Theyre trying to get us. But police knew better. Strangulation is a very personal killing. Thats a very angry killing. Hello. Welcome to dateline extra. Im craig melvin. At first, a fatal fire that struck a young couples home appeared to be an accident. Then investigators took a closer look, and what they discovered about this fire and this couple left them with burning suspicion. Heres keith morrison. Is everybody out of the house . I dont know, but its on fire. The fire in the cottage on addison avenue was hungry, devouring almost everything in the bedroom. Well have Fire Department on the way. Do you see smoke coming out of the windows . Its pouring out of the house. Within minutes, the firefighters knocked it down. The smoke clearing. The sooty water running in the streets. And then as the mopup began, the word flashed out like something electric. The house was occupied. Someone didnt get out. And up through the ashes, a mystery flared like a stubborn ember that glowed and smoldered and demanded an answer. The inhabitants of the rented cottage, as investigators soon learned, were two young, beautiful people. The successful glossy types that you might expect to see on a reality show. Their names are paul zumot and Jennifer Schipsi. Jennifer, an ambitious, awardwinning Real Estate Agent who lived like a rock star, or so said her buddy roy. Shes like, im knocking them out like dominos. I just worked out, went to starbucks and on my way to a meeting, and its only 6 33. So paul seemed to be the right kind of guy for jennifer, said roy. Because he was an entrepreneur. And he seemed like he was a very driven person. And thats definitely a quality that jennifer was looking for. Jordanianamerican paul zumot, sleek, attractive, educated, engaging. Paul owned a local hangout, a cafe. Unusual place by north american standards where customers could smoke flavored tobacco pipes called hookahs. This man was a fan. Hes a goodlooking man. He looks good, smells good, hes witty, hes smart and hes just affectionate. So love at first sight . Well, maybe. Said their friends. From the minute he told me about her, he always talked about how wonderful she is and how shes perfect. He definitely was very charismatic and liked to joke around. And money . There was a lot of it around apparently, too. And jennifer and paul worked hard to get it. They seemed only too happy to spend it. When jennifer and paul first got together, paul took jennifer to new york city. And i remember he was like a kid in a candy store, just planning all of these elaborate, wonderful things that they were going to do together. They were passionate, these beautiful people. They both had strong personalities. Their love burned hot. Jennifer was a strong, independent woman, and she would not accept anyone disrespecting her or even looking at her inappropriately. And she was very strongwilled. Me, like i always did, told him you need to be careful because girls can be evil. So he said, no, shes different. I love her. I already love her. Shes great. And so in september 2009, paul and jennifer moved into the charming Little Cottage on addison avenue here in palo alto. Time to play house. Paul started to think about marriage. And for pauls 36th birthday, jennifer planned a party full of promise. She invited most of his Close Friends to dishdash, one of his favorite restaurants, and i think they had over a dozen people, almost 20 people or something. And jennifer created a cute table setting. She created a Perfect Party for paul. Cake and everything. In fact, people who were there described the party as almost like a wedding reception. It lasted through the evening, into the wee hours of the morning. And now, here it was, just the very next evening, and it was gone in ashes, all of it. The excitement, the glamour, the promising future up in smoke along with the house on addison and the person inside. We have a body. I need medics. We have a body badly burned. The next day, jim schipsi was driving with his parents to a dinner engagement. His phone rang. It was an old friend. He picked it up. I said, jake, youre going to tell me something bad, arent you . And he said, jim he just kept repeating your name . Yeah. Said it like three times. I said, jake, hold on. Ive got to pull over. I didnt want to hear it. I didnt want to hear what he had to tell me so i gave the phone to my dad. And he told my dad. My dad hung up the phone, and he held out his arms and my mom and we were like all holding each other, and he told us jenny was gone. It was his jennifer, his daughter who died in that fire. And now along with almost unbearable grief, Something Else started to burn inside jim. Something searing. It was suspicion. You know, accidents will happen. Theres a lot of tragic things that happen to a lot of people in this world, but this was no accident. It didnt have to happen. Coming up police give paul the bad news. I dont know how to tell you this, man, but theres a body in the house thats been burned. When burning suspicion continues. Sfx muffled