so, steve was terrified. we were terrified. i can certainly appreciate when you re terrified, maybe you do some stupid things. well, it s when you start making mistakes, and that was a doozy of a mistake. uh-huh. reporter: and uncovering that fraud led investigators to what they thought was another, even bigger one. remember carol s life insurance money? $750,000 worth. steve s defense attorney talked about it during his opening statement. he disclaimed, he signed over any interest to the girls and the money was paid out to the girls. that s what happened in this case. reporter: that statement caught investigator mike sechez by surprise. we had made contact with the life insurance company several times throughout the investigation and we had been informed that the life insurance
search warrant. the implication, of course, was that the cover fit the club, never found, that killed carol. jacob said that after the detectives left he talked to steve. what was that conversation? the golf head sock cover was found after they had left. he said, he had found it? yes. did he say what he was goinnt to turn it into the police or give it to his lawyer. reporter: implying, said the prosecution, that steve knew the golf sock could incriminate him, and didn t know what to do with it. but just as the case seemed to be building momentum, two weeks into the trial, judge thomas lindberg left the bench at lunch break and suddenly collapsed. it was a brain tumor. and everybody waited for 5 weeks until a brand new judge was appointed, so they could pick up with testimony right where they left off.
needles waiting for that verdict that you don t know what it is. yeah, and you have no control over it. uh-huh. strangers are gonna decide. uh-huh. who don t know your brother? uh-huh. reporter: this family of highly educated professionals knew the case for and against steve as intimately as any attorney. on the third day of deliberations, there was nothing for them to do but sit together. watch their phones. and then, as they prepared to leave a coffee shop in prescott news. the jury had reached a verdict. but it was four in the afternoon. apparently quitting time. and the judge decided they d all have to wait until morning to hear what the verdict was. katie and charlotte, comforted by steve s parents, his siblings. had another night to wait and wonder what did the jury decide? it was rough on everybody. it is. and it s just horrible. with that nervous energy then is to the you can t sleep. we were thinking, well, are they just stretching this out? was it
and, on june 3rd, inside the square s historic court house, county attorney joe butner opened his case against steve democker by ticking off the reasons why, in his view, steve deserved to spend the rest of his natural life behind bars. by this time, pre-trial legal rulings had taken the death penalty off the table. though attorney butner told the jury the case was no less condemning. i will ask you to find the defendant guilty of the first degree pre-meditated murder. reporter: first, he said, steve had motives, and not just that 6 thousand a month in alimony. no. carol, said the prosecutor, was worth a lot of money. dead. the evidence will show that at the time of her death that steven democker was the owner and beneficiary of two life insurance policies. the total value of those life insurance policies was 750,000 dollars. reporter: steve and carol s daughters, katie and charlotte, were in court, sitting behind,
fund his defense. and even hoodwink his lawyers and the court. the case looked strong, the prosecution rested. your honor, the state would rest. reporter: now it was time to hear from the defense. and, no surprise, it had a quite different theory about carol kennedy s murder. a theory that had nothing whatsoever to do with steve democker. coming up that man in the guest cottage. it wasn t a little bit of evidence that we had on mr. knapp. it was a mountain of evidence. he got to the point where he was lying about having active cancer and asking people for financial help. i m wondering if what was this man capable of? was he going to hurt me or hurt my family? i was scared. when dateline continues. s d when dateline continues in bulk. boom! what a beefsteak. gotta love it. land o frost premium. a slice above.