Transcripts For KNTV Dateline NBC 20150511

Suddenly she went missing. I told all the girls, yall be prepared. No one would be prepared for what came next. I was astonished. It wasnt an accident. Not natural. Not right. The most chilling part do you think that heather would still be alive if she hadnt gone through this transformation . Gosh. The motive behind it all. Im lester holt and this is dateline. Heres Andrea Canning with the last dance. Theres a place in downtown memphis, sneempttennessee. A hot spot not far from beale street. It they dont play the memphis blues in this club nchbl. In the sultry darkness of the rhumba room, bodies sway to the beat of latin sounds. In april 2013 a woman named Heather Jones came in with her friend to dance the night away wearing a brand new dress. How did she look that night . She had her head up so high and her shoulders back and just beaming, and she felt absolutely beautiful. Reporter there was a time not too long ago when heather didnt feel very beautiful at all. But on this evening, she had the night of her life. She really didnt sit down very much. She was being spun around and danced. Reporter just two nights later, everything spun out of control. Breaking news about a missing germantown teacher reporter Heather Jones suddenly and inexplicably disappeared from her home. Her car is in her driveway. Her purse, keys and cell phone are missing. Thinking of her being scared and hurt made you sick. Reporter what happened . The answer was sickening. You think, my god, is that her. Reporter the why, more twisted and surprising than anyone could fathom. Thats not normal. Its not natural. Its not right. Reporter how could all this darkness fall on a woman so sunny . I loved her. I loved her energy. She was if you can think of like a like a color that is a person like she would be like bright yellow. Reporter friends say heather could always light up a room. Her cousin diane perry, says that upbeat attitude is what drew them together from the time they were young. You two more like sisters. Definitely. Its very very close. Reporter a bond that only grew as teenagers when heather moved from florida to tennessee, closer to diane. They became an inseparable pair and even went to college together in memphis. So it was only fitting diane was there the night heather fell instantly in love with a guy named chris jones. Heather went to a new Years Eve Party in r9d in 1999. She came home we sat down and talked and giggle good this guy she met, chris. Narrator diane recalls that heather found chris dazzling. Dazzled over his knowledge of wine. Just his knowledge of the world. Reporter she liked that. She loved that. She absolutely loved that. Reporter diane was surprised to see how fast the new couple of moving. Within weeks, heather and chris were living together. And not long after, diane noticed a change in her cousin. A big one. They got very involved in a lot of Online Gaming and some things like that. And so they had a very very sedentary lifestyle. So thats when she gained i would say, about 250 pounds. Reporter 250 pounds over how much time . Maybe a year and a half. I mean it was a very short amount of time. Reporter thats life changing. It was tough. Reporter did she seem depress good the weight gain . Absolutely. Yes. Reporter her cousin recalls chris said he didnt mind what size heather was. A few years into their relationship he asked heather to marry him. It seemed his love didnt waiver as the numbers on heathers scale only continued to rise after the birth of their two children. Did he make her feel good . Yes she felt beautiful. She felt loved. She felt wanted. She felt taken care of. Reporter chris also took on the role of stayathome dad while heather worked and attended college part time. It took her about ten years to get her degree from college. And it was almost to the day that she graduateded from college that everything changed. Reporter at one point before graduation heather tipped the scales at 400 pounds. But diane says that hardwon diploma became a roadmap for heather, pointing her to a brighter and lighter future. She had so much more confidence. She saw a different life for herself. She immediately started working on her weight. Step up here we go reporter thats when she found a special group of new friends. Women like her who joined this highpower dance exercise class each week to improve their physiques and their lives. Carrie cooper was heathers dance instructor. You leave your job, leave that stress. You come here, its like the happy hour. Reporter everyone in heathers life noticed that happy hour was doing wonders for her. Heather, turn around. I said youve gotten smaller. Shes like, yeah. Reporter were the pound just melting off of her . Melting off. Melting off. Reporter it was nothing short of a total transformation. In 18 short months she went from this to this. I remember that she brought a picture of a before and then where she was now and was so proud. She was like look what ive done. I remember that. She was so proud of herself. Reporter no one was surprised when heather soon landed her dream job teaching at an Elementary School in memphis. Fellow teacher Jessica Moxley was in awe of the amount of energy miss jones poured into her classroom. Heather loved being a kindergarten teacher. From