she said, well, if anything happens to me, you know who did it. that was the night she was murdered. >> tonight on "20/20" -- the burning bed. a house with secrets to burn. >> there's no way she's going to survive this. >> the woman trapped inside had secrets, too. >> she had problems with me. >> made men angry. tonight, "20/20" follows the clues of an explosive whodunit. >> she was killed inside her home. >> a revoling door of men who could be suspects. and ex-husband. her angry ex-boyfriend. >> he killed my daughter. >> or her brand new fiance, engaged after just three months? >> i tell you what, man, this conversation is over. >> but then, the biggest bombshell of all. >> why were you so convinced? >> because lucy told us. >> lucy, speaking from the

grave, in her very own journal. >> i mean, she wrote it down. >> tonight, the jury, the verdict, the outrage. with the police on trial, too. >> who dropped the ball? >> who killed lucy johnson, in the burning bed? here now, david muir and elizabeth vargas. good evening and welcome to this special edition of "20/20" saturday. we start tonight with a question that's haunting a small american town. is a killer still walking free on their streets? because authorities say where there's smoke, there's fire. >> and elizabeth, as you know, this was a big fire, covering up a crime scene. an emergency room nurse found dead on a burning bed. but did she share that bed with her killer? there are plenty of suspects here with secrets to hide. who is it? take this inside look tonight at the evidence and see if you can decide before the jury does. here's jim avila. >> reporter: 3:00 in the morning down hidden meadow court. a warm, sticky night, clear

skies, full moon. a peaceful scene shattered by a spark. >> gaston county 911. >> we have a house fire, fully engulfed, 4835 hidden meadow court. >> you think there's somebody inside? >> reporter: suddenly, the skylights up bright. a house is burning, and it looks bad. neighbors are horrified. >> we think there is somebody inside, please help us. there's a lady's car here, she's not answering -- there's no way she's going to survive this. >> and now at noon, a house burned down to the ground where a mother and two children lived. eyewitness news reporter ken lemon, he's been on the scene with investigators all morning. >> reporter: reporter ken lemon with abc affiliate wsoc, is among the first on the scene. >> as you mentioned, police can't say if it is that woman. the house was in ruins. and you could tell it was a pretty bad fire. >> reporter: the missing lady is 31-year-old lucy johnson. married twice.

a well-liked young mother living with her two children, working as an emergency room nurse. lucy's children are safe. they had spent the night with their respective fathers. but where is lucy? >> and then i hear from more neighbors who say, you know, "i was at the back door. i was at the door trying to get in and i couldn't get inside." and they began to tell me about the woman they couldn't account for. >> reporter: this grim document obtained from the investigation file has the terrible answer. it shows a badly burned body in an upstairs bedroom. >> as you know, we do have a body in the house and it is deceased. >> reporter: that body, unrecognizable, identified only by dental x-rays and the serial numbers on her breast implants. and sadly, yes, it is lucy. a police officer calls her father, mike dye. >> she informed me that there was a fire at lucy's house, and i asked her, i said, "well, did

lucy get out?" she said, "no, lucy is still in the house." so, i broke down. >> reporter: with a body inside, this is more than a fire. police are called, arson inspectors. it's an all-out investigation. in the ashes, those investigators immediately notice something strange -- the burn pattern. a trained fire dog detects a suspicious trail of burnt gasoline leading from lucy's bed, down the blackened stairway and out the back door. >> it wasn't an accident. >> reporter: no, this is arson. >> and then suddenly this car comes racing right up to the police tape. and this guy jumps out and he runs into the arms of the first person there and he starts crying. >> reporter: the man's name is mike mead, and he's crying, because inside the smoking hulk of a building is the woman with whom he's planning a future.

when you get there, what do you see? >> oh, lord. the house was still smoldering, still smoking. >> reporter: lucy was his fiance. you think to this day that she was the love of your life? >> yeah, i think she was. >> reporter: mike mead and lucy johnson were building that future in gaston county, north carolina. once known for cotton mills and corn whiskey. west of charlotte, maybe, south of justice. where authorities now have to ask -- who would want to burn lucy's house down? friends and family say lucy was on the feisty side of southern belle, a good woman with a weakness for cigarettes, mountain dew, pick-up trucks and the men who drove them. lucy's uncle, ken dye, likes to call some of them unsuitable gentlemen. >> she had problems with men. >> reporter: bad choices? >> bad choices. >> reporter: deana bradshaw has known lucy since they were teenagers.

