the walmart. dawn waited in the car while james did the shopping. shotgun sales, gloves, a flashlight. she was very happy about it. i mean, like imagine a kid going to disneyland. you know? but there was a problem. they forgotten to bring the diagram of ben s house with them. the plan was it for don to go into the house. the plan was for me to go in the house. and i didn t know how to get in the house. or where the bedroom was. so, dawn had to go inside. the front door was locked. so dawn took him around back, he said. we re a sliding glass door was unlocked. and the east their way in and walked down the hall. then, said james, dawn pointed him towards the master bedroom. and i turned around and she was going into alyssa s room going into the room? yeah, half of her body was in the room. she said she was going to take alyssa with her. i said, you can t take alyssa.
the truth, said james matlean. all of it. dawn knows the truth and i know the truth. and that s all that matters. i take full responsibility for what i did. dawn, needs to take full responsibility for what she did. coming up was ben the only one who is in danger that night? what was it like? i don t know. one revelation still to come. when dateline continues.
will you please say i will? i got her a little bracelet and had a engraved letting her know that i will always love her as my own. i gave it to her that day. i m from that moment on, alyssa called melissa, mom. how did it make you feel? happy. very happy. awe, what a happy couple they were. a happy family. being my wife now, it s just a blessing. that s what you wait for all your life. what were your plans? to buy a house and to have babies. have a family. they eventually moved here. a three bedroom ranch in the carson valley, looking up towards the sierra nevada s. alyssa spent half her time with ben and melissa. the other time with her birth month, then s ex-wife dawn. but above all, what ben really
time at her mother dawn s house. and one day, while she was there. ben s sister warned her about the stepmom sheet come to love. she told me that she thought my step mom killed my dad. that night. must be pretty weird for you to hear that. yeah, i didn t believe it. didn t believe it at all? no. but if alyssa didn t believe it, others did. and before long, they had more ammunition, because of something else detective elges discovered. 400,000 dollar life insurance policy. it sounds a lot like she had the motivation to want this thing to happen. and once again, melissa found herself answering difficult questions. i didn t even know there was an insurance policy. i guess i was sort of naive to it. we were looking at it for retirement. but while the investigation
there was no solid evidence either way. nor that james matlean killed ben oxley. only dawn s story. i which point tom gregory, the district attorney, decided he needed her help. you love to get everybody involved in the case, but there s a reality, in many cases, that sometimes you need the help of one of the people involved to get them in person. and so dawn oxley was offered a limited immunity agreement. cooperate with the prosecution. testify truth of truthfully against james matlean, and you won t be prosecuted. a sort of get out of jail free card. why go ahead and make that deal with her so soon? you had her statement. why not hold off for a while and be patient? try to get them both. let s say we don t do the deal with her and we go out and arrest him, what s our evidence? dawn signed the agreement and james matlean was charged with first degree murder. but the end of the story? oh, no.