Transcripts For WCAU Dateline NBC 20150424

Motive to do her harm . I saw bruises on bonnies arms, like someone had grabbed her. She looked at him and said you tried to kill me. Who was behind this . A search in the dark. Right there, right there a secret in the family. And a jailhouse interview to make your jaw drop reporter you said you wished she were dead. And then later, she became dead im lester holt, and this dateline is a twisted tale deep in the heart of texas. People who are desperate will do desperate things. Tonight, Josh Mankiewicz with queen of the county. 3 f2 esta noche, john, con la reina dallas was the saga of a proud texas family, rich and ruthless. How the hell did she end up marrying him. Reporter the story youre about to hear is like that. Maybe less glitz and less money, but then j. R. Ewing was never as cold hearted as some of the people youre about to meet. This epic tale of greed and betrayal is set not in dallas, but in san saba. A tiny town in the texas hill country, and it stars a family that learned how to make money grow on trees pecan trees. At the heart of the matter, a feud fueled by a lust for land, stoked by a battle of generations, and front and center, the life and times of the matriarch Bonnie Harkey, who controlled a family fortune a century in the making. Well, i always say she was queen of the county, because she was. She really was a big fish in a small pond. Reporter this is teresa cook, Bonnie Harkeys niece. They were well off and they were property owners. Reporter and by local standards, very wealthy. By local standards, sure. Reporter they were so prominent, in fact, that the harkey name is carved on monuments, painted on road signs in san saba. Im the sixth generation in my family here in the county. Reporter dwight harkey says all the harkeys descended from two brothers who came to the hill country in the 1850s. Well, there was two boys that came, and they were cavalry scouts, and they found this country, and nobody lived here. Reporter a proud family history, to be sure, but on march 25, 2012, a new and bloody chapter was added. I remember that sunday morning because of what happened the rest of the day. Reporter the events that would forever fix that day in the reverend sam crosbys memory, centered on 85yearold Bonnie Harkey, an active member of the First Baptist church of san saba. You could set your watch by Bonnie Harkey coming to church . You could. Reporter shed be right here. Shed be right here. Reporter right. And even after she had to have 24hour care, a caretaker would bring her. The trouble began a few hours after church out at the harkey place, a few miles west of town. 911, whats your emergency . Reporter it was about 5 30, when the san saba Sheriffs Department dispatcher received this call from a young boy. I found my mom on the floor, um, she i think shes dead. Im at the harkey residence. Turns out, the 11year olds mother was Karen Johnson, Bonnie Harkeys caretaker. And you dont know the address out there . No, maam. Im just really, really worried. What phone are you using . Um, im using bonnies house phone. I cant find bonnie anywhere. Reporter within minutes, the san saba Sheriffs Department had deputies on the way. All right, im going to Bonnie Harkeys, right, out on 190 west . Yes, sir. Do you have an eta . Five minutes. In a rural area where locals listen closely to Police Scanners, some worried deputies might be chasing some dangerous desperado. Is there somebody loose that i should be oh, no, no, no. Okay, i just was wondering, because theyre all sitting up there near ms. Harkeys place. Reporter the harkey place was a local landmark, and John Wilkerson, a san saba sheriffs deputy in 2012, was among the first investigators to arrive. When i walked in, of course, Karen Johnsons body was lying face down in the doorway which raised some suspicion. Reporter sign of a struggle . You know, the there really wasnt any clear signs of struggle. There was some questionable issues that were at play. Reporter like what . The fact that she was, you know, dead right by the front door. That just didnt make a whole lot of sense the fact that i found a broken fingernail on her hand. Reporter Karen Johnsons son, the boy whod called 911, told investigators that he had been playing a video game in a Spare Bedroom all afternoon and had not heard or seen anything unusual. Strange, but what also concerned the lawmen was the fact that Bonnie Harkey was not there. So youre thinking Bonnie Harkey is out there somewhere maybe in the orchards . That was the thought with sheriff brown. Reporter bonnie had Serious Health problems. She was frail, suffered from dementia. In short, she had to be found, and fast. Sheriff brown had called in prison dogs. He had the dps helicopter out. She couldnt have gone very far . Thats what our thoughts were. Reporter by nightfall, word of Bonnie Harkeys disappearance had spread far and wide. Her step son, bruce harkey, whod been visiting his brother in fort worth that weekend, called the Sheriffs Office, wanting to know the details. This is bruce harkey. Im getting some awful strange phone calls and im trying to figure out what the hell is going on. What are these calls in reference to, or she said they found some lady dead, and bonnie was missing, and