love is dead. and then your being looked at for it. >> imagine, your shaken in the dead of night. >> my ears were ringing. i thought i was dreaming. >> in bed, right next to you. your husband, murdered. >> hearty wrap around your head, is it? >> yes. >> and here's the twist. you are the suspect. >> it's the worst feeling, thinking you're gonna be blamed for your husband's death. >> could she have been the killer? or, with someone keeping a secret? >> i said, what did you do. what did you do? >> i don't know what to tell you. >> just of the truth. >> hello, and welcome to "dateline". it's the stuff of nightmares. and a traitor creeps into your bedroom in the middle of the night and opens fire. but for melissa oxley, the bad dream was all too real. she told investigators she'd been startled from her sleep to find her husband, ben, dead from a gunshot blast. it seems strange, they thought, that no one else in the house was hurt. including melissa, who was sleeping by his side. stranger still, was who the killer ultimately turned out to be. here's harris keith morrison with "while they were sleeping". >> it was cold, the night the full moon rose. february cold. in the desert valley that spilled down from reno, nevada. and in that moonlight, all silver, sale, the wind in the dead of night. with ten cried up the dry. round the corner of the house. past the unlocked door. something evil afoot. something here, inside. when the moon appeared through the window and into the master bedroom. a little after three in the morning. >> it's really, really bad. >> what's really bad? >> my husband. >> strange, the things that happened to people under a full moon. good people? not so good people. under that moon, that night, it was hard to tell, which was which. who was who. >> this is a case built on lies and deception and a cat and mouse. who knew what it was? >> but the story, when it began back in 2005, was about love. or what certainly felt like it. in fact, fair to say it was two kinds of love. there was what happened to ben when he met melissa. >> as soon as he met melissa, he was something i've never seen. just for no reason he'd call her and say, i love you. >> he was a change man. >> absolutely. he was happy. melissa really made the difference. >> and if anybody would know, his best friends would. cindy and scott graham. >> ben was family. i mean, he was family. >> and then there was ben's mother love. the brightest thing in his life. the one good thing that came from his first marriage. alyssa. >> everybody said that he loved to me more than anything. and i think it's true. >> quite true, of course. so, there was little joking at first to win one man. even if one of the woman was just three. >> our first date alyssa was there. we were eating and i was just trying to talk to ben get to know one. and she's like, don't talk to my dad. >> i remember meeting her, i didn't really like her. [laughs] many he was talking to my dad. >> more than talking to him, as it soon turned out. ben and melissa moved in just segue together just a month later. assert the sort of thing a three year old finds hard to understand. >> she said i love you, and i said don't talk to my dad that we. >> but as we said, it was a love story. then for both of them. as jamie a friend and future bridesmaid put it -- >> he was truly her best friend and he was the best dad. that's all he cared about was alyssa. that was his priority. to take care of her. >> so, it was melissa and ben and alyssa. the threesome. >> he was so involved in every aspect of her life. they were really like two peas in a pod. >> and one september day in 2006, as the sun was setting into the sierra nevada mountains, ben and melissa got married. the ceremony at nearby lake tahoe. melissa was a glowing bride. alyssa, a little flower girl. >> it wasn't just melissa and ben getting married. it was melissa marrying alyssa, too. >> seriously. they made a particular ceremony of it. >> alyssa will you promise to share in the love of this family? will you please say i will? >> i got her a little bracelet and had a engraved letting her know that i will always love her as my own. i gave it to her that day. >> and from that moment on, alyssa called melissa, mom. how did it make you feel? >> happy. very happy. >> awe, what a happy couple they were. a happy family. >> being my wife now, it's just a blessing. >> that's what you wait for all your life. >> what were your plans? >> to buy a house and to have babies. have a family. >> they eventually moved here. a three bedroom ranch in the carson valley, looking up towards the sierra nevada's. alyssa spent half her time with ben and melissa. the other time with her birth month, then's ex-wife dawn. but above all, what ben really wanted was to have his little girl permanently. >> he never thought that he could have his daughter. i was like, yes you can. you could. >> and he did. he won custody. >> it was him and his daughter. and that's what he always wanted. >> and