emotional. they asked me if i killed her, he just founded so unbelievable that he was asked those questions. so if it wasn t paul, investigators had to look for other suspects. the state police had a complete canvas of the area. anybody who had any connection to catherine novak was state police reviewed, found, interviewed. but after many months and no leads, investigators hit a dead end. the case turned cold. none of that mattered much to catherine s mom. i still miss my daughter, the same. i miss her. no matter what happened to her, i miss her. seven months after catherine s death, paul and his girlfriend packed up the kids and their apartment on long island and moved 1000 miles south to florida. i think with my experience that it would be pretty easy to get a job somewhere. have a fresh start. a fresh start, i thought it would be good for the kids,
damning evidence. the last piece of prosecution needed was motive. why would paul want to kill his wife, catherine. ? simple, they said, money. when catherine died paul cashed in on her life insurance policy and homeowners insurance. it all totaled around $700,000. the defendant said he would kill catherine and burn up the evidence. and he did just that. now it was the defenses turn to attack. jurors would hear more about the checkered pasts of the witnesses at the very heart of the case. coming up and was a very checkered past some of those witnesses had. i think i slept with half the tone. when dateline continues. you ll find better laughs at family barbecues. you ll find a better life is in store at miracle-ear, when you experience the exclusive
have five acres, or ten acres of property. and she loved it there. the perfect place for the perfectly matched couple. they seemed meant for each other right from the start. i liked her from this first moment i met her. she was very effervescent. very funny. and very opinionated. i really liked that in her. so, you really saw into the future for some you saw her? yes. we ended up getting married, i think seven months later. two years after that, their first child natalie was born. it was very special. catherine s mom christina was ever the proud grandmother. natalie look so much like her mom. so much like her mom. what was it like the first time you laid eyes on your new daughter? natalie, well, it was like falling in love 1000 times more than you have with any other person. natalie is just, she s a part of me. four years later, along came nicholas. he was in her glory. and then, to have a boy and a
catherine novak died there. her mother s question was much more simple. that was what why did she get out? even her estranged husband paul said he was puzzled. i don t even know what to think about it, i was surrounded by death and violence my entire life, now it was. home the pathologists ruled catherine step an accident, but investigators were not so sure. they turn to attorney steve lungen. so despite this top it was an accident. yes we had a fire, and we had a death, the question of how the two of those items were going to come together we re not quite the actually years later. the police, as they often do, began by interviewing s soon to be ex-husband, paul novak. what happened in the interview as far as the
michelle said paul did it because catherine was a monster. he had me convinced that catherine was the bad guy and he was the good parent and these kids were abused and these kids were miserable. he did this for the? kids we need to save. tickets paul sister ilona didn t believe a word of it. from the moment you heard a witness had come forward, she was convinced her brother was being setup. i said this is michelle. you got rid of her, and now what happened? this is payback? i believe that s what it. is paul s girlfriend, cat, who got in gauge to him in jail, also believed michelle story was suspicious. absolutely positively. why are you so? sure he s just not that kind of a person. he is a caretaker. you know? it s like, his job is a paramedic. defined him. and while paul had a squeaky clean record, michelle, his