side and left with my dad. she might have felt like that, but not in my mind. her and my mom were still in a big argument. yeah, they weren't getting along. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): mickie was still in shock. josh mankiewicz: you didn't say anything. you didn't speak. no. i'm not going to talk to anybody when i'm crying. no, but i mean, you didn't, like, give a eulogy or say anything about him. oh, it was really nice because one of kelly's friend's fathers sung "oh, danny boy," because we're all irish, you know? that was nice. and then different people, different friends of joey's got up and talked. they spoke about him. josh mankiewicz: that was nice.

yeah, that was good. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): the whole cns crew was there, including joey's partner, chris rivers. i mean, chris was crying, obviously, and emotional. everyone was emotional. his whole family was devastated. it was very sad. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): chris rivers seemed eager to help police solve the crime, insisting joe's steroids played a role in his killing. he even showed police where joe stashed his drugs at cns. he took one of our supervisors from the drug unit and walked him right in there and pointed them out in the ceiling. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): if chris thought joe's steroids were somehow connected to the murders, the prosecutor wasn't so sure. josh mankiewicz: steroid use, steroid sales, illegal. correct. but this isn't cocaine. and generally, people don't get killed over drug deals in which the drug is a performance enhancing drug. that would be correct, yes. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): one more thread of the investigation seemed to be thinning out--

the whole russian mob angle. yes, olga had russian friends, and yes, they went to fancy restaurants, but that seemed to be it. josh mankiewicz: and that, on the face of it, doesn't sound like evidence of anything, except that you like borscht. right. there was nothing about her life that seemed out of the ordinary. she had no enemies. there was no discord. no criminal record? no criminal record. she had a very good relationship with her ex-husband. there really wasn't anything about her life that gave any indication for further investigation. and nobody in her life in russia was hooked up in any way with organized crime. no, her father is a judge in russia, and that was all that we knew. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): the investigation kept veering back to joe, and tips were coming in about his past and that connection with the pagans,

those bikers he'd met in prison. this is the pagans and the whole sort of atlantic corridor area? yes. and there's a fair amount of crime that's been associated with that gang over the years. yes. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): except the pagan connection was turning into a dead end as well. josh mankiewicz: any indication that joe connell was either a member or doing business with them or their enemy? no. he liked motorcycles. he liked to ride motorcycles, but he was not a pagan. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): the pagans themselves decided to end any doubt. the leader of the group actually asked to speak with detectives. the general gist of their conversation was that they had no dealings with him with regard to any type of drugs. joe connell is not a pagan, and he's not in business with them. right, and that they were just as taken aback by his killings as his own family was. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): police believed it. there was another tip that police found credible and pursued aggressively.

it was about a guy who worked with joey and chris at cns. josh mankiewicz: tell me about harry cook. oh, he was a runner, parts runner. he ran the christmas tree stand. they used to sell christmas trees in the winter time. he was a good dude. he just-- he'd pop in every now and then, and just like everyone else, you know? he was basically chris's buddy. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): harry cook turned out to be more than a buddy. he was keenly interested in cns auto. we got turned on to harry by some tips that had been called in, saying that harry cook was a silent partner of cns automotive. he invested a lot of money in the business. both joe and chris know about that? no, joe did not have any idea that harry was investing money in the business. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): police learned harry was interested in becoming a full partner, except joe was already chris's partner. and he showed no sign of wanting to leave, which led police to a theory. logically, you would think that if joe is not willing

to leave the business or take a buyout or that just harry, who's invested over $100,000, is he angry now because joe won't just up and leave and take his buyout? so maybe that's what this is about. joe won't get out, and everybody else wanted him out. right. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): and there was one more thing that put harry cook on the list. at the time, harry lived a stone's throw from paladin club. there's one road that separates where joe and olga lived and where harry lived. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): it was time to talk with harry cook. coming up, questions about a silent partner. josh mankiewicz: did harry cook have an alibi for the time that joe and olga were murdered? josh mankiewicz (voiceover): and maybe another partner should have stayed silent. interviewer: did you do anything that night? you go out anywhere? no. i was at work, and then i went straight home. i can't get rid of that interview in my head.

[chuckles] josh mankiewicz (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 injection site pain and swelling... ...fatigue, headache, muscle and joint pain. millions have chosen prevnar vaccines, which have helped protect adults for over a decade and have an established safety profile. that's why i chose prevnar 20.

