m. keith morrison: you miss her a lot, don't you? the ache ever go away? no. she was kind to everybody. and that's why it was so shocking that anybody could harm her. because she would never harm anybody. she was such a sweetheart. that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline." beautiful and sweet. she's just angelic. and was folded into her tight knit family, headed by an elderly religious matriarch. you were either part of their family or you weren't. craig melvin: together, they had a little girl, sidney when their marriage fell apart,

his wife's family closed ranks. in their view, sidney was their property. craig melvin: one day, he went to pick up his little girl for a visit and was never seen alive again. he died right there. craig melvin: but who would kill a devoted dad? the unbelievable choice, he was golden girl wife, or the gracious family matriarch. they seemed so loving, but was there another side? it's a monster that comes out of a closet. very ugly. how dark is that side? murderous. craig melvin: but which one was the killer? [music playing] hello, and welcome to dateline. he was a man suddenly confronted with something monstrous, evil at the door. this story is a mystery about a father of two young daughters. one night, he left to pick up one of them, and never came back.

the question for investigators wasn't what happened, it was who did it. [music playing] rob stafford: in the home of a god-fearing family in one of the smallest of american towns, the worst of crimes. rob stafford: the crime became a mystery, a whodunit. it's a puzzler. it's almost a game of three card monte. rob stafford: and it made many people in town wonder about one particular family, about what had been going on behind the closed doors of their home. how well do you really know your neighbors? how well do you really know the people that surround you? [music playing] steven watkins: get one? can we feed it to him? rob stafford: our story begins with steven watkins, who'd grown up in tiny chandlerville in rural central illinois, population 700. he'd had the kind of ideal childhood

he wanted to recreate on his own. i think that was probably his biggest goal in life, was to have that family that he grew up with. rob stafford: steven's parents, penny and dale, say even as a kid, their boy was always holding his younger sister, ashley, or cousins, playing with them, showering them with attention. he loved kids, loved people. and he always want to have kids and be around them. rob stafford: he was patient and kind and had a smile for everyone. you could always see the smile in his eyes. i could just look in him and see the joy of life. rob stafford: brandy tally ran cross-country with steven in high school back in the 90s. just a really good guy. genuine, loved his family. i don't think he had an enemy in the world. just always looked out for people. rob stafford: in his 20s, steven joined the military. i think he wanted to get out and see a different part of the world. he was raised in a small town, and he felt like the military could offer him a venture.

rob stafford: steven signed with the coast guard and moved to virginia. but not long before he left, a former girlfriend gave birth to a baby girl named alexandria, alex. it was his baby girl, and he immediately jumped in as her father. steven was right there. when she was born, he doted over her. he was just excited about every little thing. he would sleep right by alex's bed, holding her little hand. i mean, that's just how he was. rob stafford: the former girlfriend regularly took alex to visit steven in virginia, and the bond between father and daughter grew strong. alex's mother then realized steven could offer more stability and a better home life for their daughter than she could, and she gave him full custody of her. that says a lot about him as a dad. yes. steven was responsible, and that says that he was determined to be part of his children's life. rob stafford: when alex was two, steven moved her to virginia to live with him full time.

he made sure she was in a good day care, and there was always times when he i had to make sure he ran out got her at the right time. did he complain that he didn't have freedom? absolutely not. he was content with that. rob stafford: but steven also wanted a wife. when his coast guard service ended, he returned home. living in a house behind his parents, and got a job with the state. about a year later, steven noticed an attractive woman whose office shared a parking lot with his. he was really excited. he felt like, i found what i've been looking for in life. rob stafford: that woman was jennifer webster, who'd grown up around the corner from steven's friend brandy. she's very tall and just angelic, i think, in so many ways. her smile was contagious as well. very bright, very modelesque. when she walked into a room, i think people turn their heads, because she was beautiful. she's a very cute girl, long hair. she can be as sweet as can be. you can take her to any crowd you want to go and she'll fit in.

