reporter: in the weeks following the funeral, detectives mcdonald and szalbirak continued their investigation. they had their shooter, but they also had lingering questions about whether danielle may have somehow been involved. obviously, one of the first things that comes to mind, the wife has a hand in this. she s linked. she s got to have something to do with it. reporter: and as mcdonald and szalbirak sifted through the evidence, they became more confident they were on the right track. what they discovered stunned even these two seasoned investigators. for over a month danielle had been spying on both sam and dianne. danielle was just totally obsessed with what sam was doing, which went beyond anything that i ve seen before in investigations. reporter: what s more, it appeared to them that danielle had persuaded michael to help her. they had basically stalked them.
whatsoever. danielle definitely had control over michael minor. she did manipulate him. did she manipulate him to the point of killing sam? i don t know. reporter: detectives mcdonald and szalbirak realized they needed to pay danielle dreher another visit. we re going back to find out what is your intent? what is your involvement with this? coming up did someone have a million reasons to commit murder? there was a substantial amount of money that she was going to gain if sam turned up dead. when dateline continues. for adventure. your home. for romance. your home for big savings. [ laughs ] hey, mom, have you seen m ew. because when you bundle home and auto with progressive, your home is a savings paradise.
him? i described him. little did she know a man fitting that very same description had just been arrested. he had approached sheriff s deputies moments after they arrived on scene and confessed to the shooting. the deputy that had him in the back of the patrol car already told us that he made statements that he was the shooter. did you feel like this could be an easy one, case closed or did you think there s got to be more to this story? there s never an easy one. there s always more to the story. the man identified himself as michael minor. detectives mcdonald and szalbirak immediately brought him to the sheriff s office for questioning. he s very distraught but he s willing to talk to us. we were very much ready to listen to him. he outlined for detectives the details of the shooting. he started by insisting it was all an accident. i never intended to pull that trigger. but detectives weren t so
for me to be there than worry about how awkward i felt. reporter: to her surprise, sam s family embraced dianne. they all received me well. in fact, they invited me to come up and sit with them. she s truly a lovely person. and i think she made him happy. and he deserved to be happy. reporter: you ve come down pretty hard on danielle for her affair. sam was also having an affair. yes. reporter: do you condemn him for that behavior as well? no. i don t think he intended to meet someone. i don t think he intended to have an affair. he met dianne. he had known her three months. that s a far cry, you know, a world apart from danielle seeking a man on ashley madison and having a long-term affair with him for four years. reporter: in the weeks following the funeral, detectives mcdonald and szalbirak continued their
reporter: detectives mcdonald and szalbirak realized they needed to pay danielle dreher another visit. we re going back to find out what is your intent? what is your involvement with this? coming up did someone have a million reasons to commit murder? there was a substantial amount of money that she was going to gain if sam turned up dead. when dateline continues. n . i think dentists will want to recommend sensodyne rapid relief because it s clinically proven to work in 3 days. which means for patients that they get relief very fast. lowe s helps you do hosting right with the best prices of the year on appliances to help you handle anything and everything.