A tragic accident. But look closer. In all the broken glass and twisted metal, was there a clue to a crime . The last thing i wanted was to have to take a double fatality and have to now treat it as a homicide. Murder, an accusation no one saw coming. I couldnt deal with it. Two families in torment. We were both just a smalltown trial with big emotions. You took it. You did it. And the verdict we the jury. That would shake them all. Keith morrison with crossing the line. Hello and welcome to dateline extra. Im craig melvin. Big sky country. A small town. And a famously dangerous highway. That was the setting for a deadly crash that left shock and heartbreak in its wake, except they were about to find out that this tragedy was also a mystery and the truth about what happened on that late winter night might be darker than anyone knew. Heres keith morrison. March 19th, 2009. Night fell heavy in montanas flathead valley. Something off that night, something wrong. At mary and randy winters house, anxiety spiked. Where was she . It just felt like something was not right. Its hard to explain that theres something not normal. You could set your clock by their daughter, justine. That reliable. But a new driver, too, just 16. Due home at 8 00 from her boyfriends house. And though she wasnt very late, the feeling seeped in like a poison. Something wrong. I called her starting about five after 8 00, no answer. Called the house where she was at and they said she had left 15 minutes before that. I was thinking she had went off the road between their house and us. Not far away, another family, the other half of our story, was on the road, too. Erin thompson was driving her son caden home from a school concert. He played the drums. Id always attended all of cadens concerts. And this was the first one i didnt attend because i had car troubles. This is cadens stepfather. Jason thompson. My car was in the shop. And finally fixed. And so erin dropped me off. Thats why i wasnt with them. And soon, the poison, the anxiety seeped under jasons door through his windows, onto his nerve endings. Just, all of a sudden, i realized, whats going on . Why are they late . And it just struck me that something definitely was wrong. At justine winters house, the fear was deep now. Justines dad, randy was a nationa National Guardsman, a firefighter, was trained to keep his head and knew what he had to do. He got in his truck, drove out of town to the road he knew shed take coming home from her boyfriends house. Then he saw it in a Construction Zone. On a highway 93 overpass. What did you find . Something i dont want to see again. You can say a firemans worst nightmare. Someone tried to hold him back. He kept on. I saw her over at the side. His perfect daughter. His justine, obscenely broken. But amazingly, still alive. How did she look . I didnt really see a lot of her on the gurney there. But i got to see her, you know, at the hospital. She was pretty bad . You know, you dont want to ever see your kid in the hospital. Every bit of her was damaged, horribly. Broken bones. Brain damaged. Ruptured organs. The chance shed survive, slim, said the doctors. But the winters news could have been worse. And a few miles away, where the phone rang at jason thompsons house, the news was much worse. The caller was the county coroner. He said, jason, your family was in an accident. And he said, im sorry to have to tell you this on the phone, but they were just killed. And my whole world just dropped out from underneath me. Jasons wife, 35yearold erin thompson, was four months pregnant. Her son caden, the boy who just played the drums at his school concert, was just 13. And just like that, they were gone. The crash was headon. And the School Counselor jason thompsons life, the light went out. That night, that realization, ill never forget that news. Nor, of course, will erins mother, diana. We were both just bonkers, just or her sister, amber, who with david, her husband, missed erin so much theyd made plans to move to montana to be close. Not possible now. That was the hardest piece of news we could fathom. And to lose both of them and the baby, it just didnt seem like it could be real. And here, in the little house he shared with the love of his life, where hed been waiting with such excitement for their baby to arrive, jason, like job of old, was overcome by the heaviest sorrow. A whole life of sorrows. Its like, im 9 years old, in 79 when my sister dies. And then im 19 years old and at 89 when my mother dies of cancer. And now im 39, in 09, and i lose my family. Missing that concert, you lived. Hows that been to wrap your head around . Ive always been embracing life, right . But i definitely didnt fear death anymore. Theres times where i would have welcomed it. But the dreadful truth of it is that accidents, just like the one that happened here, happen all around america, every day, every night. Still, just as the permanence of loss began to sink in, before anyone had given a thought to a now diminished future, there was