did you pick up in your investigation any indication that the fazzino family is involved in organized crime? no. you didn t find any evidence that that was true? no. or that that played any role in emily s death at all? no. to get away from all the finger pointing, alex took his kids to kansas city and moved back in with his parents. we all suffered. our family. as a whole, suffered with the accusation that my son was a murderer. four months later, the investigation took another turn when the medical examiner released the final autopsy report. she ruled the cause and manner of death undetermined, meaning she couldn t say how emily died. prosecutors dan kalasha and scott brown had been assigned to the case. the fact that you couldn t say for sure and the medical examiner couldn t say for sure, that makes this a bigger mountain to climb, doesn t it? this is a difficult case based upon the evidence. it doesn t mean that it didn t
immediately? yes. in a day. you re a murderer. that s what they were saying. and not just a murderer. emily s sister ammie told investigators alex was also a mobster. did you say that alex and his family are in the mafia, in organized crime, and that women who try to divorce their way out of the fazzino family wind up dead? that was information that emily had told me. ammie doesn t realize that of my mom s six siblings and my dad s one sibling, there have been 11 divorces. those people all still alive? they re not all still alive, but none of them were killed. but they weren t murdered? right. so the fazzinos are not some hooked up organized crime family? no, and i resent her saying that. alex insisted the allegations were ludicrous, and that s also what investigators determined.
iowa versus alexander joseph fazzino, we, the jury, find the defendant not guilty. not guilty. the words alex and his family had been waiting to hear. even his veteran defense attorneys couldn t hold it together. i held off crying until bill started crying. he started it and that s what sent me over the edge. and one never cries if you think your client is guilty. you don t. god bless you. on the other side of the courtroom, emily s family and friends could barely move. with the verdict, the divide between these two families became complete. celebration across the aisle became too much for emily s mother to take. shut up! i went in shock. alls i can remember is people jumping up and down like
and every one of the members of the jury? reporter: here it was. in the matter of the state of iowa plaintiff versus alexander joseph fazzino. we the jury find the defendant not guilty. [ cheers ] thank you, lord! reporter: not guilty. the words alex and his family had been waiting to hear. even his veteran defense attorneys couldn t hold it together. i held off crying until bill started crying. yeah. he he started it. and that s what sent me over the edge. reporter: and one never cries if you think your client s guilty. no. you don t. god bless you, bill. thank you. reporter: on the other side of the courtroom, emily s family and friends could barely move. with the verdict, the divide between these two families became complete. thank you so much.
that s what they were saying. and not just a murderer. emily s sister ammie told investigators alex was also a mobster. did you sigh that alex and his family are in the mafia, in organized crime, and that women who try to divorce their way out of the fazzino family wind up dead? that was information that emily had told me. ammie doesn t realize that of my mom s six siblings and my dad s one sibling, there have been 11 divorces. those people all still alive? they re not all still alive, but none of them were killed. but they weren t murdered. right. so the fazzinos are not some hooked up organized crime family. no, and i resent her saying that. alex insisted the allegations were ludicrous, and that s also what investigators determined. did you pick up in your investigation any indication that the fazzino family is involved in organized crime? no.