>> reporter: how does this happen? just because somebody is a professional or lives in a nice house behind closed doors, we don't know what goes on. >> it was absolutely awful. absolutely awful. >> oh my god, there's blood everywhere! >> reporter: she was so full of life, the well-known doctor's wife. >> it's unbelievable to me >> everybody's obviously very upset and crying. >> reporter: he was the one who found her. >> he walked into the bathroom and found her on the floor. >> reporter: it was a fatal slip in the shower. a tragic accident, investigators said. so why then were so many people so suspicious? >> if the shower is way over here, what is she doing way over here? >> i thought "there is no way

she fell in here and died." i wanted answers. >> reporter: two friends would push for the truth. and one just happened to be an expert in investigating deaths. >> did you feel like leslie was talking to you from the grave? >> yes, she's telling me what happened. >> reporter: could this be murder? >> daddy, don't move her! >> reporter: the daughter there that awful day. what would she say? >> she was crying, "daddy, i love you. you're innocent." >> this case has been a travesty. >> many people thought he was innocent. >> this has been a living hell. i very, very, very much wanted to be wrong. >> reporter: i'm lester holt and this is "dateline." here's andrea canning. >> reporter: it shouldn't have ended like this, not for her anyway. >> i just didn't believe it. i thought this can't be true, it just didn't make sense. >> reporter: she had it all -- money, prestige, a beautiful family. but an accidental slip and fall

in the shower would change everything in an instant. >> how could that be? she's very healthy, she's athletic, she's strong. >> reporter: the shock. the sorrow. >> oh my god, my mother. >> i just thought, "i can't believe i'm losing leslie." >> and all you know is that it's an accident. >> right. and it just sounded so freaky. >> reporter: freaky -- and haunting. >> i just it flashed me back to the last conversation i had with her. >> i've sat on this for two years. for two years, i really didn't talk to anyone. >> i can't let this show on my face. i can't let anybody know what i'm thinking. >> reporter: bob and leslie neulander were the picture of high society millionaires, complete with their own 8,000 square foot mansion. >> they just always seemed to have a very powerful public persona. >> they sound like a power couple. >> yes, i think that they certainly seemed to have it all. >> reporter: they lived here in a small suburb of syracuse, new york, on shalimar way, a street where the area's wealthiest call home. good friend, mary jumbelic, lived just down the road.

>> they had two lovely children from their marriage together. they were also very friendly and successful and gregarious. so they seemed to have the perfect life. >> reporter: bob, was a prominent obgyn known throughout syracuse for the thousands of lives he'd brought into the world. >> he was definitely a very good doctor. he definitely had a big practice, and he definitely delivered a lotta babies. >> reporter: terri barr was a family friend and a labor and delivery nurse who worked with bob for several years. >> was he really calm under pressure? >> yes, he was very good in an emergency. >> reporter: as he delivered thousands of babies over the years, bob came to be regarded as one of the area's most knowledgable obgyns. he even appeared on the local news occasionally to discuss topics like post-partum depression. >> when you're not happy i think there is a stigma for somebody to say, "well, what's wrong with you? why aren't you happy? is something wrong with you?" instead of, "can i help you?" >> reporter: leslie had her own

career in nursing, but gave it up to be a stay-at-home mom to their two kids -- ari and jenna. >> did her whole world revolve around those kids? >> absolutely. absolutely. >> reporter: leslie was also step-mother to bob's kids brian and emily, from his first marriage. >> absolutely adored 'em. and definitely made them the priority in her life. >> reporter: to her friends leslie was vivacious, animated, friendly. >> she was a show within a show. >> reporter: nevin robi says it was her booming voice that grabbed his attention during a chance meeting in line at starbucks in 2012. >> she was probably four or five people in front of me, loud big hair, long island accent. >> you recognized it right away. >> oh, immediately. i mean you probably could've heard her a half block away easily. >> reporter: even though they were years apart in age the two shared an instant connection. both had grown up near n.y.c. >> she was always the glass half full. a ball of sunshine. she was, you know, no matter if it was a gray, rainy day out or

