Transcripts For MSNBCW Dateline Extra 20201101

Its awful. I wouldnt wish that on anybody. They had no evidence. I was absolutely flabbergasted. How could anyone think this . She says she peeks through the mail slot. She looks in the mail slot, yes. Daddy wasnt in the living room. He was still upstairs. Ideas were planted in their minds. Were going to prove hes innocent. Ready, sam, got it . Mmhmm. Dennis youre good to go. All right, jarod, thanks for sitting down with us. Youre welcome. Thanks for having me. Did you take a butcher knife and plunge it into ciaras neck and kill her . No. While the kids were waiting outside . Absolutely not. That did not happen . No. Credibility, the reliability of years old memories. Theres a lot of that ahead because this is the story of a murder. June 8th, 2012. Columbus, georgia. It was an apartment Maintenance Man who found her. Shed been stabbed to death upstairs in the bedroom. In the kitchen sink, a butcher knife. The victim was ciara ingram, a 28year old nurse and mother. Her good friend kendra smith says she hadnt been answering her phone for days. At first, i thought, you know, why didnt i go down there . Well, i knew something was wrong. Reporter police would later estimate that ciara had been dead in her apartment for nearly a week. I think i was so distraught she was gone that i dont really think that, at the time, i put a lot of thought into, like, who did it or why. Reporter apartment managers told the arriving officers that ciara had small children. So, one of the detectives first questions was where are the kids now . And that led to a bigger question, one all homicide inspectors ask. What is the backstory here . What was this victims life all about . They began piecing together the story of ciara and jarod. She was your wife. The mother of your children. What do you think about her end, the brutality of it . Its awful. I i wouldnt wish that on anybody. Reporter ciara, already the mother of a young boy, met jarod ingram when they both enlisted in the army in the early 2000s. He and a friend cozied up to the pretty young recruit and tried to get her attention. We started talkin about how none of the soldiers who got off the last bus looked like they were gonna make it. And she stood up and she challenged me and she said, im gonna be at the top of the class. And i said, okay. And i asked her if she wanted to go out that weekend. Now, you had a momentous early date. Is that too nosy a question . You know what im referring to, right . I i do. Yeah our first date we conceived a child. Yes. Were you okay with that . Yeah, i was okay and i was excited. Id always wanted to be a father. Reporter ciara and jarod, intimate strangers, decided to make a go of it when the army forced them into a quick decision get married or be stationed apart. When we got in the cab to go to get our marriage license, the cab driver mentioned to us that she was also a licensed pastor. So she drove us to her church. We got married on the steps. You got married by your cab driver . We got married by our cab driver. Onestop shopping. Yep. Reporter the army, as the army does, moved them about. They tried to build a happy home, had another child. But jarod acknowledged they werent good at living together. Once we got married, we actually had our first argument that evening. On the ten scale how active an argument was this . A good eight. But that set the tone for the rest of the relationship. That was every night. Why dont you guys just shake hands and say, see you later. Its been nice. The kids, mainly. Reporter they decided coparenting was the arrangement that worked best for them. They divorced in 2009 and shared custody. By then, theyd both left the military. Ciara had become a nurse. Her friend and coworker at the hospital, samela payne, says the main thing keeping ciara in georgia was being near her ex. She didnt want the children to be without their father. She tried her best to coparent, and like you understand that she didnt have anybody here. So shed sacrifice her shortterm happiness for the kids. Right. For her children. Thats the type of mother she was. Reporter her friend kendra lived in tennessee, but they were as close as could be. When did you talk . End of the day . Start of the day . Middle of the day . All day. We were single moms, dealin with, you know, our exes and she was my support system. And hopefully she thought of me as hers. Reporter by june 2012, ciara decided it was time for a fresh start. She made a plan to move home to indiana to be near her family. Their kids, ages six and seven, would stay with jarod for the summer and join her later. Was she dating again . Yes, she was. Absolutely. She was young. So, of course, sh you know, she didnt wanna be alone, you know . Reporter in fact, even before the move to indiana, shed already met a guy online who lived up there. He was going to help her move. He was gonna come down to georgia. He had made plans, bought a plane ticket. Reporter and that brings us back to ciaras apartment and the bloody bedroom. As ciaras moving day approached, kendra noticed her friends daily texts and phone calls had stopped completely. I didnt