that there was an explosion and my mom's truck blew up. so i immediately pulled over, stopped, and called my dad, asked him what's going on. what do we do? >> reporter: what did he say? >> he said, i just heard, too. i don't really know all the details. >> reporter: the hoagland family gathered at uc san diego medical center where connie had been taken for emergency surgery. >> we got to quickly see her rushed from the hallway into surgery. it was probably ten seconds. and i just remember telling her, i love you, and her being awake but kind of being out of it. and then that was it. >> seeing her like that and all the wires coming out of her and the bags hanging and the blood and all that, it was very, very shocking, taken back, i almost felt sick. >> reporter: what did you think had happened? >> i thought her truck malfunctioned. we didn't know was it an accident, was it the gas tank,

what's going on? i didn't know what exactly had happened. >> reporter: by now, though, investigators knew this explosion was no accident because they found bomb fragments embedded inside connie's truck making it clear this was an intentional act, a car bomb, which got investigators wondering if it was the work of terrorists. >> almost immediately when we came on scene, we made a plan of how we wanted to sweep the area. and what we were doing was looking for secondary devices so we didn't walk into an area and actually get hit by another device of some sort. >> reporter: robert luke of the san diego county sheriff's bomb squad and atf agent matt beals were the lead investigators. they quickly learned that something about the day care may have made it a target. >> on that particular day care center, we were aware that there were other law enforcement officials who had their children in that particular home during the day.

>> reporter: was it possible someone was out to kill cops and their kids? if so, connie, who always parked in front of the day care home, could have been the perfect yet unwitting delivery system for the bomb. >> they weren't looking for any known or suspected domestic terrorists or possible watchlist type people that may be in the area. >> reporter: no question that this was an ied, an improvised explosive device? >> no. >> reporter: and suddenly, they had more questions after they ran connie's address and discovered that, in her neighborhood, two weeks earlier, police had found another bomb. >> police make an plosive connection. this was personal. when we come back, had connie or her family been targeted before? >> we're like, wow, this is for real. soup with grilled cheese.

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when connie hoagland's truck exploded outside a san diego day care center, investigators suspected terrorism. a suspicion that only grew stronger when they realized that this bomb might well be related to another unexploded bomb found two weeks earlier lying in the street just blocks from the hoagland's house. >> this is a device we had not seen in the united states. >> reporter: detective chris evert and bomb squad commander john wood had taken that earlier call. between them, they've investigated and disarmed hundreds of explosive devices.

but this one was a first. >> these particular devices had only been seen in war countries, afghanistan and iraq. >> reporter: the small but powerful device was hidden in a fedex envelope, but what really got everyone's attention was the detonator linked to a cell phone. and that to you says what? >> this is somebody that can build a bomb and it can sit there from anywhere in the word and set it off. >> we have breaking news. a bomb squad investigates a spirchous object. >> reporter: taking no chances they sent in a robot to disarm the bomb. >> fire in the hole! >> reporter: a firefighter was then put in one of those famous suits to make a final safety check and found the cell phone detonator had 18 missed calls. only a broken wire had prevented the bomb from going off. >> we're like, wow, this is for real. >> reporter: police ran the

phone numbers, of course, but they belonged to untraceable throwaway phones available almost anywhere. the bomber or bombers had left no trace of themselves. >> no fingerprints, no dna. >> reporter: the only real clues were found on the fedex envelope, duct tape and soot, suggesting the bomb might have fallen off of the underside of a car. and so, two weeks later, when connie's truck blew up at the day care home, investigators immediately wondered were these two sophisticated bombs really the work of terrorists? or was all this personal? >> we went through all those gamuts and we had a lot of people just going out chasing every lead there was trying to get this stuff done. >> reporter: and while he was still at the crime scene, detective luke had what seemed to be an odd visit from an old colleague, eric stallmacher.

the former commander of the san diego fire department bomb squad. that's luke to the left of your screen and stallmacher on the far right. >> he was the first one to contact me as soon as i got on the scene. i says, what are you doing here? he tells me he had retired to colorado, came back to visit some friends here in town and he heard about the bomb and he came over to try to assist us. >> reporter: and there was one more thing. >> he turns out to be an acquaintance of the hoagland family, so he knew the victim and the husband. first thing that popped into my mind is we have a bombing here, we have a bomb guy on the scene that's retired and now he's also has some nexus to do with the family. >> that was definitely a curveball. >> reporter: the current bomb squad commander john wood was also at the scene and had the same unsettling concerns. >> one of our own sitting there going, wow, why did he show up? now he just became a suspect. >> reporter: this guy used to have your job before you. >> exactly. he's the one that appointed me before i left.