whistle text alert. Im your phone, stuck down here between your seat and your console, playing a little hidenseek. Cold. Warmer. Warmer. Ah boiling. Jackpot. And if youve got cutrate car insurance, you could be picking up these charges yourself. So get allstate, where agents help keep you protected from mayhem. Like me. Mayhem is everywhere. Are you in good hands . Brbut how will his dentured to thicope with. A steak. Luckily for brad, this isnt a worry because hes discovered super poligrip. It holds his denture tight and helps give him 65 more chewing power. Leaving brad to dig in and enjoy the tastiest of tbones. Super poligrip, helping you enjoy the foods you love. I just want you close, where you can stay forever. You and me together through the days and nights. I dont worry cause everythings gonna be all right. No one, no one, no one can get in the way of what i feel for you. Welcome back to dateline extra. Jennifer schipsi and paul zumot seemed like the perfect couple. She, a gorgeous and successful Real Estate Agent and he, a handsome entrepreneur. They were both passionate about their lives and passionate about each other. But one day, a terrible house fire left one of them dead and the other facing questions from investigators. Here again is keith morrison. While the deadly fire was burning at his home on addison avenue, paul was at his Hookah Lounge just minutes away. Someone called, told him about the fire. He rushed over but could only pace helplessly back and forth as firefighters did their job. Soon after that, he sat down with the Palo Alto Police to help sort out what happened, though, as you can see on the video recording, sat is probably not the best description. Paul was full of Nervous Energy and frantic questions. At this point, nobody had told him that jennifer was in that fire. Im worried about my house. What about my girlfriend . What caused the fire, and i dont care about this. I just want to know about jennifer right now. Im not sure i know anything more than you do. My job is to talk to you and find out what exactly you know because you probably know more than me at this point. No. No. So, together, police and zumot talked about the hours before the fire. Where had she been . What had she and paul been doing . Well, yesterday was my birthday. We went out, and everything was fine, you know. Whos we . Me and her and all of our friends. Who is her . Jennifer. Your girlfriend . Yeah. Paul explained that he spent the afternoon at an appointment in san jose and got back in time for his cafe to open in the evening. There was traffic, i got to the cafe because thats when they open. I had to log into the computers. As soon as i sat down i have a Hookah Lounge. My landlord calls and says your house is on fire. I flew through the red lights and im here. Im really frustrated and confused and exhausted and i want to know what happened. I care less about the house but jennifers safety. I cannot think anything right now. I just cannot think anything. Then in the middle of his conversation with detectives, pauls phone rang. It was jennifers mother who told him she hadnt seen or heard from her daughter. You can see what happened. Paul fell to pieces. Yeah, i know. I know. I know. I cant find her. Theyre not telling me anything. To this point, he told detectives that he had been clinging to the hope that jennifer might be with her mother. Anywhere but at home. But she wasnt with her mother. Wasnt anywhere. And thats when the officer broke this news. I dont know how to tell you this, man, but theres a body in the house thats been burned. And we have no way of knowing who that is. [ crying ] i have to get out of here. Get me out of here, please. [ crying ] okay. And im trying to be as sensitive as i possibly can because i understand that this is your i dont know that this is jennifer. I hope not. I hope not. Listen, we have not confirmed who this is, okay . Its a really odd set of circumstances, okay . We need to figure out, is this on purpose . Is this an accident, okay . This is just unfortunately, this is just the beginning for all of us, okay, to try to answer some questions. Okay . But of course, it had to be jennifer. And it probably wasnt an accident. As that news sank in, paul began to think about who might have wanted to harm jennifer and came up with some potentially helpful information. Two brothers, hisham and tony ghanma. Theyd already threatened her, said paul. Ed their there had been a confrontation just weeks ago. What happened is, he called me and said he was going to kill me. He spoke in arabic. I speak it fluently. So we called the police. He and jennifer filed restraining orders against both brothers. Now she was scared from him. Literally scared from him. Im scared from the guy. So i know those guys like this. Now yesterday she walked home and she said, hey, somebody probably was stalking me. Had the brothers killed her, too . Police listened, and then had paul give them his clothes for forensic testing. Questioned by police, his home destroyed, his