the defendant in this case reporter: the prosecutor shari tate argued that tony, fueled by a jealous rage, waited in the bushes for melissa to come home, followed her into the garage and then launched a brutal attack on his wife s best friend. it is a hands on, personal murder. it takes time. it takes premeditation. and, why? because she was a friend. reporter: but the residue of pepper spray all over the garage was evidence that melissa had fought back and some had apparently gotten on the killer. tony s housemate testified the night of the murder, he saw his roomie scrubbing his arms. he said that, um, he got pepper spray on him and that his hands were burning and itching. reporter: then, an expert on cellphone tracking told the jury tony had both melissa s phone and his own personal phone with him the night of the murder and the next day when he was driving his train. they moved north and then
all told by thursday, the day after the murder, the phone or whoever had it travelled a distance of about 60 miles. so obviously, who s with that cell phone, was most likely the last person that was with with melissa. reporter: detectives also focused on those five hours the phone was stationary in miami gardens. was the killer home in bed? we have to identify if melissa knows somebody that lives in this area. reporter: does anything come up at that point? no. we have no reason to believe anybody she s dating, anybody she knows lives there. reporter: melissa s family confirmed that. police asked everyone remotely involved in the case and the answer kept coming up no. by now, police had also cleared the ex-husband of melissa s sister. he had no connection to the area either. but when they asked debra if she knew anyone who lived around there, her jaw dropped. she said she did know someone. i was like, i just do not think it was him. reporter: but cops are funny, they d
silent, sir. reporter: in closing arguments, prosecutor tate said all the evidence pointed to tony. the pepper spray, cell phone records, and the dna. there is not one other person on the planet earth that could leave the dna on this jacket. reporter: the defense reminded jurors that the pepper spray evidence was weak, and that both phone records and dna results could be manipulated. the pieces of the puzzle do not fall into place, because reasonable doubt prevents them from falling into place. reporter: the jury now had the case. outside the courtroom debra villegas saw melissa s family for the first time in eight years. all these years later and it just washed over me like like it had just happened. you know, that that i caused these people a kind of pain that s unimaginable. reporter: later that afternoon, the jury sent out a note. verdict. as the verdict was read, debra
this is scott rothstein, november 16th, monday, 1:43 p.m. reporter: he wore a wire and helped convict 26 people involved in his ponzi scheme. and despite his cooperation, in 2010, he was sentenced to 50 years in prison. but one big question emerged, speculation about that woman in the firm who d been killed. whether melissa knew about the ponzi scheme is one of those great mysteries. reporter: scott had started his ponzi scheme three years before melissa was murdered. is it time to take a fresh look at the whole melissa lewis murder? is there something more sinister? reporter: detective brian kendall now had a whole new problem with his fairly straightforward case against tony, the jealous train engineer. is this woman, melissa, killed because she knew too much? after we think we had this solid, buttoned-up case, we do have the whole scott rothstein ponzi scheme comes into play? reporter: the fbi combed through the detectives files looking into a melissa-rothstein-pon
sterling silver ring, diamond earrings and a $5,000 watch. she also had an expensive prada handbag and an iphone. could very well be a target of some opportunistic grab and run. at the point we find her vehicle, we have no clues, no leads, and we don t have any suspects identified. reporter: police did find a tiny drop of melissa s blood in her car and on a tile in her house. but there were no fingerprints other than melissa s in either place. dna testing would take longer. now the question is, where s melissa? that s the million dollar question at this point. reporter: two days after she went missing, a worker made a gruesome discovery as he was clearing debris from a water pump at a nearby canal. poking around with his rake, huh? guess the first thing that comes to his mind is, ah, it s just a mannequin. then he realizes it s actually a body. reporter: it was 38-year-old melissa lewis. the missing persons case was now a murder investigation. still a whodunit. we have