another piece of news. This time, on this road, the fatal accident might not have been an accident at all. Coming up the last thing i wanted was to have to treat it as a homicide. A prosecutors stunning decision, when crossing the line continues. We use our phones and computers the same way these days. So why do we pay to have a phone connected when were already paying for internet . Shouldnt it all just be one thing . Thats why Xfinity Mobile comes with your internet. You can get up to 5 lines of talk and text included at no extra cost. So all you pay for is data. See how you could save 400 or more a year. Plus, for a limited time, get a 250 prepaid card when you buy any new samsung. Xfinity mobile. Its a new kind of network designed to save you money. Click, call, or visit an xfinity store today. Returning now to crossing the line. It looked like a straightforward accident, a headon collision along a notoriously dangerous montana highway. A teenager miraculously survived. But a pregnant woman and her son were killed instantly. It was a terrible tragedy, then in an unexpected twist, investigators discovered it might not have been an accident at all. Here again is keith morrison. For decades, montanans have almost morbidly toned the words, pray for me, i drive highway 93. They say it because of nights like march 19th, 2009, except, as everybody would soon note, this crash on this night may have been no accident. A revelation which, in jason thompsons devastated mind, would register later. Just now, his whole life was a bomb crater. A ruin. Erin was, like, my heart, she was a soulmate. I waited all these years looking, but i had an ideal and i was searching for her. And she, as she told everybody, had been looking for him. Erin was a single mom when jason met her brilliant smile. She was a hairdresser who loved to dance and was a seeker of all matters spiritual. Her mother, diana. She was single and a young mother and wondering what she was going to do with her life. She answered her own question and just said, well, as long as im about the business of spreading love, it doesnt matter. Erin married jason in the summer of 2006, in the glorious montana sunshine. And young caden seemed as pleased as she was. Caden, who shared his mother and new stepfathers craving for outdoor adventures. Out backpacking on the coast, in the mountains. River rafting, how we started an annual adventure day in the summertime. It was all about sharing that time together. Yes, and there was that plan erin hatched with her sister amber. We always had a dream of growing up and living right next door to each other, you know, raising up our families. And soon the plan expanded beautifully, when erin and jason announced they were expecting a child of their own. Every day, i would praise my life, praise my wife and my little baby that i was finally going to have, and, you know, it all made sense. And then came march 19th, 2009. But as the news and the grief spread, there was still hope, remember, for one of the victims of the crash. Justine winter was alive, though barely, with a broken neck and broken legs and major internal injury. Doctors told the family they didnt think shed live through the airlift to a hospital in seattle. What did they tell you . They told us three times she wouldnt live. They say she wouldnt live. I said bull shes flying in that airplane and dont give me any grief. And she did survive. The flight to seattle. And the Emergency Operations to stitch together the broken pieces of her body. She was unconscious when she arrived, the doctors kept her that way, induced a coma, so she could avoid the pain or any recognition of her desperate condition while her body slowly, slowly began to knit itself back together. Until more than a month later. And her eyes just went poof. That was just, like, the most incredible feeling of, shes there. Shes in there. And your hearts just beating. It was days later before justine could understand what was going on around her, but the news had to be faced eventually. And so, when she seemed ready, they told her. When you told her what happened in the accident, and how those other people had died, how did she react to that . It was very emotional for her. It was very devastating. And then what was discovered was, well, quite frankly unimaginable. For, in the middle of that river of tears of relief on the one side, abject grief on the other, there was an undertow and twist nobody saw coming. For while justine spent 45 days in the hospital recuperating and months more here at home in montana healing, it didnt take investigators very long at all, matter of hours, really, to solve the mystery of who and what caused this crash. In fact, the first montana Highway Patrol officers that raced to this scene in that Construction Zone believed that justine winters car was the one that crossed the center line and smashed into erin thompsons car. But the worst of it, the inconceivable part was, at least as investigators told the county attorney, ed coragan, this was not an