then the little household grew. melissa's teenage brother, craig, moved in. and then winter came. the wind. and on february 20th, 2008, the moon rose full over the carson valley. i after dinner, ben, melissa, her teenage brother craig and little alyssa, settled in the dental watch a movie. melissa remembers falling asleep on the couch when she woke up with a start. >> thinking i was late for work. it was 2:30 in the morning. i was like, oh i'm not late. so i went and got in the bed. >> crawled in with ben, she said. moonlight on the color covers. warmth inside. >> about an hour later is when i was woken up by the smell and then a loud noise. my ears were ringing. but at first i thought i was dreaming. >> the smell? >> yeah, it was the smell of the gunpowder. >> as she told it, she looked over at ben. saw by the light of the moon he appeared to have slept through whatever it was. she announced him. he didn't stir. >> so i was like, ok i'll go check it out. so i walked around our bed and got about halfway down the hallway and realized our front door was open. >> but you didn't see anybody? >> no. >> halfway down the hall, she said, cold air rushing in. she knew something was very wrong. so, she ran back to the bedroom. turned on the light. >> i went to go wake him up and then, i could see him. >> yeah. hard to get that one out of your head, isn't it? >> yeah. >> and thus, her call to 9-1-1. and the detective who rushed over to find out what happened and discovered that he could not tell. >> you've got the wife. you've got a small six year old child. and you've got a 15 year old boy in the house. have you got everybody saying they don't know what happened. >> how did everyone else survive that night without a scratch? coming up -- the investigation begins and melissa is at the very center. >> i'm asking you to help solve the problems with the questions i have, okay? >> a dramatic police interrogation. when "dateline" continues. you know that feeling of having to rewash dishes that didn't get clean? i don't. cascade platinum plus... with double the dawn grease fighting power and double the scrubbing power. for a no rewash clean... and a cabinet ready shine. upgrade to cascade platinum plus. dare to dish differently. lowe's knows you need to save money this holiday so upgrade to cascade platinum plus. you can get more of what you want. with our lowest price guarantee. this holiday if you find a better price, we'll match it. get more for your home and your family. you got this. we got you. for my best skin, it's olay. better than a basic moisturizer olay starts working day 1 to visibly smooth and firm for a lifted look in one month, skin looks up to 10 years younger results you can see, in one jar olay c'mon, we're right there. c'mon baby. results you can see, it's the only we need. go, go, go, go! ah! touchdown baby! -touchdown! are your neighbors watching the same game? yeah, my 5g home internet delays the game a bit. but you get used to it. try these. they're noise cancelling earmuffs. i stole them from an airport. it's always something with you, man. great! solid! -greek salad? exactly! don't delay the game with verizon or t-mobile 5g home internet. catch it on the xfinity 10g network. melissa oxley: i was just confused and shocked because at this point i still felt like i was asleep. keith morrison: on february 21, 2008, at 3 o'clock in the morning, melissa oxley called 911. >> i was just confused and traumatize. because at this point i still feel like i'm sleeping. >> on february 21st, 2008, at 3:00 in the morning, melissa oxley called 9-1-1. >> okay, so that the noise is like a gunshot? >> yeah. i turned on the light to wake up my husband and it's really, really bad. >> it certainly was. ben oxley had been shot point blank, in the head. and yet, melissa lying in bed, right beside him was unharmed. she ran then into alyssa's room to check on her own call 9-1-1. and of course alyssa, six years old, and completely unaware of what just happened asked to see her father. >> i want to go see my dad. i want to go see my dad. and i just older, you can't go see your dad. >> ron was the detective who got the call. do you remember getting that call? >> yeah. because i was sleeping. >> he woke up, fast. through a very big problem. a killing. just didn't make sense. >> hearing like a ghost has done this. no evidence. no weapon. everybody in the house says, i don't know. >> a ghost? >> yeah. that's what it feels like, because you have no idea. >> how was it possible melissa hadn't seen the person who shot ban? she's been lying right next to him. why was she unharmed? >> that's kind of a little red flags. start popping up. if you say ok, it just doesn't seem. right >> and had craig, melissa's teenage brother, truly slept through the whole thing as he claimed? >> i opened my eyes and right in my face was a bunch of barrels from a machine gun. >> it was police guns he was looking at. police would already discovered shotgun shells