rolling, expecting to investigate a robbery. but what they found had detective billy's phone ringing as he sat down to dinner. >> i was called at home and i was told that i needed to come in. there was a robbery that had occurred. >> reporter: when the detective went up the driveway to the back of the house, he discovered a woman huddled in her car. she had been bound and duct tape. >> i walked up to the car and i noticed she had duct tape around her head. she also still had some duct tape around her wrists. >> reporter: and not more than a few feet from this blue and white suburban police found a bloodied and lifeless gray-haired man. it was a bit of a shock for detective momak. the victim was someone he knew well. >> it was pretty surreal. >> reporter: the man on the ground was melvin roberts and everyone knew him. he was a former mayor of york one of the town's wealthiest businessmen and a legendary defense attorney. >> i had had a few cases with him. kind of a stern man, but always

friendly. >> reporter: and the woman who called police to the scene was julia phillips melvin's long-time girlfriend. >> she was worried that melvin was dead. she said she didn't know what had happened to him. >> reporter: investigators of the scene told julia the devastating news melvin had been murdered. >> reporter: is that a little jolt melvin roberts was the victim? >> yeah. because melvin is not the type of a person to be a victim of anything. >> reporter: melvin was the longest practices lawyer in south carolina. he defended both the rich and poor for 55 years. he almost sounds like a bit of a small-town celebrity whether he liked it or not. >> the thing about melvin was he was into everything. >> reporter: he was so influential, the street where he lived was named after him, roberts avenue. a true renaissance man devoted to his family. >> he was everything to me. he was my best friend. he was my mentor. >> reporter: melvin had two sons david and ronny. >> he was instrumental in making

me into who i am. >> reporter: the three men shared an unusually strong bond. >> dad, david and myself it was our normal routine to have lunch everyday. >> reporter: you all sound thick and thieves the three of you. >> absolutely. the last thing i did was give dad a big hug and kiss on the cheek and tell him i love him and he told me the same thing, every single day. >> he loved to take me out to the farm. >> reporter: melvin's only grandchild emily roberts, recalled how her grand dad had a way of keeping his family close. >> we would always go vacationing in different countries, fishing in costa rica. for my graduation from college or scuba diving in bonne air and just bonding together. it was quite an amazing relationship. >> reporter: and then there was julia. she and melvin started dating ten years earlier. he was divorced and she had recently been widows. >> reporter: did they quickly

become a fixture around town. >> yes, immediately. he adored her and she adored him. she loves to travel. she's spunky and fun. we thought it was the perfect match. >> reporter: she fit right into this tight-knit family. >> she was bubbly. she was a good cook. >> that's a plus. >> way to the man's heart. >> that's right. all i want. >> reporter: they became a team. melvin even helped julia start her own business. >> he eventually bought her her own store that she could sell her cosmetics and women's clothing. >> reporter: she opened the store in a nearby town where she had grown up. she called it julia's. she started otobecome part of family. >> yeah. absolutely. >> we were really happy for dad. >> reporter: but now everything changed as investigators worked the crime scene, york police captain knocked on ronny's door. >> he says, ronny, i got to tell you something. he said your father is dead. and i said no tommy. that's not true.

and he said no ronny, it's your father. i've known him most of my life and it's him. >> reporter: ronny and his brother david drove to their father's house hoping it was all a mistake. >> as you round the curve, you can see all the way up the street and it's nothing but blue lights. and that's when you know that ain't good. >> reporter: the brothers couldn't get any further than the bottom of the driveway. the home they had grown up in was now a crime scene. >> i look over to the side and i see coroner written on the back. and that's when you know that you know he ain't coming back. ♪ >> reporter: as the news of julia's attack and melvin's murder spread so too did fear. if it could happen to this prominent couple who might be next? >> someone came here with the intentions to murder him and then i'm thinking this person is still on the loose, you know? are we safe?

♪ police had one thing going for them a witness. later that night, still wrapped in duct tape julia told detectives the story of melvin's murder. it appeared to be a robbery gone bad. >> i'll kill you. >> but there was a lot investigators didn't have. this wouldn't be an easy murder to solve. >> everything was taken from the scene. there was no cutting instrument no rolls of tape no gun, nothing. it was all gone. [ woman ] i will embrace change... everything life throws my way. except for frown lines. those i'm throwing back. [ female announcer ] olay total effects. nourishing vitamins, and seven beautiful benefits in one. for younger-looking skin. so while your life may be ever-changing... ♪ ♪ ...your beautiful skin will stay beautiful. total effects from olay. your best beautiful.