accident at all. What was your first reaction . What did you think . Nuts. This was the last thing i wanted was to have to take a double fatality and now treat it as a homicide. Homicide . Yes. Right there in justines car, officers found what amounted to a minute by minute narrative to the events leading up to the collision. In Text Messages. And in those messages, the prosecutor said was the evidence he believed required him to press criminal charges against that girl doctors had quite miraculously saved, justine winter. Charges of . Murder. Coming up she did not swerve. She drove headon into that other vehicle. The prosecutor lays out his case, while jason gets yet another shock. Suing you for her pain and suffering. When crossing the line continues. You ok there, kurt . Were about to move. Karate helps. Relieve some of the housebuying. Stress. At least you dont have to worry about homeowners insurance. Call geico. Geico. Helps with. Homeowners insurance . Been doing it for years. Im calling geico right now. Good idea get to know geico. And see how easy homeowners and renters insurance can be. Investigators are convinced that justine winter intentionally crashed her car into erin thompsons, killing the pregnant mother and her 13yearold son caden. Their evidence . Threatening Text Messages sent by justine just minutes before the fatal collision. Here again is keith morrison. The sorrow ran deep in montanas flathead valley, that awful spring and summer of 2009. Deep and wide, the whole valley, in fact, the country, heard about the crash that killed caden and erin and her unborn child, and heard a strange and disturbing story that 16yearold justine winter took deadly aim at erins oncoming car, crossed the center line and plowed right into them. On purpose. Shocking . Oh, yes. As was the alleged reason. Justine said the police was trying to commit suicide. How did they know . They found the evidence on justines phone, they said. Text messages, which she wrote herself and which, once county attorney ed coragan saw them, well, gave him no choice, he said. He charged her with deliberate homicide. Montanas equivalent of murder. Justine purposefully went into the wrong lane of traffic and smashed headon into an oncoming car. And by doing so, she should have known her actions could have killed somebody and under those circumstances, i think deliberate homicide was the only charge we could find. Right. You charged her as an adult. Why . She was 16. She was. The taking of two lives is not, in my opinion, a delinquent act. It is a crime. It needs to be prosecuted as a crime. And if convicted, it needs to be on her record for the rest of her life. Perhaps because of her own massive injuries, her continu g continuingoperaticontinuing operations, her age, justine, after pleading not guilty, was released to house arrest. She was allowed to attend classes and at home, her parents fumed. No matter what those Text Messages said, the idea that justine would cause that accident on purpose was just crazy. Are you angry about all of this . It builds up inside and it comes to a point where you cant take it anymore. Turned out, and it was frankly hardly surprising in a town this size, the two families actually knew each other. Justines mother and erins mother worked at the same school. Erins family made it clear what they wanted from justine most of all was a heartfelt apology and that she took responsibility. They saw that as a way to work toward r forgiveness. And most people around town thought that was a fine idea. But from justine and her family, it was just an awkward silence. Then, early one morning in the fall of 2010, an entirely unexpected knock at the door took emotions to a whole new level. This private investigator, you know, just hands me these papers, like hes serving me papers, and said theyre suing, you know, erins estate. Suing you . Suing me. For her pain and suffering. It was true. In a legal preemptive strike, justine winters attorneys had filed a lawsuit on her behalf against erins estate. As well as three companies in charge of the Construction Zone where the crash occurred. The lawsuit claimed erin had negligently operated her car, resulting in the collision. And also that the companies had failed to adequately construct and maintain the facility, causing hazardous and confusing traveling conditions for the public. I cant even begin to guess what they were thinking about. It inflamed the whole town. Inflamed the whole town. That wasnt justines decision. That was a decision made by the attorneys. Ah, yes. The attorneys. Their names . Maxwell battle and david stuffed. And according to the winters, the attorneys assured them the lawsuit, assuming justine was found not guilty, would give them a better shot at an Insurance Company reimbursement later. Theres no intent of going for the estate, making that family endure more than what theyve already endured. But the optics were awful. Oh, the timing was, could have, who knows, better. Youd pick up the newspaper, hear the blogs, hear