the moment they stepped foot into the door to the moment they left they were dancing, they were singing, they were playing. Reporter by april, 2013 it was all coming together for Heather Jones. On a saturday night she hit that rhumba room dance floor to try out some moves shed picked up at the gym and to show the world what shed become. It was just so much fun. We were there for probably about a good three hours of just dancing. Reporter three days later on Tuesday Morning teacher Jessica Moxley headed to school expecting to see her energetic coworker, heather, already there. Our schoolday didnt start until 8 00 or 8 30 that year. She was here every morning by 6 30 6 45. Reporter heather usually couldnt wait for the school day to begin. So jessica was surprised by what she didnt see that morning. I pulled into the parking lot, and i didnt see her car. Im like oh what is going on. Reporter thinking maybe she caught a ride to School Jessica made a beeline for jessicas classroom. I remember her door was closed her lights were off, and i remember thinking her lights are off and then thinking her lights are off like shes gone. Reporter gone . What could that mean . As the search began to find the missing teacher, investigators would soon uncover a disturbing connection between heathers dramatic weight loss and her mysterious disappearance. Coming up it was terrifying. Something is very much wrong. The very first clues. A disturbing email to heathers husband. I was concerned. And a closely guarded secret. I didnt even know his name. Arly mad from starvation and frostbite. Today we make history. Bienvenidos welcome to the south pole if youre dora the explorer, you explore. Its what you do. What took you so long . If you want to save fifteen percent or more on Car Insurance you switch to geico. Its what you do. You did it, yay reporter when Heather Jones the newly svelte newbee teacher didnt show up for her kindergarten class that morning in april 2013, alarm bells went off among her fellow teachers and friends. Heather would never miss a day of school. She was totally dedicated. Reporter home sick . Didnt seem likely. Best friend Melissa Smith knew heather wasnt about to be sidelined by a little sniffle. There was no excuse for her not to be there. Reporter School Officials couldnt reach heather on the phone. When her cousin diane heard she was a noshow, she headed right to heathers house in germantown where she saw an encouraging sign. There was relief when i saw the car in the driveway because i thought she was there. I thought, oh shes sick. Reporter diane thought heather was probably just sleeping. Knocking, knocking knocking. Please answer the door. Reporter but no answer. Alarmed, she called heathers mother to bring over a key. Soon Germantown Police arrived, opened the door, and went in first. They say shes not in. There they say nothing looks disturbed. Reporter is that a relief in any way that shes not there . No, no. It was terrifying. Something is very much wrong. Reporter it was now a missing persons case. Drkt tonight detective tony kemp took the lead and did his own walk through the house. Did you find signs of something that might have happened in the house . No. I did not see any weapons i did not see any blood or anything thatin that house. Reporter heathers car stuck in the driveway stuck in detective kemps mind. Obviously if she left, she had to be foot, or she had made contact with somebody for them to pick her up. Reporter the grapevine was now working overtime. Friends from heathers dance class soon heard that she was missing. One of them was Carrie Cooper the class instructor. She also went over to the house. Turns out carrie knew as much about crime scenes as she did about dance moves. Thats because carries a cop in nearby memphis. Well, i kind of took on the Police Officer role at that moment. I combed every inch of her property. Reporter find anything . I found nothing. And i looked through her storage sheds and along the Railroad Tracks that are behind her house, and there was nothing. Reporter ads detectives were putting as detectives were putting together the pieces of heathers life and tracking her last movement, chris jones, heathers husband, made an emotional appearance on a local tv station. I want nothing more than for those children to have a mother. And it kills me to think that they may grow up without having both parents. Reporter the afternoon heather disappeared chris came to the Police Station wanting to help. Youve been up all night. Yeah. Okay. All right. I cant miss an opportunity i didnt want to miss a call didnt want to miss a chance. I didnt know if she was going to come by. I didnt want to miss a knock on the door. Im worried. Reporter chris total detectives something that could be vital to the investigation. He said heather had written him an email the night before. The subject read im sorry. In it she mentions their little girl ava. It read come get ava. I cannot face everyone with this. Please forgive me. It is too much. Please raise them to remember me as their loving mommy. How concerned were you when chris told you about this email that his wife had sent that heather had sent . I was concerned. It did not sound good to me. Reporter kemp thought the email was open to all kinds of interpretations. All