personal opinion. >> two dead spouses. was she a grieving widow? >> could you have done anything to hurt him? >> no. >> why not. >> i loved him. >> how could she step her way out of this? >> all that matters is finding the truth. >> a dramatic tale of love and death. the last dance. >> good evening, and welcome to "dateline." i'm ann curry. it started with a loving marriage. once the evidence was in front of police, all was not as it seemed. here's dennis murphy. >> reporter: the dance of love begins with one hand taking the other. a simple step, and then magic starts. at least that's how it all began for alan and miriam. two lost souls that found each other on the dance floor. >> they were awesome. they made everything they did fun. >> reporter: they met here in a small dance studio in the tiny town of grand junction, colorado. do you see them in your mind? see what they're doing? >> alan doing a swing move. miriam going, oh, my god. >> reporter: their romance seemed to be what little girls dreamed about. alan, for her, was like her knight in shining armor. he came into her life and said, i want to care for you, i want to care about you and your joy is my goal. >> reporter: and 59-year-old alan helmick wasn't just a knight in armor to miriam. a lot of people in his hometown felt the same way about him. he helped people build their home. and start businesses. >> my father was probably one of the best people i have met in my life. >> reporter: his father was the epitome of the all-american success story. 40 years before, he was a golden-haired mu zigs who married his high school sweetheart. they raised four children while alan ran the local savings and loan. >> i think of the george bailey character, it's a wonderful life. >> what if i hadn't lived. >> except my dad would have got a second job to make up the money he lost. >> reporter: on new year's eve 2003, his lifetime companion, sharon, died of a sudden heart attack. >> i think he died that day, a pig part of him. he lost my mother who he had been with since he was 14. the love of his life. i'm sure everything he thought was real was ripped out from under him. >> reporter: months passed before alan could pick himself up and rejoin the world. ♪ his ticket back under the out the be some unused credit at ballroom dance studio. >> he felt ix maybe sit is something i should do. he's trying to break out of the slump. he goes back to class. >> reporter: that's where he meet his dance instructor, miriam. she lived in florida, recently moved to colorado to start a new life of her own. like alan, she was still raw from back-to-back losses. her daughter, amy passed way in 2000 from a drug overdose. and her husband committed suicide two years later. romance was the last thing on her mind. alan changed her mind. >> he went for dance lessons, she wasn't interested in anything else. she told him no. >> reporter: what did he find in her? >> she was exhilarating. she was very lively. and she matched him in his joy of doing the things they liked to do. you get someone to do it with. you can't beat that. >> reporter: the couple soon became inseparable. miriam moved into lanl's home. in june 2006, they decided to marry. did you see the light gos back on? >> it was a mile better. there's the man and the woman, they grow old and die together. she filled a purpose. >> reporter: the alan that everyone missed, fun-loving, optimistic, was finally back. he was look for new business opportunities, too. before his wedding, he stopped by the office of his accountant and long-time friend, bob. >> he said he was going to invest in the dance salon. >> reporter: the dance salon? where did that itch to open a studio come from? miriam? >> it had to be that. otherwise it would be like having a root canal. >> reporter: if alan wanted to open dance studio, to be it. supportive friends of many years, people like ed benson signed up for dance lessons along with his wife. >> alan put on an exhibition. slanl a competitive person. and he was good. i mean, whoa, he was very, very good. ♪ you ain't seen nothing yet >> reporter: but a small-town studio would always been b a business of the heart. a couple of years later, it was bleeding money. by then, lanl and miriam had bought a 40-acre property in a rural community just outside grand junction with the idea of starting a horse breeding business. alan's accountant didn't sugar coat his opinion of that either. >> anybody gets to raise horses, he loses his mind. >> reporter: friends thought it odd that someone as smart as lanl would get involved in such a risky startup. they slhrugged it off as an invest nmt his new bride. they threw themselves into developing the horse popperty. work seemed to fill the aching hollow spots. they might have happily ever aftered on their ranch. >> the police are investigating a death tonight. >> reporter: on june 10, 2008, the local news carried the story of an apparent robbery-homicide in the helmick's neighborhood. >> my wife and i were getting ready for bed. i said, i wondered if that was alan. it was. >> reporter: he had been mured in his home. the victim, apparently, of a robbery gone bad. as investigators began to dig, they would come up with a theory darker than anyone could guess. coming up -- >> my husband is dead. it looks like somebody came in and robbed us. >> reporter: was this really a robbery gone bad or had something else gone horribly wrong. >> it looked very suspicious. >> when the last dance continues. for something i had nothing to do with. my me time is when my in-laws are in town. my me time is when my luggage went to the bahamas. and i didn't. discover me time any time. introducing mcdonald's new frappés. mccafé your day with smooth and icy caramel or mocha, blended just for you and topped with a decadent drizzle. ♪ ba da ba ba ba oh, i'm still here. yeah. to finish what you started today. for the aches and sleeplessness in between, there's new motrin pm. no other medicine, not even advil pm, is more effective for pain and sleeplessness. new motrin pm. ♪ traveling in the world of my creation ♪ ♪ what we'll see will defy ♪ explanation [ male announcer ] remember when you were five and anything was possible. ♪ happy 5th birthday again. ♪ come with me and you'll be ♪ in a world of pure imagination ♪ ♪ come with me and you'll be we asked real people to film themselves taking the activia 14-day challenge. hi. i'm emily ilic. i'm going to start the activia 14-day challenge today. problems that i have are, you know, irregularity... i do have some doubts if it works. i think it's really good. um... i like the flavors. i think from being a skeptic in the beginning i do think that activia actually works. help regulate your digestive system. take the activia challenge. it works or it's free. ♪ activia it was a tuesday afternoon, about lunchtime. the call came in from 911 dispatch. >> reporter: it was june 10, 2008 when miriam walked into her home and found her husband on the floor. >> what is your emergency? >> i think my husband is dead. >> he what? >> my husband is dead. >> reporter: investigator jim habenstreit heard the call. >> tell me what happened. >> he's on the floor. it looks like somebody came in and robbed us. he has blood under his head. >> some of our deputies responded to the residence. they were advised as they were en route that the person that called 911 was the wife and that she was beginning cpr. >> is he breathing? >> no. >> ma'am, we're going to get you help. hold on. okay? >> reporter: when they rooifed, they saw miriam kneeling over her husband's body. he had been shot in the back of the head. on the floor beside him, a shell casing, wallet, a cell phone. >> mr. helmick was on his back. >> reporter: at first glance, it looked like a home invasion. to the detective, something didn't seem right. >> it appeared that someone attempted to make it look like a burglary or robbery gone bad. it looked suspicious. there were drawers pulled out of desks. a small trash can turned over. >> reporter: wouldn't that speak to an intruder? >> it speaks to someone that doesn't know what a burglary or robbery looked like. there was a few drawers open in the kitchen. that's not some place burg larceny look for valuables. >> reporter: police cordoned off the crime scene. tell me about the community. >> it's a bedroom community, about ten miles south of grand junction. >> reporter: country properties, acreage. >> right. >> reporter: crime there? >> it's pretty crime free because sit so remote. >> reporter: as investigators processed the scene, people started to congregate outside the house. cameras were there when alan's son-in-law showed up. he collapsed in grief and range. what is she showing you? >> the original deputies said she was crying. >> reporter: as deputies always do, they put the surviving