Transcripts For KNTV Dateline NBC 20150117

Shed opened her home to. What no one could understand was why . Something else had to have been at play here. Reporter indeed, this case was about to get a lot more complicated stories of a diabolical plot, brewing behind closed doors. This is really just betrayal on top of betrayal on top of betrayal, isnt it . Reporter and an obsession that would not be denied. It was like, i want this. This is how im going to get it. Reporter im lester holt and this is dateline. Heres Josh Mankiewicz with deadly betrayal. Reporter there comes a time in most cops careers when they see something so horrific, theyll do just about anything to forget it even though deep down they know they never will. For officer randy mullenex, that moment came in november 2012 on a call to chagrin drive in Willoughby Hills, ohio. You ever have a scene like this before . Never. Ive never seen a crime scene like that and i hope id never have to again. It was bad. Reporter finding out what happened that night on chagrin drive, and why, would ultimately lead investigators on a journey that would reveal accusations of a diabolical murder plot and a series of betrayals that tore apart an american family. That journey would begin when this house of horrors was still the loving home of lisa and Kevin Knoefel, a couple whose friends describe as destined to be together from the moment they met. I remember her talking about him, and she had nothing but great things to say. Reporter lisas close friends, kayleen and karl lessmann, were the unofficial chaperones of lisa and kevins first date. They come in and he is fabulous we got along right away. I mean he fit right in, seriously. I can totally see why she was drawn to him. I mean, you really can. Reporter kevin was just as drawn to lisa, according to kevins sister krisanne sutton. I remember kevin telling me, i met somebody. And her name is lisa. And i think i really like her. She liked to have fun, just like kevin, very family oriented. And good for him . Very good for him. Reporter both kevin and lisa had been married before. And both had children. Lisa had megan. Kevin had cody. Kevin was always good with children. Reporter linda cover is a knoefel family friend who has known kevin all his life. Good father . Good father. Dedicated father . Absolutely, absolutely. Reporter kevin was a jack of many trades a truck driver, a school bus driver, an emergency medical technician. Lisa dedicated her life to social work, helping and caring for sexually abused kids. Kayleen was one of lisas coworkers. She just wanted to help people. We work in a sex abuse unit and thats a very difficult subject that a lot of people cant deal with, but she really prided herself on helping these families and being able to help, you know, make a difference. Reporter everyone admired lisas selflessness. Her friend carrie ward also worked with lisa. She took in foster kids while she was a single parent and was raising her own daughter by herself. That feels sort of like going the extra mile and then some. She did. She was always there to help anybody that needed it. Admirable. Yes, very much so. Reporter one year after kevin and lisa met, they married. The wedding itself, i mean, was fabulous. The reception was great. Did you think this marriage was going to be it for kevin . Oh, absolutely, absolutely. There was no question in my mind. Reporter a year and a half later, lisa and kevin announced the arrival of a baby of their own hailey. Lisa was on top of the world. Megan she loved like crazy, of course. But she really wanted another child. Reporter but lisa felt she had more to give. Two years after haileys birth, she decided to invite 16yearold foster child, Sabrina Zunich, into her home, and to make sabrina part of the family. I met sabrina almost immediately when she came to the house. And i remember her saying, i finally have a family. Everything was going really well. She fit right into the family. Lisa, i mean, couldnt talk highly enough about her. Reporter but the happy times for the knoefels blended and now extended family would come to a catastrophic end on that november night back in 2012 when lisa knoefel was brutally stabbed in her home. When i heard it was lisa and who did it, i couldnt believe it. Its like, youre kidding me. A devoted mom, attacked in her own home, enough to shock any family. But the story behind this crime would leave the knoefels nothing less than shattered. The blade was actually bengt. T. I just started shaking my head because it takes a lot to bend a knife blade. Who could have felt enough rage to do that, and why . To find out how you and your doctor can take the next step towards a cure. Because the answers you need may be closer than they appear. How can you see yourself in new glasses. Without your glasses . 