scharf. >> reporter: jody scharf was worth more dead than alive.riend marion testifieded that jody feared stephen fight do something violent if she pushed for divorce. even so, marion said, jody was determined to get away from her husband. >> she was going to have divorce papers served on stephen and she was very afraid of it. >> reporter: yet, was stephen violent enough to kill his wife? an unlikely but powerful witness was about to testify against stephen scharf. >> i'm here for my mother. >> reporter: his own son took the stand against him. now a businessman, jonathan scharf painted his father as an angry, violent man who terrorized his mother. >> did you see that abuse? >> i did. >> reporter: jonathan scharf said he realized his father had likely killed his mother only after that arrest in 2008. this videotaped interview shows him recalling the dark past for the first time to police. >> she got coffee thrown at her by him. >> reporter: now in court, he had even more to tell about his childhood. like the afternoon he sat cowering in the back sea

scharf. >> there was a sit-down with mr. scharf. he's consented to talk. >> yes. >> reporter: two days after his wife's death steven scharf was answering detective's question, yes, he told them he and his wife were talking divorce as they had sometimes done during their tempestuous marriage and it was true there were other women. >> he said they had an open marriage and was with 50 or 60 women. >> she was okay with that. >> yes. >> he said they had become unhappy with their free love lifestyle and came to this romantic if treacherous spot to recommit to each other, steven said, to kiss and make up. >> and the spot where they went is not a spot where you would go to reconcile with anybody. >> detectives weren't buying the story for another reason, they had found something suspicious inside scharf's car, a bag filled with items you'd expect for a romantic picnic and one you would not, a hammer. >> you have your wine, cheese, crackers, opener, claw hammer. i mean, red flags are goldstone up. the