Transcripts For KNTV Dateline NBC 20240622

The matriarch with a grip on her powerful familys fortune. Did someone have a powerful motive to do her harm . I saw bruises on bonnies arms like somebody had grabbed her. She looked at him and said, you tried to kill me. Who was behind this . A search in the dark. Rightthere. All right. A secret in the family. And a jailhouse interview to make your jaw drop. You said you wished she were dead and then later she became dead. Im lester holt, and this dateline is a twisted tale deep in the heart of texas. People who are desperate will do desperate things. Tonight Josh Mankiewicz with queen of the county. Reporter in this country, we have always loved stories about power, money and the struggle to get our hands on both. Dallas was the saga of a proud texas family, rich and ruthless. How the hell did she end up marrying him . Reporter the story youre about to hear is like that. Maybe less glitz and less glamour. But then, j. R. Ewing was never as cold hearted as some of the people youre about to meet. This epic tale of greed and betrayal is set not in dallas, but in san saba, a tiny town in the texas hill country, and it stars a family that learned how to make money grow on trees, pecan trees. At the heart of the matter, a feud fueled by a lust for land, stoked by a battle of generations. And front and center the life and times the of the matriarch, Bonnie Harkey who controlled a family fortune a century in the making. Well, i always say she was queen of the county because she really was a big fish in a small pond. Reporter this is teresa cook, Bonnie Harkeys niece. They were well off, and they were property owners. Reporter and by local standards very wealthy. By local standards, sure. Reporter they were so prominent, in fact, that the harkey name is carved on monuments and painted on road signs in san saba. Im the sixth generation in my family here in the county. Reporter dwight harkey says all the harkeys descended from two brothers who came to the hill country in the 1850s. Well, there was two boys that came, and they were cavalry scouts, and they found this country and nobody lived here. Reporter a proud family history, to be sure. But on march 25, 2012, a new and bloody chapter was added. I remember that sunday morning because of what happened the rest of the day. Reporter the events that would forever fix that day in the reverend sam crosbys memory centered on 85yearold Bonnie Harkey, an active member of the First Baptist church of san saba. You could set your watch by Bonnie Harkey coming to church . You could. Reporter shed be right here. Shed be right here. Right. And even after she had to have 24hour care, a caretaker would bring her. Reporter the trouble began a few hours after church out at the harkey place a few miles west of town. 911, whats your emergency . Reporter it was about 5 30 when the san saba Sheriffs Department dispatcher received this call from a young boy. I found my mom on the floor. Um, she i think shes dead. Im at the harkey residence. Translator turns out, the 11yearolds mother was Karen Johnson, Bonnie Harkeys caretaker. And you dont know the address out there . No, maam. Im just really, really worried. What phone are you using . Um, im using bonnies house phone. I cant find bonnie anywhere. Reporter within minutes, the san saba Sheriffs Department had deputies on the way. All right. Im going to Bonnie Harkeys, right, out on 190 west . Yes, sir. Do you have an eta . Five minutes. Reporter in a rural area where locals listen closely to Police Scanners, some worried deputies might be chasing some dangerous desperado. Is there somebody loose that i should be oh, no, no, no. Okay. I just was wondering because theyre all sitting up there near ms. Harkeys place. Reporter the harkey place was a local landmark, and John Wilkerson, a san saba sheriffs deputy in 2012 was among the first investigators to arrive. When i walked in, of course, Karen Johnsons body was lying face down in the doorway, which raised some suspicion. Reporter sign of a struggle . There really wasnt any clear signs of struggle. There was some questionable issues that were at play. Reporter like what . The fact that she was, you know, dead right by the front door. That just didnt make a whole lot of sense. The fact that i found a broken fingernail on her hand. Reporter Karen Johnsons son, the boy who had called 911 told investigators that he had been playing a video game in a Spare Bedroom all afternoon and had not heard or seen anything unusual. Strange. But what also concerned the lawmen was the fact that Bonnie Harkey was not there. So youre thinking Bonnie Harkey is out there somewhere maybe in the orchards . That was the thought with sheriff brown. Reporter bonnie had Serious Health problems. She was frail. Suffered from dementia. In short, she had to be found and fast. Sheriff brown had called in prison dogs. He had the dps helicopter out. Reporter she couldnt have gone very far . Correct, and thats what our thoughts were. Reporter by nightfall, word of Bonnie Harkeys disappearance had spread far and wide. Her stepson bruce harkey, whod been visiting his brother in ft. Worth that weekend, called the Sheriffs