love is dead. and then your being looked at for it. imagine, your shaken in the dead of night. my ears were ringing. i thought i was dreaming. in bed, right next to you. your husband, murdered. hearty wrap around your head, is it? yes. and here s the twist. you are the suspect. it s the worst feeling, thinking you re gonna be blamed for your husband s death. could she have been the killer? or, with someone keeping a secret? i said, what did you do. what did you do? i don t know what to tell you. just of the truth. hello, and welcome to dateline . it s the stuff of nightmares. and a traitor creeps into your bedroom in the middle of the night and opens fire. but for melissa oxley, the bad dream was all too real. she told investigators she d been startled from her sleep to find her husband, ben, dead from a gunshot blast. it seems strange, they thought, that no one else in the house was hurt. including melissa, who was sleeping by his side. stranger stil
a heated conversation about ben oxley. james asking dawn if she wants to have him killed. but that s where the stories diverge. dawn remember, says she told james, no, don t do it and fell asleep on the couch. but that s not james matlean s story. she was ecstatic about what was happening. she was happy i was going to kill somebody. you know? reporter: it was after midnight. dawn drew him a diagram of ben oxley s house, said james, so he could find his way to the bedroom. then he went to the 7-eleven, drew $40 out of the atm with dawn s bank card. and then together he said they went to the walmart. dawn waited in the car while james did the shopping, shotgun shells, gloves, a flashlight. she was just very happy about it. i mean, like you would imagine a kid going to disneyland. you know? reporter: but there was a problem. they d forgotten to bring the diagram of ben s house with them. the plan wasn t for dawn to go in the house. the plan was just for me to go in the house.
don t do it and fell asleep on the couch. but that s not james story. she was ecstatic about what was happening. she was happy i was going to kill somebody. you know? it was after midnight and dawn drew him a diagram so he could find his way to the bedroom. he went to the 7-11 and withdraw $40 out of the atm and they went to the wal-mart and dawn waited in the car while james did the shopping for shotgun shells and gloves and a flashlight. she was very happy about it. like a kid going to dizsneyland. they forgot to bring the diagram of ben s house. the plan was not for dawn to go in the house. it was for me to go into the house. i didn t know how to get in or where the bedroom was so dawn had to go inside.
but that s where the stories diverge. dawn, remember, says she told james, no, don t do it and fell asleep on the couch. but that s not james macklian s story. she was ecstatic about what happened. she was happy that i was going to kill somebody. reporter: it was after midnight. dawn drew him a diagram of ben s house so he could find his way to the bedroom. then he went to the 7-eleven. and drew $40 out of the atm and then they went to the walmart. dawn waited in the car while james did the shopping, shotgun shells, gloves, a flashlight. she was just very happy about it. like you would imagine a kid going to disneyland, you know? reporter: but there was a problem. they d forgotten to bring the diagram. the plan wasn t for dawn to go in the house. the plan was for just me to go in the house. i didn t know how to get in.
a heated conversation about ben oxley. james asking dawn if she wants to have him killed? but that s where the stories diverge. dawn, remember, says she told james, no, don t do it and fell asleep on the couch. but that s not james macklian s story. she was ecstatic about what was happening. she was happy that i was going to kill somebody. reporter: it was after midnight. dawn drew him a diagram of ben s house so he could find his way to the bedroom. then he went to the 7-eleven. and drew $40 out of the atm and then they went to the walmart. dawn waited in the car while james did the shopping, shotgun shells, gloves, a flashlight. she was just very happy about it. like you would imagine a kid going to disneyland, you know? reporter: but there was a problem. they d forgotten to bring the diagram. the plan wasn t for dawn to