>> she needed love. she never wanted to be by herself. and i believe that was her downfall. >> reporter: lucy likes kids. she has a 7-year-old daughter with her first husband and a 6-month-old infant son with a recent ex-boyfriend, a man named jim spelock, who made his living at the nearby catawba nuclear plant. now, lately there is little love lost between lucy and jim. broken up before their baby is even born. in fact, after the delivery, right there in the recovery room, there is a nasty scene over, of all things, the newborn baby's name. >> i have never seen an individual so obsessed with the naming of a child. >> reporter: private investigator steve ehlers says spelock wants the baby named after him, james spelock iii. but headstrong lucy would have none of that and names the boy cason. that doesn't go over well with daddy. they argue, and lucy kicks jim out of the maternity ward.

and he doesn't go quietly. taking with him baby presents and the car seat. >> he just went into a berserk outrage. >> takes her car and leaves her stranded at the hospital with no way home, no car seat. >> reporter: jim and lucy spend a lot of time in and out of court, fighting over custody, child support and that name. >> yeah, if she wanted to get her way, she was going to get her way. that was lucy. >> reporter: she was outspoken. >> yes. she didn't take no stuff. >> reporter: but by the summer, some daylight begins to shine on lucy's life. that's when she meets mike mead online. 39 years old. he has a pickup, but he also has a bmw, a successful inventor and entrepreneur from nearby ft. mill, south carolina, who enjoys the finer things, like sitdown dinners at the steakhouse chain. >> she was dressed really nice.

i dressed up nice and we went out to longhorn, had dinner. you know, i was real curious about why she was wanting to date somebody when she just had a baby. >> reporter: can i ask you what was special about this relationship? how you get that attached that soon? >> i just felt like we really had this connection, and we went right into family mode. i mean, the kids got all along. our three dogs got along. i mean, it was just like everything just clicked. >> reporter: they hit it off. whirlwind relationship. and right off the bat, less than three weeks after meeting, lucy has some news for mike -- she is pregnant. >> very unexpected, very unplanned. >> reporter: you just met this woman. >> right. >> reporter: and soon after you find out she's going to have your baby? >> that's right. >> reporter: mike says he quickly got used to the idea of becoming a new dad. they were in love. mike saved this voicemail lucy left two nights before her sudden death. >> hey, baby, it's me. just calling to say good night. i'm going to bed right now. so, i love you and i'll talk to you tomorrow. bye. >> i was happy. i was tickled to death, you know. lucy was beautiful, smart, she was a fantastic mother. you know, i couldn't think of anybody i'd want to have a baby

with more. >> reporter: so tickled that just three months into their love affair, he gives lucy a diamond engagement ring. a great big one. >> we felt like, you know, we're going to be together, we're going to have this baby, it's going to be wonderful, so you know, let's just go ahead and get -- let's do it. >> reporter: a couple of nights later, lucy cooks mike a pot roast with biscuits at her home in gastonia. good times, says mike. until a shadow is cast over the evening by the roar of a pickup truck outside. it's jim spelock, the ex-boyfriend, arriving for his visitation day. there to pick up his infant child for the night. >> when she came back from the door, her demeanor was all different. >> reporter: what did he want from her that night? >> well, he told her that he had filed a motion to take cason to pennsylvania for two weeks. >> reporter: evening spoiled. so mike goes home. lucy drops by her close friend deana's house to do her hair and show off that ring. >> it was a very nice ring,

large diamond, princess cut, it was a ring that he had previously gave a girl before. he reused the ring and gave it to lucy. >> reporter: hours later, the spitfire of a young nurse, in love, engaged to a man of means, carrying his child, excited that her life is finally turning around. but now, it's all over. lucy is dead. her body sprawled across her burning bed. >> they said her body was positioned in a funny way on the bed. >> reporter: you believe that looked like there was a struggle? >> yes. the way it was described. >> reporter: surprisingly, for the victim of a fire, there is no soot, no ash in her airway. that can mean only one thing -- when the fire started, lucy wasn't breathing. she was already dead. suddenly the police clam up. they have more disturbing clues to follow.