>> reporter: everybody here knows him, trusts him, likes him. >> yep. >> reporter: and he's a friend of the family and he'd know how to make that device. >> exactly. >> reporter: stallmacher had a tip offering up a potential suspect, connie hoagland's exson-in-law who stallmacher claimed may have had it in for the family. >> that was absolutely a lead we needed to follow up on immediately. >> reporter: because he's the only person you could think of that didn't like connie and larry. >> exactly. or so we were told and led to believe. >> reporter: so beals hit the road found for vegas and a meeting with connie's son-in-law. >> he didn't have a negative thing to say about connie in any way, shape or form. >> reporter: just as important, the son-in-law had a solid alibi. >> corroborated his story as to where he was and he had received the backup that he was at a store at one time and clearly not in san diego, not in california and his alibi all checked out. >> reporter: all of which put

the guy who fingered him, staalmacher under more suspicion. investigators put connie's truck up on a lift for a closer inspection. and in the soot dust on the floor pan, they saw an outline the size of a fedex envelope framed in traces of duct tape. the imprint of the earlier unexploded bomb. hardening their suspicion that whoever built the bombs was targeting connie or her family. >> this appeared, for all intents and purposes, to be directed at one person. whoever the driver of that truck was. in this case, connie. >> reporter: back at the hospital, the hoagland family, holding a vigil by connie's bedside, was unaware there was a criminal investigation under way until luke and beals paid them a visit. >> then they asked if she had any enemies, if anyone would want to hurt her, if we could think of anybody. and i couldn't think of anybody. there wasn't anybody. >> reporter: definitely the only

thing stranger than hearing that your mom's been the victim of an explosion is hearing that it was not an accident and that it was directed at her specifically. >> i said, what? i couldn't -- i didn't believe it. i didn't understand it. and i just started crying because i didn't know who could do that, who would want to do that. >> reporter: what made a strange case all the more bafflinge ini occurred four dafrs the bombing when a large fedex box was delivered to this san diego area high school addressed to one of their students. his name? jonathan hoagland. that got san diego's bomb squad scrambling. and it got the town's attention. coming up -- connie hoagland, wife, mother and survivor. >> i remember coming out to the truck, put in the key and then, kaboom. >> but who was trying to kill her?

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september 2010 may well be remembered as hoagland month. for san diego's busy bomb squads. this picture perfect family suddenly seemed to be the target of a relentless campaign of terror. first there was the cell phone

device placed inside a fedex pack found just down the street from the hoagland home. then there was the pipe bomb that detonated inside connie hoagland's pickup. and now there was a mysterious fedex box addressed to jonathan hoagland but delivered to his high school. >> i guess it had something to do with the car bomb that was -- happened last week. it may be from the same person, so we're not sure. >> immediately the school was shut down because now we still wasn't sure who was going to be involved. >> reporter: the box was removed and destroyed. inside investigators were hoping to find some evidence that could lead them to the bomber. instead they found party favors that jonathan had forgotten he'd ordered for a high school dance. >> something that he was in charge of getting, and he didn't remember it. >> reporter: but it shows the state of mind at the time. >> pretty rough, school's closed

down, bomb squad coming out, everything. >> reporter: while this particular event turned out to be a bust in terms of finding any workable evidence, luke and beals believed the bomber had to be somebody who knew the hoaglands, knew where they worked, where they lived, knew their routines and had access to their cars. the only problem was that connie, a devout christian and mother of three, had no known enemies. but luke and beals had one witness who might be able to shed some light on that part of their investigation. a witness they had yet to question. connie hoagland. >> always i had a sense that she was going to live. i don't know why, but i always knew that she was going to live. i just didn't know how. >> reporter: sedated and in icu after having gone through seven different surgeries to save her right foot and left leg, and yet somehow still alive. >> i remember coming out to the

truck, put in the key and then kaboom, just a huge explosion. it scared me. i first i thought maybe the air bag went off. >> reporter: smoke, flames? >> smoke started filling up and i looked out the door to -- and i noticed the truck started to move. and my feet and legs hurt really bad. i could tell, oh, that hurts. i thought i have to get out of the truck. so i pushed the door open, started to get out. i did not want to see my injuries. it felt so bad, it felt like my feet were blown off. >> reporter: what did you think had happened? >> i don't know. i really just laying there, i thought it was a random act. >> reporter: and so she says she was stunned when investigators first spoke with her in the hospital. >> and the police told me, this bomb was meant for you. and that was weird. i couldn't even digest that. like you're kidding me. >> reporter: and they say to you, who does not like you enough to try to kill you? >> they did ask that.

