Shes representing some really hardened criminals. Maybe somebody had a beef with her. It was personal. Reporter the clues . A missing gucci wallet. Mystery strands of hair. It suggested that a female had maybe killed her and shed pulled the hair out. Whodunit . Who came up here and did it . Somebody planned this murder. Somebody wanted her out of the way. I told her, i will make this right. I will make this right for you. Reporter im lester holt. And this is dateline. Heres Dennis Murphy with shining star. 3 f2 dateline en vivo, hasta denise baton rouge, the Louisiana State capitol perched on the banks of the mississippi. Three blocks off the river, on a chilly thursday night, a criminal defense lawyer was working late, drafting a writ for the big murder trial starting monday. When did the killer take her . Sometime after 8 00 was the best guess. The news led next mornings early drive. I hear on a local news station, they interrupt to say that there is a downtown murder in a law office. Reporter attorney prem burns was on her way into work. Which, of course, alerts me. Initially, my my gosh is it an attorney . Reporter the office, now strung with yellow crime scene tape, belonged to an upandcomer named Chiquita Tate. A local woman just a few years out of law school, but already making a name for herself in the competitive, pads and helmets, ae ree arena of litigation and criminal defense. She had recently won a halfmillion dollar jury verdict. Thats pretty good for somebody out such a short time. Reporter chiquita was one of seven, her father, absent, raised by her grandma in a tired neighborhood of boardedup houses. Smart and determined, she rose above her impoverished early years and once her fuse was lit, she became a rocket. She was talented. She had overcome so very much in a short time period. She was the star of her family. Reporter chiquita was the first in her family to go to college. Then she enrolled in hometown southern law school. Got grabbed up by a law firm where she started clerking while studying for the bar. Thats when she met legal assistant Lessie Hookfin. She was just driven, wanting to to get that next ill call it that next high. And law school was that, being a lawyer was that. And she achieved it. Reporter she passed the bar on her first shot . On her first shot. Reporter she eagerly lapped up the hard cases, the kind that made news. Accused killers, druggies, gangbangers. She seemed at ease in the spotlight, happily talking to reporters. Chiquita was enjoying such success, she opened her own firm in a nice building a few blocks from the courts complex. Lessie hookfin went with her. Reporter what areas did she start to stake out for herself . Criminal. She wanted to do criminal so bad. Reporter prem burns watched her in action. Chiquita was one to speak her mind and dress how she wanted in conservative lady lawyer pantsuits one day and stilettos and spiky hair the next. She would walk into a courtroom and she looked like she owned the place. Reporter you could hear her coming before you saw her, huh . You could, you could. And we always joked, because chiquita would wear fourinch heels and just strut in and you knew Chiquita Tate was in the courtroom. Reporter another thing, chiquita was all about family. She hired her sister danita to help in the office. And danita knew better than anyone that harddriving chiquita could be sunny one minute and a gulf coast storm the next. She fired me, like, every week. Reporter she fired you . Yeah, every week, and then, at night reporter you were her office assistant. Yeah, and at night at night she will call me and say well talk, and then shed say, see ya in the mornin. Im, like, i thought i was fired. Reporter in fact, it was a skirmish with chiquita that sparked the interest of a young man named greg harris who, almost literally, bumped into her while they were both cruising around town. Gregs brother mike says it started when greg cut chiquita off. Shes in a corvette. Hes in a mercedes. Shes blowin the horn at him and, you know, oh, you you you dont cut me off. And so they pull up to the red light. And i heard a few smiles went from him, a few smile ts went from from her. And after that, it was all she wrote. Reporter greg harris was doing well as a contractor. The romance blossomed and chiquita moved into gregs home a big step up from the falling down neighborhood of shotgun houses where she grew up. They got married in a small wedding with family in 2008 and a year later chiquita was moving into that nice new office varnishing the bookshelves, proudly hanging out her shingle. Reporter did anybody ever worry about her and her clients . cause there were some tough i reporter hombres that she was defending. There were. But i dont think that it was to the point where either she had to worry or anyone else had to worry. Reporter on february 19, 2009, chiquita was working hard, prepping her defense in a double homicide case. She told lessie she had to work late just a couple of hours but chiquita never returned home that night. Her husband greg called her office repeatedly but got no answer. Around dawn he drove down to the office, troubled, hed say later, to