but rachel's dad, don, began to get a queasy feeling during his visits to the airpark.l me what you thought about him, at the time. >> he came across as this christian guy. and he -- you know, he's helping rachel. >> reporter: yeah. >> he was helping her around the airport. okay, fine. after about the second time, i said, you know, "is this guy trying to bed you or what's going on?" and she says, "he'd like to. but it's not happening." >> reporter: there were whispers around the neighborhood, too. people do notice things. >> reporter: suspected what? that something was going on? >> that maybe something was going on. >> reporter: 'cause you saw the two of them together a lot, she and james? >> i didn't see them -- as a couple, you know, outwardly as a couple. even though you'd see them together. >> reporter: but rachel and james had more than todd, don and the neighbors to worry about. you were married to somebody else. >> i was. >> reporter: what did you -- what'd you do about that? what'd you think about that? how troublesome was that for you? >> i wanted to get out of

she said, based on what investigators found, the events at 3:00 in the morning in the california airpark prepared the jury. what happened that night was horrific. one, todd opened rachel's laptop and found the divorce documents she'd been working on with her boyfriend, james. that laptop has disappeared from its ususal place in winkler home. two, he grabbed the scissors from a craft box, which was kept on a shelf right above the computer. and three, prosecutor suder -- >> i believe he took a pair of scissors and he went in that room with the intent to kill her. he attacked her while she was sleeping, stabbed her repeatedly in the face and the neck area. and i believe, at that point, he thought he had killed her, and he left her for dead. >> reporter: then, said the prosecutor, as todd prepared to leave the house, he saw a light had been turned on in the baby's room. >> so that's when he then goes, gets his motorcycle jacket on for padding, for protection, bangs in the door, finds her in that corner. >> reporter: cowering? >> cowering. >> reporter: trying to save her own life? >> correct.