more than four-and-a-half years after jaime melgar was murdered in, what seemed at the time, a brutala, his wife of 32-years, was on trial for jaime's murder. she'd pleaded not guilty. it put daughter lizz in a painful, judicial paradox. >> the people versus are bringing you, the family, victim, justice in their mind. and yet, justice is putting your mother away. >> correct. i've lost my father and here i am, about to lose my mother. this is supposed to be s -- the justice system that -- it's just completely broken. >> reporter: prosecutor colleen barnett's message for the jury was simple, sandra -- and only sandra -- could have done this. >> there's zero evidence. no evidence that anybody else did this. >> reporter: the prosecutor set out to dismantle the theory that jaime's death resulted from a botched robbery. first responder, emt stephanie robertson, told the jury -- that to her -- the crime scene just looked off. >> it was a little -- disarrayed. the drawers were pulled out nothing was -- appeared to be missing. >> reporter: and the prosecutor used sandra's own words against her

. >> jaime estuardo melgar was born on august 10th, 1960, in guatemala. when he was just 3 years old, he immigrated to the united states. jaime was known to be very intelligent and quick with a joke. and his charms weren't lost on young sandy mcculloch. >> reporter: these high school sweethearts were soon married. jim finds work as an i.t. specialist. sandy, as a nurse. and together, they join the jehovah's witnesses, an austere christian sect that demands strict rules of behavior. their daughter lizz is now in her late 20s. what was it like growing up as the only child in the melgar family? >> you know, i always had a lot of love and attention. i think i might've taken that for granted as a teenager when, you know, you go through your rebellious years. >> reporter: lizz's cousin marissa remembers looking up to them as role models when she went to visit. >> sandy and jim were just very loving towards each other, respectful. you could just tell they always had each other's back. they were always helping each other out. i liked watching them together. >> rep