if it was super sunny day, she was always happy. >> reporter: and that happiness, that optimism, touched everyone who crossed her path. >> i mean, she was a figurehead. i mean, i used to joke with her she should run for mayor of everyone here knows you. everyone. >> she was always working on a fundraising project of some sort. anything anybody asked her to do, she would, you know, get involved. >> reporter: in fact, she and bob were known for their generosity. bob would write the big checks, and together they'd donate their time. >> what causes were they interested in? >> oh, i think -- i don't know one that they didn't support in syracuse frankly. >> what was it about them that they wanted to give back? >> i think there's a certain amount of responsibility one feels when you live in a small community. >> reporter: but like most couples, there were rough patches. bob's practice took a hit financially when a big health insurer dropped him after a billing dispute. >> i said, you know, if you lose your blue cross and blue shield patients, that's a third of our practice.

and that means lay-offs. >> reporter: and that's just what happened. >> he felt bad. i think he genuinely felt bad. and hoped that things would change. >> reporter: he bounced back somewhat, with an influx of new patients. and leslie, she didn't let it weigh her down for long. that wasn't her way. she focused on what mattered most -- her friends and family. and it was mutual. >> i love you. >> reporter: the four neulander kids made this touching tribute for leslie's 60th birthday, later posted on youtube. >> if i picked up the phone and needed you in an instant you would be there. >> i think everybody knew they could count on her. >> reporter: so when mary jumbelic nearly died from an accidental fall while on vacation, the neulanders were the first to rush to her side. >> the whole family came over to my house to welcome me back and all four, bob, leslie, jenna, ari, were all there. >> you could have died? >> yes. i was very close to death. >> so seeing friends like leslie must have been just so -- that extra welcomed relief? >> it was.

she hugged me and kissed me and said, "it's amazing to think that a little fall like that could cause you so much trouble." >> wow. now those are kinda prophetic words? >> sad, really. yes. >> reporter: prophetic words, as you are about to learn, because just two days later leslie neulander would take a tragic fall herself. when we come back -- >> my mother's -- i don't know if she is breathing, but she's laying on the ground! >> reporter: what had happened to leslie? >> a female had slipped and fell in the shower that was all that i knew. >> reporter: something ominous -- >> there's just blood all over the floor. >> reporter: and something curious. >> if the shower is way over here, what is she doing way over here? ♪ i dreamed... ♪ i dreamed i did tequila...

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reporter: it was a crisp autumn morning. september 2012. all seemed quiet outside the mansion on shalimar way. but inside, doctor bob neulander was about to make a horrific discovery. his wife, leslie, lying on the floor of the bathroom shower. he yelled to his daughter jenna to call for help. >> my mother's, i don't know if she is breathing but she's

laying on the ground in the shower. >> is she unconscious? >> um, i, i don't know, i'm not -- >> is she awake? >> she's -- i don't think she's awake i need to go over there to see if she is ok. >> ok how do you know she's down there? >> my dad, my dad's over there. he's -- he's over there. he's in the bathroom, i'm not in the bathroom. >> reporter: sgt. tom norton of the dewitt police department was nearby when the call came over the radio. it was just after 8:30 in the morning. >> a female had slipped and fell in the shower and she was unconscious. >> reporter: that was all the information you had. >> that was all that i knew going into this. >> reporter: the sergeant headed to the home on shalimar way. emts were already on the scene. >> reporter: what are you seeing? >> she's on a backboard. there's a lotta blood around her. >> reporter: paramedics were working frantically on leslie in the bedroom, while dr. neulander and the couple's 23-year-old daughter jenna looked on. >> i started concentrating on her because her screaming and she just kept screaming, "mommy," over and over again. >> reporter: and then suddenly

the whole scene hit a little too close to home when sgt. norton overheard a paramedic address the patients husband. >> he says "i'm gonna speak to you on your level as a physician" and that's when i, you know, placed who dr. neulander was. he was my wife's physician when she was pregnant with our youngest daughter. from what i know just as an excellent doctor. >> reporter: and now this beloved physician was about to become a widower. the paramedics were very direct with him. >> there's -- there's nothing that we can do for her. i'm asking for your permission to stop cpr and that made jenna scream even more. >> reporter: did it seem clear to everyone that nothing was working? >> that was pretty definite. >> reporter: with life saving efforts over, sgt. norton walked over to the bathroom to see where leslie fell. >> i look off to my left and that's the entrance to the bathroom. there's blood all over the floor. >> reporter: he went inside, saw the shower and the marble bench and couldn't help but wonder. >> if -- if the shower is way over here, what is she doing way over here? >> reporter: the sgt. also asked