something about allen having the road blocked off and everything . Reporter even bonnies niece teresa in memphis heard the news within a few hours of that first 911 call. My mother and i always speak on sunday nights. And she had called me and said, bonnies missing. And we both kind of went oh, no. Reporter teresa cook may have been hundreds of miles from where searchers were looking for Bonnie Harkey, but she says she knew right away that her aunts disappearance was connected to the decadeslong battle over the remains of the harkey fortune. Not Home Invasion . No, her family. When we come back the search for the missing matriarch. I saw bruises on bonnies arms, like someone had grabbed her somebody sure seemed to know something. I might have some information about where Bonnie Harkey is. I was definitely concerned. For you . Not so well. Can i get a doover . Vo why settle for less when you can have, well, everything. And get 200 dollars or more when you trade in your smartphone for a galaxy s6. Verizon. [narration throughout] i started my camry. Ran a race most wouldnt dream of starting. Chose to take down a monster. And realized when its dark enough. You can see the stars. One bold choice leads to another. Toyota. Lets go places. I want my foyer to smell more like a foyer. I want his bedroom to smell like hes away at boarding school. Surround yourself with up to 6 hours of luxurious, longlasting scents. Introducing new unstopables air refresher. While the world needs saving. Prizes need winning, at subway. Grab a 30ounce drink or doritos snacks for a chance to win subs for life movie tickets, and more. And catch Marvels Avengers age of ultron, in theaters may 1st. Subway. Where super heroes eat. Chase freedom. The card is for the essentials. The cash back is for the fun. Chase. So you can. Nexxus introduces a new movement in hair. A beautiful fluidity. Restoring strength and flexibility so it moves and responds the way you do. New improved nexxus with concentrated elastin protein and precious ingredients. For hair that lives to move. Reporter if the harkeys of san saba were ever made into a television drama, it would be chock full of character actors. Thered be a gentleman farmer , a pair of impatient heirsinwaiting, a neerdowell grandson, his enabling girlfriend and the rock of the family would be a white haired matriarch named Bonnie Harkey. She had book clubs. She was red hat society. She just constantly you know, socializing. Reporter there were roughly 200 acres to the harkey spread with valuable water rights along the san saba river, a rambling farm house and nearly 3,000 pecan trees. When people hear the harkey name in that part of the country, what do they think . You know, the harkeys were the somebodies in town. And you know i know bonnie enjoyed that. Reporter and maybe that was just the way shed pictured it, back in 1963, when bonnie met and married riley harkey. At the time riley was a recently divorced father with two boys bonnie a single mom with a teenaged daughter of her own. That was a coup. You know, it was a coup. Especially for a single mother who was really looking at having to either find a husband or work for the rest of her life. In the early 60s, it was tough to be a divorcee. It was tough to be a single mother. Reporter now, nearly 50 years later, the queen of the county was missing. Searchers were still out in the orchards looking for Bonnie Harkey, when a resident whod been listening to the Police Scanner called with a vital clue. I know things are crazy with everything going on right now, but i might have some information about where Bonnie Harkey is. Reporter the caller said she knew that Bonnie Harkeys 28yearold grandson, carl, had visited her that very afternoon. Im 99 sure Carl Pressleys involved. Reporter whos Carl Pressley . Carl pressley is the adopted grandson of Bonnie Harkey. Bonnie harkey had a daughter, connie. Connie adopted Carl Pressley at at a very young age. Reporter when you hear that that calls come in, youre thinkin, oh, this is what . Well, i was definitely concerned. Reporter why so much concern over a grandsons visit to his elderly grandmother . Thats a tangled tale really, that begins with the way Carl Pressley came to join the harkey clan in the first place. Connie said that she adopted him from a homeless woman, a homeless couple. They were living in a car. Reporter from a homeless couple. Yeah. And that they couldnt take care of him and so they were willing to give him up for adoption. Thats what i know. Reporter teresa says there was always something little bit off about carl. Something that tended to make other people uncomfortable. It was very odd and very sad at the same time as he seemed to be a very lonely, needy child. Very clingy child. And nobody really seemed to want him to cling to him. Reporter but teresa says there was nothing bonnie wouldnt do for carl. Shed buy carl a truck and hed wreck the truck. And then shed buy him another one. And hed get a job. Hed lose a job shed house him. He was stealing pecans from the harvest and selling them. I mean she was constantly bailing him out of one situation or another. Giving him money. Reporter in spite of that, carl had a harder shell than anything that came out of these trees and was known to be verbally