see his wifes hummer parked where she left it. He couldnt get in the locked building, so he called 911. Um, my wife, um, she was working late last night but i cant get inside the building. I need a cop over here quick. Reporter greg suddenly spotted a patrol car and flagged it down. An Office Worker let the policeman in the building while greg called his sisterinlaw denita. And he was, like, d, the hummer is still parked here. And they wont let me in the office. Reporter once upstairs, it took only a glance for the Patrol Officer to declare chiquitas office a crime scene, a bad one. The shining starlight of Chiquita Tate had been cruelly extinguished. By whom . And for what reason . When we come back, the first clues. No blood in the elevator, no blood on the lobby. Her left hand was opened. There was a piece of hair in it. I was like, oh, my lord. Wards auto 10 best interiors. The allnew jeep renegade. Take off. And take on anything. Is that a new washing machine . Yeah, its a samsung with activewash. Its got a builtin sink to pretreat and help get stains out. How about this . The samsung washing machine with activewash. Get 10 off select major appliances at lowes so what im saying is, people like options. When you take geico, you can call them anytime you feel like saving money. It dont matter, day or night. Use your computer, your smartphone, your tablet, whatever. The point is you have options. Oh, how convenient. Hey. Crab cakes, what are you looking at . Geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on Car Insurance. Reporter as the sun was coming up over the mississippi that cold february morning, the family and friends of Chiquita Tate were converging on the street below her office. So i tried to run in the office, and the police grabbed me. They was, like, maam, you cant go in there. I say, thats my sister in there. Reporter just like denita, chiquitas legal assistant Lessie Hookfin was stopped on the street outside by an officer. And he saw me coming. So he came toward me and grabbed me pretty much to hold me up because i was going down. And thats when he told me she was dead. Reporter chiquitas loved ones were huddled together when veteran homicide detectives Chris Johnson and elvin howard rolled up to the scene. So the responding officers told you, thats the husband over there, but hes on the edge of things for you. You havent approached him yet . Thats thats correct. He was upset to the point where uniform patrol had to put him in the back of the unit. So do you go up at the point . No. At that time, we try to gather as much information as possible. Reporter the detectives began their standard investigative ritual putting together a timeline of the victims last day. Assistant Lessie Hookfin knew some of it. So that thursday, how does that fit in your recollection . What was that day like . Pretty regular day. Reporter chiquita had gone to court and that very day talked to reporters about her latest case. The statute is the question that i would like the Appellate Court to review. Reporter after a quick chat, she headed back to her office where workers were refinishing a bookcase. Lessie left at her regular time, about 5 30. And she remembers being concerned about the smell of varnish. I said, quita, dont stay in here too late, because the smell was just overpowering. She said, less, im not gonna stay in here late. Im just gonna read this. Reporter but she did stay late. Chiquitas husband greg told police his wife called him around 7 00 or so and asked him to please bring her something to eat, so he set out from their home in baker, about 25 minutes away. Then he said he went to mcdonalds in baker and got some hamburgers and fries and brought it to chiquita in her office. Chiquita met him downstairs, according to greg, and let him into the building, because at 5 30 in the evening until 7 30 in the next morning the building is locked. And unless you have a swipe card, you cant get access. Exactly. Reporter greg told the cops he encountered a number of tenants in the building working late that night. He remembered running downstairs on a small errand for his wife. Yeah. Chiquita had a client that was coming over to pick up some money. So he went downstairs to pay this client and pick up some paperwork from this person for chiquita. Reporter greg said chiquita had more work to do and yet another client to see, so he took off for home he said. It was sometime around 8 30. What happened next was a bloody mystery. It would be up to the detectives and also prem burns to figure out. The attorney hearing the awful news on her car radio that morning the one who got such a kick out of chiquita in court was, in fact, a legendary baton rouge prosecutor. My boss, the district attorney, was out there. There were so Many Police Officers there, the crime scene van was there. And so, i went into that and immediately said to my boss, i want this. I want this case. Reporter prem insisted as she always does on viewing the crime scene. As she entered the office she noticed chiquita had been fixing things up. But then, when you proceeded into the next room where her body was, i was like, oh, my lord. She was butchered. She