When she got dolled up, oh my god, gorgeous. Did she write these letters . Is this a hint . This is a message saying this is my killer. Like you would see in a movie. And the ending, that was just like a movie, too. I cant believe what people do to each other. Hello, welcome to dateline. Roc, in this case, those three letters would tell a story all their own. When Karen Pannell was found murdered in her south florida home, the letters scrawled in blood above her body seemed like a beacon that couldnt lead detectives to her killer. What did they mean . What other crucial clues were in sight . It would take dogged specialist with a keen eye to unravel this mystery. Heres Dennis Murphy with written in blood. Reporter if yearround water is on your thing, once the onetime model and Flight Attendant got sand in her shoes, she never looked back. She loved the beach, diving, boating, that life. Her friend worked the counter at American Airlines in tampa with karen. If you were a frazzled passenger. Who isnt these days . Karen is the antidote, exactly the right agent to bump into to get you on your way. Karen was very pretty. She was smart. Smiled all the time. Funny. Reporter but when the always capable and reliable karen didnt show up for her saturday morning shift on october 11th, 2003, clearly, something was wrong. Her boyfriend had tried calling her at home. When she wasnt at work or answering her calls, i began to get worried, but it was a couple hours before i really got panicky about it. Reporter the boyfriend drove over to karens condo, the front door was unlocked. A bad sign. He said he stepped inside and looked to the right to the kitchen. I saw her body and i knew immediately there was no doubt in my mind she was dead. I picked up the phone and i called 911. Shes laying on the floor, theres blood everywhere. Reporter karen pannel, sprawled on her back, a murder victim. When the first deputies arrive on the scene, her boyfriend is in the front yard, he was hysterical. He actually threw up he was so upset about finding her body. They gave her boyfriend a seat in the back seat of the police car. He placed a call to her friend katherine with the unimaginable news. Karen, its tim. Im at karens apartment, she has been stabbed. Stabbed . Its a horrible way, its very horrible way to die. Karen, the baby of the family with five older brothers suddenly gone. She had been especially close to her oldest brother mike. My brother called me. I was at the airport, and said, you better sit down. He said, karens been murdered. Any theory about what had happened . I dont know. I was trying to figure out the why and relying on the police to do what they needed to do. And what they had to do was plenty. They processed the crime scene, filmed every inch of karens home, knocked on doors, tried to figure out just who their victim was. Detectives holbrooke and larry nelvin began with the man that made that 911 call. The first thing a lead investigator will do is talk to the people closest to her. In this case, we had Timothy Permenter finding the office. We took him back to the office and talked him to extensively. Tim a car salesman, gave them a run down in the hours leading up to the terrible discovery. He said he popped in briefly on karen the night before to drop off a gift. A photo calendar of kittens he knew his cat lover girlfriend would find irresistible. Tim said he left about 7 30. That was the last time to see her alive. Wouldnt it have been your routine to stay the night . Not on a friday night. She had to go in work the next day. After saying goodbye, he said he spent an hour with friends an hour to the north. Is he saying anything, he cant do it . I know boyfriends are figured suspicions, i want to talk to a lawyer . No, hes being more than cooperative. While tim says he was off with his friend, there appeared to have been a frenzied struggle at karens house. Anna cox forensic analyst described the aftermath. She put up a heck of a struggle. What are you looking at . She had defensive wounds, the way her body was contorted. I was thinking, she fought for her life. Do you think oh my goodness or have you seen anything different at this point . I cant believe what people do to each other. Its terrible. Reporter around the back, the crime scene tech found the security bolt on a sliding glass door was dislodged. A cable box was opened. You start to think to yourself, somebodys trying to cut the wires. There was a knocked over bird bath. So there was evidence outside that at first you need to think to yourself, i think that this might be a burglary. And karens overturned purse on the stovetop supported the breakin theory. Anna cox took an inventory of everything at the crime scene. A pizza box, a garden glove, a grocery receipt, all routine findings so far. But its what authorities spotted on the wall above the body that would turn this case into something out of the movies. Threeletter message in blood. You didnt have to squint to make it out, either, roc. On the victim, karens right hand index finger was clearly stained with blood. Roc. What was the murdered woman try to tell the cops . All these theories, what does that mean . Is that a person, a thing . The clues pointed in so many different direction, it was a total mystery. Reporter theres a concept in the law known as a dying declaration. With those three letters scrawled in karens own blood lead to the apprehension of her own killer. Coming up, investigators dig into that threeletter mystery. Who or what was roc . When dateline continues. Youl advil is. Relief thats fast. Strength that lasts. Youll ask. What pain . With advil. 