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Oh, my god, my moms going to die reporter in the background, lisa can be heard, pleading for help. Call 911 what is going on . Oh, my god its really chilling to listen to. Youre going to have to take a deep breath. I cannot understand you. My moms going to die reporter first responding officer randy mullenex arrived at the knoefel home and found megan frantic at the front door. Shes waving her hands. You need to hurry. Hurry, hurry. Reporter mullenex learned Kevin Knoefel was away on business leaving lisa, megan, hailey and their foster daughter sabrina at home. Worst Case Scenario was going through my head. What am i going to see . How bad is this going to be . Reporter it was far worse than he could have imagined. Out of the master bedroom came the knoefels 18yearold foster daughter, sabrina, holding a knife. It looked like she she literally showered in blood. Reporter mullenex ordered sabrina to the ground where she was cuffed. He then went to the bedroom where he found lisa knoefel on the floor. I could barely even see flesh color. There was that much blood on her. I knew there was nothing i could do. Reporter the coroner would later determine lisa had been stabbed and cut more than 178 times. Sabrinas weapon was a 15 inch bread knife. The blade was actually bent. And i just started shaking my head cause i couldnt it takes a lot to bend a knife blade. Reporter with Sabrina Zunich now booked and in the lockup, detective Ron Parmertor began the investigation. This wasnt a case in which you had to wonder who was responsible . Thats correct. We knew right away it was the foster daughter. Reporter this looked like a case that could be shut as quickly as it opened. But if that were true, we wouldnt be telling you this story. This turned out to be one of the most unusual cases weve ever come across. Police would end up investigating not just who but why with answers as stunning as they were disturbing. As dawn broke that cold november morning, detective parmertor began with his perpetrator, Sabrina Zunich. I first noticed that she was a very small girl, very frail girl. Reporter sabrina started describing the moments leading up to the murder. Shed had a migraine, she said. While everyone else slept, she walked into the knoefels master bath to get some ibuprofen. And that, she said, is where her memory went blank. You didnt think anybody could stab somebody that many times and not remember any part of it. No. I tried all different ways of, you know, get her to come out and tell me what really happened. And she was not giving it up. Reporter and then sabrina asked for an attorney, bringing parmertors interrogation to an abrupt and frustrating halt. You thought, whatever else were going to get, its not going to come from her. Exactly. Reporter so, parmertor consulted those who arguably knew this teenage ward of the state better than anyone sabrinas social workers. She had some issues growing up. Her grandma took custody of her about the age of three. Reporter case manager Nicole Corbett said sabrina struggled with having been abandoned by her parents at a very early age. She ended up in the juvenile system after stealing from her grandmother to pay for drugs and alcohol. She worked a lot, in counseling, how to cope and how to manage with everything she was going through. Reporter eventually, nicole helped place sabrina in the knoefel home. She just wanted to be a part of something, a part of a family. I know thats what she wanted more than anything. So, when she was told about being placed with the knoefels, she was ecstatic. Reporter it turned out the knoefels loving care was just what sabrina needed. She was going to class, getting good grades. I think sabrina really was thriving in their home. Reporter which made the news that it was sabrina who had brutally stabbed lisa all the more baffling. I still cant see the sabrina that i know being violent towards anyone, let alone what she did. Something else had to have been at play here. Reporter detective Ron Parmertor was thinking the same way. He wanted to talk to kevin about what that Something Else might be but he held off. I was giving him his space because i thought that he needed time to, you know, deal with the tragic death of his wife. Reporter according to sister krisanne, kevin was an emotional wreck when he heard what happened. Im sure that there was some guilt because he worked nights and he wasnt home. Hes like, i never thought this would happen. Did you think he had anything to do with this . No. You could definitively prove that kevin wasnt even in the house at the time . Absolutely. Kevin was on the ohio michigan border at the time. Reporter still, he felt kevin might hold the key to solving the riddle of this case. Why keep going . You got your suspect and shes got the weapon in her hand. I was just doing my job as a detective. I was trying to find out why. Reporter it was the one central question that continued to plague detective parmertor and drive him forward. Youre crossing your fingers and thinking we really need a break. Yes. And then one day it arrives. One day, sabrina decides that she wants to tell us what happened. Reporter and the story sabrina ultimately told was far more complicated and twisted than anyone could have imagined. Coming up, investigators hear stories about tensions in the knoefels seemingly happy home, triggered by sabrinas odd behavior. It made lisa uncomfortable. Lisa wasnt happy with it, no. Sabrina says she wasnt the cause of problems in the house, but the victim. It really it hurt me. When dateline continues. Dreams are born. Hopes fly high. We love this country with a passion. You can see the pride in our eyes. Read the joy on our faces. Hear the love on our lips. We create products that deliver an effortless beauty look. 