the radio and what you got, those awful people, those disgusting, terrible people what are they thinking, trying to sue the victims of this crime. Thats what was portrayed. But the actual intent was not that. At all. All rise, District Court is now in session. Misunderstood or not, by the time justine winters trial for deliberate homicide started in january 2011, the tide of Public Opinion had turned as bitter as a montana winter. The hearts of erin thompsons family, too, had toughened. And justine, who showed up in an almost childlike polka dot hairband certainly didnt look the part of an accused killer facing as many as 200 years behind bars, but there she was. With the few families just a few feet away, she watched investigators testify to a certainty that it was justines pontiac grand am that crossed the center line. Here you can see all this debris from the initial impact of the crash. Slamming into erins subaru so hard it was driven backward into the highway barrier and crash reconstructionists agreed. Justine winters car encroached into the northbound lane, striking mrs. Thompsons vehicle. But what evidence was there that justine had done it, as the law says, purposefully . Investigators pulled the socalled black box out of justines pontiac and analyzed the data and found another sign that pointed to suicide. Shed taken off her seat belt. Black box also recorded speed, acceleration and braking and found that justine was accelerating, flooring it, so to speak, in the five seconds before the crash, speeding up from 81 to 86 Miles Per Hour before hitting the brakes at the last second. She did not swerve. And she drove headon into that other vehicle. To back it up, prosecutors pulled the speedometer from justines car, and there above the mark of 85 Miles Per Hour found an orange mark. Its known as a slap mark. Made, the experts testify, when the needle smashes against the console at high speed. And finally, prosecutors revealed the reason, they said, behind it all. Justine, like many 16yearold girls, had a boyfriend. Hers was named ryan. It was white hot, this relationship. He was her world. That day in march, thered been a tiff. Theyd had words. And so, that night, she drove ryan home, asked him to get out of the car. He said they were through. Then, justine drove north to clear her head. She was on her way home when detectives testified, she began texting ryan. Apparently while behind the wheel. The first text, half an hour before the crash. Goodbye ryan, just live your life knowing you did change me. My last words, i love you, ryan. Then her text became somehow threatening. If i won, i would have you and i wouldnt crash my car. And ryan answered. You kill yourself, i kill myself. So come on, dont be selfish. Thats the oj thinly thing i to live for. You, ryan, you keep me living. Stop. You hurt yourself and ill know and ill do the same. Thats why im going to wreck my car, because thats all i can do is [ bleep ] up. It shows i would rather die. Because i want to kill myself. Goodbye, ryan, i love you. Then the final message from ryan. You killing yourself is just another way for you to run away. And just five or six minutes later, prosecutors said justine winter drove her car into erin thompsons lane of traffic to commit suicide, but instead, killed a mother, child, unborn baby. The prosecution had made its case for murder. Now, the question was, what could justine winters attorneys possibly say to make a jury believe otherwise . Coming up it was a way of exercising power and control in the relationship. The defense takes on the heart of the case. Those texts. When crossing the line continues. President trump is spending blmz blpz how will his denture cope with. A steak. Hours top stories. As donald trump celebrated the holiday, he presented daca dead. And a day of breeched compromised information. The Parent Company says customers will not be liable for charges and will be given free Identity Theft for services. Now back to dateline. Reporter welcome back back to date line extra, im craig melvin. The prosecution had made their case. Now, it was the defenses turn. And they had their work cut out for them. Could they convince the jury to see justine winters Text Messages in a different light . Once again, keith morrison. Every day in this montana courtroom, the family of now 17yearold justine winter, dutifully shuffled to the seats directly behind the defense table. Their faces, by their attorneys decree, they say, an intentional blank. Emotionless. Their apparent demeanor, a spur on the hide of an already angry town. But almost no one knew what was really going on. Justines mother, mary, whod been struggling with alcohol caved in to the stress. Tell me how it changed your life. I ran away from it all. I couldnt deal with it. I just left the house. I didnt come back. Justines brother, kyle, dropped out of college to help keep things together at home and get justine to her medical appointments. And randy, her father, the strong and tall as a montana spruce firefighter and