reporter: michael minor may have shot sam, but prosecutor fraivillig believed danielle manipulated him to do it, and that her motive was more than just money. i think there was a financial motive, certainly. probably, the most overarching motive was just jealousy. despite the fact that she was conducting an affair of her own, i think that she was just completely enraged that sam started stepping out on her as well. reporter: but in order to prove that in court, fraivillig felt she would need something she didn t yet have a statement from michael saying danielle acted as his accomplice. so she waited, thinking time would compel him to come forward and admit danielle was involved. he never did. michael maintained danielle played no role in sam s murder. was this possibly a twisted act of chivalry? i think that certainly one of his motivations, if not his sole motivation, was trying to protect the woman that he loved. reporter: did you say to him, why are you protecting her?
And she just said, oh, i m just trying to sound tough. so she denied this to be for real. reporter: but that s not the way sam s sister saw it. when detectives showed those texts to cindy, she was dumbstruck. i could not believe what i was reading. this is someone who s been in my family for almost 13 years. even talking about it with you now i have chills. reporter: those texts, she said, proved just how much danielle hated sam and wanted him out of the way. and she s convinced danielle manipulated michael to feel the same way. do you think that danielle had anything to do with your brother s death? was she somehow directly associated? i think she is. i hold danielle dreher as much
Steal anything. the jury didn t agree. she was found guilty as charged and sentenced to four years in prison. this was a very satisfying verdict, to see the woman be punished for her actions. reporter: is the murder of sam dreher an open case or a closed case? no. it s a closed case. reporter: but not for cindy, who continues to mourn the loss of her brother. she keeps his uniform close by for comfort and, with it, a lifetime of memories. he was loving. he was caring. he was the peacemaker. he was always doing for others. he was just sweet. reporter: cindy once felt the same way about her sister-in-law danielle. now there s bad blood between the two. cindy fought danielle in court over benefits from sam s life insurance. they ultimately reached a confidential settlement. cindy also keeps a watchful eye on danielle. according to cindy, danielle was dating another man before she went to prison.
she was living with a firefighter, as a matter of fact. one of my brother s supposed fire brothers. reporter: what s your advice to this guy, this firefighter? watch your back, you know. the last two guys involved with danielle, one s dead, one s in prison. reporter: as for dianne, she s now left to reflect on a life with sam that could have been. did you two talk about marriage? yes. reporter: and was that in the cards? oh, absolutely. reporter: did you ever feel like i m being punished for having this affair? oh, yes. i might have said those exact words myself. reporter: it all started in a club with an innocent conversation. mm-hmm. reporter: was it all worth it? falling in love with sam? i would never change having met sam. reporter: was he the one? he was the one. without a doubt. he still is the one.
Danielle candidly described it as troubled. we had been not getting along for many months. danielle also explained that she knew sam was having an affair despite sam s best efforts to conceal it. dull know where he went today? today? i m sure he went to his girlfriend s, yeah. but he always goes to her house. i m not surprised by that. danielle then admitted she too was unfaithful. she was pretty straightforward, told me about the affair. it was wrong. i shouldn t have done it. nobody should cheat. little by little, the detectives led danielle to believe they were focusing their investigation on her lover michael. so it would kind of shock you if michael went and confronted him? yeah. that s what happened. really? and we have michael. do you? it wasn t the reaction the detective was expecting. he found her tone to be strangely flat and unemotional. that was troubling to me. that was disturbing to me. i cannot believe he did this.