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detective billy stood on the driveway that cold february night trying to figure out who killed prominent lawyer melvin roberts and brutally attacked his girlfriend julia phillips. he got a close look at melvin's body. could you tell immediately what had happened? >> he had a couple abrasions, one on top of his head and one on the side of his head next to his ear. they were good licks. someone lit him up with metal object. >> reporter: detectives could tell that melvin had been shot at. the bullet only grazed his ear, punching holes through the back of his jacket so what killed him? >> as i'm looking down at him, he had a zip tie wrapped around his neck and it was cinched down pretty good. >> reporter: 79-year-old melvin roberts had been strangled. police quickly searched the scene and spotted their first clue. prosecutor who handled the case said it was a big one. >> they were able to find

footprints back to his house. the footprints were in mud and muddy water and they still had tread so that tells us they're super fresh. >> reporter: investigators believe the footprints most likely came from a man. they quickly called in the canine unit, hoping dogs could track down the killer if he was still in the woods around melvin's house. >> the dogs picked up on fresh scents. they go out to an adjoining neighborhood where the dog loses the scent. >> reporter: that's where the trail vanished leaving little else for investigators. >> everything was taken from the scene. there was no cutting instrument no rolls of tape no empty tape certainly no zip ties no guns nothing. it was all gone. >> reporter: but detectives did have a witness -- maybe she could help solve the crime. julia was gently escorted away still wrapped in duct tape. >> have a seat for me, ms. julia. >>reporter: she arrived at the

police station -- >> you okay sweetheart? >> cold and shaken with cuts on her arm and elbow and bruises on her hand and face but despite all the trauma julia told investigators she was ready to help find melvin's killer. she's your best witness at this point. >> correct. and at this point she's our only witness. >> i can see that man. >> reporter: she took detectives through the details of the attack. it began here behind melvin's house in the large circular driveway surrounded by a red brick wall. she was getting groceries out of the back of her suv when she realized she was not alone. >> and that's when the man came and he grabbed me. he put his hand around my mouth and shoved me to the back of the barn shoved me up against the barn. >> reporter: then she made a demand. >> he kept saying money. money. >> reporter: the next thing she knew he was tying her up with

duct tape. >> and then she taped up my eyes and my mouth and my hands together. >> reporter: she said he dragged her 60 feet to the back of the parking area behind the brick wall. >> he drug me to the brick wall. he pushed me down. >> reporter: lying on the wet ground she soon heard melvin's car pull up. >> i could see the car light and he pushed me back down on the ground and he said if you say anything i'll kill you. >> reporter: a short time later, she heard a violent struggle. >> i thought i heard something like a pipe or something and then somebody -- >> what do you think you heard something sound like a pipe. >> i don't know because i heard it hit the ground. >> okay. >> and then i heard a shot. >> you heard a shot? >> it had to have been a shot. >> reporter: after that julia didn't hear anything else. she stayed behind the brick

wall hoping the killer was gone then made her escape. >> and if the tape hadn't got wet in the rain i don't know if i would have gotten it off. >> reporter: with the duct tape loose, she said she was able to use a key to break free. >> i never let go of my car key. >> reporter: julia explained to police she wanted to get help for melvin but a part of her knew it was too late. >> he was laying on that concrete and i knew that was him. and i knew in my heart that he wasn't alive but i didn't want to believe it. >> reporter: still wet and muddy, she told the police she would stay as long as they needed her. she was just grateful to be alive. >> i'm the type of person who is up at 5:00 a.m. in the morning reading my bible and i honestly believe that god protected me from all of this. i really am. >> she sat at the police station for a good bit into the night. i believe she left sometime 1, 2, 3:00 a.m. in the morning, something to that effect. >> reporter: a few days went by

and the cops were no closer to finding the killer so they did something unconventional. >> i'm driving home -- >> reporter: since julia is ready and willing, they took her back to the crime scene. >> i'm putting my car here. >> we believe if we took her back to the scene that we could get a more clear and concise picture of exactly what happened. >> reporter: they wanted julia to show them where her say say lent threw her in the mud. >> he put ne a position like this. >> maybe they missed clues behind the wall. they also wanted to revisit the sound of that pipe she heard. detectives asked her to close her eyes and just listen. >> is that the pipe sound you heard? >> not exactly. >> reporter: they were hoping it might unlock any suppressed memories from that night. she did remember more details about her attacker's voice.