spouse through the ringer to prove they are in our out. she came out clean, the first hurdle. verifying her alibi was the second. she described her day in detail. >> i came up the stairs. i was cleaning the stalls about 8:00. >> reporter: she says she left her home at about 8:15 forrer rands. she stopped at the market. on her way to the next stop, she phoned alan. >> did you leave a message? >> i got his voice mail. >> hi, alan, i love you. wanted to let you know i'm going walmart. if you're going meet me for lunch, oh, let's meet at the chinese buffet. call me, let me know. love you, bye. >> reporter: no call back, no big deal. she mooufrd on to the third item on her list. >> i needed a big bag of carrots for the horses. i had to go over to safeway. >> reporter: still no alan. >> hey, alan, you need to turn your phone on. it's not like you to not call me. give me a holler. thanks, bye. >> reporter: she drove to the city market where he was supposed to drop off a prescription. >> has he called you back yet? >> no. >> is that odd? >> yeah. i fiddled and until it was time to meet him. >> reporter: she drove to the chinese restaurant, parked and waited in the lot. she planned to have lumpl with him around 11:00 a.m. she left another voicemail. >> this is not funny anymore. i'm sitting in front of the chinese place for 15 minutes. you're never late. so would you call me? >> how long did you wait at the china restaurant? >> i waited there until about 11:15. >> okay. >> normally he's right on time or early. he hadn't called me back. i thought he was caught up somewhere. >> reporter: her story seemed to check out. there were receipts from the shopping morning thap tracked her from store to store at 8:49 a.m. until around 11:00 a.m. >> we were able to determine the route she described and the places she described were, in fact, accurate. >> that's a pretty good alibi. tired of waiting for him, she decided to drive home. >> what time cdo you think you got home? >> i don't know. i saw his truck. i was going to go in and give him a piece of my mind that point. >> for not calling you, for standing you up at lunch. >> yeah. i saw him on the floor. and he wasn't moving. i saw blood under his head. >> reporter: would paid a fatal house call on alan while his wife was out shopping? what happened that ranch? something random and botched and planned? the investigators didn't know yet. coming up, police make a startling discovery. there had been another plot on his life. who was behind that. >> i don't know. i don't know. >> when "dateline" continues. [ male announcer ] nature valley sweet & salty nut bars... they're made from whole roasted nuts and dipped in creamy peanut butter, making your craving for a sweet & salty bar irresistible, by nature valley. we've got a way for you to check the status of your loan online. securely, any time, anywhere. - and that's why i love... - i love... i love being a home loan expert. ♪ what had happened to alan helmick while his wife was out? he hadn't responded to her phone calls and was a no-show to their lunch date. when she returned home, she found him on the kitchen floor. >> is he conscious? >> no. >> is he breathing? >> no, god who would do this. >> reporter: the murder had become major investigation. it was also a red hot story. >> i feel like i just am missing my life. i -- don't know what to do. >> reporter: miriam agreed to talk to a couple of television reporters. mostly softball stuff about her life with alan. >> i met him teaching him how to dance. and i didn't really like him. he grew on me. it took a little while. he grew on me. >> reporter: warm and fuzzy about the courtship. >> he was so sweet. it's hard to imagine somebody taking my car filling it up with gas without asking, just little things. >> reporter: she spoke of his generosity. his love. >> once we got married, he spent most of his time trying to make me happy. we did a lot of things and -- i have no regrets. >> reporter: meanwhile, the cops were playing their invest gadinn close to the vest. >> a burglary or robbery, it's unlikely someone is shot in the back of the head. >> reporter: why? >> the burglar is probably going run. most burg larceny don't carry a gun into a crime scene with them. >> reporter: the working theory became this wasn't a robbery. alan knew his killer. does he have any enemies? what has he been doing the last couple of days? >> she wasn't able to think of anyone that might have been responsible for his death. she mentioned that alan and his son, alan jr., has a some what strained relationship. >> ranking people you found alan contemptuous with. who would be number one? at the top of the list? >> his son. >> reporter: he was able to prove he wasn't around at the time of the murder. >> i remember being upset in the interview with her that she didn't ask enough questions. she didn't give may polygraph. not shot she should be look at me more. but is this how you're treating everyone? >> reporter: be tougher. >> yeah, exactly. >> reporter: regardless how he felt, he moved down the list of people of interest. maybe alan had a business deal that had sourd. detectives asked miriam about bad blood with former partners. >> did he have anybody, any problems with contracting business going on. would he have shared that with you? >> some people said he could be difficult to work for. but nothing that rose to the level of a motive for someone to want to kill alan helmick. >> reporter: but someone had wanted to kill him. investigators didn't know what to make of failed attempt on his life. >> new details. why an unsolved arson case has departments looking at evidence in another county. >> reporter: 41 days before he was killed, he was involved in a disturbing incident. it happened right here outside the office of his old title company. alan had just finished a business meeting he was selling his company, sitting in his car waiting for miriam to come back from the ladies room. all of a sudden, his gas tank caught fire. the police thought it was a case of arson. the fire was quickly doused. he wasn't insxwrurpd why would someone try something as outlandish as torching his car while he was in it. was the failed arsonist a seszful shooter weeks later. >> i don't know what the police have come up with. they never would call us back when he called. so -- it is a good possibility. i'm letting them figure that out. we -- it was -- it was definitely -- i won't say an interesting day because that's the first time -- i mean, it was a shock to us, you know. but he never mentioned anything about anybody that could -- would do something like that. >> do you think alan knew his attacker? >> i don't know. i don't know. >> reporter: in the days after alan's murder, amidst the grief and confusion, she had to confront fear. because it seemed like her life might also have been in danger. she was noticing things happ happening around her that were odd. she asked the neighbors if anyone had seen a strange car in the area. no one had. perhaps the most troubling sign of all was at her doorstep. what could that be but a warning that her nightmare was far from over. good friend penny lyons was by her side when it happened. >> we opened up the car. handwritten inside it said, allen was first, you're next, run, run, run. coming up -- could the window be target number two? >> she started to shake and go down. good god, it scared the living daylights right out of you. >> miriam under the micro scope. when "the last dance" continues. at the airport. i can have a crystal-clear videoconference with my clients... ...muffin basket or something... ...while working offsite, or share five high-speed connections for online gaming... while enjoying the great outdoors. [ video game sound effects ] eat it, yoshi! what can you do with 4g? [ male announcer ] experience 4g from sprint. it's more than a wireless network. deaf, hard-of-hearing and people with speech disabilities, it's a wireless revolution. access www.sprintrelay.com. another heart attack could be lurking, waiting to strike. a heart attack caused by a clot, one that could be fatal. but plavix helps save lives. plavix, taken with other heart medicines, goes beyond what other heart medicines do alone, to provide greater protection against heart attack or stroke and even death by helping to keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming clots. ask your doctor about plavix. protection that helps save lives. people with stomach ulcers or other conditions that cause bleeding should not use plavix. taking plavix alone or with some other medicines including aspirin may increase bleeding risk, so tell your doctor when planning surgery. certain genetic factors and some medicines, such as prilosec, may affect how plavix works. tell your doctor all the medicines you take, including