himself how a slip and fall had caused such significant injuries. like leslie's huge black eye. >> it was closed and swollen and completely black. i mean, i've been doing this a long time and that was unlike any black eye i've ever seen. >> reporter: he needed the medical examiner to make sense of the severity of what he was seeing. so when the me arrived on scene, he did just that. >> he examined the -- the skull fracture which w -- which -- just massive. it was on the back right side of her head. and then he started getting technical with us and he was explaining and, that when you have an injury to the skull on the right side, it's common for it to bleed into the left side. and that is what caused the black eye that -- that we were all witnessing. >> reporter: and the paramedics told the m.e. that the doctor had moved her body from the bathroom into the bedroom to better perform cpr. to the medical examiner, it seemed fairly straight forward. >> he made the determination that it was consistent with an accidental slip and fall in the shower.

>> reporter: are you a little surprised? >> you know, i -- i'm not a medical examiner. so, i mean, i -- i take his word for what he's seeing. >> reporter: so police and the paramedics cleared out by noon as leslie's lifeless body was sent off to the morgue. word spread quickly to friends and family. >> i was too overwhelmed with the news. i just cried. >> reporter: friend mary jumbelic, who was still recuperating from her own fall, was in utter disbelief. >> it was hard to believe. i was confused at first. i thought maybe the information was incorrect. >> reporter: terri barr felt the same way. >> i just thought, this can't be true. my daughter called me at work. >> reporter: how did your daughter get the news? >> jenna had sent out a group text to her friends. "my mother's died." "she fell in the shower" is what i think it said. >> reporter: terri rushed to the neulander home. >> and everybody's obviously, you know, very upset and crying

and hugging each other. >> reporter: jenna, thru her tears, asked for terri's help cleaning up the blood in the bedroom. >> reporter: did you decide to go up to the room? >> the housekeeper took me into the bedroom. >> reporter: terri wasn't prepared for what she saw. there was so much blood. >> that's when i knew this wasn't a normal accident. because there shouldn't be blood in a bedroom when somebody dies in a shower. >> coming up, suspicion was about to spread. >> quite a few people felt like we needed to be looking into it harder. >> reporter: a closer look at leslie's death: what would investigators find? >> i very very very much wanted to be wrong. >> reporter: when dateline continues.

>> reporter: leslie neulander. wife. mother. philanthropist. beloved by so many in the syracuse community. dead from a slip and fall in the shower.

>> i just thought it was -- it wasn't fair. she was way too young. it wasn't -- it wasn't her time. >> reporter: family friend terri barr had come to the neulander home just hours after leslie was pronounced dead. >> what do you say when you walk into a situation like that? >> i'm really sorry. i'm just very sorry. >> reporter: together, terri and the housekeeper tried to clean up the blood in the bedroom but there was just so much. >> did that strike you as odd at all? >> i thought it was very unusual. >> reporter: and there wasn't nearly as much blood in the shower, where leslie had supposedly fallen. >> when i saw the shower, i thought, "there's no way she fell in here and died." >> where does your mind go from there? >> to -- to the obvious, i think. that -- that leslie's been killed. >> reporter: but terri could not let her suspicions show on her face. >> how did you compose yourself when you were saying good-bye after seeing that blood. >> i think i just blocked it. then you start thinking, "who else in the room is doing the same thing?" because there must be other people and you're waiting for them to come up to you and say, "you know, what do you think?" nobody else came forward. >> reporter: leslie's sister was there -- but said nothing.