>> they still wouldn't tell us anything. they wouldn't even tell us how she died. >> reporter: when we come back, if the fire didn't kill lucy, what did? and the more unsettling question, who did? >> the [ bleep ] killed my daughter. has the power to captivate. [ all cheering ] ♪ that's why shakira uses... crest 3d white with whitelock technology, removing up to ninety percent of surface stains, and locking out future stains. so your smile always steals the show. and to get even faster whitening, use this collection for a whiter smile in just 2 days. crest 3d white. life opens up with a whiter smile.

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the burning bed continues. once again, jim avila. >> reporter: as lucy johnson's house on hidden meadow court smolders, gaston county, north carolina, police are feeling the pressure. a nurse and caring mother of two with another baby on the way, her badly scorched body found atop her burning bed. the police interrogation room needs a revolving door with the long list of exes, from two husbands, a former boyfriend and a fiance to question. which way to turn? everyone is watching. including local tv reporter ken lemon. >> the thing that i think really drew people in is that you have

a single mother. and she was excited about her, you know, relationship and her engagement with this man. >> reporter: where would the evidence lead police? first, a quick search of the house, shown in this police video, seems to rule out a stranger. no evidence of a break-in here. the locks are still intact. >> she was killed in her home. that's a total violation. and the belief is that she was killed in her home by somebody she knew. not by a straunger. >> reporter: next, police move to the autopsy sketch. the medical examiner must have worn out his pen illustrating the terrible damage. and there, inside lucy's head, a find that will change the investigation -- a bullet. and then more. fragments of a second bullet. conclusion? lucy was shot twice in the back of the head. now, it's not only an arson case -- now, friends, we have a murder. the very public search for a killer is on. and local media is watching.

>> so many questions today about a fire that took the life of a pregnant mother. >> we have several people of interest that we're looking at right now. >> so everybody's watching. people wanted to know who did this. >> reporter: another clue from the crime scene -- the burned-out house. lucy's engagement ring can't be found anywhere. but also missing and perhaps even more important is a murder weapon. where is the gun? >> dive crews are back at lake wylie looking for evidence to solve a pregnant mother's murder. >> reporter: they target an area near a boat landing not far from the home of a potential suspect, lucy's ex-boyfriend jim spelock. >> two days of diving for a weapon didn't produce anything. >> reporter: there's no weapon. there's no gun found. >> there's nothing. >> reporter: with no fingerprints, everything destroyed in the burned-out house, no murder weapon and no eyewitnesses to the crime, police must now turn to the circumstantial clues. starting with the men in lucy's life. lucy's uncle, ken dye, saw them come and saw them go.

she made some men angry. >> she -- yes. >> reporter: gaston county police open up the interrogation room. they bring in phillip okrulica for questioning. he's lucy's first husband and the father of her daughter lauren. when they were together, okrulica was arrested for domestic violence twice. he comes in to tell police he never really hit lucy, but he did grab her. but that trail cools when okrulica has a tight alibi. the night of the fire, he says he was home all night, and his new wife confirms it. onto lucy's husband number two, jim johnson. another relationship that got ugly at the end. he has a police record of violence against lucy, and lucy's friend deana says she witnessed one incident. >> he had her cornered, drilling her like a sergeant, barking at her, verbally, loud. she was afraid. she was very afraid. >> he was a suspect because he had threatened to burn her house