aspirin, especially if you've had a stroke. if fever, unexplained weakness or confusion develops, tell your doctor promptly. these may be signs of ttp, a rare but potentially life-threatening condition, reported sometimes less than 2 weeks after starting plavix. other rare but serious side effects may occur. mom: we have a pretty big family. all boys. yeah. i call them our starting five. yeah. boom! so when we go out, like the other night, we have to make sure they get enough to eat. pass these down to your brothers and make sure they get some, okay? announcer: olive garden introduces our new crespelles. handcrafted italian crepes oven-baked and stuffed with five cheeses then topped with herb marinated chicken in a garlic cream sauce. or with grilled italian sausage in our tomato alfredo. starting at just $10.95 with unlimited salad and breadsticks. olive garden's one of the few places we can take our family where everyone's happy. olive garden. when you're here, you're family. ultra-high, super-pointy... i never take them off. how do i do it? dr. scholl's for her insoles with massaging gel. so thin, they fit right in. shut up! you're fabulous. dr. scholl's for her. [ male announcer ] your mouth is amazing. did you know that 40% of tooth surface is hidden between teeth, where inter-dental stains can form? that's why aquafresh created iso-active whitening. a breakthrough gel that transforms into an active foam. it not only helps prevent cavities, it whitens 33% better between teeth. whiten beyond toothpaste. try triple protection iso-active whitening from aquafresh. amazing. >> reporter: two weeks after her husband had been shot to death in their home, she was telling friends that someone was out to get her too. >> it was her assertion that whoever killed allen was stalking her. >> reporter: she was going on about a white pick up that she said went past her home repeatedly. she reported to it the sheriff's department. >> she said there's a suspicious vehicle driving around the property. a white gmc possibly pick up with a white male subject with long, curly hair. that was the description. >> had any of the neighbors seen it? >> none of the neighbors did. but allen's daughter did see a white pick up truck near the house. >> reporter: the ominous truck. then that really scary thing on her doorstep. >> it was about ten days after the funeral. she had been saying for about three days that odd things were going on in the home. >> she shaugt what? someone was coming in and trying to spook sheher? >> that's what it seemed like. >> reporter: she offered to accompany her friend home. the police crime scene tape had been removed. >> we walked over in the front door. and down underneath the welcome mat was a bright, canary yellow envelope. i picked it up. it sate, to the grieving widow, handwritten on the front. we took the card out. it had a cartoon on the front with the einstein quote. when we opened up the card, it said, allen was first, you're next. run, run, run. >> reporter: penny remembers the fear on miriam's face. >> she started to shake and go down. how can you not. allen had been murdered. now there's a physical threat that you're looking at. good god. it would scare the living daylights out you have. i told her to get in the car. i had enough sense to grab the envelope and put it in the back seat. >> reporter: investigators started to look for the source of the card. could it have been from a shady associate? where is this case headed? in the absence of hard information, rumors began to fill the void. word on the street might sbn that it had to do with a business deal going bad. >> there was talk about him owing people money. i said, oh, that's a bunch of crap. nobody around here does that. he had a couple of debts but, no. >> reporter: the other rumors were about miriam. in the court of public opinion and in the official investigati investigation, it was felt that she had to start explaining herself better. once you broke down her alibi. the grieving widow was looking more and more like a suspect. her day a bit too preplanned, as the cops heard it. >> i don't think we put that together immediately. as we began to look at things a little closer, it did seem that she had every practically every minute accounted for. >> you asked me a lot of questions about where i have been. think i have all the receipts in my pocket. >> do you mind? >> i don't know if they're all here. >> reporter: she had the receipt in her pants pocket. offering it up in the spirit of -- if you need to see the proof of what i'm talking about. >> if you need to check up on me or question about where i have been, here's the proof that these are the places i went. >> reporter: and the more investigators stud did her interview, the more they found her emotions to be demeanored . >> everybody treats grief and shock in different manners. >> you're right. >> reporter: there was a discrepancy in her story. originally, the day was going to be about allen's grand daughter coming to the house for an afternoon horse riding lesson. early that morning, miriam phoned the instructor to cancel. >> the grand daughter lives about 45 minutes from the house. she hadn't gone and picked her up the night before. >> reporter: at least that's the excuse miriam gaim gave the riding instructor. he gave a different account to allen's daughter. miriam told her it was the riding instructor who had canceled. the instructor says, that's not true. >> miriam canceled the riding lesson. >> reporter: alan's children were getting suspicious about little things adding up before and after his murder. >> there are so many odd things that happened, concerning that woman, that in hindsight, just don't seem right. >> reporter: they have been worried all along about their father. his physical condition started to slide downhill fast. he was sick a lot. >> i'm in bed. >> was that like him to be sick or complain about being sick? >> never. i started having nightmares gnat she was trying to poison him. i would wake up in the middle of the night with these crisp dreams. i thought, this has to be an emotional reaction to her replacing my mother. >> reporter: crime scene investigators had found plenty of prescription pils. now the family thought allen jr.'s dreams might hold the key to why he was sick. they believed she was poisoning him with cocktails of remedies. >> we did not know exactly what happened. we all had our feeling. >> reporter: you and all the sisters? >> yeah. amazingly so. we all saw eye to eye. it was odd. you felt that way too? >> reporter: on the medical examiner's table no trace of poison was found in his body. >> there was no evidence of poisoning in the complete toxicology analysis. >> reporter: alan has suffered from serious heart disease. a system of that is extreme fatig fatigue. >> he had a severe blockage of his coronary arteries. >> reporter: so if his family said he had been acting out of sorts, ill, would that explain it? >> that would be consistent. >> reporter: but something else troubled the family. he had been all but bedridden, virtually unreachable. it was likely that no one would pick up his cell phone. or that miriam would answer, or they had to leave voice mail. >> i haven't been able to talk to you. things are piling up. >> reporter: alan's children would leave messages on her phone to have him call her back. >> i'm hoping to be able to get ahold of him. if you could have him call me, that would be great. >> none of our calls got returned. >> calling the house and his cell? >> that was, okay, there you go. she started answering his cell phone. that was strange. i thought she had her own phone. the house phone was understandable. he would answer that. always had. the same number for years. >> hey, this is portia. i'm starting to get a complex here. you have never not picked up the phone. >> reporter: his family at one time only one having trouble getting through. for the previous three months, alan's bank had been trying to reach him with news concerning his finances. news that miriam definitely did not want him to hear. coming up, something curious about alan's accounts. could bit a motive very murder? >> alan's family were worried that she was a younger woman and might want his money. look me in the eyes. this is roc® brilliance™ eye-beautifier with e-pulse™. the first anti-aging cream inspired by electro-stimulation. on contact, the micro-currents become activated and puffiness is reduced. in just three days, the look of fine lines will fade. roc®. seeing is believing. save on roc® brilliance™ eye, day, or night at rocskincare.com. save on roc® brilliance™ eye, day, or night mom. it's time to come in. two more minutes? two. [ female announcer ] turn your yard into a place you'll never want to leave. this week, a jaclyn smith palermo dining set with