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on us with a qualifying trade in. call, click or visit an xfinity store today. they're all individual people with their homes, with their. >> lives driving. >> around, there's almost nothing left standing. occasionally you'll see a house that's okay or a street that's okay, but that's occasional. >> i continue. >> to see, and i want to. >> shout. >> out one more time. >> the first responders. >> who are. >> responding in this mutual aid. >> effort from all over. >> southern california. >> it really. >> has brought. >> out the best and most inspiring. >> part. >> part. >> about human beings. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): the execution of joe and olga connell had become a true murder mystery. and now police were chasing down a promising clue about a wannabe business partner named harry cook. we never truly realized how much money he had invested in there until we got to speak to him.

josh mankiewicz (voiceover): he'd invested $140,000 in joe connell's business cns and had nothing to show for it. however-- did harry cook have an alibi for the time that joe and olga were murdered? yes. which was? he was in pittsburgh with some friends of his with the intent of going to a steelers game on sunday the 22nd, the evening of the 22nd. josh mankiewicz: provable? oh, yeah. so whoever pulled the trigger, it wasn't harry cook? wasn't harry. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): so, back to the drawing board. police continued to get calls about kelly, that she must know something. rumors, mostly. josh mankiewicz: how many times did people outside the investigation say to you, you need to look at kelly connell? she had something to do with that break-in, and she's got something to do with the murder. i know that the investigators did receive that information from multiple sources. josh mankiewicz: more than once?

more than once. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): kelly continued to deny any involvement in the burglary or the murder and was convinced her own mother was stoking suspicion. so she called mickie. i'm like, what is your problem with me? i'm like, joe is dead. you're trying to accuse another kid? what's going on here? she's like, i'm just so mad at you. i'm so furious. you made my son die angry. that's what she said to me. she's like, i'll never get over that. did you tell police that you thought kelly might be involved? no. no. no. you didn't say to police that you thought kelly knew more than she was telling? no. you never believed that? of course not. no. she could stay angry at him forever. she can stay angry at me forever. but not killing somebody. that is not in her or any of us. no. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): by now, police had reached the same conclusion. you know, we've now looked at kelly.

and we've tried to figure out, is this family dispute rise to the level of killing her brother and her sister-in-law? and we've looked at the pagans and the russian mob, and we've looked at her-- olga's ex-husband. and now we've spent some time with harry. and again, we're getting the same feeling that we did from all these others, is that we're not on the right track. nothing's panning out. nothing. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): while police regrouped, mechanic billy corozzo and others left behind at cns auto were doing their best to soldier on without joe and olga. after joe and olga died, it affected the business a lot. things weren't as organized. we went in there. it was just like piles of paper. and it was just a mess. and the invoices were all over. the computers weren't on. josh mankiewicz: the place was kind of falling apart-- it was. josh mankiewicz: --without joe and olga. yeah. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): chris seemed to be working around the clock to keep up with the extra work. when i would drive by, sometimes at night, say 9:00, 10 o'clock at night, the lights would still be on.

he would be working. and the shop was open all the time. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): when someone dies, it's natural to want to rewrite your history with them. he was a great guy. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): maybe that's what motivated chris rivers to give this interview to the news website delaware online, talking mostly about joe. interviewer: was he married when you met him? or was he single? he was dating olga when i met him. interviewer: how was she? she was good. i mean, she was always smiling, always happy, always looking at clothes and taking pictures. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): he made it clear from the start what a good guy joe was. there's nothing that he would ever do to make anybody angry, ever. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): interesting, given that chris was often angry at joe. interviewer: how was your relationship up to the day he died? figures you see somebody every day, 12 hours a day, more than you see your wife. so we were pretty much best friends. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): to those

who knew chris and joe, that didn't ring true. josh mankiewicz: did you see him in the first couple of days talking about this? yes, yes. i can't get rid of that interview in my head. [laughs] josh mankiewicz (voiceover): he talked about the night before the murders, how he had to work so he couldn't get to olga's dinner party. interviewer: so why didn't you meet on saturday? i was working. interviewer: oh, so you just couldn't go. mm-hmm. interviewer: so they-- we had plans to go, but i never made it. interviewer: did you talk to-- just call him up and say, hey, man, i can't get there? yeah, i was talking to him. i talked to him all day long. interviewer: did you do anything that night? did you go out anywhere, or? no. i was at work, and then i went straight in. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): at one point, someone off camera weighed in. interviewer: what did you guys do that night? went to bed. man: no, you didn't go straight home. i went to-- yeah, i went to mcdonald's and brought food home to her. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): that voice belonged to chris's new attorney. interviewer: now, where were you the night before? at home. i worked, to the shop, to home. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): police watched this interview closely, and at least one

thing caught their attention. chris said he headed straight home after work. but remember, he'd told police early on that he went to the restaurant where the connells were celebrating. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): why was he changing his story? police couldn't ask him because once he lawyered up, chris rivers stopped talking. coming up. chris would complain about joe taking money out of the account. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): a smart detective knows to follow the money, wherever it leads. what are we missing? josh mankiewicz (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. (luke) now that we have a completely new homes-dot-com, we're gonna lock the doors and stay late until we find that name that's synonymous with shopping for homes. (marci) here's a wild idea: homes-dot-com? (luke) we're gonna go with homes-dot-com, we're gonna keep it. (vo) homes-dot-com. we've done your home work.