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Reporter news of lisa knoefels bloody murder cut through Willoughby Hills, ohio, like a blistering winter wind. I was shocked. Lisa was a nice person. She was a good mom. She was a good wife. For someone of that much beauty and that much giving of herself to just be taken from us like that, its just too much. Reporter finding out that the foster daughter lisa welcomed into her home ended up committing lisas murder added to the collective pain and suffering. Betrayal is the perfect word for what happened. Somebody hurting her that she had taken in. I just cant even imagine what she must have been going through. Reporter as detective Ron Parmertor worked the case, he learned thered been growing tension within the knoefel home right before the murder, and the source of that tension was sabrina. She got along great with kevin, and she did not get along well at all with lisa. Reporter parmertor discovered lisa had become frustrated with sabrinas behavior toward kevin. She was fascinated with kevin. She seemed a little vivacious in my eyes. Flirty, like flaunting herself. Reporter and parmertor learned from texts on lisas cell phone that sabrinas flirty behavior had begun to take its toll on lisa and kevins marriage. Sabrina was demanding kevins time, and kevin was making himself available, too available, as far as lisa was concerned. You have one actual text from lisa to kevin in which shes saying, youre getting too close to sabrina . Yes. Reporter in fact, lisa wrote, cut the damn cord. Spending too much time with her and less with your real family. Thanks a lot. Lisa also became concerned about the relationship sabrina had with her daughter, hailey. She acted like a mother to hailey on a regular basis. Reporter it made lisa uncomfortable . Lisa wasnt happy with it, no. Reporter it sounds like one of the things everyone agrees on is sabrina was fixated on, fascinated with hailey. She was. I think she was infatuated with the whole family and she wanted to be biologically in that family. Reporter parmertor learned that just weeks before the murder, tension between lisa and sabrina had reached the breaking point. After 17 months under the knoefel roof, sabrina was told it was time to pack up and get out. Sabrina got very upset and knew that lisa was the one initiating that action. And what, snapped . Yes. Reporter but right now, all that was just a theory. Then, six months after the murder, the investigation took another turn. Parmertor learned sabrina was ready to talk. She starts telling her story. She starts sobbing. Tears are coming down her face. Reporter sabrina told dateline the same story she told police. It was a story of a young girl bouncing through the foster care system, always dreaming of a better life. I wanted a new beginning, and to put the past behind me. I wanted that picket white fence, the dinner around the table with siblings, you know, something i never had. I wanted that structure of a family. Reporter so when the knoefels opened their door to sabrina, it was a dream come true. My First Impression of kevin was a caring father. Somebody that was willing, you know, to get to know me and want to know me. Reporter and then there was lisa. My relationship with lisa, it was, at first, good. We would all spend time together. We would go swimming in the backyard. I felt a part of the family. Reporter then sabrina confirmed what parmertor had already heard. The good times quickly came to an end when sabrina and lisa started arguing. According to sabrina, lisa began thinking of her as more foster than daughter, and sabrina didnt like that. I felt like the outsider. I felt kind of abandoned, in a certain type of way, and not accepted. Reporter sabrina admitted her close relationship with both kevin and hailey had become a major source of friction with lisa. She doesnt like the fact of how im acting with hailey and wouldnt let hailey come around me, not even give me a hug at night. It really, it hurt me. Reporter and then came that moment when sabrina said lisa told her it was time to go. She was very blunt about it. And she was like, im sorry but i dont want you here anymore. My life was shattering before me. The betrayal, the abandonment, all that came to the surface. Reporter two weeks later, sabrina says she quietly, carefully walked into lisas darkened bedroom, a knife in her hand. I was in the room for a good 10, 15 