i could think of no one. i really don't have any enemies. they said it's somebody who knows the code on your truck. it's somebody who knows where you work. >> reporter: who knows your routine? >> yes. but it's still nothing. >> reporter: that's not too many people. >> no, but -- >> reporter: that's like what, your husband, your kids and a couple close friends? >> that's true. but who would do that? not them. >> reporter: and standard police procedure is to say after that, so how's your marriage, how's everything in your marriage? >> i said everything's fine. >> reporter: but in her heart, she knew that wasn't quite true. after 25 years of marriage, larry seemed to have grown tired of her. >> the last few years weren't that good, but i thought we were still committed and just hanging on to the commitment of that time. >> reporter: did he act like he didn't care about you any more? >> yes.

>> reporter: that has to be heartbreaking. >> yeah, it was. >> reporter: you ever think about leaving larry? >> it never crossed my mind. in the church, divorce is really frowned upon. if you can work it out, work it out. >> reporter: how was larry at the hospital? >> pretty stand-offish, which was normal for us at that time. >> reporter: the truth is there are a lot of bored husbands out there in suburbia, but few ever go on to try to assassinate their wives. and connie certainly didn't believe that was the case here. neither did detectives. when you first meet larry, was he a suspect? >> no, he was not. he was the victim's husband. we didn't really focus on larry that much. >> reporter: so eric stallmacher, the former bomb squad commander, remained on everyone's radar screen. he was constantly by larry's side at the hospital and still wanting to pitch in on the investigation. >> i called the investigator friend of mine and said, hey, you know, can i come in and talk with you. >> reporter: detectives thought

the time had come to bring in stallmacher for questioning, but before they could speak with him, they received another phone tip, one which would send this investigation in a whole new direction. a new direction, a new suspect and finally an arrest. >> you've got this whole package right there, so it's all right in a nutshell. what if the underlying cause of your symptoms is damaging inflammation? for help getting the answers you need, talk to your doctor and visit crohnsandcolitisadvocates.com to connect with a patient advocate from abbvie for one-to-one support and education. get in on the fun... ...during the petsmart fall savings sale!

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out who would want to kill mild mannered connie hoagland were

hitting nothing but dead ends until they got a call from the business partner of connie's husband larry. >> i says, hey, i found bombmaking instructional videos and internet searches on our office computer. and i didn't make the searches. >> reporter: it seems larry had been looking for some unusual things on the internet. >> we looked at the stuff that he had looked at, and then it was like, wow, this is the exact same bomb that we found. >> reporter: but they found more than just a list of incriminating websites. >> during the search we find love letters between him, larry hoagland's hand, and a woman by the name of lee ann. >> reporter: the highly moral, god fearing church leader had been cheating on his wife with a woman who lived across the country. what did she tell you? >> that she and larry had been in a relationship for several years. >> reporter: larry and lee ann, it turned out, were once high school sweethearts. in 2007 lee ann, recently

divorced and living in pennsylvania, wondered if it was too late for larry and her to take another crack at love. >> she was able to track him down on the internet and place a call to him one day while he was at work at his photography shop and, boom, just like a spark rekindled into a fire. >> reporter: according to lee ann larry told her he, too, was getting a divorce. and soon the two were texting like hormonal teens. you've been my dream girl for as long as i can remember being in love, larry wrote. life is like dry brown toast without you. lee ann was equally smitten. i lost you once and do not want to lose you again, she wrote. >> she was preparing for him to come be her husband and be a part of her life for the rest of her life. >> reporter: while he carried on with lee ann in pennsylvania, back home in san diego, larry was growing distant from connie but never mentioned getting a

divorce or separating. in fact, he still kept up his family routines, even going to church with them every sunday. >> my dad was a church board member. my mom was really involved with bible studies and women's groups. it was a big part of our life. we didn't know anything was wrong. i always thought that everything was fine and great. >> reporter: so larry was leading a double life and lying to both of the women? >> exactly. >> yeah. he had two complete lies. >> and lived them as one. it was really weird. >> reporter: connie remembers that time well but for different reasons. larry told her and the kids that he'd gotten a big photo contract in pittsburgh and for the next three years, larry split his time between california and pennsylvania. >> he said he had a friend out in pennsylvania named bob and he would go out there and do work for him. we had no reason not to trust him, believe him. >> reporter: but here's what connie and the kids didn't know.