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response that is. rebuilding to make sure it won't happen again? >> you've obviously. >> made a decision to resign. are there any lessons that can be. learned as you're. >> talking to. >> members of your congregation. >> what. >> do you. >> tell them about how to stand. up for. >> their own. >> moral beliefs, but still find >> moral beliefs, but still find grace in this moment? josh mankiewicz (voiceover): if police were taking a closer look at chris rivers, many of his friends and customers and joe connell's family were not. for a year after the murder, you guys are still going to cns. mm-hmm. josh mankiewicz: get your cars fixed. right. and how is chris rivers doing during that year? he's still upset. he's still crying. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): mechanic billy corozzo says cns was more than a car repair shop. it was also the kind of place for friends to meet and catch up. it was a good hangout spot. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): billy liked his boss, chris rivers. lots of people did. billy corozzo: if i was working on something and, you know-- and chris was there

and he saw me struggling, he would stop what he was doing and come jump in and show me better ways to do things. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): he came from a nice family and went to good schools, and he seemed to be building a viable business. chris's family and joe's had put tens of thousands of dollars into it. josh mankiewicz: why was business so good for them, do you think? i think the location. location had a lot to do with it. it was prime location. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): when detective jamie leonard met that nice young business owner, he got an odd vibe. it all came down to what chris said when police first asked if he worked with joe. remember, he said, what did he do now? it was always a comment that jumped out at me. it was one that just stuck in there. i never forgot it. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): and as police spoke with more people, they learned chris rivers had frequently badmouthed joey connell, long before the murders. chris would complain about joe taking money out of the account for, like, lavish things,

like luxurious things. i've always heard it from chris's side that joe's doing this, joe's doing that. much of what everyone knew about joe connell was told to them through the prism of christopher rivers. it was his version of joe. which was what? not very flattering. that he didn't work hard enough. that he was taking money from the shop. there'd be a couple of times where chris couldn't pay me because he had claimed that joe took money out of the account, and there wasn't enough money there to pay me. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): prosecutor colleen norris and her team learned that cns auto, which was taking in close to $1 million in business a year, was, for some reason, losing money. josh mankiewicz: did you and your investigators sort of go through the books at cns to determine whether or not joe was taking money out of the business that he wasn't entitled to? absolutely. the investigators spent a lot of time looking at that exact evidence,

and it, in fact, was not true. joe wasn't embezzling or overtaking-- absolutely not. --or overdrafting money from there? absolutely not. in fact, it was the opposite. he was taking less than his half. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): there were times when even joe and olga didn't get paid. they told me that chris was not paying them their salary. and olga got really mad. that was right before they were killed? yeah, she was just upset over it. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): someone was draining the accounts at cns. and the more police learned about chris rivers, the more it looked like him. something seemed seriously wrong with chris. kelly spotted it a few months after the murders. i gave him a christmas present for his baby, so that would have been about three months after the murders. josh mankiewicz: and how was he? he was a mess. he was-- he looked awful. it looked like he had been up for days. he looked intoxicated. he-- he asked me how i was holding up,

and then that was it. he didn't say thank you for the gift. no hug, no nothing. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): kelly had picked up on something that had become apparent to a lot of people, including police. chris had a big drug problem. he'd taken a hard dive into opioids, and that was just part of it. josh mankiewicz: what drugs was he taking? he was taking prescription drugs, percocet, oxycodone, things like that. addicted. he was taking cocaine, powder cocaine. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): after looking at the books, police came to the conclusion that chris rivers was the one who was milking the company dry, all to pay for his drug habit. josh mankiewicz: you have any idea he had a drug problem? did i ever? joe say anything? anybody else say anything? olga and joey told me that they thought he was on drugs. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): detective leonard wasn't convinced that joe knew the full scope of chris rivers' drug problems. i would say that he wasn't aware

that he was buying the amount that he was buying and using the amount that he was using. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): so, now, as they looked back on the months before the murders, police saw a troubling scenario-- an unhappy business partner with an extensive, expensive drug problem and a company deeply in debt. so we go back to some information we had had earlier, and that was chris had given us his phone. and he allowed us to download the contents of his phone. and we decided we're going to need to regroup and start from scratch with this phone and see what could be in there. what are we missing? josh mankiewicz (voiceover): coming up, a peek behind closed doors the night of the murder. jamie leonard: what you see is him