>> she never discussed it. >> and you didn't feel comfortable bringing up your suspicions -- >> no, i just assumed she would bring it up to me. >> reporter: and leslie and bob's 23-year-old daughter, jenna, merely repeated what the medical examiner had said. >> it was just a fall in the shower? >> yeah. >> that -- my mom died in an accident. >> yeah, and it was left at that. >> reporter: this left terri in turmoil. was she the only one who thought leslie's death could be something other than an accident? >> you just have your own instincts. >> correct. and that's what i struggled with for a very long time. where do you go and what do you do? >> reporter: if only she could speak to leslie. it was that thought that sparked an idea -- to reach out to a person who had helped terri in the past -- a psychic medium. >> how did you approach the medium about the story? >> i said i'm here to talk about a friend. and she said, "i know who your friend is." "i see that she died from a head injury." "she's holding her head." "her head hurts so bad."

you know, "was she ill?" and i said, "no." she said, "well, she's struck in the head." >> did you believe the medium? >> absolutely. absolutely. >> reporter: struck in the head? murdered? strange as it seems, that vision was enough to push terri to investigate further. she called leslie's friend mary and told her everything. mary listened to terri's concerns but was skeptical. and she knew from first-hand experience that accidents happen. >> it happened to me, i fell. who would have thought i would get so sick. it's very, very sad, but things do happen. >> reporter: besides, she thought, how much credence can you put into what a medium says? >> i would imagine most people would be -- would say, "come on, no, it's bob." she fell in the shower. leave it alone. >> right, and that's pretty much what i said.

i knew there had -- had to have been some investigation. >> reporter: but for terri, the specific details the medium gave only strengthened her belief. >> there were two blows to the head. one was metal and one was wooden. >> had any of this been out in the -- >> never. >> -- media? >> never, and then i went on to say by who? and she said by her husband. >> reporter: and even though mary thought terry's imagination was maybe running a little wild, she advised her friend to take her concerns to the police. >> i very, very, very much wanted to be wrong. absolutely. >> reporter: and so, late that fall 2012, a few months after leslie's death, terri had a meeting with detective scott kapral of the dewitt police. >> i said to scott, "you know, i -- my life is living dateline. that's what i feel like i'm living. and this needs to, you know, come to a conclusion. >> what terri learned was that the detective had his suspicions, too. in fact, the case had never really been closed. >> there was quite a few people out there that felt like, you know, we needed to be looking into it harder.

>> reporter: so when terri suddenly appeared detective kapral was all ears. terri told him about bob's practice -- how he'd taken that large financial hit after being dropped by the area's largest health insurer. >> was that kinda the beginning of the end for his practice? >> yes, definitely. >> reporter: and then terri dropped a bombshell -- it turns out the couple that everyone admired was actually having big problems. terri told the detective about her last conversation with leslie. >> she told me that they were separating and that she would -- we were gonna meet for coffee and talk -- later in the upcoming week. >> was this a total surprise to you? >> yeah, it was a surprise to me. >> we weren't aware of any of this information. >> reporter: slowly more concerns about the nature of leslie's accident started to trickle in from other friends in the community. >> people were volunteering information. >> yes, yes. >> reporter: but despite stories of a troubled marriage and blood all over the bathroom and bedroom, the detective had to face the fact that leslie's death had been ruled an accident.

meanwhile, three months since leslie's death, bob was still in mourning. he hadn't practiced medicine since he'd lost his wife, and he hadn't spoken to some of his old friends. then out of the blue, he started making calls. >> he just said he was reaching out to friends and -- catching up with people. >> reporter: he called mary jumbelic's home too with a strange announcement. >> "sorry i haven't called, i've been out of touch, i'm gonna go visit my daughter who is studying in israel." >> reporter: until now, mary had seen bob as a grieving widower who lost his wife in a tragic accident. but this conversation suddenly gave her pause. >> there was something he said on that call that bothered you? >> that, "i'm sorry i've been outta touch, i'm gonna be out of touch again, i'm leaving." it felt odd. >> did it concern you that he was leaving the country? >> sure. >> reporter: so she decided to make a call to an old colleague to discuss her sudden suspicions.

>> i've had quite a long history of dealing with sudden and violent death, and cases of suspicious circumstance as well as natural deaths. >> reporter: turns out, mary is "doctor mary jumbelic", the former onondaga county medical examiminer. >> i thought, "i should just close the loop with the information and just call the district attorney." >> what was his response? >> his response was, "would you take a look at the case?" >> did that surprise you? >> yes. >> reporter: the files were brought to mary for her review. and what she discovered, told a drastically different story about leslie's death. >> reporter: coming up: >> did you feel like leslie was talking to you from the grave? >> yes, she's telling me what happened. >> reporter: a voice from the grave and a bolt from the blue: leslie's secret confidante comes >> sometimes you gotta be brave enough to get involved, even if it's a bad situation. >> reporter: leslie's secret confidante comes forward. ahh.