rob stafford: jennifer's uncle ed skinner remembers hearing about steven from jennifer before the two started dating in the summer of 2006. from jennifer's description, steven seemed to be infatuated with her from a distance. she said this boy has been watching me in the parking lot at work, watches my every move. every time i go to work, he's there in his car until i get out and then he follows me. my two boys looked at each other and said, stalker steve once they found out his name. rob stafford: his mother says steven wasn't stalking her, and in fact, had spoken to jennifer a few times before asking her out in that very same parking lot. they became a couple instantly. this happened so quick i was shocked. she brought him to church two weeks after they had met and introduced him to my father-in-law. didn't even know his last name. rob stafford: ed says this wasn't how things usually went in his and jennifer's family, which he says was slow to accept outsiders. we're a kind of family that every single night

for probably 15 years we met for supper some place. either at their house, my house, or at a local restaurant. we was just a close knit family. rob stafford: the skinners are a religious family, seventh day adventists. in the last several years, multiple generations lived together in a large home, one of the biggest in the neighborhood. they stuck together, kept to themselves to the point where some people say they seemed almost clannish. randy says not only were they tight knit, but financially successful as well. the result of a family business. they always had nicer things. i remember growing up, one year they had a garage sale one summer, and it was like a gold mine. rob stafford: jennifer was beautiful, well-off, came from a close family like steven had and yearned for a family as steven did. what could be better? in the end, the real question, what could be worse? he didn't know what he was getting into. craig melvin: coming up, steven's family

starts to wonder exactly what kind of woman he's gotten involved with. it was a disgrace that she would even do something like that. craig melvin: when dateline continues. [music playing] can neuriva support your brain health? mary, janet, hey! eddie, no. frasier, frank. frank? —fred, how are you? —fred! support up to 7 brain health indicators, including memory. when you need to remember, remember neuriva. 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. can your pad absorb everything and stay fresh?

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>> we saw elon musk take kind of. >> a. >> powerful role. did anything about how he wielded his power surprise you? do you not 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 their own moral beliefs, but still find grace in this moment? welcome back to dateline. steven and jennifer seemed to have a lot in common. both came from close families, and they were both interested in growing a family. the budding relationship appeared so simple at first.

but how well did they really know each other? they couldn't know it yet, but the couple was in for rockier times ahead. we continue with the mystery on horseshoe drive. [music playing] steven watkins: that's it, there's your horse. there he is. rob stafford: in the heart of the illinois farm belt, a new relationship was growing very fast. it seems steven and jennifer began dating one day, and became a committed couple the next. and making it a happy threesome, steven's daughter from a previous relationship, alex. steven often captured family moments with photos and video. his family says he thought jennifer would make the perfect wife and mother. he felt like, she wants to cook with us, she loves alex, she treats alex like she's her mother. the woman to complete his life. yes the family he was looking for. yes rob stafford: but if steven was happy, his mother had her doubts about the girl

from that tight knit family. i didn't feel like she really wanted to be part of our family. and that was from the very beginning i felt that way. rob stafford: steven's dad took a more positive view. i just thought it's going to be a good fit for him. and i thought jennifer would be real good for both of them. they presented a pretty good picture. was your son in love? yes. rob stafford: steven began spending much of his time with alex, jennifer, and her family. and he was thrilled that the family seemed to embrace him and his daughter, as his sister ashley remembers. that was number one, is he wanted to make sure that they enjoyed kids, and would get along with alex too. not only was she nice in interacting with him and alex and basically the perfect mother, but their family was accepting alex and welcoming both of them with open arms. and it was crucial to steven to have this family except alex? exactly. rob stafford: within weeks of meeting, steven and jennifer got married, in august 2006.

steven's family remembers how happy everyone seemed the day of the wedding, especially steven. he was ecstatic. just had a big old smile, eyes shining. it was an outdoors wedding. it was really a nice wedding. they threw petals on the sidewalk, and jennifer was happy. she was smiling from ear to ear. her family was happy. they made several comments about how happy they were that they had such a wonderful son-in-law now, and that they were getting married, and he was going to be part of their family. the whole family just raved about steven and alex. rob stafford: the whole family that is, except jennifer's uncle ed. he says he didn't approve of the whirlwind romance. he didn't like that stalker steve became the one so quickly. he did not attend the wedding. i was told within a month after they had started dating, they was going to get married. and that's just not the way that our family ever did it. you get to know somebody, you date them a long time before you just commit to something in life.