>> detective continued to gently guide julia through the crime scene, but she often became emotional. it all seemed to be taking a toll and melvin's family worried about her. >> i called julia on several occasions to check on her and she was shaken up a bi >> reporter: she was worried that someone was still out there? >> yes to the point that at her store, they would leave the door locked and would not let anybody in until t who was at the door. >> reporter: so who could have done this to julia and melvin? detectives were about to discover the number of possible suspects was daunting. coming up -- a man with a lot of friends and a lot of enemies. >> put a list together. anything that anyone could have had a conflict with dad about over whatever -- >> reporter: how long was the list? >> there was at least 75 names.

>> was melvin's kille

♪ >> reporter: the attack on julia phillips and the murder of her boyfriend, melvin roberts, looked like a robbery gone wrong, but once investigators took a closer look the clues at the crime scene told a different story. >> no money was taken. the moneybag that julia brought with her had roughly $80 in it. also melvin i believe he had in the neighborhood of $400 in

his wallet still. >> reporter: prosecutor chris hodge believed this was a premeditated hit. >> we had to figure out who would have any motive. so you had to really hone in on people who knew melvin and anybody who had a beef with him. >> reporter: that wouldn't be easy because melvin was no ordinary man. as detectives started looking into melvin's relationships with people around town they learned he had two sides. while he could be incredibly kind and generous he also had an edge. >> he had no problem telling you what he thought of you or what you should do or what you could do better. so he's known to have a little bit of a temper. >> reporter: police wondered if that temper would have given someone a reason to kill. they also took a close look at melvin's business dealings. besides being a defense attorney he owned multiple rentals and a car lot. police asked his son's to come up with a list of potential

suspects anyone who might have a grudge. >> i had all the people who worked for dad, put a list together of clients, that he represented or had a case against him. rental properties evictions, ropro repos. >> reporter: houpg was the list? >> it was at least 75 names, at least. >> he's been an attorney for 55 years. he has made people pay child support who may not want to pay child support. >> lose their children in a divorce. >> reporter: there were people who may want to see harm to your dad potentially. >> potentially. >> potentially. >> reporter: working from that list police began knocking on doors and bringing people in for questioning. detectives also pursued a promising lead from their only witness, melvin's girlfriend julia. they focussed on a key detail she had given them the killer's accent. >> or if he just couldn't speak good english.

>> one of the descriptions julia gives us was that it was an indian type with an accent. >> reporter: that clicked with the detective. he learned about a couple who rented a house from melvin. the husband had an indian accent and his wife had a nasty fight with melvin. >> i had found out that about a week before that melvin had an argument with a fairly large female tenant. >> reporter: she complained that the floor was cracking near the kitchen sink. >> melvin told her if she wasn't such a fat ass that she wouldn't be breaking the floor. >> reporter: those could be fighting words for someone. >> pretty strong words for a husband to take and i could see getting pretty upset with that. and maybe going overboard. >> reporter: when the detective went to the house to speak to the husband, the man told him that he was at work at the time of the murder. investigators set out to check his story. police were also very interested in someone else melvin's

handyman gene moss. david said he walked on his dad and moss having an argument on the night of the murder in a conference room. >> dad was having issues with gene and so i thought they were having a private conversation. i looked at them and said bye, dad, i'll see you tomorrow kind of thing and i walked out the door. >> reporter: it was the last time david saw his dad alive. >> gene wasn't doing what dad wanted him to. >> reporter: was gene about to get the boot? >> i thought so. i thought dad was being a little bit too hard on gene. dad, you ought to back it down a notch or two. if you're going to get rid of him, fire him. >> gene was one of the main suspects we were looking at. >> reporter: they discovered dna on the zip tie found around melvin's neck. they immediately started swabbing suspects hoping to find a match. >> i have over 80 dna samples that i collected from anybody and everybody connected to this case. >> did you interview all those people? >> all those people had been interviewed by me or at least

one of the other three or four or five detectives that had assisted with this case. >> reporter: 80 people? >> uh-huh. >> reporter: clearly it would be a tough case to crack. a bit like finding a suspect in a hay stack. >> in a stack of suspects probably yeah. >> reporter: but were they looking in the right hay stack? coming up -- a secret kept in a bedroom. >> we found a lot of empty prescription pill bottles and pharmacy reseats. >> had police also found the motive for melvin's murder? and why is he not sweating? he must be a secret agent. [man] menu, madam? [extra] excuse me... new axe dry spray. goes on dry and keeps you dry with no visible residue. the first ever dry spray antiperspirant from axe.