talk to her on the 2nd. So on the 3rd, i messaged her and got nothin. So i was like, okay, shes busy, called her. And then on the 4th, started gettin worried some more you wondered . You know, was is she ditching me here . I thought, okay, she dropped her phone in the toilet. But then you think about, okay, well, theres other phones in the world or send me an email, hey, im not ignoring you. reporter samela was worried, too. Shed help plan a Goodbye Party for ciara at the hospital. But ciara never showed up. I remember us sittin around the table, all the coworkers, lookin at each other. And you fully expected she was gonna walk in the door, huh . I wanted her to, but i knew something was wrong. Reporter samela was at work on june 8th when ciaras brother called her with the news. I answered the phone and he told me, we just found ciara dead. I dont remember nothin else after that. Reporter jarod says he got a call that afternoon as well. There was crime scene tape up at his exwifes apartment. The coroner was there too. He says he feared the worst and went to go talk to the children just 6 and 7 years old. We said a prayer. And i told em, you know, no matter what happens, i love you very much. I didnt tell them any details, but i told em, you know, somethin might be goin on with mommy. We dont know yet. Asked em if they had any questions. Did they . Yes. My son asked me if he could have some candy, and did he know his mom was dead . He didnt know. I didnt know. We at this point only had assumptions and worries and fears. Reporter assumptions, worries, fears. And that was just day one. The investigation begins. I can see an officer approaching me with his gun drawn, and he raised it up and he said dont move. Police have some questions for jarod. The only thing i know is youre the last one that i know of to see her. Now is there something you want to talk to me about . And for the man ciara had met online. Whats going on, officer . Oh, my god reporter ciara ingram was dead. Stabbed three times in the neck and left to die at the foot of her bed. Her exhusband, jarod, was tending to their two children when a Police Officer reached him on the phone. He asked me if the kids were okay. I said, yes, theyre fine. He said, theyre gonna send some officers out to talk to me, and theyre sendin the a counselor to talk to the kids. Reporter moments later, jarod saw a woman he assumed was that counselor in his front yard. As i approach, i look i can see out of my peripheral vision an officer approaching me with his gun drawn. And he raised it up and he said, dont move. And so i put my hands up, he pressed me against the wall and put my hands behind my back and cuffed me. Reporter before he could get his bearings, jarod says his kids were whisked off in an suv. Jarod okayed a search of his home and was taken to the Police Station for an interview. Im detective fairbairn. Im detective lyon. Reporter the conversation started amicably. Jarod said the last time hed seen ciara was six days before. He and the kids had stopped by to pick up some toys before her move to indiana. Kids went in, gave her a hug. They ran right upstairs and started playing with some of their toys and watching tv and stuff. Mmmhmm. How long were you there for . Um it seemed like a couple of hours. Reporter he said they hadnt talked since. That wasnt unusual. We didnt call each other a whole lot when the other one had the kids usually. Uh she wasnt like one of those who wanted to call everyday. Reporter detectives wanted to know about the state of jarod and ciaras relationship. How had they been getting along . He said they hadnt had any issues lately, but admitted things between them were strained. Whats been the problem . No problem. Just once we broke up, i felt like, you know, there was no reason to have an argument with her anymore after that. Reporter they also asked jarod how he felt about ciaras decision to move to indiana. I didnt feel any kinda way about it really. Did she ask you . No. So she just said, im im leaving . Yeah. But i mean that was her. Reporter after about an hour, the interview took a turn when detectives hit jarod with a revelation. As far as they could tell, no one had heard from ciara since jarods visit with the kids. Meaning jarod was quite possibly the last person known to have seen ciara alive. I feel like youre more than insinuating that im responsible for ciaras death. For ciaras death. I dont know. Right now, i dont i i the only thing i know is youre the last one that i know of to see her, and so far youre the last one i know that was there. Now, is there something you want to talk to me about . No. Are you sure about that . Im sure. Reporter the detective told jarod that as they were speaking, officers were spooling through the video cameras at ciaras apartment complex. What are you feeling right now . Im feeling like i cant wait until you get finished with the rest of that videotape. Mmhmm. And, im feeling scared [ bleep ] until you do. Thats what im feeling right now. Now, why would you be scared . Because if i was the last one that saw her alive, then youre going to put it on me. Well, im not going to put something on