free umbrella is just $399.99. [ mr. bluelight ] there's smart, and there's kmart smart. for my trip? looks expensive. it's not expensive, mom. they pick us up? sounds expensive. pick-up's free, mom. well if it's not expensive... why didn't you rent me a bigger car? mom! pick enterprise. we'll pick you up. >> reporter: in the weeks after alan helmick had been murdered in his home, authorities were increasingly regarding his wife miriam as their main suspect. even with evidence piling up again against her, some friends like penny lyons were convinced she was innocent. she couldn't conceive of a motive. >> he took care of everything, her whole life was alan and everything provided in that life was provided by alan. so what -- there was nothing to gain. >> you want a dance studio? isle guy i'll buy you one. you want to do horses? we'll get horses. >> yeah. he was awesome. all that mattered was that you do what you enjoy. that's the philosophy he lived by. >> reporter: the perception of her friends was that she dit nod benefit from his death. alan had been careful to keep things in his name only. miriam told investigators about their yours is yours and mine is mine philosophy. the horse trainer said that she was cut obvious of her husband's finances by design. >> she said she wasn't on the bank accounts because the family, alan's family were worried that she was a younger woman and that she might want his money. and to make the family happy, they had signed a prenup. >> reporter: in fact, in the days and weeks after alan's death, miriam had to borrow from friends just to buy groceries and gas. she was struggling to pay her bills. the trainer had to help miriam sell some horses just so she could get some cash. >> i needed to be paid for my services as the bank had put a hold on all the funds for any checks that had been written. >> reporter: even on the most cynical of levels, it seemed always so generous alan was worth more to miriam alive than dead. in the tv interview, she acknowledged her husband was like a sugar daddy to her. >> his favorite saying was, have fun like hell. anytime he knew i was going shopping, or spending money or something, she would say, have fun like hell. >> reporter: but was miriam getting more from alan than simply walk-around pocket money? it appeared she had been, and it also seemed that alan didn't know about the extra allowance that she was giving herself, if that's what it was. investigators began to follow if money trail. for the previous year, she had been forging checks in alan's name, pay i believe to herself and the dance studio. >> one, two, three, and four. >> reporter: a young man named alan laurel said he suspected all along she was signing his checks. he didn't see anything in that. >> i thought he was okay with her handling the checks in and out of the studio. >> reporter: they were legitimate bills. of course it's not uncommon for husbands and wives to sign each other's checks. maybe he knew about it. but investigators spoke to the manager at alan's bank and found something else miriam may have been trying to hide from her husband. in the three months before alan died, the bank had been trying to contact him but could never get past his voice mail. an account manager even button-holed miriam once when she visited the bank and told her alan needed to call them immediately. he never did. so finally his bankers resorted to writing formal letters. at the house, investigators found a letter in the mail box, posted four days before alan's murder. if he had lived to take the letter, he would have learned that he was in serious financial trouble. it was a notification from the bank telling him that almost $140,000 had been transferred from his personal checking account to cover two outstanding commercial loans. and the bank wanted him to pay off the balance on those loans immediately. did alan realize he was short of cash and was that why he was dodging his bankers? his accountant, who regarded alan as a friend and honorable businessman, said it would have been totally out of character for alan to have been evasive if he owed anyone substantial money. >> he was a banker. i mean, if he couldn't pay a bill he would sure go down and explain to the guy and make arrangements. >> reporter: when investigators looked at what appeared to be monkey business going on in alan's financial affairs, and when they considerrd miriam's apparent lies how she was free that mornings to run errands. it became harder and harder for them to eliminate her as a suspect and for his family to believe she had nothing to do with it. >> i was sure if she didn't do it, she now and was responsible for who did. >> reporter: investigators took a harder look at the weird incident weekts before his death as someone tried to light fire to his car with him in it. >> my wife said, this is criminal. this is bad. coming up, one question about that fire still smoldered. where was miriam? >> she said she thought she had some shoes in the trunk. she said, pop the trunk. mary el. day one of the activia 14-day challenge. my digestive problems are irregularity. so i'm really excited to see if this really works. my husband tried this last night. he loved it. he said it's the best yogurt i've ever brought home, so...mmm. have just started to notice a slight difference in my digestion. help regulate your digestive system. take the activia challenge. it works or it's free. it's like hardwiring the market right into my desktop. launch my watchlist -- a popping stock catches my eye. pull up the price chart. see what the analysts say. as i jump back, cnbc confirms what i thought. pull the trigger -- done. i can even do most of this on my smartphone. really, it's incredible. like nothing i've ever experienced. trade free for 60 days on redesigned power e-trade pro. a little french's brings a whole lot of happy. and now french's has new honey mustard dipping sauce. french's happy starts here. [ woman ] nine iron, it's almost tee-time. time for new zyrtec® liquid gels. they work fast. so i can get relief from the pollen that used to make me sneeze, my eyes water. with new zyrtec® liquid gels, i get allergy relief at liquid speed. that's the fast, powerful relief of zyrtec®, now in a liquid gel. zyrtec® is the fastest 24-hour allergy medicine. it works on my worst symptoms so i'm ready by the time we get to the first hole. new zyrtec® liquid gels work fast, so i can love the air®. no more false hope. no more hiding. now there's mederma stretch marks therapy, specifically formulated, clinically shown to reduce the appearance of stretch marks in 12 weeks. mederma stretch marks therapy. wear your skin proudly. my me time is when i'm apologizing... for something i had nothing to do with. my me time is when my in-laws are in town. my me time is when my luggage went to the bahamas. and i didn't. discover me time any time. introducing mcdonald's new frappés. mccafé your day with smooth and icy caramel or mocha, blended just for you and topped with a decadent drizzle. ♪ ba da ba ba ba oh, i'm still here. yeah. >> reporter: investigator jim habenstreit was tossing and turning because the pieces of the puzzle were not dropping into place. >> there were time that i would wake up at 3:00 in the morning trying to figure out what happened. >> reporter: does this fit here? >> it's the kind of case that has us thinking all the time. >> reporter: one of the things he decided to take a closer look at was the attempt on alan's life a few weeks before his death. >> they drove to delta because he was having his partner buy him out. they had the meeting in which he gave him the cashier's check for dplr 120,000. they got up, went to the car. >> reporter: as alan sat in the car, someone tried ignite his gas tank. he was hurt. neither was hi wife. someone tried to kill him as he went inside to do business there. >> exactly. >> reporter: blow him up in the car when came out. miriam was asked about that later. >> do you think alan knew his attacker? >> i don't know. i don't know. >> reporter: what had alan made of that attempt? there was a video tape. homicide detectives had a listen. he hadn't shrugged it off. >> my wife said, this is criminal, this is bad. >> reporter: miriam, had been the only person near that gas tank, fiddling in the trunk before she went to the ladies room. >> she thought she had shoes in the trunk. she said, pop the trunk. i need the shoes. that would have been just before he went into the bathroom. >> reporter: while she was inside, alan saw smoke in adverti his rearview mirror. >> and miriam came back. >> reporter: he managed to pull out a charred foot-long wick. >> it was a wooden skewer. with a piece of rope-like material in it. >> reporter: somebody had thought about it? >> yes, obviously somebody had taken the time to put that