was butchered. She was laying on the floor. She had little slipper socks on her feet, the way all of us would be if we stay after work. Were not going to keep our heels on. She basically had a law book that i think she had been reading that was in her hands at the time the attack began. Reporter chiquita had been stabbed 43 times. The attack was brutal and messy, the bloodstained wall suggesting a fight to the death. Reporter did you have a murder weapon . No, we didnt. Reporter did you get lucky with a footprint or a partial print or anything in blood . Anything like that . No, we did not get lucky with a footprint. Reporter no blood in the elevator, no blood in the lobby, no blood on the buttons. Reporter the killer had improbably vanished without leaving a trail. And at first glance, hadnt taken anything either. Had the office been trashed . Had anybody been looking through files or Something Like that . No. No. We didnt see that. She had expensive jewelry still on her on her hands. She had earrings in her ear. So it it def so this is starting to tell you some stuff about the nature of this killing, huh . Thats correct. Reporter it didnt look like a robbery. However, as crime scene techs processed the scene, the investigators realized chiquitas wallet was missing from her purse. And there, in the victims hand, what looked like a major clue. And her left hand was opened, there was a piece of hair in it. Not actually, 91 strands of hair in it. And her right arm was over her head and she just she just died like that. Reporter had she pulled it from her killers head . The hair was long. Had the killer been a woman . What were your theories . What did you think . I actually, uh, did not come to any conclusions because i couldnt think of a soul who wouldve wanted her dead. Reporter chiquitas fatherinlaw, silver ray harris, admired her courage, but wondered about the kind of clients who came with her line of work. Bein a criminal lawyer, thats what you deal with, criminals. So you have to accept a degree of bad people. They come lookin for for the toughest of the tough, huh . Thats what i hear. That she would shed if you went to her, shed try to help you. Could have been an unhappy client. Could well have been someone who didnt like the results that they got from her. Could have been. Or could have been a member of the victims family. Reporter the list of potential suspects could be as long as her client list. Yet, chiquitas brotherinlaw says he cant understand how anyone could do such a thing. Heartless. Completely. To do her that way. When i get on my knees at night, i pray hell get justice. Reporter police were confident they would get their man or woman. Up a street pole gave them hope. Outside chiquitas office were City Surveillance cameras and traffic cams. Did one of several cameras see someone enter after greg left . There may not have been a trail of blood, but with a little luck, those cameras just might give them a portrait of their killer, or killers, suitable for framing. Coming up she sees the wallet on the side of the road. The missing wallet and that mystery clump of hair. What might it reveal . If youre in a fight and pull someones hair out, youre going to find root hairs. So the scenario that occurs to me is that this is a woman thats in this assault. Exactly. Reporter when dateline continues. Proven to treat toenail fungus. Use jublia as instructed by your doctor. Look at the footwork most common side effects include ingrown toenail, application site redness, itching, swelling burning or stinging, blisters, and pain. Smash it make the call and ask your doctor if jublia is right for you. New larger size now available. Hey. Hey for kids having fun means getting dirty. All® oxi fights tough grass stains better than the leading value detergent. So its perfect for pigpens everywhere. 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Now get 0 financing or a great lease on the nissan sentra. Rouges criminal Justice System family. The heat was on detectives johnson and howard to find the killer. Youre looking at the poles around here. What was that, chris . Yeah, the crime cameras. We know that most of baton rouge has crime cameras and there are several locations. And across from the office there is a crime camera right there on the pole. We also have the Traffic Cameras that are on each signal light. There are some right there. Yes, thats correct. So you could get really lucky maybe. Yeah, hopefully. And get the perpetrator coming or going. Thats correct. Reporter this camera, about a block away from chiquitas office, was working fine. It showed a quiet street the night of the killing. Normal activity. What they really wanted was the shot from this camera, which swept right pass chiquitas office door. But bad luck. A recent storm had knocked it out. The camera in front of the office was not working properly on that particular night. Reporter so no picture of a suspect. This wasnt going to be an openshut solve. But there was evidence to work with. The crime scene technician had taken scrapings from under chiquitas fingernails and sent them off for lab analysis. Had she scratched dna material from her