abusive to his grandmother if he didnt get what he wanted. Teresa says that once, when she dropped by to visit bonnie, she had an unsettling encounter with carl who was also there at the time. Everything i said hed argue against. He just fought with me, fought with me. It was like he couldnt get along with anybody. And i saw bruises on bonnies arms, like somebody had grabbed her. And little old ladies bruise so easily that i said to my mother on the phone, i said, i would not be surprised if carl pushed her down the basement stairs. Reporter given that history, it was understandable, then that investigators ears perked up once they learned that the last person to have seen Bonnie Harkey the day she went missing was Carl Pressley. We were pretty sure that that where if we were able to find carl, we were gonna be able to find Bonnie Harkey. Reporter according to the tipster, carl was with his girlfriend, lillian king. They were riding in her car. Do you have any information on her vehicle . All i know is shes driving a 2004 mustang. Reporter soon just about every lawman in texas was on the lookout for a 2004 mustang. But in the meantime, Deputy Wilkerson says the san saba sheriff took a more personal approach. Hes tryin to call his cell phone. Hes sendin him multiple text messages. Reporter you have carls number because of his numerous brushes with Law Enforcement . Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Reporter wouldnt it be great if police could just text suspects and get them to come in . But the world doesnt work like that except, perhaps, in san saba. Just after midnight, Carl Pressley responded. He was in normangee, texas. He told the sheriff where he and his girlfriend lived in a trailer at an rv campground. Though normangee is more than three hours from san saba, carl promised the sheriff that he would be back by day break. So i think maybe about the time my eyeballs closed my phone rang. And it was about 7 00 in the morning. And dispatch told me that Carl Pressley had showed up to the Sheriffs Office and sheriff brown needed me up there asap. Reporter and so with little or no sleep, Deputy Wilkerson says he headed back to the office and a face to face encounter with the man most likely to know where Bonnie Harkey was. Coming up another flief dang another life in danger . He had three knives on him so i had to do what he said. Its hard, sir. Reporter a dark secret, down by the creek. Right there, right there reporter when dateline continues. Anoro ellipta. It helps people with copd breathe better for a full 24hours. Anoro ellipta is the first fdaapproved product containing two longacting bronchodilators in one inhaler. Anoro is not for asthma. Anoro contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. It is not known if this risk is increased in copd. Anoro wont replace rescue inhalers for sudden copd symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. Tell your doctor if you have a heart condition, or high blood pressure. Tell your doctor if you have glaucoma, prostate or bladder problems, or problems passing urine as anoro may make these problems worse. Call your doctor right away if you have worsened breathing chest pain, swelling of your mouth or tongue, problems urinating or eye problems including vision changes or eye pain while taking anoro. Nothing can reverse copd. The world is filled with air and anoro is helping people with copd breath air better. Get your first prescription free at anoro. Com. [sfx bell] [burke] the more you learn about your insurance the more gaps you may find. [burke] like how you may be covered for this. [burke] but not for Something Like this. [burke] talk to farmers and see what gaps could be hiding in your coverage. [sfx yeti noise] we are farmers bum pa dum bum bum bum bum i came up with so many reasons to put off losing weight. But then i joined weight watchers, got the starter kit and i was like, hey, i can do this. Now theres Nothing Holding me back, i can feel it. Once you get started nothing can stop you. Join for free at weightwatchers. Com, and get a free starter kit when you sign up before april 27th. What does color feel like . With our highest pixel density display ever your world will be more vivid than ever. The Samsung Galaxy s6 and s6 edge. This is what color feels like. Heres the thing about lawmen in rural texas, they dont have all the gadgets and gizmos that come with working in a big city. Its a different world. Youre workin with a limited budgets. So you have to improvise . Yes, yes, you have to improvise. And thats what san saba deputy John Wilkerson did when Carl Pressley, the chief suspect in the disappearance of Bonnie Harkey and the death of her caretaker, came in for questioning. Wilkerson used the video recorder embedded in his car. Were ready. Is he recording . And thats your interrogation . And thats my interrogation right there in the sally port. My names John Wilkerson, and im Sheriffs Office here. This is mr. Chief deputy bill price, okay . He was not under arrest, but Carl Pressley wore prison stripes for his interview because investigators had taken his clothes so they could run tests on them. Im not making any accusations at this point. Im just tryin to to get him locked down in into his original story. From the beginning, Carl