i feel she jumped out of the skillet into the frying pan. did you feel steven was jumping out of the skillet and into the frying pan? yeah. he didn't know what he was getting into. rob stafford: still, jennifer and steven's life together unfolded like a storybook marriage. not long after the wedding, they bought a home on horseshoe drive, just down the block from the big house where her parents and grandparents lived in ashland, about a half hour from steven's family. then not long after that, steven called his mom with more big news. jennifer was pregnant. i was excited for him. i kept thinking maybe i was wrong, and being thankful that i'd not said anything, imposed my feelings on him. i'm thinking, they're going to have a baby, they're doing good as a family. rob stafford: but soon after the announcement, things seemed to change for steven and alex. his mother says jennifer's family suddenly wanted nothing to do with steven's daughter. and he said jennifer's family told alex that she's not

really part of their family. i don't understand how they can love her and make her a special part and treat her like blood, and then all of a sudden, just turn and go the other way. she says alex was very upset by the rejection, steven was as well. and soon, with the spring thaw about six months after steven and jennifer's wedding, their relationship grew ice cold. now it was steven himself who was also feeling rejected, kicked out of that family circle. steven was hurt and discouraged. i don't know if he thought that was just a stage that she would go through while she was pregnant, a hormonal thing, or somehow he could make things better and get them back on track. rob stafford: but it didn't get any better. instead, the relationship flew off the rails after the baby was born in june, 2007. a girl named sidney. it was like jennifer wanted her family and her to be part of sidney's life, but didn't want anybody else to be part of it.

stevens said, i barely even get to see sidney. when we get home, jennifer goes down to her mom's house with grandma shirley and all of them. and he said, she even bathes sidney down there and everything, brings her home at 9:30, 10 o'clock, time to go to bed, and gets up the next morning and starts the routine over again. rob stafford: steven had told his parents jennifer thought the arrangement made for the perfect marriage, but steven thought just the opposite. to him, it was no marriage at all. and worse, he wasn't able to see his new baby. his mom says he was running out of patience and options. he said, mom, the only way i'm ever going to get to know sidney or to get time with sidney without jennifer being attached to her is if i file for divorce and get visitation. he needs to divorce his wife to see his daughter? yes. it was a very hard decision for him to make. rob stafford: he also filed for custody of sidney, and that set off a move from jennifer steven never expected.

she fired back a bombshell. the day that she found out that he filed for divorce and custody of sidney, the day she found out, she called dcfs and accused him of molesting sidney and alex. molesting sidney and alex? yes. did your son molest his daughters? absolutely not. i thought it was a disgrace that he would even do something like that. not only did she hurt him and hurt alex, she hurt the whole family. rob stafford: as the state investigated, steven was allowed visits with sidney. but his family says jennifer continued to keep sidney from him. knowing the skinner family, they were so tight knit they would let nothing come in between them and their grandchild. rob stafford: the allegations of sexual abuse didn't stick. the department of children and family services said they were unfounded. but jennifer still wouldn't allow steven to see sidney. to force her to share the baby with steven,

the judge in their divorce case ordered that steven get regular visits with sidney. that court order helped, and steven was able to see sidney for a few visits. he sometimes invited jennifer to come along, as they did to pick pumpkins in october, 2008. because despite all that had happened, his family says steven was still hoping he could show jennifer how good life could be with the four of them together as a family. his efforts were in vain though. far more often than not, jennifer and her family denied steven visits with his baby. frequently saying sidney was sick. once steven called a police officer to get her home to help him, but the family still said no. steven was becoming more and more frustrated. and then one evening in late november 2008, the whole situation exploded.

husband came to. husband came to. >> pick up my craig melvin: coming up, jennifer was calling for her grandmother, but it was steven who needed help. looked like somebody decided to shoot him in the back of the head. craig melvin: when dateline continues. [music playing] mopping is hard work, but i thought it was the only way i can get my floors truly clean. and then i tried the swiffer powermop and realized i can get cleaner floors without the extra work. it has a built-in solution that breaks down dirt on contact. and the pads hundreds of strips scrub away sticky messes even from grout lines. ok powermop! plus, it's 360-degree swivel head cleans up along baseboards and even behind the toilet. so, ditch the bucket and all the hard work that comes along with it. with the swiffer powermop. (vo) if you have graves' disease, your eye symptoms could mean something more. that comes along with it. that gritty feeling can't be brushed away.