bad, it seemed. It basically sounded like im throwing in the towel. Reporter throwing in the towel . Detective kemp asked chris if heather might be suicidal. Has she ever talked about wanting to harm herself or anybody else since youve known her . Not that i recall. Reporter friends and Family Police spoke to were adamant, heather would never take her own life. Not after striving so hard to transform it for the better. But there was another possible explanation for what might have happened to this woman who built such a promising future. Police were about to uncover a secret shed kept hidden from almost everyone. I didnt even know his name. Reporter just as heather was headed off into that bright new future, her past came calling. Coming up i told all the girls, yall be prepared. The search heats up, and the secret is out. Reporter kind of a bombshell that heather was possibly seeing another man. This of reporter Heather Jones had been missing for 24 hours. Her loved ones prayed for the best and launched into action. The memphis mother had recently lost 200 pounds with the help of a dance aerobics class, and now her gym friends pasted the after photo she was so proud of all over town. We had flyers. We stopped at restaurants around germantown. Reporter carrie heathers friend and dance instructor who also happened to be a cop, organized the search party. We had our backpacks on and walking shoes. We had snacks and towels and water. Reporter around lakes, parks, and Railroad Tracks, carrie and the other women searched methodically not knowing what they might find. And i told all the girls, yall be prepared because we might find her, okay . Your foot hit something hard and you think, oh, my god, is it her . But its a branch, and you just never know with each step. Reporter her best friend melissa, struggled with her worst fears. It was absolutely terrifying. Just thinking of her being scared and hurt made you sick. Reporter to put together the puzzle of what happened to heather and what she meant by that disturbing goodbye email detective kemp wanted to know more about heather starting with her relationship with chris. I wanted to know more about their marriage and whats been going on between them the past year. Reporter he knew the major event in their marriage in the past year was heathers dramatic physical change. But friends and family said it was about so much more than just dropping pants sizes. As heather lost the weight, she gained a whole new outlook on life. She was kind of quiet and reserved back then when i very first met her. To see that contrast from then until where she decided im going to make healthy decisions in my life the butterfly description with her is very a great description. Just her coming out of herschel and becoming who she was created to be. You know and you could see the transformation. Reporter in all different all different aspects, yes. Reporter her cousin, diane explained that once heather the butterfly started spreading her wing she felt that just like her old clothes, her husband chris wasnt fitting anymore. He was not really part of exactly reporter the new life. The future. Exactly, exactly. I think he saw the writing on the wall. She saw this im young, im healthier now than ive ever been prettier than ive ever been. Im feeling good. Im feeling confident. Im feeling independent. She didnt have just one choice anymore. The world was hers. Reporter detectives learned that in january, 2013 heather moved out on chris without telling him. She had a name for it . She did. Ninja style. Reporter it was almost Like Operation ninja style, that she was going to move out on her yes, it was. It was. Reporter heather moved into this rental house with the help of family and friends. She was backed by a lot of somehow girls. She was ready. She would say, you know i dont want anything in my house but my crock pot and my mattress and brown boots. But thats okay because im happy. Reporter in his interview with police, chris said that after nine years of marriage he and heather began to have some differences. But he said he had no clue she was going to move out on him and was even more shocked when he found out she had filed for divorce. I was totally sideswiped. Did not see it coming. Reporter chris told detective kemp hed been trying to patch things one heather ever since. I want my wife. I want the family dynamic that we had. Okay. I want us to be together. I want to work things out. Okay. Reporter kemp questioned what heather had been up to while chris was trying to win her back. Its common a lot of times when is a couple is going through a divorce that maybe, that somebody was seeing somebody. And i asked him that. Reporter thats when chris confided in the detective that he feared heather had in fact moved on. Is she seeing anybody else . Does she have a boyfriend now . Yeah could you tell me what you know about that. The only thing i know is that they were friends from a younger age, and its been going on for some time. Reporter when youre talking to chris, he brings up kind of a bombshell that heather was possibly seeing another man. Yes, he did. He did tell me that he believed that she was seeing somebody. I tried to get information from him about that person. I really dont know anything about the guy other than theyve been