girlfriend dead, paul zumot was very nearly in shock, said his friend. His mind was, are they sure jen for the gone and, oh, my god, shes never coming back . As the weeks went by, paul was in a kind of daze. The gist of our conversations for the first few weeks is that jennifers not coming back. He was completely distraught about the fact that jennifer was in that fire. Meanwhile, as those same weeks went by, investigators went quietly and steadily about their task, picking through the cinders of the fire and coming to the conclusion that none of it smelled right. Literally. Coming up was gasoline there . No question at all. Its in her hair. You can smell it, and you can smell it when you walk in just with your own nose. Investigators now knew the fire was not an accident. What they discovered next was an even bigger shock. When burning suspicion continues. What might seem like a small cough to you. Can be a big bad problem that you could spread to family members, including your grandchildren babies too young to be vaccinated against whooping cough are the most at risk for severe illness. But you can help prevent this. Talk to your doctor today about getting vaccinated against whooping cough. Because dangers dont just exist in fairytales. Hyour shoes untied. Ensure hes well taken care of, even as you build your own plans for retirement. See how lincoln can help. With dell small businessout your Technology Advisors you get the oneonone partnership you need to grow your business. The dell vostro 15 laptop. Contact a dell advisor today. Better than all the rest applebees new bigger bolder grill combos. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. Welcome back to dateline extra. Investigators believe the fire that killed Jennifer Schipsi was no accident, but who would have wanted her dead and why . Here again is keith morrison. The morning after the fire on addison avenue, the ruins still warm, a yellow lab named rosie sniffed around what was by then a sealed crime scene. Rosie was trained to identify some of the tools of arson kerosene, oil, gasoline. Rosie stopped in her tracks. Shed apparently found something. Chuck gillingham is a Deputy District Attorney in palo alto. Was gasoline there . No question at all. Its in her hair. You can smell it when you walked in just with your own nose, and the remnants of the gas can was found next to her right hip. There was still enough remnants of the gas can to identify the type and make and model of the gas can. Wow. Thats like somebody leaving a gun beside the body with their fingerprints all over it, isnt it . No fingerprints and no physical evidence beyond that. But it was so clear that it was an arson . Correct. And the arson was not at issue. No, it was coldblooded murder that was at issue because Jennifer Schipsi did not die in the fire. According to forensic experts, she was dead before the fire started. The method . A particularly intimate form of killing. Death by strangulation. Strangling someone is a very personal killing. Its a very angry killing. Its not like shooting someone from a long way away, i dont imagine. Youre touching the person and feeling their lifes blood ebb from them. Who could have been so angry with jennifer . Paul had told detectives that he and jennifer had taken out restraining orders against those brothers, hisham and tony ghanma. Men part of his inner circle who he had considered former friends. Theyre trying to get us. They are trying to harm me. Who is that . Hisham. The guy you have a restraining order against . Several restraining against him. He hit me. He has a restraining order against me. And just one night before, after pauls birthday celebration, paul told police some guys in a truck tried to follow jennifer home. She had broken her heel and she says somebody was stalking her. Its fine. Its okay with me but we had people threatening us in the past, okay . I dont know whats going on. I believe thats what caused the fire. I believe somebody was threatening us. So was paul zumot on to something . Detectives went to talk to the brothers and, of course, checked to see where both men were the day of the fire. And there was no doubt they were nowhere near the fire. They had alibis. At the time of the fire, we know exactly where both of them were. One of the ghanma was in their cafe, and hes on videotape and the other was at Frys Electronics and home depot 20 minutes away. We have videotape and receipts from both of those locations. So once the ghanma brothers were in the clear, cops do what they always do in cases like this. Its practically police work 101. They took a closer look at the victims boyfriend paul. And there was a curious moment in that Police Interview the day of the fire when paul admitted he wasnt always the best sort of boyfriend. Me and my girlfriend were broke up, and thanks to palo alto pd, put a restraining order on me because they said paul threatened me, blah, blah, blah. I said, no, she came to the cafe and broke the door. We always have problems like this. I never touched a