. >> reporter: soon clarkstown police detectives stephen cole-hatchard and earl lorence were on the scenenoticed that susanne looked a wreck, standing in front of the house in the snow. >> susanne is in the driveway, at the foot of the driveway, kind of pacing, looking rather frazzled. >> reporter: she told detectives what she told the 911 operators, that peggy tripped over the cat. >> her mother must have tumbled down the stairs and stabbed herself with the knife. >> reporter: while detective cole-hatchard stayed outside with susanne, detective lorence went inside the house. this is police video of the scene taken that morning. lorence knew right away, this was no accident. >> no way did she fall down the stairs and trip over a cat. >> reporter: detective lorence saw peggy had been strangled, then stabbed. and it also looked as if she'd been beaten with a statue head found under her body and a gold metal ball near her hand. >> the crime scene itself was very concentrated. everything was at the bottom of the stairs and in the bedroom upstairs. >> reporter: something else caught the detect

. >> harry serves as public information officer for the clarkstown police department, which handled the> i think she was more upset than scared. just upset that she had to account for all these broken bottles. >> the clerk gives police the license plate number of the taxi, but she's written it down incorrectly. their only lead now is to watch the security footage, but that offers no view of the license plate. but then, a couple of days after the incident, the clerk coincidentally turns up a lead of her own. >> she happened to be at the palisades center and observed the cab that looked like the one that was at the store. and the number she had given the police was one number off. she talked to the cab driver. the cab driver said, oh, yes, i did pick her up. i did drive her to another liquor store, then i dropped her off at the palisades center. >> i find the taxi driver and he told us he drove her to dave and buster. we went to dave and buster and they said she work here but she was off that day. we called the the police and the police came in and took her information. >> what seems like

the clarkstown police department responds within minutes.n detective bill fritz arrives he finds nextler, pistol in hand, standing in a defensive position and screaming at the man on the ground. >> i think he was in fear of his life. i think he believed at the time that they were going to shoot him. he just kept repeating that he couldn't believe that it happened to him. >> the man in the black coat who jumped into the getaway car is matthew ross. he's eventually captured, convicted of attempted robbery, and sentenced to ten years in prison. the man in the white hoodie, joseph nipper, is also convicted of attempted robbery but dies two years after the shooting from complications from his wounds. what ross and nipper didn't know that day is that fixler is a combat veteran who fought in vietnam and not the nerdy, easy target they expected. >> they probably figured i'm the last guy to know how to use a weapon. >> fixler is not charged with any crime. he legally possessed the handgun he used. and with the help of the videotape, police determined