on craig's bedroom dresser. >> here comes another red flag. is this a possibility? is he faking? >> melissa, craig and little alyssa, were taken to the sheriff's department. at 4 am. an hour after the shooting. melissa's best friend got a phone call. >> it was alyssa. and she was just hysterically crying. i'm at the police station. come down here, come down here, my dad has been shot. >> at the time jamie arrive, melissa was already being grilled by detectives. >> today is february 21 third, 2008. >> detective elges had questions. lots of them. so many things about this murder didn't make sense. >> why didn't they take you out? i mean -- >> that's what i thought. >> another thing i don't understand is, why is somebody shoots him, why did you not see anything? >> i don't know. i honestly don't know. >> maybe it was the man who ben warned her about, she said. her rough customer who wants dated ben's ex-wife, dawn and apparently threatened to kill both don and any man she was with. was the story to? just be safe, detective elges sent officers to dawn's house where they walker up. sleeping, but unharmed. and discovered that the man in question was hundreds of miles away from where the when the murder happened. so, again, the questions were for melissa. >> sometimes people knew more than they want to tell or share. and i really really need it all. >> i'm telling you, i honestly don't know. >> alyssa was six by this time. was the only person who remembered seeing anything unusual, and she told the detective right away. >> well, i was just fast asleep, but i woke up and heard this creek after i saw somebody walking in. and then i just, went back. >> do you know who they were? . >> i don't know who it was. >> she saw a shadow looking at her. and then the shadow left. she went back to sleep and then melissa came in and grabbed her and was talking to 9-1-1. >> the detective discovered the bullet that killed ben was a number eight bird shot, same ammunition they discovered in craig's room. so, the question to craig. >> i apologize for doing that, if i have to, you know. did you kill ben? >> no, i did not. >> sure enough, when they tested craig for gunshot residue or blood cast off, he was clean, could not have fired that gun. and so, back to melissa. >> i know it doesn't make sense to you, but it doesn't make any sense to me either. >> it's not necessarily a huge, bad thing. but it's stuff -- >> it's the worst feeling, thinking that you're gonna be blamed for your husband's death. [crying] -- >> melissa, understand that i'm not blaming you. i'm asking you to help me solve the problems with the questions i have, okay? >> because there was blood on melissa, and gunshot residue. >> i don't know what to tell you. >> just the truth is all i'm hoping you're giving me. >> i am. >> melissa's friend jamie was there. when she came out of the interrogation room. >> melissa just dropped to the floor when she saw me. and she had a little bit of blood on her. she just said, i didn't do this. i said i, i know you didn't do it. >> but jamie knew there were others, and not just the police, who were very suspicious of melissa. >> she's the prime suspect. she's the wife. she was laying in bed with him. it doesn't make sense that she wasn't shot. >> did melissa do it? well, i hope not. but i mean, she could've. why wasn't she shot? >> i thought, if she did commit the murder, she's going to make a mistake. you can only live that life so long. >> coming up -- a new clue. what police believe might be a reason for murder. >> the $400,000 dollar life issuance policy. she had motivation to want this to happen. >> when "dateline" continues. migraine attacks, all in one. don't take if allergic to nurtec. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. ask about nurtec odt. new emergen-c crystals pop and fizz when you throw them back. and who doesn't love a good throwback? [sfx: video game] emergen-c crystals. meet the portable blender we can barely keep in stock. blendjet 2 gives you ice-crushing, big blender power on-the-go. so you can blend up a mouthwatering smoothie, protein shake, or latte wherever you are! recharge quickly with any usb port. best of all, it even cleans itself! just blend water with a drop of soap. what are you waiting for? order yours now from blendjet.com before they sell out again! >> melissa oxley was just 27 keith morrison: melissa oxley was just 27 blendjet.com before they years old and already a widow. her 36-year-old husband ben, shot dead while he years old, and already a widow. her 36-year-old husband ben, shot dead while he slept in bed right next to her. as far as she could tell, said melissa, the shooter managed to break into the house, walk right into the master bedroom, shoot ben without harming her, and leave not a trace of evidence behind. the case boggles detective ron elges ' mind. >> is there somebody who didn't like him? is this a murder for higher pay? what could this? >> melissa's closest friends believed