National Guardsman turned angry and bitter at the continuing prosecution of his little girl. I could be sitting in the living room watching tv and all of a sudden i hear something. Id just completely lose it and start crying. The whole world, said justines dad seemed intent on misunderstanding, demonizing his little girl. Yet, he said, shed always been so good, kind, thoughtful and responsible. Getting almost straightas in high school. But mostly wouldnt harm a bug, literally and cared about people. Would never, never want to hurt that sweet woman or her son or her baby. Always had a smile. Always wanted to help. Its who she was. What kind of a little girl was this . Just a good girl. But it might interest you to know that as the winters spoke to us here, they were doing so against the expressed advice of their attorneys. And when it was time for justines defense team to make its case in court, attorneys maxwell battle and david stuffed told the jury that everything the prosecution told them, everything they knew about the case so far, was wrong. What happened out there was an accident. Including where the crash occurred. Remember the prosecutions experts testified there was no doubt justine crossed the center line and veered into erin thompsons lane, causing the crash. But a forensic engineer hired by the defense said his research turned that finding on its head. He claimed it was erin who drove out of her lane in that Construction Zone and struck justine. And the defense went further, claiming that slap mark on the 85 mile mark on the speedometer of justines car, was planted there by investigators. That the black box that measured speed and braking was plain wrong. That justine also wore her seat belt. And finally, a psychologist said what actually a lot of experts said that a spat with a boy wasnt enough to lead to a suicide attempt, and those texts . They should not be considered a suicide note at all. It was a way of exercising power and control. In the relationship. To make that kind of threat. But it was always clear that it was never meant. What would justine winter say about what happened here that night, about those texts . The jury would never know. She did not testify on the advice of attorneys, said her family, and, of course, that was her perfect right, but there was another reason, too. Justine suffered a brain injury in that crash. So, her recollection of the last few days leading up to the crash and that night itself here, she doesnt remember. She is charged with a crime about which her memory is a complete blank. So, then, how could the jury know that justine knowingly crossed the center line, having decided to commit suicide by hitting the other car . The question we put to the prosecutor. In order to draw that conclusion, you have to read her mind, essentially. Youve been a prosecutor for years. You know Car Accidents happen in the most bizarre ways. That people do crazy things on the road. But you clearly said this was a situation in which i know what somebody was thinking when they drove across that lane of traffic and into that other car. No. I just dont know how you can know what shes thinking. I cant know what she was thinking. Nobody knows what she was thinking at the time. Right. She doesnt know what she was thinking at the time. Precisely. All i can do is base my decision on what the evidence shows. Did the evidence clearly show that justine winter had made up her mind to commit suicide by driving into an oncoming car . Up to the jury now. Coming up everyone just cried about it. A verdict comes quickly, but the pain and one final question remain. When crossing the line continues. [ doorbell rings ] janice, mom told me you bought a house. Okay. [ buttons clicking ] [ camera shutter clicks ] so, now that you have a house, you can use homequote explorer. Quiet. Im blasting my quads. Janice, look. Im in a meeting. Janice, look. [ chuckles ] look, look. Im looking. Its easy. You just answer some simple questions online, and you get Coverage Options to choose from. Youre ruining my workout. Cycling is my passion. Tensions reached a crisis point for the thompson and winter families as they waited for a verdict for justine. Here again is keith morrison. As a montana jury prepared to decide the fate of 17yearold justine winter, the members of erin and cadens family struggled to hang onto the frayed remnants of their former goodwill. They tried so hard not to be angry at justine. That is, until they were served with that lawsuit, blaming the crash on erin. And then watched Defense Attorneys battle and stuffed twist, as they saw it, anyway, what the family believed were the facts of the case. They were unusual, as victims, because of this willingness to forgive justine. Its the adults in her life that should be that are steering her in this direction. Its not her decisions. You know, its these adults. So i have plenty of anger towards them. But for justines family, too, there was considerable strain. So much that justines father, randy, buckled under the pressure