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>> your part in all this almost reads like a novel. did you feel like that? >> well its not fiction and truth is often stranger and more painful than fiction could ever be. >> reporter: it was december 2012 when mary jumbelic found

herself in a precarious position. the former medical examiner was looking at the autopsy of a dear friend, and she was reviewing the work of the current m.e., who had definitively ruled leslie neulander's death an accident. >> well, there's a process you look at everything. you consider the scene. you consider the autopsy findings. you look at the statements. you weigh it all in and -- and come to a scientific conclusion about it. >> did you feel like leslie was talking to you from the grave as you're looking at this report? >> yes, she's telling me what happened, yes. >> reporter: and what leslie's injuries were telling mary would eventually send shockwaves through syracuse. >> leslie was murdered. she died as a result of blunt head trauma and the manner was homicide. she had large five inch wound on the side of her scalp with her skull crushed in, pushed into her brain, with injuries on

multiple sides of her face, both cheeks, her forehead, her nose, her lip. >> what was the medical examiner thinking? >> i wish i knew. >> reporter: mary's findings gave the case new momentum. and the person authorities were focusing on was bob neulander. detectives began collecting more evidence in what was still a highly circumstantial case and painfully slow. eight months had gone by since leslie's death. it was spring 2013. bob had sold the beautiful mansion on shalimar way and had moved into a much smaller place downtown. police got search warrants for his new condo. >> we took the two lamps and those lamps still had blood spatter on them. on the -- >> still? >> on the -- on the shades. yes. >> reporter: they also returned to the mansion now sold and mostly empty but amazingly, the neulanders' bed was still there. >> we did locate more blood and more spatter on the headboard and the blinds.

>> of -- of the bed? >> which -- which weren't seen that day. >> reporter: the local media caught wind that police were investigating the prominent doctor. >> today police also searched here in fayetteville which is where the neulanders lived. >> reporter: bob had hired an attorney who made it clear his client was innocent. >> this has been an open secret and a subject of gossip and irresponsible rumor now for months. dr. neulander has not been charged with any kind of offense. >> reporter: and the investigation dragged on. bob never went to israel to visit daughter jenna, authorities took his passport. >> he did turn over his passport for a certain period of time. i -- i -- i think he got it back. >> reporter: he never practiced medicine again either. eye problems kept him from performing surgery. meanwhile, december 2013, more than a year after leslie's death, bob, alongside his attorney, agreed to tell detectives details about the day leslie died. >> he had gone for a run and come back and went through a

whole process of getting some coffee and bringing coffee up. because that's a normal routine. and then, he says goes to check on leslie. he was knocking on the door and she wasn't answering. so, he walked into the bathroom and -- and then, he found her on the floor of the shower. >> did you -- did -- did anyone ask him, "why did you move her so many times?" >> he has to bring her out of the shower because it's too steamy and dark in the shower. >> reporter: but that conflicted with what detectives saw for themselves the day of leslie's death. >> nothing was dark that day. it was very bright. >> reporter: and that wasn't all. detective kapral realized bob was now telling a different story from what he told one of the first responders at the scene. >> that day he had told the officer he found her in an upright, seated position in the shower. >> reporter: maybe it was the passage of time, but more than a year later his memory of her fall had changed. >> he found her with her head on the floor of the shower laying with her head towards the door.

>> reporter: still, that didn't answer why a respected doctor and a prominent member of the community would murder his wife. police were nowhere near ready to make an arrest. when out of the blue a new face came forward in the investigation. >> you know, sometimes you gotta be brave enough to get involved, even if it's a bad situation. >> reporter: remember nevin robi? he met leslie at a local starbucks six months before her death. they had become fast friends. >> i could bounce so many ideas off of her. it was a really good sounding board. you know, i mean, i think it was refreshing for her to be able to talk to someone that is not really part of her friendship circle. >> reporter: he had information that would change the investigation once again. leslie had been telling nevin secrets about her personal life, including her marriage troubles. according to nevin, when bob saw texts between nevin and his wife, he didn't like it and texted nevin himself. >> "who are you?" you know, and "what -- what are