Pressley admitted he and his girlfriend, lillian king, had gone out to his grandmothers house for a visit that sunday. Do you remember how long you stayed there . No, sir, i really dont. He started durin the interview, he started to you know, try to pretend like he couldnt remember certain things. Eventually carls memory improved. He remembered how he took his grandmother out of the house to protect her from tough guys he owed money to. The story is he, to to protect his grandmother, he picks her up in the evening and drives her to raineys crossing and drops her off in the in the bushes. An 85yearold woman . Correct, yeah. Wilkerson wasnt buying. But officers did search that location. Then carl told another story. He said hed taken bonnie back to his trailer home in normangee. He misses his grandmother he misses his grandmother and he wanted to see her which again didnt make a whole lotta sense. Thats because investigators knew nothing to suggest Carl Pressley had ever missed anyone during his 28 years on planet earth. Were tryin to figure out where is your grandmother at . Look at me. Where is she at . I think shes up there. Okay, where up there . In normangee. Where did you put her up there . Hilltop lake. In short order, Texas Rangers and local lawmen near normangee were combing carls trailer and the surrounding campground for clues. But they found nothing until carl was flown to normangee. I told her i wanted to show her a fishing hole down by the creek and we went down there and stuff happened. Tell me what kind of stuff happened, carl. Its hard, sir. Is that gonna be her . Right there, right there. Its all right, carl. Its all right, carl. I didnt mean to. I didnt mean to. I didnt mean to. Hang on a second. I didnt mean to. Bonnie harkey was dead. Her body lying in a creek bed near carls trailer, buried beneath a pile of sticks and leaves. So carl admits that he pushed her on the back of her head holding her face underwater until she no longer moved. It was the same story lillian king had already given to lawmen back in san saba. Shed been there. She said when the caretaker was killed and stood idly by while carl killed his grandmother. But in lillians telling of the story, she could have very well been Carl Pressleys third murder victim that day. He had three knives on him. Three. You know, so i had to do what he said. What had driven Carl Pressley to kill one of the few people on earth who had ever loved him . That was a question to which no one could supply an answer. She doted on carl. She did dote on him. No one could quite understand why. And ill bet she couldnt in the last four or five hours of her life. Yeah. Yeah. Investigators didnt know why Carl Pressley killed his grandmother. But they were pretty sure there was more to this murder than met the eye and that there could be clues in the harkey family history. Coming up. A milliondollar inheritance. A neighbor from hollywood. And a harkey with a handful of exwives. Hes just a solid jerk. Just constant drama. Police were about to get to the heart of the Bonnie Harkey murder. And your neurotransmitters remain too active as you try to sleep, which could be leading to your insomnia. Ohh. Maybe thats whats preventing me from getting the sleep i need talk to your doctor about ways to manage your insomnia. Who does this kinda thing online . Iii clicked on some links, ugh the kids werent even home. Wait, wait, wait, this changes everything. Its cars. Com Service Repair feature. So well never pay more than we should. Well done. Research, price, find. Get the right Service Without all the drama. Your eyes get sunburned too just like your skin. At lenscrafters we can fit your prescription into nearly any pair of sunglasses. Sunblock never looked this good. Lenscrafters loves eyes. Reporter the matriarch of a prominent pecan growing family had been brutally murdered by a member of that family. But why . The more investigators pondered that, the more they came to believe the answer might be found in a longrunning family feud. The first time i met the harkey family, i was bailiffin in court cause we were shorthanded and i got to sit through a little hearing where the harkeys were tryin to to gain control of the property. And you could tell it was a very heated situation. Very heated. Reporter that pot had been at a slow boil ever since that day in 1963 when Bonnie Harkey became stepmother to her husband rileys two boys, bruce and john. Bruce and johnny just didnt like bonnie. They didnt like her at all. And so almost from the beginning it was acrimonious. Reporter what form did that acrimony take . Bruce and johnny were just rude to bonnie. Openly insulting her. Reporter and riley put up with that . Let it go. He just let it go. Reporter a lot of blended families have rough starts. But this newly grafted branch of the harkey family tree never had a chance. I dont think riley made a real effort with his boys to say, this is a wonderful woman. I want you to grow to love her like i love her. I think he just said, here you go. Reporter riley seems to have been better with pecans than people. Yeah. Yeah. Reporter soon enough, john was off to college, and bruce was shuttled off to live with his mother in nevada for a while. That left only bonnies teenaged daughter connie