and was rushed to the hospital and not present in the courtroom. I will ask the clerk to file the verdict and to read it, please. When after just four hours of deliberation the jury came back. We the jury enter the following unanimous verdict to the charge of deliberate homicide for the death of erin thompson, guilty. For the death of caden odell, guilty. This was an absolutely horrible, numbing experience. I put my head between my knees. It was like the whole courtroom, i felt like, everyone just cried about it. How did she look, mary, when she was led off to jail . Your little girl . She looked very stunned. She didnt look back. Just a week after that verdict, justine winter marked her 18th birthday in a jail cell. And then came sentencing day. And everyone wondered, would justine finally tell erins husband, her family, what they desperately wanted to hear . In your ideal world, what would you like to hear from justine . To be sorry for what she took from us, because it was it was huge. But just before sentencing, the family received this a statement written by justine. And it wasnt even close to what they were looking for. In it, she called herself a miracle who was wrongly convicted of a horrific crime. She wrote that she would never, ever in a million years take her own life or anyone elses. That this was an accident that had been blown out of proportion. That she didnt need time behind bars, just a chance to turn a horrific situation into a positive one. And so, with this statement in mind, the family of erin and caden took the stand to have their own say. I want for you to make something positive of your life through this. But you still have yet to grasp the truth. Cadens father, the same message more anger. You took him. You did it. And you need to own it. You killed my boy. You need to own it. And finally, cadens stepfather, jason. The menl tear elementary School Counselor, first displaying compassion, then a rare stream of venom at the defense team, the attorneys battle and stuffed. Ive chosen not to believe that you, in crashing your car that night, wanted to harm or would ever think about harming them. But it has been very, very, very difficult to hold onto that thought, given that youve been led by these two men and influenced by them to not do what was is most important in all of this, and to show and demonstrate to us that you are sorry for having taken them. Then, finally, the moment, as justine winter herself took the stand to speak for the first time. Ive wanted to speak with you for two years now. Ive wanted to let you guys know that my heart goes out to you. And as every single one of you came up here today, my heart was breaking. But i just hope that you guys will be able to forgive that i will never be able to say that i intentionally crossed the center line wanting to take three lives from all of you. But before the judge allowed justine to leave the witness stand, the prosecutor stepped to the podium and asked a question on behalf of the victims families. A question that froze the courtroom. What theyve wanted to hear from you for a long, long time also is im sorry. Can you tell them that . Im sorry for your loss. But i cannot i dont know what youre meaning by, you want me to say that im sorry. And so the hammer came down. Its the order of the court the defendant is committed for a period of 30 years, with 15 years suspended. 15 years in prison. Justine will have to serve seven and a half before she has any chance at parole at all. And her father, back on his feet and in court for sentencing day, began his own prison term. The one deep inside his own soul. The system betrayed me. You serve your country and then you feel betrayed about it. You feel betrayed by the country you fought for . About the judicial part of the system. They took her, this once promising collegebound honor student, to a cell in the montana womens prison, where she instantly became the youngest inmate in the place. And two months later, those attorneys, stuffed and battle, who declined our request for interviews, were off the case. That civil lawsuit was dropped. And thats when justine winter decided to tell us her side of the whole, sad story. Coming up an exclusive interview with justine. You say probably you caused that accident. Are you able to say, i take responsibility for that . When crossing the line continues. I accept i dont bike the miles i used to. I even accept i have a higher risk of stroke due to afib, a type of irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. But no matter where i ride, i go for my best. So if theres Something Better than warfarin, ill go for that too. Eliquis. Eliquis reduced the risk of stroke better than warfarin, plus had less major bleeding than warfarin. Eliquis had both. Dont stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. While taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily. 