you guys talking about?" i just responded very simply. i was like, "we're having lunches. she's my friend." >> did he get hostile at all? >> he only got hostile at the end. "my wife and i are having, like, marital issues i'm glad you're, like, you're her friend. but, you know, please stay out of the -- our -- our marriage stuff." so obviously he knows that she's talking to me about their marriage stuff. >> maybe she's telling you her deepest, darkest secrets that he doesn't want out. >> that response was one thing, one thing only, control. this is my life. he doesn't want that information spread. >> reporter: nevin knew about the discord in the marriage. leslie had also confided in him that bob had been unfaithful to her for years. >> he had been cheating on her throughout the marriage. my thing is, well, if someone's doing you wrong then -- then change it. but, you know, her reasonings were kind of like, you know, we have kids. so it wasn't until the last conversation did i kind of hear the grand plan that she had. >> what was the grand plan? >> that they were gonna get a divorce. she was looking for a new place. the last conversation she said she put down a deposit and signed an agreement. >> reporter: they'd also just

changed their wills. >> if something happened to one or the other person that they would inherit everything. and i was like, "i mean, i guess that sounds good." >> reporter: but what concerned nevin the most was this. >> she started talking about bob and how he's acting very erratic. he came to the bathroom one day and he was, like, really kind of, like, semi-aggressive. and not aggressive to her physically just, like, kinda, like, verbally. and then he'd, like, leave quickly. so i was like, "well, do you feel afraid?" and she's like, "no, not really." >> were you worried about her? >> i was worried. i felt like, you know, i don't know if i'm gonna see her again. >> reporter: leslie texted nevin that evening. it was four days before her death. she asked him not to contact her. >> she wrote, "don't text or get in touch with me. i will get in touch in october. stay well. it was great seeing you today, xo." >> reporter: october is when they'd both be in nyc and planned to meet for lunch. only when october came, leslie never showed up. >> i was like, "well, that's weird." and i just went over to my computer and i just typed in he

first and last name. and there was her obituary. >> reporter: leslie had died in september, a full month earlier. >> and i was, like, in shock. it flashed me back to the last conversation i had with her. it was -- it was like two book ends happening. they just came together. the book closed. >> reporter: coming up -- was it murder? the case heads into court. and on the stand a distraught, devoted daughter. >> daddy, don't move her, daddy! >> what does she remember? what is she gonna say? >> reporter: when dateline continues. a cashmere whisper. the scent of welcome. we take a deep breath and stand together. the floor creaks in applause. the stage is set. ♪ courage. we have a fragrance for that. glade® sc johnson

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>> reporter: it was now summer, 2014. close to two years since dr. bob neulander told police his wife leslie slipped and fell in the shower. dewitt police detective scott kapral had painstakingly pieced together a murder case against the doctor. but one last hurdle still stood in the way. a big one. the current m.e.'s ruling of accidental death. >> perhaps there's just a dfast in his belief that lieve leslie died from a slip and fall -- even after his predecessor, mary jumbelic, had come to a very different conclusion. would be hard to ignore all those , classic forensic

knowledge. r county district attorney arranged for other prominent forensic pathologists to take a look at the case. gene conway, the dewitt police chief at the time, sat in a meeting where leslie's cause of death was hotly debated. mary was there too. >> the current m.e. was also in the room? >> yes. and the meeting was for the purpose of discussing the findings that the medical examiner had come up with. >> this is a bit of a showdown, a science kind of showdown. you've got the current m.e. you've got the former m.e. saying, "no,s od discussion. there was now opinions from other medical professionals that the cause of death was homicide. board certified, nationally known, came to the

>> reporter: after considering experts, the medical examiner decided to change his ruling from accidental fall to homicide. authorities now had what they needed to indict the doctor. >> there was an arrest this morning of robert neulander. >> reporter: dr. bob neulander, the obgyn who had brought so many lives into the world was now accused of taking a life, charged with second degree murder and tampering with physical evidence. >> was this case dominating the headlines in the news? >> yes, it was. and it was also dominating the conversation. many people thought he was innocent. and i think that, for most people, they couldn't come to believe in their mind that he would take her life. >> reporter: and when the trial began this past march the entire neulander family -- all of their children, even leslie's own siblings, remained in the doctor's corner.