at home. Riley never adopted connie. She was an afterthought. She was never brought into the family. This is sounding less like the brady bunch and more like the ewings to that. You know, it just the ewings without the the culture. You know, it was really just constant drama. Reporter the boys took different career paths. John became a businessman. Bruce had a number of different jobs. At various times he was a cop in reno, a medicaid fraud investigator for the Texas Attorney Generals Office and a nursing home administrator. Along the way, he married and divorced eight count em eight women. Still, as the years rolled by, the brothers feelings for bonnie seemed to fester. There were a lot of reasons for that, but maybe the biggest one was a will their father, riley, had drawn up shortly before he died in 1997. Rileys will specifically said that bonnie could live on that property as long as she was alive. And then when she died, the land would go to the boys. And then there was a small inheritance for connie. And if connie died, then there would be a trust for carl. But the majority of the inheritance went to bruce and johnny. Reporter though the property alone was worth more than 1 million, for the harkey brothers, it wasnt worth a dime because they could neither farm it nor sell it until bonnie died. Bruce, especially, seemed to chafe at the thought of that. He said he was the poorest millionaire in san saba county. Reporter local pecan merchant shawn oliver says bruce harkey was down and out in late 2007 when he resettled in san saba after being away for many years. He had no income coming in. And he every time he drove by that property, all he could see was the millions that what he thought was millions that he was missing out on. Reporter by then, Bonnie Harkey was becoming increasingly frail. Her dementia had made her vulnerable to phone scams. She was unable to manage her daily affairs, so her daughter connie became her guardian. After connie died in 2011, bruce harkey thought Carl Pressley should be bonnies guardian. When a judge tried to appoint someone else, bruce and john challenged that in court. Bonnie asked the judge if she could speak. And the judge said yes. And she said, i dont want them to be my guardians. Im her her afraid of them. Her stepsons. Reporter that had to be about the last thing bruce and john wanted to hear. It delayed any inheritance, certainly. Reporter a lawyer named Darrel Spinks was chosen to manage her business and financial affairs. Bonnies longtime friend Betty Ann Johnson was asked to make sure bonnies daily needs were met. It was betty ann whod hired Karen Johnson, no relation, the inhome caretaker who was killed the day bonnie was kidnapped. You felt safe with karen takin care of bonnie. I did. Reporter what bruce wanted me to do was to put her in the nursing home. Reporter he told you that. Yes. And i said, as long as we can have help 24 7, which she is not going anywhere. Reporter bonnies financial guardian, Darrel Spinks, says he also butted heads with bruce harkey. The best way i can explain bruce harkey is greedy and, for lack of a better word, just a jerk. Hes just a solid jerk. Reporter according to spinks, bruce not only accused him of mismanaging the harkey estate, but also tried to bully him into accepting the sale of a chunk of land to their neighbor, the actor tommy lee jones, for half a million dollars. It was good for bruce. But spinks says not for bonnie. So he put a stop to it. He wanted bonnie to get virtually nothing. I know it was less than 50,000 is what he wanted wanted her to get. Reporter and the rest of the money for the sale would of gone to bruce. The rest of it would have gone to bruce and john. Yes. Reporter and so you said to bruce, im not for this. And that sent him in orbit. I mean, he just became irate and cussed me out and said, im gonna do everything i can to to get at you. Reporter investigators were getting a pretty good taste of the river of bad blood that ran through the harkey family. Bonnie harkeys grandson, carl pressely, and his girlfriend, lillian king, were in the county jail. And now men with badges decided to take a harder look at bruce harkey. Coming up we had some questions for bruce harkey, too. You didnt put carl up to it . Would you really hire forrest gump to commit murder . Reporter forrest gump . Then this jailhouse interview was like a box of chocolates. We didnt know what we were gonna get. You said you wished she were dead. And then later she became dead. When dateline continues. Your world will be more vivid than ever. The Samsung Galaxy s6 and s6 edge. Get 200 or more when you trade in any smartphone and buy a galaxy s6 or s6 edge. Whats this . A box. It takes worn out things and makes em better. Wanna see . Yeah [motorcycle engine revs] cool what else ya got . Its our biggest breakthrough yet wow [dinosaur roar] were taking worn out batteries. And making them into something strong. New energizer ecoadvanced. Worlds first long lasting battery made with 4 recycled batteries. Degree gave women a motion activated wristband to understand how much they move. And created degree motionsense the worlds first antiperspirant with unique micro capsules activated by movement that release bursts of freshness all day. Keeping you fresher