girl in my life. You can see the police reports. Suspicious . Sure. But as they asked around among the couples friends, police learned a few things that put pauls behavior into context. Maybe he wasnt any more to blame than she was. Their relationship was chaotic. Theres no disputing that, absolutely. But he was no more violent in the relationship than she was. Whether it be physically, verbally, emotionally. As police gathered evidence, bit by bit, asking around about paul, one of them noticed something a little odd. Paul told a friend, also a policeman, by the way, two slightly different stories about his whereabouts the day of the fire. First conversation, day of the fire, reported the cop friend, paul said he wasnt home all day. Then, second conversation, next day, paul said he stopped briefly at home en route to his hookah cafe. As we say, odd. But peoples memories can be tricky. Was that one little difference enough to add up to suspicion of murder . Police apparently thought so, especially once they added that to the rest of what they discovered. Paul was arrested. Im going to wait for my attorney. Whats that . I will wait for my attorney. Okay. They charged paul zumot with arson and murder, which struck some observers as strange. After all, there had just been that one little inconsistency. And though paul and jennifer did fight sometimes, they seemed crazy in love, too. Paul had been shopping for a diamond ring, for heavens sake. There was a part of paul that was mourning his girlfriend, and then there was a part of him that was he didnt understand why he was in custody. And he didnt understand why he couldnt just cry for his girlfriend and for his life that had just changed 100 . It certainly did. Paul zumot was taken to jail to await trial on a charge of murder in the first degree. Big mistake, said paul zumot. When i first saw him, he all he was really still telling me is, you know, me being in custody, all of this is going to blow over with. You know, theyre going to realize im not the person who did this, and this will be over with. Coming up drawing back the curtain for a peek of life with paul. Candles everywhere, flowers. When burning suspicion continues. Its time for the semiannual sale with savings on the new sleep number 360 smart bed. It senses and automatically adjusts on both sides, for effortless comfort. Right now during our semiannual sale, save up to 700 on sleep number 360 smart beds. Ends soon. Kyle, we talked about this. Theres no monsters. But you said theyd be watching us all the time. No, no. No, honey, we meant that progressive would be protecting us 24 7. We just bundled home and auto and saved money. Thats nothing to be afraid of. But good night, kyle. [ switch clicks, door closes ] i told you i was just checking the wiring in here, kyle. Hes never like this. I think somethings going on at school. [ sighs ] hes not engaging. I think somethings going on at school. Then you might have a dcondition called dry mouth. . Biotene is clinically proven to soothe and moisturize a dry mouth. Plus, it freshens breath. Biotene. Immediate and long lasting dry mouth symptom relief. No one thought much of itm at all. L people said it just made a mess until exxonmobil scientists put it to the test. They thought someday it could become fuel and power our cars wouldnt that be cool . And thats why exxonmobil scientists think its not small at all. Energy lives here. I support the Affordable Care act, and voted against all trumps attempts to repeal it. But we need to do more. I believe in universal health care. In a Public Health option to compete with private insurance companies. And expanding medicare to everyone over 55. And i believe medicare must be empowered to negotiate the price of drugs. California values senator Dianne Feinstein to negotiate the price of drugs. Californians are leading against donald trump. Our senator should, too. Kevin de leon is the only candidate for senate who passed laws protecting immigrants from trump. And helped dreamers stay in school. He led bold action against climate change. And only de leon fought for universal, medicare for all. Democrat Kevin De Leon the only true progressive for senate. Change california now is responsible for the content of this advertising. On monday President Trump will officially demand the department of justice open an investigation into whether the fbi infiltrated his president ial campaign. This follows reports earlier this week that there was an informant. Special counsel robert mueller, Rudy Guiliani says, will conclude his investigation by september 1st. Now back to dateline. Welcome back to dateline extra. Im craig melvin. On the surface paul zumot and Jennifer Schipsi. In the days after the fire on addison avenue, after paul zumot was charged with murder and hauled off to jail, events in palo alto seemed to freeze somehow. In confusion and denial from pauls point of view and unrequited grief from the people who loved jennifer. It hurt. It hurt a lot. Unrequited partly because for some reason, even