Office wanting to know some details. This is bruce harkey. Im getting some awful strange phone calls, and im trying to figure out what the hell is going on. What are these calls in reference to or she said they found some lady dead and bonnie was missing, and something about allen having the road blocked off and everything. Reporter even bonnies niece teresa in memphis heard the news within a few hours of that first 911 call. My mother and i always speak on sunday nights. And she had called me and said bonnies missing. And we both kind of went, oh, no. Reporter teresa cook may have been hundreds of miles from where searchers were looking for Bonnie Harkey, but she says she knew right away her aunts disappearance was connected to the decadeslong battle over the remains of the harkey fortune. Not Home Invasion . No. Her family. When we come back the search for the missing matriarch. I saw bruises on bonnies arms. Like someone had grabbed her. Somebody sure seemed to know something. I might have some information about where Bonnie Harkey is. I was definitely concerned. Your kids get used to sweaty odors in their room. They think it smells fine, but you smell this. Eliminate all the odors youve gone noseblind to with febreze fabric refresher. Mmmm. So you and your guests can breathe happy. You get used to pet odors in your car. You think it smells fine, but your passengers smell this. Eliminate odors youve gone noseblind to for up to 30 days with the febreze car vent clip. Wow. Smells good in here. 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With valuable water rights along the san saba river, a rambling farmhouse and nearly 3,000 pecan trees. When people hear the harkey name in that part of the country, what do they think . The harkeys were the somebodies in town. And you know, i know bonnie enjoyed that. Reporter and maybe that was just the way shed pictured it back in 1963 when bonnie met and married riley harkey. At the time, riley was a recently divorced father with two boys. Bonnie a single mom with a teenaged daughter of her own. That was a coup. You know, it was a coup. Especially for a single mother who was really looking at having to either find a husband or work for the rest of her life. In the early 60s, it was tough to be a divorcee. It was tough to be a single mother. Reporter now, nearly 50 years later, the queen of the county was missing. Searchers were still out in the orchards looking for Bonnie Harkey when a resident whod been listening to the Police Scanner called with a vital clue. I know things are crazy with everything going on right now, but i might have some information about where Bonnie Harkey is. Reporter the caller said she knew that Bonnie Harkeys 28yearold grandson carl had visited her that very afternoon. Im 99 sure Carl Pressleys involved. Reporter whos Carl Pressley . Carl pressley is the adopted grandson of Bonnie Harkey. Bonnie harkey had a daughter, connie. Connie adopted Carl Pressley at a very young age. Reporter when you hear that that calls come in youre thinking, oh, this is what . Well, i was definitely concerned. Reporter why so much concern over a grandsons visit to his elderly grandmother . Thats a tangled tale really. That begins with the way Carl Pressley came to join the harkey clan in the first place. Connie said that she adopted him from a homeless woman, a homeless couple. They were living in a car. Reporter from a homeless couple . Yeah. And that they couldnt take care of him and so they were willing to give him up for adoption. Thats what i know. Reporter teresa says there was always something little bit off about carl something that tended to make other people uncomfortable. It was very odd and very sad at the same time as he seemed to be a very lonely, needy child. Very clingy child. And nobody really seemed to want him to cling to him. Translator but teresa says there was nothing bonnie wouldnt do for carl. Shed buy carl a truck, and hed wreck the truck. And then shed buy him another one. And hed get a job. Hed lose a job. Shed house him. He was stealing pecans from the harvest and selling them. I mean, she was constantly bailing him out of one situation or another, you know, giving him money. Reporter in spite of that, carl who had a harder shell than anything that came out of these trees, was known to be verbally abusive to his grandmother if he didnt get what he wanted. Teresa says that once, when she dropped by to visit bonnie she had an unsettling encounter with carl who was also there. Everything i said hed argue against. He just fought with me, fought with me. It was like he couldnt get along with anybody. And i saw bruises on bonnies arms like somebody had grabbed her. And little old ladies bruise so easily that i said to my mother on the phone, i said i would not be surprised if carl pushed her down the basement stairs. Reporter given that history, it was understandable then that investigators ears perked up once they learned that the last person to have seen Bonnie Harkey the last day she went missing was Carl Pressley. We were pretty sure that if we were able to find carl, we were going to be able to find Bonnie Harkey. Reporter according to the tipsters, carl was with his girlfriend lillian king. They were riding in her car. Do you have any information on her vehicle . All i know is shes driving a 2004 mustang. Reporter soon, just about every lawman in texas was on the lookout for that 2004 mustang. But in the meantime, Deputy Wilkerson says the san saba sheriff took a more personal approach. Hes trying to call his cell phone. Hes sending him multiple text messages. Reporter you have carls number because of his numerous brushes with Law Enforcement . Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Reporter wouldnt it be great if police could just text suspects and get them to come in . But the world doesnt work like that, except, perhaps, in san saba. Just after midnight, Carl Pressley responded. He was in normangee, texas, he told the sheriff, where he and his girlfriend lived in a trailer at an rv campground. Though normangee is more than three hours from san saba, carl promised the sheriff he would be back by daybreak. I think maybe about the time my eyeballs closed my phone rang. It was about 7 00 in the morning. And dispatch told me that Carl Pressley had showed up to the Sheriffs Office and sheriff brown needed me up there asap. Reporter and so with little or no sleep, Deputy Wilkerson says he headed back to the office and a facetoface encounter with the man most likely to know where Bonnie Harkey was. Coming up another life in danger . He had three knives on him. So i had to do what he said. And a dark secret down by the creek. All right. Heres the thing about lawmen in rural texas. They dont have all the gadgets and gizmos that come with working in a big city. Its a different world. Youre working with limited budgets. Reporter so you have to improvise . Yes, you have to improvise. Reporter and thats what san saba deputy John Wilkerson did when Carl Pressley, the chief suspect in the disappearance of Bonnie Harkey and the death of her caretaker, came in for questioning. Wilkerson used the video recorder embedded in his car. Were ready. Is he recording . Reporter and thats your interrogation . And thats my interrogation right there in the sally port. My names John Wilkerson. Im Sheriffs Office here. This is mr. Chief deputy bill price, okay . Reporter he was not under arrest, but Carl Pressley wore prison stripes for his interview because investigators had taken his clothes so they could run tests on them. Im not making any accusations at this point. Im just trying to get him locked down into his original story. Reporter from the beginning, Carl Pressley admitted he and his girlfriend, lillian king, had gone out to his grandmothers house for a visit that sunday. Do you remember how long you stayed there . No sir, i really dont. During the interview he started to you know try to pretend like he couldnt remember certain things. Reporter eventually carls memory improved. He remembered how he took his grandmother out of the house to protect her from some tough guys he owed money to. The story is he, to protect his grandmother, he picks her up in the evening and drives her to raineys crossing and drops her off in the bushes. Reporter an 85yearold woman . Correct, yeah. Reporter wilkerson wasnt buying, but officers did search that location. Then carl told another story. He said hed taken bonnie back to his trailer home in normangee. He misses his grandmother and he wanted to see her, which again didnt make a whole lot of sense. Reporter that was because investigators knew nothing to suggest that Carl Pressley had ever missed anyone during his 28 years on planet earth. Were trying to figure out where is your grandmother at . Look at me. Where is she at . I think shes up there. Okay, where up there . In normangee. Where did you put her up there . Or hilltop lake. Reporter in short order, Texas Rangers and local lawmen near normangee were combing carls trailer and the surrounding campground for clues. But they found nothing until carl was flown to normangee. I told her i wanted to show her a fishing hole down by the creek, and we went down there and stuff happened. Tell me what kind of stuff happened, carl. Its hard, sir. Is that going to be her . Right there, right there. Its all right, carl. Whoa, whoa, whoa. I didnt mean to. I didnt mean to. Hang on a second. I didnt mean to. I didnt mean to. Reporter Bonnie Harkey was dead. Her body was lying in a creek bed near carls trailer, buried beneath a pile of sticks and leaves. So carl admits that he pushed her on the back of her head holding her face underwater until she no longer moved. Reporter it was the same story lillian king had already given to lawmen back in san saba. Shed been there, she said when the caretaker was killed and she stood idly by while carl killed his grandmother. But in lillians telling of the story, she could have very well been Carl Pressleys third murder victim that day. He had three knives on him. Three. You know, so i had to do what he said. Reporter what had driven Carl Pressley to kill one of the few people on earth who had ever loved him . That was a question to which no one could supply an answer. She doted on carl. She did dote on him. No one could quite understand why. Reporter and ill bet she couldnt in the last four or five hours