device together, stick it down in his gas tank and light it. >> where was miriam when you pulled it out? >> think she was right there. said, what's that? she said, i don't know. >> she didn't take it in and throw it away, bring it back out? >> no, why would she do that? >> she told me she did. >> oh, i didn't see that. >> the bathroom smelled like lighter fluid. >> reporter: he acknowledged that his wife had been back there. but trying to incinerate him? >> no, no. you never know 100% about anybody. >> reporter: and then alan said that thing so many people would say later. miriam had no motive to kill him. >> i'm more valuable alive than i am dead. >> what does she gain? >> she gets nothing i had before the marriage. >> reporter: she tried to fake him. >> i watched the video. >> is she on there? >> reporter: telling him the security video captured the whole event. >> is she on there? >> i'm asking you? >> is she on there? >> what do you think? >> no but i could be wrong. >> reporter: no such camera footage existed. >> nice. you made me think you might have seen her. if you had seen her on the video, i would be shocked. i can't imagine her being malicious. >> reporter: he never talked about what almost happened in delta. his friends didn't learn about the incident until after he died. >> he didn't say anything. it didn't make the local newspapers. if the local police said we think your wife tried to kill you, i don't think you would tell your friends. >> reporter: he told virtually no one. not even his own son. >> he didn't mention to it me. that's odd that he wouldn't bring that up. >> it wasn't headline news around the family. >> no, it was strange to me. that's not the say that a lot of strange things didn't seem to happen in the time frame. >> reporter: the homicide detective was pretty sure that miriam was responsible for the car fire. he couldn't prove it to a jury. frustrating. so much of his case was suspicions and circumstances. and then came the investigate ifr break new that the cops had been praying for. not a found murder weapon. not a new witness. new information about a greeting card. that greeting card left on miriam's doorstep. the one that threatened she might be the killer's next victim. what a surprise that under the out to be. a disturbing story comes to light. >> yeah. >> who bought the card? a revelation and an arrest. what if i missed something? what if we're not getting what i think we're getting? [ male announcer ] take some of the "what if" out of dealing with your bank. bank of america's clarity commitment summaries tell you key terms for what you're getting with your home loan and credit card in plain language. interest rate... ...what we pay. that's clear... nice for a change. how about that? it's just what they said. [ male announcer ] there's only one place you can get a clarity commitment for your mortgage or credit card. bank of america. and eating well means getting enough whole grain and calcium. general mills big g is the only leading line of kid cereals with at least 8 grams of whole grain and a good source of calcium. help your kids get more of what they need, with general mills kid cereals. >> reporter: it was a greeting card designed to gave friend a chuckle. but the hand-written message on the one at miriam's doorstep was clearly meant to inspire fear. alan was first, it read. you're next. run, run, run. it shook up friend penny lyons twice. first when she discovered it that night with mere cram. then when she found out from the caps what it was all about. there's a disturbing story that comes to light. >> yeah. here's what happened. investigators found this particular card was sold at a change of grocery stores. using the upc code on the back of the card city market was able to trace the card to three purchases from the latter half of june. they had surveillance video of those purchases, and of those three buyers investigators recognized one in particular. >> they picked miriam out of the video. the camera shows her in the card section, shows her at the checkout. walking out of the store clearly and obviously. >> that was a nifty bit of detective work. >> if he had doubts, whether she was the person in the case, that eliminated them. >> according to the video tape, miriam bought the card at the city market next to my home. >> reporter: miriam had bought the card herself on june 22nd, four days before she discovered it with penny. if that's all true, the business about the card, penny, it looks as though she was using you. >> yeah, it does. >> as the kind of witness to this setup story about an intruder continuing to harass her. >> if that's true, yeah. >> what do you do with that information? that's got to be just awful to deal with. >> no, it's not. it's really not. my feelings aren't an issue here. all i was doing was being the best friend that i could. now, however someone chooses to use that, that's out of my control. all that matters now is finding the truth. >> reporter: the truth about miriam. the one-time dance instructor would be hard for friends to digest. as the invest gags continued sh disturbing stories bubbled up from her past. right before moving to grand junction, she had gotten a job in gulf port, mississippi, as a dance instructor. in 2004 it got messy. her boss at the dance studio accused her of petty theft and embezzlement. she was eventually found not guilty on those charges. earlier in the same year, she had gotten in real trouble with the law. back in jacksonville, florida, she tried to cash almost $7,000 worth of counterfeit checks. she admitted the crime and spent three days in jail. a history of mischief that was news to her stepson. >> we didn't know anything about those things. those were things that were presented that not on the wedding invitation. >> reporter: alan's son may have been in the dark but some of alan's friends at least had an inkling miriam's past. >> she told us there was allegations of embezzlement. she really didn't deny it. it kind of made you wonder. as a matter of fact, at some point my wife and i both says, boy, i wonder if alan really knows what he's gotten himself into. >> reporter: bob, alan's accountant. were people saying, she's getting her mitts into him? >> yes. >> she's a gold digger? >> yes. >> she wants to get alan wrapped up? >> yep. they said alan will give her whatever she wanted. >> reporter: still, friends had hoped for the best and they were, after all, fond of miriam. until that day in june when alan turned up dead. >> i feel that miriam is either responsible for alan's death and/or it was because of something that she did or directed. >> reporter: by august, less than two months after the murder, miriam, now out of cash and with dwindling support in town had left colorado and returned to florida to live with her son. >> i was glad she was there with him. that was where she would have the most support. the officers had never said she couldn't leave. >> reporter: authorities were keeping tabs on her. >> while that was a circumstantial case. everything seemed to point back to her. >> reporter: that was enough to convince the prons o prosecutor they had a case. they went to florida to arrest miriam. >> i went up to her and said, you might remember me. i identified mist. i said, you're under arrest for the death of alan helmick. >> you to want to go back to the rocky mountain state to defend in? >> reporter: ten days later she was charged with first degree murder, attempted murder. >> she could not be eliminated from the very beginning. pretty confident we have the person responsible. >> reporter: so with miriam helmick on ice, awaiting trial, people began to buzz about another mysterious incident in her past. the death of her first husband. also shot to death. a suicide according to authorities. but, was it? coming up, a previous husband. could there have ban previous crime? >> my personal opinion that this was a murder. >> reporter: this was a murder? when "the last dance" continues. (announcer) coppertone outshines. in fact, it protects you from the most damaging rays across 100% of the uva uvb spectrum. coppertone outshines. so you can enjoy the sun. mom: thank goodness pizzas at pizza hut are now just ten dollars each. ten dollars! mom: we could actually get everybody the pizza they love. dad: yeah, supreme pan pizza, pepperoni lover's... mom: we saved a ton of money and all eight kids got exactly what they wanted. mom: well, make that nine kids. dad: they shot me first! anncr: right now any pizza at pizza hut is just $10. any pizza, any size, any crust, and any toppings - for only $10. only at your pizza hut. to help your skin get healthy and clear. fast forward a few years... ...and now that your problem is wrinkles we still have the solution dermatologists recommend most. neutrogena anti