minutes. It was a constant battle in my head. It was, like, just do it. Dont do it. Just do it. Reporter in the end, it was sabrinas darker side that won out. She wakes up and she thought i was megan and was like, megan, go to bed. I completely froze and then she sits up in her bed and she was like, megan, go. And she realized it wasnt megan and thats when i did it. I remember her shouting, brie, stop. I remember megan coming in and setting a hand on my shoulder and saying brie, stop. And i just nudged her off and told her, megan, dont. Reporter anger, triggered by a troubled teenagers feeling of abandonment, leading to murder. For Ron Parmertor, sabrinas story made perfect, if tragic sense. You believe sabrina . Absolutely. Reporter but sabrina was not done. What she was about to reveal would send this investigation hurtling in a completely new and alarming direction. Sabrina told detective parmertor she didnt act alone. I couldnt have done Something Like this if i didnt have an outer influence. Coming up, sabrina drops a bombshell, claiming that getting rid of lisa was actually someone elses idea. Communicated in a series of bitter texts. Man, i wish she was dead. Or i cant stand her. She just needs to go. 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Sabrina had told Parmertor Lisa was about to crush her dream of remaining part of the knoefel family. She hated lisa. That feels to me like a motive. Absolutely. I hated lisa. But it was only because she was triggering a lot of past issues. Reporter but there was more. There was, said sabrina, someone else. Its not all my fault. Now i take responsibility, because i did what i did. And i know it was wrong. But if it werent for him it would not have happened. Reporter if it werent for him. Sabrina was referring to her foster father, kevin. I was doing what kevin told me to do. Thats what it comes down to. Reporter it was an astonishing accusation. Sabrina told Parmertor Kevin had grown to hate lisa even more than she did. It was a feeling she said kevin shared with her slowly, over several months. It started through text man, i wish she had, i wish she was dead or i cant stand her. She just needs to go. Reporter according to sabrina, kevin also revealed that lisa had multiple Life Insurance policies and that she was worth more dead than alive. Youd sensed for a long time that there was something going on that sabrina wasnt talking about. Did you think this was it . I didnt think it was this involved. Reporter but just as it seemed sabrinas story couldnt get any more twisted, she dropped a second bombshell. Her story was that kevin and her were having a sexual relationship and it was going on for probably about six to eight months prior to the homicide. I absolutely fell in love with him. Reporter kevin, sabrina said, promised her the world and played on her love of 3yearold hailey. He promised me we were gonna have our own house. And i could, you know, take over the role for hailey, you know, a mother figure, and id go to college. Do everything that i ever wanted to do in life. Reporter and then, she said, kevin finally convinced her the only way to realize that picketfence dream was to kill lisa. It just started getting more concrete, more of do you wanna do it you know . This is what we could have if, you know, if we do this. When youre in love, you will do anything for that person. Reporter according to sabrina, they first discussed the idea of sabrina shooting lisa. Then they considered hiring a hit man. Then, after several months, they finally settled on sabrina stabbing lisa in her sleep. Kevin picked out this bread knife. And it was about a foot long. And it had a rigid blade. And he said to use this one, because it would do more damage on the inside. I was supposed to take her ring, her necklace, all of that. As if somebody came in and, you know, burglarized her. Are you kidding me . Reporter when kevins friend linda cover got wind of sabrinas story, she was dumb founded. I thought that it was absolutely crazy. Theres no way. I cant even believe that he would even begin to do anything like that. Reporter neither could kevins sister, krisanne. Kevin, she said, loved lisa too much to want to harm her. Nor would he ever do anything to risk the safety of his children. He would not put his kids in harms way. And i include megan in that. He thought of megan as his own daughter. Reporter no one, she said, could be manipulated into committing such a violent act. This was the act of one person, and one person only. Reporter according to linda cover, sabrinas story was a web of lies, woven together by a deranged and troubled teen, whose fantasy of having a life with kevin and hailey pushed her over the edge. I think she imagined a relationship that didnt exist. It was like, i want this, so this is how im gonna get it. Reporter as for the alleged affair . You ever see any hint of anything inappropriate between kevin and sabrina . Absolutely not. No. No. Thats not my brother. Reporter sabrina, they said, turned on kevin