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steven watkins became increasingly frustrated that his estranged wife, jennifer, was keeping their daughter away from him. they'd been battling in court, but things were about to turn violent. we continue with the mystery on horseshoe drive. [music playing] rob stafford: it's not just corn that grows quickly in rural illinois, so did the family of steven and jennifer. they'd met, married, and had a baby in about a year's time. and just as quickly, their relationship fell apart. they were fighting over baby sidney when steven went to jennifer's one november evening to pick up the child. and within minutes, jennifer was on the phone with 911, hysterical. child. because we're. getting a divorce. >> and he came. >> after her and then tried to. >> come. >> after the baby.

>> and i. >> and he's. >> and he's. >> on the rob stafford: it was a confusing 911 call. jennifer wanted an ambulance for her grandmother, shirley skinner. as for her estranged husband steven, jennifer implied to the dispatcher he'd been shot to protect her family. sidney and i. oh, god. >> okay. what happened to your grandmother? >> i think she might. >> she's having a heart problem. >> please come and help us. >> okay. what's your name? >> jennifer watkins. >> jennifer watkins. >> o rob stafford: ashland police chief jim birdsell was called to the scene. about 5:50 that evening, i got a phone call from 911 advising me that there had been domestic in town at number 11 horseshoe drive. said the husband came in to pick up his daughter for visitation,

forced his way in the house, knocked an elderly woman down, and she was having medical problems at that time. rob stafford: but when he arrived, he found this was no routine domestic. i walk up opened the door and walk in the house, and directly in front of me was an elderly lady sitting in a chair, which turned out be shirley skinner and one to ems personnel kneeling beside her, holding her hand and she's crying a little bit. rob stafford: then a first responder motioned over to the other side of the room. jim birdsell: then i saw a body laying down there. any sign of life? no. rob stafford: it was steven watkins, dead on the floor. a 9 millimeter glock handgun on a box several yards away. trying to get in my mind what had happened. the ems personnel had told me that shirley had made a statement to them that she had shot him. they reported to the chief that shirley had said a couple times, is he dead? i shot him. he shouldn't have come back here. a stunning story, but this was second hand information

from first responders quoting an elderly woman in the midst of a medical and family crisis. were her statements reliable? had she really said that? chief birdsell asked jennifer what happened. she said that steven forced his way in the house and knocked her grandmother down, and then he was coming after her and the baby, and the grandmother shot him. rob stafford: it all seemed hard to believe. chief birdsell wanted to ask shirley himself what happened, but never got a chance. about the time i was getting ready to, her attorney was on phone and told me he didn't want me to talk to her. so she is already lawyered up? yes. rob stafford: shortly after the chief's arrival, jennifer also hired an attorney and stopped talking to him as well. jennifer's grandfather, who was in the house at the time steven was killed, wasn't talking either. so what had happened here in the skinner home? had steven watkins finally gotten so frustrated over the child custody battle he'd been fighting that he completely lost it and barged into the house on a rampage?

with shirley, jennifer, and grandpa silent, the evidence would have to tell the tale. did you see signs of a break in? no, sir. the door didn't have any damage to it. any signs of a struggle? not at the door. there was supposedly something on the wall that was broke. it was hanging down. a sconce on the wall-- on the wall of the house. rob stafford: but there was no indication the sconce was broken that day, and there was no skin tissue or blood found on the sconce. had shirley skinner really been pushed down by steven? did you see any injuries consistent with her being knocked to the ground? no, sir. was there any black eyes, broken bones? no, sir. didn't see anything like that. did she seem like her clothes were out of place? no, sir. didn't even look disheveled? no. rob stafford: what's more, steven had been shot once, in the back of the head. and he did not have a gun or any other weapon on him. the chief didn't think it was self-defense. so what does it look like to you? looks like somebody decided to shoot him in the back of the head.