of her life. Yeah, yeah. Reporter investigators didnt know why Carl Pressley killed his grandmother. But they were pretty sure there was more to this murder than met the eye and that there could be clues in the harkey family history. Coming up a Million Dollar inheritance. A neighbor from hollywood. And a harkey with a handful of exwives. Hes just a solid jerk. It was really just constant drama. Police were about to get to the heart of the Bonnie Harkey murder. Katy perry quite contrary, how do your lashes grow . Soft and full like a flower, thats the power of covergirls full lash bloom mascara finally volume thats not stiff or spiky. A bloom brush and soft mousse formula for a fresh kind of volume. Soft full lashes bloom and grow, like soft Pretty Petals all in a row. Full lash bloom mascara from easy, breezy, beautiful covergirl pick your full bloom collection theres moving. 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And to keep it that way for up to 4 weeks try lysol automatic toilet bowl cleaner. When Kevin Jorgeson needs light, he trusts only duracell quantum because it lasts longer in 99 of devices. The matriarch of a prominent pecan growing family had been brutally murdered by a member of that family. But why . The more investigators pondered that, the more they came to believe the answer might be found in a long running family feud. The first time i met the harkey family, i was bailiffing in court because we were shorthanded. And i got to sit through a little hearing where the hark es were trying to gain control of the property. And you could tell it was a very heated situation, very heated. Reporter that pot had been at a slow boil ever since that day in 1963 when Bonnie Harkey became stepmother to her husband rileys two boys, bruce and john. Bruce and johnny just didnt like bonnie. They didnt like her at all. And so almost from the beginning it was acrimonious. Reporter what form did that acrimony take . Bruce and johnny were just rude to bonnie. Openly insulting her. Reporter and riley put up with that . Let it go. He just let it go. Reporter a lot of blended families have rough starts, but this newly grafted branch of the harkey family tree never had a chance. I dont think riley made a real effort with his boys to say, this is a wonderful woman. I want you to grow to love her like i love her. I think he just said here you go. Reporter riley seems to have been better with pecans than people. Yeah, yeah. Reporter soon enough, john was off to college and bruce was shuttled off to live with his mother in nevada for a while. That left only bonnies teenaged daughter connie at home. Riley never adopted connie. She was an afterthought. She was never brought into the family. Reporter this is sounds less like the brady bunch and more like the ewings every day. You know, just the ewings without the culture. You know, it was really just constant drama. Reporter the boys took different career paths. John became a businessman. Bruce had a number of different jobs. At various times he was a cop in reno, a medicaid fraud investigator for the Texas Attorney Generals Office and a nursing home administrator. Along the way, he married and divorced eight, count them, eight women. Still, as the years rolled by the brothers feelings for bonnie seemed to fester. There were a lot of reasons for that, but maybe the biggest one was a will their father riley had drawn up shortly before he died in 1997. Rileys will specifically said that bonnie could live on that property as long as she was alive. And then when she died the land would go to the boys. And then there was a small inheritance for connie. And if connie died then there would be a trust for carl. But the majority of the inheritance went to bruce and johnny. Reporter though the property alone was worth more than a Million Dollars, for the harkey brothers it wasnt worth a dime because they could neither farm it nor sell it until bonnie died. Bruce, especially, seemed to chafe at the thought of that. He said he was the poorest millionaire in san saba county. Reporter local pecan merchant shawn oliver says bruce harkey was down and out in late 2007 when he resettled in san saba after being away for many years. He had no income coming in. And every time he drove by that property all he could see was the millions what he thought was millions that he was missing out on. Reporter by then Bonnie Harkey was becoming increasingly frail. Her dementia made her vulnerable to phone scams. She was unable to manage her daily affairs, so her daughter connie became her guardian. After connie died in 2011, bruce harkey thought Carl Pressley should be bonnies guardian. When a judge tried to appoint someone else, bruce and john challenged that in court. Bonnie asked the judge if she could speak. And the judge said yes. And she said i dont want them the to be my guardians. Im afraid of them. Reporter her stepsons. Yes. Reporter that had to be about the last thing bruce and john wanted to hear. It delayed any inheritance, certainly. Reporter a lawyer named Darrel Spinks was chosen to manage her business and financial affairs. Bonnies longtime friend Betty Ann Johnson was asked to make sure bonnies daily needs were