corresponding heavily. Does she talk about him much . She doesnt talk about him at all. She doesnt want me or anybody else to know about him. Kemp discovered heather had been talking about this new guy just not with her husband. They had started texting, i think, initially and started facebooking. Just hey, how are you. I think slowly the Text Messages and Facebook Messages became very flirtatious. I didnt even know his name. All i knew was that she was talking to somebody reporter who was making her happy. Who was making her happy. She felt very special and very beautiful. Reporter police did need a name fast. Chris was able to provide at least part of that crucial detail. Can you tell me about him . Can you start me off with a name . Whats his name . Will. Edwards all i got. Edward . Yeah. Reporter did you think that this other man could be a game changer nif investigation . To me this was a person of interest we needed to speak with. Reporter detectives now launched a hunt for a man named edward. They wanted to know did heather the butterfly leave behind her old life to build a new one with another man. Coming up other man revealed. You know im a flirtatious person. He has some intriguing information for police and for us. I would hide her if thats what she wanted. Home to thousands of bacteria. But lysol disinfectant spray can help protect your family because it can also be used on soft surfaces. 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Ive seen their correspondence and sweetie and love you and i want how did you know they were corresponding aarp you able to see some of the texting yourself . Yeah. On her phone or yeah. Reporter you must have had concerns about this other man. Yes, i did, because he was one of the first names that we had come up with. Reporter detective kemp knew if heather had split town as her goodbye email suggested, she hadnt driven away in her car. It was still parked in her driveway. Do you know what kind of car edward drives . I dont know anything about him. I really dont. Okay. Does he live here local . Obviously in germantown . No. Memphis . Do you know . Not that i know of. I dont think he live in memphis. Reporter detectives had to find edward another way. So they accessed heathers facebook account and mined it for clues. And there it was. A profile with the last name attached. What was that name . Edward ruetherson. Reporter police found a phone number for ed. He told them he lived 500 miles away in eastern, tennessee, and agreed to make the trip to be interviewed. Police wondered had he made the trip once already that week to take heather away and most importantly, could he tell them where shes at now. Just because youve got somebody living 500 miles away does not mean that they didnt have anything to do with there disappearance. Reporter police recorded eds interview. During questioning ed made a potentially important admission. I love her to death. I would do anything for her. You know one of the detective asked me, you know, who would she call if she wanted to disappear. I said me. Id be here in however many hours it took me to get here today. Reporter but he insisted heather never made that call. And there was more ed told detective he was surprised by the first question he was asked when initially contacted by the police. Detective cook called me and he said is your girlfriend there . And i said yeah, shes in the back yard. He said, good okay so heathers okay . And i said heathers not my girlfriend. Shes a friend of mine. Weve been friends for 20 years. Reporter so if ed and heather werent an item and he was dating someone else what exactly was going on . The detective wanted to hear you from immediately once they learned your name yeah, once they knew who i was reporter you were an important piece of the puzzle to them. Yeah. Reporter detectives learned from ed that his relationship with heather went back decades. Long before heather married chris. Ed said he and heather met in 1993 when they were both teens living in florida. Ed remembers they fell fast for each other. It was young love. They say you dont know what love is, but i do. Reporter ed said they dated for two years before he moved away. But that puppy love was something he never got over, even after heather married. Were you still carrying that torch . Yeah. But i didnt really let it show. I respected heather too much. Reporter around heathers birthday in the spring of 2013 after she lost all that weight ed told detectives he reached out to wish her well and got more than a thank you. Heather had big news she and chris had separated. At that moment in her life, she needed a friend. And that was what i was there for. I i was there right when she needed me the most. Reporter but ed said that shoulder to lean on soon turned into something more. Talking, just listening to her problems. Then it just, you know progressed from there. Reporter progressed in what way . You know im a flirtatious person. And, you know, just became flirtatious. Detective kemp scanned the recent text between the two from heathers cell phone, and it appeared that things had heated up even more a few days before she went missing. There was some sexual content that i had noticed. Reporter ed says it was heather who first turned the texting into sexting. What did you think . It