with every move. Motionsense. Protection to keep you moving. Degree. It wont let you down. Thank you for being a sailor, and my daddy. Thank you mom, for protecting my future. Thank you for being my hero and my dad. Military families are thankful for many things. The legacy of usaa Auto Insurance could be one of them. Our worldclass service earned usaa the top spot in a study of the most recommended Large Companies in america. If youre current or former military or their family, see if youre eligible to get an Auto Insurance quote. When im shopping for a used car, i want to be comfortable. I dont want an aggressive salesperson breathing down my neck pressuring me into a decision. When i go to the supermarket theres no one pushing me to buy the more expensive cereal. I just want to shop like i do everywhere else. As long as people drive cars carmax will be the best way to buy them. Reporter the final decision to kill Bonnie Harkey was made on a friday, two days before the murder. As Carl Pressley laid it out for investigators, his uncle bruce was broke, and couldnt wait any longer for his inheritance. He set me down on the bed and he says, we gotta get rid of bonnie. We gotta rid of her quick. Were runnin out of money. Reporter texans are generally thought to be pretty hard nosed when it comes to business. But Carl Pressley . Not so much. Carl bruce says, ill give you 500 if this happens right now, this weekend, if bonnie dies. If bonnie dies. And then i said youre a broke man, and i threw a number out there like 250 and he said, no no no. They argued about the prize, according to carl. Bruce wanted, he was adamant he was gonna pay him 500 and carl was adamant he only needed to pay him 250. Reporter in the end, carl says, bruce agreed to pay him 100 down, and 150 once the job was done. Then we found out he stopped by his bank and made a withdrawal for 200. Which was great, because thats the date and time stamped and now i got you on video. Then he leaves there and about 30 minutes later, he shows back up in front of lillian kings house. And carl runs out the door, to, to collect the hundred dollars down from, from bruce harkey. Reporter the idea that bruce harkey was in cahoots with Carl Pressley seemed odd to some. Evidently bruce detested the fact that carl would refer to bruce as uncle bruce. And yet, carl was always seemingly seeking approval and acceptance from bruce. Reporter Jack Schumacher, one of the investigators on the case, believes bruce may have used that bit of psychology to his advantage when he decided it was long past time for Bonnie Harkey to meet her maker. So when bruce says, hey, i want you in on my murder plot, what . Happiest day of carls life . You know, could be that carl thought that he was finally gonna receive that acceptance hed been seekin. Reporter a theory . Perhaps. But then investigators also knew that bruce harkey had never made any secret of how he felt about his stepmother, bonnie. Excuse my language, but this is exactly what he said. He said, that old bitch doesnt have the decency to die. Reporter investigators didnt know if bruce paid carl or just manipulated him into killing Bonnie Harkey. But they were sure he was involved. So two days after carl led investigators to bonnies body, bruce harkey was arrested and charged with murder. When lawmen came to question bruce in jail he did not mince words. Bonnie was poor miserable wretch of a human being. Ok . She didnt have two brain cells to rub together anymore. I didnt go out there and say somebody needs to kill her. I said she needs to go. She just needs to go. Reporter according to bruce, Carl Pressley had his own motives for killing Bonnie Harkey. Thats because, a year earlier, carl had sold his future interest in the harkey estate to the harkey brothers for a fraction of what it was worth. But heres the thing. The brothers only gave him a fraction of the money they owed him. Bruce says he told carl the brothers would pay him the rest, about 55,000, once they inherited the orchards. This is how bruce says carl responded. Well how long after my grandmothers death do i get that money . Carl, it has to go through probate first. Hell, that could take years. I dont know. Reporter according to bruce, the money that he gave carl shortly before bonnies death was for gas money, nothing more. Then bruce harkey turned the tables on the lawmen and asked them a question that would become central to his defense. Why would he want to kill a sick old woman who already seemed to have one foot in the grave . Why would i plan on bonnies demise, or offer to pay somebody to do what numb nuts did, when im thinking this is just around the corner anyway . Why guys . Reporter when we spoke with bruce harkey through a thick pane of glass, he insisted that he was an innocent man. I had nothing to do with it. You didnt put carl up to it . Absolutely not sir, no. Thats exactly like the first question my attorney asked me. He said, would you, he said, i have to ask you, would you really hire forrest gump to commit murder . I said, i wouldnt hire anybody to commit murder. So your argument is contrary to what carl told investigators, he did this all on his own. I dont know that he did it all on his own. I know there was at least two people involved in it, and that