killer . Theyd have to wait on findings. And likewise the clump of hair found in chiquitas hand. Did it contain dna identifying the killer . If youre in a fight and and pull someones hair out yeah. Youre gonna find root hairs, hair balls. Reporter but, the lab work was back on the hair sample. There were no roots on those strands. But the hair had come from a womans hair extension or a weave. So the scenario that occurs to me is that this is a woman thats in th two women are fighting and shes gotten a bit of this weave and yanked it exactly. Reporter the theory of two women in a death struggle didnt make sense to the cops. The attack seemed too violent, too overwhelming. But with homicides, you never know. In the early hours of the investigation though, they did catch a major break. A report had come into dispatch. A woman driving through a highcrime area known as gardere lane called police to say shed found a wallet. And it belonged to Chiquita Tate. Shes driving down gardere lane and she sees the wallet on the side of the road. Reporter amazingly enough, the finder of the wallet knew chiquita. The young attorney had given a speech at her Daughters School and made quite an impression. That prompted her to call the police and advise us that she she located this wallet. Reporter and unexpectedly for a wallet taken from a victims purse and then tossed, chiquitas id and her credit cards were all inside, which got investigators thinking. Maybe the killer planted the wallet there, hoping some street person would find it and stumble right into a homicide investigation. When you take a nice gucci wallet, loaded with credit cards, to gardere lane and leave it in the streets, somebodys going to pick it up and start going to the mall, spending some of those credit cards. And the first thing thats going to happen is that the police are going to have a film of the transaction and go to that person and say, you killed Chiquita Tate. Theres our suspect. Absolutely. Reporter so, this killer unknown started taking on some traits in the detectives minds. The person was good or lucky enough to get out of the Office Building without leaving a trail of blood, and after what had to have been a frenzied attack, still had the composure to think up the red herring of the tossed wallet. The killer looked like a cool customer. Perhaps a professional . As the cops went down the list of dubious characters on her client roster, they looked closely at two men who had been accused of killing a man and his 17year old son. Possible suspects . One of em actually was in jail at the time of the of the homicide and it just was very unlikely that that someone who who she worked so hard for would kill her. Reporter a few of the people on chiquitas client list were incarcerated at the time of her killing. Others had alibis. But she also had clients who were free to come and go. Did one of them have an appointment . Was there anybody due to come in that evening . No. Far as you recall not after not after hours. After hours . No. That wouldve been very unusual. And i wouldve known. Reporter a mystery client with the worst of grudges . A woman unknown . Only theories, until the cops play poker with a witness and hit the jackpot when theyre only holding a pair of deuces. Coming up two new clues, a revealing recording. And a revealing phone call with a jawdropping tip for police. This is a voice saying i think i know who may have killed chiquita. And precious ingredients. For hair that lives to move. Know you can deposit checks right from your phone transfer money to someone quickly and easily speak to a financial professional when its convenient and pay for things with the tap of your finger know that with pncs Convenient Solutions at least your finances will be easy to control. Why are we watching this again . I pay for all these channels, so i make myself watch them all. Joey, ill watch anything except this. Except this. Go back, go back, go back, go back, go back, go back. Fios custom tv lets you pay for the types of channels you want, not the ones you dont. 100 fiber optics is here. Get out of the past. Get fios. Now for 79. 99 a month. Go online or call. Call the Verizon Center for customers with disabilities at 800. 974. 6006 tty v reporter theres a concept in police work called victimology. The detectives probe the backstory of someones life to understand what made them tick. In chiquitas case they found, for sure, a woman loved, respected, and admired. But they also learned she had a capital t temper. She was extremely aggressive. To the point of being and just irritating or to some. And to some extent. Reporter had she pushed someone too hard or too far . As detectives ran through the evidence, theyd of course been talking to the husband, greg harris, from the start. Greg, meanwhile, was being very helpful with investigators. He hadnt lawyered up. He was telling them the story of his night heres the keys to my vehicle, take a look. Yes. If you want to go to the house, check it out. Yes, absolutely. Im with you. Reporter and they conducted those searches because spouses, no matter how cooperative, are always suspects. And what crime scene investigators