wrinkle moisturizer with pure retinol sa. in just 1 month it's clinically proven to smooth even the deepest wrinkles. so all you neutrogena girls it's time to become neutrogena women. neutrogena recommended most by dermatologists. >> reporter: before the western slope of the rockies and the little dance studio there with the lonely widower. miriam was known as miriam giles. she was married to her first husband jack and they had two children together. he daughter had a drug overdose in 2000. she is survived by her brother, chris. >> my dad took it hard. what if i would have been there to help her out? and i wasn't there, so it's my faultd. >> reporter: looking back, miriam's son said in the wake of his sister's death, he detect changed in his parents' relationship. >> there was some tension in the house. they wouldn't talk to each other. >> reporter: miriam's brother-in-law had never regarded his brother and miriam as the perfect couple. they had separated at one point when miriam left jack to live with another man. she came back. the brother-in-law said things were never the same. >> they always seemed indifferent. if miriam was in the kitchen, she was this the front room. >> reporter: that says something. >> they were never really together. my feeling was, they just tolerated each other because of the kids. >> reporter: then came a morning in 2002 that will miriam's son won't forget. he heard the concussion in fr his parents' bedroom. >> mom came out of the room hysterical. >> reporter: he remembers restraining his mother. >> she said he sot himself, he shot himself. she was crying. that's when i just kind of, i just closed the door. she wanted to go back there n there pip had to restrain her a couple of times. >> reporter: jacksonville authorities ruled the death a sd and the case was closed. not for jack's brother tim who, to this day, suspected miriam's hand in his death. >> she was very quick after his suicide to go out and do her own thing. she was really almost too quick to go out and start a dance studio. >> reporter: get out there again. >> she had been out there. i never knew she could dance. much less go the tango. >> reporter: him lost touch with his sister-in-law after jack pass eed away. he had no idea what happened to her and that she was charged with murder. until we contacted him. >> it shocked me. miriam helmick didn't ring a bell. once i sat down and started thinking about it and started thinking about circumstances with miriam and jack, my brother, it didn't surprise me. >> reporter: the brother-in-law never bought that jack was so stricken with grief that he committed suicide. >> he was a workaholic. not that type of person that would shoot himself in the head because he's depressed over amy who passed way two years before that. >> reporter: and there was something else that was strange. somebody tim didn't know and we didn't discover until we interviewed him. the original report, jack giles was shot on the right side of his head and in his right hand. >> reporter: was he right-handed or left-handed. >> left-handed. >> reporter: if you learned that the wound was on the right side of his head, would that surprise you? >> he couldn't tie his shoes right-handed. >> reporter: that this was a murder? >> this was a murder. >> reporter: a right-handed suicide by a left-handed man? the authorities handed that information over. >> her first husband died of a gunshot wound when she was the only other person this the room with him. alan helmick died of a single gunshot wound to the head. miriam seemed to be the common denominat denominator. >> reporter: this professional studied the giles death photos. >> it had the feeling that it had been staged. >> reporter: this doctor investigated over 1,000 suicides in his career. as he studied the photographs, he observed odd tis. the guard and the gun position would indicate the gun would have to have been held upside down on the right side of the head to sustain the gunshot wound. >> reporter: when you say upside down, the grip facing the ceiling, rather than the floor. >> that's correct. >> reporter: when that shot is fired, how does the pistol come to lay on the victim's chest? >> i don't understand that. the arm would have had to swing around the pillow and drop to the front of the chest. >> reporter: that's a lot of motion. >> that's defying gravity. >> reporter: and soot on the pillow case. the bullet was fired through the pill lowe before it hit giles. wrong hand, hitting at an odd angle, through a pill lowe as well. not directly in contact with the temple. >> that's correct. >> reporter: that's an awful lot going on. >> my conclusion is this is a homicide until proven otherwise. >> reporter: had miriam helmick done the unthinkable. not once, by twice. >> she said she wanted to find a rich man. she didn't care if he had one foot in the gave. >> reporter: devoted or devious. >> it showed who she really was. the gas prices are going down, they go back up again. we know saving money is important. this summer, shop with your giant card and save on shell fuel. earn one point for every dollar you spend. every 100 points earned gets you another 10 cents off per gallon. the more you spend, the more you save. i'm saving money at the store, i'm saving money at the pump, and that works for me. more savings every time you shop, only with your giant card. >> reporter: in november 2009, miriam helmick went on trial for the murder of her husband, alan. first degree. she pleaded not guilty. it was all a premeditated scheme. >> she cleared the way for al listen to be alone at the residence. she shot him. then she staged the hokey burglary to cover up his death. >> reporter: shot in cold blood. left to die on the kitchen floor for one of the oldest of reasons. >> it was always the money. >> reporter: the prosecutors, tammy and rich, painted the picture of a cunning grifter. someone too lonely and too nice to save himself from her own treachery. a victim who probably caught on, but way too late in her game. >> we think he caught on to some of her shenanigans. >> translator: prosecutors were selling a substantial case. >> you didn't have a murder weapon. >> reporter: they love to see what they want to see. >> we had a lot of other evidence that pointed to her that we thought was valuable. >> reporter: to depict her as little miss gold digger, the prosecution called witnesses to testify about her remarks. >> she mentioned he was the only one with a portfolio large enough to consider dating. >> she just said she wanted to -- find a rich man and she didn't care if he had one foot in the grave. >> reporter: and once mr. he'll do danced into her life, she went right for his money. buy me a dance studio. buy me a horse farm. in the sixth months before hi murder, miriam forged $40,000 in checks from his bank account. >> in my opinion. >> reporter: a handwriting expert. >> it is highly probably he did not write the maker's signature or the payee line on the check. >> reporter: a fraud that couldn't last forever. according to the prosecution, miriam knew it. >> alan is going to realize his assets are no longer what he believed them to be. >> we had a theory, something we believed happened was, he had discovered that she had forged his check. >> reporter: murder became her solution, said the prosecution, and the plan was afoot. she bought herself time by isolating alan, keeping his family way from him. alan's daughter, portia testified that it was nearly impossible to reach him in the months leading up to his death. >> i hadn't seen him. i could not get hold of him by phone. i started calling miriam's phone. >> reporter: another daughter said miriam gave countless excuses. >> he's sleeping, he doesn't want to be bothered. it's charging. she would turn it off and put it in the drawer. >> she was isolating him to be able to do what she did so they were by themselves and he was by himself. >> reporter: the night before his death, she told one of the daughters that he couldn't come to the phone because he had come home drunk from the elks lodge. prosecutors called the bar tender who said that wasn't true. >> i was the only bar tender. i would have had to serve him. to serve somebody, i would have to see him. >> reporter: lice about drinking at the lodge. lies that the jury was told about why the granddaughter's lesson was canceled. the house cooper saying she felt something bad brewing the day before. >> miriam was at the desk with an awful look on her face. they're usually very cordial. there was something strange that day. >> so this was a plot that was building? >> i think she thought it out and thought it through. i think she decided, this was the day. >> reporter: and this is the day may have come more than once. remember the story of someone trying to set alan's car on fire while