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Now they were traveling from far flung parts of the country for her funeral. Shot and in mourning for the lost sister. All the boys kind of got involved in their own stuff. Then there was karen. She was really what connected all of us to the family unit. What does that tell us about her . She was really more important to us than we knew. I think she was always more interested in family as a whole than she was in herself. Brother mike wasnt alone in thinking his kid sister could have been a sky is the limit person. She could have been anything she wanted, a scientist or a doctor or whatever. Well, her friends loved her. And she was hard not to love. Even harder to forget what a cruel fate she had suffered at the hands of a killer unknown. During the viewing, there were invisible stab wounds on her hand. You know, so we kind of pulled flowers down a little further. A few days after the funeral. Her many friends say goodbye. There is a shovel at the main terminal. There were so many people there from all Different Airlines the security people, it was incredible. Meanwhile, the Pinellas County sheriffs investigation was moving quickly on several fronts. First, they validated boyfriend tims story. He said after visiting karen early that evening, he spent the night with a friend, George Solomon in moon lake an hour to the north. He did, in fact, go up to where george was staying with his girlfriend if pasco county. There was confirmed by george and georges girlfriend. George gave us a time line consistent with what permaner gave us. His story checked out and he voluntarily came clean. He had a record. He had done time. Early on in your life, you get in trouble. What was going on with you . I was running an escort service. Got stupid, started it up small, basically, running an ad out of a newspaper, getting a small office. It expanded and ballooned. What kind of money were you pulling down a week . I was grossing about six to 7,000 a day. A day . You were how old . 20. Thats the trap. Why am i going to school when im making this kind of money . Yes. It ended up in a gunfight . Yes, sir. Tim says he was worried hed be painted as a bad guy right away because of his sorted past. So he promised to cooperate every way possible. The cops took him up on it. I allowed them to photograph me. Removed my clothing. I allowed them to go to my home. Took anything they wanted. There was nothing about his clothing, his car, his person that led to us believe that he was involved in any other way than he said he was. He came over to see her, found her and was devastated. Reporter tims permenters alibi checked out. Police dismissed any clues pointing to a home invasion. After all, karen had been stabbed 16 times, an attack so ferocious, it could only be a crime of passion. Now the detectives were desperate to figure out what their biggest clue of all meant, those three letters written in blood. Roc. This is a creepy scene. I mean, you got this scrawled in blood message saying this is my killer. Im now dead, you find this guy. Thats what its suggesting, isnt it . Absolutely, its what its detecting. Detectives found how those letters were connected to the victim lying beneath them. Roc it turned out was a man that spelled trouble for karen in the past. Roc was an exboyfriend Karen Pannell had problems with previously. And whoever and wherever this roc was, hed just become the prime target of the investigation into her murder. Okay. Well, there it is. Thats what she meant to write was roc. They have to follow that lead, off they go. To find roc . To find roc. Coming up, mission accomplished. Find him, they do. But what would they find next . Im looking at murder, somebodys talking to me about a murder. When dateline continues. Heres one you guys will like. Show me making it. Oh i got one. The best of amy poehler. Amy, maybe we could use the voice remote to search for something that youre not in. Show me parks and rec. From netflix to prime video to live tv, xfinity lets you find your favorites with the Emmy Awardwinning x1 voice remote. Show me the best of amy poehler, again. This time around. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. Experience the entertainment you love on x1. Access netflix, prime video, youtube and more, all with the sound of your voice. Click, call or visit a store today. A stomach churning crime scene, with a cryptic message in blood. Roc. Roc was the unusual but proper spelling of Karen Pannells exboyfriend. So tell me about the former boyfriend known as roc, letters scrawled in blood . Roc was an exboyfriend. He had a little legal problems, a little Substance Abuse problem. Roc had a personality as big and loud as the pipes on the harleys. He worked at an auto body shop handling claims. When he met karen, she was on a downward spiral. After being married five years, she recently had got an divorce. The doctor had given her awful news. She had multiple sclerosis, 38yearsold. To be a young, divorced woman, with this awful diagnosis, what do you think that did to her . Thats a lot to put on your shoulders. Right. I think that really affected herself esteem. Frankly, i think it had an impact on the kind of men she was attracted to. Karen came to rely on roc to take her to doctors appointments and injections. When she asked him to move in, her friends and family thought she was asking for trouble. Ive think thats true. Is it my place to say, well, you need to go find somebody that is going to offer you a Better Future . You cant dictate terms to your kid sister . No you can only fix yourself. As it turned out, roc wasnt a fix for karen either. The relationship soon took an ugly term. They seemed to get along for a while and she was happy. And he turned into not a very nice guy. He was a little creepy. He was tough on her . There were some unexplained bruises. I used to tell her, what are you doing . He did not deserve her. She wouldnt listen. The fights got worse and police were called three separate times to intervene. One time roc allegedly broke down the front door. That was the last straw. Karen filed a domestic battery complaint and roc moved out. Tim says even a year later, he was still harassing karen about a rolltop desk he left behind. She was starting to get scared of him toward the end. The issue he had was i got a valuable piece of furniture, i want it back. Karen said that was a ruse . Trying to worm his way back in . Thats the way she put it to me. They knew they had to confront this roc, so they tracked him down and paid a surprise visit. He wasnt happy to see this. Im at my home in north port, florida, mark shows up, everybody know what is that is. Im thinking, what the heck is that . Detective holbrooke identified himself and said they need to talk to him about his friend karen. He sit down on the porch and goes, well, shes dead. This doesnt register. I said, you need to tell me whats going on. But the detective wanted roc to do the talking. He asked about his troubled relationship with karen. Roc indicated that he was using drugs and that karen liked to drink and that they fought often. Roc said he savored the good times with karen, too. When she got cold up, oh my god, gorgeous. Great, picture perfect. Wasnt a thing out of place. Were there some sparks there, roc . Yeah, there was, she was all that, just by herself and ready to go. She looked hungry for attention and she was alone and it was perfect. It was a perfect setup. What do you think she saw in you . What was working from her side . Probably the bad boy kind of thing. I wasnt your conventional straight laced kind of guy. Roc was opened with the detectives. Even came across as a good guy. But conceded there were screaming matches with karen and a few rip roaring fights but said she was the instigator. Shed get violent, physically violent. Just stuff. Things would happen. But nobody ever got arrested, but theyd come out. They would address the issue. As roc tells it, she gave as good as she got. He dodged a few pieces of thrown crockery. She was ready to stand up for herself at the drop of a hat. She was a tough girl. Reporter roc remembers karen playing hardball about that rolltop desk of his, too, not liking her attitude. I did call her on several occasions about my rolltop desk. The desk. That stupid desk and it was bugging me. I mean, it was a nice piece of furniture and i wanted to get it back. She pretty much said, you left, youre not getting it. He never did get. That rolltop was still in karens condo on the night she was stabbed to death. Now, detective holbrooke pointedly wanted to know if roc had been there, too. He says, where were you on suchandsuch a day. Im like, well, first of all, ill have to look at the calendar because i dont know where i was that day but i guarantee you i wasnt in oldsmar. So we go from there to discussing where i was, who i had been with, where i lived. So are you getting a serious grilling . Right. He ends up telling me that we found your name in blood on the wall. Roc . So, obviously, im a suspect. I acknowledge that. I mean im looking at murder. Im getting somebodys talking to me about a murder. Roc waved his right to a lawyer and agreed to give fingerprints and swabbing. It looked as though police found yet another cooperative boyfriends from the victim. I said, if you are looking for fingerprints, theyre all over that home. I lived there a year. You are going to find them. Did you lose your patience . I didnt lose the patience when they take the end of my fingernail off, now im done. Rocs cooperation had an edge to it. Was he really trying to cover his tracks . Detectives were determined to find out. And they put that bloody clue under the microscope. Were those three little letters really what they seemed . Coming up the csi of roc. 