met. It was betty ann who hired Karen Johnson no relation the inhome caretaker who was killed the day bonnie was kidnapped. You felt safe with karen taking care of bonnie . I did. What bruce wanted me to do was to put her in the nursing home. Reporter he told you that . Yes. And i said as long as we can have help 24 7 which she is able to pay and we can take care of her i said shes not going anywhere. Reporter bonnies financial guardian, Darrel Spinks, says he also butted heads with bruce harkey. The best way i can explain bruce harkey is greedy and for lack of a better word, just a jerk. Hes just a solid jerk. Reporter according to spinks, bruce not accused him of mismanaging the harkey estate. But also tried to bully him into accepting the sale of a chunk of land to their neighbor, the actor tommy lee jones, for half a Million Dollars. It was good for bruce but spinks says not for bonnie. So he killed it. He wanted bonnie to get virtually nothing. I know it was less than 50,000 what he wanted her to get. Reporter and the rest of the money for the sale would have gone to bruce . Yes. And that sent him in orbit. I mean, he just became irate and cussed me out and said, im going to do everything i can to get at it. Reporter investigators were getting a pretty good taste of the river of bad blood that ran through the harkey family. Bonnie harkeys grandson, carl pressely and his girlfriend lillian king, were in the county jail. And now men with badges decided to take a harder look at bruce harkey. Coming up reporter are we good now . We had some questions for bruce harkey too. Reporter you didnt put carl up to it . Would you really hire forrest gump to commit murder. Forrest gump . Then this jailhouse interview was like a woks of chocolates we didnt know what we were going to get. Reporter because you said you wished she were dead and then later she became dead. Start the interview with a firm handshake. Ay,no dont do that try head shoulders instant relief. It cools on contact, and also keeps you 100 flake free. Try head shoulders instant relief. For cooling relief in a snap. Why are you deleting these photos . Because my teeth are yellow. Why dont you use a whitening toothpaste . Im afraid its bad for my teeth. Try crest 3d white. Crest 3d White Diamond strong toothpaste and rinse. Gently whiten. And fortify weak spots. Use together for 2 times stronger enamel. Crest 3d white. Everyone loves how they feel in dark clothes. And to keep those darks from fading theres woolite darks. Its free of harsh ingredients to help keep dark clothes vibrant for over 30 washes. For the love of darks. Woolite darks. The final decision to kill Bonnie Harkey was made on a friday, two days before the murder. As Carl Pressley laid it out for investigators, his uncle bruce was broke and couldnt wait any longer for his inheritance. He sat me down on the bed and he says we got to get rid of bonnie. We got to get rid of her quick. Were running out of money. Reporter texans are generally thought to be pretty hard nosed when it comes to business. But Carl Pressley . Not so much. Bruce says ill give you 500 if this happens right now, this weekend, if bonnie dies. If bonnie dies. And i said youre a broke man. And i threw a number out there like 250. He said no no no. They argued a little bit about the price. Bruce was adamant he was going to pay 500 and carl was adamant he only had to pay him 250. Reporter in the end, carl says, bruce agreed to pay him 100 down and 150 once the job was done. Find out he stopped by his bank and made a withdrawal for 200 which is great because thats date time stamped and now i got you on video. Then he leaves there and 30 minutes later he shows back up in front of lillian kings house and carl runs out the door to collect the 100 dollar down from bruce harkey. Reporter the idea that bruce harkey was in cahoots with Carl Pressley seemed odd to some. Evidently bruce detested the fact that carl would refer to bruce as uncle bruce, but yet carl was always seemingly seeking approval and acceptance from bruce. Reporter Jack Schumacher, one of the investigators on the case, believes bruce may have used that bit of psychology to his advantage when he decided it was long past time for Bonnie Harkey to meet her maker. So when bruce says hey, i want you in on my murder plot what happiest day of carls life . You know, could be that carl thought that he was finally going to receive that acceptance hed been seeking. Reporter a theory . Perhaps. But then investigators also knew that bruce harkey had never made any secret of how he felt about his stepmother, bonnie. Excuse my language, but this is exactly what he said. He said that old bitch doesnt have the decency to die. Reporter investigators didnt know if bruce paid carl or just manipulated him into killing Bonnie Harkey but they were sure he was involved. So two days after carl led investigators to bonnies body, bruce harkey was arrested and charged with murder. When lawmen came to question bruce in jail, he did not mince words. Bonnie was poor miserable wretch of a human being. Okay . She didnt have two brain cells to rub together anymore. I didnt go out there and say somebody needs to kill her. I said she