down. >> reporter: that's a pretty good reason to be a suspect. >> right. >> reporter: but more investigation shows johnson was on the carolina coast, four hours away at the time of the crime, forcing police to dismiss him as a suspect. so, now we turn our attention to mike mead, lucy's new fiance and father to be. mike and lucy's romance was so recent, that day at the fire was the first time her uncle ken dye had ever seen him. >> i didn't know who he was, never met him before, didn't recognize him. and then, i noticed that the detectives put him in the car and was talking to him. >> reporter: but of all the stops on lucy johnson's troubled trail of romance, one man stood out. at least to family and friends. >> oh, yes. at the very, very beginning i thought jim spelock had did it. everyone did. >> reporter: james spelock, the father of lucy's infant son, is in the family's crosshairs. lucy's father, mike dye.

>> the [ bleep ] killed my daughter. >> reporter: ken dye says his mother, who raised lucy from when she was a teenager, was convinced the minute she heard about the fire. >> she said, "i know who done it." i said, "who done it?" he said, "jim spelock done it." >> i knew immediately he did it. something i felt in the pit of my stomach. >> reporter: why? >> because of the constant threats and the constant ongoing struggles they had. there wasn't a single day from the day i met lucy until the day that she died that we didn't have some conversation about jim. >> reporter: was she afraid of him? >> absolutely. >> reporter: how do you know that? >> he threatened to burn her house down. he threatened to cut her up and feed her to the pigs. he would tell her that he could kill her without coming in the house because he was a certified sniper. >> reporter: what do you believe set him off this time? >> desperation. lucy's marrying a successful guy that's going to be able to support her financially. lucy's moving.

>> reporter: it is documented, spelock has been fighting with lucy over child support and custody. lucy has pictures of bruises on her arms. and in family court, claims spelock put them their while she was pregnant with their son. the relationship so poisonous, jim spelock had been recording their conversations. >> you're a very sneaky, manipulative person and it ain't going to work. >> no, you're the sneaky, manipulative person, jim. >> i'm not. >> because you're the one that did all of that. you're the one that was at the lawyer's office the day after i gave birth. >> i wasn't at the office i was on the phone with them. >> you're concerned with yourself. >> reporter: that's jim spelock documenting his attempts to see his son. >> do you plan on paying child support voluntarily? >> well, i guess that's up to you. can i see my son or not? i've seen him like five times since he's been born. are you going let me see him? >> yes, and you can bring me some money when you come see him. >> reporter: police want to know where spelock was the night of the murder, but he has plausible alibi, too. he tells police he was at his house all night, with the baby.

>> did you stay here all night taking care of cason? >> yeah. i was here all night. >> reporter: he has a roommate who says he didn't hear jim leave. then police find and interview this woman, who was up late, texting with jim spelock most of that night. >> did he text you tuesday? >> he sent me the text at 4:30. >> just want to make sure i have it all here. >> reporter: but while the clues may be sending the family in jim spelock's direction, law enforcement is not convinced. >> and when other people began to focus their coverage towards spelock, they were able to tell me early on, "don't go there. don't do that." >> reporter: police even issue a rare public statement clearing spelock on paper. it's unheard of. police are going in a different direction and they make an arrest. >> so, who do you think that man in the jumpsuit is? we're live tweeting throughout tonight's show. use #abc2020. when we come back here

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we return to "20/20's" the burning bed. once again, jim avila. >> breaking news out of gaston county. >> reporter: it is breaking news. >> surprising developments in the murder of a mother of two. >> reporter: a shocking development in gaston county, north carolina's biggest murder mystery in years. >> new developments in the lucy johnson murder case. >> reporter: the man lucy johnson was in a bitter custody

battle with is ruled out as her killer. and now, in an even more surprising move, the man lucy had told everyone was the answer to her prayers, mike mead, is arrested. >> police say mike mead shot lucy johnson to death in her home last summer. >> reporter: it catches everyone offguard, especially mike mead, the successful local businessman, never before accused of a violent crime. the man no one suspected of threatening lucy is now charged with arson, murder, even rape. local tv reporter ken lemon was on the case from the beginning. >> when the charges came out, they seemed to come out of left field. >> reporter: prosecutors, motivated by the sympathetic, innocent victim, and the death of her unborn child, seek the death penalty. how did mike mead become the prime suspect? police became suspicious when they first brought him in. he denied killing lucy, but after this interrogation, obtained by discovery channel, investigators are convinced that the whirlwind storybook romance is a sham.