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Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, and medications, including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. With the botox® savings program, most people with commercial insurance pay nothing out of pocket. Text save to 27747 to check your eligibility, then talk to your doctor. Im dara brown. The handwriting was on the wall and forensic specialist anna cox was intent on breaking down the three letters in blood, roc. You would spend hours looking at these letters . I did. You actually cut the sheet rock out of your place and took it into your lab . Yes. I have to look at those letters after everything about them. Using a high powered microscope, she did an analysis of the stains that stained the wall. That blood splatter served as a gruesome canvass with roc written over it. When the letters roc was over top of it. It scribbled over it and didnt disrupt it at all. Here was her specialization, roc must have been written after they dried, how long after . I have a special machine i used to make some spatter. In her lab, she used animal blood to test how long for spatter to dry on a similar surface. When i came back and was able to apply spatter to some sections of some cardboard, i was able to get some blood and writing the word roc. I must have written it a million times over different areas of spatter. In the lab it took at least 25 minutes of drying time. She concluded there must have been about that much time between the attack on karen and the word roc being written on the wall. Next, she looked for fingerprints in the letters, themselves, sounds impossible, right . If shes writing and applying pressure to the wall, you would think there would be some type of transfer of ridge detail. Ridge detail. We all have it. Unique telltell patterns on every human finger and hand. But anna wasnt finding that here. Rather she detected an unusual hint of a pattern. Something almost like polka dots. I thought to myself the garden glove on the counter was missing its match, missing its pair. Reporter a garden glove was found the meat was never located. It had a distinctive dot pattern. On the interior side where the palmetto and the fingers were, its like that rubber and its got those little. Bubbly surface. Knobbing grippy surface. I remember thinking, wow, i wonder if thats what wrote these letters. Cox bought similar gloves at a hardware store. After several more days of testing was satisfied that her hunch was correct. Anna cox came one two important findings. The message in blood had likely been written with a gloved hand and it had been scrawled at least 20 minutes after the onset of the attack on karen. She reported her results to the detectives, that learned a fact about the victim. Karen was exclusively left handed and her left hand did not have blood smear on it. Not only that, when the autopsy report came in it suggested karen couldnt have written anything with either hand. From what the medical examiner was seeing, was this a victim who was going to dip in her own blood and write roc on the wall . No, absolutely not. Over 90 of her spinal cord were damaged by the knife wounds. She was incapacitated. It wasnt her. She didnt write that. The evidence was overwhelming. Karen pannell did not write the letters roc in blood. It was a huge turning point in the case and the best news possible for the exboyfriend roc herpick. Think confirmed 100 she could not have done that. She couldnt have done it. She would have been physically incapable of doing that and it certainly wasnt me. I mean, why would you write your own name on the wall . Police agree, implicating yourself in a murder just made no sense. Roc got moore good news after police checked out his alibi, but he was home at the night of the murder. We got his cell phone records. The cell towers were hitting off, hes in north port, florida. Thats a good you know hour, hourandahalf away. You went over these alleged beefs he might have had with her when they were boyfriend, girlfriend . He had moved on. The detectives were able to move on, too. They officially cleared roc. It was a major development. Karens ex had suddenly gone from being a prime person of interest to a victim himself. Victim of the real killer who tried to frame him for the crime and was still out there somewhere. Whoever killed her know somebody named roc. Somebody knows my name. Thats a part of the