needs to go. She just needs to go. Reporter according to bruce, Carl Pressley had his own motives for killing Bonnie Harkey. Thats because a year earlier carl had sold his future interest in the harkey estate to the harkey brothers for a fraction of what it was worth. But heres the thing. The brothers only gave him a fraction of the money they owed him. Bruce says he told carl the brothers would pay him the rest around 55,000, once they inherited the orchards. This is how bruce says carl responded. Well how long after my grandmothers death do i get that money . Carl it has to go through probate first. Hell, that could take years. I dont know. Reporter according to bruce, the money that he gave carl shortly before bonnies death was gas money, nothing more. Then bruce harkey turned the tables on the lawmen and asked them a question that would become central to his defense. Why would he want to kill a sick old woman who already seemed to have one foot in the grave . Why would i plan on bonnies demise or offer to pay somebody to do what numnuts did when im thinking this is just around the corner anyway . Why, man . Reporter when we spoke with bruce harkey through a thick pane of glass, he insisted that he was an innocent man. I had nothing to do with it. Reporter you didnt put carl up to it . Absolutely not sir, no. Thats exactly like the first question my attorney asked me. He said i have to ask you. Would you really hire forrest gump to commit murder . I said i wouldnt hire anybody to commit murder. Reporter so your argument is contrary to what carl told investigators, he did this all on his own . I dont know that he did it all on his own. I know there was at least two people involved in it, and that would be carl and lilly, his girlfriend. Other than that, im not going to attest to anything because i dont know. Reporter how many times in your life did you say you wished Bonnie Harkey were dead . I dont know. Several. Reporter i mean i cant give you a number. Reporter thats one of the reasons youre in here. I understand that. Okay. Reporter because you said you wished she were dead, and then later she became dead. But i didnt have anything to do with it. You cant wish someone dead and have it happen and then get blamed for it. Its not against the law to have wish. Its not against the law to make comments. Reporter maybe not, but when bruce harkeys murder trial rolled around, he would have to answer for all of them and more. Coming up i will simply say thats a devastating bit of evidence. The past comes back to haunt bruce harkey and a question haunts lillian king. Could she have saved bonnie . I cant sleep most of the time. It eats at me. In the years after Bonnie Harkey took her place alongside the other harkeys in the san saba cemetery, life in the texas hill country got back to normal. Most people could only speculate about what really happened on the day Bonnie Harkey and her caretaker Karen Johnson were killed. But Jack Shumaker says he knows. This is where Karen Johnson was laying. She was murdered right here in this doorway. Reporter how was she killed . Choked, smothered, just bulldogged down by carl. Reporter Jack Schumacher says he knows that because Carl Pressley told him how it all went down that weekend. He also knows that bruce harkey wanted everyone in san saba to know that he was going out of town. Jack vaughn, a local business man, says he had only a nodding acquaintance with bruce harkey and yet bruce started telling me how that he was going to be out of town all weekend long. Stressed that all weekend long. Im leaving town early saturday morning. I wont be back till late sunday night. It might even be monday before i make it back in because im going to be gone all weekend long. Reporter by the time bruce harkey went on trial in april of 2014, his nephew Carl Pressley had confessed to his part in killing Bonnie Harkey and her caretaker. And carls girlfriend lillian king had admitted her involvement. With the two of them set to testify against bruce harkey in exchange for lighter sentences, prosecutor sonny mcafee felt confident that he had a solid case against bruce. The facts of the crime were so horrendous that i didnt think once the jury believed that he was a party to the crime, that theyd have any difficulty at all finding him guilty. Reporter lillian told the jury she had heard bruce harkey and Carl Pressley talk about killing Bonnie Harkey many times. But she told us she didnt learn the plot had actually been set in motion until the friday before the murder. Thats when lillian says she overheard a phone conversation between bruce harkey and Carl Pressley. Because after he got off the phone with bruce, he looked at me and said that bruce was going to pay him to kill his grandmother. Reporter lillian testified that while bonnie and her caretaker were in church that sunday morning, carl slipped into the house and hid. Once bonnie returned home, lillian says, carl sent her a text telling her to come distract Karen Johnson while he smothered his grandmother. I so rang the doorbell because the door was open but the storm door was closed. Ms. Johnson came and answered the door. I was in the process of stepping in and closing the storm