he was in it? the prosecution said that was pure, undiluted miriam. she put the wick in the gas tank and lit it while she went to the ladies room. >> we thought, where did she get this idea? one of the detect ifrs said it looks like "no country for old men." where this actor diverts attention. >> sure enough, the helmick's had rented that movie four dies before this happened. >> reporter: they had to take apart miriams a strongest argument. that busy day hither and yon. they found gaps in the time line. time enough to kill, time enough to dispose of the weapon. officers had driven for themselves miriam's shopping route of june 10th and timed it. they learned she could have done everything she claimed, gathered her receipts, posed for security cam picks and still had plenty of unaccounted time left over. >> she said she left about 8:15. the first cell phone call we found was at about 8:42. nearly 30 minutes of time from the time she said she left that was unaccounted for. >> reporter: the prosecution's theory was she killed him in the early morning hours and tossed the murder weapon. >> she could ditch whatever she wanted south of town. >> reporter: and hen this be her behavior after the crime. things like purchasing the greeting card she left on her own doorstep. and then quickly leaving colorado to live with her son in florida. he was called as an extremely difficult witness. >> was it difficult? yes. probably the hardest thing i had to do in my life? y. >> reporter: she was using false identify occasion while living with him. she was posing as alan helmick's dead wife, sharon. >> she said she had top copies of sharon helmick's i.d.s. i advised her that is not a good course. it's not legal nor is it the right thing to do. >> reporter: police found her with a driver's license, credit cards with the name of alan's dead wife. >> she started up a new life. >> >> reporter: with a new name? a new name. the name of sharon helmick. >> reporter: she went back on the chase for a new man. a wealthy one. on dating website catering to people looking for sugar daddies. miriam hooked up with this man. >> did she talk about her husband having recently died. >> she said he had died about 6 to 12 months before that with some type of brain disease. something he had been sick for three to four years prior to that. >> did you have intimate relations with the deft that night? >> yes. >> did she express an interest to you in relocated to orlando to be with you? >> yes. >> were you ready for that? >> no. >> we thought it painted a picture that was quite different. her just having lost the love of her life, alan helmick. it showed who she was. >> reporter: the jury would not hear about the death of her first husband. the judge ruled in pretrial not to allow it. they were satisfied with the story they told. >> she left him three years later in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor. find her guilty, thank you. >> reporter: the defense was about to rise to say that the state had it all wrong. >> i didn't know what happened to him. >> reporter: testimony and tears. miriam helmick takes the stand. >> could you have done anything to hurt him? >> no. >> why not? >> i loved him. >> when "the last dance" continues. even you ? informing your friends of how much of your dust they're eating. droid can with runstar. one of thousands of apps that run simultaneously with others only from the ever expanding android market. when there's no limit to what droid gets, there's no limit to what droid does. right now buy one droid by motorola and get a second one free. only from verizon. and get a second one free. i hope he has that insurance. aflac! you really need it these days. how come? well if you're hurt and can't work it pays you cash... yeah to help with everyday bills like gas, the mortgage... ...and groceries. it's like insurance for daily living. so...what's it called? uhhhhh aflaaac!!!! oh yeah! that's it! aflac. we've got you under our wing. a-a-a-aflaaac! during red lobster's festival of shrimp. combine two or three favorites, from classics to new creations... starting at $11.99. right now at red lobster. soak our yards in color. get our hands a little busier. our dollars a little stronger. and our thinking a little greener. let's grab all the bags and all the plants and all the latest tools out there. so we can turn all these savings into more colorful shades of doing. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. we've made a special buy on bonnie vegetable and herb plants for just $2.98 each. - for the better. - we really listen to you. and that helps us recommend a home loan option that's perfect for your needs. - and that's why i love... - i love... i love being a home loan expert. ♪ key lime pie, pineapple upside down cake, raspberry cheesecake... ...yeah, every night it's something different. oh yeah yeah...she always keeps them in the house. no no no, i've actually lost weight... i just have a high metabolism or something... ...lucky. [ wife ] babe... ♪ umm, i gotta go. [ female announcer ] 28 delicious flavors at around 100 calories each. yoplait, it is so good. indulge in new blueberry pie and new red velvet cake. yoplait light. it is so good. . >> reporter: the bumper sticker of miriam helmick's defense was concise. juro jurors, the prosecution has nothing. no bloody fingerprint. no murder weapon. and so many people scratching their heads as to why the gun would be h her hand in the first place. >> from the moment law enforcemee enforcement was called, they under the presumption of innocence upside down. >> reporter: her attorney alleged that the investigation was driven by helmick's children. >> you thought the person that did this was miss helmick? >> i did not have any other persons that i could think of that was the only person that had been around him enough for me. >> reporter: but the attorney said their suspicions about maer yam had no foundation in the real facts of her situation without alan in her life. specifically, the preup in, something she mentioned to friends and quite often. >> she mentioned there was one. >> she mentioned the preup in and she mentioned she loved him. >> reporter: with alan dead, she stood to gain little. everything was left to his kids and grandkids, according to his will. >> our position was that she got virtually nothing out of the homicide. that was one of the reasons we thought there was reasonable down. >> reporter: the defense broke down the money trail evidence. alan had gotten wise to her forging his signature on $40,000 of checks. that check signing was the husband-wife arrangement they had made. the handwriting expert couldn't say for sure if all the checks had been forged by miriam. >> there's no conclusion as to who wrote that. >> she functioned as his secretary or in a secretarial role. to that end, it was our position that the evidence showed that she had authority write every check she wrote. >> reporter: and what's more, the whole strange business of someone trying to set alan on fire as he sat in his car. in that incident, there was also a check involved. a big one. he had sold off a portion of his title company to his partner. not the right moment for miriam so to have incinerated him. >> what form was that in? >> a cashier's check. >> heed a a check for $125,000 in his pocket. you don't want to do it when a person had that money in his pocket. >> reporter: the defense further asserted that when alan was killed, his bank account was at an all-time low. >> why in the world does miriam helmick get any benefit from murdering the man if he knows his financial situation in is disarray? she gains nothing from that. >> people don't get indicted for first degree murder because they have a good set of facts. one of the strongest pieces of evidence against her was the greeting card he bought herself with a message that she wrote by hand. she did do that. it was dumb. but her excuse was that people were focusing on her and not the real killer. >> she had seen the white car. she did call law enforcement. there was no immediate followup. i think there's evidence there was a vehicle in that neighborhood and they have nef found that person. >> we call miriam helmick to the stand. >> reporter: as for the rest of it, she would do something fairly rare. >> do you solemnly swear that the testimony you'll give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing fwut truth? >> i do. >> reporter: she would take the stand. >> can you state and spell your name for the record please? >> miriam helmick. >> reporter: she wanted the jury to see that she was a grieving widow. >> did a esspin out into a nice little dip and asked me to marry him. >> how did it make you feel? >> i was very excited about it. >> reporter: and she remembered the terrible june day when she found