larry was financing his secret life with extra mortgages on their san diego home. >> i thought we were doing fine. i thought it was going to be a good time in our life. >> reporter: but then suddenly there was no money. >> suddenly like what? bankruptcy? >> reporter: you had to declare bankruptcy? >> i didn't want to declare bankruptcy but larry said, no, we need to do this. so i just went ahead with it. >> reporter: you went along? >> yep. i trusted him. i thought he maybe knew better than i knew. >> reporter: and detectives learned while larry was deceiving connie and bleeding his own family dry, he was also playing lee ann, telling her the timing wasn't right for them to get married because he couldn't afford to go through with his divorce. as proof, larry even sent lee ann this secretly recorded meeting with his lawyer. >> spousal support at $900. >> and child support at? >> $1,000. >> 1900 total.

why is that so high? >> why is it so high? that's the guideline figure. >> reporter: lee ann's response to this video? text after text basically telling larry to put up or shut up. i have heard it all so many times, she wrote. i am tired the of it all. if you love me like you say, we still wouldn't be doing this. i am ready to move on. two weeks after that text larry was in pennsylvania trying to patch things up with lee ann when the cell phone bomb was discovered in the hoagland neighborhood. >> i'm telling matt, matt, we got him with a girlfriend in pittsburgh, we've got all this stuff going on. because this is all that we're finding, love cards in the business. so all this is building in one day. so you've got this whole package right there, right in a nutshell. that's what says hook him. >> reporter: larry was arrested that night, but at that point the hoagland family had no idea he was even being investigated.

so when jaclyn got a 2:00 a.m. call from her sister jill with news about their dad, she was blindsided. >> my sister said he's been arrested. they -- in jail. and i couldn't believe it. and i think the first thing out of my mouth was there's no way he did this. there's no way. they have the wrong guy. >> reporter: the evidence against larry was circumstantial. no fingerprints, no dna, nothing to physically connect him to either bomb. and that made investigators take another look at eric stallmacher who was asked to come down to his old fire station for an interview. this was not going to be a friendly chat with his old work buddies. >> when they asked me if i'd be willing to take a polygraph. i was like, wait a minute. you guys know me, you should know better than that. then i realized the best way to clear -- make sure that i'm clear in their eyes is to take a polygraph.

right after it was finished, they said, well, you passed. >> reporter: stallmacher was nothing more than the right guy in the wrong place. >> everything came up clean. he was just coincidence. >> reporter: luke and beals were now convinced larry was the bomber and that he was in it alone, but larry hoagland, the husband, father of three and man of god, had a ready explanation when he sat down with me. he'd been framed. >> i did not try to kill my wife. there is somebody out there who is responsible for this. there's a maniac out there. coming up -- larry hoagland tells his side of the story and even he admits it sounds crazy. is it? >> if i was a guy out there watching "dateline," i wouldn't believe this. i would be the first person to say, oh, this guy is full of baloney.

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after his arrest, larry hoagland was booked into san diego county's curiously named george bailey detention facility. >> merry christmas. >> merry christmas, george! >> reporter: a different george

bailey, you may recall, was jimmy stewart's character in "it's a wonderful life." which actually described larry hoagland's life at one point. good friends, a loving family, the respect of his community. by the time i sat down across from larry, much of that had evaporated. he stood accused of trying to kill his wife with a pipe bomb. and his first words to me was that police had the wrong man. >> i did not try to kill my wife. i'm adamant about this. >> reporter: the only thing larry said was true was that he did have an affair. >> i was cheating on my wife. i was cheating on my family. >> reporter: you were in love with somebody else? >> yeah, i was. yes, i was. >> reporter: and you were what, going to ask your wife for a divorce? >> yes. >> reporter: and walk out? >> that was pretty much it, yes. i let a lot of people down, i deceived a lot of people.