anybody. Im going to take the evidence for what its worth. Reporter and a look at some of the evidence made it seem unlikely that jarod could have done it. The murder was brutal, bloody. And jarods two small children had been there with him the whole time. Though jarod did mention that as they readied to leave the apartment the kids went outside first. They went outside to the car while i was talking to her. And i came outside and she came outside and that was it. It wasnt, like, a long period of time. Reporter did detectives really think jarod had something to do with his exwifes murder . Or were they just pressing him because he was the exhusband . They ended the interview on friendly terms. I appreciate you coming in. I appreciate you being cooperative. I appreciate you guys doing what youre doing. Reporter it had been a very long night. Jarod says he was just desperate to hug his kids, whod lost their mother. You can see why you became a figure of interest here . When i step back and put myself in the shoes of the Police Officers, absolutely. They show up at ciaras house. They find her body. They go, they pick me up. Reporter back at the crime scene, investigators looked for clues to fill in the story. Could it have been a botched robbery . It was hard to tell if anything had been taken. The apartment was in such disarray with moving boxes. And there were no signs of a forced entry. But there was an attempt to clean up the scene with bleach. And they did find a mans watch tucked into the sheets of ciaras bed. Who could that belong to . What about this guy shed met online, the man flying in to help her move . This is sergeant deaton with the Police Department in columbus, georgia. Yes, sir. Reporter his name was ryan morgan. Detectives got him on the line. Were you supposed to come down, come here to help her move . Yes, i was, and then about a week before i she quit texting me. Reporter ryan thought hed been ghosted. Said that hed canceled his plane ticket. And i just text her back. I said hey, thanks a lot for the thoughtfulness and thanks for wasting my money. Reporter detectives didnt tell him right away why they were calling. Whats going on, officer, if you dont mind me asking, because im freaking, im like, well [ bleep ], whats happened . She she was killed. The reason you didnt hear anything from her was she was murdered. Youve got to be [ bleep ] me. No. Holy [ bleep ]. Reporter was that genuine surprise . Oh, my god. Reporter of course, theyd have to check out ryans story and pick through every detail of the last day of ciaras life. That meant talking to her children. What did they see . What did they hear . Coming up daddy wasnt in the living room. He was still upstairs. That final family visit. What was happening inside their mothers apartment . What did you hear . Laughing, almost screaming. You heard screaming . Screaming noises or Something Else . Like laughing, screaming. 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Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms such as fevers, sweats, chills, muscle aches or coughs, or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. Nothing is everything ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. Kendra smith felt shed found a Kindred Spirit when she met ciara ingram. Losing her was awful. Every day, id get in my car, id cry all the way to work because i talked to her every day on my way to work. You know . Every day on my way home. I mean, id just be in tears all the way home. Reporter samela payne felt hollowed out when she heard. Her good friend, fellow nurse, gone just like that. So you were going to be friends for life, no matter where absolutely. Each of you traveled to, huh . Absolutely. We were family. Reporter the day after she got the news, samela drove to ciaras home. She just had to see the place with her own eyes. You went to the scene. I went to the scene, because i just still did not want to believe that she was gone. So everythings yellow taped and closed off. Right . I was in denial that my friend was gone. Reporter she spoke to an officer who was there guarding the crime scene. What did you talk to him about . Any and everything that i can remember that she would tell me, and what she was going through. Reporter and what samela said about her conversations with ciara caught the officers ear, because it certainly didnt match jarods story. This postdivorce relationship was more than just a little strained. Samela says ciara had long confided in her that it was tumultuous. She would tell me how he would break her computers, break tvs just, im mad at you. Bang. Heres one for your computer . Oh, yeah. Yeah. Reporter the way the stories went, jarod would lash out if he couldnt get his way. Did he ever get physical with her, sam, as far as you knew . She told me that, yes. But you didnt see any bruising or scratches or anything like that, huh . No. If she did, she would hide it. Shes the type that want to be strong. She didnt want you to be upset or worried about her. Reporter as for jarod, he told us any stories about abuse in his relationship with ciara just werent true. Were there any handson altercations here . Her on you . You on her . Absolutely not. She threw some thing small things. Not like a remote control. Reporter jarod told us anyone who knew ciara well, knew that she wouldnt put up with abuse. She was a very fierce woman. She had her way. Shes not going to let you tell her any different. And shes very determined. I couldnt see her being in an abusive relationship. Reporter of course, he says, he and ciara had plenty of scorching disagreements during their marriage, but once they split the drama ended and, he says, they shared responsibility for the kids amicably. Coparenting, and very successfully. We didnt have any arguments while we were separated. We didnt have any arguments about the kids or their care. Wed pretty much come to all the agreements on that sort of thing. I think the Biggest Issue we ever had was that when she she cut my sons hair. I didnt really like that. He had a big puffy afro, and it was really cute on him, and i liked it. Reporter but given what investigators had heard, they were now very focused on jarod. Did he have any opportunity to murder his ex, what with the kids in tow . Jarod said he put the kids in the car and went back inside ciaras place to get the last of their things. Two kids, sitting in the backseat of a car, a boy and a girl age 6 and 7. What did they see, what did they hear in the next few moments of their lives, and importantly, what would they say about it . The police talked to the children the day they discovered ciaras body. What grade are you in . Um, kindergarten. Reporter the kids confirmed that for at least some period of time mom and dad had been inside the apartment without them. Why would daddy leave you and your brother in the car . I dont know. You dont know . He never leaves us in the car. Reporter here they are talking to a forensic interviewer a few days later. Why do you think daddy made you stay in the car . Maybe hes doing something. Reporter jarods 6yearold daughter says she got restless and did what 6yearolds do. She says she got out of the car and went to the door, lifted the mail slot, and peered inside. She told investigators she saw her dad. What was he doing . I forgot. I mean, was he standing . Was he sitting . Was he he was standing. Was he just standing there doing nothing . Did he have something in his hand . Did he no. He was just standing there doing nothing. Reporter she says he told her to go back to the car, but she says she peeked in again. Investigators were interested in what she saw, and what she says she heard. Mommy was still laughing, but but she she sounded like she was somewhere. Daddy wasnt in daddy wasnt in the living room, he was still upstairs. Mommy was still laughing, though. Reporter her brother says he got out of the car too, and he also heard the laughter. Or was it Something Else . Whatd you hear . Uh, laughing. Almost screaming. You heard screaming . Uhhuh. Yeah . Tell me, did you hear were they just saying, like, screaming noises . Or Something Else . Like like laughing, screaming. Yeah . Reporter screaming . What in the world was going on inside ciaras home while the children waited outside . Coming up if youre asking did i think he did it, it was an absolute no. A new relationship for jarod. And new questions about those interviews with the children. Those statements that come out later are, in my opinion, conditioning. What do you mean . I mean that the police are suggesting something for the children to say. When what they saw continues. Downy helps prevent stretching by conditioning fibers, so clothes look newer, longer. Downy and its done. One of the worst things about a cois how it can make you feel. 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Reporter in the weeks following ciaras murder, investigators compiled their evidence. There were those Police Interviews with the children. And they had ciaras cell records showing her phone went silent around the time jarod was at her apartment. There wasnt a single phone call or text after 6 39 p. M. On june 2nd. And the only wisp of a lead, that guy from indiana who was going to help ciara move. She was murdered. Youve got to be [ bleep ] me. Reporter well, his alibi checked out. And that left one person, jarod. So on july 1st, a month after ciaras murder i was leaving to go to work. And then people started getting out of their cars and putting their hands up like this saying, you know, dont move, youre under arrest. Reporter jarod was charged with murder and spent the next 15 months in jail before posting bond and being released. By then hed lost custody of his son and daughter. Theyd moved to indiana to be with ciaras mom. Are the kids taking your phone calls . Because im sure youre trying to reach them. At this point, part of my bond agreement is that i cannot speak with anyone in ciaras family, including my children. So thats a whole area of your life thats gone away. So no contact. Yes. Reporter what are you doing for work . At first nothing. I couldnt find a job. My wrrk was trying to find work. Reporter nobody would hire you . Nobody. Reporter so even though you hadnt been indicted at that point the storys still following you. Oh, yeah, the