>> reporter: wstm-tv reporter sarahbeth ackerman. >> every day the neulander family would come out of the elevator and link arms or be hugging and kissing as they were walking down to get to court. >> reporter: what the neulander family heard "in" court, was district attorney william fitzpatrick telling the jury that their father, bob neulander, was a man who flew into a rage. >> he's a guy that snapped and killed his wife. >> reporter: and then tried to cover up the evidence. the d.a.'s theory? that bob killed his wife in the bedroom. and then moved her into the shower to make it look like an accidental fall. the 911 call was played for the jury. >> my mother's, i dont know if she is breathing, but she is laying on the ground in the shower. >> reporter: jenna called 911 from the other side of the mansion after her father screamed for help. >> i need to go over there and see if she's okay. >> okay. how do you know she's down there? >> my dad. my dad is -- he's over there.

>> reporter: she then put down the phone and ran into the master bathroom. >> oh my god, there's blood everywhere! >> reporter: that's when she discovered her mother, bloody and lifeless, for the very first time. >> dad, put her down. her neck might be broken. >> reporter: she begged her dad to stop moving her mother into the bedroom. >> daddy, don't move her. daddy, stop moving her please. >> reporter: authorities believed it was all part of the doctor's attempt to cover up the murder. >> why do you think he moved the body so far? >> my gut feeling would be it was a way for him to re-introduce the body into the bedroom. >> reporter: and according to dr. mary jumbelic, no medical professional would move someone so severely injured. >> that would be out of character. >> reporter: what's more, forensic experts testified that leslie's time of death didn't match bob's story of discovering his wife a little after 8am.

instead, they believed leslie died hours before. >> given the temperature of the body, the rigor in the jaw and the hands, doesn't fit the, "i brought the cup of coffee at 8:20 and the shower's running." >> reporter: detective scott kapral. >> what did you think really happened that day? >> some sort of assault took place in that bedroom and in that bed. and then, at some point, it obviously continued into that shower. >> reporter: and there was something else -- something subtle, that the neulanders' housekeeper had told detective kapral about. that the bed sheets had been changed since she last made the bed. >> the bed was not made the way she makes that bed. >> you think that was dr. neulander covering up the blood in the bed? >> absolutely, yes. >> reporter: but the trial was far from over -- neulander's defense attorney took the floor and told an entirely different story. >> in the high profile murder trial of dr. neulander, it's now the turn for the defense. >> reporter: ed menkin told the jury his client was charged with

a crime that simply never happened. all you had to do, he said, was look at the original medical examiner's report which ruled it clearly "an accident" -- an "accidental fall" in the shower which led to "blunt force head injuries" which caused leslie to die. >> reporter: and that big black eye that sgt. norton noticed right away? the original m.e. had explained that too. >> this is the first time we heard coup contrecoup. when you have an injury to the skull on the right side it's common for it to bleed into the left side. >> reporter: what's more, said the defense, leslie had a history of vertigo. jenna wrote that in her statement to police. it was detailed on leslie's autopsy report. her sister also testified that leslie had suffered increased dizzy spells in 2012. and while the housekeeper told the jury that the bed looked suspiciously made the day of leslie's death -- leslie's sister had an explanation for that too. >> she said that she used to change the sheets with her

sister. and jenna said that she changed the sheets with her mother. so you had a lot of family members that said that they've done that before. >> reporter: the defense made a big point of the fact that the entire neulander family stood behind bob. and that included daughter jenna, then 25, who took the stand in her father's defense, on the very last day of testimony. >> what is she gonna say? what does she remember? what is sh -- what is she testifying? >> reporter: jenna testified that when she witnessed her dad struggling to move her mom out of the shower, she "helped" her dad. together they carried leslie into the bedroom and onto the carpet, something the 911 call doesn't reveal. would the jury believe bob and leslie's sympathetic daughter jenna? or would they accept the d.a.'s suggestion that jenna was covering for her beloved father? >> jenna was so overwhelmed. it almost looked like she was hyperventilating a little bit, 'cause she's waiting to find out her father's fate.

you see the emotional rollercoaster they're going through. >> reporter: bob neulander's fate was now in the hands of the jury. coming up -- >> bob neulander is the most honorable person i have ever met. >> reporter: honorable husband or callous killer? >> this has been two and a half years of living hell. >> reporter: the verdict.