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♪ returning to our story. a wealthy lawyer has been murdered and his long-time girlfriend found bruised, crying and wrapped in duct tape at the scene of the crime. he had lots of friends, but as a lawyer and a landlord he had made enemies, too.

that was an obvious place for police to start their investigate, but is that where it would end? here again is andrea canning. >> reporter: four days after his murder melvin roberts was laid to rest in the town he had called home for the last years. did it feel like the whole town came to the funeral? >> it did, yeah. everybody was there. from all over. >> he was the go-to guy in york. you needed to figure something out or needed help he wasn't afraid to take on anybody. >> he never backed down. he always looked out for the little guy because i think he sauls saw himself as the little guy. >> reporter: but as hundreds gathered to say good-bye to melvin an odd feeling settled over the mourners was it fear was it suspicion? could someone amongst them be the killer? melvin's granddaughter, emily started looking over her shoulder. >> who could there be? how could this happen? who would want him dead? >> reporter: was it putting the town on edge.

>> yeah. we have to figure out who this killer with. >> reporter: detectives were working around the clock, strieing to narrow down the long list of potential suspects. they learned that the angry tenant who fit the description of the fan they were looking for couldn't possibly be the killer. he was at work. prosecutor chris hodge. >> he has to clock in and clock out and his employer verified the time he was there and that he had not left and stayed until his shift was over so he had an air-tight alibi. >> then there was the handyman gene moss who had an argument with melvin shortly before the murder. when the detective questioned moss he said he was at home with his wife. >> that could be a shaky alibi, your wife. >> yeah. there was a phone call that was made to him and by another fellow that i interviewed and he said he heard his wife in the background. >> on the home line. >> correct. that was just after the murder. >> reporter: moss was crossed off the list. detectives were running into nothing but dead ends. they spent a lot of time

devilling into melvin's life now detectives wanted to look for clues in julia's background. they took a ride 40 minutes west to gaffney to check out her business. as they poked around her store, things weren't exactly what they seemed. >> it started out as a big fancy store and then basically had just declined into a thrift store. >> reporter: perhaps even more concerns to detectives was the reason julia's store was failing, investigators learned julia had a problem with pills. >> she was taking money out of the till. she buying prescription drugs from people off the street. >> we found a lot of prescription -- empty prescription pill bottles and a lot of pharmacy receipts. >> reporter: this was a woman with a serious addiction? >> she was. >> reporter: but it turns out julia's financial troubles and pill addiction were no secret. a few years earlier, emily said her grandfather had even stepped in to help. >> he sent her to rehab. >>reporter: and she willingly

sfwhent. >> correct are r that must have made melvin happy. >> that she could change her life and spin it around to be a positive yeah. >> reporter: when word got out that cops were asking tough questions about julia, many around town thought the police were wasting their time. >> everybody thought it was an outside person. there's no way that julia would kill melvin. he was the love of her life. >> reporter: and julia said that was the case right up until melvin's death. she told police she had planned a celebration for that night, turns out, it was her birthday. and julia had a few surprises for melvin. >> melvin collected match book covers and she had got an few of those and gotten him a present for her birthday. >> reporter: she also bought mike's hard lemonade and was wearing special victoria secret underwear. julia painted a picture of two people in love. >> how was you and melvin's relationship. >> great. this is a private thing but melvin to be his age was physically you know active in

every way. >> reporter: sure enough detectives found evidence to back that up. >> during the investigate we did locate a few items that suggested that their sex life was quite active. >> reporter: still, the detectivive's radar was up. he thought back to the first moment he saw julia huddled in her suv. there was something about the way she had been wrapped in that duct tape that didn't sit right. >> the duct tape that went around her hands, it basically looked like she had held her arms out and it all looked like it was placed on there with care as to not hurt her. >> reporter: so right away you could tell that this wasn't a typical duct tape wrap. >> it was odd. the amount of duct tape that was around her feet did not match somebody who would be normally duct taped. it wasn't enough of it. >> reporter: this got the detective wondering, was there anything else about julia's story on that fatal night that