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Its a new kind of network designed to save you money. Click, call, or visit an xfinity store today. Returning to crossing the line, justine winter tells her story. Here again is keith morrison. Shortly after justine winter walked out of this courtroom in montana, she landed here, more than 450 miles east across the state, at the womens prison in billings. And just weeks into a 15year prison sentence for deliberate homicide, she sat down with us. Quite well aware of how all this time, shed been the target of so much curiosity and anger. Im curious to know what your thought process was as you went about deciding, yeah, i think ill talk now. I dont know. I guess it was probably that i was being shown in a different light than what i wanted to be shown in. When you read accounts of your case and when you see the comments people write, whats that like . They are really hard to read. I heard one that said i need to hang from a noose on a tree. What does it feel like, inside, when you saw that comment, for example . Im really weird, and with my brain injury, i feel it in a second, but its hard to, like, recall it afterwards. That brain injury is the reason, she says, she sometimes smiles when she doesnt mean to. Why everything came out wrong, she says, when she took the stand and spoke at sentencing. And why she says, and even the Prosecutor Says he believes this, that she recalls nothing about the night of the crash. I dont remember the night of the accident, but i remember events that i know had to have happened right before the accident happened. What events would those be . I remember doing stuff to get ready for prom, because prom was supposed to be two days after when the accident happened, but other than that, i dont really remember a whole lot about march. What do you remember about the last time you saw your boyfriend . I have no idea. I remember we spent oodles of time together. You were inseparable, basically . Pretty much. In love . Kid love. Thats pretty strong love, that kid love, isnt it . Yeah. I remember, if i wasnt with him, i was texting him all the time. But as for those texts following the argument with ryan just before the crash . Justine says, despite what many believe, she would never, ever have tried to commit suicide. Knowing, as she does, that her grandmother, randys mother, killed herself when her dad was just a boy. In fact, she says, the most likely explanation is, she was just playing a game of sorts with ryan. He liked controlling everything, having to do with, like, my life, and he threatened suicide twice. Thats what i would think was happening, was that i was playing his own card back at him. Well, im going to kill myself then. Yeah. I dont think that they were Text Messages that were to be taken seriously. If you look at them through justines eyes, they dont seem like a serious threat. Yeah. But the jury didnt look at it through your eyes. No. And despite her conviction, all that evidence, and the fact that she has no memory of that night, justine still claims she must have been wearing her seat belt. And cannot imagine driving her car at 85 miles an hour. Just not the sort of thing she ever did, she says. Something happened, you swerved across and hit that other car. Does that sound about right . Yeah. Its probably you who caused the accident . Thats fair to say . Uhhuh. And if you say its probably you who caused that accident, are you able to say, yeah, you know, if i did it, and i probably did cause it, i just feel horrible about that . Uhhuh. And i take responsibility for that . Yeah. Is it possible for you to say that . Yeah, if i knew, then i would take responsibility for it. You know, if it was me, i take complete, utter responsibility for it. And i do. And now finally, having said the words element that erin and cadens family yearned to hear, justine is through holding a pity party for herself. All that i would change about the accident is that they lived. And if it had to be, so be that they lived and i didnt, id be okay with that. Because i dont i dont like seeing anyone else in pain. I know my family was put in a lot of pain because of the accident but theyve got to see me grow up. And the other family cant see that. Yep. And i dont want to put them in anymore pain than theyve already had to be put through. And i want to make Everything Everything okay for them. But, oh, that will take a long time. That sadness, as big as the sky. For erins widower, jason, the dream is gone. Only an empty chair, an empty ache, remain. As he and so many in the family, as if climbing those montana mountains, try to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Its a dance between the grief of their loss to the joy and the blessing of having experienced them. Its like seeing a meteor. You wouldnt curse your luck that you saw this meteor, you would just be thankful that you were blessed to see it. And so we just have to cling to that, just that wow. How amazing that we got to spend a good part of our life with two of the most precious people on the planet. Thats all for this edition of dateline extra. Im craig melvin. Thanks for watching