where the cease fire agreement between israel and hamas leads to another four hostages being released to the israeli military right now. these four young women, karina aria, 20 years old. we have some live pictures for you on the left hand side there in gaza. daniella gilboa is the second to be released 20 years old. naama levy, 20 years old, and larry elberg, 19 years old. those four soldiers being released at the nahal oz base. they will now head to israel, where they will be reunited with their families. this is happening just now and again. live pictures as we take you to the gaza strip. christina ruffini, a foreign affairs journalist and the host of the one decision podcast, joins us right now. christina, this is now the second batch, if you will, the exchange we also expect on the other side, 200 hostages being not hostages, but prisoners being held by israel to be released as well. right after this, what do we expect to see in the next bunch of minutes

and hours? >> right. well. >> part of this first tranche of prisoners being released, you know, this is a this is the second group that's been released since the cease fire deal was signed. and so far the deal is holding. and there's different tiers of this negotiation. and in the first stage, every time there's supposed to be weekly prisoner releases, this is the second, obviously. and every time you see prisoners come out of gaza, each prisoner is going to correspond to about 50 palestinian prisoners. so the first time it was generally palestinians who'd been, you know, picked up for minor crimes. there are going to be some more serious, according to the israelis, you know, some some more serious criminals released this time in exchange, it's unclear where they're all going to go. you know, theoretically, a lot of them could go back to northern gaza at some point. but we'll have to see where exactly that happens. this is a positive sign, and they're hoping that there should be weekly releases after this, provided this deal continues to hold. >> now, christina, we're just

watching some pictures a little bit earlier in our live feed. we're just coming on air right now, but it was of those four idf soldiers getting into red cross vehicles, then making their way to what's being called, as you know, hostage square in tel aviv, the reception area of where hostages will be arriving. there was some concern about lack of a better term, potentially here safety as they were being released here in gaza strip, and they hope to make it more structured. and it appeared that as it was at least several moments ago, that it was more structured. this appears to be now a obviously a different location that we saw earlier, potentially where the four hostages will be arriving shortly. the four soldiers. >> yeah, it's certainly becoming a much more formalized process. and if you think about it, that makes sense, because part of this negotiation is, you know, palestinians are starting to be allowed back into these areas. the idf has pulled back to this

kind of border zone in some places. and hopefully this is going to be, to your point, a more formalized process, because they're going to be doing it every week at the start of this conflict. as you might remember, there were two hostage releases and each one was very different. i remember covering them live and it was very unclear, you know, which checkpoint they were going to, how they were getting out of palestinian territories, whether it was going to be red cross or red crescent, because when you're doing hostage negotiations, every little detail matters. nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to. and even something as much as the insignia of the aid group picking up the people can blow up a negotiation. so it was very important that the group was referred to as the red crescent, not the red cross at that point, because they were going into palestinian territory. this time it's referred to as the red cross. so it seems like they do have. >> a. >> for lack of a better term, a system kind of set up. and yes, it's odd to me, having covered the first one of these, which, you know, as reporters, sometimes we know information that we don't say because we're

trying to make sure that no one's lives are at risk. quite frankly, it is odd to me that you knew this time pretty much where they were going, where you would see them. you know, it was clear where they would be crossing over the border. and i think that's a good sign. it goes to show stability and a little bit more trust with with the safety of them getting across. obviously the israelis thought that this would be an okay way to do it, and we're confident enough in their safety. but yes, there was there was a crowd, you know, gathering people are very excited to see these or any of these hostages come home, especially the families and the families of hostages still being held, because they're hoping, obviously, the next car will be their loved one coming home. >> case in point, the video we're watching right now, close to the israel gaza border. what appears to be some sort of transport helicopter? they they have some white sheets or blankets that are held up to the left of it, potentially to shield off the view of the camera that is sitting some hundreds of meters away at the

moment right now. and you can see in the foreground we do have another white vehicle that is right in front with some more could be police or military personnel. might this be consistent with what we saw last time post facto. but because now we do have live pictures of what could be another transfer point. >> i think so, i mean, the idf has a specific unit that deals with these hostage releases because unfortunately this is something that they are familiar with, not just in this conflict but in other conflicts. so even to a certain point, it's formalized. but, you know, it's all about getting them home safely and getting them to a point where they feel like they are in control. you know, they are in the arms, for lack of a better term, of the israeli military. something i find a little bit interesting is this process is a lot more public than you would see, for example, if this were a us hostage release. you know, i've covered a lot of those. i've covered a lot of, you know, state department getting people back