didn't make sense? coming up -- a strange reaction to a simple request. >> can i get some pictures? >> are we going to use these for playboy? >> right there, boom. no. there was -- that's totally inappropriate. did julia just reveal the naked truth? when "dateline" continues. eh, you don't want that one. yea, actually i do. it's mucinex fast-max night time and it's got a nasal decongestant. is that really a thing? it sounds made up. i can't sleep when i'm all stuffy. i take offense to that. i'm not going to argue with a talking ball of mucus. i think you're being a little hasty... he's not with me. mucinex fast max night time. multi-symptom relief plus nasal decongestant. breathe easy. sleep easy. start the relief. ditch the misery. let's end this. you get used to stale odors in your mudroom. you think it smells fine, but your guests smell this... febreze air effects works instantly to eliminate odors you've gone noseblind to.

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♪

on the night of the murder julia phillips the sassy southern bell was in the police station and was gently asked a routine question. >> i really don't want to ask it -- >> go ahead. >> did you do anything to melvin? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: still, investigators were bothered by a few things. besides the way julia had been gingerly wrapped with duct tape the detective also wondered about the amount of mud on her clothes. during one interview, she said she had been drug 60 feet and forced face down into the ground. >> he's taking my face and he's literally pushing it down into this mud. >> reporter: so you would expect mud like head to toe? >> correct. >> and basically what we got was if she would have sat down in the grass, her butt and her pant legs at the bottom of the pant legs were muddy, like she would have sat down. >> reporter: the p the only ones growing su spi shous. melvin's granddaughter looked back on something that happened at the funeral home.

julia, who was there with her son, hunter approached emily. >> immediately she wants to tell her story about what had happened that night. >> reporter: the timing was a bit inappropriate, emily thought. but more disturbing julia's son knew the story better than she did. >> she tells us that she -- her hands were bound from behind and he goes no momma, your hands were bound in the front. >> reporter: it wasn't surprising that julia might be confused about small details from that night. alarm bells wint off. julia told police she heard a gunshot and said she was nowhere near the gun, but forensic evidence told the detective a very different story. >> you did a gunshot residue test at the moment you got to the police department. >> correct. her hands come back negative. >> but you found it on her -- >> sleeves. >> sleeves. if she's 60 feet away behind the wall and the assay lent is

shooting him -- >> gunshot residue will not travel 60 feet. >> an ah-ha moment for the detectives. when he added the gunshot residue clothes and all the other parts of her story he found questionable, he was convinced julia wasn't the victim but the master mind who arranged and helped carry out melvin's murder. so three months after that cold rainy night, police arrested julia phillips in the parking lot outside her store and charged her with murder. >> probably the best day of my life. my dad called me and said they got her. >> reporter: police and prosecutors didn't think julia actually killed melvin but that she hired someone else to do it. >> the fresh footprints that was really how we knew that she had absolutely had someone else. >> reporter: their theory painted julia as pure evil. the reason she was relatively dry, they surmised was because she stood under an umbrella watching as her accomplice

struck shot and strangled melvin before carefully wrapping her in duct tape. >> we always assumed there was a second person assisting in the actual physical hands on part of the murder. >> reporter: so who could it be? there was one person who was close to her, had a criminal record and like julia, had a drug problem. her son, hunter. >> well he was a suspect just for the simple fact that he was most likely to help her. >> reporter: was he is a shady character? >> he was always involved with scams to get his pills. >> reporter: drugs really drove him? >> correct. >> reporter: but hunter had a solid alibi. he was with a former cop at the time of the murder 40 minutes away repairing his home computer. >> we could not put him in york at the time of the murder. >> r. >> reporter: hunter was never charged. in fact investigators couldn't find anyone to charge and the prosecutor worried that would make this murder for hire case a

tough one to prove. there is no evidence whatsoever linking julia to a hit man. >> that's right, nothing. we tracked her bank records, we saw no exchanges of any type. she kept her phone clean. there were no odd calls. that was the hurdleke we faced having an empty chair and you're trying julia and the empty chair. >> reporter: after three and a half years working to build a case in august 2013 julia phillips went on trial for murder. the once polished bell of york was now a shell of her old self. the years since her arrest had take an toll but hodge urged the jury not to be fooled by the frail woman in the courtroom. >> if you believe the defendant is guilty of even one thing, just one thing on the night melvin roberts was murdered to aid in that murder that she is guilty. >> have a seat for me ms. julia. >> reporter: the prosecutor began by showing the juries