rob stafford: but who was this somebody who shot him? members of the skinner family obviously knew who did it, but none of them were talking. complicating matters, chief birdsell had never handled a murder before. most of his law enforcement career had been spent on vehicle code violations. he thought he'd be able to handle the case on his own, but he couldn't, and the case dragged on for months. people all over your community are saying why hasn't there been an arrest? yes. are you hearing that? i'm hearing that a lot. rob stafford: as the case dragged on with no arrests made, the whodunit became the talk of the town. people were very, very, very aware of this killing in this community. rob stafford: bruce rushton covered the case for this springfield journal register. anytime we write something in the newspaper about this, like the tiniest little thing, it's the most clicked on thing or close to the most clicked on. it's a puzzler. it's almost a game of three card monte. rob stafford: rushton says no one thought steven instigated the violence. everyone the rob stafford spoke to had only good things to say

about steven, including two teachers who were taught his daughter, alex. both of them agreed that they had never in their teaching careers encountered a father who was devoted to their children as steven watkins was. when i spoke with his coworkers, he would talk about his kids at work. and they all knew alex and sidney, they had a pretend bake session, and so he had an animal crackers that he was putting in the toy oven and playing with his kids. i mean, how many fathers do that? rob stafford: everyone thought steven was such a great guy, such a great dad. who would kill him? ultimately, mike vujovich, then with the state's attorney's appellate prosecutor's office, and sergeant kelly walter, who is now a colonel with the illinois state police, took over the investigation. they focused on a key question, who pulled the trigger? the forensic evidence was no help. was the weapon tested for dna? it was. was anything found? nothing. and no fingerprints on it at all? no. no fingerprints on it. were gun residue tests performed

on the people inside that house at the time of the shooting? they were not. and no blood spatter was found on any of the family's clothing. investigators had no physical evidence proving any one person had murdered steven watkins, even though he was clearly shot to death inside the skinner home. all they had were statements from first responders, claiming that shirley skinner, an elderly woman who was very upset and agitated at the time, said she'd shot steven. did she really mean to say that? did they really hear her right? who was the shooter? to solve that mystery, they would look into the inner workings of the tight knit skinner family. and they say what they found there helped them finally get to the bottom of who pulled the trigger, and why. craig melvin: coming up, investigators have questions about the golden girl who held sway over the entire plan. it's a monster that comes out of the closet. it's very, very, ugly. very ugly.

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chase, make more of what's yours. (♪♪) impact. >> of president trump's tariffs. >> on mexico and canada. >> the president warned americans. >> the new 25%. >> tax on imports may. >> cause pain, but it will. >> be. >> worth the price. >> and it was a coronation. >> for cowboy carter. >> at the grammy awards. >> beyonce's genre. >> blending album. >> took home the prize for. album of the year at sunday's show. >> it's beyonce's first win in. >> the. >> the. >> category after welcome back to dateline, i'm craig melvin. investigators had more questions than answers in the murder of steven watkins. but one thing they knew for sure, the shooting took place inside the skinner household. how would they finally find out who pulled the trigger? we continue with the mystery on horseshoe drive.

[music playing] we all lost our lives that night. it's not something you ever get over. on the tuesday evening before thanksgiving 2008, penny watkins son steven had gone to pick up his baby daughter sidney for a court ordered visit when he was shot to death. steven's wife jennifer told police he'd barged into her home, knocked over her grandmother, and was heading for her and the baby when her grandmother shot him. but had it really gone down that way? why would an elderly religious woman shoot the father of her great granddaughter? even as investigators focused on grandma shirley, they began to look more closely at jennifer. for one thing, they learned she'd been married before. jennifer's uncle ed skinner says that relationship was a sign of things to come. that didn't last long. she just had to have her way all the time, and there was never his way, so he didn't stick around. he divorced her? - yes, sir. - did you blame him?

