to react, with rage and homicidal violence. it all seemed so senseless to the mcclellands daughter, christina. this all started over three computer monitors. and now we re talking about three murders. yeah. i mean, you know, normal people don t do that. god bless the united states and the great state of texas. eric williams went on trial for murder in december. be seated please, ladies and gentlemen. the court calls state of texas versus eric williams. williams wasn t on trial for the murder of mark hasse or mike mcclelland. in a surprise tactic, this trial was only for the murder of cynthia mcclelland. not guilty, your honor. why not just try the murders at the same time? what if something went wrong in the first trial? we wanted to have the ability to be able to try him twice and make sure he got justice. christina sat in court and had to relive the deaths of her parents. what gave you the strength to go to the court every day? i showed up every day for the t
i have kids. my husband. my family. and, i mean, i can t keep putting them at risk. we were all in danger. as local deputies began around the clock around shannon s house, something kept nagging her about the mclelland murder. there was no way that cynthia could open her door to anyone. it was someone we know or someone just up as the police officer. it was really concerning. yeah that someone would be just up in a fake police uniform? it was mark, like his entire staff, was still vigilant ever since his chief prosecutor was gunned down. the wary d.a. kept guns at near the front door but never have the chance to use them. did it feel like all bets were against you because they
as a stepdad? yes are filters are quite often sometimes. what mark relied on the support of his wife cynthia who is always doing something that she loved, quilting and cooking. she s the old school cook, she doesn t use back edges. she because if she makes everything from scratch. clearly by his physique he was enjoying the food very much. what made them a good match? it s funny, she supported him very greatly in what he was doing. but he was the conservative, and she was very liberal. i think was a lot of balance. the balanced each other very nicely. cynthia also wanted her daughter to find love and wasn t shy about playing matchmaker. with a guy she thought was a good fit. she looked at him and as, do you believe in a range marriages? and i had to believe i felt embarrassed. it s very weird.
the death of cynthia mcclelland. you heard the word guilty? it was a gift. it was a gift for all of us. it s probably a gift for everybody else because i don t believe that this would ve stopped at the end of these killings. there s a sad postscript to this case that raises a painful question. could williams have been stopped after the hasse murder and before the mcclellandings? did they have to die? in a haunting irony, mike mcclelland always thought williams was likely the killer. he certainly suspected it was eric williams after mark hasse was shot. and he made no secret of what his opinion was. and i had numerous conversations where he said, bill, it s eric williams. williams was one of a handful of possible suspects early on in the hasse case, but there was no evidence on him. and even with his conviction for theft, he d had a good reputation. we had several discussions about it.
a few minutes of weightlessness some 55 miles above the surface before descending back to earth. now back to dateline. six days after the murders of mike and sin thee a mcclelland, hundreds of mourners packed this church for their funeral. the flag-draped casket contained mike s body and cynthia s ashes, together for eternity. their extended family, united in grief, bid them an emotional farewell. i carry a lot of things from them with me. they taught me very well. they helped a lot of people before they left this world. they really did. they made a large impact on a lot of people. a beefed-up multi-agency task force vowed to catch whoever