julia's interviews with police. hodge wanted them to hear one of the first things julia said on the night of the murder. >> there you go. >> they put a blanket on her and asked if they can take some photographs. >> can i get some pictures right quick while we're in the warmth. >> we going to use these for playboy? >>st thing the woman says are these going to be used for playboy? right there, that's totally inappropriate. >> reporter: then the prosecution dropped a bomb shell. they found a witness to testify that this was not the first time julia had melvin's murder on her mind. a police informant name guy blankenship a man with a criminal past a few years before melvin died julia tried to hire him to do the hit. >> we had now an actual person who heard her say that and offered him money to kill mr. roberts. >> reporter: h case leading to one main question most jurors want

answered, what was the motive? melvin's granddaughter thought she knew the answer to that one that could be found in melvin's will. >> reporter: what did he leave her? >> the building and any car she wanted from his car lot. >> reporter: the building was worth about $150,000 and housed her store, julia's. >> in south carolina in a small community, that would take you far, 150,000. >> uh-huh. >> the state believed julia was worried she was never going to see that money. the reason their relationship between julia and melvin was over said prosecutors and she knew it. they put a friend of melvin's on the stand to back up their claim. >> he wasn't paying her bills anymore and he wasn't having anything to do with her. he wouldn't even touch her. >> reporter: and what prosecutors believed was the final straw, that witness told melvin had let julia know he had booked a cruise with another woman. >> that must have really gotten under julia's skin. >> i would think. >> he made it very clear to her she was being replaced.

>> reporter: and it was no coincidence the prosecutor argued that julia had melvin killed on her birthday. >> r. >> reporter: do you think there's a possibility that this was julia's birthday present to julia? >> absolutely. >> reporter: melvin's family now thought so too. ronny and david sat in the courtroom everyday hoping for one thing -- >> i wanted to hear one word. i thought, three and a half years of work comes down to hearing one word. >> reporter: guilty. >> guilty. >> reporter: but would they get their wish? now it was the defense's turn. they had an explanation for the duct tape the mud, the gunshot residue. in the end, they said the state's case was all smoke and mirrors. coming up -- julia's lawyer takes his best shot and so does julia. >> right now. >> and another twist, authorities wonder was there one murder or two?

>> there was enough suspicion presented to me that i wanted the body exhumed.

♪

>> reporter: the trial of julia phillips had people talking and had melvin's sons worried. could julia's defense team convince the jury she had nothing to do with the murder of her long-time love. her attorney and his wife a paralegal on the case said they had no doubt julia was innocent. >> we believed in julia from the beginning. she is kind and caring and there is no question in my mind that she was in love with melvin. >> reporter: the defense set out to show the jury a very different version of julia. her comments that seemed inappropriate, they argued was part of her corky personally. >> we going to use these for playboy. >> probably not. >> after the man you loved just died you're going to be making jokes about playboy. >> i can tell you she was traumatized. it's just how she is and how she talks.

>> they even told the jury that julia was weird. >> her conversation style is unlike most people. weird was something to open the jury up to she might be weird, she might be inconsistent but look you know she's not a killer. >> reporter: the defense also reminded the jury julia was a victim. she had been attacked and as she told police there was a perfectly good reason why that duct tape was loose. >> and if the tape hadn't got wet in the rain i don't know if i would have gotten it off. >> reporter: wouldn't it still pull some skin or some hair. >> it was raining the night of the incident as it's raining, it's getting wet. it's not sticking as much as it usually does. >> reporter: and since it was raining that night, the prosecution had asked why wasn't julia wet and muddy? easy the defense said she was. >> on the video, you can see her jeans are soaking wet. she's not dry. she's got mud all over her pants. which is from the rain and the dirt. >> reporter: the defense also

addressed the gunshot residue found on julia's clothes, which seemed to undermine her story that she was behind a wall 60 feet away from where the gun went off. julia's lawyer argued that there wasn't enough residue found on julia to do an accurate test. >> if this had been the fbi lab, any of our military labs they could not have tested that it was gunshot residue because the number of particles found did not meet the threshold. >> reporter: julia's defense team continued to pound home the notion that there was no physical evidence linking her to the murder. and if this was a murder for hire they asked, where was the killer? >> they built a case that's based on motive not evidence. they want to say to you, we have no idea what happened but we want you to guess and convict her. that is not how it works. >> reporter: next the defense attacked the prosecution's star witness, guy he man who said julia tried to hire him to kill melvin.

