e-mail that claimed carol was killed by drug dealers. an e-mail dictated by her father. and at one point, your dad held up a piece of paper to that glass window and wanted you to write down what was on that paper? yes. and you did? yes. what were you supposed to do with that piece of paper? i was supposed to write an e-mail with the same substance that i had copied down. i believe, in the hopes that it would be investigated further. what did that mean to you, i mean, did you believe it? i did. i believed that that was what he had been told by someone in the jail and that, you know it was very emotional for me. and i wanted it to be investigated. so how did you get the information out?
detective. there were even some drops of blood just outside of the door. the blood trail led detectives to another discovery. shoe prints, outside the house. there was a lot of tracks out there. the house next door to ranch land, where lots of people went running, and riding their. carol, to. horses, animals, people use that area. there were a lot of checks. these tracks were unique. they were fresh. they found carols footprints from her job that very evening, but, there were others. her track, as it went out, the suspects tracked, then, stepped right on one of hers. so, she went out, and then the suspect came into her house. you even had a sequence of tracks. yes. about 50 feet from the main house, you remember, was a guest thought h which carroll had rented out to that tenant, jim. jim was one of the first
appear suicide. reporter: those e-mails and texts messages, carol and steve arguing in the days before her death, were read to the jury. a crime scene analyst claimed the blood spatter indicated the killer was left handed. with the position that i think is the most comfortable position, i would think that they re swinging from the left. reporter: and steve was left handed. remember the golf sock in the garage? it was made, said the prosecution, for a now missing left handed club. so here, at last, was the state s theory about how steve killed his ex-wife. days before the murder, said the state, he dropped off that club at carol s house, supposedly for her to sell in an upcoming garage sale, but left the golf sock in his garage. and then, the night of the murder, he sneaked into her house, and used that club to kill her.
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 what was this man capable of? was he going to hurt me or hurt my family? i was scared. when dateline continues. ws
renee girard. it was obvious to me that she was very protective of mr. democker. reporter: steve began dating renee when he was separated from carol. they were together during that tumultuous time, steve s divorce, carol s murder, his arrest. renee had always stood by steve and his family but sechez had a feeling. we were pretty convinced that she knew more than she was telling us. reporter: sechez knew something else too. during the trial renee broke up with steve. so on the eve of her testimony sechez interviewed renee again about that anonymous e-mail. what he discovered? explosive is not too big a word. coming up steve was terrified. we were terrified. the email trail, the money trail. a winding trail of surprises was about to change this case.