though hed been arrested, paul wasnt entering a plea, which is what this was all about. Candlelight vigils outside of pauls Hookah Lounge by jennifers friends and family. We decided to stand in front of his establishment every night until he made his plea. Eventually, no surprise, paul did plead not guilty. And prosecutor Chuck Gillingham found himself sifting through the records of a twoyear romance studded with restraining orders, bitter quarrels, scratches, bruises, 911 calls. These are two people who had makeups and breakups and she gave verbally as good as she got. After one of their flareups, paul was ordered to attend anger management classes. Went to one the day of the fire, as a matter of fact. So why did people who fought so much Stay Together for so long. There was an audio recording of jennifer herself. Gillingham got hold of it. Listen to her explanation. He wins your heart so the first couple of months is amazing. Sweeps you off your feet. Candles everywhere, flowers, not money items but just romancing, sweet talking and parading you around and wanting to introduce you to everybody. It gets me loving him and admiring him that he admires me, and then it makes me trust his opinion and what he says about me and thinks about me so then as soon as he gets to that point, he flips it and calls me ugly, fat, a gold digger. By the way, the person shes talking to is hisham ghanma. One of the brothers he told police she and jennifer were afraid of. Here she was confiding in him. Mind you, its a phone conversation that was recorded a few months before the fire, but then she was not happy about paul, not at that point, anyway. I have pictures of the damage that he did to all of my furniture. He kicked in my car. Somebody saw him at starbucks spit in my face on my way to work. But things clearly changed after that. Remember, they were all loveydovey and paul was even talking marriage the night before the fire. And now here he was not more than a year later on trial for her murder, listening to the prosecutor take the jury inside the last days of pauls relationship with jennifer. How did gillingham do that . Jennifers cell phone. Detectives discovered and this was rather curious that most of her text Message History had been deleted. But Law Enforcement has changed a lot. Its had to, to keep up with high tech. The palo alto cops managed to find a phone expert all the way across the country in New Hampshire who had a very deep look into that cell phone and was able to pull up thousands, literally thousands of deleted Text Messages between jennifer and paul in the last few months of her life. And, oh, boy. From jennifer, youre nothing but a selfish coldhearted scam artist liar. Furious. That didnt read like any old quarrel. And the timing . Jennifer sent that text to paul right at the end of the elaborate Birthday Party she threw for him when she had perhaps 12 hours to live. She was so upset about something that she refused to go to the Hookah Lounge after the party. Walked all the way home on a broken heel texting all the way. Jennifer good, stay away from me. I just got home. Paul, im staying away this time for good. What a way to end my birthday. For jennifer to walk home alone at night with a broken heel and upset, she had to have been i dont even know if ive ever seen her that mad. But that was the night before. Angry messages buzzing back and forth. Then, as the cell phone revealed, the pair made love during the night before jennifers morning Text Messages again turned red hot angry. The subject seemed to be a debt she claimed he owed her. Right around 10 30, 10 45 into 11 16 in the morning shes now referring back to those Text Messages and telling him, he better bring a check and dont come back or shes going to the San Jose Police department to file a charge by 3 00 that day. And thats the last text message anyone has with her, the last contact she has ever with anyone. And just before noon is when paul lost his temper and choked her to death, drove to a gas station, bought a can of gasoline. Later, returned home and torched the house. And somewhere along the way, said the prosecutor, he erased it all of those angry Text Messages she sent him. Every single one between the defendant and her, every single one is gone. Months worth. And then paul used jennifers cell phone to send fake texts to her friends so they believed she was still alive. To support that claim, he introduced an Expert Witness who testified that texts from pauls phone and texts from jennifers phone were hitting some of the same cell towers all afternoon. So her phone must have been right there with him in his car, which is why when she missed a meeting with her friend roy, the texts he got from her didnt make sense. They werent a sensible response to the message he sent her. In fact, he got the same text twice. She didnt show up, and her phone was off. So as soon as i got that repeat text message, i was kind of worried because she wasnt responding to what i was saying. Jennifer was nowhere to be found. Jennifer