storys there. Reporter jarod says he started attending church and began reaching out to old friends, like katie duke, a girl he knew from High School Band days. I always had a thing for him, even in high school. But it was just not good timing, it never was. Reporter this wasnt exactly great timing either. After all, jarod was accused of murdering his exwife. What did you think . If youre asking did i think he did it, it was an absolute no. Why would they even think this . And how could it have possibly come to this . And youre saying that because of the guy you knew, the yeah. The character of the man . The the character, just how could it how could it possibly anyone think this . Reporter their relationship grew from a friendship into something more. Howd you decide youre going to get married . We started talking about it, and it was a lot of back and forth. Because with Something Like this hanging over your head, do you wait until everything is over and then get married . That sounds sensible, right . Reporter katie disagreed. I basically told him, im im ready, ill marry you, you know. Reporter they began their married life together in a kind of limbo waiting for jarod to go on trial. He still hadnt been indicted. What was taking so long . Jarod and katie kept their anguish quiet. A lot of people in the church didnt even know his story, right . No. Reporter then january 2017, 4 1 2 years after the murder, the indictment came down and a trial date was set. No more secrets now. What did you think when you heard . In my mind initially was just, its impossible. Reporter debbie duke is katies mom. Laura duff and jim odonnell are Church Friends. Did you ever think, my goodness, this young mans a killer . No. Debbie . No. Not for a second. The very notion that somebody could consider jarod capable of this was beyond my belief. Theres just simply no way i could apply my brain to that. Reporter the support wasnt just moral. The Church Friends offered to help any way they could. We had two or three people come up and says, well, what can we do . Im like, well, pray, i dont but one of them said, well, come on, theres something we could do. What about all that paperwork . Couldnt you use help with that . And im like, that would be wonderful. Reporter that paperwork was the case against jarod. Mounds of documents, police reports, audio and video recordings. And to mount a defense, they would need to understand it. My lawyer was very good, but he has a small practice, just him and his wife. And so as far as legwork, theres not theres not 100 paralegals going around to do Legal Research for him. We had all the paperwork all over the table, all over the kitchen. The whole part of the house was just covered. Reporter jarod and katie transformed their kitchen into a war room. And those Church Friends became legal assistants of sorts. They vowed to be objective. I was a true believer in jarods character, okay . Reporter but if the evidence had persuaded you otherwise had the evidence persuaded me otherwise, i wouldve gone with the evidence. Reporter the Ad Hoc Church team divvied up the work. Jim, a software wiz, took a crack at the cell phone records. It took me some study and everything to try to figure this out. But it came down to numbers. Simple math. Reporter according to the cell records, ciara was alive and on her phone at 6 39 p. M. Three minutes later, 6 42 p. M. , jarods cell records indicate he is still at ciaras apartment. And 26 minutes after that, jarods phone pings off a tower that the friends estimate is a good 15 to 20minute drive away from ciaras apartment. Theres not enough time here for him to have committed the crime. And the telephone traffic persuades us of that . Yes. The math doesnt work. It just simply doesnt work. Reporter at least by their calculations. Then jarods supporters looked at the bloody crime scene photos, which raised more questions in their minds. In the fact that if you bludgeon someone the way the pictures show, how do you walk out of an apartment without completely showering, changing your clothes and doing all that . That would add even more time. I mean, theres going to be blood everywhere. But thats the only way that he could have gotten the blood off of him that would have been sprayed. Would have been to run through a shower on his way out the door. Because there was not because ticktock, ticktock, hes got to get to that other tower . Absolutely. He wasnt wet. He didnt change clothes. And there were no none of his clothes ever found with any evidence on them. Reporter the friends then turned to those interviews with the kids, and they transcribed every word. Including the interview where jarods son says he heard screaming. What did you hear . Uhh laughing some almost screaming. You heard screaming . Uh. Reporter they noticed that interview took place five days after ciaras body was found. But in the police file, the friends found an earlier interview. The sons story about what he heard on that occasion was completely different. Heres that interview. Did you hear anything when daddy was inside . I didnt hear nothing. Reporter jarods supporters wondered where his son could have