i forsook a lot of people, i did. >> reporter: is that the worst thing you committed? >> yes. besides adultery, yeah. >> reporter: because what you're in here for -- >> oh, yes. >> reporter: pretty much tops all of that. >> i did not try to kill my wife. i did not. i have nothing to do with what happened to connie. there is somebody out there who is responsible for the whole thing and there's a maniac out there. >> reporter: the whole thing, meaning trying to kill your wife and framing you for it? >> yes. >> reporter: larry -- who has motive to do that? you wanted out of your marriage. you had a girlfriend. you were planning to leave your wife and your family. and you didn't want to pay the alimony and you tried to kill her. >> alimony was nothing. you know, and i tell you all these things because it's the truth. i'm not going to stand behind and start explaining to you about the details. i just have to tell you that it's true.

>> reporter: briefly tell me -- and i always say briefly because i don't know how much time we have. who framed you and why would they do that? larry wasn't able to explain it briefly, so i'll do it for him. his story goes like this. larry claimed there were a number of transients who park their motor homes in the industrial park around his photo studio. and that he, larry, living out his christian faith, let those transients piggyback off his wifi at night and that one of those transients, a guy named jerry, did the bombmaking internet searches. not larry. you believe that jerry, with his wifi internet access, is responsible for the computer searches that were found in the investigation? >> i believe so. >> reporter: and in truth, when cops arrested larry, they knew there was no physical proof connecting him to those internet searches and so they continued to dig.

>> larry had a lot of stuff in his wallet, a lot of pocket trash, business cards, pieces of paper, receipts. i wouldn't want to sit on his wallet, let's put it that way. >> reporter: while going through that wallet, beals found this phone number written on a little slip of paper. >> i said holy cow, this first number is the bomb phone number. i keep going through the contents of the wallet and here's the second number. >> reporter: that's right. larry hoagland had, in his wallet, the numbers of both cell phones used as detonators on the first bomb, the one that didn't explode. that's an unbelievable piece of luck. >> i'd like to call it investigative genius, but, yeah, it was fantastic. really good to find that. >> reporter: that tied larry to the unexploded bomb. >> yes. >> reporter: if you're thinking it would be hard to explain away that evidence, then you don't know larry hoagland. how did those numbers get into your wallet? >> jerry gave them to me. that man gave them to me. that's why i say he had

everything to do with this. >> reporter: he gave you those phone numbers and said this is how you reach me? >> yes. >> reporter: then gave you another one because he had a second phone? >> yes. he said here's my wife's phone number. i said, okay, fine, so i grabbed the piece of paper and wrote it down. >> reporter: all of it to frame you for murder to what possible end? for what conceivable reason? how does that benefit him? >> it's obvious we've got a maniacal person on our hands here. >> reporter: tell me what you know about jerry? >> i know very little about jerry. what he looks like. six feet tall, dark hair, waive i like your, no salt and pepper. i would guess that he's late 20s, early 30s. always needed a shave. >> reporter: larry said there was one transient who could back up his story. and his name is? >> that's joe, indian joe. and he's been out there.

>> reporter: if we find joe, he'll be able to lead us to jerry? >> i certainly hope so because joe, to my knowledge, knows everybody in that neighborhood. >> reporter: it sounded like a crazy story and larry well knew it. >> if i was a guy out there watching "dateline," i wouldn't believe this. i would be the first person to say, oh, this guy is full of baloney. it's like watching a tv show. >> reporter: it is like watching a tv show. and you're telling us to go search for the one-armed man. >> yes. that's a good analogy, yes. >> reporter: and so we went to try to check out larry's story. was he telling the truth this time? or was it a lie just like the ones he told his family? we combed the area around his old photo studio, an industrial area near the freeway full of warehouses and alleys in search of an injun joe who might lead us to jerry.

we found this old rv and inside? >> joe, indian joe. >> reporter: coming up -- larry hoagland's wild story seems to be checking out. >> he left them on all night for us. we could do our e-mails, surf the net, whatever. it was kind of nice. >> reporter: nice guy? >> really a nice guy. and coming up next friday on "dateline" -- >> we were best friends. i miss her every day, you know? >> a beautiful young couple, a single horrible night. >> there's a fire. and my wife she's in the fire. >> no one could save her. >> i believe somehow it wasn't true. you just want a miracle to happen. >> but buried in the ashes secrets. >> i don't care what you think you're seeing, you're dealing with a murder. >> a gun in the bed, a mysterious note. whis percent of an affair. >> she had rekindled a relationship with one of the executives. >> how about her husband?

could he be hiding something? >> did you murder her? >> no. >> did you pull the trigger? >> no. >> did you kill her? >> no. >> a dad in the fight of his life. >> you're going to hell for what you've done. >> "burning suspicion." mart. oh my goodness! are you serious? oh, you're kidding! i definitely would shop at walmart now. fine, fresh, crisp apples and all your quality produce backed by our 100% moneyback guarantee. every season is full of delicious surprises. for a limited time, savor the new pumpkin spice latte -- made with 100% rainforest alliance certified espresso. there's something new to love from mccafé.