found when they poured over greg and chiquitas house was, well, at first glance not much. No weapons certainly. No bloodsoaked clothes. They took dna swabs and bagged various items for lab analysis. And then in a closet they found a really oddball souvenir. An audio recording made by greg, of him and chiquita engaged in a screaming match. You said, im going to leave you with the end tables. Im leaving you with that sofa. Im leaving you with all this because i dont need it. You can have it. Thats what you told me. You can have it. Reporter this sounded like a couple splitting the sheets, divvying up the household goods. Oh, thats all i had when you came here . Yes, it is reporter denita was aware that her sister, chiquita, was unhappy. But realistically she didnt think her strongwilled sister would ever be happy in a marriage. You know in a relationship you have to compromise. I dont think she was willin to do it. It was her way or no way. Reporter denita says her tempestuous sister was always threatening to storm out of the marriage right up to her last day. And that morning of february 19th she called me. And she said that, d, i just cant do the married thing anymore. Reporter gregs parents, silver ray harris and joycie henderson, believe the couple had just hit a rough patch. I think it had to do with her not bein home very often. She would take cases that would take her to new orleans and shed work on cases till late up into the night. Too much career goin on for her, huh . Yeah. And no time for him. And i think he wanted more time. Reporter but in the early hours of the investigation, detectives learned the fight recorded at the couples home wasnt an isolated incident. Their files showed that a 911 domestic call brought police to greg and chiquitas house two months before they got married. What was that all about . Police were called out because chiquita accused greg of hitting her. From what we understand, a charge was filed against both of them. Reporter with that in mind, when greg sat down with investigators, the conversation became contentious, even combat combative. I loved my wife. We was trying to make this relationship work. You were trying to make the relationship work. No, we both were. Reporter theyd had problems, he admitted, but said he wasnt violent with chiquita. The detectives told greg what theyd picked up on that chiquita was leaving the marriage. Wrong, countered the husband. She was still living with me. You go to my house and there aint no clothes packed. Yeah. Well, if she was leaving, why did she ask me to come over there and help her . I mean, were going to the movies, doing everything else. Reporter they reviewed gregs timeline the night of the killing. How he brought his wife dinner and left her still working at the office sometime around 8 30. Where did i go . I went home. I went straight home. Straight home . Which path did you took home . I got on the interstate. Reporter thats when police, clearly suspicious of greg, used a ploy to smoke him out, to catch him in a lie. If he were in fact lying. According to the cameras, thats not the path which you had taken last night. We convinced him that we had cameras up, which we do have cameras up. We convinced him that we can track his cell phone. In fact, did you have anything like that . No, we did not. We were just bluffing him. You know we do phone records . Your phone records, her phone records. It tells every tower that you hit when you make your phone calls. Thats fine. Thats fine. Reporter and so, with greg thinking the cops knew his every move, they confronted him with an important question about the place where chiquitas wallet had already been found. Whens the last time you been on gardier lane . Gardier lane . I went to gardier lane last night. Really . Yes. What time did you go to gardier lane . I dont know what time it was. Approximately. Whats he say hes doing there . He said he went to buy steroids. Hes a big guy and he lift weights and he said thats where his steroid dealer lived. Little street transaction. Right. Reporter whatever the explanation, greg harris had put himself in the neighborhood where the wallet had been tossed. For the cops, it was a gotcha moment. And while they had no evidence no dna, no forensics that connected him to the killing they did have some leverage. That old domestic dispute call. Though she and greg were charged, only the charge against chiquita was dropped. Why are you the only one who had a warrant . All of this was supposed to be dismissed. Now other than this, i dont know a thing about it. I never hit this girl a day in my life. Reporter so, using a year and a half old warrant unrelated to the death of Chiquita Tate, the police put greg in custody for a few days. So they could put him on ice, huh . Absolutely. While the forensics were being tested from the crime scene. Reporter but then, seemingly seemingly out of the blue came a strange tip from an anonymous caller. Saying, you need to look into this angle, because i think i know who may have killed chiquita. This is a voice on the phone . Female voice . This is a voice on the phone. And its like, you need to look into it. She was involved