her when she insisted that she had nothing to do with it. that in fact, she lost the love of her life. and that now she and those around her were probably in terrible danger. >> because you don't know who did it. you don't know if they're going to come back for melissa, if melissa was supposed to be in that. >> melissa, meanwhile, tried to be a source of comfort for her six-year-old stepdaughter, alyssa. the little girl's father had been her world, leaving her now in a world of chaos. and with her home and love nest now a crime scene, melissa and alyssa moved in with the woman who had been bridesmaid at the wedding, jamie harges. and it was at night, when the curtains were drawn, that jamie watched melissa reeling with pain. >> many nights crying in the middle of the night. i would hear her. i just went and laid in bed with her. >> i didn't sleep. couldn't sleep. >> just getting into a bed after that happened. >> i didn't want to. >> so where would you sleep? >> on the floor. >> and if the pain and suffering of losing her husband wasn't hard enough, melissa was a lead suspect, and not just in the eyes of the police. >> because nobody, including the public, including the families, had any idea why this would happen. so they're all grasping at straws to figure out if this possibly, that possibility. >> ben sister was certain that melissa arranged ben's murder. i was afraid to make it known around town. >> she had quite a little following of people. because it's always the wife, you know? >> so did that mean little alyssa, just six years old, so vulnerable, was living with a murder? alyssa began to spend more time at her mother dawn's house. and one day, while she was there, ben's sister warned her about the stepmom she'd come to love. >> she told me that she thought my step mom killed my dad that night. >> must've been pretty weird for you to hear that. >> yeah, i didn't believe it. >> didn't believe it at all? >> no. >> but if alyssa didn't believe it, others did. and before long, they had more ammunition because of something else detective elges discovered. >> a $400,000 life insurance policy. it sounds a lot like she had the motivation to want this thing to happen. >> and once again, melissa found herself answering difficult questions. >> i didn't even know there was an insurance policy. i guess i was sort of naive to it. we were looking at it for retirement. >> but while the investigation went on, the insurance company held back any payments. while the whispers went around. it was shocking, really. ben had been dead, just what, a few months? and melissa was dating already. >> it was soon, sort of. but it was like, if i didn't do it then, you almost would get stuck in this rut of never doing it. i would've just hung up the towel and been done. >> put on a black dress and be a widow the rest of your life? >> yeah. >> detective elges, of course, was keeping track. and try not to be judgmental. >> she has to do what she needs to do to heal. it doesn't mean i wasn't paying attention to what was going on. >> but as months passed and elges scratch away at the few paltry leads that went anywhere at all, asserting clarity began to emerge. despite his own early suspicions and those of others, hard evidence against melissa just didn't materialize. in fact, said elges he, couldn't help thinking -- >> she probably didn't do it. she was so startled, she went into a flight or flight response and just jumped out of bed. and then went to a normal reaction, which is what's going on? >> and that's why she discovers -- >> she discovers he'd been shot. >> but there was another reason melissa dropped down the detective's list of suspects. and that reason was a certain someone else, who, it became clear, did not like that love story we told you about, not one bit. >> i said, what did you do? what did you do? and she said, what do you mean, what did i do? you've known me all these years and you would think i would do something like that? and i said, absolutely. >> coming up -- a whole new theory of the crime with a whole new list of suspects eager to share secret. >> i said, no. i said, no, no, no, no. >> when "dateline" continues. >> hello i'm philip manno. here's what's happening. secretary of state antony blinken on sunday maiden unannounced trip to baghdad to meet with iraqi leaders. he stressed the importance of making sure the israel-hamas war doesn't spread to other countries in the middle east. and on meet the press sunday, ukrainian president zelenskyy pushback on recent claims that his country's war with russia has reached a stalemate. ukraine's counter forces have been mounting a counteroffensive against russia since june. now, back to dateline. now, back to dateline. breathe a little easier. welcome back to dateline, i'm craig melvin. melissa oxley could now breathe a little easier. while still on the radar, detectives never no longer considered her the primaries suspect in her husband ben's shooting death. they shifted their focus