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larry hoagland, in jail for allegedly trying to kill his wife with a pipe bomb, had an alibi that sounded like a movie plot, that he'd been framed by a mystery man using larry's wifi. larry told us a man named indian joe could confirm his story. hey, how's it going? you're joe? >> yes. >> reporter: much to our surprise indian joe turned out to be real. >> he left them on all night for us. we could do our e-mail, surf the net. >> reporter: nice guy? >> nice guy. really a nice guy. kind of larry milquetoast. kind of really quiet. >> reporter: so far this part of larry's strange story checked out, but what about the crucial part that larry promised would exonerate him and prove he'd been framed? larry tells us about a guy named jerry who was, like you, somebody who came up, parked nearby, used the wifi signal, a guy who was about 6 feet tall,

dark hair like mine but maybe darker than mine, wavy hair, slender build. ring a bell? >> somebody fitting that description, no. i have have known everybody that comes around, and there was nobody, there was nobody fitting that description. >> reporter: do you know anybody named jerry? >> no, there was nobody with that name during that time period that he was here. >> reporter: because that's fairly important, to larry, he's now behind bars. >> i know. after i heard the situation come down, i actually asked the other people, did you get on the internet? did you look up how to build a pipe bomb? did you try any of these thins? and everybody said, no, why would i do that? and it was like this is just -- i'm afraid it's just fantasy. >> reporter: that was not the news larry was expecting to hear. or was it? we found joe. >> wonderful. >> reporter: we talked to joe. >> great.

>> reporter: he's never heard of jerry. >> anybody that resembles my description of jerry? anybody at all? >> reporter: so now you're not sure of the guy's name? >> i've never been completely sure of his name. i called him jerry. anybody that resembles jerry. i wasn't positive his name was jerry. >> reporter: joe says he doesn't know anyone like that. can't help us. and he wasn't unhelpful. he was actually quite willing to talk to us. he says there's nothing about it. >> that's very disheartening. >> reporter: is there really a jerry? >> yes, there is. yes, there is. there's a man out there who is responsible for this. and i'm not him. >> reporter: i got to ask you, i mean, did you think about just getting divorced? >> yes. >> reporter: i mean, if you had just gotten divorced, none of this would have happened.

you wouldn't be in there, i wouldn't be here talking to you. you'd be in pennsylvania with your girlfriend and your wife with be angry at you. >> which would not have been the right thing to do to delete my family in hindsight, yes. >> reporter: but it beats murder. and our interview finally ended. and as he was being led away, larry conceded to his guard that we weren't buying his story. >> no, they think that i'm a lying scumbag. and i was. >> reporter: while larry admitted to being a liar, he never admitted to the bomb attempts and even connie didn't believe her husband of 25 years would try to kill her. not until larry called her shortly after he was arrested while connie was still in the hospital. >> he said, i want you to know i've been having an affair before it gets out. and he said, since the accident i've been dedicated to you. and then he said, i didn't do it. and when he said he was

dedicated to me, it's like a light bulb went off like he's lying. you know? and i knew, you know what? he did it. >> reporter: just from that, just from that one phrase, that he was dedicated to you? >> right. weird. because i knew he wasn't. it's like my mind was opened at that time. like whoa. it's you. >> reporter: 19 months later, connie painfully pulled herself into court and testified against the man who had once promised to love, honor and cherish her as long as they both shall live. >> my ears were ringing. it was so loud. >> reporter: larry's defense? the same story he shared with us. he'd been framed by the mysterious jerry. to no one's surprise, the jury didn't buy it. >> we the jury in the above entitled cause find the defendant lawrence gerald