story. Thats right f. You think about this, this is its not even a smart thing to do. Reporter roc was right. The people of suspects had suddenly narrowed to a small handful of karens intimates who knew about him and knew the unusual way he spelled his name. Roc. Detectives holbrooke and nelvin were about to take a hard look at all of that. Coming up. You could walk right by and think it has no importance at all. It ended up being crucial in this case. Could a box of pizza help solve this puzzle . When dateline continues. Protect your pets from fleas and ticks with frontline plus for dogs and frontline plus for cats. Its two killer ingredients work fast and keep working all month long preventing new flea infestations on your pet. Frontline plus. The number 1 name in flea and tick protection. Each day justin at work. Walk. And after work. He does it all with dr. Scholls. Only dr. Scholls has massaging gel insoles that provide allday comfort. To keep him feeling more energized. Dr. Scholls. Born to move. No matter how much you clean, does your house still smell stuffy . Thats because your home is filled with soft surfaces that trap odors and release them back into the room. So, try febreze fabric refresher. Febreze finds odors trapped in fabrics and cleans them away as it dries. 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Can you make it look like im holding it . He did show us how to bundle home and auto at progressive. Com and save a bunch of money. Oh, a plaque. He later navigated northward, leaving. Progressive cant protect you from becoming your parents. But we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. But we can protect your home and auto with advil liquigels, what stiff joints . What bad back . Advil is. Relief thats fast. Strength that lasts. Youll ask. What pain . With advil liquigels. Police had reached a startling conclusion, Karen Pannell did not write the name roc on the wall, her killer had. But those three letters were still a gift to police because investigators figured he had the know both karen and roc. Detectives started questioning the other men in karens life. Karen had nicknames for her boyfriends, car guy, tim permenter. Another dr. Pilot. Dr. Pilot, a British Airways captain had recently been sending karen romantic texts. But he was aboard a flight over the middle east when karen was killed. So he was ruled out as were most of karens known male friends, all can prove they were nowhere near her house in oldsmar that night. Every boyfriend except car guy, tim permenter reported finding her body. Is she conscious . I dont know. Is she breathing . I dont know. Tim would later tell detectives he had lost the love of his life. The woman he was hoping to marry. But the people who knew karen best started telling police a very different story. Im not sure why she stayed in that relationship or began a relationship like that. The relationship began with tim trying to sell karen a new car. Police learned he sold her a bill of goods about himself, saying he had been a navy seal, involved in Top Secret Missions never mentioning the sort truth about his criminal past. Karen told me he explained the scars as he got on a mission. Super commando stuff . I think that was his impression of himself. Why are you lying to her . Giving her a crock . There is no excuse for it, other than if you are an inmate or a convicted felon, no matter how good you do, no matter what you do, there is always going to be that spectre hanging over you. It was several months into the relationship before tim finally revealed his ugly secret. He was a felon that spent more than a decade behind bars, not a navy seal but a violent onetime pimp. A selfdescribed escort king. I said, i have been waiting for the right time to tell you this. She was flabbergasted. I think that she became frightened of me. Why didnt you shake hands and call it quits . Because i loved her. Karens friends and brothers told them she was afraid. When she tried to pull away from tim. Brother mike says those fears were quickly borne out. Did you ever hear evidence she was not being treated well . Yes. And she called me and said that tim had choked her and i felt like after that conversation that i had convinced her to file a police report. But no report was filed. Still, karens coworkers could tell something was terribly wrong. She had bruising on her neck. A friend found she missed a day or two, she wore a turtle neck. In the summer months in florida, you dont wear a turtle neck. They chased down every week, another crime lab made a discovery, unlike the bogus message in blood, this message was something forensic anna cox almost passed over. A pizza box on Karens Kitchen counter. You could walk right by and think it had no importance at all. It ended up being crucial. Cox was able to lift a clean fingerprint from the box. It was tim fermenters. He initially stated that he wasnt there when the pizza was delivered. He told the officers in the initial