>> reporter: the jury was now deliberating in the murder case against prominent physician bob neulander. it had been two and a half years since his wife leslie died. years of turmoil for bob, his children, and for friends. many of whom didn't know who or what to believe. >> this has been two and a half years of -- of living hell.

it's not anything that you wish upon anybody. >> reporter: leslie's friend terri had gone back to the medium a second time for more answers. >> i remember asking, "is she -- with her children?" "is she watching out for the kids?" and she said, "yes, but they're not hearing her." "she's trying desperately and she cannot get in peace until they do hear her." >> is your take on that that they're supporting bob? >> that's exactly what i think. uh-huh. >> reporter: jurors were taking their time deliberating, but then on the afternoon of day 4, reporter sarah beth ackerman noticed a sudden commotion. >> well, we started noticing that there were several other district attorneys, kind of, making their way over to the courtroom. so, we all knew that something was gonna happen. >> reporter: the neulander family arrived. jenna was clinging to her father. >> she was crying. she was breathing really heavily. >> reporter: everyone filed back into the quiet courtroom, the tension suffocating as the

foreperson rose to deliver the doctor's fate. >> reporting emotions were high inside the court when the verdict was read. >> reporter: guilty. guilty of murdering his wife in the second degree and tampering with physical evidence. >> jenna screamed. she was hysterical, screaming, crying. it was just a nightmare. >> reporter: as officers handcuffed dr. neulander, who now faced 25 years to life in prison, jenna was pleading to her father. >> "daddy, look at me. look at me, daddy. i know you're innocent. i love you. i was there." >> reporter: and as for leslie's friends? the two women who helped drive the investigation. >> when you heard guilty, what's going through your mind? >> i was glad it was over. >> relief. i think it's a relief. >> reporter: bob's defense attorney ed menkin emerged and spoke briefly to the media. >> bob neulander is the most honorable person i have ever met. his case has been a travesty from start to finish and it is not finished.

he was sentenced 20 years to life in prison and is currently appealing his case to a higher court but there is one big question for those that believe bob snapped that september morning in 2012. wh why? the detective thought because of money. >> if they get a divorce, she would expect or could expect to get half of that. most certainly, it built up and the entire picture we were drawing. >> reporter: and part of it -- was about the marriage. >> from an investigative standpoint, i think we were looking at someone who didn't want to accept the fact that she was moving on. >> reporter: and then there was that final text between leslie and nevin. the text about meeting up in new york city in october. >> do you worry that there's a chance that maybe bob saw that text message and exploded? >> i -- i mean, maybe. i mean. >> he took it the other way that

it was romantic? >> i mean, i guess the police, you know, made mention of that. but, you know, but they don't think that it was something along those lines. nor am i gonna sit here and -- and try to, you know, get emotionally estranged from my own well-being that, like, i'm the cause of this whole situation because to be quite honest i don't think i am. i don't think anyone is. >> and as for leslie's friends who stood up and spoke the truth when most people were too afraid to. >> it's been difficult. some people don't talk to me. >> how did her children react to you? >> i'm -- i'm sure they bear me animosity. i wouldn't blame them for that. >> what would you say to bob? >> i'm sorry it ended like this. i'm very sorry. nobody wants to see somebody that they liked go to jail. but leslie didn't deserve to die. >> if leslie has looked down on all of this, what do you think she's thinking as far as how everything unraveled? >> i think she would be saying, "i was right." "see, i told you."

leslie didn't want revenge, but she wanted her story to be out there. >> that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us.

campus full of students. >> we were really scared. >> a mysterious tweet. >> what do you think it meant? >> i don't exactly know. >> a terrifying phone call. >> my son just called me and told me he killed somebody. >> and a terrible truth. >> i didn't know how. i didn't know who. i didn't know anything. i just know she was gone. >> i'm lester holt and this is "dateline." here's andrea canning with "after midnight." >> reporter: every year, as summer fades into fall and lazy days at the beach come to an end, students flood back to college. it's the same scene year after year, at campus after campus. and every year, there's that new bunch, the freshmen.