was dead. Now what prosecutor gillingham wanted the jury to think about is what happened or didnt happen much later after the fire. Here was the scene, house burning, paul standing on the street outside watching the fire. At this point he supposedly didnt know if jennifer was inside or outside, whether she was alive or dead. But in the time that he was there, he made 38 calls and Text Messages, two of which went to jennifer, and neither occasion did he leave jennifer a message. He left messages for others and spoke with others, Text Messages, for instance, the same friend multiple times. But in that twohour period, at no time does he leave that location to look for jennifer perhaps, to go to the other side of the blocked off street. You know, if he called her and texted her once, surely thats enough. I mean, shell call him back. The cell phone records actually bear out that hes a person that would call or text her 200 to 300 times a day if he wasnt around her, able to get a hold of her. His silence especially at the crime scene was deafening. Because there was no text message, and i did to the jury, he stood at that location because he wanted people to see him there. How could the jury be sure that paul was guilty . The prosecutor offered her. Remember rosie, the skillful police dog trained to alert to the faintest whiff of accelerant of the sort used in arson fire . She alerted when she smelled some of paul zumots clothes. Suspicious . Yes. Though, not exactly ironclad evidence. As youll see, courtesy of pauls highprofile defense attorney, the man famous for defending Scott Peterson. His name, mark geragos. Ive had many a client who i have no doubt was capable of the acts that he was accused of. This is just not one of them. Coming up in the last hours of jennifers life, something was caught on camera. Does it prove paul is not guilty . So you had sex last night with her and videoed it . Yeah. Anybody who watches this is never going to have the impression that this was somebody who was ready to kill her. When burning suspicion continues. But what a powerful life lesson. And dont worry i have everything handled. I already spoke to our allstate agent, and i know that we have accident forgiveness. Which is so smart on your guys part. Like fact that theyll just. Forgive you. Four weeks without the car. Okay, yup. Good night. With accident forgiveness your rates wont go up just because of an accident. Switching to allstate is worth it. Whats going on . Oh hey thats it . Yeah. Thats it . Everybody two seconds dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance. Through the Tuition Assistance program, every day mcdonalds helps more people go to college. Its part of our commitment to being americas best first job. Which is why i use armor tall ultra shine wash wipes. Y. They effectively remove dirt, dust and grime with no water. That car is in tip top shape we are both in tip top shape armor all, its easy to look good. Hello, and welcome back to dateline extra. Paul zumots defense was about to portray him and his relationship with Jennifer Schipsis relationship in a whole new light. Here again is keith morrison. Defense attorney mark geragos has made a name for himself defending clients in difficult and highly celebrated cases, not the least, the Scott Peterson trial. But defending paul zumot would present its own set of challenges. Zumot was accused of killing his girlfriend Jennifer Schipsi and then trying to hide that fact by burning the house down. But as the trial began, he had also been pegged by the prosecution as an abuser, a violent man, an image geragos set out to change. They both were passionate, romantic at times, hot at times, as you would characterize it. I dont think it was a oneway street, by any means. For a start, geragos tried to weed out possible jury members who might have been unduly swayed by angry Text Messages or stories about zumots temper. What jurors do or what you want to get a jury to do is to want to help your client and to kind of walk in the shoes of your client. And then when he presented his case, geragos set out to reframe the events after that infamous party the night before the fire. The party was at a place and it was for pauls birthday. And it was planned by jennifer and the and maybe 14 to 18 of their Close Friends that were there. And by all accounts at the party, everything was great. And the argument later, the angry texts . That was just a way that paul and jennifer always were, said geragos. His proof . After those angry text message exchanges, heres what happened, as zumot described in his Police Interview. We talked, we smoked hookah. Everything is fine. We did what we did, you know. And we slept together and we took two xanaxes. She took two more before me and we went to bed. So you slept together that night . Oh, yeah. Made up and then we video ourselves. I mean, honestly, i probably shouldnt be saying that but thats her phone, her video. So you had sex with her last night and videoed it . Yeah. Sure enough. When police looked