>> i felt so in love with her, so close to her. you know, it just hurts me thinking that you guys would even think that i -- >> well -- >> i would have no motive. why [ bleep ] -- we were supposed to be on vacation this week, man. i was really looking forward to spending my life with this chick. >> but he usually described her as "chick" or "that chick" or something to that effect. which was very unusual. >> reporter: eddie meeks is one of the prosecutors convinced mead is the killer. >> we knew he didn't trust her. and that was in direct contradiction to his "love of my life" story. >> reporter: and police say mead was suspicious and jealous, pointing to this exchange. >> when you were suspicious of lucy a little bit. >> yeah, i just -- >> when she would have been -- >> wanted to make sure she wasn't somebody else there banging her on something -- >> and she was banging somebody, what would you do? >> i'd walk out. >> reporter: it was a tense few hours for mead. >> you are the one who is not telling us anything. >> i tell you what, man. this conversation's over. okay? i'm done with this [ bleep ].

i had nothing to [ bleep ] do with this. >> he seemed to enjoy the -- the cat and mouse game, so to speak. >> reporter: in fact, for police, mike mead was his own worst enemy. they interview lucy's best friend, deana bradshaw, who tells them about an odd conversation she had with mead the day after the murder. >> he was in too good of a mood. he was laughing. he was happy. he's talking about lucy's breasts, and how he was going to miss them. he was not sad that he just lost his fiance. >> reporter: mead's behavior is enough to raise suspicion with lucy's family. at lucy's memorial service, her uncle says mead made more inappropriate comments. this time, about a 17-year-old relative. >> mike leaned over and said, "man, i'd sure like to have me some of that." this was at lucy's -- >> reporter: at the funeral? >> at her memorial service. the love of his life, as he called her. he was acting like he was at a party.

>> reporter: as prosecutors ready for trial, they work to build a case that mike mead has a history of rough encounters with women he has dated. more than a dozen women who say mike was vindictive, aggressive, pushy and outright creepy. >> you start to hear things like he has a pattern. a pattern of meeting women online. a pattern of relationship that seems strong and then all of a sudden it turns really bad. >> reporter: a key witness for the prosecution, best friend deana, says mike and lucy fought constantly about her pregnancy. mike, she says, wanted her to get an abortion. >> he never believed that the baby was his. her feelings were hurt. that he did not want her to have the baby. >> reporter: odd behavior, a possible pattern of aggressive encounters with women, and some circumstantial evidence. would it be enough? it's off to trial in charlotte, north carolina.

>> this is about cold-blooded premeditated murder. >> reporter: the prosecution tells the jury mike is on a mission to be done with lucy and the baby, and he wants his ring back. >> this was a $12,000 to $15,000 ring that mr. mead admittedly gave her. she's not the first person to have that ring but she definitely was the last. >> reporter: if it was going to end, he was going to take the diamond with him. >> miss johnson, i believe, we believe, lost her life over that diamond. >> this is about a control device, what i like to call a blood diamond. >> reporter: police never find that diamond. but they were excited about another find at the house, the gold standard of evidence, dna. the fire at lucy's house did not burn everything. evidence technicians are able to recover dna inside lucy. diane turbyfill covered the trial for "the gaston gazette." >> there was some biological evidence of -- that michael mead had had sex with lucy johnson within about 24 hours of her death. >> reporter: why does that matter? prosecutors say mead denied

having sex with her that night but police say he did and dna proves it. what's more, they say it was rape. >> lucy would not have had sex with him willingly. >> lucy was pregnant and she had a condition that made having sex dangerous for the health of the baby. >> reporter: it was a flashpoint in mike mead's police interrogation. he is vehement the sex was consensual and several days before the murder. >> but you said you had sex with her after that. >> really, because she begged and -- >> you still had sex. >> i don't know. >> come on. >> no, but -- it was super gentle. >> don't give us a bunch of crap that you didn't do this when you clearly did. >> reporter: at trial, prosecutors aren't finished. they have a blockbuster surprise. a star witness who tells jurors, hold on. mike mead, he says, confessed to him. that's right. outright admitted he pulled the trigger that killed lucy johnson. lucy's uncle can barely believe his years.