no, sir. not at all. rob stafford: state police say when they talked to jennifer's first husband, he described an us against them mentality in jennifer's insular family. they did everything together. and you were either part of their family, or you weren't. rob stafford: and steven watkins was clearly no longer part of the family, what with the divorce filing, accusations of child molesting, and the custody dispute. and now jennifer was losing that dispute. the abuse allegations had been found baseless, and a court hearing about increased visitation for steven had been scheduled. how concerned is the skinner family about this visitation ruling? very concerned. very concerned. in their view, sidney was their property, and they were not going to share their property with anyone outside that skinner family, even steven watkins. the skinner family was circling the wagons for themselves, and he was the enemy. rob stafford: jennifer and her family feared steven would be successful in getting overnight visitation at that hearing. he was also continuing his quest for sole custody of sidney.

but he never made it to the courthouse. he was killed the night before at his estranged wife's home. according to investigators, this skinner family had been so concerned about the hearing, jennifer's mother hired a private investigator to witness steven picking up the baby the evening he was killed, perhaps to observe something that could be used against him at the hearing the following day. perhaps some dirt of baby that's crying whenever dad picked her up, or maybe that he wasn't putting her in a baby seat. rob stafford: but state police learned jennifer's mother told the private eye not to show up not long before steven was to arrive. less than two hours later, steven watkins is lying dead on their dining room floor. rob stafford: suddenly, the child custody issue that posed such a problem for jennifer was solved forever. according to ed, his family catered to jennifer. she's a spoiled rotten brat. i know that's a pretty harsh statement. the world revolved around jennifer. we didn't do anything if jennifer didn't want to do it.

rob stafford: ed says his mother shirley doted on jennifer, the family's first born grandchild. they was very, very close. there was nothing that jennifer could ask for that she didn't get. she lived as a princess, treated as a princess. when she went to church, she looked like a little doll that had just stepped out of a magazine. dressed fit to kill. rob stafford: as she grew up, he says, jennifer could be sweet, but her dark side was something else. it's a monster that comes out of a closet. it's very, very ugly. very ugly. she just thinks that she can control anybody that she comes along with. when jennifer doesn't get her way, what happen? she throws a fit, and life is miserable for everybody around. do you believe that jennifer was just using steven to get a child, and now she had what she wanted, she wanted to get out? i think at the time she was probably hoping that it would work, hoping that he would knuckle under and obey her. but i think later on, she saw that that wasn't going to work, she knew she had her child and that's what she really wanted.

rob stafford: and ed believed jennifer would do anything to keep sidney from steven. she just said that he couldn't have her. rob stafford: even going so far as pulling the trigger herself, ed says. after all, the murder weapon was not shirley's, it was jennifer's. jennifer has every motive to do it. rob stafford: and he says that even if his mother was the one who killed steven, she was probably driven to it by jennifer. so my mom and dad was around jennifer and her mouth 24 hours a day, and she is very annoying when it comes to something that she believes in. and she believed in not giving steven the daughter. and she talked about it constantly. this goes beyond annoyance we're talking about? oh, yes. yeah. rob stafford: it's not just ed who thinks jennifer might have killed steven and that shirley was trying to take the fall to protect her granddaughter, a young mom. rob stafford bruce rushton went to a vigil for steven

nine months after he was killed, which included a walk to the skinner family home. people there were split over whether it was shirley or jennifer who killed steven. it's a head scratcher. because what's the grandmother's motive here? and compare that to jennifer watkins motives. did these folks truly believe sidney was being abused? i don't know. prosecution obviously doesn't have to prove motive in a criminal case, but you can't help but ask yourself. the jury will be asking. you would imagine so. rob stafford: a jury would soon get its chance. more than 10 months after steven watkins was shot to death, an arrest in florida, where shirley and jennifer had gone to live with baby sidney. chief birdsell was there. when she saw me there she appeared to be very surprised. i was happy to be there. but which one was arrested for the murder of steven watkins? shirley, the matriarch? or jennifer, the mom embroiled in a custody battle. coming up, it turns out one of them

had strange marks on her hand the night of the murder. two lines? two lines. consistent with firing that type of weapon? consistent with firing that type of weapon. craig melvin: when dateline continues. [music playing] 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. even 20 years. imagine you could do this without products that just temporarily hide the symptoms. imagine no more insta flex advanced. get a