and blamed him for everything, hoping for a plea deal. So whats going on here, sabrina lying to save her own skin . Absolutely. Absolutely. Reporter not according to detective parmertor. Youre convinced there really was a plan between her and kevin . Yes. Reporter and that there was an affair, despite the lack of hard evidence. She had no proof. Theres no love letters. No. Theres no photographs, theres no videotape. No. How do you know it happened . I took sabrina on her word. Every time we interviewed sabrina, she always told us the same story. And it range true . Absolutely rang true. Reporter and parmertor said he was suspicious of kevin even before sabrina came forward. Several weeks after the murder, parmertor asked kevin to come to the station for an interview. Kevin brought along his attorney. He would only answer the questions about his wifes work. And nothing about the murder . Nothing about the murder. Reporter parmertor also became suspicious of how kevin began filing claims for lisas 800,000 in Life Insurance within hours of lisa being pronounced dead. And then he started spending the money. He was buying cars, he was buying a camper. He was remodeling his house inside. All with lisas insurance money . All with lisas insurance money. Reporter all of that was enough for detectives. Three months after sabrina accused kevin of manipulating her into killing lisa, detective parmertor arrested kevin and charged him with plotting the murder. Sabrina agreed to testify as the states star witness. In exchange, the District Attorneys Office agreed to recommend that sabrina receive a reduced sentence. Youre taking the word of an admitted murderer here. Correct. Even though shes clearly got a reason to lie about this. Yep. I believe that what she was telling us is the truth. Reporter but would a jury agree . Coming up, testimony that kevin had talked about divorcing lisa and having sabrina live with him. I thought that it was a little odd that he wanted to take a 17yearold girl alone in a home with just him. When dateline continues. Reliable when only one network is americas largest and most reliable 4g lte network verizon. With xlte, our 4g lte bandwidth has doubled in over 400 cities. And now, save without settling. Get 2 lines with 10gb of data for just 110. Or 4 lines for just 140. And get a 150 bill credit for each smartphone you switch. Hurry offers end january 31st. Only on verizon. Kraft Barbecue Sauce has a whole new recipe inspired by the old way of making things. Starting with simple ingredients. Like red ripe tomatoes. Sweet molasses. And now with cane sugar. All slowsimmered. So go ahead, make pulled pork wings, ribs amazing. Things are changing at kraft. Get inspired at kraftrecipes. Com discover card. Hey so im looking at my bill and my fico® Credit Scores on here. 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Switch your prescriptions to walgreens where you could save even more on Medicare Part d with copays as low as zero dollars. At the corner of happy and healthy. Reporter last spring, in lake county, ohio, Kevin Knoefels trial began. The charges complicity and conspiracy to commit aggravated murder. Kevin was also charged with Sexual Battery relating to sabrina. Prosecutors karen kowall and lisa neroda argued sabrina would never have killed lisa had it not been for kevin. She was the perfect patsy. Young, impressionable. Idealist. And anxious to have a guy love her. Yes. So, he manipulated her. Yeah. Reporter but this was no slam dunk. Kevin denied all charges. And prosecutors acknowledged their case was based primarily on the word of sabrina, a young woman with plenty of reason to lie. This puts you in a difficult position, it seems to me. I mean, youre defending the character of this coldblooded murderer. And the fact that she committed this murder is all on someone else. Not necessarily on someone else, but together with someone else. She would never have done this by herself. Reporter without any direct proof of the alleged affair, prosecutors began by calling those who say they saw signs of inappropriate behavior between a foster father and foster daughter. Sabrinas teacher, willie smith, described spotting kevin with sabrina at the school one afternoon. She moved toward sitting in his lap, inside his legs. What did you do about it . I did a double take, kind of, really . Reporter then, Nicole Corbett, sabrinas socialworker case manager, testified about a strange call from kevin just a month before the murder. Kevin, she said, admitted his marriage to lisa was in trouble and said they were considering divorce. What was your reaction to that statement . I was surprised. I didnt know they were even considering splitting up or divorce. Reporter kevin, she said, asked whether, in a divorce, he would be able to take sabrina with him as opposed to her staying with lisa. I just thought it was a little odd that he wanted to take a 17yearold girl alone in a home with just him. Reporter prosecutors next showed jurors cell phone activity. More evidence, they