in a lesbian love triangle. Reporter did that explain the clump of hair, the impassioned intimate killing . The investigation was charging off in a wholly new direction. Coming up i knew the two ladies. Reporter two new suspects . Exactly what would police find . And chiquitas husband greg was he in danger . Someone came up to his bedroom window at about 3 30 in the morning and shoots in the window. Reporter when dateline continues. Bum pa dum bum bum bum bum dog mmmmm. Beneful, look at that, meaty chunks, carrots. I dont know what kind of slicer or dicer you got back there. But im a big fan. vo beneful chopped blends, a healthy blend. Your dog will love. Made with real beef. Plus carrots and barley that you can see. I was not aware of how much acidity was in my diet. That it was damaging the enamel. I wanted to fix it right away. 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Reporter just as investigators were zeroing in on the husband greg harris, they got a tip that brought them back to Chiquita Tates list of clients. But it wasnt about any of the career criminals on her roster. The tip concerned two female clients. A samesex couple that chiquita had been helping with an adoption case. The anonymous caller suggested their lawyer client relationship was more than that. A female said that it was two women that chiquita was had a love triangle. She even gave the two suspects name as well. She indicated that one suspect had scratches on on their body. Reporter well, that would explain the crime of passion, which youd think is a signature here. Yes. Reporter and also maybe where theres hair in the palm in her hand. Thats correct. Reporter some sort of a tussle. Yes. Reporter that goes a long way towards explaining a lot of it. Theres some sort of yeah, if its true. Some sort of a romantic relationship thats gone wrong. Reporter Police Confirmed the names of the two women on chiquitas client list and then paid each a call. We had to investigate and contact both individuals and got statements from them. Reporter the detectives told the prosecutor that both women insisted chiquita wasnt their lover, just a good attorney. We loved her work. She was a friend, but thats where it ended. Reporter still, the detectives took a closer look at the couple. We didnt see any scratches on their arms. We also realized one of the suspects had braids and not a weave in her hair. Reporter whats more, police say that both women had alibis. Legal assistant Lessie Hookfin was sure the secret love triangle was nonsense. Owe i knew about the adoption. I knew the clients and everything was going well. Reporter is there any way you can see that thats somehow involved with . Never. Reporter chiquitas being butchered . No. No, i knew the two ladies. And i knew the case was going well. Reporter but you didnt see any difficulty there or any bad blood or no, not at all. Not at all. Reporter so the investigators put the tip in their back files and proceeded to check out the tipster. They traced her call to a town in texas. They even drove there and after questioning a few locals, managed to reach a woman by phone with an oddly familiar voice. I immediately recognized her as the voice that i heard that had called the office that time. And i asked her how did she know Chiquita Tate. And she said, well, Chiquita Tate used to be married to my brother. Reporter this was greg harris sister. Yes, thats correct. Greg harris sister. Reporter so the tip that sent detectives off to texas had led them right back to greg, the husband. Was greg or maybe his sister trying to plant a false lead . Prem burns added that to her list of concerns about greg harris. She was also discovering that greg had a bad history with some of the women in his life. Her investigators found greg had control issues and a temper according to chiquitas family members and some old girlfriends. He just wanted them within his eyesight and within his control. Reporter she also learned that chiquita had taken out a lease on an apartment. She hadnt yet moved into her new place, but prem burns believes chiquita was indeed going to divorce greg. Which meant he had lost control of her. And i believe thats what happened with chiquita is that he was not going to let her. Reporter nobody leaves me, huh . Nobody leaves greg harris, unless greg harris throws them out of the house onto the front lawn. Reporter gregs brother mike doesnt believe it for a second. His brother, he says, wasnt violent. And whats more, he says greg and chiquita were working it out. We all go through bumps. But you theres also a phase called reconciliation and healing, you know. And thats what they had. Reporter and as for that tip about the samesex couple, gregs father silver ray says his daughter wasnt trying to throw off the cops. The female love triangle was a legitimate concern of his. She got that strictly from me, which i got it from another attorney. And we just wanted to look at all the options to make sure that all the bases were covered. We wanted to look at these two women. Reporter did you encourage her to call the cops . I didnt. Reporter with the story . Encourage her. She did it on her own. But it was it