family. and i say that too. of course, until you experience that yourself i guess none of us know how we would react. reporter: still. goodman s detective instinct kicked in. so what if some 911 dispatcher told him to wait, would an innocent worried parent really do that? it was suspicious. why did angila s fiance, chris, stay outside? and, had he really been at work all night, as he said he was? they took him downtown for the first of several interviews. where goodman and his partner, detective sergeant krista mattice, sized him up. his name was chris jackson. how did he present? he was calm. he was crying. he was upset. he was mad. reporter: where was he that night? chris said angila drove him to work at wal-mart. dropped him off before 11 p.m. and i kiss her. and i say i love you sweetheart, drive safe, have a
reporter: the wind on the prairie is a fickle thing, like people sometimes are. is that why angila wilder s fiance, chris, was so angry? richie is probably the piece of who did it. reporter: there was a history to this. long before that november morning in 2015, and far away from minot, north dakota in alabama. angila met richie at church. they were the best of friends as kids. and, after angila had a baby as a teenager, it was richie who scooped her up. married her. adopted her little girl. and before long they had a boy of their own. all witnessed by angila s sister, crystal. she tended to date guys that were funny, that were gentle, that were intelligent. and really, richie was all those things. reporter: richie was in the air force. that s why they moved to minot, big airbase there. and it s where angila pursued her dream of becoming a nurse. she took classes whenever she could.
she would take an alford plea, meaning she d plead guilty, not because she did it, but because a jury would likely find her guilty. and that way, she believed, the judge would impose a much lighter penalty. and in may, 2018, cyndi s attorney appealed to judge stacy louser for a lenient sentence. ten years. and now it was the judge s turn. would she believe cyndi s explanation? you were the one person who could have stopped this nightmare. you were the one person who could have intervened, who could have called law enforcement when richie wilder left your home. you were the one person who could have spared angila wilder s life. you chose not to do so. i am hereby remanding you to the north dakota department of corrections and rehabilitation as to count one, conspiracy to commit murder, to a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
reporter: north dakota nice may be an old fashioned phrase, but it still fits. the people who have been around a long time still greet each other on the street. reporter: as they did that chilly morning in november 2015 when parents dropped off their kids at this elementary school. and where, later that morning at minot state university s department of nursing, professor diane sjol wondered why one of her students hadn t shown up for an 11 a.m. exam. before we all started taking the test i said, has anybody heard from angila?” reporter: angila was this woman. my name is angila wilder, i m a student nurse with msu, and i ll be assessing your cardiovascular system today. she was just this sweet little southern girl. sweet little southern girl. always miss diane , and okay, i ll let the doctor know and he ll be in with you shortly. reporter: angila wilder was, in addition to a nursing
serving life, has already filed an pale based on not effective counsel. her husband richie, also doing life, appealed as well. but north dakota s highest court affirmed his conviction. and so our story ends with a family shattered. and matt walters? doesn t regret his decision to wear a wire. but he struggles. doing the right thing was not easy. basically i m responsible for ending another person s life in all meaningful ways, which is fine. she deserves it. but it s still kind of a hard thing to deal with to know you ended someone s life. reporter: like you feel somehow it s on you? yeah, there s like a weight on me. reporter: and angila would surely be working as as nurse by now would have achieved her life