said, that indicated kevin and sabrina were having an affair. Kevin was texting sabrina way more than he was texting his wife . Substantially more. Reporter within a two week period, kevin and sabrina texted and called each other almost 1500 times. That compares to just 200 calls and texts between kevin and lisa. Prosecutors then turned jurors attention to kevins behavior after lisas murder. David strunk was one of kevins close friends. Strunk testified that kevin seemed desperate to visit sabrina in jail, just one day after the murder. He told me that he just wanted to let her know that he was still there for her. This was the person that had just killed his wife, and i was shocked that he would want to have any sort of contact with her. Reporter according to karen kowall, kevins real reason for wanting to see sabrina was to keep her from talking to police and telling them about kevins involvement in the murder plot. That trip to the jail was certainly huge. Reporter as pleased as prosecutors were with their case so far, they knew it would stand or fall on how the jury responded to their next witness. You guys worried . I was worried. Reporter they listened. Everyone listened. As sabrina told of the night she took lisas life. I started to stab her. I just raised the knife up and went down on her. Why is it that you violently and brutally stab her repeatedly 178 times . Because i was manipulated to do it. By who . Kevin. Whatd you think . Sabrina was a strong witness. I felt she did a good job. Reporter maybe so. But without anyone to corroborate sabrinas story, prosecutors feared the jury still wouldnt believe it or her. Enter the next witness sabrinas high school friend, autumn pavlik. Autumn testified she had first hand knowledge about the murder plan and kevins involvement in it. According to autumn, sabrina once called her, thinking she had connections to a tough crowd and could find someone willing to kill lisa. There was a phone call that wed had. She had asked me if i was able to get her a hit man. Could you tell if there were any other people in the room at the time . Yes. How could you tell that . I could hear the defendant in the background talking. Reporter autumn then testified she and sabrina discussed the idea of paying the hit man by delivering drugs for him. Thats when she said sabrina handed the phone to kevin. What did he ask you at that time . Do you need me to take you to go run drugs . And what was that in reference to . The hit. Reporter autumn says she ultimately backed out of the plan altogether. Finally, i said i cant help you. I dont want anything to do with it. Reporter but autumn was willing to later help detective parmertor with his investigation. After hearing autumns story, parmertor asked autumn to call kevin and talk about the hit man, thinking kevin might implicate himself. Prosecutors played the recorded phone call in court. The only thing that im worried about is that whole hit man thing. I honestly dont know. She talked a big game about a lot of things. Reporter on the call, kevin never admits knowing anything about a hit man. But to detective parmertor, his calm manner and apparent lack of surprise suggests a prior knowledge of the plot. Never says, what are you talking about . We never had any conversations. If you have any information about the murder of my wife, please go to the police. Never says anything like that. Reporter in fact, when detective parmertor called kevin just two days later, kevin made no mention of autumns call and claimed to only have a vague recollection of who autumn was, even though hed just spoken with her. Last name doesnt ring a bell but i think she had a friend named autumn at school. Reporter as prosecutor kowall saw it, kevin was trying to keep police from finding the one person, other than sabrina, who could link him to lisas murder. Clearly a lie. Very damaging. Reporter prosecutors were now confident jurors had all they needed to convict. But now it was the defenses turn to make its case. And Kevin Knoefels attorneys werent about to let sabrina leave that courtroom without a fight. Coming up, the defense tries to undercut the prosecutions whole premise, arguing there was nothing going on between kevin and sabrina. There were maybe 12 witnesses that if they see any form of abuse, they have a mandatory duty to report it. And none of them did . 