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what do they say? we just wanted to let you know that we've picked shirley skinner up in florida for the murder of steven. shirley skinner, the religious matriarch of a close knit family. despite what shirley's son ed says and the rumors around town that jennifer might have pulled the trigger, it was the grandmother who is charged. though jennifer implied her grandmother had shot steven in defense of her and baby sidney, investigators believe the older woman had executed him in cold blood. what do you think happened? steven was coming over to pick up sidney for his court ordered visitation, came to the door, once again, was told that the baby was sick. perhaps he was frustrated at once again by being told that. maybe he said something to the effect of, oh, bs, and may well have been lured in by that, come in and see for yourself. and then he's inside the house. and it's a distance of approximately 30 feet from the main entry door to sidney's bedroom.

and we've got to believe that jennifer was holding the baby. and as he's walking down the length of that dining room, he's passing shirley. and as he walks past her, it's our belief that she then shot him. had he been turned over as though somebody-- no. no. --was trying to do cpr or anything? no. he lay where he fell. shot in the back of the head. and he just fell forward and a pool of blood right around his head and his baseball cap underneath him. and he died right there where he was shot. host: why had shirley been the one charged? though the forensic evidence collected at the scene was not useful, authorities did have important eyewitness evidence, something that first responders and chief birdsell said they'd seen that fatal night-- two parallel scrapes on shirley skinner's hand. she had two marks across the webbing of her hand. and what's significant about that? the significance about that would be-- and i'll show you with the weapon as you can see-- the slide part of the weapon is coming back over the webbing of my hand. if she's holding it wrong, something that could catch it

would be that the hand and the marks could be made from that slide coming back across her hand. two lines. two lines. consistent with firing that type of weapon. consistent with firing this type of weapon. [gunshot] host: to investigators, those marks conclusively put the gun in shirley's hand. what's more, they learned shirley had allegedly been planning steven's murder for a while by trying to find someone to kill him. about a month or so before steven's execution, shirley approached two of her employees and offered them $10,000 to cap this guy who they identified as being steve watkins. cap this guy? this little old grandmother? yep. the one employee said he thought she was joking, at which point she says, no, i'm serious. i'm serious. host: how did an elderly religious woman who once owned a daycare center become someone the state was accusing of premeditated murder? to her fellow parishioners, she's a fine, gracious, christian woman who loves children.

that's one side of shirley. the grandmother who loves kids. is there another side? she's proficient in the use of guns, which in and of itself doesn't mean anything. but that put together with the-- with the cultish form of that family where everything is done for the family within the family to the exclusion of anybody on the outside, and we will take whatever measures necessary to protect that family unit, that is the other side of the contradiction. how dark is that side? murderous. host: and that went to the heart of the state's theory-- that shirley had fired a fatal shot to rid the family of a son-in-law they no longer welcomed and didn't want in baby sidney's life. are you convinced shirley skinner acted alone? i believe shirley skinner pulled the trigger. do i think she acted alone? no. it's been a family-- family conspiracy, a family plan. and they were not going to allow him any further contact with that-- that little baby. host: and yet, no fingerprints, no dna, no gunshot residue,

no blood spatter, no recorded statements from either shirley, jennifer, or anyone else in the family. and those supposedly incriminating marks on shirley's hand? turns out they'd never been photographed. a jury would never see them for themselves. would any jury be able to sort out this case? an alleged family conspiracy, two women at the crime scene, one who appeared to have clear motive, the other 75 years old, neither with criminal records. it seemed such a confused, slim case, ed says, he and the family believed shirley would never be found guilty. so when she was offered a plea deal, she turned it down and chose to go to trial. i was convinced she didn't do it. host: coming up-- jurors had their doubts too. did shirley skinner look like someone who could commit this kind of crime? juror: honestly, no. as a matter of fact, when i first walked in there, i really thought that she was one of the-- the attorneys. i had no idea that she was actually the one who was on trial.