wasnt nothing to throw the cops off. If youre investigating, you got to look at all the angles. Announcer in fact, gregs father and mother joycie and brother mike say they couldnt believe that police even suspected greg. Not the greg they knew. My greg was a son that helped raise his brothers. He made sure that they were fed when i worked. He made sure when they came home they did their homework. You have people you want to grow up to be like. My model was my older brother. I wouldnt be the person i am today if it wasnt for him. Reporter even chiquitas sister could not imagine greg as the killer. Can you see him in that office . No. Reporter in a rage slashing your sister . No. Reporter fight thats moving from here to there . No. I cant even picture it. Reporter gregs parents and his brother believe that whoever killed chiquita, also wanted greg dead. They recount an incident that happened after greg was released from custody. Shots were fired into his home. Someone came up to his bedroom window at about 3 40 in the morning and shoots in the bedroom window five times with a. 10 millimeter gun. Reporter oh. Hoping that he was in the bed. It just so happened greg fell asleep on the sofa. God saved him. He was not in the bed. Reporter gregs family, convinced he was innocent, became only more so when they heard this. Scrapings from under chiquitas nails showed dna not only from greg but from someone else as well. An unknown male. What could that mean . Coming up if greg harris had done this, you would have found an enormous amount of blood. That just wasnt the case. Another dna surprise is who have an iphone love their iphone. If its not an iphone, its not an iphone. At applebees, were so confident youll love our new menu were inviting everyone to come in and try it on july 21st. Bring a friend and get a free appetizer sampler to try two of our new appetizers. You wont believe your taste buds. All day, july 21st. Only at applebees. Ride away by roy orbison begins to play i ride the highway. Im going my way. I leave a story untold. He just keeps sending more pictures. If youre a freerange chicken you roam free. Its what you do. If you want to save fifteen percent or more on Car Insurance you switch to geico. Its what you do. Two wheels a turnin. Heart healths important. So you may. Take an omega3 supplement. But its the ingredients inside that really matter for heart health. 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Reporter is there blood evidence on them . There absolutely was. There was a combination of his blood and her blood on the left lens. When i was told that that is their blood mixed on the left lens and the right arm of those glasses, i said i dont need anything more. Reporter on march 16th, 2009, greg harris was charged with seconddegree murder. He went on trial two years after chiquitas death in march of 2011. The prosecution set out to prove that greg killed chiquita because she was going to leave him. Former girlfriends testified that greg had a jekyll and hyde personality. Sweet when he was courting, volatile and controlling once he won them over. He would hit them. He would fight with these girls. As long as he could control them, he was fine. Reporter prosecutors played the 911 tape from that Domestic Abuse call. While both chiquita and greg were charged, the call didnt sound as though they were locked in a fair fight. He grabbed my finger and he ring. I threw it at him. And then he and then he choked me, and i couldnt move. Reporter and the prosecution argued greg had another motive money. The night the murder happened, he called his boss and said, i need to get an advance or a loan on my 401k. And his boss said, you know, i cant do it. Im sorry, greg. Reporter but as prem burns told the jury, greg could get about 60,000 in insurance if chiquita were to die. I think money was motivation but more so i think chiquita had planned to leave greg and thats one thing greg could not accept. Reporter the prosecution told the jury greg may have been angry, but he was also cool and calculating, planning both the crime and a coverup. Case in point those long hairs that suggested a female killer. The state argued greg brought the hair to the crime scene and then planted it. Her hand was not, like, clenching it, as if she died that way. It was actually strewn, as if somebody had taken it and just weaved it through her hand. Reporter it was a ploy, said the prosecution, designed to throw off the cops. Just like the tossed and found wallet from gardere lane, where greg eventually admitted he went the night of the killing. Gardere lane . I went to gardere lane last night. Reporter misdirection, according to the prosecutor, was gregs m. O. She even suspects he fired those shots into his own bedroom to make it look as though the killer was still at large. It was kind of like, gee, let me call and say that theres a lesbian love triangle. Let me plant the hair. Its like, let me just go one step further. Reporter and of course, there was the blood evidence. Prosecutors presented more than the bloodstained glasses. A lab analysis revealed there were dots of blood throughout greg and chiquitas house. There was a