>> he said that mike mead told him that he didn't mean to shoot her the first time. that he just shot at her to scare her and it hit her. and it freaked him out so bad because she was jerking around and that he went and shot her again in the back of the head. >> reporter: the prosecution ran with that. >> she reached out to him and said, "oh, my god, you shot me. mike, please don't let me die." >> reporter: powerful, huh? but there is a problem. that star witnes, he has a bit of a credibility issue. you see, he is a convicted child rapist who says mead told him all this while both were locked up together for a short time in county jail. >> i've never confessed to a cop. i've never confessed to my lawyers. i've never confessed to anybody because i'm not going to confess for something i didn't do. but i'm going to confide in a guy who raped a girl. >> reporter: as the prosecution closes its case, is the deck stacked against mike mead, or is it a house of cards?

next, the murder victim testifies from the grave. lucy's journal names a suspect. >> i mean, she wrote it down. >> reporter: it's a former boyfriend, but which one? i was active. i kept on top of things. i was energetic. then the chronic, widespread pain drained my energy. my doctor and i agreed, moving more helps ease fibromyalgia pain. she also prescribed lyrica. for some patients, lyrica significantly relieves fibromyalgia pain and improves physical function. with less pain, i feel better. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling or blurry vision. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you

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didn't. >> reporter: really? what about all those women prosecutors say mike mistreated? many of them at the end of the relationship were quite unhappy with you, right? they were angry at you. >> sure. i wouldn't doubt that. they said at my bond hearing that there was 18 women that came forward and signed sworn affidavits of abuse, that i'm a violent person, and i challenge you to show one. not one. there's never been one complaint from any woman that i've ever been with that i've laid a hand on physically. and are there girls out there that ended badly with? who hasn't? >> reporter: but you never hit any of them? >> never. >> reporter: never threatened them? >> never. never stalked any of them, never burned any of their houses. never raped anybody, nothing. >> the expectation coming from the d.a.'s office is that we're going to hear a lot of these women. >> reporter: but the jury never hears that. >> we don't see not one of these women take the stand. >> reporter: that's right. the judge ruled that their stories were inadmissible, irrelevant because none of those women had ever accused him of a crime. okay, but what about the

engagement ring, the so-called blood diamond? prosecutors say its part of the motive. mead was done with lucy, didn't want that baby and wanted his ring back. >> it's a $15,000 ring, just never was found. we thought -- we found that to be very, very strange. very odd. >> reporter: but it's not airtight, because it wasn't like it was found in mike mead's pocket or in his drawer or in his car. >> right. >> reporter: it just wasn't found. >> it just wasn't found. >> reporter: mike mead lives alone, so, on the night of the murder, there's no one but his dog to vouch for him. >> and when i went to bed that night, god knows i didn't think i needed an alibi. you know, if the dog had talked we'd be in good shape but you know, dogs can't talk. >> reporter: but mead offers police three electronic alibis. first, he says his alarm system, as he demonstrated to us, shows he was at home all night. two, his cell phone also puts him at home all night. three, he was playing madden nfl

on playstation, and the timestamp on the game places him at home at the crucial time. but how does m mead answer the prosecution claim that the dna evidence proves he forced sex with lucy on the night of the murder and lied about it? mead's defense investigator steve ehlers admits if the dna found in lucy was fresh, mike was there that night and murdered her. >> the perpetrator goes in, rapes her, shoots her, burns her house down. >> reporter: but on cross examination, the prosecution witness is forced to concede that critical dna may not be all that fresh and just as mike claimed, could have been from sex days before the murder. >> that semen was not the home run or the smoking gun they thought they were going to have. >> reporter: and if that isn't enough of a perry mason moment, listen up. the defense is granted a rare gift. the judge allows them to stand up in open court, in front of the jury, and not only proclaim mike mead's innocence, they get to point their finger at the man they say is the real killer.