at jennifers cell phone, there was a video. She and paul having sex after their fight hours before she was murdered. So enthusiastically that anybody who watches it is never going to have the impression or take away from that that this was somebody who was ready to kill her. And as for that cell tower evidence that the prosecutor gillingham presented that seemed to show that paul had jennifers phone with him and sending out fake messages in her name . That was nonsense, says geragos. That was one of the pieces of information that was imploded. We went and got the engineer, the actual engineer from the carrier to come in and say he looked at the evidence and what this guy said was the phone pinging off the same towers was not. It was just merged data from the cell phone. Why is that important . Because, says geragos, the prosecutions own timeline should have cleared paul zumot. Investigators said jennifer was strangled several hours before the fire started, and it was lit no earlier than about 6 30 p. M. But early in the afternoon, after paul had left the area, geragos says, jennifer was still alive, sending real, not fake, Text Messages herself from her phone. By all accounts, she was alive at 1 17. Okay. And at 1 17, paul was not at the house. So where was paul . Trying to pick up paperwork at the Palo Alto Police station and then at the Hookah Lounge where he appears on Security Camera video footage around 1 37 p. M. And then from there he headed to his anger management class about 18 miles away. On the way, he stopped at the Restaurant Depot seen here on camera around 3 30. So there simply wasnt time in between, said geragos, for paul to go to the cottage, strangle his girlfriend and douse her body with gasoline. A solid alibi, said geragos. His client simply couldnt have killed jennifer, and he couldnt have started the fire. How could he have been in two places at once . And as for rosie, the yellow lab who alerted to a gasoline smell on zumots clothes, those clothes were sent to the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms, and they showed no evidence of gasoline at all. The atf has a protocol and the atf also put out a protocol that said they put out a protocol that said you never take a dog alert, a single dog alert and draw a conclusion. And, in fact, if the atf says negative, you should not allow in the dog alert. So why would people believe the dog over the atf . I think once again you get into this idea that people have dogs, they kind of ascribe supernatural powers to dogs. I have two large dogs and one having been through a couple of cases with dog evidence, as much as i love my dogs, im certainly not going to want to convict somebody and put their liberty at stake based on dog evidence. Still, as he presented his case, geragos had a problem. And he knew it. What it came down to was the character assassination block of the case. The first two blocks of this case revolved around the what socalled scientific evidence, and that was absolutely destroyed. And then you ended up with the character assassination block. The solution . Paul zumot himself appears to have demanded it. The chance to defend himself to the jury by testifying. Some courtroom observers believe testifying was in fact, risky. Especially for paul, said his friend. Knowing paul the way i know paul and the way that he could be interpreted incorrectly, i was very nervous about paul taking the stand. Risky or not, paul was determined to tell the jury his side of the story. Coming up. I thought, you know, if there was any way this jury thought this man was responsible for this, now they know for sure that hes not. But what did the jury think . When burning suspicion continues. For all the eyes that get itchy and watery near pollen. Theres flonase sensimist. It relieves all your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. And all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. Flonase sensimist. Camping with my daughters was more than just a weekend. It was our time to unplug and be together. With my bladder leakage, im not doing that anymore. When i went hiking with the other product, it just didnt fit right and i was always readjusting it. So, now our camping trips are their camping trips. But with the new sizes of depend fitflex, it feels like it was made for me. Im ready to get back our time together. Introducing more sizes for better comfort. New depend fitflex underwear is guaranteed to be your best fit. Get a free sample at depend. Com with dell small businessout your Technology Advisorsur best fit. You get the oneonone partnership you need to grow your business. The dell vostro 15 laptop. Contact a dell advisor today. And now with the conclusion to our story burning suspicion, once again keith morrison. Defense attorney mark geragos had done what he could to poke holes in the prosecutions murder case against paul zumot, arguing the prosecution had no scientific proof or clear evidence zumot was anywhere near jennifer when she was strangled and when the house was set on