would be carl and lilly, his girlfriend. Other than that, im not gonna attest to anything because i dont know. How many times in your life did you say you wished Bonnie Harkey were dead . I dont know, several. I mean i cant give you a number. Thats one of the reasons youre in here. I understand that. Okay. Because you said you wished she were dead, and then later she became dead. But i didnt have anything to do with it. You cant wish someone dead and have it happen, and then get blamed for it. Its not against the law to have wishes. Its not against the law to make comments. Reporter maybe not, but when bruce harkeys murder trial rolled around he would have to answer for all of them, and more. Reporter coming up. I will simply say, thats a devastating bit of evidence. Reporter the past comes back to haunt bruce harkey. And, a question haunts lillian king. Could she have saved bonnie . I cant sleep most of the time, it eats at me started my camry. Remembered the choices ive made. To be bold where others are scared. To show her right from wrong. And realized my little girl had become an amazing human being who will make choices of her own. Toyota lets go places. Family of jeweled feline treasures. 100,000 to the lady in the leopard print. Sprint told us theyd cut our verizon bill in half. Oh yeah. Wed save a bunch of money on our rate plan by switching to sprint. But we dont need to save money, do we mama . Oh, no. No we do not baby. To the other lady in leopard print. Like daddy always says money doesnt spend itself. 1 million oh, look at that. Oh oh wow. Look at that muscle baby. Its like a workout. Some people are stupid rich. Look at my muscle. For the rest of us sprint will cut your verizon or at t rate plan in half. Just turn in your old phone. Or now, for a limited time sign up for the new unlimited plus plan and get a Samsung Galaxy s6 free. Only from sprint. At subway, we begin with freshlybakedbread; then combine tender turkeybreast, with robust, spicy, melty italian favorites; adding a splash of our new subway vinaigrette. The magnificent new turkey italiano melt. Only at subway. If you have play dates at your house. Be ready to clean up the mess. The kids have fun, but its pretty gross. doorbell whats that . Its a swiffer wetjet. I can just grab this and just go right to the mess. That comes from my floor . Now thats disgusting. I want friends over you want friends over . Reporter in the years after Bonnie Harkey took her place alongside the other harkeys in the san saba cemetery, life in the texas hill country got back to normal. Most people could only speculate about what really happened on the day Bonnie Harkey and her caretaker, Karen Johnson, were killed. But Jack Schumacher says he knows. This is where Karen Johnson was laying. She was murdered right here in this doorway. Reporter how was she killed . Choked, smothered, just bulldogged down by carl. Reporter Jack Schumacher says he knows that because Carl Pressley told him how it all went down that weekend. He also knows that bruce harkey wanted everyone in san saba to know that he was going out of town. Jack vaughn, a local businessman, says he had only a nodding acquaintance with bruce harkey, and yet bruce started telling me how that he was going to be out of town all weekend long. Stressed that all weekend long. Im leaving town early on saturday morning. I wont be back in till late sunday night. It might even be monday before i make it back in. He said, im going to be gone all weekend long. Reporter by the time bruce harkey went on trial in april of 2014, his nephew Carl Pressley had confessed to his part in killing Bonnie Harkey and her caretaker. And carls girlfriend, lillian king, had admitted her involvement. With the two of them set to testify against bruce harkey in exchange for lighter sentences, prosecutor sonny mcafee felt confident that he had a solid case against bruce. The facts of the crime were so horrendous that i didnt think once the jury believed that he was a party to the crime that theyd have any difficulty at all finding him guilty. Reporter lillian told the jury that she had heard bruce harkey and Carl Pressley talk about killing Bonnie Harkey many times. But she told us she didnt learn the plot had actually been set in motion until the friday before the murder. Thats when lillian says she overheard a phone conversation between bruce harkey and Carl Pressley. Because after he got off the phone with bruce, he looked at me and said that bruce was going to pay him to kill his grandmother. Reporter lillian testified that while bonnie and her caretaker were in church that sunday morning carl slipped into the house and hid. Once bonnie returned home, lillian says, carl sent her a text telling her to come distract Karen Johnson while he smothered his grandmother. So i rang the doorbell because the door was open. But the storm door was closed. Ms. Johnson came and answered the door. I was in the process of stepping in and closing the storm door when i see this flash. Reporter inside the house . Coming from the den. Reporter so coming up behind ms. Johnson . Yes, yes. And i saw that it was carl and he was yelling at me to close the door, get in here, go in there with his grandmother. Reporter once Karen Johnson was dead, lillian says, carl led