>> in north carolina, the rule is pretty strict, you can't do that. unless you have got direct evidence pointing to the guilt of someone else, relevant evidence. >> reporter: unleashed, the defense turns prosecution and puts jim spelock on trial. starting with his alibi, that he was at his house with his baby, his roommate didn't hear him leave, and there was a woman who first told police spelock and she were texting all night. but then revised her story. >> did i think it was weird that he sent me a text at 3:00, yes. >> okay. >> it was out of character for him. >> she showed back up at the police department and said, he didn't text me all night. actually, he stopped texting me for two and a half hours. ironically, at the two and a half hours when lucy was being killed and her house was being set on fire. >> reporter: in fact, by the time of the trial, lucy has been dead for three years. but now, the jury is about to hear from her again. that's right. lucy becomes the star witness at her own murder trial.

offering stunning testimony from the grave. written in this pink polka dot notebook. a journal lucy kept to build a custody case against jim spelock >> lucy told us over and over again in her own words who she thought she was in danger from. >> reporter: and it wasn't just all about that pink notebook. the prosecution witness, deana bradshaw, reluctantly delivered some devastating evidence in mike mead's favor. >> and she said, "well, if anything happens to me, you know who did it." and, so she was referring to jim spelock. but it was all in laughter. >> reporter: laughed it off, maybe. but then she brought it up again. but she had said, "well, remember what i said," you know, referring to if she's killed, that jim spelock did it. and we were laughing and she left. that was the night she was murdered.

>> reporter: and in that pink notebook, lucy also documents accounts of spelock's online gambling and an interest in cross-dressing that extended to buying sexual paraphernalia on the internet while he was supposed to be working at the nuclear power plant. >> just about two weeks before her death, for the first time ever, she was able to document, to actually document on the computer, that he was purchasing these items. >> reporter: documentation lucy had just turned over to her custody lawyer days before her death. >> mr. spelock was aware that she had the proof of her allegations. >> reporter: that's the defense case. jim spelock murdered lucy johnson because she was about to win the custody case and reveal his darkest secrets. how more definitive can you be? >> that's another reason why at first we felt like it was him. but i've learned -- don't jump to conclusions.

he was perfect person to be framed for a crime. >> reporter: jim spelock turned down our requests for an interview when our report first aired, but denies he murdered lucy or bought womens clothes for himself. and prosecutor eddie meeks believed him. >> regardless of all these different arrows pointing, all these red herrings, at the end of the day, when you weigh all the evidence, it was only one arrow and it pointed at michael mead. >> reporter: but who does the jury believe? >> so, the question here tonight, what would you make of those writings in lucy's journal? enough to influence how you'd vote on the jury? let us know on twitter, use #abc2020. >> you'll hear from the jury when we come back for the first time, revealing why they decided what they did. we'll be right back. when "20/20" continues -- what the jury heard. what they thought. and their bombshell verdict, based on lucy's journal. >> i mean, she wrote it down. >> but which name did she write? next. ♪

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"20/20" continues. once more, jim avila. >> reporter: lucy johnson's 34th birthday, if she had lived. and for her fiance, mike mead, judgment day. the jury announces they have reached a verdict after nearly nine hours deliberation. >> well, i'm always terrified while i'm waiting for a jury. you can never be sure. people ask criminal defense attorneys all the time, how can you defend somebody that you know is guilty? trust me, it is much harder to defend someone when you truly believe they're innocent. >> reporter: and here it is. the verdict. >> michael mead, not guilty. >> members of the jury, thank

you very much for your work on this case. >> reporter: not guilty on all counts. mike mead goes from dead man walking to find me the nearest exit. >> just thank god that i'm here. i fully expected not guilty. >> reporter: why were you not surprised when they said not guilty? >> because i had set in the same trial for seven weeks that they had. >> reporter: and? >> and if it was sitting on that jury, i would have been going, you know, what in the world is going on with this case? >> reporter: so "20/20" gathered 11 jurors and returned them to their seats in the same courtroom, for their first group interview, where it was clear that the defense strategy worked. >> i don't understand how they were able to come to trial to not even give a second look at jim spelock. >> reporter: a key element for the jury -- lucy's own words in her journal. so lucy johnson, herself, told you, a juror, jim spelock did it.