from different countries where they've been held for a long time. and typically you don't see that person for a very long time. right? that plane lands somewhere in the us. their identities are not revealed necessarily. there are no cameras on that arrival. you know, you don't see them until that person has been through, you know, a hostage kind of course. therapy. they usually are flown to a military base for all kinds of interviews and kind of deprogramming until they see their families. only then at their disposal will the individual who's been released start to do interviews with us, with the media, you know, with with the israeli hostage release? it's been a much more public process, especially for those those of us who've covered it from a us perspective. and i find it very interesting that they are, you know, they're showing, especially with the last hostage release. you know, we saw video of them walking down the halls to see their families. right, right, right off the transports. we were seeing them reuniting with their mothers in some sort of idf facility. that's not something you generally see with us hostages or us prisoners who've

been held illegally detained, as the us refers to overseas. so the messaging is not something that's lost here. and although the, you know, the safety and the mental health of these hostages is obviously important, there has been an organized effort to make sure people are seeing these images of them coming home and of them being reunited with their families, because that has been something politically for benjamin netanyahu, that has been such an outstanding issue domestically, with not only more liberal israelis, but his own base. conservative israelis have been very angry, saying he's not doing enough to get these hostages home. now that they're coming home, they want to make sure those images go out. >> so if you're just joining us here on msnbc, the breaking news, four israeli hostages being held by hamas, just released within the last ten minutes. and now following that, tiktok, then christina ruffini. ruffini is that they will potentially see family members at their at the next stop, next, next after that, after these

four hostages that were held by hamas, it's expected around 200 palestinians held by israel will then be released in turn. is that roughly the tiktok? we'll see. and is that going to be over the next several hours? do we know. >> it should be fairly soon, because they don't want to do anything to rattle the deal? usually these things are highly coordinated on both sides to make sure, you know, just like if you were doing any kind of exchange, you want to make sure if you're giving something up from the perspective of hamas, you're getting something in return. i wouldn't expect at this point there to be a huge delay, and we're going to be seeing usually they've already released the prisoners to a holding point. by this point, they should be in some other facility waiting, and then we should be seeing them being turned over to the hands of another interlocutor or wherever they're headed. they should be going there soon. like i said, part of the deal in these exchanges is there are 50 palestinian prisoners getting

released for each israeli hostage that's coming across the border. now, there was initially on this list supposed to be. >> a fourth. a fourth name, sorry, a fifth name. but for whatever reason, that didn't work out this time. but the other thing we're expecting the next couple of days is to see a larger, more comprehensive list of the hostages that will be released in succession over the coming weeks. because this first group of hostages in the first tier, this 45 days of the ceasefire, should it hold, and so far it has been holding, there are more hostages that need to be released. it's women, children and anyone sick or infirm. now. they're not. hamas has said they're not willing to release male hostages or army hostages that they have until the next group of, you know, negotiations and deal the next tier basically in the cease fire deal. so for the next 45 days, what we're going to be seeing is elderly women, children and anyone they think is sick or needs medical care. that's who's

going to be on these lists. but we should be seeing a larger name of who's going to be coming out in the next few weeks, either today or tomorrow, in the next couple of days. >> now, as we look at the order. so this is the second week you were there covering the first week. the total to be released is 33 hostages held by hamas and some 1900 palestinians held by israel. at this rate, we are really looking at eight, nine, ten weeks. is that the plan here? >> yeah, it is the thing that is hopefully, you know, when they do these negotiations, it was very hard to get both these sides to capitulate to certain elements that were essential to get the cease fire. so by releasing in tranches, releasing, you know, incrementally throughout week by week by week, it kind of holds both sides to the deal, and it makes them more likely to stick with it. so this is something, you know, the negotiations were obviously with israel and hamas, but also egypt and qatar and the us, you know, as you know, in a

kind of remarkable moment. >> christina, really quickly here. and we'll get back to that. the pictures from moments ago, in that order, we were talking about in comparison to last week, one point second point is that you see here hamas in force. and again, that was the dynamic coming from benjamin netanyahu, the prime minister of israel, saying he wanted to absolutely destroy hamas. and this visual does not show that desired outcome. >> one of the difficulties in getting netanyahu and the israelis to the table from the beginning has been his stated goal of he's not going to end this war until hamas is completely eradicated. but as the us knows, as any country that has waged a war on terror knows, that is a very difficult and non-concrete goal. right? explain how you eradicate this group that has infiltrated