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No. There was not one scintilla of physical evidence that tied kevin to any of these crimes. Reporter connick began trying to dismantle the evidence the state did present. He challenged the county employees who testified they believed kevin was acting inappropriately toward sabrina asking why they didnt report such behavior before the murder. At that time, if you had a serious concern, you would have filed a report, wouldnt you . I would have filed a report, if i felt there was a serious concern. I did not file a report on this. There were eight, ten, maybe twelve witnesses that are mandated reporters. If they see any form of abuse, they have a mandatory duty to report it. And none of them did. And all of them testified they didnt do it. Reporter no one reported inappropriate behavior, said connick, because there was nothing to report. Lisa, ironically, was a mandated reporter. She never reported it. Reporter connick then addressed the large number of texts between kevin and sabrina. I dont find that shocking. Reporter neither did kevins sister, krisanne. Theres more texts between my husband and one of my daughters than my husband and me. It doesnt mean anything. Reporter but what about those who testified kevin acted suspiciously immediately after the murder . I dont think id wanna have to come home and find out that my wife was butchered, and then have other people criticize what my emotional response to that situation was. Reporter kevins friend linda cover agreed. Even if the emotional response was to try and visit sabrina in jail just one day after she murdered kevins wife. I thought about that. And im thinking he might have wanted to say, why in the hell . Whats the matter with you . Reporter linda cover also believed kevin was unfairly judged for filing the Life Insurance claims as quickly as he did. Kevin, she said, had to think about the welfare of his children. Now i have to be the sole support. Now what am i gonna do . A great deal of the states evidence were witnesses saying, hes not acting the right way, hes not acting normal. As soon as somebody can tell me what normal is, ill be happy to adopt it as a notion. Reporter connick applied that same argument to the criticism of kevins muted response to the mention of a hit man on autumn pavliks recorded phone call. What was he supposed to do . Was he supposed to be angry . Was he supposed to be, um, defensive . I think what he was supposed to be was something. Thats kind of kevins demeanor. You cant pass judgment on that. Reporter but what about autumns testimony that she spoke directly to kevin about hiring a hit man to kill lisa . Connick dismissed that testimony as being inconsistent and unreliable. During cross, connick asked autumn to read a transcript of her initial interview with police when she was asked if kevin was ever a part of her conversations with sabrina about trying to hire a hit man. Why dont you read me your answer on page 32 at line 3. No, well no, we were on the phone, and she didnt really talk about it in front of him. And i dont think he knew i knew. Thank you, nothing further. She ultimately acknowledged that kevin was never present or on the phone during those conversations about killing lisa. Reporter but mike connick knew it would be his cross examination of sabrina that would determine kevins fate. Ms. Zunich, my name is Michael Connick and i represent Kevin Knoefel. Hello. Sabrina is a seriously disturbed human being. Reporter the murder itself, he said, was all the proof the jury would need of that. Do you recognize this knife . Yes. When you began slaughtering lisa knoefel, this knife was straight, wasnt it . Yes. And you attacked her with such vigor and force, anger and rage that you managed to put a 20 degree bend in a stainless steel knife. Reporter connick continued pressing, hoping to show sabrina was motivated, not by manipulation from kevin, but by her hatred for lisa. You used abandonment as a rationale for it to be ok for you to murder my clients wife. No i did not. Correct . No. It was a factor that came into it, yes. A justification . A rationalization . No. Reporter in the end, sabrina never wavered from her story. Still, connick felt he had damaged her credibility. By the conclusion of her testimony, there should have been no question that she was not reliable. Reporter but that was for jurors to decide. It took them just under ten hours to deliberate. We have a verdict. Reporter guilty on all counts. Guilty of Sexual Battery, as charged in the indictment; guilty of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder; guilty of complicity to aggravated murder as charged in the indictment. Reporter Kevin Knoefel was sentenced to life in prison. You think an innocent man is in jail . Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, id about stake my life on that. Reporter sabrina also received a life sentence, but will be eligible for parole in 30 years, as recommended by the state. Prosecutors feel justice was served, but lead prosecutor karen kowall is quick to point out cases like these bring little satisfaction. This is really just betrayal on top of betrayal on top of betrayal, isnt it . You got kevin betraying lisa. Sabrina betraying lisa. Then you have kevin betraying sabrina and ultimately you have sabrina betraying kevin. Yeah. Its a perfect circle. Thats all for now. Im lester holt. It is very hard to have your life being debated somewhat extrapolated or theoretically with judges. Right nouw at 11 00, the stage is set for the final answer on gay marriage as the Supreme Court steps up and takes on a historymaking case. Good evening, everybody, im jessica