>> if anything were to happen to me, spelock did it. i mean, she wrote it down. >> he wanted that son named after him, and she wouldn't do it. >> reporter: and they thought spelock had motive. the women's clothing lucy said he bought for himself. >> james spelock was backed into a corner at this point. >> i think -- >> i think he was desperate, in that he needed to stop that from being out in public. >> reporter: the jurors tell us, in all of lucy's messages from the grave, they found not one word against mike mead. >> there was never any entry in any of her journals about him doing anything aggressive to her at all. >> i thought the state was really grasping at straws. >> the evidence was overwhelming, as far as mike mead not doing it. >> reporter: and that's hard to hear, isn't it? >> that's hard to hear. >> reporter: the jurors saved their harshest criticism for the police. comparing them to a classic fictional north carolina law enforcement bafoon.

>> i called him barney fife, in my mind. we got a bunch of barney fifes. >> i think barney was smarter. >> they didn't have a clue what they're doing. >> they blew it. and i think that's what bothers me about this case the most. and we do have a horrendous murder case, that has not been solved. it leaves you wondering. >> reporter: so, whether it was bad police work or prosecuting the wrong man or perhaps the perfect crime that allowed mike mead to get away with murder, one thing for sure. no one thinks lucy johnson got justice. since mike mead has been tried and acquitted, and since you don't believe that there's anybody else out there that could have done the crime, lucy will never get justice, in your mind. >> not in my mind. >> reporter: today, jim spelock has full custody of his son cason, who after lucy's death, he renamed james spelock iii.

mike mead says although he is free, he lives under a cloud of suspicion. we interviewed meeks, okay? to this day he thinks you did it. >> well, to this day he's an idiot. >> where there's smoke, there's fire. >> the evidence is clear. i have no respect for meeks. so, you know, what meeks thinks i don't really care. what i think matters is what the 15 jurors that heard the evidence think. >> reporter: mead has moved from south to north carolina, trying to live a new life. did it bother you that even though you were aacquitted, there are people to this day who believe that you got away with murder? >> well, sure. it would bother anybody. it's excruciating. it's excruciating. >> reporter: right now, mead is in the middle of an open lawsuit charging his civil rights were violated by the gaston county police and he was falsely prosecuted as a result. the police say they cannot comment on a pending legal matter. do you ever close your eyes and

think about what it would be like if none of this happened? where would you life be with lucy right now? yeah, i would have a wife, a beautiful wife, a little boy, yeah. >> reporter: you miss her? >> yeah, i miss her. >> reporter: the home where lucy lived and died, today, just a vacant lot. a driveway that leads to nowhere. like the dead end investigation into her murder. anything help at all? >> no. just my faith in god, that one day, the person that did this will have to face him, face another judge. >> reporter: where all the evidence will be in. >> right. nothing's hidden from him. it'll be exposed. (woman) caring for someone with alzheimer's means

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policies without the price tags. now, that's progressive. since we first started reporting on this story, we learned that mike mead is continuing on with his civil suit. and that's our program for tonight. thank you so much for watching. >> good to be with you on a saturday. from all of us here at "20/20," we hope you're having a great weekend. good night. >> a young boy mrunths 30 feet during a ski lift accident in

montgomery county and an amber alert cancelled for these two children but their mother is still missing. children but their mother is still missing. next on "action news." for everyone, right? and...you got mustard on your suit. actually, it's your suit. one deposit checking. only from citizens bank. one deposit of any amount each statement period waives the monthly maintenance fee. >> saturday night. i'm walter perez and the big story on "action news" is