interview i was out of there at 7 30 . Well, his fingerprints were on that box. You sister a receipt saying it was delivered at 8 48. Yes. So he now put himself right there at the scene and right there in the last crucial hours of her life. Its a poor set of facts . For him. And then tims time line and alibi took another hit. He first said he was home when he called his friend george after 9 30. Detective nelvin found evidence proving otherwise. Once we get the cell phone tower site locations back, we are putting. At her house. So the tower is catching him in a lie in. Absolutely. His 911 phone call in the morning, it hits off the same tower he was hitting off when he called 9 46 the night before directly north of Karen Pannells house. They could only think of one reason for him to lie about those times. It was that karens car guy was the killer. They brought to him headquarters again, this time for an official and much more aggressive interrogation. He gave the same timeline as he gave previously. We went through it with him. At that point we started attacking his story. Tim had a simple explanation for the time line problems, he was confused. This is what cooperation got me. Confused. Confused . We know you werent confused, tim, you lied. When the pizza arrived, i was still there. 8 48 delivered. And it was right after the pizza arrived. I would say i was there another ten, 15 minutes. Why do you tell cops 7 30 . Im horrible at times and days and the problem was is that making a mistake became a im hiding something. Cops call your mistake a lie . Of course. Why do you lie at times . You were there at least 8 30 to 9 30. Its impossible. No, its a receipt. You can track, okay. Tim had been slipped up by his own statement. The detective said the suspect knew the charade was over. He put his face in his hand, he literally covered his face for two or three minutes. Tim ultimately looked up at us and the car salesman guy that we knew as tim permenter completely left the room. What did you see in his eyes, in his face . The first thing i thought was satan just walked in the room. Coming up. I knew i was innocent. Was he . Juries like to see forensics. Right. Dna the blood samples and they didnt have it. That was the biggest concern for me. The trial and the verdict when dateline continues. Stand up to chronic migraine with botox®. What if you had fewer headaches and migraines a month . Botox® prevents headaches and migraines before they even start. Botox® is for adults with chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting 4 hours or more. Botox® injections take about 15 minutes in your Doctors Office and are covered by most insurance. Effects of botox® may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away, as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness can be signs of a life threatening condition. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue, and headache. Dont receive botox® if theres a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, and medications, including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. Having headaches and migraines more than half the month . It could be chronic migraine. Text track to 50334 for our migraine tracker, then talk to your doctor. Detectives were now convinced that tim permentor, the boyfriend who plenled to help solve karens murder was really the killer. Tim said police had nothing on him and were only targeting him because of his criminal record. I didnt do it. I knew somehow, some way i was going to get it pinned on me. I knew the minute i saw the body. Detectives arrested him and sent him to county jail. The state attorney got the case. What are about timothy permentor . He is a psychopath, someone who i think had gotten lucky to be with karen. Once she got past the superficial aspect of him and realized what he was like, she wanted out of that relationship and that ultimately lead to her death. The prosecutor said he acted the bereaved boyfriend. Oh, god the prosecutor said permentor got thrown off the tearstained script when he called karens best friend soon after making the 911 call. He said katherine, its tim. Im a karens apartment and she is laying on the floor and there is blood everywhere. She has been stabbed. Stabbed . Stabbed. Not she is dead, but shes been stabbed. He said she has been stabbed. Okay. She has been stabbed. We didnt know that at that point in time. He knew something crucial he shouldnt have known. Because hes the 1 that stabbed her. The prosecutor looked at the rejected lover and they showed was at the scene of the crime and lied about it. He charged permentor with firstdegree murder and decided to seek the Death Penalty. Weeks before the trial was scheduled to start, tims friend George Solomon, his sleep over alibi witness recanted his story, and how. He came up with a new story that permentor admitted he killed karen that night. Blurted out a confession . Thats a holy cow moment. Death penalty cases can