on another woman in ben's life. they believe she held a grudge. they brought her in for questioning and the story she would tell what's send the case in the stunning new direction. here again is keith morrison with "while they were sleeping". >> if you knew ben, there is no way that you would want him dead. i could not think of anybody that would want him dead, besides dawn. >> dawn, dawn oxley, ben oxley's ex-wife, alyssa's mother, even though -- ben's best friends told each other. >> everything in me said that dawn had something to do with that. >> of course, just a few years back, that sort of thing would've been unimaginable to dawn's best friends, scott and we sidney graham. not dawn, dawn the force of nature, the center of the room she's in. >> i don't know is manipulating, but everyone agreed with daw. if she was happy, we were all happy. >> but after five years of marriage, neither ben nor dawn were happy, and the marriage went up in flames. >> ben had cheated on dawn. i can see that this probably wasn't something that she was going to get over. >> dawn changed after that, said cindy, didn't seem to want to act like a parent anymore. >> she met a guy and she would stay the night at his house. when her kids are calling us to tell us that we have no more food in the house, can you bring us food, there's a problem. >> so when ben and dawn went to court to fight for the custody of alyssa, cindy had to tell the truth. >> i told the judge that dawn was not taking care of her kids anymore. they were not a priority, they were not even number five. >> when ben won custody of aylssa, and more than $200 a month in child support, dawn was devastated. this is her mother, sherrie rosston, a retired deputy sheriff. >> she would sit in the garage and ball about not getting her day in court. >> this was eating her alive? >> yes. it was really taking its toll on her. >> dawn started drinking, heavily. her teenage son devon watched his mother fall apart. >> she was starting to lose jobs, all hell broke loose in her head. >> but murder? remember the police went to see dawn just a couple of hours after ben was killed and found her fast asleep. >> what time do you think you went to sleep? >> oh god. i watched the movie "the departed" and "the descent." and i don't know, about four? >> in fact, she had been to be sharing her bedroom with a 21 -year-old family friend, named james matlean. >> they watched a movie and went to bed? >> that's the story. that's it. >> not a convincing alibi, anymore than the obvious fiction that james, a new man in her life, was just a friend. even less convincing, when detective ron elges found out about a trip to a 7-eleven store. >> why are they hiding little pieces that are in significant to what is going on? that we started to do surveillance on them. they started to get worried because we were watching then. them >> surveillance photos showed dawn with james, her daughter alyssa, seven at this. time a year into this investigation, alyssa was back at home. >> with ben did, the courts had sully weaned her back there permanently. >> so there you are, still trying to grieve the loss of been at the same time alyssa is being pulled back towards dawn. >> the loss of both of them, truly. >> and while the police were watching dawn, dawn was telling her children, including brandi, that the real suspect was melissa. >> she confidently told you that it was melissa who committed this murder? >> yes. >> brandi was hearing that from her mother, dawn, who she could see was drinking too much, getting duis, spending more than a few nights in jail. >> they start getting arrested. dawn and james both, we are finding reasons to take them to jail. >> and while they had james, they asked him point blank about the murder of ben oxley. >> do i know who killed ben? no did dawn kill ben? no? do i know anything about the murder? no. >> was then involved in the planning -- >> no, i'm looking at you in your eyes. i did not kill him. >> but that was it. lots of denials. no real evidence. 1.5 years had gone by since the murder. it was the summer of 2009. time to work cold case territory. >> you get in there. >> then one afternoon, as detective elges was recovered from idle graveyard shift, itself phone rang. it dawn was oxley. >> she said she can take it anymore. she wanted to talk. >> what are you thinking on the way to see her? >> it was about time. >> the detective drove over to dawn house. she was inebriated. >> i'm hurting. >> but she had quite a story to tell about james, about how he offered to murder ben. >> the night ben died he said now or never. and i said no. i said not today, don't do it, no. i said no, i said no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. >> hours later, she said, james woke up from a sound sleep and told her ben was dead. and that, she said, is all he told her, all she knew. >> but you're pretty confident that james had something to do with it? >> i don't know. >> but was that really all she knew? dawn, remember, had a 16-year-old son named devin, who, detectives learned, was at home and listening in the hours before ben oxley was murdered. so if anyone could can confirm dawn's version of events, surely it would be devin. but he wasn't talking. not yet, anyway. >> coming up, the question haunting this whole case -- >> what's our evidence. >> was there any clue against anyone? prosecutors were about to get the evidence they needed. >> you want to talk about this case? >> you know i do. >> when "dateline" continues. 