bonnie to her bedroom where, she says, carl asked her to pray. I see the pillow and then while theyre praying, he starts pushing her down onto the bed. She fought him. She did. But the doorbell rang, and it scared carl. So he jumped up and he told me to go look and see who it was. Reporter lillian says, whoever it was left after about five minutes. It was then, lillian told the jury, that carl decided to drive his grandmother to normangee. In your mind, was it clear that she knew that carl was trying to kill her then . Yes. Reporter whatd she say . She looked at him and said, you tried to kill me. And carl was like, no, grandma, i wasnt doing that. Reporter lillian says the last time she saw Bonnie Harkey alive was later that night when she says she saw carl leading bonnie to her death. I went to the bathroom again and when i was coming out, i saw him and her walking into the trees. Reporter you knew what was coming. Howd you let that happen . Its hard for me. But, you know, if he did it to her, hes going to do it to me, too. Reporter the prosecutor knew a jury would not vote to convict bruce harkey on the testimony of lillian king and Carl Pressley alone. So he used bruce harkeys own words against him. He talked about how he couldnt get his land until she was dead. And that she just doesnt have the decency to die. And he said all of these in the weeks leading up to the murder. Reporter Richard Davis was bruce harkeys attorney. He told the jury Carl Pressley wanted to kill Bonnie Harkey because he wanted the inheritance and needed no prompting from his uncle. Davis reminded jurors how many times carl had changed his story before telling police bruce was part of the plot. My theory is its all carl. And that was essentially our testimony. And the testimony of carl in the trial makes it clear that this guy was an erratic personality. He gave numerous different descriptions of what the events were. How he did it, why he did it. And it was reporter and originally that he didnt do it . Well, right. I didnt do it, i did do it, and if i did do it, it was because of this. Reporter and finally, he names bruce . Exactly. Reporter sort of at the point where prosecutors and police are starting to talk about the death penalty. And my question, in any case where theres a statement from a witness who has a lot to lose, whats the most likely to be the truth . Reporter the jurors might question Carl Pressleys credibility, but the prosecutor had a bombshell in his arsenal. Turns out this was not bruce harkeys first rodeo. Mcafee told the jurors that ten years earlier bruce had done prison time for his role in another murder plot, an unsuccessful one that targeted one of his many exwives. I think theres a lot of things that are extremely similar in it. And the main one is that he gets somebody else to do what he wants done. And he does it through influence. I will simply say that thats a devastating bit of evidence. Reporter yeah, because that makes me think, well, they probably got the right guy. And just hypothetically speaking, lets say the case is purely circumstantial and looks kind of bad. And then theres proof in front of the jury that says, and by the way, he did it before. That makes all the other evidence seem much more important. Reporter if youre a prosecutor thats great stuff. Thats the end of the story whether it should be or shouldnt. Reporter it took the jury only one hour to reach a guilty verdict. Bruce harkey received a life sentence, as did Carl Pressley. Lillian king was sentenced to 45 years for her role in the murders. Im not a violent person. Im not. And i loved ms. Harkey like she was my own grandmother. Reporter and yet . I know. I keep kicking myself, you know . Hoping i can do something different. But its not going to change. It eats at me. I cant sleep most the time. Reporter as for the estate bruce harkey had so fervently hoped to inherit, that seems to be gone with the texas wind. These days the orchards are fading, and there are no longer any harkeys living in the harkey home. Now, its just a matter of time before the realtors and the lawyers take whats left. Thats all for this edition of dateline. A Large Police Presence tonight as at least one man was taken into custody after a Police Shooting in west philadelphia. All of this happened in the last hour. We have Live Team Coverage from the scene and the hospital. Lets begin with nbc 10s George Spencer on that scene. George . Reporter we can tell you the scene is still incredibly active as police work this shooting investigation. When we got out of our live trucks, we could see the Police Helicopters flying low across this neighborhood. I am at 52nd and master and it appears that the shooting scene, at least the heart of this investigation, is at least a full block east of where im standing probably near 51st and master. Take a look at some of the video that our cameras captured an even busier scene captured just about 30 minutes ago. Our cameraman saw s. W. A. T. Teams arriving here. Based on what we know so far, seems that the officer had some sort of confrontation with the suspect in this area around 51st and master. That officer ended up were being told w a gunshot wound to his thigh. Were hearing that the suspect or possibly multiple suspects then fled that