take a torturous path when reaching a courtroom. This had taken long years and despite building a strong circumstantial case, prosecutors did not have a murder weapon or physical evidence linking tim to the stabbing. Defense attorney dudley kline. You have a complete lack of physical evidence. No bloody fingerprints. No bloody footprints or the door. The prosecutor was confident about the evidence he did have. I think circumstantial cases are sometimes the best. They dont lie. The circumstances dont lie. People lie. Thats the case lawry made to the jury. The circumstances showed tim permentor was the only one with a motive and opportunity to kill karen. Everything he did afterwards of fabricated to cover up the crime. The issues in this case or the murder of karen by the only person that really could have done it and that person lied about all these things. There was no reason for a person to lie about the death of their loved one if thats true. Defense attorney countered with common sense, arguing that karens killer must have been drenched in blood after a frenzied attack. There was no forensic evidence show his client was that person. In order to buy the states case, you have to make assumption upon assumption upon assumption. Thats not what our system is about. How did i do it . How on earth did not one single drop of blood get on my clothing or anything like that . Or in your car which was ripped apart. Right. I agreed to let them look. Get what you want. I knew i was innocent. The defense alsoer to into the credibility of the states star witness, George Solomon saying it was ridiculous to think timed get an invitation to spend the night after blurting out a murder confession. I killed Somebody Just now. Really . Lets go see my wife and kids. No way. A confident tim permentor decided to speak directly to the jury. He took the stand in his own defense. The attitude was look, you have to get up here and talk to these people. How do you remember him on the stand . I think he was calm. I think he answered the questions as best he could. Very simply. I think very completely. We felt we had made a showing that the state had not met the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Mike waited four long years to get justice for his sister. But now, he wasnt sure what the jury would do. There were times that i felt the evidence was very circumstantial. In this day and age, juries really like to see forensics. The dna and the blood samples. That was the biggest concern for me. But it took the jury just four hours to find tim permentor guilty of firstdegree murder. She was spared the Death Penalty by the judge who ordered him to serve a life sentence. I spoke to permentor at floridas liberty correctional institution. The murderer said he is the victim of a Justice System tilted against him from the start. Did you murder karen . No. This would be a great time to relieve her family of a lot of remorse and fess to it. I understand that, but i did not kill karen. I did not. I will probably spend the rest of my life here and when im 80 if im still alive, i did not kill karen. I will pay for it and i am paying for it, but i didnt do it. The detectives who cracked the case say they might have believed him if only he had not tried so hard to fake his alibi. Starting with the three letters written in blood. This hollywood touch as i think of it, rock did it. The declaration. It bit him . It bit him hard. Very hard. He outsmarted himself and thats why he is in prison. Roc is free to ride his harley these days, but it still eats him up that a man he never met tried to frame him for murder. For you could talk to him the way we are sitting here, what would you say . I am restrained, correct . I couldnt get to him . I would not be a good communicator in that conversation mode with him sitting there. I couldnt do it. Mike pannell couldnt do it either. He would rather not think about tim permentor and the last moments of his precious baby sisters life. I am not interested in remembering karen associated with that crime. Its been a long ordeal for you. I want to remember karen as a brilliant beautiful young woman that she was. Maybe this smiling person. Someone who loved her friends, loved the beach, and died too young. Thats all for this edition of dateline friday. We will be back again for dateline sunday at 7 00, 6 00 she was a person out of a 40s film noir movie. With a history to match. She was a stunner physically. She was able to say jump and the men would say how high. Married to a wealthy lawyer. He always said she has this hold over me. But there was someone she seemed even closer to. They bought matching underwear together. They shared everything. Theyre eating together, sleeping in the same bed together, shes living at her house. Did they also share a deadly secret . It was a love triangle and one of them had to go. But was it her idea . Oh, god. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but, oh, my god. Or hers