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[sneeze] dude you coming? because the only thing dripping should be your style. plop plop fizz fizz with alka-seltzer plus cold & flu relief. also try for fizzy fast cough relief. >> finally, the story ben of keith morrison: finally, the story of ben oxley's murder, with alka-seltzer plus cold & flu relief. bit by bit, was leaking out. oxley's murder, bit by bit, was leaking out. but could dawn's version be believed, that she had nothing to do with it? here's what don's mother, sherry, thought. >> i can her see her sitting there saying, god i wish she was dead. and i can see james going, you want me to go kill him for you? and her going, whatever. it was more of a disbelief than an affirmation. >> that's the story dawn told, too, that she did not want james matlean to kill her ex husband. >> you want to talk about this case? >> you know i do. >> it was now the fall of 2009. dawn was in jail for a dui and agreed to talk in more detail about the night of ben oxley's murder. >> he said, do you want me to go do that? i'm sitting there going, are you serious? are you kidding me? all i know is he was on the phone, he was asking me if i wanted him to go take care of ben. and i was saying no. >> and then she went to sleep, she said. the next thing she knew, james was back. >> he woke me up and he said, it's done. and i was totally drunk. and then turn around and i'm waking up out of a dead sleep and i'm like, what are you talking about? he said, the cops are going to be here. seriously, right now you're telling me the cops are going to show up at my house because my ex-husband is dead? >> and she did not take part, she swore, not at all. >> i didn't drive. i didn't. i did not go anywhere. i did not plan this. i did not want ben dead. >> so, truth or fiction? there was no solid evidence either way, nor that james matlean killed ben oxley, only dawn's story. i which point tom gregory, the assistant district attorney, decided he needed her help. >> you love to get everybody involved in the case, but there's a reality, in many cases, that sometimes you need the help of one of the people involved to get the main person. >> and so dawn oxley was offered a limited immunity agreement. cooperate with the prosecution, testify truthfully against james matlean, and you won't be prosecuted, a sort of get out of jail free card. >> why go ahead and make that deal with her so soon? you had her statement. why not hold off for a while and be patient? try to get them both. >> let's say we don't do the deal with her and we go out and arrest him. what's our evidence? >> dawn signed the agreement, and james matlean was charged with first degree murder. but the end of the story? oh, no, not even close. the truth had been hiding, but it was itching to come out. young devin, remember him, dawn's son? devin finally decided to reveal what he overheard the night of the murder. >> my mom was like, i want ben to die. i just want him dead. yadda yadda. and then james said, i will go kill him right now. you just say the word, i'll go kill him. she was like a broken record. i want him dead. i want him dead. >> sound like a woman who was shocked when the murder happened? but there was more. it was after that when james matlean told his attorney ken stover it was time to tell the whole story. >> i could tell he was telling the truth. over the course of 15 months, he always told the same story. >> so now comes another story, james ' story. not a love story this time. >> nobody could believe i did what i did. i've never been a violent person. >> james matlean did not have an easy start in life. by the time he was a teenager he was drinking, doing drugs, stealing things. >> i had pretty much given up any hope on continuing successfully in life. >> dawn, after her marriage to ben, befriended james, made him feel rescued, give him a place to live. he'd just been paroled from prison after doing time for stealing a truck. >> kind of gave me a sense of hope there was somebody out there besides my mom who cared. >> at his house, james discovered what others had. as long as dawn was happy, everybody was happy. and if she wasn't? well, then james could not be happy, either. >> she was very, very upset at the fact that she lost alyssa. >> and she went on rants, he said, about ben oxley, a man james didn't know, had never met. but he listened. >> you felt like you were in love with her? >> yeah, for