gotten the idea of screaming . The first time it comes up on the tapes is in a question from police just hours after they found ciaras body. Was mama screaming or daddy screaming or hollering . Nobody was screaming or nothing . Uhuh. Theres absolutely nothing incriminating about their initial testimonies. Those statements that come out later are, in my opinion, conditioning. What do you mean . I mean that the police are suggesting something for the children to say. And if you suggest something to a child of that age whos impressionable, its possible that they may say, yeah, i guess it couldve been that. Reporter and there was Something Else laura picked up on. I could hear one of the investigators whispering under their breath, trying to tell the children to Say Something on their recorded interviews. Do you remember that . Say yes. Hmm. I mean, do you remember that . Reporter was the officer putting words in his mouth . Its hard to say. But the children would speak about that day again, this time in court, where theyd be the chief witnesses against their father. Coming up whats the little girl see . She sees her father standing. He is changing his shirt, and he has a white bottle beside him. Two young witnesses with powerful stories to tell. Were those children coached to give details of their story . Never. When what they saw continues. When what they saw continues. What do i know . Im just a kid. Our generations too young to vote. I was one year off. Kind of gets me mad a little bit. The pressure for my generation to address the Climate Crisis is growing. We cant ignore the climate. Its really bad. I would say, to the older generation were living on this planet longer than they will be hopefully . So please please please please vote for me. Im daylan. Im gideon. Im amelia and i approve this message. Im amelia and i approve we try to soothe it with this. Cool it with this. And relieve it with this. But new preparation h soothing relief is the 21st century way to do all three. Everyday. Preparation h. Get comfortable with it. In the spring of 2018, nearly six years after ciara ingram was brutally murdered, jarod ingram entered a Muscogee County courtroom in columbus, georgia to stand trial as her accused killer. But he wasnt alone. Youre behind your husband in the church pews there in the courtroom, huh . Yep. Was it important you had you show solidarity, that you have a lot of people . We felt so, yes. We invited anybody to come and just let the jury see how much jarod is loved, and how much support and love that he has sitting behind him. Reporter Muscogee County District Attorney julia slater and her team hoped the jury would be persuaded not by jarods supporters, but rather by the cold hard facts of the case. Is it your belief that jarod ingram murdered his exwife, ciara . Yes. While the kids are waiting in the car. Yes. And the motivation for this crime was what . He did not want ciara to move with the children to indiana, and would do anything to prevent that. And his life was going to be better how with her dead . He would have custody of the children and would not have to worry about the children moving away. Reporter the prosecution called friends like samela payne who testified that ciara told her numerous times that jarod was threatening, violent. Was that unnerving for you . No, because i wanted justice for ciara. Its too long, it had been too long. I just had to do what i had, you know, my part. Hes sitting there. Yeah, to the left of me. You couldnt look at him. No, i was too disgusted. I hate him. I hate to say that, but i do. And i just didnt look. Reporter the prosecution said jarod had another motive. To the tune of nearly 13,000 in back Child Support payments. The prosecution also argued that the forensic evidence pointed squarely at jarod ingram. Police found jarods fingerprint on ciaras cell phone, a cell phone last used about the same time jarods cell phone placed him at her apartment. So did he have enough time to do this . Yes, he certainly had enough time. We know that he that his phone was at the apartment at the time that her phone went silent. Theres enough time to have killed her. He knew where the bleach was. He could get to the bleach, do the the the cleanup that he attempted to do and were not talking about extensive cleanup here, are we . No, we are not. A little bleach here, a little bleach there, right . Throwing bleach a few places in the apartment. Trying to clean her up a little bit. Plenty of time to get to the next place where we place him with the forensic phone evidence. Reporter jarod ingram steadfastly maintained to anyone who would listen that he had not killed ciara. But the prosecution found someone who said jarod told him a different story. He would tell me about how he killed his exwife. He told me all how he did it and all that. Reporter a confession. Jockas gilchrist testified that jarod confided in him when they shared a cell at the county jail. He detailed jarods words in this police recording. And he said he just snapped and he said he had stabbed her in the neck or Something Like that. This witness was able to give details including the fact she was