significant bloodstain on a clorox bottle. The clorox bottle was out up on the sink and it had blood visible to the eyes. Reporter prosecutors say that stain contained chiquitas and gregs dna. Reporter what makes sense to you . What makes sense to me is that greg harris had no reason to want to kill Chiquita Tate. Zero whatsoever. Reporter Lance Unglesby was on the defense team, and he argued there wasnt nearly enough evidence to convict greg harris. The killing, the alleged motive was weak, and the blood evidence paltry. Our theory was very clear. If greg harris had done this, you wouldve found an enormous amount of blood in that mercedes and on his clothes and at the and that just wasnt the case. Reporter lance, out at the house there, very curious about this clorox bottle, where again they think they see comingled blood on what about that . Thats a problem for you. Well, practically its not a problem. In the normal course of living a little blood on a clorox bottle is really not that big a deal. Chiquita lived there. Of course her dna would be on that bottle. Reporter as for the hair that the prosecution said was planted . The defense argued that was just an unproven theory. Those two female clients may not have been involved but the long strands suggest another woman may have been there. It suggested that a female had maybe killed her and that in the middle of the fight shed pulled the hair out. Between that and the amount of cleanup, that would have been required, we always believe two people were involved in this murder. Reporter and as for that visit to gardere lane . The defense lawyers say greg was reluctant to admit it, but not because he had tossed the wallet. Well, because he was buying steroids. He was discussing buying steroids, which is illegal. Reporter kill her for the insurance . The defense said, no way. He had too much goin for him. We did not buy into the prosecutors theory that he would do it because he was in had some financial stress. We didnt buy into that for a minute. Reporter the defense argued cops didnt look hard enough at the list of scary clients who may have wanted chiquita dead. And that unknown male dna under her fingernails . The source, still unknown. We believe there was just more to this than was presented to the jury. Reporter the trial lasted 16 days. And then the jurors were given their instructions. After listening to the evidence, denita was torn. And she remembers how she felt when, after three and a half hours of deliberation, the jury announced it had a verdict. Reporter now, take me right through your mind and your stomach as youre walkin back into the courtroom. Shakin badly. Barely could stand on my feet. We holdin hands, walkin back in there. Reporter did they see greg as a stone killer capable of premeditated murder . Or an innocent, grieving husband . The answer is, neither. The verdict they reached was something in between. Guilty of manslaughter, a lesser charge which the judge allowed them to consider. The prosecutor was flabbergasted. I i just about passed out and so did the defense attorney. Nobody argued manslaughter. Reporter she wanted to know why the jury rejected her argument of premeditated murder. I went back and talked to the jury. And they said, well, you know what we think . We think something just went on up there that got out of hand. Reporter the judge had a lot of latitude in imposing the sentence. Manslaughter could carry anywhere from a few months to 40 years. A lesser conviction of a lesser charge, but the judge threw the metaphorical book at him. She did. Reporter forty years without the possibility of parole. Correct. Reporter the maximum sentence. Greg harris has a new lawyer whos trying to get his conviction reversed, saying the judge should never have presided. Before trial, judge trudy white disclosed that she knew the victim and that chiquita had been her law clerk. The defense didnt object. Should you have gotten her recused . Absolutely not. Reporter was that was that a trial error . No, not whatsoever. No, she was a very fair judge. Reporter but gregs new lawyer, rick gallot, says the judge did not disclose everything about their relationship. We discovered that chiquita, the the victim had actually represented judge white in a civil lawsuit. Reporter judge white did not respond to our request for a comment. The new lawyer also says the Harris Family has received letters since the trial claiming someone else killed chiquita because she knew too much about something. But the cops will tell you that every lead they chased down brought them back to one man, someone who robbed a family of its shining young star. So its been years now, lessie. Do you do you miss her . Oh, i miss her so much. Everything. Her good moods, her bad moods, her good dieays, her bad days, i miss it all. Reporter baton rouge. The river rolls on. But without that fiery young lawyer whod come so far so fast. Thats all for now. Im lester holt. Breaking news at 11. Cars and homes destroyed. A major interstate shut down. How this massive brushfire spread so far so fast. Patrolling the potomac. Police trying to keep swimmers out of dangerous waters. Do you see him over there