a while. it gave me a sense of feeling wanted. >> and then he realized, he said, she never be happy. unless he fixed what was upsetting her. >> i just wanted to make dawn happy. >> so, what happened? dawn and james ' stories begin the same way. february 20th, 2008, a night of heavy drinking at dawn's house, a heated conversation about ben oxley, james asking dawn if she wants to have him killed. that's where the stories diverge. dawn says she told james, no, don't do it. and fell asleep on the couch. but that's not james matlean's story. >> she was ecstatic about what was happening. she's happy that i was going to kill somebody. you know? >> it was after midnight. dawn drew him a diagram of ben oxley's house, said james, so he could find his way to the bedroom. then he went to the 7-eleven, drew $40 out of the atm with dawn's bank card. and then together, he said, they went to the walmart. dawn waited in the car while james did the shopping, shotgun shells, gloves, a flashlight. >> she was very happy about it. i mean, like imagine a kid going to disneyland. you know? >> but there was a problem. they forgotten to bring the diagram of ben's house with them. >> the plan wasn't for dawn to go into the house. the plan was for me to go in the house. and i didn't know how to get in the house. or where the bedroom was. so, dawn had to go inside. >> the front door was locked. so dawn took him around back, he said, where a sliding glass door was unlocked. and they eased their way in and walked down the hall. then, said james, dawn pointed him towards the master bedroom. >> and i turned around and she was going into alyssa's room -- >> going into the room? >> yeah, half of her body was in the room. she said she was going to take alyssa with her. i said, you can't take alyssa. >> was this true? remember, alyssa, just six years old at the time, told police she remembered seeing someone in her doorway. >> i just looked down and i saw someone walking in. >> and then, said james, he walked into the master bedroom, saw ben and melissa sleeping in the moonlight. >> and i raised the gun and that's where everything in my mind that should've happened three or four hours ago happened. i started thinking, why am i here? something i heard to my left -- >> a sudden noise? >> yeah. and as i turned and jerked to see what it was, i pulled the trigger. >> he ran then, he said, left the front door right wide open. caught up to dawn in the truck. >> who drove? >> she did. i started yelling at her when we got in the truck. >> the truth, said james matlean, all of it. >> dawn knows the truth and i know the truth. and that's all that matters. i've taken full responsibility for what i did. dawn needs to take full responsibility for what she did. >> coming up -- was ben the only one who was in danger that night? >> what was it like to hear that? >> unreal. >> one revelation still to come. when "dateline" continues. once-daily pill for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis for the chance at clear or almost clear skin. it's like the feeling of finding your back... is back. or finding psoriasis can't deny the splendor of these thighs. once-daily sotyktu is proven to get more people clearer skin than the leading pill. don't take if you're allergic to sotyktu; serious reactions can occur. sotyktu can lower your ability to fight infections including tb. serious infections, cancers including lymphoma, muscle problems, and changes in certain labs have occurred. tell your doctor if you have an infection, liver or kidney problems, high triglycerides, or had a vaccine or plan to. sotyktu is a tyk2 inhibitor. tyk2 is part of the jak family. it's not known if sotyktu has the same risks as jak inhibitors. find what plaque psoriasis has been hiding. ask your dermatologist about sotyktu for clearer skin. so clearly you. sotyktu. bladder leak underwear has one job. i just want to feel protected! especially for those sudden gush moments. when your keys are in the door and your body's like, “it's happening”! if you're worried about your protection, it's not the right protection. always discreet protects like no other. with double leak guards that help prevent gushes escaping from the sides. and a rapid dry core that locks in your heaviest gush quickly for up to zero leaks. and it contours, to everybody. now this, is protection! always discreet- the protection we deserve! want a smarter way to mop? introducing the new swiffer powermop. an all-in-one cleaning tool with a 360-degree swivel head that goes places a regular mop just can't. mop smarter with the new swiffer powermop. >> it's a rare thing to do to keith morrison: it's a rare thing to sit in a jail house room such as this while a murderer confesses, chapter and verse-- denial, the more common language here. sit in the jail room just as this, where a murderer confesses chapter and verse. denial the more common language here. >> i pulled the trigger -- >> but james matlean did not shrink from