killed upstairs in a bedroom. The fact he had turned on the airconditioning. Theres no way this particular person who was in jail at the time of the murder no, way he had known any of this information unless he received it from someone who knew it. And jarod had access to this person and he says that jarod told him he did those things. Reporter but the star witnesses for the prosecution were jarods own children. You hadnt seen them in years at this point. Thats correct. They even look the same to you . No. If youd seen them at the mall would you have said those are my kids . I had people scouring the internet for pictures, videos, anything they could find of them. Moderators on ciaras memorial page were very good about keeping anyone related to me blocked from any social media and things of that nature. But every now and then something would slip through. And here are the kids in court. Are you making eye contact with them, are you trying to send them any messages . Im looking at them. Theyre not making any eye contact with me. I did mouth i love you, and that was about all that i thought i could get away with. Reporter the children, then 12 and 13 years old, told the jury with cleareyed detail what happened that last day they saw their mother alive. And the details were more damning than ever. As when jarods daughter testified about peeking through that mail slot. Whats the little girl see . She sees her father standing. He is he is changing his shirt, and he has a white bottle beside him on the floor that she doesnt know she doesnt know what it is. But a white bottle beside him. Reporter a white bottle. Bleach. A change of clothes. Those sounded like new elements. Were those children coached to give details of their story . Never. Was it different years later than it had been at the beginning . There were more details years later, and there were some things that were clarified. But no, the children were never coached. They were forensically interviewed intentionally so that they would not have ideas put in their heads. And they were never coached with what to say on the stand. Are you persuaded that little girl saw her father changing his clothing and doing the cleanup . Absolutely. And that the little boy heard screams . Absolutely. Heard his mothers dying declaration, as it were. Yes. So sad that it that they had to see and hear that, but yes, thats what they saw and heard. Reporter but there was another version of what happened that day. And the jury was about to weigh the credibility of that storyteller. Coming up you took the stand. Always risky. Rarely advised. But you did it. There was no question. Why . Why did you take the stand . Id been waiting six years to be able to stand up in front of a jury, stand up in front of a judge, and say i didnt do this. Who would the jury believe . The children or their father. What if this jury says youre guilty . What if . When what they saw continues. burke deepsea driving, i see. customer Something Like that. burke well, heres Something Else with your farmers policy perk, new car replacement, you can get a new one. customer that is Something Else. burke get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum one of the worst things about a cois how it can make you feel. But, when used at the first sign, abreva can get you back to being you in just 2 and a half days. Be kinder to yourself and tougher on your cold sores. Now, theres skyrizi. 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But jarods attorney, mike reynolds, says it had taken investigators mere hours to come to a conclusion. You get domestic cases, you get a lot of them, and its automatic that you go to the deceaseds former spouse or current spouse. And thats my man, were going to make it fit. Reporter and, the defense argued, there wasnt a shred of physical evidence linking jarod to the actual murder. No dna. No prints on the possible murder weapon. Nothing. In that bloody scene at ciaras apartment, all the prosecution pointed to was jarods fingerprint on her cell phone. He was over at that townhouse quite a bit. It would not have been uncommon for his fingerprints to be all over this place. Reporter jarod says, sure, he used ciaras phone that day. I just remember my daughter handing me the phone saying that it was her older brother in indiana and that he wanted to talk to me. Reporter and they werent worried at all about that jailhouse snitch. He was totally not credible, as most snitches are not. Because if you talk with any jurors, they dont they dont believe them. I mean, you dont call somebody and talk about another crime unless you expect to get something out of it. Reporter but what about the kids and their everimportant stories . The defense questioned the new details. Dad changing his shirt. The white bottle of what could have been bleach. Youre saying that the cops in this case are seeding the story . Theyre coaching the kids . I absolutely think that they were asking leading questions that were leading them to conclusions that they didnt originally have. And even my daughter on the stand, she said that she believes that what she saw and heard at the time she just didnt understand