fire. Anyway, he asked, if paul attacked jennifer, wouldnt she have put up some kind of a fight . Why were there no defensive marks or scratches on paul zumots body . Did the prosecution even have a case . Paul zumot wasnt going to take any chances. In fact, he was determined to tell the jury his side of the story. So gaur geragos assigned a female colleague to question paul. It must have been a strategy, whispered courtroom observers. The way to show the jury that paul could, in fact, interact well with a woman. But those observers were mistaken, said geragos. Well, i generally i dont think direct examination is my strong suit and i was concentrating on crossexamination of the witnesses. So paul zumot looked the jurors in the eyes and told them, i did not kill Jennifer Schipsi, did not burn the house. Then he told them, emotions building to a fever pitch, how, despite their roller coaster relationship, he truly loved jennifer. His love letter presented a letter she had written him and he broke down then, a flood of tears. I was so relieved. I thought, you know, if there was any way this jury thought this man was responsible for this, now they know for sure that hes not. Because its so obvious to me that hes telling the truth. But listening to all of this with his experienced ear was prosecutor gillingham. You must have been rather pleased when you heard he was going to testify. I think thats an understatement. I was very, very pleased. More than that, it was a gift, said gillingham. An unexpected opportunity. Why . Well, the prosecutor had paul right where he wanted him for as long as he wanted him. There were hours of questions, tough questions, baiting questions, questions designed to make paul crack and reveal what gillingham believed to be a controlling personality and a red hot temper. My plan was to go through how he acted when he was angry. And then asked him questions that he could have no good answers for. For instance, why all those Text Messages are deleted. And those are questions he could not answer because he had not considered those questions. After three long days in the hot seat, paul zumots testimony was finally over. Had he persuaded the jurors that he was innocent . Do you feel he got a little chippy or arrogant on the stand . I dont think he got arrogant, but i think clearly he was tired and he was exasperated. He wanted to tell his story. He was being cut off. But the jurors, once they got the case, said they were determined to look at the evidence, not just courtroom theatre. Everyone was very committed to going over the evidence and discussing each of the witnesses and each of the crucial pieces of evidence. It was really encouraging. And it was crucial, they decided, to compare very carefully the different time lines claimed by the prosecution and the defense. So we analyzed the timeline for the entire day, from his testimony where he said he was and then other pieces of testimony and evidence to either validate or contradict. The jury took less than 14 hours and came back with a verdict. Guilty. All i remember was i heard that word guilty, man. And it was just like, this relief this release of tension. I was very shocked by the verdict. I think a lot of people were shocked by the verdict. Because i mean, if you sat through the weeks and weeks of trial, it just its inconceivable how they could get to the result that they got to. But to the jurors, the issues about Text Messages and whether paul had jennifers phone all afternoon wasnt as important as zumot on the stand. Thats what made the difference. His tears, for example. Sometimes i feel like im too cynical, but it was universally held opinion, i think. I think it was. The entire jury believed that it was a manufactured moment. What was the problem with his testimony . There were two things that struck me. One was when he broke down on the stand, and to me it didnt seem genuine. And the other portion of his testimony was when he had the opportunity to tell us where he was and what he was doing, he chose to basically lie to us three times. And we were able to prove he lied to us by the hard evidence that we had with the phone records and with the Video Surveillance and those items. And i just to me, that hurt him very badly. If he hadnt testified, i cant say for sure, but i dont think i could have convicted him. At his sentencing, an angry paul zumot again protested his innocence but he was sent away 25 years to life for murder, plus eight years for arson. The cottage was repaired. Young people were still coming to the cafe to smoke hookah. I can still hear her voice and see her smile. I know shes i know shes here. Thats all for this edition of dateline extra, im craig melvin. Thank you for watching. Due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. A cell search results in some heated words. Later on were going to fight, is that what youre saying . Thats what we call a classa jack ass. And we found out what we need already. The discovery of a gang manifesto. Boss is the brother of a strong struggle