door when i see this flash opinion. Reporter inside the house . Coming from the den. Reporter so coming up behind ms. Johnson . Yes, yes. And i saw that it was carl saying he was yelling at me to close the door. Get in here and go in there with his grandmother. Reporter once Karen Johnson was dead lillian says carl led connie to her bedroom where she says carl asked her to pray. I see the pillow and then while theyre praying, he starts pushing her down onto bed. She fought him. She did. But the doorbell rang, and it scared carl. So he jumped up and he told me to go look and see who it was. Reporter lillian says, whoever it was left after about five minutes. It was then, lillian told the jury that carl decided to drive his grandmother to normangee. In your mind, was it clear that she knew that carl was trying to kill her then . Yes. Reporter what did she say . She looked at him and said, you tried to kill me. Carl was like no, grandma, i wasnt doing that reporter lillian says the last time she saw Bonnie Harkey alive was later that night when she says she saw carl leading bonnie to her death. I went to bathroom again. And i was coming out, i saw him and her walking into the trees. Reporter you knew what was coming. How did you let that happen . Its hard for me. But you know if he did it to her, hes going to do it to me, too. Reporter the prosecutor knew a jury would not vote to convict bruce harkey on the testimony of lillian king and Carl Pressley alone. So he used bruce harkeys own words against him. He talked about how he couldnt get his land until she was dead, and that she just doesnt have the decency to die. And he said all of these in the weeks leading up to the murder. Reporter Richard Davis was bruce harkeys attorney. He told the jury Carl Pressley wanted to kill Bonnie Harkey because he wanted the inheritance and needed no prompting from his uncle. Davis reminded jurors how many times carl had changed his story before telling police bruce was part of the plot. My theory is its all carl. And that was essentially our testimony. And the testimony of carl in the trial makes it clear that this guy was an erratic personality. He gave numerous different descriptions of what the events were. How he did it. Why he did it. Reporter and originally that he didnt do it . Well right. I didnt do it. I did do it. And if i did do it it was because of this. Reporter and finally he names bruce . Exactly. Reporter sort of at the point where prosecutors and police are starting to talk about the death penalty. And my question in any case where theres a statement from a witness who has a lot to lose, whats the most likely to be the truth . Reporter the jurors might question Carl Pressleys credibility, but the prosecutor had a bombshell in his arsenal. Turns out this was not bruce harkeys first rodeo. Mcafee told the jurors that ten years earlier bruce had done prison time for his role in another murder plot an unsuccessful one that targeted one of his many exwives. I think theres a lot of things that are extremely similar in it. And the main one is that he gets somebody else to do what he wants done and he does it through influence. I will simply say that thats a devastating bit of evidence. Reporter yeah because that makes me think, well, they probably got the right guy. And just hypothetically speaking, lets say the case is purely circumstantial and looks kind of bad. And then theres proof in front of the jury that says and, by the way, he did it before. That makes all the other evidence seem much more important. Reporter if youre a prosecutor thats great stuff. Thats the end of the story. Whether it should be or shouldnt. Reporter it took the jury only one hour to reach a guilty verdict. Bruce harkey received a life sentence as did Carl Pressley. Lillian king was sentenced to 45 years for her role in the murders. Im not a violent person. Im not. And i loved ms. Harkey like she was my own grandmother. Reporter and yet . I know. I keep kicking myself. You know. Hoping i can do something different. But its not going to change. It eats at me. I cant sleep most of the time. Reporter as for the estate, bruce harkey had so fervently hoped to inherit, that seems to be gone with the texas wind. These days the orchards are fading and there are no longer any harkeys living in the harkey home. Now its just a matter of time before the realtors and the lawyers take whats left. Thats all for now. Im lester holt. Thanks for joining us. This sunday america on alert. Security heightened across the country this holiday weekend. Were going to have a special report on why isis is proving so difficult to defeat. Witnesses say isis militants have recently begun to lay land mines and fortify their positions. Also, the race for 2016. My interview with ted cruz. The senator from texas on immigration, his personal temperament, and the supreme court. It is the justices who have politicized the court. Plus, the trump effect. I understand Everybody Loves what im doing in terms of the border because we have to stop the illegals from coming in. Is donald trump hurting not just his own business brand but the republican partys chances of winning the white house . And this independence day