they said he was a criminal and a liar not to mention a police informant who is motivated by money. >> you went so far as to call guy blankenship a maggot. >> i don't remember. >> reporter: but does maggot fit? >> at the time i'm sure it did. >> reporter: finally the defense had to counter the heart of the prosecution's case motive. the state claimed julia feared she was about to be dumped and written out of melvin's will. but her lawyer said they were still a happy couple just look at the lingerie julia was wearing and the booze she brought with her that night. >> she picked up mike's hard lemonade and went to meet her boyfriend on her birthday. >> reporter: a hot and steamy night. >> the idea that she was broke and needed melvin's money, also not true. julia's argue lawyered her family had plenty of money and was willing to spend it. >> her family came and paid

substantial attorney fees. >> her family is paying her medical bills. her family is bringing her food taking care of her, taking her where she needs to go. >> reporter: in the end, the defense decided not to call julia to testify. now in her 70s, they said she was suffering from dmin sha and if her behavior towards reporters outside the courthouse was any indication of how she would be on the stand -- >> right now. >> reporter: it was too big a gamble. after seven days of testimony, both sides rested. >> by the end of the trial, the question was not is she involved but how could she not be involved. >> reporter: the jury took less than four hours to reach a verdict. >> we're all sitting around and everybody is kind of you know just killing time. then the bailiff comes out and says a verdict had been reached. >> reporter: did your heart, though go -- >> i thought fs going to throw up. i was almost hyperventilating. >> reporter: melvin's

granddaughter wasn't in the courtroom with the rest of her family when the verdict was read. her dad called her with the news. >> he called me and said she's guilty. murder. >> reporter: julia phillips the bell of york was now a convicted killer. >> i was jumping up and down. i remember waking up the next morning and there was double rainbows and i just thought, this is awesome. >> reporter: julia has been called an ice queen, a femme fatal, cunning, greedy murderous woman. >> yes. >> reporter: not really what comes to mind when you look at her. >> right. when you look at her, you think, ah she's an attractive older lady then she opens her mouth and you can see what's really in there. >> reporter: julia's arrest for melvin's murder triggered what might turn out to be more legal trouble for the southern bell. julia's stepdaughters from a previous marriage believe she didn't just murder one man, but two. >> my father is not here because

of her as well. >> reporter: the daughters insist their father bryant phillips, didn't die of a heart attack they think julia poisoned him. when the daughters heard about julia's arrest they took their suspicions to county coroner, dennis fouler. >> there was enough suspicion that was presented to me that i wanted the body exhumed. >> reporter: were there concerns revolving around julia phillips. >> there were concerns. >> reporter: bryant phillips' cause of death is still under investigation. julia denies she killed him and has not been charged in that case. but she will spend the rest of her life in prison with no chance for parol for killing melvin. and the family says that investigation is far from closed. >> we can be glad that we've got julia locked up and we know that she will never see the light of day again, but now we got to go after the next one. >> the family believes there's a hit man still out there and is offering a $10,000 reward to help catch him. police are looking for him, too.

lieutenant rich goodelle is heading up a new investigation team that's taking a fresh look at the case. >> we're confident it will be cracked. someone will tell us something or it will be through digital evidence the phone records, computer records or something like that. >> reporter: do you feel like you're getting close? >> i feel like we're closer than we have been. ♪ >> reporter: for melvin's family only partial justice has been served. >> i will not give up until we know everybody that was involved and what that son of a bitch needs to understand is it's going to be a lot easier on him if he comes forward instead of the police having to find him. >> i would say tick tock the clock is ticking. >> reporter: you're coming? >> we're coming. >> and we ain't giving up. that's all for now. i'm lester holt.

new year new week coming up on "early today," dangerously cold arctic eye temperatures ahead for millions as cold blankets the northwest for the week. jury selection begins in the trial of the alleged boston bomber. >> the incredible details of the 7-year-old lone crash survivor. plus breaking news over the shooting death of a hedge fund millionairdonald's fires its first and new jersey's governor chris christie said good-bye. it's monday, january 5th. good morning, i'm betty