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host: in america's heartland, shirley skinner went on trial for the first degree murder of steven watkins, her grandson in law, and two counts of solicitation of murder for allegedly asking two workers at the family business if they knew anyone who'd cap somebody for 10 grand. that kind of went in large measure to her intent. it demonstrated the deep contempt and hatred that she had for this-- the father of her great grandbaby to offer money to kill him. host: the trial lasted less than four days. the state made its case that shirley killed steven to eliminate a family problem. the prosecution had no physical evidence to prove she was the shooter-- no dna, no fingerprints, no gunshot residue, no blood spatter, no photos of the scrapes on shirley's hand. basically, all they had were descriptions of the hand and statements from first responders

that shirley told them she'd shot steven. now it was time for the defense to make its case to the jury, mostly young and female from small town, rural illinois. lawyers for shirley emphasized the fact there was no physical evidence linking her to the weapon. and they argued shirley's statements to the first responders, is he dead, i shot him, were made when she was having a medical emergency. how reliable could those statements be? the defense also focused on what it called a sloppy, inept investigation by the police chief and pointed at jennifer through innuendo and implication with her ugly divorce and custody battle as the one with a motive to kill steven. they didn't directly argue jennifer pulled the trigger, only that there was no hard evidence shirley did. and what did jennifer have to say to the jury? nothing. she didn't even attend the trial. and the defense called no witnesses of its own. so what did jurors think of the case?

we spoke with three. did shirley skinner look like someone who could commit this kind of crime? juror: honestly, no. as a matter of fact, when i first walked in there, i really thought that she was one of the-- the attorneys. i had no idea that she was actually the one who was on trial. what did you think of the police investigation? left something to be desired. there's a lot of holes in it. there was a lot of mistakes made. i would have like to seen pictures of the scrapes on the back of her hand. when it came down to the final vote, how difficult a decision is it? it's difficult in the sense that you're deciding somebody's fate. but as far as time wise and what we had to contemplate and weigh out, it didn't take long. host: the jury was out a total of 90 minutes, including lunch, before finding shirley skinner guilty of murder. steven's family was jubilant. justice for steven! woo! host: shirley's son, ed skinner, was shocked. i was convinced my mom was going to get off.

host: shirley is serving a 55 year prison sentence. if she'd taken the plea deal, she'd be out in less than nine. what's it like to see your mother behind bars? horrible. absolutely horrible. is she equipped to handle what she is going through right now? not at all. not at all. host: although ed skinner had split from his family by publicly blaming jennifer, he still struck a note of us against them. i honestly feel jennifer made this bed. she needs to sleep in it. she knew what she was getting into when she got into that family. and she had to think in the back of her mind that she's going to be with these people the rest of her life. well, when you say these people, what's wrong with the watkins? nothing bad. they just a little bit different than what we're used to. i mean, we don't believe in drinking. we don't believe in smoking. but you have guns in the house. yes, sir. steven watkins was shot in the back of the head. yes, sir. - in your family's own. - yep. and somebody in your family did it. that's correct.

so ed, pretty hard for you to be sitting here judging somebody else. oh, exactly. exactly. host: in the end, it was a murder that ed skinner thought might have been planned as a way to get what jennifer wanted, but leave the skinner family intact and unscathed. very, very poorly planned out scheme on my niece and my sister's side that ruint the watkins family, ruint the skinner family. i don't think that they planned it out as good as what they should have if they was going to do something like that. host: despite the accusations of a family conspiracy, neither jennifer nor anyone else in the skinner family was charged with any crime related to the shooting. no one in the family had agreed to speak with dateline except ed. as for steven's parents, they've been raising alex in illinois. they battled jennifer for visitation with sidney. and in 2010, a judge awarded it to them.

then in 2016, a judge determined sidney was a neglected child. she went to live with her paternal aunt and uncle who'd been granted permanent guardianship. jennifer has supervised visitation rights. meanwhile, steven's parents have spoken to sidney about what happened to her dad. from my viewpoint, he gave his life for her. that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. [music playing] sunday. this sunday, trump tariffs. president trump issues tariffs on america's largest trading partner, threatening to drive up prices for american consumers. mexico and canada swiftly vowing to retaliate.