was partly that you know, she was in a highly flirtatious mood that day. I wasnt really quite sure. Reporter did you bite . I bit. Reporter detective wanted to know how much and whether ed was truly willing to drop everything to help heather start a new life in secret. No matter what it took i would protect her. Reporter ed knew it probably didnt look good to police. I guess me admitting that i would hide her if if thats what she wanted, you know. I can understand them saying that you know, maybe hes hidden her. Reporter did you hide her . I wish. Reporter did you drive to see healther that night . No. Reporter were you with heather that night . No. Reporter did you have anything to do with her disappearance . No. Reporter ed told police he was at home far away in eastern tennessee, and revealed that despite those steamy texts, he and heather hadnt actually seen each other in person in years. We had discussed seeing each other. I guess it would have been well, about another month. Reporter ed insisted to police he had no idea where heather was but he did give them a big clue. He told investigators that in fact he spoke to heather on the phone the very night she disappeared. He heard something on that call that was alarming then and even more alarming now. I called her. She answered. Immediately i could hear kind of arguing. Reporter ed said he heard a mans voice in the background during that call. But whose voice was it . Coming up reporter are you thinking this could potentially be our last chance to solve this . This was our shot. The pieces of the case are about to fall into place. And all thosener flirtatious texts, turns out they arent at all what you think. You need to put that out of my mind. Im grooming. Is that my toothbrush . Yes. How about a little privacy . Dont live with roaches. Get raid ant roach spray. Raid . . Sfx poof as bug explodes and take back your home. Raid kills bugs dead. Sc johnson, a family company. [woman] who is this guy . 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Your antiperspirant should give you more than just protection. New dove advanced care. For softer, smoother underarms. Reporter as one day slid into the next and the next with still no sign of Heather Jones, her gym friends got back to exercise class with the hope heather would dance with them once again. I kept the back door open to the gym and i said heather, if you can hear us, were dancing were looking for you, okay. If youre out there, you dance with with us. Were going to find you one way or the other. Reporter detective tony kemp all vowed to also vowed to find her. He was convinced heather did not run off with her old boyfriend, ed. He asked her friends what else would cause healther to leave her husband and children. Thats when kemp began to flush out what really happened when heather moved out on chris. It was very scary, and it only continued to deteriorate. Reporter friends and family told him how at first chris tried to woo her with flowers and chocolates. But those loving gestures soon turned ugly. He would text her and call her, but this time they were like violent, youre not taking my kids from me im not going to let you leave. You wont get away with this. I will come after you. Reporter then friends said chris started acting more desperate. And heather started getting really scared. He would show up at her work. He would show up at the gym. He started showing up at the house in the middle of the night. And i just remember thinking like, this is insane. Like youre literally stalking her. I got a lot of information on chris, on what these people thought of him. And it was not good. Reporter detectives decided theyd do more than just keep an eye on chris. They secretly attached a gps device to his car to track his movements. We wanted to know possibly could he take us to where heather was at. Reporter they also asked chris to come in for a second interview. Detective Brian Wallace would lead the interrogation. Are you thinking this could potentially be our last chance to solve this . Certainly. This was our shot. Reporter detectives watched ads chris car made his way toward the Police Station, but then it stopped a quarter mile away at a nearby mall. Police thought he might be running an errand. But moments later he popped up at the station. Why had he parked so far away . Chris was escorted in. Thanks for coming up. My pleasure. Anything i can do. Reporter chris told detectives he went to heathers house the night she disappeared to talk, but before he could say much to her he said her phone rang. And shes like well, this is a call that ive kind of been waiting for. I said you know, ive really got kind of a pertinent matter to discuss with you if theres any way you could, you know, have hill call you back what was it, the important matter . Letting her know that i discovered shed been having an affair this entire time. Was that who was calling her, the person you were suspecting i kind of got that feeling that thats who was calling her. Reporter in fact it was ed rolerson. I called her she answered. Immediately i could hear you know her and chris kind of arguing. So shes telling him to get out, and hes constantly saying i need to talk to you, i need to talk you to. I just need two minutes. Reporter ed said he heard Something Else come