it. he murdered ben oxley in his sleep and must live with that for the rest of his days. >> i would have lived with what i did. >> december 2011, he told a story in court. it was after the dea took the death penalty off the table, and james decide to plead guilty. that's melissa, sitting in the courtroom, heard for the first time about something else. the teams was supposed to kill her, to. >> dawn ask me if i had killed melissa. i just look back and said yeah. >> there was a bullet there for you. what was it like to know that? >> unreal. >> do you believe she was in the house that night? >> i do. which makes me sick. i have a harder time with dawn than i do james, because if it wasn't for her, none of it would have happened. >> and that's where melissa oxley and james matlean lawyer can stover agreed. only half a measure of justice, since the dawn is protected by the immunity agreement she signed with the d.a.. >> james is not the type of boy who's going to go and commit a murder in the hopes that dawn will find it acceptable. he didn't do this as a surprise gift. >> dawn herself declined our request for an interview. her mom, a retired deputy sheriff, has remained in her corner. >> i know that a lot of people believe that, that there was a blatant conspiracy on her part. but i don't think dawn the really wanted ben dead. i don't think dawn was there. >> you're trying to hold it altogether, all the way along, and even now? >> you gotta understand, [crying] ben was a good guy. they had their problems. everybody loved him. he didn't deserve to die. >> so for the time being, it's a yeast said, she said story. and the d.a.'s deal with dawn? to the dismay of james matlean attorney may mean that she may never face a murder charge. >> the prosecutor made a deal with the devil. now we need to show her how far in hell she is. >> deal with the devil? no. the dea said without dawn's testimony at the preliminary hearing the murder charge against james never would have stop. but dawn wasn't totally off the hook, because there is one possibility still. if the dea could find hard evidence that dawn she was given that get out of jail free card for james. >> it still an open book trial on dawn. if someone comes in today with credible evidence to show that she did in fact go, we could prosecute her. >> in 2011, dawn was sent to prison on another offense. she pleaded guilty to using her teenage daughter, randy, to sell prescription drugs. >> but she kind of employing you as an assistant in that business? >> i was driving, yes. >> dawn was released from prison in march of 2014, but not to be the mother of alyssa, the judge terminated her parental rights. both alyssa and brandi went to live in melissa, who offer them kind of a family life they did not know where their biological mom. >> it is a family. and that's what i need. >> one more thing to do. in 2011, having pleaded guilty to murder, james matlean prepare to be sentence. >> is the redemption for a person like you? >> i don't know. i don't expect anybody that i've harmed or hurt to forgive me for what i've done. >> you look in the lens when you said that, you're talking to them, right? >> basically talking to melissa. i'm sorry. >> in exchange for his guilty plea, the dea agreed to recommend that james could be eligible for parole after serving 24 years. >> all rise -- >> final decision up to the judge. defense attorney stover made the argument. >> i'd like to withhold, judge. >> and then melissa took the stand. >> emotionally, the damage you've caused me is almost unbearable. for alyssa, you crumbled her foundation and everything she knew to be right and true. and as hard as this is to do or believe, i also want you to know i have found it in my heart to forgive you. >> and then james matlean got his sentence. >> the murder charge, you are sentenced to life in prison. >> life without parole, ever. afterwards, the little girl in the middle of the family drama turned to melissa with a remarkable request. alyssa asked to meet with james and was ushered in to see him before he was whisked away. >> i told him that i decided to forgive him and that i wanted him to have hope. >> and she wept then, cures of forgiveness, of lingering grief for her father. and as for melissa? after the trial, she told us, she was ready to move on. >> where will you keep ben? >> he will always be in my heart. he will never be forgotten. but we do have to go on. we stuff to be here and live day to day lives. >> he's looking down and watching you, what would he think about his daughter? >> i think he still loves me. and i'm doing much better than i was at my other house. >> do you miss him? >> yeah, i miss him a lot. >> you are pretty strong kid, are you? >> yeah. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline". i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. thank you for watching >> i'm craig melvin and this is dateline. >> this was an insane world that i was living in. i did what i had to do.