almost every aspect of society. are you going to eradicate every single person? are you going to eradicate the ideal? it's very hard to get rid of again, as the us has tried a terrorist group entirely. look at the bounce back we've seen with isis every time there's a power vacuum. look at what's happened with al qaeda. so that was a moving target, and it was a target that could be moved, depending on the political will and the domestic political benefit of the netanyahu government. and it's one of the things that made it so hard to get them to the table. they did finally come to the table. and almost every official i've talked to from the middle east, from all sides who i just mentioned that were in those negotiations, us and european diplomats all say the deciding factor, they believe, was the incoming trump administration, both for hamas to get them to the table because they knew they would never get a better deal under the next administration. and for netanyahu, who was able to sell it to hardliners in his party by telling them he thinks that he can get more things later on out of the trump administration if

they get a deal, which is something president trump really wanted. >> so one of the points is now with marco rubio being the new secretary of state, what that vision looks like and what the energy will be between the two sides. now that marco rubio, the new secretary of state for the united states, will be the tip of the spear when it comes to international security and foreign relations here. >> it's a little bit unclear. you know, rubio's first trip is actually going to be a swing through a different region, south and central america. he was not, as far as i know, really engaged in these negotiations. it was the mideast envoy for the trump administration. you know, rubio is still getting set up, getting geared up. this is his first week. he did a big welcome speech at the state department. so we're going to have to see how much he's engaged in this and how much it gets deferred to the nsc, to the white house itself. you know, trump has said he wants to appoint huckabee as the ambassador to israel. i think that's probably going to be more influential, given his take and his very fundamentalist

christian view of the region and israel's right to self-determination. >> you have the middle east envoy, witkoff from the incoming or now the trump administration has been lauded, along with the biden administration envoy lead, as accomplishing this. so potentially that will stay the same as we move forward. >> yeah, it was a nice bit of continuity with two administrations who didn't really have a lot of nice things to say about each other, but look, both of them really wanted this. and the deal that was struck was essentially the sketch that was laid out by the biden administration in the spring. and they just kept thinking they had the deal, and then the israelis would pull away or, you know, hamas would pull away. at the last minute, a middle eastern diplomat once referred to it. the process to me, as you know, lucy pulling the football away in peanuts because every time the biden administration would say, oh, we've talked to the israelis, we've got a deal, we've got a deal. netanyahu would go to the podium and say something to scuttle it. and at one point

they said, how many times are they going to swing for this football that keeps getting pulled away? but at the end, it was a combination of the slow, boring, excruciating diplomacy of the biden administration mixed with the impetus and the motivation from the trump administration. those two factors really came together and were able to push this over the line. and so far, against all odds, it seems to be holding. and i think you can attribute that to the sheer exhaustion from this conflict on both sides. people are sick of this. people want to go back to their lives. people want to go back to their homes. and the, you know, the leaders, their leaders know that. and so that's hopefully going to going to hold them to this deal as long as possible. >> christine, we're getting more pictures and believed to be potentially here. the four hostages or potentially their parents. we're just getting this video raw. we are showing again the latest news. four israeli hostages all soldiers released years. they're 20 years old. one was 19 years old. and we are

getting confirmation via nbc news that they are now all four hostages in idf hands. so, christina, we are moving along. if this is consistent with what we saw last week, they're being reunited with their mothers again, as we had expected here. as they pull wide on this. and again, we're just getting this in here to msnbc. >> exactly. they should be. >> hopefully on their way to reunite with their families shortly. here, as you mentioned, it seems to be going pretty smoothly. obviously, i don't want to jinx anything, but it seems to be progressing along expected lines. i would imagine we would start seeing images or hearing that those palestinian prisoners are getting released soon. you know, these are these are young women. they were at an outpost that was overrun by hamas soldiers. there's i haven't seen it, but there's reportedly video of them, you know, pleading for mercy and being mocked online by their captors. remember, israeli

military service is compulsory in the country, which is why you've got a lot of young soldiers, you know, some relatively inexperienced soldiers. that doesn't mean they're not good at their jobs. it just is startling to see this many young women in uniform coming across. but remember, that's that's a compulsory thing for israelis, and it's gender neutral. so men and women both have to do compulsory military service. >> yeah, it's a required service. so that average age is not inconsistent with those who are in service. thank you so much. foreign affairs journalist christina ruffini. stay with us. we'll continue to cover more of this breaking news story. again. four israeli hostages released confirmed with the idf. 200 hostages or rather, i'm sorry, prisoners being released by the idf to gaza. that will be happening later. christina ruffini, thank you so much. ali velshi will bring you updates at 7 a.m. eastern. i'm richard lewis at msnbc world headquarters in new york city. thank you for being with us.