out of chris mouth. He needs to talk to her, its a matter of life and death. She asked him, what do you mean a matter of life and death . Reporter in his interview, chris admitted he and heather continued arguing when she hung up with ed. But he insisted she was alive when he went home. And he said she sent that disturbing goodbye email only after he left. Im freaking out you know, because i still i dont know that this isnt a game. Reporter detectives had been analyzing that strange email. And they asked Forensic Experts to comb through chris computers seized at his apartment. The theory began to emerge. Investigators now believed chris had written the email himself. Did you suspect that chris was posing as heather, sending that email . Yes, i did because chris was an expert when it came to computers. Reporter and whats more they suspected it was chris who actually sent those sexy texts to ed not heather. They believed hed stolen her phone and was pretending to be her. That is really weird yeah reporter youre getting sexting from messages reporter from her husband. One of them things okay, i need to put that out of my mind. Reporter chris plan detectives thought, was to throw them off the trail. To make it look like heather ran off and was having an affair. But they didnt believe a word of his story or that his concern for heather was genuine. The reason youre freaking out is because she was dead. Your actions after that make no sense. Everything else after that was alibi okay what did i do with her . Thats what were asking chris. Reporter chris was sticking to his story, but the biggest break in the case was about to happen. What chris didnt know is that while detectives were turning up the heat inside the interrogation room, outside that sent some cadaver dogs to the mall to sniff around his car. And now the team at the mall wanted to speak with detectives immediately. They said the dogs just hammered his car. They said, theyre all over it. Reporter they found the scent of human remains. I dont know why a cadaver dogs hit on my car. I do. They dont just hit they dont just pick cars out of the blue. What it s it theyre trained what is it theyre trained to detect . The odor of decomposition. Reporter wallace had chris against the ropes, and he was finally going get answers. Not just about what happened but why. The startling revelation. Heathers radical makeover of her body and life had put her life in imminent danger. Coming up a whole new story from chris. Was this all some awful accident or could it be murder with a mindblowing motive . Reporter do you think that heather would still be alive if she hadnt gone through this transformation . Gosh. Id love to help you, i really would. Reporter for hours chris jones had been going over his story with detectives about what happened the night his wife heather disappeared. After cadaver dogs found the scent of human remains on chris car, detective Brian Wallace wasnt buying his story. Your story about what happened the night she disappeared total [ bleep ]. Reporter wallace pushed him for the truth. How did it happen . Did she fall . Is she dead . Was she drunk as [ bleep ] . What happened . Thats exactly it. We were struggling over the phone. And only this time we were outside on the steps. And she lost her footing. She fell. Hit the step. And i heard the heard the crack. He said they were struggling over a cell phone. She slipped, fell backwards, and hit her head and died. Reporter did you believe this no no reporter new story . No, no way. Reporter finally chris admitted heather was dead but insisted it was only an accident. Still, the most important evidence was missing heathers body. Chris told detectives he dumped her at a gas station. Police went there found nothing, and checked security cameras. Got videos from the last 15 days. Theyve looked at everything from 10 00 a. M. To 4 00 a. M. Your car never even pulls on the lot. Reporter chris then changed his story and said he paid someone to get rid of the body. I jokingly asked, hey, you want to make a couple hundred bucks. Uhhuh no no. Stop stop stop chris, chris, stop. This isnt working. Thats crazier than the first one. Reporter four hours into the interview, wallace sensed chris was out of stories and out of options. So the detective gave him one last chance. I said, lets cut it out, chris. Your times running out. You need to tell us where she is, and you need to tell us now. Reporter the room went quiet, and chris motioned for a pen and paper. Then he drew a map. I said this is where she is . He said thats where she is. Reporter detective raced to the area and followed chris directions down a path into the woods that led to a clearing. Once we could see an area on the ground where a fire what looked like a fire had taken place. Once we got closer we could tell there was still a human form there. Reporter seven days after she disappeared, detectives had found heather. Her body had been badly burned. We were brokenhearted. And we had lost her. She was a big, smiling beautiful part of our group. Reporter chris jones was arrested and charged with firstdegree murder. Now the women whod helped heather find the courage to leave her husband supported their friend in death, staring down chris jones at every court appearance. Theres a monster inside that