hoagland guilty of the crime of attempted murder. >> good morning, ladies and gentlemen. >> reporter: a month later at his sentencing, connie and the kids read victim impact statements. it was the first time any of them had spoken to their dad since his arrest. >> larry is no longer my father, and i am no longer his daughter. i haven't spoken to larry in almost two years, and after today, i will never see or speak to him again. >> larry, you disgust me. he does not deserve or have the right to refer to us as his family any more. when larry dies in prison, no one will shed a tear. >> i exercise my divine right to wash my hands of you. your soul is of no concern or consequence to me. and you will live your hell. >> reporter: words that some dads might consider a punishment harsher than a life in prison,

which is, in fact, the sentence larry received, life, plus 13 years. you guys feel like you're better off now? >> oh, yeah. >> yeah, all better. >> you know it's weird to think that after all this, but we are. we're closer. and we know each other better. and we've seen each other at our lowest. so we're closer and we're all stronger as a family. >> reporter: 2 1/2 years after the bombing, connie was up and walking unassisted on this night heading to the podium to receive the citizens of courage award from the san diego county d.a.'s office. >> yes! >> reporter: for having the guts to face her husband, her attempted killer, in court. when you went into court and stared him down, what was larry thinking? you tell me. >> i think he just still thought that i didn't think he did it.

>> reporter: i sort of get the feeling that maybe larry thought that you were the kind of person who wouldn't have the strength to testify against him. >> i think you're right. i think he just didn't know me as well as he thought he did. >> reporter: boy, was he wrong. >> he was. he didn't know me at all. that's all for this edition of "dateline." we'll be back again next friday at 9:00, 8:00 central. stay tuned now for meredith vieira's exclusive interview with elizabeth smart, next. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. i was so scared that if you make a sound, i will kill you. i will kill your family. come with me. >> elizabeth smart, the beautiful young girl kidnapped at knife point from her own home and the crime that shocked the nation. tonight for the first time

you'll hear the full story in her own words. >> i remember my heart just pounding, pounding, pounding. >> what does that do to a child? >> i don't think there's anything worse you can do to a child. >> she leads us back to the remote mountain camp where she was held prisoner. oh, my gosh. by a would-be prophet and his wife. >> i remember him forcing me on to the ground, fighting the whole way. i was left alone feeling absolutely shattered. >> held for nine months, searchers unable to find her. in the end, she would help engineer her own rescue. >> that is my only chance at being found. >> the courageous and clever plan her captors never saw coming. what didn't brian david mitchell not understand about elizabeth smart? >> that i couldn't be broken.

>> this is elizabeth's story. good evening, everyone. i'm meredith vieira. you probably remember the story of elizabeth smart, the young girl that was abducted and presumed dead by many before miraculously turning up alive. but until now, she has never told the full story of what happened to her. over the years i've interviewed some remarkable people who have overcome all kinds of obstacles, but not many who could match the bravery and, yes, brilliance of elizabeth smart, who confronted an unthinkable challenge as a child. >> standing there holding on to me. i mean, i was so scared. >> she was just 14 years old, a terrified little girl. violently ripped from her own home and her own bed in the middle of the night. >> sheer terror just doesn't even begin to describe how i felt. >> her kidnapping shocked the nation. >> investigators are still

searching today for elizabeth smart. >> elizabeth, we love you. we think of you every minute. and i know we're close. you're going to come home, elizabeth. >> but after nine months of desperate searching and fears that she was dead, it was her unbelievable rescue that truly stunned the world. >> we're here to announce officially that we have found elizabeth smart. >> it's a miracle. >> if it seemed like a miracle, it wasn't one she wanted to talk about. the details of her kidnap and ordeal were so awful that for ten years elizabeth smart has fought to keep them private. now, in an exclusive interview, she is talking, and for the first time ever, she allows cameras to follow her back to the remote mountainside camp that became her prison. >> he grabbed me and he said, i will kill you if you make a noise. i will kill whoever comes up here to find you.

>> what does that do to a child? >> i don't think there's anything worse you can do to a child. >> tonight, the mormon girl whose innocence was so brutally stolen reveals how she turned terror into triumph. summoning the resolve to survive and even outwit her captors. she reveals it all in her new book "my story." >> when i decided to write it i knew i wanted it to be real, to go all the way. >> why now? >> i hear so many terrible store peps one in six girls, one in six boys will be abused. >> important that you put out the details of that abuse so people realize they're not alone. >> absolutely. >> it all goes back to the late spring of 2002. elizabeth, who lived in an upscale neighborhood in salt lake city, utah, with