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. steve was terrified. the e-mail trail. the money trail. a winding trail of surprises was about to change this case.
it s a very simple question. did mr. democker flee or not? that s a yes or no question. no, he did not flee. reporter: and steve s sister sharon had a simple explanation for those coincidences, the night of the murder. the circumstantial evidence. like his dead cell phone battery. i think most of us with cell phones can appreciate that later in the day it s not uncommon for the battery to go. but their ears perked up when he drew the route and part of it came within a mile of the house on bridle path. well, he lived out there. for many years. so that was a favored trail. they also made a great deal of the tracks that they found in the property. the shoe prints that must ve been his, the tire tracks that must ve been his. nobody knows whose those are. he did buy a pair at one point. but he doesn t know if he kept them. he said, i never keep any shoes
reporter: this was very difficult for ruth, as you can imagine. she was everything a mother would want in a daughter. she was a good mother. reporter: charlotte, the younger democker daughter, was living with steve that summer. was in steve s house the night of the murder when he was unreachable for 5 hours and said his cell phone was dead. your father, did he have normally have spare batteries with him? sometimes in his car. did he carry them in the car and also in his briefcase? it s possible. i don t know. normally, he was reachable by way of his cell phone, right? yes. reporter: and when he finally got home that night, she saw those scratches. suspicious, according to the prosecution. did you ask him about those scratches? i did. what did he tell you? he explained they were from branches from riding his bike. reporter: and then the prosecutor asked charlotte s, by then, former boyfriend jacob about the weird business of the golf club cover.
steve s defense attorney talked about it during his opening statement. he disclaimed, he signed over any interest to the girls and the money was paid out to the girls. that s what happened in this case. reporter: that statement caught investigator mike sechez by surprise. we had made contact with the life insurance company several times throughout the investigation and we had been informed that the life insurance had not been paid out to anyone. reporter: so, had the insurance paid out or hadn t it? sechez took another look, a much harder look at the money trail. not only was the insurance paid out, but it was paid to the two daughters who then transferred it to several accounts, including wire transfers to mr. democker s parents account in new york, who then wire transferred it back to mr. democker s defense team.
the time, to copy it down. mr. democker then asked them to send that document which became known as the anonymous e-mail to mr. sears and to the prosecutor s office. reporter: mr. sears was john sears. one of steve s defense attorneys. steve s reasoning, according to steve s sister sharon, he d heard that story from an inmate in that air-vent conversation and desperately wanted to get the story out, and investigated. the death penalty was still on the table. so, steve was terrified. we were terrified. i can certainly appreciate when you re terrified, maybe you do some stupid things. well, it s when you start making mistakes, and that was a doozy of a mistake. uh-huh. reporter: and uncovering that fraud led investigators to what they thought was another, even bigger one. remember carol s life insurance money? $750,000 worth.