him on the floor. >> i didn't know what happened to him. i held his hand for a few minutes. tried to make some sense of it all. >> reporter: as for alan being reclusive. that wasn't her isolating him. it was simply alan being a very sick man with heart disease. >> on how did he act when he was sick? >> he was -- he normally -- he didn't want to talk to anybody. >> even his own children. >> sometimes not even me. >> what about business people? >> no, he wouldn't. >> you would check his phone messages for him? >> yes. >> did you make sure he called back everyone that called him? >> no. >> why? >> he wasn't baby. i mean, he could do that on his own. >> so his unavailability was explained by his illness. >> i think he was more ill than anybody new, including himself. >>. >> reporter: and keeping his family at arm's length explained two other things. white lice about a canceled lesson and drinking at the lodge that never happened. >> did you call her and say he was drunk? >> i didn't say it like that. i said he had a bit no such drink. >> translator: final behavior was her activity after allen's murder. hen she picked up and moved back to florida. why, everyone wondered, had she assumed the identity of his late wife. dumb, admitted the defense. but miriam's explanation was that investigators had confiscated all her legitimate i.d. she was lost. she became sharon helmick. >> i was going try to get a hotel room on the way. >> why not stay miriam helmick? >> she had no form of photo identify occasion. it's impossible to do anything in the country without photo i.d. you can't get a hotel. >> reporter: as for going on line once she got to florida to find a new game? chalk it up to loneliness. >> i felt like i was drowning most of the time. maybe depressed most of the time. i couldn't get out from under it. >> did you shoot your husband? >> no, i did not. >> could you have done anything to hurt him? >> no, why not in. >> i loved him. >> reporter: you have a nice fable about a money-grubbing wife but no evidence that she had anything to do with alan's murder. also circumstances with plenty of reasonable down. >> that's why we're going ask row to find her not guilty. thank you. >> reporter: the jury had the case. coming up -- >> maybe someone else had done this awful thing. ♪ ♪ a day once dawned ♪ ♪ and it was beautiful ♪ so, look, see the sights ♪ that you learned ♪ from the morning [ male announcer ] at&t covers 97% of all americans. what if sweet mocha wha fell from the sky?olate? or imagine catching icy caramel flakes as they drift down -- melting just as they touch your tongue or sliding down mounds of whipped cream right into a pile of rich chocolaty goodness. [ male announcer ] send your taste buds a sweet shiver with mcdonald's new mccafé frappe. a creamy blend of ice, coffee and mocha. or caramel. mmm. sweet. ♪ ba da ba ba ba it's in your future now. [ female announcer ] discover the power of aveeno positively radiant. with total soy, it's clinically proven to visibly reduce past damage while advanced spf 30 helps prevent future damage. aveeno positively radiant. we asked real people to film themselves taking the activia 14-day challenge. hi. i'm emily ilic. i'm going to start the activia 14-day challenge today. problems that i have are, you know, irregularity... i do have some doubts if it works. i think it's really good. um... i like the flavors. i think from being a skeptic in the beginning i do think that activia actually works. help regulate your digestive system. take the activia challenge. it works or it's free. ♪ activia >> reporter: miriam helmick. which portrait of the wife should the jury believe? the grieving widow? or the gold digger, happy to grab what she could and move on down the road. we stat down with six of the jurors. >> i was waiting to hear the evidence. i thought it was a god case. >> reporter: had sher murdered her husband and staged the scene? or was the killer still at large. maybe someone else had done this awful thing. >> that was a possibility that time. >> it's a story you can say, well, maybe someone else did it. >> reporter: a botched robbery? the jury didn't buy that. >> nothing was amiss. >> the house wasn't ransacked. >> translator: manner of . >> reporter: the manner of alan's death said he knew his killer. >> we decided he was probably standing and totally trusting of the individual behind him and got ambushed. >> to me, it looked like he never knew what was coming. >> reporter: and the jury went back over the sbr view tape with miriam hours after alan had been found dead and appraised her emotions. >> we thought the dcrying that she did might have been fake. >> reporter: one juror said that grief is handled differently by every person. >> nobody reacts the same. >> reporter: and then the issue of the murder weapon. the .25 caliber gun that was never found. it would have made your job easier, couldn't it? >> it would have. especially if her fingerprints were on it. >> reporter: and what did the jury make of his inability the call his family, his business associat associates. was he being isolated by miriam? >> i found it disturbing that she had taken over his telephone. this is just not right. >> reporter: he's not incapacitated. he's able to pick up the phone and call him and he doesn't. >> he wasn't returning calls to anybody. >> the only thing that made sense to me was that she had a plan and isolating him is all part of it. get him way from the children, his friends, his normal routine. . >> reporter: they noted alan helmick had a serious case of heart disease. that he was sick a lot. that possibly could have caused a delay in him getting back to some of the issues. >> it was unlike him to not respond. >> he was a money man. he was on top of everything. >> reporter: but the motive. why miriam would have killed her husband. that per prplexed them most. >> she has no reason to murder him. she's better off with him alive. they have a prenup in effect. he's not going to get anything from him being dead. >> reporter: and when the jurors reviewed the greeting card, they found her spin on it lame. >> oh, okay, i did it. i was lonely. the police were ignoring my story. i wanted to give them more am in addition ammunition to look for the white pickup truck. >> reporter: what did make the of her testimony? >> for the first few moments, i felt empathy for her. she was alone in a town she didn't know well. that's got be a terrible position to be in. >> i didn't know he was gone. >> reporter: once she started testifying, the jury's perhaps initial sympathy evaporated. >> her being on the stand changed my opinion. >> reporter: how? >> changed the stories. building and building. >> you were going give her the benefit of the doubt until he took the stand? >> i was. >> reporter: they took five hours to come to a verdict. >> how did you feel coming back in the courtroom? >> i was scared to death. >> reporter: alan's family waited a long time for this moment. >> i spend a lot of time wondering how, as a son, i could have been more communicative. >> reporter: the skruj read the verdict. >> count number one. first degree murder, and the lesser charges, we find the deft guilty of first degree murder. >> guilty. the jury had found her guilty of murdering her husband. guilty of attempted murder by arson two months before and 10 of the 11 counts of forgery. he face was unreadable. in the benches of the courtroom behind her, alan's children were all but transparent. saddens and relief flooding over them at the same time. the jury believed that their long-held belief that miriam murdered their father. at her sentencing, two of his daughters addressed the court. >> she marry manned that had become her target. but my father. she has ripped from the hands of their grand fathhis grand daugh grand father. >> without the possibility of parole. >> back in florida, her son got the late nest a run of bad family news. sister, father, no mother. >> it's hard. you wouldn't think that somebody would do something like that. >> for me, if she did do this, then i just didn't lose one friend. i lost two. that summer. because the friend that i had could never have down that. >> reporter: the miriam you knew? >> yeah. >> reporter: for alan's son, the death of his father has left him in an abyss. you can't take him way from all that. >> i have been robbed of that. the ability to exceed my father's expectations. to be the older guy and we're sitting down and he say hting ss sitting down and he say ays, yo did good here. i'll never get that. >> reporter: in a foot note, the death of her first husband remains a closed case. the suicide ruling stands. for miriam helmick, the last waltz in the rockies is over. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm ann curry. for all of us here at nbc news, good night.