thank you for being with us. >> the josh mankiewicz (voiceover): josh bey said that around the time joe and olga were getting married, chris rivers was already planning their murders. >> anything on. >> to get. them out the way. >> get them going. so i threw >> get them going. so i threw the number out there probably so josh laid out what we had long suspected, was that he made contact with dominique benson and aaron thompson to have joe and olga killed out in front of their house. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): and bey said chris rivers was fully committed to his bloody objective.

no, no. i take it. >> from the conversations we had >> from the conversations we had that it's josh mankiewicz (voiceover): in september 2014, chris rivers was charged with conspiracy and two counts of murder. he went on trial in april 2016. for chris rivers' trial, i was there mostly every day. what was that like? he walked in like it wasn't a murder trial, like he was innocent. he walked in. and he didn't seem to be affected by anything. he just sat in his chair. they showed the crime scene photos, the autopsy photos. he didn't seem to care. and i just thought, he was his best friend. why isn't he upset by these pictures? so it was upsetting to see that. what did you think? i was trying to study his reactions, and he had none. he was just kind of sitting down, writing, writing notes, it looked like, and just staring down at a paper the whole time.

josh mankiewicz: you never made eye contact with him? no. when you'd go to the trial, did you look at chris rivers? yes. josh mankiewicz: you try to catch his eye? no, i just kept looking at him. he was so disgusting. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): the prosecution team came armed with phone records, witness accounts, and the magic bullet-- josh bey's testimony. did it bother you at all that the state made a deal with josh bey? not at all. you're ok with him essentially walking away from the murder charge? exactly, because without him, we wouldn't have a case. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): prosecutor colleen norris told the jury josh bey's testimony was bolstered by those phone records. detectives laid it out in detail. what we're looking at is, more or less, a flow chart of communication when we took these 10,000 pages of phone records and whittled them down to the communication amongst the people that we know are involved in this-- chris, josh, dominique, aaron, and this burner phone.

josh mankiewicz (voiceover): investigators say that burner phone belonged to aaron thompson. so chris would always call josh, who would then always call dom. and dom would have contact with aaron, whether on his real phone or on this burner phone. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): and on that last night, when chris rivers was texting joe, saying he was on his way to the restaurant, investigators believed that was part of the plan. you know, it kind of sealed the deal for me was the text message where chris asked joe how much longer they were staying, and joe's response is, we're leaving in about an hour. and chris then calls josh, who calls dom, who calls aaron. you think that's chris ordering the hit. i think that's him confirming when they're going to be heading home so that they can get the people in place that they need to get in place. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): and then the prosecutor revealed why a drug-addled chris rivers thought murder

for hire was a viable plan. christopher rivers had a big benefit that he would get if something had happened to joe connell. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): it was a life insurance policy, close to $1 million, that joe and chris had together taken out for the business. so there, in black and white, was the motive of legend-- money. why kill joe's wife as well? why kill olga? he told josh bey that olga had to be killed, too, because joe may have a will. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): meaning a living, breathing olga might have complicated the insurance payout. the prosecutor told jurors chris rivers had every detail planned, like the way he planted false leads long before the killings. he told and showed numerous people the steroids, told his father, told him that he was worried that that was going to cause dangerous people to come to the shop.

i mean, he knew he was going to use that months before the murders. so this is just one long setup. correct. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): it proved to be an even longer setup than you'd possibly imagine, because chris rivers knew all about the connell family. he knew what made them happy and what made them angry. coming up. josh mankiewicz: tough to prove murder for hire when there's no big cash payment from one person to another. right. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): will there be justice for joey and olga? there's got to be a point where you're thinking to yourself, maybe this is all for nothing. we're trying to prepare ourselves just in case. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. i've got to get marcus some new cleats i bet you can buy the whole team new cleats with all that money you saved. nancy dawson is passive progressive. you know, nancy, that's actually really inappr-- oh! nancy doesn't have progressive so she takes it out on those who do. you should get luca private coaching with that.

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we're constantly engineering new ways to get the entertainment you love to you faster and easier than ever. that's what i do. is that love island? ext how to 231231. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): chris rivers' defense had a recurring theme during his murder trial. it boiled down to, where's the money? it's a good question and one the prosecution could not easily answer. josh mankiewicz: tough to prove murder for hire when there's no big cash payment from one person to another. right. so by not paying his debts, chris rivers actually made your job a little tougher. he did, yeah. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): the defense had something that made prosecutors concerned. the state's star witness was a sketchy con man who'd become a rat to save his own skin. joshua bey is a person who has a lot of baggage.