hurt our friend and that we want justice. Reporter prosecutors rejected chris story that heather had died from an accidental fall. They believed he argued with her at the house that night, strangled her then burned her body in the woods. But the question remained why . Heathers friends provided a surprising answer. They were convinced heathers dramatic weight loss got her killed. Do you think that heather would still be alive if she hadnt gone through this transformation and bettered herself . Gosh, um yes. Reporter heathers friends and family said over the course of their relationship, chris used heathers weight as a tool to control her. At the beginning, he wanted her to be bigger. That he felt like that would be more attractive to him. And then as she got bigger, then he would say to her that nobody else would want her because she was so obese. Reporter and when heather finally achieved her unbelievable transformation she confided to her friends that chris didnt have the reaction she expected. She told me, chris wants me to gain the weight back. I said heather, thats a control technique. He want you to stay home. He doesnt want you out there. He doesnt want anyone else looking at you. Reporter according to her best friend, melissa, she said chris brought fatty foods to her hoping she would pack the pounds back on. He would go up to the school with food and she would not want any part of it. Reporter with the sole purpose of trying to get her to gain weight . Is what she had told me yes. Reporter friends said the new and improved heather never took the bait. And after enduring years of increasing unhappiness in her marriage they said heather found out something that for her was the last straw. She discovered that chris was having an affair with another woman. Reporter thats when she finally spread her wings and found the courage to leave her marriage. And she never looked back. You could see just her spirit just lighting up and her sense of security and what all the future was going to hold for her. Reporter in february of this year, chris jones went on trial. At this time reporter heathers friends took the stand to help prove the prosecutions theory. When chris realized hed lost control of heather, he took control in another way. That man guilty of firstdegree murder reporter prosecutors laid out their case to the jury. It wasnt an accident. Reporter assistant District Attorney danielle mccollum. She didnt fall down. There was a struggle. He doesid strangle her with his hand or however he did it. He was up close and personal to her. And he was there watching that breath go out of her. Reporter the defense stuck to the story chris told on tape that heather fell and died after they struggle would over a cell phone. He never admits to killing her. Reporter the judge asked chris if he wanted to tell his story to the jury. I think that i will choose to not testify. Reporter it was now up to the jury to decide his fate. Friends and family filled the courthouse waiting for word. But there would not be a quick verdict. Finally after deliberating for a day we the jury find the defendant guilty of murder first degree. Count two reads, we, the jury find the defendant guilty of abuse of a corpse. Reporter tears flowed for heather. A woman who worked so hard to shape her own life free of chris jones, who will now likely spend the rest of his life behind bars. Heather is at peace. Heathers at peace. He will never hurt anybody again. Reporter even after his conviction chris joan insisted that he didnt kill heather. Highway told dateline in a phone call from jail that he never tried to control heather. That he is absolutely innocent of murder of any type and that his taped statements to police were coerced. How you doing . Yes, sir reporter the detective said chris jones talked to them voluntarily and could have ended the interview at any time. As for cousin diane, she has obtained legal custody of heather and chris two children. And heathers gym friends, they find comfort in knowing that before her death, heather achieved that remarkable journey becoming the person she was always meant to be. She got to experience that before she left this earth. She got to experience what it was like to be as beautiful as she wanted to be inside and out. Im glad she did. Reporter that dance class where heather spread her wings still keeps a place for her. A heart with heathers name on it. A reminder of a woman whose transformation continues to inspire all who knew and loved Heather Jones. Is she dancing . Absolutely. Oh yes. We believe that. If you believe in angels there is one dancing up there. I promise you. And every time we have class, shes dancing. Now. Im lester holt. Thanks for joining us. This sunday, terror in the age of social media. When twitter takes down accounts, jihadists open new ones. Is the u. S. Losing the online battle with isis . Carly fiorina says its time for a woman president , just not hillary clinton. She joins us live. Also president obama takes on a liberal hero on trade, none other than elizabeth warren. She is absolutely wrong. This mothers day. Being a mom in america. Women in places like southeast washington have more in common with women in kenya. Finally, the inevitable brady and belichick deflategate and comparison to the clintons. Im chuck todd