what it was when she was younger. Reporter jarods attorney was confident the jurors would understand the facts if they heard from jarod directly. I knew that he was going to make a good witness. One of the things we have to make a determination of as Defense Attorneys way before the case actually goes to trial is it are you going to put your client on the stand . And we knew immediately that we had to put him on the stand for various and sundry reasons. But most particularly because he was well spoken. You took the stand. Always risky. Rarely advised, but you did it. There was no question. Why . Whyd you take the stand . Id been waiting six years to be able to stand up in front of a jury and stand up in front of a judge and say, i didnt do this. But it exposes you to aggressive crossexamination by the prosecutor. It does, and that was rough. It seemed like he was doing everything in his power to kind of get a rise out of me. Provoke you so the jury could exactly. Show the jury the monster. Reporter jarod faced the prosecutors questions for more than a dozen hours over three days. So this is a poor set of facts that have come together against you. Youre the last known adult to have seen her. The kids are saying theyve heard screaming in the house. The father acting very suspiciously. Bleach. Its everything seems to be consistent with you going in and killing ciara and doing a rough cleanup and then coming out. Absolutely not. If i had done a quick rough cleanup, there would have been something on me, there would have been something in the car. The police had the car in their custody. They combed it inch to inch. They found no blood. They found no bleach. Thats impossible. Reporter jarod denied hed ever been violent with ciara. The defense pointing out theres never been so much as a single report to the police. And, no, Child Support wasnt a problem. He said they were working on it, and he hadnt been upset about the exs move to indiana either. His new wife katie watched from the gallery. Jarod is calm, cool, very intelligent. Hes our evidence. Reporter the jury went out to deliberate. Two days passed without a verdict. Then, in an odd quirk of the court calendar, everyone took a week off. No decision. What if this jury says youre guilty . You know, i we couldnt stop hugging. I mean, we were pretty much always like that. But theres i guess a little more emotion behind it, because of what if. Reporter jarod was charged with the commission of four felonies, including murder. What were you hoping for in the court . That he would be found guilty of what he did. Reporter it took less than two hours once the jury went back at it. Youre watching the faces as they file in . I am. Very intently. And nobodys giving anything away. And then what, you hear the words . They start reading off the counts, one at a time, and its just not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty. Reporter jarod ingram. Not guilty of the murder of ciara ingram. I grabbed my attorney and hugged him. I cant even describe the moment. I just collapsed back down in the chair. I thanked god and went back and started hugging my family. It was great. I started crying. Ive never in my life cried in happiness, never, and in that moment i cried in happiness. Reporter for ciaras friends and family, the reaction was much different. I was surprised. And i think that my surprise came mostly from the childrens testimony. I dont believe for a minute that anyone coached them into saying any of that. They told the jury what they saw and what they heard . I absolutely believe that. And if you believe it, that means that hes guilty. Right. You think jarod murdered ciara . I do. Does she need justice . She does. I dont know how theyre going to get it. Reporter but, the Prosecutor Says not guilty is not the same as innocent. I do think that he is the murderer, and we would not have tried him if we didnt have confidence in that. Reporter jarod and katie are grateful to the circle of friends who they say helped acquit him. Theyre now fighting for custody of his children whove been with ciaras mother for more than six years. The frustration of still not being in contact with my children has been hard. Is it better at this point, given all the poison that you say has been put before them, poisoning their minds towards you, is it better just to let them be raised by their grandmother . And maybe later on in life, when theyre bigger, you can catch up with them . Absolutely not. But they think you killed their mother. I dont know if they think that or not. I think theyve just trained to hate and fear me. It would be better for them to heal this relationship as soon as possible. Reporter the children. What they saw. What they heard. What they remembered. Ciaras friends say whats more important now is what they know about the woman lost on that day. If her kids start to forget her, the memory dims, what would you sit down and tell them about their mother . Mainly how much she loved them. She did. Those kids were everything to her and, you know, she they were her world. Im craig melvin. And im natalie morales. 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