and certainly, he's going to be challenged on his credibility. josh mankiewicz: were you at all worried that when prosecutors cut a deal with josh bey, they were maybe setting themselves up to rely too heavily on someone who was involved and was getting a deal and therefore wasn't trustworthy? yeah, we were a little worried. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): even so, bey delivered as promised and then some. he revealed just how calculating chris rivers could be. remember that burglary that stoked the connell family feud? josh mankiewicz (voiceover): that's right. he's the guy who stole olga's heirloom jewelry. we had no idea until he told us. you think chris rivers told josh bey to commit that burglary as a way of essentially framing kelly connell for the murder that was to come?

yes josh mankiewicz (voiceover): so after all the accusations, all the misplaced rage, it turns out innocent kelly connell did have a connection to the burglary. she just didn't know it. you and joe already were at odds, so-- chris took advantage of the fight and kept it going and made it worse. and send the police after you, instead of maybe after him. right. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): chris rivers' trial lasted 19 days. the connells were there for all of it. josh mankiewicz: do you think they had him? because, you know, no eye witness, no dna, no fingerprints, no murder weapon. yes, i did. i definitely did. they were wonderful people. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): not everyone was that sure, especially when the case went to the jury. josh mankiewicz: jury was out for a little while. - mm-hmm. - yeah. a couple days. a couple of days. there's got to be a point where you're thinking to yourself, you know, maybe this is all for nothing. mm-hmm, yeah. we were trying to prepare ourselves just in case

he was found not guilty. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): and then the verdict came back. for the connells, justice wasn't quick, but it was true. what's it like to hear that word, guilty? it was a final feeling of relief. it was satisfaction and knowing that this killer would never be on the-- out of jail again in his life. i mean, he's done. he's done. i just remember crying when they said guilty. that was the first time in the trial i cried, just when they said guilty. i held myself together until that point. [chuckles] josh mankiewicz (voiceover): aaron thompson was ultimately convicted of murder and sentenced to two life terms. dominique benson was acquitted on murder charges, but convicted of criminal conspiracy and sentenced to five years in prison. police believe there was one more man involved who hasn't been identified or charged. following his testimony against rivers, benson,

and thompson, josh bey was sentenced to five years on a conspiracy charge. kelly spoke about joe and olga at chris rivers' sentencing hearing. she read part of her statement to us. kelly connell: "his last moments are unimaginable to me, watching helplessly, his wife shot multiple times in front of him, as she fell to the ground. this is the worst thing that anybody could ever have done to him." you read that to chris rivers? i did. josh mankiewicz: he look at you while you were reading it? no. he say anything at that hearing? he did. he said, real brief-- he said, i hope i can be an example to people using drugs heavily like i did. and i would like to apologize to the connell family. and he turned to us and he goes, sorry. that was it. sorry? that's all he said. well, i guess that kind of squares it then.

yep. and that was the end. they took him away. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): chris rivers received two life sentences. josh mankiewicz: if your brother hadn't been killed, the two of you would have eventually made up. kelly connell: we would have, yeah. definitely. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): olga raitina connell ended up completing the journey that took her from siberia to suburbia, and back again. she was joey's bride for only 107 days. her family wanted her buried back in russia, and the connells agreed, even though they still think joey and olga would have wanted to be together. joey connell was cremated, but he didn't go anywhere. josh mankiewicz: where did you scatter his ashes? i didn't. they're on my table in the living room. you can't let go of him yet?

josh mankiewicz (voiceover): joe connell left behind a family that still seems fractured-- to outsiders like us, anyway. josh mankiewicz: i have one more thing to ask you. ok. are you and your daughter going to patch this up someday? because you should. well, we're ok. there's nothing to be patched up. we'll just hold our feelings as they are right now. we go on with life. ok. don't steal anything else. well, i never did before, but i did it. yep. yeah, i'm not sorry for it. i didn't mean it to hurt anybody. i just did it out of wanting to do something good for joe. you would have done anything for joe. yeah. josh mankiewicz: your family are going to be ok? yeah. anybody learned any lessons from this about maybe not being so angry at everybody else all the time? [chuckles] i hope so. yeah.

josh mankiewicz (voiceover): kelly said all of this changed her view of family and forgiveness. kelly connell: about one of the most painful lessons i've ever learned. josh mankiewicz: which is? make up. make up. don't go to bed mad. [chuckles] tell people you love them. i learned the hard way you don't get a-- can't expect the next day. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): for all those lessons learned, the connells suffered another blow in 2023. 10 years after joey and olga were murdered, kelly died of a drug overdose, another piece missing from a family that learned once again about love and loss. [theme music] i'm andrea canning, and this is "dateline."for ? andrea canning: a dramatic chapter in a story of two mothers fighting for their sons--